Happy Earth Day!

Hope everyone is having a beautiful Earth Week and has something enviro-friendly planned for the weekend to celebrate Earth Day. In case not, here are some local happenings:

The Science Center's Earth Day celebration on Saturday: There will be container-garden making with Baltimore Contained, herb cooking with Carrie Murray Nature Center, experiments with the American Chemical Society and plenty more eco-awesomeness with local green groups.More info can be found on the Science Center's site here: http://mdsci.org/events-calendar/events/EarthDay.html

Severna Park Earth Day on Saturday: http://severnapark.patch.com/articles/9th-annual-earth-day-expo-at-spms#pdf-9379365 Where the Eco-Goats will be!

Localize It: Baltimore Free Farm Block Party on Sunday: The second annual block party celebrating the value of local artists, musicians, food and social movements at its flagship project, the Ash Street Garden in Hampden. The event will include local craft and food vendors, street performers, live music and family activities. The block party's special attraction is ChiliBrew V, a home-brew competition and chili cook-off organized by BaltiBrew. More info can be found on their website http://www.baltimorefreefarm.org/2012/03/11/localize-it-ii/

If you aren't local, check out the Earth Day Network for information about events near you!

The Importance of Being Reasonable

I often run into the same conversation when out to dinner with friends or family. It goes something like this:

Me: There's no meat in this, right?
Waiter: Nope, no meat. Are you a vegetarian?
Family/Friend Elect: I've seen you eat sushi, Deb. That's not sustainable. Why not just get the salmon? You need your protein.
Sister: I have a picture of you eating Mom Carter's fried chicken! Diet Coke and a turkey sandwich!
Me: Zip it, sister. I never claimed to be vegetarian. I only try to eat consciously and (making quote signs in the air) 'vote with my fork.' I also try to be polite when I am a guest in someone's home. Have you ever seen me purchase or order a meat dish? No. The environmental, health and anthrozoological consequences of mass-produced factory farmed meat appall me. But then again, so do the uber-rigid vegans who look upon the sneetches without stars... (waiter tries to excuse him/herself from the conversation)
Family/Friend Elect: You can't be half a vegetarian. What are you? Is there even a word for it? Why don't you just become Amish?
Me: Because I love the Internet too much.

While I certainly wish there were a simple word - like flexitarian - assigned to my beliefs and decisions around the dining table, I'm somewhat grateful there isn't because sometimes the strongest beliefs evolve over time along with exposure to knowledge and experiences. What I am trying to say is much better said in the fantastic article up on Treehugger that prompted this post to begin with.

The article, by Sami Grover's, emphasizes the importance of being sincere in your beliefs without shutting out new ideas and that "self reflection is not a lack of conviction." There is a wide spectrum of environmentalists out there and it is important that we remain reasonable and do not become too rigid. Progress, not perfection.

Craving Fresh?

Anyone else itching for spring and fresh, seasonal fruits and veggies? We're almost there, folks. Almost there. In the meantime, Treehugger put up a nice slide show of fresh, in-season vegetables the East Coasters should be eating right now. We'll just list 'em for you:

Mushrooms
Brussels Sprouts
Onions
Cabbage
Leeks
Parsnips
Kale
Carrots
Potatoes

Local Treehuggers

Namaste, friends. We here at JustSaying have been in a state of speechlessness since the series finale events of LOST last night so all I've got this morning is this fun page on baltimoresun.com that encourages local treehuggers to submit photos. Hopefully this plug can help the page garner a few more pics and stories!

Planet 100

Check out this great news source for the short attention span that we just discovered on Planet Green. It's called The Planet 100 and features Sarah Backhouse and friends delivering the top eco news of the day in 100 seconds or less (and with a British accent). Digg it.

Sweet Sea Lions

It's video week on the blog, huh?! These Galapagos sea lions are currently on the list of threatened species. Traditionally, wildlife experts have observed them breeding and living on the islands near Equador but since ocean temperatures in Peruvian waters have increased 11 degrees over the past decade, the sea lions have begun setting up colonies outside of their native island chain. Hopefully their new home is also off the beaten path of traffickers and those awful people responsible for the January 2008 massacre. Read more here.

Green Themes in LOST??

I admire the concept of this Treehugger post placing green themes in LOST, but sorry Mairi Beautiman from Berlin, Germany. LOST isn't Avatar. I understand the desire to bring these two wonderful things together, LOST and Environmental Conservation that is, but it seems like a bit of a stretch, don't you think? To me the show has always been about all the real things in this world that we can't actually see but can only see expressions of. The human condition. The greenest theme this blogger has pulled from LOST is that the force of nature is far stronger than humans and will undoubtedly win out in the end.

Sure the island sits on some sort of energy source, there is some sort of science going on, and the survivors' relationships with the jungle and world around them evolve but just saying... the seven green themes in Beautiman's post haven't exactly left any footprint on the fan forums.

But then again, maybe there is something in store in these last 18 episodes that will make me eat these words. Thoughts?

Food Films

There is a great article up on Treehugger collecting/contributing reviews of five food-focused films as well as clips from each of them: The World According To Monsanto, King Corn, Our Daily Bread, The Power of Community: How Cuba Survived Peak Oil, and Food Fight. Each film appeals to me for different reasons and you can bet they are all going on my Netflix list. Well, at least four of them. I'm on the fence about Our Daily Bread. Find the article here.