2009 Green Changes!
Living in Europe, Munich, Germany to be exact, generally means you pay for your water. Members of my basketball team let their fellow teammates shower while they lather up. The people than exchange their shower rites-easy! We have changed our dishwasher cycle to a shorter one-from 120 minutes to roughly 35. The washing is still done for whites at 60 degrees C but the others at 30 degrees C. I utilize a bollerwagen-a stronger version of the little Red Flyer-to do our grocery shopping so no auto involved. Still looking for more alternatives-including local shopping!
Good luck on your projects for 2009!
Please Read
The book"RED HOT LIES"
Global Warming
Read the book "Red Hot Lies" by Christopher Horner!!!!!!
The hangup over clotheslines
In June my brother put up my 5 line, 2 "T" bar clothesline up. I began using it immediately. I am proud to say that I have not used the dryer once since the lines went up. I line dry everything from A to Z. I cannot get enough of the fresh scent that nature puts into the breeze that dries everything. Comments from my neighbors are all favorable. I am not looking forward when the weaather turns and I will need to turn in my clothespins and return to the dryer in the basement. Just a note for future line dryers, I had to search high and low to purchase a pair of T bars. I found it at Yoders department store in Shipshewana, IN. However I now have seen several online stores that carry a variety of clotheslines. Line dryer and Proud!
Big ups to you! I'm surprised it was so hard to find the bars, but it sounds like some northern Indiana Amish hooked you up. My line is just a rope strung between the garage and a tree, and my neighbor ran his from his back porch to his garage, so it doesn't have to be complicated. Welcome to the club! - Diana
FOOD MATTERS..the Movie
CONGRATULATIONS to the Detroit Evolution Lab!!
Gregg and Angela pulled off a spectacular event!!!! "Food Matters" was a huge success! It played last night at Shed 2 in Eastern Market!!
And the fact that Eastern Market wants to do events like this once a month! If on the first night they can bring in a crowd like that, I counted over 165 people, all in lawn chairs, blankets, sitting on the ground or standing the whole time to share that powerful movie, then I look forward to what future events can do!! Shed number 2 is about to host a movement!
Food Matters is a movie about serious issues I all a lot it...I am one of the many in the choir...BUT if people in that crowd didn't know it and go out and spread it ...more and more and more..it will become infectious...in the really good way!!!
You too can spread the word....and knowledge!!
I know I plan to watch it many more times....because even though I 'get it' I couldn't even take in all the facts and numbers and was so excited to be overwhelmed by some of the data and want to take notes next time to do further research!!!
Nutritional Therapy is something I assume all of us on this list do....I have on and off since 1991 when my father got lung cancer...I pumped that man full of so much carrot juice he was tinted orange ( and no I am Not joking!) and with vitamins, everyone thought I was crazy but the medical profession won out and chemo and cancer took it course.
Sure that is sad but I also received a gift from that, from my father...(and not his last!) and what I learned was to be my own care taker so I poured over books and books and books (this was before the internet) and I have not stopped. Instead i have become knowledgeable in my taking care of ME and I had to as I lost my health insurance after my father died, which by the way back then only 11 million of us did not have it, now over 44 million do not!
With or without insurance I still strongly believe we need to take the drivers seat in taking care of ourselves and Education not medicine is how I have learned to do that!
Now seeing the motion and evolution of others doing this on such a large scale makes me so happy that this is more then just a fad or an 'underground hippy movement'. I had no choice I had to learn to eat to stay healthy with my hypoglycemia and to prevent diseases to help any ailments. I went 14 years without insurance until I got a job i am at the Detroit News.
So I took responsibility for my health...and you can too and likely are...and though I need to learn more I am not burdened by that I am encouraged! I even see raw coming more and more into my life..I see the removal of cheese... and oh how i love cheese.
But over the years I have made many lifestyle changes in my diet and all of them have been for the betterment of ME, so how can that be a bad thing?
You are what you eat! We've been told that since we were children. This documentary really brings this point home with some interesting facts and research.
Go watch it!
Being Green in Detroit
This is a great topic. I think so many people want to be Green or want to know more but don't always understand it, like how you said "buying into something you can't see". Being Green in Detroit is one of the topics I would like to see brought up at an upcoming Unconference event on October 12 @ 2pm at MOCAD downtown and would love some more passionate people there with me. I'm a member of the Ning group and there's already some discussion going about the event http://ccs2unconference.ning.com/ Anyone interested should join to group and start chatting. I would love to meet and connect with more people interested on this topic.
Organic Wine
I just came back from Napa Valley. I heard that our tour would include a stop at an organic winery. I was skeptical. I was very surprised to find myself liking these wines very much. I found their Pinot Grigio to be one of the best I have ever had. http://www.madonnaestate.com/ If you can find them you are in for a treat. they are not sold through retail outlets. It flopped me from being a skeptic to a believer in the potential of a green process making no compromise wine.
USDA Accreditation
The Organic Trade Association applauds the U.S. Department of Agriculture's National Organic Program (NOP) for making available information from its auditing process for accredited certification agencies. NOP's Aug. 5 posting of the renewal status of accredited certification agencies is an important first step in providing transparency to consumers on the process to review and audit the organic certifiers in the quest to maintain the integrity of organic operations.
Certifier approval, inspection and enforcement have always been founding principles of national organic standards, and they are critical to maintaining trust between the consumer and the industry.
Because the National Organic Standards were fully implemented in October 2002 and this is a new industry, this is the first time such a report has been issued.
As designated in the NOP report, certification is still valid not only for operations certified by agencies that have successfully completed the process but also for operations certified by agencies listed as "renewal on-going" or "renewal pending subsequent audit." USDA plans to conduct follow-up audits to complete the accreditation process on these agencies within the next 12 months.
To see the posting listing the current status of the 55 domestic and 40 foreign accredited certifying agents, go to: http://www.ams.usda.gov/AMSv1.0/getfile?dDocName=STELPRDC5071121&acct=AQSS.
The Organic Trade Association continues to support the work of NOP and to advocate for proper funding for NOP so that it has the resources it needs to enforce the organic regulations that cover all organic food and beverage products sold in the United States. OTA believes the completion of the audit process is a hallmark of the organic system's integrity and commitment to continuous improvement.
