Really?

I knew I should have stayed up for Saturday Night Live over the weekend. Kermit the Frog and Seth Meyers addressed the absurdity of the "pizza counts as a vegetable" ruling.

Does Healthy Eating = Healthy Environment?

Whenever I order the vegetarian option on a menu or say "no thanks" to a steak from the grill, I end up in a discussion about the evolution of farming methods, meat-eating, and the health of the average American diet.

The truth is, I occasionally eat meat. We are, after all, omnivores and have the capacity and desire to eat meat. What I cannot, in good conscious, eat is factory farmed meat. It is the opposite of what nature intended and - consumed the way it is today - is undeniably bad for the planet and bad for human health. A few years ago, the United Food and Agriculture Organization published findings that current production levels of meat contribute between 14 and 22 percent of the 36 billion tons of "CO2-equivalent" greenhouse gases the world produces every year. On top of that, consider how much farmland is dedicated to growing that feed instead of bio-diverse crops. 

On the same token, I will not purchase an organic apple from New Zealand over a conventionally grown American apple just because one is organic and the other may not be. Pesticides and herbicides are under a lot more scrutiny and regulation than many of the items deemed 'natural' by a label and I like to believe, however idealistic and blindly optimistic, that buying American is almost always a good choice. 

So how about canned veggies? And a lot of the things that we pick up at the grocer because Dr. Oz tells us they are healthy choices? Does the saying 'good for you, good for the environment' really hold true? Brian Palmer, for Slate's Green Lantern, answers this question in this week's Q&A: 

"Too often, environmentalists slip half-knowingly between human health and environmental health. Ask a stranger in the grocery store why he buys organic, and he’ll almost certainly conflate the two issues. We’re all one, after all… Unfortunately, there’s no natural law saying that planet health and human health are unitary. Consider the potato. According to a 20-year study involving more than 120,000 people, potatoes correlate more closely with obesity than any other food (including soda). And yet, potatoes aren’t exactly giving Mother Earth diabetes, so to speak."

Read Palmer's articulate response to the question: is eating healthy better for the environment too? HERE. He examines transportation, farming methods, storage methods and compares fresh vs frozen foods. It turns out that there are many circumstances in which limp, salty canned food - which may not be better for your taste-buds or fit the idea of 'fresh' - is better for the environment. 

Turkey Shortage in Maryland

Rex Lisman, Flickr

Uh oh, loca-omnivores. The Washington Post is reporting a turkey shortage in Maryland. In a way, this is good news because it verifies residents interest in supporting local farmers. But on the other hand, for those of you who have not yet started gathering the goods for your feast, it could lead to a side dish of feedlot remorse.

Act fast and you may still be able to procure a Maryland turkey via Maryland's Best. And keep in mind, you could always off-set the footprint of your chosen meat by serving up produce from a CSA (Community Supported Agriculture), most of which still have winter shares available.

For more suggestions on the meat of your feast, read last year's eco-Thanksgiving tips in Turkey, Tofu or Pheasant?

Green-wash - verb: the act of misleading consumers regarding the environmental practices of a company or the environmental benefits of a product or service.

Earlier this year, I submitted a second rule for Michael Pollan's new edition of Food Rules that went something like this: "If it seems too good to be true, it probably is." As in: fat-free donuts made with cage-free eggs and solar power for 89 cents. Sure. I wish. Just like I wish I could trust that everything with leafy green logos were eco-friendly. Unfortunately, the large-scale, packaged food industry is one of many capitalizing on our inclination to do right by the environment and by our bodies. Fortunately, my girl Jenica Rhee put together this handy infographic to help us identify greenwashing and navigate to the right decisions. Read more about the "Sins of Greenwashing" on TerraChoice Environmental Marketing's fantastic website.

This Should Be Illegal

Somehow, a hospital-themed restaurant advertising free meals for patrons who weigh more than 350 lbs, milkshakes with the "highest butter content in the world," and selling 8,000 calorie cheeseburgers with four patties (listed as a "Quadruple Bypass" on the menu) has opened up in Las Vegas, Nevada, despite the fact that the flagship Arizona location closed in May following the death of the grill's spokesperson, 29-year-old Blair River, pictured in the video above. The owner, Jon Basso, who is also featured in the video above - as "Dr. Jon" - spoke to the Las Vegas Sun last month:

“You’re intelligent if you don’t eat our food,” he said Thursday. “If people pondered what I’m doing, they’d realize I’m creating a mockery of this. When you hop on that scale and you’re 350 pounds and we give you a free burger and people cheer, what’s really going on? We’re singling you out as a freak. On the one hand, I could try to defend myself ethically and call myself a crusader that’s trying to wake up America and conduct an intervention on obesity. That’s half true. The other half is I’m an entrepreneur trying to make a buck, plain and simple.”

Basso stopped, thought for a minute, then added: “The only thing I can say in my defense is: If you compare me to Burger King and McDonald’s, I’m honest and they aren’t. It says right on my door: ‘Caution, bad for your health.’”

Read more here and here. This can't possibly be what our country's founding fathers had in mind. Ugh. 

Reverse Trick-or-Treating

A recent article in Grist alerted me to the disturbing fact that about half of the chocolate eaten in the United States from from the Ivory Coast, where underage and forced child labor persists despite pressure on these big chocolate companies.

While there is no immediate solution to huge global issues like these, Equal Exchange and the human rights organization Global Exchange have teamed up in order to promote something called Reverse Trick-or-Treating in order to plant the seeds of change in American households.

Because a boycott could very well do more harm that good, these organizations are suggesting a different approach: Trick-or-Treat as usual but harness the power of public awareness by having our young trick-or-treaters exchange fair trade chocolates and informational fliers about the treatment of their peers worldwide. Read more in Claire Thompson's article and/or download the fliers here. 

Countdown to New 'Food Rules'

In addition to illustrations by Maira Kalman, Michael Pollan has added nineteen new rules to the illustrated edition of Food Rules. For the next week leading up to the November 1st release, he will be counting down his favorite new rules and posting them here. Fingers crossed that yours truly's new rule, "If it seems too good to be true, it probably is," made the cut!

Pollan is also giving a lecture in nearby Bethesda, MD at 8:00pm tonight at the Strathmore Hall Foundation. Tickets and details here.

Food Facts for Food Day

With National Food Day coming up on Monday October 24th and World Food Day having just occurred, this seems like the right time to take a good hard look at the global food crisis and figure out what steps we can take towards a sustainable food system both individually and collectively. The misalignment of dates on the United States Food Day and the United Nations Food Day is a painful reminder of the disconnect that too many Americans still have regarding the impact of our everyday dining choices.

My suggestion: Spend some time with this educational infographic. Pat yourself on the back for the steps you have taken already. Consider stepping it up a notch where you can. Small-scale farms are popping up on rooftops and old parking lots near you - support them, learn from them, purchase produce from them and perhaps THAT model can be the one the rest of the world follows rather than those spread by corporate giants. Think globally, act locally.



Created by: Public Health Degree

University of Maryland, College Park

The community gardens on the University of Maryland, College Park campus are hosting an event on Food Day, Monday October 24th, that includes tours of the edible gardens popping up on rooftops and hillsides throughout the campus and great discussions about future initiatives for sustainable agricultural systems in our region. Stay tuned to the Public Health Garden Blog for more details. Hope you can make it!

'The Lexicon of Sustainability'

The Lexicon of Sustainability is the most beautiful website I have ever viewed and no words of mine will do it justice. Just go there. Explore it. Learn. Breathe easy knowing that when a movement has a language so evolved, inspired and rich with research and purpose, the momentum of our conversations will carry us forwards and backwards towards a sustainable food system just fine.