Fish in Sheep’s Clothing

I’m not a big fish eater. It probably has to do with growing up in Middle America. My husband feels the same way. I love Salmon and eat it when we go out, but it’s not my husband’s first choice. To accommodate our senior citizens health, we are trying to make adult nutrition choices.

About a year ago, we discovered Tilapia fish. I had never heard of it, but we tried it, liked it and have become regular connoisseurs. We liked Tilapia because it doesn’t have any bones, bakes easily and the flavor is light and delicate.

Why are we eating fish? Because, fish has high levels of Omega-3 fatty acids which is good for us. We were surprised to discover recently, not only is Tilapia low in Omega-3, it’s high in Omega-6, the bad fats. In addition, it’s highly contaminated with pollutants if it comes from Asia or South America. We’ll finish eating the frozen Tilapia we have, but won’t eat any more or only on rare occasions.

The lesson is we can’t assume that because something is ‘fish,’ it’s automatically good for you. That’s true because of the nutrients in the fish, but also because of pollutants and over fishing. In researching what fish we should eat, we came across a site that provides great information about fish that is good for you and the environment. It’s provided by Environmental Defense Fund. The fish are organized in alpha order in three columns: Eco-best, Eco-ok, Eco-worst. When you click on the fish, it describes the health effects, as well as the environmental situation. You can learn what seafood is good to eat as well as not damaging to the environment.

I wrote in my last blog about 100 extra calories a day adding ten pounds a year to your weight. As I’ve grappled with my own self-indulgence, I’ve been struck by how it relates to other articles I’ve read recently.

Did you know that over half of the world’s population exists on one bowl of rice a year? I read that last summer when gas and grain shot up. We forget as Americans how quickly we’ve shifted from surviving at near starvation levels to an absolute orgy of options. Choices abound, not only in food, but in other commodities.

Recently, there were reports of a band of parents writing to toy manufacturers to pull back on their advertising. They explained they couldn’t afford the toys their children wanted, had a very hard time saying ‘no,’ and wanted the toy people to help them by not thrusting tantalizing commercials for frequent viewing.

Haven’t the last few years been an exercise in indulgence? Whether we’re talking about food, homes, or toys, we’ve allowed ourselves to get caught up in a feeding frenzy of “I want, therefore I deserve.” Of course, we have an economic system that is based on feeding our constant desire to indulge at every whim. Americans work more hours per capita than any other group of people. We live in heightened state of stress to make money to feed the python of consumerism. We suffer from obesity and other lifestyle related ailments because we haven’t learned to say no.

Where do we go from here? One thing is clear, we can’t continue on this path. Our bodies are ill, children spoiled and our spirit is broken. We have an increased chasm between the haves and the have-nots, but everyone can be in debt to pretend they have it all. No one knows what the next couple of years are going to bring. One thing is for sure, we shouldn’t return to our old ways. We need to find another way of defining success, and what it means to be a proud people.

Update

Yes, we finally got the phone back. It was a simple switch that needed to be changed at the back of our house. OMG, I can't believe all that hassle. I guess the new world of technology is difficult for all of us, even those who work in it.

If someone asked me if I had a good life, I would have to say yes. I'm not one of those people who walk outside looking for a brick to fall on my head. But, this is getting uncanny. Our six year old tv died yesterday. Notice what I said-six years old! It's not like it's even on all of the time. As you can see it's huge.I'm not sure what I hate more, paying for a new tv or putting this one in a landfill somewhere.

The repairman said it was a blown color tube and they can' be replaced. My husband found some on e-bay, but the repairman said it would cost $500 to install each of the three tubes.

This is ridiculous. I'm really not taking it too personally-really, but doesn't it bother you that a television that is six years old died, can't be fixed and has to be thrown in the junk heap? This wasn't a cheap television. It just seems to me that something has to change. I'm not sure where or how, but something has to change.

Night on the Town

I went to see Ed Bagley Jr. last night. It was actually a monumental event. For twenty-five years, if I wanted to do something in the evening, I had to go alone or call a girl friend. It was the first time my husband and I did something together in the evening on a weekday. That was nice.

Ed Bagley Jr you're asking. Both my husband and I are interested in environmental issues. We are certainly not hard-core environmentalist, as I've mentioned before. The talk was sponsored by the Discovery Center which promotes the love of science.

I was a bit concerned Ed Bagley Jr had become a caricature of himself. The green geek riding along the Los Angeles roads on his bicycle oblivious to the realities of city living. I actually found him to be passionate, which I knew, incredibly informed on all aspects of the environmental world and surprisingly apolitical.

This man has been in the environmental game for a long time and has learned to handle himself deftly in a crowd. He was speaking to the choir, but I got the feeling he would have been equally adept with group of coal burning utility owners.

For example, he didn't spend a lot of time talking about the climate change. Instead, he focused on the age-old concerns of water and air pollution. Remember those.

He wasn't all doom and gloom. He stated we were making lots of headway in these areas. For example, Los Angeles has four times as many cars on the road as it did in the 1970's, but one-half the pollution. That's progress. He also discussed the rivers that have been cleaned up in the twenty-five years, without negating the work that still needs to be done.

Share Resources

While there is an air of uncertainty as the economy zigzags across the landscape, it’s wonderful to see people adapt, as humans do, to make the most of a difficult situation. The motivation may start from not being able to afford the lifestyle we once could, but there is a positive result as people are rethinking how they do things. Whether we want to admit it or not, Americans consume too many resources. Cutting back, out of financial necessity, has allowed us to evaluate what is important in our lives.

My neighbor just purchased an outside hanger for drying clothes. In Los Angeles, there are fewer traffic jams as people explore alternative ways to get around town.

Several years ago, my neighbor and I started an exchange program. They have subscriptions to Newsweek and Time. I take the local newspaper. We swap when we’re done reading our respective periodicals. It saves money, natural resources and I get the added health benefit of walking as I take the paper to her every morning.

What are you doing in respect to the economic downturn that is having a positive effect on your life and others?

Global versus Local Charity

I attended a World Affairs Council luncheon yesterday. World Affairs is an educational non-profit organization with local groups that bring in speakers to discuss international issues. It’s non-partisan, so wonderful for members of the community to come together to discuss issues that are affecting the world. It helps to increase our understanding of being part of a global community. What is going on in Asia, Africa and Europe may have a direct impact on our lives locally.

The speaker at the meeting was Muhammad Yunus, a founding board member of the Grameen Foundation and Grameen Bank of Bangladesh, which revolutionized banking in developing countries. The Grameen model lends small amounts of capital to the poorest of the poor, women, without collateral to start small businesses. He reported they had given loans to 130 million people since the late 1980’s, of those 80 million were to their target market. They have a 97% repayment rate. The women are required to form support groups, limit the number of children they have and those children need to go to school. If the children complete their primary education, the Grameen Foundation will pay all of their tuition and expenses to go to college or university.

Banks around the world now use the Grameen model. There were two interesting points Yunus made, which are worth repeating. He said where ever he goes people talk about managing the environment. He responds by saying the environment will take care of itself. What we need to do is manage people. We have created such environmental havoc in the world, it may require some human intervention to heal. For the most part, if left to its own devices, the environment can and will heal itself. The challenge is to minimize human impact, which is a much more complicated challenge.

The other point he made was the only way to solve global issues was at a local level. Certainly, Grameen has found a way to do this. They go into the poorest villages and by helping women start small cottage industries are able to turn around the economic well-being for the whole community.

I am one of these people who fancies herself flying off to all corners of the world to help others, when I should be asking myself, “What can I do here at home to make a difference?” Every one of us should be asking that question on a continual basis.

And the Living is Easy

My husband and I wouldn’t refer to ourselves as environmentalists. With that said, we believe it’s our responsibility to be aware of our impact on the planet and to live accordingly. Ed Bagley wannabe’s we’re not.

When the aging Honda Del Sol, with over 300,000 miles needed a new engine, we decided to bite the bullet and buy a hybrid. It breaks my heart there are so few options available. I remember going to an experimental workshop in the 1970’s to look at an electric car. What happened? Maybe this time we’ll get it right.

We ended up buying the Honda Civic Hybrid. This sticker said it could get as much as 55 miles per gallon. If you buy a hybrid, a primary goal is to get the best mileage possible. I suppose there might be people who buy a hybrid for the prestige, but that would be silly. Learning how to drive the car to get the best mileage has been part of the fun. Because I’m a very competitive person, getting better gas mileage than my husband has added to the enjoyment.

On the dashboard, there is an indicator telling us how many miles per gallon we’re getting. When the car is cold, the mpg goes way down. It also goes down when accelerating, going up hills and during traffic with a lot of stopping.

In order to get good gas mileage, it was important to change the way we drive. I can’t quickly accelerate when I’m stopped at a light or in traffic. I have to ease into it. I’ve learned how to increase my gas mileage in stop and go traffic, by coming to complete stop (which switches the car to the electric motor), and then easing into acceleration, instead of jamming on the gas motor.

What’s ironic is it’s changed the way I approach driving. Even the most passive person can become a Type A personality behind the wheel of the car. I used to love to push when I drove. I tried never to be rude or angry, but I do love to drive fast and never being far from a LA freeway allowed me to zoom from here to there. Not anymore. Now, I want to see how if I can improve my gas mileage. Take it nice and easy.