Thanks jcbonbon

In many ways, you would think so. Locally grown food is supposed to be better for you, better tasting and use up far less “food miles” to get to your table. The Locavore movement has gained traction with more than just the environmental crowd, because of the range of products available, the appeal to supporting local economy, the fear of pesticides and preservatives, and even the joy of having your own garden. So why are Stephen Dubner’s findings so opposite? He starts with the argument:

I very much understand the locavore instinct. To eat locally grown food or, even better, food that you’ve grown yourself, seems as if it should be 1) more delicious; 2) more nutritious; 3) cheaper; and 4) better for the environment. But is it?

His conclusions point to several issues, including the products it takes to grow your own food, the efficiency of vegetable and cattle farms and the amount of transportation it takes to get to you. It’s not exactly fair to compare growing your own food to the overly efficient farmers who make this their life, but on the same token, nothing compares to the pride and joy you feel when you pick your first homegrown tomato. Nor does it compare to the feeling of knowing exactly what has been put on or in your fruits and vegetables. So does this still equal a larger carbon footprint than going to your local grocery store?

Here’s his logic:

1. No one can grow all the things he or she would like to eat. While this is true, even substituting some of your produce for homegrown helps. Not to mention, you don’t really have to grow it all yourself if you take a trip to your local farmer’s market.

2. Since you can’t grow everything you need, there’s sure to be nutritional gaps in your diet. Sure, this makes total sense, but no one’s saying you need to grow your own wheat, corn, lettuce and everything in between. That would surely be incredibly inefficient and frankly, overkill. Again, a short trip to your local farmer’s market or vegetable stand can help that.

3. Is it cheaper? What if you factor in all the miles you would have to drive and all the products you need, the seeds, fertilizer, tools, etc? What if 1,000 of your neighbors did the same? This isn’t exactly a fair comparison. Some people don’t have the space to grow their produce in the ground, so they would need to buy pots and soil, but even so, many of those products you don’t need or don’t need to buy. Sprout cups? Unnecessary when you can make them out of newspaper or even egg cartons. Fertilizer? Forget about it! Either start a small composting setup or buy stuff from Terracycle, which I can attest to being great. Tools? you don’t need to buy a slew of tools to make your garden grow, you can improvise. Plus, even if you do choose to buy them, it’s a one-time cost for products you can use year after year. The transportation part is a valid point, but if you make a solid list of what you need and make one trip, it’s a small price to pay.

Now here’s the kicker:
4. (quoted directly) Keeping in mind the transportation inefficiencies mentioned above, consider the “food miles” argument: We find that although food is transported long distances in general…the GHG emissions associated with food are dominated by the production phase, contributing 83% of the average U.S. household’s 8.1 t CO2e/yr footprint for food consumption. Transportation as a whole represents only 11% of life-cycle GHG emissions, and final delivery from producer to retail contributes only 4%. Different food groups exhibit a large range in GHG-intensity; on average, red meat is around 150% more GHG-intensive than chicken or fish. Thus, we suggest that dietary shift can be a more effective means of lowering an average household’s food-related climate footprint than “buying local.” This is a compelling argument, and if only 4% is from retailer to retail, then it makes sense. If 83% of the carbon footprint of getting food to your table is concentrated in the production phase, doesn’t that sound a little inefficient, and perhaps the local growers would contribute a little less? Not to mention, I refuse to believe that only 4% of the CO2 emissions of avocados from Chile in our Florida grocery stores are from that long trip.

The jury’s still out, and for me, I’ll stick to my locally grown produce, thank you.

» Via PSFK and the Freakonomics blog on NYTimes Online

If you’ve been noticing a slew of alternative based fuel posts lately on Swye, you’ve noticed our excitement over the possibilities of weening the US, and effectively the rest of the world, off fossil fuels forever! One of the problems with some of these processes is the processing the “crude” oil requires before it can go in our tanks. LS9 is a company that might be able to shorten the processing time it takes from production to our cars.

Using genetically modified single-cell organisms including industrial yeast and nonpathogenic strains of E. Coli to break down raw material such as wood chips, wheat straw, or even corn (they’re avoiding the need to use food as fuel and focusing on using agricultural waste according to the area and climate) into a by-product that’s nearly pump-ready.

There are several advantages to this over food-based ethanol including the lack of a need to use food like corn. Using agricultural waste solves two problems, the disposal of that waste by agricultural companies, as well as the need to transport it. Since the little guys create something that’s molecularly similar to oil, there’s also no need to distill the product like you have to with ethanol. This greatly reduces the time it takes to create product and get it to market.

So far, they have no production ready space, nor are they sure if the technology could work on a nationwide or global scale, but they machine they’re testing on already can produce about a barrel a week and only takes up 40 square feet of floor space. If that’s any indication of what they can do, bring it on!

» Via TimesOnline

Green funerals are catching on in a big way as an alternative to the chemical-laden processes way we’ve been presented with for decades. Many companies have offered natural pine caskets and even ones made of cardboard, but the SpiriTree is an all natural, carbon negative way to honor your loved ones with “a living, growing monument.”

Here’s the basic concept: you spread the ashes on the biodegradable bottom portion, place the ceramic top on top and place a seed or a small tree in the hole. You do all this where you want the tree to grow, of course. Once the piece is “planted” the tree will grow, the bottom of the unit will deteriorate allowing the roots access to the soil underneath. The ceramic top is built to break once the trunk outgrows the size of the hole.

The Spiritree is a beautiful piece and a great concept. The only downfall is though you’re planting a tree and you’re helping to offset your carbon footprint, the cremation process is energy intensive and spits out carbon and other chemicals too. That said, I’ve always said I wanted to be buried under a tree and now I think I know how.

Currently there are several companies pioneering algae-based diesel technology, Sapphire Energy, PetroSun, and Solena to name a few. Now that Solazyme’s algae-based diesel, Soladiesel has passed tests for the US standards and proven it will run in our vehicles without damage, the race is on to bring it to the public. In order to be deemed suitable for consumption in vehicles, Soladiesel had to pass both the American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) D-975 specifications and ASTM ultra low sulfur diesel (ULSD) standards.

This is good news not only for Solazyme and algae-based diesel in general, but also for the public for whom the possibility of a more sustainable fuel is looming on the horizon.

There is one problem with Solazyme’s process: they’ve figured out how to grow the algae without the sun, but it relies on feeding the algae sugar. We all know the dangers of creating fuel from food, and this just seems like a diversion from the true innovation of algae. I have to admit, it’s pretty disappointing to hear of a company making such strides in the field only to learn their process might be flawed. I hope they can figure out how to commercialize their product and process without having to resort to the pitfalls of food-based fuel we’ve fallen into already.

» Via Gas 2.0

No one can deny the benefits of composting, but most people can’t stomach the thought of it nor do they want an ugly green or brown smelly plastic bin laying around in the space they already don’t have.

Daily Dump makes decorative clay composting pots that either come painted with one of their designs or custom painted, or plain so you can paint them at home. They are a relatively new start-up in Bangalore, India boasting an impressive list of products and some great information on their website on how to use their system and the benefits of composting.

They have a range of products that can handle any amount of composting kitchen material. Their market is mainly focused on India, Africa and Asia, though we hope they start selling here.

» Daily Dump

Thanks MontanaRaven

Having a green, well manicured lawn is an American pride, right up there with our flag and our pickup trucks. Truth is though, to keep them looking good they need an incredible amount of water and require phosphate heavy fertilizers that leak into our ground water and create algae blooms and dead spots in the oceans. It’s an incredible inefficient way to landscape our property but it’s the American way. Xeriscaping is the practice of landscaping with local and drought resistant plants and shrubs that don’t require the excess water and fertilizers that grass does. Not only is it practical, especially in areas with drought, but it’s also beautiful and looks really unique.

Lose The Lawn
LoseTheLawn.com is an advocacy and outreach program to teach people about the detrimental effects of caring for a lawn and the benefits and practicality of xeriscaping for homeowners. The site is full of great information and useful statistics and facts, like:

- You can reduce your water use by 80%

- And best of all, it saves you money!! About 80% over a ten-year period in maintenance costs!

» LoseTheLawn.com

So I am here on Day #3 in a little town on the coast of Maine where I am shedding layers of my old self to become more of who I want to be…am meant to be. So far, things have been going really well.

A little background…I left the corporate world this past January unexpectedly (due to our GREAT economy) and decided not to go back! I have been studying holistic health counseling in New York City at the Institute for Integrative Nutrition and have begun to settle into the fact that I am on this earth to spread a message of how humans can live in sync with the earth. It’s the foods we put into our bodies, the products we take from the earth and the reverence we hold for all things living…once we can find harmony within all of these we can find peace within ourselves. I am looking for this myself and want to share with everyone the process of letting go of our mechanistic world in favor for a world without illusions.

OK, back to Maine…so with this blog, I will chronicle the experience of a gal (myself) who has been living the suburban/city life for TOO LONG and is delving into the simple life head first. Now, I will have things like electricity and running water but I will not have TV and since my job will be to buy local produce and foods, I will be eating almost all local foods. I hope you all enjoy and learn something too. My first three days have been filled with learning about the local farms and their order and delivery times and dates, organic gardening on Islesford (aka Little Cranberry Island, where while I was weeding the author and illustrator Ashley Bryan was leading a group of school children on a nature walk reciting Langston Hughes…where am I? A dream!), and meeting lots of new people who are all incredibly kind and incredibly real…an authenticity one hardly ever encounters in the cities I have dwelled within these past years. Things are looking good! Until next time…

We’ve been proudly covering algae based diesel for a while on SWYE, but diesel has it’s limitations, mainly being a majority of the consumer vehicles in the US don’t run on it. By far the most promising source of fuel (forget ethanol, an inferior and wasteful alternative), algae based gasoline has been the holy grail for the internal combustion engine.

Based on their question, “Why is the biofuel industry spending so much time and energy focused on biodiesel and ethanol – fundamentally inferior solutions?” Sapphire Energy a company based in California, has found the solution and has produced 91-octane, ASTM certified gasoline, the same premium stuff you can find at your local gas pumps, and best of all, it’s vehicle ready and needs no modifications to the engine!

Sapphire Energy has developed a process by which they use sunlight, C02 and algae without using arable land to produce this green gold. The company has also raised $50 million from Arch Rock Ventures, Venrock, as well as the Welcome Trust.

Let’s hope this technology starts being used and we can take advantage of it soon. If it takes off, look out Shell, Mobil and Exxon, you might get left behind.

» Via CNET and Ecogeek.

Via Flickr, Thanks Rick

It seems that news is continuously coming out regarding different neurotoxins, hormone endocrine disruptive chemicals, and toxic allergens being found in everything from toothpaste to water bottles. However, the most disturbing part of all of these reports are that a LOT of these products are specifically made for babies and children!!!

Did you know that there are two production lines in most toy and consumer goods factories in China? One for the EU and one for the US?! That’s right; the EU has banned many of the chemicals that the US is still allowing in products that children put into their mouths, sit in, and sleep in.

A report from Friends of the Earth, featured this week on CBS Evening News, stated that of items tested, “56 percent of infant carriers, 44 percent of car seats, and 40 percent of strollers had dangerous levels of toxic fire retardant chemicals.”

The baby-stuff company Graco responded to the report saying that, “nothing is more important than the well-being of the children who use our product.” For now it’s just talk, but we can hope that this and other companies will hear the cry that we simply cannot be exposing our tiniest citizens to chemicals that can cause serious health issues down the road.

If you’re interested in contacting Graco to tell them your thoughts visit this site: Friends of the Earth.org

It’s pretty much common knowledge that plastic bags take 1000 years to decompose, if they do at all, but that fact just wasn’t good enough for 16 year-old Daniel Burd. He’s found a way to make plastic bags decompose in about three months by his estimation.

Using a combination of microbes, a consistent temperature and six weeks, Daniel acheived 43% degredation. That’s a pretty big deal when you consider how much plastic we use as Americans.

My question is, what are the biproducts of this process and what sorts of chemicals are released? Hopefully this can lead to some serious research and a real-life green solution.

» TheRecord.com