Read 'n' Seed 3: Second quarter of Newman's Own: Guide to a Good Life

The second quarter of my Read'n Seed, for Newman's Own: Guide to a Good Life was very intriguing!
The chapters were 3 (energy and water), 4 (communication) and 5 (money, credit and investing); pages 40-103.


The main topics I read about started with energy and water.  Dirty coal, the greenhouse effect, and the Kyoto Protocol (United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC or FCCC) aimed at combating global warming) were all discussed in the energy section. Some suggestions for consumers were to use rechargeable batteries, use compact flourescent lights, and use solar lights outside to name a few. The water section brought up the fact that over 97% of the water on Earth is unavailable for human use. Some tips suggested were to not let water run, use full loads when washing clothes, and just be more conscious in general. I found the list of ten things to do instead of showering twice a day quite funny. For example, repopularize the Macarena or learn the way to San Jose. 
Chapter 4, communication brought up some interesting points such as printing responsibly-- its easy to print everything we need, additionally choosing recycled paper and recycling cartridges. 
Chapter 5 was very informative, especially for college students! Many terms were presented such as screening which is a criterion or set of criterion that helps you determine which companies' stocks will be included in a portfolio and which will be excluded. Additionally, shareholder activism which is when you buy a stock, you become part owner in a company and must be socially responsible. Lastly, community investment, which involves investing in municipal bonds that fund public initiatives. 
The most interesting things I learned this quarter were the reminders about saving energy and water, just being conscious in general. 
Anyways, I definitely found these chapters to be informative and important to address especially when our society is having all kinds of money problems and credit crisis's, but I find the energy and organic food chapters much more interesting. 

Share & Voice: website and debate

I found a really interesting website called Our World 2.0
There is a lot going on and a lot to explore! Climate, Oil, Food, Biodiversity and About, are the categories.
Under each category, you can find really interesting articles and pictures about each topic.
The home page shows the newest articles and highlights those in pictures at the top of the page.

I really was puzzled by "Debate 2.0: Meat or the climate? Pick one!" but in a good way. This article by Brendan Barret poses a question to the reader about their diet. It talks about our diets affecting global warming: specifically eating meat.
The opening statement of the article reads "Meat free Mondays has to be the way to go. Former Beatle Paul McCartney backs it. Rajendra Pachauri, head of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, advocates it."

This previous statement, is first backed and then questioned. Some health ministers do not believe that our meaty diets affect climate change enough to matter, but others say that cutting out meat would have a great affect. They specifically link an article called Livestock's Long Shadow, which suggests that 18% of our greenhouse gases come from meat production. 

This is all very interesting to me, and I personally am all for "meat free Mondays," but it seems like quite a difficult task! I'd definitely like to see how it is advocated. 

Eco-Chic Lifestyle Change Week 4: Weekly Update

The following week has been going well with my SMART goal for the most part. My goal is to eliminate red meat from my diet, as well as cut down on my intake of other sources of meat. I have been doing pretty good about finding sources of protein without eating meat.

One success I had was last weekend, I still had some ground elk meat that my mom had sent, but I instead decided to make my chili without meat. It turned out great! I replaced the meat with corn and black beans, and made corn bread on the side. Delicious. 

One challenge I had happened last night. I had a million things to do including starting and finishing a self portrait, as well as finishing a paper; the challenge was I was at my brothers house working on these things, and he offered to make me dinner. This dinner was spaghetti, that had a beefy meat sauce, and there was no way I was going to turn down supper when I had no time to make my own! So, spaghetti was my one downfall, but it was the first time I have had red meat since I started my goal, so its not too disappointing. 

So, what I have learned this week is you always have to be willing to have some leeway when it comes to your goal; you never know when your going to be lacking even an hour in your day to make dinner! (especially if your brother is ACTUALLY cooking for you.)

I will continue with my goal as is for next week. Last week I had mentioned cutting down on my intake of dairy, which has been tricky, but good, so I will continue with that as well.


Blogged for the Eco-Chic Lifestyle Change Week 3  hosted by Amy@Eco-Chic with Amy

Eye Opener: Environmental Working Group

I am just going to start out by saying this eye opener has made me challenge my everyday routine, but in very good ways.

The activity was to visit Skin Deep an environmental working group that tests the safeness of products that we put on our skin. I did this activity last week and after seeing terrible results (a 9 out of 10 on a scale in which 10 is the most hazardous) for my eyeshadow, I decided to test all of my make up. I found that 90% of my makeup is an 8 or higher; I have 2 other products that ranked 7 and 4. After seeing these results, I decided that I needed to make a huge change unless I am okay with "Cancer, Allergies/immunotoxicity, Organ system toxicity (non-reproductive), Irritation (skin, eyes, or lungs), Enhanced skin absorption, Occupational hazards, Biochemical or cellular level change" among others. 


I had no idea how terrible make up really is to my body; its something that I've been using since highschool and never thought twice about; an everyday ritual! After seeing my results, I am now aware of these dangers and have began to research different products that are safer. I realized that it is somewhat hard to find reasonably priced makeup that's actually alright for your skin, but I did find out that the New York brand isn't all that bad when I searched a couple of their products and got in the 3-5 hazard range. This link provides New York's consumer safety page from their website.  
I have already made a couple changes due to my results from this activity including throwing away some of my eyeshadow. I ordered sample products from a company called "Rejuva Minearls" which offers natural and organic skin products and makeup (and receives 1, the lowest hazard level of all the makeup I checked) and I liked the two products that I tried! So, I would suggest this website to anyone wanting to change their makeup!