Eating Fish Sustainably- CSF!

This post is part of Fight Back Fridays hosted by Food Renegade. Go check out other fantastic posts by "Real Foodies!" :)

Nova Scotia... if you know about the province at all (and trust me, you don't have to only be American to fall for this one... I've had plenty of Canadians ask me if Nova Scotia was off of Newfoundland...), you think ocean and fish. And maybe beer.

Growing up as a lobster fisherman's daughter, the ocean and my community of fishermen and their families have been the core of my sense of self. I watch my community suffer through being undersold and undervalued. All the while the consumer continues to buy the cheap fish and lobster, completely oblivious to the sweat and manipulation that has gone into their food.


For this very reason, I have always refused to buy frozen (or fresh) fish and lobster from grocery stores. For one, the fish are rarely ever 'fresh'- unless your definition of fresh is sitting in a holding tank with thousands of other lobsters for months on end counts. Also, by buying this grocery store fish I'm supporting a system that pays the fisherman pennies for their work.  Finally, haddock (my favourite white fish) is typically dragged- which is hugely destructive to the bottom of the ocean floor (basically a bunch of heavy wheels on the end of a large net that rolls along the ocean floor, ripping it up and catching many other fish as a result).


Our fishing community here in Nova Scotia is floundering and we need a way to help keep it together. 

Last week I was astounded to hear about a local CSF. Yep- Community Supported Fisheries. How COOL is that? With a name like 'Off the Hook' this CSF has a fabulous idea and sustainable practices that could revolutionize the way Nova Scotians think about their fish.


With the support of 5 Dibgy groundfish fishermen, Off the Hook provides local, sustainably caught groundfish to Nova Scotians in the format of 8 weekly deliveries. The fish are all caught by hook and line, meaning less by-catch (if any, they can just throw them back out), no harmful dragging and beautiful sustainable haddock, hake and pollack. 


It works just like a CSA, in that you pay for a half share or whole share and get a certain amount of fish per delivery (they deliver in Halifax). Included in the price are filleting and cooking lessons (for whole ground fish), a visit with the fishermen, a possible potluck and a 'warm fuzzy feeling' because you are providing a fair price for sustainably caught fish. Kinda like fair trade, but with fish!


It's their first season this summer and it is essential that they are successful for future growth and change. I was so excited that I immediately contacted them asking for a quick interview. Sadie Beaton, the CSF Coordinator immediately emailed me back and answered all my answers completely and fully. It was a real pleasure to find such open and honest communication.


Unfortunately, due to our current economic situation (umm, wedding planning and continue job insecurity) we just couldn't fit it into out budget. But we're hoping for next year, or a possible different fishing season!


Without further ado, here's our quick interview :)

1. A CSF is such an innovative idea for this region and very exciting! What prompted the decision to get this started?

We are pretty excited about this new seafood direct marketing initiative, the first of its kind in Atlantic Canada. Last summer I was working on a research study outlining some barriers and opportunities for seafood direct marketing in NS - you can access it here: http://www.ecologyaction.ca/content/who-sells-seafood-nova-scotia’s-sea-shores-0.  Basically we found that Haligonians expressed a strong affinity for local seafood and a willingness to pay a little more for directly marketed fish - particularly if the premium were to support fishers, coastal communities or the ocean environment. The message we heard from local small scale fishers again and again was that they were feeling driven towards direct marketing by various frustrations from low prices in the industrial globalized food system to lack of livelihood control. They were seeing that rather than feeling at the whim of the large corporate supply chain, direct marketing strategies including CSFs could allow fishers to protect their livelihoods as seafood markets continue to shift and often squeeze them tightly.

After this study, a few key fishers were game for taking the step to partner with an environmental group like Ecology Action Centre to launch a CSF, with the hopes that we could create a successful, strong example of a new way of doing the seafood business, one that respects local communities, economies and the marine environment. Over the past six months or so we have had converations back and forth until we were ready to incorporate as a Co-op back in the beginning of June to deliver Atlantic Canada's first CSF!

2. How did you approach and convince local fishermen to climb on board (hehe) with this concept? Was it difficult to find fishermen who used sustainable fishing methods (i.e. hook and line as opposed to dragging?).

EAC has a longstanding relationship with several groups of small-scale fishermen using low impact gears like bottom hook and line.  Rather than working to "convince them" of our concept, we worked with these guys to kind of develop and grow the idea. We did introduce the idea of the CSF to the group of fishermen we are working with, but they were very receptive and have worked every step of the way to help lead the design and intent of the initiative.

3. What sorts of surprises and obstacles have you as a CSF encountered so far along your Journey?

We are so young - we haven't had deliveries yet. But we have been surprised by the amount of support and excitement we've had from people all over - especially the flood of emails from far-away places in Ontario looking to access our fish, and especially for ways to support coastal livelihoods and sustainable fishing methods. It is really uplifting to know there is such a groundswell of support - now we hope to see that matched by policies that can make it easier for small-scale fishermen to direct market their products and fill those niches.

4. If this season is a success, will you be planning on extending the CSF to other fish seasons (such as lobster?). Would there be different challenges in assuring sustainable fishing methods for different fish-crustacean? 

We have lots of ideas for ways to extend and expand the CSF into the future, but right now what we want to do is just concentrate on thinking small - getting the model working really simply and well so we can then help other communities and groups of fishers to set up other CSFs and similar direct marketing initiatives that help connect consumers with local, sustainably caught seafood. 

There is some interest in expanding to include other local seafood in the future from lobster to clams. Every different fishery will have its unique challenges, both logistically and policy-wise... we'll cross those bridges if and when we come to them.

There you have it, an amazing organization and an exciting new project that could help boost Nova Scotia's fishing industry. If you're a Nova Scotian and would like to know more, or would like to support the CSF, please check out their website and sign up! ***Deadline is Tuesday July 20th 2010!!*** 

There is absolutely *nothing* like freshly caught haddock.... I say this with experience. Nothing better. Yum!

Many Blessings!

Frozen Farmer's Market with the Public Health Authority

This post is part of Fight Back Fridays! hosted by Food Renegade. Go check out the other fantastic 'Real Food' posts!!


As I've mentioned before here, I am not a fan of the farmer's market in Halifax. It's SO crowded that you can barely move, hear or talk and in order to get any food at all you need to be there on a Saturday morning at 7-8am. I've also mentioned how I'm not a huge fan of the local food box- as I found out (from a sticker on my zucchini) that they were sourcing their produce from a local store... Eating locally here is not an easy feat, but we've been trying with shopping at 'Planet Organic' that carries some local produce and meat, at a hefty price. (the courtyard of Dalhousie University. What you can't see are the wind gusts to 41km-hour and -15 windchill!)

As a last minute decision, I decided to take today off, which was pretty convenient as we had a bit of a windy snowstorm last night (so no walking in the snow pour moi!). My main plan: take advantage of the Friday 10-2 Farmer's Market!

Since last spring the local Health Authority (Capital Health) has been hosting a mini 'Farmer's Market' every Friday from 10am to 2pm as a 'Healthy Living, Healthy Eating' initiative. As I used to get every other Friday off, I went to a few of these during the late summer, early Fall months. Located in the Veteran General Hospital courtyard, Capital Health sent emails to all their employees each week reminding them of the market and new vendors.  (The courtyard of the VG today)

As I no longer get any Fridays off, I thought I'd take advantage of this time and see what exactly I'd be able to buy in this 'mini' frozen Canadian Market. As I walked towards the VG, snow blowing in my face, the windchill making it feel like -15 Celsius (5 Fahrenheit), I wondered if it was even open.

(the SIGN, if you'll notice it even asks customers to BYObag!)

I found the courtyard empty.... and ventured closer to see- it was open! Walking inside the VG Hospital cafeteria I saw 7 booths set up with vendors sprinkled amidst patients, visitors and staff eating their lunch. I wish I could have taken some pictures to show you all, but I was a bit concerned about patient confidentiality... who wants to be splattered on a blog when you're ill?

As I made my way around, I bought something from each vendor: my first stop the 'fish' guy.

Now, it's no surprise that as a Nova Scotian AND a fisherman's daughter, I'm pretty darn fussy about what seafood I buy and eat. Add the sustainable aspect and it gets a bit trickier. The absolute BEST haddock I have ever eaten has been fresh from my mother's village- Pubnico. To my surprise, the fish guy is actually from my village and knows my family! Fresh, non-frozen haddock from 'home' it is! (Now I just have to call my mom and see how she cooks it!).

*Quick update: I just called my brother to confirm my suspicions on how they fish for haddock... by trawl. Trawls (or draggers as they are referred to at home) are these huge boats that basically dump nets with wheels at the bottom and literally drag them along the ocean floor. These nets pick up haddock, but they also catch other sea creatures AND tear up the ocean floor. My brother (also a lobster fisherman) reported that you *can* fish for haddock via hook-line, but they are more expensive to buy and rarely done. The bulk of Atlantic haddock that is sold comes from trawl. (the 'degradable' bag the fish guy gave me)

Well darn. At least next time I'll just stick to free lobster from my father and brother!

I also bought some home made hot pepper jelly, Italian herb bread, no-oat granola and Prince Edward Island tulips. Although in no way does this 'mini' market sustain all our grocery needs, it was so wonderful to be able to casually chat with the people who actually MAKE this stuff without feeling pushed or pressure to get out of the way like in the regular market.

(my loot today! See the "plastic" bag the fish is in? It supposed 'degrades' when in sunlight... now how long I have no idea and I KNOW it isn't accepted in our municipal composting facility. I'll have to figure out another use for it!)

So tonight, Andrew and I will dine on (ugh... trawl) haddock, baked in hot pepper jelly sauce, local organic mashed potatoes and organic broccoli and carrots! Yum!! What are you having for supper?

Blessings!

article and photos copyright of EcoYogini at ecoyogini.blogspot.com

Grass eating Ungulates...

This post is part of Food Renegade's Fight Back Fridays. Please check out the fantastic posts written about Real Food!

I am not a vegan or a vegetarian and still I consider myself an environmentalist and Yogini. For some I know this should result in something akin to cognitive dissonance... and this is not a post about that debate but I thought I would put a little something as to why I've chosen to remain an omnivore pre:story.

From an environmental perspective, the most effective way to slash your carbon footprint would be to cut out meat. Traditional meat raising (CAFO) involves huge amounts of water (100,000 kilos for every pound of beef produced), grain that's grown using carbon sucking machinery, polluting pesticides and genetically modified seeds. Often animals are sick and fed hormones to encourage faster growth and antibiotics to decrease illness pre-slaughter.

From a Yogi perspective, Ahimsa, one of the five Yamas ("restraints"), means non-violence or non-harm. Which would apply to both the cruelty involved with traditional meat farming and the environmental harm. However, we could take this debate to the extremes as Olivia Rosewood discusses.

My reasons for being a meat-eater are health related. I have such a restricted diet (especially when it comes to vegetables and fruit) that further restrictions would simply result in an unhealthy me. Since I refuse to eat soy (especially after watching "The World According to Monsanto"), knowing the amount of pesticides, pollution, monocultures and GMO's involved in soy's journey, a balanced diet comes with some meat.

Our compromise? Trying to eat less meat, as many local and sustainable vegetables and grains as possible. Whenever we do buy meat, we try to invest in those that are local, organic and grass-fed. Sustainable farms don't mistreat their animals, use harmful pesticides or antibiotics. Their animals are healthy and some would argue happy. For a fantastic example, please check out Joel Salatin's farm Polyface.

A few weeks ago Andrew and I decided to treat ourselves and buy some local organic grass-fed steaks from Planet Organic. I think they were from Getaway Farms. Unfortunately, unless you go directly to the farm or the farmer's market all local meats are frozen (I'm assuming it has to do with processing regulations and demand). Two steaks cost us 18$... WOW. It's fine,(higher, more panic-y internal voice) we were treating ourselves. Grass-fed beef means the cows ate what their stomach's have evolved to digest... grass, they were happier and healthier and as a result so would our planet and ourselves be.

Interestingly enough, I also felt much more connected to this meat than any other beef I've bought. Although it looked nothing like a cow, knowing it had been raised, lived and slaughtered only a few hours drive away made me stop and consider how it had been a living creature. As geeky as it sounds, I found myself thanking the Goddess for providing this life and energy... you know all the spiritual stuff. All the things we're supposed to consider to encourage more connectedness with our world.

What we didn't consider was how to cook the steaks. We defrosted them and Andrew did his usual fancy schmancy steak thing, we sat down to eat our yummy local, sustainable steaks and took a bite. And chewed.... and chewed some more. Then we chewed even more. They were the most chewy, dry steaks I have ever eaten. Crap. We totally didn't consider the small fact that... well they were grass-fed.

Grass-fed beef means less marbling of fat in the meat (which we knew) which results in a different flavour (which we knew) and.... less fat to tenderize the meat throughout the steak. Sigh. 18$ worth of meat and instead of considering that we might need to marinade them like they needed a bath, we just cooked them as if they were regular steaks. Even though we bravely ate every single bite and our jaws were sore afterwards from all the chewing, I was very disappointed.

Sadly, they were way to expensive for us to buy on a regular basis so it will be a while until we give it another go. When we do, however, there will be many hours of marinading (perhaps even using my dad's method of cutting the meat to allow for more sauce to soak in, terrible I know but effective!). Perhaps we missed some crucial tip or method? Any suggestions would be welcome :)

There you have, our first "grass-fed" experience, not exactly the success we wanted. I think what I took away that was most helpful was that unexpected spiritual-ness and connectedness that comes from knowing my food's origins. Don't get me wrong, growing up in a fisherman's family meant cooking the lobsters we had just raced across the kitchen floor, seeing the rabbits my dad snared and the deer he had killed that year... but I'd never experienced similar things with beef or chicken. Instead of feeling disgusted, I felt connected which may seem completely weird for some (sorry VeganB!) but for myself it felt balanced.

Tonight Andrew and I are off to visit the family in the "village" and we'll be bringing back some fresh local haddock (frozen sadly) that my parents sourced from a local fisherman. :)

Blessings!

article copyright of EcoYogini at ecoyogini.blogspot.com

Eat local...Pepsi? The travesty that is "Eat Atlantic"

This post is part of Fight Back Fridays! Hosted by Food Renegade... Go on over and check out the awesome posts on Real Food :)

Greenwashing. For ecoholics and the environmentally inclined this is not a new word. It even has a wiki entry (did you know it was a "portmanteau" of green and whitewash and originally was coined for the hotel industry?). Corporations everywhere are scrambling to "spin" their product as somehow environmentally friendly, forcing the consumer to be even more wary. SIGG's recent bottle-liner manipulation is a nice example.

Wouldn't you know it, no eco-words are sacred and enter.... local washing. Unfortunately this term does not have it's own wiki entry. Perhaps Crunchy Chicken gets dibs on coining this one? In any case, it would seem that the term "local" has caught on and big corporations are feeling a little nervous. Crunchy's example was of Starbucks revamping their cafes to look "indie" and claiming to be local, as in the company originated in Seattle.

Cue Eat Atlantic Challenge, an exciting and promising event where maritimers (New Brunswickers, Nova Scotians and PEI-ians...ians?) are encouraged to eat only local foods today. Ok, so it's only one day, but the key is the promotion surrounding this event in provinces that have historically been UBER conservative. According to their website, Eat Atlantic: "The Eat Atlantic Challenge is a promotion aimed at encouraging Atlantic Canadians to eat only food produced in Atlantic Canada for one day..." Sounds good so far! Yay Farmer's markets, local bakeries, locally brewed beer, local pepsi... Pepsi???

Here's a short list of my favourite "local" foods produced right here in our neighbourhood ("our region produces so many tasty, healthy products to choose from..."):

Humpty Dumpty Cheese sticks
Cheetos Nachos
Old Dutch All Dressed Chips
High Liner Captain Chicken Strips
Lipton Green Tea with Citrus
Pepsi (I kid you not)
Michelina Chicken Fried Rice (didn't know we grew rice in Nova Scotia)
Silhouette Yogurt
Majesta bathroom tissue
Dempster's Muffins

No mention of local farms, a list of the provinces Farmer's Markets, of local bakeries... I just, I have no idea what to say to this list. Cheetos???? Looking at this list you would assume that the Atlantic provinces have no farms, no fruit trees, no fishing industry, no cattle, pigs, sheep or chickens.... just highly processed junk. That just happens to be processed in the maritimes.

Obviously the challenge is a bit of "local washing", spinning the concept that as long as it's processed in Nova Scotia, it can be considered local. This event has received a lot of media coverage with prizes given to the best "local" supper, ads being run all week on the cbc and general all around discussion. The disheartening result; instead of promoting our local (for real!) farmers and Real Food Producers, our true neighbours, this challenge places large corporations with resources not local to the maritime provinces first. Misleading consumers into believing that supporting these large, processed, polluting industries is "good" for the environment and our community and shuffles (yet again) our local farmers under the rug. Although some discussion may have occurred around Farmer's Markets and what it means to eat locally, they most certainly were not front and centre. And the true "challenge" of asking Maritimers to eat "local" in order to increase awareness was completely lost in the loose translation of what local means.

Andrew and I did not officially "sign up" for this challenge, as we already consider ourselves to eat more local (and sometimes organic) Real Food than what was listed on the site. Tomorrow we'll try to stop over at the market (even though it's SO busy and I can only handle about five minutes) pre-Guerrilla Yoga and pick up some Real Food.

Blessings!



article authored by EcoYogini at ecoyogini.blogspot.com

Jammin'

This post is part of Fight Back Fridays hosted by Food Renegade! Go check out the fantastic posts on Real Food!

My goal these past few months has been to try to make as much as I can possibly from scratch or non-processed. Hence the urban garden, homemade sugar scrub and home made soap.

The plan: homemade strawberry jam. From scratch.

Ok, so after talking to my mom, I guess it's really not that hard to make (mom: "I just use the recipe on the Certo box"). For a normal person, but we're talking about baking-cooking challenged me here. So an event had to be planned. (making strawberry jam in our MINISCULE kitchen!)

The original plan: pick strawberries at a U-Pick ourselves and make jam. Unfortunately this did not happen (ok, so I'm not really THAT disappointed since the last time I picked strawberries I was 4 years old and the scary lady yelled at me... what? Since when is EATING the strawberries you were picking a crime?).

New plan: buy local strawberries and make jam. Do you know how much sugar goes into strawberry jam??? A lot. I have been cutting out refined sugar for months now, no way was I going back to that.

La troisieme "plan": figure out a way to make strawberry jam without pectin. There IS a way! But the stuff needs to be ordered... and strawberries are quickly going out of season. Check out Crunchy Domestic Goddess's post on using a citrus based pectin!

FINAL PLAN: buy strawberries (local preferred, at this point organic or non, we just want the berries) and use fair trade organic sugar. At least this way we may be damaging our bodies but at least no beautiful forests or slave labour was sacrificed/used. Jen, being the awesome baker that she is was all for the jam making adventure!

So- after a final call to mom, who assured us that hulling and crushing layer-by-layer was just to make it easier and in fact not crucial to the recipe (and yes, we were using the Certo recipe) AND that washing the jars would be fine for sterilization (woot germs! this one's for you Mel!) we were good to go!

4 1/2 cups of hulled squashed berries (so much fun!) and SEVEN cups of sugar. Yes. SEVEN. So. The bag of organic fair trade sugar wasn't exactly seven cups. Who knew? Sigh. So my jam, with it's potentially small footprint on the planet ended with half-half death and eco-sugar.

Also, as per usual Lisa-baking style, a huge mess was had, with shouting and a strawberry jam caused battle wound on my arm (I guess boiling strawberry sauce actually burns quite a bit!) along with the ginormous mess on our tiny apartment stove. Baking wouldn't be "real" without some sort of disaster in the Lisa household. (above- said mess)

Finally though, the sweet yummy smell of homemade jam filled the apartment and the jars (all four and a half!) and now I am left with two amazing jars filled with yummy strawberry jam! Supposedly, according to mom, overnight while they cool a popping noise will scare the crap out of my sleeping self and the vaccuum seal will have occured.

Since we don't eat a lot of jam, I would say that the next step is to making strawberry-hole cookies, you know the ones with the thumb holes filled with jam! YUM. And next year, hopefully the green-ability of my jam will be increased with local, non-sprayed strawberries (you know that they cover the plants with plastic sheets and the workers need to wear haz-mat suits due to the pesticides they spray??? ack), less sugar and no pectin :)

Blessings!

Photos and article copyright of ecoyogini.blogspot.com.

First Harvest=Graduation into Urban Gardening "Adulthood"!

This post is part of Fight Back Fridays! Go check out the awesome entries for more Food Renegade posts! :)

Today, July 5th 2009, Andrew and I had our very FIRST HARVEST as Urban Gardeners!!!! YAY! We started out this whole venture with the idea that maybe we could actually grow some food on our balcony... had a mishap or two with the terrible Zellers "biodegradable" or shall we say spontaneously combusting, planters and got to play with organic soil and worm poo!

(Our Lucifer plant finally deciding to begin flowering!)

We ordered our seeds from Vesey's, a Maritime owned company: organic sugar snap peas, organic carrots and fall garlic and impulse bought some strawberry plants. The seeds were sowed inside in April and carefully brought inside every night so that the frost wouldn't kill them. It has been an amazing and insightful journey!

Honestly, even though everything seemed to be growing as planned, I had no aspirations for these vegetables to actually produce edible food. I can barely keep cacti alive let alone something that needs to grow food. Of course, Andrew has been extremely helpful and patient (I just wanted to give up on

the trellis, some swear words may have happened... hah). This process had more to do with helping increase our connection with where our food comes from in an urban setting. Since we never had a garden growing up it was fun and a complete learning experience to nurture our seeds to vegetables/fruit.

(Our strawberry plant with an almost ready berry!)

Regardless of my extremely low expectations, or maybe despite, our little urban garden has decided to actually give us food!! That actually tastes.... good! (so far!). After looking on the internet to figure out when we should actually pick our peas, (now) we had 6 sugar snap peas (not so easy to 'snap' off, wrestling with it I thought I was going to rip the whole plant off) and one strawberry. They are now all eaten. YUM.

How are your gardens growing? I am getting a little concerned with the amount of wet. I don't remember the last time my garlic was dry...

Blessings!

***UPDATE (July 6th): So after a kind friend pointed out that these peas were the weirdest looking sugar snap peas she had ever seen; I went on the Vesey's website to confirm that they are, indeed "Oregon Organic Sugar Peas" (YES- I thought, I was RIGHT! I am very humble)... then read the following description:

A great garden addition for anyone who stir-fries. This staking type snow pea produces.....

um. Note the... SNOW PEA part. Oops! LMAO. They were yummy nonetheless :)

Coffee; Eco-Ethics (Part 1)

This post is part of Fight Back Fridays! Hosted by Food Renegade- please go check out all the other fantastic REAL FOOD posts over here!

Starbucks and Lululemon... does anyone else see a trend here? Since the beginning of my yoga journey, five years ago in Montreal, Lululemon and Starbucks were close behind. Late nights studying for my grad degree required lots and lots of coffee, and boy do I LOVE mochas. It was so common to see yogini's decked out in Lulu gear while sipping on their starbucks that it just seems like the two companies should be somehow in cahoots together. In Montreal we used to always always stop for a Starbucks pre-yoga with Jim (dreamy Brit instructor at the Y). (The Bean Scene, my favourite coffee shop in Vernon BC)

Most of us know that coffee is "bad" for us, that most likely huge corporations like Starbucks make a zillion dollars in profit at the expense of the little guys... but did you know just HOW much your latte is costing our planet and it's people? The USA consumes one fifth of the world's coffee, making North America the largest coffee consumer in the world. You would think with such a huge demand that setting up your very own coffee field and becoming a coffee bean farmer would be a worth while venture... Unfortunately coffee farmers have been, and continue to be exploited to the point of slavery. Coffee farmers are often paid less than 50 cents per pound and live in appalling conditions, are indebted to the point of working for nothing.

Coffee beans are grown in countries that typically have delicate rainforests and unique, essential ecosystems. According to the National Resources Defense Council reports that deforestation is a huge part of "sun grown" coffee (40% of coffee growing lands in Columbia, Mexico, Central America and the Carribean; where deforestation takes place for "monocultures" of coffee bean plants) and the World Wildlife Fund reports endangered species habitats are being destroyed by illegal deforestation for coffee plantations along with a 90% drop in migratory bird species.

Want some DDT with that latte? Although measures have been taken to ban many (but not even close to all) pesticides in North America, many coffee beans purchased today are grown in countries where such carcinogenic pesticides are still permitted. For example, NRDC also reports that Costa Rica allows the use of the toxic insecticide chlordane that has serious health and lasting environmental impact. Chronic, dangerous pesticide use also erodes the coffee farmer and their communities drinking water safety, soil health and food safety. Discharges from coffee processing plants have been a major source of river pollution in Latin America, releasing thousands of tons of organic waste into the water systems, clogging up the water ways and decreasing oxygen supplies of the local aquatic wildlife (NRDC).

Of course these environmental concerns are only the beginning of the coffee empire. Huge corporations such as Starbucks (who buy coffee beans at "slave" prices, followed by an almost 200% markup to us, the North American consumers), also ship these beans to roasting plants, emitting huge amounts of carbon into the atmosphere. Followed by the energy needed to roast the millions of pounds of coffee beans and finished with beautiful plastic packages that are shipped all over the world for another bunch of carbon emissions.

I knew all this, I did. The kicker, was a documentary called "Strong Coffee: The Story of Cafe Femenino" that I was invited to watch by my friend Sharyn in B.C. It has changed how I view my coffee and being the sap that I am, it also made me cry. (I strongly urge you to check our the Trailor here).

Cafe Fememino tells the story of the women in these coffee communities who are marginalized, continue to have no rights, are not educated, are abused and are treated as subhuman. Despite progress made by Fair Trade organizations, the women in these communities (50% of the population... don't forget!) continued to be abused and were without basic human rights. With limited resources farmers invested money in educating their sons, daughters stayed home and were married between the ages of 12 and 16 years.

In 2004, 464 female coffee workers banded together, and with some support decided to separate their coffee from others. The label requires that coffee be grown, sold and the land owned, by women. That they be paid above fair trade prices, that the coffee be grown sustainably and organically and that the women have humane and improved working conditions. (Cafe Femenino bean bags are tied with a pink ribbon!)

Finally, buying Cafe Femenino also means supporting a local woman's organization in YOUR community. Coffee roasters that agree to carry the Cafe Fememino label are bound by contract to donate 2% of their profits to a local woman's program of their choice and must have the Cafe Femenino label on their packaging. A true pay it forward- women in third world countries decided that other women elsewhere would benefit from their hard work and commitment to make our world a better place.

Although I began this post with the purpose of talking about mostly Starbucks... the story of why buying locally roasted, organically grown, fair trade certified coffee is an essential backdrop and took up quite a lot of space.

My options were to either find an alternative or quit drinking mochas. Quit?? Lol, one day without my one cup and I have a headache (sad I know).

Obviously, certified organic coffee is a fantastic way to assure a mocha sans pesticide residue and decrease your latte's impact on our precious blue planet. Fair Trade certified also assures that the yummy coffee you are drinking isn't supporting "slave" labour. However, having one does not automatically assume the other. So both was a must for myself.

Buying certified shade grown coffee assures that those "sun", monoculture, bird-killer fields are not involved and that you are supporting a return in biodiversity. Of course, my absolute favourite... Cafe Fememino, certified fair trade, organic and a pay it forward to support women in MY community from a local roasting company. How do you find such a fantastically awsome tasting and ethical coffee??

Well, in Halifax "Just Us!" (a Wolfville fair trade, organic coffee roasting company) claims to carry Cafe Femenino. However, recently I have been having a difficult time finding it in their Coffee shops. They've never promoted it and it seems to have quietly disappeared from their shelves. I'll be writing them soon to find out the latest.

Otherwise, go on Cafe Femenino's website here, and search by company and region. Currently, Canada has not implemented their Certified Organic Logo (federal website states June 30th 2009), so make sure to closely examine logos when purchasing, logo copiers are out there!

Next stop: Starbucks and my love-hate relationship :)

Blessings and happy ethical coffee drinking!

Cornicopia and Us.

This post is part of Fight Back Friday's hosted by Food Renegade! Please check out all the other fantastic posts!
Corn. Anyone who has read Omnivore's dilemma is very well aware that corn has become completely pervasive in our diets. It's in everything from bacon, soda pop and salt. Why should this concern us, ecoyogin/ni's? The answer is such a huge question, so I will generally review some major environmental and health concerns surrounding the issue of corn so that we can make informed decisions about where our food comes from.

The first issue is obviously how the farming and processing of corn affects our environment. Due to early political and food company pressures after the second World War, farmers in North America were encouraged to switch from polycultures (many different crops) to monocultures of corn. Subsidies from the government were set up so that eventually the farmer has no choice but to continue growing a product that costs more to grow than it's worth (please refer to "Omnivore's Dilemma" by Michael Pollan for more indepth analysis of the US's windy political road to corn-dom).

Pesticides and herbicides were one of the main culprits for this change. With their discovery, farmers and corporations alike were dancing on their tippy toes with the thought of increased yield, increased revenue. Massive monocultures replaced the diverse polycultures and were sprayed, sucked nutrients out of the earth and were sprayed some more. After 40 years of damaging the soil, yields began to decrease; the soil just cannot sustain such massive drains on it's nutrients. According to the David Suzuki Foundation, a third of crops are still lost to pests and weeds... which is on par with crop yields prior to the petroleum based pesticide "revolution".

These just aren't your regular corn though. These corn are "upgraded", "improved" or more realistically; mutants. Genetically Engineered Organisms (GMO) are a huge topic of debate and rightly so. In waltzes Monsanto, the largest seed corporation in the world. Haven't heard of them? They had a close hand with creating aspertame, saccharin and with the help of DOW; Agent Orange (which led to the discovery of many of the pesticides and herbicides it touts today). Monsanto owns anywhere from 70 to 100% of the worlds GMO's, and how convenient that they also produce Roundup, the most commonly used weed killer in Canada, which goes nicely with their Roundup Ready GMO crops. Corn and soy make up a huge part of their revenue, to the point that you can only be sure your corn/soy are not GMO if they are organic (as North America does not have any legislation to label GMO products for the consumer). (Ecoholic, 2006).

Monsanto encourages monocultures, and their seeds are "terminator" seeds and cannot be saved for the following year, assuring their continued income from farmers who have already depleted their soils from Roundup and monoculture production. Fears of cross-contamination between farms have already yielded legal results, with a farmer in Manitoba being SUED (successfully in a manner) by Monsanto for growing plants that were blown in from a neighbouring farm. Monsanto has successfully patented their seeds, making the first step in the ownership of life and food. They've been somewhat quietly lobbying to have legal ownership over whatever product their seeds are found... including animals that eat them. For an interesting documentary, please check out "The World According to Monsanto"; it's broken into ten parts on Youtube.

Of course the most tragic result of GMO plants (and thus ultimately Monsanto's reign) has been the farmer suicides in India. Farmers are encouraged to buy GMO seeds with the promise that they will yield superior results, switch to monocultures and suddenly are required to buy the GMO compatible pesticide/herbicides. Within a short period of time, crop yields and low prices result in huge debts. A suicide disaster is occurring as a result, with farmers no longer being able to support themselves or their families. Please read Vandana Shiva's "Stolen Harvest" for a passionate and indepth look into the human tragedy occuring in India.

Corn has become so cheap due to the monocultures pushed across the world, that it has replaced many other more expensive products out there. This decreases the health of the animals that eat it, the variety of nutrients provided in our diet and our true choice as eaters. Here is a quick rundown of where corn can be found:

Meat: cows, pigs, chickens... they've all been fed corn. This has resulted in sick animals, as their digestive systems have no evolved to process corn (especially cows). Subsequently, these animals are also fed antibiotics and chemicals to keep them "healthy" for us to eat.

Processed foods: all contain High Fructose Corn Syrup. This cheaper version of processed sugar is chemically formulated from the same building blocks... with one important distinction: a higher level of fructose. Fructose is not as readily processed by our bodies and has been linked to increased levels of obesity and diabetes. However, the beverage companies continue to fund research that states otherwise... 

Iodized Salt: HFCS has been used to keep salt from clumping.

Take a look in your pantry to see just how many food products contain corn ingredients. Here are a few names corn can mask as: modified and unmodified starch, glucose syrup and maltodextrin, crystalline fructose and ascorbic acid, lecithin and dextrose, lactic acid and lysine, maltose and HFCS, MSG and polyols, caramel colour and xanthum gum. Our bacon that we caved and bought last week had a corn-type ingredient, corn is often used as a cheap preservative.

The implications of corn and soy are much more than just food, they involve human rights, environmental impacts and health. Choosing local and organic, checking into the practices of your local farmers, sending them emails requesting information regarding their use of GMO's and sprays; these changes in how we view food and the system will help support a more sustainable and healthy future.

Blessings

Let Them Eat Fake

This post is part of Fight Back Fridays! Hosted by Food Renegade!

This post is written by my wonderful Fiancé Andrew! Thank you very much for a Sociological perspective on supplements :)

This is modified from a paper my buddy Lee-Ann and I wrote for a sociology of food class we took back in BC. Mad props to Lee-Ann who actually still had a copy of it!

There is a lot more to say about supplements, but I don’t have enough time or space to say it all. Everything I have written is about concerns regarding supplements in a sociological sense. We didn’t even attempt to tackle some of the scientific issues, such as absorption inhibition. I hope that this is informative and makes your multivitamins just a little harder to swallow.

I think it’s fair to say that we have all eaten supplements. They can be found everywhere, in pills, powder, and in the food we buy at the supermarket. The idea that a person can stay healthy or actually improve their health through supplement use is a message we receive from the industry and health care professionals every day. Scientists and lobbyists have created a need for what is misunderstood by many to be a replacement for eating well. The need that has been created to sell these supplements associates sickness with not taking them, and fear of chronic illness or deficiency play an important role in their consumption.

In the supplement industry, health experts create new terms meant to invoke particular feelings toward supplements. In 1989, for example, a medical expert coined the term “nutraceutical” in reference to “isolated nutrients, dietary supplements, herbal products, and processed products such as cereal, soups, and beverages” (Andlauer & Furst, 2002, p. 171). This term is rich with meaning as it melds ideas of nutrition (nutra) with disease treatment (pharmaceutical). It conveys a message that nutraceutical products are foods that prevent dis-ease, a powerful marketing technique that speaks to long, happy, pain-free lives.

A “supplemental consciousness” creates a particular perception of food-in-a-pill that supports consumerism. The way consumers think cultivates the desire to purchase nutraceuticals. Fischler (1980) argued that contemporary mainstream urban Western eating habits are marked by time-smart, individualistic consumption patterns that replace leisurely group meals with snacking. The rise of this fast food mentality is linked to food simplification and to the nutraceutical industry. The dominant consumer discourse generates knowledge that reduces food into its component parts for marketing purposes. This simplification of food, results in a belief that food’s fragments are more important than the whole food itself. For example, milk is consumed for its calcium, bananas for potassium, and oranges for vitamin C. When we think this way, we can feel good about taking a calcium supplement in lieu of a glass of milk. This distorted perception works to limit our consumption to foods that contain the nutrients we think we need according to the experts. Our food becomes shrouded in mysticism. This simplification of food represents the transition from eating and thinking about whole foods to the use of supplements and the underlying belief that we no longer need to eat to eat.

When we conscious consumers visit a health food store, we want something that defines itself as “natural”. This brings forth thoughts of purity, and of products unaltered, untreated, and undisguised. Conversely, “unnatural” symbolizes all things contrived, invented, artificial, or polluted. Based on the above definitions, nutraceuticals are anything but natural. Even the word “nutraceutical” or “supplement” falls outside the scope of the natural because they are invented words that refer to un-food— they do not sustain life on their own. Raw, “natural” materials are harvested, processed, packaged, and marketed; their artificiality can hardly be argued.

Bagchi (2006) outlines several regulatory challenges of ensuring “natural” product quality such as how the raw materials are gathered, processed, and packaged. Each of these stages in product development can vary widely, which can directly affect the final result. For example, “the manufacturing processes, use of solvents/additives, purification and drying techniques, and storage conditions may play a major role on the occurrence of significant amount of contaminants, pesticides, microorganisms, heavy metals, toxic chemicals or solvent residues in the [natural health product]” (2006, p. 2). The complexities inherent in creating food in medicinal form are conveniently swept aside in the pretty displays in your local health food store. Neat rows of gleaming logos and clearly priced items obfuscate the rampant confusion that lies behind the label.

As an experiment, Lee-Ann and I went to a local health food store and asked the employees where their supplements came from. Employee referred us to employee until the supervisor herself admitted that she had no idea where most of these products were assembled or where the raw herbs and spices were grown and harvested. The pill or bottle becomes a puzzle as consumers cease to recognize that the commodity is a social relation -  the nutraceutical bottles we examined did not encourage concern regarding the working conditions of the people whose labour is used to harvest these products, but encouraged us to turn inward and consider our own, individual “journey to better health.”

The Poop on Bioplastics

This post is part of Fight Back Friday's! Hosted by Food Renegade. :)

Plastic is such a dirty word in the "ecosphere" but often so difficult to avoid in our everyday practice. It's just so durable and useful in how we function. A few years ago I heard of something called "bio-plastic" and was amazed. "Plastic" made from plant product that biodegrades?? What a fantastic idea! Now I can feel good about taking that iced-mocha to go in a bioplastic cup! However, just like everything, the more you look into the reality of bioplastic, the more complicated the truth.

First of all, exactly what is bioplastic anyway? The word "Bioplastic" itself is traditionally used to mean a plastic derived from a biological source and does NOT necessarily mean compostable or even biodegradable. Bioplastics can be derived from vegetable oil, pea starch or microbiota, and the most common; corn starch. There are different kinds of bioplastics- some are more durable than others (i.e. bioplastic bags vs planters). The more durable bioplastics generally tend to either be not compostable or more difficult to compost. Bioplastics are often considered more sustainable because they do not rely as heavily on petroleum and use potentially renewable sources (like potatoes). Here's a quick rundown of the different kinds of plastics:

1. Starch Based Plastics (50% of the bioplastic market)- where common starches (like corn starch) has flexibilisers and plasticisers added in order to increase thermo-processing. Common plasticisers in other plastics are phtalates... however bioplastics may use sorbital or glycerine.

2.Polylactide Acid Plastics (PLA); these are your ice-mocha transparant plastic containers most often produced from corn starch. The chemical process seems complex to my non-chemistry brain...

3. Poly-3-hydroxybutyrate (PHB); a polyester produced by certain bacteria processing glucose or starch and is biodegradable without residue.

4. Polyamide 11; derived from natural oils, is not biodegradable but considered more sustainable that conventional plastic. Used for pneumonic airbrake tubing, sports shoes, catheters etc. (catheters etc??.... lol).

5. Bio-derived polyethylene; derived from ethanol and is chemically and physically identical to non-bioderived polyethylene: it's not biodegradable but can be recycled. The difference: bio-derived polyethylene is not a petroleum product (like plastic shopping bags). (wiki)

Who knew that there were so many different bioplastic types out there?? Having all these options for more sustainable plastics is great but does choosing a bioplastic over a non-plastic truly make for a better "eco" choice?

Although more sustainable, plastics made from corn starch or other agricultural species still require energy to grow and process. The corn starch used for bioplastics is not usually organically grown corn, thus bioplastic made from corn continues to support an industry that uses pesticides and a lot of fossil fuel. Also, the majority of North American corn is in some way genetically modified and owned by Monsanto (a huge seed corporation and manufacturer of agent orange).

The most pressing issue with bioplastics is the definition of "compostable vs biodegradable". Just because something is said to be biodegradable does not mean that you can put it in your home and municipal compost bin. There are currently no true standards for use of the term "biodegradable" in the market. By definition, biodegradable is something that is able to be broken down by biological agents such as bacteria. However, many products will eventually break down when exposed to sunlight; key word: eventually. Some petrochemical plastics are even considered "biodegradable" as they do slowly breakdown!

Many bioplastics that we see in our everyday world (like the transparent iced-mocha containers) are of the PLA type and require intense heat and processing to "compost". In this sense, if I left one of those cups in my covered compost bin, not exposed to sunlight or the high levels of heat needed to biodegrade.... it would take a looooong time. The same applies to putting this bioplastic in with garbage destined for the landfill/dump. Wrapped in plastic bags without exposure to oxygen, water or sunlight these products will not biodegrade in any short period of time.

Ok, so you can't put these plastics into your home compost bin, but say you live in a city like I do where you have a municipal composting program. As I quickly discovered, there is no guarantee that your municipal program will be able to process these bioplastics either. Although many local coffee shops (Smiling Goat, Just Us!) offer "compostable" coffee to-go cups, Halifax does NOT currently have the facilities to process these bioplastics. Essentially, they are being thrown out into the landfills. These cups are still advertised by staff and signs at Just Us! as being compostable... even though when confronted employees sheepishly admit that this in fact isn't the case.

This also applies to something like Jo-Sha "biodegradable" yoga mat wipes, which would also require high energy/heat to actually compost. Just tossing the wipe into your compost bin won't actually allow the wipe to decompose. Also, Jo-Sha has other ingredients in their wipes, including parabens... Not something I'd want in my soil. Also, yoga mats made from TPE (thermoplastic elastomers) like Lululemon's or Halfmoon also claim to be "biodegradable" but cannot be placed into your compost bin. (for more info on exactly what TPE is made of check out my eco-mat post :) ).

Although technology is producing exciting, more sustainable alternatives to plastic, unfortunately "bioplastics" are still very misleading. Instead of hoping the bioplastic will compost, look into whether there is an industrial composting facility nearby. Be ready to expose your bioplastic to a lot of sunlight allowing it the months it may need to biodegrade in your yard. Or, simply try to use alternatives to plastic like glass that is easily recycled. A quick update on my "biodegradable" planters; within 12 hours of having soil and water they completely fell apart! Now I have no idea what to do with them...

Knowledge is power and the ability to make the best "eco" choice available :)

Blessings!