Dear 2011,
You were here and gone before I even had the chance to appreciate you. I hope you get this so that you know how much I care. You helped me do so much and supported me the entire time. You gave me all that time to work, and I sincerely thank you for that. Spiderman and New Girl thank you too. Thank you for my little family - Pasha who you know, and my two healthy kitties - please let 2012 know that I'd very much appreciate even more health for these three next year. Thank you for Shlomo, Machatz, and Fibonacci - I like spending time with them. Also, thank you for bringing the Doghouse into my life - Hamlet and the friendships I made there will be something I have forever, even after I move on to 2012. Thanks to you, Cancun will forever be a favorite escape - please put in a good word to 2012 for me (you know I'm a great traveler) and send me to Paris and China in the future. Please let Lululemon know that I didn't take advantage of enough of their free yoga classes last year and to expect me regularly next year. Other things I will always remember that I spent with you - a chance to sing, Tim Burton and the LACMA at 1am in a wheelchair, the launch of my website, Black Friday at WalMart, and participating in the Revlon Run/Walk. Please don't be offended if I continue to be passionate about these things without you. I promise it's not you, it's me.
Bittersweetly,
Mary
Saturday, December 31, 2011
Tuesday, November 8, 2011
The Happiest of Halloweens!
Just a fun little hello from Sonic the Hedgehog and Maxwell from Scribblenauts!
Picture courtesy of Ruth Gyllenhammer
Friday, October 28, 2011
Volunteer Time
This is a great way to Volunteer!
Article from petcoscoop.com
Help Us Help Needy Pets
written by Lori Wildrick on October 28th, 2011
Starting Oct. 30, Petco customers across the country will have the opportunity to help us help feed needy pets and keep them with the families who love them. Our second annual National Pet Food Drive was inspired by the number of pets being relinquished due to the economic turndown, foreclosures and joblessness. By providing food, Petco hopes to help families facing the consideration of relinquishment or abandonment the chance to keep the pets they love.
“Our national food bank program makes it easy for people to help keep pets well-nourished and with the families who love them in tough economic times,” said Paul Jolly, the Executive Director for the Petco Foundation and a Petco Vice President. “We believe that no one should have to give up their pet companions due to financial distress, and our associates and customers agree. During this year’s two-week national drive, we’re asking the communities we serve to give a little extra, both in food donations and by volunteering, to help raise awareness for this important year-round program.”
This year’s goal is 400,000 pounds of pet food–and since 100 pounds of food can provide between 40 and 400 meals for one pet, depending on pet size, age and activity level–we have the potential to help a lot of pets. And, to help us along Hill’s Science Diet will match, pound for pound, every bag of dog and cat food donated at Petco stores during the drive–up to 100,000 pounds!
But we could use your help! To volunteer, simply visit and select “Petco Foundation Pet Food Drive.” Once registered, you can select a Petco store location and volunteer time slot of your choice. You’ll also receive specific instructions and training on how to best promote the program.
“You get to help animals and you don’t have to spend a lot of time, money or effort educating the public,” said Dora Shaieb, a Best Friends Animal Society volunteer who helped out during last year’s National Pet Food Drive at her local Petco store in Huntington Beach, Calif. “Animals do not have a voice like people do, and we volunteers can be that voice for them.”
The food drive runs at all Petco locations across the country from Oct. 30 to Nov. 13. Volunteer slots are available for Sunday, Oct. 30, Saturday, Nov. 5, Sunday, Nov. 6, Saturday, Nov. 12 and Sunday, Nov. 13.
Learn more about the National Pet Food Drive.
http://www.petcoscoop.com/2011/10/help-us-help-needy-pets/
Tweet
Article from petcoscoop.com
Help Us Help Needy Pets
written by Lori Wildrick on October 28th, 2011
Starting Oct. 30, Petco customers across the country will have the opportunity to help us help feed needy pets and keep them with the families who love them. Our second annual National Pet Food Drive was inspired by the number of pets being relinquished due to the economic turndown, foreclosures and joblessness. By providing food, Petco hopes to help families facing the consideration of relinquishment or abandonment the chance to keep the pets they love.
“Our national food bank program makes it easy for people to help keep pets well-nourished and with the families who love them in tough economic times,” said Paul Jolly, the Executive Director for the Petco Foundation and a Petco Vice President. “We believe that no one should have to give up their pet companions due to financial distress, and our associates and customers agree. During this year’s two-week national drive, we’re asking the communities we serve to give a little extra, both in food donations and by volunteering, to help raise awareness for this important year-round program.”
This year’s goal is 400,000 pounds of pet food–and since 100 pounds of food can provide between 40 and 400 meals for one pet, depending on pet size, age and activity level–we have the potential to help a lot of pets. And, to help us along Hill’s Science Diet will match, pound for pound, every bag of dog and cat food donated at Petco stores during the drive–up to 100,000 pounds!
But we could use your help! To volunteer, simply visit and select “Petco Foundation Pet Food Drive.” Once registered, you can select a Petco store location and volunteer time slot of your choice. You’ll also receive specific instructions and training on how to best promote the program.
“You get to help animals and you don’t have to spend a lot of time, money or effort educating the public,” said Dora Shaieb, a Best Friends Animal Society volunteer who helped out during last year’s National Pet Food Drive at her local Petco store in Huntington Beach, Calif. “Animals do not have a voice like people do, and we volunteers can be that voice for them.”
The food drive runs at all Petco locations across the country from Oct. 30 to Nov. 13. Volunteer slots are available for Sunday, Oct. 30, Saturday, Nov. 5, Sunday, Nov. 6, Saturday, Nov. 12 and Sunday, Nov. 13.
Learn more about the National Pet Food Drive.
http://www.petcoscoop.com/2011/10/help-us-help-needy-pets/
Tweet
Monday, October 10, 2011
Brownies + S’mores = Wonderful
Within this recipe is a fantastic brownie—just the right balance of fudgy and cakey with a crackle top—embellished with crunchy graham crackers and big melting marshmallows. If you’d prefer the classic, just leave those two ingredients out and bake as directed.
Ingredients:
16 Tbs. (2 sticks) unsalted butter
10 oz. bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped
1 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
4 eggs
2 tsp. vanilla extract
1 tsp. kosher salt
1 1/3 cups cake flour
3 Tbs. natural cocoa powder
About 6 graham crackers, roughly crushed with your hands
About 12 jumbo marshmallows
Directions:
Preheat an oven to 350°F. Generously butter a 9-by-13-inch baking dish.
In a saucepan over low heat, melt the butter and chocolate, stirring often, about 4 minutes. Remove from the heat and whisk in the granulated sugar and brown sugar. Whisk in the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Whisk in the vanilla and salt.
Sift the flour and cocoa over the chocolate mixture and, using a rubber spatula, stir in until just blended. Stir in the graham crackers. Pour into the prepared dish and spread evenly. Top evenly with the marshmallows.
Bake until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out almost completely clean, 30 to 35 minutes. Transfer the dish to a wire rack and let cool, then cut into big, gooey squares. Makes 12 brownies.
Baker’s note: To make it easier to cut the brownies, fill a tall glass with very hot water and have a paper towel handy. Dip your knife in the water and wipe it off before each cut. This works great for cutting anything sticky, such as frosted layer cakes or cookie bars.
Adapted from Williams-Sonoma Home Baked Comfort, by Kim Laidlaw (Weldon Owen, 2011).
Original Recipe
Ingredients:
16 Tbs. (2 sticks) unsalted butter
10 oz. bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped
1 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
4 eggs
2 tsp. vanilla extract
1 tsp. kosher salt
1 1/3 cups cake flour
3 Tbs. natural cocoa powder
About 6 graham crackers, roughly crushed with your hands
About 12 jumbo marshmallows
Directions:
Preheat an oven to 350°F. Generously butter a 9-by-13-inch baking dish.
In a saucepan over low heat, melt the butter and chocolate, stirring often, about 4 minutes. Remove from the heat and whisk in the granulated sugar and brown sugar. Whisk in the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Whisk in the vanilla and salt.
Sift the flour and cocoa over the chocolate mixture and, using a rubber spatula, stir in until just blended. Stir in the graham crackers. Pour into the prepared dish and spread evenly. Top evenly with the marshmallows.
Bake until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out almost completely clean, 30 to 35 minutes. Transfer the dish to a wire rack and let cool, then cut into big, gooey squares. Makes 12 brownies.
Baker’s note: To make it easier to cut the brownies, fill a tall glass with very hot water and have a paper towel handy. Dip your knife in the water and wipe it off before each cut. This works great for cutting anything sticky, such as frosted layer cakes or cookie bars.
Adapted from Williams-Sonoma Home Baked Comfort, by Kim Laidlaw (Weldon Owen, 2011).
Original Recipe
Saturday, August 20, 2011
Pretty as Pie
Strawberry-Peach Pie with Lemon
2/3 cup sugar
2 1/2 tablespoons cornstarch
pinch of salt
2/3 cup water
2 1/2 cups fresh strawberries, quartered
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
1 teaspoon finely grated lemon zest
In a medium saucepan, combine sugar, cornstarch, salt. Blend in water and 2 1/2 cups strawberries. Bring to a boil, stirring and roughly smashing the strawberries. Boil, stirring constantly, until mixture is very thick, a minute or so. Remove from heat and stir in vanilla extract, butter, lemon juice and lemon zest. Cool.
1 pie crust - baked
1 1/2 cup whipping cream
Peels off one lemon
1 tsp vanilla
1/4 cup sugar
For the lemon whipped cream, combine the sugar and a 1/4 cup water in a small saucepan and add peels of the lemon. Simmer for 5 minutes (until the sugar is fully absorbed) and turn off the heat. Let the syrup fully cool completely. Strain the syrup and add it to the whipping cream along with the vanilla. Whip to form soft peaks.
Add the strawberry mixture to the pie crust, and top with 1 cup remaining fresh strawberries and one sliced peach (optional). Dollop the whipped cream in the center, and spread, still revealing the strawberries at the edge. Garnish with 1/2 cup chopped strawberries.
Bon Appetit!
2/3 cup sugar
2 1/2 tablespoons cornstarch
pinch of salt
2/3 cup water
2 1/2 cups fresh strawberries, quartered
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
1 teaspoon finely grated lemon zest
In a medium saucepan, combine sugar, cornstarch, salt. Blend in water and 2 1/2 cups strawberries. Bring to a boil, stirring and roughly smashing the strawberries. Boil, stirring constantly, until mixture is very thick, a minute or so. Remove from heat and stir in vanilla extract, butter, lemon juice and lemon zest. Cool.
1 pie crust - baked
1 1/2 cup whipping cream
Peels off one lemon
1 tsp vanilla
1/4 cup sugar
For the lemon whipped cream, combine the sugar and a 1/4 cup water in a small saucepan and add peels of the lemon. Simmer for 5 minutes (until the sugar is fully absorbed) and turn off the heat. Let the syrup fully cool completely. Strain the syrup and add it to the whipping cream along with the vanilla. Whip to form soft peaks.
Add the strawberry mixture to the pie crust, and top with 1 cup remaining fresh strawberries and one sliced peach (optional). Dollop the whipped cream in the center, and spread, still revealing the strawberries at the edge. Garnish with 1/2 cup chopped strawberries.
Bon Appetit!
Wednesday, August 10, 2011
A Plum Tart
I made this tart last week and it was the perfect summer dessert. The plums were perfect and the whole wheat crust made me feel a little less guilty when I had seconds.
I was basically playing around so the recipe isn't very follow-able. I made a single whole wheat pie crust. Mixed a about 6-8 plums with a bit of flour, sugar, and vanilla. Then I dabbed the crust with water and sprinkled the edge with a bit more sugar, but that's ok because I totally used whole wheat flour ;)
Tuesday, August 2, 2011
Beef: The “King” of Big Water Footprints
When a Prince talks farming, you listen. This is nothing new for the GRACE food program folks, but as the “water guy,” that’s all I could think about shortly after reading Chris Hunt’s roundup (or “knowledge dump“) of the speakers and themes from May’s Future of Food conference. The “Prince” in question is sadly not his Purple Majesty but rather, Charles, the Prince of Wales, who issued a stern warning –and in the process stirred up a long simmering debate among Americans – that resonated with me because of its virtual water conservation message: Beef production and consumption are water intensive and a drain on our world water supplies.
According to His Royal Highness:
In a country like the United States, a fifth of all your grain production is dependent upon irrigation. For every pound of beef produced in the industrial system, it takes two thousand gallons of water. That is a lot of water and there is plenty of evidence that the Earth cannot keep up with the demand.
Quite resounding, old chap! While it’s a well-established fact that meat production requires more water than fruits, vegetables or grains, an average water footprint of 2,000 gallons per pound of beef is enormous indeed. You might be wondering how the water footprint of meat – using Prince Charles’s statistic – compares to the water footprints of other agricultural products
Water required to produce one pound (1 lb.) of:
Pork = 576 gallons of water
Chicken = 468 gallons of water
Soybeans = 206 gallons of water
Wheat = 138 gallons of water
Corn = 108 gallons of water
Compared to the water footprint of almost any other agricultural product, the water footprint of beef is orders of magnitudes greater. Beef is truly the “king” of big water footprints.
About that 2,000 gallons of water figure: How did Prince Charles arrive at that hotly contested number, anyway?
Since the water (and resource) requirements for beef can be so enormous, it makes sense that people want to get to the bottom of the aforementioned debate. This decades-long cold war of sorts in the agricultural and natural resource arenas has pitted Big Ag supporters against sustainable farmers, environmentalists and various academics against one another, each armed with their own numbers and studies. With the addition of big money from big industry, we’ve ended up with quite the grudge match over America’s second favorite meat (PDF).
To get an idea of the wide range of numbers presented as the true water footprint of beef, check out the partial list below:
Table 1.
Water required to produce one pound (1 lb.) of boneless, conventionally raised beef
Gallons of Water / Source (individual or organization)
441 / Jim Oltjen et al (PDF). 1993. “Estimation of the water requirement for beef production in the United States.” Journal of Animal Science. (UC-Davis professor at the behest of National Cattlemen’s Beef Association)
840 / Alan Durning. 1991. “Taking Stock: Animal Farming and the Environment.” Worldwatch Paper #103. (Calculations based on Oltjen’s figures.)
1,799 / Mekonnen and Hoekstra (PDF). 2010. “The green, blue and grey water footprint of farm animals and animal products .” Water Footprint Network.
2,464 / Marcia Kreith (PDF). 1991. “Water inputs in California food production.” Water Education Foundation.
5,214 / Herb Schulbach et al. 1978. Soil and Water. no. 38, fall 1978.
12,008 / David Pimentel. 2001. “Environmental Sustainability and Integrity in the Agriculture Sector.” Ecological Integrity: Integrating Environment, Conservation and Health.
Compounding the difficulty of the many players weighing in with their statistics , some from peer-reviewed studies and others not, is the practical problem of tracking down the original study sources from the perpetual thread of Internet copying and pasting. I’m not the first to comment on this.
Why can’t a consensus around a definitive, average water footprint of beef statistic be reached?
The problem rests on two fundamental issues: 1) A significant difference in research methods; and 2) The many variables and differences involved in raising and producing beef (this is true whether they be produced within the conventional, organic or grass-fed systems). My focus here is on conventional, or industrial, beef production, since the vast majority of beef consumed in the U.S. comes from industrial production.
Water Footprint Research Methodology
The water footprint concept was developed in 2003, whereas most of these studies were conducted in years prior. The conceptual framework that includes such components as virtual water and blue, green and grey water footprints , wasn’t available. Consequently, researchers had to devise their own methods. Because there was no water footprint framework, there was no standard methodology for accounting, a process that is even now just underway.
Beef Production Methods
Given the many steps and variables involved in raising and feeding beef, this is the major impediment to finding a definitive water footprint number. Conventional beef production takes roughly the same path from calf to plate, presented here as a simplistic overview of the three-part conventional beef cattle production process:
Calves are weaned at around 6-10 months.
They are then brought to pasture or rangeland to feed on grasses and other “forage” (whole plants from pasture) until around 12-16 months.
Conventional beef cattle then enter a feedlot and are fed a grain-based diet consisting of a mix of corn and soy and occasionally wheat and/or barley, until they are around 18-22 months or approximately 1,200-1,400 pounds.
Industrial livestock production is also known to have significant adverse impacts on water quality. Unfortunately, this damage is not factored into any water footprint analysis model for animal production; this omission remains a serious impediment to the creation of a truly comprehensive life cycle analysis.
By far, the largest component of beef’s water footprint is the huge volume of virtual water consumed by cattle through their feed, in this case both forage and grain. There are three primary factors (PDF) associated with feeding practices and techniques that contribute to the water footprint calculation
Since beef cattle eat such massive quantities of feed and are quite inefficient in converting that feed to meat (relative to a chicken or pig, for instance) it raises the water footprint. More feed = more water.
The type of feed consumed contains more or less water because grains contain much more water than “roughage” or forage. Also, the more energy concentrated in the food (corn kernel vs. corn husk), the more water that’s embedded in the feed.
Grain grown in more arid locales like the Western United States depend more on irrigated fields compared to wetter regions like the Great Lakes and the East. Cattle feed produced from regions that have higher precipitation levels relies less on irrigation and, therefore, has a lower water footprint. Similarly, in regions where cattle feed crops are locally produced, there is a lower water footprint because there is a lower virtual water content associated with transportation fuels used to import feed.
When all the variables are accounted for, it makes sense that arriving at an average water footprint of beef has been so daunting. Any change in beef production practices, such as shortening or lengthening the duration of each stage or changing the feed inputs or intensity, can significantly alter the volume of water used for that beef product. Therefore, any single figure based on an average can be scrutinized and questioned when held up to a specific beef production facility.
So the question remains: Is there one figure that seems most accurate and useful? I lean towards the Water Footprint Network’s (WFN) 1,799 gallons of water per pound of beef figure for two reasons. First, they have created and standardized the rigorous methods behind water footprinting. Second, they use large, global data sets that incorporate many beef production systems from numerous countries. (Also, in the interest of statistics, it’s reasonable to discard the two extremes within the range [the outliers]—12,008 and 441.)
The bottom line is that it takes a lot of water to produce beef, especially when just a fraction of that water can be used to produce much more food with much lower water footprints.
Regarding the Prince and his 2,000-gallon figure—His Royal Highness appears to be fairly close to the WFN’s mark. And to his larger point of beef’s stampede for resources – water, energy, grain – he couldn’t be more correct: Eating the amount of beef that American’s do, at over 60 pounds annually, is exhausting our resources and is unsustainable, especially when considering growing consumption patterns around the world.
In the end, the actual number is not what’s important. The bottom line is that it takes a lot of water to produce beef, especially when just a fraction of that water can be used to produce much more food with much lower water footprints. Instead of simply accepting that beef consumption will soar and hold the world’s overstressed freshwater resources for a king’s ransom, where Prince Charles is concerned, a meal with little or no beef is meal fit for a prince.
-Source: Eco Centric
by Kai Olson-Sawyer
http://www.ecocentricblog.org/2011/08/01/beef-the-king-of-big-water-footprints/
According to His Royal Highness:
In a country like the United States, a fifth of all your grain production is dependent upon irrigation. For every pound of beef produced in the industrial system, it takes two thousand gallons of water. That is a lot of water and there is plenty of evidence that the Earth cannot keep up with the demand.
Quite resounding, old chap! While it’s a well-established fact that meat production requires more water than fruits, vegetables or grains, an average water footprint of 2,000 gallons per pound of beef is enormous indeed. You might be wondering how the water footprint of meat – using Prince Charles’s statistic – compares to the water footprints of other agricultural products
Water required to produce one pound (1 lb.) of:
Pork = 576 gallons of water
Chicken = 468 gallons of water
Soybeans = 206 gallons of water
Wheat = 138 gallons of water
Corn = 108 gallons of water
Compared to the water footprint of almost any other agricultural product, the water footprint of beef is orders of magnitudes greater. Beef is truly the “king” of big water footprints.
About that 2,000 gallons of water figure: How did Prince Charles arrive at that hotly contested number, anyway?
Since the water (and resource) requirements for beef can be so enormous, it makes sense that people want to get to the bottom of the aforementioned debate. This decades-long cold war of sorts in the agricultural and natural resource arenas has pitted Big Ag supporters against sustainable farmers, environmentalists and various academics against one another, each armed with their own numbers and studies. With the addition of big money from big industry, we’ve ended up with quite the grudge match over America’s second favorite meat (PDF).
To get an idea of the wide range of numbers presented as the true water footprint of beef, check out the partial list below:
Table 1.
Water required to produce one pound (1 lb.) of boneless, conventionally raised beef
Gallons of Water / Source (individual or organization)
441 / Jim Oltjen et al (PDF). 1993. “Estimation of the water requirement for beef production in the United States.” Journal of Animal Science. (UC-Davis professor at the behest of National Cattlemen’s Beef Association)
840 / Alan Durning. 1991. “Taking Stock: Animal Farming and the Environment.” Worldwatch Paper #103. (Calculations based on Oltjen’s figures.)
1,799 / Mekonnen and Hoekstra (PDF). 2010. “The green, blue and grey water footprint of farm animals and animal products .” Water Footprint Network.
2,464 / Marcia Kreith (PDF). 1991. “Water inputs in California food production.” Water Education Foundation.
5,214 / Herb Schulbach et al. 1978. Soil and Water. no. 38, fall 1978.
12,008 / David Pimentel. 2001. “Environmental Sustainability and Integrity in the Agriculture Sector.” Ecological Integrity: Integrating Environment, Conservation and Health.
Compounding the difficulty of the many players weighing in with their statistics , some from peer-reviewed studies and others not, is the practical problem of tracking down the original study sources from the perpetual thread of Internet copying and pasting. I’m not the first to comment on this.
Why can’t a consensus around a definitive, average water footprint of beef statistic be reached?
The problem rests on two fundamental issues: 1) A significant difference in research methods; and 2) The many variables and differences involved in raising and producing beef (this is true whether they be produced within the conventional, organic or grass-fed systems). My focus here is on conventional, or industrial, beef production, since the vast majority of beef consumed in the U.S. comes from industrial production.
Water Footprint Research Methodology
The water footprint concept was developed in 2003, whereas most of these studies were conducted in years prior. The conceptual framework that includes such components as virtual water and blue, green and grey water footprints , wasn’t available. Consequently, researchers had to devise their own methods. Because there was no water footprint framework, there was no standard methodology for accounting, a process that is even now just underway.
Beef Production Methods
Given the many steps and variables involved in raising and feeding beef, this is the major impediment to finding a definitive water footprint number. Conventional beef production takes roughly the same path from calf to plate, presented here as a simplistic overview of the three-part conventional beef cattle production process:
Calves are weaned at around 6-10 months.
They are then brought to pasture or rangeland to feed on grasses and other “forage” (whole plants from pasture) until around 12-16 months.
Conventional beef cattle then enter a feedlot and are fed a grain-based diet consisting of a mix of corn and soy and occasionally wheat and/or barley, until they are around 18-22 months or approximately 1,200-1,400 pounds.
Industrial livestock production is also known to have significant adverse impacts on water quality. Unfortunately, this damage is not factored into any water footprint analysis model for animal production; this omission remains a serious impediment to the creation of a truly comprehensive life cycle analysis.
By far, the largest component of beef’s water footprint is the huge volume of virtual water consumed by cattle through their feed, in this case both forage and grain. There are three primary factors (PDF) associated with feeding practices and techniques that contribute to the water footprint calculation
Since beef cattle eat such massive quantities of feed and are quite inefficient in converting that feed to meat (relative to a chicken or pig, for instance) it raises the water footprint. More feed = more water.
The type of feed consumed contains more or less water because grains contain much more water than “roughage” or forage. Also, the more energy concentrated in the food (corn kernel vs. corn husk), the more water that’s embedded in the feed.
Grain grown in more arid locales like the Western United States depend more on irrigated fields compared to wetter regions like the Great Lakes and the East. Cattle feed produced from regions that have higher precipitation levels relies less on irrigation and, therefore, has a lower water footprint. Similarly, in regions where cattle feed crops are locally produced, there is a lower water footprint because there is a lower virtual water content associated with transportation fuels used to import feed.
When all the variables are accounted for, it makes sense that arriving at an average water footprint of beef has been so daunting. Any change in beef production practices, such as shortening or lengthening the duration of each stage or changing the feed inputs or intensity, can significantly alter the volume of water used for that beef product. Therefore, any single figure based on an average can be scrutinized and questioned when held up to a specific beef production facility.
So the question remains: Is there one figure that seems most accurate and useful? I lean towards the Water Footprint Network’s (WFN) 1,799 gallons of water per pound of beef figure for two reasons. First, they have created and standardized the rigorous methods behind water footprinting. Second, they use large, global data sets that incorporate many beef production systems from numerous countries. (Also, in the interest of statistics, it’s reasonable to discard the two extremes within the range [the outliers]—12,008 and 441.)
The bottom line is that it takes a lot of water to produce beef, especially when just a fraction of that water can be used to produce much more food with much lower water footprints.
Regarding the Prince and his 2,000-gallon figure—His Royal Highness appears to be fairly close to the WFN’s mark. And to his larger point of beef’s stampede for resources – water, energy, grain – he couldn’t be more correct: Eating the amount of beef that American’s do, at over 60 pounds annually, is exhausting our resources and is unsustainable, especially when considering growing consumption patterns around the world.
In the end, the actual number is not what’s important. The bottom line is that it takes a lot of water to produce beef, especially when just a fraction of that water can be used to produce much more food with much lower water footprints. Instead of simply accepting that beef consumption will soar and hold the world’s overstressed freshwater resources for a king’s ransom, where Prince Charles is concerned, a meal with little or no beef is meal fit for a prince.
-Source: Eco Centric
by Kai Olson-Sawyer
http://www.ecocentricblog.org/2011/08/01/beef-the-king-of-big-water-footprints/
Friday, July 29, 2011
Cellar 55
One of my favorite things to do on a day off from work is to spend time with my beau and act like we are on vacation. No time commitments, trying new things, making friends with waiters, spending hours in a restaurant, people watching. You know what I mean. This past Wednesday was just that. We took our "day-cation" just five minutes from home at the cutest little wine bar called Cellar 55. We had some delicious bites as well as some superb glasses of vino. There was no where we had to be (except home to watch Pasha's favorite summer show, Big Brother, witch I was not rushing home to view live) so we proceeded to spend almost three hours sitting side by side at our little booth letting the conversation and flirting flow. Today I am going to focus on that happy way of "being". Spend this weekend in a similar state of mind? I don't see why not!
The picture above (sorry it is blurry) is a unique little dessert from Cellar 55 we devoured. Chocolate Lava cake topped with the waiter's recommendation: Purple Yam Ice Cream. Simply stated, you should try it.
Thursday, July 28, 2011
A Human Right to Water
A Human Right to Water – Can it Make a Difference? – Water Matters - State of the Planet
This is the second post in a series exploring the question of ‘Water as a Human Right’.
Despite the UN’s 2010 resolution on the human right to water, debate continues over how useful a rights approach really is. Even if we identify water as a human right, where the state is the principal duty-bearer, will it improve access to water for communities in need?
Debates over this question can become pretty heated, and sometimes two sides seem to be shouting from opposite sides of an ideological divide. At the 2011 Global Water Summit, for example, a debate was held posing the question, “Is cost recovery pricing the best way to ensure the poor have access to good water services?” The discussion elucidated two conflicting positions about how water should be governed. David Zetland, Senior Water Economist at Wageningen University in the Netherlands, argued that market valuation and full cost recovery is the best way to conserve and appropriately distribute water – and that government involvement should be kept to a minimum. This point of view believes making water a human right won’t improve services and access.
On the other side Wenonah Hauter, Executive Director of Food and Water Watch, presented the argument that water is a human right, a public trust, and part of the shared commons that should not be bought and sold for profit. Economic valuation has, according to this side, led to governance failures and huge gaps in service provision to the poor, and is part of a “right-wing agenda” to profit from a shared public resource. For Hauter, the human right to water is a practical tool to organize against the involvement of big business in water provision
Neighborhood activists gathered in Central Jakarta to call for clean and accessible water on World Water Day 2011. From the Jakarta Globe, March 23, 2011.
This debate and others like it highlight a common misconception about the human right to water – that it is synonymous with opposition to privatization of water utilities and full cost recovery. But the human rights project does not belong to one ideological corner, it should not be understood as simply the tool of anti-privatization activists (despite it’s ubiquity in the discourse of this movement), especially because the human right to water doesn’t specify a water governance structure, nor does it imply that water should be free.
The UN Special Representative on the Human Right to Water argues that an articulation of the rights and obligations pertaining to water access and provision will help promote, “pro-poor and non-discriminatory service provision”. But she is also clear that water must be affordable, not free. The Special Representative clarifies that the human right to water does not favor a particular economic model or method of service delivery; rather it lays out standards that states must seek to achieve for their citizens, or must ensure their private sector providers are achieving.
One example of where advocates argue such a right could make a difference is in a city like Jakarta. In the capital of Indonesia, only around 16% of the urban poor are connected to a municipal water supply. Their alternative sources of water (like small private networks, bottled water, home-made wells etc.) end up burdening them with a disproportionately large financial cost. Also, poor quality of water in Jakarta due to endemic pollution leads to diarrheal diseases – a leading cause of morbidity in infants. The poor bear a disproportionate share of this tragic health burden as well.
Researchers recently mapped out the gaps in piped water service provision and found that government policies and private providers from the Dutch colonial era to the present day have deliberately expanded the piped water network amongst the affluent parts of the city – what the authors call “key economic zones”. These are the sorts of “governance failures”, as termed by Dr. Karen Bakker, that is the focus of a human right to water.
While the human rights framework has certainly been central to the anti-privatization movement, this is not its sole purpose. The human right to water, I think, was not intended to solve the problem of water governance failures. What it does is give leverage to those vulnerable communities who are the victims of governance failures. It calls attention to their plight in a clear, recognizable language of rights and duty-bearers, and pressures government to remedy this situation by prioritizing the poor.
The next post will look at some examples of where the human right to water has been used to improve the accountability of government and service providers to poor and vulnerable communities.
-Earth Institute, Columbia University
by Eve Warburton
This is the second post in a series exploring the question of ‘Water as a Human Right’.
Despite the UN’s 2010 resolution on the human right to water, debate continues over how useful a rights approach really is. Even if we identify water as a human right, where the state is the principal duty-bearer, will it improve access to water for communities in need?
Debates over this question can become pretty heated, and sometimes two sides seem to be shouting from opposite sides of an ideological divide. At the 2011 Global Water Summit, for example, a debate was held posing the question, “Is cost recovery pricing the best way to ensure the poor have access to good water services?” The discussion elucidated two conflicting positions about how water should be governed. David Zetland, Senior Water Economist at Wageningen University in the Netherlands, argued that market valuation and full cost recovery is the best way to conserve and appropriately distribute water – and that government involvement should be kept to a minimum. This point of view believes making water a human right won’t improve services and access.
On the other side Wenonah Hauter, Executive Director of Food and Water Watch, presented the argument that water is a human right, a public trust, and part of the shared commons that should not be bought and sold for profit. Economic valuation has, according to this side, led to governance failures and huge gaps in service provision to the poor, and is part of a “right-wing agenda” to profit from a shared public resource. For Hauter, the human right to water is a practical tool to organize against the involvement of big business in water provision
Neighborhood activists gathered in Central Jakarta to call for clean and accessible water on World Water Day 2011. From the Jakarta Globe, March 23, 2011.
This debate and others like it highlight a common misconception about the human right to water – that it is synonymous with opposition to privatization of water utilities and full cost recovery. But the human rights project does not belong to one ideological corner, it should not be understood as simply the tool of anti-privatization activists (despite it’s ubiquity in the discourse of this movement), especially because the human right to water doesn’t specify a water governance structure, nor does it imply that water should be free.
The UN Special Representative on the Human Right to Water argues that an articulation of the rights and obligations pertaining to water access and provision will help promote, “pro-poor and non-discriminatory service provision”. But she is also clear that water must be affordable, not free. The Special Representative clarifies that the human right to water does not favor a particular economic model or method of service delivery; rather it lays out standards that states must seek to achieve for their citizens, or must ensure their private sector providers are achieving.
One example of where advocates argue such a right could make a difference is in a city like Jakarta. In the capital of Indonesia, only around 16% of the urban poor are connected to a municipal water supply. Their alternative sources of water (like small private networks, bottled water, home-made wells etc.) end up burdening them with a disproportionately large financial cost. Also, poor quality of water in Jakarta due to endemic pollution leads to diarrheal diseases – a leading cause of morbidity in infants. The poor bear a disproportionate share of this tragic health burden as well.
Researchers recently mapped out the gaps in piped water service provision and found that government policies and private providers from the Dutch colonial era to the present day have deliberately expanded the piped water network amongst the affluent parts of the city – what the authors call “key economic zones”. These are the sorts of “governance failures”, as termed by Dr. Karen Bakker, that is the focus of a human right to water.
While the human rights framework has certainly been central to the anti-privatization movement, this is not its sole purpose. The human right to water, I think, was not intended to solve the problem of water governance failures. What it does is give leverage to those vulnerable communities who are the victims of governance failures. It calls attention to their plight in a clear, recognizable language of rights and duty-bearers, and pressures government to remedy this situation by prioritizing the poor.
The next post will look at some examples of where the human right to water has been used to improve the accountability of government and service providers to poor and vulnerable communities.
-Earth Institute, Columbia University
by Eve Warburton
Tuesday, June 28, 2011
Basil
I simply love my basil plant. It is pretty in my kitchen, it smells good, it tastes good, and it won't die if I forget to water it for a few days. It's funny how a little plant can make my day just that much better. Next step, getting a cute little pot to plant it in.
Saturday, June 25, 2011
Frianche and Method Gun
This week Pasha scored comp tickets to see the widely acclaimed and talked about "Method Gun" and since the tickets were comped we thought it would be appropriate to use our groupon to Frianche for some yummy pre-show grub. Yummy does not do this food justice. Just a few examples, my drink had actual lavender in it and our mango panna cotta had pop rocks on top. Needless to say, I am stealing both of these recipes.
Method Gun was also pleasantly surprising. One, because I started out skeptical and was completely won over by the end of the show. And two, the end was visually and mentally remarkable. If you make it through, you will definitely walk out with a smile on your face. If you have a chance, get into one of the last showings this weekend.
Saturday, June 18, 2011
Keeping it Simple
What is better than a chocolate chip cookie? Maybe a salted caramel chocolate chip cookie. It is pretty much the exact same thing with a little salted punch. Tasty.
Oh, and that one that is missing in the top row, don't tell Pasha, but I already ate it.
Sweet Treat
I have recently fallen in love with making doughnuts for breakfast on Saturday. I think everyone deserves a little treat after a week full of work, and what better sweet treat than a homemade doughnut.
Friday, June 17, 2011
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