Happy Friday!

Please enjoy this adorable little Eco-Goat: Napoleon. Find more videos of Sir Cuteness (and his friends, family and roommates) on my YouTube channel.

The New Face of Farming

This recording of Holistic Rancher Colin Boggess and Bev Eggleston of EcoFriendly Farms - addressing the American Farm System in a fun and informative way - is one of countless amazing thing to emerge from Future Harvest 2012 Conference.

Love it. Share it. Say it: "brand new playas in a brand new game!"

Eco-Goats in the Wall Street Journal

What's better than waking up at the crack of dawn in a camper, reaching the herd's food buckets while they are still yawning, and seeing the little sleepy heads stumble down a wooded hillside to get breakfast and snuggles?

Not much.

But waking up post-dawn, in a warm bed in an air conditioned house, and seeing/hearing them hop on and off the trailer and eat weeds (like it is going out of style) -  via the Wall Street Journal - is pretty awesome. Great to see the Isaac Walton League Ladies on film as well. They have been incredibly kind and welcoming to the herd and yours truly. Hope you enjoy the video as much as I enjoy this herd of hard-working goats.

Got Goats?

In case you haven't heard, goats are the new green, weed-clearing machines. Expect to hear lots more about them in the coming weeks. Not only do they love to eat the weeds we hate, they are helping out local turtles (wink, wink)!

Slow Season!

Warmest wishes and deepest apologies for the lack of posts lately. The holidays are a busy time of year around here! Please feel free to spend some of your Internet-browsing hours looking through old posts here on Just Saying or on the following sites/blogs/links/stories that have captured our attention lately:

Mental_Floss: 18 Fun Facts About Your Favorite Christmas TV Specials

MSN 'A Year of Mystery Meat' - Read about the experiences of a Chicago area public school employee who ate school lunch every day for a year

Green-Up Your Computer with ECO BUTTON

Recent GMO News - Bt Cotton Failures in India (also here)

Get to know The Fabulous Beekman Boys or just watch Farmer John's Goat Cam!

And if those happy Beekman goats made your heart grow three sizes, consider making an end-of-year donation to one of our favorite organizations, Heifer International, to gift a goat or a share of one. Learn more and donate here.

Ecomagination: Tag Your Green

This. Is. Fantastic.



General Electric's ecomagination.com has launched a new eco-challenge called Tag Your Green that urges all of us to "use the Internet to get inspired, get involved, and get everyone thinking and acting more responsibly." Videos like the 'Eco-Badass' are popping up all over Howcast and YouTube. There's even a flickr photo challenge. Read more here. Any proceeds of the program will benefit charity:water, a non-profit working to bring safe drinking water to developing nations.

Love it.

Seven Principles of a Climate-Friendly Diet

Just stumbled upon this great article from Anna Lappe summarizing methods for a climate-friendly diet expanded upon in her latest book Diet for a Hot Planet: The Climate Crisis at the End of Your Fork. Following in the footsteps of food luminaries like Michael Pollan and Marion Nestle, Lappe suggests:

1.) Reach for Real Food
2.) Put Plants on Your Plate
3.) Don't Panic, Go Organic
4.) Lean Towards Local
5.) Finish Your Peas, The Ice Caps Are Melting
6.) Send Packaging Packing
7.) Got to Get Ourselves Back to the Kitchen! 

WASARA

The most stylish and sustainable disposable dishware ever. Now available in the U.S. Love it. Find it here.

Love Little Green Books

I had the pleasure of gifting and reading The Adventures of a Plastic Bottle to my little niece over the weekend and let me tell you, folks: it is adorably educational. The story about recycling follows the bottle from his beginnings as a blob of crude oil, through polymerization, construction, use, reuse, recycling and to his final form (spoiler alert) as a fleece sweatshirt. I mean, seriously... what's cuter than a spirited plastic bottle with googley eyes teaching our littlest generation important lessons about the processes that have become a huge part of our existence?

As you would expect, the books are printed on recycled paper and The Adventures of a Plastic Bottle is one of many in Simon & Schuster's Little Green Books series.

Other titles include:

I Can Save the Ocean: The Little Green Monster Cleans Up the Beach

This is Our World: A Story About Taking Care of the Earth

Don't Throw That Away: A Lift-the-Flap Book About Recycling and Reusing

What Do You See? A Lift-the-Flap Book abuot Endangered Species

The Adventures of an Aluminum Can: A Story About Recycling

Easy to be Green: Simple Activities You Can Do to Save the Earth

My First Garden

I Can Save the Earth: One Little Monster Learns to Reduce, Reuse and Recycle

The Polar Bears' Home: A Story About Global Warming

Little Panda

Little Monkey

Simon & Schuster have even created the Little Green Blog: Where Your Green Ideas Grow. The most current post of theirs talks about Earth Hour 2010 which is only a few short days away and another great, green activity to do with the kiddies!

Coca Cola: It's not just for cleaning toilets and fueling a childhood obesity epidemic anymore

Designer Daizi Zheng has found a new use for the carbonated sugar substance: Bio batteries. With the aid of a sugary serving or two, the battery has the potential to power the Nokia phone (pictured) for "three to four times longer on a single charge than conventional lithium batteries and it could be fully biodegradable." Learn more here.

'Tis the season...

...for JustSaying to remind you about our favorite simple ideas to help make the holidays more green than red. Save money. Save carbon emissions. Win win!

• Get a real tree. Not only will your home smell like lovely pine without any artificial sprays or candles, but you are contributing to a business that is actually great for the planet. I know, I know: Instinct dictates that cutting down trees = bad. But that isn't the case in the business of Christmas. Of course, purchasing the tree - roots and all - to be replanted after the holidays is the absolute greenest of the green. But getting a recently cut tree is still better than artificial. Christmas tree farms are a big business. 56 million trees each year that, without demand, wouldn't be planted and grown for 5-16 carbon dioxide-absorbing years before their sale. Read all about it in last years post, purchase the pine, people. (By golly gosh, those are some cute sisters in that picture!)
  
  
• Make your own gift tags from last years Christmas cards. Or email me to receive a bag full of them for free in exchange for donating your old cards. JustSaying did this last year but on a much smaller scale. Tags were given to friends and family and we were working with less than a hundred discarded cards. Since then, volunteers have popped up to help make the tags and tons of cards have been donated to the re-use/re-purposing cause.
  
  
• Consider purchasing gifts through organizations like the World Wildlife Fund. Not only will you be donating to an important cause, you'll get on the mailing lists for similar organizations that send out holiday-themed return address labels and wrapping paper made from recycled materials (and a request for a small donation).
  
  
• About online shopping. Amazon is one of my favorites because of their eco-friendly frustration-free packaging. If you can't find what you are looking for on there, be sure and sign up for an account on your favorite sites so that you can save items in your cart until all your purchasing is complete and can be sent in a single shipment. Save yourself the shipping fees and save the packing materials and shipping miles.

Please feel free to share any green holiday tips of your own in the comment section.

Dumpster Diving: The Ultimate Re-Use

I wasn't actually dumpster "diving" per say... at least in the beginning. I was simply being a good dog-owner and cleaning up after the dog on my morning run and happened to notice this gem in the pile of discarded items beside the trash receptacle.

Post jog, when we returned to the dumpster, the crew had jammed this grocery cart (that I was so looking forward to using as motivation to walk to the grocery store instead of drive) into the dumpster so diving ensued.

That wheel can be bent back in to shape, right?

Drinkability

Just yesterday, I was reading about the evolution of American agriculture and how the booze biz went from an in-farm operation to the town taverns. (Believe it or not, I'm not retelling the story I always tell from MP's Botany of Desire about Johnny Appleseed's alcohol/apple loving ways.)

The real tipping point that took folks to the taverns was rum. An import. That which they couldn't produce at home. So I got to thinking: For those of us who don't grow barley or tend to a vineyard, what's the most eco-friendly alcoholic beverage? Biodynamic wine from Australia? California wines? What about those of us on the East Coast? Should we stick to Sam Adams? Yuengling? Some other locally brewed beer I don't know about?

The truth is, I don't drink so this isn't a topic I've investigated much further. I do, however, read Slate's Green Lantern and it just so happens that Nina Shen Rastogi has addressed this very topic in her recent post. It turns out that there are a lot more factors to picking your poison than I had expected. For instance, the decision between glass and aluminum depends on the quality of your local recycling program. And the synthetic cork you may think is better for the environment isn't exactly endorsed by the WWF.

If you are a libation lover, read the entire Lantern post here. And then consider setting snobbery aside and purchasing wine in a box.

Revisiting the Footprint of Flowers

A loyal reader out in Seattle contacted me recently to rave about the town's massive, year-round farmers' market that boasts some beautiful, locally grown bouquets and we got to talking about the smartest and most environmentally friendly way to purchase flowers. Like everything else grown on this good earth, knowing the grower is ideal, but not all of us get to the local farmers' markets regularly or purchase flowers in person, so here are a few tips and suggestions to minimize the carbon footprint of your blooms.

- Always buy in season (theflowerexpert.com)

- I highly recommend flowerpetal.com. Based on their total flower sales every quarter, they contribute to carbonfund.org, a carbon offset program.

- Look for FTD-certifies shops and websites such as 1-800-FLOWERS, Flowerbud, Organic Bouquet and TransFair.

- To ensure the flower was grown sustainably, with fair labor practices, and minimal application of pesticides, look for the eco-labels: Florverde, VeriFlora and FlorEquador.

For more on the sustainability of flowers, check out my previous post, a thorn in my side, or Carolyn Whelan's recent article from Earth 3.0, The Real Price of Flowers.

Green Pet, Good Pet

If you can't already tell, I'm for pets. Furry ones. Slippery, scaly ones. Ones that aren't really pets but hang out on your lawn and enjoy regular meals you've laid out for them. I like to think that while they sometimes take a toll on your wallet and perhaps the environment (think black-market slider turtles released into Maryland waters), the companionship, activity and love they provide is paramount to any gaming system or whatever else kids play with these days. But I digress. The question that keeps me up at night is this: What's a dog-loving, eco-activist to do about the doo doo? And can I enjoy the company of a friendly little fish while I blog without pangs of guilt about the two gallons of water required weekly to keep his bowl clean and clear?

Luckily, there are others out there like me. You'll notice a new addition to my list of suggested books, Green Dog, Good Dog: Reducing Your Best Friend's Carbon Paw Print, by Dominique De Vito. My mom discovered this gem the other day and while I am proud to report that I already opt for biodegradable bags, I learned that a Canine Cleanup day is long overdue in my neighborhood and intend to dedicate an entire post to www.flushpuppies.com in the near future. I'd also like to suggest a recent post by Slate's Green Lantern contributor, Nina Shen Rastogi, addressing the environmental impact of our aquatic friends. As you would guess, the greenest fish are freshwater, low-maintenance, and fairly small.

GoodGuide

After years of gathering data and lobbying for funding, Dara O’Rourke, a professor of environmental and labor policy at the University of California, Berkeley, launched a wonderful website GoodGuide, to help consumers sort through all the marketing mumbo-jumbo about the supposed eco-consciousness of various products. So far, the site has scored about 75,000 products and is making headlines after joining up with Apple and appearing in a recent iPhone App Ad. The NY Times reports:

...Users enter a product’s name to get scores. For instance, Tom’s of Maine deodorant gets an 8.6 in part because it has no carcinogens, while Arrid XX antiperspirant rates a 3.8 because it contains known carcinogens. Another click leads to information behind the scores, like whether an ingredient causes reproductive problems or produces toxic waste, or whether the company has women and racial minorities in executive positions or faces labor lawsuits...

“What we think of now as green is a marketing mirage,” usually based on a single environmentally friendly practice, said Daniel Goleman, author of “Ecological Intelligence,” who switched deodorants and shampoos because of GoodGuide. The site could potentially “have a revolutionary effect on industry and commerce,” he said, by educating shoppers about the ramifications of buying a particular product...

I checked out a favorite dessert item of mine, Skinny Cow, that has one of the higher ratings on the site, and was disappointed to learn that the company has had multiple violations of the Clean Water Act and is one of the lowest rated on environmental management compliance. Stoneyfield Farm Organic Yogurt, thankfully, seems to be a guilt-free buy.

Greenest Cookware?

Slate's Green Lantern posted an educational response to an engaged couples' question regarding eco-friendly cookware. Find it here. On top of discussing the virtues of copper and longevity of a solid, cast iron pan, the Lantern mentions something that I know very little about: Fluoropolymers. Better known for their presence in a little something called "nonstick coating." From the article:

...Most nonstick cookware is lined with polytetrafluoroethylene—one of a class of slippery substances, known as fluoropolymers, used to make products waterproof, grease-proof, and stain-resistant. (DuPont's Teflon is the most famous brand.)

...Fluoropolymer manufacturing has traditionally required the use of perfluorooctanoic acid, a chemical known to linger in the environment and to be toxic to animals. (It's also been found, in low levels, in the blood of more than 98 percent of the American population of humans.) How the acid, known as PFOA, actually gets into our blood and to what extent it affects our health aren't fully understood, but in 2005 the EPA's independent Science Advisory Board recommended that it be labeled a likely human carcinogen. The EPA is continuing to research the issue, however, and hasn't reached any definitive conclusions. (Some people avoid nonstick-coated pans for fear of harmful gases that could be released at high temperatures. However, the scientific consensus is that they're safe when used carefully—i.e., when the burner heat is kept relatively low and pans are never heated while empty.)

Although the Lantern seems less concerned about this carcinogen and more focused on reminding the reader of some eco-basics like 'less is more' and that the environmental cost of mining and processing raw/virgin materials is far higher than that of post-consumer recycled material, I can't help but wonder... is PFOA the next BPA?

How to dry fruit (after using it to power small clocks)

After my tweenage sister and I punctured an apple for an experiment using copper and nickel to harness it's natural electricity, and then carelessly tossed it back into the fruit basket for a few days, I figured it would be best to dry it but didn't know how? So I activated the Google machine and here's what I found out:

• You can dry any fruit that is ripe, but not too ripe, and in good condition, including but not limited to apples, bananas, peaches, pears, apricots, berries, cherries, etc. For eco-sake, it's best to stick with fruits that are in season in your area.


• Wash, peel, pit, core and slice up your fruit unless it has skin (like blueberries and cherries). The thickness of your slices is up to you but try and keep pieces uniform for equal dry time.


• Steam those slices and berries for 3-5 minutes then place them on a parchment lined baking sheet with enough room so that the pieces don't touch. Turn the oven to about 125 degrees Fahrenheit and find something else to do around the house because it will take a few hours to dry the fruit and any attempts to speed up the process by turning up the heat will just result in dehydration.


• Let the now-dried fruit sit overnight. In the morning, pop it back in the oven for ten minutes at 175 degrees in order to destroy any possible insect eggs. Then let it cool for a bit and viola! Dried fruit without added sugar and preservatives.
  

Eco-friendly eater?

There is a fun and informative quiz up on Planet Green today. For all you loyal blog readers, scoring a 100% should be a breeze. Click here to test your ecotarian knowledge.

As always, ignorance WAS bliss...

I read some alarming statistics about Christmas on treehugger today. Because of my love for the occasional gag gift, I've suppressed these realities for some time but now that they have been brought to my attention, I feel obligated to share them with you.

Waste. The average American spends $800 of Christmas gifts each year. Within a year, around 50% of those gifts end up in a landfill. Not to mention, the wrapping paper and cards they arrived with.

My green suggestion: Set some guidelines with your family and friends early on. Maybe agree that no one needs more than one gift, or provide each other with lists of things you really need rather than things you want - think frying pan vs. Big Mouth Bass. Opt for reusable wrap. A gift bag can be used at least a few times before it looks, well, used. If you are one of those people who really likes to see the joy on the gift recipient's face when they unwrap, use newspapers. While some regions have restrictions on what type of paper can be recycled, most allow newspaper recycling and for some reason a lot people associate newspapers with recycling so maybe they will think twice before stuffing it in a garbage bag.

Together, we buy and send 2.65 billion Christmas cards a year. I love the sentiment of a hand written Christmas card and have a hard time promoting the eco-friendly suggestion of e-cards - even though that is enough paper to fill a ten story football stadium.

My green suggestion: Instead, I encourage you to re-purpose them into gift tags for next year or email me at deborahdramby@gmail.com requesting my mailing address, send them my way, and I will do so.