Why Not Lime?

Collars No Longer Restricted to Blue and White1

My sales pitch for the world: Buy Green! Buy Organic! Buy Lime Things! 

You’ve probably already heard about the exciting news: collars are now also allowed to be categorized as green.

Last Sunday’s World Herald had a cover story called: Green Around the Collar, which explored the idea that jobs related to sustainability practices will become more and more popular with the increasing consumer demand for green products. (Why not lime ones? I don’t know either.)

The article also suggests that there are green collar jobs available that aren’t being filled because of the lack of training within the current job applicant pool. It goes on to recommend the Sustainability Business Program at Aquinas College. I don’t know about the program, but I don’t think it’s a bad idea that those who are interested in “green collar” jobs look for some job-specific training to get an edge on their competition. It’s a revitalized and growing consumer demand that will need to be met.

I also found this research article that lists 22 specific sectors in which to find the new green collar jobs. According to the article, many of the new green collar jobs will be available even to those with entry-level abilities, and also to those who are looking for apprenticeship opportunities.

I’m sure many of the green collar employers will not find anyone with the specific abilities required, so apprenticeships are the only option that these companies have. It’s an amazing opportunity to look into.

Treehugger.com has a seemingly popular environmental job board for openings all across the country.

Forbes.com also has an article that suggests several other universities which offer joint graduate degrees in business and environmental science, which include: Stanford, the University of Michigan, and the University of North Carolina… in case you were wondering.

Dually helpful to our economy and our environment, I’m definitely excited about these new job opportunities. We have to remember that they are primarily consumer-driven, though, so we need to carefully choose the companies that we support. And, although it’s initally hard on our bank accounts, especially with the awesome gas prices, we have to remember that supporting our organic/ green companies will be the only way to see the return within our economy, and for our environment.

Save the organic limes. Buy green.

Posted: Local Support, Organic Shopping, Green Politics, Green Jobs

Nebraska Food Cooperative3

I can’t believe I haven’t written about this yet.

Brian O’Malley, the chef/instructor from Metro, informed me about the Nebraska Food Cooperative. Here is their mission:

“To foster a local food community and promote a culture of stewardship by cultivating farmer-shopper relationships, promoting the enjoyment of healthful food, increasing food security through diversity, and enhancing overall rural sustainability.”

If you are a person who believes in supporting locally grown, organic food, then this is exactly where you should be shopping!

In order to participate in the Co-op, there is a membership fee. You can buy a share of the Co-op for $100 if you live in Nebraska and become a voting member (help to decide what’s going on, since you are a part-owner), and then pay a $20 membership fee, which is waived the first year. Or, you can pay a fee of $40 per year to be a non-member shopper.

You can shop for the most unique and most tasteful groceries online, and then have them delivered to your area at least once a month. For example, Jane’s Benson Health Market is where I would need to pick up my food order on delivery day. Their website provides delivery pickup times and locations that are nearest to you.

There are a lot of smart benefits to consider. You’re buying from people in your community, which supports your local economy. Because you’re purchasing goods from a short distance, you’re also supporting food which requires less transportation cost. And, bonus - your food is so much healthier when you eat local!

The Co-op website includes a downloadable list of foods that you can order, which include in-season fruits and veggies, frozen pies, jams and jellies, local livestock, homemade crafts, handmade soaps, Thanksgiving turkeys, and so much more! And, the more we can support the Co-op, the more products will be able to be provided.

I also found this cool tidbit - they’re coming out with a cookbook. The cookbook, entitled Twelve Dishes from Here, will benefit The Nebraska Food Cooperative. Copper Core Consulting, a faculty/student consortium at Metro’s Institute for the Culinary Arts, is helping to create the book. The release date will be in early fall 2008, and they are asking for input regarding price, content, and design. So, if you have time, please visit www.mccneb.edu/culinary to provide your opinion.

Please check out the Co-op’s website and let me know if you are involved or if you’re thinking about doing so! Thanks!

Posted: Local Support, Organic Shopping, Green Groups, Green Health, Getting Started Green

5 Simple Ways to Start Feeling Great2

Use your treadmill? Eat your vegetables? I think we can do better for a Friday.

Besides reading Why Not Lime? on a regular basis, you might want to give some of the following suggestions a try.

1. Quit doing so much. Give your brain a little breathing space. Do something that involves letting loose a little bit. I enjoy reading posts on Think Simple Now, and I would like to recommend this one in particular. It coincides with my tip #5 today.

2. Use products with natural ingredients. Here’s a great collection of articles on product ingredients and what they mean from Gilden Tree. The first article helps to answer some of the mysteries surrounding what is involved when looking for truly organic products and what “natural” means. All of the articles provide guidance on what to look for when shopping for products that are good for your body.

3. Replace soda with oxygen. When I’m sitting in the office all day, I’m so tempted to grab a soda to help wake me up in the afternoon. Soda inevitably makes my brain feel anxious and my stomach kind of queasy. So, this winter, I started doing “wall sits“. The wall sits were intended to help strengthen my legs for an upcoming ski trip, but they also help to wake me up. Or, if you prefer, you could take a quick trip up and down a flight of stairs, or step outside to enjoy the day.

4. Eat dark chocolate today. According to WebMD, this delicious treat lowers blood pressure and contains antioxidants. Remember that everything’s better in moderation. (Even moderation? Haha.) Also, if you’re the social type, keeping dark chocolate at your desk provides an excuse for your coworkers to come and chat for a minute.

5. Give it up! Spend a weekend day cleaning out your closet. It’s spring, and unloading your unwanted or unnecessary belongings feels refreshing. I recently took some of my clothing to a consignment shop and collected $23. Omaha has a few consignment stores. The one I went to is the new and trendy Scout in Dundee.

Do you have any fun suggestions for me?

Posted: Organic Shopping, Travel Green, Green Health, Getting Started Green

Your Own Organic Farm5

When I was a child, I had my own garden. It was a tiny squared-off section of my grandparents’ much larger garden where they grew everything from asparagus to yellow squash to sweet corn. They lived in the country, so there was space for an orchard with various fruit trees that grew cherries, apples, plums, and more, and bushes of raspberries and blackberries were a treacherous source of sweetness. There was an entire plot for potatoes - more than we could ever eat - and they raised chickens for the eggs.

Mint grew next to their house, and I’d chew on it because it was fascinating to me that something so weed-like could taste so good. Who knew I’d be buying it at Hy-Vee in little plastic boxes for homemade mojitos 20 years later?

My food’s path from the land to my dinner table has become wide and more complicated than my grandparents’ organic practices. It’s so much easier for the current urban dweller to pick up all of his food from the grocery store, although sometimes a farmer’s market in the summer might call his name.

I’d like you to imagine that you have just decided to move into the country to start your own 20-acre organic farm.

What would you grow? Would the physical labor of working the land, living in the dirt, buying work clothes for their durability, appeal to you?

To be an organic farmer, you would have the satisfaction of providing one of the most basic human needs. You could plant seeds and foster them into green bean plants, dig potatoes out of the soil, kneel to collect ripe red strawberries, and maybe even cook them into preserves to sell at a farmer’s market. You could gather eggs from the nests of feisty hens who have no choice but to give them up, day after day.

If the thought sounds terrifying, I understand how you feel. Most people feel the same way. I have found that these are activities that are more easily approached when you have been raised in a farming environment. But if the thought appeals to you, there are first generation farmers, and with the new demand for an organic food supply, it’s apparently becoming easier to begin your own farm.

This article from the New York Times inspired my post today. It provides a glimpse into the new organic farms, and how they are able to survive in the midst of the current corporate farm take-over. The article specifically mentions two organic farms that have been started by two sets of partners - both a male-female partnership, neither of them are couples - who are first generation farmers. The links throughout are awesome, and the multi-media interactive feature gives some sound clips from the actual farmers.

Even if you don’t feel ready to start your own farm, maybe you’d feel comfortable starting your own garden. Whether you’re growing fresh basil in your apartment windowsill or working a 10×10 foot plot in your backyard, it would at least give you the opportunity to know the exact origins of your food. You could even start a garden for therapeutic reasons, like as a really productive hobby.

Do you like to garden? Would you garden if you had the space and the time? What do you think of being a first generation farmer?

Do tell.

Posted: Local Support, Organic Shopping, Why Go Green, Getting Started Green

What Gabby Wanted to Know2

My good friend Gabby has been reading my blog, and she had an awesome question the other day.

Gabby wanted to know what she needed to do to start living a greener lifestyle. She wanted to know what the first steps are to living the LIME life.

Alright, so there aren’t any rules for starting. In fact, I’ve just started focusing on living a greener, more organic lifestyle since I’ve started this blog. This blog is my journey, and I’m inviting everyone else to join.

I’ve learned a lot the past few months. So. Here are three basic principles that I would recommend keeping in mind. While they aren’t necessarily specific practices, the big picture should help to guide you in making greener lifestyle choices.

1. Consume less. This is easy to imagine if you’ve had a parent or grandparent (or maybe you?) who lived through the eras of The Great Depression and of the World Wars - rationing, saving, and reusing products were so important then, and these practices still are now. The word “consumer” seems to have a positive connotation, right, because we’re all consumers, and we like new things. But click on the link to the definition of “consume” and you might rethink the word. Wherever and whenever you can, find joy in buying less and requiring less. Less is more.

2. Recycle and reuse more. Recycle the things that you don’t need, and keep around something that you think you could reuse. Don’t keep too much stuff around, though, or you’re going to end up on that TLC show Clean Sweep, arguing with your family about whether you have valid reasons for keeping your large collection of plastic bread wrappers and teen romance novels from the 80s. Try not to throw stuff away if you can 1) reuse it in a short period of time, 2) recycle it, or 3) give it away to someone who would use it.

3. Support green companies. Hey, you have to consume, so if you’re going to do it, try to buy from a company that is trying to support our environment as well as your health. Look for companies that are using all-natural ingredients, giving back to the community, using less packaging, or supporting green practices in their production process. The little bit extra that you might pay for these details will come back to you in a positive way.

What inspires you to live a greener life? Remember, I’m always learning, too, so I love to hear what you all have to say.

Posted: Recycling, Organic Shopping, Why Go Green, Organic Health, Green Health, Getting Started Green

The Food Dilemma: Local vs. Organic2

While reading the New York Times online, I found a very good article that I thought you would find interesting. It makes a few suggestions for easy organic food switches and points out that these particular foods - including milk as its number one switch - tend to have a higher percentage of chemicals in the end product, versus organic foods.

This article focuses on the health benefits offered by organic foods, which are very important, especially when you have a family to consider.

There are other factors to consider when purchasing organic, though. I mean, it’s expensive, right? If I wash off my conventional “pesticide-ridden” apple that costs about $1 less per pound, won’t it be good enough for me?

Commenter #19 to the NYT blog post addressed one of my concerns when shopping organic: is it better to buy food grown locally, or the food that is labeled organic? Is it more important to be concerned about the chemicals on my local food or the “safer” organic food from Washington State?

Of course, either choice is more socially conscious than buying non-organic apples from Chile, and purchasing locally grown organic food is the most ideal option.

Then there’s commenter #9 who grows his own garden, has four hens, and buys half of a grass-fed cow every year. His choices are impressive and seem to be one of the best ways to ensure that you know the origins of your food and reduce the amount of oil required to transfer the food from the farm to a grocery store to your home.

I believe that I’ve unknowingly touched on a very complex sustainable lifestyle quandry. With so many factors to consider, it’s easy to want to throw in the towel on the issue. Those factors include but aren’t limited to: the end product cost, food transportation, cancer-causing pesticides, your local economy, nutrition, quality of taste, and of course, ease of consumer purchase.

After reading several articles, including this extensive one from TIME, it appears that purchasing choices should be made on a case-by-case basis, which is the same dilemma that your grocery store faces. How does that dairy farm care for their cows? Does this local farm use dangerous pesticides? The same place that you purchase your tomatoes may not be the same place that you purchase your fresh fish, and the reasons for those decisions are entirely up to your educated opinion.

While at first these types of choices may seem cumbersome, doing your research and purchasing with the intent of supporting a certain farming practice is another way of placing your vote. It’s empowering.

For example: “Yes, I believe in my local farmer,” or, “No, that local farmer doesn’t use sustainable farming practices, so I’m choosing this other comparny from Florida.”

I’m going to point you in the direction of a Nebraska family who I know that raises cattle in a very safe and effective way. Maybe you’ll be tempted to buy your own half-cow from Pape Steaks once you learn a little more about their ranch.

I’d like to hear opinions from everyone regarding their organic and local purchasing choices. Please let me know your tips, questions, and opinions! Thanks.

Posted: Local Support, Organic Shopping

Green Tea for Green Living?0

Um… does drinking green tea qualify for green points? Do we get green points for being green? I think we should.

1/2 a point to me for drinking green tea.

I like green tea. I’ve heard it’s healthy for you. I’m not quite sure how, but it’s what I’ve heard.
So this morning I decided to make some green tea - Tazo green tea, actually, in the little filter bag.

Also, I was a little, um, hungover this morning. (Note to self: research organic liquor.) I thought some green tea would be the perfect pick me up. Mellow caffeine. (If there was such a thing, I would say this is it.) Easier on the tummy than coffee.

While I was waiting for the water to heat up, I read the back of my Tazo paper cover for the green tea.

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Very cute. “… of this lifetime…” I dig it. So, naturally, I went to their website to see what other clever things Tazo had to say.

(High fives to the marketers all around. Nice work.)

I checked out their “Wheel o’ Tazo” and saw that they full leaf tea, too. If I ever brew full leaf tea, I will keep that in mind.

Then I saw the little tab “Social Responsibility.” They have all kinds of neat things listed under there! I don’t know what it all meant, but it sounded very socially responsible.

For example, Tazo buys renewable energy certificates. They participate in CHAI (Collaboration for Hope and Advancement in India). Tazo is a member of the Ethical Tea Partnership. (Who knew?) They also give to local non-profit organizations.

Another 1/2 point for drinking a brand of green tea that is trying to be green.

I think that’s one of the things that makes it hard to “buy green”. Most companies want to claim that they are green now, because that will make or break the deal for many consumers. How do we know what the best choices are? (You’re probably thinking, yeah, aren’t you supposed to tell us?)

I’m going to try to provide more and more information that I discover along the path to a cleaner greener life.

Posted: Organic Shopping, Recommendation

“Think Globally, Crave Locally”0

I was sitting at my friend’s house the other morning, drinking out of her Jimmy John’s (reusable) plastic cup. This cup was covered in witticisms, and a couple of them caught my eye.

One of them said, “We don’t care where your mouth has been, we just wanna know where it’s at now.”

Clever. Sassy. Funny.

It’s nice that they forgive their customers’ past food selection indescretions.

Then I saw, “Think Globally, Crave Locally”, which I’m probably interpreting differently from what Jimmy John’s intended, considering they’re a sandwich shop chain.

As a female English major, it is officially my job to find meaning in almost everything.

I loved this thought. Shop at your local shops, and think globally.

For example, buying organic foods from a farmer’s market, or even from a grocery store, supports a healthy way of producing food, versus corporate farming that uses pesticides and other chemicals.

Also, knowing the origins of the products that you’re purchasing ensures that everyone involved in the production process is compensated accordingly.
Ya know, everyone gets paid enough.

And I don’t think it’s easy to become a “green” consumer, but that’s why we have information resources like this one! It can be easy by changing our buying and living habits bit by bit. I’ll be sharing tidbits about various products that I find that are better for you and better for our environment.
If you have any thoughts about this clever little phrase, feel free to share below!

Posted: Local Support, Organic Shopping