Sustainable Books

IPad, Nook, Kindle? Decisions, decisions! I was cramming yet another book onto my cheap, warped bookshelves the other day when it hit me: How many trees have I killed for these books? I love books. I'm a 3rd generation English Lit major - that's hardcore. I love the feel, the smell, the different type-sets, everything about books. But at my average of 8 to 10 books each month, that's a lot of wasted paper. Each book is only in use for a few hours before I'm done with it. Something had to give. I posted on Facebook, asking everyone to chime in on their favorite technology, and lots of people love their eReaders. I priced different versions and read the reviews, all of which were mixed. Unable to reach a solid decision, I remembered something from my literate past: my library card.

The local branch of the area library is tiny. At one time (before an enormous donation to another library a few years ago), my family's personal library was larger than the book collection at my local library now. I think it was destroyed in the hurricanes of '04-'05 and is still slowly rebuilding. For me, having grown up in the ancient libraries in Northern New England, seeing half of a public library filled with computers instead of books is weird, but I guess that's what patrons want. There's a small children's room, a collection of DVDs, audiobooks, and a large print collection. The Friends of the Library group has its own room, there's a community room, and even a drive through window. But the actual collection of adult books, both fiction and non-fiction, takes up only a few shelves - I'd say 10, generously. Basically, I never think to go to the library because they never have what I want to read.

What if I brought them my large collection of once-read books? What if everyone did? The same books could be read again and again by hundreds of patrons. A library is a book recycling center, is it not? If everyone donated books, we would all find something new to read. I could pick up a book I know nothing about, and might even end up loving it. Of course, there's a tremendous savings to using a public library, too. Books, DVDs, and the Internet are all free to use. Heck, if I used the public DVDs and Internet, I could cancel those services at home and stop giving Cox an arm & a leg each month. From a environmental standpoint, library books are very sustainable indeed.

I also found a book on sustainable living : Sustainable Living for Dummies, by Michael Grosvenor. I love "For Dummies" books, since they're so easy to read in snippets, and you can jump around through the chapters. I just picked it up this morning so I haven't read it yet, but I suspect I may end up deeming this one worthy of a place in my personal reference library. I'm sure you'll see me referring to it here in future posts. I also picked up a few vegetarian cookbooks, and a book on meditation. Each of these books in its own niche helps support a sustainable lifestyle and connection with the Earth.

I still love the idea of an eReader, with all those titles at my fingertips, and yes, the status that comes with e-reading while sipping a fairly-traded beverage at the bistro, but that wouldn't happen in my real life anyway. Until my kids are grown and my me-time is measurable in greater increments than a nano-second, the library will work. Maybe I'll save enough for that AreoGarden I've been eyeing...

Even Paranoids Get Followed

It turns out I may have been on the mark when I wrote that my family's ill-health might be related to the water here. Although there's no evidence at this time that Pensacola NAS is hiding anything, check out what the Marines are up against at Camp Lejeune: benzene, and a massive cover-up. The complete story is here, but here are the details. In 1984, the benzene levels were tested at 380 parts per billion; the safe level? 5 parts per billion. The same report was later edited to read 38 parts per billion, then finally edited to omit the benzene levels completely. Does this mean the water is now safe? Um, no. First, the reports all referred back to the 1984 tests - so the numbers shouldn't have changed at all. Secondly, tests done between 2007 and 2009 found the benzene levels to be a staggering 3,490 parts per billion.

What's so bad about Benzene? Oh, the usual: destruction of your bone marrow, blood, immune system, a bit of cancer... Here's the CDC's page about benzene poisoning. Note that it specifically mentions contaminated water as a prominent source of the poisoning, and how drastic the measures are if you're exposed. For example, you're to cut off your clothes, use tongs to put them in a sealed plastic bag, and call a hazmat team. This is the stuff our Marines, and their spouses, and their babies and pets have been drinking. It's a wonder there weren't any reports of glowing baby bottles with the lead from the infant formula mixing with the benzene in the water (reason # 267836394821018363 to breastfeed...).

While we've recently switched to a supposedly top-of-the-line water filter system, I think it's time to get my family tested. Even if your water supply is "safe", there are many chemicals they don't have to test for or list at all - who's to say they aren't the most important ones to your family's health? I'm not waiting around to find out.

Grass-Finished is Finishing Me Off

Anyone who knows me is undoubtedly watching my true colors come out as this blog progresses. No, I'm not a junk-food addict - I'm not quite that far off the target. What I am is a bit sharp-tongued, and keeping this experience positive is a bit of a struggle for me sometimes. I want to do the right thing, to find the good in everything and everyone, to triumph in every battle, but alas, I'm from Maine. We're not known for our kindness, or even civility, and while we're not impatient like, say, New Yorkers, we don't tolerate nonsense for long. I'm not likely to quit anything, ever, upon pain of death... but I am likely to chuck something to the side and start over a whole new way. Cut my losses, as it were. Am I giving up? Hell, no. Just trying another tack. What, you ask, could possibly drive a visionary such as myself to the brink so soon after starting this mission? No more or less than other families, I'm sure, but here's what's getting to me.

We got 3 days notice that my husband's work schedule would be changing to nights, so now he's gone from noon to almost midnight. So now, dinner is me and 2 small children. How many brand-new, organic, whole-food meals do you think you could get in your kids before they just push it away and go to bed hungry? I've been lucky to find a few things they've enjoyed, but c'mon, even grown-ups don't like to change everything all at once.

I never heard back from the Berkey people why my fluoride filters won't work, and when I do, I'm going to ask them why the spout leaks if it's in any direction but sideways. The organic farm I found is asleep for the winter, I guess. I had to ask around because I never made it on their contact list. I also never made it on the contact list for the local eggs. These things happen, but in both cases I spent time and money and wrote neatly and one would think they'd want me back.

I have been a bit under the weather myself, and in my case, it's an autoimmune condition which prevents me from eating. My immune system mistakes my gut for the enemy and attacks. It's just lovely. It's kind of like having the flu, for no good reason, for weeks at a time. You can probably imagine I'm not much of a chef when I feel like that. Sadly, sometimes I get so hungry that I dream in food. A few nights ago I dreamt of a lemon-ginger chicken and a grilled romaine salad with shaved frozen vinegar... ummmmm, yummy! Even worse, when I woke up, I had all the ingredients, but I still couldn't eat it. I'm in foodie hell.

To be honest, I don't know that my dream meal would be all that anyway. I still haven't been able to find local, pastured chicken, and romaine is out of season, I think. I'm not giving up real Parmesan, so I'll have to swallow the carbon cost of importing it from Italy. We might still have some local lemons here in Florida, if the cold season hasn't killed them all off this year. As for the ginger, I know it's originally from Asia, but it's tropical, so maybe I could find some from around here, except for the farm being closed and the killing frost and all.

What's a girl to do? I've gone back to whole foods for now. I'm trying to give my family real food, minimally processed and simply prepared. Sometimes I have no idea how far it's come, but at least the ingredient list is simple. Sweet potato: contains 1 sweet potato, just as an example. If I see something local, great! I'll get it if it's not too expensive. I'm still struggling with the meat supply. The few - very few - pieces of grass-finished beef I've found have been frozen and, well, just ugly. Then there are the grand ranches in the West who raise great herds of naturally pastured animals, but then I'd have to ship the meat across the country in freezer packs at great speed and expense. Wouldn't the shipping offset the quality of the meat?

There is a silver lining to all this. Money. Going back to basics, and cutting back on meat, since I can't find much anyway, has really stretched our grocery budget. I spend less now on my family of 4 than I did when it was just the two of us eating anything we wanted. Well, that and hearing my 6-year-old tell me, "Your pizza is a trillion times better than Domino's! If they tried your pizza, they'd close the store and come here and beg for your pizza!". Yeah, for that kind of love I guess I can carry on.