The Red, White, and Green

[Watch video on YouTube]

Looks like the BPA ban fever sweeping the nation (hooray, California!) is starting to make the chemical companies nervous. After all, they have a lot of money to lose should Congress follow through on its plan to overhaul the 34-year-old Toxic Substances Control Act and actually do something about the more than 80,000 largely unregulated chemicals on the market in the United States.

So what’s the chemical companies’ plan of action? Well, for starters, forming deceptively named organizations like the Coalition for Chemical Safety and plastering its website with pictures of smiling families, all to make it seem like they actually care about your health and well-being. Don’t be fooled: CCS is a sham, it’s industry-funded, and its “balanced approach to our nation’s chemical safety laws” is code for “we’re going to do everything in our power to make sure real reform doesn’t happen.”

Just take a look at the list of coalition members on the website: the American Chemistry Council, Montana Agribusiness Association, Virginia Coal Association — not exactly a who’s who of the environmental movement.

So check out the awesome chemical industry spoof, above, and tell Congress that we need to strengthen the laws so that chemicals are studied and determined safe before they’re allowed to be put in the products we use. The video was made by an organization that’s really fighting to protect us from toxic chemicals: the Safer Chemicals, Healthy Families coalition.

–Jennifer Grayson

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When I asked Fuel director Josh Tickell at the recent LA Get Off Oil Day what Angelenos could do to help the biggest gas guzzling city in the nation curb its crude consumption, his answer was simple: “Do not buy another car, do not trade in your car, do not take another car unless it has a plug on it.”

OK Josh, you’ve got it! Can I please have the new Fisker Karma?

Unless you’ve been living off the grid for the past three years, you’ve no doubt by now caught a glimpse of the Tesla Roadster, the eco-extravagant all-electric sports car that retails for about the price of a two-bedroom home in Phoenix. Well, the new made-in-California Karma is the first luxury plug-in hybrid electric vehicle — packing the same zero-emissions punch of the Tesla (or any all-electric car, for that matter), but with the driving range of a conventional car.

Check out this green monster:

Boasting 100 mpg (that’s about 2 cents a mile FYI; though at $87,900 retail it could take a while to realize those savings), the Karma has a total range of 300 miles, an all-electric range of 50 miles, and can be fully charged in as little as six hours from any 110-, 220-, or 240-volt outlet. Oh, and did I mention it can go from 0 to 60 mph in 5.9 seconds?

It’s also loaded with sustainable design features, including recyclable aluminum wheels, a solar panel roof, wood trim sourced from reclaimed California forest fire timber, and an animal-free interior option that replaces leather with bamboo viscose.

Word on the street is that LACarGuy, which will be opening the first Fisker dealership in Los Angeles in early 2011, will also be the first automotive dealer in the United States to offer Level 2 SAE J-1772 electric vehicle charging stations to the public at all of the LACarGuy locations. Good news for those of us who will probably be pulling up in a Leaf and not a Karma.

–Jennifer Grayson

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A Sweetie Pie Baby Hat, made with a skein of Be Sweet Bambino Taffy (free pattern on label).

I’ve written before about Green Sheep Shop and its gorgeous, eco-friendly yarns, but I couldn’t resist posting about the online store’s featured yarn for the month of July, especially now that I’ve got babies (or should I say baby, due in August) on the brain: Be Sweet Bambino Taffy.

Made from a luxuriously soft organic cotton/bamboo blend, Bambino Taffy is perfect for do-it-yourself baby gifts. And it’s virtually idiot-proof: Each skein has five coordinating colors that self-stripe as you knit or crochet, adding pops of color without all the work of having to drop yarn A and pick up yarn B (or C, or D).

The Be Sweet company is also socially responsible, employing artisans in economically depressed regions of South Africa (including female members of the Xhosa tribe) to make its beautiful, eco-friendly yarns.

As you may know by now, I’m a big fan of of the do-it-yourself (DIY) movement that’s seen a resurgence since the US economy tanked, and especially, the home arts: sewing, knitting, gardening, cooking, etc. This type of know-how isn’t just financially beneficial, it’s good for the environment: Being able to mend your own pants at the first sight of a tear instead of running out to Target for a new pair, for example, helps reduce consumption. (Reduce — the first of the three R’s of the environment, remember?)

And what could be more self-sufficient and DIY than knitting and crocheting? You take a couple balls of yarn, a pair of kneedles, and presto! You have a hat on your head, or a blanket to keep you warm, or a cute outfit for your best friend’s new baby (hint, hint).

Be Sweet Bambino Taffy is available for 20 percent off on Green Sheep Shop throughout the month of July (click here to order). I’ll be snapping up a skein for the baby booties I’m hoping to finish for my little bambina.

–Jennifer Grayson

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This recipe is featured today on the Meatless Monday website.

I’m starting to wonder if one of the buyers for my local Ralphs supermarket isn’t a secret locavore health food nut, because I’ve been discovering some amazing buys hidden between the aisles of MSG-laden snack food and neon-colored cereals. I’m talking stuff I’ve never even seen at Whole Foods — tubs of hormone-free whole-milk yogurt from a local creamery, a 13-bean dried soup mix that costs just over a dollar, and my newest obsession: Hodgson Mill buckwheat flour.

I had completely forgotten that buckwheat is naturally gluten-free. It’s related to rhubarb and sorrel and is technically a fruit seed, not a grain. Buckwheat in the form of kasha makes a delicious side dish, but the flour is something magical: It stands up in baked goods in a way that other gluten-free grains can’t. Pancakes, muffins, dumplings, you name it; the taste is characteristically dense and nutty (I love it), but the texture is light and fluffy.

Why am I telling you all this on Meatless Monday? Well, cooking vegetarian has been a bit of challenge since we discovered my husband is sensitive to gluten and eggs. (Suddenly even breakfast, arguably the easiest meal to go meatless, has become a test.) But these banana buckwheat pancakes are so unstoppably delicious (and nutritious — rich in fiber, magnesium, and flavonoids) that you don’t even know what you’re missing. I’ve already made them for dinner on several occasions.

Banana Buckwheat Pancakes

Serves 2

1 cup buckwheat flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
2 tablespoons sugar (optional)
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 egg, beaten (or equivalent of Ener-G egg replacer)
1 cup milk (or rice, almond, or soy milk)
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 banana, sliced thin
butter, as needed

Heat large skillet or griddle over medium heat. In a large bowl, mix dry ingredients together with a whisk. One at a time, add egg, milk, and oil to dry ingredients, beating well after each addition. Cut banana into thin slices and put aside.

Grease heated skillet with small amount of butter, then pour one small ladleful of pancake batter for each pancake onto hot skillet. Place three slices of banana onto each pancake. Cook 1 to 2 minutes, flipping when edges look brown and bubbles break on surface of pancake. Cook on other side for approximately 1 minute.

Serve immediately, or place on a cookie sheet in warm oven until all pancakes are ready to be served.

Best breakfast ever!

–Jennifer Grayson

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Photo via Flickr: Karaemurphy

I already offered up my tips earlier this week via HuffPo for an eco-friendly 4th (though if those weren’t sufficient, feel free to check out last year’s Independence Day post), so I thought I’d give you a sneak peek at a new green trend in July 4th festivities — the laser light show.

I don’t want to be a total buzzkill and say you shouldn’t go enjoy the fireworks this weekend, but it’s worth noting that pyrotechnics are a pretty bum choice for the planet: They often contain harmful substances, like perchlorates and cadmium, that can wind up polluting our soil and groundwater.

The other hazard to the environment, of course, is the risk of wildfire; which is why city officials in Flagstaff, Arizona, had to cancel their 4th of July display this year.

A laser light show, sans those nasty chemicals, may offer a cleaner, greener thrill. It’s kind of missing the oomph of those old-fashioned firecrackers, but maybe it doesn’t translate as well to the screen. See for yourself:

[Watch video on YouTube]

I say may offer a greener thrill, because laser shows do require a lot of electricity to produce, which in turn releases nasty chemicals into the environment as well (thanks, coal-fired power plants!).

I have yet to see a detailed fireworks vs. laser light show ecological comparison; maybe I’ll get around to it next July 4th.

In the meantime, anyway you choose celebrate, have a great one! Here’s to another year of being red, white, and green.

–Jennifer Grayson

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