Author Archives: Melissa | Growing Green Nutrition

Green 3D

About a year ago, we made our biannual trek to the movie theater to see Coraline in 3D.  I enjoyed the movie, but not the thought of thousands of pairs of plastic one-time use 3D glasses headed to the landfill.

After the movie, we held on to our glasses.  Given our infrequent movie viewing, I was highly skeptical about whether it was worth keeping them.  Would we even be able to find them the next time we went to a 3D movie?

Enter Avatar.  I was on the fence about seeing it for a couple of weeks but, after hearing a coworker rave about it, I decided to give it a chance.  Lo and behold, I located our 3D glasses with minimal effort.

We purchased the 3D tickets, paying the additional charge for the glasses we didn’t plan to use.  I suspected the glasses we had were identical to those they were distributing, but, just to be safe, we both accepted a new pair as we entered.  We compared the old and the new, careful to avoid opening the sealed plastic packaging, and found them to be identical, so we returned the unopened packages.  (Real-D, the company that makes the glasses, had changed the packaging a bit (intentionally??), but the contents were equivalent.)

After the movie, I faced the dilemma of recycling my 3D glasses (which had not been available when we saw Coraline), or keeping them for my next 3D movie adventure.

Assuming that they were truly recycling the glasses (i.e., using energy to destroy and melt them to become some other plastic product) and not reusing them (i.e., handing out the still perfectly good glasses to future movie viewers), I opted to save my glasses for future personal use.

In my dream world, the movie theaters would get on board with this and offer a cheaper ticket to those who bring in their own 3D glasses, but I’m sure somebody’s making a killing (and killing the earth) off of that $2-3 dollars per pair.  So next time, I may just have to take matters into my own hands.

Bully pulpit

Sunday found me back at the church in which I grew up, now my parents’ church.  The priest concluded a nice homily with an unrelated, but also nice, message about support to Haiti.

And then, in a sudden turn of events, he started in on health care reform, and the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ position on the current versions of health care bills in the House and Senate.  You probably know where this is going.  Oh yes.  Abortion.

I’m not even going there.  But dragging politics into church like that?  Totally inappropriate.  Do you comment on every bill that’s before the House and Senate?  What about the energy and climate change bills?  Did you think to mention those?  Broad issues that affect ALL LIFE on this planet?

No.  No you didn’t.  Just a single, narrow issue that you can’t seem to get over.  Meanwhile, we have no meaningful national response to climate change and energy reform and continue to argue over small details in a health care “reform” bill that will fail to bring meaningful change.  Excuse me while I vomit in the pew.

Cool tool

Head on over to walkscore.com to determine the walkability of your neighborhood.  If you’re looking to rent or buy a new place, use this tool to find a highly walkable neighborhood.  Location matters — some places are more conducive to active living than others.

Our current location rates a 66.  One of my addresses, in the Tower Grove South neighborhood, fared even better, at 72.  I’m dreaming of a 90+.

Here is the rating scale:

  • 90–100 = Walkers’ Paradise: Most errands can be accomplished on foot and many people get by without owning a car.
  • 70–89 = Very Walkable: It’s possible to get by without owning a car.
  • 50–69 = Somewhat Walkable: Some stores and amenities are within walking distance, but many everyday trips still require a bike, public transportation, or car.
  • 25–49 = Car-Dependent: Only a few destinations are within easy walking range. For most errands, driving or public transportation is a must.
  • 0–24 = Car-Dependent (Driving Only): Virtually no neighborhood destinations within walking range. You can walk from your house to your car!

One BIG caveat — this only shows a small part of the walkability picture: distance.  For example, if you live in a neighborhood alongside an interstate, and there is a grocery store, library, restaurant, and school directly on the other side of the interstate, say 1/2 mile on the map, this system would give it a high walkability rating.  However, you can’t just mosey across 8 lanes of 60 MPH traffic to get to those destinations.  In reality, you may have to travel 2+ miles to actually get to a point where you can cross the interstate.  In other words, NOT so walk friendly.  The system also does not take into account the presence/absence of pedestrian friendly street design, such as sidewalks and pedestrian crossings.

Broken system

Saturday dawned freezing (as in 0° F, minus some degrees for windchill), with plenty of snow and slick spots still on our smaller streets (i.e., not so great for biking).  Question of the morning: How will we get to the farmer’s market?

With the bike option off of the table, that left a bus/walk combination . . . or driving.  I really hated the idea of driving the relatively short distance (2 1/4 miles) to the farmer’s market.  In fact, I had a bit of an outburst:

“Just drive there?  That’s the typical response.  We insist on having transportation exactly when we want it, with as little effort or inconvenience as possible.  [Walking and public transit] take too long, are inconvenient, don’t go exactly where we want to travel, and require some effort.  Plenty of excuses and lots of laziness!  So we just end up getting in our car and driving, just like everybody else, and nothing changes!”

Of course, my husband was on the receiving end of my little tirade, for suggesting that it might make more sense, in this case, to go ahead and drive.

My frustration was not really with him, but with the systems and structures that have made, and continue to make, driving the easy choice in almost all communities in the U.S.  That, combined with the fact that, unlike us (want to place bets on how few households have discussions about how they’re getting somewhere?  0.00001%?), so many people are completely unaware that there ARE alternatives to driving everywhere, frustrates me to no end (thank you, Captain Obvious).

In the end, we drove to the farmer’s market, and made the trip worthwhile by combining it with a trip to the local hardware store.  Later in the day, I walked/bussed to the library and grocery store, very much enjoying the car-free trip.

Average American

” . . . in 2001, the average American spent 64 min daily in a vehicle.” (1)

Noooooooooo.  Someone rescue me — I am apparently on my way to becoming an average American, a species which I hold in great disdain.

What’s next?  Consuming lots of processed food, thereby effectively eating a diet consisting of corn, soy, and wheat?  Or watching over 4 hours of television a day?

1. From Hu, P, Reuscher, T, 2004. Summary of travel trends: 2001 national household travel survey. U.S. Department of Transportation, Washington, DC, as quoted in Frank, L.D., Greenwald, M.J., Winkelman, S., Chapman, J., Kavage, S., 2010. Carbonless footprints: Promoting health and climate stabilization through active transportation. Prev. Med. 50, S99–S105.