Blog Action Day

Today is Blog Action Day. Fifteen thousand blogs all over the world will publish a post about the environment today. Tiny blogs like mine, as well as behemoths like Lifehacker, the Google blog, and my own of-late-neglected WiseBread will contribute their unique voices to inundate the internet with a common message. Pretty cool, and pretty important.

Here at All Kinds of Yum, I bring you two posts. I will ramble on about how all the cool kids, including my mother, are going green. But I'm more excited to report, we have a guest blogger today! My dear friend Brad Brauer, an engineer who may someday use his expertise to make environmentally friendly stuff, has done the hard-hitting research, and offers us a a really informative post about what's behind the momevent towards local, organic foods. We've all heard the buzzwords -- local, organic, sustainable -- but Brad gives us the reasons behind the buzz. Thanks Brad!!

Blog Action Day: Why Go Local and Organic?

Being a friend of Tannaz means reading about food. Sometimes I try to give her suggestions about articles to write, mostly because I want her to cook for me. But she threw me for a loop when I told her about Blog Action Day.

You see, this was a one-way facet of our relationship, and I was happy to continue in that vein, but this time she asked if I wanted to be her second guest blogger. Realizing that saying no was tantamount to self-induced exile from Persia (in the cuisine sense at least), I set about trying to figure out an appropriate post. The conclusion is a short list of reasons why there is such a big fuss over local organic farming. This post is by no means inclusive -- if anyone has more specific info, or differing opinions, I would be very interested in hearing about it.

I think there are a lot of misconceptions about organic farming, both local and far, but there are a few simple reasons why it is such an attractive alternative to our current food system:

Close Food vs. Far Food

Transportation costs. This is a fairly easy one, just think of the salad you ate today: was the lettuce grown in a huge corporate farm in Salinas or a small farm in Corona? The distance between these to locations is roughly 350 miles. It is not hard to imagine further distances, especially when food is imported to (and from) other countries. Transportation uses energy, which contributes to air pollution and other bad ecological problems.

Locally adapted varieties. Most corporate farms use the same varieties that maximize yields. Losing local varieties decreases genetic diversity, which could result in losing important beneficial traits between varieties. From a taste perspective, this means the homogenization of fruits and vegetables (imagine if there were only one kind of apple?).

Organic vs. Non-organic

Pesticides. Organic farming, especially polyculture, reduces the needs for pesticides. Also, there is the energy cost to produce the pesticides (especially nitrogen, which must go through an intense heating process).

Sustainable Agriculture. Organic farming usually implies (although this is not universally true) more sustainable agriculture practices. Farms and soil are better taken care of in order to decrease the effects of soil erosion, and degradation of soil health. One popular method of sustainable agriculture is to rotate different crops; planting crops for sale on the market and other crops that naturally replenish nutrients in the soil. Polyculture takes it another step forward by planting complementary crops at the same time.

Farming Techniques. Another exciting benefit of small organic farms is that they are able to experiment with farming techniques on a smaller scale that might not be feasible on a larger farm. Polyculture is one example, but other methods include planting more trees to increase soil stability and shade, and to provide a habitat for birds.

Costs

A major reason that people do not consume as much local organic produce is that the prevailing wisdom is that is much more expensive than “regular” produce. In a sense this is true; if your local supermarkets stocks organics they are typically about 10% more expensive than the same non-organic varieties. Farm subsidies artificially keep our food costs down, and until the subsidies are the same for the small farmer as they are for the large, then it will be harder for local organics to achieve the same price performance.

So what’s the takeaway? Our food system is not built for everyone to start buying 100% organic food at their local Farmer’s Market. But the next time you’re at Ralphs or Whole Foods, notice that they have a lot of organic options. The more you buy, the more they sell, and more will be available in the future. And if you’re at a Farmer’s Market, you don’t have to insist on organic. By supporting local farmers you are helping decrease the energy cost of agriculture. The best of both worlds is buying local organic produce. But you know what’s even better? Getting Tannaz to cook it for you.

Note: This note was brought to you by Brad Brauer. I (Tannaz) was too lazy to set up an account for him, but really, he wrote it, not me.

[Thanks (nz)dave for the photo.]

Blog Action Day: Momentum is Rising

Every once in a while, I get a certain kind of email that I find particularly infuriating. A forward that has made the rounds for God knows how many years, calling me to action. One of those things that, if everyone in the world took part, something incredible would happen. I open the email, skim through quickly, entertain for a half-second how cool it would be if it did actually work, curse the person who sent it to me for wasting my time yet again, promptly hit the delete button, and get on with my day.

But when it comes to the issue of the environment, the 'I am but one man' argument no longer holds water. Books like Jared Diamond's Collapse, and Michael Pollan's The Omnivore's Dilemma (yes, this is very much a book about ecology) are national bestsellers. Super-high-profile celebrities like Julia Roberts, Leonardo DiCaprio, and Jeffrey Katzenberg are foregoing fancy sportscars to make a very different statement scooting around in Priuses (plus, in the case of Katzenberg, I can tell you firsthand that he takes great strides to make to make the corporation he runs clean and green). An Inconvenient Truth, Al Gore's impassioned film about the urgency of the issue of global warming, is the fourth-most popular documentary in history at the box office. What I"m saying is, everyone is doing it.

For one, my mom is an environmentalist and doesn't even know it. With zero fanfare, I was raised in a home that, quietly and with little self-awareness, was doing its part. The more I read, the more I come to realize that the idea is to shrink our footprint -- the simpler we keep things, the lower our impact is, the better off we are. When it comes to food, Violet (my mom and I are on a first name basis), stays close to the source. A bowl of fresh fruit is always on the table, processed foods are kept to a minimum, and dinners are constructed -- quite artfully -- from real fruits, vegetables, meats, and rice. She often makes her own preserves and dries her own herbs.

In Violet's kitchen, nothing is ever wasted. Those dried herbs might reside in a jar that once held pickles, old boxes gain new life holding bags of spices, and leftovers sit in yogurt containers that have been washed and reused dozens of times. After a trip to the grocery store, all the plastic bags are folded and stashed for future reuse. You don't run the dishwasher unless it's full to the brim, and same goes for the washing machine and dryer.

I have a few simple ones of my own. I walk to as many errands as possible. I've started taking canvas bags to the grocery store -- I always got frustrated when, even at Whole Foods, they would pack a couple small in items in doubled up thick plastic bags. Now I get an extra smile from the checkout person, not to mention compliments on my rad Los Angeles maptote. The Hollywood Farmer's Market is my new favorite place, and the benefits come back to me in the form of interesting produce I'd never see at the supermarket, and good, good times.

The point is, this is no longer a small niche of wacky hippies flailing about in vain. It's a significant movement, and simple changes can make a difference. Everyone's doing it. catch up! I encourage every one of you to educate yourself, see what simple changes you can make, and if you haven't already, check out your local farmer's market. It's a fun way to spend an afternoon outside, see people, walk around a bit, and get acquainted with your food.