"green living" news and stories

Despite all the hullaballoo over carbon footprints and "green" building design, The DailyGreen recently pointed out that there are only 38 restaurants in the U.S. that have so far received LEED certification (an internationally recognized certification that stands for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design). Thirty-eight in the whole country? That's a pretty paltry amount, given that, according to the U.S. Census Bureau, there are more than a half-million eating and drinking places in the country. Even more surprising is that 40 percent of those LEED-certified establishments are chain restaurants. Who made the list? Sandwich chain Subway currently has one LEED-certified restaurant in Chapel Hill, N.C; and burger-meister Arby's has a green building in Magnolia, Texas.

The question of whether to go green and shift your diet to a more organic is a challenging one these days. These days all we hear are reports of climate change, the need to buy carbon offsets when you go on long airplane ride and the importance of eating organic. I admit to being on the organic and local shopping and eating bandwagon, although I do it more because the food tastes so much better (and is often less expensive) than the stuff I can get at my local chain grocery store.

Over at Green Daily today, Bruce Watson ruminates on the issue of organic food and whether it's as green and planet-friendly as we'd like to think. Go on over and see what he has to say and let us know what you think.

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In honor of Earth Day (this coming Tuesday, April 22nd) today's featured cookbook isn't really a cookbook at all. Hey Mr. Green is a compilation of questions that people have asked Sierra Magazine's Bob Schildgen (Mr. Green himself) over the course of the last three years. People write in to the magazine and query Mr. Green on ways that they can make their life, well, greener. Many of their questions have to do with food, which is how it becomes an appropriate book for this post.

The second section of the book is entirely devoted to things edible. Mr. Green's provides well-researched replies to questions having to do with local eating verses organic, ways to eat organic foods on a budget and methods of calculating the impact of transporting food to market. He does also include a few recipes and offers up a list of ten things you should take into account when organizing your diet.

When it comes to food these days, it's important to think beyond our own kitchens and out into the rest of the world. We make a lot of choices when we feed ourselves and our families that can have global repercussions and this book is an excellent remind of how to tread lightly.