The Green Graze

A Taste of Everything Green 

Mother Nature is Calling...Will We Answer?

The Case for Conservation 

I'm not one to personify our planet, but I'm starting to wonder whether Mother Earth might be trying to send humanity a message.

Of course, there have always been natural disasters, oil spills, coal mine explosions, and even an occasional nuclear disaster. But events of the past two years should give us pause. The year 2009 saw the worst oil spill in U.S. history and the worst U.S. coal-mining disaster in 40 years. Together, these two calamities took the lives of 40 humans and countless marine organisms. Now Japan is dealing with the aftermath of the costliest natural disaster in history, and the continued threat of a nuclear meltdown.

The problem? Our western way of life is built on "cheap" energy, and our quest for and use of this "cheap" energy is getting us into heaps of trouble. It's not really cheap, of course, when you consider the externalized costs: ecosystems and communities poisoned with oil and sludge, people and wildlife exposed to unsafe and in some cases lethal levels of radiation, people killed in their homes by exploding gas lines, and perhaps most troubling, a climate increasingly showing signs of being out of whack with no turning back.

The road to a society powered by clean, renewable energy sources - wind, solar, geothermal, biofuels, and others - is going to be a long and bumpy one. In the meantime, we are going to continue to depend mostly on dirty, nonrenewable energy sources - coal, oil and natural gas - and nuclear. How are we going to get there without destroying the world as we know it along the way? One word: conservation.

 

Because carbon-based energy sources are so "cheap," energy waste is rampant in the Western world. According to the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, roughly 56 percent of all energy in the U.S. economy is wasted. Much of this is lost in the production of electricity from coal and natural gas, which is just another reason to move away from these energy sources.  

 

Because our lives are so very dependent on this cheap energy - from the lights we use to the cars we drive to the growing and manufacturing of the products we buy - there are dozens if not hundreds of things you can do to use less energy. Here are just a few ways that you, the consumer, can conserve energy every day, two of which may surprise you: 

• On the road. If you're in the market for a new car, visit www.fueleconomy.gov to find the most fuel-efficient vehicle that will meet your needs. Even better, go electric: the extended range electric Chevy Volt is available now, and the 100% electric Nissan Leaf will be arriving in dealerships soon. Support the shift from polluting foreign oil to increasingly clean, domestic energy by becoming an early adopter of this exciting new technology.

• At the market. Go easy on the beef. Producing beef is energy-intensive: researchers at Bard College and the University of Chicago found that overall, it takes about 16 times more energy to produce a 320-calorie beef steak than it does to produce a 320-calorie dish of rice and vegetables. Producing beef is also water-intensive: according to the Water Education Foundation, producing one pound of beef requires a whopping 2,463 gallons of water. What does water use have to do with energy? Read on.

• At home. Kill your lawn, install low-flow toilets, take shorter showers. Do whatever you can to conserve water. Why? Have you picked up a gallon of water lately? The stuff isn't exactly lightweight, and moving it around consumes energy. Lots of it. According to the California Energy Commission, obtaining, purifying and pumping water throughout California consumes 19% of the state's electricity, 30% of its natural gas, and 88 billion gallons of diesel fuel every year, for a total of roughly 20% of the state's total energy use. Just one more reason to treat water like a precious natural resource that's in limited supply (which it is, of course). 

To be sure, with the global human population approaching 7 billion and growing exponentially, individual actions on the part of consumers won't be enough to avoid destroying Earth's ability to sustain us and the millions of other life forms that live here. We're going to need a new, energy-efficient economy that is based on clean, renewable energy to do that.  

The road will be long and bumpy, for sure, but along the way, we must do what we can to smooth the ride by making sure that the energy we do have is put to the very best use possible. Then we can look forward to a time when oil spills, coal-mine explosions and nuclear meltdowns are a thing of the past and hope that Mother Earth continues to provide her inhabitants with relative peace and tranquility.

REDUCE Food Waste
The Bill Emerson Good Samaritan Act of 1996

According to a 1995 study by the Department of Agriculture, roughly 27% of all food produced in this country never gets eaten. Are Americans really that averse to leftovers? While plenty are, this problem is not as much about tossed leftovers as it is about food thrown out by grocery stores, restaurants and caterers. 

The next time you go grocery shopping, pay attention to the state of the produce: do you see bruised apples, wilted heads of lettuce and piles of over-ripe bananas? Do you yourself tend to avoid such produce? Many people do, which is why most produce fitting this description never makes it into a shopping cart.  

Less-than perfect produce, day-old bakery goods and other items past their 'best-by' date are constantly being purged by grocery stores. And all those ready-to-eat items? Ever pondered what happens to the prepared sandwiches, salads, soups, and rotisserie chickens at the end of each day?

Judging from a recent study by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency that found that 30 million tons of food ends up in landfills every year, it's safe to say that most of it ends up in the garbage. The same thing happens in restaurants and at catered events, of course, which helps to explain how it's possible that one of every four bites of American food never finds its way through a human digestive tract.    

It doesn't have to be this way. Perhaps contrary to popular belief, grocery stores, restaurants and caterers in the U.S. can donate unsellable food without fear of legal retribution. A law passed by Congress and signed by the President in 1996 protects restaurants and other food establishments in all 50 states from civil and criminal liability for donations of "apparently wholesome food."

The law, the Bill Emerson Good Samaritan Act, was a direct result of a 1995 survey that found that over 80% of U.S. food businesses did not donate excess food, citing liability concerns. For fear of a lawsuit, perfectly good food was being thrown away instead of donated to individuals in need. 

Based on statistics from the U.S. EPA, food businesses across the country never got the memo. Despite the law, in 1994, food scraps made up 6.7% of municipal solid waste, while in 2008, that number had increased to 12.7%. These numbers are before recycling, so increased recycling rates cannot explain the increase in food waste.

If you agree that it is unacceptable to waste a quarter of all food - food that took a significant toll on the environment in its making, by the way - then start talking. The next time you go shopping, dine out, or hire a caterer, ask the staff what happens to any food that isn't sold by the end of the day. If it is not being donated, hand over a copy of the Act, along with contact info for your local food bank.  

While your local food bank may not be able to pick up the donated food itself, it should be able to connect the food business with a local program that can. The Los Angeles Food Bank works with more than 600 agencies in the LA area, for example. Don't know the name of your local food bank? For an extensive database of food banks across the country, check out www.mamashealth.com.  

Food is too precious to waste. Speak up today!   

RECYCLE Crayons  

www.crazycrayons.com

Events and Other Stuff for Angelinos:

Earth Day Celebrations for the Whole Family

Other Events for the Eco-Conscious

• Climate change impacts on local communities (such as sea level rise, water management, heat index rise, community health impacts)
• Climate adaptation policy frameworks
• Decision-making an uncertain world
• Risk assessment & the role of the insurance industry
• Local case studies, tools & strategies