eat rice have faith in women

eat rice have faith in women
what i don’t know now
i can still learn
if i am alone now
i will be with them later
if i am weak now
i can become strong
slowly slowly
if i learn i can teach others
if others learn first
i must believe
they will come back and teach me
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
slowly we being
giving back what was taken away
our right to the control of our bodies
knowledge of how to fight and built
food that nourishes
medicine that heals
. . . . . . . . . . .
eat rice have faith in women
what i don’t know now
i can still learn.

-fran winart

Week 1: Vegetarianism Summary

So, my original online calculator eatlowcarbon.com has been replaced by http://www.nature.org/initiatives/climatechange/calculator/. Several reasons for this, but it’s mostly because this calculator lets me calculate my carbon footprint based on the amount of meat and animal products I consume whereas eatlowcarbon.com only had ‘sample meals’ that I could choose from—and none of them were really close to what I ate that day.

Here are some facts from www.nature.org:

Diets heavy in meat produce 24% more carbon emissions than the average American eater.

7% of greenhouse gasses are tied to food, specifically to agricultural production within the U.S.

91% of this carbon comes from methane and nitrous oxide that is produced by land, animal, and farm-vehicle management/use

And here are some super-relevant-to-my-project-facts from www.nature.org:

Veggies emit less than 42% of the average American meat-eater’s carbon footprint

Vegans produce less than 72% of the average!

Here’s a graph I’ve made charting my process, specifically tracking the carbon footprint. As you can tell, I have already divided my Carbon footprint in half–from 4.2 tons per year to 1.5.

Constraints against my potential Vegetarianism/Veganism success:

• I am a picky eater and my constantly-moving lifestyle requires me to dig fast, processed food–which I do.
• I also dislike some ‘staple’ vegetarian/vegan items like tomatoes and onions. Shocking, I know. Peppers are growing on me. I love broccoli, which is only because I serve at Applebee’s and the last time I was vegan I could only eat baked potatoes with salsa (delish!) and garlic broccoli while I worked there.
• The only tofu I like is extra-firm because I can’t handle gelatinous textures for salty, flavorful foods (I love the heck outta jello, chocolate mousse, and puddin’, however.)
• I also can’t cook beyond processed, ready-made foods. I think that my inability to cook is predicated on the fact that I haven’t really tried. Because of my lack of experience I depend on Morningstar and Boca products as substitutes for meat eating—these will likely not have a low carbon footprint for the same reasons Oreos probably don’t: processing plant matter (or chemicals), manufacturing, packaging, shipping to one central location (HyVee headquarters, etc) and then to our local business.
• I am on campus for large portions of the day, sometimes encompassing 2 out of the 3 meals. Just today, I looked up at the little analog clock and realized that I hadn’t eaten in nearly 24 hours (which probably explains my headache.)

As requested-where I’ve been buying my food

I’ve noticed that I fall in and out of patterns of vegetarian/veganism.  I mean that I have certain ‘go-tos’ depending upon my dietary choices.  I buy different sets of food.  And, because I am constantly on campus or coming from campus, that includes fast food.

So here’s the Union’s rankings for vegetarian diets:

Panda Express—although technically they use animal based products to prepare their food (because EVERYONE does), they do have some vegetarian options.  Their fried rice with mixed veggies is delicious, flavorful and filling. Or, a veggie spring rolls and steamed rice Panda Bowl is also good (and, arguably, vegan.) However, it’s not cheap—over $5 a meal kinda sucks, but that’s probably the norm for the Union.

Salsarita’s—Beans. They’re good for vegetarians. They have lotsa protein, are versatile, and are pretty delicious. Veggies can get beans, cheese, and a whole host of other delicious toppings on some nachos, in a burrito, or stuffed into tacos.  Also pricey. But pretty big portions—if you go from eating meat to vegetarianism you might notice that you’re hungry. Turns out that’s because protein, specifically animal protein is ‘heavier’ and fills you up.  Salsarita’s fills you up, too. Delish.

Taco Bell—Also beans. Beans and rice. Cheaper. Still pretty alright in terms of quality.

Other restaurants follow the same guidelines—‘ethnic foods’ are usually more feasible for vegetarians than ‘American’ cuisine like Chile’s or Applebee’s. Beans, Tofu, Delicious Veggies, etc

Also the Union has ala-carte items like fruit and roasted red pepper hummus and pita. Chickpeas (which is what hummus is made out of) are good for many of the same reasons as why beans are good: versatility and protein-content.

Grocery:

If you can afford it, People’s Grocery rocks face. They have bulk staple foods; local meats, cheeses and produce; and have the elusive Tofurkey around the holidays. They have lots of gluten free-foods, cruelty-free products, and lots and lots of soy products. Like I said, kinda pricey and on 17^th street by Dara’s which is sorta far away.

Dillon’s has (or used to have, I’m not sure since they renovated their biz) a great aisle conveniently located ‘Vegetarian’ which has organic products and even quick-cook foods like Amy’s Organic Cheese Pizza pockets. They also have Morningstar and Boca Products in the freezer section next to breakfast foods, for some reason.

HyVee has an entire section of ‘healthful foods’ including a cold-case section with lots of different veggie foods. Even non-meat/soy-free food. And Tofutti-vegan ice cream!

Other than that-the vegetarian switch hasn’t been too bad! Probably because it’s been only a week and I was veg for a year and a half. Veganism happening now.

Exploring my horizons with Global Warming

For my project, I decided to try and help the world and myself by trying to do things that will help global warming. I know one day in class I got yelled at because I was not that sincere that people would change to help out global warming so I’m taking that chance to prove people and fellow peers wrong. I have looked at a website which is this one right here http://reference.aol.com/globalwarming/_a/top-12-ways-you-can-reduce-global/20050802173409990001.
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Every week I’am going to pick one thing to do from the list. and see if it changes my mind to help save the environment. I’m going to be looking at my energy bill every month to see if I have used or saved electricity. I figure this would be a challenge for me that is why I chose this project to do. Since everyone is realizing that the environment is in danger. I figure doing these actions from the website, I will have a better understanding of why I should try and continue helping the stop of global warming. I’m a democrat so I should be more concern in these types of situations, but I have then mind set even if I try other people would ruin it for me. But for these 8 weeks I will post every week what type of project I did to help global warming. I will tell you the outcome if I like it or not. If it is effective and why all of you guys should know about it. I plan on having a positive attitude towards this project even though I might be irritated by it. I really want to understand more about global warming and how it can help me and others out. Another goal of mine is to prove to myself and people that I do care about the environment. By doing this project I think I can convince people that global warming might be a great idea or not.