How many pounds of pesticides have I eaten, anyway?!!

Here is a short breakdown on pesticide use for non-organic California strawberries. Now imagine how many times this can be multiplied across the food chain. OUCH.

In 2004 California strawberry growers used 184 different pesticides.

However, six accounted for 80.6 percent of use, nearly nine million pounds.

Four were fumigants designed to kill all soil life and are among the most dangerous pesticides. Those four accounted for 74.1 percent of use which averages out to about 249 pounds per acre.

One, Methyl bromide is still on the market even though it has been scheduled to be banned for more than ten years.

The Montreal Protocol on ozone depleting substances determined
that Methyl bromide is one of the most destructive chemicals reaching the ozone.

In spite of its dangers, California and Florida strawberry growers are largely responsible for keeping it on the market for so long.

An average of 335.40 pounds of pesticides were used on each acre to grow strawberries for our shortcakes.

2004 Strawberry Pesticides, Most Used

CHLOROPICRIN–Tear Gas, fumigant, biocide, birth defects, highly toxic to fish.

METHYL BROMIDE–Fumigant, biocide, birth defects.

1,3-DICHLOROPROPENE- Fumigant, Cancer, Biocide, ground water contaminant, toxic to fish.

SULFUR–Fungicide, causes birth defects.

METAM-SODIUM–Fumigant, nerve poison, birth defects.

CAPTAN–Fungicide, insecticide, cancerous, birth defects.

178 Other Pesticides used on California Strawberries

Pounds of Pesticides used on California Strawberries

Total Acreage of California Strawberries

Average pounds of Pesticide per acre

Total California Organic Strawberry Acreage

* from Will Allen’s The War on Bugs

Ahhhhh, the Stay-cation

Sorry for the long hiatus but I’ve been out on the most eco-fabulous time-out I’ve taken in ages:

the Stay-cation.

-No gas was used

-No throw-away convenience packaging was purchased out of desperation, then tossed out of necessity

-No hideous airport gluebread sandwiches were consumed.

It was just 2 weeks of pure home and kiddie time. A vacation to nowhere but back (back to the basics, back to kids, back to my life).
Every day we were up and out first thing with homemade snacks and healthy meals packed in washable, reusable containers carried in fabric bags. We saw playgrounds in the park we never knew existed (and played in as many as we could)!

We got tons of great exercise pushing a packed double stroller up and down Central Park hills and side streets.

Eco Extra: Half the regular baths and showers=less water used, fewer changes of clothes=less laundry, too!

And lest you think I spent the past fortnight reeking with two little crumby urchins behind me, I’m happy to say that we did not offend anyone, to my knowledge, and that kiddie park sprinklers DO count as bathing if you play in them enough!

Now, to help with your next stay-cation, here are some cool, “green” and reasonably-priced goodies I’ve found that may just help to make life more convenient and fun, too!

Tired of burlap sacks and somber knits? check out these cute reusable totes with a cause.

http://whatsurbag-usa.com/index.html

Weston A. Price makes the News!

I’ve turned family, friends and strangers alike on to this little known nutrition education group with a fast-growing following and it seems that great news is finally spreading to more mainstream media.

The Weston A. Price Foundation snagged the The Washington Post Food Section Front Page!!!
The feature story (which you can link to below) is about Sally Fallon-Morell, her cookbook, Nourishing Traditions and the grassroots movement it has spawned.

According to Sally’s publicist, Kimberly Hartke, her members are definitely an important part of the buy extremely local, support sustainable farmers crowd (Go Sally!). These are folks who actually put their money where their mouth is, says Kimberly, and are learning the lost art of home cooking, and converting their household food budgets to buying whole, unprocessed farm fresh foods.
Sally has launched a whole movement within the movement called farm-to-consumer direct sales, and even a Farm-to-Consumer Legal Defense Fund to protect the rights of farms and their direct sales customers.

For more information, see the link to Post article below.

http://tinyurl.com/5nvdhy

More on Honey, Soy and Local (pasture-raised) BEEF

I’ve been getting some great comments from you lately and want to say Thanks so much for the input and for helping to finesse some of the information posted here.

As some of you pointed out, the lovely, dark BUCKWEAT honey has been very well-studied and has documented, proven antibacterial and antioxidant effects, and though many believe that similar effects can be applied to most honey, as with many foods where color is a key, darker is often better/stronger/faster, etc due to higher phenolics, organic acids, peptides, and the like. So if you love a dollop of clover honey in your tea don’t fret, but for a bad cough or nasty burn, try a spoonful of the heartier stuff.

Another commenter brought up that [if we're going to look at the environmental footprint of BEEF] the alternative to meat for many people, Soy, also produces ENORMOUS carbon dioxide emissions during processing (not to mention the MANY AWFUL NEUROTOXIC EFFECTS OF SHORT-FERMENTED SOY PRODUCTS SUCH AS SOY MILK, CHIPS, SOY CHEESE AND MORE).
For more information on Soy, see many of my earlier posts.

Good Point.

Processing almost anything has ecological consequences and the more something must be processed, the greater the toll in most cases. So again we must ask ourselves, “What the Hell can I EAT?!”

And I think this is a perfect place to stress an easy combination of things like:
1) Moderation. supplement your protein needs with some legumes like chick peas or Kidney beans, etc. As a meat eater (and I am), even I need to ask myself, “Do I really need to eat a steak that could choke a crocodile?
2) Think Local and Small. Huge commercial dairies and farms obviously leave a larger environmental “shadow” behind them, if you will, both in terms of volume and mass-processing practices.
3) Get Creative/Think Globally I often forget how many thousands of delicious and unique recipes there are using good fresh veggies and legumes and small amounts of meat, fish or chicken. Few nations besides the United States consume such enormous amounts of meat on a regular basis and many delightful tastes come from just touches of meat added to a dish with unusual and unexpected spices and ingredients. Thinks Curries, Stir Frys, Cassoulets, and soups.