Eco Trip

Today, I watched three episodes of Eco Trip, a new series on the Sundance Channel. Things I've learned:

1. Cotton=evil. Not actually, but it uses tons of pesticides which end up in groundwater and make people sick that live near the fields. Most cotton products also have a huge environmental impact because the cotton is usually shipped overseas for processing and then shipped back to the US for selling. Solution for myself: suck up the price and buy organic cotton; better yet, buy used (which is easier for me to do because it's cheaper...) Try alternative fabrics like bamboo and hemp. I love bamboo sheets. Mmmm.

2. Chocolate also uses tons of pesticides for the cocoa beans. Cocoa beans should be grown in moist climates like the Dominican Republic, but instead it's grown in West Africa, and for some reason I can't figure out they need tons of pesticides to grow (as well as tons of water since cocoa bean trees need lots of moisture). Dark chocolate with a higher percentage of cocoa has lots of antioxidants, so eat that for health. Solution for myself: Eat organic, fair-trade dark chocolate (which I actually love anyways, and the price usually isn't too bad because you don't eat as much in one sitting).

3. 90% of salmon in our market is farmed. Farmed salmon has more PCPs and is even fed certain things to make it pinker. The salmon farms are ruining the natural habitat of clams in certain areas of British Colombia. They are also diseasing the wild salmon with lice and killing them off. Ten years ago, people only ate salmon if they lived on the coast and only when it was in season. With the rise of information about omega-3s and other good things about salmon (information supplied by the farmed salmon industry), 52 million Americans now eat salmon. I love salmon. Solution for myself: I can't afford ocean caught salmon, so I guess that means I get my omegas from something else... flaxseed?

I also just made this for lunch because I was hungry and sick of soup. And it was delicious!