To Till and to Tend

Last night we surprised my son by showing up at his 25th birthday get-together, attending the Phillies-Nationals ballgame at the Nationals’ beautiful new stadium. The Phillies won big-time, so Happy Birthday Zach! It’s awesome to see the Capitol in the cityscape from the park, and they even shoot off fireworks when you get to “the rockets’ red glare”, and “bombs bursting in air” in the Star Spangled Banner. (I think they should substitute a release of peace doves for the “bombs bursting in air”, but it’s a nice feeling place all around.)
The stadium has impressively green kudos which are touted all over the stadium – urban infill, reusing a brownfield, superb metro connections and obscenely expensive parking, to discourage car use, green roofs, and an emphasis on materials from a 500-radius used in its construction, including salvaged content. Yes, it has recycling bins, a big improvement over other most public places I visit.
The food concessions present a different picture, less green by far, perhaps since they’re subcontracted. Even though the food choices are conventional,  the plastics are by Greenware, composed of biodegradable material and therefore compostable. Though there was no evidence of actual composting, it’s still great that they’re not sourced from petroleum like conventional plastic. What I found a bit of a cognitive dissonance was the lack of anything fresh. It’s true that people don’t expect or even want ballgame food to be healthy, but I was hoping for a veggie hotdog. It would match the green cred of the stadium. Non-meat eaters can find fried fish. Vegetarians can go with pizza or nachos.  Vegans will need to stick to fries, pretzels, or the kosher garlic potato knish at the Kosher kiosk on Level 4.  (Yes, the Nationals Ballpark has a Kosher concession, but that doesn’t help the planet much, serving tons of red meat requiring endless inputs.  So kosher, yes, but ecologically responsible, no.)
Good luck sneaking in a piece of fruit! And of course, no tap water allowed….

A common line one hears in religious circles is “God works in mysterious ways.”  Is it possible to conclude that when God realized people were going to love eating large, long-lived fishes (which were, after all, created on the 5^th day) to the point of oblivion, God actually made us humans pollute the waters so that eating these fish would be toxic to our bodies and we would moderate our consumption?

Probably not. While the notion may be laughable, it does shed light onto the occasional irony that is human induced pollution. While more often pollution and climate change work to endanger and eliminate species from our planet, in this case could our destructiveness save several? 

Some background information: Half of the planet’s atmospheric mercury is human generated, most to produce power that fuels our lives.  As the hunger for sushi has grown and globalization aids all fish exports, the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) estimates that over 70% of the world’s fish species are either fully exploited or depleted. 

The general public is only beginning to learn what pregnant and breastfeeding women (and some others) have known for years: many fishes have mercury, and it is dangerous to eat too much as mercury can get passed along through the placenta and breastmilk. 

Though children and fetuses are at the highest risk, because their brains and nervous system are still forming, it has only recently been published that the quantities of mercury in the fishes we eat can be harmful to adults.  The Environmental Defense Fund has a useful report on mercury, from which I excerpt:

“Mercury exposure can also harm adults. Symptoms can include numbness, burning or tingling of the extremities (lips, fingers, toes); fatigue; weakness; irritability; shyness; loss of memory and coordination; tremors; and changes in hearing and blurred vision. Extremely high mercury levels can permanently damage an adult’s brain and kidneys, or even lead to circulatory failure.”

Last January, the New York Times broke the story, “High Levels of Mercury Found in Tuna Sushi,” inspired talk, blog posts and more news reports.   Maybe people will be motivated to care for their bodies and eat less mercury heavy, over-fished fish?  Maybe, just maybe, one day our fisheries will be healthy, and eating the fish from them will be healthier, too.

Some Really Great Resources:
My favorite: Monterey Bay Aquarium’s Seafood Watch – a complete guide of all fishes and their health/environmental implications
Environmental Defense Fund’s Guide of “How many meals (of which fish) are safe to eat each month”
Hilarious analysis of the news threads from Newsweek, “Would You Like Mercury With Your Sushi?”

 

The seventh night of Passover, a full chag with no particular commonly observed ritual, is begging for a food do-over. The crossing of the Red Sea is celebrated on the 7th day of Passover; in some communities they spill water and recreate that great event through song and dance, but beyond that, it’s an open canvas.
About ten years ago I decided to appropriate two “seven” connections and recast them as a ritual vegetarian meal, giving 7th Night Passover a special identity. The first inspiration was the Italian Feast of Seven Fishes on Christmas Eve which I’ve read about and sounds fanciful and fun. The other was (non-Pesadik) seven-vegetable couscous. I found that having a positive food focus during the week of Passover, with all its prohibitions, was a great energy director. Also, since most every vegetable is allowed on Passover [consult the authorities on this!], it is a nice psychological flip from scarcity (no chametz) to abundance (so many vegetables!). I have a nice big list of vegetable dishes in my Passover file.
The focus on vegetables of this made-up ritual has taken on more urgency over the years, as the immense environmental costs of poultry and redmeat production become better understood. This knowledge has been around since my young adult days, when Frances Moore Lappe’s Diet for a Small Planet was on the shelf next to Moosewood in most progressive households, but measuring the carbon load of our foods is a relatively new concept. Essentially this is tracking the emissions generated by growing, processing, packaging and shipping our food. A really fun new website, CarbonCounter, is devoted to measuring the impacts of our food choices. You literally move your food into the frying pan and see the counter register its carbon measure. While the specifics are debatable, the relatives are visually clear – the counter drops when you put in vegetarian foods. Among vegetarian choices, it drops further if the food is less processed, a very graphic way of making the point that eating lower off the food chain decreases your ecological foot print. One unfortunate discovery for me is the surprisingly high carbon load of all those soyburgers, hot dogs and nuggets, with their many processed ingredients and excess packaging. Formerly they were a staple, but now they will be considered a treat…. Bummer!
So what to make for seventh night Passover? In keeping with the Red Sea Crossing, perhaps start off with borscht. Artichokes, potatoes (there are so many kinds now you might consider a feast of seven potato varieties!), mushroom pate, eggplant, and add some yams for beautiful color, especially with the beets – maybe you even have some Pesadik marshmallows for topping them, to make the kids happy. And what a chance to use up any leftover parsley and dill, in a lovely kugel or frittata. An incredible bounty of options.
B’taiavon – happy feasting!

For many environmentalists our #1 goal is to consume less. We understand all material things come with a cost – things come from raw materials, take energy to produce and eventually become waste. Though we may buy biodegradable plates, organic cotton clothing and Energy Star certified appliances, less is better, at least where the environment is concerned. Have you ever wondered how many earths we would need if all 6 billion people consumed like you? http://ecofoot.org/. The eco-calculator isn’t perfect, but it shows a reality that is hard to stomach.

A few weeks ago a link came across my desk, one that so profoundly and impressively engaged the issue of consumer behavior and history that I had to pass it along here: www.thestoryofstuff.com. Annie Leonard, the voice behind the site, helps address how Americans moved from a conservationist mentality (think WWII) to intense consumer behavior and explains an issue dear to my (academic) heart; environmental externalities (costs from environmental damage that are not accounted for in the price of a product).

One’s economic, social and environmental conscience may very well encourage modest consumer behavior (especially after watching the video). Jewish teaching comments, too. The rabbis are clear that a conscientious Jew doesn’t waste. Bal taschit, biblical in origin, is a law which mandates that we consume responsibly and not waste the resources we have. As citizens of this world, we have a right to eat, be prosperous and enjoy the miraculous lives we’ve been given, but only if we can provide the same for our children.

Ways to reduce consumption:

Buy fresh, organic and local at farmers markets
Visit your local thrift store

Recycle www.earth911.org