The most annoying "Green" website (and blog) ever? Hey, that's my job!

Thanks to Mother Jones selling these people my email address, I was lured into signing up for the "tip" sheet on green living. At first I thought it would be fine because, well, Mother Jones must know what they're doing to sell an unknowing supporter's email address to a business that wants to help you live green. Not bad, right?
Ideal Bite comes to your mailbox every week with a new "tip" on green living, and they just so happen to have a handle on so, so many products for you to buy to help you in that endeavor!
Their slogan is "Are you a biter?" Well, as a matter of fact I can be a biter, when I'm over-stimulated or sleepy.
Oh, oh, there is so much to hate about this site, but let's start with their riotous "blog" entry about "humane" veal, and here is an excerpt from the comments section -- such a hoot:

"God forbid I discover that I have a love for something that is evil"--Heather, co-author of Ideal Bite

Dear Heather,

no offense, but a love for the flesh of what used to be (and would still be, if it weren't for humans) a living being IS "evil".

Posted by: K | August 26, 2005 at 06:38 AM

All I've got to say is, FUN!
Please read more of this page because it just gets more annoying and, so, hilarious!

Oh, and here is another annoying link:
This is the actual ranking of the "survey" on how helpful you found their advertisement for Working Assets Wireless.
They want you to rate the tips they send -- free marketing information, if you answer honestly, which I did, a "1" on a 5-scale. And they're so cute! "Our psychic abilities indicate you want to rate more tips. Visit the Tip Library to cast more votes!" Think again, Heatherrrrr.
But, I did learn that people want their information short and sweet, which basically guarantees people won't read AE.

where does your food come from?

This is something I've been mulling over for awhile and it is now just starting to get some press (not to say that I thought of it first, but dribs and drabs of this information have been filtering through for a long time). Just about every well-infrastructured community has a farmer's market and for me it's like one of those things that I'm glad is there but don't utilize often. After giving this a lot of consideration and doing some research, I think I am going to start using it more.

At the supermarket, we buy grapes and avocados from Chile and oranges from California and don't think anything of it. That is a long-ass way for food to travel. The Seattle Post-Intelligence has a great article from 2005 on the subject, and I'd like to pull out a paragraph from it to demonstrate a very important point:

Local and regional food systems are better equipped to address local hunger concerns, farmland crises, environmental concerns and rising energy costs. Disasters such as Hurricane Katrina acutely demonstrate the importance of a strong and resilient local food system to ensure our short-term food security. We need to support the development of such systems to solve those wicked problems.

It makes so much sense and yet I continue to buy grapes from Chile. No! I will not continue to disrespect my local farmers! Here's a link to find out where the farmers markets are in your area.

Sustainable Seattle has a link to a study they are conducting that demonstrates economic money flows in terms of agricultural crops. By showing that local economies are strengthened by buying locally a change is more likely (and quickly) to happen.

Puget Consumers Co-op has been operating since 1953 so you would think after fifty-plus years they know what they're talking about when it comes to locally-produced food. Here's a good overview written by the executive director of Sustainable Seattle, Chantal Stevens, of the issues involved in buying locally. Check out the PCC website if you have a chance -- there're a lot of great resources and information that you wouldn't find on the Publix website, that's for sure.

Stink-o-Rama: Addendum

I think it's working! Not sure if it's the weather getting cooler but I'm not as stinky during the day. Yay!

Stink-o-Rama

I decided to take the plunge and eschew all deodorants in an effort to wean myself from them. Is it possible? I'm not sure and can only go by what D.G. told me about her bro's success. She says it took him about a month but he is now deodorant-free and apparently not stinky. So, last week I made some herbal stick deodorant recipe posted on Care2.com. I didn't have rosemary EO so I used a complimentary FO. This made roughly three .50 oz sticks and I gave 2 away and kept the shorty for myself. It's also a great moisturizer stick, and I regularly use it on my knees and elbows. I was using it double-duty in the car one morning (underarm and on my knees) and challenged my old man with, "Like to see your deodorant do THAT."
And I thought this would be the perfect time to start the weaning process as it is starting to get cooler in our little subtropical part of the world. However, by the afternoon it is about as hot as 80 degrees and I do work up a stink walking all over God's creation on the days I'm on campus. When the herbal deodorant is not really needed it's a pleasant lavender scent but when it is truly called upon to deliver some stank cover-up, the net effect seems to be that I end up smelling like an old hippie. Oh well. I'm too far into it now to wait until it gets cooler. I am really missing the Old Spice Deodorant me and the old man have been using for years and occasionally, when no one is looking, I will sneak into the bathroom to sniff the canister and remember better, fresher-smelling days.

Buy Nothing Christmas

Holy Crap! Christmas/Chanukah/Kwanzaa/Buddha's Birthday is right around the corner! But wait...why do I feel so calm? I should be doing the freak-aloo and getting into massive fights with my old man. Could it be that I've finally made peace with my holiday of choice? While I'm still making gifts and plan on giving them to a whole bunch of people we know, I'm not as tensed about it as I usually am. I'm really happy that the holiday season is approaching, thankful for all the wonderful things in my life. That's the way it should be.
Still not convinced? Buynothingchristmas.org is a cool site that has a loose relationship with Adbusters and promotes the idea that you do not have to go into deep, dark debt in order to make for a merry etc. It also has lots of links to other places where you can find more inspiration to have a simple holiday. One of my favorites is the New American Dream website with an excerpt from Bill McKibben's book Hundred Dollar Holiday.