Super Dog!
June 17, 2008
Posted by CindyC in : Rants & the Ridiculous , 6 comments
Flipping through a copy of Consumer Reports at the dentist office, a short article caught my eye on the fortified water boom. In the battle for stomach share, mainstream manufacturers have been adding everything imaginable to the simplest drink on earth. In addition to vitamins, flavor, electrolytes, manufacturers are now adding herbs, weight-loss aides (remember Skinny Water?) and even positive thoughts to “raise consciousness in humanity” (just check out Aquamantra). Of course, this is no surprise given the number of commercials I see for Propel, VitaminWater or SobeLife every time I watch sports. Can’t even imagine what the commercial breaks for the Olympics would be like.
In any case, what topped it off for me was the small mention of fortified water for dogs, FortiFido. Four different flavors of enhanced water for the family pet to promote strong bones, fresh breath, healthy bones and joints. We have a dog and we love her, feed her and exercise her. She’s done just fine drinking plain ol’ tap water. If it’s good enough for her owners, I think it’s good enough for Bailey!
What a crazy world we live in!
End of rant –CindyC at Organicpicks
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Caught red-handed in the recyling bin
June 16, 2008
Posted by CindyW in : Green Journal , 9 comments
When it comes to “artwork” created by kids, the adage “beauty is in the eye of the beholder” unquestionably applies – when I see chicken scratches, my kids see flowers and clouds; when I see random squiggles, they see dolphins and anemones.
They don’t think twice before taking my new crisp printing paper and doodle a sheet a minute –artwork by quantity obviously. Naturally it is incumbent upon me to find them less wasteful alternatives.
By day, I am a business consultant – yeah, like a client calls me and tells me that they have a new widget that requires a price. I do this and that and eventually stick a number like $1294.3 in a fancy deck of slides. In any case, over the past couple of years I have quite a few different clients with various lines of business and diverse sizes. However one thing all of the companies have in common – too many people too readily hit the PRINT button.
Oops, I didn’t mean to hit the print button for a 124 page document. Oh well. Into the garbage can the paper goes.
I may need to review the slide deck with 10 people. I better print out 15 copies just in case. Oops only 5 people showed up. Oh well, that’s too bad. At least we have a recycling bin.
I see this all the time. It is estimated that every year an average US office employee uses 10,000 sheets of paper - that’s 30 pages a day. If I actually conducted a systematic research, I’d venture to say that 90% of the print outs are necessary. Paper is too cheap, there is little incentive for companies to encourage their employees to print less.
Here I am again, going off on a tangent. The point is that I paper-dive on the weekly bases just to get my children their paper supply, sometimes in the recycling bin and sometimes in the trash.
Every so often, I get caught with hands still in the cookie jar. “We are obviously not paying you enough,” some clients would joke. Sure, I am always happy to get paid more. I do get frustrated in that as a consultant I work on very specific projects. Reducing paper printouts for a company has never been and will not likely to be in my project pipeline. I have casually suggested setting some sort of quota for printouts by person or by departments. But as long as the paper price stays at its current level, my suggestion will never be taken seriously.
Anyway I haul the paper home and cut it in half. Now my girls can churn out 20 pieces of “artwork” a day without me constantly saying, “that’s enough. No more paper!” or “Just draw on the same one you just did.”
Then I secretively recycle almost all of their “artwork”, though occasionally they do catch me red-handed in the process of putting paper in our recycling bin.
Now that I have a fairly constant source of used paper, my next goal is to convince the teachers at my kids’ school to use it and then recycle it.
CindyW at Organicpicks
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What am I eating?
June 12, 2008
Posted by CindyC in : Opinions & Thoughts , 3 comments
I guess both CindyW and I have been thinking about food. So far this week, we’ve talked about chopping boards, farmer’s market(sort of) and farmed vs. fresh salmon. Warning, this is another post about food but it’s about more about an additive to make food taste more like, well, food.
Most of us have heard of MSG or monosodium glutamate, an additive often associated with Chinese food. Having grown up in a Chinese household, I never gave MSG much thought – other than it added flavor to food and it’s not good for you. Recently, my friend sent me an email about hidden ingredients in food, one of which was MSG. What surprised me was not just the vast number of foods that contains MSG or the variety of names it hides behind but why MSG is used.
Taking a step back, MSG can be naturally manufactured in our bodies (from the amino acid call glutamic acid or glutamate) as well as synthetically made. Thus, MSG manufacturers often argue that MSG is not harmful because our bodies make it naturally. Of course, this doesn’t take into consideration that as a food additive, we would ingest far more MSG than what our bodies would make or require, not to mention the health issues and allergies caused by excess MSG.
So why is MSG added to food? The presence of MSG tricks your taste buds in thinking the food is protein and nutritious. That means food manufacturers can cut cost by putting less real food and still make you think that there’s real food. In addition, MSG stimulates the pancreas to produce insulin, even when there are no real carbohydrates to digest. Excess insulin makes blood sugar drop and voila, you are hungry soon after you eat, which makes you want to eat more. What a great way for restaurants and manufacturers to sell even more “food” to satisfy your craving!
Don’t think you are avoiding MSG if you don’t eat Chinese food or soy sauce. It can be found in many American foods and restaurants including KFC, Burger King, Taco Bell, Doritos, Campbell’s Soup, Progresso, Lipton soups mixes. Plus, MSG goes by many different names: hydrolyzed protein, yeast extract, sodium cassinate and textured protein to name just a few. If you want to find out more about foods to avoid, MSG Truth has a great list plus lots of background information. Truth in Labeling has a fairly extensive list of MSG aliases to watch out for.
I guess I now know why I get these strange cravings for McDonald’s French fries….
CindyC at Organicpicks
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Giving up salmon
June 11, 2008
Posted by CindyW in : Opinions & Thoughts , 18 comments
About 8 months ago, I had an intense confrontation with a Mr. Rafael Puga who represented a Chilean farmed salmon import/export organization. I believed (and still do) that farmed salmon should be avoided both for health reasons and for environmental reasons. Mr Puga called me a criminal for spreading “lies” that were strongly supported by most environmental organizations and a variety of media outlets. After a few rounds, I stopped the non-constructive conversation, if one could call it that.
Back then I advocated for eating wild salmon.
Normally this time of the year, we feast on wild salmon as much as we can. Well, situations have drastically changed. Pacific Coast chinook salmon population suddenly and virtually collapsed due to habitat destruction, mismanagement, over fishing, and climate change induced inhospitable environment. This year the commercial chinook season in California and most of Oregon was canceled for the first time in 160 years. Californian fishermen collectively agreed with the decision.
(NYT: Tim Calvert, a fisherman, in San Francisco. The scarcity of Chinook salmon may keep the Pacific fishery closed for the season.)
That leaves Alaska as the only source of wild salmon. With the wild salmon supply steadily declining and consumer demand holding steady if not increasing, the price of wild salmon fillet has hit $40 per pound in some stores.
Now I know most of us are APLS, but most of us are probably not $40 per pound salmon affluent. Taking a deep breath and buying farmed salmon? Knowing the terrible consequences of most salmon farming practices, I cannot budge.
A couple of days ago, New York Times reporter Taras Grescoe decided that he would give up salmon all together, wild or farmed.
“Ninety percent of the fresh salmon consumed in the United States is from farms…”
“In Chile, overcrowding in these oceanic feedlots led to this year’s epidemic of infectious salmon anemia, a disease that has killed millions of fish and left the flesh of survivors riddled with lesions.”
“The situation in Canada, which supplies the United States with 40 percent of its farmed salmon, is not much better. In British Columbia, offshore net-cages are breeding grounds for thumbtack-sized parasites called sea lice.”
“To rid salmon of the lice, fish farmers spike their feed with a strong pesticide called emamectin benzoate, which when administered to rats and dogs causes tremors, spinal deterioration and muscle atrophy.”
YUCK!
With the opulent taste of simply grilled wild salmon still lingering at the tip of my tongue from a couple of years ago, I sighed and sadly agreed with his approach. It’s sort of against the tenet of the pleasurable green movement. Alas, sometimes you’ve gotta do whatcha have to do.
Eight months ago, I still embraced wild salmon. This time around, I am giving up all salmon, since I don’t run with the crowd that can drop $80 for a salmon fillet.
But I like fish, for their nutritional values and for their yumminess. Being a total nerd, in my wallet I carry a handy dandy wallet-sized fish guide from the Monterey Bay Aquarium. In the red column are the no-no fish, in the yellow column are the iffy ones, and in the green column are the smart choices. Downloading the guides is a piece of cake.
In addition, Monterey Bay Aquarium offers regular education on sustainable seafood. This Friday, it is offering a webcast on making sustainable seafood choices that are good for us and healthy for our oceans.
I’ve registered and am ready to watch and learn. There are other fish in the ocean, hopefully.
CindyW at Organicpicks
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Farmers market hot or not
June 10, 2008
Posted by CindyW in : Green Journal , 7 comments
On any given Sunday you can find me buckle up the helmets for my kids, load up bags in our trailer and bike to our local farmers’ market. When we are there, I split my attention three ways – looting fresh finds, tracking down my husband (he is super task oriented – bee-lining to stands X, Y, and Z) and making sure that I don’t lose my kids in the crowd. It’s always enjoyable, satisfying and fun-filled, but never relaxing.
This weekend, we changed the gear a bit. I went with a girl friend who was visiting us from San Francisco (SFGF). We meandered along the famers’ market and sampled the insanely good peaches and the season’s first bunch of heirloom tomatoes. We chatted with various farmers about the weather, the water shortage, what produce was coming, and even politics. A few times, I reflexively turned around to look for my kids before realizing that I was sans bambino responsibility.
I digress; that really isn’t the point of my story.
After buying everything on my husband’s list (told ‘ya he was task oriented), then some, my SFGF and I scored ourselves some freshly brewed coffee. We sat at the entrance to the market and did what we both loved to do (back when we had ample amount of time) – people watching.
My SFGF, single and with a keen sense of hottiness, pointed it out that there were quite a few fine looking men going into the market. “Look at that guy,” she discretely pointed out to me as a man in his late twenties/early thirties walked by us. She was right – tall, dark, handsome, donning casual summer garb and carrying his own canvas bags. Can a guy get any sexier than that?
In between ogling gorgeous fruit and minding my children, I usually fail to notice the people who frequent farmers’ market. With my friend’s guidance, I was able to see that there were quite a few hotties at my local farmers’ market. Is it because people go there tend to be healthier? More relaxed in a Sunday outdoor surrounding? More sensual because they appreciate the scent, color and taste of fresh produce?
Neither of us could nail down the reason but we hardly cared. I know, I know, it was incredibly childish and shallow, but we had fun watch and rate hotness as guys streamed by. Lest you accuse me of being crude and reverse-chauvinistic, Crunchy Chicken started it a while ago. Yes of course, it is always her fault.
What would you rate this guy? 6? 7? With and without the BIG oranges.
Okay, he is not from my local farmer’s market, just some
My SFGF informed me a farmer’s market stroll makes for a great first date. Really? I had my doubts. “Dude, the smell, the color, touching of the fruit, scantly dressed people,” looking at the lady plucking away at her harp, she added, “the mood music.” I literally choked on my strawberry.
She almost killed me. For you people who think your farmers’ market has crappy music, don’t be all self-centered. It’s not for you, it’s for people on their first date!
“Don’t you laugh. I had a date at Ferry Plaza.” She seemed like a semi-believer of the idea. Sure enough, I did find this and this.
Farmer’s market = potential meat market? Far better than a bar, in my humble opinion.
To follow Green bean’s thread – the new environmentalism should be all about “fulfillment instead of fear” – you can’t do much better than going to your local farmer’s market. Not only is it good for your health and for the environment, it’s also good for your social life – watching people in my case and dating people in my SFGF’s case.
Whether you are a guy or a girl, there are quite a few hotties to choose from!
CindyW at Organicpicks
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Fresh Look: Preserve Cutting Board
June 9, 2008
Posted by CindyC in : Opinions & Thoughts , 2 comments
Ever since we stopped eating out frequently, I’ve been experimenting more in the kitchen – trying different vegetables, entrees and all sorts of recipes. One casualty of frequent use is my cutting board, specifically my plastic one on which I chop my fruits and vegetables. I guess this is what I get for not paying attention to what I buy - $2.99 at IKEA.
I went searching for a new board, durable, sustainable and recyclable at end of life. At first, I thought this would be an easy task but I was overwhelmed and disappointed by the selection variety at the store. There were definitely tons of boards in every imaginable size and color but none fit my needs. I already had a wood block for all the heavy duty chopping and meats. The bamboo ones were nice but slippery on the backside and pretty expensive. And the plastic ones, well, none seemed recyclable and I figure I should upgrade from what I’ve got.
I came home and started searching for cutting board options. Voila, our friend Beth over at Fake Plastic Fish had obsessed over cutting boards not too long ago. Using Beth’s research, I decided upon the Preserve cutting board. I’ve known about Preserve toothbrushes and used them for a while until my dentist made me switch to an electric one (something about my bad brushing techniques that allow plaque build-up). The Whole Foods near me didn’t have the paperstone variety and only the plastic one in stock. However, Preserve’s plastic cutting boards are made from 100% post consumer recycled plastic, dish-washer safe and come in a variety of colors. It is also recyclable. Since I can no longer stand my old board, I bought one in ripe tomato and asked Whole Foods to restock the paperstone one.
So far the board cuts well and looks great in my kitchen. Maybe I’ll make something that matches my cutting board tonight.
CindyC at Organicpicks
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Crunchy Chicken exposé
June 6, 2008
Posted by CindyW in : Rants & the Ridiculous , 9 comments
There is supposedly this wonder woman by the name Crunchy Chicken who:
goes to work all day, takes care of two small children, works and harvests her large edible yard, and prodigiously maintains an informational, witty and all around fun green blog.
If you think it takes two people to do all of the above, there is more.
Her husband was diagnosed with a bad bad evil cancer not too long ago. She takes him to the hospital for tests and treatments. And she goes through the unthinkable emotional roller coaster every day.
You say, no way, it would have to take three women? There is still more.
She set up a charity organization Goods 4 Girls to help young women gain access to better menstrual products. Obviously she snapped her fingers and it was done. So she began a fundraiser to raise money for the Multiple Myeloma Research Foundation.
Surely, it would have to take four women to accomplish all those? Well, I am inclined to agree with you. I think it is an out-and-out hoax that there is even such a person – Crunchy Chicken.
What did you say? Oh this is supposed to be a tribute. But you see, the more I chew on it, the fishier the whole things starts to smell. So I am going to make an executive decision to write an exposé.
Breaking news: Crunchy Chicken is most likely a name used collectively by four women.
Yes, of course I did my research. I downloaded Crunchy’s picture from her site and submitted it to a fancy schmancy CSI type of coding-decoding thingamajig. Sure enough, they told me that the picture was a photoshopped composition of four women. Crunchy Chicken is taking advantage of our untrained eyes, people.
If you are into detective work, go back and read “her” posts, don’t be surprised to find writing style inconsistencies and personality differences. See for yourself.
Whew! That was a total relief after the truth presented itself. As I followed along Crunchy’s blog, I was feeling massively inadequate. It took me 6 months from talking about composting to actually dumping food scrap into my backyard bin. It took me a year from hearing about Diva cup to actually using it. Eighteen months went by between when I thought about having an edible garden to actually having one. Etc., etc. You get my drift.
So congratulations to all four of the chickens who have successfully fooled us and made us believe that “she” was just one ecosuperhero.
You know, what each of them does separately is pretty impressive. They don’t really need to create a new identity to make the rest of us all feel like crappy slackers. Just ‘sayin…
*for more about the real Crunchy Chicken, check out reports from arduous, Greenbean, Chilechew, burbanmom, Beth, and beany
CindyW at Organicpicks
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Putting Myself Out There
June 5, 2008
Posted by CindyC in : Opinions & Thoughts , 5 comments
During my book club discussion last week (on Affluenza – The All Consuming Epidemic), we talked about how the idea of creating local community resonated with all of us. Everyone in our group wished for a neighborhood community where people knew one another, watched neighbors’ kids and threw block parties, but none of us really lived in one. Sure, I wave to my neighbors and say the occasional hello but that’s the extent of it.
So why is that? After all, I live in a quiet and some would say idyllic town. Yes, we are all busy with work, errands, kids, home, pets, family needs and the umpteenth things that need our time and attention. Is it really that we weren’t lucky enough to have moved into a close-knit neighborhood? I mean if CindyW knows her neighbors well enough to share magazine subcriptions, why don’t I even know my neighbors’ names?
After some discussion, I think my group came to the same conclusion: it takes effort and courage to make friends with strangers. It’s so much easier to receive a compliment or friendly gesture than to give one. As one of members admitted, you don’t want to look like the lonely or nosy loser pouncing on the new neighbors with the bundt cake; after all, if you already have a gaggle of friends, why are you so eager for more? At first, we all laughed at the imagery but then I realized that she’s right. Somewhere along the way, we (or at least I) have been conditioned to believe that good fences make good neighbors and the eager one is the lonely one.
In order to shake off my blue funk, I decided to take the first steps in getting to know my neighbors. While walking my dog, I stopped to admire a beautiful garden and paid compliments to the elderly lady working in it. She appeared thrilled that I’d notice and was willing to stop and chat. I told her how much my mom loves Myer Lemons (for lemonade or whisky sours). She told me to help myself to them anytime as she has more than she needs. She also gave my dog a generous helping of attention and reminisced about her dog that passed away.
At the end of our conversation, I extended my hand and said, “By the way, my name is Cindy and I live 2 blocks down that way.” She smiled, shook my hand and said, “My name is Jan and it’s nice to meet you neighbor.”
I don’t care if other people think I’m a lonely loser. I’m making new friends and that’s pretty cool in my book
CindyC at Organicpicks
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Jennifer Anisten or Jessica Simpson
June 4, 2008
Posted by CindyW in : Green Journal , 9 comments
While all you good people have joined Greenbean’s bookworm bin and are probably reading ecologically relevant books, I am pathetically drawn to reading…uh, trash – People, Us, and occasionally In Style. No, I am not quite at the level of In Touch or other smut rags where aliens regularly make appearances.
Not that I care a shred about whether Britney Spears has gotten herself in trouble again, but on the few days that I am exhausted, I am prone to lay on the couch and leaf through smut rags if I happen to have them in the house. They can be two years old; it doesn’t bother me. It seems that TV isn’t vacant enough for me. People and Us are at the pit of my brainless valley. Something about celebrity coupling and garb de jour completely attenuates my brain waves.
Given what Google has been tracking, I am not alone. Britney Spears kicks Global Warming’s butt in terms of popularity. Sad, I know.
So for 30 minutes every few weeks, I shut down my mind and get into the lives of Nicole Kidman and Jake Gyllenhaal. Then I promptly forget the stories about them. Five minutes after leafing through an issue of People, I can’t recall much. Perhaps this is how smut rags work – they count on people shutting down their brain functions and then repeat the same stories over and over.
The only principle I have about trash reading is that I am NOT allowed to buy one. It’s bad enough that trees are cut for intellectually scintillating books. To decimate precious resources to fill our heads with the latest boob jobs is no less than a crime against humanity.
What do I do to get a peak of worthless yet oh-so-sickly-alluring trash?
I used to “speed-read” at Safeway checkout counter. Ever since farmers’ market seduced me away from supermarkets, I did not have a “regular” source, until I discovered I could borrow from a neighbor. You see, knowing your neighbors yields benefits in so many ways. Others borrow garden tools, I get People.
In fact a few neighbors around me subscribe to various magazines, including smut rags. We decide to share our monthly subscriptions – Time, Economist, People, US, and National Geographic, last of which is from our household.
I am quite happy that our National Geographic issues get around the neighborhood. At the end of their circulation, I put them on the curb with a free sign. They always disappear after a day.
I still feel bad about reading People in many ways – it pollutes my mind, wastes my time, and squanders natural resources completely unnecessarily. Really, do we care whether Nicole Kidman’s child has 13 toes? or that Pamela Anderson is married for the 15th time?
I can’t explain the psychology behind the attraction toward celebrity trash, but I feel a little less bad when one copy of People, not five, goes through 5 households. In short, if you must read smut now and then, don’t buy or subscribe. Millions of people subscribe to this crap. One of them may be your neighbor…
Chile, I will quit some day. Really, I will.
CindyW at Organicpicks
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The Ups & Downs of Being Green
June 3, 2008
Posted by CindyC in : Opinions & Thoughts , 2 comments
I don’t consider myself an eco-nut but I probably do think more about environmental issues than some other folks I know. Deserved or not, I now have a green reputation among friends and family. Labels don’t mean much to me but over the past few days, I felt the extremes of being labeled green.
The high point happened at a backyard get together. Our friends had moved into this lovely home with a HUGE yard, full of fruit trees, berry bushes and all sorts of established plantings. While at the party, my friends told me of plans to completely wean her yard off of pesticides and synthetic fertilizers. They have been getting free compost on community giveaway days, researching composting bins and working with their gardeners to find better pest control alternatives. My friend said her efforts were inspired by my quest to maintain an organic garden, not to mention the various bits of information I had given her on pesticide dangers. She also asked me for other ideas, which I was able to give her based on my own experience and recent learnings from my green book club. It was a lovely party and I felt great that I had made a difference in my friends’ lives.
The low point involved alternative fuel. A few of my friends believe global warming is a crock and often try to engage me in futile debates – futile meaning that they really just want to make their points rather than listen to mine. The latest attempt rests on the flurry of recent articles blaming rising food prices, rapid deforestation on the push for alternative fuels. They asked how I could support taking food from hungry children or cutting down trees that I’m suppose to hug. To their surprise, I actually agree with them, sort of.
I have never been in favor of food crop source biofuel. I don’t think it’s a far leap to predict a conflict between the world’s thirst for energy and food if you pit food crops against fuel crops. If there’s demand and you are a poor farmer, I doubt you will resist clearing the forest or planting the lucrative crop to feed your family. I am no expert on the booming alternative fuel industry but I know not all biofuels are created equal. There are very important distinctions between ethanol and biodiesel and whether it is made from food crops or non-food crop sources, like from recycled restaurant oils or even algae. Although fuels like ethanol may be a contributor to rising food prices, it may be nominal when compared with other global triggers. Gas2.0 provides an excellent summary of statistics and factors to support this claim. (It also provides a great biodiesel primer and mythbuster
It wasn’t the argument that made me low but rather the pains we must endure before finding the optimum solution that’s good for our planet and the greater society. It makes me sad to see forest clearings and loss of biodiversity for the benefit of fuel crops (and likely large corporations). It makes me sad to see world hunger and poverty line divide increase. It makes me even sadder to see the skeptics use potential missteps to deflate the rising green movement. So I guess my color today is blue.
CindyC at Organicpicks
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