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!

Midday on the Bay: Natives, Invasives and Overall Health

In case you missed it, here is the link (Thursday April 19th) to hear my fave Chef Chad Wells talk about the invasive snakehead fish on Midday on the Bay. "If you can't beat 'em, eat 'em!"

Rona Kobell, from the Bay Journal, was on the show as well and shared some great news: There are 66% more blue crabs (764 million) in the bay since last year and the best year since 1993 which reveals that the restrictions made in 2008 were successful! As far as the report card grade, well... we can't control major weather events. Sigh.

Lots of very interesting conversation about bay health and how policies and threshold limits have helped maintain and improve that health. Some big things coming up surrounding menhaden protection too.

If you are interested in helping to maintain health by invasive snakehead eradication, support Chef Chad at Alewife Baltimore and consider getting a team together for the Potomac Snakehead Tournament this June.

Do you think Omega Protein the Monsanto of the waterways?

Chesapeake Bay Week on MPT

Did you know that the Chesapeake Bay estuary, the largest in the United States, was created by a meteor impact? Can you identify which aquatic life is native, invasive, protected and depleted? Want to know how you and your community contribute to the well-being of the Bay? Lucky for you, this week is Chesapeake Bay Week on Maryland Public Television! Programming throughout April 15-22 2012 will be highlighting some hot topics around the watershed  including several brand new programs:

• Menhaden: The Most Important Fish in the Bay - Exploration of how the harvesting of Menhaden from the Chesapeake Bay is affecting its water quality (Monday April 16th 10:00pm, Tuesday April 17th 2:00am)
• The Maryland Harvest: A Guide to Seasonal Eating - The food-to-table movement in Maryland and its impact on Maryland restaurants, chefs, farmers and consumers (Tuesday April 19th 9:00pm, Wednesday April 18th 2:00am)
• Restoring the Bay: New Solutions for Old Problems - Riverkeeper Fred Kelley faces challenges to help clean up the Severn River (Tuesday April 19th 10:30pm, Wednesday April 18th 3:30am)

These are just a few of the new and returning programs so be sure and check the website for the full programming lineup and set those DVRs! The week wraps up with a live music broadcast in affiliation with all the amazing folks at WTMD 89.7 too. More info on the Concert for the Chesapeake Bay here. Want more facts? Visit: Chesapeake Bay Journal..

Maryland Arbor Day Festivities: Wednesday 4/4/2012

The University of Maryland's annual Arbor Day observance is an integral part of UMCP's Tree Campus USA participation. The University of Maryland will celebrate tomorrow, April 4th, from 11;30am-noon with a ceremonial tree planting at Rossborough Inn. The ceremony features campus representatives including Dr. Loh and remarks about Arbor Day and the campus arboretum.

While you are there, take a look at the rejuvenated Rossborough Inn landscape planted through a service project with the local and student chapters of the Professional Grounds Management Society (PGMS).

For more fun factoids about trees, check out the Urban Tree Benefits post from last year. Also, be sure and cast your vote for the University of Maryland in the Arbor Day Now tree grant contest.

Honoring Farmworkers: A Celebration of Cesar Chavez

The Accokeek Foundation, Rural Coalition, and Southern Maryland Agricultural Development Commission co-present the 2012 Food Justice Series. The Series kicks off this Thursday, March 29th, at 6:00pm at Cesar Chavez Prep with "Honoring Farmworkers: A Celebration of Cesar Chavez," which includes a brief film screening and discussion with members of the Chavez Family.

This four-part presentation of the Robert Ware Straus Lecture Series brings together farmers, policy advocates, community leaders, faith- and government-based initiatives focusing on building local, equitable and sustainable food systems. Topics include a celebration of the legacy of Cesar Chavez, farmworker justice, food access in Southern Maryland, and young and beginning farmers as well as a look at our diverse ancestral farming in this region.

Oysterstock 2012

Environmental Film Festival in DC

180 Documentary, narrative, animated, archival, experimental, and children's films selected to provide fresh perspectives on environmental issues facing our planet. This year, the festival selections examine the critical relationship between health and the environment with 75 film makers, 115 special guests, and extraordinary cinematic work from 42 countries. Download the full schedule here. Don't you wish you could see them all?!

Still a Fast-Food Nation

Eric Schlosser, author of Fast Food Nation and incredible inspiration to folks in and interested in the movement towards a functional food system, published the afterward to his book on the Daily Beast yesterday.

In the afterward/article, Schlosser shares some saddening news about prevailing fast-food advertising and sales and still-rising obesity rates. While pleased that his book remains in print ten years later, he points out that the atrocities within its pages are unfortunately not yet out-of-date as he'd hoped they would be. Thankfully, Schlosser is inspired and optimistic about the powerful food revolutionaries working hard to change the food industry into something that wouldn't sadden Upton Sinclair. Read the full article here.

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.

Is Ice Cream Addictive?

Obviously! But just in case your personal research and case studies of friends and family (namely, yours truly) did not reveal enough evidence of the addictive properties of ice cream, a study performed by the Oregon Research Institute has confirmed it. Well, sort of. They confirmed the following:

• Teenagers like milkshakes.
• Study participants who ate ice cream the week before the study were less excited about eating ice cream during the study. Researchers associated this with increased cravings yet less derived pleasure associated with repeated drug use.
• The more ice cream you eat, the more ice cream you need to get an ice cream buzz.
• It is unlikely that a person would develop a "full-blown addiction" to ice cream but the addictive properties could lead to overeating and weight gain.

While it was my initial intent to poke fun at this study, I have to admit that I not only crave ice cream - I succumb to those cravings very often. Why? Because I love everything about ice cream! Who doesn't?! I've never come across someone eating ice cream who isn't happy. I don't drink or smoke, I exercise regularly, I eat more vegetables than my garden can grow, but the hard-to-put-in-writing truth is that I have been known to consider a bowl of ice cream a great way to start my day. 

However, in response to this study I have decided to give up ice cream for the remainder of the month of March in hopes to determine whether or not I am addicted. I will tweet cravings/confessions as I have them and report back on the topic come April. 

In the meantime, there will be a lot more pistachio ice cream available for students on the University or Maryland, College Park campus.