Activistas

Fast food nation: How would YOU change it?

As part of Neil Kramer's awesome Great Interview Experiment, I found myself answering this excellent question from Slouchy: " If President Obama were to approach you for advice as to how to convert the United States to something other than a “fast food nation,” what would you suggest to him?"

After much thought, I came up with the following several-pronged approach, which I believe should begin with the way we feed our children. I wonder: what would you tell President Obama? Maybe we can send our ideas along to the White House. It certainly can't hurt.

My answer: It wouldn't be popular, but I'd suggest that he immediately fund major studies about how processed sugar and white flour affect the health of our population, with the ultimate goal of developing entirely new guidelines about what could be served in schools, prisons and other state-funded cafeterias and what foods are permitted to be purchased with government-funded food assistance.

In my opinion, it's cheap, nutrient-bereft sweet "white" foods that are doing the most damage. Only by eliminating most sugar and white flour from our cafeterias and pantries can we begin to reverse the damage we've caused. Many, many children wake up each morning to a breakfast of cold cereal, toaster pastries, and/or yogurt which contains twice the American Heart Association's recommendation for added sugar in a day. Most nutritionists and pediatricians recommend that children don't drink fruit juice at all, as the nutrients in fruit are more sensible, but most kids drink juice with breakfast (or, worse, soda or sweetened juice drinks).

And then they go to school where, by snack time, they've consumed another measure of the maximum daily recommendation of sugar. And then they drink chocolate milk with their lunch, which has in one eight-ounce carton more than the maximum daily recommendation. You see where I'm going with this. It shouldn't be any wonder kids don't eat enough vegetables and fruits when they've filled their tummies with sweet white sugar. At the very least we shouldn't use government funds to feed children so much sugar. At best, we'd educate all citizens on how much it harms us, and introduce bans on advertising for foods with added sugar equivalent to those on alcohol and tobacco products.

Are You Going Local First?

Black Friday approaches and many of us are pondering our holiday gift lists.  We draw names in my family, and are hoping to enforce a strict "buy local" rule in our gift exchange.  This idea was spurred by information from the Sustainable Business Network of Portland who say that for every $100 you spend at a big chain store only $13 of those dollars remain in our local economy.  Three times more dollars stay right here if you shop at a local business.  This is because local businesses are more likely to stock local products and support a larger network of local services like printers, attorneys, accountants, and others. 

Plus, shopping local - particularly when you're buying locally produced products - has a smaller environmental impact too.  Of course this impact would be even smaller if we bought nothing at all, or bought only "recycled"/used items this holiday.  But if that's not in your plan, buying local might be the next best thing.  Certainly more sustainable than big-box shopping, right?

Where to shop?  SBN Portland has a list of local businesses who participate in their network, though any locally-owned businesses will do.

And for the thrifty among us, SBNPortland made some Choose Local coupon books.  Keep reading to find out more: 

Recalled toys relaunched with new names, umm, really?

The headline was meant to shock, and for this mama, it worked. "Tainted Toys Get Another Turn," said the Wall Street Journal's home page. I clicked, to read the story of how recalled toys with awful histories (remember the Aqua Dots whose bead-swallowing victims slipped into comas?) are brought back with new names and new marketing spins.

What? Why? Aqua Dots are back as "Pixos," little beads that can be arranged in designs and then "magically join with water!" The Journal article says soberly, "Hit toys are rare in the industry and companies -- operating under tight margins -- are under pressure to keep a trendy product alive. But the stigma of a large recall can potentially sink both a toy and its manufacturer." So they bring it back. Another return to the toy shelves is MagNext, essentially Magnetix redesigned so the little building magnets can't be swallowed -- and it's been "rebranded" with an association with another of the company's brands, Mega Bloks.

Sure, they're corporations, and they're out to make a buck. But something in me says that, once proven to injure kids, the toys should just be abandoned, not redesigned and rebranded.

Our (Depressing) Present = Their Future

I spend a lot of time thinking about my kids' future.  All moms do.  What kind of people will they become?  How can I help them become responsible citizens and all-around happy people?   But I'm not sure I spend enough time thinking about how the choices we make impact the world they will inherit from us, and how to change the course. 

These very disturbing photos show a plastic soup - 100 tons of non-biodegradable plastic detritus that has been dumped into the Pacific Ocean, covering 500 nautical miles.  To put that in perspective, two large floating plastic masses span from California, past Hawaii, and then all the way to Japan.  This.is.crazy.  Not only are the household plastics we use on a daily basis potentially hazardous to our health, they are taking over our oceans, entering the food chain, killing sea life, disfiguring animals and otherwise wreaking havoc.   

Too much stuff? Get rid of it and help a good cause!

We moved into our house a year-and-a-half ago from a 2-bedroom apartment.  We marveled at the basement and garage, thinking finally we would have all the storage space we needed, and then some.  As I look around today, I can’t believe how much stuff we’ve accumulated.  The closets are full, the basement and garage are cluttered, and I feel utterly overwhelmed by it.  Not to sound too much like George Carlin here, but I feel like I spend all my time picking up stuff, moving it around, organizing it, and making space for it.

I’d like to say that I don’t know how we got here, except that I know exactly how we did.  Somewhere along the way we convinced ourselves that all these things would make our lives easier.  But they haven’t.  Quite the opposite actually. Having more stuff means having to manage more stuff.  Not to mention all the waste!  Watching Annie Leonard’s Story of Stuff is a good reminder of that.  Did you know that for every one can of garbage our households send to the dump, another 70 cans of waste were created in the production and distribution of the things in our one can?  So really, every time I haul the can to the curb I’m hauling 71 cans?  That’s reason enough to stop shopping.

Eco-Party: Some Change Will Do You Good

It's Earth Month, and like any good Portlander I'm doing my share to learn and try to put into practice the earth-friendly mantra of reducing, reusing and recycling.  I got an Energy Trust home review and attended an Eco-Party in an effort to become more environmentally aware.  I patted myself on the back smugly and thought, what a good steward of the earth I am. 

And then I got the Home Eco-Party Checklist with about 50 questions covering habits ranging from waste reduction and recycling, toxics reduction, and energy/water conservation.  As I filled out the checklist that smugness that I felt earlier lifted quickly and I wondered if I would leave the party wearing a scarlet letter.  That letter would be a reminder that every time I use a disposable diaper I was knowingly destroying the earth; and that everyone would know that my family doesn't buy all organic produce.  Who knew that those individual little boxes of raisins that my littlest one (see picture) loves so much would be now a guilt-inducing purchase?

Buy Nothing Month: Round V

I am still at it.  But by now, I actually like it.  No struggle.  Low, low credit card bill.  Time for other things.  Pretty much a win-win.  Plus, it's earth month so I can feel pretty smug.  OK, not entirely.  Given the weather I am still using the dryer too much and I drove downtown today because it was raining and I was running late (both no surprise).  But rather than go on and on about our in-home buy nothing effort, since I've likely said all I've got to say on that one (another surprise), I can share some other woman's take on consumerism.  Didn't we agree awhile back to broaden the lens 'round here?? 

Enter Annie Leonard, who stars in The Story of Stuff.  It's just 20 minutes, and for those of who simply can't imagine that amount of time used straight on one single activity (me!), you can skip around and browse the action info while watching the video.  Perfect for a died-in-the-wool multi-tasker like this mama.

Buy Nothing Month: Round IV

Yes, I'm still at it!  And only this month, the fourth buy nothing month at our house, did it finally hit me, that this is not just about a low(er) credit card bill or avoiding a few purchases that I won't get back to.  Though those are worthy goals, in my mind!  It's about how I spend my time.  Continually seeking stuff (my 2-year old daughter can very clearly enunciate the word "errands") or doing great things? 

It really hit me last Friday when I was running (OK, jogging) along waterfront park with my daughter: my plan to hit NW 23rd for living room lamps after my run was not OK.  I had somehow wormed my way into thinking it might be because I had relocated the existing living room lamps to our bedroom and so we had none!  The living room was dark!  Good reason for new lamps, right?  I had convinced myself that I could just go ahead and buy them now 'cause why gloat over what's really just a delayed purchase? 

Buy Nothing Month: Round IV

Yes, I'm still at it!  And only this month, the fourth buy nothing month at our house, did it finally hit me, that this is not just about a low(er) credit card bill or avoiding a few purchases that I won't get back to.  Though those are worthy goals, in my mind!  It's about how I spend my time.  Continually seeking stuff (my 2-year old daughter can very clearly enunciate the word "errands") or doing great things? 

It really hit me last Friday when I was running (OK, jogging) along waterfront park with my daughter: my plan to hit NW 23rd for living room lamps after my run was not OK.  I had somehow wormed my way into thinking it might be because I had relocated the existing living room lamps to our bedroom and so we had none!  The living room was dark!  Good reason for new lamps, right?  I had convinced myself that I could just go ahead and buy them now 'cause why gloat over what's really just a delayed purchase? 

Buy Nothing Month: Round IV

Yes, I'm still at it!  And only this month, the fourth buy nothing month at our house, did it finally hit me, that this is not just about a low(er) credit card bill or avoiding a few purchases that I won't get back to.  Though those are worthy goals, in my mind!  It's about how I spend my time.  Continually seeking stuff (my 2-year old daughter can very clearly enunciate the word "errands") or doing great things? 

It really hit me last Friday when I was running (OK, jogging) along waterfront park with my daughter: my plan to hit NW 23rd for living room lamps after my run was not OK.  I had somehow wormed my way into thinking it might be because I had relocated the existing living room lamps to our bedroom and so we had none!  The living room was dark!  Good reason for new lamps, right?  I had convinced myself that I could just go ahead and buy them now 'cause why gloat over what's really just a delayed purchase?