Green living today: food safety, sustainable college campuses and buying local

Green and sustainable living articles and features in the news

Egg recall drives worried customers to farmers' markets (MSNBC): "People are realizing that it’s not the safest decision to buy eggs shipped from huge factory farms in the Midwest, where traceability and accountability is limited.  At the farmers’ market, you can shake the hand of the farmer who collected your egg that morning and I think that is much more reassuring."

Tracing your food from farm to fork (Food Safety News): "Every individual involved in the food channel--retailers, suppliers, wholesalers, growers, distributors, consumers, and more can use ScoringAg information. "It actually creates a link between [people]...everyone along the way can know that they can see the attributes, they can see the variety, they can see when it was planted, or who it was certified by."

Restoration of a Central Quadrangle Combines Beauty with Sustainability (University at Buffalo News Center): "We're adding biodiversity, treating storm water in a way that is responsible, and reducing the need for salt," says Chris Mendel, a UB environmental studies alum and the Andropogon landscape architect who managed the firm's work on Harriman. "Salt is incredibly environmentally destructive. It's horrible for our fresh water supply, for Lake Erie and Lake Ontario. It's horrible for the Finger Lakes. This project is a positive step toward addressing that problem."

Wake Forest’s New South Residence Hall Models Sustainability (Newswise): "This is going to help students understand what it means to live in a sustainable environment,” said Donna McGalliard, dean of residence life and housing. “Sustainability is not just a fad or passing trend. We want to be good stewards and teach students to be good stewards of the environment.”  The building reflects the university’s commitment to sustainability across campus."

Green buildings won't save the planet (CNN): ""Green" buildings alone are not enough to divert our perilous course. A broader vision of sustainability is imperative to meet America's challenge.  We must decide if we are willing to change our behavior: to migrate toward more populated, more diverse, more sustainable cities. Only by changing behavior -- particularly suburban sprawl and its accompanying carbon intensive lifestyle -- can the United States reach ecological balance.

Green shopper: why buying local is worth it (Babble): "What I adore about shopping at my local farmers’ market is that the food is local. It’s from my part of the world, it’s never been on an airplane, it doesn’t need weeks in a refrigerated pantry, and it isn’t always so darned perfect to look at. This feels the way food is supposed to feel."

Sustainable living? Questioning the locavore movement (Justmeans): "Sometimes the local economy doesn't provide the best--- or enough of the best--- of every food. If you think local is necessarily delicious, think carefully about how much you are able to spend to afford food that is both local and delicious. And then consider whether the bounty of your local land can produce enough food that your neighbors scraping by can afford to eat the quality that you've grown to expect from your local farmer's market."

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