The Red, White, and Green

It may only be March, but I already know what I’m putting at the top of my green holiday wish list: A 2011 Nissan Leaf. It was announced yesterday that the electric vehicle (EV) will be available for both purchase and lease in select markets in December.

It may even be possible to realize my wish, thanks to a hefty federal tax credit of $7,500 that will knock the price of the Leaf down to $25,280. That credit will also be factored into leasing deals, which are expected to start at $349 a month. And because I live in the state of California, where an additional $5,000 tax rebate is available, the cost could be even lower. (Green car enthusiasts living outside the Golden State need not feel excluded; $5,000 and $1,500 tax credits are available in Georgia and Oregon, respectively.)

The Leaf may not seem as affordable as, say, a Honda Fit, but factor in the operating costs and the Leaf starts to look pretty tempting: Charging the Leaf for 100 miles will set you back a mere $3 in electricity costs; compare that with the more than $11 in gasoline to drive the same distance in the 2009 Fit (based on the current national average fuel price of $2.94 a gallon). Plus, the prospect of never again having to stop at a gas station is pretty compelling. Take that, ExxonMobil!

An electric vehicle isn’t without environmental cost, however. EVs increase demand for electricity — and if the electricity from your utility isn’t coming from a green source like solar or wind, you could be passing the buck to coal-fired power plants.

Still, there are a few other incentives that may nudge you toward the Leaf:

Zero emissions. The Leaf completely eliminates emissions at the tailpipe (the car doesn’t even have one!), which may help reduce air pollution in congested cities like Los Angeles.

Eco-friendly features. The vehicle is equipped with energy-efficient LED headlights, as well as recycled/recyclable seat fabric, instrument panel, and bumper materials.

Made in America. In May, Nissan will break ground on its vehicle and battery production plant in Tennessee, which will be capable of manufacturing 150,000 Leafs and 200,000 battery packs a year. The move is expected to bring 1,300 jobs to the area.

There’s just one glitch in my green holiday plans: Because I’m a renter in an apartment building, I may not be able to install the personal charging dock that Nissan provides along with the car. And while glitzier apartment/condo complexes may be adding charging stations to their list of amenities that already include fitness centers and swimming pools, that scenario isn’t likely for my eight-unit 1920s Los Angeles walk-up. (I’m lucky I even have a garage, albeit one that looks like a tool shed.)

Still, I’ve been told that the company is planning to make public charging stations readily available in major markets. With 85,000 people already signed up on the preliminary interest list for the Leaf, consumer demand may soon make that a reality.

–Jennifer Grayson

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Last month, a Gallup poll revealed that the number of Americans who doubt the existence of global warming seems to be increasing — from 31 percent to 48 percent since 1997. Since then, there’s been a lot of speculation as to why this is happening, especially in light of the overwhelming consensus among climatologists (97 percent) that man-made climate change is occurring before our very eyes.

How is it that a near-majority of Americans now hold the same point of view as a mere 3 percent of scientists? The numbers just don’t add up. Clearly, there is a disconnect between the hard scientific evidence and the information reaching the American public.

So, who’s to blame for this broken line of communication? Is it the Fox News talking heads, with their snowstorm-fueled attacks on global warming? Is it Sarah Palin, with her pronouncement that recent climate change evidence is nothing more than “snake oil science“?

None of the above. Unfortunately, we’re dealing with a much more benign, insidious force: the friendly TV weatherman.

According to The New York Times, climate change skepticism is rampant among TV weather forecasters, regardless of their affiliated news channel:

A study released on Monday by researchers at George Mason University and the University of Texas at Austin found that only about half of the 571 television weathercasters surveyed believed that global warming was occurring and less than a third believed that climate change was “caused mostly by human activities.”More than a quarter of the weathercasters in the survey agreed with the statement, “Global warming is a scam,” the researchers found.

This is a real problem, considering that the majority of Americans rely on their weather forecasters — not scientific journals — for their information about climate change.

Click here for the full article.

–Jennifer Grayson

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Paul McCartney, the original veg celeb, is plugging the Meat Free Mondays campaign in the UK. Read below to see what other celebs are going meatless. Photo via Flickr: Sander Lamme

I try to keep things politically oriented on this blog, but when I heard that my favorite fashionista Kate Moss (yes, tree huggers care about style, too) had decided to give Meatless Monday a go, I thought, What the heck — let’s start the week off with a fluffy, fun celebrity piece. Admit it: As much as we all denounce the incessant celeb chatter for distracting us from the more important issues at hand, what Moss and other stars do and say have a resounding influence on the rest of us. And in this case, it’s for a good cause.

Here’s a look at some of the celebs who are now going meatless on Mondays:

Photo via Flickr: Deon Maritz

Kate Moss

The Brit beauty may be forever photographed wearing fur, but The Sun reported earlier this year that Kate will be keeping Mondays meat-free to appease her friend and longtime vegetarian Stella McCartney.

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Photo via Flickr: Nyer8

Gwyneth Paltrow

The Oscar-winning actress has long-since ditched her devotion to a mostly veg-based macrobiotic diet, but she’s still conscious of the environmental ramifications of meat consumption. That’s why she’s promoting the UK’s Meat Free Mondays on her green lifestyle blog, Goop.

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Photo via Wikimedia: Wiki edit Jonny

Simon Cowell

The American Idol judge is famously all bark and no bite — at least when it comes to eating burgers on Mondays: According to Ecorazzi, Cowell recently agreed to go veg one day a week at the behest of British pop star and devoted animal rights activist Leona Lewis.

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Photo via Flickr: Freedom to Marry

Antonio Villaraigosa

The dashing Los Angeles mayor is fitter than ever before: In a Los Angeles Times interview in January, he boasted about his recent 20-pound weight loss, thanks to regular yoga workouts and a healthy eating plan that includes Meatless Mondays.

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Want to find out what other movers and shakers are going meatless? Check out Meatless Monday’s Who’s Going Meatless? page.

–Jennifer Grayson

More Meatless Monday posts:
How Meatless Monday saves you money
Meatless Monday: Lean bean tacos

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The Golden Gate Bridge on Friday, March 26. Lights on the bridge and other major monuments across the US will be turned off for one hour on March 27 at 8:30 pm for Earth Hour, a global campaign sponsored by the World Wildlife Fund. Photo: John Storey.

Update at 3:20 pm ET: The World Wildlife Fund is announcing that Earth Hour will officially be observed in all 50 states. Still, the lights at the governors’ residences and/or state capitol buildings will only go dark in 33 of them — the majority of those being in states with Democratic governors. Republican-governed states Florida and Utah have now joined in, as have the Democratic-governed Kansas and North Carolina. The chart below has been updated to reflect this.

Tomorrow night, at 8:30 pm local time, nearly a billion people around the globe will turn off their lights for an entire hour — Earth Hour — in a show of solidarity for action on climate change. The good news? A record 118 countries will officially go dark this year for the event, along with thousands of cities and iconic landmarks from the Pyramids of Giza to the Golden Gate Bridge.

The bad news? The issue of global warming has become so politicized in the United States that even the states participating in Earth Hour are split along party lines: Of the 29 33 states taking part agreeing to turn off the lights at governors’ residences and/or state capitol buildings, 23 25 have Democratic governors. Among the remaining six eight with Republican governors, five six are liberal-leaning; only one  — Georgia — was a “red” state only two — Georgia and Utah — were “red” states in the 2008 presidential election.

The gap is even more apparent when you consider that of the remaining 21 17 states that have chosen not to participate in Earth Hour 2010, 18 all but one have Republican governors.

Here’s the breakdown:

This has got to change. The number of Americans who doubt the existence of global warming has markedly increased over the last decade (from 19 percent in 1997 to 35 percent in 2010), and much of that is due to the influence of the Republican party. But by allowing the issue of climate change to become increasingly politicized — dividing ourselves into believers vs. nonbelievers — we’re missing the opportunity to take action on the myriad other environmental challenges that I think most Americans can agree on: developing our own clean energy economy to create jobs and lessen our reliance on foreign oil; reducing the use of toxic pesticides in our food supply; and preserving our beautiful natural spaces for future generations.

Democrats or Republicans, we are all citizens of this country; we are all citizens of this planet. Turn your lights off tomorrow night for that, if for nothing else.

–Jennifer Grayson

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From left: 'Tapped' director Stephanie Soechtig and producer Sarah Olson, at the Los Angeles launch of the Get Off the Bottle Tour

If you didn’t decide this past World Water Day to ditch the plastic water bottle once and for all, you’ll get a second chance: Stephanie Soechtig, director of the award-winning bottled-water-industry exposé Tapped, is currently on a 30-day/30-city cross-country “Get Off the Bottle” tour to — you guessed it — help wean Americans off their Aquafina. Catch her in a city near you, and you can trade in a plastic water bottle for a brand-new, reusable stainless steel Klean Kanteen — provided you take the pledge to reduce your bottled water consumption.

By traveling in a translucent truck that will display the empty water bottles she collects from the public along the way, Soechtig hopes to draw attention to how our individual decision to drink bottled water, collectively, can have a profoundly negative impact on the environment. And profound is the key word here: Americans add 30 million plastic water bottles to our landfills every day. This, in a country where we have access to high quality, safe, and practically free tap water. One billion people in the rest of the world don’t.

Need more convincing? See a free screening of Tapped when Soechtig visits a city near you, or check out The Story of Bottled Water — an amazingly eye-opening short movie from the makers of The Story of Stuff.

Click here for the Get off the Bottle tour schedule.

–Jennifer Grayson

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President Obama signs the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act into law at 11:15 am ET on March 23, 2010. Photo via Flickr: Rep. Keith Ellison

The ink is barely dry on the landmark Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, but the lives of millions of Americans have already changed for the better, since many of the provisions in the bill — like tax breaks for small businesses, prescription drug relief for seniors, and access to coverage for those denied due to preexisting conditions — take effect immediately. I’m one of those Americans — one of those overjoyed Americans, I should emphasize — since I’ve been denied coverage for years because I have hypothyroidism (along with 10 million other Americans, I might add). Every year, paying for my health care expenses out of pocket has cost me nearly a quarter of my income.

There is one outcome that’s not clear at the moment, however, and that’s how the health care legislation will affect the environment. Stay with me for a second, folks; I know the connection may seem a bit far-fetched, and there’s been seemingly no end to the “how will health care affect X” articles, but I do believe that healthy and green are not mutually exclusive.

It stands to reason that if insurance companies are forced to insure everyone, then they’re going to have to start focusing on preventive care to help keep costs in check (after all, regular doctor’s visits and nutrition counseling cost a lot less in the long run than open heart surgery). And I think a greater emphasis on preventive medicine — i.e., the kinder, gentler approach — will have a profound affect on our planet. A few possibilities:

Less pill pollution. If insurance companies and doctors start emphasizing the importance of a healthy diet, regular exercise, and adequate rest to prevent chronic diseases, then we can perhaps expect to see a decreased reliance on prescription medications. That would be good news for the environment, since pharmaceuticals — including antibiotics, antidepressants, and sex hormones — have already found their way into the drinking water of 41 million Americans.

Less hospital waste. The same concept holds true for the 6,600 tons of waste that hospitals produce every day. If Americans are able to see their doctors before illnesses become complicated to treat, that translates into fewer surgeries, fewer hospitalizations, and less disposal plastic products winding up as a result in our landfills.

More funding for real food. In the effort to cost-effectively prevent diseases like diabetes, heart disease, and cancer, expect to see health care providers encouraged to emphasize real food — like lean meat, whole grains, and fresh fruits and vegetables — over processed food products. This could result in more funding for organic agriculture and possibly (gasp!) a repeal of the federal corn subsidies that fuel our genetically modified, atrazine-doused, high fructose corn syrup–laden junk food habit.

–Jennifer Grayson

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Photo via Flickr: Photos8.com

Last Friday, I was out and about between appointments and stopped to grab a quick lunch at the Pita Kitchen in Sherman Oaks, CA, since I had read good things about it and was really in the mood for some Middle Eastern food. As I devoured an insanely delicious falafel sandwich that set me back a measly $5, it occurred to me that there’s one thing vegetarians — and Meatless Monday fans — don’t emphasize enough when they’re trying to convince other people to eat less meat: It saves you a boatload of money! (A chicken shawarma pita, for example, would have cost a dollar more.)

Sure, I spend a lot of money on organic produce, but I’ve noticed recently that our grocery bills are now significantly smaller than they were a year ago, when my husband and I were eating more meat. And I’m not even a full-time vegetarian. But just by making a stir fry with tofu ($1.49 a container) instead of with chicken ($6.99 a pound) two nights each week, we save $44 a month — that’s $528 a year! You can imagine how much more we could save if we went meatless even three or four nights a week.

A few tips to keep your vegetarian grocery bills low:

• Choose whole, unprocessed foods (beans, tofu, vegetables, grains) over ready-made vegetarian entrees (much as those Amy’s pizzas look tempting)
• Use dried beans instead of canned ones (click here to learn how to soak and cook dried beans)
• Buy staples like grains, beans, and nuts in the bulk bin section of your natural foods market

For those who can’t stand the thought of soaking beans and pressing tofu several nights a week, don’t fret: You can also afford to treat yourself to a night out more often, since ordering meatless off a menu is usually a lot cheaper, too (a vegetarian pasta at my favorite Italian restaurant costs a few dollars less than one with meat, and nearly $10 less than a meat-based secondi).

–Jennifer Grayson

Do this now: Check out this Monday’s menu on the Meatless Monday website.

More Meatless Monday posts:
Meatless Monday: Lean bean tacos
Forest Whitaker’s slimmed-down look: He’s a vegetarian!

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Photo via Flickr: Gonzalo Baeza Hernández

Thanks to a technical issue that the geniuses over at Sprint can’t seem to figure out, I haven’t been able to receive emails on my BlackBerry for the past two days. For some, this would inspire a state of panic, but for me it’s been sheer bliss. You may be surprised to hear this, considering I author this blog and am fairly active on Twitter, but I’m actually a bit of a Luddite. I long for the days when we weren’t accessible at every moment, when face-to-face conversations weren’t constantly being interrupted by an incoming text, when we could just focus on the task at hand and the trees around us and not have to feel so darn preoccupied all the time.

Evidently, I’m not the only one who needs a technology break once in a while: Today marks the first National Day of Unplugging. The day is the creation of Reboot, a nonprofit comprised of influential Jewish thought-leaders. While the “unplugging” — which will begin at sundown tonight and end sundown Saturday — also underscores the Jewish Sabbath, the concept (called the “Sabbath Manifesto“) is pretty all-inclusive.

From USA Today :

“The last few years, I’ve had a growing feeling that my connection to technology was getting to be more like an addiction,” says Dan Rollman, 36, of Brooklyn, N.Y., who came up with the Manifesto idea. He says he’s never been a particularly religious person, but the idea of the Sabbath always appealed to him.

So why write about a day of technology rest on an environmental blog? Well, it turns out that the principles of the Manifesto are pretty close to the prescript for a green life. Among them: nurture your health, connect with loved ones, get outside, avoid commerce, and give back. And let’s not forget the actual environmental impact that a day of technology rest could have on the planet, since information and communication technology contributes to two percent of global CO2 emissions — that’s as much as the aviation industry.

Read more about the National Day of Unplugging, via USA Today and The New York Times.

–Jennifer Grayson

Do this now: What else? Unplug!

Related post:
Take a technology break

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Ayrshire Farm - Upperville, VA. Photo: Jeremy Fenske

Local food enthusiasts often use the term farm-to-plate; meaning, the way in which most of our food makes its way from its source to our dinner table. The average American meal travels nearly 1,500 miles before we even take our first bite, consuming large quantities of carbon-emitting fossil fuels over the course of its journey. It stands to reason, then, that if you want to reduce your impact on the planet, you should shop locally whenever possible.

But most city dwellers and suburbanites (myself included) who frequent weekly farmers markets to savor just-picked produce still have no idea what really goes on at the farm; the love and care, for instance, it takes to turn the milk of a grass-fed cow into that Point Reyes Blue you so greedily gobble up with your glass of Pinot Gris. After all, when was the last time you brought your plate to the actual farm?

It’s forging this kind of connection that is at the heart of Outstanding in the Field, which brings together the people who raise our food with the people who eat it, in a kind of utopian farm-dinner dining experience. Every summer, the OITF team tours the country, orchestrating alfresco family-style feasts that feature the talents of top local farmers, chefs, winemakers, and food artisans. And the settings are spectacular: Aside from the traditional farm mise en scène, former dinners have been staged in pastoral gardens, on majestic mountain tops — even in a secluded sea cave.

At $220 per person, an Outstanding in the Field dinner is, for most, a once-in-a-lifetime experience (the perfect green wedding gift, perhaps?). But at least you get bountiful bang for your buck: The price includes a five-course meal with wine pairings, gratuities, purveyor discussions, and a tour of the farm.

If you’re lucky enough to be able to splurge this year, just don’t hesitate when the tickets for the 2010 season go on sale this Saturday (at 9 am Pacific Time, according to the website — they’re not messing around): Last year’s events sold out within hours of their announcement.

Click here to see the North American tour schedule.

–Jennifer Grayson

Do this now: Outstanding in the Field out of your price range? Google “farm dinners” to find out what other offerings are in your area.

Related posts:
CSA concerns?
BK Farmyards makes it easy to grow your own fruits and veggies

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For those who missed last week’s post about the gorgeous green school and office supplies now available on the O’Bon website, here’s your second chance: I’m giving away an O’BONanza A5 notebook of your choice to the first three readers who share that original post with their pals on Twitter (just be sure to add @jennigrayson so I can see your Tweet).

Each colorful notebook features a luscious fruit design printed with soy-based inks, as well as 80 sheets of sustainable sugarcane-bagasse paper. Who knew taking notes could be so delicious?

Thanks to the generous folks at O’Bon for this giveaway. And if you’re too late for this one, don’t fret — you can stay abreast of other freebies and specials by following O’Bon on Twitter.

–Jennifer Grayson

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