Seasonal Green Tips
1. Experience nature. Visit a pumpkin farm. Pick fresh apples.
2. Buy pumpkins, apples and other seasonal items from a farmer's market. Produce bought at farmers' markets will not only taste better but saves energy. "Most foods in the United States travel an average of 1,300 miles before reaching us, burning large amounts of fossil fuels," according to the Web site for the National Town Meeting for a Sustainable America held in Detroit in 1999. Buying produce directly from the farmer also cuts out the "middleman" and increases the farmers' cut or share of the profits.
3. Give out healthy treats. Finding nutritional treats has to be one of Halloween's challenges. But with some serious thought, it can be done. Some ideas that come to mind include:
Hand out individual microwave popcorn packs. Newman's Own Organic has three varieties of organic popcorn — butter, light butter and no butter/no salt.
Pick up some honey sticks or fruit leather at health food stores or tea shops. Stash tea sells honey sticks in bulk at its Web site. Each $7 pack contains 35 sticks. Fruit leather is available in bulk at Stretch Island Fruit Leather.
There's also plenty of healthy candy bars on the market these days. Sundrops is billed as "a natural alternative to M&Ms." The candy-coated chocolate drops are pricey at about 89 cents a bag but they look like and almost taste like the real thing without having the artificial colors, flavors or preservatives.
4. Make use of all pumpkin parts. After carving a pumpkin, make sure to save the seeds. Bake them and serve them to party guests or feed them to our fine feathered friends, the birds. There's no problem putting pumpkin seeds out for birds, wet or dry, confirms Dr. Ellen Dierenfeld, a nutritionist at the Saint Louis Zoo.
5. Serve healthy and seasonal foods. The options are endless. Remember pumpkins are not just decorative items. Healthy recipes for all things pumpkin are posted at Vegweb, from vegetarian pumpkin chili to pumpkin bread. Recipes for the sweet squash are also plentiful at epicurious.com/recipes.
Apples also are at their best this time of year. So make use of the crunchy fruit. Fill party bowls with several varieties of fresh apples, from tart Pippins to sweet Spartans. Serve cider hot or cold. Bake a few apples for healthy, tasty dessert.
6. Make your own costume or buy one at a second-hand shop. An old sheet still makes a great ghost. Just make sure that the sheet cost less than a commercial ghost costume.
Original Source: <<https://www.stopglobalwarming.org/sgw_read.asp?id=1141369282006>>
Jonathon Little
Chemistry & Geosciences
10/16/2008 |