Beyond Meat Beyond Sausage - Plant Based Sausage Review

While shopping at the grocery store on the weekend, I passed through the meat alternative section and noticed a new product from Beyond Meat called "Beyond Sausage - Plant Based Sausages".  I have experience with Beyond Meat from trying its hamburger patties, which are delicious, but a tangent that I will not diverge into in this post.  As a former carnivore, I used to consume a significant quantity of sausages, bratwursts, wieners, frankfurters, etc., and after moving to a mostly plant based diet, it's been something I have missed.  There are some enjoyable vegan hot dogs out there, but I haven't had a sausage that I liked previously, so I was excited to give these a shot.  There were three varieties, original brat, sweet italian and my selection, hot italian.  Whole Foods was offering them on sale for a heft $7.99, a $1 discount off the post $8.99 price, which I thought was pretty hefty for four sausages but decided to give it a shot.  My plan was to saute fajitas style with bell peppers and onions, so I picked up a red, yellow and green pepper and a red onion as well.

In the evening I busted out my trusty non-stick frying pan, sharp knife and cutting board and got down to business.  I diced up half of each of the bell peppers, the full red onion and a couple of cloves of garlic and tossed in the skillet on medium heat.  I let this cook for a few minutes until the onions started to get soft and meanwhile cut the "sausages" into small rings.  The consistency was actually not that dissimilar to other sausages and you could definitely small the "sausage" herbs and spices!

After about 12-15 minutes of cooking, the kitchen area definitely smelled like pork sausage fajitas!  The food smelled great and as you can see the sausages look very similar to the original.  I actually cooked even more than in these pictures and it browned/blackened up like one would expect that real meat would.

I had already eaten dinner and was preparing food for the week, but given my curiosity I put a couple chunks and some fajita veggies on a plate with white rice to have a taste.  I found the texture to be similar to meat, but definitely a difference could be noted.  The casing did not have a crisp snap and the inside was definitely a bit softer and perhaps more granular than meat would feel.  The taste was very good, there was a juicy quality to the pieces and sufficient spices to make it taste good.  While it was labeled hot italian, I found the spiciness level to be low.  While it didn't taste just like a pork sausage, it was close, and I really enjoyed the small plate I had.  The next day, I had a small portion as a side dish with my meal and found the leftover experience to be delicious as well.

Overall, I give the product a B+ rating for taste, but an A+ rating for delivering an effective meat alternative.  The health statistics (see below) are very favorable vs. real pork sausages and the ingredients are all relatively healthy and natural sounding.  There does not appear to be any odds chemicals or additives so I feel good about consuming these.  I will not be adding this to my regular shopping list, but I could see myself purchasing these every couple of months.

Ingredients: Water, Pea Protein Isolate, Refined Coconut Oil, Sunflower Oil, Natural Flavor, Contains 2% or less of: Rice Protein, Faba Bean Protein, Potato Starch, Salt, Fruit Juice (For Color), Vegetable Juice (For Color), Apple Fiber, Methylcellulose, Citrus Extract (To Protect Quality), Calcium Alginate Casing.

Local Breweries: Hill Farmstead of Vermont

Last weekend my wife and I made a trip to one of our favorite places in America, Vermont.  My primary desire was to replenish my stores of Hill Farmstead Brewery.  This brewery is widely considered the best in America, and some would say the best in the world.  Sean Hill, the brewer, is not a specialist, he makes world class hoppy ales in addition to sour, dark, farmhouse and everything in between.  He is committed to a sustainable business that can support itself and although he has grown rapidly, there is a target size for the company that he does not want to exceed.  This goal allows him to focus on doing the best possible work he can, which results in amazing beer.  He utilizes growlers so that he can ensure that his beers remain fresh. I much prefer to support a "local" brewery than one of the large conglomerates.  Also, Sean goes to great lengths to respect his community and helps support other local businesses.  He takes great pride in working in a remote area, and although you have to actually go to the brewery to buy his beer, he avoids wasting resources on things like distribution to stores.

The brewery

My haul

Edward - Flagship Pale Ale

Single Hop Pale Ale - Mosaic

Society & Solitude #5 Double IPA

Repurpose What You Can

Repurposing things is a great way to avoid new purchases and help the environment.  I always try to re-use plastic/paper bags from the grocery store and other shops as many times as possible.  I use newspapers from work as packing material.  I always use a refillable water bottle.  Those are obvious, but here are some of other ideas!

If you aren't buying in bulk already, then you are likely accumulating a ton of packaging from the modern food industry.  One of my favorite repurposing tips is to take the jars that salsa comes in, wash them out, and use for organizational purposes, Mason style jars make great cups as well!

This may be obvious to people, but if you do a lot of mailing, particularly for gifts, you should always seek to repurpose the boxes you receive to save on packaging!  Then you can use newspaper or mailing to ensure the package is tightly packed and the contents safe inside!  While I like to send gifts electronically to avoid the damage of shipping cross country via a courier, sometimes you need to send your homemade gifts to your cousin in Los Angeles!

If you ever purchased CD's in bulk to create your own playlists, repurpose the empty container into a bagel sandwich holder!  Obviously not practical for everyone, but it looks great.

Paperclips are great for wire organization rather than purchasing some plastic doo-hicky.

Repurpose old books as shelves, for a cool antique look

I use broken clay pots as garden markers rather than purchasing some sort of cardboard marker that sticks in the ground.  Aesthetically they are much more pleasing, and it gives new life to your chipped pots!

Frugal Travel: Airbnb & Local Cuisine

Travel is one of my favorite luxuries.  There are so many astounding places in the world, and yet the vast majority of us spend our time within our homes and workplaces.  Even those of us who travel for work, often are only visiting conference rooms and generic hotel rooms.  Travel is a great alternative to consumption of goods.  The opportunity to visit a new location, take in the history, culture, and cuisine of a location, and add an experience to your life is worth more than purchasing another new sweater or jacket!  Cuisine to me is one of the most important aspects of my life.  I love eating!  I love trying new and tasty foods.  Local specialties are my favorite.  Whenever you travel, avoid the big chains and try something new!

One of my favorite frugal travel tips is Airbnb.  For those of you who aren't familiar, Airbnb is a hotel alternative.  Individuals who have extra space, post it online for travelers to utilize when they come to visit.  The spaces vary from an extra bedroom within someones home for very little money, to a studio apartment/guest house, all the way up to an entire house.  The prices vary accordingly.  This is such a fundamentally amazing idea, as it allows people to monetize their personal real estate, and gives travelers an option other than staying at a boring corporate hotel.  Many hosts will offer tips on the locales they know best which can be invaluable.

There are many ways to find the specialties that are only available at the place you are traveling.  First of all, word of mouth is extremely powerful, so I always tap my network for suggestions when I travel.  Second, we are living in the days of the internet, information has never been easier to acquire.  I tend to utilize websites like Yelp which offer reviews, which I of course take with a grain of salt.  Also, once you are in the neighborhood and find a coffee shop or boutique you like, it helps to ask the owner what restaurants/foods they like.  The shrimp po boy above is a perfect example from New Orleans. You will often get a great answer that you might not find elsewhere!  Personally, I always like to try local beers when I travel, and with the proliferation of the craft beer movement throughout the USA, there has never been a better time.  If you are ever planning to come to Western Massachusetts, these are the beer stops I recommend.  Worcester's Armsby Abbey is pictured below.

Here are some Airbnb highlights (including a castle!)
https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/13783
https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/530250
https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/8357
https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/13253

Western Mass CSA: Introduction

As a relatively recent new resident of Western Massachussett's bucolic Pioneer Valley, I am very happy with all of the great agricultural options that are available near by, especially compared to Boston, where I was born and raised.  There are tons of local farmstands and it is not at all uncommon to drive by a farm.  I have always been fascinated by CSAs, which is an acronym for Community Supported Agriculture.  It's basically a pre-paid subscription to a delivery of vegetables from a specific farm.  You put up support, often before the planting even occurs, then you reap the benefits of the harvest.  The benefit to the farm is that they are secured funding and customers, and the benefit to you is you are guaranteed whatever food is produced at the farm that summer.

Some of the things that are attractive to me, are that I would be supporting a local farm.  This is good, because local food is often fresher and certainly greener.  I will not be contributing as much to the pollution associated with full size agricultural operations or the transport of the food to my local market.  It will force me to eat more vegetables, which have a lower environmental impact than meat does.  They are also likely healthier, which supports a secondary goal of improving my health.  Finally, it will force me to be creative, as CSAs are known for sending all kinds of oddball veggies in their assorted weekly pickups.  I am struggling to become a decent cook, and one of my trends is that I tend to buy and cook the same things all the time, hopefully the CSA veggies will force me to do otherwise.

Downsides are the big upfront cost, probably in the $600 range.  This is a lot of money for me, but if I break it down into 20 weeks of vegetables, its only $30/week, not too crazy.  I fear that at times I will need to augment my CSA veggies with others to make some of the dishes that I plan, but hopefully that will not run more than an additional $10/week.  If i budget out $60 a week in meat/cheese/other veggies, I should be able to achieve a $100/week food budget, which would be great.  On the other hand, I could take the $40/week and go to a local farmers market or Whole Foods, I would be paying more per item, but I would have greater choice over my elections.  Also, I am only cooking for myself and my wife, hopefully this will not be way too many veggies for me and her, as she is already not the biggest vegetable fan to begin with!  Finally, I need to be able to pick up on my schedule, which is often quite busy during the week's business hours. 

In my next post, I will compare the various CSAs available here in Western Mass, and make a decision based on the various factors that are valuable to me.

Environmentally Friendly Christmas

Holiday Seasons are upon us and as an Anglo-Saxon American, I celebrate Christmas with my family.  The holidays are a time of excess and consumption here in the United States.  It's extremely unfortunate, because the bedrock of Christmas is the Christian holiday, but all of that has changed.  People eat tons of unhealthy food, max out their credit cards to buy gifts, and drive all over the place to get to sales, malls, and various parties.

All of this is a shame and it hurts our precious environment.  Here in New England, where I live, we are having an extremely mild winter so far, which one of my favorite bloggers, An Affordable Wardrobe, touched on this week.  This thrift shopper extraordinaire laments the lack of snow and bone chilling cold of the days of yore, and although it can't be definitively proved that global warming and our pollution is at fault, it can't help.

We do not necessarily need to go as far as Leo of Zen Habit's who is advocating his Buy Nothing Until 2013 Challenge.  There are however some things you can do to limit the impact you have on the environment this holiday season.

• Consider second hand gifts, such as from a thrift store or eBay
• Green gifts
• Make things yourself, people love a personal touch
• Bring your own bags when you go shopping
• Support a local business and buy a real Christmas tree and adorn it with homemade ornaments
• Buy local food in bulk for meals
• Have a fire with your family, and turn off the lights
• If Grandma gives everyone ugly Christmas sweaters (or not), turn down the heat!
• Drive less often, and when you need to go to malls or parties, drive slower!
• Be careful with waste, always recycle

Obviously, we all can't do all of these, but we should do our best to enjoy the holidays responsibly!

Merry Christmas/Happy Hanukkuh!

20 Ways to Go Green That Make a Difference - COMPLETE!

On September 12, 2011, I penned a list of 20 Ways to Go Green that Make a Difference.  It took me more than half a year, but I am glad to say that I have finished.   I tried to write up tips that would not be huge investments of time or money, and would actually have a positive impact.  I think that I was successful.  Here is the full list, I have bolded the posts that I think are my best.

1) Drive less 
2) Drive at or below speed limit, saves gas and is safer

3) Eat local food, less resources used for transport and supports local farmers

4) Grow your own vegetables, even if its just herbs in your window

5) Bring your own bags to the grocery store, fully reuse paper/plastic bags if you forget

6) Drink from a reusable water bottle

7) Green garbage?
8) Turn off lights when you are not using them

9) Run full loads in the dishwasher/laundry
10) Conserve water in everyday situations
11) Make things yourself
12) Use rechargeable batteries

13) Buy clothes/furniture sensibly

14) Utilize libraries, and other green options for media

15) Give green gifts

16) Green Investing

17) Volunteer

18) Use natural light and "air conditioning"

19) Limit food packaging, buy food in bulk

20) Use rags or old clothing over paper towels

My next series will be on affordable ways to go green, I have still not developed the list, but I expect there will be more than 10.  Not everyone can afford to buy a Prius, but we can all find ways to go green!

Buy Food in Bulk

This is part of my series: 20 Ways to Go Green that Make a Difference. This series discusses practical ways we can go green in our lives, that will have a measurable effect on the environment.  This is an alternative to the many lists that offer 100+ suggestions, many of which are not easily applied to our lives or the impact is minimal. 

The modern food industry is a topic that fascinates me and is often the subject of posts here.  There are many ways we can make this industry greener and it is very important to consider changes, as this is one of the industries that affects every single person in the world.  We all need to eat, and if we can make green improvements in this industry, the scale will make a big impact.

One of the biggest problems is packaging.  It is very wasteful and in most cases unnecesary.  Preservation of food is one thing, but the excess packaging favored by marketing types to "differentiate" processed foods is completely excess and unnecesary. 

We do not need food wrapped tightly in plastic, then stuffed into a cardboard box. Many of us simply see this as more garbage, and promptly deposit it into the trash barrel.  This could be recycled, which would be better, but what would be best is simply avoiding it at all.  I have mentioned my "deposit theory" and I believe if there were a deposit on cardboard boxes and plastic bags, it would incentivize people to reduce consumption or increase recycling, any excess money would go to recycling programs to sort the actual garbage to find deposits which were not redeemed. This would create more jobs and would improve the environment, a win/win if there ever was one.

One way individuals can go green is by buying their food in bulk.  Not just granola is available, although feel free to buy that in bulk as well.  Beans, rice, nuts, candy, flour, sugar, spices, vegetables, coffee, meat, syrup, honey and many other commodity goods can be purchased with simple bags (that you will re-use) and priced by the pound.  You may want to consider bringing reuseable containers right to the store, to avoid wasting bags.  Another way to buy in bulk is by purchasing a large side of beef direct from a farmer or a fish from a fisherman and wrapping it minimally before putting it directly into your fridge or freezer.  Bring back old egg cartons and fruit boxes to the farmers market and re-fill them.  There are many ways to go green in the food packaging world, so be creative.

A related topic is the packaging of commercial foods.  Although 100 calorie snack packs allow you to keep your portions of crappy processed food in check, they are mainly vehicles that allow food companies and their marketing teams to make a few more percentage points of profit from you.  Avoid pre-sliced food that is then packaged and sold in smaller containers (for a higher price).  When buying deli meats, have them weight your meat and cheese separately, then put into one deli bag.

These changes may seem small, and on an individual scale, they might not make a difference.  However over the course of a year they certainly will.  Every human on the planet needs food and if they bought in bulk, it would cause a huge shift in the food industry and cut down on waste and pollution.  I also bet everyone would have a few more bucks left in their pockets!  Green and cheap, a solid combination.  Michael Pollan's The Omnivore's Dilemma is a great read if you want to re-think the food industry.

It's Summer, Get Out There and Enjoy It!

The summer is here in my eyes.  Although it is only May 18th, things have been getting warm here in the Northeast.  I realize I am a bit hypocritical, since I am sitting in a cool air-conditioned office, but I can not wait for the weekend to get outside and enjoy the weather.  Go green and enjoy the weather.  Instead of playing video games, using artificial lighting and air conditioning, and other creature comforts, do things outside.

There are tons of great options to consider.  My personal favorite is hiking.  Find a local mountain and just get out there.  Other options to consider are fishing, local and delicious food awaits. Swimming, bicycling or other sports are a great way to have fun and enjoy the weather, make sure to bring that re-useable water bottle. For those of you with a green thumb, get your tressle and go gardening.

Book Review: The Omnivore's Dilemma by Michael Pollan

I purchased the Omnivore's Dilemma at a thrift store for $2.00 a few months ago, and it had been sitting on my shelf for awhile.  I delved into it one lazy weekend, and although it took me the better part of a month to read, it was very eye-opening and enjoyable.  I first heard about the book, through the film Food Inc, which I highly recommend as well.  Both works cover the modern food industry, which is very different from the rest of human history's food, and the resulting effects on our planet and our bodies.

I obviously care about food a great deal, as I believe what you eat is literally what you are.  If you constantly eat crappy fast food and sweets, then thats what you become.  Food expenditures in the US these days are at the lowest percentage of family income of all time, and the plethora of options available at the supermarkets has never been bigger.  The Omnivore's Dilemma helps us to navigate this new situation, and helps us to understand how the food gets to our table, and the answers are surprising.

I do not want to give the book away, but Pollan discusses the world's most plentiful crop corn, which is in nearly everything we eat.  He discusses how this organism has evolved to be perfect for human needs and allowed it to take over vast amounts of land.  He also discusses the organic food system, and how at its ideal, this is an excellent way of thinking about food, but in practice mirrors many of the less tasteful things about the rest of the industry.  Next he lives with Joel Salatin (pictured above), owner/farmer of Polyface Farm, which is my favorite section of the book.  Finally he examines hunting and foraging, which is how human ancestors ate for centuries, before agriculture.

The book is great, and is a good read, as Pollan is able to make the topic very readable.  It is also enlightening, especially about something that we spend a good portion of every day doing, but maybe do not think about enough...

Green NCAA March Madness

The play-in games, or Round 1, as the NCAA is trying to push, are upon us.  The NCAA March Madness tournament is one of the biggest sporting events of the year, after the Super Bowl.  It may seem like an odd time to think about the environment or going green, but I consider it a reminder and a prompt for us to reconsider and evaluate how we think about our impact on the world.  Also, it s a time where many often host parties or gatherings, which can result in a large amount of unintended and ultimately unnecessary waste.

Let me preface by saying that I am a huge fan of the game of basketball, and although I prefer the NBA, and my beloved Boston Celtics, I still am a fan of the college game as well.  The desperation that is brought out by a single elimination tournament cannot be matched in professional sports other than in championship situations.  Let's take a look at some of the points I thought were important regarding the green aspect of March Madness.

First of all, there is the electricity consumed while people make up their brackets, watch games on the television or computer, and even stream them through their mobile devices.  Granted, this would probably occur normally anyways, but I think it is always important to be conscious of when we are using energy.  There are often parties or gatherings to get together to watch games.  This is one of the positive aspects of a group event like this, a single television can be shared by many, not to mention the great times had by sharing the experience of an underdog taking out a heavy favorite.

Where there are parties gathered to watch sports, there is likely to be food and alcohol, whether at a house or restaurant.  The host of the party may ask guests to bring specific items, such as appetizers, drinks, or an entree.  This will help to limit the amount of excess waste that is produced.  My recommendation to improve on this is to have the host provide all the food for the event, and charge a small fee.  This will allow the green-conscious party to provide just enough food for the amount of people expected, and in addition, there will not be the waste by-products from all the packaging material that guests would inevitably bring if left to their own devices.  As always, a focus on local foods is a positive idea.

If you are going to drink beers, consider drinking locally brewed craft beer, in a can or growler if you can find it!

There is going to be a ton of garbage and mess after the party, make sure to take care and dispose of it all properly.  Recycle as needed.  You can have the guests all do their part before they leave, especially as they are all aware that your party is a green one.  Before, during or after the games consider getting outside and actually playing basketball.  It is a great, fun way to excercise with no effect on the environment!

Enjoy the tournament and go Michigan State Spartans!!!

Make Things Yourself

 This is part of my series: 20 Ways to Go Green that Make a Difference. This series discusses practical ways we can go green in our lives, that will have a measurable effect on the environment.  This is an alternative to the many lists that offer 100+ suggestions, many of which are not easily applied to our lives or the impact is minimal.

Homemade/DIY projects are fun to do and can be extremely beneficial to the environment.  If you are not ready to grow your own food then buy fresh, local, unprocessed foods and cook up a nice recipe.  If cooking isn't your forte, then maybe arts and crafts are.  Consider giving homemade greeting cards based on your own photography!

The reason that making things yourself is green is because it does not require much economic activity.  You are not buying plastic goods produced at an environmentally degrading factory halfway across the world, then paying for pollution causing transport and then retailing costs, both financial and environmental. 

Many people like to make household items that the can actually use.  For example, instead of buying wasteful paper towels, re-use old rags or make new ones from old garments.  Others may consider making their own soap, cleaning solutions, or toothpaste.  This saves a TON of money and also limits the damage done by commercial factories.

In general, making or doing things oneself allows us to totally control and thus limit environmental damage.  When you buy something at a store, you never truly know all the details regarding where it came from and what methods were used to produce it, including their relevant environmental damage.  In addition, it can be extremely satisfying to make something using your own creative meddle.  Making something could spark a new hobby or even a potential small business!

Green Garbage?

This is part of my series: 20 Ways to Go Green that Make a Difference. This series discusses practical ways we can go green in our lives, that will have a measurable effect on the environment.  This is an alternative to the many lists that offer 100+ suggestions, many of which are not easily applied to our lives or the impact is minimal.

Garbage in the US is a major environmental problem.  Landfills are disgusting and they are rapidly growing, they waste potentially beautiful space, and are a symptom of our toxic culture.  We know that putting all that trash in one place can't be good for the earth, so learn to effecitively deal with your waste in a way that harms the environment as little as possible. 

In our house, there are three places that we put trash: compost, recycling and the trash barrel. (as a last resort)  Many things can be composted and recycled, so they do not have to be thrown out.  Old food can be composted and used as a fertilizer for you to grow your own food.  Almost all paper plastic and metal can be recycled, and since we have single stream recycling, they all go in the same barrel. 

Finally, if all else fails and you simply have to throw it away, then do so.  Make sure to dispose of electronics properly as chips and batteries contain corrosive ingredients which can hurt the environment substantially, if thrown into a landfill.  Also consider donating items of clothing, furniture, and media to thrift shops or onto the free section of Craigslist.  This will give others a chance to give your stuff a second lease on life!

As you can see, none of these suggestions will take that much additional time or effort, but I assure you the benefits will be worth the increased effort.  Consider the implications of what you do before you do it, that's the motto here at Think Act Prosper.

Shopping Bags

This is part of my series: 20 Ways to Go Green that Make a Difference. This series discusses practical ways we can go green in our lives, that will have a measurable effect on the environment.  This is an alternative to the many lists that offer 100+ suggestions, many of which are not easily applied to our lives or the impact is minimal.

Almost all retailers provide plastic or paper bags for every transaction and customer.  These are often provided at no additional costs, and thus customers do not value them.  This adds up to lots of waste and pollution, since people discard these bags after bringing home their purchases.  There are many easy solutions to this issue that would significantly curb this unnecessary waste.  

My favorite is reusable bags.  This could mean a burlap sack, cloth bag, or a plastic bag that is durable.  Packing these on the way to your store is a simple step, then simply bag the groceries/items yourself or give them to the bagging person.  These bags can be acquired in many ways; given out free as marketing or promotion, purchased from a dollar at a retailer or given by family and friends.  Even consider using a backpack especially when you are not driving. Many retailers even offer small incentives for bringing your own bags.  Trader Joe's enters your in a drawing for a gift card and Whole Foods offers 5 cents a bag.  

For those times that you forget to bring your reusable bags and need to use store provided ones, there are a few things you can do to limit harm.  First, fill the bags up, so you don't use more than you need.  Second, reuse or re-purpose these bags at home, there are tons of different applications, something will always come up that gives these bags a second lease on life.  Finally, after they have run their useful life, recycle them properly, rather than putting them into the garbage.

Grow Your Own Food

This is part of my series: 20 Ways to Go Green that Make a Difference. This series discusses practical ways we can go green in our lives, that will have a measurable effect on the environment.  This is an alternative to the many lists that offer 100+ suggestions, many of which are not easily applied to our lives or the impact is minimal.

Food is one of the primary reasons that civilization was formed.  Specialization in agriculture allowed a smaller number of people to dedicate their lives to food production.  The rest of the population were free to think up other ways to contribute to society, and coincidentally degrade the environment.  Now, I am not suggesting that everyone quit their jobs start a self-sustaining farm, but the food industry and our role as consumers presents a great way to go green.  I have advocated buying local before, but lets take it a step further, what could be more local than your back yard.

Check out JD's garden project @ Get Rich Slowly.  He uses his land to grown his own vegetables, and takes detailed notes.  If you are new to gardening, which I assume most of you will be, I would avoid taking on such a large project initially.  Figure out what is normally grown locally, then research on the internet or library, so you are comfortable with how to plant, maintain, harvest and store your chosen crops.  Don't be too adventurous at first, buy already started plants, and use their seeds in the coming seasons.  Just try to get started, the first step is everything is always the hardest. 

Although there will be some upfront costs and labor, it will be worth it when you harvest your first crops, knowing that you are not contributing to the environmental damage of factory farms and commercial agriculture.  I wager that the fruits (or vegetables) of your labor will be much tastier and more nourishing, than their store-bought cousins.

I know that a lot of you live in urban areas and probably think its impossible to grow food in these areas.  This should not stop you though.  Look into getting a parcel at a local community garden, such as Boston's Back Bay Fens. Another option is to grow herbs or a potted vegetable plant on the apartment balcony. 

If you want to take it even further, and have the space, consider raising livestock.  Chicken are probably the easiest, and only require a chicken coop, and the necessary food.  Your chicken will have offspring quickly, and your flock will develop providing you with eggs and roasters, if you are so inclined.  

If you are extremely busy or absolutely do not have a green thumb, at least take steps to source food locally or from organic sources.  This will not have the same effect, but will lower environmental damage.  Vote with your dollars to support the local economy and companies or individuals involved in green agriculture.

20 Ways to Go Green that Make a Difference

You always see tips to go green that are very small and will not make a difference.  I have drawn up a list of 20 effective tips that will do the most overall good.  Please feel free to leave any posts in the comments that you think I missed, lets only include things that will really make an impact and is practical to implement.  I am going to also expand on each of these in a separate post, and will edit this page with the links each time.

1) Drive less 
2) Drive at or below speed limit, saves gas and is safer

3) Eat local food, less resources used for transport and supports local farmers

4) Grow your own vegetables, even if its just herbs in your window

5) Bring your own bags to the grocery store, fully reuse paper/plastic bags if you forget

6) Drink from a reusable water bottle

7) Green garbage?
8) Turn off lights when you are not using them

9) Run full loads in the dishwasher/laundry
10) Conserve water in everyday situations
11) Make things yourself
12) Use rechargeable batteries

13) Buy clothes/furniture sensibly

14) Utilize libraries, and other green options for media

15) Give green gifts

16) Green Investing

17) Volunteer

18) Use natural light and "air conditioning"

19) Limit food packaging, buy food in bulk

20) Use rags or old clothing over paper towels

Food Industry

The food industry is one of the things I think about the most, and I am sure will be a common topic on Think, Act, Prosper.  So much of the American diet is based on processed foods created by large companies.  Even the fruits, vegetables, and meats which should make up the majority of our diets are altered or grown in ways to make them more profitable, and less healthy.  I definitely do not advocate becoming a vegetarian, as we are humans, we evolved to eat meat, and I believe meat is one of the best sources of nutrition.  I am a follower of the primal food philosophy, which encourages eating WHOLE foods, that have not been processed, cooked simply, avoiding added sugars and grains, which are body is not designed to eat. 

Let's think about the food industry from an economic perspective, using the apple as an example.  Obviously the most basic way to sell an apple is just raw and fresh, but you are not going to make much money from selling a simple apple.  There is a lot of competition and the only way to make more money is to produce them cheaper.  Ways to make food cheaper to produce are by producing it in such large quantities, you can not pay attention to individual plants closely.  Other techniques are using pesticides to ensure none of your crops are spoiled.  This results in apples that are not grown naturally, lets not even mention genetic modifications!  All of this is before we even get into processing.

Food companies can only make so much of a profit from selling plain, raw fruit, so how can they increase profits?  Their answer is by processing the apples into some other kind of food.  Candy coated apples?  Great now we can charge $3 an apple instead of 50 cents because we added caramel to the outside.  Or maybe we can bake it into a cake using 20 cents of ingredients and sell the cake or pie for $5.  Most of the time when they process these foods, they are using the lowest quality (cheapest price) ingredients and are definitely going to add preservatives which are essentially just chemicals.  Your body did not develop to eat these chemicals or the ingredients that have to be cooked and processed to be appealing, your body developed to eat APPLES.  All of this economic activity is very costly to the environment, shipping the apples across the country to be processed, cooking new things at an industrial scale, all of it just to make more profit off of YOU, at the expense of the planet's resources.

By purchasing the raw, whole ingredients rather than processed food, we are saving the planet, not to mention our health.  If you can obtain your food from a local source, that's even better for the planet, and if you can meet your farmer, you can see they are not some faceless corporation existing to serve their shareholders at your expense.  Organic products are guaranteed to be completely natural and pesticide free, as they are inspected and required by law.  If you find a local farmer who follows these principals, then you do not necessarily need the organic guarantee.  

Many people will use the excuse that they are on a budget, to cover up the fact that they are lazy or stuck in their ways.  Think about what I said about the processing increasing profits for companies, just because it "seems" cheap to buy these processed foods, think about the implicit costs you are costing your environment as well as your body by eating this crap.  If we stop buying it, the companies will stop producing it, each time you buy something, its essentially a "Vote" of confidence.