Green Blog

We didn't think so.

Neither are ours.

At least not yet.

It is no secret that our bones, heart, brain and every part of our bodies are made up of the matter that passes between our lips. But how many of us stop to think about this while rushing through dinner or supermarket aisles?

We are what we eat, and unfortunately for most Americans, that means that we are made up of the same unhealthy, chemically-infused and unsustainably produced food that we put on our plates every day.

As we left the supermarket Friday evening, we saw a family of five lugging their groceries to the parking lot. Each family member was carrying a reusable bag; one young man had an unbagged jug of cider. And there we stood with our cartfull of plastic bags. Redfaced with embarrassment and happy that I wasn't wearing my NRDC vest, I immediately told Tim that we needed to do a better job about remembering the reusable bags.

We've known since last year that Steven Chu - our Nobel Prize winning Secretary of Energy - wants to paint all the roofs in the world white (in order to reduce the greenhouse effect). Now we suspect that he wants to soak those white shingles in waste oil from commercial kitchens.

Overview

People have shimmied up the oil palm to reach its prickly red fruit for thousands of years. Native to West Africa, Elaeis guineensis contains two distinct oils used in a variety of dishes. The Industrial Revolution provided a boon for African farmers, who supplied London's cravings for candle making and machine lubricants. Then colonial plantations took over production, and by the 1920s the crop had spread across the Congo Basin and into Central and South America. After European agronomists discovered that the oil palm thrived in Southeast Asia's heavy rains, the crop quickly transformed the island landscapes. By the mid-twentieth century, Malaysia and Indonesia were supplying the world.

Andy Revkin wrote that.

What follows is the latest from our friends (and Eco Dream Team teammates) at groSolar. We're excited to hear how people respond to the ads. If you want to see a bunch of the ad images, click here.

President Obama traveled to Andrews Air Force Base today to talk about the need to strengthen America’s energy security. I agreed with his emphasis on the need to invest in clean energy. I welcomed his mention of the new fuel efficiency standards for cars that will be formally announced tomorrow.

But I do not support his decision to open vast areas of our oceans to offshore drilling.

Just got an email from my husband - he’s heading home early from work because he’s got a cold. Which means that I’ve got to be vigilant to avoid catching his cold, so I’m going to be washing my hands all the time.

But what I’m not going to do is buy tubs of “antibacterial” soap.

Our friends at Go Green Expo just sent us details on the big event on April 16-18. We're passing them along in case any of you want to attend....

Go Green Expo, one of the nation’s largest eco-friendly business and consumer lifestyle showcases, returns to Philadelphia for the second year in a row from April 16-18, 2010.