Looking through the materials I picked up at West Coast Green a few weeks ago reminds me - I better think about ordering a turkey. If you want one that is organic, kosher, or heritage, a little extra planning is called for. In my case, the most important factor is that the big bird led a decent life, preferably outdoors, pecking in the grass and procreating naturally.
Unfortunately, as I learned from reading Barbara Kingsolver's Animal, Vegetable, Miracle, less than 1% of the 400 million turkeys eaten in America each year are the bird we imagine a turkey to be. The single breed raised by industrial-style 'agribusiness" have had flying, foraging, and mating bred out of them. They live their lives in big sheds (if you open a door at one end, the USDA lets you label them "free range"), existing strictly to become meat.
At the conference's tradeshow, I ran into Jason Diestel staffing a booth for Lyngso Garden Materials. He had buckets of mulch and compost on display, including some made with manure from his family's turkeys. Diestel Turkey Ranch calls their birds "range grown" because they spend their days outdoors in the Sierra Nevada foothills, coming in from the pasture to sleep safely in their turkey houses. Unless I can find as happy a bird raised closer to home, I'll be roasting a Diestel this year.
Showing posts with label west coast green. Show all posts
Showing posts with label west coast green. Show all posts
October 11, 2008
October 4, 2008
Ah! Rain
We heard the oddest sound last night - tick tick tick, tap tap tap. Stepping outside, that inimitable ozone smell struck my nostrils - rain! Has it been 5 months? 6? Longer?
Much as I love our long dry season for all its other benefits, I know the plants adore water from the sky. It may carry with it some trace air pollutants; but at least it has no chloramine (our local version of chlorine).
This important difference made me look closely at the rainwater catchment systems being demo'd at West Coast Green last weekend. One system includes a filtration cover for your roof gutters, to eliminate some pollutants from the rain itself, or your roofing materials, before capture in a fairly standard rain barrel. Surprisingly, not many of the wide variety of commercially available rain barrels were on display. The most popular this year, displayed at the green building conference's showhouse, is called the Rainwater Hog. Unlike most cylindrical models, it looks more like a giant brick in shape, holds 50 gallons, and can be oriented one of three directions, stacked with additional units, or chained together (one barrel's overflow runs to the next). Having ruled out a rain barrel in the past for my current home, I am now very likely to rule rainwater catchment back in.
September 28, 2008
Supper at McCormick and Schmick's
The first night of reporting from West Coast Green, we capped off a hectic day with a healthy dose of brain food (fish) at McCormick and Schmick's in San Jose. We walked over from the Convention Center, waited without reservations for less than 10 minutes (not bad, on a Thursday night), and plunked our tired-but-wired selves down in a dim, quiet side room of the main dining area.
As seafood restaurants go, McCormick's does an excellent job of providing fresh choices, with a new menu each day. Wild catch are noted, as are choices approved by any of the safe seafood certifiers. But their interest in freshness and a sustainable catch are definitely 
driven more by consumer demand than by an environmental orientation. Some of the fish is flown express from far-off shores; so fresh in this case is not equated with local. And a fair number of the menu selections are caught or produced in ways harmful to marine ecology, or simply over-fished already. So I did feel a bit as I would visiting a steakhouse serving mainly feedlot beef, with a few grass-fed options.
driven more by consumer demand than by an environmental orientation. Some of the fish is flown express from far-off shores; so fresh in this case is not equated with local. And a fair number of the menu selections are caught or produced in ways harmful to marine ecology, or simply over-fished already. So I did feel a bit as I would visiting a steakhouse serving mainly feedlot beef, with a few grass-fed options.The mixed wild seafood grill (salmon, crab and an MSC-certified Chilean sea bass ) was beautifully plated, and entirely delicious.
September 25, 2008
Covering West Coast Green, Live
Live blogging at West Coast Green is an endurance event; and day one has gone well.
We started the day with a good breakfast - baked yams, and black tea. Lunch was tuna with tortilla chips, gluten-free cornbread with cheese, and a nectarine. At the conference, we carried Clif Bars and Mojos just in case, and re-usable water bottles. Bananas and Dagoba chocolate kindly set out to share in the press room held me over til dinner; but my blood sugar did dip by 6:30 pm when the last sessions wound down and the tradeshow floor closed.
For dinner, we restored ourselves at McCormick and Schmicks, a few blocks walk from the San Jose Conference Center. Lots of fresh fish well-prepared, with plenty of veggies. Skipping dessert would have been a good idea; but we were celebrating a fabulous day.
West Coast Green, while billed as a green building event, is really more about sustainable development overall than simply the construction aspect. The imperative of a healthy food system is by no means ignored by the designers, policy makers and other professionals, and activists. When we've consumed as much of this amazing buffet as we can, there will be lots to digest for months to come.
We started the day with a good breakfast - baked yams, and black tea. Lunch was tuna with tortilla chips, gluten-free cornbread with cheese, and a nectarine. At the conference, we carried Clif Bars and Mojos just in case, and re-usable water bottles. Bananas and Dagoba chocolate kindly set out to share in the press room held me over til dinner; but my blood sugar did dip by 6:30 pm when the last sessions wound down and the tradeshow floor closed.
For dinner, we restored ourselves at McCormick and Schmicks, a few blocks walk from the San Jose Conference Center. Lots of fresh fish well-prepared, with plenty of veggies. Skipping dessert would have been a good idea; but we were celebrating a fabulous day.
West Coast Green, while billed as a green building event, is really more about sustainable development overall than simply the construction aspect. The imperative of a healthy food system is by no means ignored by the designers, policy makers and other professionals, and activists. When we've consumed as much of this amazing buffet as we can, there will be lots to digest for months to come.
September 24, 2008
Gardens as Green Building Features
Green roofs are very popular these days - mainly the thin layer of sedums to catch and filter the first bit of rain that lands on a building. While these may be the simplest to build and maintain, green roofs can do much more. Chicago's city hall, for instance, has a mini-prairie, a haven for local raptors. Friends on Whidbey Island built a full kitchen garden into their earth-bermed not-so-big house.
Today Treehugger ran a long article today about the green walls on 11 buildings (some built, and some just in design phase). One even involved growing food.
At West Coast Green tomorrow, I'll be on the lookout for green roof (and wall) examples that feed as well as green. That and everything else I can soak up will be live blogged on a site dedicated just to this huge green building event.
Today Treehugger ran a long article today about the green walls on 11 buildings (some built, and some just in design phase). One even involved growing food.
At West Coast Green tomorrow, I'll be on the lookout for green roof (and wall) examples that feed as well as green. That and everything else I can soak up will be live blogged on a site dedicated just to this huge green building event.
September 23, 2008
Al Gore at West Coast Green
When I first started this blog, I had just seen An Inconvenient Truth; and I was thinking much more seriously about local food as a route to sustainability. The more I learn, the more I understand that link. And how it fits with community design issues.
Depending on who runs the numbers, our globalized food system accounts for 20-33% of carbon emissions. It runs either 2nd or third, but always in the top three with transportation and buildings (their construction, operation, and eventual disposal). So it makes great sense that Al Gore is headlining this Saturday (Sept 27, 2008) at West Coast Green in San Jose, CA.
Gore will probably focus on energy efficiency, renewable materials, and other key links to carbon emissions that green building practices address. Other speakers - and their are an impressive cadre of them appearing over the conference's 3 days - are more likely to hit on nuances of green building's connections to the food system. Sessions on garden design and ecology, greywater systems, and community design draw the link out, and will help attendees think about issues like how to create food security as a factor when we design personal living spaces and community commons.
Depending on who runs the numbers, our globalized food system accounts for 20-33% of carbon emissions. It runs either 2nd or third, but always in the top three with transportation and buildings (their construction, operation, and eventual disposal). So it makes great sense that Al Gore is headlining this Saturday (Sept 27, 2008) at West Coast Green in San Jose, CA.
Gore will probably focus on energy efficiency, renewable materials, and other key links to carbon emissions that green building practices address. Other speakers - and their are an impressive cadre of them appearing over the conference's 3 days - are more likely to hit on nuances of green building's connections to the food system. Sessions on garden design and ecology, greywater systems, and community design draw the link out, and will help attendees think about issues like how to create food security as a factor when we design personal living spaces and community commons.
September 22, 2008
Heading to West Coast Green
For a change of pace, I am going to a major green event that is not explicitly about food. West Coast Green happens again this weekend, running Sept 25 - 27 in San Jose. I missed it last year, when other responsibilities kept me from indulging my taste for green building. It's a truly dynamic field - so much innovation, constantly in development. Rather like the perpetual remodeling of kitchens, the new homeowner's vice.
No matter how recently a kitchen has been re-outfitted with shiny new appliances, flooring, counters and cabinets, this is the room most likely to be gutted and re-designed by a house's new owners. So I am hoping to see a number of green building principles being demo'd, particularly on Saturday (when homeowners can attend for only $20). First, salvage and re-use. Second, energy efficiency through design and conservation first, new technology second. Third, non-toxic materials made from renewable stock, sourced if not locally, then regionally.
Can an overhauled kitchen still be considered a green kitchen? Depends on what you have to start with, and build upon. I'm hoping to catch what the author of the Not So Big House, who has expanded her arena to the Not So Big Life, might have to say about the re-making of already workable spaces. Should be interesting.
No matter how recently a kitchen has been re-outfitted with shiny new appliances, flooring, counters and cabinets, this is the room most likely to be gutted and re-designed by a house's new owners. So I am hoping to see a number of green building principles being demo'd, particularly on Saturday (when homeowners can attend for only $20). First, salvage and re-use. Second, energy efficiency through design and conservation first, new technology second. Third, non-toxic materials made from renewable stock, sourced if not locally, then regionally.
Can an overhauled kitchen still be considered a green kitchen? Depends on what you have to start with, and build upon. I'm hoping to catch what the author of the Not So Big House, who has expanded her arena to the Not So Big Life, might have to say about the re-making of already workable spaces. Should be interesting.
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