The title of this post could very well have been “An open letter to Peet’s Coffee”. In terms of frequenting any one coffee shop, Peet’s has always stood high on my list due to their beginnings in Berkeley, but even with that accolade, they are not the highest on my list because they don’t carry an entire line of organic or fair-trade products(Certainly not in any of their fancy drinks) Today another blow caused Peet’s to fall down another rung on my list. They’ve begun selling “sugar-free” lattes and mochas. The sad part is that their fancy posters don’t mention the fact that they put splenda and arethretol into their syrups (I actually had to ask them what made these new drinks “sugar free”)… In case you’re wondering about the negative health impacts of Splenda, just google it and you’ll get a waterfall of links to keep you researching till the wee hours of the night, but here is a link from a source that I like (www.mercola.com) only because he has good research documents, not necessarily because I think he’s always giving the best advice.

http://www.mercola.com/2000/dec/3/sucralose_dangers.htm

Today at Macworld 2008 Steve Jobs unveiled the company’s newest computer Macbook Air. The one feature of this new notebook that perhaps got the least applause from the audience was unfortunately it’s “green” features, and I felt, due in part to how Jobs presented this feature.. WIRED ran this story about the launch along with reactions and criticism from Green-Peace. After reading this article, it became clear as to why there was a lack of enthusiasm on Jobs’ part in delivering this message… He was afraid of being blamed for not doing enough company wide to reduce environmental impacts.. I’m reminded of a story I heard from Joel Makower of Greenbiz.com at an event about 4 years ago about how at that time Nike was one of the biggest if not the biggest purchaser of organic cotton on the world markets yet no-one knew about it. When Nike was asked why they did not make that info public, they said that if they began talking about the fact that only a small % of their cotton purchase was organic, then people would ask why the rest of their cotton purchase was not. Oh the internal anguish people inside companies must feel when they find hiding behind the truth easier than living in it, then and today. Apple can either be blamed for not doing better or they can be applauded loudly for taking the first step and equally held accountable for their second step(something that clearly did not happen at the show) We can only hope that in future events, Jobs can bring the same level of charisma to launching green features as he does when he introduces new colors for ipods. To check out more photos of the environmentally friendly features of the notebook click on the following link.. Read the rest of this entry »

I want to showcase a recent discovery that puts us right up against our understanding of reality. Until today, many “scientists” and skeptics  have been telling us that you can’t burn water. I included, have held that truth dearly.  Today we see that in fact its possible.   This is a wonderful reminder that we need to keep an open mind about more things that we may be quick to say that they “can’t be done” , “are impossible” or are “just in our head.”

Now with more and more companies of all shapes and sizes delivering organic products, it is important that consumers recognize the “quality” and the “real-ness” of these organically produced products. We can’t forget that processed organic food is still processed food which ultimately ceases to resemble food. That truth goes specially with milk and here’s a new video of Mark McAfee founder of Organic pastures giving a quick lesson about the difference between Raw milk, pasteurized and homogenized. Next time you think OrganicValley milk, Organic Straus Milk, or Organic Clover milk, or any of your favorite organic milk brand is the healthier way to go…think again! Soon I’ll have a section on this blog with links and there I’ll include plenty of information on milk.

I can’t say enough about this video on http://www.storyofstuff.com/ …. If you have about 20 minutes, its time well spent. This is probably the first time I’ve seen a concise video that captures so well our society’s addition to “stuff.” The one thing that I feel this video lacks(though it touched on it briefly) is how we treat each other as humans.  Our ability to bring awareness to how we treat each other as human beings or our willing to tolerate how others are treated can go a along way towards sensitizing us to the impact of our “stuff” addiction.   Its not just about technical solutions to the global climate crisis, its also about bringing into our awareness the needs of people around the world…. I know I need to add that to my list of top 10 things to consider for the new year in 2008.

Free at last, Free at last..I just had to mark this momentous occasion marking the restoration of Californians’ freedom to once again purchase Raw milk in California without having to go through the process of partial ownership of a Cow. This has been a battle that had been waged only in the last couple of months due to the fact that a few CDFA employees cleverly placed a few lines of anti-RawMilk language in AB1735. Organic Pastures in Fresno County has been the lead dairy in helping reverse this decision.

Here is a link to the full story:

If you are not familiar with the benfits of Raw milk, I encourage you to explore it for yourself. I’ve included a few links that go into further detail the benefits of raw milk.

Also check out this video from Mark McAfee, the CEO and founder of Organic Pastures Dairy explaining why he switched his dairy from pasteurized to all Raw.

(image courtesy of San Francisco Chronicle)

If you didn’t catch this story, as reported on the San Francisco Chronicle article the fender that protected the bay bridge from the tanker Cosco Busan last November has now been repaired. When this incident first happened, it made me think of society’s true cost in maintaining the petroleum diet. For those of us who don’t keep up with the ins and outs of fuel usages by such vessels, it was our first introduction to the fact that they burn the lowest quality of oil, mainly the byproduct of the refining of crude oil into gasoline. Not only do we now understand the cost to marine life during the spill, but we are also awakened to the air pollution caused by such vessels when they burn this foul fuel… This was a wake up call for us to look at how much unnecessary products we consume, ones manufactured overseas which inevitably have to be shipped over here on these very container ships.

Now to the fun part of this post. Read the rest of this entry »

Just when you thought you could count on a product line such as Burt’s Bees to stay true to its roots, it too has now been purchased by a multi-national corporation with a spotty record. In the past I would have bereaved the marriage of companies such as these but today I hold hope that the philosophies of the purchased company will somehow rub off onto the corporations, ie. their employees and most importantly, their leaders.

For full story, check out the LINK