Musings For A Darkened Room

It seems like everywhere you turn these days companies are trying to “go green” and make their product “all natural”. And while I applaud the efforts that are being made, I feel that a lot of programs and a lot of green living advice goes undiscovered. As consumers we are lead to believe that reusable grocery bags, CFL’s, organic products, and hybrid cars are all there is to help make a better tomorrow. But one important factor that most people aren’t aware of is the value in choosing local farms and suppliers when we buy our groceries.

When you buy locally there are a few advantages. First, you cut back on the amount of pollution caused by transportation of the item. Many items we buy are shipped from all over the U.S. and the rest of the world through various forms of transportation. Local products do not travel as far, if at all, and therefore do not have the same impact that a national supplier may have. Buying locally also helps stimulate your local economy. You are contributing to jobs and the welfare of people who live in your community. And finally, in the case of produce, you get a fresher product. If a fruit or vegetable doesn’t have to be trucked across the country it’s going to be a lot fresher when you get it.

How Can I Find Local Products?

There are a few ways to find out what’s available in your area. First, and probably the easiest, would be to check with your local grocery store. See if they know if any of their products or produce are from a local farm or vendor. Another option would be to go to a grocer that you know specializes in holistic living or local farming. Henry’s Farmers Market, which is the store I frequent, actually labels local products and produce. In fact the chain has devoted itself to helping support local growers and suppliers. Another grocer, Whole Foods Market has become a very big name in the holistic community and offers a number of organic and sometimes local products.

Farmers Markets

Another way is to support local growers and suppliers directly through farmers markets. Farmers Markets are often held on a regular basis in communities and they are a direct connection between farmers and the public. They are great way to not only get fresh produce, but another great way to support your local community and the environment.

Community Supported Agriculture

But perhaps the most interesting way of supporting local growers and suppliers is through Community Supported Agriculture (CSA). CSA allows people to invest in small farms through a subscription or membership and in turn they receive a weekly or monthly delivery of produce, flowers, fruits, eggs, milk, meats, or any sort of different farm products. Again this provides you with fresher food since it comes straight from the farm. You also save a substantial amount of money on produce because you remove the middle man from the business. You pay the farm directly and don’t deal with the price hike you see at grocery stores. Finally you decrease your impact on the planet. Smaller local farms tend to use fewer chemicals on their crops and often use organic farming practices. They also grow a smaller amount of crops because they have a more predictable number of consumers to sell to, which cuts back on packaging and on wasted crops.

For more information on farmers markets in your area and Community Supported Agriculture, visit LocalHarvest.org. There you can search for farms and farmers markets in your area. You can also get more information on Community Supported Agriculture and farms in your area that you can help support.

So today Misty and I were supposed to go to the Whole Children Whole Planet Expo up in Nothridge, CA. But unfortunately a small feud and a late start ruined our efforts and after seeing how horrible traffic was while trying to leave Corona we decided against it.

Though we missed out on some great opportunities on green and natural family living, I still did my part today to make myself and now others more aware.

While at Target I stopped by the snack bar to get an Icee and some nachos. Sadly this will probably be the last time I order nachos from Target. I discovered that instead of pulling a serving of chips from a large bag, they have the chips pre-packaged by serving. This clearly creates significantly more plastic waste than one large bag would create.

In addition to finding out about Target’s nacho serving practices and my decision to no longer order their nachos as a way to help cut back on the amount of waste we produce, I decided to try and go green with one of my favorite beverages today. While shopping at Cost Plus World Market I discovered Blue Marble Organic Pilsner; an organic beer that is brewed here in California. The beer it self has a nice full flavor and the cost wasn’t bad for a six pack. I am definitely going to consider buying this beer again in the future.

The advantages to switching to an organic beer are not only that I am putting nothing but organic ingredients in my body, but also that the farming done for the ingredients is done organically without harmful pesticides or chemicals. The beer is also brewed here in California, meaning that the short distance required to transport the beer cuts back on the pollution caused by transporting goods from one place to another.

As the year progresses Misty and I also progress with our strive to live as green and as natural as possible given our current living situation. Switching to more organic produce, making sure we recycle everything we possibly can, and cutting back on waste have been some of our biggest changes.

So with Earth Day on Tuesday I decided I wanted to post a top five list of things I have done in 2008 to become more environmentally friendly. It’s a little late, but relevant none the less. Nature and the environment have always been things I have respected and felt needed to be preserved. So at the beginning of the year my wife and I decided that we were going to make a solid effort to do our part to become more environmentally friendly. Here are the top five things we have done this year to be more eco-friendly:

5: Though we’ve always actively recycled we made a more conscious effort to recycle items from all rooms of our home. Before the focus was mainly on beverage containers.
4: Switched to environmentally friendly cleaners from companies like Method and Seventh Generation
3: Invested in the reusable cloth shopping bags. This will cut back on the number of plastic bags stores distribute.
2: Switched to organic and environmentally friendly soaps and shampoos.
1: Switched to organic produce where possible. Obviously organic produce is still up and coming in the grocery markets, but whenever possible we buy local and organic to cut back on the pollution from pesticides and transportation.

So one of the days I was home last week I caught a glimpse of the Today show, and they were doing a feature on an elementary school class in Massachusetts that did their part to eliminate not only unwanted mail, but wasted resources as well.

By using a new online service called Catalog Choice, they canceled 4,175 unwanted catalog subscriptions in a single month. Catalog Choice was established so that you can cancel any unwanted catalog subscriptions without having to call or contact the various companies you receive the catalogs from in order to be removed from their mailing lists. Simply sign up with Catalog Choice and select those catalogs which you no longer wish to receive. Best of all IT’S FREE!

So how does this help save natural resources? Well not only does it free up space in your mailbox, but it helps preserve natural resources. Kate Sinding of The Natural Resource Defense Council reported on the Today Show that over 19 billion catalogs are mailed in the U.S. each year. These catalogs equate to 53 million trees!

Since it’s start, almost 500,000 people have signed up and have opted out of nearly five million catalogs. This alone saves nearly 225 Olympic swimming pools worth of water, the same amount of energy it would take to power 3,500 homes on an anual basis, and is roughly the equivalent of taking 6,000 cars off the road in a year.

If you’re interested in participating in this new service I strongly encourage it. It’s easy, it’s free, and all you need is one of your catalogs handy to fill out the information on the website. For more information visit http://www.catalogchoice.org. If you’re interested in seeing the report from the Today show you can watch the whole segment at http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/2282050822820508.

If you work at a school, or your kids are in school and are interested in making a difference like the students in Massachusetts did, The Today show wants to know. Visit http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/22811067/ and let them know how your school or class did! Perhaps you can beat 4,175!