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A Food And Fashion Overhaul

With the Green Challenge at its halfway point, Julia looks at bad fabrics and from-far-away fruits.

Monday Jan 29, 2007.     By Julia Steinberger

Lifestyle Feed

Now in its fourth week, my Green Challenge is at its halfway point. The last two weeks of my carbon diet addressed two issues extremely near and dear to my heart: food and fashion.

Greening your diet is not simply a means of Whole Foods versus Jewel. Though buying organic is a huge step toward an eco-friendly meal plan, the organic issue gets grayer as mainstream demand requires organic foods to be grown or imported en masse for merchants like Wal-Mart. The mass-production and shipping of food, even if it's pesticide- and chemical fertilizer-free, relies on fossil fuel, monoculture and tillage practices that just aren't as nature intended.

Chicago's farmer's market season ends in December. For locally grown foods year-round, community-supported agriculture programs are a great solution. Members get a box of seasonal produce delivered to central pick-up point each week/month/etc. Since I'm generally dicey about commitment, I chose Irv and Shelley's Fresh Picks, a local delivery service that lets you order what and when you want. For less than $40, I got baby salad greens, sprouts, dried cranberries, carrots, cabbage, a dozen farm-fresh eggs, a jar of homemade salsa and a box of all-natural ginger cookies. The cheery company sources most products from small farms in Illinois, Indiana, Wisconsin and Michigan; a few non-regionally-available products, like Washington apples, are labeled as such.

Fruit doesn't grow in the Midwest during the coldest months, so I compromised, filling my cart with fruit from this continent, like fresh citrus and crisp apples. I'd be lying if I said I'd never buy a tomato, banana or blackberry in winter, but keeping distance in mind helps keep my eco-impact in check. Plus, many dieticians suggest that eating regionally in-season foods helps ensure that you get what you need for the climate you're in.

To further boost my eco-karma, I stashed some canvas bags in the trunk of my car, and folded smallish ones into my backpack and purse. When I make unplanned stops at the grocery store, I didn't have to think twice about wasteful paper or plastic.

Next stop: my closet. Though clothing doesn't pack the personal-relevance punch of saving gas or eating healthy, what we choose to wear can be a powerful weapon in the fight for a sustainable future. Conventional cotton crops are a virtual black hole for chemical fertilizers and pesticides (not to mention an economic and environmental tragedy), and synthetic fabrics like nylon and polyester use large quantities of fossil fuels in their factory production. Organic cotton and linen are becoming much more common (even Wal-Mart recently committed to a large organic-cotton offering, including a line of baby clothes), and uber-sustainable bamboo and hemp designs are popping up in high-profile boutiques.

With fashion hubs like Jake and Anthropologie now stocking organic-fiber lines, earth-friendly clothing is no longer the shapeless, trend-oblivious granola garb it used to be. The bad news, however, is that a lot of the cool-looking stuff is both rarer and pricier than conventional. Though there are do-able options like the sleek, colorful long-sleeve tees at www.bamboosa.com for less than $30, with stylish organic jeans commanding designer prices $100 and up, it doesn't look like I can fully overhaul my wardrobe anytime soon.

But there are plenty of other ways to green your wardrobe: I gave my closet a much-needed purge and wound up with three bags of wearable clothing and shoes that I promptly donated. Donating unwanted clothing, swapping old duds with friends, buying vintage and refashioning old items are easy ways to divert fabric from the waste stream and keep consumer overload in check. And, outside of the retail world, smooth moves like using eco-friendly detergents, running the washer on cold, line-drying whenever possible and supporting eco-friendly dry cleaners like Wicker Park's Greener Cleaner will ease my eco-impact without crimping my style.

Making the change is easier than you think! Try:

The Omnivore's Dilemma, by Michael Pollan, is the most important book I can recommend for those who want to learn, in a refreshingly non-preachy way, about the environmental and health impacts of food. It's interesting and enjoyable, and you'll be informed enough to debate the issue with just about anyone when you're through. About $16.

Cooking busts stress, tastes better and also saves fuel costs, packaging wastes and chemical preservatives associated with processed foods. Simply in Season (about $14) offers handy lists of in-season foods (both veggie and meat) for each time of year, and tons of yummy recipes to make with them. My current winter favorite is the sweet-potato black bean burritos.

Cutting out meat, according to Slate, saves approximately 3,000 pounds of CO2 emissions per year (skipping beef alone saves 1,000). If you do eat meat, consider trading quantity for quality, and buying meat and poultry raised on small local farms, fed the food they were biologically suited to eat, and free of the daily antibiotics pumped into their unlucky industrial cousins.

Fabrics that can be grown organically, according to Slate, include cotton, hemp, bamboo, ramie, linen and silk. Other low-impact choices include organic wool, heavenly-soft alpaca, cashmere and lyocell, a textile made from wood pulp.

Purchasing an Energy Star washing machine saves an average of 257 pounds of CO2 emissions per person per year, according to Slate.

After four greener-than-average college years as a co-op dweller-turned-aspiring-permaculturist, Julia Steinberger finds it hard not to feel guilty about her one-bedroom apartment, daily commute and indulgence in the occasional dollar burger. She'd like to dream that she could live in a tent/treehouse/rabbit hole, but the truth is, she'd rather stay in the city while doing her best to leave a lighter footprint on the earth. You can contact her here.