sustainability

• Five fishery experts weigh in on the difficulty of making sustainable seafood choices. — New York Times
• The newest trend to hit Southern California: an underground punk catering movement. — Los Angeles Times
• With a few fermentation basics, you can preserve your own vegetables at home. — San Francisco Chronicle
• Get a whiff of the test questions that master sommelier candidates must answer. — Chicago Tribune
• Thirteen cheeses virtually designed for Summer in mind. — Washington Post
• The season's fresh apricots would figure nicely in a buttery almond tart. — Boston Globe
• With official websites, famous wine regions around the world are making it easier than ever to plan visits. — Wall Street Journal

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It's still debatable whether America's in the midst of a food revolution, but a growing number of the country's biggest corporations are focused on promoting natural and local ingredients.

Late last week, McDonald's announced it will take part in a study in conjunction with animal welfare groups, academics, and egg suppliers that compares battery cage-dwelling hens to free-range hens. The following day, Wendy's proclaimed that two percent of its egg purchases will now come from cage-free hens. The response from the animal rights community has been mixed. Although the Humane Society called Wendy's decision "a modest but meaningful step in the right direction," it also maintains McDonald's is only conducting the study to delay reforms in its farming practices.

Both Wendy's and McDonald's have been under fire for failing to change their practices after many other competing chains, such as Burger King, Quizno's, Hardee's, and Denny's, have already converted to using eggs from non-caged hens.

I'm happy to hear that both chains are making a concerted effort to look into free-range eggs — although it's disappointing that only five percent of eggs in North America come from free-range hens. Do you find yourself hopeful or skeptical about the chains' efforts to go cage-free?

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In addition to being captured in photos by National Geographic, the sustainable food crisis is also the focus of a new documentary. Magnolia Pictures' Food, Inc. is a call to action to change the way America eats. It discusses food consumption today, its heavy dependence on corn, its ties to national policy, and its inevitable impact on our nation's health.

Based on the book Food, Inc. (and similar to The Omnivore's Dilemma), the premise of this film appears to be similar: the country's food system, with its focus on making food bigger, cheaper, and faster, is making America sick. The movie also addresses the contamination issues plaguing the nation and the enormous power wielded by US food corporations, with sustainable food poster boys Michael Pollan and Eric Schlosser making appearances in the documentary.

If you haven't seen it yet, below is the trailer for the film, which debuts in select cities June 12. Do you think this documentary will prove to be as influential as proponents are hoping it to be? Will you go see it?

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No doubt, we live in a nonstop world where some people claim that in fashion, one day you're in and the next day you're out. What do you think? When AAU's Gladys Perint Palmer touched the topic of longevity in the fashion industry with Suzy Menkes in San Francisco, we were pleasantly surprised to hear speak so passionately about sustainability, fast fashion, and luxury. When asked how she felt about fast fashion, Menkes stated, "Fast fashion has become too fast, too violent," explaining that people are buying disposable clothes not realizing the impact it has on our environment.

This takes us to the topic of sustainability where Suzy disapprovingly says, "The food industry has beat the fashion industry in sustainability." However, she believes change for a more environmentally conscious fashion industry will happen, slowly but surely. In case you missed it, Suzy took action on that belief and participated at the Sustainable Luxury Conference in New Delhi in March. She also will be hosting a TechoFashion Summit in Berlin, November 2009, where she will be talking about the future of fashion.

When asked about the power of luxury, Menkes proudly proclaimed, "Luxury is a deep, important part of fashion," explaining there's something magical about putting on a garment and feeling an unexplainable sensation. We hear you, Suzy.

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I recently showed you my picks for the good, better, and best outdoor dining tables, which were all made from sustainably harvested wood. But what about the rest of your outdoor décor? Your dining area isn't the only place that can be sustainable and stylish outdoors. I've rounded up a range of products from window boxes to pool boxes to give you eco-friendly style outdoors. I'm smitten with this Viva Terra Teak Ladder with Shelf ($149), which is made from leftover cuttings of sustainable teak at a furniture factory. It's perfect to hang a pool towel to dry, to shelve candles for lovely lighting, or to use like a trellis to grow vines!
To see my other finds, read more

For the second season in a row, commercial salmon fishing will be nonexistent in California and Oregon, following a drastic drop in salmon spawn. On Wednesday, a federal agency recommended a ban on commercial catching of salmon off the coast of California and southern Oregon, prompting the Pacific Fishery Management Council to cancel the commercial salmon fishing season. The National Marine Fisheries Service is expected to finalize the decision next month. Last Fall, the number of Chinook salmon that made their way up the Sacramento rivers were at their lowest levels ever recorded. "There are just no fish," said Zeke Grader, executive director of the Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen's Associations. "If they allowed any fishing, they would be putting at risk future fishing."

The ban will be lifted for a few exceptions (a 10-day sporting season in select areas of California, and, in Oregon, hatchery-raised coho salmon from July to September), but the industry is concerned. Even without fishing this season, the salmon count will barely reach the council's minimum goal of 122,000 fish.

Researchers attribute the sharp decline of salmon to destruction of river habitat and increasingly troublesome ocean and river conditions. As we mentioned a while back, Atlantic salmon and all farmed salmon are some of the worst choices for the environment because typical salmon farming operations consume more fish than they produce. Although I was aware that certain types of salmon were more sustainable than others, I wasn't aware of the gravity of the situation. In light of the stark news, will you be more prudent when it comes to eating salmon?

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