Push It!

My yard is actually a deck with two cacti, so lawn mowers are not something I think about very often. However, sometimes the Zeitgeist just talks to you, and right now, the Zeitgeist is jumping up and down and saying, "Reel push mowers."

Zeitgeist, I asked. Why are you talking about lawn mowers? Aren't you supposed to be talking about Lady GaGa?

I first noticed resurgence of the reel push mower when my super-cool neighbor Michael was mowing his lawn. Michael and his wife Trish have an incredible sense of style and do all sorts of eco-friendly things like recycling, composting, and gardening. Then, my friend Darci commented on facebook that I should write about reel push mowers, and an avalanche of comments followed, all from folks who love their reel push mowers. It turns out that hip people with lawns wouldn't mow any other way.

Why?

Let me tell you. The reel push mower (that's the official name of a manual lawn mower) is a technology that works. The illustration above is from an 1886 catalog. Notice, not a lot of changes have taken place in over a hundred years. That's because the reel push mower does exactly what it's meant to do. It mows grass. And it does it well. A friend recently mowed knee-high grass with hers. Michael and Trish's lawn looks great. Isn't a great-looking lawn the American dream?

The reel push mower is, of course, eco-friendly (no fossil fuels, no yucky exhaust.) It's also economical - most are available in the $80-100 range. This is compared to most standard mowers, which run $250 on up.

Reel push mowers are also safer for kids and pets, as my friend Katie pointed out. There's much less danger that a toe will be severed from your body when you're using a manual mower. Reel push mowers also provide you will exercise!

But, most importantly, the cool people are using them:

Caitlin and Carys Irene are looking snazzy with their push mower in Portland.

Desmond, known simply as "D" to his posse, can't wait for the day

when he'll be allowed to mow the lawn.

Darci's the one who brought the reel push mower revolution to Facebook. Go Darci!

On this Earth Day ...

Earlier today, a deepwater oil rig 50 miles off the coast of Louisiana sank under the waters of the Gulf of Mexico. The rig has been burning since Tuesday night, and eleven workers are still missing. The oil rig has the potential to spill 300,000 gallons of crude oil into the water in a single day.

It's Earth Day, and I can't help but feel a little down. Last month, the Obama administration announced that it wants to open more of America's coastline to deep water drilling such as this. And while accidents such as this one are rare, they underscore the hazards of messing with the fragile oceanic ecosystems.

About 50% of Americans think they are going to leave the environment worse for the next generation. It's easy to think that way -- I mean, it certainly seems like we'll leave it worse if we keep up our current behaviors. However, when we think this way, we forget that we can make small differences with each choice we make (especially the choices that involve how we spend our money. Because large systems usually change only when dollar signs point the way).

I was going to write an ah-me, I'm sad on Earth Day post. Instead, I'm going to highlight a few things you and I can do to help our beautiful oceans.

1) Eat wisely. Yum! As many of you loyal readers know, I eat a "flexitarian" diet that is mainly vegetarian, with some poultry and seafood. While I know that a vegetarian diet is truly best for the earth, I don't think I'll ever give up the occasional fishy meal. Some seafood choices are better than others. The Monterey Bay Aquariam has downloadable pocket-sized seafood guides that you can keep in your wallet and pull out at restaurants and stores to help you make more sustainable seafood choices. They are customized by your part of the country. Their Seafood Watch page includes recipes, news, and even an iPhone app! I'm going to bookmark it right now!

2) Use less fertilizer and eat organic. A dead zone is more than a USA Network vehicle for Anthony Michael Hall. It's also a low-oxygen area of the ocean (otherwise known as "hypoxic") where fish can't live. Fertilizer run-off is one major culprit in creating these dead zones. While you can help by using less fertilizer in your own garden, agriculture conglomerates use a lot more fertilizer than your Aunt Mildred in her tomato patch. In particular, be on the lookout for foods containing processed corn and soy, which you might not notice in many foods, and which were probably grown in less-than-sustainable conditions.

3) Reuse your shopping bags. You know the drill. Yes, we all forget our reusable bags sometimes. But it's worth trying to remember. Because those plastic bags are: a) made with petroleum products; and b) end up in the ocean - choking turtles, causing malnutrition in fish who think they are food, and basically creating a gross situation, that, let's face it, makes one embarrassed to be a human.

4) Love the sea. Snorkel. Sit in the sand and watch the waves. Look at this photo slideshow of the most beautiful waves (sent to me by one of our Greenies, Grace). Watch Hayao Miyazaki's sea-themed masterpiece, Ponyo. The more time you spend with the sea, the more you have invested in it, the more you're going to want to save it.

Enjoy this beautiful video of Bjork's song Oceania, in which the always-unique Bjork takes the POV of the sea. Happy Earth Day, friends.

You Gotta Have a System

As I've slowly adopted more sustainable lifestyle habits over the last year and a half, I began to realize that my home wasn't set up to accommodate them. For example, when I used to use paper towels, I didn't need a special place to put them when they were used. Their special place was known as "the garbage." Once I gave them up, however, I suddenly needed a system to take care of clean and dirty rags.

Over time, I've devised many such systems:

Our town has some curbside recycling, for plastic, cardboard and paper. I keep a bin right outside the door for these items. Bottles have to be taken to the recycling center, so I keep a bag under the sink for those.

While there's probably no real justification for it, I don't like to put dirty rags in the laundry with my clothes. I put used rags and washcloths into this basket. I use a lot of rags because I spill a lot. Clean rags have a bin in the kitchen.

Sometimes (oh, horror!) I forget to bring my reusable bags to the store. If the place doesn't have paper and I can't just carry out my purchases in my hands, I get plastic bags. They get re-used for cleaning the litterbox. (True story - this box with a nice useful hole in it was named "The Funbox" by the company that manufactures it. I'll wait until you can stop tittering)

Because I don't want to put paper outside in our tropical, humid clime, I keep a separate bin for paper that's going to get recycled. The bin is for magazines and flat paper. The garbage can is for shredded paper, which also gets recycled. I sometimes need to print items for work, so paper that has been printed on one side goes into the printer to be reused.

These shelves in the kitchen hold reusables. The red fabric bin holds paper bags. I use those to put the magazines out to the curb for recycling, or to hold the bottles (also for recycling). The produce bags get reused for more produce or go back to Central Market for recycling (I'm really trying to cut back on these.) Once a Zip-loc bag is used, I wash it out and use it again. A Ziploc bag also holds tinfoil that can be reused. (I realize this paragraph is making me sound like a Depression-era granny. Good! They really knew how to reuse!)

What systems do you have to keep your green life organized?

Note: Sorry I've been absent for so long, Greenies! I've been sick with a bad cold, and have been pretty much reduced to staring at the TV for the past week. But I'm on the mend and hope to be posting more regularly!

"Where flowers bloom ...

... so does hope."

- Lady Bird Johnson

I never spent much time contemplating Lady Bird Johnson. In high school, I vaguely remember that one of my teachers did an impression of Lady Bird, with her careful diction, talking about wildflowers along the highways.

Silly first lady, I remember thinking, worrying about flowers.

Boy, have I changed my tune.

Lady Bird was an environmentalist before "green" was cool. She advocated for the preservation and cultivation of native plants, particularly in her Texas. And why, you might wonder, is this important?

I'll let these words, from the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center, speak for me:

"Wildflowers do much more than add beauty to the landscape. They help conserve water, reduce mowing costs, provide habitat for birds, butterflies and other wildlife, protect the soil and save money on fertilizer and pesticides. Also, as Lady Bird Johnson said, native plants 'give us a sense of where we are in this great land of ours.' "

Native plants are meant to be a part of the landscape. Lady Bird understood this, which is why, here in Texas, our spring is marked the way it should be -- by the blooming of bluebonnets and Indian paintbrush. Each year, in late March and early April, families celebrate the season by taking photos of thier kids sitting in the bluebonnets. This dependence on nature, even for a photo opportunity, is one that I fear many of us have lost.

Should you get the chance, go visit the Wildflower Center in Austin, TX. The beautiful buildings are made of recycled materials and native stone:

And you can hike the trails, forgetting that you're just minutes from suburban Austin:

Thanks, Lady Bird!

Meatless Monday - Adventure with Seitan

Be like Gwyneth Paltrow!

What? you say. I already iron my hair straight, wear galoshes with tights and my nightgown, and name my children after fruits. And Bible figures. I am already like Gwyneth.

But you can be more like Gwyneth ... and save the planet.

Meatless (or Meatfree or Meatout) Monday is a movement to reduce the amount of meat consumed worldwide. It's not a particularly well-organized movement, as evidenced by the fact that it goes by several different names, but it should begin to gain traction since Gwyneth Paltrow has written about it in her newsletter. All kidding aside, this movement was borne out of the fact that in 2006, the United Nations reported that rearing cattle produces more greenhouse gases than transportation. They recommended that everyone reduce their meat consumption to combat this problem.

Many conservatives declare they're not buying such claims, that they are free to do whatever they want and there are flaws in the science. Even if that's true, is going meatless one day a week going to hurt anyone? Just the opposite. The benefits of a vegetarian diet are well known - better health for us, for animals, and for the earth.

This year, I made a bigger commitment to a meatless lifestyle than I have in the past. For many years, I haven't eaten red meat or pork. In January, I started cooking only vegetarian at home. And I thought I would share some of my food adventures.

Seitan

When it comes to alternative proteins, I'm a big fan of beans, dairy, and quinoa. I thought, however, that I should give seitan a try. If you're not familiar with it, seitan is a cooked wheat gluten. Yum! Gluten.

If you're a meat-eater, you're probably thinking - why the h-e-double-hockey-sticks would I eat a lump of gluten? Well, seitan is low in fat and calories and high in protein - just what the doctor ordered. It's long been part of Japanese cuisine, which is one of the healthiest in the world. And for those of you who might be a bit leery of vegetarian cuisine, it's much more like actual meat than other meat substitutes, such as tofu. Another plus - the ingredient list is short, consisting mostly of ... well, gluten.

I decided that I would run with seitan's Asian origins, sauteing it, and including it with peanut noodles. (Recipe for peanut sauce below). While I thought the plain seitan was a bit salty (it was a soy-flavored version), once it was in the peanut noodles, I didn't really notice it at all. It really looks meaty, and it blended well with the Asian flavors. While I wouldn't say I'm completely sold, I'd definitely try it again.

If you want to try seitan (or meat, noodles, or whatever) this peanut sauce is a great accompaniment:

Peanut Sauce

Ingredients:

1/2 c. natural peanut butter (ingredients: peanuts/salt)

3 tbsp rice wine vinegar

3 glugs soy sauce (hold the bottle and say, glug - glug - glug as you pour. 3 glugs)

2 glugs chili sesame oil

Vegetable broth

Put a small pan on medium high heat. Drop the peanut butter in and sort of spread it out. When it starts to melt, put in the rice wine vinegar, soy sauce, and chili sesame oil, stirring after each addition. It will begin to get grainy. Take the vegetable broth and pour in a glug or two at a time, stirring all the while. Repeat this 3-4 times, until the sauce is creamy and looks like this:

Remove from heat. Pour over noodles (if Asian noodles such as soba aren't available, cappelini or thin spaghetti would work). Add your favorite veg (green onions, tomato, and broccoli slaw go great). And seitan, if you're trying out meatless Monday!

The Amazing World We Live In

This is a picture of my phone.

(Isn't it cute? It's purple.)

What you can't see too well, is that my boarding pass for a flight to Phoenix is displayed on my phone's screen.

Greenies, this is the paperless revolution.

You no longer have to print your ticket or boarding pass (in some airports... for some airlines). You can simply download a barcode to your phone and wave it at the fancy machine at the TSA podium.

It's a really, really cool age we live in. Who needs a printed map anymore? -- we can send our driving directions to our phones. We can do our taxes online, and my doctor types my words into a computer, verbatim, saving paper and making my medical records more accurate.

I still love paper (I've got a little bit of a notebook fetish). But let's face it -- in the future, no one will need to hear the screams of the trees ...

(Um, in case you think I'm some weirdo -- I don't actually think the trees scream. It's metaphorical. Metaphorical screaming. It sounds like this:

)