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I have become very involved in food issues, having realized that food production, vending, consumption, and other food related issues including waste and human health are fundamentally related to environmental health.

As I mentioned in my Grammy Greening Summit article, local growers are uniting with raw foodists who are in turn forming food coops to provide things like raw milk. These efforts are being spawned by the exponentially growing number of people who have come to realize how enormously detrimental “conventional” farming is on human and environmental health, while also discovering the superior potential of responsible, sustainable, live agriculture to augment the Earth’s ability to grow and regenerate, while still providing more than enough food for the world’s peoples. (more…)

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>> Sustainable Works’ 2012 Los Angeles Green Living Workshops are back this year! Get solutions to some of today’s greatest environmental challenges and save money in the process. The first workshop is this Wed., Jan. 25 from 7 – 8:30 pm at G2 Gallery, 1503 Abbot Kinney Boulevard, Venice. Cost: free for residents of Santa Monica and Los Angeles Districts 5 & 11. Register online.

>> Steve Glenn, founder and CEO of LivingHomes, gives the talk “High Design; Low Impact. Building LivingHomes” on modern, prefabricated homes that combine world-class architecture with an unparalleled commitment to healthy and sustainable construction this Wed., Jan 25 from 7-8 pm at CODA Experience Center, 10250 Santa Monica Blvd., #133, Los Angeles. Cost free, though RSVP required: concierge@codaautomotive.com.

>> Find the freshest and most healthy ingredients, enjoy personally crafted foods from home cooks and local kitchens, and discover healing foods both old and new at Eat Well Market. They will feature hand-made and hand-grown foods from backyards and kitchens around LA. Join the fun Sat., Jan 29 from 12-3 pm at Camp Mariposa, 615 E. Mariposa St., Altadena. Cost: free.

>> Get a closer look at the precious resource right beneath our feet and learn about the science of soil with our experts at the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles’ Sustainable Sundays this Sun., Jan. 29 from 9 am – 3:30 pm at 900 Exposition Blvd., Los Angeles. Cost: free with museum admission. Tickets are $12 for adults, $5-8 for children.

>> Los Angeles Bioneers is hosting Shannon Biggs who will talk about her work on passing a “Sustainability Bill of Rights” ordinance in Santa Monica, which would strip personhood rights from corporations and give rights to ecosystems instead. Takes place next Tue., Jan 31 at 7 pm at G2 Gallery, 1503 Abbot Kinney Blvd., Venice. Cost: free with RSVP to srnichols@mac.com.

>> Come learn about the money available to SoCal homeowners who make energy-saving improvements. There is currently up to $8000 available per household, with some of the rebates will expiring in March. $200 in rebates will be given away. Come for a presentation about the program with contractors available to answer questions next Tue., Jan. 31 from 6:30 – 8 pm. Cost: free.

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For scrappy upcyclers and would-be renaissance women alike, Erin Bried’s DIY book “How to Sew a Button and Other Nifty Things Your Grandmother Knew” served as a savvy guide to financially savvy, self-sufficient, and sustainable living. But why would a girl stop at just learning just what her grandma knows — when she can pick up her grandpa’s hard-learned lessons too? Thus, “How to Sew a Button” got a sequel of sorts: “How to Build a Fire and Other Handy Things your Grandfather Knew,” a more boyish set of DIY tips for the well-rounded modern man — or woman!

“How to Build a Fire” lends a fresh new perspective on both men and women learning to do “traditionally” male tasks — and even on what those “traditionally” male tasks really are! Erin agreed to answer a few questions about her latest book — which she says is as much for women as for men.
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“How to Build a Fire” certainly has some very male oriented tasks — like waxing mustaches — but also includes what have been traditionally considered “female” tasks — like ironing or sewing. Did the grandpas you interviewed for the book really know how to do all of these tasks? Was there more gender crossover on these types of tasks than we imagine there was back then?

Of over 100 how-tos in How to Build a Fire, and only two pertain to men-only: how to wax a mustache and grow a beard. Every other skill, like changing a flat tire or making homemade ice cream, is gender neutral.

Of course, during our grandparents’ time, there was indeed a greater gender divide. Men typically worked outside of the home, while women worked within the home, and their skill sets do, in part, reflect that. But Lucile Frisbee, 80, taught me one of the most surprising lessons: She said that during the Depression, there was just so much work to be done that, when push came to shove, there was “no men’s work” or “women’s work.” “There was just work,” she said, “and whoever was around was expected to chip in.” If there was laundry to be done or firewood to be chopped, then whoever was free, regardless of gender, took care of it. Everyone had to know how to do these things because their lives (or at least, the quality of their lives) depended on it.

Yes, the men surely did know how to do many of these so-called softer skills, like sewing and ironing. Many were taught these skills in the military and others, like Al Sulka, 88, learned even sooner. Sulka joined the Civilian Conservation Corp when he was 17 years old. He told me, “When I was in the CCCs, I had a side job. I used to iron shirts for 15 cents and pants for 10 cents. I’d have to put three pleats in the back and one on each pocket. We had no electricity, so you had to heat the irons on a stove. Later, I used to iron my daughter’s pleated skirts for school. One day, the nun says to her, ‘Boy, your mother does a good job!’ She says, ‘My dad does it!’ I was so proud.”

I sensed from my interviews with the grandparents that the gender divide—and subsequent devaluing of so-called “women’s work”—came a little later. And unfortunately, I think it still persists. (more…)

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The average woman reportedly has 22 unworn items in her closet, yet on the blogosphere, minimalist wardrobe projects abound. In fact, eco-closets seem to be shrinking fast! Project 333 takers pared down their wardrobes to 33 items for 3 months, while Six Items or Less challengers whittled their closes down to just six items for an entire month.

Now comes a woman who’s pretty much pared down her closet to just one item — for a year. Kristy Powell, a therapist and pilates teacher in New Haven, Conn., plans to wear just one dress for 365 days, blogging her experience at One Dress Protest.

Of course, one dress projects aren’t entirely new. Alex Martin wore a little brown dress for a whole year back in 2005-2006, and more recently, Sheena Matheiken’s The Uniform Project documented a year of wearing a simple, multifunctional black dress — reaccessorized every day to create unique looks.

Kristy’s project is directly inspired by the Uniform Project — which is where Kristy purchased her Little Black Dress for her experiment. In fact, Kristy purchased two identical dresses from the Uniform Project — thereby giving herself some laundering wiggle room.

Why’s Kristy documenting yet another one dress project? “I’ve set out to explore what it looks like to openly, publicly and boldly survey what clothes and fashion mean to me, and to investigate some of the more meaningful implications the world of clothes have for our lives and hearts,” writes Kristy, who describes her choice as part lifestyle experiment, part cultural protest. “One Dress Protest is meant to be both a statement and an action to express my disapproval of and objection to the ways that fashion undervalues, denigrates, objectifies and oftentimes insults women.”

So far, Kristy’s experiment’s run into some comical snafus. First, she spilled split-pea soup on a dress — a stressful mess if the plan’s to keep wearing the same item all year. Then she managed to make one of the LBDs a mini LBD the very first time she washed it. “It shrunk ALOT — 3.5 inches in length to be exact. It was noticeably smaller, resembling more of a long shirt than a dress.”

All that makes for a pretty entertaining read. Kristy’s just finished her first month of her One Dress Protest project. Read her blog to see how the fashion fast went.

Photos via One Dress Protest

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If you’re like most Americans, you send an impressive amount of your hard-earned cash down the garbage disposal — in the form of food waste. Okay — Some of you don’t have garbage disposals, and some of you compost all food scraps (good for you!), but you get my point: Many of us waste a lot of food. In America, we throw away nearly half our food, as food waste expert Jonathan Bloom’s documented in his fascinating book, “American Wasteland.”

The wasteful practice of course takes its toll on the environment — but you don’t have to be an environmentalist to care about this issue. Why do we think of our food as disposable when we don’t think of the money we buy the food with as disposable?

Whether your interest in food waste is driven by a love for environmental conservation, a desire for smarter spending habits, or a simple distaste for waste, here are some inspiring food waste challenges women bloggers have launched to motivate themselves — and others — to waste less and enjoy more:

Zero Food Waste Challenge. For creative cooks, this is the challenge to try. Penny of Penniless Parenting started this challenge last November as a way to reduce food waste while keeping things yummy. The fun aspect of this challenge is Penny’s Thursday updates, which showcase a new tasty recipe created using leftovers.

Breaded noodles, for example, help use up stale bread — and Banana Peel Chutney turns what’s usually considered trash into a meal! If you like the idea of reducing food waste but hate the thought of eating the same dish of leftovers for days in a row, try some of Penny’s recipes.

Food Stamp Challenge. This challenge is just one of a string of food waste-related challenges initiated by Katy Wolk-Stanley of The Non-Consumer Advocate. It all started back in May 2008, when Katy kicked off the Waste No Food Challenge after noticing a strange irony: “I’m so good about being the queen of frugal with my grocery purchases, but it doesn’t take Allen Greenspan to see that it’s not exactly good money management to allow your leftovers to rot way in the refrigerator.”

So she decided to take action, setting herself a goal “to not throw away any formerly edible food” — and asking her readers to join in. The challenge went well for Katy — until a few months later, a visit from her sister and her kids left Katy’s fridge stuffed full of food — and drove Katy to start another, more hardcore challenge: the Buy No Food Challenge. With a caveat that allowed her to buy milk, Katy decided “to see how long my family can go before we have to grocery shop again.” The result: “We all ate well, and nobody got food poisoning.”

Then for June 2010, she issued yet another challenge — the Food Stamp Challenge. The goal: To eat smart on a food stamp budget. That challenge seemed to have struck a special chord with readers, dozens of whom signed up for the frugal-meets-savvy anti-waste challenge. And Katy successfully met her goal — though the high-aiming blogger seemed to feel she should have spent even less on food!

Though the Food Stamp Challenge is officially over, there’s no reason you can’t try your own during a month of your choice. And Katy’s loose, No Food Waste Challenge continues on. Follow her blog (or just the food waste tag) to learn from her frugal ways.

The No Refrigerator Challenge. Want to get serious about reducing food waste while always eating really fresh food? Then this challenge thrown out by Tammy Strobel of Rowdy Kittens will appeal to you. The simple living blogger’s got plans to live in a tiny home — which will not have a refrigerator!

So Tammy’s decided to start de-fridging in preparation — and threw out the challenge to her readers last week. Already, Tammy has a lot of tips to share, from planning ahead to using an icebox. Yes, going fridge-free may seem drastic to many — but for those up to the challenge, a fridge-free life can mean more fresh and healthy eats, less food waste, and lower electricity bills.

Honestly, I’m not ready to go fridge-free yet — but having recently downsized from a full fridge to a mini fridge, I can tell you that a smaller fridge has meant less food waste and lower utility bills for me. Unplug the fridge by signing up for the challenge at Rowdy Kittens.
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Many other bloggers have issued food-waste reduction challenges, from the Eating Down the Fridge challenge to the Food Waste Reduction Challenge. In fact, even the U.S. EPA has a Food Recovery Challenge going for organizations — with prizes! Have you ever started or joined a blogging challenge to reduce food waste? If so, how did the efforts pay off?

[crossposted on Blogher]

Photo by Melissa Goodman

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