The Green Frugal

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If you are like me, you like to eat out…A LOT! More and more, I am seeing restaurants advertising local, sustainable food sources, and energy-saving practices on their menus. This got me thinking….how do you dine sustainably?

Below are just a few steps to pique your interest in eating environmentally.

1. An important first step in eating out responsibly is choosing a green restaurant.

The Green Restaurant Association is a great start! Through their website, you can locate local eateries that meet green certification standards. Over 300 restaurants in 30 states have met minimum standards in the following areas:

• Water Efficiency
• Waste Reduction and Recycling
• Sustainable Furnishings and Building Materials
• Sustainable Food
• Energy
• Disposables
• Chemical and Pollution Reduction

In addition to sustainable restaurants, several guides exist to help you navigate your way to vegetarian, organic, and local dinner sources.

Happy Cow Compassionate Eating Guide

Local Harvest

VegGuide

2. Remember to eat local.

Try to support restaurants that rely on local farmers, farmers’ markets, and food co-ops to stock their pantries.

3. Be sure to order with a conscience.

Consult the Monterey Bay Aquarium’s Seafood Watch Guide before ordering seafood. The Monterey Bay Aquarium provides “best choices,” “good alternatives,” and those fish to “avoid” in order to help sustain wild, diverse, and healthy ocean ecosystems for the future.

EarthEasy also has a sustainable seafood list by type.

4. Make responsible water choices.

Only ask for a glass of water if you’ll actually drink it. If the meal is coming to an end, decline last minute fill-ups if you won’t be staying to finish them off.

5. When eating on the go…

Refuse extras like condiments or plastic utensils if taking your food home.  Or, if you know how much ketchup or napkins you’ll need, be specific and request just one or two. Be sure to reuse the bags and cups you get as many times as you can afterward.

6. Doggie Bag?

If you are really hard-core, bring your own reusable container for leftovers. Make doggie bags a thing of the past!

Just a side note – Throughout my childhood, when visiting the buffet, my grandma would hide plastic bags in her purse to bring home “leftovers.” Some may say she was ahead of her time sustainably. But the reality is that she was frugal.  I would politely remind her…although it doesn’t explicitly say, “All you can eat HERE,” it should be implied.

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Over the course of the last twelve weeks, I have learned to be Green. Obviously, the best way to summarize what I’ve learned is to interview myself.

It’s so nice of you to join me today.

Umm, thanks, I guess? What’s this about? Am I in trouble?

No, no. This is about summarizing everything you learned about Green Living. What it means, how it helps the world, and how it makes you a better person.

Oh, okay. So it’s not about the dishes I haven’t washed yet. That’s a relief.

You haven’t washed the dishes?

Let’s not talk about that. Let’s talk about this Green thing. Y’know, how I’m saving the world one recycled paper bag at a time.

You’re so incredibly lazy. Those dishes are from three days ago.

How dare you call me lazy. I learned all about Green living. I couldn’t do that if I was lazy.

Really? Tell me something you learned.

I learned that Farmers Markets have really good food. I got a pulled pork sandwich and popcorn and a fresh squee—

What does that have to do with Green Living?! Do you even know what Green means?

Greens means things are good for the environment. Like recycling. And buying locally grown food. And using a water filter on your faucet instead of buying bottled water. And using wind power. How awesome is wind power? I can’t even see the wind, but it can power my house.

You don’t even have a house. You live in an apartment.

Invisible wind can power that, too!

This interview is getting out of hand.

I have to agree, you’re not a very good interviewer. You didn’t even ask about algae gas. Algae can turn into gas and power your car. Ha.

It’s not exactly gas. Algae is biomass, which has a high amount of carbon dioxide, can be converted into a variety of—

Blah, blah, blah. Cars run on algae. Yeah, I just said that. I don’t need the science lesson, Professor Boring Pants.

I’m not boring!

Whatever. You need to wash dishes, so let’s wrap this up.

Fine. What are your final thoughts on Green Living?

Well, we only have the one planet, so we should take care of it. If we keep ruining the environment, we’ll end up leaving nothing for our kids but a big planet full of junk.

It took you twelve weeks to realize that?

Maybe.

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If you remember my last post, I was freaking out about petroleum oil because it’s ubiquitous in our culture and it’s not great for the environment. So, I went digging for more information on Wikipedia (and I hoped it was all true). It turned out that smart people had discovered an alternative to petroleum and that alternative is plants.

Yes, plants. Those green things that stick out of the ground can be converted into biofuel. The most familiar form of biofuel is Ethanol, a type of alcohol.  Across the world, it’s added to gasoline and used as fuel for automobiles. Here in America, most Ethanol is produced from corn, but other countries use other sources (Brazil uses sugar cane). Unfortunately, corn is not the most efficient crop to use as a source for ethanol, partially because only the kernels are used.

So, a lot of scientists are researching the production of ethanol and biofuel. While some researchers study using different sources–like using entire plants, not just the seeds—other researchers focus on different methods for creating biofuel. One of the hopeful sources of biofuel is algae.

Since algae grows quickly and in many different climates, it is an ideal source for biofuel. They have more biomass that can be converted into fuels. In addition, the algae can be used to create biodiesel, biobutanol, biogasoline, methane, and jet fuel. And that doesn’t even include the other chemicals that can be derived from oil.

It’s neat to think there is a good, sustainable alternative to petroleum. And while a lot of the technology to create biofuel is in its infant stage, it’s nice to think that the technology will only get better with time.

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As you may know, I’m becoming Green; I’m learning about being good to the environment. Yet, the more I learn the less I know. Every time I get an answer to a question, I just ask another question.

I’ve been keeping up with the Gulf Coast Oil Disaster and its impact on the environment.  I keep reading about ways to help. And, from all of this I’ve learned that oil is not really the greatest thing for the health of the planet. So I think to myself, “I’ll just lower my oil consumption” which to me means gasoline. I drive less, walk more and use public transportation. However, that’s not a solution that everyone can do. I grew up in the country; the only public transportation that we had was sidewalks and they were only on a few streets.

So, I think again, “What are other ways to lower my oil consumption?”  I decide to look up information about things made from oil so that way I can stop using them. And, it seems that everything is made from oil!  Okay, maybe not everything; just most of the things I use every day. Like plastic. Most plastics are made from petroleum. I’m typing on a plastic keyboard, I’m looking at a mostly plastic monitor, I’m wearing clothes that contain polyester, which in turn is really plastic fiber. Plastic is everywhere. That means oil is everywhere. I’m totally dependent on oil. In fact, I’m having trouble imagining a world without oil.

Except oil is a nonrenewable resource. There’s a limited amount of it. Eventually, the world will be completely out of oil. And then what do you do? What’s the alternative to oil?

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I made the mistake of thinking that Green Living is one big transformation of your lifestyle. Sort of like having a Near Death Experience and deciding to moving to a Monastery or giving up fatty foods. But, it turned out I was wrong. Green Living is a collection of tiny little decisions that add up to a big transformation. I figured this out the other day (and I was very proud of myself) while reading about bottled water.

I grew up thinking bottled water was unnecessary. My family was poor and my mom thought was ridiculous to spend money on something we got out for free. We lived out in the country where you had to have a well; the thought of paying for water at all was a crazy idea. If we had the need to carry water anywhere, we’d fill up milk jugs or empty soda bottles. Then a few years passed and I grew up and moved to a small town and started paying for tap water. After tasting city tap water, I understood why people bought bottled water. It was gross; it had a horrible taste that couldn’t bear to drink. So, I’d sometimes buy bottled water, but only sometimes because it was expensive.

Now, I live in Oregon and the water tastes much better, but not as great as the well water from my parent’s house. So, I have a filtered water pitcher. The water tastes wonderful and I don’t have to waste money on countless bottles of water. I also have a personal bottle for water; it looks a little bit like a giant sippy cup. I did all of that without knowing I was being Green. That leads me to question how many other things have I been doing that are easy and Green?