Check out this article for 6 Healthy Uses for Coconut Oil. It also includes a Creamed Spinach Recipe. I'm now writing articles for CTN Green's Wellness blog page. My latest article on Green Food Trends is here for your reference. I'm very happy to be sharing these trends with more communities to show that we can be good to the planet's living things and systems and enjoy gourmet food! COK's 2009 MTV advertising campaign features two of their most powerful ads, "Exploring Your Food" and "A Side of Truth," which ask viewers to think about where their food originates. They hit the national MTV airwaves on February 23. You can see the videos here. A new Pasta Pomodoro menu will be available to all locations on March 3rd. I was lucky enough to preview their new menu and visited their Noe Valley San Francisco location on 4000 24th Street with a friend where I tried several vegan items, and my friend tried vegetarian selections. The impact of one voice; the power of many. On Thursday, March 5, 2009, A POWERFUL NOISE Live will appear in 450 movie theatres across the United States. This one-night event will feature the acclaimed documentary followed by a town hall discussion broadcast live from New York City to each theatre. A POWERFUL NOISE Live begins at 7:30pmET/6:30pmCT 5:30pmMT/8pmPT(taped). Panelists include Madeleine K. Albright, Natalie Portman, Christy Turlington Burns, Nicholas Kristof, Dr. Helene Gayle and more. Find a Theatre/Buy Tickets. Sylvia Earle: Here's how to protect the blue heart of the planet (TED prize winner). This is a must-see video. The goal of the Awards is to raise awareness and celebrate outstanding achievements in water conservation through best practices, efficiency and innovation. Awards are presented in the following categories: government agency/water utility, business, organization, individual, most improved, and multiple benefit. The deadline for applications and nominations is March 6, 2009. The Awards will be presented Monday, March 23, 2009 in conjunction with World Water Day. Alice Waters recently wrote an op-ed article NY Times article regarding US Food Policy, the national school lunch program, and the changes which need to occur. Drawing by Tamara Shopsin Chelsea Green recently published this excerpt from Fresh Food from Small Spaces: The Square-Inch Gardener’s Guide to Year-Round Growing, Fermenting, and Sprouting by R. J. Ruppenthal. The Berkeley Ecology Center provides the public with reliable information, tools, hands-on training, referrals, strategies, infrastructure, and models for sustainable living. They run Berkeley's residential curbside recycling program, the Berkeley Farmers' Markets, Farm Fresh Choice food justice program, Terrain magazine, EcoHouse demonstration home and garden, the Ecology Center Store, and a variety of Information and Climate Change Action programs. The California Food and Justice Program is doing great work as well. Photo: Ecology Center My last e-newsletter featured free organic gardening March classes. They are now full, however, April is still open at this writing. More details and registration information can be found here. Veg News is sponsoring an SF Vegan Drinks event on Thursday, February 26. More information about the event is here. Image: VegNews Green roofs have been popular in Europe since the 1970s, and government incentives helped spur that growth. Their popularity in the United States has grown in the past decade. The San Francisco Chronicle recently featured the Green Roof projects at the California Academy of Sciences, Glide Foundation, and East Oakland's E.C. Reems Academy, and the full article is here. Bay Localize also offers a free downloadable Use Your Roof Guide. (Image Courtesy of Glide) Bon Appétit Management Company developed operational initiatives to minimize their carbon impact in addition to an educational campaign aimed at increasing awareness about the issues, including reducing the amount of beef they purchase by 25% by April 2009 and launching a campaign to inform their customers about the link between beef and cheese to climate change so they will be able to make conscious choices. Bon Appetit has a Low Carbon Diet Calculator that is designed to allow you to compare the relative carbon impacts of your food choices. Check out http://www.eatlowcarbon.org Introduction to Organic Garden Design, Garden Care, and Watering classes are offered free on these dates: 4/4, 4/11 and 4/18. For more information, please see the Garden For The Environment website for additional details. Bring your community together to chart a course of action that: Creates jobs, boosts the economy, reduces greenhouse gas emissions, enhances community life, and engages citizens in the solutions. Planting perennial vegetables are a great way to save time and money. Asparagus, rhubarb, and strawberries are some popular perennials. See the article for more details. What is your favorite perennial vegetable? Happy Valentines Day Everyone! Thank you for all you do to help make this world a better place. On Gratitude Gourmet, I've featured 3 amazing chocolate companies that provide delicious chocolate and help the world. Since Valentines Day is upon us, I've summarized the list here for easy reference: Farm Sanctuary Chocolate, Grey2KUSA Greyhound Chocolate, and Jane Goodall Chocolate. While at the International Gift Show in San Francisco last weekend, I met Robin at La Lavende Soaps. I stopped at her booth because it was packed with people unlike many of the other booths, and I had to learn more. These beautifully-scented soaps contain either olive, shea butter, or palm oil, or combinations of them. There are no animal products, and they re-use and recycle everything possible and cooperate with other businesses to reuse packing material. Here's another bonus: a portion of every 100g soap purchased will be donated to an emergency fund for women battling breast cancer. We'd like to expand Gratitude Gourmet to provide more features and offerings for you, our readers. Ideablob is offering a prize, and if Gratitude Gourmet wins, fun features will be added to the site. Please vote for Gratitude Gourmet on Ideablob. |