[Greenbuilding] food choices

[Racheli Gai]

For Wes Jackson enthusiasts out there - he'll be one of the presenters  
at the third annual gathering of Slow Money.  More details at -
https://www.newresourcebank.com/planet-smart-blog/slow-money-investing-sustainable-agriculture

"Slow Money" attempts to create financial networks that encourage/ 
allow investment of money in ways that help create and promote  
sustainable
food production.

Racheli.


On Jul 31, 2011, at 11:20 AM, JOHN SALMEN wrote:

> I would agree – carbon footprint is about how food is produced and  
> can vary dramatically depending how it is produced, harvested and  
> marketed. Locally raised beef on native grassland I am sure would  
> have less end harm than mono-cropped machine harvested lentils  
> 1000’s of miles away.
>
> The single biggest concern for food production is really soil and  
> nutrient loss and Wes Jackson of the land institute  long ago  
> asserted that traditional grazing of cattle on perennial grassland  
> resulted in less soil loss than the best of amish farming practices.
>
> For food to continue I think we have no choice but to support local  
> food/farming initiatives and rather than demanding what type of food  
> we want we need to consume what is available locally and for most  
> farms that would include livestock of some sort or other.  For  
> example the use of a biodiesel tractor or draft horses consumes  
> roughly ¼ of a farms cropland. The tractor however is dependent on a  
> successful fuel crop where the horse has a more varied diet and  
> returns unutilized carbon to the soil as manure rather than  
> exhaust.  A tractor may be more efficient but that efficiency  
> doesn’t translate into more food production as there is a  
> relationship between its efficiency and the cropland it consumes.
>
> Making a farm work is a complex task and if we (as consumers) simply  
> demand lentils then a farmer will be forced to crop from land  
> (sloped or prone to runoff) that is more suitable for grazing (if we  
> are looking at conserving soil) and the end result is the  
> destruction of the soil base. If we support local farms then we have  
> to support and encourage diversity.
>
> John
>
> JOHN SALMEN ENVIRONMENTAL DESIGN
> station design & millwork
> 4465 UPHILL RD DUNCAN BC V9L6M7 250-748-7672 C 250-246-8541 F  
> 250-748-7612
>
>
>
>
> From: greenbuilding-bounces at lists.bioenergylists.org [mailto:greenbuilding-bounces at lists.bioenergylists.org 
> ] On Behalf Of Racheli Gai
> Sent: July-31-11 7:55 AM
> To: Green Building
> Subject: Re: [Greenbuilding] While we're on Solar....any experience  
> with a solar cooker?
>
> Lynelle,
> I have a Sun Oven also.  I use it regularly, and like it a lot.  I  
> have cooked chicken, as well as slow roasted meats.  After a long,  
> slow, cooking food tastes
> simply delicious, and if the sun disappeared on you, you can always  
> stick the food in a conventional oven to finish the cooking.  I have  
> an electric stove and solar panels,
> so cooking indoors is solar, too.
> The EWG study also called attention to the fact that responsible  
> grazing contributes to reviving bee populations.  In other words:  
> One needs to  look at issues
> in a larger context, not just the matter of producing carbon, as  
> well as look at what's available and worthy of support locally.    
> For example, if you help responsible ranching
> exist and thereby avoid conversion of land into more sub-divisions,  
> you  might be doing some good, even if eating meat might be more  
> costly in some ways than
> eating something else.
>
> Racheli.
>
>
>
> On Jul 31, 2011, at 7:27 AM, sanjay jain wrote:
>
>
> >I have built enough this year and so am looking for a pre-made  
> solar cooker that will hopefully cook chicken and bake.
>
> The larger carbon footprint saving would result from not eating  
> chicken. While chicken is better than lamb and beef, it's more than  
> 3 times worse than vegetarian foods. See: Recent Environmental  
> Working group's report graph at http://static.ewg.org/reports/2011/meateaters/images/green_house_proteins.jpg
>
> This Time article is worth reading: http://ecocentric.blogs.time.com/2011/07/26/how-meat-and-dairy-are-hiking-your-carbon-footprint/
>
> ~sanjay
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> From: Lynelle Hamilton <lynelle at lahamilton.com>
> To: Greenbuilding <greenbuilding at lists.bioenergylists.org>
> Sent: Sunday, July 31, 2011 8:48 AM
> Subject: [Greenbuilding] While we're on Solar....any experience with  
> a solar cooker?
>
> I have built enough this year and so am looking for a pre-made solar  
> cooker that will hopefully cook chicken and bake.  Any experience  
> out there with any of the pre-mades?
>
> Thanks!
>
> Lynelle
> -- Effective immediately, please use the following e-mail address to  
> reach me: lynelle at lahamilton.com
>
> _______________________________________________
> Greenbuilding mailing list
> to Send a Message to the list, use the email address
> Greenbuilding at bioenergylists.org
>
> to UNSUBSCRIBE or Change your List Settings use the web page
> http://lists.bioenergylists.org/mailman/listinfo/greenbuilding_lists.bioenergylists.org
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> Greenbuilding mailing list
> to Send a Message to the list, use the email address
> Greenbuilding at bioenergylists.org
>
> to UNSUBSCRIBE or Change your List Settings use the web page
> http://lists.bioenergylists.org/mailman/listinfo/greenbuilding_lists.bioenergylists.org
>
> _______________________________________________
> Greenbuilding mailing list
> to Send a Message to the list, use the email address
> Greenbuilding at bioenergylists.org
>
> to UNSUBSCRIBE or Change your List Settings use the web page
> http://lists.bioenergylists.org/mailman/listinfo/greenbuilding_lists.bioenergylists.org

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.bioenergylists.org/pipermail/greenbuilding_lists.bioenergylists.org/attachments/20110731/4e18954b/attachment.html>