Michael Pollan AND Joel Salatin in 'Fresh the Movie'

So cool! I came across this new documentary with Michael Pollan AND Joel Salatin in it, it's called Fresh: New Thinking about What We're Eating...here is the description from the website...

FRESH celebrates the farmers, thinkers and business people across America who are re-inventing our food system. Each has witnessed the rapid transformation of our agriculture into an industrial model, and confronted the consequences: food contamination, environmental pollution, depletion of natural resources, and morbid obesity. Forging healthier, sustainable alternatives, they offer a practical vision for a future of our food and our planet.

Among several main characters, FRESH features urban farmer and activist, Will Allen, the recipient of MacArthur’s 2008 Genius Award; sustainable farmer and entrepreneur, Joel Salatin, made famous by Michael Pollan’s book, The Omnivore’s Dilemma; and supermarket owner, David Ball, challenging our Wal-Mart dominated economy.

So far it appears to be in select screenings mainly in the US but there is a screening in Vancouver on June 10 at UBC.

Here is a trailer...


I emailed them to see if we could get a screening here in Horsefly...I'll let you know what they say :)

Celebrate Earth Day

"We've been acting like a rock star, trashing a hotel room and now it's the morning after."

-Kenny Ausubel's Keynote at Bioneers by the Bay 2008, to see more click here.

I thought we would celebrate Earth Day today by sharing with our readers, one of many of our sources of inspiration for trying to live a more natural, sustainable life...Chelsea Green. They are the publisher of many of our favourite authors...from their incredibly content dense website...

For 25 years, Chelsea Green has been the publishing leader for books on the politics and practice of sustainable living. We are a founding member of the Green Press Initiative and have been printing books on recycled paper since 1985, when our first list of books appeared. We lead the industry both in terms of content—foundational books on renewable energy, green building, organic agriculture, eco-cuisine, and ethical business—and in terms of environmental practice, printing 95 percent of our books on recycled paper with a minimum 30 percent post-consumer waste and aiming for 100 percent whenever possible. This approach is a perfect example of what is called a ”triple bottom line“ practice, one that benefits people, planet, and profit, and the emerging new model for sustainable business in the 21st century.

The company has well over 400 titles in print covering topics like straw bale construction, gardening and agriculture, food and health, green building and simple living. They have also taken full advantage of an active online commmunity presence, sharing news and current events on Twitter, Facebook and to subscribers to their site and various blogs.

Recently, I've become slightly addicted to Chelsea Green TV ... they have video clips on a wide variety of topics, usually presentations or interviews with the authors of their books. They make their material easy to share...this is an entertaining interview with Joel Salatin, a local food advocate and farmer and author of "Everything I Want To Do Is Illegal: War Stories From the Local Food Front. (2007)"

To subscribe to their "feed" (provides you with daily updates of news/events etc in the world of sustainability)...click here.

This from their site today...I do enjoy their irreverent sense of humour...

So, in the interest of helping you reconnect with the Earth, I’ve put together this quick list of recommendations for how to celebrate Earth Day. Do them in order. Optional where noted.

1. Look out your window.
2. Stand up. Leave your desk.
3. Run out of your office, screaming, “I’m going to my garden! You drones can’t stop me!”
4. Flip off your boss. (Mooning optional.)
5. Stop running. Apologize. Continue running.
6. Drive to your garden (if you have one) or the nearest park (if there is one) or to West Virginia (if you live in New Jersey).
7. Find a rock. Threaten your cellphone with it. (So it REALLY knows you hate it.)
8. Find a spot in the sunshine and lie down in the grass. Away from the highways. Away from the city.
9. Breathe. Slowly.
10. Dig your hands in the dirt.
11. Contemplate your food. Your shelter. Your family. Your time left on Earth.
12. Contemplate your job.
13. Take cell phone picture of your middle finger. Send it to your boss.
14. Sleep in the sunshine.

From all of us ne’er-do-wells at Chelsea Green: Enjoy your Earth Day!

Water Footprints?

Here's an interesting chart that caught my eye today.

It points out some well-known and lesser-well-known choices one could make to lessen one's water use.

GOOD Transparency - Walk This Way [GOOD Magazine via Serious Eats via Lifehacker]

I'm going to assume they mean industrial beef, rather than grass-fed beef. I'm not saying grass-feeding uses no water, but I suspect it uses less.

Why we love our grass-fed beef

Where does your beef come from?? Here...

Photo courtesy of treehugger.com

or here?

Photo courtesy of Big Bear Ranch

Some interesting links for more info...
The River Cottage Meat Book: For Carnivores with a Conscience
A review of the popular River Cottage Meat Book.

5 Reasons to Add Grass-fed Beef to your Grocery List

What's so special about grass-fed beef?

Eatwild