by Tao, Carrboro

Like many people, I love to sip. And when I look around me whether I’m at the coffee shop, the co-op or on at a picnic table at Johnny’s, I realize I’m not alone. Hot tea, really good, strong coffee, kombucha, a deep red wine….it’s comforting, it’s social. Now I can add super-nourishing to that equation – because Carrboro is getting a juice bar! When I heard about Carrboro raw and saw the space, it felt so obvious – we’ve all been waiting, whether we knew it or not.

Nice Polid was born in Brazil, moved to the U.S. 25 years ago, spending most of that time in New York, where she attended the National Gourmet Institute for Food and Health. She also obtained certification as a Holistic Health Counselor from the Institute for Integrative Nutrition. She planted her truck in a small, bamboo-fenced lot across the street from the co-op. Her smile alone is enough to draw customers, but this is not your typical smoothie station. Her juices are extracted and squeezed on demand from raw, alive fruits and veggies coming as much as possible from local and organic farms. Her recipes will also include superfoods, nuts and seeds.

“Our mission is to provide alternative, nutritious and delicious raw beverages that are in harmony with your body and the Earth – made on demand with very good quality ingredients by people who are passionate about life and health!!”

It’s a thrill to know that Nice chose to land here and open Carrboro raw, right in the heart of downtown, but in a way, I’m not surprised, either. Our town is overtly and covertly setting the stage for things like urban farms, co-housing communities, local currency, co-ops, farmer’s markets and – juice bars. It’s a combination of inspiration, dedication, grass-roots efforts, and an energy that holds up through it all.

What is waiting to happen in your town??

by Tao Oliveto, Carrboro

Remember my post about The Goat Patrol – the greener weed eaters? Well, I had the chance to see them up close and personal this morning! They have been hired by the Carrboro Parks system to take care of the brush, weeds and vines invading some tree areas, and I stumbled upon them this morning during my morning dog walk.

I didn’t get a picture, but here’s one from the website. Just imagine a group of blissed-out, medium-sized, multi-colored goats reaching and chewing and reaching and chewing. They only paused from their mission to bleat loudly when their owner and guardian, Alex, would wander too far away – they obviously were happily attached to her.

Alex says that by the end of the day, their bellies are nice and round but they come back lean each morning. They are contained by simple movable fencing that changes location each day. She added that they seemed a bit sleepy yet this morning but would soon kick in to high gear.

Nice that Carrboro “gets it”. Every town needs a Goat Patrol – entrepreneurs, pay attention!

From Tao, Brattleboro, VT

Sorry posts have gone AWOL this week. I launched from Carrboro on Monday with everyone and everything in tow and landed in Brattleboro VT on Tuesday night and have been settling in. I’m going to be online less this month, but plan to keep you posted (pun intended) on my green wanderings.

My off-grid plans turned into a house/cat-sitting gig that I can’t deny being thrilled about. It then became a family affair – with Jerry and Shay deciding to accompany me and the dogs for the next few weeks. We’re staying just a couple miles outside of the surprisingly urban town of Brattleboro. The house itself is surrounded by a lush green quiet, with a heron that lives in the pond down the hill. It kind of rambles in all directions and is colorful and full of creative energy coming from its owners. They live, work and play here – a home to lots of activities, practitioners, patients and friends, where not an ounce of space feels wasted.

Still, perhaps I’m not completely willing to give up the cabin-like experience I was craving previously, since I’ve found myself drawn to a little space between the garage and front door – about 8×10 feet, with a small bed and lots of windows. I’m hanging and sleeping out here with the dogs and it feels just right. Here’s a photo of my bunkmates.

The local co-op hosts a farmer’s market twice/week and they are selling local milk which is even tastier than what I was getting from the CSA at home. I’m certainly not suffering and I’m not even roughing it, as planned, but I am staying in my usual travel green zone and I offset the miles to get here. Remember green travel tips? Review here.

None of us, including the dogs, are too good at simply “vacate-tioning”, so besides a lot of moving about the great outdoors, we’ve got some community projects planned and are preparing to tromp around the urban areas, with a video camera in hand…but more on that later.

I’ll leave you with two quotes today – they have stuck in my mind since arriving. They come from a physician in India, Dr. Aggrawal, who tells all his patients:

“Learn something new every day and be wiser today than yesterday.” and, “Resting is Rusting.”

Sounds like sage advice to me. I’m going to try to make the most of it this month. Stay tuned.

Life is complicated. And it’s not just the big things. Things come up and maybe I give them too much thought, but I always learn something in the process.

So, here’s my little dilemma. After eliminating single-use glass or plastic drink bottles from my waste habits, I’ve become hooked on sparkling mineral water. I don’t know how it happened, but that stuff from Italy quenches my thirst like nothing else after a hot bike ride downtown.

Then reality crept in. A glass bottle filled with – water – shipped all the way from Italy – hmmm. Not in my green plan, but, oh so good. A bottle of wine or beer I can find from a local source and after discovering that I loved kombucha, I’ve started brewing my own. But this water? I just can’t come up with a solution to the bottles I am consuming almost daily.

Then yesterday, my friend turned me on to SodaStream.com – a way to turn my tap water into the sparkling stuff. I admit I was easily enthused. It not only solves my waste issue, but saves some bucks, too. I’m holding back for now because afterall, it’s a luxury “gadget” and I always question those. Hmmm. Worth the green? The last gadget I acquired – the electric teapot – has proved to be entirely worthwhile, so…

Does anyone have some advice for me?

Thanks. Tao

by Greg Gillette, Glenwood Springs, CO

Speaking of refined sugar, popular “sweet tea” does not conjure up feelings of health and healing, unless we are talking about Kombucha Tea, the big wave of health that is in every health food store across the nation. Is Kombucha just another fad, or a real health elixir?

Kombucha is the real deal and a healthy and tasty drink that provides energy, many vitamins and minerals, good bacteria and enzymes for digestive health and organic acids, one of which is Glucuronic acid that aids the liver in the detoxification process. Kombucha Tea is a biological active product fermented with a living culture to become a natural living food high in enzymes. The fermentation process of Kombucha leaves it naturally sparkling and virtually sugar free.

Being in Colorado, I took the opportunity to visit High Country Kombucha, in Eagle, to see their operations and how they make the kombucha tea and all the different varieties, like Aloe, Chai Spice, Wild Root, Passion Flower, Ginger, etc.. The origins of kombucha tea is thought to have started in the Far East, as far back as two thousands years. The first recorded use was in China in 221 BC during the Tsin Dynasty.

If you want to save some money and not add more glass bottles to the waste stream, you can make your own Kombucha at home. Use organic refined (but not bleached) sugar and organic black tea, bags or loose. You are adding anti-oxidants to the process through the use of healthy green, black or white tea leaves. The kombucha culture looks like a beige or white rubbery pancake and it is often called a “scoby” which stands for symbiotic culture of bacteria and yeasts. The culture feeds on the sugar and black tea to create all its healthy benefits. The process is simple and you will have your kombucha to drink in 7-15 days. Visit kombuchacultures.com or organic-kombucha.com to read and see the step by step directions and/or order your kombucha culture.

Cheers!

by Tao Oliveto, Carrboro, NC

We may not be able to get “big politics” to change policies overnight, but we can make change happen in our communities if we bring individuals and ideas together. Here are some recent examples:

The Belgian city of Ghent is declaring a veggie day every Thursday, when all civil servants and elected officials will vow to eat no meat, schools will serve vegetarian meals, and all restaurants will promote a vegetarian selection. Why? Because livestock production is responsible for 18% of global greenhouse gas emissions (more than cars), and to help decrease obesity. How did they do it? City council members teamed up with Flanders’ Ethical Vegetarian Association and threw a party – with free vegetarian fare and recipes, along with a veggie street map, guiding enthusiastic participants to the town’s veggie restaurants.

And in the UK…In further recognition of the impact that livestock has on the environment, Wycliff College in Stonehouse has offered a 10% discount on tuition for vegetarian students. How? Founder, GW Sibly was a passionate vegetarian, establishing this policy himself.

Derek Beres writes about the science of creating systems that work with this example:

We can “create our own systems to accommodate the good of the many. One friend recently forwarded me a link to her doctor in Brooklyn, whose company works by each member paying a monthly fee, instead of the one-time whopping bill. The fees are manageable for most, and the doctors reply by text messaging and emails, and always — I repeat always — follow up within a day. Generic prescriptions are free, and from what I understand they are very popular. (Last week they had a flu shot party at the office with a live DJ!) So here you have on a small scale a system that has become so in demand that the four doctors have to open another location in Manhattan. They were fed up with the healthcare system, and so founded their own, to help others, and to improve their own careers. Everyone wins, and the science of medicine, not the economics of it, takes precedence.”

What do you want to see change in your community, school, workplace or world? Reach out. Stand up. Make it happen.

by Tao Oliveto, Carrboro, NC

Bicycle commuting is on the rise. Tough economic times may be a factor, though in anthropological terms, I have a feeling style and the times have a lot more to do with it.

And what about style and biking? Is it possible to combine the two? Not much hope if you’re an actual cyclist. They definitely deserve our awed admiration as they move along – 50 miles at a stretch – at speeds higher than my town’s speed limit. But in all their aerodynamic sleekness, I would not call them stylish (I know because I’ve been there and I felt a lot of things while breezing along those country roads, but stylish was not one of them.)

So what happens to those of us who happen not to be a “cyclists”, but a normal person who happens to ride a bike? As I’ve mentioned here, somewhere along the line – consciously or not – I made the shift from cycling to bicycling, finally pawning off my lycra shirts and shorts on Craig’s List. And it’s much more part of my identity than it was in my past life. As a result, I prefer not to look like a geek on my bike, but like, well, my Fashionable Self.

Take a look at this video of riders in Copenhagen, where “there is no bike culture – all culture includes the bike.” And it shows, not just by the fact that 36% of the population rides daily, but because they look damn normal to me – normal enough that I can see myself as one of them. If you think of this same scene in the U.S., it is most likely not as inviting to the average plumber (I mean, person).

Will gearing up for the ride become a thing of the past? Will enough of us ride through our fair cities that bike paths and shelters will pop up everywhere? Will we embrace a sort of slow bike movement that will allow us to be more safe as well as stylish? (Notice that the riders in Copenhagen don’t feel the need for helmets.) Writer, David Colman explores those possibilities in this article and finds out how we can solve the tricky questions faced by 2-wheeled city commuters who want to look like they still “mean business” in no-other than our own NYC. (Interesting article and photos introducing the latest NYC “It Object”, the Dutch bicycle.)

That helmet thing – ? I realize I’m playing with fire here, but it may be the clincher that shifts the mainstream consciousness into a whole new gear.

by Tao Oliveto, Carrboro, NC

I came across another list of tips for going green at home. I love lists since they help my brain keep things present. I know some people disagree, but the “list” actually helps free up space in my head, offering assurance that I won’t forget things. So, instead of thinking about my to-dos 100 times per day, I can think of them once or twice, when I look at my list.

Anyway, list person or not, you have to appreciate Green Lists – I always read them because they help me see what I may have missed – one more  thing I can do – or not do – to simplify my life, feel healthier and/or green my daily habits. I came across this list offered up by Millie Barnes at OptimumNutrition.com, who manages to have a really clean, green life at home as a working single mom.

Then I came to step # 7. “Used cloth diapers for all 5 kids.” Impressive, but hey, wait a minute. 5 kids? I think she missed a step on the socially responsible way to be green on our crowded planet. That’s still a lot of diapers, washed in a lot of water, using a lot of detergent and that’s just where the consuming begins when it comes to raising five children, who become five adults in five homes of their own, with five cars of their own, with kids of their own, and so on.

Let me be clear. I’m not anti-kids. I am anti-”have-as-many-as-you-want-despite-the-fact-that-we-are-outnumbering-our-capacity-and-that-there-are-many-children-who-need-foster-and-adoptive-parents”. Steven Kotler, author of West of Jesus: Surfing, Science and the Origins of Belief, says it a lot better than this on PsychologyToday.com.

Want a chip off the ol’ block experience? That’s inevitable and a beautiful plan of nature. So, do your biological thing – after all, those little green footprints are adorable – and then, if you want more, consider the alternatives.

Still, I read the rest of the list and learned something new about composting. It’s a good list by a motivational and inspirational person. Take a look.