Eco-Chick · The modern girl's guide to living green & fabulous.

Courtney Tenz is a green traveler and journalist whose work has appeared in German Life, Veg News, and E/The Environmental Magazine. She lives in Cologne, Germany.

http://futilediatribes.blogspot.com

This author has contributed 26 posts.

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Soy's Eco Creds

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01/30/09

Last month, when Starre asked us all for our New Year’s resolutions, I didn’t have to think twice about them because I’ve been thinking so much about these goals over the last year. But I just put all my eco goals for the year out there for the world to see without elucidating and that raised this question:

Why is soy considered “not necessarily doing better for the environment”? I thought that tofu was a good nonmeat protein alternative.

Here’s my attempt at answering that question, but bear with me: there’s a big debate about soy so there’s a lot of nonsense out there and I don’t want to rumor-monger. And along those lines, I won’t get into the health issue regarding soy (I know one dietitian who says it’s good for you and another who says only in moderation and though I trust both of them, the truth seems to be a few years away yet).

So the closest thing I have for an answer is to say, as I said in that previous New Year’s post, that I try to lead a one-earth life as it is so the things that I’m working on are pretty specific to me and what I think I can handle doing. I mean, it would be silly for me to say I’ll cut back on driving when the only time I get in a car is when I visit my ‘rents in the US which doesn’t happen all that many days in the year. And so, for me, the next step my vegan lifestyle has to take is less processed food and that means removing soy from my diet and eating more veggies and beans. Of course, eating tofu is not as much of an eco-sin as eating meat. As Starre said in her recent post to the new Pres:

Meat production is the most energy- and water-intensive food you can eat. The United Nations Food and Agriculture Department reports that 18% of greenhouse gases come from meat and dairy production. Go veg at least half-time Mr. President, and you will save your heart, your colon, and the planet.

Going local while veg is the next best thing you can do for you and the planet. Soy, however, doesn’t grow here in Germany and it’s not always easy in the US, either, to get locally-grown and processed tofu (especially that made from soy that hasn’t been genetically engineered, which is a huge enviro no-no in my book, and which accounts for 85% of US grown soy). In some of the countries that export soy to the US, it has become such a viable crop due to biofuels and its use as a cattlefeed that eco havoc is being wreaked in some places, and I don’t want to get behind that anymore by buying beans from Brazil. Or from anywhere else. So if I can swap a mushroom burger for a tofu burger, I will. At least, that’s what I’m resolving to do. But for everyone else, well, that’s up to you.

agriculture, Amazon, book, Brazil, car, driving, eating, Eco-Chick, Energy, epa, fall, Food, gas, Germany, Greensolutions, health, local, meat, New Year, New Year's, Obama, processed food, rum, solutions, soy, style, vegan, water

In Praise of Stay-at-Home Holidays

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12/22/08

Call me a Grinch but it’s been a few years since I’ve celebrated the holidays and I’m really enjoying my non-Christmas days. It wasn’t necessarily a well-thought-out decision on my part to stop taking part in the family festivities but rather a serious of things that’s led me to skip the tree and the presents and all the running around that had begun to feel a requisite part of Christmas celebrations. Still, I’m happy I did.

Because while the occasion is filed as a top German tradition -– replete with outdoor markets, fruitcakes, gluehwein and a month’s worth of minor celebrations — since moving here I’ve used the three-day vacation as just that: a break. A few years ago, that meant flying to Turkey, where the 25th was just another day. This year, with my health keeping me grounded, I’m using the country’s three federal holidays as a chance to catch up on all the luxuries I neglect while working 60 hour weeks… like sleeping late and taking long, hot baths. Oh, and I might bake a few vegan lebkuchen to indulge the sweet tooth.

It doesn’t sound like much, but it’s the little things in life. And it keeps my December stress-free … which means my January won’t be the month of depression, as it is for many. Of course, I’m missing out on all the presents. But who needs another ugly sweater anyway? I buy myself whatever I feel like I need whenever I feel like it. And I’d rather see my family when we can actually hang out together without worrying about who will do all the cooking or driving around the mall parking lot looking for a spot. Or driving through a snowstorm to see one of the endless numbers of aunts and uncles that I have scattered throughout the Midwest.

None of that really sounds like I’ve made the holiday more eco friendly. After all, I can’t exactly proclaim innovation when I’m simply doing nothing. But by not celebrating, I’m also not wasting: no cutdown tree, no fake snow sprinkles, no lights racking up my electricity bill, no crinkled up wrapping paper and silly looking bows. All of that seemed pointless to me a few years ago, anyway, when I spent Christmas day working at a homeless shelter. You forget, in all your decorating, just how little some others have. So instead of letting things go to waste each year, I remind myself that this nothing I do is sometimes better than something.

Photo credit: (c) Pesky Library, courtesy of flickr Creative Commons

Holidays

Eco Wandering through Germany

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08/29/08

Countrywide, Germany generates more than 7 percent of its electricity from the wind.

After three years of living in Germany, I’ve started to forget all the cool eco things that are happening here. Stuff like taking the train or bike everywhere and returning all the beer bottles for reuse has become so routine that I tend to forget other people in other places don’t do this every day. I guess you could say I’ve been living in a bit of a bubble lately.

Which is why I found this “Spontaneous eco-wander through Germany” by William Powers such a delightful read. It was a nice reminder that the panorama of wind turbines that I see from my balcony every day is something that people find interesting. And before I got too up-on-my-green-horse, Powers did an interesting job of reminding me just how far we have to go yet in Germany, the land of no-speed-limits and non-fuel-efficient Mercedes and VW and BMWs.

Even if you aren’t planning a trip over to this side of the sea, have a look at the article to see just how green life can be.

Germany, Recycling, wind power

UN Eco Conferences

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06/15/08

Pardon my absence the last few weeks, but this month has been an unbelievably busy one in the green arena here. Bonn, Germany’s former capital city and the current seat of many NGOs and UN divisions has seen back-to-back conferences and I’ve been inundated trying to keep up with the conference happenings.

First, we had the UN Conference on Biodiversity – something that seemed really exciting at the time, with delegates from nearly 200 countries gathering to decide on ways to conserve habitats, develop across-the-board rules on GMO food, and find ways to prevent the extinction of endangered species.
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biodiversity, conservation, Germany, kyoto protocol, preservation

BGreen: Finally, Germany Gets Eco Clothing

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05/23/08

One of the things that’s driven me crazy living in Germany is the lack of sustainable clothing. I don’t shop all that often, but when I need a new pair of shoes or a sweater to get through the cold winter, I feel like a traitor walking the shopping streets here, passing all the big-name stores that you can find in cities all over the world.

Though I’m lucky to live in a city with its own faction of designers (Cologne’s Chic Belgique), boutique shopping isn’t exactly eco friendly … local, yes, but the designers still have to import non-organic textiles from around the world. So I was happy last summer to finally stumble into a shop in Cologne that shared my ideals (as evidenced in their motto: fair. organic. charity).

BGreen carries all those brands you cross-pond Amis know well… Stewart & Brown, Loomstate, and the like. But they’ve also got supercute kids stuff from the Dutch brand imps&elfs and fairly made shoes from the French brand, Veja.

It’s also a small shop, as you can see below, but it’s a step in the right direction. As the owner Andrea Imgenberg told me, it’s a shame that Germany – with its enormous carbon-reduction goals and incredible research into renewable energy – doesn’t have more of this stuff. But the emphasis here is on technology, not textiles. Right now, anyway. I have a feeling, though, that all of that will be changing.

bgreen, Europe, Fashion, Germany