Category — Miscellaneous

Many of my friends have started to use Sigg bottles. From Switzerland and made to last, these bottles exceed FDA requirements on preventing harmful chemicals from getting through and have been thoroughly tested to ensure 0.0% leaching.

They are also recyclable, made of alunimum, and trendy, a great combination. But most importantly, Sigg alunimum bottles provide an alternative to the toxic Lexan plastics that Nalgene is made out of. A Canadian outdoor gear company, Mountain Equipment Co-op has pulled all of its Nalgene bottles off its shelves for that reason. The claim is that Nalgene bottles have the chemical, Bisphenol A in the plastic behind it is made out of. I think I’ll start putting my Nalgene bottles away.

As you enter or exit Yosemite on highway 120, you can stop by a tiny town called Groveland, just 26 miles from the entrance of the national park. We stopped to get a coffee to prepare for a long drive back to the Bay Area at a place called Mountain Sage. Inside the store, we found an eclectic mix of things from an art gallery, a nursery, fair trade clothing and organic coffee and food. I ordered a looseleaf organic chai mix and my friend ordered a cappuccino.

It’s a great stop for a quick bite and shopping for even camping and backpacking gear. On June 2nd, they will host a Sierra Earthfest, with sustainable companies featured with food and activities in an outdoor fair.

According to a 2003 University of Washington study, having an organic diet can cleanse a child’s body from harmful pesticides in just three days. The study focused on school age children and showed that dietary exposures to insecticides (specifically organophosphate) were almost entirely eliminated when children were fed organic foods after just a few days. The exposures to the insecticides increased when the the children went back to conventional (nonorganic foods). Here is the entire study from the National Institute of Health.

As you may know, the Food and Drug Administration found melamine, a toxic substance also used to make plastics, in wheat gluten that may have gotten into the recalled food which has resulted in at least 16 deaths of pets. Here is more information from the FDA on the recall.

The Organic Consumers Association recently gave a great tip for pet owners: buy organic pet food. Here is a list that a nonprofit, Green People, recommends. Another idea is to make your own pet food.

If you’ve seen Al Gore’s film, An Inconvenient Truth, you might want to check out his website http://www.climatecrisis.net. My environmental friend Angela, forwarded me these thoughts on buying food from his website.

• Buy locally grown and produced foods. The average meal in the United States travels 1,200 miles from the farm to your plate. Buying locally will save fuel and keep money in your community.
• Buy fresh foods instead of frozen. Frozen food uses 10 times more energy to produce.
• Seek out and support local farmers markets. They reduce the amount of energy required to grow and transport the food to you by one fifth. You can find a farmer’s market in your area at the USDA website.
• Buy organic foods as much as possible. Organic soils capture and store carbon dioxide at much higher levels than soils from conventional farms. If we grew all of our corn and soybeans organically, we’d remove 580 billion pounds of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere!
• Avoid heavily packaged products. You can save 1,200 pounds of carbon dioxide if you cut down your garbage by 10%.
• Eat less meat. Methane is the second most significant greenhouse gas and cows are one of the greatest methane emitters. Their grassy diet and multiple stomachs cause them to produce methane, which they exhale with every breath.

The film, if you haven’t seen it yet, presents a lot of compelling data on global warming. I’d recommend checking it out. Purchase An Inconvenient Truth here.

Try reading this book “The Omnivore’s Dilemma” by Michael Pollan, an acclaimed journalist and food critic. The Omnivore’s Dilemma explores the food choices we make, where it comes from, and the subtle nuances among buying organic, local, non-gmo goods. Michael Pollan was able to influence Whole Foods to source more produce from local farmers. Pretty cool! Click here to buy directly from Amazon.

Food labels can be misleading. Check this out from Consumer Reports:

MEANINGFUL
“100% Organic.” No synthetic ingredients are allowed by law. Also, production processes must meet federal organic standards and must have been independently verified by accredited inspectors.
“Organic.” At least 95 percent of ingredients are organically produced. The remainder can be nonorganic or synthetic ingredients. One exception: Organic labels on seafood are meaningless because the U.S. Department of Agriculture has no standards to back them up.
“Made with Organic Ingredients.” At least 70 percent of ingredients are organic. The remaining 30 percent must come from the USDA’s approved list.

MEANINGLESS
“Free-range” or “free-roaming.” Stamped on eggs, chicken, and other meat, this label suggests that an animal has spent a good portion of its life outdoors. But U.S. government standards are weak. The rule for the label’s use on poultry products, for example, is merely that outdoor access be made available for “an undetermined period each day.” In other words, if a coop door was open for just 5 minutes a day, regardless of whether the chickens went outside, the animals’ meat and eggs could legally be labeled “free-range.”

“Natural” or “All Natural.” This label does not mean organic. The reason is that no standard definition for this term exists except when it’s applied to meat and poultry products, which the USDA defines as not containing any artificial flavoring, colors, chemical preservatives, or synthetic ingredients. And the claim is not verified. The producer or manufacturer alone decides whether to use it.

So I’ve started my first blog even though I vowed never to disclose personal information online. I love the Bay Area and organic anything…So I thought it would be great to start a blog on organic living in the Bay Area! Hence, the name “Organic Day”… tips on an organic lifestyle day by day. I hope you enjoy my first blog.

Note: I accidentally deleted my blog by mistake and reposted on May 16 some of the old articles since March. I hope you enjoy the site!