Happy Earth Day!

Today is Earth Day and as such, I took stock of what we've done in the last few years to be kinder to Mother Earth. I recently read a book that asked people to imagine they were on a spaceship headed to another planet hundreds of years away... a limited supply of air and water and the only resources you had were what you could fit in the ship! You wouldn't want to produce any wastes that couldn't be reused or recycled (or else they'd taint your air, water, and food) and in turn you would want to create things that could be reused to create less waste.
Pretty interesting and daunting scenario right? The thought of space travel might make you claustrophobic, but if you think about it, we're all traveling through space on a blue and green space ship - stuck with a finite amount of air, water, and food.... yeah, it's cheesy to say, but we're on Spaceship Earth. Think about that. Then think about what you can do to make less pollution/trash and reuse the stuff you've already got.

Here are some easy tips on things we do everyday. Start slow, we've been adding these slowly since we got married so they've all added up. Pick one new thing to try until it's a habit, then try another. There are lots more out there if you check some of the links and books on the side of our site.

1. Take your own cloth bags to the grocery, Target, pharmacy, take-out place, wherever.
2. Buy a reusable water bottle to refill instead of buying (evil) plastic bottles. Better for you, your wallet, and the planet.
3. Just in case you haven't heard - recycling rocks. Do it, it's easy and free.
4. Buy produce from a local farm/farmer's market, bonus points if it's an organic farm.
5. Buy things with less packaging (less waste!) - and look for packaging that can be recycled (aluminum cans, glass bottles, etc).
6. Compost. Send less food scraps and yard waste to the landfill and instead use them to nourish your plants and trees! Or give them to a friend who composts - sometimes cities even collect it for you.
7. Use biodegradable plastic bags for garbage, doggie poop bags, and litter box liners (actually we don't use those anymore at all...)
8. Use the library to check out books and DVDs. Sharing saves resources and saves you money!
9. Drive less. Walk, take the bus or the metro when possible - it'll save you money too!
10. Change out your lightbulbs to Compact Fluorescent Lightbulbs (CFLs). Saves electricity and money! You can also save both of those by unplugging appliances (TVs, microwaves, computer monitors) you aren't using and turning off fans and lights when you leave a room.

So there you go - things to help your wallet and help the health of the planet, and ultimately everyone's health. Enjoy!

Cherry Trees and Monuments

After L.A., I headed to DC for two days to do some training. It was nice to be able to travel with my office mate Michelle - having a friend to talk to is better than sitting with a stranger for 2.5 hours! The first night, the usual suspects (Whitney, Preetha, and Michelle) and I made the pilgrimage to Georgetown to visit the Patagonia store then have dinner at the tea house - always a good evening! The next day was a full day of communications training, after which Michelle, Preetha and I deemed it necessary for a hearty Mexican dinner and margaritas. Feeling a bit tipsy and full, Michelle and I then headed out to walk the monuments at sunset and see the cherry trees. Below is the Washington Monument at sunset from across the tidal basin - along the water you can just see the pink blossoms on the cherry trees.

DC this time of year is quite beautiful - trees budding out, cherry blossoms around the tidal basin, and tulips and daffodils everywhere you look. It was my first time seeing the cherry trees so we thought it would be fun to do a tour. Once we got to the Jefferson Memorial where the tours start we realized that everyone else and their brother was thinking the same thing! So, we did our own unofficial tour. We started at the Jefferson Memorial (a first for me), then around the Tidal Basin to see the cherry trees, then through the Roosevelt Memorial (another first), over to the WWII Memorial (yet another first), then we ended at the Washington Memorial. We saved the Lincoln Memorial (one of my favorites) and the Vietnam Wall for next time. The walk made for the perfect ending to our trip. Below is a view of the Jefferson Memorial at night through the cherry trees. Check out more pictures on our Picasa site.

It was a quick trip this time around, so it was nice to be home in time for Easter. Saturday we picked up a nice bunch of veggies from the farm, met Kellyn for some time on the beach (my shoulders now resemble a lobster), then had pizza with my extended family. Sunday we had my folks over for Easter dinner and made them Mexican food with all the veggies from the farm.

I'm happy to be home for a week before I head to DC again!

The Coral Entourage Goes to the O.C.

Although we don't have television, I've seen enough to know when my job intersects with TV shows. This past week I was in Orange County, CA (The O.C.) for work. With me came: my boss (Amanda), a colleague from NOAA (Glynnis), a scientist and big name in the aquarium hobby (Eric), and my funder (Kristine). The first day there we all piled into the car and drove to L.A. to meet with a saltwater aquarium importer who's actually doing things right. Afterwards, we met with the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service (the folks who check what animals are imported into the U.S.) to talk about enforcement issues. We even got to follow around an inspector for a few hours helping with inspections at LAX airport which was really interesting (and made me feel like we were her entourage). I was also half expecting to see some scary Chinese triad people smuggling cars while we were in the warehouse district too... but alas, my TV-generated expectations of LA were not met (haha).

The next night Glynnis and I were up for a little adventure so we drove to the heart of the O.C. (as seen on television we were told) to have dinner in Laguna Beach. We walked the beach a bit and I saw my first sunset on the Pacific Ocean (and of course took an absurd amount of pictures).

After the sun went down, we hoofed it past my first tsunami evacuation route sign (see our Picasa site) on the street to a really cool sushi place. It was quite an adventure since it was a "fusion" sushi place - meaning we barely recognized anything on the menu (and there weren't a whole lot of veggie rolls). One roll I ordered had 3 kinds of fish, mango, banana, avocado, walnuts, and sprouts. Crazy, but delicious! We also ordered sashimi that was a slab of rice, grapefruit, and avocado seat-belted together with some seaweed. We were skeptical, but it was fantastic and really refreshing.

The third day we spent with Eric at the Marine Aquarium Expo (he was giving a talk) to meet some people and get the scoop on various businesses involved in the trade. It was incredible to see how much coral was for sale and how small the pieces were compared to the price.

After we'd seen everything we took Eric out to lunch for more sushi. At this sushi place they had fantastic vegetarian rolls - some even with pumpkin! I was also happy to eat sushi three times in 5 days because it gave me a great excuse to use my travel chopsticks. In a continuing effort to cut down the amount of waste I create I have started using a set of Snow Peak traveling chopsticks (they breakdown in half) and an REI metal spork. I frequently eat Asian food and oatmeal (no, not together) when I travel so these are essential tools for me. I also use them when I'm not traveling - the spork is even good for frozen yogurt! I love being able to cut down the number of plastic spoons and wood chopsticks in landfills. Wade liked my chopsticks so much he has a pair now too!

This was one of the few trips I've taken that I was able to travel with people, so it was really nice to have company and even better that everyone was fun to hang out with. It was also an inspiring experience spending the whole trip with fellow vegetarians (who had been for 20+ years!).

To see more pictures on our Picasa site, click here.