One of her tips that helps me grasp the issue best is making your own salad dressing (which I do a lot of in the summer, thanks to this shaker). Think about how much work and fuel is required to bring all those little contents from around the world and into a $3 jar, when you could have just mixed it up quickly at home.

I’m already very eager for our own gardening this year! I want to make sure I track down the right seeds since six companies – Monsanto, Syngenta, DuPont, Mitsui, Aventis and Dow – now control 98 percent of the world’s seed sales. Oh, and the chemicals that go along with them.

A couple of great resources mentioned in the book:

• Barbara Kingsolver’s own Animal, Vegetable, Miracle website, where she shares tips, resources and recipes mentioned in the book
  
• Seed Savers Exchange: A non-profit organization of gardeners dedicated to saving and sharing heirloom seeds passed down for generations.
• Slow Food International: A global, grassroots movement that links the pleasure of food with a commitment to community and the environment.
• Local Harvest: Helps you find a CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) program near you, typically involving a membership fee and then access to weekly or monthly basket of produce.

Stay tuned for more as our garden grows!

Phase 1: Adopt lab

Phase 2: Get lab to enter water, gradually over head in pursuit of stick or ball

Phase 3: Get lab to stop splashing and begin the correct and efficient use of webbed paws while swimming

Phase 4: Lure lab onto boat with tennis ball

Happy to say Brewer’s first boat ride was a big success this past Saturday evening! He loved the flats at Sandy Neck during low tide, and he sniffed his first striped bass. He even rolled over on his back for a rub on the way back to the docks.

Success!!

Thanks to the ladies in Boston who were able to join for a lovely “Detox Your Home” event on Newbury Street last night with Method home care! Okay, so it was a little more “Detox Your Liquor Cabinet”, but what did you expect from something I invited you to?

[disclaimer: it's not that I drink more than you, it's just that I mix and muddle more than you. and I seem to have a reputation for not accurately measuring the ingredients I mix with]

The night was all about ’sustainable sips’ – organic cocktails demonstrated by the lovely Liquid Muse, Natalie. I don’t think we ever even talked about cleaning products. The temporary Method store on Newbury is tres chic, but it will disappear on Sunday and you’ll have to go back to your regular grocery store to get your fix of Method products.

I am happy to say that we now have some awesome-smelling soaps and dish soap around the office today (and G’s office will have it tomorrow)! Everyone left with a bag of goodies and a fun “Clean Like a Mother” t-shirt. A brown t-shirt. I didn’t plan that.

(will post a photo of us here when I have it)

As reported in the International Herald Tribune today, this kind of commitment will likely require real sacrifice closer to home, such as driving less, flying less and putting restrictions on business. It might also be a lot of financial and political talk. Norway is a wealthy country and the third leading exporter of oil in the world.

For the right reasons or not-entirely-selfless reasons, Norway, Wal-Mart, the Vatican and more are making great strides in the right direction. The vision is right, and I think we’ve all seen this tone spread greatly over the last couple of years – mostly across the corporate world.

Yeah, I love that Patagonia reserves 1% of its sales for the planet, but what that does most is “strongly urge” others to do the same. When Wal-Mart “suggests” its suppliers aim to be carbon-neutral, sure as heck they’re gonna have to budge. And whatever Norway wants to do to achieve its goal, the country is now placing its flag on the peak for every other country to climb.

No one wants to be the last shopper at the grocery store with a plastic bag.

Thanks to Emily and her sustainable design class at the BAC! Click on the link and answer a very short list of questions.

http://www.earthday.net/footprint

I’ll be honest, here’s what I found:

My total footprint is 21 acres. 4.9 for food, 1.5 for transportation, 6.9 for shelter, and 7.7 for goods and services.

While I fall below the average person’s footprint in the U.S., there would still need to be 4.7 planets if everyone lived like me.

Use the comments link below and let me know what you found!