Eco-Photo

My latest newsletter is out and it features Nau.com and Wingnut Confections.

Shawn Linehan Green Adventures #007 - Be Here Nau

photo by Ken Beck

Merino wool has become one of my favorite fabrics.  I recently bought two light-weight merino wool shirts from Nau - the m1 cap sleeve (pictured above) and the m1 tank. I did a little research on the fabric and found the following:

• Merino wool is wicking, meaning it pulls moisture away from the skin, explaining the comfort I had wearing the shirts in high temperatures.
• Merino wool is naturally antimicrobial, meaning it inhibits the growth of bacteria that joins with sweat and body oil to create bad odors. Without the bad odors I can wear the shirts more often before laundering them, which saves on wear and tear as well as energy and water.
• Merino wool doesn’t need dry cleaning and can be washed in the washing machine in cold water, but just like other wools, merino wool will shrink in the dryer.
• Merino wool is considered to be the softest wool available and comes from Merino sheep, a renewable source.

But sustainable clothing is more than using sustainable fabrics.  From talking with the designers at Nau I’ve learned that sustainble clothing also means designing for longevity - which is a new mindset in our buy and discard fashion world. Nau’s color choices are not based on the latest trends but based on an evolutionary color palette that includes a lot of neutral color tones that can be spiced up with colorful accessories. Also, the clothes are designed with multi-use performance in mind. For example, the Nau Shelter Jacket can protect me from the Portland rain, yet is elegant enough for a business meeting. Instead of having to buy two jackets, I can buy one. Finally, Nau designs clothes with graceful, understated, elegant lines - again, not following the trends.

The two shirts I mentioned above retail for $70 each - a high price for me to pay for an everyday shirt and tank top. Since visiting the Nau headquarters I’ve realized that it’s a fair price to pay for a shirt that looks stylish, performs well, and made out of a sustainable fabric. It’s dawning on me that paying the real price for clothing is actually cheaper in the long run if the full environmental costs are consider in the equation. Nau.com has a good section on how they choose their fabrics and I suggest you read it for more insight into the environmental impacts of manufacturing fabrics.

So, I have changed my goals for buying new clothes. I’ll still buy vintage and second hand clothes, but when buying new clothes I will focus on quality over quantity and buy fewer pieces made of high quality, sustainable fabrics, beautifully designed, and made to last for many years.  When I buy from a company like Nau, I’m not just paying for a piece of clothing, I’m also supporting a company that has similar ideals and goals as I do: consuming less, caring about people, leading a healthy lifestyle, and trying to reserve our resources.

In my July newsletter I featured three cooperatives that all share the goal of sustainability. Writing the newsletter brought up more questions than answers: What is the link between cooperatives and sustainability? How do co-ops work? What makes them successful? Why aren’t they more popular?  I think my first step to answering those questions will be to join one of the food co-ops in town and go to a few board meetings. I’ve already begun frequenting the local food co-ops - since you don’t have to be a member to buy from them - and I love them.  They remind me a bit of walking into a Chinese food specialty store. They are typically small, have strange, wonderful smells, and sell items I don’t see at supermarkets.
Like most people, I have bought from supermarkets all of my life typically choosing food based on taste. Now that I’m learning about the many hidden dangers of processed food, I’m finding I have to be very diligent about reading labels and making smart choices when I go to the supermarket. Frankly, it’s a lot more work to buy food now.  In contrast, when I shop at food co-ops I can trust that someone has already read the labels for me and shopping is easier. Also, food co-ops have a lot of organic and local food choices that the supermarkets don’t carry.

Andrew McLeod recently gave a lecture on co-ops at People’s Food Co-op. His research suggests that cooperatives work when all the co-op members are working towards a higher purpose, like sustainability in the case of a food co-op. Andrew was full of facts and ideas about co-ops during his lecture. One particular item that I found curious came out when someone asked about the link between co-ops and communism. He said that co-ops were very popular before World War II, but fell out of favor when they were linked to communism during the McCarthy years.  These rumors happened to work in favor of the big box supermarkets which were just opening in the U.S.

You can find more information about cooperatives on Andrew’s blog, the Organic Valley co-op page and the People’s Food Co-op page.  I’ve also been seeing more information about cooperatives in the news lately.  Yes! Magazine has an article focusing on worker-owned cooperatives and the NY TIMES has an article on a Health Co-op in Seattle.  Here are a few official sites: The National Cooperative Business Association, the International Cooperative Alliance, the US Federation of Worker Cooperatives, and the NW Cooperative Development Center.

It really doesn’t make any kind of ecological or economical sense to import food or goods that can be created locally, yet that is exactly what we’ve been doing for over 40 years. Many of our craft skills have been scaled up into large factories and then we’ve seen those large factories moved over seas.  Now we find ourselves importing goods that were once made down the road, which is wasting a lot of time and resources in the process.  This globalization has helped to make the world “wealthier” and the people of countries like China and India have certainly improved their living standards.

Because of this new distribution of wealth, populations are growing and, unfortunately, resources are dwindling. We are finding ourselves faced with the challenge of using our resources more wisely. One way to accomplish that is to start producing and selling more goods locally.  Producing our own food and products locally will help us to become more self sufficient, and therefore more in control of our lives. I’m not suggesting we never buy imported goods, but that we begin buying a good percentage of our consumables locally and import the rest.

This is where local economies come in. Local currencies are monies that can only be spent within the community. They are backed by the trust of the people using them - trust that the community can provide goods and services that are needed. Local currencies are a tangible agreement with your community that you will spend your money with the people who surround you. That local exchange of money supports local jobs and helps to provide livable wages to the people living in your community.  And if you spend your money with your neighbors, you’ll get to know to know them and like them, and next thing you know, you are supporting each other in your businesses and your personal lives. This is what I call an enriched and vibrant life.

Local currencies allow transparency throughout the life cycle of a product or food. When I go to the farmers’ market, I’m paying for a farmer to continue farming and lead a good life.  I directly benefit from giving that farmer a good life because he in turns feels obligated to continue to give me healthy, tasty food. When I spend globally, I’m not sure who’s bank account or what agenda I’m supporting.  How do I know that the textile mills in China have good labor laws? Or whether or not the peanuts grown in Texas are sprayed with pesticides? Buying locally increases my power to support others who share my beliefs on how the earth, humans and animals are respected.

Watching the advertising trends of the past years has proven to me that we vote with our dollars. First I noticed that the fast food chains began offering options for the Atkins Diet. Now I’m seeing an incredible amount of “green” products on the market.  These new products were created to satisfy the public’s demand. If enough of us vote wisely with how we spend our dollars, be it local or federal, we are sure to create a more sustainable and humane civilization.

P.S. In doing research on local currencies, I came across a series of interviews with financial experts conducted by Bill Moyers, a highly respected PBS journalist. He is earnestly trying to understand the economic crisis and the series provides some good insights. You can watch them here.

I was amazed to learn that eggs are the result of hens ovulating. Unlike humans, they ovulate almost every day which results in a delicious egg. If a rooster is around then the egg gets fertilized but the chickens lay the eggs regardless. I don’t think they mind us taking their eggs. I learned these facts while photographing chickens which I featured in my April newsletter.

Along with my wonder at nature’s bounty I also learned some rather gruesome facts about conventional eggs. Each backyard chickener I met talked about the horrible living conditions of chickens in the “factory farms” which provide conventional eggs.  I did a little research online and found that our huge appetite for big profits and cheap food has driven the current model of the commercial chicken factory farm. The goal of the factory farm is to get the most egg out of the each chicken. This has lead to the widespread practice of raising chickens in battery cages. Battery cages are small wire mesh cages where the chickens live. With no room to walk or to spread their wings the chicken’s energy is used for the sole purpose of laying eggs. By limiting their movement and feeding them hormones, the factory farms realized they could get more eggs out of each chicken.

Not surprisingly, these conditions make the chickens sick and aggressive. Like other livestock factory farms, antibiotics are used regularly on factory chickens. This habit of feeding chickens and other livestock antibiotics is causing stronger strains of pathogens in humans and it is having deadly consequences.  I also heard that they cut the tips off the chickens beaks so they can’t peck each other. I guess they don’t need their beaks anyway since they are never allowed outside!

I did not visit a factory farm so I cannot say I saw these things with my own eyes.  But this brings up the question of trust. Like many, I’m having trouble trusting big food corporations. I have lived most of my life assuming that the food available to me in the grocery store is good for me. But recent research into the widespread use of ingredients like hydrogenated oils and high fructose corn syrup have changed my assumptions. Now I question everything and trust my own experiences.

My experience with true, free-range eggs is that they taste eggier, the yolks are darker, and I feel more connected to my community. I call them “true” because apparently loose guidelines exist for the term free-range and some egg companies call their eggs free-range even though they only allow the hens access to the outdoors through a small door for one hour a day – not what I would call free-range. Alternately, organic eggs must conform to the more stringent rules and are probably the safest bet for buying in the stores.

So I have switched to buying eggs from local farmers. Humane aspects aside, eating pastured eggs seems healthier.  If we are what we eat, I’d rather eat an egg from a healthy, happy free-range chicken than a sick, depraved factory chicken. Ultimately, I’m responsible for my health and for the food that I put into my body. I recommend doing a quick search on localharvest.org to find a local egg farmer in your area or do some online research on the eggs available to you in the grocery store.  Call up the egg farm and see if you can visit, even if you don’t plan to go. I find that the reputable farmers are open to visitors and I’m suspicious of the one’s who don’t.

I also want to mention a DVD that Frank of Crippled Crow Farm gave me.  It’s called Wegman’s Cruelty and it is a 30 minute documentary on factory farm eggs. It is not easy to watch, but it’s proof that these farms exist.  Also, my friend Christie gave me an article on a study Mother Earth News sponsored comparing the nutrients in true, free-range eggs to conventional eggs that you can see here.

And what happens to the chickens when they are done laying? A lot of the backyard chickens let them live and have a natural death. Others have them “processed” at small chicken processing plants to be used as “stew” chickens. Many ethnic families, still knowledgeable in the old ways, will buy your chickens and prepare and cook them. Bok-Bok!