By Jillian J. Bell

If you're reading this, there's a good chance that you're at least somewhat concerned about your seafood choices and the impact that they have on the environment. And if so, you probably make a good-faith effort to ensure that the seafood you buy is not overfished and is caught in a manner that causes minimal damage to the marine ecosystem. Perhaps you consult your Monterey Bay Aquarium Seafood Watch guide, or similar sustainable seafood guide while shopping. This, of course, is where things can get frustrating. 

In a perfect world, grocers across the country - and beyond - would be able to tell us the exact species, place of origin and catch method of all of the seafood for sale in their display cases. But the reality is that this information has historically been very difficult or impossible to obtain in the supermarkets where most Americans shop. 

To help fill this information void, Greenpeace has been evaluating the sustainability of seafood policies and practices of major U.S. supermarkets since 2008. Their annual report, entitled Carting Away the Oceans, rates supermarkets on a scale from 0-10, with a score of 7+ earning a "good" rating, 4-7 earning a "pass" rating, and 0-4 a "fail" rating. For the first four years, the report wasn't very helpful, other than to tell us what we already knew: supermarket chains don't give a hoot about seafood sustainability. Not one of the 20 supermarkets rated at that time received a "good" rating.

• The sale of any destructively caught or endangered marine species on Greenpeace's Red List for seafood

• Participation in conservation initiatives such as sustainable fishing

• Transparency of supply

• The establishment of internal policies that govern the company's purchasing decisions

To view the report and to download and print the Greenpeace Seafood Sustainability Scorecard, visit cato.greenpeaceusa.org.

Reduce, Reuse, Recycle

SoKind allows you to create a registry focused less on stuff and more on experience and charity. A project of The Center for a New American Dream, SoKind makes it easy to create a gift registry that encourages the giving of meaningful gifts that don't necessarily fit in a box.  

• Gifts of skill (think lessons, household help, childcare)
• Gifts of experience (think museum memberships, bungee jumping, opera tickets, wine tasting tours)
• Gifts of charity (ask for donations to your favorite nonprofit organizations)
• Gently used, secondhand gifts
• Day-of-event help (think set up help, photographer, guest housing)

The user-friendly interface and extensive list of suggested gift ideas makes creating your registry quick and simple. Deciding between cooking classes and a white water rafting trip? Not so much. 

 

Learn more at www.sokindregistry.org. 

 

When one thinks of the many trials and tribulations of parenthood, certain things are likely to come to mind: getting your baby to sleep through the night, convincing your young one to eat his or her vegetables, and living with a sassy or downright defiant teenager, to name a few. But I have found that one of the most surprisingly distressing things about my nearly 5-year old daughter is her utter inability to maintain interest in any given toy. Seriously, with very few exceptions, after about 24 hours, the magic is gone.

While I would like to think that this unfortunate attribute is unique to my daughter, I'm quite sure that she is not alone. If this sounds familiar, and you, like me, are the proud parent of a child who goes through toys like newspapers, you might want to check out Echoage.

Echoage is an online birthday party service that helps you cut down on stuff while teaching your child a valuable lesson in charity. As with Evite and other online invitation services, Echoage allows you to easily create and send free electronic birthday party invitations. But that's where the similarity ends.

With Echoage, your guests are invited to make secure contributions online, in lieu of giving individually-wrapped birthday gifts. Those funds are then split in two: half goes directly to the birthday kid so that he or she may buy one or two special things, and an equal amount is donated to the nonprofit organization of his or her choice.

It's a wonderful way to introduce children to the unique joy that comes from helping others, while cuting down on the stockpiles of neglected toys taking up space in your closests.

Learn more at www.echoage.com.

For more information, visit www.altcarexpo.com/index.php.


For more information, contact Lillian Light at lklight@verizon.net or at 310 - 545 1384.

Sincerely,


Kathleen Jacecko
Founder/Director