We Are What We Eat

If you are what you eat, and especially if you eat industrial food, as 99 percent of Americans do, what you are is "corn." This quote is taken from the website: www.ecoliteracy.org. The authors of this sentence argue, that after examining the food chain of popular foods in the USA (mainly fast food) it almost always lead to the corn field in Iowa. I was surprised and shocked to learn for example, that french fries in McDonalds are fried in corn oil!

This website made me think more deeply into this topic. How important is food in our lives? Very important, indeed, but do we really know what we eat? Although we are living longer now, most of the people are overweight and a very big percent do not really know from where their food comes from (Argentina, Africa, Chile?). When I pick up food from our grocery store, I basically look for the following features:
- Food is local. This is the MOST important matter I consider when buying fruits & vegs, fish, meat or cheeses. If we all choose the local food, millions of transport cost would be saved. When food is transported across the ocean, God knows what ingredients they add in order to preserve it for long time.
- I read the labels. It may take some longer time shopping, but it is worth it. Be sure to read the small letters and signs. Reading the labels is important, because after all, the governments are trying to protect us somehow and there are some regulations about labeling the food properly. We are all literate humans, so we should READ more carefully, especially the expiry date.
- Disregard colourful packing. It may look good, but over-packed items are to be avoid. If the supermarket has a stand for fresh food, visit it more often.
- Food diversitication. Do not stick to one kind of food only, because if it turns bad, you will be way more affected if you eat it every day, than if you eat it once a week. This is also very important for your diet, of course.

And finally, I would like to share another very interesting link on the topic, which I found on facebook today - www.giyireland.com. It is a charity, which is there to inspire people to grow their own food. There are some really useful ideas and tips for food growing. An amazing website and an amazing idea! I wish them good luck!

World Meter

I've always been fascinated with figures, because they can be a life-changer and always bring some food for thought. That's why I was struck by a website I discovered just recently: www.worldometers.info - a site for world statistics updated in real time. At first I though it is a joke, but it turns out it is a project, which involves many institutions and many people. With the help of algorithms and data from the "most reputable organizations and statistical offices in the world", the website provides "just in time" statistics in 32 languages about current world population, number of births and deaths this year, health care, education and military expenditure for the year and many others.

The reason for posting this info on my green blog is the figures in the environmental, food and energy sections of the site. We all know that hundreds of hectares of forests are cut each year, but when you see the figure 1 555 952 hectares of cut forest for THIS YEAR ONLY until now 20.02.2011 it really hits you. I was also shocked by the fact that there are more overweight and obese people in the world than undernourished, or that there are exactly 15 628 days until the end of oil. Well, enough said. Check the website or the statistics copied below for yourselves and make your own daily changes and global conclusions.

Environment
1,556,239	Forest loss this year (hectares)
829,333	Arable land lost due to soil erosion this year (hectares)
3,085,490,576	Carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions this year, in tons
14,553178439	Current average temperature (Celsius)
2,048,289	Desertification this year (hectares)
19,176	Species that have gone extinct this year
1,353,185	Toxic chemicals released by industries into our air, land, and water this year (tons)
129,805,777	Kilometers Earth has traveled in space within our Solar System this year

The Green Religion

The religion does not have such power over new generations that it had with old ones. Maybe it is the advance in technology or the globalization, but this is a fact. However, there is a new "religion" born - the green religion. If you search Google with words like "green", "eco", “organic”,"veg", etc. you will find thousands (if not millions) of blogs dedicated to it, movies, publications, campaigns, and what not. People are passionate in the green idea - they truly believe that any one of them can make a difference. The God of the green people is our planet - the Earth.

As it is common with religion, people turn it into business. So is with the green idea – there are now organic cheese, milk, chocolate, muesli, clothes, vehicles, fuel even wine. They all usually have the distinctive green packing and sign and are little more expensive. There is also green energy, which is actually the true deal breaker. The first movers turned millionaires from this business.

The green religion also has its sacred signs and rituals. These are, for example, doing the recycling, saving paper, changing all bulbs at home with energy saving ones, shopping in organic shops, and others.

Green is even into politics, winning more and more votes every year in almost all developed countries (The Green party). In some countries green people are able to affect the ruling. Every child knows about environment and green practices today. Green is everywhere we look. It is the colour of our generation. It is the colour of the 21^st century.

Out of all these, the green religion has been born. Its followers are young, educated people, who would like to live in a greener planet and to breath clean air. They are global people from all over the world, who share the same believe, no matter where they were born. Let’s just hope that this new religion will not bring along new conflicts and wars. Like the old religions did.

10 Ways to Cut Your Paper Waste

Today, 90% of paper pulp is made of wood. Paper production accounts for about 35% of felled trees,and represents 1.2% of the world's total economic output.Recycling one ton of newsprint saves about 1 ton of wood while recycling 1 ton of printing or copier paper saves slightly more than 2 tons of wood.

Well, here are my recommendations to cut your paper waste:

1. Migrate to electronic bills. Ask your bank, water and electricity supplier, etc., to send you an electronic copy of your balance/invoice. Yes, I know it will take you an effort and maybe some of your time, but it is worth it! I keep receiving tones of neat letters with my bills, which I never read because I check them online, much earlier. I usually send them straight to the bin without even bothering to open them. So what is the point of these neat letters?
2. Fight the leaflets. Just imagine this - millions, maybe even billions of leaflets are printed every day and distributed to houses, offices, malls, etc. According to the marketing people, about 2-3 % of the leaflets are actually read and some action is taken. This means that 97% of these millions leaflets (tons of paper) are.. well, wasted. Furthermore, leaflets are unwilling by the receiver, pushy and annoying. Obviously, we cannot stop this overnight. But I suggest the following: never pick up a leaflet from a street-giver and put a note on your mailbox at home and in the office with the following sign: SAVE A TREE. NO LEAFLETS IN THIS MAILBOX, PLEASE!
3. Say NO to newspapers. Ok, I wonder every single day: what is the point in reading the news with a day delay from a difficult to fold paper! And what is the point in buying a glossy magazine with articles taken from the internet, where you can actually read them for free? Some people say that it is a habit. Well, I hope twenty years from now no one will have this expensive habit, which costs us tones of paper every day!
4. Say NO to paper wish cards. Yes, it is great to let your loved ones know that you love them, but make it in an environmental and modern way - send them an electronic card, an electronic gift voucher, an MMS or just a smile. It will show much more awareness , believe me!
5. Add the green sign in your e-mail signature. As I mentioned, some people add it because it is trendy. But, hey, if it is a trend, it means it actually DOES some good by spreading the news! So go ahead and add it in your e-mail signature. You can read more about the campaign here and copy the .JPG file below to your e-mail now!



6. Use recycled paper in your office. It is a little bit more expensive, it is not very smooth, it is more difficult to find, but hell - it is worth it. And when you start using it, you do feel like doing good. Also, remember to always use both sides of the sheet and collect the useless paper for recycling.
7. Do the recycling. Just remember that by sending any paper or package to the bin, you are cutting a tree. Make an effort and make a difference. Collect your paper waste and dispose it to the nearest blue bin or drop-off center.
8. When possible, fill in your forms electronically. Nowadays we are forced to fill in all kinds of forms and most of them are online. Although, there are still many paper forms in the offices for older people who do not use the internet, you can at least save time and some paper by filling the form online.
9. Avoid buying products in a cartoon package. Yes, I know it is difficult. Nowadays, only the coke is not yet in a cartoon box. Your favourite milk, your favourite juice, even the wine may come in a cartoon! But in order to stop this, all consumers should prefer glass package, or no package at all.
10. Plant a tree! Old people say that a human life is worth only if you have built a home, brought up a child and planted a tree. It's your turn!

2011 - The Year of the Forests

The UN has announced 2011 to be the year of the forest. As you will see from the WWF video below, every year we loose about 3000 animal spices, because of the forest cutting. Every second, a football field of forest is cut. This has a tremendous effect not only on wildlife, but especially for the green gas effect and the global warming. As we all know, trees are keeping the nature in balance by absorbing the CO2.

The human greediness for timber, pulp and paper is non-stoppable. So, if we all join forces and reduce our paper consumption, as well as not buy wooden furniture, each of us can contribute for limiting the forest theft of our planet.
Furthermore, there is a saying in my country that if you have not planted at least one tree in your lifetime, your life was not worth it. So let's all do it at least during the year of the forest - 2011!

GreenGraffiti

I should start to rotate good and bad green news. Now, I will finally share with you a good initiative, which I find amazing - the only eco friendly outdoor advertising company. Here is some info about it:

GreenGraffiti® is an environmentally friendly form of outdoor advertising with a clear message; clean is green. GreenGraffiti® is completely carbon neutral, is one of the first companies in the world to compensate for our water footprint and contributes in a unique way to a healthier environment. That is why we can say with a clear conscience: the more GreenGraffiti® the better.

How does it work?

With the help of a template and a high pressure water sprayer an advertising message is cleaned out of the dirt.The result is a high impact message and a cleaner street.

For more info,hit their website.

Bureaucracy vs Trees in the European Union

The projects funded by the European Union are a major topic in countries like Bulgaria, Romania, Lithuania, Czech Republic, Poland and other newly accepted members in the European Union. All of them rely heavily on the funding for their development, and all of them compete with each other how much money they have acquired.

I have recently been involved in the development of several projects in Bulgaria for a medium sized enterprise. Fairly small projects. I will lead you into some details in the preparation process: the project itself was 45 pages long. There were about 25 additional pages in different kinds of declarations and about 70 pages in required documents with financials and translated company offers from suppliers. Total of more than 140 pages a single small project! And this project had to be accompanied by two identical copies. Total of 420 sheets of paper! The three fat folders were squeezed into a cartoon box, which weighted about 25 kilos! 25 kilos of white A4 paper and one cartoon – this is more than a tree! To my horror, when I delivered the project, in the waiting room there were thousands of even bigger projects than mine. Piles of wasted paper! Bigger projects (from towns and for the roads) weight from 250 kilos to 500 kilos! Just imagine the impact bureaucracy does on nature!

My project was rejected in the first stage for missing one stamp. So were 62% of the projects and more than 20% more will be rejected on the second stage. What will be done with the thousands of paper and energy spent in this nonsense? What will be done with all these papers which are rejected for stupid reasons?

I cannot believe that in the 21^st century, thousands of kilograms of paper is sent to the rubbish, instead of just investing in a software product that will accept projects electronically! I intend to write a letter of complaint to the European Commission, and whoever is in, please give me a shout!