Archive for the 'Global Warming' Category
National Day of Climate Action, April 14
This Saturday, join a grassroots event to stop the onward march of global climate change. Find the action in your area here.
“Two thousand seven is the year that global warming will become a marching issue; 2008 is the year it will become a voting issue,” said one organizer.
No Comments »China and the 15,000 mile hechsher
If the Conservative movement is serious about the tzedek “justice” hechsher, it might also consider including kosher certified foods that have a low carbon footprint or that proactively offset their greenhouse gas liability. The Chicago Tribune takes a look at how
China’s seven masgiachs are exhausted. Factory owners don’t understand kosher (“I have to tell them, ‘There’s no way to make a pork dim sum kosher,” said Rabbi Amos Benjamin, a Shanghai-based Star-K inspector.) And there’s confusion as to what a rabbi is, as workers wait patiently for the “rabbit” to arrive.
The article betrays just how many food miles are in your kosher convenience foods, “Shipments of frozen fish from
As the crow flies, it’s about 6,000 miles from
The View from Your Fork: An Interview with Michael Pollan
Books, Community Agri., Farming, Featured, Food Writing, Global Warming, Hazon, Health, Holidays, NYTimes, Seasonality
Which is better: Organic or locally-grown food? Rice milk or dairy? Tofu or grass-fed beef? Michael Pollan’s not telling.
The author of the New York-Times’ best selling book, The Omnivore’s Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals, Pollan is a luminary within an impressive group of writers who examine America’s food industry to find out exactly how our food gets to our plates.
Pollan’s ground-breaking work has profoundly impacted the lives and habits of eaters across the country (mine included), and even inspired beautiful artwork. But despite his great influence, Pollan strongly believes that when it comes to figuring out, “What’s for dinner?” the right answer is ultimately up to each individual consumer.
I spoke with Pollan about the power of making food choices, truly valuing our food, and the importance of holidays, like Pesach, to connect us to the earth, and to each other. Click on “Read More” for the interview. Read more »
Ick: the environmental immersion memoir
There’s a spectacularly successful genre in publishing, the pilgrimage/immersion first person. My favorites, “I was a miserable 20-something and cooked my way through Julia Child” (Julie and Julia, by Julie Powell), and “I was a miserable divorcee and traveled the world.” (Eat, Pray, Love, by Elizabeth Gilbert) Variations include, reading the encyclopedia or living biblically, and the forthcoming “Swish: My Quest to Become the Gayest Man Alive” by this gorgeous genius.
I love a good quest. I have cooked entirely round meals. In every category of clothing - shirt, shoes, socks, etc. - I own at least one item that is crossing-guard orange. I think these narratives amount to a healthy kind of OCD. They can give shape to our lives.
In the past week, the NYTimes has treated us to two previews of the next addition to the library: my year of living locally and conscientiously. Sub-headlined “The Year Without Toilet Paper,” the book will soon be known as “No Impact,” from venerable publisher FSG.
Bleccch.
Hillel Sponsors Sustainable Conference; But Where’s the Beef?
Covered in the JTA today, the Charlotte B. and Jack J. Spitzer Hillel Forum on Social Justice and the JCPA annual plenum donated $2,000 to negate their carbon impact, requested that no toiletries be delivered to conference goers unless asked, and all paper was recycled.
This is encouraging for a number of great reasons. Last year’s conference was an abominably empty attempt at any environmental awareness, as covered by yours truly and Ilana Sichel in an open letter to Hillel in The Forward, such as the lack of any recycling efforts and the overwhelming amount of complimentary bottled water. It is great to see Hillel (hopefully after that op-ed peice of prodding) take the next step forward.
But noticably, little mention was made of the food at the Spitzer Forum. Read more »
Korban neutral
It figures that my first post not having to do with chocolate would be on Valentine’s Day. Not that I’m not a romantic at heart. Just look at this great new service I signed up for, in honor of the occasion! That’s right, soon my fidelity to my wife will be earning me big bucks, as people pay me to stay faithful in order to “offset” their cheating ways.
Obviously, this site (and my post so far) is satirical in nature. But there’s a very real point behind it: how much do we really know about the now-burgeoning carbon offset industry? Thanks to Al Gore, well-meaning eco-citizens can offset their entire carbon footprint here, or even here if they’re feeling particularly Jewy. But as with anything meaningful in life, it’s not as simple as we’d like it to be.
Getting warmer? Unequivocally.
It’s getting hot and it’s our own damn fault, says a UNEP special panel on climate change.
In a Tu B’Shevat email, Nigel Savage asks, what does this mean for the Jews?
It’s against this backdrop that we need now to think about the future of the Jewish environmental movement. Events are accelerating dramatically. There are two different issues that need to be addressed. The first is a broad one: what is and should be the purpose of the Jewish environmental movement? The second is a more prosaic one: how should the existing Jewish environmental organizations work together more effectively in coming years?…
For the Jewish community to make a difference on environmental issues, we need brutal honesty to begin with. Jews are now roughly 0.2% of the world’s population; less than the margin of error on the Indian census. If all the Jews in the world recycle their newspapers it will make… pretty much no difference whatsoever.
