Comments on: Recommended: Animal, Vegetable, Miracle

By: John<a href="https://sportinggoodsfishingdirect.com/">Sporting Goods Fishing</a>

Tue, 24 Mar 2009 09:16:00 +0000

Beth
Very interesting reading.
Where I live there is a lot of promotion to re use your plastic shopping bags, take them back to refill. However I do get dismayed when I see imported meat or vegetable products undercutting local produce at the supermarket.

By: CindyW

CindyW — Wed, 10 Oct 2007 04:42:00 +0000

Beth, love your comment at the end. I often feel defeated. One day I heard Wangari Maathai, Kenya’s green belt movement leader, on the radio. She was asked whether she felt dis-heartened about her tree-planting effort given the environmental destructions all around her. She said something like, with knowledge came the burden of responsibility. She didn’t have a choice. It really stuck with me. So whenever I feel that individual actions do not matter, I ask myself what else would I do? There is no way back to B.K (before knowing) :)

By: Deb G

Deb G — Tue, 09 Oct 2007 03:06:00 +0000

Guess those pears are delicate :)

Seriously, it was the fruits and vegetables in plastic that disturbed me the most.

Our farmer's market has a fair amount of plastic too, but it's pretty easy to leave behind. I've brought reusable containers to pour berries in for my trip home and left berry baskets behind. A couple weeks ago I saw two individuals putting peaches in reusable containers too!

By: Beth in the Fake Plastic Fish Tank

Beth in the Fake Plastic Fish Tank — Mon, 08 Oct 2007 14:55:00 +0000

Hi Deb G. I also thought that buying locally would mean less plastic. But then I saw how much plastic was used at my local farmer's market and was really dismayed.

Agreed, Trader Joe's is one of the worst offenders. I also think that their growers do not get well-compensated. And why do Asian pears need to be encased in plastic?

By: Deb G

Deb G — Mon, 08 Oct 2007 13:02:00 +0000

I’m about half way through Animal, Vegetable, Miracle (started reading it for the Crunchy Chicken group too). Lot’s of interesting thoughts in that book!

I do think it ties in very well with plastic as a topic. Local food is not packaged in tons of plastic usually. This past week I went into a new Trader Joe’s that opened close to where I live and was so dismayed by how much plastic they use….

By: Bob Uva

Bob Uva — Fri, 05 Oct 2007 18:35:00 +0000

Great post! I've read Pollan's The Omnivore's Dilemma and it did change my lifestyle. We now subscribe to a weekly organic produce delivery service which delivers lots of fruit and veges from farms within about one-hundred miles of Portland, Oregon, where we live. And I switched from cow's milk (although it was organic) to a rice milk drink to have with my morning cereal.

But what I especially liked about your post was the last paragraph, where you said:

"What matters is right now, how we are to each other and the planet in each moment."

and

"Let's help each other to wake up."

This is the key message!!! We must act now and connect with others to do so.

By: terrible person

terrible person — Fri, 05 Oct 2007 16:57:00 +0000

Yes, the goal should not be perfection, but awareness. We should try not to be like John Travolta or Jake Gyllenhaal -- and break out of our plastic bubbles!

By: Rosa

Rosa — Fri, 05 Oct 2007 15:45:00 +0000

Your recognition that your plastic use goes up when you are having a bad day (or week, I’m sorry) is a really good one. Thank you for pointing that out.

It’s like keeping a food diary – a lot of us consume in relation to our emotional state, both food and stuff, and just becoming aware of that can help both the overconsumption and the emotional ups and downs.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Fri, 05 Oct 2007 15:39:00 +0000

aw so proud of this blog!! and im excited to be seeing you in a few hours!!
*marika

By: Rejin L

Rejin L — Fri, 05 Oct 2007 13:00:00 +0000

Beth, I appreciate your thoughts on local food, and your effort to do what you can and not worry about what you can’t.
Your plastic project seems to be about making thoughtful choices, mindfulness – not mindlessly accepting that things are the way they are, so there is no point thinking about the consequences. If everyone was as thoughtful about their daily actions and choices, we might not all reach the same conclusions, but I think the outcomes would skew more towards sustainability.