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Alexia Prichard

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Green Daily Sustainability Series: FOOD, Part 3

Let's face it, for most of us trying to change our eating habits is really tough. If you're like me, you cave to the crave, which in my case means beer and chicken skin. "Healthy food," by comparison, seems bland and frightening. Still, if you're overweight, getting in shape and losing those extra pounds is a matter of health, not of choice.

One way I address the problem of "bland and frightening" is to choose a cookbook that sounds cool and just go all the way through it. I don't allow myself the luxury of choosing between different cookbook recipes to fit my mood or I'll never get off my butt and into the kitchen. A lot of healthy-recipe cookbooks these days are written by chefs who are keenly focused on taste because that's the only way many of us are going to learn to eat things like tempeh and tofu on a regular basis.

In this video we meet one such chef: Ann Gentry, Executive Chef of Los Angeles fixture REAL FOOD DAILY, a vegan restaurant that makes healthy yummy...


A great place to start your healthy eating adventure is with either of Mollie Katzen's first cookbooks: THE MOOSEWOOD COOKBOOK, and THE ENCHANTED BROCCOLI FOREST. Also check out her "Recipes" section!

For the more advanced, there are some wonderful books from Bloodroot, a mostly vegan restaurant that separates the recipes into seasons.

Lastly, for those days when you just can't look at another can of black beans, check out Happy Cow Vegetarian Guide for a list of restaurants and healthy-food stores.

Bon appetite, y'all!

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Green Daily Sustainability Series: FOOD, Part 2

In this video we learn a bit about eating locally. Many of us aren't aware how much food is grown right around our homes. Many of us haven't ever thought about it, but when you do the math, the savings on several fronts will astound and please you...


For some terrific detail and ideas about The 100 Mile Diet, check out "The 100-Mile Diet" , a story of 2 Canadinas who, for one whole year, ate food only found within 100 miles of their home.

Next, look around your own area to see what you have available in your foodshed. One way to find some great resources is to check LocalHarvest.org and the website for your local "CSA," or Community Supported Agriculture (you can find CSAs around via LocalHarvest). These sites will get you on your way.

Lastly, for the Ready-To-Be-Hardcore, check out the National Center for Home Food Preservation so you don't poison yourself with that pickle. For those of you in wintery climates, you'll need to learn this stuff!

Shout out: Many thanks to Jennifer Kongs of Media & The Environment at Kansas University, and Joanne Poyourow of Environmental Changemakers for all their help!

Good eating everyone!

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Green Daily Sustainability Series: FOOD, Part 1

Welcome to the second segment in the Green Daily Sustainability Series. For the next three videos we're going to be talking about FOOD. Given the enormity of the issues around food production and consumption in America, and the wealth of information available for the purposes of these videos I will focus only on organic produce. Although I won't be talking about animal products, I have provided links below to some information about them.


LINKS:

There are currently four distinctions for food production sanctioned by the USDA's National Organic Program (NOP):
  1. "100 PERCENT ORGANIC"
  2. "ORGANIC"
  3. "MADE WITH ORGANIC INGREDIENTS"
  4. "PRODUCT WITH LESS THAN 70 PERCENT ORGANIC INGREDIENTS."
Read more about them here.
  • In addition to the governing bodies of the USDA and the NOP, substances used in the production of organic foods are reviewed by the Organic Materials Review Institute, an independent nonprofit.
  • There is no distinction under federal law with respect to the word "natural." So, if you see it being used, be cautious. It could mean "minimally processed" or it could be there just to lure you in.
  • Fascinating correspondence between author Michael Pollan, The Omnivore's Dilemma, and CEO of Whole Foods, John Mackey. You can also find videos of Mr. Pollan and Mr. Mackey talking about food at the Whole Foods video blog, but I warn you that the very first video in this series-the one at the very bottom of the page where Mr. Mackey gives a long talk--is incredibly graphic and heartbreaking. He shows some very sobering and extremely disturbing images of animals being abused on their way to being food for us. PROCEED WITH CAUTION.


More on food

Green Daily Sustainability Series: SHELTER, Part 5

The Mexican poet Homero Aridjis said that "without nature there is no poetry," and that couldn't be more true for the subject of our next profile.

In this final installment of the "Shelter" segment of the Green Daily Sustainability Series, we meet Dr. Eugene Tsui, a non-traditional architect whose design inspiration comes from nature and all the brilliant systems and methods found therein. Dr. Tsui shows us city designs inspired by termites, and gives us a tour of his parents' house, a futuristic-looking structure that has some calling it "The Fish House."


Green Daily Sustainability Series: Shelter, Part 5 from Alexia Prichard on Vimeo.

For more information on how nature is inspiring engineering and design innovations, do some research on "Biomimicry." This is the science of taking a model from nature and translating it into the human world. Also check out the TED conference video talk by Janine Benyus, expert biomimeticist.

Green Daily Sustainability Series: SHELTER, Part 4

In this video we chat with Tim Schmidt, CEO of Xtreme Homes, a green building company that specializes in prefabricated homes, as he gives us a tour of the mkLotus: a prefab home designed my architect Michelle Kaufmann that's made out of 100% environmentally-conscious materials.


Green Daily Shelter, Part 4 from Alexia Prichard on Vimeo.

Prefab home design has been gaining a lot of ground in the last few years because of it's efficiency, beauty, sustainability and affordability. For a list of materials used in the construction and interior design of the mkLotus, click HERE. For more information on architect William McDonough, chemist Michael Braungart and their "Cradle-to-Cradle" design aesthetic, click HERE. Their book is amazing and I highly recommend it! Lastly, for more information on what's happening in the green building sector, check out West Coast Green's website for a list of vendors and topics included in their annual conference.

Green Daily Sustainability Series: SHELTER, Parts 2 & 3

SHELTER, Part 2
No discussion of sustainability can go forward without mentioning the first dwellers of this land: Native American Indians. In the second installment of the Green Daily Sustainability Series, we pay homage to those to whom we owe so much.

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SHELTER, Part 3
Next, we visit the home of architect David Hertz to get some ideas of how some environmentally-conscious systems really work. Have questions about radiant floor heating, solar domestic hot water, and natural ventilation? This is the segment for you!

Green Daily Sustainability Series: "SHELTER, Part 1"

In a new video series on sustainability, filmmaker Alexia Prichard focuses on shelter, food, water and community--how we relate to them, and how they affect us. The first two parts of this series--Shelter and Food--were originally produced and distributed by social news portal Propeller.com.

Sometimes our house isn't home. Sometimes it's just the place we come back to after a hard days' work--but it really should be more than that. In this first installment of a series on the ins and outs of sustainability, we hear from architect and author Sarah Susanka about the true meaning and importance of "home," and how truly sustainable it can be.

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