In case you're not sure what to give the food-lovers in your life for Chrismukkah. I've come up with a list of some great environmentally-friendly and socially-conscious gift ideas. These are just a jumping off point but hopefully they'll help you get started. Feel free to add your gift ideas via comments. KITCHEN GOODSA canvas tote bag to help your favorite foodie carry his or her haul home in eco-friendly style. These are getting quite trendy so you have your pick of some cheekier options (including a " Plastic" tote) as well as the simpler ones you can buy at any Trader Joe's or Whole Foods as well as at many more conventional chain supermarkets. Using these sturdy reusable bags will help cut down on consumption of trees and petroleum and reduce landfill waste. It's nice to have a bunch of these totes for bigger shopping trips.
A stainless steel water bottle. These bottles are catching on quickly as word spreads that the plastic bottles (even the heavy duty Nalgene ones) leech cancer-causing chemicals. Why wait? I recommend switching right now! Kleen Kanteen is one of the main suppliers of the stainless steel bottles - they come in three different sizes with a variety of tops including a sippy top for babies. FOOD & DRINKBuy a gift membership in an organic CSA (community supported agriculture). If you want to support local farmers directly joining a CSA is the single best way to do it. Buying in to a local farm helps the farmers weather a drought or tough season and withstand the economic pressures of rising land prices fluctuations in market prices etc. It also provides you with healthy fresh produce every week (or other week) and gives you a direct connection to the people who are growing your food. These farms tend to welcome visitors and often will host regular events at the farm to give its members a chance to roll up their sleeves and experience farm life. The more organized ones also offer a weekly newsletter which features wonderful recipes for the food you receive in your produce box that week. All in all. I think this may be my best gift idea!
BOOKS & MOVIESKing Corn DVDs. From now until Christmas one dollar of each King Corn DVD purchase will be donated to the Practical Farmers of Iowa’s Next Generation Program which provides training and mentoring to aspiring young farmers. More than half of U. S farmland is owned by people of retirement age while the number of entry-level farmers has fallen by 30 percent in the last decades making encouragement of young farmers a timely and urgent issue. DVDs of the critically-acclaimed King Corn are now available for sale online at. Conscious cookbooks:
MEMBERSHIPS & GIFT CERTIFICATESIf you feel like the food-lover in your life does not need any more "stuff" you can always go this route as there are lots of great gifts that will not clutter anyone's house. A gift certificate to a restaurant that uses locally-grown organic food. If nothing comes to mind try doing a search for a good restaurant at the Eat Well Guide's web site: Cooking classes! You can browse through Sustainable Table's listing of conscious cooking schools here: Make a donation to a charity working on organic or sustainable agriculture land reclamation fair trade etc. You may want to look for a local nonprofit but here are a few ideas. The - the awesome organization that runs Berkeley's Farmers markets biodiesel collective and our curbside recycling program!The - a nonprofit that promotes the views and interests of the nation's organic and socially responsible consumers they campaign on food safety industrial agriculture genetic engineering children's health corporate accountability. Fair Trade environmental sustainability and other key topics.
- a wonderful international relief and development organization that creates lasting solutions to poverty hunger and injustice. They also do a ton of work to help farmers here in the US and around the world (think Farm Bill and way beyond) and were one of the main pioneers behind the fair trade movement. They offer some great clever gifts through their "Unwrapped" holiday gift program (at ) - your donation will buy seeds trees sheep chickens goats donkeys etc. to help families and communities become self-sufficient.
- a large international nonprofit that lets you give the gift of lifestock (goats cows (hence the name heifer) honeybees even a water buffalo) and training in sustainable agriculture to a family in need so they can feed themselves earn an income and lift themselves out of poverty. (Oxfam and Heifer have similar missions - I think one of the main differences is that Oxfam also does advocacy work to try to affect the policies that create poverty hunger and injustice.)
- an awesome international oceans conservation group (I used to work there so I can vouch for them) is running a holiday adopt a sea creature campaign right now at: . If you make a donation to adopt a dolphin sea turtle penguin seal whale etc. and help protect the animals and their habitats. As a token of thanks gift recipients will receive their choice of sea creature cookie cutters (like the turtle one at right) an acknowledgment of their adoption facts on ocean creatures and a sugar cookie recipe from Warren Brown. FoodNetwork star and owner of CakeLove (one of Washington. DC's favorite bakery/pastry shops.) For a donation of $100 or more you also get an exclusive Oceana oven mitt.
Super list. Eve!I'd like to put a word in for Deans Beans an organic fair trade coffee company from Massachusetts. Dean's story is great and they go above and beyond the "fair trade" label. Dean's on WAMC Northeast Public Radio (NPR affiliate) and even has a new book out about sustainable business practices. My daughter's daycare center is using them for a fundraiser. You can even make your own custom blend or personalized label http://www deansbeans com. Also. I'd be remiss if I didn't mention Heifer International. Give the gift of lifestock (goats heifers honeybees even a water buffalo) and training in sustainable agriculture to a family in need so they can feed themselves earn an income and lift themselves out of poverty http://www heifer org. Peace out kk
Eve. This is a GREAT list! Some additional ideas are kitchen tools that run on people power rather than electricity. Items like food mills (great for homemade applesauce and baby food) mandolins (slices veggies with artistic precision) and even traditional hand-cranked egg beaters can easily perform the same tasks for which we'd otherwise be using a food processor or an electric blender! Also although it's my job to plug Defenders' Wildlife Adoptions. I noticed that Oceana's adoptions this year are coming with cookie cutters shaped like ocean critters and pot holders.
Bamboo is not as green as you think. Of course as a woodworker. I tend to take the time necessary to study the facts as we know them. Some environmental aspects of bamboo production are clearly positive. Wide distribution rapid growth and renewability a source of useful products and income formillions of traditionally low income people – all of these factors point to theenvironmentally and socially desirable material described in promotional materials forbamboo products. But is this the whole story? Unfortunately: no. A host of environmental problems associated with bamboo harvest and plantation establishment are readily apparent when examining the scientific literature. For instance a recent assessment of bamboo production in China that involved scientists from theCenter for International Forestry Research (CIFOR) the Chinese Academy of Forestry and the University of Madrid (Ruiz-Pérez et al. 2001) included the followingobservations:• “Recently bamboo expansion has come at the expense of natural forests shrubs,and low-yield mixed plantations. It is common practice to cut down existingtrees and replace them with bamboo.”• “As forestlands tend to be in hilly and mountainous areas with steep slopes clearcuttinghas resulted in an increase in erosion until the bamboo becomes fullyestablished. .”• “Natural forests in the vicinity of bamboo plantations have sometimes given wayto bamboo as a result of deliberate efforts to replace them or because of thevigorous natural expansion of bamboo in logged over forests. This process hasalso had a negative impact on biodiversity.”• “The intensive management practices employed involve manual or chemicalweeding and periodic tilling of the land to keep the soil clear of undergrowth. These practices increase erosion and result in single-species plantations over largeareas.”• “The intensive use of chemicals (pesticides weed killers and fertilizers)[associated with growing bamboo] also affects the environment. .”Statements of a number of other researchers from the mid-1990s to the present underscore these observations. And we must keep in mind that our primary source for bamboo also gives us lead-tainted toys for our children to chew on and plastic-tainted food for our pets. How concerned are they for the health and safety of consumers that use their products... I mean really?
That's a good point. Lee and I did not mean to put bamboo forth as the solution to a huge problem as I'm sure it's flawed in many ways as you pointed out. But you could probably say the same of almost all products (for example the stainless steel take out containers on the list are made in China and regardless of where they're manufactured extracting minerals from the earth is inherently un-green - but they're still a greener option than using and then throwing away styrofoam take-out containers every time you eat out). I think the context is important.
Forex Groups - Tips on Trading
Related article:
http://gardenofeatingblog.blogspot.com/2007/12/green-gifts-for-foodies.html
comments | Add comment | Report as Spam
|
