Re-occupy your body or accept the 3 reasons to die for

Veggies on Wheels is the newsletter that comes with Pfenning's organic box and this time it reports on Pfenning's participation at the Guelph Organic Conference (which I did not go to because it's in Guelp and I don't have a car to get there). One of the biggest issues were GMO, courtesy of Monsanto. Apparently the majority of Canadians still don't know anything about GMO (which box do they live in?). The reader is then referred to the article Re-occupy your body and a pamphlet has been enclosed from Cban.ca (Canadian Biotechnology Action Network) with info on GMO but I talk about that in another post.   


I have not read the whole article yet because it's long but I'm sure it's good. The three reasons that are most threatening to our health, and according to the newsletter make up the primary causes of disease and death nowadays, are: 
- bad food 
- most prescription drugs
- a poisoned environment

Which one disturbs you most and which one can you influence the best? Go figure. 
I am not concerned with the second point (yet) as I don't take any drugs. The first one is half-concerning to me. I know we still do not eat completely organic.  I am not feeling great about our daughter drinking non-organic milk but she drinks lots and the non-organic costs enough. Also, I am sure we'd eat a bit more meat if the organic stuff did not cost a fortune. But it's not actually that difficult to eat healthy and decent food. You do the shopping, you decide what's in your cart, it's in your hands. And by the way, buying non-organic produce and peeling it in the hope to get rid of the bad stuff does not seem the best idea. You are still supporting the farmers who contaminate our environment and the bad stuff will go through the skin of some fruits and vegetables. 

The poisoned environment is a huge concern, especially with this government that's big on setting up environmental disasters. You can't really "un-poison" the environment and get rid of all the harm that has been done but we can slow down the add-on of chemicals and toxic substances to our air, water and soil. Looking around me it still doesn't happen enough. For example, when I cycle or walk I probably breathe in more greenhouse gases than the car drivers. That's nuts! I'm the victim of other people's polluting habits. I noticed that most people are happy to give me a ride (if I ask) but carpooling is still not very common. That's nuts too! Driving is just one issue, but you scan make up the list yourself of activities that harm our environment. And then start ticking off the bad habits you give up. This should become a mandatory, annual exercise for everyone. I wonder how slowly or quickly things would change and how big the procrastination rate is.  

Redecorating and other bits and pieces

How is the New Year been so far for you? As crazy as here? My daughter lost my wallet yesterday, just to name one issue.

We had the Law Enforcement Agent from the city of Kitchener in yesterday to look at our windows. We heat very little (20 C is all we need) and the winter has been mild so far but with these windows we'd be heating the outdoors too. And they are wet and we get mould that I am sure was here before they painted the walls before our move in. The management sees nothing wrong in the windows because they are cheap and don't care but hopefully the agent can help us sort the issue.           
Today we finally got our organic box back. I'm so glad because our fridge and obviously we have been starved of organic produce during most of the holidays. Eating has just gotten better again. For Christmas I got a small food processor and now we even make our own sugar and salt-free organic peanut butter. Yum!

My most recent project was to sand off and paint the sturdiest chair in out apartment. It's a zebra now! Beautiful!! It's a unique chair now more than ever, we never had a match to it any way since it was given to us by family together with a dinner table and three chairs (they had broken one). But we don't need four ordinary chairs at the table because we have a high chair too so this fourth one adorns our living room. And it goes well with the rest of our black, white and dark green furniture. I also repainted the top of our coffee table that my husband redid over a year ago. He never sealed the top though so the paint kept chipping off. I put glaze on top, all good. I am still working on our former TV stand that has been turned into a play counter for our daughter. It's got a white base so far and large farm animal stickers around the side but I want to paint geometrical shapes still on top. Why buy new furniture if redecorating is so much more fun. 

Makes me think about a change in career considering the slow job market for office admin/ tourism jobs here in KW.  I have also taken up tutoring German and showing Cutco knives to whoever is interested. If you have read the article of David Suzuki that probably appeared in almost every paper in Canada on Christmas you know that these aren't the worst jobs and products. Services, contrary to manufacturing and mining, often do not harm the environment. Services generally do not produce (as much) carbon emissions, destroy landscapes and forests, pollute air & water. The article was great and I am sure I read something similar from him the year before - it needs constant reminders that we should not be so materialistic and wasteful. Did I mention that Cutco has a forever guanrantee? Cutco knives need very little resharpening (every 10 years or so) and the company does this for free for you forever. Cutco also takes back and recycles your old knives and therefore reduces a lot of waste. I could not sell anything I don't personally like but Cutco I do like not only from the environmental perspective.  

Did you read the article of the UN advising people all over the world to stop consuming so many dairy and meat products in order to stop climate change? Super interesting too. Producing food for cows and Co. produces as much carbon emissions as burning fossil fuels for cars, industry and households. And it takes good food, grains etc. away from our tables. You know we already don't each much meat but still have quite a number of dairy products in our household such as milk for the child, yoghurt for mum & daughter, cheese for all. Not sure if our dairy consumption is below, above or at average with the rest of the population in Canada, Germany and elsewhere. Something would be missing without these dairy products in our household. Especially since we can't grow tropical fruits here which would be a nice replacement but other than that I can't even think of one. Maybe that's how lots of people think about replacing meat. Although I find lentils, grains, greens, vegetables, beans are around in such a variety that I have certainly as many options there as there is different cuts of meat.         
Does any of your new year's resolutions help the environment?

Which world does he live in?

Frauenfelder's book Made by Hand obviously focuses on Do-it-Yourself-activities and still I am buffled how ignorant towards other benefits of his enterprises he (and his family) is. The first chapter was about replacing his lawn with a vegetable garden. The second one was about mending his espresso machine to make better espresso, something I can't relate too because I am no coffee-addict nor would I bother to cause myself high blood pressure by drinking espresso. The third chapter is about his chicken coop. Apparently he wanted to chickens for the eggs, although building the coop was the major DIY-job, but once the hens start laying eggs his family is all put off. On page 109 he admits that they buy packaged food, including eggs in a box from the refrigeratored shelves in the supermarket, and it obviously did not occur to them that this food comes from living creatures. The fact that the eggs slip out the hen's bottom upsets them. So it takes the family a while to actually overcome their absurdism and consume the eggs. Shockingly, when his kids bring friends over they all react the same, can't believe the eggs are edible and keep them as toys instead.  

I don't think I need to point out in detail my reaction to his revelations. I have a lot of trouble to believe anybody, ANYBODY, could be so disconnected from their food sources, have such a city-dweller attitude of "food comes from the supermarket", that they have trouble eating certain products like eggs once they realise it comes from an animal like a hen. What do biology classes teach nowadays? I bet Frauenfelder and his family could not drink milk from a cow milked in front of their eyes. I wonder if his wife breastfed their two daugthers. At the beginning of the book he mentioned that they took a breast pump when they moved with their newborn to the Cook Islands. 


Also, he does not mention anywhere that his home-produced food should be healthier than supermarket stuff. He notices the eggs look and taste different but does not seem to come to the conclusion that this is because the hens aren't battery-kept and fed on grains.  Unfortunately, his vegetables aren't necessarily poison-free. Until he got the chicks he had pest control come in every month to treat his garden against insects, spiders and beetles and such. He stopped doing this in order to not poison the hens. It did not occur to him that the treatment might harm him directly or through being absorbed by his produce? For him it's all about the experience of creating something with his own hands. He does not even mind to buy whatever it takes from the hardware store to complete a project. More accidently, he realises there are cheaper ways and he for example can use scraps from his junk pile that he tends to have in a corner of his garden.
  
I appreciate that he gardens, keep hens (and later in the book probably bees too) and gets his hands dirty. I would love his efforts even more if he considered his impact on the environment too though.

Food's important

One of the first things we did in Kitchener is obviously to check out stores, food stores. There are different supermarkets here that weren't in Edmonton. Instead of Safeway and Save on Foods we have Food Basics and Value Mart. I was shocked to not find any organic fruits and vegetables (nothing beyond bananas) in any of the supermarkets. Even Sobeys and the Superstore are lousy. So we got straight into business with Pfennig's Organic Box delivery and I am happy as anything. Don't get me wrong, these big stores do have packaged organic foods just not fresh produce. The offer at the farmer's market was meagre too. There I could not believe how many stalls sells their produce for cheap, really cheap, obviously having bought it wholesale somewhere and needing to get rid of it. There was nothing like that in Edmonton, it was all local and at the time of the year were there's barely any local fruit and vegetable the stalls simply got filled with local crafts and arts. Not saying, one or the other way is better, just mentioning it. I suspect that in order to buy for example from the Mennonites here in the area we' d have to drive into the countryside and get it directly from their farm. We can still try the Farmer's Market in Waterloo but for this season it's closed. 

The other thing I noticed is the higher prices for dairy here and whole wheat flour. The latter one really bugs me. First of all it only comes in 5 kg and nowhere in 10 kg bags and then, depending on the store, costs 60-100% more than in Edmonton. Argh! So I'll keep now white flour in my cupboard too. I have taken to baking our own bread again very quickly because the first two loaves of bread I bought in Kitchener in different stores both were mouldy on day 3. 
Today my bread rose so well it does not fit into the freezer bags. Can't wait to taste it tomorrow.                

We now live in Ontario

This fact alone gives me reason to write several posts (e.g. about the wind turbine protesters!) but I currently am too busy writing job applications so they have to wait. But a few quick remarks can be made. 

It's so much greener here, it rains more too but I am so happy about the green. Even when I left Edmonton a month ago it was not anywhere near as green as Kitchener-Waterloo is still now. K-W is much smaller than Edmonton which is great for walking and cycling - in only my hubby did not have a flat tire already. The old neighbourhoods looks so cosy with their old front-porched houses and tree-lined streets. I like it. The new neighbourhoods look similar to Edmonton's with wider streets, no trees along the street and not as cosy houses. I have spotted lots of cycle lanes on the roads and there are trails like the Ironhorse or Laurel Trails that also connect parks.         

Our new apartment is in a high-rise (6 floors) and there's some concrete in the construction. It seems that keeps the building warmer since we have barely used the heating, actually less than half an hour per day, and the apartment stays at around 20 C. The windows are two separate panes again and absolutely lousy. One of the windows has not been caulked and during a stormy night it was "raining" in our bedroom. Hopefully the contractors come soon. 

I am very disappointed that none of the supermarkets here sells organic produce. They do have packaged organic food but no produce. Even at the Farmer's Market organic produce is rare. Thanks to Pfennig's we will be receiving an organic box though starting next week and I look forward to it. I also found an organic food store in Kitchener's city centre but regularly shopping there will only be convenient if I was to find a job in that area. 

Yesterday I came across the Waterloo-based organisation World Accord  that amongst other things currently  runs a Sustainability Tour in the area. The competition is about to finish but reading about it I found out about businesses in the area that stand out for their environmental commitments and buying/ living local policies. Very interesting! 

Last but not least I recently came across Living Cities, a company that started out in 2008 in Kingston (hey, we almost moved there!) and is now expanding into other parts of Ontario. They developed products and run programs that encourage local food production, which also benefits the environment of course. I am thinking about applying for a job with them but the job would not start until April 2012 ... unfortunately that's 5 months from now and I could do with the money earlier. I am sure I would enjoy this job more than any other one I have applied for.
 

The apparently most dangerous foods

I just quickly have to post this link to the 11 most dangerous foods.

You may notice right away that they are all simple, some may say natural, foods, nothing processed but they are "dangerous". I eat them all the time and nothing has ever happened. But I also don't belong to the kind of people who put foods into the fridge, freezer or cupboards and forget about them for the next weeks or months to come. The conclusion out of this article could almost be: Eat processed foods. Stuff yourselves with junk food. It's safer! - Never mind that you will probably catch some other health issues due to excess fats, salts and sugar. Oh, maybe I should say then, chose your foods depending on which health issues you mind less. It's all up to you now. Not eating at all is an option too, will lead to the quickest death but at least you died healthily. No I am not going crazy, just disliking this rubbish article.

By the way I also don't agree with all the storage tips they give. I have friends who live without a fridge, they just have a cool pantry. But they also built their home themselves. Surely, most of us live in one of the modern standard housing options that keep in all rooms the same temperature which is too high for most foods. (I will write about that shortly) . Comes in the invention of the fridge and if you live in North America they are even twice as spacious as in most European countries.




     






             

Forget about the economy, think future

CPAWS has invited people to leave comments about 100 years Parks Canada. There's one from Judy Gibson pointing out very well what we all should know by now and that is that the new government sucks. They only think about economical growth, specifically through the exploiting or contaminating Canada's natural resources. She writes: "...but I am extremely worried that a number of new MPs have no real understanding of the enormous responsibilities awaiting them. They will need to be trained to think as responsible adults who care about social and environmental concerns, .... Much focus has been on ‘the economy’ as though it were not itself driven by a balanced and responsible management of the environment, and social programs, and ethical business practices."     

David Suzuki writes in his recent blog Science Matters that it's not our right to leave the world's devastated environment to our children and expect them to clean up. He also reports on a speech of his daughter that left world leaders speechless and on a boy who started at 13 his own organization to raise awareness of climate change. This boy wants children to ask their parents and leaders, "Do I matter to you?" ... For many adults, the honest answer would have to be, "No, we're more concerned about cheap gas, the economy, profits for the fossil fuel industry, and having more stuff."   

Richard Louv in Last Child in the Woods certainly has similar phrases in his books. There is far too much focus on the economy and one's own wealth than on the environment. Obviously, that's got to do with our lost connection to the environment and the scarce knowledge that we have about it makes us not care. 

Something in our economic model also seems to trigger a thinking that care for the environment and economic growth can't go hand in hand. I actually find it odd, but good, that our electricity provider, EPCOR, promotes ways on how to safe energy. Maybe they hope nobody listens. Any way, those two E's are not opposites like hate and love but it surely needs a will to make them run smoothly together. 

That reminds me of a brochure my daughter picked up today. It advocates to stop animal cruelty by becoming vegan! But you don't have to be vegan to protect animals and assure them a happy life. If you are concerned about feed lots and inhumane slaughter methods, you could find out where your animal products come from and chose those that allow you to eat them with a clear conscience. Honestly, we would not keep cattle, pigs and hens just for cuddles if nobody was to consume their products (meat, eggs, milk). If the whole world turned vegan there's no need to keep livestock. So this can't be the goal of vegans and vegetarians. Returning them to the wild is impossible. Besides, we are not capable any more to live with wild animals around us, near us. It's scares the hell out of most of us to think of a bear in the backyard. 
Interestingly, Louv mentions that we are disconnected from the sources of our food too; that lots of people dislike hunting and think children shouldn't play shooting at birds. But we are hunters & gatherers! In my opinion there's nothing wrong with hunting or fishing as long as the animal gets used well, e.g. eating - eat more than just the filet or steak, turn the hide into clothing, make a pillow from the feathers, ..... Compared to this, killing an elephant to get the ivory and then leave the carcass to rot is plain wasteful and stupid and unacceptable. 

We don't have to go to the extreme ends of options. But our priorities certainly need a makeover and reordering.    
                      

Beyond the supermarket

The above event was held today in Edmonton in order to promote better food options and their suppliers. The supermarket is certainly not the best choice for local, healthy food. The event was organised by Slow Food Edmonton http://www.slowfoodedmonton.ca/ and Just Food Edmonton http://www.justfoodedmonton.org, both organisations I had not heard about before but I am interested to find out more. After spending my morning standing along a race track in the cold though I did not actually go to this event which I regret a little now. But I still have the internet to research the participants. I am glad to know these organisations exist and that there's a growing interest in alternatives to supermarket food, that there are people seeking to find out where their food comes from and how it is grown or raised. Also, there's initiatives in the city that try to facilitate the growing of food through a city farm, community gardens and in schools. It's important that children grow up knowing that milk comes from a cow and vegetable from a field, not from the supermarket's fridge. It's even better if they can find this out with hands-on projects. This might also remind their parents that the convenience of a supermarket did not always exist.

Having almost finished the book Farm City I do miss the balcony we had at our last apartment where we had planted a few vegetables. The harvest was not big but worth a try. Admittingly, I did not research what would grow best in the conditions provided by our balcony. And having lots of burning sun did not work for everything we had planted. Novella is way more successful with her farm in the middle of Oakland, even raising chicken, rabbits and pigs. Having grown up on a farm was certainly to her advantage. In the books she points out how common it is in some Asian and Latin-American countries to have farms in the middle of a city in order to feed hungry mouths. The city of Edmonton that is intending to close the city airport does not think that far though. Instead of turning it into a park for recreation or a large city farm/ community garden they want more houses, more shops, more streets ... because this implies more revenue for the city, not necessarily better living for its residents.

The other side of plastic bags

I was at the dentist yesterday for check up and cleaning. As always I got a goodie bag of tooth brush, floss, tooth paste, more floss... The little plastic bag, that I wanted to reject, had an environmental logo on it and was from EPI (www.epi-global.com). I looked it up. They claim to have found the solution to breaking down plastic bags and making them biodegradable. Of course, if you read their blog posts they make all other bags bad, especially reusable cotton and jute bags. Below are the links to those articles. 

A study in the UK found that plastic bags have a smaller ecological footprint than reusable bags, unless you use your reusable bag more than 51 times. Honestly, I don't know why I wouldn't and throw my reusable bags out? They last a long time, I have had mine for years.  I don't even have to worry that they rip apart while I walk home. The study also assumes paper bags are used once only. When I go to the bulk food store I take my paper bags with me to fill them with cereals, nuts, grains etc. You bet I use them more than once because they are sturdy, too. Then somewhere it says that there is a hell lot of plastic packaging around us any way so why make such a fuss over plastic bags. Because you have to start somewhere. Maybe one fine day we are all back to bulk stores and you bring your own containers. That will automatically reduce the amount of recycling, not to talk about the volume of landfills. Dream a little dream. The other article tells us that E.coli and other bacterias grow in reusable bags, a problem not occuring in plastic bags. Sure, it's a world full of idiots, isn't it. Did I have to mention that you should wash your bags once in a while? Also, didn't we just say that most of our food comes in plastic packaging already, so what's the issue? It's not that you put your bread, fruit, cheese, sausage etc. without any packaging into the tote bag. If you worry about those bacteria how can you eat anything out of a non-organic supermarket - it's full of  things that are bad for you! And ever wondered about the bacteria within the supermarket, ever noticed that supermarkets are quite dirty places. 


I bet people who love their one-time-use plastic bags will love those articles. I don't. They don't mention that your jute or cotton regrows but the oil for your plastic bag does not.Of course, you could take bets now what will disappear earlier - oil or land that is still capable of growing crops. If the latter wins, we'll starve to death in no time so we don't need plastic bags any longer.
   
 http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/green-living/plastic-fantastic-carrier-bags-not-ecovillains-after-all-2220129.html


http://epi-global.com/blog/epi/alternative-to-plastic-bags-sparks-widespread-health-concerns/

Natural disaster

First New Zealand, second Japan, third ?. One time after the other our lovely planet Earth demonstrates is violent forces and causes a natural disaster, as we like to call it. And every time it will not be the last time. If one thing is for sure then it is the fact that we can not tame Earth's forces. We will always be exposed and vulnerable to earth quakes, tsunamis, hurricanes and the like. Yes, they are sad events but reading the news about Japan I also had two thoughts that might be a bit weird. 

The articles I read reported on three different nuclear power plants that were affected by the earth quake. Nuclear power plants! For what sane reason does a country like Japan have nuclear power plants? If the statistics are right, Japan receives 20% of the strongest earthquakes, that is a magnitude of 6.0 and up, on Earth. They experienced the devastating forces of nuclear power in Hiroshima and Nagasaki. But they have nuclear power plants. Yes of course, one would think, how could they live without. Japan is a densely populated country that wants and needs energy independence, especially considering who their neighbouring countries are. Lots of people use lots of electricity and sun, wind and other renewable sources of energy have not made it big style yet in most countries. Hydro - I don't know much about Japan's rivers but a breaking dam seems less disastrous than a nuclear power plant breaking apart during an earthquake. When the infrastructure gets wrecked within minutes how would they want to deal with this kind of event? Currently, it sounds like the nuclear power plants are doing alright but how well can they be assessed under the circumstances? I was not too impressed either with the oil refineries. At least one of them has gone up in flames that reach 30 metres (90 feet) into the sky. Exactly what's needed now. They are not going to stop that from burning until the oil is gone. Lot's of oil wasted for nothing, lots of emissions for nothing but never mind most conventional oil comes from the unstable middle east where oil tends to burn for no good reason. At least nobody, like BP or Exxon, can be blamed because it's a catastrophe due to natural forces. Did somebody there think they were invincible?     
 
We are a damn selfish species. If a natural disaster occurs we always think about the people who got hurt, not about the nature, the flora and fauna. I suppose half of all human beings think that plants and animals don't have feelings to start with. But let's face there's no food without plants and animals. So why is there never a mentioning of roughly how many animals died, if a national park or other area of outstanding ecological importance was affected for example, or if just another species got wiped out. New Zealand has lots of endangered species that only live there and nowhere else. What if the last kiwi bird got killed in an earth quake, would anybody care when that same earth quake killed people? Unlikely. Might be because we harm our nature all the time already any way, so why would we care if nature "hurts" itself. No, I don't think our planet actually thinks about that and considers the consequences, it simply does not care, just like us.          

Just another "superfood"

I really dislike these articles about all those foods that shrink your waist line, weight etc. (simply eat less if you are too fat) but I read the beginning of this one Lentils can help lose your belly fat because I love lentils and of course I have them in my cupboard, the organic option from a farm in Saskatchewan. Recently I chatted with a friend about dinners. She has 3 male at home (2 sons & 1 hubby) who love meat of course and aren't much into "experiments" when it comes to what they eat. In comparison I have a male at home who eats almost anything that I serve even if it is not a dish from a recipe but a mere creation out of the fridge's contents. So she was wondering if I often cook lentil dishes and I opened my cupboard and said "well, there's rice, pasta, barley, quinoa, green lentils, red lentils, couscous, buckwheat, .." I suppose we eat lentils frequently but surely not more than once a week because we have other options. She went home and decided to try a lentil dish for her lot - it went down okay. 


The above article states that Canada is the world's largest exporter of lentils - so we even eat local food! It also states that lentils are not very appreciated in Canada - no, because fries & burger have taken over everywhere and with regards to Alberta there's a strong cattle industry that  produces yummy, affordable (the non- organic version) beef. Lentils with beef in a stew should work though. I don't even understand when people eat a lot of processed and fast food. In Jasper we ate out for dinner, once pizza, once at Smitty's and three times at the Japanese place. After the pizza and Smitty's I thought I can't survive on this food all week - too fatty and too salty. So we went for Sushi, Udon noodles and other yummy and healthy options instead.

When you go to Europe look for Eosta

Let me write about food again because we all love eating.  Daniel Goleman writes in his book Ecological Intelligence about Eosta, Europe’s largest distributor to retailers of organic produce. I had not heard of them before but then again, when did I shop the last time in Europe ...  Anyway, Goleman spoke to Managing Director Volkert Engelsmann and found out that every product has a 3-digit code. This code will give the consumer details on the farmer and a profile of the farmer's operations when entered on www.natureandmore.com! That's pretty awesome, similar to our Organic Box which tells us the originating farm of every product. Engelsmann believes in the power of a transparent market place. - Knowing the background of a product wins more and more importance amongst Canadians too according to a new study. Instead of complaining to a company about their "bad" product (from sweatshops etc.) though Canadians simply don't buy it and find something else. I hope so.     

Back at Eosta, Engelsmann also says: “We serve an awareness elite, people who are concerned about health, the environment, social issues.” I don't like that "awareness elite". Dave & I think of ourselves more as hippies than an elite. We simply want to eat well and we are willing to spend a little bit more money on food, if that keeps crap off our table. We are not keen on picking up one of those Western diseases either. For Engelsmann the term elite justifies high prices that only the "high-income elite" (I made that up) can afford. Great for the farmer but only to the point where you have enough rich people to afford your food. The Organic Box always aims to pay a good price to the farmers too but once they are way better off then we are I am not sure I want to give them that extra money. Even buying organic food I do compare prices. If I can get my cereal at one organic store for $20 per kg and at the competition for $12 per kg, guess where I will buy.  

Back to Eosta again:  Products are rated by independent experts for healthiness, social qualities, and ecological impact. Environmental aspects include for example water consumption and composting. Eosta does a full Life Cycle Analysis on all greenhouse gas emissions throughout the supply chain, from farm to plate, supervised by Germany’s national certification agency. Eosta supports innovation to reduce methane, a greenhouse gas. The reason is simple: If you compost organic waste instead of adding it to the landfill, and keep turning it properly, it will not produce any methane. It will turn into a stable compost that increases soil fertility, which in return erases the use for mineral fertilizers, and increases the soil’s water holding quality (less runoff). Crops are also more pest resistant. Much to the contrary, nitrogen fertilizers popular in common farming cause greater yields but crops are more susceptible to pests. That's why farmers then need pesticides. Producing and applying conventional fertilizer contributes 16% of all greenhouse gases, especially nitrous oxide which is 300 times more aggressive than CO2.      

Also let's not forget that “most agriculture takes place near rivers and in deltas, where chemical fertilizer runoff causes eutrophication", meaning the growth of algae explodes, the water is depleted of oxygen and other forms of wildlife lose their habitat. Engelmann continues with, "The World Bank has financed a program to hire people to cut back the algae this causes before it chokes off the oxygen aquatic life need. But we said, instead of burning the algae and other alien vegetation, we’ll use it for compost and gradually replace the need for mineral fertilizers that cause the problem in the first place.”  Pretty good, eh. There's such a (seemingly) simple way of dealing with the damage our modern society creates. If only the made the farmer clean up the algae who used the fertilizers in the beginning - he might rethink his agricultural practices. Learning by doing - you are in for a lesson.

The last two paragraphs make me think that there lies the reason for the high prices - Eosta does an all-around-job which I much appreciate. The consumer might need to know all of this though to accept the high prices, and still have the money to pay for it. When a friend of ours joked he needed a mortgage to pay for his organic beef, I thought we simply eat vegetarian instead. And I for my part will keep comparing prices of organic products and chose the cheaper one, and keep receiving the Organic Box so I don't have to buy the not-so-fresh organic produce at our closest supermarket.  

What's wrong with hemp?

I have been wanting to write about hemp because very often when you read about it (Go, google it) there's lots of pros to the plant, as food and material. It's very versatile in its uses and one of the earliest domesticated plants known. Hemp is a proven alternative to wood and other plants and can be used in the production of over 25,000 different consumer goods (I also found numbers as high as 50,000). Hemp is naturally resistant to most insect pests and can be grown with few (if any) pesticides and fertilizers. Hemp is used in cosmetics, composite car parts, building material (hempcrete), bio-fuel, animal bedding, jewellery, paper, plastics, ropes, just to name a few things ..., as well as fabric. Fabrics woven with hemp are stronger, more insulating, more absorbent, and last longer than cotton. Hemp in food is actually quite healthy, especially hemp seeds. Hemp seeds contain essential fatty acids, amino acids, Omega-6s, Omega-3s and protein that is more easily digestible than in soy.  They are a source of calcium, iron, antioxidants, chlorophyll and other micro-nutrients. There are no known allergies to hemp foods. Our local organic store of course has hemp cereal mixes which is yummy. 

If a lot of products can be produced from renewable sources why are we not making more use of this, I was wondering?   
With regards to fabric the qualities of hemp above sound good to me. I think these qualities are the reasons though why we don't have much hemp clothing today - it's too good! Clothing manufacturers only make money if we regularly, as in frequently/ often, buy clothing. If everybody was like Dave and I they'd go bankrupt. We were our clothes until big holes appear but others might consider the clothes worn-out much earlier or simply want to follow the latest fashion trends. Cotton is renewable too but requires large amounts of fertilizers, pesticides and water - it's the most pesticide-intensive crop in the world. Once it's turns into clothing and other cotton products (such as for our hygiene) lots of toxic bleach is used polluting our air and water. Really not that good.        
Other than that, I found the following: Because of its height, dense foliage and high planting density as a crop, hemp is a very effective method of killing tough weeds in farming by minimizing the pool of weed seeds of the soil. This can help farmers avoid the use of herbicides and support organic production. Now comes the big BUT: Due to its rapid, dense growth characteristics, hemp is in some places considered a prohibited noxious weed. Ah!
With cannabis prohibited in most countries the worry about a hemp field being industrial or for drug use is also an issue. The production of industrial hemp is therefore licensed in many countries. Industrial hemp contains next to no amount of the psychoactive agent that is needed for the cannabis drug.     
Well, although these are good arguments against hemp I am still not entirely convinced hemp would not be at least sometimes the better alternative to what's being used right now.

       
I leave it here for today. Last but not least, here's a website I like on the subject: http://www.hemp.co.uk/index.php                    

More bits and pieces

It's winter in Edmonton, everybody here should have noticed by now. We noticed the icicles on the roofs of some houses but not on others. It's a matter of insulation. I spoke to an acquaintance yesterday who said her family of four lives in a rented non-insulated house. When they heat, the heat goes up into and out of the roof. That means the main floor is permanently cold and the upper storey is rather hot - even a crabby roof keeps some heat in. Why would anybody with some brain between the ears build a house without insulation in Canada?! Just another case where harming the environment harms the people, too. It can not be healthy to live in this house.

Do you like art? I framed my brother-in-law's art today. He always adds a drawing to the gifts her gives. I love it, not only because my husband (really the brother of that guy??) is not artistic at all. Anyway, life would not be fun without art and surely there's a lot of good and bad art around. I am not going to discuss environmentally friendly and unfriendly art supplies though because I don't know anything about them. But there's art even in lots of things we take into our hands on a daily basis - or at least part of these things can be turned into art. And it should be appreciated. I started making notebooks/ journals out of scrap paper and paper that's been printed on one side only. I got some scrap fabric and buttons from a friend, cut out pictures from the newspaper, use cereal boxes for the covers, but had to buy the glue from a store. Now that I pay attention it is impressive to me how much paper goes through a household and what it is used for. I have so much paper I don't think baby will ever allow me the time to turn it into notebooks. I keep trying though. See what you have in your place that can be turned into something useful, exciting, artistic ... have fun.

Oh that Michael Pollan - I finished his book - so one more comment about it. The American lifestyle is the culprit for the way Americans eat. That's a big statement but he sounds pretty convincing and well I agree, especially when it comes to holidays! He says that Americans work long days, 40 hours and more per week, with two incomes per household, and have only a couple of weeks holidays. But they also have the spare time to watch TV or DVD, play video games, shop, and in the rare occasion exercise for some hours per day.  I think that's due to marketing telling you to indulge in the pleasures of life instead of spending time on household chores. Hold on a minute, chores is the wrong word when it comes to eating. Pollan's comparison was mostly with the French and Italians who spend hours on food preparation and eating, converse while doing so and eat less at the same time. They eat until they are full, Americans shovel food into their mouths until the plate or microwavable package is empty. The French were one of the first to cut down on the number of hours they work. I bet they are still more productive than Americans simply because they are not burned out and sitting in the office recovering from their free time or holiday rush. Europeans don't need to rush much during their holidays they get at least 4 weeks per year. You get why we want to live in Europe sooner than later, right. My husband just asked for unpaid holidays. He's not entitled to holidays during his first year, never mind he worked in other jobs before he started this one so he's worked for over a year with one week vacation. His boss granted him the week but said they don't usually do that - well, we don't care if we are the exception to the rule if it works for us. Oh, flexible working hours would be a real advancement , too. That will prevent a lot of rush hour traffic, frustration, emissions blown into the air for nothing ... I think I just lost my topic but I wanted to say this. Last but not least, stop caring about advertisement - it is never right.          
       

 

 

         

Bits & pieces

Are you like me in doubt about what you buy at the supermarket then go and read In Defense of Food by Michael Pollan - you will not want to go to a supermarket again but instead move onto a farm and grow your own food, just to be on the safe side, and to contribute to the survival of the still remaining animal and plant species. They really have a hard time with modern agriculture and food science. Although it did not appeal to me to start with, it's an interesting book, especially the science behind our food industry and what food scientists forget, neglect, ignore and hide when they tell us what to eat or not to eat.        

If the Western Canadian Rednecks thought it's all leftist eco-freaks in the East they  have just been proven wrong. My hubby dared to tell me that the new Toronto mayor decided to lower taxes for cars and raise those for public transit. Dumbhead! Prime idiot Harper appointed Peter Kent as new environment minister and after Kent's first comments, especially the one that caused a media outcry about tar sands oil, I wonder which stance he takes towards the environment - protection and conservation can't be it. Someone who promotes the tar sands oil as ethical because it apparently does not support "terrorism, injustice or tyranny" seems to support the exploitation of our environment and is therefore in the wrong job! He's pretty uninformed too, I guess, because it's known that Canada's biggest foreign aid goes to the second most corrupt country in the world, Afghanistan. And surely, that's a terrorist-free and fair country, isn't it. Maybe I'm getting confused here.

The city of Edmonton has 100 pieces of equipment of their own and another 100 from contractors out on the streets to clean up the snow. Really? I wonder what those pieces are, shovels? snow blowers? at the best bobcats? The excuse for the lame removal of the recent snow fall was the fact that it's been the biggest snow fall in 6-7 years and that the city does not pay any longer to be prioritized by contractors. That means that contractors first clear snow where they get paid more and private businesses, especially malls, seem to be much better off - or not as cheap as - the city of Edmonton. Never mind, you might not be able to get out your own door but once you pushed and shovelled your car to the mall it's all easy driving from there. Not everybody is as cynical as I am about the whole issue. A survey on our neighbouring community league's website showed that 23% of residents are happy with the service. Where did they live before - the North Pole? Or maybe they belong to the weird part of the population that has lived forever in Edmonton - they just don't know it any different. 
             

Buying more local

I went to the Farmers' Market at our new mall the other day - it had only 3 stalls that sold honey, preserves, cookies and knit wear. I was extremely disappointed since this is not of help for getting local produce so we consider ordering our Organic Box on a weekly basis now. But I checked out a locally owned supermarket that sells the same products as the big chain stores and does not cost any more. We also walked around in the neighbourhood to see what we can get near us without going to the big box stores. I'm often surprised myself how small shops survive. Some are super specialized (needle work, pet treats bakery, ..) and probably get their customers talking about it but others still compete against the big box stores at the malls that everybody knows and has membership cards for. We will try to support them more and see how that goes because I noticed that I don't like shopping at most chain stores any more. The recent announcement of a large US dollar store chain coming to Canada made me choke. Considering the already existing amount of dollar stores I wonder who needs more cheap crap to start with. Hopefully they don't make it. Stick to your local dollar store if it needs to be such store at all. 
On New Year's Eve we had pizza from our local pizza & junk food restaurant. We don't often have take-away but I was feeling so sick and my husband did not fancy cooking (after the move there was not much food in the fridge) so take-out pizza seemed a reasonable idea. I was glad it turned out that this local store was closer than any Pizza Hut or Boston Pizza. Did I mention I have never been to most junk food chains. I used to know McDonald's well because I worked there as a student. I went a few times to A&W, always on the way from the airport to my in-laws. And I had to try Tim  Hortons in Canada - that is with Subway the only fast food chain I really like. Their food is not too "junky" but the service at Tim Hortons often sucks (slow!). At Tim Hortons one even receives proper plates and bowls instead of plastics dishes!                       

Food has become a nightmare

This morning I had a another fit about American food. Oh yes, I miss German food. We don't add vitamins to our pasta and we don't colour our cheeses orange or marble. I hate cheddar in the meantime because it seems to be the only cheese for under $20 per kg and I don't understand why. What's so difficult about making other cheeses - why can only cheddar be produced so cheaply? Gouda, Edam and Co taste much better. When I was pregnant I was always asked at the doctor's office if I was still taking my vitamins. No, and I never have been. I eat a healthy diet so what do I need vitamins for? 

Do you know Michael Pollan? If you care a little bit about what you eat you will have heard of him because he writes one book after the other about food, American food or the Western diet as he calls it. Actually, the Western diet for him consists of "food-like substances", not actually food itself any more - I agree. Due to very strong lobbying groups in the American food industry nobody dares any longer to say you should not eat red meat, dairy, avocados or what ever. Instead they boiled it down to nutrients - don't eat saturated fats, carbohydrates, MSG (which I recently found on a shelve in the spices section of a shop - who would buy that?) ... and so on, but do eat Omega-3-fats, vitamin D, fibre, blablabla ... now go figure where you find or not find these nutrients. Of course, the food industry can manufacture lots of the "good" stuff now into almost any processed food and then advertise it big. Try HARDER! We eat very little processed foods so I don't care. Besides, everything seems to be about calories and reducing fat and sugar and ... we don't all want to slim down so again, I don't care, but I'm tired of this nonsense. Did I mention yet that I found a super yummy yoghurt the other day, produced in Quebec it's called Liberte - in fact, it's liberating to eat because those 8% fat and lots of fruit are very satisfying. Besides, we received organic lentils from Saskatchewan with our Organic Box and they smelled like fresh from the field!           


Of course, there's lots of processed and junk food in Germany, too. Europe takes on too much stuff from the USA anyway and crap food is part of this. Meat also is sold wrapped in styrofoam and plastic wrap and lots of food is packaged in single portions and there's too much fat and sugar in food products ... but we have decent cheeses and chocolates that taste better and are cheaper. There was a hint in the last sentence - watch for the packaging of your food, less is better.     

The run off we cause and its problems - part 1

The National Film Board of Canada made a film about sewage – S  E W A G E. I did not think there’s a film about this subject and I came across it accidentally but damn was that film interesting, an eye-opener you may say. It’s called Crapshoot: The gamble with our wastes. The films answers questions like: Where does the sewage go, what happens with it then, what does it do to us?

First it comes up with a list of what sewage involves: food leftovers, cleaning chemicals, detergents, toiletries, hair dye, paint thinners, pharmaceuticals, excrements, industrial solvents, paper mill residue, oil, cleansers, radioactive material, dental & hospital wastes, petroleum products, heavy metals … keep going, what else can you come up with? There’s almost nothing that’s not in sewage. Sewers have become super highways of toxic waste and hazardous components. Now think about what goes down your drain every day and what should not and why.   

    

The film points out that water is being used to transport a lot of waste somewhere else where we don’t see it any more and simply forget about it. But whatever gets mixed together in sewage can not be simply taken apart again! Sewers were never designed to treat the water to a stage where it becomes as clean as before. They were only designed to get rid of grey water. The most modern waste water treatment plants can not separate all the stuff that’s in our grey water so the water goes still contaminated back into water bodies, our rivers and lakes and oceans. Considering our dependence on water for drinking and food purposes alone it’s ridiculous how we waste water for purposes like sewage, as a medium to quicker transport waste “away” from us. Remember, our planet Earth is still roundish – it will all come back to us.    

Would you swim in the North Saskatchewan River?

At a meeting of my moms & tots group mum A said she’d take her child fishing because that’s what she used to do growing up in a small village in Alberta. Living in Edmonton now they fish in the North Saskatchewan River but they always release their catch and never eat the fish. They think the river is too polluted. Nobody swims in it either here. I mention this because living in Basel, Switzerland I noticed that residents swam in the Rhine that goes right through town. It’s legal and safe and fun. I tried it. There’s even an official river swim event once a year where hundreds of people take to the water and swim together through town. Since you usually do not return swimming to where you started you can buy a waterproof bag for your clothes that will float along with you.

Mom B then mentioned that her parents had a cottage at Wabamum Lake that used to be busy with fishing and recreational activities. But things have changed since the oil spill in August 2005 when a Canadian National Freight train derailed losing up to 1.3 million litres of heavy bunk oil. Over 700,000 litres are estimated to have flown into the lake. In addition, “hazardous chemicals” escaped as well but lake residents weren’t told until 4 days after the incident. Since the oil spill the consumption of fish has been limited; actually one should not consider eating the fish at all. CN was fined and ordered to clean up. That alone does not do the trick though! Money and more chemicals will certainly not “clean” the lake up to its previous beauty.

Talking with members of Edmonton’s Newcomers Club I hear again and again how dirty the lakes are in Alberta, unlike BC and Saskatchewan (and excluding the lakes in the national parks). Wonder why? I’m not 100% sure but I bet it’s got to do with oil drilling and coal mining and everything that comes with these dirty fossil fuels.  

Organic Food and other things we eat - Monsanto

The DVD cover for the documentary The World according to Monsanto reads like this:

“With operations in 46 countries, Monsanto has become the world leader in genetically modified organisms (GMOs), as well as one of the most controversial corporations in industrial history. Since its founding in 1901, the U.S. multinational has faced trial after trial due to the toxicity of its products. Today, it has reinvented itself as a “life sciences” company converted to the virtues of sustainable development.

Calling on hitherto unpublished documents and first-hand accounts by victims, scientists and politicians, The World according to Monsanto pieces together the story of an industrial giant that, thanks in part to lies, collusion with the American government, pressure tactics and attempted corruption, has become one of the world’s leading seed manufacturers, spreading GM crops worldwide with no real monitoring of their effects on nature and human health.”

The film made by Marie-Monique Robin, 2008, is a France-Canada co-production with co-operation of several TV stations from Germany, Austria, Belgium, Switzerland and others.

-         Canada did not approve GM crops after Health Canada staff raised concerns about its safety to human health - BUT three Health Canada staff members got fired for raising concerns. In the UK something similar happened.  Scientists working for the British Health Services who were asked to assess GMOs from the USA got fired for raising alarm. One of the scientists later figured out that there must have been intervention from the UK and US governments and the UK gave in after the US warned them of what’s at stake. After all one of the largest corporations in the world spent a lot of money on developing these crops and wants to make profit of it.                   

-         In India Monsanto crops have been called suicide seeds, ruining lots of small farmers. They bought the seeds at double the price of regular seeds but the seeds required Monsanto’s fertilizers and pesticides to actually grow well. The little money earned from selling the harvest still left the farmer with a mountain of debt from the initial investment. Monsanto does not allow farmers to save seeds either so farmers have to buy them again next year.     

-         Monsanto’s pesticides are so strong their run-off from fields during a rain period killed 60 geese and ducks of a Paraguayan farmer. This farmer lives close to the GM crop fields. Although never planting GM crops himself his fields have been taken over by the GM crop. He has trouble planting and growing other foods for his family, therefore losing his subsistence. In addition, his boy who walks across the GM crop field every day to the market has developed skin eczema that the family can't afford to get treated.

-         Mexico’s variety of corn is being contaminated with GMOs as seeds spread naturally and changes the DNA of traditional corn breeds. Mexico is very proud of its corn varieties and a healthy environment needs biodiversity.  

-         Recombinant Bovine Growth Hormone (rBGH) is widely used in the USA to increase milk production in cows. The United States is the only developed nation to permit humans to drink milk from cows given this artificial growth hormone, marketed as Posilac. Posilac was banned from use in Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Japan and all European Union countries by 2000 or earlier. But in Canada, bulk milk products from the US produced with rBST are still allowed to be sold and used in food manufacture (cheese, yogurt etc.). In the EU, both meat and dairy products from the US are banned from import.

 Monsanto bought up about 50 agricultural companies worldwide making it difficult to track what’s a Monsanto product, even for the ordinary person that goes to the store to buy pesticides and seeds. The USA, conveniently for Monsanto and contrary to Europe, does not require labelling for GM food because it’s considered ‘safe’ for consumption. Corn for example is found in a huge range of foods and  when it comes in the form of starches, sweeteners or syrups it’s not all that obvious to the consumer.   

Type "Monsanto Suicide Seeds" into Google and you'll find out all the things you have never dared to think about with regards to food. I noticed that the term suicide seeds is more often used in association with the Terminator gene. In order to enforce the farmer's dependence on Monsanto crops seeds will be sterile and unable to reproduce once the plant has grown. Monsanto then can demand any price and the farmer will have to pay this price to be able to grow this crop again. Considering Monsanto's worldwide influence this corporations is able to control large parts of the food market - food that we all depend upon. Unfortunately, although there is protests and resistance Monsanto mostly gets its way and faces no major repercussions for its actions. All the law suits aimed at the giant have not stopped it. The following article http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,990111-1,00.html  explains quite well the details behind the Terminator genes. I do not agree with the tone of the article though since it plays down the risks far too much. How can anybody say "it's not going to be that bad" when a similar seed has not been there before. The interference of such seeds with our environment can surely only be based on guess work and small scale lab tests. Note that the article is dated 1999!! There's something going on that's very well covered up from the public and it stinks.             

Food seeds are just one thing that Monsanto is involved in. There are tree seeds, animal testing, Agent Orange, DDT, Aspartame, recombinant Bovine Growth Hormone and much more - check out http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Monsanto