03.31.10
Posted in Environment tagged food ethics at 9:59 pm by kyrias
Right. Putting shrimp on my list of things not to eat or buy unless I know exactly where it came from and how.
I was heating up some garlic shrimp with linguine, courtesy of Bertolli’s, when my mother wondered aloud at how translucent the shrimp was.
“Are you sure these don’t have Borax in them?”
Actually, I’m not sure.
Apparently, Borax is used in Asia to treat shrimp, both as a preservative and to make them less mealy when they’re not that fresh. I had thought that the use of Borax would be banned in the US, and so it never crossed my mind.
After my mother brought that up, however, I started Googling.
Unfortunately, Borax might indeed be involved in my shrimp.
Also, just as, if not more disturbing, shrimp is one of the more environmentally unfriendly seafoods around. Not that there’s a long list of environmentally friendly seafood, but destroying entire mangroves just for my gastronomic kicks isn’t exactly high on my list of desires.
Even if I weren’t a tree-hugger wanna-be, eating something that has urea and potential Parkinson-causing chemicals involved in its farming and which goes on to be treated by a suspected neurotoxicant is really, really not something I want to be doing.
Oh well.
On the note of eating things out of Earth and home — I still don’t really understand why there hasn’t been a push to eat Asian carp.
After all, supposedly the stupid things are going to devour all things possible and take over the Great Lakes — so why not eat them?
It’s not as if eating something hasn’t been scientifically proven to be a good method of driving entire species to outright if not merely near extinction.
Let’s see, there’s the Atlantic cod, the passenger pigeon, and the Chilean sea bass. That last is actually the Patagonian toothfish, which originally wasn’t even something that people would eat until they renamed it. Clearly, instead of feeding salmon to our cats, we should be feeding them Asian carp. I’m sure that they wouldn’t mind, even if their owners are going to be stupidly finicky over something so ethereal as a name.
What’s funny is that people actually oppose marketing Asian carp as food because they’re afraid that once people grow attached to eating them as food, they won’t focus on the fact that we actually really want to eradicate these pests from our waterways.
Again, I point at the passenger pigeon and say: “Wat?”
Really people, get with the program already. I’m not the only person who sees the clear solution to this dilemma. When stupid humans cause hostile piscine takeovers, break out the malt vinegar and deep fryers, I say.
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02.26.10
Posted in Environment, Frugality, Money tagged heating, Little Sister at 10:40 pm by kyrias
One of my many faults is that I absolutely can’t stand it when people are stupid about temperature.
The first time my little sister and I went out, I had told her that we were going to be walking up and down Mass Ave between Central Square and Harvard Square. When I picked her up, she had a poufy jacket on over a low-cut shirt, jeans, and ballet flats with no socks.
Brilliant person that I am, I actually didn’t notice her lack of proper attire until she started complaining of cold about 10 minutes in. So, in an effort to remedy my mistake, I bought her a cheap pair of gloves and a scarf at the dollar store. When I dropped her off at her grandmother’s house I told her that she needed to have gloves, a scarf, and more than just a t-shirt under her coat.
The second time we met, I picked her up at her house instead of her grandmother’s and so I was able to “remind” her to put on a sweater over the t-shirt.
Third time we met, I picked her up at the Saturday program she goes to. As I recall, it was 19 degrees out that day. She was dressed pretty much as she was the first time. We were fine on the walk from the program place to the Central Square bus stop, but once we stopped to wait for the bus, it started getting really cold. I had on tights and long underwear under my skirt, a thick fuzzy jacket under my winter coat and I was feeling a bit nippy. I had debated calling a taxi because it was really just that cold. Then I looked at my little sister, and decided that she really needed to learn how to dress herself properly. We sat at the bus stop for nearly 20 minutes until the bus came.
I’m not exactly proud of this, but I really thought it was necessary at the time. I felt it would have been encouraging her bad behaviour to call a taxi because she wasn’t dressed for the cold. I will admit to feeling a peculiar sense of vindication as we sat there in the cold, teeth chattering and feet tapping to keep circulation going.
Lately, since I moved to Framingham for the month, I noticed that the K-kids were strolling around in short sleeves and shorts.
The thermostat in this house is usually set to 70 degrees while people are in the house and 65 when people are out for the day.
I decided that we really didn’t need to be spending that much money on heating the house when the K-kids were walking around as if it were the height of summer.
So — I turned the thermostat downstairs down to 50 degrees and turned the thermostat upstairs down to 60 degrees. In my self-defense, it doesn’t really drop to 50 degrees, ever. The coldest the downstairs has been was 59 degrees and since my brother, the traitor, keeps turning the thermostat up, the upstairs rarely drops below 65 these days.
I spend most of my time in the kitchen, which is arguably the warmest room in the house because of how much cooking goes on in there. I suspect that having the fridge, rice cooker, and hot water pot in here also helps a bit.
The kids, including my brother, immediately started whining about how cold it was. One of them even came downstairs to dinner wrapped in a blanket once. I will admit to feeling extreme glee at seeing that.
However, they still haven’t managed to come up with long sleeves, or socks. I’m really glad that I don’t see the shorts out as much though.
Now, I just need to turn the thermostat down after my brother turns it up again.
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02.07.10
Posted in Environment, Health tagged organic food, pesticides, poison at 8:01 pm by kyrias
I think that I’m going to boycott strawberries from the shopping list unless they’re organic.
So, what I didn’t know before this is that strawberry and tomato farmers routinely fumigate the soil they plant their crops in — literally killing all living organisms within the medium before planting the strawberries.
The chemical that they used to use is methyl bromide, but it is getting bad press because of its ozone depleting properties. As a result, the Montreal Protocol, established in 1987, promoted the US to agree to phase it out by 2005.
We’ll ignore that Bush apparently negotiated exceptions to that protocol for American farmers and just skip to the point: Americans weren’t going to quit using it entirely until they found a suitable alternative.
The alternative that they found is methyl iodide.
If the similarity in names trips warning bells, then you might just be more clever than the EPA is/was.
Let me just say that methyl iodide works so well as a carcinogen that scientists use it in labs, complete with all the safety gear they can get on, to conduct research on cancer.
All I can say is that I personally don’t find it a good idea to grow food in poisoned soil. That purely asides from the ethical implications of using a poison in the environment where it could get into the watershed and where people living around the area are negatively affected by its use.
Now that I’ve heard about this, I’m just curious about what other food crops are grown with this level of poison use. Truly disturbing. To think that the majority of people probably don’t know this disturbs me even more. I wonder who would still want to eat strawberries grown conventionally after hearing of this? Not to be overly melodramatic, but it seems like eating the fruits of murder. Of humans, no less, not just the petty animals or microorganisms.
Hrm, so about potentially planting strawberries in the house…
I think I might be poking our local nursery for strawberry runners next week on my day off.
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12.20.09
Posted in Environment tagged climate change, Copenhagen 2009, personal accountability at 12:59 am by kyrias
On the Copenhagen issue:
Let’s assume that it is humans who caused global warming. I have no patience to debate whether or not we’re going into a little Ice Age, or whether this is business as usual in the history of the world or whatevs.
So, assuming that humans caused global warming and that we can actually do something to fix/help the situation…
Considering that out of the 193 countries as formally recognized by the UN, there are 30 full democracies and 50 flawed democracies. Considering that even with just counting the full democracies, that’s slightly over 14% of the world’s population. Considering that with counting the flawed democracies, that’s an additional 35.5% of the world’s population, bringing us up to 49.5% of the world’s total population.
Considering all that.
Why do people insist on blaming the heads of government for entire environmental debacle?
I am far from saying that the heads of government have their hands clean, but isn’t it just a bit facile to say that it’s all the fault of our leaders?
Let’s be honest here and let’s start from the basics.
If we’re really a democracy, then shouldn’t the people representing us in Congress be paying slightly more attention to what we want?
If we really care about the environment, then why do so many people who claim to care still insist on eating meat with every meal, refuse to recycle unless it’s convenient, support urban sprawl, keep lawns, buy gas-guzzling SUVs?
The fact is that it’s just too easy to point the finger.
Awww, our government isn’t making us behave.
No matter that only slightly over half of Americans bother to vote and there’s probably a significant portion of that turnout who vote simply based on party lines. No matter that if we really wanted to insist on town composting, a more comprehensive recycling program, or anything of the sort, we’d either do it ourselves or make it happen by voting in people who share our ideals. No matter that if we truly cared about things like factory farmed animals producing methane, polluting water sheds, leeching antibiotics/chemicals/what have you into ground water — we’d boycott those companies. No matter that if people really cared, they’d downsize their cars or start taking mass transit more often. No matter all of that.
It’s just easier to blame Obama. Easier to blame those icky imperialist colonizing super-powers who care only about their continued economic prosperity.
Right.
Let’s ignore those people who think that shopping at Whole Foods makes eating meat every single day of the week hunky-dory. Let’s ignore the masses who see “organic” or “all natural” and buy on sight without trying to understand the labels and the politics behind them. Let’s ignore the sad fact that even in Boston, a city I consider liberal, there aren’t readily accessible recycling containers all over the city and no composting program. Let’s ignore those people driving their Hummers and those monstrous SUVs. Further more, let’s ignore how our friends take hour long showers, drive gas guzzlers, drink non-fair trade coffee that was probably produced in near-slavery conditions, turn up the thermostat instead of putting on a sweater, throw recyclables into the trash, eat steak for every other meal, use the dryer instead of a drying rack, wash their clothing in heated water, use the dishwasher’s heat-drying cycle, and in general just engage in rank consumerism. Let’s ignore our beloved babies and their disposable diapers piling up in landfills and all the stuff they’re going to consume in their lifetime.
Aside, before I get flames, I’m just pointing out the existence of our glass houses and I’m not saying I don’t do any or all of the above.
Let’s just ignore that.
It’s just easier to blame someone else.
Just like it’s easier to say that unless China joins the bandwagon, the US won’t commit to jack. Easier to worry about all those other countries stealing an edge on you and blaming them for refusing to relent. Easier to smugly talk about all those imperialist bastards.
Sure.
The corruption isn’t just at the top, folks. And considering who voted those people into office — seriously, you’re blaming it all on them?
Even better is that I’ll bet if the government ever decides to start cracking down, I doubt the US populace will stand for it. God forbid that the US turn facist/socialist/into a namby pamby pansy. Oh noes!
Let he who is without sin and all that.
The fact is that so long as the majority of the US/democratic nations’ populace aren’t on the same page, then our government is unlikely to change. If our goverment decides it’s the same old hat as always, then we’re just shit out of luck.
But it’s just easier to scapegoat someone, isn’t it?
Go right ahead. I’ll light a candle for you too.
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08.13.09
Posted in Environment tagged stupid big companies, water filters at 6:18 pm by kyrias
I am currently in the market for a table-top water filtering system. I’d love to buy a rig that hooks up to the sink and deals with it — but considering we’re likely to be renting for the foreseeable future, I don’t think that’s particularly plausible anytime soon.
So, I was trying to decide between a Brita filter or Pur.
From the Amazon reviews, it appears that the Pur products are better designed and filters out more stuff than the Brita filters do. Think pitchers that don’t leak and other such wonderful selling points.
On the other hand, Brita filters can be recycled and Pur filters can’t. Double whammy kicker is that I don’t even need to wonder about the amount of postage necessary to mail my filters in to be recycled — apparently the filters are getting recycled right here in MA.
Guess that pretty much cinches the deal.
I just find it hysterical that Brita and Pur were jumping on the bandwagon about how bottled water was bad for the planet and yet they didn’t offer recycling options for their filters, which are made of plastic. Brita’s gotten with the program and finally started recycling here in the US but Pur still seems to be holding out.
I wonder how long it will take them to realize that if you’re going to slap people in the face about how un-green they are with using plastic water bottles, it’s going to come back and roost sooner or later when people realize that your competitor allows the recycling of their filters and you don’t?
As for the question of why it’s necessary to filter the water — it really isn’t, I suppose. I just hate the taste of chlorine in my water and when I can taste it, I tend to want to filter it out.
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08.07.09
Posted in Environment, Ethics and morality at 11:54 pm by kyrias
I was watching Renovation Nation on TV tonight and came across some rather interesting things.
For one, there’s an couple in California who built a huge house and is claiming that it’s green.
Righto.
This monstrosity is something like at least 3,000 square feet if not more, has only 5 bedrooms, boasts 5 bathrooms, and a fully automated toilet. Granted, it’s a toilet that only uses 1.2 gallons per flush — but still.
Supposedly, between materials and whatnot, these people went from being 12 LEED points in the hole to being 12 points over platinum, which requires 80 points.
To be honest? I was not at all impressed.
Sure, it seemed that they had made a sincere effort to be as green as possible in terms of building materials and whatnot — but I honestly felt like that much space with only five bedrooms was ridiculous, even if they were talking about having a large family. I also thought that it would have been much more admirable if they had spent their money on being carbon neutral like that other couple in Colorado who had solar energy, solar thermal, and geothermal systems going instead of that ridiculous remote controlled toilet and huge-ass rooms.
I think I read somewhere that someone doesn’t really consider any huge house green at all and I think I have to more or less side with that person on this one.
Now, if they had 10 bedrooms and planned to fill them all — that’s another story.
But does a home really need a separate bathroom for each room, and that much space per person?
Personally, I like a smaller living space both because I find that easier to clean and because I hate rattling around in houses.
If I ever got to design the ideal home, it’d have enough insulation to keep the house toasty warm in winter even without much additional heating, solar thermal and solar power for everything else, and possibly some geothermal thrown in for good measure.
It’d also have three stories up and at least one basement floor — but then I’m intending on living with a ton of people, so I’m not at all abashed of how much space this place is going to be.
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04.29.09
Posted in Environment, Ethics and morality, culture tagged hired help, Taiwan at 6:31 am by kyrias
My grandmother has a Filipina maid who comes in for 4 hours once a week.
I met her today. She didn’t appear to be much taller than I was, but she was painfully skinny in comparison.
Her name is Venus.
She rather suddenly asked me if I’ve read “My sister’s keeper” and I said yes. We then had a brief dialogue about how it was a good book, but far too sad.
My grandmother mentioned to me that she was currently working illegally after having come here on a now-expired work visa, was sometimes too sick to do the full four hours, is married with children and here being a maid despite having had a college education.
I have never been ashamed of having a maid. Despite the connotations when spoken in American society, growing up in Shanghai meant that it was normal to have hired help. Normal to have someone wait on you hand and foot, complete with breakfast in bed and meeting you at the school bus stop to carry your bookbag if you wished it.
It’s interesting to see how “A yi“, or “auntie” has evolved to meaning the hired help in Shanghai. Amongst the crowd I walked with, we had to specify if we meant a real relative, a friend of the family that was given the honorific, or the maid. It made for interesting conversation dynamics and is a quiet, but potent, footnote on the society I lived in.
I’m not ashamed now that my grandmother pays for Venus’ help either. Grandmama discreetly gifts her with food and other small things, feeds her well before allowing her to go on to her next job cleaning the house of a friend, and tries to find more people to give her jobs. I suspect that her sympathy for this woman’s plight is also some good part of why she has a maid every week and not less frequently.
The feeling I have is much more complex and dark than that.
When I was a child, it not only was normal to have hired help, it was easy to see that woman as an extension of the household. Especially as we had the same older woman who took care of us as if we were her own for seven years. Seven years is both not uncommon and rare, now that we’ve moved past the idea and era of loyal retainers and into an age of pseudo-capitalism.
Then, we knew that it was their job. They were often paid well, ate well with the family, and treated well.
However, this is different; looking upon this woman who is in a foreign country, speaking a language not her own, a plane trip and country borders away from her family, sick and college educated and yet washing floors for a living.
This feels like exploitation.
It feels dirty in a way that having a maid as a child never was.
Regardless that my grandmother attempts to help her. Despite all the kindnesses that the many women of my grandmother’s community might do for her.
Are the people who hire these desperate women actually helping them, or are they part of the problem? And what of the larger question of why supposedly illegal Filipino maids are so prevalent in Taiwan?
I do not know what to think. It is slightly painful to even look this topic in the face. To think that Filipina and maid are somewhat synonymous here.
On a slightly darker note, I mention that there was an old man who killed himself after his long-time Filipina maid finally returned home.
That is another something I have no idea what to think of.
Did he deliberately attempt to keep her with him by not paying her as much as she perhaps needed to return home? What must his relationships with his family be like, if the thought of losing his long-time caretaker was enough to drive him to suicide? What must she think of him, benefactor/patron or someone who kept her paid enough from leaving him but not paid enough to help?
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04.05.09
Posted in Environment, culture tagged lost in translation, urban myth at 11:03 pm by kyrias
My brother recently poked me about the alleged aphorisms on a wall in Harvard, so I did some Googling, and this is what I found:
1. This moment will nap, you will have a dream; But this moment study, you will interpret a dream.
2. I leave uncultivated today, was precisely yesterday perishes tomorrow which person of the body implored.
3. Thought is already is late, exactly is the earliest time.
4. Not matter of the today will drag tomorrow.
5. Time the study pain is temporary, has not learned the pain is life-long.
6. Studies this matter, lacks the time, but is lacks diligently.
7. Perhaps happiness does not arrange the position, but succeeds must arrange the position.
8. The study certainly is not the life complete. But, since continually life part of - studies also is unable to conquer, what but also can make?
9. Please enjoy the pain which is unable to avoid.
10. Only has compared to the others early, diligently diligently, can feel the successful taste.
11. Nobody can casually succeed, it comes from the thorough self-control and the will.
12. The time is passing.
13. Now drips the saliva, will become tomorrow the tear.
14. The dog equally study, the gentleman equally plays.
15. Today does not walk, will have to run tomorrow.
16. The investment future person will be, will be loyal to the reality person.
17. The education level represents the income.
18. One day, has not been able again to come.
19. Even if the present, the match does not stop changes the page.
20. Has not been difficult, then does not have attains
I found a couple more blogs that have the same aphorisms, but what really confused me is that there are no English blogs by Harvard students that mention it , nor could I find anything even obliquely referring to it except for those two blogs, Wiki-answers, and www.answers.com.
I started to wonder if it was some sort of urban myth.
What was interesting was that I realized that if I translated them into Chinese, they made a lot more sense, and indeed seemed to sound familiar at that point.
So, I did some Googling in Chinese, and found the corresponding Chinese aphorisms:
1.此刻打盹，你将做梦；而此刻学习，你将圆梦。
If you nap now, you will dream; if you study now, you will realize your dreams.
2.我荒废的今日，正是昨日殒身之人祈求的明日。
The today that I have wasted, is the tomorrow that yesterday’s dead so desperately wish for.
3.觉得为时已晚的时候，恰恰是最早的时候。
When you realize it’s too late, it’s actually the earliest time to act. (Not sure this makes that much sense, but ok)
4.勿将今日之事拖到明日。
Don’t put off till tomorrow what you can do today.
5.学习时的苦痛是暂时的，未学到的痛苦是终生的。
The torment of studying is temporary, the torment of ignorance is forever.
6.学习这件事，不是缺乏时间，而是缺乏努力。
Learning lacks not time but effort.
7.幸福或许不排名次，但成功必排名次。
Happiness might not have care about your rank, but success definitely does.
8.学习并不是人生的全部。但，既然连人生的一部分——学习也无法征服，还能做什么呢？
Learning might not be the entirety of one’s life, but if one cannot even surmount this one small area, what can one succeed at?
9.请享受无法回避的痛苦。
Please enjoy the pain that you cannot avoid.
10.只有比别人更早、更勤奋地努力，才能尝到成功的滋味。
Only studying harder and earlier than others can one taste success.
11.谁也不能随随便便成功，它来自彻底的自我管理和毅力。
No one can casually succeed, success comes from total self-discipline and willpower.
12.时间在流逝。
Time is fleeting.
13.现在淌的哈喇子，将成为明天的眼泪。
The saliva that you drool in your nap today, will be the tears of tomorrow.
14.狗一样地学，绅士一样地玩。
Study like a dog; play like a wastrel. (I never really knew dogs were good at studying. But who knows?)
15.今天不走，明天要跑。
If you don’t walk today, you will need to run tomorrow.
16.投资未来的人是，忠于现实的人。
The person who invests in the future is a person who is loyal to reality.
17.教育程度代表收入。
Education is proportional to income. (No, it really ain’t. Speak to all those English PH.D holders.)
18.一天过完，不会再来。
Once today is over, it is gone. (Duh?)
19.即使现在，对手也不停地翻动书页。
Even now, my opponent has not relaxed in his study. (Orly?)
20.没有艰辛，便无所获。
No pain, no gain.
Turns out it seems to be a hoax perpetrated on the Chinese internets.
Odd, really. Why would people bother?
Is it that attributing some wierd, indeciperable babble to the oh-so-admired Harvard students is funny?
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03.28.09
Posted in Environment tagged Earth Hour 2009 at 12:01 am by kyrias
The World Wildlife Fund is asking everyone to turn off the lights from 8:30-9:30pm tonight to “cast a vote for Earth“.
JR Raphael is taking it one step further and saying to turn off everything that actively uses electricity. I wonder if he’s going to unplug his fridge too?
I think I’d be up for it if I were back in Somerville with my friends.
Hey, we could light some candles and play board games.
As it is, I’m going to be with my parents and I have a niggling suspicion that they’re not going to be up for it. Not to mention my brother.
Oh well. This is the sort of feel good, gimmicky thing that is really only fun with a group of friends.
I’m pretty positive that our government wouldn’t know and wouldn’t care exactly how many people turned off their lights for one hour. I’m also almost certain that doing this is just another sort of band-aid people who aren’t really living green slap on their conscience without actually bothering to do something more concrete on a daily basis — go sustainably, locovore-ally vegan, for example. 
Although — if you want some impetus, abelle has a lovely success story of how Sydney cut its energy consumption by 10.2% for one hour.
And doesn’t getting married by candlelight sound romantic?
As for me, if I can’t convince my family, I guess I’ll wait for 2010.
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03.01.09
Posted in Environment tagged BPA, chicken tortilla soup, getting fudged at 8:22 pm by kyrias
I’ve heard that planning out how exactly you’re going to eat for the next week is a wonder for saving time, money, and prevents food from going to waste.
No more dithering about what to cook, what to eat, or having far too many hunger induced spontaneous ideas that suddenly lead to those well-intentioned salad greens mildewing in the crisper. Or that package of chicken thighs that were destined for a stir-fry hiding until it’s gone inedible.
With that in mind, Azora and I set out shopping today.
Of course, see, the thing is - buying only ingredients for meals for a week only works if you’ve bought the correct ingredients.
What I had thought to be kale at 69 cents a pound and therefore bought copious amounts of was actually collard greens at a whopping 2.69 a pound.
Stop and Shop needs to fucking not put higher priced items right next to or under signs that declare specials.
I very nearly got fudged into buying 7.99/pound steak when I was reaching for the 2.99/pound steak in the “specials” section.
Bah. Now what do I do with collard greens?
Almost all recipes I have call for cooking them into oblivion.
Or putting them into a smoothie…
We’ll see…
As for tonight, made bastardized chicken tortilla soup with chicken stock from the roast chicken, can of Muir Glen crushed tomatoes with basil, 5 ears of fresh corn, ground cumin, oregano, a deseeded jalepeno, and some chili seasoning. Muir Glen says that it packs its tomatoes in enameled cans but it turns out that there’s BPA along with said enamel. Frightening.
The soup was very good with a splash of hot sauce. Although there was no chicken, the pureed corn was enough to make it hearty enough for a meal - assuming two bowls or more of it.
I then made the mistake of dumping in left over spaghetti sauce because it needed to be used up. It didn’t taste bad, and I think that some would find it tasty but it was definitely not as good as without it. But at least I got rid of the spaghetti sauce, which I’d been worried about for a day or so now.
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