lindaaslund's Flickr photostream/Creative Commons

Halloween is usually associated with orange and black, but that doesn’t mean you can’t be green and ghoulish, too!  To help you have a wickedly fun Halloween that frightens your neighbors, but not the planet, I’ve put together a list of frighteningly Green Halloween Ideas.

1.  Green Costumes

With very little money and time you can put together an eco-friendly Halloween costume that will surely win you plenty of treats (or tricks depending on what you’re looking for).  Check out my list from last year of the Top Ten Last-Minute Homemade Green Halloween Costumes for some ideas that would frighten Al Gore.  This year I will be sporting a dorky suit jacket, loud tie and sneakers to go as Marc Summers when he hosted Double Dare, and will be joined by a Family Double Dare team.  Apart from being low-budget, low-impact and just plain ridiculous, the costumes will also feature slime, which as we know is a particularly hot environmental topic these days.  (Just make sure you don’t use toxic face paint for your costume, now that’s really scary.)

2. Green Decorations Read the rest of this entry >>

westerndave's Flickr photostream/Creative Commons

New York City’s recent health initiatives, championed by Mayor Bloomberg, have been meet with mixed reception. While I’m not convinced a ban on bake sales is the best approach to combating obesity, I do think that parts of the campaign–such as ads warning against the adverse effects of sugary drinks–are important means of helping people make smarter choices about what they eat.

Well, apparently the campaign has provoked the ire of the non-profit Center For Consumer Freedom, which is asking “When did the Big Apple become Big Brother?”  The group has launched a $1 million dollar ad campaign, which criticizes New York’s campaign against sugary drinks and trans-fats. “Sweet Scam,” the group’s latest ad series, attempts to defend high fructose corn syrup (HFCS) against accusations that it has contributed to rising rates of obesity and other health problems. The campaign sounds an awful lot like the propaganda style of the “Sweet Surprise” ads launched last year by the Corn Refiners Association. Take a look: Read the rest of this entry >>

dcjohn's photostream (CC)

Discussions about a proposed tax on soda and sugary beverages have arisen lately as a way to help counter the rising trend in obesity and to help fund President Obama’s health care initiative, but the food companies that produce those products are fighting to put an end to the talk.  Personally, I think the tax sounds like a great idea and hardly think the beverage industry would suffer dramatically from a 3% tax increase.

The proposal is projected to generate over $24 billion dollars over the next four years, which would go a long way towards rebuilding our health care system, a significant portion of which goes towards treating preventable problems such as diabetes and obesity, that have been clearly fueled by decades of an overabundant and cheap calories in our diet. The organization Americans Against Food Tax, which not surprisingly includes many of the countries leading beverage manufacturers wants to portray the proposed tax as un-American.  Take for instance this commercial, which depicts drinking soda as a healthy, family activity, and warns of a tax that threatens budgets and life’s pleasures: Read the rest of this entry >>

fresh veggies from my recent trip to a Seattle farmers market

Don’t worry, this isn’t a promotion for the latest skin treatment or time-share deal. It’s less complicated but involves something that happens 52 times a year: Mondays. What do Mondays mean to you? Do you jump out of bed, excited to start a new work week? Or, are you a bit lethargic, seeing the world in shades of gray, with a bit of a gloomy attitude?

Monday’s root meaning is new moon. New moons are often treated like January 1st: a time for renewal, rejuvenation and change. It seems like most people relish the first day of the New Year as an opportunity to reset their intentions and change their behaviors. Gyms are suddenly packed, people forsake desserts and take lunchtime power walks. However, by February, most people, unfortunately, have reverted to their old ways. The buzz at gyms has returned to the normal levels, cupcake sales are back up and power walks have been replaced by power lunches. But, if we treat every Monday like January 1st, we can improve our nation’s health, save money on healthcare and have much happier Mondays 52 times a year. Read the rest of this entry >>

Food advertising is all about buzz words. Why have high-fructose corn syrup when you could spring for natural sugar? Why soda when  fruit juice is packed with antioxidants? Food producers think your choice is obvious, but is it?

Within the past year, consumers have been introduced to a new supermarket lexicon. Pepsi announced in March that it would be releasing a soft-drink that replaces much-maligned corn syrup with cane sugar, natural caramel and kola nut extract. Pom Wonderful built a niche market around antioxidant-packed fruit juices. Grass-fed cattle are making appearances at butcher counters and on restaurant menus across the country. All-natural, free range, sustainable–the list grows daily. Read the rest of this entry >>

Uwe Hermann's flickr photostream (creative commons)

Consumers and food manufacturers are increasingly returning to sugar as their preferred sweetener, despite the Corn Refiners Association’s desperate attempts to market High Fructose Corn Syrup (HFCS) as a “natural” and nutritionally equivalent alternative.  This is great news for those of us who were concerned about the growing links between the pervasive use of HFCS and rising levels of obesity, diabetes, corn allergies, mercury poisoning, and commodity crop subsidies.  Not surprisingly the Sugar Industry has nothing nice to say about HFCS.  Many nutritionists and researcher, on the other hand, caution that sugar, especially in excess, can still lead to weight gain and health complications.  Fair enough, but I’m just glad that we’re at least being given more options for sweeteners.

In general I think our best bet is to avoid processed foods as much as possible, which are often loaded with excessive sweeteners and other chemicals our bodies often don’t know how to process.  I may sound like an old hippie, Read the rest of this entry >>

Remember the halcyon days of Crystal Pepsi? It was from a time of human evolution when we were all willing to admit that the tagline “The Joy of Cola” makes no sense whatsoever. If you were thinking that the rascals over at Pepsi were empty handed, behold, their newest gimmick: Pepsi Natural!

Keacher.com via Buzzfeed has a breakdown of a Pepsi vs. Pepsi challenge. First off, it seems the new soda continues in the vein of it costing a lot of money to get icky things taken out of the stuff we all use and ingest. Whereas a gallon of regular Pepsi would go for $3.69, a gallon of Pepsi Natural would go for a whopping $12.50.

In terms of ingredients, the biggest difference seems to be that high-fructose corn syrup (bad?) has been replaced with actual sugar (er, good?) plus the addition of Kola Nut extract, which sure, sounds exotic, but doesn’t necessarily make the drink actually natural — to say nothing of organic.

As for taste, it comes up a draw! Read the rest of this entry >>

The utterly disturbing high fructose corn syrup (HFCS) ads are still airing on TV.  The Corn Refiners Association is sticking to the “fine in moderation tag line,” even after mercury was discovered in HFCS.  In response to this absurdity,  the amazing filmmakers behind, King Corn, created a fabulous short:

takepart Contact the President of the Corn Refiners Association and tell them how you feel about HFCS in your foods:

Audrae Erickson
President
Corn Refiners Association
1701 Pennsylvania Ave., NW
Washington, DC 20006-5806
Phone: 202-331-1634
Fax: 202-331-2054
pressinquiry@corn.org

Related:

Sweet Deception: High Fructose Corn Syrup Ads Hit the Airwaves
Sweet Revenge: High Fructose Corn Syrup Ad Tells Not So Sweet Truth

A recent Washington Post article cautioned “Go Slow, Foodie”, suggesting that the Food Movement needs to articulate it’s goals more clearly, and avoid rushing to accomplish too many food policy changes, now that President Change is in office.  And while I agree that we need to be specific about what needs to change, I also think that overhauling a broken food system will not be as easy as following the steps of an old recipe.  There are many issues to address, and a variety of ways those concerns can be addressed.

Just as Obama’s campaign won from the ground up, I believe a grassroots approach will serve us better than simply expecting a food czar to take care of everything.  That said, I do think having a champion of sustainablity as Undersecretary of Agriculture would be extremely helpful for getting things done in D.C., but we need to address the issues from other angles, as well:

• Symbolically, I think a White House garden would do wonders to encourage the nation to source our food more locally.
• A revitilized food stamp program that allows for more fruits, vegetables and whole grains would help improve help provide a healthier diet for low income families.
• Eliminating High Fructose Corn Syrup from our diets, could help begin to address rising levels of obesity and diabetes, and now mercury poisoning.

At the end of the day, Read the rest of this entry >>

Potentially dangerous levels of mercury have been found in high fructose corn syrup and foods containing the sweetener,  according to two new studies.  I’d like to thank the researchers for confirming my concerns about the cheap, alternative sweetener found in a wide variety of foods in the supermarket, from sodas to condiments to bread, and beyond.  The list of hazards associated with High Fructose Corn Syrup continue to grow, and now we can add mercury poisoning to diabetes and obesity.

The toxic metal is probably not the “surprise” the Corn Refiner’s Association had in mind with their Sweet Surprise campaign, aimed at quelling public distrust of the sticky stuff.  And while the CRA obviously argues that the studies are flawed or outdated, even the remote possibility of adding mercury to our diets should be enough to convince consumers to steer clear of foods containing HFCS.  Unfortunately, the sweetener is incredibly pervasive and found in so many processed foods, due to a powerful corn lobby, corn subsidies, sugar tariffs, and because the easily transportable liquid is just plain cheap.  And yet, while it may be cheap for the manufacturers, we as consumers will ultimately pay a high price when our health is compromised.  (And Michael Pollan reminds us of the environmental impact of producing HFCS). Read the rest of this entry >>