Organic vs. Local

The local vs. organic debate is a tricky one. The best answer, of course, would be "both"! (Even better if "local" means "grown in your back yard.") But often "neither" is the only option we have.

Assuming you have to make the choice, however, go with organic over local. Why? The environmental impacts are much larger.

A recent Chicago Tribune article reports, "Christopher Weber and H. Scott Matthews, professors at Carnegie Mellon University, say transportation accounts for only 11 percent of total greenhouse-gas emissions associated with food, while 83 percent is related to production." Yikes. In other words, try to go with food that is organic and in-season wherever it's being grown.

Another striking tidbit from that article: "If you want to reduce the carbon footprint of your diet, cut back on consumption of red meat, which Weber and Matthews say is responsible for producing 150 percent more greenhouse gases than chicken or fish."

Holiday cards

Holiday cards have been sent and received for this season. They hang beautifully from our doors or refrigerators or bulletin boards. We enjoy them for a month or so, until the holiday spirit fades.

What do you do with old holiday cards? Keep them, of course! Almost every card you receive can make at least one really good gift tag. Some can make three or four! It's a great way to get more enjoyment from your beautiful cards. Once you've cut out some lovely gift tags, recycle with rest of the card. It's easy, cost-effective, and, best of all, green!

Maybe you'll want to send out more cards to your friends and family next year. Be careful, of course, when you're picking out next year's greetings that you don't buy cards that are made of first-use paper and unhealthy inks. Instead, look for cards made of recycled paper and soy- or vegetable-based inks.

Red Stamp, for example, offers over 100 different eco-friendly cards. They even offer photo cards, if that's your tradition, made from recycled paper and printed with soy-based inks. You can find a whole slew of cute holiday cards at Seltzer Goods. Their cards and envelops are made from 100% recycled paper and made in America. They're also printed with veggie-based inks.

Another great option is Etsy, which is an online resource for handmade items from across the nation. Some artists on Etsy use eco-friendly materials in their cards. (I love these, pictured above.) The holiday cards you'll find on Etsy don't cost any more than store-bought options, AND you'll be supporting individual artists, not corporations and sweatshops. It's quite easy to search the entire database on Etsy, so you don't have to look through each artist to find fun holiday cards.

Of course, more creative green card options exist, too. Zanisa, for instance, sells cards with Christmas tree ornaments made from handmade recycled paper embedded with seeds. These cool cards serve three purposes: you send them as holiday greetings, the ornaments decorate the receipients' trees, and, if the receipients throw the ornaments in some dirt after the holidays, the world is beautified -- and carbon sequestered -- by some pretty flowers. (Don't have any spare dirt? Consider guerilla gardening.)

Another option with auxiliary benefits: getting your holiday cards from a non-profit organization. The Sierra Club, for example, offers lovely card choices made from recycled paper and soy-based inks that feature nature photographs.

Remember, holiday cards typically go on deeply discounted sale right after Christmas. If you're the type to plan for next Christmas on Dec. 26, be sure to look for cards made from recycled paper and soy-based inks. And enjoy!

Holiday lights and trees

The holidays are close upon us now. If you're still thinking about getting some lights or a tree for this year, learn how to make your holiday more eco-friendly. Even if you're done decorating for the season, take note of these tips for next year. (Plus, the days after Christmas can be a great time to stock up on more sustainable holiday supplies for future years.)

Holiday lights: Look for LED light strings. All the arguments for LED lights over incandescent bulbs in your house still apply. They are cheaper to run, they use less energy, and they last practically forever. And year by year they are easier and easier to find in stores. Home Depot, for example, has a TON of options. So do Sears and Kmart.

Trees: This is a tough one. A really tough one. In fact, there are very few good options here. You could forgo the tree although, the best option, or you could decorate a tall potted plant instead. But if you must have an honest-to-goodness Christmas tree, there's a lot to consider.

First, consider an outdoor potted tree that you can bring in for the week before Christmas. Or planting your own Christmas trees. In six or so years, you'll be able to harvest your first one, and, so long as you plant one a year, you'll be set from then on out. Both of those options are realistic for the suburban or rural homeowner.

If you live in an urban area, an apartment, a rental property, or a condo, you have a different set of options. Some cities have Christmas tree rental programs where you can have a live potted tree in your home for the holidays, then send it back out to pasture, so to speak, for the rest of the year. This is a great program. Your next-best option after that is an organically-grown tree. These are getting easier to find.

If none of the above options work for you, you are now in a toss-up situation: conventionally-grown chopped down tree vs. artificial tree. Conventional tree farms use a ton of chemical pesticides and herbicides. Most conventional trees to reach your neighborhood also had to be shipped a long way, leaving a large carbon footprint behind. If you choose to go with this option, buy the most local tree you can, and research how to environmentally dispose of it (using a wood chipper to produce mulch is good, as are programs that use them for fish habitats in lakes -- see what's available in your area).

Artificial trees offer much more convenience and can be used year after year. However, most are made of unsustainable plastic, contain lead, and are produced in China. Again, the carbon footprint of that transportation is large. If you choose to go with this option, make sure you take good care of your tree so that you may use it for decades. Also, do not buy a new one. Look for one at thrift stores or through the classifieds (Craigslist counts too!). In this way, you are not adding to the ecological impact of your tree. In fcct, you are taking it out of the waste system, which is always a good thing.

For more of Christmas trees, check out this article from Green Promise.

For ideas on green tree-trimming and home decoration, see Crunchy Chicken's article Greening Your Holiday Decorations.

Image from http://www.thelasvegasadventurer.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/12/tree_recycle.jpg

Eating Local

Eating local is an extremely important part of living sustainably in the modern world. When you choose locally grown/raised/harvested food, you are dramatically reducing the carbon footprint you take on when you by food that has been shipped long distances (gasoline and diesel needed for that), kept cool or frozen (loads of energy required for either of those). Plus, buying local stimulates the local economy. Not to mention that food grown on smaller establishments are more likely to be organic/less pesticide-laden.

Luckily, it's getting easier and easier to do so. People living in the rural US have always been able to grow some of their own food and probably get some from neighbors too. In the suburbs, the amount of people planting fruits and vegetables in their yards or on their porches is growing every week. Many suburbs have monthly or weekly farmers markets. And people with larger tracts of land within the suburbs are calling on friends and colleagues to do some collective farming on their acres. Meanwhile, in the city, community-based farms are spreading like wildfire. There are more and more of those special places where you can rent or volunteer to tend a small patch of land within the city to grow your own food. And new skyscrapers are currently being designed that incorporate growing spaces for each apartment/flat. It truly is an exciting time to move toward eating local.

There are, however, unique challenges of eating local. Certain foods just can't grow in certain places because of the climate/growing zone. In Florida, for example, no apples. Most apples need to grow in zones 8 and below. No luck here in zones 9/10. So we have to look for other options.

On the other hand, okra grows like crazy. It's the only crop we've had huge success in this year, and we didn't even work for it at all. But we haven't the slightest idea what to DO with the okra. Fried okra? Check. Then what? Growing your own food and eating locally grown food in general requires that we get a little creative. We have to look outside our favorite three vegetables, for instance, and learn to enjoy the foods that grow naturally and happily in our areas. This is a good thing! Fed this way from childhood, our kids will be less picky eaters. And we adults will manage to consume a more balanced and nutritious diet if you can focus on what's local. Fresh food right off the vine is the most nutritious; some foods actually lose nutrients when they are frozen.

Try some local fruits and vegetables. Unless you live in the Midwest, those foods may be quite different from what your forefathers (or even your parents!) made the staples of their meals. But branching out into the foods that grow locally to where you currently live is better for the environment, for your health, and for your sense to connection to your sustenance.