Fresh Blogging
Posted on August 17, 2011 - by Crystal Cun
Image: Flickr/nhankamer
Today’s guest blog post is brought to you by FishWise, a non-profit sustainable seafood consultancy that helps seafood businesses improve the sustainability of their seafood offerings.
Yes, all aquatic animals have birthdays. Some live for a matter of days or weeks, and others can live forever. (Yes, really.)
Although we can’t ask a fish its age (it’s simply impolite), there are ways we can determine the length of time that an individual fish has been alive. One popular method for aging fish involves analyzing bones in their heads called otoliths (“oto” meaning ear and “lith” meaning stone). When an otolith is removed from a fish, sectioned into thin slices and viewed through a microscope, it reveals a pattern of light and dark concentric rings. The darker, denser rings are often formed in the winter when growth is slow and in the warmer months, when a fish is growing more quickly, a clearer ring is formed. A pair of rings is called an “annuli” and is similar to the rings found in trees. Count the annuli and you can determine a fish’s age.
So what does this have to do with the seafood you buy and eat? Often, slow-growing fish take a long time to reach reproductive age, which leads to a greater risk of that fish being caught, or dying of natural causes, before it has a chance to reproduce. Consider the orange roughy, which takes around 30 years to reach sexual maturity. Whenever you take a fish that is younger than that out of the water, that fish has not had a chance to reproduce, which in turn affects the abundance and diversity of the next generation. Additionally, you run the risk of negatively affecting other animals in the food chain.
This would all be easier to swallow if fisherman were catching a responsible amount of orange roughy, taking into account the number of fish in each year class becoming sexually mature and selectively catching only those individuals. Unfortunately, this is not the case, and instead we are seeing fewer, younger and smaller orange roughy reach our plates.
There are a number of species that are characterized by a very high growth rate and abundance, Pacific sardines being an excellent example. Most sardine fisheries are considered a “Super Green” option by the Monterey Bay Aquarium due to these biological factors and because they are generally well-managed and recognized for their low levels of bycatch and clean fishing techniques. Choices that are similarly sustainable are handline-caught mahi mahi from the U.S. Atlantic and U.S. farmed crawfish.
We don’t suggest you memorize the longevity of all of your favorite seafood; scientists have done that for you. Rankings systems such as that by the Monterey Bay Aquarium Seafood Watch program take longevity and reproduction rates into account, so shop for seafood only on the green and yellow lists and you’re assured they’ll be around for you to eat well into your twilight years.
FishWise is a non-profit sustainable seafood consultancy that helps seafood businesses improve the sustainability of their seafood offerings through environmentally responsible business practices, such as policy development, employee training, sourcing assistance and point of sale information. This approach empowers consumer to make environmentally informed choices when purchasing seafood.
To learn more about sustainable seafood, visit www.fishwise.org or sign up for their mailing list.
Posted on August 10, 2011 - by Zoe Carpenter
Photo courtesy of Urban Gleaners
Thirty-four million tons of food. That’s how much rots in landfills each year in the U.S. Meanwhile, 14.7 percent of households were food insecure last year, and one in six Americans relies on food stamps to get by. Why is such an astounding amount of food wasted when there are millions who need it?
“A lot of it has to do with poor distribution,” says Emily Kanter, the Development and Communications Coordinator for Urban Gleaners, a non-profit in Portland, OR. “It baffles me that people go hungry in America.”
Though Portland has been lauded as an epicurean mecca for local and seasonal produce, the truth is that Oregon ranks among the five hungriest states in the nation. To combat this, Urban Gleaners is trying to restore some balance to a food system that leaves some Americans bloated, and others starving. With the help of forty volunteers and a part-time driver, Urban Gleaners collects more than 45,000 pounds of food each month from high-end restaurants and grocery stores throughout the city. The food, which would otherwise be thrown away, is sorted and then distributed to local agencies that feed the hungry.
“It’s a pretty astounding amount of food to waste,” says Kanter. “I picked up around 400 pounds of zucchini and squash last week from a farmers market. We also pick up hundreds of pounds of bread and bananas– we never seem to run out of either bread or bananas.”
It was an excess of bread that prompted the organization’s expansion last year to include a Food To Schools program. Founder Tracy Oseran was trying to figure out what to do with a surplus of whole-grain loaves when she learned that hunger was a serious issue for students in some of Portland’s elementary schools. Food to Schools now delivers nutritious foods to six elementary schools in Portland’s David Douglas district, where 75 to 90 percent of children live below the poverty line, and many rely on subsidized school meals—which, Kanter notes, are constructed on nutritional guidelines that consider Corn Nuts a vegetable. Kate Barker, the principal of Cherry Park Elementary School, says that so far “Urban Gleaners has provided for hundreds of families. Some of these children come from homes where there is nothing in the cupboard.”
A primary goal for Urban Gleaners is to bring as much fresh produce as possible to food insecure households. Kanter says that the lack of support for specialized crops combined with massive subsidies for corn products makes it nearly impossible for low-income families to access fresh foods, particularly vegetables. The double burden of food insecurity and obesity is one outcome of that imbalance. Kanter thinks that healthy foods could be more accessible if there were a better system in place for redistributing unused food, and if food stamps were worth more when used to purchase produce.
Urban Gleaners acknowledges that redistribution does not directly alleviate the socioeconomic inequalities that create barriers to adequate nutrition. But, she says, “there are families that are starving right now, and food that can be made available to them. Ideally, there wouldn’t be any wasted food, but while there is we should do something about it. We want to draw attention to how much gets wasted.”
Local food insecurity is also part of larger compounding systems of poverty and unemployment. “It’s hard to look for work when you’re hungry. It’s hard to focus in school when you’re hungry,” says Kanter. So while working with lawmakers like Senator Ron Wyden to encourage long-term systemic change, Urban Gleaners focuses on making an immediate local impact. The organization also tries to provide opportunities within the community of recipients, for example by hiring a former resident of a participating shelter as a driver.
By creating a network of donors, volunteers, and receiving partners, Urban Gleaners works to promote resourcefulness and cooperation in the city. Kanter says that the most important part of signing up new donors is taking the time to build relationships and establish common ground. Accordingly, Urban Gleaners has typically has more success working with small, independent restaurants and grocers rather than large chains, simply because it’s more difficult to coordinate with a bureaucratic network.
The benefit of a model like Urban Gleaners, says Kanter, “is that it’s not impossible to do anywhere, if you take the time to make the connections.” Older food rescue organizations like New York’s City Harvest and Boston’s Food For Free have developed extensive networks, and there are signs that greater attention to distribution issues may be the next step for local food movements.
Although Kanter thinks that metropolitan areas are ideal contexts for forming establishing networks, she sees potential for rural communities to form effective partnerships with farmers and smaller producers of specialty crops. She notes that Oseran started Urban Gleaners with her two teenagers, one restaurant, and one agency; ”If you have a car and some bags or bins, you can do what we do.”
zoe@freshthemovie.com
Posted on August 10, 2011 - by Crystal Cun
Hey folks, are you in need of some end-of-summer reading? Hankering for a light tome on how to save the planet? We’re doing some cleaning and we’ve got a lot of books from the FRESH library that we’d like to give away! The following is a great collection of books on real food and ecofriendly living, and we want each of them to go to curious homes. Some of the books may have markings or light writing on the pages, but they’re all in good, legible condition.
The books up for grabs include the following:
- What Can I Do? An Alphabet for Living by Lisa Harrow
- Clean Plates NYC: A Guide to the Healthiest Tastiest Restaurants in Manhattan by Jared Koch
- No Impact Man: The Adventures of a Guilty Liberal Who Attempts to Save the Planet by Colin Beavan
- The End of Nature by Bill McKibben
- The Overspent American: Why We Want What We Don’t Need by Juliet B. Schor
- Getting a Grip: Clarity, Creativity and Courage in a World Gone Mad by Frances Moore Lappe
- Food Rules: An Eater’s Manual by Michael Pollan
- Edible Estates: Attack on the Front Lawn by Fritz Haeg
- Forty-Six Years of Pretty Straight Going by George Bellerose
To win a book: enter by commenting on this blog post below with the book(s) that you’d like to win and why you’re interested in it.
For additional chances to win:
- Follow us on Twitter and tell your friends about this giveaway: tweet Want to learn about Food Rules and Clean Plates? Enter the @FRESHthemovie sustainable book giveaway! http://bit.ly/ohEwwO
- Fan us on Facebook and comment on this post with the book(s) that you’d like to win and why.
The contest closes at 5 pm Eastern on Wednesday, August 17, 2011. We will randomly select a winner from the pool of people interested in each book, and contact them to get their mailing address.
Good luck and happy reading!
Update: Thank you to everyone who entered the giveaway and shared it with friends! The winners have been emailed and will be receiving their prizes shortly. Stay tuned for future giveaways!
Posted on August 4, 2011 - by Zoe Carpenter
Photo: http://www.flickr.com/photos/infobunny/
There are two clear signs of summer in the air: the heat wave sweeping across the country, and the barbeque smoke drifting on the afternoon breeze. I imagine that most of us are a good deal more excited about the latter. Before you throw a pack of hotdogs on the grill, however, it’s worth checking out the new Meat Eater’s Guide from the Environmental Working Group.
The guide is based on an assessment of the environmental and health effects of various forms of protein, including meat, dairy, and legumes. Using a lifecycle analysis that followed twenty types of animal and vegetable products through the entire process of production—including the chemicals used to grow grain for livestock feed, the life of the animal, butchering, processing, transportation, cooking, and waste—the EWG, in conjunction with the environmental consulting firm CleanMetrics, was able to determine the total carbon footprint of our most popular forms of protein.
While it’s no secret that meat and dairy production is a significant contributor to rising levels of greenhouse gasses, the report details the products that may be particularly implicated in this sweltering summer. The EWG found that while all meat arrives on the plate with environmental side effects, some forms of protein are more destructive than others.
Lamb, beef, pork, cheese, and farmed salmon are the greatest polluters in terms of carbon and manure. Lamb generates 50 percent more carbon than beef, which itself emits twice as many greenhouse gases as pork, four times as many as chicken, and thirteen times as many as vegetable proteins such as lentils and soy. Cheese comes in a surprisingly high third place in emissions output. That’s because making cheese requires milk, which in turn requires cows and lots of feed. These foods (with the exception of salmon) are also heavily resource-intensive, meaning they require large quantities of fertilizer, feed, and water, and so tend to have the worst environmental impacts as well.
The EWG found that most of the greenhouse gas emissions from animal proteins are generated during the production phase, when the animals are still on the farm. Livestock and fish feed, digestion, and manure all contribute to production emissions. Emissions from plant proteins, by contrast, largely come from post-farmgate processing, transportation, and cooking.
The good news is that more ecologically sound forms of protein tend to be healthier choices for people as well. Being picky about your protein isn’t just for carbon crusaders: recent research suggests that it’s an important key to your own longevity and wellbeing. The use of antibiotics and hormones to promote livestock growth, and the concentration of toxins in conventionally produced meat present risks to consumers. Several epidemiological studies have found associations between high levels of meat consumption and being overweight, while the American Dietetic Association suggests that vegetarians have lower rates of obesity and chronic illness than meat eaters[1]. The consumption of red and processed meats, in particular, has been linked repeatedly to chronic diseases such as cancer, heart disease, and diabetes. So, there are clear signs that eating meat in moderation, and using some vegetable sources for protein is the way to go.[2]
Climate change and cancer may seem like unrelated issues, but our best science demonstrates again and again that our ecological and physical health are intimately entwined. Given the rising costs of healthcare and the growing burden of chronic disease, it makes sense to practice preventative medicine at the supermarket and the dinner table. While simply eating, producing, and wasting less meat and dairy is the most effective way to make our food work for, not against, us, the EWG analysis suggests how to consume meat in a healthier way.
Eat less meat and dairy: Buying less meat overall makes it easier to afford healthier meat when you do buy it. Most Americans exceed the government’s recommended daily allowance for protein, while only 1 percent of children and 4 percent of adults eat the recommended amount of fruits and vegetables. Furthermore, Americans eat 60 percent more meat than Europeans. Try going meatless on Mondays, making meat a side dish instead of a main dish, or experimenting with plant-based proteins like lentils.
Choose local, certified organic, grass-fed meat: It reduces your exposure to antibiotics and hormones, supports your local or regional economy, requires fewer resources to produce, and pollutes less. In some cases, meat from grass fed animals is lower in fat and higher in nutrients than meat from conventionally raised livestock.
Avoid processed meats: Often loaded with sodium and nitrates, products like hot dogs, lunch meats, and chicken nuggets are energy-intensive to produce and have been linked with a variety of chronic illnesses.
Reduce waste: About 20% of edible meat gets thrown out. Buy appropriate portion sizes and use what you purchase.
Find out more: check out the EWG Eat Smart graphic, and find your local producers with the Eat Well Guide or the Eat Wild farm directory.
zoe@freshthemovie.com
[1] Craig WJ, Mangels AR. 2009. Position of the American Dietetic Association: Vegetarian Diets. Journal of the American Dietetic Association 109(7):1266-82.
[2] For more information on meat and your health, look at the references for the EWG report at http://breakingnews.ewg.org/meateatersguide/a-meat-eaters-guide-to-climate-change-health-what-you-eat-matters/footnotes-references/
Posted on August 1, 2011 - by Crystal Cun
Today’s guest blog post is brought to you by FishWise, a non-profit sustainable seafood consultancy that helps seafood businesses improve the sustainability of their seafood offerings.
Mercury is a toxic metal that builds up in the food chain and can be found in some popular seafood items, posing a health risk to those who frequently eat them. Developing infants and young children are at the highest risk for mercury contamination and may suffer brain damage and learning disabilities from prolonged or repeated exposure, so it is important for women of child-bearing age to minimize their consumption of fish containing high levels of mercury.
Mercury is found naturally in the environment, but levels have increased dramatically since the rise of industrialization in the 19th century. Mercury enters natural water bodies via rain and surface water run off, where it can be converted by bacteria to an organic form called methylmercury. This form of mercury is more toxic and bioaccumulates through the food chain, which is why large predatory species like shark and swordfish are typically higher in mercury than species like anchovy, Alaskan salmon, and shellfish that are lower in the food chain.
Other contaminants which can be found in seafood are PCBs, or polychlorinated biphenyls, which are toxic industrial compounds. As with mercury, they pose serious health risks to developing infants and children, who may suffer developmental and neurological problems from prolonged or repeated exposure. PCBs are carcinogenic and thus harmful to adults as well. Although they were banned from manufacturing in the United States in 1977, PCBs are slow to break down and can persist in the environment at dangerous levels.
For a guide to seafood choices that are tested to be both low* in contaminants and more environmentally responsible**, download a copy of FishWise’s Seafood Low Mercury List, developed in collaboration with the Environmental Defense Fund.
* Safe for a 154 lb adult to eat 8 oz a week or a 144 lb woman of child bearing age to eat 6 oz a week, based on EPA standards and currently available data on mercury and PCBs
** ‘Best Choices’ or ‘Good Alternatives’ according to the Monterey Bay Aquarium’s Seafood Watch Program
References:
http://www.edf.org/page.cfm?tagID=15903
http://www.usgs.gov/themes/factsheet/146-00/
FishWise is a non-profit sustainable seafood consultancy that helps seafood businesses improve the sustainability of their seafood offerings through environmentally responsible business practices, such as policy development, employee training, sourcing assistance and point of sale information. This approach empowers consumer to make environmentally informed choices when purchasing seafood.
To learn more about sustainable seafood, visit www.fishwise.org or sign up for their mailing list.
Posted on July 29, 2011 - by Zoe Carpenter
Photo: Sasha with her big sister Maayan
There’s a new member of the FRESH team! FRESH Director, Ana Sofia Joanes, just welcomed Alexandra Lise (aka Sasha) to her family. On this joyful occasion, since so many children’s products are laden with harmful ingredients, we thought we’d share some healthy and sustainable products for babies.
Cloth and/or Bleach-Free Diapers: Save money and protect the environment by using cloth diapers. An average child will use approximately 6,000 diapers before toilet training. The fact that disposable diapers take several hundred years to decompose is a compelling reason to choose reusable diapers. And, for additional motivation, you’ll save about $1,200 compared to disposable diapers, even more if you reuse the cloth diapers for several children. If that’s not for you, or for times when you need the convenience of throw-away diapers, be sure to get chlorine-free diapers. Chlorine-free diapers will protect your baby’s sensitive skin from toxins and reduce diaper rash.
Glass or Stainless Steel Bottles: Pick glass or steel baby bottles and sippy cups instead of plastic. Plastic bottles may leach bisphenol-A (BPA), a hormone-disrupting chemical that has been linked to serious damage to human health. Many alternatives to BPA are being tested for safety, but it’s hard to say if these are truly better. So, cut to the chase and avoid plastic altogether. In addition, if you’re using formula, buy powdered instead of canned formula to avoid BPA.
Toys: Skip petroleum-based plastics made with toxic chemicals (especially for young babies who still put everything in their mouths) and go for old-fashioned wooden and organic cloth toys. Avoid painted toys as well, since the paint can contain harmful substances.
Second-Hand Clothes and Toys: Kids outgrow their clothing and toys quickly, so look for second-hand outfits and toys from friends or thrift stores. You’ll save lots of money, and there’s no better way to protect the environment than to avoid buying new. When buying new, choose organic cotton whenever possible, since cotton is one of the most chemical-intensive plants grown.
Shampoos, Lotions and Personal Care Products: Children’s skin is 30% thinner than adults, so they absorb higher amounts of chemicals at the surface. Many personal care products contain ingredients that haven’t been tested for safety for kids, or at all, so choose products carefully for young skin. Browse the Environmental Working Group’s database for the best personal care products for children.
Did you find these tips useful? Do you have additional ideas on great sustainable gifts? Leave us a comment below!
Posted on July 21, 2011 - by Crystal Cun
Today’s guest blog post is brought to you by FishWise, a non-profit sustainable seafood consultancy that helps seafood businesses improve the sustainability of their seafood offerings.
Let’s face it–choosing sustainable seafood can be difficult. The sustainability of a particular species depends not only on the inherent vulnerability of the species itself, but also on where and how it was caught.
To figure this out, there are apps that place extensive information at our fingertips and conveniently guide our responsible seafood choices. Nowadays, living in a wireless world, the Seafood Watch app for iPhone and Android has replaced the Seafood Watch card in our wallet provided by the Monterey Bay Aquarium. The Blue Ocean Institute also has its FishPhone app in addition to their printed guides.
For some consumers, knowing the location and method of catch is not enough! They want to be able to trace their fish back to the source. Some of you can visit local fish markets that generally work very closely with the fishermen themselves, however, most seafood buyers rely on their local grocery store for their seafood needs. Even for experts who work in the seafood industry, tracing seafood back to the source is challenging since the seafood supply chain can be extremely complex.
To go one step further, there are now companies who allow consumers to go online and trace the product back to the source by entering a code on the package in their hands.
Partnering with Trace Register™ – the global food traceability company, Kwik’pak Fisheries has developed a tool that allows consumers to trace their Yukon River Salmon back to the source. We can go to their “Trace Your Fish” web page and enter this example code: 103104. We are then presented with information about the product’s nutritional value, the name of the Yupik fishermen who caught it, how they caught and processed the fish, a map showing the catch location and even healthy recipes to try out.
Some Northern Chef farmed raised shrimp carried by Tai Foong are yellow ranked by the Monterey Bay as well as being traceable. Try this code: 877971002797 and enter it in their Dine Well Shrimp page where we can learn the details about their aquaculture practices, their shrimp quality, and their location in Thailand on the map.
These companies are at the frontier of traceability and others are guaranteed to follow suit, which is great news for consumers like you. The more information you have at your fingertips when choosing seafood, the better the choices you can make for yourself and the environment.
FishWise is a non-profit sustainable seafood consultancy that helps seafood businesses improve the sustainability of their seafood offerings through environmentally responsible business practices, such as policy development, employee training, sourcing assistance and point of sale information. This approach empowers consumer to make environmentally informed choices when purchasing seafood.
To learn more about sustainable seafood, visit www.fishwise.org or sign up for their mailing list.
