So I decided to delete my rant about the organization that controls my workplace. At first I figured they could go ahead and fire me if they don't like my views, but after a night's sleep...I like my job. I may wish the organization that controls my workplace shared my views, and I will likely look for a job with a different organization someday, one that stands for what I stand for. But for now I am where I am.
Sorry for any offense. Feel free to lamblast Gnostic Quaker Baptists anytime.
Thursday, May 27, 2010
Tuesday, May 25, 2010
Man vs. Knotwood
Okay, I'm trying to put together my organic garden but it's going pretty slow.
I've got tomatoes, potatoes, broccoli, beans, carrots, corn, chard, fennel, strawberries, rhubarb, and radishes planted. This upcoming weekend I'll plant chilis, peppers, zucchini, squash, cucumbers, watermelon, and pumpkins. Notice I haven't planted any cabbage or lettuce, I'm going to have to rely on local providers because I just haven't had enough time to set up enough beds. I figured they'd be the easiest to buy from other people. I'd like to get some berry bushes in too, but it might be a project for next year, we'll see how it goes. I'm probably missing something else, but I think it's a pretty good list for now.
If I can keep the Japanese knotwood at bay I might just have a good harvest, but it's no sure thing that I'll be able to keep my beds knotwood free. Yesterday I spent 2 hours digging out the noxious weed from half of one bed. I still have the area nearest rhubarb and potatoes to go. Next time I buy a house I'm going to check the yard for invasive species before signing on the dotted line. Seriously, this is a major problem. There's supposed to be a herbicide that will kill it, but who knows if I want that near my organic veggies? It would be too early to spray anyway since online sites describe spraying the plants in fall. I guess I've got a few months to research. If I don't do anything I'll end up with a jungle pretty quick. Anyone know if you can eat knotwood?
I've got tomatoes, potatoes, broccoli, beans, carrots, corn, chard, fennel, strawberries, rhubarb, and radishes planted. This upcoming weekend I'll plant chilis, peppers, zucchini, squash, cucumbers, watermelon, and pumpkins. Notice I haven't planted any cabbage or lettuce, I'm going to have to rely on local providers because I just haven't had enough time to set up enough beds. I figured they'd be the easiest to buy from other people. I'd like to get some berry bushes in too, but it might be a project for next year, we'll see how it goes. I'm probably missing something else, but I think it's a pretty good list for now.
If I can keep the Japanese knotwood at bay I might just have a good harvest, but it's no sure thing that I'll be able to keep my beds knotwood free. Yesterday I spent 2 hours digging out the noxious weed from half of one bed. I still have the area nearest rhubarb and potatoes to go. Next time I buy a house I'm going to check the yard for invasive species before signing on the dotted line. Seriously, this is a major problem. There's supposed to be a herbicide that will kill it, but who knows if I want that near my organic veggies? It would be too early to spray anyway since online sites describe spraying the plants in fall. I guess I've got a few months to research. If I don't do anything I'll end up with a jungle pretty quick. Anyone know if you can eat knotwood?
Wednesday, May 12, 2010
Blue Sky
We don't have anything close to a blue sky this morning, but somehow I managed to wake up in a good mood.
I think it was the talk about glaciers with my students yesterday. The thing about the science GED test is that it's primarily reading comprehension with a few pictures thrown in. Rarely do we really get to discuss science, usually it's just a matter of how they can find the answer. But yesterday one of my students wanted to know more about the image of a geyser next to one of the questions. We talked about Old Faithful, and how she isn't so faithful anymore, and how fragile our world really is.
And yet somehow, despite everything that can go wrong, we're still here. If you think about it, at any time a major earthquake could disrupt the earth, icebergs could melt and send the ocean over the shoreline, a meteor could careen into the earth. Global climate change is an ongoing problem. Anything COULD happen.
And you could choose to worry about it. But somehow the thought that anything could already have happened, but hasn't, is a comforting thought. Life, in itself, is a miracle, and somehow the power of life drives through all difficulty. So even though our world is in peril, we should never underestimate the adaptability and evolution of life.
I think it was the talk about glaciers with my students yesterday. The thing about the science GED test is that it's primarily reading comprehension with a few pictures thrown in. Rarely do we really get to discuss science, usually it's just a matter of how they can find the answer. But yesterday one of my students wanted to know more about the image of a geyser next to one of the questions. We talked about Old Faithful, and how she isn't so faithful anymore, and how fragile our world really is.
And yet somehow, despite everything that can go wrong, we're still here. If you think about it, at any time a major earthquake could disrupt the earth, icebergs could melt and send the ocean over the shoreline, a meteor could careen into the earth. Global climate change is an ongoing problem. Anything COULD happen.
And you could choose to worry about it. But somehow the thought that anything could already have happened, but hasn't, is a comforting thought. Life, in itself, is a miracle, and somehow the power of life drives through all difficulty. So even though our world is in peril, we should never underestimate the adaptability and evolution of life.
Saturday, May 8, 2010
Always Learning
I wasn't sure if it was a worthwhile endeavor, but I decided to go to the lecture anyway. A few days ago a friend sent me an email about a talk held at the Boston Museum of Science about food sustainability. It's a topic near and dear to my heart so I would go. But as Friday dragged on I began to wonder if I needed to go. I mean, what else new could someone tell me? I just wanted to go home and curl up on the couch instead, but since I love talking about food so much I decided to give it a try.
I'm so glad I went. The first speaker is the CEO of chain of service restaurants that has cut their carbon footprint by 33% over the past 10 years. Not only did she explain why change is necessary (something I was already familiar with) but she gave specific areas we could change to maximize the effects of our changed diet.
For instance, food must be addressed because it makes up 20% of carbon emissions in the U.S. In the next 25 years we have to reduce emissions by 80%. If we fail to reduce our food carbon footprint we would have to eliminate ALL transportation emissions (currently 40%) ALL energy emissions (20%) , and ALL other carbon emissions (wish I could remember the other categories).
Get rid of all cars? Get rid of all electricity? Not bloody likely.
But the good news is that of the 20% of all food emissions HALF of the cost is involved in waste. Americans waste 50% of the food they buy. By being more cautious about what we buy and what we throw out we're doing a little bit to reduce waste, but waste occurs above our level as well. For example, grocers throw out imperfect fruits and vegetables.
The second biggest problem is beef and dairy. Cows put out methane, methane is worse than CO2. The more beef and cheese we eat the more cows we populate the earth with. Now our speaker didn't endorse giving up meet or cheese entirely, but suggested treating both as a special treat and reducing frequency and size of all beef and dairy products.
She was particularly interested in cheese, especially imported cheese. Cheese that is imported not only includes to emissions of cows, crops to grow for cow's food, heavy duty appliances run on the farm, but also requires refrigeration from start to finish. If it's imported, more than likely it's shipped by airplane, lots of emissions there, and then delivered in refrigerated trucks. It's refrigerated in the store and is stored in our refrigerators. It's also perishable, so when a part of the cheese goes bad, and we toss it because we can't even think about putting it in our compost, we've just wasted all the energy needed to create the cheese.
I've got to admit, I've never thought that deeply about cheese. I have thought about the locality of cheese as a benefit, but I've never connected cheese as one huge thing I could do to save the planet.
Am I going to eliminate cheese from our diet? With my husband? Not bloody likely.
But here's what we are going to do. We'll look for locally produced cheese whenever possible and buy only what we can reasonably eat. I intend to cut back at least a little bit on the frequency we buy cheese too. The same goes for milk. I may consider making my own cheese.
Beef isn't a huge issue for us since I don't eat it, but Gerd has agreed to go meatless one day a week, including lunches. I'm already there, but will be making sure I'm on track too.
Interestingly enough, local doesn't always mean greener. Hot house tomatoes, for example, use far more energy, even if produced locally, than importing tomatoes grown in the ground in a southern climate. Seasonal and organic is the key. Local is best if it's seasonal and organic, but not if it uses bad practice (chemicals or excessive energy use). Ideally we would grow all of our own food (once again, not bloody likely for me).
Anyway, the lecture was great, and now I'm thinking all about how I can reduce my food footprint. I even made bread today.
I'm so glad I went. The first speaker is the CEO of chain of service restaurants that has cut their carbon footprint by 33% over the past 10 years. Not only did she explain why change is necessary (something I was already familiar with) but she gave specific areas we could change to maximize the effects of our changed diet.
For instance, food must be addressed because it makes up 20% of carbon emissions in the U.S. In the next 25 years we have to reduce emissions by 80%. If we fail to reduce our food carbon footprint we would have to eliminate ALL transportation emissions (currently 40%) ALL energy emissions (20%) , and ALL other carbon emissions (wish I could remember the other categories).
Get rid of all cars? Get rid of all electricity? Not bloody likely.
But the good news is that of the 20% of all food emissions HALF of the cost is involved in waste. Americans waste 50% of the food they buy. By being more cautious about what we buy and what we throw out we're doing a little bit to reduce waste, but waste occurs above our level as well. For example, grocers throw out imperfect fruits and vegetables.
The second biggest problem is beef and dairy. Cows put out methane, methane is worse than CO2. The more beef and cheese we eat the more cows we populate the earth with. Now our speaker didn't endorse giving up meet or cheese entirely, but suggested treating both as a special treat and reducing frequency and size of all beef and dairy products.
She was particularly interested in cheese, especially imported cheese. Cheese that is imported not only includes to emissions of cows, crops to grow for cow's food, heavy duty appliances run on the farm, but also requires refrigeration from start to finish. If it's imported, more than likely it's shipped by airplane, lots of emissions there, and then delivered in refrigerated trucks. It's refrigerated in the store and is stored in our refrigerators. It's also perishable, so when a part of the cheese goes bad, and we toss it because we can't even think about putting it in our compost, we've just wasted all the energy needed to create the cheese.
I've got to admit, I've never thought that deeply about cheese. I have thought about the locality of cheese as a benefit, but I've never connected cheese as one huge thing I could do to save the planet.
Am I going to eliminate cheese from our diet? With my husband? Not bloody likely.
But here's what we are going to do. We'll look for locally produced cheese whenever possible and buy only what we can reasonably eat. I intend to cut back at least a little bit on the frequency we buy cheese too. The same goes for milk. I may consider making my own cheese.
Beef isn't a huge issue for us since I don't eat it, but Gerd has agreed to go meatless one day a week, including lunches. I'm already there, but will be making sure I'm on track too.
Interestingly enough, local doesn't always mean greener. Hot house tomatoes, for example, use far more energy, even if produced locally, than importing tomatoes grown in the ground in a southern climate. Seasonal and organic is the key. Local is best if it's seasonal and organic, but not if it uses bad practice (chemicals or excessive energy use). Ideally we would grow all of our own food (once again, not bloody likely for me).
Anyway, the lecture was great, and now I'm thinking all about how I can reduce my food footprint. I even made bread today.
Thursday, May 6, 2010
Community Meal
For the past 2 months I've been doing a community meal with my students on Thursdays. We haven't managed it every week, but I'd say we've been pretty good about making time to fix a meal together most weeks.
I think it's a valuable experience, even if the meals haven't always been organic, or local, or even healthy each time. I'm not sure how to introduce conscientious eating with my students. I'm still reeling from the macaroni and cheese with fake mashed potato meal last week. To be fair, I didn't have time to pull it together and students wanted to do a quick lunch so they picked up all the ingredients themselves.
But the carb fest last week isn't the norm. We've done tacos, personal pizzas, and chicken and rice. Today we're making salad and smoothies. I hope that the time we spend cooking together plays some part in teaching students that making meals instead of buying meals is a fun and (possibly) healthy option. Hopefully someday I can step it up a notch and really focus on healthy quick meals.
I think it's a valuable experience, even if the meals haven't always been organic, or local, or even healthy each time. I'm not sure how to introduce conscientious eating with my students. I'm still reeling from the macaroni and cheese with fake mashed potato meal last week. To be fair, I didn't have time to pull it together and students wanted to do a quick lunch so they picked up all the ingredients themselves.
But the carb fest last week isn't the norm. We've done tacos, personal pizzas, and chicken and rice. Today we're making salad and smoothies. I hope that the time we spend cooking together plays some part in teaching students that making meals instead of buying meals is a fun and (possibly) healthy option. Hopefully someday I can step it up a notch and really focus on healthy quick meals.
Wednesday, May 5, 2010
Trash
My morning run was supposed to be calm, easy, and relaxing. But when I set out, I forgot it was a Wednesday: Trash Day.
Trash in the city is somehow more revealing than in the suburbs. In the South End it was illegal to have trash cans on the sidewalk so streets were lined with black and white trash bags on trash day. Here in South Boston you'll find trash cans, but more often than not you'll see not only trash bags, but piles of trash outside people's front door.
We don't have as many people going through our trash here, but it still happens. I always recognized the elderly Chinese lady who went through our bags before. She was very organized and punctual. I haven't met the people who go through our trash here yet. I have the feeling there are far fewer people "dumpster" diving here.
So I'm even more annoyed when I see the waste as I run by. A retro chair, three area rugs, two pairs of shoes, a vacuum cleaner, a queen size mattress, box springs, and frame, a TV, a computer monitor. Bags upon bags of recyclables that won't get recycled because they're not in a recycle box (unless, of course, someone picks through the trash before the trash man comes).
Seriously, how hard is it to drop stuff off at the Salvation Army? It's a 10 minute walk from where I was running. And they'll come get the big stuff. I will admit that the city ran out of recycling boxes, but they're $10 at home depot, which is either a 5 minute drive away, a mile walk, or a 10 minute bus ride away. (If people want your recyclables let them pull it out of an open box, otherwise they tear open the bags and the rest of the trash gets all over the side walk).
Maybe people do this everywhere. We just can't see into their trash cans. But here, in the city, where there are so many people condensed in one small spot, all of our sins are clearly visible. The waste of American consumerism can't be missed.
Trash in the city is somehow more revealing than in the suburbs. In the South End it was illegal to have trash cans on the sidewalk so streets were lined with black and white trash bags on trash day. Here in South Boston you'll find trash cans, but more often than not you'll see not only trash bags, but piles of trash outside people's front door.
We don't have as many people going through our trash here, but it still happens. I always recognized the elderly Chinese lady who went through our bags before. She was very organized and punctual. I haven't met the people who go through our trash here yet. I have the feeling there are far fewer people "dumpster" diving here.
So I'm even more annoyed when I see the waste as I run by. A retro chair, three area rugs, two pairs of shoes, a vacuum cleaner, a queen size mattress, box springs, and frame, a TV, a computer monitor. Bags upon bags of recyclables that won't get recycled because they're not in a recycle box (unless, of course, someone picks through the trash before the trash man comes).
Seriously, how hard is it to drop stuff off at the Salvation Army? It's a 10 minute walk from where I was running. And they'll come get the big stuff. I will admit that the city ran out of recycling boxes, but they're $10 at home depot, which is either a 5 minute drive away, a mile walk, or a 10 minute bus ride away. (If people want your recyclables let them pull it out of an open box, otherwise they tear open the bags and the rest of the trash gets all over the side walk).
Maybe people do this everywhere. We just can't see into their trash cans. But here, in the city, where there are so many people condensed in one small spot, all of our sins are clearly visible. The waste of American consumerism can't be missed.
Monday, May 3, 2010
20 Miles
Yesterday was the Project Bread walk for hunger. Somehow I got dragged into walking 20 miles in 90 degree weather along a route that had NO SHADE! Oh, and did I mention it was on a day we weren't allowed to drink the water? It's okay, I boiled mine (for more than a minute, just in case) and they had filtered Vermont water at the walk site.
How do I feel today? About dead. I was pretty sure I couldn't get out of bed this morning, but then I realized that I didn't have emergency substitute plans. Writing plans that our ed counselor could understand was more effort than I wanted to put in this morning. Dragging my sore, tired hips out of bed was preferable.
So I'm here at work, on the third floor of a building that doesn't have an elevator. I've only had to go downstairs 3 times this morning. The copier, administrative offices and cafeteria are all on the lower floors.
It's still better than sub plans. And I think it was worth a little pain.
How do I feel today? About dead. I was pretty sure I couldn't get out of bed this morning, but then I realized that I didn't have emergency substitute plans. Writing plans that our ed counselor could understand was more effort than I wanted to put in this morning. Dragging my sore, tired hips out of bed was preferable.
So I'm here at work, on the third floor of a building that doesn't have an elevator. I've only had to go downstairs 3 times this morning. The copier, administrative offices and cafeteria are all on the lower floors.
It's still better than sub plans. And I think it was worth a little pain.
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