———————– ** Fresh Green Beans ** ———————– Grown in Kansas. Eaten Worldwide.

“Poor Sachiko. You have to eat McDonald and pizza everyday.”

I’m a student from Japan. Before I left Japan, many of my friends mentioned fast food and felt sorry about an unhealthy and tasteless diet I’d go through.

Now, I can say they’re not right, at least in Lawrence. I like to go to downtown restaurants that serve a variety of food around the world. I love to cook using fresh ingredients from the downtown farmers’ market. After coming to Lawrence, I’m converted to a supporter of local food, too.

Photo Credit: Farmers’ Market in Downtown Lawrence Lawrence farmers’ market is open on Saturday morning and Tuesday and Thursday evening.

The farmers’ market, a community garden and restaurants that specialize in regional ingredients, Lawrence offers great venues for local food. The benefits of local food vary from taste to health, to the environment and local economy.

To be a prouder Lawrencian, how can we support local food and build a more sustainable food network in Lawrence?

Search Lawrence Sustainability Network and Local Harvest: They tell us farms and restaurants that specialize in regional ingredients.

Support local farmers through a subscription service: Small-scale local firms are vulnerable to risks such as bad weather and pests. Daniel Dermitzel, farmer and associate director of Kansas City Center for Urban Agriculture, said we can help local formers by sharing those risks and subscribing to Community Supported Agriculture. Under the subscription service, organized farmers collect a fixed fee from customers and provide products periodically. The amount of share depends on the performance of those farmers. Rolling Prairie Farmers Alliance is available for the Lawrence area. 

Volunteer for the Lawrence farmers’ market: It’s a great way to share your passion with customers and vendors. 

In the long run, we should create more opportunities for farmers to sell their products.

Open the farmers’ market in winter: Although not many products are available during the winter season, opening the markets would help stabilize farmers’ income and satisfy customers’ demands. The Christian Science Monitor reports winter indoor markets that have become popular in Wisconsin, Illinois, and Iowa. 

Create a local food kiosk on the KU campus: The kiosk could sell fruits, snacks and meals made of locally grown ingredients. It can be promotional, too.

Start a Farm-to-School program in Lawrence public schools: Farm to School is a program which schools provide meals using locally produced foods. Schools also provide learning opportunities, such as farming, gardening and studying about nutrition. This program would enable local farmers to sell their products and raise students’ awareness of food and health. 

Your participation wanted! And don’t miss Lawrence farmers’ market! It opens on Saturday morning and Tuesday and Thursday evening from mid April to November.

By Sachiko Miyakawa

The field trip to a farm in Kansas City, Mo. made me hungry. I smelled the soil, learned about material to grow vegetables and talked to farmers. I almost said, “Can I have a bite of this romaine? Look, so fresh!”

Photo Credits: Sachiko Miyakawa These are inside the green house of the farm.

The farm is a certified organic farm in the Kansas City metropolitan area. Daniel Dermitzel operates the firm. He also serves as the associate director of Kansas City Center for Urban Agriculture to promote fresh and healthy food in the city.

Along with the increasing awareness of food safety and environmentalism, urban agriculture like Dermitzel’s farm is gaining attention across the country. Urban agriculture is the practice of raising food locally, especially within or around cities. It reduces consumption of fossil fuels and pollution from shipping and provides fresh vegetables, fruits and meat to city residents. According to the Urban Agriculture Conference,urban agriculture supports food security, provides employment and income to cities, and offers a learning experience for school children. Also, products are often sold in farmers’ markets, encouraging communications between consumers and producers. Urban agriculture activates community.

But not all cities can afford land for farming. In some places, landowners can make more money lending the land for other businesses. Increasing efficiency and profits of farms is necessary to develop urban agriculture.

BBC reports scientists at Columbia University proposed a future of urban agriculture in New York City. The “vertical farm,” a 30-story skyscraper with glass walls would feature farms for varieties of crops and livestock. Energy would come from a solar panel and fuel made from the farm’s waste would provide energy. Wastewater would be recycled in the complex.

TreeHugger features an underground farming in downtown Tokyo. Although the farm’s purpose is rather a display and experiment, the underground farming is an example of unlimited possibilities for the future of urban agriculture.

By Sachiko Miyakawa

The beginning of the class was a culture shock. I was surprised how much environmentalists can sacrifice to prevent environmental crisis. Concepts like vegan and limiting human populations for the environment went beyond my understanding. But I always like to get out of my comfort zone. I enjoyed learning and interacting with all of you who have different values.

I had been angry and depressed for the second quarter, my darkest green period in the semester. I was freezing in my apartment not using the heater. I always brought a plastic bag with me just in case I had to buy something. I was mad at people who can’t do simple recycling. I blamed politicians. I felt powerless because I couldn’t even convince my friends why we have to care about the environment. The humor week relieved some of my tension. I liked George Spyros’s lecture. I learned to be clever and sexy.

Photo Credit: 2desktop.com, Beautiful Green Leaf

I then noticed my friends were annoyed by me. Even though I stopped preaching environmentalism, I often talked about global warming, recycling and local and organic food. This class constantly kept me thinking. I couldn’t stop outputting things I learned. On the other hand, my friends’ response taught me something. I wondered if some audience were tired and overwhelmed by massive information and products selling green. Many lay audiences cannot tell what is true green and what is greenwash. I thought it is our responsibility to provide accurate information and guide them to the right direction.

In my opinion, we cannot expect everybody to sacrifice a certain lifestyle or value to protect the environment. But everybody can participate in the movement at a different level. My contribution is to be a reporter and fill a gap between people who have different values. For example, I share the passion of environmentalists. At the same time, I can relate to people who are less willing to take action. I will not be an environmental journalist particularly. But environmentalism should be always part of my lifework.

By Sachiko Miyakawa

Thanks to advanced technology, we can keep track of global news simultaneously 24/7. Media cover various environmental issues around the world and people’s awareness. Visual communication, such as images of flooding in China and melting glaciers in Antarctica, leaves a strong impact on the audience’s mind and and alerts them to the consequences of humans’ selfishness.

Photo Credit: World View of Global Warming

According to the poll released by Stanford University in June 2007, 85 percent of Americans believe global warming is “probably” happening.

Although the majority of Americans are aware of the issue, some people look at the global crises as if they were watching a movie or something happening outside their world. Those people are reluctant to take action for the environment unless they have incentives to do so.

Are they lazy, selfish or immoral? I don’t think so. I understand people who feel overwhelmed by enormous amount of information. The media send out a bunch of clueless information. The audience are loosing a connection with those information. If we really need the audience’s attention, we have to establish “Why do we care?” and “What can we do?”

It is not easy to provide a reason and solution, especially if it’s international news. But as bloggers, we can serve as the bridge to connect global news to the audience. How can we then communicate with readers as a blogger and persuade them to take action?

The best way of advocacy is give a direct experience to the readers and involve them into activities. We can suggest the readers to volunteer abroad to get their hands dirty. This will connect them to a certain region and influence their actions in the future. Learning about fair trade through chocolate, coffee and tea, is a good introduction, too. Donations for green especially to a specific place might make the readers care more about the place. Also, bloggers should gather readers around the world and encourage them to communicate on their blogs. The readers can learn about different opinions, including non-American voices.

Do you have any ideas? I’d love to share your strategy and feedback.

By Sachiko Miyakawa

Eating and consuming locally has significant impact on reducing consumption of fossil fuel and pollution. I love local organic food. They are fresh and healthy!

Now, I became a little skeptical about localism, such as buying local products and avoiding flight or driving. Here’s Bill McKibben’s comment, which I consider fanatic. His solution to the climate crisis:

“Either we build real community, of the kind that lets us embrace mass transit and local food and co-housing and you name it, or we will go down clinging to the wreckage of our privatized society. Which leaves us with the one piece of undeniably good news: we were built for community. Everything we know about human beings, from the state of our immune systems to the state of our psyches, testifies to our desire for real connection of just the kind that an advanced consumer society makes so difficult.”

Actually, his comment is nothing so new. Advocating pure localism will eventually reach to his idea of the “real community.” My concern is what if the whole community, country or even world turn into a totally self-sufficient life? Basically, you would only consume what your community produces. In that case, I’d move to the West coast. I like seafood, but I’d have to ask my Kansas friend to smuggle beef. I’m not sure if I can ever stay awake without coffee.

“One Week’s Worth of Food Around Our Planet” says:

“Here’s something that I came across which I thought was very poignant. One week’s worth of food from around the world. The pictures say it all.”

What did you interpret from the pictures? First, I didn’t feel either “poignant” nor guilty. Instead, I appreciated what I have. Second, the pictures reflect their own culture and make me feel like trying all those different food. (I like exotic food.) Third, I was wondering which one is the most idealistic diet for the environment.

I realize how fortunate I am. It might be my Japanese arrogance, but people in Chad are missing out a lot of good food. Trade makes us possible to access those food. How can I help the country develop strong economy, produce goods, export and be successful in the global market? Although shipping is bad for the environment, they should try the world’s different ingredients and food, which enriches our lives.

Photo Credit: Grunabi

Sacrifice is not my kind of environmentalism. We have to find a balance between our consumers’ life and the environment. Consuming locally is an important idea, but it also comes down to the balance.

P.S-

The New York Times discusses pros and cons of local food in terms of environmentalism. Eating locally can reducing consumption of fossil fuel. But we cannot measure carbon footprint only by food miles alone, considering:

“factor inputs and externalities” - like water use, harvesting techniques, fertilizer outlays, renewable energy applications, means of transportation (and the kind of fuel used), the amount of carbon dioxide absorbed during photosynthesis, disposal of packaging, storage procedures and dozens of other cultivation inputs.

Sachiko Miyakawa

Sunday morning is depressing. Beer cans, whisky bottles and plastic cups on streets, front yards and in a dumpster. This is a college town. I can’t stop thinking how much waste has been thrown in one day without being recycled.

My proposal for Lawrence business - Why don’t we green student apartments? Solar power, storm-water system, composite toilets, we can be as much as creative. But I think most practical and user-friendly idea is to provide a recycling service to large apartment complexes, such as the Reserve, Legends Place and Hawks Pointe. Just like the campus recycling, place recycle bins next to regular dumpsters.

Benefits of this proposal- We don’t have to drive for recycling. It will raise the residents’ awareness and make environmentalism more mainstream. The service will expand business opportunities in Lawrence.

The most single problem is the cost. At what cost, can the apartment complexes offer this kind of service? Currently, Sunflower Curbside Recycling picks up residential recycling with $16/month for a weekly service and $10/month for a biweekly service.

The Lawrence Journal World recently reported the future possibility of municipal curbside recycling in Lawrence. The curbside recycling has been a top priority of the city’s Sustainability Advisory Board. According to the article’s estimate, such a municipal service will require $5.6 million to start and $2 million a year to keep it running. This will add $12 to each residential utility bill for once-a-week curbside collection.

Based on those numbers, let’s assume the recycling service would cost between $12 and $16, which will be included to rent. Do you think the residents of the apartments are willing to pay this price? Twelve dollars per month sounds expensive to me, but if you think they will split the cost with their roommates, it’s not that much.

As the city envisions, ideally the recycling service will be available to all Lawrence residents. But it will take time. Plus, I think this is particularly important to be initiated at larger apartment complexes first. It’ll be more cost-efficient and its influence will be huge in terms of changing the residents’ and students’ behavior and the amount of materials recycled.

I’ll end my proposal with the quote of Celeste Hoins, administrative manager of the Environmental Stewardship Program at KU, who talked to me about the KU recycling service last semester.

“The visibility of our containers encouraged recycling. It’s a habit. Once you start recycling, then you feel weird throwing a plastic bottle in a trash.” (The University Daily Kansan, “New Service Recycles Campus Furniture“)

By Sachiko Miyakawa

Photo credit: Hastings Borough Council

Last weekend, I went to Yokohama Sushi, recently opened on New Hampshire street. Munching a big piece of tuna sushi, I appreciated my privilege of being able to eat raw fish in Kansas without worrying about food poisoning. Well, not really. It might have been fresh. But I had other things to worry about.

The New York Times recently reported that so much mercury was found in tuna sushi from 20 Manhattan stores and restaurants that at most of them, “a regular diet of six pieces a week would exceed the levels considered acceptable by the Environmental Protection Agency.” The article says that the research was done in New York City, the similar results, high level of mercury in fresh tuna, would be found everywhere. This mercury is believed to be due to an industrial pollutant.

Credibility of the New York Times article is disputable. Some Japanese media dismissed it as incomplete and biased information. Reuters put an article “New York Times should Retract Error-Filled Mercury Story” on its Web site. However, the story about tainted tuna is rather a symbolical message to me.

The Minamata disease is one of the biggest environmental pollution occurred during the economic boom in Japan, from the late 1950s to 1970s. Answers.com defines the disease as a “degenerative neurological disorder caused by poisoning with a mercury compound found in seafood obtained from waters contaminated with mercury-containing industrial waste.” The disease was caused by industrial wastewater, containing methyl mercury. The patients of the disease consumed a lot of fish contaminated by the water. Thousands of Japanese have still suffered from the disease. According to the Guardian, 2,264 people were certified as the victims of the disease by the government, of 1,435 of whom already died, and another 20,000 people are likely to be certified in Japan.

The case of the Minamata disease taught us we cannot just emphasize the economic growth. Otherwise, our health and life will be threaten. Mercury pollution is an ongoing problem around the world. The Washington Post reported a study last week that pollutant substances are raining down on national parks across the West and Alaska. Mercury levels at eight parks would threat fish-eating wildlife. The article also says, “Much of the contamination is thought to have come from overseas _ traveling global air currents from Europe and Asia.”

If we don’t take of the environment, it won’t take care of us either.

To me, eating the tuna sushi is more than appreciating the taste of home.

Photo credit: Biggest Menu

By Sachiko Miyakawa

Every time I go to my grandmother’s, I’m surprised at her collection of “trash.” She keeps piles of cookie boxes, containers of yogurt, margarin and detergent, used-wrapping paper in a coset, hoping to reuse someday. She grew up during the Pacific War in Japan. She’s used to a frugal life and she cannot throw things away so easily. She says, “Mottainai” and put everything in the closet.

Recently I’m learning a lot from my grandmother and the Japanese word “mottainai.” The literal translation of “mottainai” is “wasteful.” But the word also implies that things can be still useful. For example, I felt “mottainai” to throw away clothes I don’t like, so I gave them to my sister. This is a convenient word, which English doesn’t have. The Japanese often use it with remorse or guilt about what they are doing. I think this word can encourage people to conserve resources. The word impressed an Kenyan environmentalist and civil activist, Wangari Maathai, who won the Nobel Peace Prize. She started the Mottainai Campaign to spread the concept of the word in Africa, Asia, Europe and the U.S. and encourage environmental conversations and sustainable developments.

Even though I recycle, I feel that’s not enough looking at my daily trash. I’m not as hard-core as my grandmother, but try to make use of waste before I throw away. I bring reusable bags for grocery shopping and use the backside of printed papers to outline an essay and practice Arabic spellings. If my sneakers are worn out, I keep them for a rainy day. I cut my old shirts into pieces and use them to clean the bathroom or polish my leather shoes. I keep pasta-sauce bins to preserve food instead of getting new containers. Also, it’s time to reassess our consumer life. Do I really want this? Can I substitute it with a thing I already have?

I’m looking for a more drastic way to reduce my trash, especially plastic materials that cannot be recycled. Any idea?

By Sachiko Miyakawa

This is my 24-hour of trash, including my roommate’s. This is a lot! But I’ll recycle some of it.

My roommate and I keep recycle material in a covert.

Eating is one of my important part in my life. Sunday breakfast is the ideal start of the day. Friday dinner with my friends relieves all my stress. However busy I am, I never eat fast food nor frozen dinner. As professed gourmet, how can I be indifferent about “Power Steer,” the New York Times article about feedlot beef. In the article, Michael Pollan says eating beef every day is not a good idea for our health and the environment because of “the invisible costs: of antibiotic resistance, environmental degradation, heart disease, E. coli poisoning, corn subsidies, imported oil.” For example, compared to grass-fed beef, cornfed beef is less healthy because contains more saturated fat. Pollan also tells us the estimation that raising a 1250 pound cattle consumes 284 gallons of oil in his life time and 25 pounds of corn a day. You cannot forget about the consumption and pollution of assembly-line meat factories, including energy, water, greenhouse gases. (Mark Bittman, the New York Times)

I’m not only a gourmet. How can I be healthy and earth-friendly? Pollan suggests buying grass-fed beef. Another choice, being an occasional vegetarian? Don’t worry. You can still do that without abstinence. I introduce my favorite tofu dish.

Pick your favorite vegetables. I like carrots, broccoli, bok choy, coriander and squash. Cut a pack of firm tofu, vegetables and cloves of garlic into pieces. Stir vegetables and garlic with vegetable or sesame oil on a pan for five to 10 minutes. Add tofu, pepper and sauce, a combination of soy sauce, oyster sauce, hoisin sauce and hot chili sauce. I usually don’t measure ingredients. Taste food while you cook. You can add sugar or different sauce. Be creative!

Picture by Sachiko Miyakawa

These are sample vegetables and sources.

Food will be best served with rice. You can use a rice cocker or pot, of course! Here’s the link to “How to Cook Rice” from About.com.

All ingredients are available in Lawrence. Have fun! Want to be a more green gourmet? Check out the Lawrence Sustainability Network’s “Local eating for global warming”!

By Sachiko Miyakawa

I’m a 21-year-old journalism student with reporting emphasis. This is my third year at KU and living in the U.S. I spent most of my life in Tokyo. Many people associate Tokyo with skyscrapers, overpopulation and Lost in Translation. But it’s a beautiful city, too, which has many parks, shrines and temples. Especially cherry blossoms in spring are very pretty!

I have also lived in Shanghai, China for three years because of my father’s job. It was an eye-opening experience in my life. At first, I found rejection to the different culture and shut myself in a small Japanese community. After a year or two, I realized I was missing out something important and decided to transfer to Chinese school. (technically international school but everybody spoke Chinese there) My Chinese level was like a five-year-old kid. I had a hard time communicating with people and lost 20 pounds from stress. Eventually I learned to speak some Chinese, got lifelong friends and learned to assimilate myself into a different environment.

Why I’m studying in an American college? Usually I just answer to study English or journalism. Well, there’s more than that. I wanted to see lives, values and decisions of ordinal Americans. When I was in Japan, I saw the U.S. through politics, economy and popular cultures. I had a mixed feeling toward America. I admired American pop culture and wealth. At the same time, I felt frustration and even anger at how America tried to reign over the world economy and politics, demonstrate its own justice and start war. My stereotypes about Americans were patriotic, aggressive, self-assertive, arrogant and ignorant. America’s influence over the world is huge after all. I wanted to see the country from inside. Now, I learned America, which I saw in the media, is not everything. I’ve met great people and learned values and wisdom which Japan could learn. From my experience of living in the three countries, I found some universal values. Things like meeting all of you who’re enthusiastic about the environment keep me update my view of America.

I’m interested in the environment partly from social-justice. But more than anything, it’s exciting. I feel thrilled at new technology, inventions and products that satisfy both environmentalists and businesses. If I were good at science, I’d be an architect and design green buildings.

I’m so happy to have chosen a journalism major. I still struggle with writing in English and meeting at deadlines. But I love to learn about new things, inform people and fill gaps between different cultures and values. Hopefully, I’ll be a foreign correspondent and get to travel around the world. 

Sachiko Miyakawa