A Short Sunday Post [tofu-venture]

This afternoon, Amber and I decided to do a little experimentation with tofu. Before I get started sharing our tofu experiences, let it be known that we are in no way gourmet cooks, (it is debatable whether or not we are even good cooks). But, yesterday we went to the grocery store and bought ourselves some tofu. Today we decided to do a little experimenting with tofu of the extra-firm variety.

Although I am definitely not all that good at cooking, I decided not to look up recipes online, but instead to dive right in. With no real notions as to what tastes good with tofu, or how exactly one cooks it, I struggled with the packaging until I had a large block of tofu sitting there on a plate in front of me. My little sister, who has no interest in our vegetarian experiment, poked it with her finger and promptly said, "That's disgusting." I am a very adventurous eater, and know not to judge something by the way it looks. But I had to admit that the springy texture was a little odd.

I cut 2 thin strips of tofu off of the block, and each strip into 6 pieces. I then decided to marinate 6 of them in soy sauce. I pulled out a nonstick skillet and got to cooking. I called over Amber halfway through cooking the first piece of tofu, and after each was 'done' cooking (we have no experience with tofu and could only guess when they were cooked enough) we cut them each in half and gave them a rating from 0 to 5. The results are as follows:

• soy sauce marinade (3)
• soy sauce cooked in oil (2)
• soy sauce with red pepper flakes (3.5)
• soy sauce with thai seasoning (4)
• uncooked (0)
• plain (1.5)
• cheese (2)
• garlic powder (1)
• chulula sauce (1)
• ground ginger (2.5)
• seafood rub cooked in oil (1)
• sugar (1)

Tofu of the spicy variety was by far our favorite. Although tofu may have an unusual look and springiness, it tastes really good. Amber was not as much of a fan of the plain cooked tofu as I was, but I could happily have some fried or plain cooked tofu for a snack or side dish. Over all, I think that I have learned a little bit more about how to cook tofu, and what goes good with it. This week we are going to try some tofu-oriented recipes and see how they turn out. I am excited to learn more about how to cook with it.

-Morgan

Week One

Week one is over. And our new green tendencies have been very easy to adjust to. Just to review, the tasks we set for ourselves at the beginning of the week were as follows:

• cut phantom power by turning off electronics
• shorten shower time to conserve water
• go vegetarian 

Unfortunately, the phantom power challenge hasn't really come to fruition. Morgan and I have realized that for the most part we don't even use very much power outside of the TV and computer. That kind of limits the amount of phantom power we can reduce, seeing as the computer seems to be a near 24/7 necessity. Although, for the next week we are going to try to power down as much as possible. Like when we are at school or asleep...

As for shortening shower time, we have succeeded. Although Morgan has never been one for long showers, it is a luxury that I've always indulged in. I was sad to see my long showers go, but we have both comfortably limited our water conservation. 

Lastly, our vegetarian lifestyle is suiting us well so far. We feel perfectly healthy and happy. We've been careful to keep a balanced diet- with plenty of protein and iron; even braving 'tofu dogs' on one occasion. (Unfortunately the tofu version isn't quite as tasty as its meaty counterpart. But much healthier, at only 45 calories a piece!) For the most part vegetarianism has been an easy switch. Surprisingly, the only time I've missed meat at all was at the grocery store today when I realized it would be a month before I'd get to taste the succulent deliciousness that is a fish stick. 

And speaking of grocery stores- that leads me to next weeks challenge... Today at the store we bought several bags worth of food, and didn't think to bring a single reusable bag (of which we have several). So, in the future we vow to always keep at least one reusable shopping bag in the car just in case. Besides, most grocery stores will offer you a small discount for forgoing the less green 'paper or plastic' option. See you next week.

- Amber 

Water Conservation

Did you know that billions of people lack clean water? As many as 2 billion people don't have adequate sanitation facilities to rid their water of diseases, and another billion don't even have access to clean water at all. It is no surprise that this is due in large part to the fact that 95% of the world still dumps their sewage into their water sources. In fact, 80% of illnesses worldwide can be traced back to impure water. Sometimes this is hard to believe, living in the United States, where we have plenty of water to drink from hot and cold running taps and water bottles available for purchase everywhere. But it is important to remember that there are billions of people who do not have this opportunity. We need to remember to conserve our water to save it for everyone. Research shows that 80 countries have water shortages.

One of the main causes of the global water shortage is the ever-growing population. As the population increases, the need for drinking water, and water for growing crops. Studies show that the need for water doubles ever 21 years. But, population increase is not the only reason for water shortages. Another important reason that the demand for water has increased so much is due to standard of living; as people eat more meat (as shown in previous posts, meat requires much more water than grain does) than grains, there is more water being used. And, as countries develop, there are more homes with running water, which leads to people using water with greater abandon. Many researchers believe that soon the most valuable resource in the world will become water.

We can all do our part to stop this overconsumption of water; the world's most important resource. We need to stop looking at water as something that we can use recklessly. This means, fixing leaky faucets, switching to water saving shower heads, and buying water-saving laundry machines and dish washers. Also, people can cut down on their meat consumption and stop buying bottled water- refill the same one again.

Like my last article, where I included an environmental themed article from the New York Times, I have written another summary of an article from today's paper. I have decided to include one of these article summaries in each of posts.

In the New York Times today, there was an article, Less Water Vapor May Slow Earth's Warming written by Sindya Bhanoo talking about a recent study that shows that areas with less concentrations of water vapor are contributing to a slowed rate of global warming. This is because water vapor is a heat-trapping gas that absorbs the light from the sun and emits it as heat. Over the past 10 years, water vapor levels in the upper atmospheres have decreased by 10%, causing the Earth's warming rate to slow by 25%.

links to water information:
1, 2

-Morgan

The Reducing Aspect

Every greenie out there has heard the recycling catch phrase, "reduce, reuse, recycle!" Recycling has become common place in recent years with curbside recycling, and bins in schools and office buildings. Reusing materials is also fairly commonplace; refilling a water bottle or washing out plastic containers for storage. But what about reducing?

According to wisegeek.com, ever person throws out a little over 4 pounds of waste every day on average. That tallies up to about one TON of garbage every year, per person! Only a tenth of the solid waste produced by Americans is recycled. And a whopping 33% of all waste produced is packaging materials! So next time you go to the store to buy a toy, or some groceries, choose the less heavily packaged item.

Next time you need to get a drink of water, don't buy a new water bottle- either take a sip from a fountain, or refill a reusable item, like a Nalgene bottle. Americans throw away 60 million plastic bottles every day. Thats 2.5 million bottles an hour. Or 700 bottles every second. The amount of aluminum cans thrown away is enough to rebuild the country's commercial air fleet every three months. And every aluminum can thrown away wastes the equivalent energy of a 1/2 can of gasoline. Instead of throwing these items away, recycle them or choose a reusable option!

In the US, 5 million tons of waste are produced over the holidays. Four million of those tons, wrapping paper and shopping bags! Next christmas ask yourself, does this item really need to be wrapped? Wrapped presents may look nice- but it is a tradition that blows through literally, tons of resources!

Americans make 400 billion photocopies annually, and throw out 650 pounds of paper per person. Every year, enough hazardous waste is produced in America to fill the New Orleans Superdome 1,500 times over. Americans trash 20,000 cars daily. 14 billion pounds of trash are dumped into the ocean annually. 43,000 tons of food are thrown out each day in the US alone.

Are you frightened yet?

All of that waste has to go somewhere. And we have to do something about it, now. But, there is a small light in the future. Recycling, Reducing waste, and Reusing materials can slow this sickening progression.

1,500 aluminum cans are recycled every second in the US. That gives a 96% return on the energy required to make the can initially. The average American now recycles over 300 pounds of paper annually. One ton of recycled paper saves 17 trees, 3 cubic yards of landfill space, 7000 gallons of water, 390 gallons of oil, 60 pounds of greenhouse gasses, and enough heat to warm a home for a year and a half. Producing recycled paper creates 74% less pollutants, and requires 75% less energy than the non-recycled variety.

Even though the waste problem in the United States alone is a massive problem, there is a light at the end of this tunnel. Although the amount of waste every person produces daily is sickening, you, on an individual level can help. So reduce your waste, try to cut down the number of trash bags you fill every week, and recycle like crazy. If everyone takes a pledge the way my sister and I have- we can really make a difference.

- Amber

( Facts courtesy of: http://www.cleanair.org/Waste/wasteFacts.html. )

Vegetarians cont.

Since we have been talking so much about vegetarianism, I find it fitting to fill you in on how our recent switch to the herbivorous lifestyle has been going. 

We decided to start our one month vegetarian challenge 3 days ago. So far, I haven't really had a chance to miss eating meat. And, from what Amber wrote about yesterday, I feel really good about the resources that I am saving by not eating meat. But in just these last 3 days, I have noticed a few things about being a vegetarian. 

Firstly, today we were at our school looking for something to eat for lunch. There is a refrigerated case full of sandwiches and salads. We went up to the case to pick out something to eat for lunch and learned that there was not one vegetarian option available! Even the salads had chicken in them. 

Secondly, since we are 16 and live at home, our mom does the bulk of the grocery shopping and cooking. Now that we have given up meat, she is having to revamp her shopping lists for us. That means more fruit, beans, salad greens, etc. (I am not complaining on that front). And we are now going to have to find some good vegetarian recipes, which will include learning to cook with tofu.

Since no one really feels like cooking tonight, we are having tofu hotdogs. Not the healthiest thing in the world, but they are much better for you than their meat counterparts. I am looking forward to trying some new foods in the next month.

In other news, there was an article in today's New York Times talking about the bleak future of climate change legislation. The article basically tells us that at least for this year, no bill looks like it is going to be passed. Much like Obama's health care reform, the parties are not willing to work together to agree to a bill that is radical enough that it could actually do an effective job. [i.e. Republicans don't want to pass the bill] Among others, Senator John Kerry is trying to create a new bill that can actually be passed, and quickly. We all know that the climate is changing and the sooner we restrict emissions on a national level, the better.

 Advocates of Climate Bill Scale Down Their Goals

- Morgan

Going Vegetarian

As you may have read yesterday, Morgan and I have decided to set a little challenge for ourselves and go vegetarian for one month. For the past two and a half years we've been having "Vegetarian Tuesdays," in which we don't eat any meat. Now, I've known that vegetarianism is much healthier for the environment and for you- but I've never really known to what extent. So today I decided to do a little research... Here are my findings:

• 78 times more energy is used in producing beef than you get out of it (22 times for poultry), while it is equal for soybeans
• It takes 3-15 times more water to produce the same amount of meat as vegetable
• 16 pounds of soybean and grains are used to produce 1 pound of beef
• Eating 1 pound of meat emits the same amount of greenhouse gasses as driving an SUV 40 miles
• Every minute 7 football fields worth of rainforest are destroyed to make room for cattle, while a vegetarian saves 1 acre of trees every year
• You save more water by not eating a pound of beef than you do by not showering for an entire year
• In the US alone, 70% of all grain, 80% of all agricultural land, 50% of all water resources, and 33% of all fossil fuels are used to raise animals for food
• There is no nutrient that you need from meant that you can't get from plants

Not to riddle you with my dogma; but if I wasn't convinced before, I certainly am now. The shear impact that abstaining form 1 pound of beef, 1 burger has on the environment is astounding. For today I would like to leave you with a question: Doesn't it seem worth it to go vegetarian for just one day a week? Think about it.

- Amber

[facts courtesy of: http://www.goveg.com/ and http://www.britishmeat.com/49.htm]

Our Manifesto

My sister and I are pledging to reduce our carbon footprint by one half over the next year. Our current carbon footprint has been calculated to be roughly 10 tons of carbon. This is well below the National average, but much higher than it should be. In the technology reliant lifestyle that the world has created, it is very difficult to personally offset your carbon footprint. We plan on implementing little changes in our lives to reduce our carbon footprint without having to drastically change our lifestyles.

Being 16 years old and living away from the majority of our family, it is difficult to live a life that is near carbon neutral. For instance, there is no public transportation near our house that would allow us to take the bus to school, so we are forced to drive 25 minutes each way, 5 days a week. We also fly up to visit our family in Alaska 3 times a year. This puts out a significant amount of carbon (about 5 tons) into the atmosphere. Almost half of our carbon emission is due solely to transportation.

Our plan is to slowly implement greener habits into our lives for the next 12 months in order to lower our carbon footprint. The first few things that we plan on doing to lower our carbon emission is to:

• reduce, reuse and recycle 
• cut phantom power by turning off electronics when they are not in use
• cut down on water usage by shortening shower time to 5 minutes or less and turning off the tap while brushing teeth
• go vegetarian for a month

We plan on making more of these subtle changes throughout the year and writing about our experiences. We want to prove that it is very easy to live green without drastically changing your lifestyle- although we have not lived lives with terrible carbon emission, being 16, we are now able to drive and will be living on our own soon. It is important for us to learn how to do our part in the fight against global warming before our impact on the planet increases.

- Morgan

Setting a Baseline

Seeing as we are trying to reduce our carbon foot print over time, we first need to set a baseline. Using a website called carbonfootprint.com I calculated a rough approximation of my carbon footprint for the year of 2009. By taking into account several aspects of my daily life: miles driven, meat consumption, airline flights taken, etc. my number came out to be roughly 10 tons of carbon.

TEN TONS OF CARBON!!!

And I'm only 16 years old. The average carbon footprint for an American is over 20 tons, while the average worldwide footprint is only 4 tons. That's 1/4 of what I put out into the environment right now. According to the site, the worldwide goal should be about 2 tons of carbon emitted per person - and just think amount how many people that is. That still puts the yearly global carbon emission at roughly 13.3 billion tons of carbon! No wonder the environment is in such a critical state.

When I set out to calculate my carbon footprint I had no idea the number would be so high. That just goes to show how uneducated the world is on this problem. If everyone knew what a huge impact they had on the environment, you have to hope that they would start to take more of an action. From here on out, it is Morgan and my goal to cut our carbon emissions in half- and once we reach that goal, we will continue to reduce (reuse and recycle).

Thats all for now, I just hope that for today I can leave you with a little more perspective on how much of an impact every person can make. Saying that one person can't make a difference is simply naive. Even the reduction of one ton makes a difference. If every person in the United States would cut down on extraneous flights, or trade in for a more fuel efficient car, carbon emissions would drop significantly. I guess what I'm trying to say is that, YOU CAN MAKE A DIFFERENCE.

- Amber