Sincerely Sustainable » Food

Consumer Reports ‘Eco Label Report Cards’ Help Decipher Authenticity Of Green Claims/Labels

The Author — Mon, 26 Apr 2010 18:52:54 +0000

If you’re one of a growing number of people who are finally paying attention to where your food comes from, how’s made/raised, and what it contains then congratulations on becoming a healthier person and better steward of your environment. Now it’s time to take all you thought you knew about the labeling you’ve just come to recognize and throw it out the window. Well…at least some of it.

Green Vs. Greenwash

If you’re like me, you may often wonder if those “hormone-free” eggs you’re buying or that “antibiotic-free” milk you’re drinking is really what it claims to be. Unfortunately, as is the case with any claim made by companies in the marketplace, these labels and statements may either be true, somewhat true, or complete BS. Not surprisingly, the latter is more often the case where there is no third-party certification body backing up ‘eco’ or sustainability claims. And even when there is, many of those may require further scrutiny themselves as the marketplace becomes awash in ‘green’ labeling and certification bodies..

Thankfully for us the good folks over at greenerchoices.org, a subsidiary site of Consumer Reports, have come up with a fairly comprehensive search engine that can fact-check most green/eco certifications, labels, and claims for everything from food products to cosmetics.

The chart below is is one generated for different certification labels and claims associated with meat products, but is likely the same for any type of animal-related food product, i.e. eggs, milk, cheese, etc. Take a second to look it over. It certainly isn’t the last word on every certification listed. For instance, Aurora Certified Organic was recently embroiled in controversy involving organic certifications for milk that didn’t meet the standards for organic certifications.

Nevertheless, it’s a fairly good resource to have (I think) and I’m thinking of making a downloadable PDF of this chart for people to put on their iPhones, or other PDF-capable phones, so that when you’re out and about you’ll have this as a reference. Let me know if you guys would like that in the comments and I’l work on making it happen.

McDonald’s Board Votes “No” To Cage-Free Eggs

The Author — Mon, 19 Apr 2010 13:12:21 +0000

Not that this should come as a surprise to anyone, but the global obesity-creating juggernaut that is McDonald’s recently voted against a proposal to require 5% of its eggs come from ‘cage-free’ hens. According to McDonald’s, the “science isn’t in” on the benefits of cage-free eggs and that they feel 72 square inches per hen in their “battery cages” is more than enough room.

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Japan Says It Won’t Comply With Bluefin Tuna Ban…Imagine That

The Author — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 16:34:25 +0000

It really does seem like Japan has a strong aversion to anything roaming the seas. First, it has it’s ongoing refusal to stop killing whales. Now, it is also refusing to recognize the ban on close to extinct bluefin tuna.

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San Francisco Converts Street Parking Spaces Into Sidewalk Extensions

The Author — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 18:08:33 +0000

It seems San Francisco is one of the only cities in the country these days that has no problem with instituting, or least trying out, more sustainable means of utilizing space and energy. This time the city is beginning a trial run of converting street parking spaces into sidewalk extensions for cafes.

From Streetsblog.org

With the success of San Francisco’s Pavement to Parks trial plazas, the city is about to unveil its newest plan to use its streets for something other than cars when it converts parking spaces to public space by extending sidewalks into the street with durable wood platforms.

City planners acknowledge that the inspiration for these new pedestrian spaces came from the success of Park(ing) Day, an international sensation developed by Rebar, where people in cities around the globe occupy parking spaces for one day a year and build pocket parks and other innovative facilities.

The platforms will extend 7 feet from the curb, slightly less than the width of most cars, so vehicles that are parked at either end will serve as a buffer to passing traffic. Each parking space is approximately 20 feet long, so the Mojo platform will be just over 40 feet in length. Power said his department encouraged the designer to build a platform that would be modular and replicable, with the hope that more projects could be added in other parts of the city if this one is successful. Though the Chronicle reported that similar sidewalk extensions could be possible in North Beach, at Park(ing) Day sites like Caffe Greco and Caffe Roma, no one contacted for this story would confirm future locations.

Nelson explained that a shift had occurred with the merchants on his block and along the corridor in the past few years, as the perceived need for parking garages was replaced by calls for more pedestrian space and bicycle parking. Referring to the sidewalk extension in front of his business as a “no-brainer,” Nelson predicted the transformation would catch on and other businesses would clamor for them.

“The public is going to see it and they’re going to forget there ever was a parking lot there,” he said.

The Good: Arguably a much more efficient use of two or three parking spaces that will open up the sidewalk for pedestrians while providing a larger more ‘finished’ seating area for cafe patrons. Beats being crammed into 10′ space out from an establishment’s front door.

The Bad: A trial run for only a couple of areas. Safety of patrons may be a concern seeing as they’ll be much closer to the street traffic.

The Bottom-Line: A great idea both for pedestrians, who will no longer have to be ‘funneled’ into a choke point on the sidewalk to navigate a cafe’s seating, and cafe patrons/owners who both benefit from more spacious designated seating.

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Rating: 0.0/5 (0 votes cast)

From Freeway To Farm In San Francisco

The Author — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 17:19:02 +0000

San Francisco never ceases to amaze me with the frequency and number of sustainably-driven projects they continue to undertake; projects that many cities would never even begin to consider implementing. One such project is a new organic urban farm going right into the heart of of San Francisco on the site of an abandoned lot and freeway entry ramp that was part of the Central Freeway destroyed in Loma Prieta earthquake over 20 years ago.

Though the land is still destined to be developed in the next 5-7 years, Mayor Gavin Newsom’s Office of Economic and Workforce Development approached a number of organizers, including Hayes Valley Farms (HVF) (a volunteer organization known for sprouting up farms in the most unlikely of urban settings), about temporarily making the land farmland. The $50,000 granted to the first year of the project comes from revenue generated from parking meters in the surrounding area.

Because the project is expected to be temporary, the existing asphalt will remain on the site considering the cost of removal would be in the tens of thousands of dollars. To still make the paved areas useful, farmers will grow fruit trees in pots that can be moved and/or planted in other gardens and areas around the city.

One concern that many people have about growing food on land that immediately surrounded a freeway is pollution. I know that when I first read about this plan my first reaction was “how are you going to have an organic farm on a site that was constantly exposed to petroleum, heavy metals, and all sorts of pollutants?”. From the streetsblog.org:

Addressing concerns about growing food on the site of a former freeway, the group has lab tested 64 soil points from the site and found that all parts except for one came back with less than the EPA’s standard for lead in soil. The HVF also notes on its FAQs page that using organic soils up to two feet thick generally makes food grown there safe for consumption. Nonetheless, the group will measure lead in the roots and leaves of the food they harvest before it can be eaten.

Given the hyper-aware eco-consciousness of San Franciscans, coupled with the fact that almost 3 feet of organic mulch/soil is being put on the site, one could safely assume that all steps have been taken to make sure that the food raised on this ‘farmland’ will indeed be safe.

While the site will yield a fair amount of food, a ‘bountiful and marketable harvest’ is not the true aim of this site. The real goal, say organizers, is education. Not only will the temporary farm show the relative ease and economic/environmental benefit of undertaking such a project, but organizers will use the urban farm as a living classroom for both children and adults alike. Currently, there are plans in the works to develop a curriculum for interested schools in the area that would allow for onsite education of students in a variety of subjects.

pics courtesy of sf.streetsblog.org

The Good: An environmental, economical and educational beneficial solution to a plot of 20 year old unused land. The farm is supposed to be organic.

The Bad: The farm is temporary. Though testing of the site has been rigorous, some may question the true safety of growing food on a previously heavily used transportation site.

The Bottom-Line: Doing pretty much anything on land that has been abandoned for almost 20 years is better than doing nothing, but placing an organic farm on such area is probably one of the best uses one could come up with seeing as it benefits the environment and economy of the community surrounding it.

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Rating: 4.7/5 (3 votes cast)

Edible Schoolyard Coming To PS216 In New York

The Author — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 16:03:48 +0000

In a day and age when kids are already being bombarded at schools by unhealthy choices from soda makers and fast food conglomerates, it’s nice too see that at least one school is seeing the importance of exposing kids to the importance and rewards of knowing where food comes from and the benefits of growing it themselves.

The architecture firm Work AC, in collaboration with Edible Schoolyard New York and the Chez Panisse Foundation, is designing a new schoolyard for PS216 that will give the 417 K-5th grade students the opportunity to connect with nature and learn how working with it can bring about an abundance of delicious rewards. The Edible Schoolyard consists of a series of interlinking structures; each of which will serve a specific role.

The main structure on the site of the large outdoor garden is the kitchen classroom where 30 students per class will be able to prepare meals together using ingredients from the schoolyard which they grew themselves. The angled butterfly roof incorporates a rain collection system that directs water into large above-ground cisterns located behind the building. One of the most unique features of the building is the mobile 4-season greenhouse attached to its front side. To extend the growing season, the mobile greenhouse can be extended out over 1600 sqft of the schoolyard garden to protect plants and seedlings from the cold. In addition to the large garden and kitchen classroom, there are also composting areas, solar batteries (connected to onsite solar PV), a chicken coop, and of course a tool shed.

The Good: A low environmental impact and highly beneficial school program/facility that serves to educate and engage students on a multitude of health and environmental issues.

The Bad: Only being done at one school. Security might be an issue in protecting the crops.

The Bottom-Line: By engaging children and their parents in discussions of nutrition, health, and sustainable planting, the Edible Schoolyard at P.S. 216 will promote healthy eating and a sense of responsibility for the environment to an age group that is just beginning to form their own set of ideals, ethics, and responsibilities.

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Rating: 5.0/5 (4 votes cast)

Saving Detroit By Turning It Back Into Farmland

The Author — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 17:18:39 +0000

As anybody already knows, Detroit is a city that has been fighting for survival for almost 2 decades now. With the continuing withdrawal of the auto industry from the city, as well as a 16% unemployment rate, many people are fleeing the city and the ones who are staying are not enough to keep it functioning.

Though Detroit has long been closely associated and supported by the auto industry, the area of land on which it resides is actually quite fertile and was once agrarian country. Its close proximity to the Great Lakes and ample growing season used to make Detroit, or the land that is now considered Detroit, ideal farming land that produced an abundance of crops.

From Brown To Green

With so much cheap land now available in the city, and countless numbers of abandoned industrial sites too far gone to resurrect, a wealthy investor named John Hantz of Hantz Financial Services thinks now is the right time to get Detroit back on its feet by taking it back to its roots; literally. Hantz has already contributed $30 million of his own money to get Hantz Farms underway; the world’s largest urban farming project.

The idea is not a new one. Talk of repurposing much of Detroit back to agriculture has been talked about for decades; only now has the idea had real backing and the economic environment to make it a reality. From Hantz Farms; press release:

“Detroit could be the nation’s leading example of urban farming and become a destination for fresh, local and natural foods and become a major part of the green movement,” said Hantz, a Detroit resident. “Hantz Farms will transform this area into a viable, beautiful and sustainable area that will serve the community, increase the tax base, create jobs and greatly improve the quality of life in an area that has experienced a severe decline in population.”

Phase 1 plans utilize more than 70 acres of underutilized vacant lands and abandoned properties on Detroit’s lower east side.

Hantz Farms plans to grow natural, local, fresh and safe fruits and vegetables to help meet Michigan’s increasing demand for locally grown produce. In addition to food and trees, Hantz Farms will harvest wind energy and utilize geothermal heat and biomass fuel from recycling compost.

“Urban agriculture is an opportunity to provide an effective economic development program for the Detroit community. MSU’s College of Agriculture and Natural Resources has been providing expert advice to Hantz Farms along with the MSU’s Michigan Agriculture Experiment Station and MSU Extension to develop a productive outreach and engagement program as part of the proposal,” said Jeffry D. Armstrong, Dean of the Michigan State University College of Agriculture and Natural Resources. “This is a challenging and exciting opportunity.”

Heading up Hantz Farms LLC, will be Matt Allen, a Detroit resident and advocate for Hantz’s vision.

“The combination of land consolidation, blight removal, conservation of city services and the beautification of the city itself are just some of the byproducts that will come from our commitment to urban farming,” Allen said. “We’re very excited to be able to make strides in helping to make Detroit a progressive, world-class leader in providing fresh, locally grown food that’s safe and purely Detroit.”

Once the project is approved by Detroit city officials, work would begin immediately and the farm would be operating within six months.

Out of all of the ideas that have been passed around over the years to ‘prop up’ Detroit, rather than make it fundamentally economically solid, this idea really seems to make sense and could really get some traction. Let’s hope it works not only for the citizens of Detroit, but the environment as well. Fertile farmland is better than countless industrial brownfield sites.

The Good: Hundreds of desperately needed jobs for the city of Detroit. Fresh local food for one of the unhealthiest cities in America. Industrial site remediation that otherwise would not be performed. Success of the project will most likely spurn others.

The Bad: Land remediation will be difficult given the 100+ year industrial history of the area. No talk of having the farms be organic. Not everyone in the city will support the initiative.

The Bottom-Line: Out of all of the temporary fixes proposed through the years to prop up Detroit, the Hantz Farm project actually seems like the most viable and sensible approach to transforming the city back into a thriving community…without the auto industry.

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Rating: 2.3/5 (3 votes cast)

More Herbicide Use Reported On Genetically Modified Crops

The Author — Wed, 30 Dec 2009 16:10:52 +0000

A new study has found that farmers are using MORE herbicide on genetically modified crops instead of less as they are intended to require.

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Whole Foods Tries To Shed ‘Whole Paycheck’ Image By Offering Coupons Online

The Author — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 17:48:39 +0000

Whole Foods is trying to shed its somewhat unfair ‘Whole Paycheck’ image by now offering its Whole Deal coupons online.

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Bluefin Tuna On The Edge Of Extinction Due To Overfishing

The Author — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 14:19:52 +0000

The International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT) is an international fisheries group created in the 1960’s with a mandate to protect “tuna and tuna-like species in the Atlantic Ocean and adjacent seas”. Unfortunately for the tuna, the commission has done the opposite and has driven one species of the fish, the bluefin, to the edge of extinction.

On the eve of a 10-day meeting in Brazil of the ICCAT, environmentalists are accusing the group of ignoring the advice of its own scientists and setting fishing quotas for bluefin tuna that have drastically depleted stocks.

“ICCAT has continually disregarded countless opportunities to do the right thing and secure the Atlantic bluefin tuna,” Susan Lieberman, director of international policy at the Washington-based Pew Environment Group, told reporters.

Marine biologist Carl Safina, president of the Blue Ocean Institute, which studies how human behavior impacts the ocean, called ICCAT “the poster child for not only failure… but cynicism and a real unwillingness to get serious, be professional and listen to what the science has to say.”

It’s All About The Benjamins…Not The Bluefins

With pressure from the fishing and seafood industry, the very industries ICCAT’s catch quotas and policies affect, ICCAT has for decades set quotas above what its own scientists have recommended for bluefin tuna. In addition to setting higher quotas, industrial fishing fleets systematically exceed them year after year.

These continually exceeded ‘higher than recommended’ quotas, combined with illegal fishing, has caused the population of bluefin tuna to decline by more than 85 percent in the eastern Atlantic and by more than 90 percent in the western Atlantic.

“The bluefin tuna will not be with us and certainly will be extinct if governments don’t do the right thing… and unless ICCAT says, ‘Enough is enough, it’s time for a zero quota; we’re going to put the brakes on this fishery,’” Lieberman said. “If we had any terrestrial species that had declined this much, this quickly, we would have said we have to shut this down, we have to let them recover.”

The real root of the problem is the still high demand for bluefin. Bluefin tuna is popular in upscale sushi restaurants around the world, particularly Japan, where the vast majority of bluefin tuna ends up along with other unsustainable ‘delicacies’ such as shark fin soup (which uses only the fin of the shark who when caught is usually de-finned on the deck of the ship and then thrown back alive into the sea to die a painful death.)

Environmentalists are also calling for stricter regulation of the trade in sharks, which are often caught up as “by-catch” in commercial tuna-fishing operations and are also being targeted directly by fishing fleets for their fins and meat. Around 100 million sharks are caught in commercial and sports fishing every year, and several species have declined by more than 80 percent in the past decade alone, according the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW).

“ICCAT needs to set science-based sustainable catch limits on the number of sharks that can be killed and prohibit the retention of exceptionally vulnerable sharks species such as the big-eyed thresher,” Lieberman said.

The Real Solution

While conservationists want the bluefin tuna to be included on the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) list of animals and plants most threatened with extinction, and for some species of shark to be included on a CITES list which regulates trade, the real solution to the problem is getting restaurants and patrons to look elsewhere for alternatives. Though dwindling by the day, there are several other fisheries that are more sustainably managed and abundant throughout the world. If there were no demand for bluefin, they would not be caught. So next time you’re ordering sushi or at a restaurant that serves bluefin, or any endangered species, order something else and/or express your concern about the establishment’s menu to the owner. You would be surprised to find how effective this really can be.

The Good: Environmental groups are trying to call attention to this pressing problem and taking action to stop or at least slow the extinction of bluefin and other endangered species.

The Bad: Lack of enforcement along with unsustainable quotas make any type of bluefin policy largely ineffective at curbing the massive declines in population.

The Bottom-Line: Driving an entire species to extinction just to satisfy the human pallete is completely unconscionable; especially when plenty of alternative food sources exist.

Sincerely Sustainable » Food

Consumer Reports ‘Eco Label Report Cards’ Help Decipher Authenticity Of Green Claims/Labels

Green Vs. Greenwash

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McDonald’s Board Votes “No” To Cage-Free Eggs

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Japan Says It Won’t Comply With Bluefin Tuna Ban…Imagine That

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San Francisco Converts Street Parking Spaces Into Sidewalk Extensions

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From Freeway To Farm In San Francisco

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Edible Schoolyard Coming To PS216 In New York

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Saving Detroit By Turning It Back Into Farmland

From Brown To Green

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More Herbicide Use Reported On Genetically Modified Crops

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Whole Foods Tries To Shed ‘Whole Paycheck’ Image By Offering Coupons Online

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Bluefin Tuna On The Edge Of Extinction Due To Overfishing

It’s All About The Benjamins…Not The Bluefins

The Real Solution

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