Book review - "Animal, Vegetable, Miracle"

This is the first in what we hope will become a frequent topic here on the CUMC Green Team blog - book reviews that deal with green topics. In this first review, Green Team member Keely Farris reviews Barbara Kingsolver's Animal, Vegetable, Miracle.

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Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life

by Barbara Kingsolver with Steven L. Hopp and Camille Kingsolver

The New Oxford American Dictionary chose locavore, a person who seeks out locally produced food, as its word of the year in 2007. When I began this book I had just started to become aware of these locavores, people who eat food grown or produced locally or within a limited radius. The locavore movement encourages consumers to buy from farmers’ markets or even to produce their own food, with some arguing that fresh, local products are more nutritious and taste better. Locally grown food is an environmentally friendly means of obtaining food, since supermarkets that import their food use more fossil fuels and non-renewable resources.

The local foods movement is gaining momentum as many people prefer the taste and more environmentally sound effects of foods that are fresh, seasonal, and grown close to home. Some locavores draw inspiration from the The 100-Mile Diet or from advocates of local eating like Barbara Kingsolver, whose book Animal, Vegetable, Miracle chronicles her family's attempts to eat locally. Others just follow their taste buds to farmers' markets, community supported agriculture programs, and community gardens.

But you don't have to be a locavore to appreciate Kingsolver's memior. It is moving, informative, sincere - an honest potrait of a family who moved back to Southern Appalachia from Phoenix and committed to a one-year challenge of eating only what they could grow (they were "allowed" to buy only things that were produced within 100 miles of their home). Kingsolver takes readers through the seasons, sharing the joys and challenges of eating only foods that she, her husband, and two daughters grow in their backyard or purchase from neighboring farms. Part memoir, part cookbook, and part exposé of the American food industry, AVM is one family's inspiring story of discovering the truth behind the adage "you are what you eat" and a valuable resource for anyone looking to do the same.

While reading this memoir, written by such a gifted novelist as Kingsolver, it felt as if I were doing more than reading. It was more like drinking the words in, being invigorated by this descriptive story of the impact one family can make on this big world. Truly, I did not want this book to end. I enjoyed so much that I not only own a copy of it, I bought the audiobook too. It took me to mountains and Southern communities I remember as child, a landscape that is ever-changing and disappearing. Reading it was more of a treasured experience for me personally than just a pleasureable read.

Kingsolver allows you an intimate window into her family's year-long journey. It would be hard not to admire them and their committment as you follow them through the pages of the book. The Kingsolver-Hopp's are charming, funny, poetic, and informative all at the same time. This family is full concern for the farming community, and the book captures the pulse of a life that is dissolving like the misty haze that gives the Smoky Mountains their name. This one of my top picks and I suggest it to everyone who enjoys reading.

- Keely Farris

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If you have suggestions for other books you'd like to see reviewed here, please leave a comment in the "comments" section following this post. We'll do our best to accommodate you as soon as we can!

Green trivia

Did you know?

The well-known recycling symbol you see above was a college student's winning contest entry in 1970, the same year as the first Earth Day. Stay tuned for more exciting news about some Earth Day activities we're planning at Christ Church!

Monthly Green

Green Team member Jennifer Hobbs is currently reading the book Eco-Friendly Families, by Helen Coronato. One of the things the book shares is short tips you can implement each month that add up to big changes over the course of a year. We'll try to share these with you each month as well!
For January:

• Have a Family Game Night where all electronics are turned off and only necessary lighting is used. Play fun games such as board games or card games. Have playing cards that need to be cleaned? Put them in a brown paper bag with 1 tablespoon of baby powder and shake vigorously. Remove cards and wipe down with a damp rag.
• Save energy by using old tights or men's tube socks by filling them with rice or beans and tying off the end. Children can even make creatures out of them by adding googly eyes and leftover craft supplies. Assign a child the role of making sure they are placed in window sills or at the bottom of drafty doors.
• Be sure to clean your humidifier with baking soda between uses to extend the life of your purchase.
• Houseplants are natural air purifiers, use no energy, and make an especially welcome health asset when homes are locked up tight during winter months. It is suggested that you have one plant for every 100 to 150 square feet of living space. These top five choices said to help remove carbon monoxide, trichloroethylene, benzene, and formaldehyde: spider plants, English ivy, mums, peace lily, and bamboo palm.

Green in 2010

The Sierra Club recently published several tips for making 2010 a greener year. I thought it was interesting how simple changes can make a big impact.

Tip #1: Drive Less

If your pledge is to walk or bike more and drive less, you’ll relieve the environment of harmful greenhouse gases as well as reducing our dependence on fossil fuels. Added bonus: This will nicely complement an exercise or diet resolution.

Yearly Impact: Reducing your driving distance by just 15 miles per week will save 900 pounds of carbon emissions annually.

Tip #2: Eat Fewer Animals

The environmental vegetarianism movement grows by the day, assisted in part by the recent assertion by the Worldwatch Institute that livestock production is to blame for more than half of the world’s greenhouse-gas emissions. If people resolved to cut back on meat and dairy in 2010, the world would be a much cleaner place.

Yearly Impact: If you refrain from eating meat just one day a week, you'll save as many emissions as you would driving 1,000 fewer miles this year.

Tip #3: Commit to Composting

We hear people preach about recycling all the time. But did you know that composting may be as important? As food and other organic waste decomposes anaerobically in the landfill, it releases methane, a greenhouse gas that's more than 20 times as potent as carbon dioxide. Because composting is an aerobic process, it only produces carbon dioxide and not methane. Not sure how to get started? Click here and here to find out.

Yearly Impact: If the average family composted regularly, that household would prevent about 30 pounds of methane emissions per year, the equivalent of around 620 pounds of carbon dioxide (the same as what a small diesel car driving 1,200 miles would emit).
Tip #4: Give Your Time

Heed President Obama's call to service by signing up to help an organization that works to improve the world by protecting and preserving the environment.

Yearly Impact: Immeasurable.

The Green Book

Kohl's has The Green Book on sale right now for $5 as part of its "Kohls Cares for Kids" promotion -- all proceeds from the book sale go to health, education, and recreational opportunities for children (Chattanooga's own T.C. Thompson Children's Hospital is one of the 2009-2010 partner hospitals). The book is a great collection of simple things we can all do to reduce waste and conserve energy. It also includes green-living anecdotes from celebrities like Faith Hill, Justin Timberlake, Robert Redford, and Martha Stewart.

Kohl's has also taken steps to become greener - both corporately and within each individual store. For more information, go to http://www.kohlsgreenscene.com/.

How green was this decade?

The Sierra Club has put out a fun quiz to test your knowledge of the past decade, and the effects "green" living have had on it. If you'd like to take the quiz, go here ... and stop scrolling - the answers are listed below.


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compiled from www.sierraclub.org

1.The Hummer's demise signaled an end to an era of the gas-guzzling vehicle. Between 2007 and 2008, Hummer sales dropped by just over 50 percent. Sales plummeted 50.9 percent between 2007 and 2008. Sources: NYT and Autobloggreen.

2.In 2001, a Gallup poll found that 30 percent of Americans thought the seriousness of global warming was "exaggerated." In March 2009, that percentage had since increased. In March 2009, 41 percent of Americans thought the seriousness of global warming was exaggerated. Sources: Gallup.

3. In 2009, Gore's audiobook An Inconvenient Truth won a Grammy for best spoken word album, but it was read by Beau Bridges, Cynthia Nixon, and Blair Underwood. In 2006, Gore won an Oscar. In 2007, his network Current TV won a primetime Emmy. That same year he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.

4. Congaree was established as a national park in 2003. Black Canyon of the Gunnison was established in 1999. Biscayne was 1980. And Saguaro was 1994. Other parks established in the 2000s include Cuyahoga Valley National Park in Ohio and Great Sand Dunes National Park in Colorado.


5.Which of these species definitely did not become extinct during the past decade? The Tooth Cave Pseudoscorpion. Click here for a gallery of ten species that became extinct during the 2000s. The Tooth Cave Pseudoscorpion is not extinct, but it has been on the U.S. endangered species list since 1988 due to habitat loss and urban development.


6.Who said "We're spending money on clean coal technology. Do you realize we've got 250 million years of coal?" Former president George W. Bush made the remark on June 8, 2005. Estimations on total coal energy supply vary, but even the most overly optimistic numbers aren't more than a few hundred years.


7.According to the National Snow and Ice Data Center, Arctic sea ice is now declining at a rate of just over 11.2  percent per decade, relative to the 1979 to 2000 average. Here is the graph.


8.The 2000 Olympics were in Australia. In 2004, they were in Greece. In 2008, they took place in China. Of the three countries, Australia has the worst greenhouse-gas emissions per capita. The Aussies are near the top of the world's list in greenhouse-gas emissions per capita. Greece also has a relatively high per capita emissions rate. China's rate is one of the lowest. But China, thanks to its increasing use of coal-powered energy, is now believed to top the list for total greenhouse gas emissions.


9.In 2009, the rate of deforestation in Brazil's Amazon rainforest was much lower than in 2000. In 2009, Brazil reported rainforest deforestation at under 10,000 square kilometers. In 2000, Brazil reported that figure at just under 20,000 square kilometers. According to Mongabay.com,  "The reduction in Amazon deforestation comes a year after Brazil announced an ambitious plan to reduce forest loss by 70 percent by 2018 as part of its climate policy. Deforestation accounts for more than three-fifths of Brazil's greenhouse gas emissions and nearly 20 percent of emissions worldwide. Brazil is seeking billions of dollars from industrialized nations for its efforts to reduce deforestation."


10.In July 2000, gas prices were roughly $1.50 a gallon, according to the Energy Information Administration. In November 2009, the national average was about $2.66 a gallon. Prices peaked above the $4 mark in July 2008.


For more green fun, check out other "How Green is my ..." quizzes at http://www.sierraclub.org/howgreen/

Recycling reminder

Christmas is Friday, and with its arrival - or departure, depending on how you look at it - comes lots of additional waste. Tons, in fact ... literally tons. Between Thanksgiving and New Year’s Day, household waste increases by more than 25 percent, and trash created annually from gift wrap and shopping bags is about 4 million tons.


Here are more staggering statistics, courtesy of Saturday's Chattanooga Times-Free Press:

• If every family reused just two feet of holiday ribbon, the 38,000 miles of ribbon saved could tie a bow around the entire planet.
• If every American family wrapped just three presents in re-used materials, it would save enough paper to cover 45,000 football fields.
• The 2.65 billion Christmas cards sold each year in the U.S. could fill a football field 10 stories high.
• If every person sent one less card, approximately 19 million pounds of paper would be saved - the equivalent of 160,000 trees.

So what can one family do about all this? The answer is simple: Recycle! Many of the things you'd throw away while cleaning up the Christmas morning mess can actually be recycled, including gift wrap (no metallic papers or bows), paper shopping bags, toy boxes, cardboard mailing boxes, cards, and envelopes.

City residents enjoy biweekly curbside recycling pickup; others can drop items off at one of Chattanooga's many recycling convenience centers. Click here for convenience center locations. Anyone can drop off their recyclables at these locations - you do not need to be a resident of Chattanooga ... or even Hamilton County! To take advantage of curbside pickup, you must be enrolled in the local recycling program. Click here to sign up, or here to check your area's recycling schedule (only enrolled homes will appear in database).

Guidelines for both curbside recycling and recycling at convenience centers are available at http://recycleright.org/. The web site also includes information about the Orange Grove Center's involvement, answers to frequently asked questions, a printable “Rocky the Recycling Raccoon” coloring page and more.

And yes, for those of you who were wondering about the photo at the top of this post, that is my post-Christmas recycling pile - tree and all - from last year. Scary, huh?