The Red, White, and Green

If you live in the US, drinking champagne on New Year’s Eve isn’t the most eco way to imbibe. After all, real deal bubbly is from the Champagne region of France; those 750-ml bottles incur quite the carbon footprint on their way overseas. (Especially when there are more than 21 million of them — the amount the US imports every year.)

Still, I hate to be a buzzkill, so it’s nice to know there’s Pommery Pop Earth. It’s made from sustainably grown grapes, and packaged in a lighter bottle, sans jacket to eliminate waste. It’s even printed with water-soluble inks on a recycled label.

Since it’s probably too late to order yours from Wine.com, I say don’t be a snob and grab a bottle of sustainable sparkling made stateside, like this Soter Vineyards Brut Rosé.

I for one, will be skipping the champagne altogether and indulging in some sustainable suds. Nothing says New Year’s like a bourbon barrel–aged Old Rasputin XII. What? It’s sparkling.

Oh, and don’t forget to recycle the cork. Happy New Year!

–Jennifer Grayson

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Let’s face it: People are not going to stop wearing fur. US fur sales have declined sharply since 2005, but that’s attributable to the economy more than any sort of mass ethical/ecological epiphany. Worldwide, sales are way up, thanks to a new crop of luxury consumers in Russia and China.

Since that’s the case, I would rather see someone wear a vintage or recycled fur coat than a faux one made from toxic textiles. But I know not all of you  agree with me, and think wearing any type of fur (even an “ethical” one) would be condoning the industry. Or maybe you’re having second thoughts about that mink vest after reading this week’s Eco Etiquette.

So, then, what to do with that vest? Throwing it out wouldn’t be very eco, after all.

Luckily, there’s The Humane Society’s Coats for Cubs program, quite possibly the most adorable aid program ever. The old furs are used by wildlife rehabilitators as surrogate mommies for orphaned/injured animals. Your donation is tax-deductible, and no item is too small to donate — hats, gloves, and muffs (for all you Dickensian carolers) are all accepted. Cozy animals and a clear conscience!

–Jennifer Grayson

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Photo via Flickr: Pinkyracer

Will it be a white Christmas? Depends on where you live. If you’re in Victoria, Australia, you’re enjoying a snowy surprise to the start of your summer; if you’re in London, you’re likely staying there for a while, thanks to the snowiest December in 30 years.

In Los Angeles, where I am, you may be seeing a wet one: This week’s record-setting rains may clear just in time for Santa to make his way down your chimney (right before your house comes sliding down the mountain).

All this wacky weather. Kind of makes you want to call out all the climate change deniers, right? (See, the world is coming to an imminent end.) Please don’t.

I’m with the 50 percent of Americans (depending on which poll you read) who believe that climate change is real and man-made, but I also think that we don’t understand the science fully enough to know precisely how it’s affecting our day-to-day weather.

Do we really want to spend another winter arguing with Rush Limbaugh over snowstorms? By focusing on the micro, we’re missing the opportunity to find common ground on the macro: catching up to China’s green energy revolution, preventing another oil disaster, and finding conserving resources for 100 million more Americans.

–Jennifer Grayson

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Photo via Flickr: McKay Savage

Sometime in 2011, we will reach a terrifying milestone: The world’s population will officially push past the 7 billion mark. We’ve added more than 3 billion people — the size of the entire planet in 1960 — since the year I was born.

Before you go in to holy *^%$, we’re all screwed freak-out mode, take a deep breath and read Robert Kunzig’s brilliant, mind-blowing article in this month’s National Geographic. Now. (Really: Click here.) It should be required reading for every environmentalist.

What I took away from it is this: The problem — and the solution — isn’t about population per se. As Kunzig points out, “The current population of the planet could fit into the state of Texas, if Texas were settled as densely as New York City.” It’s about consumption.

The World Bank has predicted that by 2030 more than a billion people in the developing world will belong to the “global middle class,” up from just 400 million in 2005. That’s a good thing. But it will be a hard thing for the planet if those people are eating meat and driving gasoline-powered cars at the same rate as Americans now do. It’s too late to keep the new middle class of 2030 from being born; it’s not too late to change how they and the rest of us will produce and consume food and energy. “Eating less meat seems more reasonable to me than saying, ‘Have fewer children!’” [French demographer Hervé] Le Bras says.

Happy Meatless Monday.

–Jennifer Grayson

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Photo: GoodbyeSugar.com

I felt like George in “The Marine Biologist” episode. “Could anyone please tell me what the difference is between these two?!” the woman cried out, her three children clinging to her in the baking aisle of our local Trader Joe’s. She was holding two containers of stevia extract.

I walked over and took a glance. “Well, one is regular and the other is organic,” I said, and turned to continue my shopping.

“What is organic?” she asked.

I felt myself stand a little taller. “It means it was grown without the use of pesticides, artificial fertilizers, and that it hasn’t been genetically modified,” I said.

She looked at me like I had three heads. “But both say natural,” she countered. “And why does this one have the ingredients listed but this one doesn’t?”

Oh, no. I was in for a whopper. “Well, the label natural doesn’t really mean anything — nearly anyone can make that claim. And because the organic one is just pure stevia, there’s no need to list other ingredients. The conventional one, though, also contains lactose.”

“What’s that?”

“A sugar that’s usually derived from milk.”

“So it’s not kosher?” (The woman was orthodox; I live in a very orthodox neighborhood.)

“No. But let’s take a look a the organic one,” I offered. It took me a moment to decipher the four symbols slapped on the side of the tiny bottle — including the USDA Organic seal and a gluten-free logo. “Well, it doesn’t have the ‘K’ symbol, but it does have the ‘vegan’ sign — so at least you know you can have it with meat,” I proferred.

Still, three heads.

My 3-month-old daughter let out a little yelp as she woke from her nap in the baby sling. “Good luck!” I said, and hustled up to the register. When I looked back, the woman was still standing there deciding between the two.

I take it for granted that most people know what I know, but they don’t. Heck, this woman was reading labels, and she still couldn’t figure out what it all meant. The IOM report was right: The US food labeling system needs an overhaul.

–Jennifer Grayson

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Photo: Cheyenne Ellis

While we’re all griping about how ugly CFLs look (the federal phaseout of incandescent light bulbs begins in 2012), over a quarter of the world — 1.5 billion people — lives in darkness.

Living without electricity may sound quaint in this fast-paced, BlackBerry-blinking world, but it’s not: No light means kids can’t do their homework in the evening when they get home from school and work days are cut short because people have to start preparing dinner in the mid-afternoon.

The kerosene (read: fossil fuel) lamps that most of the developing world relies on are also a source of dangerous indoor air pollution, to which 1.6 million deaths are attributed each year. Not to mention 190 million tons of CO2.

The sustainable solution? The Nokero solar light bulb. The latest model requires no training to use, last six hours on a single charge, and can even withstand rain and other tough weather conditions.

The bulbs are being used to light refugee camps in Pakistan after the devastating floods this summer; now, football (not the American kind) great Didier Drogba is working with Nokero to help bring solar light to the 537 million Africans who live without electricity.

Why not help his efforts and donate a ray of hope to someone in need this holiday season? Click here.

–Jennifer Grayson

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Despite being a month pregnant and having to pass on the bubbly, I glammed it up last New Year’s Eve as the best man at my brother’s black-tie wedding. This year, I’ll be enjoying a cozy night at home with my husband and baby daughter. What a difference a year makes.

You probably have fancier plans this year than I do. Which means right now, you’re asking yourself, What the heck am I going to wear?

Unfortunately, a sparkly splurge is far from eco-friendly, since you’ll probably only wear it once. Too bad: American discard 68 pounds of clothing and textiles a year.

So why not Rent the Runway this New Year’s Eve? For as little as $50, you can have designer duds (I’m talking Chloe and Hervé Léger) delivered to your door for your big night out. You get a backup size dropped off for free, and can even order a second style for just $25.

When you’re done, just pop it back in the mail, and it’ll be eco–dry cleaned for the next lucky wearer. How’s that for sustainable style?

–Jennifer Grayson

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Which is deadlier? Photo via Flickr: Steve Snodgrass

The BPA ban may have been scrapped from the food safety bill, but now I don’t know if it would have made all that much difference, in light of some very sobering news: Turns out it’s not the sippy cups we really have to worry about, or the soup cans, or the pizza boxes, or any other of the countless sneaky sources of the hormone-disrupting chemical.

That’s because BPA isn’t lurking any longer. It’s completely out in the open. On something we handle every day. It’s on our money.

According to a new study, an astounding 95 percent of the dollar bills examined tested positive for the substance. How did it get there? Cash register receipts. The average one that uses BPA technology will contain 60 to 100 milligrams of free BPA.

Free means it’s floating around. Which means it easily transfers from the receipt you just took from the cashier to the money in your wallet.

That “new” money you got at the ATM isn’t safe, either. That was also once in someone else’s wallet. Someone who likely took a cash receipt that was laden with BPA.

What’s terrifying about this whole thing is that we as consumers are powerless until the laws are changed, which is the opposite of what I usually believe — that we can vote with our dollars. Except now our dollars are contaminated.

–Jennifer Grayson

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Why send one of these guys to an untimely death when you can rent a living one for the same price? Photo via Flickr: Birdfreak.com

Since the first synthetic Christmas tree was introduced in France in 1840, the debate has carried on: real or fake? Even without factoring in the environmental repercussions of either, there are valid arguments to make on both sides: Fake trees don’t shed needles all over the place and are more cost-effective in the long-term; real trees arguably look more elegant and fill the house with that wonderful woodsy smell.

I don’t have a lifetime of piney sense-memory (save my family’s Chanukah bush experiment when I was in third grade) placing me firmly in the real-tree camp, but I have to be honest: I kind of cringe every time I see one of those polyethylene monstrosities. But it also seems such a waste to cut down a living tree every year, even if it does come from a farm and not an actual forest.

What’s more, nearly 30 million Christmas trees will be sold in the US this holiday season, and the majority of them will go straight to the landfill. (Recycling is available, but it’s not everywhere.)

That’s why I think renting a Christmas tree –  à la LivingChristmas.com — is pure genius. Prices range from $25 for a two-to-three-foot potted pine to $125 for a seven-to-eight-foot number, which is about what you’d spend on the chopped-down variety. Plus, it’s delivered to your doorstep. You can keep your living tree for up to three weeks, and after it keeps your home Christmas cozy, it’s picked up to join its other fir friends at the nursery till next year.

With a cut tree going for roughly the same price, why wouldn’t everyone do this?

–Jennifer Grayson

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A rare treat: American beef consumption is down 20 percent since 1985. Photo via Flickr: thebittenword.com

Nearly one-third of Americans are now aware of the Meatless Monday movement. That’s remarkable news, considering that just two years ago, national awareness was half that. A number of less-meatatarian approaches have sprung up in that same time as well, including weekday vegetarian, The Flexitarian Diet, daytime vegan, and the “meat as treat” Mark Bittman approach.

The question is: Is the less-meat-for-the-planet message seeping into the consciousness of the American public, or is this just another hyped fad, like low-carb dieting? (Which, if it comes back, certainly won’t help the plant-eating progress.) Are we really swapping our steaks for soybeans?

Maybe. Overall, we are eating less meat. According to USDA projections, annual consumption of red meat and poultry will fall from over 221 pounds per person in 2004-2007 to less than 206 pounds in 2012. Beef consumption, in particular, is on the down-and-out: It’s declined nearly 20 percent since 1985. That’s good news for our arteries, since we’re now eating 20 pounds less of the saturated stuff a year. But our preference for poultry is growing: Chicken consumption increased by nearly 30 pounds a year over the same time period.

This may, of course, be more about the economy, less about the environment: When times are tough, people simply can’t afford to eat as much meat. No bones about it.

–Jennifer Grayson

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