Well, it’s been a busy year so far. Got my business sold, moved into a new place, started a new business, and will soon be launching my vlog!
New business can be found at http://vivalagreens.com.
Keep an eye out for the new vlog at http://greenadventures.tv (nothing there yet!)
So much is happening right now!
I’ve decided to sell Eat Your Veggies! Please pass the word along!
I’m also moving out of my apartment, but don’t know where to yet.
I’m working on a kid’s environmental book with a friend.
Also going to do some cooking video clips that will be posted here and other various places on the web. Trying to create an internet presence for myself before I do the full-length cooking DVD. Keep an eye out for those!
I’ll be going out of town to Texas the last two weeks of December to see family and friends. I’m also giving my car to my mom and getting a VW TDI which I will run with biodiesel.
I’m going to try and update this blog more too!
Hope everyone is doing well! Say hello sometime!
From the Seeing Green Blog at checkthemarkets.com
You know a movement is becoming a Megatrend when Jim Cramer and CNBC is promoting it. Yesterday Cramer and company were beating the drums about how many children in the US have become vegans or semi-vegans. According to the statistics he threw out, there are supposedly 3 million children in the US who don’t eat meat. He claimed there are over 1 million children who are strict vegans, and that number is growing every month.
“This is a growing trend, a serious, money-making trend” Cramer dramatically reminded his audience. Many parents, millions and millions of them, want to protect their children from pesticides, herbicides, injected hormones and meat riddled with anti-biotics.
These devoted parents are spending billions of dollars on organic and natural foods, including organic and/or free-range sources of meats. But the big story is how many parents want their families to be meat-less. That is fueling an enormous investment theme.
That is why Wall Street is loving publicly-traded companies like Hain Celestial Group (Nasdaq:HAIN) which Cramer indicated was the “King (or Queen) of Organic and Natural Foods”, or words to that effect. They seem a bit expensive to me right now, selling at 20 times next year’s earnings. They have an operating margin of around 10%, but their quarterly revenue growth is amazing! Year-over-year it’s up 69%, and what is also impressive is that the stock is selling for less than 2 times book value.
They do have a big wad of debt and I didn’t care for their balance sheet, but as Cramer pointed out, they have an impressive product line and seem to be ahead of the curve when it comes to their product offerings in the natural food realm.
Another stellar provider of natural foods is Hansen Natural Corp. (Nasdaq:HANS). They too seem expensive at at future P/E ratio of 29, and their stock is selling for an astronomical 19 times book value. Yet, their balance sheet and cash flow statement look quite a bit superior to HAIN.
The good news in all this is that Organic and “natural” food is here to stay, and the number of people who are leading a meat-free life is increasing in a big way. There is hope for planet earth and perhaps this is an important ecological trend as well as an economic one.
For more information about “truly organic food” check out the Organic Consumers Association at the following web address: http://www.organicconsumers.org/. Isn’t it encouraging to think of millions of children living a balanced and healthy life!!!
August 16, 2007 – Canadians are a well-fed bunch. We do not generally have to worry about our food supply. For most of us, it’s just a matter of heading to the nearest grocery store. But global warming and the need to move toward more sustainable ways of food production could gradually change what we eat and how we get it.
Most people have heard about the problems associated with global warming and what it will do to our climate. We are more likely to get longer periods of drought, for example, and heat waves could become more frequent or more intense. That could pose serious problems for our farmers, especially on the Prairies.
But if global warming also lengthens the growing season, it would have a beneficial impact on farming in Canada — at least in some areas. Although more carbon dioxide (the main greenhouse gas) in the atmosphere from burning oil and gas is the primary culprit behind global warming, carbon dioxide itself can actually enhance plant growth. Commercial growers often take advantage of this enhanced growth by adding carbon dioxide to the air inside their greenhouses.
Because of these benefits some people believe that, although global warming will force changes to where and how we farm, it might have an overall net benefit to Canadian agriculture. Our growing season is so short that warmer temperatures and higher levels of carbon dioxide likely couldn’t help but increase yields. Could this really be an upside to global warming?
Unfortunately, the issue is not that simple. Not surprisingly, nature is often far more complex than we first anticipate, and that’s certainly the case with how plants respond to changes such as increased greenhouse gases in our atmosphere. For example, according to a recent article in the journal Nature, very little is known about what other effects enhanced carbon dioxide levels will have on our food. And some scientists are concerned that this knowledge gap isn’t being addressed quickly enough.
As it turns out, higher carbon dioxide levels have other effects on plants, and not all of them are good. Many crops won’t just grow faster in an enhanced carbon dioxide environment, they will grow differently. Generally, plants take up nitrogen from the soil in order to create proteins needed to help convert atmospheric carbon dioxide into sugars. But at higher carbon dioxide levels this job gets easier, so plants create less protein and take up less nitrogen from the soil.
But if plants don’t create as much protein, then they could become less nutritious — for humans as well as everything else that eats them. This could have implications throughout the food chain, because many creatures depend entirely on plant-based proteins — including important livestock like cattle. Studies done on plants raised with higher levels of carbon dioxide confirm that they do indeed contain less protein, though scientists are not sure how serious the problem will be. Some the protein deficiency could potentially be made up by adding more nitrogen fertilizers to the soil, but that poses other environmental problems, as nitrogen runoff from farms is already a major source of water pollution.
In higher carbon dioxide environments, the type of protein produced by plants also changes, which could alter the nature of some of our foods. Bread, for example, depends on a specific kind of protein called gluten, which is key to making bread rise. Other foods could be affected too. Andreas Fangmeier, a German professor of plant ecology and ecotoxicology, once said that by 2050, carbon dioxide concentrations could make french fries poisonous, beer foamless and wheat flour unbakeable. An exaggeration, most likely, but he raises an interesting point — one that we currently know very little about.
Global warming is a very serious problem. But it is also one that is both fascinating and perplexing in its complexity. When everything is connected, you never know what one change in the natural world will mean to the entire system. We just have to remember that ultimately whatever changes we make will come back to us in the end. We had better choose carefully.
I know I haven’t blogged in forever! I’ve been super busy with two different projects.
One is a workshop with my friend Darren called From Patio to Plate: Small-Space Gardening & Seasonal Cooking.
http://frompatiotoplate.com
Second is a macrobiotic cooking dvd. Read more about this at http://frompatiotoplate.com/macromadeeasy
I’m super excited about both of these projects.
I may be moving to the Bay area by the end of the year, and traveling the world by January.
I also want to get a cookbook published to go along with the dvd.
I’m taking jazz dance at SMC this Fall semester, and plan on learning to play piano and take spanish lessons (for my future trip to Argentina).
So I’m a busy girl! Hopefully I can start posting some recipe teasers from my cookbook soon!
Much love,
Christy
Starting in August I will be in need of a very part-time kitchen prep person and a delivery driver. As of now I cook/deliver on Sundays and Wednesdays. That may change once I find a new kitchen (may be Saturday and Tuesday evening, with deliveries being in the middle of the night or early next morning).
If you are interested in either position please send me a resume or a letter explaining your experience.
Both positions start at $10 an hour, plus food, but will increase as the business grows. Delivery person receives mileage reimbursement.
I may have more hours during the week for marketing and pr if you are interested or have experience with that. Mostly distributing flyers, but if you have graphic design abilities I could use your help in many ways.
Please email christy@eatyourveggies-la.com with interest.
You can check us out at http://eatyourveggies-la.com!
Thanks!
Christy Morgan
What do “spay” and “neuter” really mean?
Female dogs and cats are spayed by removing their reproductive organs, and male dogs and cats are neutered by removing their testicles. In both cases the operation is performed while the pet is under anesthesia. Depending on your pet’s age, size, and health, he or she will stay at your veterinarian’s office for a few hours or a few days. Depending upon the procedure, your pet may need stitches removed after a few days. Your veterinarian can fully explain spay and neuter procedures to you and discuss with you the best age at which to sterilize your pet.
Spaying or Neutering Is Good for Your Pet
* Spaying and neutering helps dogs and cats live longer, healthier lives.
* Spaying and neutering can eliminate or reduce the incidence of a number of health problems that can be very difficult or expensive to treat.
* Spaying eliminates the possibility of uterine or ovarian cancer and greatly reduces the incidence of breast cancer, particularly when your pet is spayed before her first estrous cycle.
* Neutering eliminates testicular cancer and decreases the incidence of prostate disease.
Spaying or Neutering Is Good for You
* Spaying and neutering makes pets better, more affectionate companions.
* Neutering cats makes them less likely to spray and mark territory.
* Spaying a dog or cat eliminates her heat cycle. Estrus lasts an average of six to 12 days, often twice a year, in dogs and an average of six to seven days, three or more times a year, in cats. Females in heat can cry incessantly, show nervous behavior, and attract unwanted male animals.
* Unsterilized animals often exhibit more behavior and temperament problems than do those who have been spayed or neutered.
* Spaying and neutering can make pets less likely to bite.
* Neutering makes pets less likely to roam the neighborhood, run away, or get into fights.
Spaying and Neutering Are Good for the Community
* Communities spend millions of dollars to control unwanted animals.
* Irresponsible breeding contributes to the problem of dog bites and attacks.
* Animal shelters are overburdened with surplus animals.
* Stray pets and homeless animals get into trash containers, defecate in public areas or on private lawns, and frighten or anger people who have no understanding of their misery or needs.
* Some stray animals also scare away or kill birds and wildlife.
Fix That Bunny!
When being conscientious about the pet overpopulation, don’t forget to spay or neuter your pet rabbit. Altering rabbits can reduce hormone-driven behavior such as lunging, mounting, spraying, and boxing. Spaying females can prevent ovarian, mammarian, and uterine cancers, which can be prevalent in mature does. Also, rabbits reproduce faster than dogs or cats and are the third-most surrendered animal to shelters.
Spay or neuter surgery carries a one-time cost that is relatively small when one considers its benefits. It’s a small price to pay for the health of your pet and the prevention of more unwanted animals.
http://www.independentfeatures.com/IFWeb/MovieDetails.aspx?id=154
“Critics take a seat, the Independent Features Film Festival will officially select films by a global audience via a web-based competition. The competition will take place June 1-30, 2007. Users will be able to rate each film they watch using a five star system, one star being the lowest, five stars being the highest. The top twenty-one films will go on to be screened at the Independent Features Film Festival which will be hosted July 27-29, 2007 at the acclaimed Tribeca Cinemas in Lower Manhattan. The festival will kick off with a red carpet premiere of the film with the most total points from the web-based competition.</font>The premiere will be followed by a “rat pack” themed party which will feature music, drinks, and entertainment. All VIP pass holders will be guaranteed admittance!”
1. The Big O
When you eat organic, don’t just picture the healthy food you are putting in your body, picture the healthy ecosystems which produced that food, the workers who are safer from chemicals, the land, water, and air that is being protected, and the wildlife that is being allowed to thrive. Organic vegetables, fruits, grains, juice, dairy, eggs, and meat (and don’t forget the organic wine and beer), are grown and processed in ways that support healthy people and a healthy planet. (While you may not be able to find or afford organic options for everything you need, certain fruits and vegetables are more pesticidy than others.) For details on the meaning of organic, see the USDA Organics homepage.
2. Fair fare
Fair trade certified food ensures a proper wage and working conditions for those who harvest and handle it. But fair trade is green for the environment as well. TransFair, the only fair trade certifier in the US, has strong environmental standards built into its certification process that protect watersheds and virgin forests, help prevent erosion, promote natural soil fertility and water conservation, and prohibit GMOs and many synthetic chemicals. TransFair claims that their environmental standards are the most stringent in the industry, second only to USDA organic certification.
3. Go local
Buying seasonal, local food is a boon for the environment for a lot of reasons. Since most food travels many miles to reach your table (1,500 miles, on average), locally sourced food cuts back on the climate-change impacts of transportation. Local food also generally uses less packaging, is fresher and tastier, and comes in more varieties. It also supports small local growers and lets them get more for their produce by not having to spend so much on packing, processing, refrigeration, marketing, and shipping. The best way to track down local food is at farmers markets or through community supported agriculture (CSA), which often offer home delivery.
4. Don’t follow the pack
Instead of buying foods that come in extensive packaging (most of which is petroleum-based plastics) look for unpackaged or minimally packaged foods, experiment with bringing your own containers and buying in bulk, or pick brands that use bio-based plastic packing. And of course try and recycle or reuse any packaging you end up with. [Trader Joe, we love you but it’s a packaging nightmare in there]
5. Compost the leftovers
Greening your meals isn’t just about the food that winds up on the plate—it’s the entire process, the whole lifecycle shebang. Composting leftovers will ease the burden on the landfill, give you great soil, and keep your kitchen waste basket from smelling. Apartment dwellers and yardless wonders can do it too! And yes, a composting toilet can be part of the miraculous cycle as well. (see below for more resources)
6. Grow your own
In the garden, in the greenhouse, in the window box, or something fancier. Even urbanites can get quite a bit of good eats from not much space.
7. To and from
7. Just as buying locally grown food cuts on “miles per calorie,” buying from local sellers cuts back on emissions, fuel consumption, and unnecessary traffic.
8. Just enough
8. Put some extra planning into the amount of food you cook will cut back on waste. If it’s something that will spoil quickly, try to avoid making more than you or your family can eat. If you’ve got extra, make a friend happy with a home cooked surprise. If it’s a bigger affair, give the leftovers to those who may need it more.
9. Raw
Many people swear by the benefits of eating raw. Whatever the health advantages may be, preparing raw food consumes less energy and because raw food is usually fresh by definition, it is more likely to be locally grown.
10. Ease up on the meat
Meat is the most resource-intensive food on the table and eating less of it can be the single most green move a person makes. Producing meat requires huge amounts of water, grain, land, and other inputs including hormones and antibiotics, and leads to pollution of soil, air, and water. A pound of beef requires around 12,000 gallons of water to produce, compared to 60 gallons for a pound of potatoes. If you’re a meat eater, for starters, try cutting out a serving of meat each week. Going vegetarian or vegan is a profoundly meaningful environmental choice, and it’s done wonders for Chris Martin and Prince.Back To Top Λ
1. Co-op-eration
Organize a local food coop or farmers market in your area. This will provide people in the area a convenient and readily available source of local food, plus help support area farmers.
2. Think like a squirrel
Purchase extra fruits during the summer and practice drying and canning them. Then they will be available year-round, even when they’re not in season.
3. Cooking with the sun
Solar ovens really work, even with dim sun. They can cook a huge variety of foods and don’t require any fuel other than our friendly local stellar nuclear reactor. What’s more, the basic design is so simple, most do-it-yourselfers can make one for very low cast. (Some ovens we’ve covered in the past are here, here, here, and here.)
4. The 100-Mile Diet
For many, eating local is a novel concept. The 100-mile diet is an idea that challenges people to source food from within a hundred mile radius of where they live. The idea has even caught on among restaurateurs and comes in website form, too. Also see the TreeHugger 100-Mile Thanksgiving Challenge
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By Rita Rubin, USA TODAY
Virtually all doctors in a national survey of six specialties reported some sort of relationship — from free lunches to payments for consulting and lecturing — with medically related industries such as those for drugs or medical devices, a report says today.
Researchers mailed surveys and a $20 check to a random sample of 3,167 practicing anesthesiologists, cardiologists, family practitioners, general surgeons, internists and pediatricians in late 2003 and early 2004. Slightly more than half responded. Among the findings, reported in The New England Journal of Medicine:
•Cardiologists were more than twice as likely as family practitioners to receive payments from industry.
•On average, family practitioners reported meeting 16 times a month with industry reps — the most of any specialty surveyed.
LINK: Policy forum
•Factors significantly linked to higher odds of receiving payments from industry included being male, having a patient population with fewer than a quarter on Medicaid or uninsured, and playing a role in training doctors or developing practice guidelines.
More than a quarter of respondents said they were paid by industry. “That to me is a pretty high percentage,” says lead author Eric Campbell, assistant professor of health policy at Harvard Medical School. He says he wasn’t surprised that family doctors met most often with industry reps: “They’re treating an incredibly wide spectrum of diseases.”
Doctors tell him they can’t be bought with a free pizza, Campbell says, but social science research shows that even inexpensive gifts can influence behavior.
The Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA), the main trade group for prescription drug makers, adopted a voluntary Code on Interactions with health care Professionals in April 2002. The guidelines say that only modest meals and gifts (and only those useful in medical practice) should be allowed.
“Marketing is one of several important ways for health care providers to receive the information they need to make sure medicines are used properly and patients are safely and effectively treated,” PhRMA senior vice president Ken Johnson said in a statement issued in response to Campbell’s paper.
If their goal is to inform, why do sales reps target only high-prescribers? asks Georgetown doctor Adriane Fugh-Berman, director of the publicly funded PharmedOut, which educates doctors about drug companies’ influence on prescribing. Fugh-Berman co-authored an article about drug reps’ tactics that was posted this week by PloS Medicine, an open-access online journal.
Co-author Shahram Ahari says he worked as a drug rep for nearly two years after earning a bachelor’s degree in molecular biology and Asian studies. “I was the only person who had a science education in my (company) training class. The science is really irrelevant to the actual sales. We’re there to befriend you and influence you.”
