The Red, White, and Green

If you haven’t seen the Huggies Every Little Bottom campaign yet, it’s quite the sob story: According to a study by (guess who?) Huggies, 1 in 3 American families struggles to provide disposable diapers. And you can help: Just buy diapers from (again, Huggies), donate your rewards points, and Huggies will donate one diaper for every two points you contribute. Quite the marketing campaign.

I mean, has anyone every heard of cloth diapers? It should come as no surprise that in the worst economic climate since the Great Depression, the average American family is having trouble coughing up around $1,000 a year for disposables. A decent cloth system (like the one we use from GroVia), on the other hand, will cost you less than $400, all in. You can find them used (not as gross as it sounds) for half the price on eBay or Craigslist. And there are more and more daycare centers that will accept them.

I know what you’re going to say — people who are struggling don’t have time for the inconvenience of cloth diapers. But a) there are a lot of things that are inconvenient when you have to make ends meet, b) cloth diapers aren’t all that inconvenient, and c) that’s the same excuse people give for feeding their kids cheap fast food instead of learning how to cook. Whatever happened to American resourcefulness?

–Jennifer Grayson

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I’ve written about PeopleTowels before, and how the little square of organic cotton can have a big impact on the planet: Use one instead of paper towels at work or in a public restroom, and you can save 250 gallons of water and reduce landfill waste by 23 pounds a year. So I was more than thrilled to be a judge in the recent PeopleTowels Big Green Dream Design Contest; this is the kind of consumerism I can get behind.

Take a look at the winning designs:

Popular Choice Award: "Love, Not Waste," by Fabiana Zacarias

Judges' Choice Award: "Dream Green," by Cristina Evans

Runner-up: "A Guide to Life," by Kelly Chapple

Already looking for green holiday gifts? The winning designs will be printed as a limited-edition set of towels later this month, with the designers receiving a stipend from online sales (added incentive: PeopleTowels is also a member of 1% for the Planet). Click here to pre-order.

–Jennifer Grayson

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Domino's Pizza was one of the 'restaurants' that received money from USDA to push cheese sales. Photo via Flickr: The Pizza Review

Last month, I discovered that dairy may have a higher carbon footprint than chicken. Now, another reason to go milk-less on Mondays: It turns out the US Department of Agriculture — through an agency called Dairy Management — is spending millions of dollars to help fast-food chains like Domino’s Pizza force saturated-fat-laden cheese down our throats. This, despite an effort by that same agency to lead the fight against obesity, which now afflicts 1 in 3 Americans.

From The New York Times:

Urged on by government warnings about saturated fat, Americans have been moving toward low-fat milk for decades, leaving a surplus of whole milk and milk fat. Yet the government, through Dairy Management, is engaged in an effort to find ways to get dairy back into Americans’ diets, primarily through cheese.

Americans now eat an average of 33 pounds of cheese a year, nearly triple the 1970 rate. Cheese has become the largest source of saturated fat; an ounce of many cheeses contains as much saturated fat as a glass of whole milk.

When Michelle Obama implored restaurateurs in September to help fight obesity, she cited the proliferation of cheeseburgers and macaroni and cheese. “I want to challenge every restaurant to offer healthy menu options,” she told the National Restaurant Association’s annual meeting.

But in a series of confidential agreements approved by agriculture secretaries in both the Bush and Obama administrations, Dairy Management has worked with restaurants to expand their menus with cheese-laden products.

Why is no one talking about why the market is saturated with all this saturated fat to begin with? Our current factory farming system — which includes the use of genetically engineered bovine growth hormone (rBGH or rBST) to increase milk production in cows — has driven down the price of dairy products, but it’s also made it so that more and more needs to be sold so that our nation’s dairy farmers can earn a living. It’s as simple as supply and demand.

–Jennifer Grayson

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Want to wipe that smirk off a Republican’s face? Consider toting this around town this weekend. (Disclaimer: Not all Republicans are homophobic. But 69 percent oppose gay marriage.)

From Revel & Riot, the 100 percent natural canvas tote bag packs twice the anti-plastic punch. The first, of course, is environmental: Up to a trillion plastic bags are used worldwide each year, and as little as .5 percent are recycled. The second, if you haven’t guessed it by now, is political: The slogan is a reference to the repulsively inhuman hate campaigner Fred Phelps, who along with his followers picket gay pride events and military funerals.

Not surprisingly, the eye-catching tote bag is currently out of stock. But you can pre-order it here for shipment on Nov. 29. I don’t have much more to say than that. Because the bag says it all.

–Jennifer Grayson

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Photo via Flickr: Abeeeer

Now that the dust has settled on the Republicans’ Nov. 2 sweep, I have to wonder: What will this mean for the Red, White, and Green? (Not this site; I now have plenty of fodder for the weeks ahead. I mean the environmental future of this country.) It’s pretty well established that most of the red candidates didn’t exactly put green at the forefront of their campaigns. In fact, a quick survey of their websites reveals that many barely mention the words energy or environment.

So what can we expect from the Republican newbies? Are they all a bunch of climate deniers, or is there a glimmer of hope from some? A quick look:

Sen.-elect John Boozman (R-AK): Calls Cap and Trade a “radical policy” and has led the fight against expanding the Clean Water Act.

Sen.-elect Dan Coats (R-IN): His lobbying and law firm counts Halliburton and BP among its clients.

Sen.-elect Rand Paul (R-KY): Rails against subsidizing alternative energy sources like wind and solar; no mention of repealing the current subsidies for oil companies.

Sen.-elect Kelly Ayotte (R-NH): Questions whether global warming is man-made. This, despite a pro-environment record as the state’s former attorney general.

Rep.-elect Marlin Stutzman (R-IN): Helped create tax credits for biofuel producers in Indiana, but calls climate change a “manufactured controversy.”

Rep.-elect Dan Benishek (R-MI): Blames the lack of energy development in the US on “radical environmentalism.” Signed the No Climate Tax Pledge.

All in all, an astounding 50 percent of the incoming GOP freshman class say it’s climate change they can’t believe in. Read more about it here.

–Jennifer Grayson

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Photo via Flickr: The Equinest

If California’s Proposition 19 (aka the “Pot Prop”) passes today, it’ll be years before we realize the societal ramifications (either good or bad). Will allowing people to legally possess up to an ounce of marijuana create more recreational users? Will there be an uptick in pot-related traffic accidents? (Yes, they do happen.)

The environmental effects, however, may be a bit easier to predict. Legalizing the drug, for instance, would put an end to the illegal growers who plant pot in state and national forests, where the pesticides and fertilizers they use wreak havoc on surrounding ecosystems. And it would undoubtedly cut down on the amount of fuel used to smuggle marijuana in from Mexico.

More interestingly, the proposition could create a wholly unique type of local agriculture: Individuals will be able to grow their own, in a space of up to 25 square feet. Those with a backyard might want to opt for solar power over expensive — and energy-devouring — growing lights.

–Jennifer Grayson

UPDATE: Looks like Proposition 19 was defeated. Were slacker supporters to blame?

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Photo via Flickr: Stevendepolo

Looking to detox from your Halloween-induced sugar coma? Take note: Adopting a plant-based diet — à la Meatless Monday — may reduce the risk of Type 2 diabetes. That may sound surprising, since we’ve heard a lot in recent years about high-protein diets for controlling blood sugar, but the latest research vindicates the veggies.

From Reuters:

In a study of 418 older Spanish adults, researchers found that those instructed to follow a Mediterranean diet were less likely to develop diabetes over four years than those instructed to follow a low-fat diet — about 10 percent developed the disease, versus 18 percent in the low-fat group. And weight loss did not appear necessary to gain the benefit.

The findings, reported in the journal Diabetes Care, may sound too good to be true.

But they back up previous work by the same researchers showing that the Mediterranean diet, even without weight loss, appeared to curb the risk of metabolic syndrome — a collection of risk factors for diabetes that includes abdominal obesity, high blood pressure and elevated blood sugar and triglycerides.

…When the researchers accounted for a number of other factors — such as participants’ weight, smoking history and reported exercise levels — the Mediterranean diet itself was linked to 52 percent reduction in diabetes risk compared with the low-fat diet.

I’ve written before about adopting a Mediterranean diet, but here are a few points to remember: Real people in Mediterranean countries do not eat whole-roasted sea bass every night, nor do they frequent dining establishments that offer a Never Ending Pasta Bowl. They eat whole grains, legumes, lots of vegetables and fruit, small amounts of cheese, and of course, red wine and olive oil in moderation. Fish is eaten occasionally, and meat even less often than that.

Most of us could gain by grazing like a Greek; if the United States continues on its current course, 1 in 3 Americans will develop diabetes in their lifetime.

–Jennifer Grayson

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