It's the Environment Stupid

The obvious environmental impacts of plastic have long motivated me to reduce my plastic consumption. Jen's studies in Naturopathic Medicine, especially Environmental Medicine, have caused a great reduction in the plastics around our house. And this excellent article gives me even more motivation to NOT buy that next whatever that has more plastic in it. After all,

Aren’t disposable razors and foam packing peanuts a poor consolation prize for the destruction of the world’s oceans, not to mention our own bodies and the health of future generations? “If ‘more is better’ and that’s the only mantra we have, we’re doomed,” Moore says, summing it up.

So as,

awareness of just how hard we’ve bitch-slapped the planet is skyrocketing.

Remember to do something this Fall!

Going Bananas, Gone?

Bananas now represent a special significance in my life. I can actually attribute bananas in a large part to where I am today. Cliche as it may sound, I was literally sitting in a bus, riding across the landscape of Ecuador (in 2000), reading The Ecology of Commerce, and watching thousands of acres of banana plantations go by. All the while these bananas were being sprayed with pesticides by farmworkers wearing only a bandanna for protection. It was at this point I decided I wanted to work in a career that could affect change in today's world. It was also at this point that I became committed to eating locally and organic as often as possible. Eventually, I would meet Jen, we would move to Seattle, she would study Naturopathic Medicine and learn that Bananas are mucogenic. She would eventually convince me to give up bananas in my diet (at least in my purchases). I fought a little, given the convenience and affordability of bananas, but ultimately what they represent in corporate oppression and a huge eco-footprint made the choice easy enough. Now I do not even miss them.

Anyways, that was a long-winded way of saying that I found this recent article in the Seattle PI particularly interesting ... and of course, I recommend it!