Sustainable Choices

Sustainable Gift Sites

2007-12-27T14:20:00.000-08:00

Grassfed = Grassfed

2007-12-27T14:17:00.000-08:00

The USDA has passed a standard for grass-fed meats!!

"...grass and/or forage shall be the feed source consumed for the lifetime of the ruminant animal, with the exception of milk consumed prior to weaning. The diet shall be derived solely from forage and animals cannot be fed grain or grain by-products and must have continuous access to pasture during the growing season."

mad cow disease

2007-06-15T12:50:00.000-07:00

The USDA has an approved method they use to test fewer than 1% of US Cattle for Mad Cow Disease. Some farmers would like to use this same method to test 100% of their cattle to ensure their meat is safe for consumers; however, now the USDA is declaring these tests to be "useless". If the test is accurate enough to be able to catch something when only 1% of the population is sampled, then why not test all 100%? The USDA is afraid of false positives, i.e. a healthy cow could accidentally be labeled as sick, causing a panic over US meat. Notice that they do NOT mention any concern over false negatives, i.e. a sick cow being sent to consumers...
MSNBC on this story
Fox News on this story
Organic Consumers on this story
CBS on this story

vegan pork buns

2007-05-22T16:47:00.001-07:00

On Saturday I hosted a party after my boyfriend's PhD hooding. Since then, I've had requests for the pork bun and other food recipes. Here they are...

Vegan Pork Buns
The bun part of the recipe can be found here.
The filling is firm tofu sliced and diced and pan fried with "Soy Vay Veri Veri Teriyaki" sauce and onion. Form the bun as detailed in the recipe above.
To cook, place each bun on a square of parchment paper and steam for 10 minutes. Eat hot, cold, or freeze to reheat later (pile on a baking dish and bake at 350 degrees until warm).

Vegan Wheat-Free Cookies
Recipe available here.

Eggplant Dip
Recipe available here.

Meatballs
100% grassfed ground beef, seasoning, bbq sauce (we used trader joe's)
Mash, roll into balls, and bake

Agriculture Maps

2007-04-13T14:44:00.000-07:00

I just came across this website, the 2002 census of agriculture, which provides maps of the United States with information on where land is chemically treated, where our produce and meats come from, and more! Definitely worth playing around with. For example, do you know where canola comes from?

Sustainable Furniture

2007-02-22T11:39:00.000-08:00

The LMAS (the lab I work in at UC Berkeley) has been looking for a couch that will be both durable and functional. Traditionally, a leather couch is the solution, because it can be easily wiped clean, is comfortable, and will last a lifetime. Unfortunately, leather often comes from poorly treated cattle, as mentioned in previous posts. And, the processing of leather involves a plethora of toxic chemicals (note: it is unclear how this compares with chemicals used to process the fake materials). So, what else is out there?

Earlier I posted many vinyl options here, considering them an improvement over leather. However, vinyl (polyvinylchloride) requires toxic chemicals during manufacture, and then slowly "de-gasses" these over its lifetime. A more sustainable non-leather option is polyurethane. There are some fabric makers involved with fake leather that is sustainable, but they don't make furniture.

Some sustainable options are available from:
http://www.viesso.com/products/model.php?cPath=3
http://www.qcollection.com/index.php?mode=tfo_showroom
http://www.greensage.com/furniturestore/pbHfurnasofas.html

Hammock:

Running out of Fish

2007-02-06T11:55:00.000-08:00

They are tasty and good for us, but will we have any left in 50 years? According to the MSC (Marine Stewardship Council), only 3% of the world's fish stocks are under-exploited. This means a whopping 97% of our fish supply is being used up faster than it can be replenished!! And things are not getting better: demand for seafood is growing by 1.5% per year.

Seafood Alliances has information on how various sea critters are caught, and some commentary on whether or not they feel this is sustainable. A quick and easy reference for anyone interested. I would not, however, take their advice on sustainable restaurants without further investigation.

The Monterey Bay Aquarium also has an excellent factsheet on seafood sustainability.

Finally, when using these guidelines for "sustainable" fish consumption, be aware that those listed as "good" are only relatively good and our overall consumption should remain cautious.

Curbing Greenhouse Gases

2007-01-24T19:31:00.000-08:00

An article in the Huffington Post points out that raising the more than 10 billion animals required to feed this carniverous country is a major contributor to global warming (source). According to the article, if we all go vegetarian, it would reduce emissions more than if we all started driving a hybrid car. Water pollution, land degradation, and grain overuse are other potent side-effects of the american diet. For those of us interested in sustainability, going at least mostly vegetarian seems to be an important "wedge" towards curbing greenhouse gas emissions.

Sustainable Health

2007-01-23T21:59:00.000-08:00

What is important for the "sustainability" of our health?

Some experimentalists over at BBC think we should go back to the diet of our ancestors before agriculture (over 10,000 years ago). The argument is that agriculture is relatively new in our evolutionary history, and perhaps our bodies have not evolved to process the large amounts of grains, dairy, and grain-fed meats agriculture provides.

They decided to test their "evo diet", which basically means eating wild fish, game-meat, nuts, fruits, and vegetables, by feeding 10 subjects this diet for 12 days. In the end, their cholesteral went down by an average of 23%! (note that all the subjects of this study originally ate mostly processed and high fat foods so there was lots of room for improvement).

Obviously processed foods, refined sugars, and meats fattened on grain are new enough that our bodies have not had time to adapt. The question up for debate in my mind: should we really eliminate grains like wheat and rice?

Decide for yourself:
The BBC's Study
The Evolutionary Diet
Human Diet Timeline

Recycled Clothing

2007-01-16T13:54:00.000-08:00

Two designers have recently caught my eye:

Caitlin takes old books and turns them into purses (Rebound Designs). I'm now on the lookout for some outdated engineering books with quirky titles...
Angela Johnson makes "punk couture" dresses from old t-shirts.

Online Clothing Stores

2007-01-16T00:17:00.000-08:00

Most people associate "vegan" clothes with potato sacks, but times they are a-changin'. These clothes actually have some style (although some more than others):

Designer Bags - Matt & Nat
Mens and Women's Shoes - Novacas; Moo Shoes
Women's Shoes - Beyond Skin
Mens and Women's Clothing - Pangaya; Bourgeouis Boheme; Alternative Outfitters; Under the Canopy ; Down Bound; Justice Clothing
Women's Printed Tee's- Wildlife Works; Herbivore Clothing
Fake Fur - Faux; Posh Pelts

And, for those of you who aren't already convinced that leather and fur-free products are the way to go, you MUST check out these videos.
Some of you will shy away from these videos because you know it will upset you; yet you will continue buying leather shoes and fur-lined jackets. Please recognize how ridiculous this is; if these practices are so upsetting and you couldn't do it yourself, then why is it okay to pay someone else to do it?

100% Grass-Fed is Better

2007-01-15T23:58:00.000-08:00

Why should you pay extra to get 100% grass-fed instead of mostly grass-fed or just grain-fed products?

Not only are grass-fed foods better for your health (see evidence), but these farms also practice sustainable farming by rotating their crops, keeping animal to land ratios low, and maintaining healthy animals that are not forced to eat foods their body cannot properly digest.

Don't fall for any others that claim "grass-fed" but supplement or "finish" the meat with grain (Neiman Ranch does this).