Author Archives: Melissa | Growing Green Nutrition

Rain, rain go away

Come again another day — preferrably some day after we have had a chance to dry out from the 3 inches of rain you dumped on us in less than 48 hours.  Some parts of the state received SEVEN inches of rain in that same time period. I reluctantly took the bus/light rail for the second day in a row.  Better than driving, but not near as good as biking.

Yesterday, I attended an offsite meeting, located a short distance (along a large busy street) from the light rail stop.  I planned to catch the bus, but when it did not materialize on my timeline, i.e., immediately, I opted to walk.  I walked that third of a mile in constant fear of The Splash of Death, that great deluge caused by some thoughtless driver who blasts through a huge puddle right next to the sidewalk occupied by a hapless pedestrian.

Now, if the puddle simply contained nice, clean rain water, it would be no big deal — just an easy way to get my weekly shower.  But folks, that puddle does not contain nice clean rain water.  It contains dirty, dirty water.  Water full of oil, grease, chemicals, road dirt, and fecal matter (because you just know someone somewhere failed to pick up after his/her dog).

I eluded The Splash of Death yesterday, but I have seen it happen, and I know it is only a matter of time until I, too, fall victim to the dirty deluge.

Compare and contrast

On Monday night, we attended a talk by sustainable farmer and author Joel Salatin, who I mentioned here.  I thought I wrote a bit more about his book, Everything I Want to do is Illegal, but apparently I only wrote about it in my head.  The book did not turn me into a libertarian, but it was a near thing.  When I read that he was going to be speaking at a local venue, I was very excited.

“I wonder if he’ll be a good speaker?” I said to Matthew as we waited for it to start.  I knew he was a good writer, and I highly recommend reading the aforementioned book, but good speakers are a rare find.  There are plenty of people with potentially interesting things to say, people who may write well, that are mediocre speakers at best.

About three minutes into the talk, Matthew turned to me and said, “I guess you have your answer.”  Did I ever!  Joel Salatin did not disappoint as a speaker.  I loved hearing about and seeing photos of Mr. Salatin’s sustainably raised livestock right on the heels of this post about E. coli contamination in beef.  Talk about a sharp contrast with factory farms and agribusiness!

We biked to and from the talk, which pushed me over twenty miles for the day.  We rode home in beautiful weather under a full moon, and I could not help thinking how happy I was to be on my bike instead of in a car.

Bottom of the barrel

Newsweek recently published this list, giving an environmental ranking to America’s 500 largest companies.  I was most interested in the bottom of the ladder, which had few surprises.

#485 Monsanto: Makers of herbicides and genetically modified crops that can withstand the herbicide application (e.g., Round-up Ready Seeds), among other lovely things.

#493 Bunge: “The shortest distance from harvest to market.”  (Coughbullshitcough).

#500 Peabody Energy: Huge stake in coal and major pusher for “clean” coal technology.  Too bad there is no such thing as “clean” coal.

As a rather recent, somewhat dedicated NPR listener, I naively thought that companies advertising on NPR must be “good” companies.  I became rather skeptical when I heard Bunge’s ad: “. . . producing food ingredients for food manufacturers.”  Could they sound any shadier?  Although I am not familiar with all of the factors that went into Newsweek’s list, I am not at all surprised that Bunge ended up in the bottom ten.

Positive framing

I love this excerpt from a blog post by bike commuter and advocate Mighk Wilson:

“We are citizens who often drive bicycles.  We are confident road users who pose very little danger to others, and only rarely are we seriously hurt ourselves.  We are highly competent and predictable.  We work to make our public roads safer for everyone, especially pedestrians and children.  We are healthy and positive because we get regular moderate exercise; we engage positively with our community, instead of being walled-off behind steel and glass.  We believe anyone can quickly learn to bike competently and confidently on our roads, and offer a variety of fun and effective ways for people to do so.  Many of us wear helmets because they are cheap insurance to protect against the rare head injury, but we don’t get too worked up if others don’t wear them.  We encourage federal, state and local governments to treat us as vehicle drivers with the same rights and responsibilities as all other drivers, and not as second-class citizens who are “in the way.”  Please come join us!”

Here is the link to the entire entry on Mike’s blog: http://mighkwilson.com/2009/10/which-cycling-politics-doom-or-possibility/