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Bottled Water 
Tue Aug 25, 2009 at 08:12:55 AM PDT
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One of the easiest ways to up your locavore score is to drink tap water and home-brewed tea instead of bottled or canned drinks of any kind. You'll save lots of money, reduce your carbon footprint, and probably do your health a lot of good too.
Ironically for me, several major brands of bottled water are made from my local tap water. That means if I choose the right brand, I am still drinking local ... just at an outrageously high price. But you may be drinking my city's water hundreds of miles away.
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Wed Jul 01, 2009 at 15:21:01 PM PDT
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Most concerned citizens find that it is increasingly hard to argue against the fact that waste management has become a gigantic problem in the world, with landfills growing to the size of small counties, oceans being used as dumps and recycling habits remaining dismally low on the radar. The number of plastic bottles produced by the bottled water industry and subsequently discarded by careless consumers has not just exacerbated this problem but added on extra detritus to an already polluted planet, the majority of which is not bio-degradable.
The pic above is from environmental artist and photographer Chris Jordan, check his website for reality checks on pollution, it is mind-boggling. And extremely depressing.
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Fri May 01, 2009 at 08:00:00 AM PDT
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- Monsanto's throwing rotten tomatoes over on Civil Eats. It's a piece about the same Scientific American article on heirloom tomatoes that Joanne Rigutto took on on this site, and Monsanto's rep showed up in the comments.
- Ever wonder about that Ethos water that Starbucks sells? They say it's an ethical product, but is it? This blogger wasn't convinced. Personally, I find it hard to believe that ANY bottled water could be considered ethical. It's amazing that we are so lazy that we can't be bothered to fill up reusable water bottles and instead we insist on single-use plastic bottles that we throw away.
- Check out this awesome program in New York. They are recycling cooking oil into biodiesel. Yay!
- Cut the tray and cut the waste? Apparently it's true - if you don't provide students with trays in their cafeterias, they opt for less food.
- Wow!! If you're a map geek, check this out! They are maps showing which areas in the U.S. are most suited to solar, wind, and biomass energy.
- Should you make it or buy it? I've been on a budget lately so it's a question I ask myself. This article goes over that very question on a number of foods: yogurt, granola, crackers, cream cheese, and jam to name a few. Of course, the equations might change when we're talking local, organic food.
- Food and Water Watch has a nifty new toy on their site called Global Grocer. It lets you "go shopping" for produce and then tells you where that item was probably from.
- The FDA is finally wising up to ranking symbols on food packaging that point consumers to "better" choices. Good thing too, because food marketers' opinions of what constitutes a "better" choice is often pathetic. And for more information on this topic, I HIGHLY recommend reading the book Appetite for Profit by Michele Simon, in which she thoroughly analyzes such ranking systems, which appear on such "healthy" products as Kraft mac n cheese and Lunchables.
- Really sad news? Rich countries are buying up farmland in poor countries. For a map showing which countries are buying and which are selling click here and scroll down slightly.
- You totally have to check out this kickass report from the USDA. It's a beautiful, illustrated guide to a bunch of their research. They've got info on organics, biofuels, the impacts of NAFTA, food insecurity, consumer trends, and more.
- The headline says it all: Fat, salt, and sugar alter brain chemistry, make us eat junk food. No surprises there.
- Our own JayinPortland will post a review of Food, Inc soon, but if you can't wait (or want to hear a second perspective), here's another review of the film.
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Wed Apr 29, 2009 at 12:56:10 PM PDT
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Going to the Portland screening of Food, Inc. tomorrow night. Can't wait to see it! Let me lay out a sampler platter right quick...
- Today's LOL moment while looking through the news: Lobbyists with the National Association of Home Builders are whining about the Obama administration's reversal of another last-minute Bush administration attack on the environment and endangered species. Always fun to see lobbyists pretending to be for "transparency" in government. Especially since NAHB's PAC, BUILD PAC, apparently has trouble of their own in providing transparency when it comes to financial disclosure obligations right in NAHB President Joe Robson's own city council elections. Amazing what 30 seconds of googling can reveal. Hey Joe? You might wanna check your own house first, before you start whining about 'transparency' in others', okay?
- An article in today's New York Times takes a look at college cafeterias that have gone trayless.
- This piece takes a look at the new student-run food pantry at Oregon State University in Corvallis.
- desmoinesdem has written about Rob Marqusee here before, and now he's back in the news. Marqusee, the Woodbury County (Iowa) Rural Economic Development Director, will be eating only local foods for the month of June, and blogging his experiences at the Woodbury Organics site.
- An advisory council set up by Vancouver, B.C. mayor Gregor Robertson has issued a report suggesting measures to make the City the world's greenest, while the city's park board continues to debate a proposed ban on bottled water sales in park board vending machines.
- Dawn at the Sustainable Table blog posts a few very useful links to help determine exactly how long any given food stays good for.
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Sat Mar 28, 2009 at 16:58:29 PM PDT
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Mon Jan 05, 2009 at 16:43:07 PM PST
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Knowing of my interest in food and water, a dear Australian friend of mine sent me a copy of the BBC's excellent investigative team, Panorama, which was aired Down Under recently. The documentary showed how many Fijians are falling ill and dying from typhoid and other diseases caused by a lack of safe, clean water. The irony of course is that these South Pacific islands have a flourishing bottled water industry, worth over $200 million per year and employing around 700 people. Having visited Fiji twice I can vouch for the purity of its water. Bottles of Fiji natural mineral water are a common sight in restaurants and on supermarket shelves across the US and Europe, some are cleverly called Fiji Water, and it travels up to 10,000 miles to get to your table, depending where you are. Click on the preceding link and you will see how they use Obama's name to push sales. Follow me for the sick story.
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Tue Sep 16, 2008 at 12:38:10 PM PDT
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Believe it or not, high food prices and economic recession have resulted in at least one good thing: consumers are ditching their bottled water habits!
Sales of bottled water go flat as consumers return to the tap
The ubiquitous plastic water bottle, long the bane of environmental campaigners, is being ditched by consumers in Europe and the US as incomes slump and people return to the tap for a free drink.
Sales of the world's best-known brands, including Aquafina and Volvic, have tumbled in some countries as weakening economies take a toll on household incomes and consumers become more concerned about the environmental impact of throwing away the plastic packaging of a liquid that can be drunk for free.
In the US, where bottled water consumption is higher than in any other country, supermarket sales are at their slowest rate since bottled water became popular a decade ago.
Total sales volumes are up just 1 per cent this year (including recently popular brands such as Glaceau that contain added vitamins and fruit infusions), according to US soft drinks newsletter Beverage Digest. This compares with growth of 11 per cent over the same period last year, and more than 21 per cent in 2006.
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Sun Aug 10, 2008 at 10:12:59 AM PDT
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You'd be surprised. We are told that drinking copious amounts of water may improve our health, but if we continually drink water containing contaminants we could become susceptible to many illnesses, from asthma to Parkinson's disease. We have become, more or less, human filters for toxic water. Tap water today is unfit for human consumption and filled with many toxins. If you aren't treating the water you drink to remove them, you are the filter for all of these toxins. But...but, you say, governments are supposed to ensure that tap water is safe to drink. Well, this common belief is bolstered by reassuring, yearly reports from local water departments showing low levels of contaminants in their water. Think again: metals that contaminate many water systems across the country include lead, cadmium, mercury and arsenic. The list goes on. Lookee here.
It is a simple fact that drinking tap water is simply not an option if you want to stay healthy. I don't have to remind you of how the Roman empire fell.
Cross-posted on the Big Orange.
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