Photo by The Farm Chicks

My favorite Farm Chicks (the hub bought me one of their vintage-wallpaper pendants for our first, “paper” wedding anniversary) have an easy-peasy-lemon-squeezy tutorial on how to make a tres-country-chic fabric-scrap flower pin. Simply use their template to cut out petal shapes in varying sizes (four of each), then fasten with a vintage button in front and a safety pin round back. The Chicks used salvaged fabric and ribbons from an old chicken coop about to be burned down; I’m bowled over by the fabulousness of that corn-meal sack.

I’m also crushing on Posie’s recycled wool flower pins in a major way. If I were ever to Single White Female anyone, it’d be her (except no puppies would be hurt because I’m a big ol’ softie like that).

It’s the Environment, Stupid thinks organic fish are kinda … fishy

From William Henry Channing (1810-1884) [via Pocket Farm]:

To live content with small means; to seek elegance rather than luxury, and refinement rather than fashion; to be worthy, not respectable, and wealthy, not, rich; to listen to stars and birds, babes and sages, with open heart; to study hard; to think quietly, act frankly, talk gently, await occasions, hurry never; in a word, to let the spiritual, unbidden and unconscious, grow up through the common—this is my symphony.

Funded by the New York City Department of Sanitation, the New York City Compost Project provides compost outreach and education to New York City residents and business, featuring composting workshops, landscaper training, and even a master composter certificate course so you can lord over your dirt by squelching it under the jackboot of authority.

During a number of special events called compost givebacks, you’re free to shovel and cart off as much compost as you and your hungry plants desire (while supplies last, of course). Even better, NYC residents can buy home compost bins, made from recycled plastic, for a heavily discounted price of $20.

Because we compost our scraps at our local community garden, we’ve found that we rarely have to take out our trash anymore, since there’s hardly anything in it that rots or smells. It’s the CIIIIIRCLE of LIIIIIIIFFFE with the bonus of less moola spent on garbage bags.

No room or community garden? You can always swing your vegetable trimmings by the Union Square Farmers’ Market composting-collection booth, as well.

Related articles:
1. What to Do With Doggy Doo?
2. Compost This

This Christmas, instead of getting a nasty El Fake-o tree most likely made from PVC (and in China), or a questionably harvested, pesticide-ridden cut tree that could haul in glad tidings of chlorpyriforus (a suspected neurotoxin) and other chemicals into your living room, consider a living Christmas tree. Organic potted trees are available at organic nurseries and selected tree farms. When Ol’ St. Nick has finished making his rounds and the glitter has fallen off the tinsel, you can either replant the tree in your backyard or keep it in your garage or by your house (depending on your climate) for next year’s festivities.

If you live in San Francisco or Portland, Oregon, you can even rent a living Christmas Tree (starting at $55 for a 7-foot Douglas fir) that will be delivered to you, then picked up after New Year’s to be replanted in areas such as parks and school districts. Personally, our tiny apartment is going tree-free (except for some paper standup trees we got free a few years ago). I don’t think our holidays will be any less merry or bright because of that. Just wait till my bipeds stick a pair of fuzzy antlers on me again. Bah Humbug.

Screenshot from Darfur is Dying

What’s going on in the strife-torn Darfur region of Sudan?

The CliffsNotes version from Save Darfur:

Darfur has been embroiled in a deadly conflict for over three years. At least 400,000 people have been killed; more than 2 million innocent civilians have been forced to flee their homes and now live in displaced-persons camps in Sudan or in refugee camps in neighboring Chad; and more than 3.5 million men, women, and children are completely reliant on international aid for survival. Not since the Rwandan genocide of 1994 has the world seen such a calculated campaign of displacement, starvation, rape, and mass slaughter.

António Guterres, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, has described the situation in Sudan and Chad as “the largest and most complex humanitarian problem on the globe.”

The Sudanese government and the Janjaweed militias are responsible for the burning and destruction of hundreds of rural villages, the killing of tens of thousands of people and rape and assault of thousands of women and girls.

The situation in Darfur became less abstract to me, shameless child of the MTV generation that I am, when I started playing Darfur is Dying, a simulation “game” online that I realized (after obnoxiously whinging how hard it was) isn’t a game to the 4 million people in Darfur.

Another creative strategy in response to the crisis: Eyes on Darfur, a collaborative effort among artists and crafters on Etsy.com to raise money and awareness for the people of Darfur. All proceeds go to Doctors Without Borders. Of course, it’s always more pragmatic to donate directly to the charity of your choice, but if you’re going to buy something anyway, it couldn’t hurt to make your purchase count.

Chekhov’s pick of the litter: kitty toys made from recycled sweaters (and stuffed with organic catnip) for the “tree-hugging cat”.

And if you’re an American Express-card holder, you can donate your points to Refugees International (a three-star Charity Navigator charity), which provides “humanitarian assistance and protection for displaced people around the world,” as well.

Related article:
1. Even Third-World Farmers Get the Blues

Photo by Julie Toy/Getty Images

(Part of my Green This House program.)

We’ve been trying our darndest, since our decision to live more sustainably almost a year ago, to give waste-free, non-consumerist gifts that were not only carefully chosen with the giftee in mind, but also reflected our values (but hopefully without being sanctimonious or pushy, because no one likes a Smug-a-lot; we have cats for that) Consuming less of everything all year also meant we could afford to spend more on what truly mattered.

Our current tally:

Pop-in-law: My husband’s father originally hails from Pakistan, and so the kids all chipped in for a Pakistan Shelter Kit from Mercy Corps (a Charity Navigator four-star charity) to provide “materials, tools and labor to build cold-weather shelters” for already-poor Pakistani families who were displaced in the crippling 2005 earthquake.

Mom-in-law: A massage session at an organic spa.

My parents: Cash. (We’re Chinese; cashola = LOVE)

My brother: My big bro, who is the proverbial Man Who Has Everything, has long considered the almost-endangered polar bear, with its take-it-easy ‘tude, his totem animal. I thought it only appropriate to make a donation to NRDC Biogem’s polar-bear-conservation efforts, in the face of global-warming pollution, in his name.

The hub: My sweetie gets as pumped up about going to the zoo as your average five-year-old, especially if you gave him a push in the direction of the hippo habitat. For his birthday, he became a member of the Wildlife Conservation Society (a top 10 Charity Navigator charity), which entitles him to free, year-round admission to all of their parks, including the Central Park and Bronx zoos. He also gets to support “300 WCS Conservation projects in over 50 countries that protect wildlife habitats and endangered species.”

Related articles:
1. Simplifying the Holidays
2. Baa Ram Ewe: Gifts From the Farm

Sneaking a missive past the frontlines. Take that Kohl’s-JCPenney-Wal-Mart-Kmart-Target et. al.

From Adbusters:

On November 24th and 25th—the busiest days in the American retail calendar and the unofficial start of the international Christmas-shopping season—thousands of activists and concerned citizens in 65 countries will take a 24-hour consumer detox as part of the 14th annual Buy Nothing Day, a global phenomenon that originated in Vancouver, Canada.

From joining zombie marches through malls to organizing credit card cut-ups and shopoholic clinics, Buy Nothing Day activists aim to challenge themselves, their families and their friends to switch off from shopping and tune back into life for one day. Featured in recent years by the likes of CNN, Wired, the BBC, and the CBC, the global event is celebrated as a relaxed family holiday, as a non-commercial street party, or even as a politically charged public protest. Anyone can take part provided they spend a day without spending.

Reasons for participating in Buy Nothing Day are as varied as the people who choose to participate. Some see it as an escape from the marketing mind games and frantic consumer binge that has come to characterize the holiday season, and our culture in general. Others use it to expose the environmental and ethical consequences of overconsumption.

[via Green LA Girl]

Cartoon by C. Covert Darbyshire/The New Yorker

(For Siel.)

Photo by Spare Cloth at Etsy.com

I’ve been running the feed dogs of my trusty sewing machine ragged making reusable fabric gift bags from vintage Christmas fabric I found on Etsy for about a buck per yard. They’ll be going to family members who want a waste-free Yule.

Today on the Martha Stewart 12-month calender: Make apple and pumpkin pies. Um, I ATE a slice of apple pie last night, does that count? We’ll be offsetting our way to California to celebrate the slaughter of the natives, bearing gifts of organic potatoes and squash (for our pantry overfloweth). See you on Monday, my freaky darlings.

Related article:
1. Flying the Eco-Friendly Skies

Reconstructed tops by Snowflake 66, available at Cut + Paste

Shopping as therapy is so ingrained in our cultural identity that despite my best efforts, when under duress, I still double over, sink my head into open palms, and use the Lord’s name in vain because GOD ALMIGHTY I need to shop NOW. It’s a genetic sickness, kind of like Bruce Banner’s, if the Hulk had a thing for pointelle lace and cap sleeves. Most of the time, Chekhov leaps onto my lap and jabs me in the eye so I have trouble making out where to key in my credit-card number. When his mind is honed in like a particle-beam satellite on the cleanliness of his furry tuckus, however, the following cheat sheet comes in handy.

GOOD: Buy organic clothing, i.e, no pesticides or chemicals were used in the making of this T-shirt, which is good for you and good for the environment. (See “What’s the Cotton Pickin’ Idea” for problems with conventionally grown cotton.) Other tree-hugging materials: hemp, bamboo, and soysilk.

BETTER: Buy vintage or repurposed/reconstructed clothing. Their polluting impact has come and gone, no new resources have been expended, and you’re not contributing anything new to the waste stream. Plus, you’re keeping perfectly good clothes out of the landfill. Even Umbra of Grist says, “New organic clothing is not better than already-purchased synthetic clothing.”

BEST: Don’t buy anything. (No foolin’!) Refuse to wrap your identity within the temporarily gratifying bounds of material consumption and be “possessed by your possessions.” Like Juliet B. Schor, author of The Overspent American: Why We Want What We Don’t Need and Born to Buy: The Commercialized Child and the New Consumer Culture says, choose quality over quantity, longevity over novelty, and versatility over specialty. If we’re satisfied with a much smaller closet, we can spend more per garment so our clothes are better constructed. “Workers would work less, produce fewer but higher-quality items, and be paid more per hour. Such a change would help make ecologically clean technologies economically feasible,” she says.

Photo by Rauzier Riviere/Getty Images

I know, I know, the Tofurkey ain’t even cold yet, but I just heard someone walk by singing “Silver Bells” so I figured, if you can’t lob a pinecone at them for seasonally out-of-sync anthems, join them.

Jennifer Swanson from the Simple Living Network writes about simple, sustainable, and clutter-free gift ideas for the holidays, whether you’re a proponent of voluntary simplicity, or if you’re related to one and just don’t get their requests for “nothing” this year. “Many gift choices only add more disorder to our already cluttered homes, but what can you do?” she says “My answer is to request and give disappearing gifts, relieving the burden on the receiver to find space for the gift—while sparing the environment at the same time.”

Just some of her ideas: an offer to babysit or do yard work, a membership to a museum, zoo, conservatory, or historical society, a gift certificate to an eco-store or organic restaurant, a contribution to kids’ college funds, and, of course, a charitable donation to a cause that is meaningful to the recipient.

Related article:
1. Baa Ram Ewe: Gifts from the Farm

Photo by Romulo Yanes/Gourmet

Are you, like me, drowning in precariously stacked mounds of squash from your CSA farmer? Luckily for us, Epicurious.com has a whopping 252 different squash recipes archived from the pages of Gourmet, including Butternut Squash with Ginger Relish (pictured above), Acorn Squash with Wild Mushroom Cranberry Stuffing, and Grilled Smoked-Mozzarella and Yellow Squash Pizzettes. My sweetie loves polenta, so I might be giving the Butternut Squash Polenta a whirl soon, perhaps with some fresh cheese from the farmers’ market if they’re still around after I’m through sketching naked ladies this Saturday.

A toothy aside: The New York Times rhapsodizes about the perfect pie crust. (Apparently it doesn’t come from a giant freezer in the middle of a supermarket aisle.)

I upgraded the blog to the current Wordpress 2.0.5 last night, a process that has so far proceeded without incident—do let me know, however, if anything is broken. I’ve also added MiniPosts, which allows me to throw up interesting links without explication, so I’d appreciate feedback on whether you like the feature or if you’d rather share fish biscuits with a convicted felon on a creepy island that’s not the island you crash-landed on MIGHTY MOSES WHAT IS GOING ON WITH THIS SHOW than see it again. Will pushbutton linkfesting make me a lazier blogger? Undoubtedly, yes.

Luv 24/7
247 Eldridge St. (between Stanton and Houston)
New York, NY 10002
212-505-7600
www.luv247nyc.com
6:30-8pm

[via Ben Jervey]

Available for order from Amazon.com

Co-op America has a fantastic article on the issues surrounding fair-trade rice. Unsurprisingly (oh cynicism, my old friend), rice farmers face the same problems coffee growers do obtaining a decent price for their goods.

Most of the white and brown rice we eat in the US is grown on US farms. But most of the sweet smelling “aromatic” varieties of long grain rice—which are increasingly popular in the US—come to our tables from Asia: Jasmine and Coral from Thailand, and Basmati from India and Pakistan. If you’ve had a meal including aromatic rices recently, chances are that that rice was grown in rain-fed paddies and that small-scale farmers harvested it by hand. Unfortunately, what smelled so sweet on the stove may not have reflected a sweet deal for farmers. These producers are vulnerable to shifting prices and exploitative middle merchants, so they often earn far below a fair wage on which they could support their families.

For example, Kyra [Busch of Educational Network for Global and Grassroots Exchange (ENGAGE)] describes Thai villages in which all of the local farmers were dependent on rice mills whose owners didn’t always treat farmers with integrity. “At home you would have ten kilograms, but the mill owners would weigh it on their scale and say, ‘It’s only 8.5 kilos.’ The mill might promise in advance to pay farmers six baht per kilo, but the farmers would get their rice to the mill and then the mill owner would reduce that to four baht per kilo, which is less than five cents.” (US supermarkets charge consumers at least 35 times that price for Jasmine rice, starting at five cents per ounce.)

When farmers cannot make enough by growing rice to support their families, many are forced into debt, pushed to sell their land, or compelled to seek jobs in the cities as laborers, factory workers, or sex workers. In Thailand, for example, which provides 75 percent of the rice imported to the US, 68 percent of farmers in the northeast growing region are saddled with debts that are three times their annual income.

Another problem stems from American scientists trying to genetically modify Jasmine rice plants for cultivation in the U.S., which not only would devastate the Thai economy—dependent as it is on global rice exports—but is also incredibly bad form. What is this, genetic plagiarism? The egghead equivalent of kicking sand in a preschooler’s face at the playground and going “nyeah, nyeah, nyeah”? For shame, America. FOR. SHAME.

With the fair-trade system, over 1,000 Indian farmers and 8,000 Thai farmers now receive a living wage, and are able to invest in the infrastructure of their villages (such as building raised roads and bridges that can withstand floods), supplies for local schools, and even a program that protects endangered forests from loggers. Plus, fair trade means the farmers are encouraged to use sustainable production methods—pesticides, which poison water supplies and endanger farmers’ health, are a gigantic no-no, for instance. In fact, half of fair-trade-certified rice is also certified organic.

Farmer Prasong, for example, noticed a difference when he began farming organically.

“It’s allowed him to have a livelihood and restored his health,” says Kyra, who accompanied Prasong on a US speaking tour in February. In the communities that have been impacted by the Fair Trade rice program, “you can see steady progress,” says Kyra. “These communities are beautiful. There are frogs, and flowering trees, fruits and vegetables growing. There is biodiversity instead of decimated fields with just rice. And you see all of the generations together, instead of just the elderly people and children you used to see when the middle-aged people had to leave to work [in cities].”

I wonder if Alter Eco will sell its rice to me wholesale. At the rate I go through rice—we fill reusable bags to the brim at the bulk-foods section of our organic grocery—those undersize boxes are impractical (and, for someone who grew up in a home with a, I kid you not, 3-foot-tall rice bin, almost laughable).

Additional resources:
1. Alter Eco Fair Trade, 415-701-1212
2. Ahaar Organic Foods, 925-365-0585
3. Woodstock Farms, 800-877-8898
4. Co-op America’s Adopt-a-Supermarket campaign

Illo by Ideal Bite

Chew on this! Last week was Home Improvement Week at Ideal Bite, which ran a great series on eco-friendly, health-friendly, and sustainable sources for flooring, cabinetry, countertops, and more:

1. Paint: Nothing to Sniff At
“There’s just nothing quite like watching paint dry. But unless you’re the type who likes to inhale fumes, for your next paint job, go for naturally vibrant paints that won’t leave you woozy.”

2. Totally Floored
“Want to green your home from the ground up? Then floor it with eco-options like recycled carpeting or bamboo: materials that are good looking and good for the earth.”

3. Appearances Can Be Deceiving: Cabinets
“‘Appearances can be deceiving,’ [our fifth-grade teacher] Mrs. Klein always used to say, and it absolutely holds true for the perfectly good-looking wood in kitchen cabinets, which sometimes contain nasty chems.”

4. On Top: Countertops
“Bored in your bedroom? Then play out your own movie scene and heat things up in the kitchen instead. If you’ve got hot eco-countertops, who needs a bed?”

5. Bedridden
“We owe your boss an apology. As home improvement week draws to a close, your house is looking so good you’re probably practicing your best fake cough, just so you can stay home to admire the recycled countertops. ”

Related articles:
1. Mail Call: Nontoxic Shower Curtains
2. Mail Call: Toxic Wood
3. Sleep Tight, Don’t Let the PBDEs Bite
4. Color Me Bad
5. Color Me Better

Photo by Ebby May/Getty Images

From The Independent: “Chemical pollution may have harmed the brains of millions of children around the world in what scientists are calling a ’silent pandemic’.”

The world is bathed in a soup of industrial chemicals which are damaging the intellectual potential of the next generation and may increase the incidence of conditions such as Parkinson’s disease, they say.

One in every six children has a developmental disability, such as autism, attention deficit disorder or cerebral palsy, the effects of which may be life-long.

The role of low-level pollutants, such as lead and mercury, on the growing brain has been recognised for decades and measures taken to reduce exposure to a minimum. But scientists from the Harvard School of Public Health, in Boston, say at least 202 chemicals are known to have the capacity to damage the brain and their effects at low levels of exposure are unknown. They say limits for exposure to chemicals should be set for pregnant women and young children, recognising the unique sensitivity of the developing brain, which is much more susceptible to the toxic effects of chemicals.

A selection of the 202 chemicals listed by the authors, including chemicals in household products that can cause serious accidents when ingested or have been used in suicide attempts:

Acrylamide
Used in adhesives, printing ink and agricultural sprays. Can cause drowsiness and hallucinations.

Cyclohexane
Used to make nylon, paint and resin removers, and fungicides. Can cause headaches and convulsions.

Acetone
Used in nail-polish remover and to make plastics, fibres and drugs. Breathing it over long periods can cause light-headedness and confusion.

Methanol
Used as a petrol additive and in spray paints. Can cause an effect similar to drunkenness followed by severe stomach, leg and back pain.

Trichloroethylene
Used in dry cleaning. Breathing it for long periods may cause dizziness, poor co-ordination and difficulty concentrating.

Aniline
Used to make pesticides, dyes and rubber. Breathing in small amounts over several years may cause cancer.

Styrene
Used in making plastics. Breathing small amounts over long periods causes alterations in vision, hearing loss and slower reaction times

[via the Organic Consumers Association]

Related articles:
1. Pesticides in Produce
2. The Pesticide-Parkinson’s Equation
3. Grass! On! The! Loose! (Chekhov’s Eco Tip)
4. Lawn & Order
5. Vinegar: Disinfectant of Champions
6. Eco-Me Home: Green Cleaning Solutions
7. Pollution in People
8 . Eulogy for Swiffer
9. Maybe Baby: Chemicals & Kids
10. Why Pesticides Suck Reason #785

Photo by Aldo Brando/Getty Images

Too Few Fish in the Sea
For me, giving up fish was the toughest part about becoming vegetarian. Asking me to eschew sushi might as well have been, “Would you like to have your brains tenderized with a steel mallet?” In fact, for several years, I floundered in that amphibious realm called pescetarianism, or pesco-vegetarianism, where you allow yourself to include seafood in your diet, which scientific circles might call TRYING-TO-HAVE-YOUR-CAKE-AND-EAT-IT-TOO-ISM, COP-OUTISM, or ARE-YOU-SERIOUSISM. But its no secret that our ocean populations are facing an enormous crisis, taxed as they are by overfishing and habitat destruction. According to a study reported by Reuters, the world’s fish and seafood populations will “collapse” by 2048 if current trends persist, resulting in catch reductions of 90 percent and leaving less seafood for fish-lovers everywhere.

This applies to all species, from mussels and clams to tuna and swordfish, said Boris Worm, lead author of the study, which was published in the current edition of the journal Science.

Ocean mammals, including seals, killer whales and dolphins, are also affected.

“Whether we looked at tide pools or studies over the entire world’s ocean, we saw the same picture emerging,” Worm said in a statement. “In losing species we lose the productivity and stability of entire ecosystems. I was shocked and disturbed by how consistent these trends are—beyond anything we suspected.”

[via Rustle the Leaf]

Beyond seafood, human health risks emerge as “depleted coastal ecosystems become vulnerable to invasive species, disease outbreaks, and noxious algal blooms,” according to the nonprofit organization SeaWeb in a press release about the study.

Many of the economic activities along our coasts rely on diverse systems and the healthy waters they supply. “The ocean is a great recycler,” explains [study co-author Steve] Palumbi [of Stanford University], “It takes sewage and recycles it into nutrients, it scrubs toxins out of the water, and it produces food and turns carbon dioxide into food and oxygen.” But in order to provide these services, the ocean needs all its working parts, the millions of plant and animal species that inhabit the sea.

Brain Food or Brain Poison?
Less transparent, however, is the contention about whether the benefits of fish (due to their omega-3-fatty-acid content) outweigh the risk of ingesting contaminants such as mercury, PCBs (polychlorinated biphenyls), and dioxins, which can be found in high concentrations in fish such as farmed salmon. (Generally, the higher up a fish is in the food chain, the higher its concentration of toxins.)

In the pro-fish corner is The American Heart Association, which recommends eating fish twice a week. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration, on the other hand, cautions young children and women who are nursing, pregnant, or planning to become pregnant to avoid some types of fish and limit themselves to seafood low in mercury. According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, mercury can “adversely affect a baby’s growing brain and nervous system,” including impacts on cognitive thinking, memory, attention, language, and fine motor and visual spatial skills.

Outbreaks of methylmercury poisonings have made it clear that adults, children, and developing fetuses are at risk from ingestion exposure to methylmercury. During these poisoning outbreaks some mothers with no symptoms of nervous system damage gave birth to infants with severe disabilities, it became clear that the developing nervous system of the fetus may be more vulnerable to methylmercury than is the adult nervous system. …

In addition to the subtle impairments noted above, symptoms of methylmercury poisoning may include; impairment of the peripheral vision; disturbances in sensations (“pins and needles” feelings, usually in the hands, feet, and around the mouth); lack of coordination of movements; impairment of speech, hearing, walking; and muscle weakness.

The Case for Omega-3
The intake of the omega-3 fatty acids found in fish, however, has been linked to a lower incidence of heart disease, lowered cholesterol and other blood-fat levels, and a slight reduction of blood pressure. Fatty fish may even slow very early Alzheimer’s or protect against prostate cancer. There are even nutritionists who say that we are suffering from a deficiency of omega-3 in modern diets, because they’re being flooded out by competing omega-6 fatty acids, mainly from industrial oils such as soy, corn, and sunflower. Our ancestors were used to diets with balanced amounts of omega-3 and omega-6, but poor eating habits today have led to an imbalance where there is too much omega-6 and not enough omega-3.

According to The Guardian:

In the US, for example, soya oil accounted for only 0.02 percent of all calories available in 1909, but by 2000 it accounted for 20 percent. Americans have gone from eating a fraction of an ounce of soya oil a year to downing 25lbs (11.3kg) per person per year in that period. In the UK, omega-6 fats from oils such as soya, corn, and sunflower accounted for 1 percent of energy supply in the early 1960s, but by 2000 they were nearly 5 percent. These omega-6 fatty acids come mainly from industrial frying for takeaways, ready meals and snack foods such as crisps, chips, biscuits, ice-creams and from margarine. Alcohol, meanwhile, depletes omega-3s from the brain.

The same article also suggests that too much omega-6 (and, conversely, too little omega-3) is responsible for rising violence and aggression. There are also claims that fish oils could help emotionally disturbed children. (Some scientists insist we need more research into the possible side effects of using omega-3 to treat mood disorders, however.) Another reason for moms-to-be to load up on omega-3: brainer babies.

If you like eating fish, you might like to download and print The Green Guide’s Smart Shopper’s Fish Picks to keep in your wallet. Divided into three categories, Yes fish have low mercury and are not farmed destructively, Sometimes fish are recovering populations or contain moderate concentrations of mercury, and No fish are absolute no-nos because they are overfished, farmed destructively, or have high levels of mercury.

Fish-Free Fish Oil
If you take into account the toxic impurities found in fish, taking fish-oil supplements could be a safer way of getting your omega-3, but only if the oil has been purified properly. (Environmental Defense did our homework for us by evaluating 75 different brands of supplements available.) In Europe, heart-attack patients are routinely sent home with prescriptions for purified fish oil. (In fact, it could be considered malpractice in Italy to omit the drug.)

For Vegetarians
There are 3 kinds of omega-3: eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA), docosahexaenoic acid (DHA), and alpha-linolenic acid (ALA). ALA is a plant-based omega-3 that can be found in foods such as flaxseed and walnuts. In order to reap the benefits of omega-3, your body must convert ALA to EPA and DHA, and so, higher amounts of ALA-rich foods must be consumed to get the same boost as taking fish oil directly. (The conversion process is dependent on having enough vitamins B3, B6, and C, magnesium, and zinc; trans-fat could impede the conversion.)

Still, flaxseed is a good alternative for vegetarians and vegans, particularly because they are also a source of protein. Besides the exceptional qualities of omega-3, flaxseed also provides a good source of fiber that can lower cholesterol levels in people with atherosclerosis and diabetic heart disease, reduce the risk of developing colon cancer, help relieve constipation, and stabilize blood sugar levels if you have diabetes. Lignins, which are a phytonutrient, found in flaxseed may also protect against breast cancer because they seem to flush excess estrogen out of the body.

The best way to consume flaxseed is to buy the seeds whole and then grind them with a coffee or spice grinder into a fine meal for immediate use. (Flaxseed oil needs to be refrigerated and doesn’t have the same protein, fiber, vitamins and minerals, and lignins you’d find in the seeds. Don’t use it in cooking because the heat can convert the good fats into bad ones.)

Photo by Art Wolfe/Getty Images

Perhaps I’m courting a divine smiting, albeit the positively perfect kind, from the sainted Martha herself, by ignoring her edict to order my Thanksgiving turkey on Nov. 13.

Describing a “Butterball house of horrors,” the November 2006 issue of Satya reaffirmed just some of the reasons why I went vegetarian (after a college trip to a chicken farm, coincidentally). From an interview with Matt Prescott, PETA’s Manager
of Factory Farming Campaigns:

This Thanksgiving, 45 million turkeys will be slaughtered and eaten. That’s one sixth of all turkeys sold in the U.S. each year—675 million pounds of animal flesh in one day! While most people think of turkeys as their Thanksgiving dinner centerpiece, turkeys are extremely social and good-natured. Their personalities are as strong and varied as cats and dogs, perhaps even a bit smarter. People may also not be aware that turkeys raised for food are confined to grow-out sheds where they are forced to stand on mounds of fecal waste and breathe in toxic ammonia fumes. When only a few hours old hours old, a portion of their beaks and toes are severed without the aid of anesthesia. Although birds constitute more than 98 percent of land animals eaten in the U.S., the USDA refuses to list them in the only federal law designed to protect animals at slaughter, the Humane Methods of Slaughter Act. …

PETA’s [undercover] investigators witnessed Butterball workers punching and kicking live birds, slamming them against metal transport crates and trailers, and throwing them into concrete walls and floors. In one instance, a bird was slammed so hard against a handrail that her spine popped out. Another time, a worker stomped on a live turkey’s head until her skull exploded under his foot. One worker even sexually abused a bird, inserting a finger into her cloaca (her vagina). Aside from the sadistic acts of cruelty the workers would commit for “fun,” they routinely hung birds improperly—by broken legs, one leg or by the head.

PETA’s investigators also discovered that management at this plant had a flippant attitude about animal welfare. Unlike the procedures, forms and handbooks for everything else, the content of the animal welfare form was not covered in new employee training. Furthermore, employees who could not read or who could not read well, were provided no assistance in understanding the form. Management made comments about how “animal rights activists don’t like it when you kick a turkey” and that “animals have more rights than people now a days.” They also told workers not to worry if they hear a “popping” sound while working, that’s “just” a bird exploding under the tire of a truck.

If you’d still prefer a real turkey over Tofurkey, here are some of the things you can do. (Full disclosure: I have never actually tasted Tofurkey but am convinced it tastes like rubber cement after it’s been rolled in the gunk under the fridge a few times. I don’t understand “fake meat” in general.)

1. Go humane: According to The Green Guide, labels like “free range” and “free roaming” are minimally verified by the U.S. Department of Agriculture and “assure little besides some access to some air.” Look, instead for the American Humane Association’s “Free Farmed” label on certified turkeys in the supermarket. The certification ensures that the animals are “free from unnecessary fear, distress, pain, injury, and disease,” as well as given ready access to water, a healthful diet, and a comfortable, species-appropriate environment.

2. Order locally: Search through listings on Local Harvest to find an organic turkey farm near you. Besides supporting small-scale organic agriculture that encourages biodiversity over standardization, you’re also cutting down on fossil fuels that would have been used hauling your turkey from across the country, not to mention the pollution transport engenders. You can also choose to go with Slow Food USA’s Heritage Turkey program, which supports breeds of turkey near extinction because of the homogenization of large-scale factory farming. Raised on organic feed, the turkeys are given more exercise and a more varied diet than their industrial brethren. And, get this, they can actually fly, unlike factory-farm turkeys which have been anatomically manipulated to be so large-breasted and heavy that they have trouble standing upright, frequently develop leg and hip infections, and require human intervention in order to reproduce.

3. Don’t waste anything: Liz from Pocket Farm, who rears her own meat in the most humane way possible, encourages you to make the best use of as much of the animal as you can, as a part of “honoring the animals that are giving up their lives for us.” Simmer the leftover turkey bones in water with some vegetables, herbs, and spices, for a stock you can use to create soups or stews.

If all this turkey talk has driven you to decide to feast without the beast, mouthwatering vegan and vegetarian Thanksgiving recipes abound. And if the spirit of Thanksgiving really moves you, you can even adopt a turkey that can either go home with you or live out its natural life at Farm Sanctuary’s¹ shelter for farm animals. Start a new family tradition by leaving a place card at your dining table for Hildy, Blossom, Laila, Tinkerbell², or whichever feathered fowl you are not eating. Then, get your kids in the act by reading them one of the many turkey-friendly Thanksgiving books available.

¹A Charity Navigator four-star charity. It has rescued 1,000 turkeys over the past 20 years.

²Actual turkey names!

Dear Chekhov,

My human loves to scrapbook. She loves to make cards. Let’s face it, she loves to consume paper, and other odds and ends with which she makes beautiful crafts. She has looked into digital scrapbooking; it’s neat and she said she’s gonna try it, but I still like biting her paper! Her problem? She’s having a hard time located recycled paper that can be used in scrapbooks or card making that are local. Is my only choice to order her paper off the Internet from across the pond?Thank you,
Ash the cat, and Cookie too!

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Democrats kick … um … ass.