Get off your fat ass!

I'm always flapping my gums about the good things we can do for the environment; what you can buy for your home, the trees you can plant, the products to stay away from-- but here is a novel idea, how about the management of your weight?

A new study by the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine proves that, "because of food production and transportation factors, a population of heavier people contributes more harmful gases to the planet than a population of thin people."

It seems obvious, it takes more energy to move heavier people, transportation of heavier people requires more fuel, and that creates more greenhouse gas emissions.

"In terms of environmental impact, the lean population has a much smaller carbon footprint," says Phil Edwards, senior lecturer at the School.

The Mayo Clinic describes obese as having a Body Mass Index over 30, the U.S. has 33.3 percent obese people. According to the study, if every American were to be at their "healthy" weight, it would cut greenhouse gas emissions by 270 million metric tons of greenhouse gas emissions.

Bike or walk or carpool to work, pack your lunch in reusable containers, use reusable coffee mugs as your local Gene's Deli (or wherever, USA) and save the planet!! Duh!

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Van Leeuwen Ice Cream

The lines in front of the Grom Gelato place were just too long on Saturday for the two McCoy gals on the move, so, we passed it by. Thank goodness, or we would have otherwise missed Van Leeuwen Ice Cream truck outside of Fairway.

The 24 year old entrepreneur, Ben Van Leeuwen, started this truck after a stint as a Good Humor truck driver. He makes his delicious, rich ice cream from local, hormone- and antibiotic-free milk and cream. There are never any stabilizers or preservatives, plus the other ingredients are culled from around the globe, from Italy to Denmark. Read an interview on Gothamist.

Garden Plot had the pistachio ice cream, where the nuts come from a slow-food farm in Sicily. It had a subtle notes of cinnamon and pistachio, but no chucks- I like my pistachio meaty! And, I had currants and cream, in which all ingredients are local. It's the perfect blend of tartness from the fruit and sweetness from the cream. Plus, the toppings—caramel and hot-fudge sauces, fresh whipped cream, etc—are homemade and organic. And, he introduces new flavors everyday- if you can believe it, the next flavor on docket... banana.

All of his efforts are extremely commendable and make the ice cream taste fantastic... but Van Leeuwen takes his eco-consciousness even further. Each cup is biodegradable, the napkins are made from %100 recyclable material, the spoons and straws are made from sugar cane and corn husks, 1% of his profits go to protecting the Congo Mountain Gorilla, and he’s even buying carbon offsets to make up for the fuel he burns (about 12 miles a day).

The company is serving a gourmet, delicious product and continuing to serve the environment; that deserves an A+ from Helium Balloon!

And this hot weekend, ice cream never tasted so good.

More apartment greening

I have recently moved into a new apartment. From trying to create as little waste as possible, joining a CSA and making my own bread and butter, there are other little things I am doing to make sure my apartment and life are as sustainable as possible.

Enter Renee Loux, green living goddess, with a few tips:

Fix Your Drips
A faucet or shower that spills just one drop per second can waste 3,000 gallons of water per year. A leaky toilet- up to 200 gallons per day. Add a couple drops of food dye to the tank. If it's leaking, the color will appear in the bowl within 15 minutes.

Ditch your Kicks
Many of the pesticides you're exposed to are those you track into your home. Shed the treads when you enter, or use a doormat: it collects up to 25 percent of toxic hitchhikers.

Use Renewable Energy
About 87% of the electricity in the U.S. is generated from nonrenewable resources such as coal, which spews tons of pollution every year. For a small premium, your local utility company may offer wind power and other clean alternatives.

Pamper your AC
Change your air conditioner filter every three months. It cuts energy use by 10 percent and prevents dust buildup. Place the unit in a shaded spot and it will consume 10 percent less energy than it would in full sun.

And, something that actually applies to my new neighborhood in a way I never thought possible in this city; Plant Trees.
Just three well-positioned trees can save the average homeowner $100 to $250 per year in heating and cooling costs.

Quote Sundays

"Be kind whenever possible. It is always possible."

~His Holiness The Current Dalai Lama

Satunesday

Lily Allen
"The Fear"

Bobo and I attended the sold out Lily Allen show at Roseland on 4/20 and watched as Lily bounced around stage in her oversized white tee-shirt, black tights, high-tops and new short bob hairstyle that I have since imitated, duh.


By far, this was one of the coolest shows I've ever seen. Lily evokes the essence of a true rock star- smoking cigarette after cigarette, downing wine from a plastic red cup, throwing the empty to an audience member and cursing like a truck driver. She stripped down to a see through tank top half way through the show and proceeded to lift her shirt to the lyrics, "everything's cool, as long as I'm getting thinner."

Despite all of this, Lily is truly as cute as a button. She's a total sweetheart who deserves the fame she has earned. Throughout the show she introduced her bodyguard, stagehands, and even brought some audience members on stage for an eating contest.

The set list included the Mark Ronson collaboration “Oh My God,” “Chinese” (which is about missing her mother while she’s away... adorable) And she closed the show with a surprising version of Britney Spears' “Womanizer.” Genius.

Peepoo Bag

When My What a Big Blog first emailed me about the Peepoo bag, it was another one of those ideas where I went, "why didn't I come up with this!?"

The Peepoo bag is an inexpensive sanitation system for people who have no toilets and live in highly concentrated areas.


The bag has a gauze liner, and is coated on the inside with a common non-hazardous fertilizer, Urea. When the urea comes into contact with human waste, an enzymatic breakdown takes place into ammonia and carbonate. As the urea is broken down, viruses, bacteria and parasites are killed over a period of a couple hours to a few weeks.

The Peepoo bags are biodegradable and, overtime, the bags acts as a fertilizer. So, not only does the Peepoo bag help a community get rid of hazardous waste, it provides an agricultural advantage.

And finally, the system doesn’t require any water, a valuable resource in today's world.

This product is something I can stand behind, hence why it made it to the pages of helium balloon!

Green Apple (Almost) Volunteering Day

This past Saturday I dragged 4 of my favorite people to the Bronx to volunteer at a local farm. When I was emailed about the experience, this is what I read:

"Experience this hidden oasis in the middle of the Bronx that hosts over 30 acres of fruit trees, chickens, honeybees, a hydroponic system, and community garden beds with fruits and vegetables galore."

I know. It sounds fantastic, right?

Well, now re-read that statement and delete the words in bold.

I guess my brain wanted to go to a hidden oasis in the Bronx so badly (10 blocks from Yankee stadium none-the-less), that I created 30 acres of it. In reality, it was 1 acre, if that, of dilapidated plots, over run with weeds and chickens that were eating each other. Oh, and the bees, they "flew away."

I know- we all look happy, but that's only because by that point we had decided to leave. The volunteer coordinator had no idea what he was doing and after an hour- we decided to spend our sunny Saturday afternoon in the Park, Central that is.

Happy Earth Day

For this blogger, everyday is Earth day. But sometimes I can forget the basics. Here are some age old tips for conserving the Earth for our children.

SAVE ENERGY

• Heat and cool more efficiently. Climate control is the biggest energy hog in the house. Adjust your household thermostat 2° down in winter and 2° up in summer.
• Switch to Energy Star appliances and light bulbs. Install compact fluorescent lightbulbs (CFLs) which use 75% less energy and last 10 times as long. Changing 5 bulbs could save you $150 or more in reduced energy bills.
• Unplug! The Department of Energy estimates 75% of the power used by home electronics comes when units are turned off, but are still plugged in. It takes 2 seconds to pull the plug... so do it!

REDUCE WATER USE

• Don't let your money go down the drain. Water use requires huge amounts of energy; to collect, treat, pump and heat. So fix faucet leaks, keep showers short and turn the sink off when you're not using it.
• Install a low flow showerhead. Save water and money with a low-flow showerhead, which can can save up to 350 pounds of CO2 emissions a year. Try a low flow faucet and toilet as well!
• Wash clothes in cold water. Almost 90% of a washing machine’s energy is used to heat the water. If all American households switched to cold cycles, we could save the energy equivalent to 100,000 barrels of oil a day.

THREE R's

• Always recycle and e-cycle. Not only are you avoiding landfill pollution, you’re reducing the energy and raw resources used for new products. According to the EPA, recycling cuts CO2 by the equivalent of removing 39.6 million cars from the road.
• Reuse, reuse, reuse! Avoiding disposables and throwaways will reduce the amount of energy and resources used to make new products and reduce landfill waste. When you have parties, use washable plastic plates and when you're on the go, carry a portable mug for water and coffee.

GO PAPERLESS

• Say yes to paperless banking. If every American switched to online banking and online billpay, it would decrease greenhouse gas emissions by 3.9 billion pounds - the equivalent of removing 355,000 cars from the road for a year.
• Reduce unwanted mail. The average American home receives a tree-and-a-half's worth of junk mail each year. Deforestation is responsible for 20% of global CO2 emissions! Take control of your mailbox, save trees and get rid of unwanted catalogs and other envelopes you don't open.`

EAT WISELY

• Eat local produce. Locally grown foods require less transportation and less packaging, and therefore have a smaller environmental impact.
• Try going vegetarian a few days a week. It’s healthy for you, and healthy for the planet. If every American substituted vegetarian foods for one meal a week, the CO2 savings would be the same as taking more than a half-million cars off the road.

Find out more great tips from & Together.

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Frying Pan

It's open for the season!!!!!!!!!!!!

Most Wanted

Instead of concentrating on persecuting people who commit serious and major crimes, sometimes small time pot dealers are pursued and sentenced to years in prison.

So, in honor of 4/20, I am posting a list of the most wanted environmental fugitives.

The following wanted posters identify fugitives sought by the EPA’s Criminal Investigation Division. Each one provides a brief case summary and instructions on how to report information related to their identity and/or current location.

The list includes two men charged with smuggling ozone-destroying coolants; a man charged in Illinois with building a secret pipeline to funnel pollutants into the Mississippi River; a man indicted on charges of dumping contaminated grain into the ocean; and, Mauro Valenzuela, who the environmental agency says illegally had oxygen canisters loaded into the cargo hold of a ValuJet airliner that crashed into the Everglades in 1996, killing 110 people. The canisters are believed to have fed a fire that brought down the plane.

These are dangerous people, people!! Keep an eye out!

Quote Sundays

"Today is yesterday's pupil."

Benjamin Franklin, the bomb diggity of Philly

Satunesday

Hang You From the Heavens
The Dead Weather

Rock Star.

How else can you describe a man who keeps creating successful bands, kick ass beats and killer lyrics?

Jack Whites new band impresses me with it's heavy drum and bass and a consistent dedication to bluesy rock.

The band consists of Alison Mosshart from The Kills on vocals, Jack Lawrence from The Raconteurs on bass, Dean Fertita from Queens of the Stone Age, and Jack White on drums!

btw if you love some jack white, check out the flat duo jets on my page, they were a big influence on Jack and freaking ROCK.

His last band, The Raconteurs, made my Top 10 Best Albums of 2008 list. So far, this album has a chance in 2009!

Macys goes floral

Macy's latest window display is called "Dream in Color." It's an homage to Spring and living in harmony with nature.


Constructed by local artist, Eloise Corr Danch, these displays looks as fragile and delicate as a real flower.

Eloise's paper flower sculptures are on view through April 19th in the windows at Macy’s flagship Herald Square store on 34th St. between Broadway and 7th Ave.

The installation features 20 ornate headdresses and more than 2,500 paper flowers strung into colorful, swirling garlands.

For more information and to see more work, visit Eloise's website or contact Eloise directly at 773-206-6704 or ecdanch@gmail.com.

Macy's also offers free 20 minute tours of spectacular imported gardens:

The Paradise Garden transports you to a tropical paradise. The garden features over 300 different species of tropical plants, from green palms to exotic flowers. Since the tropics are known for their array of fruit trees, Macy's brought in a Coconut Tree, a Papaya Tree and an Ensete Red Banana Tree, plus a favorite from last year's show, the Chocolate Tree.

The Woodland Garden celebrates nature's beauty with annuals, perennials, trees and shrubs. In a color palette inspired by the season, the Woodland Garden features such flowers as tulips, daffodils, primula, ranunculus, forsythia and begonias. This garden also showcases some handcrafted birdhouses.

The Community Garden reflects and honors the efforts of the several hundred community gardens that are scattered throughout the five boroughs of NYC. These neighborhood scale gardens are enjoyed by all of those who come into contact with them and they have multiple uses. Whether they produce flowers or vegetables, they are a favorite of all New Yorkers.

The Living Garden is Macy's salute to the Plastic Lawn Flamingo and its impact on American gardens. These flamingos were handcrafted by the artisans at the Macy's Parade Studio, and were hand planted with hundreds of pink kalanchoe by Macy's landscape partner, Ireland Gannon Associates.

The Pink Garden features several new plant additions to the Macy's Flower Show. The first is the Prunus Persica, which is an ornamental Peach Tree that does not bear fruit. This particular tree is called the Corinthian Pink, which has medium purple foliage and lots of small pink double flowers.

Check it out!

And the winner is....

A $5 solar powered... oven???

It's called The Kyoto Box, after the international environmental treaty to reduce global warming.

Invented by Jon Bohmer and his two daughters, this solar-powered oven uses two cardboard boxes, one inside the other, and an acrylic cover that lets in the sun's rays and traps them.

Black paint on the inner box, and silver foil on the outer one, help concentrate the heat. The trapped rays make the inside hot enough to cook casseroles, bake bread and boil water.

Bohmer's invention won the Forum for the Future Climate Change Challenge, a sustainable development charity, which sought to find and publicize the most innovative and practical solution to climate change.

Bohmer beat out 300 other entries, including a machine that turns wood and other organic material into charcoal, wheel covers that make trucks more fuel efficient by reducing drag, and a feed supplement for livestock that reduces the methane they emit by 15 percent.

The box also does is eliminate the need in developing countries for rural residents to cut down trees for firewood. About 3 billion people around the world do so, adding to deforestation and, in turn, global warming.

By allowing users to boil water, the simple device could also potentially save the millions of children who die from drinking unclean water.

"This took me about a weekend, and it worked on the first try," Bohmer said. "It's mind-boggling how simple it is."

The box can be produced in existing cardboard factories. It has gone into production in a factory in Nairobi, Kenya, that can churn out about 2.5 million boxes a month. Bohmer has also designed a more durable version, made from recycled plastic, which can be produced just as cheaply. He envisions such cardboard ovens being distributed throughout rural Africa.

Bohmer is such an inspiration, if he can come up with something so easy, cheap and life changing, so can you!!

Dallas likes to do things bigger. And saving the environment is no difference.

Last week, the Dallas County school district unveiled their latest school bus fleet, the Fryer Flyer. They have become one of the first in the country to figure out how to run a school bus on vegetable oil.

The district hopes to eventually convert all of its buses to this environmentally-friendly fuel.

Congrats Dallas, Texas!!!

Hear the entire story here

Hippies Cry Over Dead Trees

Earth First

"I didn't scream and I didn't cry and now I need to."

I don't want to underplay forest conservation, but this group of Skidmore alum really need to get a hold of themselves.

(thanks for letting me steal JR's joke)

Music for the Earth

The Green Apple Festival is the largest combined environmental and music event on the globe. Now in its fourth year, the Green Apple Festival is dedicated to observing and preserving the earth with good music, free stuff and an overall shared compassion for the planet.

Sign up to volunteer and then join hundreds of thousands of others as we party for the Earth.

Check out what's happening in NYC here!

Quote Sundays

"If we are strong, our strength will speak for itself. If we are weak, words will be of no help."

JFK, 35th US President

Satunesday

"Our Life is not a Movie or Maybe"
Okkervil River

This band made my music junkie friend's top 10 list for 2008. Discovered at SxSW, this group of high school buddies ballads are ruling my Satunesday blog. Reviewed by NYT here.

Local eating at it's finest

Outstanding in the Field is a movable eating experience.

The mission is to re-connect eaters to the land and origins of their meal, and to honor the local farmers and food artisans who cultivated it.

Ingredients for the meal are almost all local (sometimes sourced within inches of your seat at the table!) and generally prepared by a celebrated chef of the region.

Outstanding in the Field will be touring the East Coast this Summer being in New York specifically August 26th-30th. Along with the meal, diners get a tour of the location, whether it be a farm or a restaurant. After the tour, farmers, producers, culinary artisans, and diners share a long table and manga!

But, wherever the location, the consistent theme of each dinner is to honor the people whose good work brings nourishment to the table.

Join them- sign up in your city here.

First ALL GREEN Country

The times, they are a changin'

On March 15th the president of the Republic of Maldives, a collection of atolls in the middle of the Indian Ocean, announced that his country would try to eliminate most of its greenhouse-gas emissions by 2020.

The Maldives is the first country to make this kind of pledge. Perhaps because it stands just under two meters above sea level, meaning it would be amongst the first countries to disappear as sea levels continue to rise. This is terrifying news for the 300,000 residents of Maldives, but, it also spells disaster for people living near the sea everywhere-- Venice, Rio de Janeiro, Tokyo, New York City, the Nile delta in Egypt, the Ganges delta in Bangladesh or the Mississippi delta on the U.S. Gulf Coast. In all, around 3 billion people, half the world's population, live within a hundred miles of the sea.

The plan is to replace the oil that fuels the country’s generators, cars and boats with power from solar panels, wind turbines and biofuels. All of the alternative sources are available to us here in the United States, and everyone on the globe for that matter. For a country that produces less carbon than the state of Louisiana, the Maldives is at the forefront of halting climate change and really doing their part.

Read more here.

(almost) Opening Day

View from Our seats

Went to Yankees (BOO) Stadium on Saturday for an exhibition game against the Cubs. The stadium is beautiful, clean and there doesn't seem to be a bad seat in the house, that is, if you can ever get tickets...

But the best part is, at every trash can there are recycling bins!!! I love to see that everyone is doing a little something to do their part. Even if it only serves as a reminder to fans that you should be recycling, I'm happy!

Unfortunately, the Yankees won, but the new stadium is something to look at!

Tom's does it.... again

Catch the first episode of The Entrepreneurs on CNBC featuring Blake Mycoskie from Tom's shoes, a favorite of Helium Balloon!

Congrats, Toms Shoes!

Filter free!

In the "business doing their part" section of this blog- I wanted to commend Brita Water Filers. Brita and Preserve, a U.S. company manufacturing household products from recycled plastic, have teamed up to create a take-back recycling program for Brita pitcher filter cartridges!

Preserve will recycle 100% of the plastic casing and the filter material will be regenerated or converted to energy.

Drop off your used filters at any Whole Foods or mail them in.

“By working with Preserve, we are able to strengthen our sustainability commitment and identify a Brita filter recycling solution that is a win for consumers, the environment and our company,” said Don Knauss, chairman and CEO of The Clorox Company, makers of Brita products. "This initiative is one of many ways The Clorox Company is actively making its consumer product offerings more sustainable and creating positive impacts in the area of waste reduction."

Yeah!

Quote Sundays

"The beauty of the past is that it belongs in the past."

Margaret Bourke-White, photojournalist

This multi-artist collaboration comes from the documentary "Playing for Change: Peace Through Music." A group of artists traveled the globe asking street musicians to contribute with their versions of the classic song, Stand by Me. I think it's a beautiful interpretation of the song; showcasing that no matter what neighborhood you come from, music is still the same and connects us all.

Meditation

Meditation is the key to longevity, good health and peace of mind.

It can help you understand your own mind and eventually enable you to transform negative to positive, disturbed to peaceful, unhappy to happy.

Bobo first introduced me to the idea of practicing meditation 2 years ago. We went out and bought beautiful meditation pillows to enhance our practice.

I was given more direction on meditation from someone at work. It's not an easy practice, but he gave me some great advice to get started. The first steps, he told me, are to come into it with an open mind. Be in a space where you are comfortable and it is quiet. Close your eyes. Breathe. Clear your mind. Look behind your eyelids and concentrate on that darkness and nothingness. What happens to me is that I begin to see lots of colors shooting across the plains of my mind and then, my mind goes blank.

But then I was stuck- where do you go from there?

It was then I stumbled upon my friends cousins website. I discovered the essence of Kelly Morris, a true yogi. She embraces the body and spirit of the practice with a vibrant energy. She teaches yoga and meditation classes from her hometown in New York.

Here are some words from Kelly's latest email:

We are all in samsara together.
And there is only one way out: together.
In order to leave this broken realm, we must create the causes.
The causes are helping others, all the time, everyday,
in any and every way we can,
without hesitation,
with joy, with wisdom.
Look at every person as follows:
"How can I help this person?" Then DO IT.
Every time you help another with wisdom,
you push yourself farther out of samsara.

Kelly leads a weekly podcast in which she guides you through your practice. Her calm tone and words help me slip into guided meditation with ease.

Eventually, I will be able to perform this on my own and throughout the day, not just while seated in meditation. But, I have yet to be able to master that, distractions come too me easily.

Try it for yourself.

And enjoy the inner peace that comes from meditation.

Pesticides

Wash, wash, wash your fruits and veggies!!

It's never been more important than it is now, in a world where pesticides can practically be labeled as organic. Blech!

I found this guide to the top 10 worst contributors. It provides you with a way to make choices that lower pesticide exposure in the diet.

Most Contaminated:

• Nectarines (97.3 percent)
• Peaches (96.7 percent)
• Apples (94.1 percent)
• Imported grapes
• Celery (94.1 percent)
• Sweet bell peppers (81.5 percent)
  
• Carrots (82.3 percent)
• Kale (53.1 percent)

Least Contaminated:

• Tomatoes
  
• Broccoli
• Eggplant
  
• Cabbage
  
• Sweet pea
  
• Asparagus
• Sweet corn
• Onions
• Avocados
  
• Pineapples
• Mangoes
• Kiwi
• Papayas
• Watermelon
• Grapefruit

Its also important to remember that while buying organic certainly cuts down on the potential for pesticide poisoning, it doesn't negate all pesticides. So, remember to wash and choose wisely! Or, just grow your own!

I regret to say

HAPPY APRIL FOOLS!

Play a prank on someone today. Be leery of smirking friends, NPR and Google; they like to play obscure jokes on the rest of us fools.

xxx