Elisa's Green Scene

With holidays approaching, natural stomach-ache remedies seem timely

From Treehugger.com: Five Natural Fixes for a Stomach-Ache

I think I've probably tried the peppermint or chamomile tea approach before without noticing tremendous results, but the use of cayenne, ginger and fennel is new on me, and may take a leap of faith to try, since I'm no ginger or fennel fan.

[Oh, spoiler alert: Those are the five natural fixes I listed right there. But please do still click through for more detail.]

Have you tried any of these natural remedies for intestinal issues? What works for you?

A better way to microwave popcorn?

Spotted this new microwave popcorn product on the Whole Foods blog.

They're only available in the Northeast right now, but this product has a lot of reasons to get behind it:

1. Husband and wife team created product
2. No leeching chemicals in the bag
3. No hydrogenated oils
4. No artificial flavorings
5. Organic corn kernels from family farms
6. Non-GMO
7. Partially funded by Whole Foods's Local Producer Loan Program.

It almost sounds too hippy dippy good to be true, doesn't it?

Sadly, not in California, and no indication of when it might be, but I thought I'd just make a little note to myself to keep an eye out for this product. And if you live up in the Northeast, check it out.

 

Cross-post: Interview with Clean Foods Author Terry Walters

I interviewed author Terry Walters in honor of the kick-off of World Vegetarian Month and Vegan MoFo.

She had so much interesting information to share about food and health. And we covered a bonus topic: How she self-published her first book and subsequently was picked up by a traditional publisher!

Enjoy.

Awesome Heirlooms on Martha Stewart

Martha Stewart had a segment this week on the Heirloom Expo and expressly advised her audience to look for organic, and if you can't get organic get foods that say they do not include GMO seeds. She featured folks who were clearly slamming Monsanto and the other Big Ag companies who are more and more controlling our food supply.

She also had a vegan episode featuring +Biz Stone earlier this year.

The current BlogHer Book Club book is Lunch Wars around the school lunch issue (http://www.blogher.com/bookclub/now-reading-lunch-wars). 

There are now so many mainstream trendsetters who care about these issues...people you know by first name only: Oprah, Ellen, Martha. Not to mention best-selling authors and personalities like Jamie Oliver, Kathy Freston and Terry Walter. There is so much mainstream interest in changing the way food is produced and brought to market in this country. And what we enable people across ages, geography and income levels to eat.

What will it take to see policy change? Because it's government policy that's behind much of the food injustice in the U.S.

Cross-post: BlogHer.com interview with Kathy Freston

Interviewed Kathy Freston for BlogHer. She's awesome:

http://www.blogher.com/interview-talking-health-oprah-and-veganism-author-kathy-freston

Ruth Reichl on food policy (via BlogHer)

I haven't ranted about it in a while, but one of the hottest button issues for me is that fact that U.S. policy sends the very clear message that poor people are lesser people. The combination of food policy that makes eating healthily and affordably more challenging than it should be, and health care policy that is sub-standard to any other industrialized nation, this is the message: If you are poor it is OK if you get sicker and die younger and quicker. 

So, obviously the final piece of my BlogHer colleague Elaine Wu's interview with former Gourmet EIC Ruth Reichl resonated with me:

ELAINE: As a parent, what do you think about the current debate about how we’re feeding our children in this country?

RUTH: We’ve allowed our children to be addicted to fat, salt and sugar and we’re not holding companies accountable. In Japan, kids eat fish and rice for breakfast and Americans eat sugary pastries. Eating is learned behavior. This is the biggest crisis we face in this country. We have a two tier diet in this country. If you’re poor you’re stuck with what we call “food” and we need to fix it. You can debate it till the cows come home, but there is no debate.

I hope people interpret Reichl's use of the word "we" as I do: We, as in we who elect officials. We, as in we who make decisions every day on how we spend our money. We, as in we who should be accountable for our personal choices, but should also hold our government accountable for making the concept of "choice" so much less empowering for lower income families. 

I was due for a food policy rant, so there it is. Thanks Ms. Reichl. And thanks Elaine for asking her the question. :)

 

ColaLife: How big companies can help make big change...with a nudge

Hat tip to Treehugger for cluing me in to the existence of ColaLife. ColaLife is a volunteer-run nascent non-profit organization that seeks to take advantage of the distribution network of one of the largest companies in the world in order to save lives.

To be clear: ColaLife isn't an initiative born at Coca-Cola, although Coke themselves has many many corporate social responsibility programs. But ColaLife has reached out to Coca-Cola with some sucess to take advantage of one simple fact:

You can get a Coke in almost every corner of the Earth, no matter how poor or remote that corner may be. That speaks to a massive existing distribution system...and that distribution may happen by men on bicycles.

What you can't get in every corner of the Earth, however, is clean water.

And sometimes the fix for that problem is pretty small: oral rehydration and water purification tablets, for example.

ColaLIfe has created packaging for such fundamental first aid supplies that slots in amongst the normal Coca-Cola bottles in their normal packaging. It's really genius.

And with Coca-Cola cooperating with ColaLife, it sounds like this could bring revolutionary assistance to those far corners.

I do believe when big companies make change it has big impact. And that even if they don't do everything right, we need to recognize and encourage the things they do right. 

And the ColaLife story shows that we can't rely on the big companies to think up every way they can help make these changes: We need to keep nudging them along.

I love this story. I hope it keeps progressing in the right direction. I hope it changes lives, and the world just a little bit.

[Disclosure: Coca-Cola has intermittently been a customer of BlogHer's this year, but I knew nothing about this initiative until I read about it on Treehugger.]

Alicia Silverstone talking pads and tampons

For a while now I've been following Alicia Silverstone. Not as an actress (although I like her work there too), but as an author, activist, environmentalist, animal activist. I read and enjoyed her book, The Kind Diet, and I subscribe to her blog and online community at The Kind Life.

I like her voice. It's kind of like her voice as Cher in Clueless, once Cher has grown up a bit...keeping the charm, losing about 30% of the "like"s and "totally"s.

And today I thought I'd share just one reason I like that voice, her post pads and tampons, oh my!

Yes, it's what you think it might be: A post about eco-friendly ways to take care of one's period. IN the post you learn that Alicia is just "not a tampon girl". And she manages to get over 100 members of her community to discuss their own particular preferences and experiences trying various solutions, including more alternative approaches, like the Diva Cup.

I respect the fact that Alicia is willing to be one of those voices demystifying and de-stigmatizing women's cycles and the ways we manage them.

Si, if you're into an earth-friendly (and kind) life, check out her site. I think you'll like it.

Will you be watching Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution?

I missed the opening episodes, but I've rectified that with a Season Pass to Jamie Oliver's new show, Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution.

I think now is an interesting time in our history where we are open to hearing the message about how our ways have become unsustainable. it's not just about green; it's not just about the planet; it's not just about animals; it's not just about personal health; it's not just about the children; it's not just about underlying classism.

It's about all of these things together...it's about the entire Earth as a system that is being, systematically, destroyed...and we humans are regrettably driving that.

We all must eat, and how we eat is fundamental to a lot of our problems today..environmental problems, health problems, ethical problems.

There are some folks who seem to be able to get the message across. Folks like Jonathan Safran Foer, Robert Kenner and Eric Schlosser (the guys behind Food Inc), Alicia Silverstone, even Michelle Obama.

After watching his TedTalk, I think Jamie Oliver is another such voice.

I remember back at BlogHer '06. Shuna Fish Lydon stood up and talked about how food was a class issue...that everyone needs to eat, but how government policy basically ensures that only higher-income people get to eat well. Four years on, this is still basically the case.

I'm hoping that with these new voices being raised, we may finally get it, and we may finally take concrete action.

Yes, personal action is awesome. But we need to act as a community, and as a government.

Maybe I'm putting to big a burden on little Jamie Oliver and his show. But I'm going to atch, and I'm going to hope.

Are you? (Watching? Hoping? Changing?)

The PCRM is starting another 21-day Vegan Kickstart tomorrow

If for nothing else than the many awesome recipes they'll introduce you to, I hope you'll give it a shot!