A Deeper Green

I remember a fairly recent trip to visit a friend in Madison where I was very jealous to see her show off the co-op (just blocks!) from her house.

But now, I can proudly say that soon there will be a co-op just down the street from me and I can barely contain my excitement! With a planned open date of mid-November I am sure I’m not the only one who is getting excited to have such a fantastic resource in the neighborhood.

I can only hope that it is a fantastic success and that other neighborhoods are inspired. And that the idea of locally owned and sourced grocery stores continues to gain traction throughout the entire country

To learn more about the Dill Pickle Co-op visit http://dillpicklefoodcoop.org

Also, I will admit that I haven’t signed up a member yet, but I fully plan to and encourage you to sign up as well

Originally posted on examiner.com

Whether its invasive carp coming up the Illinois River or E. Coli breakouts closing beaches in the summer, its no secret that Lake Michigan is facing some devastating problems.

This article by Adrianne Appel places the blame for these stresses squarely on climate change. While I will never argue that climate change does not have an effect on ecosystems, I have a hard time fully supporting Appel’s assertion that all of Lake Michigan’s ills can be traces exclusively to climate change. Even within the article there are several other reasons for many of the ecological disruptions brought up.

The biggest example of this is Appel’s discussion of invasive species. Yes, invasive species are a huge problem in the Great Lakes, and their negative affect on Lake Michigan is well documented, but there is no clear link between invasive species and climate change. Appel makes some attempt to connect the two stating that as our climate gets warmer, invasive species may be more suited to thrive here, but that leaves out a big piece of the puzzle.

Zebra mussels, one example used in the article, have been in Lake Michigan for almost 20 years already, and they were brought by commercial traffic. Climate change did not introduce zebra mussels to the Great Lakes. In fact, the climate where the zebra mussel originates from (Eurasia) is remarkably similar to our climate here. They are not invading from a warmer climate, but enjoying the similarities of our climate to their native climate.

Appel seems to be making the argument that because of climate change, animals like the zebra mussel are more successful at invading Lake Michigan. While I suppose there is a possibility that this is true, it seems unlikely, and Appel certainly doesn’t make a very convincing argument.

That being said there are many other ecological problems facing Lake Michigan that do have a link to climate change, and the article is still worth reading. I just caution you and other readers to not shift the entire blame to climate change. Yes climate change plays a role, but so do many other factors, like agricultural run-off, poorly maintained sewer systems, and the human introduction of invasive species.

So, I had a great and inspiring time at MEEC. I didn’t have internet in my hotel room, due to a router issue, so was not able to update like I was hoping too, but hopefully this little round-up post will be sufficient.

At MEEC I was able to attend a variety of sessions on everything from becoming a beekeeper, to keeping middle school kids optimistic, to wind energy. I honestly can’t pick a best or most interesting session, but I can tell you this: I have so much more to learn!

The presenters at these programs were phenomenal, and brought so much of themselves and their knowledge to the conference. I found myself being challenged by them in every session. Challenged to become a better educator, challenged to become a better co-worker, and challenged in my current understanding of environmental issues.

One of the biggest things that I was confronted with at this conference was how many people have real reservations about the effects of wind energy on wildlife. These concerns go beyond bats and birds, but also to animals like salamanders and turtles. I was also amazed to realize that there is still so much that we don’t know about these effects that wind energy might have. This will probably become a separate post after I do some additional research on my own.

Basically, what I would like to leave you with is how energized and excited I am after this conference. The people I met, and the people I talked to gave me a great rush of enthusiasm for the work that we all do, and made me all the more determined to be successful.

Thanks MEEC!

So to start off the day at MEEC, we were treated to a great and inspiring speech by Chad Pregracke, the driving force behind Living Lands and Waters. He spoke of his fantastic journey from a 17 year old kid who wanted to clean up the Mississippi River to the creation of Living Lands and Waters and on to what may even be a TV show on the Discovery Channel.

I was totally inspired and was so glad to be reminded that there are people out there that have accomplished things like this. People who are interested in making our world a better, cleaner place. People who are making a difference every day.

I don’t even think I can describe how fantastic it was to hear Chad speak today, but I can leave you with a link to his book From the Bottom Up: One man’s crusade to clean America’s river.

I have not read the above book, but I am planning on buying a copy of my own and providing a review here if there’s no room on your reading list right now.

Basically, just know that this is an organization with a great story and a great spokesman who is out there making the case for cleaning up our rivers, one piece of trash at a time

Some links to info about Chad and Living Lands and Waters:

~ You Should Know… Chad Pregracke, Chicago Magazine

~ Chad Pregracke: Garbage man of the Mississippi, MSNBC

~ Dude over troubled Water, Outside Online

~ Lending a Hand, Living Lands & Waters, Big River Magazine

Woo! I just set up shop in Champaign, IL and am getting ready for three wild days of conferencing.

I am here for the Midwest Environmental Education Conference and it will be my very first time. I’m excited to spend time learning about all sorts of things, including how wind energy effects wildlife and what looks to be a great session on the chemistry of green cleaners.

Since I’m so excited, I am planning on keeping you, my lovedly readers updated on all the awesome things I’m learning and people I’m meeting.

And with that, I’m off to rest and relax before running into the fray tomorrow.

‘Night!

So I’m fairly certain I’ve made my position on eating meat fairly clear. Environmentally, meat is bad news. There are also all sorts of other reasons that people talk about being vegetarian or for that matter vegan.

Today I had my attention drawn to this article by Jonathan Safran Foer published in the New York Times. Here he looks at vegetarianism in a very interesting and accessible way.

I recommend that you read it an digest it. It’s not a perfect article in any way. It only hints at the food politics behind much of the factory farming that goes on in this country, and mentions nothing about the ills of other animal products (like milk, eggs and cheese). Still, its worth a read, and as always, its worth taking stock of your own eating habits. Can you make a difference at the dinner table tonight?

So I have mentioned this topic in the past on a couple of occasions and today Beth Terry over at Fake Plastic Fish has up a good post about the movie Tapped and what she learned from it as well as some great info on bottled water and steps that you can take to make a difference.

Please read her article and pass it along.

I am hoping to see tapped myself in the nearish future, and hope that you will consider looking for it at a theater near you. For info check out the Tapped website.

So this year I got pretty excited about the farmer’s market near my house. It’s less than a mile away, and always full of tasty things. Because of the wealth of food I saw there I started thinking about ways to preserve that bounty for use in the winter when there is very little locally grown food to be had in the cold-ish climate that is Chicago.

The first thing I thought about was canning. This is something that my grandmother was pretty big on. I still remember eating her canned green beans and thinking that she was a culinary wiz! Unfortunately I have not been able to do any canning. There is some initial investment in canning that my $75 a week budget just couldn’t manage this year.

I also investigated some books to help me on my way to canning success. The ones I found that looked promising the Ball Complete Book of Home Preserving and Putting Food By. There were of course plenty of other books with some great information as well. I encourage you to check out several to decide what makes the most sense for you.

In investigating these books on canning, I realized that there are more ways to preserve food than just canning. And one of them takes practically nothing extra than what I have in my kitchen right now. That method is freezing. So on my last trip to the farmers market, I bought some extra green beans and some extra raspberries, and froze them for future use.

Now as with pretty much everything there is a better way to do things. For freezing my food I went with the best way I knew how to freeze which was by cleaning and prepping the food for cooking and then doing an individual freeze. For my raspberries I cleaned them and then laid them out separately on a cookie sheet. I then set the cookie sheet flat in my freezer for 24 hours, and when I was done moved the raspberries to a freezer safe gallon bag.

Here’s a picture of my raspberries ready to freeze (img_0182.JPG)

For the most part the freezing has worked out pretty well. Separating the food individually for freeing insures that they come out of the freezer individually instead of in a huge blob, which I know I will appreciate when its time to whip up those raspberries into smoothies and really took a very minimal amount of time. The only problem I foresee with freezing is that there is only so much room in my freezer

I am hoping to continue visiting the market until it closes at the end of October, and apparently, the Green City Market here in Chicago goes all year round. As the address for the indoor market is only a fairly short bus ride from my house, I am hoping to make this a part of my winter excursions to keep up with local farmers and vendors and continue taking advantage of any local bounty I can find!

For farmers and farmers markets in your area be sure to visit www.localharvest.org