Category: environment

change, environment, food, New York Times

Beginning: The People’s Republic of Food

Christa Avampato

“There’s plenty of good work to do. With food it can really have an impact, not only on your life but on everyone’s.” ~ Mark Bittman, New York Times Magazine

This weekend the New York Times Magazine revolves around one of my very favorite subjects – food. A few weeks ago I posted about my most recent obsession with food documentaries and my continued growing interest in sustainable agriculture. I’ve always loved to cook and have been rather dismayed that I can’t really bake that well. (I’m working on remedying the later.) Now I am putting a great priority on this activity.

Bittman’s interest in food extends not only from his interest and passion in personal health, but also public health and activism. A world that is increasingly interconnected and complex can leave us feeling paralyzed by the pace and degree of change. one person can and does make a difference. We are what we eat, and our world is also what we eat. Our food choices and how we consume our food has countless implications on the world at large. It’s an act in which we participate every day, several times per day, and it extends to all demographics. Change the way you eat, and you have the ability to change the world in a very tangible way.

The world of food is a true democracy – every person can and does make a difference.

environment, green, guest blogger

Beginning: Starting a Green Life – Guest Post by Amanda Kidd

Christa Avampato

Please put your hands together for Amanda Kidd, a green maven and wonderful reader of this blog. Amanda reached out to me asking if she could write a post about her passion: green living. Given my own lifestyle and personal belief that taking care of our environment is not an option but a mission-critical effort for our own survival, I am thrilled that Amanda wanted to write about this subject. Here are 10 simple ways to get started living a green life in your home.

Going green does not have to be a daunting task that means sweeping life changes. Simple things can make a difference. Saving Energy is the need of the hour. Saving Power at home is the least we can do, but it will in the bigger picture save the energy consumption of the world by a huge figure. If every one of us does our bit, the earth will be definitely left with energy to see and feel. Here is a list of ten ways of saving energy while at home:

1.     Do not pre-heat the oven
Unless you are making bread or pastries of some sort, don’t pre-heat the oven. Just turn it on when you put the dish in. Also, when checking on your food, look through the oven window instead of opening the door.

2.     Hang dry
Get a clothesline or rack to dry your clothes by the air. Your wardrobe will maintain color and fit, and you’ll save money. Your favorite t-shirt will last longer too.

3.     Change the light
Replace every regular light bulb with one of those new compact fluorescent bulbs, the pollution reduction would be equivalent to removing one million cars from the road. If you don’t want to put these bulbs everywhere use these bulbs for closets, laundry rooms and other places where it won’t irk you as much.

4.     Don’t rinse
Skip rinsing dishes before using your dishwasher and you can save some gallons of water with each of your effort. Plus, you’re saving time and the energy used to heat the additional water.

5.     Greener lawn care
If you must water your lawn, do it early in the morning before any moisture is lost to evaporation. Have a few weeds and spot treat them with vinegar. If you want to rake, do it by hand it’s excellent exercise.

6.     Turn off lights
Always turn off lights when you leave a room. Fluorescent bulbs are more affected by the number of times it is switched on and off, so turn them off when you leave a room for 15 minutes or more. You’ll save energy on the bulb itself, but also on cooling costs, as lights contribute heat to a room.

7.     Adjust your thermostat
Adjust your thermostat one degree higher in the summer and one degree cooler in the winter. It can save about 10% on your energy use. In addition, invest in a programmable thermostat which allows you to regulate temperature based on the times you are at home or away.

8.     Buy local
Consider the amount of pollution created to get your food from the farm to your table. Whenever possible, buy from local farmers or farmers’ markets, supporting your local economy and reducing the amount of greenhouse gas created when products are flown or trucked in.

9.     Keep your fireplace dampers closed
Keeping the damper open (when you’re not using your fireplace) is like keeping a 48-inch window wide open during the winter; it allows warm air to go right up the chimney. This can add up to hundreds of dollars each winter in energy loss. So, keep it close.

10.  Drive Smart
Driving like a drag racer may be fun, but it has a substantial environmental cost. Simple changes in existing driving habits can improve fuel efficiency. Drive at or near the speed limit, keep your tires inflated, make sure oil and air filters are clean, and step on the gas and the brakes carefully.

You too can create an impact which would be noticeable in environment by making your home green and adopting the above mention things in your daily life. The change is worth noticing.

Amanda is a writer who is an ardent follower of environment friendly existence. She found an answer of green living in her eco friendly home to which she takes an utmost care and prefers to take all the measures which would create an eco friendly ambiance in and around her abode.

change, environment, evolution, nature, politics

Beginning: Crisis as a Pathway to Evolution

Christa Avampato

http://www.toonpool.com/cartoons/fish%20evolution%20overrated_49704
“We always talk about working together… perhaps crisis can give birth to new evolution.” ~ Yuka Saionji

In the past few weeks I have been bowled over by the amount of crisis in the world. I almost don’t bother to open the email alerts I get of what’s coming up on the nightly news. I already know what they’ll say – covering the dual crisis in Libya and Japan. The photos and descriptions of events happening in both countries are terrifying. And still, despite all of the destruction and violence, I do think this is an hour that holds a lot of promise. These two crises can bring us together is a powerful, meaningful way.

Thomas Friedman wrote an excellent column this week about our perfect storm of problems – the prolonged abuse of our environment is coming to bear in one natural disaster after another, violent revolutions in the Middle East threaten a great portion of our energy supply, and the ever-evolving situation with the Japanese nuclear plant casts a long shadow over our society’s view of nuclear energy. It would be easy to designate blame to a party other than ourselves, to point the finger away from us. In this hour of our history, the most helpful thing we can do is to take a good long look in the mirror, collectively and individually, and ask what we can do in this moment and in every moment going forward to create a healthier more sustainable world in every dimension.

For some sad reason, humans often require a burning platform before we can allow ourselves to change. I wish we didn’t, but the truth is until we have a darn good motivation to change, we just plod along as we always have. Something has to inspire to mix it up. Maybe the crisis in the Middle East is what we need to finally make our peace with all people, of all faiths. Maybe these terrifying natural disasters will change our daily habits to do what’s best to sustain and nurture our natural world. Maybe we’ll let go of even a fraction of our energy consumption. Perhaps Yuka Saionji is right, these crisis can be the catalyst to our own evolution.

environment, learning, nature, science, transportation

Beginning: We Could Learn A Lot From Slime Mold

Christa Avampato

Physarum polycephalum variety of Slime Mold. Taken by Dr. Jonatha Gott and the Center for RNA Molecular Biology, Case Western Reserve University.
While at SXSW I attended a Biomimicry panel. This was one of the panels I was most excited for. Ever since viewing Janine Benyus TED Talk a few years ago, biomimicry is one of those subjects that I could spend hours researching. Its applications to design are truly endless.

The panel at SXSW praised the brilliance of Slime mold. Yep, slim mold, that seemingly lowly organism that has been around far longer than we have has quite a bit to teach us about transportation. With maximum efficiency, slime mold grows and spreads itself out to acquire its food. The city of Tokyo used the growth and reach of slime mold as its model to design its transportation system with maximum efficiency. In the words of the great Paul Reubens, “I love that story.”

The Slime mold example again reminded me of the brilliance of our natural world. Too often, we see our environment as something to control and guide. I wonder how our society would change if we developed a much strong respect for the wisdom of the natural world that has had so many millenniums to adapt and change. It replenishes and nurtures itself. It is an adamant fan of cycles and self-care. The next time that we’re looking for guidance in our own lives or wrestling with a creative challenge, we would do we to take glance out the window or take ourselves for a walk with our eyes and ears wide open. All the answers are there, many under the care of an unlikely natural guardian like Slime mold.

children, education, environment, school, science

Step 273: Environment Science Gets Its Due in Maryland Classrooms

Christa Avampato

My friend, Michael, author of Like a Fish In Water, sent me a link about environmental education in the Maryland Public School System. Previously, the system only required a single lesson on environmental education some time between kindergarten and 12th grade. Now, environmental science must be woven into the curriculum, covering specific topics. Originally, the mandate was to establish a separate environmental science as a graduation requirement. That original mandate didn’t pass but getting more environmental science into the curriculum within existing subjects is a start.

It still shocks me that many people don’t see the connection between caring for the environment and public health, that they don’t understand that there is no such thing as an unlimited natural resource. There are limits to the stresses that our environment can withstand, and we are running up against those limits at a frightening pace. Kids have to know how their actions impact the environment, and it’s our responsibility to teach them how to care for our shared world.

Additionally, the environment is a practical, truly tangible platform that can be used to enhance learning opportunities across a variety of subjects, physical and chemical sciences, math, history, and design to name a few. It opens the door to discussing higher education and career planning. It makes the facts we learn in school relevant and applicable in the world that surrounds us.

Nature is an infinite, wise, and patient teacher if only we will sit with her a while to hear what she has to say and see what she has to reveal to us. It’s a living, breathing lab for us to explore and wonder at It’s the closest thing we have on Earth to divinity, and I’m glad Maryland students will finally get the chance to learn more. Hopefully, other states will hop on board, too.

For a link to the full article, click here.

environment, nature

Step 162: How to Help in the Gulf Coast

Christa Avampato

“I suppose if you had to choose just one quality to have that would be it: vitality.” ~ John F. Kennedy, as quoted in One Thousand Days: John F. Kennedy in the White House by Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr.

Today Manhattan Users Guide ran their daily MUG to list ways that we can all help with the efforts to clean up the disastrous oil spill in the Gulf Coast. Everyone can contribute with funds or time of every capacity, large and small, short-term and long-term. The spill destroys more life everyday – our collective efforts can help turn the tide.

From MUG:
Volunteer to the LA Gulf Coast Response, a coordinated effort among several organizations.

Seed grant money to the Gulf Coast Fund, which is distributing emergency grants.

Supply life vests needed by the Barataria-Terrebonne National Estuary Volunteer Program.

Go to the beach on June 26th and participate in Hands Across the Sand.

Eat out as part of the Dineout for the Gulf Coast, today and tomorrow.

Fill in for Sarasota-based Save our Seabirds staff members who have been reassigned into the field during the crisis.

Give heating pads to Wildlife Sanctuary of Northwest Florida (birds covered in oil often suffer from hypothermia). Click on Volunteer Document [PDF]

Wash your dishes with Special Edition Dawn, which will donate $1 per bottle to help save wildlife. You need to activate the donation here.

Text WILDLIFE to 20222, a $10 donation to the National Wildlife Federation. NWF says 97% of the donation will go to Gulf region recovery efforts.

Follow 1,000,000 Strong Against Offshore Drilling on Facebook.

Download Not One Drop: Betrayal and Courage in the Wake of the Exxon Valdez Oil Spill by Riki Ott (free) and donate to Global Green.

Volunteer for Audubon’s response efforts.

Urge Senators to pass a comprehensive climate and energy bill.

Buy a book today through Monday at Borders with this coupon and the company will donate 10% of sales to the Coalition to Restore Coastal Louisiana.

Travel to New Orleans and spread those tourist dollars around generously.

Donate to the Greater New Orleans Foundation.

Get a haircut or get your dog, sheep, or llama groomed and save the hair (or fur or fleece); then send it to Matter of Trust which will stuff booms it.

Use less plastic and take the pledge at Save My Oceans.

Support the Suncoast Seabird Sanctuary in Florida, the largest wild bird hospital in the country.

Host a Clean It Up event under the Sierra Club umbrella.

Form a branch of the Krewe of Dead Pelicans.

Rely on science over big business when it comes to the planet by supporting Manomet, the Center for Conservation Sciences.

Let the President know that we shouldn’t be doing more offshore drilling until and unless we have remediation technology commensurate with drilling technology and—better yet—we should fully commit to clean technologies. Petitions here, here, and here.

The image above appeared on the EPA website and depicts a pelican overlooking the tragedy in the Gulf. Gulf Coast wildlife has been a silent victim in the disaster.

environment, yoga

Step 112: Every Tree is Beautiful

Christa Avampato

“I’ve never seen an ugly tree.” Tracy, my yoga teacher

We had another divine Thursday evening with our yoga teacher, Tracy, and for an added bonus Jeffrey was there as our yoga model. To see them team-teach was a treat. Tonight we focused on balancing poses, and Vrksasana (tree pose) is one of my favorites. Very appropriate for Earth Day.

As we were exploring the different kramas (phases or stages) of Vrksasana, Tracey encouraged us to show all of the kramas as we’re teaching. The lower kramas are every bit as beautiful as the more advanced ones. “I’ve never seen an ugly tree,” Tracy said. “Inside and outside. They’re all beautiful.”

I thought about that idea in relation to the phases of so many different parts of our lives. There’s so much power and beauty in the phases we go through as we’re striving toward a goal. Even in the difficult moments, the beauty is there. It may be harder to uncover, it may be harder to appreciate. Within every moment there is a way to learn and grow and evolve. And that’s a beautiful thing.

The image above is from Google’s homepage today in celebration of Earth Day.

environment, nature, New York City

Step 52: Signs of Life

Christa Avampato

Yesterday I spent most of the day outside running errands and meeting up with friends. As I headed down Broadway in the morning, I could feel the Earth yawning and stretching. It was warm for a February day in New York City, 50 degrees. Birds were chirping, skies were blue. I breathed in, breathed out, and thought, “Spring, you are going to find us again.”

This has been a long, cold, tiring winter. Every once in a while I would see little sprigs of life popping up, trying so hard to bloom despite the hard ground, wind, and low temperatures. It was as if the universe was saying, “no, not just yet. Rest a little while longer.”

So I did. I had to put some ideas back on the shelf, some projects into my safe-keeping box, and wait for fairer weather. Yesterday, I felt like life all around me had turned a corner, was beginning to awaken and rise and be heard. And as a result, I felt life within me begin to rise, too.

The image above is not my own. It can be found here.

animals, environment, hope, nonprofit, philanthropy

My Year of Hopefulness – Jane Goodall

Christa Avampato

Tonight I went to 92Y to hear Jane Goodall, one of the people I admire most. Today she released a new book, Hope for Animals and Their Endangered World. It’s been 49 years since Jane began her landmark study about chimpanzees in the Gombe National Park. She was a 26 year old woman, had never attended university, grew up in a family with very few financial resources, and attempted to document the intimate details of the lives of these animals when she had no formal training on how to do this work. I read one of her many previous book, Reason for Hope, about 10 years ago. Tonight she seemed even more hopeful about the fate of the world and our ability to reverse so much of the damage we’ve done.

Jane writes, speaks, and works for hope. “Without hope, there’s no action,” she said. “My job is to give people hope.” And in the next breathe she talked about the rapid melting of the ice caps and the immense negative impact we’ve had on our planet in a few short decades. Some times, like all of us, she loses heart and becomes overwhelmed with all that we have to do to improve the world.

“So in the face of all that’s negative in the world,” Howard Gardner, the moderator asked, “how can you remain so hopeful?”

“Well, there are several simple reasons,” Jane said:

1.) We have amazing brains that are very good at problem-solving, and they get even sharper when we have our backs against the wall and we need to solve a seemingly impossible problem. Individuals take action. In England, just today, there is a program that started called 10 10. It’s aim is for individuals and companies to reduce their carbon footprint by 10% in 2010. I’d like to see that spread and become a worldwide effort.

2.) Nature is resilient. If we give it time, it grows back.

3.) Young people have so much courage. Take the Roots & Shoots program we have. It is about young people getting together and taking action to do amazing things in the world.

4.) The human spirit is indomitable. Look at Nelson Mandela. 17 years in hard labor prisons, and he comes out still able to forgive.

I found her hope contagious. She has spent her entire life planting seeds within people she meets, encouraging them to action, and setting an example for the extraordinary things we can all do with our lives. Most of all, I was touched an inspired by her approach to her work and her life. She always approaches everything from a place of love. Her one dream in her life was to work with animals. A very simple cause that live in the heart, not the head. She spent so much time with the chimps in Gombe National Park because she loved them, not because they were some scientific experiment. She cared deeply about their welfare, and wanted to share their story with others.

I’ve always looked to Jane as an activist, as someone with a lot of courage and confidence, who braved the world of science for our benefit. What I did not realize until tonight is what a strong example she is for young women. When she was 11, she dreamed of traveling to Africa and working with animals there. Her school friends laughed at her, and yet the strong women who comprised her household encouraged her to dream as big as she good and then go after those dreams. In her work with animals, she’s made all of us more human. She’s connected us to create a global community of deeply committed, concerned participants.

After an extensive Q&A session, Howard Gardner took one more audience question: “Jane, how do you reconcile science and religion?” She sighed slightly and closed with a brilliant line that will ring in my head for days to come. “I wish we would stop worrying about how we came to and come together to figure out how we’re going to get our of this mess we’ve gotten ourselves into.” Jane’s been trying to figure this out for a long time – she’s dedicated her life to this cause – and it’s about time we all join her.

To learn more about the Jane Goodall Institute (JGI), click here. In 2010, a new movie, Jane’s Journey, will be released. It chronicles Jane’s remarkable life and career.

The photo above depicts Jane Goodall and is taken her the JGI website.

dreams, environment, nonprofit, success

My Year of Hopefulness – Freedom to Think Bigger

Christa Avampato

“If your life’s work can be accomplished in your lifetime, then you aren’t thinking big enough.”
~ Wes Jackson

My errands today took longer to accomplish than I had planned. By the time I finished them all, without having had coffee, breakfast, or lunch, I was ready to eat just about anything edible that came into my line of vision. I popped in to Chipotle, wolfed down my burrito bowl, and saw on my drink cup that the restaurant is running a multi-part series entitled “People We’re Pleased to Know”. Part 5 features Wes Jackson, the founder and President of The Land Institute and a leader in the sustainable agriculture movement.

Wes’s quote above lifted a huge weight off my shoulders. I’ve been thinking a lot about accomplishment lately. In my writing, at work, with my multiple side projects that I’ve been working on. Secretly I’ve been a little frustrated with myself – why are these things taking so long? Why am I not checking them off the list in rapid succession? His quote reminded me that ideas with passion and heart take time to develop and even more time to execute. The bigger the dream, the longer the time horizon.

This isn’t to say that there aren’t smaller dreams embedded into the larger vision we have for our lives. There are triumphs, and inevitably defeats, along the way that contribute to a lifetime of work. His life’s work was not to start The Land Institute. The Land Institute is a vehicle to help him realize a vision of our world developing a robust, healthy system to feed itself in perpetuity without destroying our planet.

Think of how Wes’s perspective frees up our creative energy and encourages us to include others in the process of building our dreams. He is shaping his vision and bringing it to life alongside many others who share his same aspirations, and those aspirations take constant care, concern, and commitment. His vision is bigger than the span of his own lifetime – it actually continues on indefinitely. Failure and success are taken out of the equation with a mission that big – all it requires is that we contribute to steady, forward progress.