Green tip: Become an “ecovore”
Photo by jules:stonesoup on Flickr
Today’s green tip comes from Cooking Green: Reducing your carbon footprint in the kitchen by Kate Heyhoe, who happens to be a fellow Austinite. Heyhoe writes that 12 percent of greenhouse gas emissions comes from growing, shipping and cooking our food. That comes out to 14,160 pounds of emissions annually. She coined a few cute terms to describe ways individuals can choose food options that impact the environment less. An “ecovore” is someone who chooses food with the environment in mind to reduce her “cookprint,” the carbon footprint in the kitchen.
Here’s today’s tip from the book:
Without succumbing to eco-anxiety, we can start fixing what’s broken by setting greener goals–person by person, aisle by aisle, and kitchen by kitchen. Eat food, not too much, mostly plants–And I would add, in this order: mostly local, mostly organic, and mostly fuel- and water-conserving. In a lifestyle of climate change, it’s the new green basics of cooking.
Green tip of the day: line drying
Today’s green tip comes from my loving fiance, Aaron. Earlier this week, he needed to wash and dry his cycling shorts and jersey so he could re-use them today. Instead of powering up the dryer for such a meager task, he decided to set his bike gear out to dry on a string of lights we have illuminating the outdoors patio. Thank you, 90-degree Texas day! Even small things like this can make a difference if enough people stop and think to do them.
Now if I could only get him to pick up tortillas from the grocery store after his 40-mile ride today, to save myself a car trip!
Using greater efficiency to reduce fuel consumption
Obama signed an executive order today calling for the federal government to require auto makers to build cars and trucks with greater fuel efficiency.
The executive memorandum the president signed on Friday orders the Environmental Protection Agency and the Transportation Department to develop new fuel and emissions standards more strict than those formalized last month, but the memorandum did not propose specific fuel-economy figures.
Under last month’s rules, new cars must get at least 35.5 miles to a gallon of fuel, on average, by 2016, in combined city and highway driving. The president’s new plan would order further improvements in fuel efficiency for cars and light trucks made in 2017 and beyond, and in medium and heavy trucks made in 2014 through 2018.
The order also calls for the government to provide more support for electric cars. That’s where I’m going to put my money — I want to buy an electric car as soon as cool, affordable models come out and cities deliver on the necessary re-fueling infrastructure.