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

Sazerac: An Excerpt from Libation: A Bitter Alchemy

The following is an excerpt from Libation: A Bitter Alchemy by Deirdre Heekin. It has been adapted for the Web.

recipe for Sazerac

The key to a true Sazerac is in the provenance of the ingredients: the rye, the anise, and the bitters. While many substitutes are available, an authentic drink is made with Old Overholt rye whiskey distilled in Clermont, Kentucky; Herbsaint anise liqueur; and Peychaud’s bitters, the last two ingredients hailing from New Orleans. This recipe is adapted from the dry and spicy version prepared for us at Arnaud’s in the Crescent City.

* 1 teaspoon simple syrup
* 2 ounces Old Overholt rye whiskey
* 3–4 dashes Peychaud’s bitters
* 1/4 teaspoon Herbsaint anise liqueur
* Strip of lemon peel

Pack an old-fashioned glass with ice, or chill it in the freezer. In a cocktail shaker, add the simple syrup, whiskey, and bitters. Put a few ice cubes in the shaker, and stir to chill. Discard the ice from the first glass, or take it out of the freezer, and coat the entire inside of this glass with the Herbsaint by rolling the liquid around in the glass. Discard the excess.

Strain the whiskey concoction into the Herbsaint-coated glass. Twist the lemon peel over the drink so it catches the citrus oils, then rub the peel around the rim of the glass. Some purists advise you to refrain from dropping the peel in the glass. Others say to add it at the end. I like the way they serve it at Arnaud’s, with the peel.

variation
(adapted from Gourmet’s Guide to New Orleans circa 1960)

In a cocktail tumbler or old-fashioned glass, moisten one or two lumps of sugar according to taste and crush with a wooden pestle. Add a dash of Angostura bitters and two dashes of Peychaud’s bitter and a jigger and a half of rye whiskey. Add two or three lumps of ice and stir with a spoon until chilled. In another tumbler that has been chilled with ice, put one dash of absinthe, twirl the glass, and throw out the excess absinthe.

This will give a bouquet to the drink without actually flavoring it. Pour into this glass the mixed drink. Squeeze in a bit of lemon peel about the size of a nickel and put it in the drink, then rub the edge of the glass with a bit of lemon peel and serve. Do not shake or serve any ice in the drink.

Origin Story

My personal New Orleans has for a long time been one of mythology and imagination. My family once lived in New Orleans, and the childhood stories told to me over dishes of red beans and rice, one of my mother’s better recipes, or the King Cakes sent by an old neighbor at Mardi Gras, provided mystery and atmosphere to what I thought at that time was a fairly mundane, quotidian existence. There were foreign spices and Voodoo spells, Catholic mysticism and masked balls, storybook witches and minor tragedies, happiness and brightly colored beads. There were fancy dresses with white gloves and exotic flowers.

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Katrina's Damage Due to Destruction of Wetlands?

Sometimes you’re doing some online research and you come across something that makes you shake your head in wonder. Today, I found this in a search for something else- a headline from the June 12, 1910 issue of the New York Times.

Considering what we now know about the protective effect of wetlands from storm surges,
it is just tragic that this destruction of wetlands was once seen as “progress.” According to NOAA :

Low lying coastal areas in and around the Gulf Coast have always been susceptible to storm surge from hurricanes, but the situation has worsened over time as protective coastal wetlands have disappeared due to land subsidence and human intervention.

While our culture is finally coming around and realizing how valuable wetlands are for coastal protection, as wildlife nurseries, and as natural water filtration systems, there are plenty of companies still fighting to remove the few we have left. A quick Google News search found conflicts in Plympton, Mass., and San Francisco, CA., and a million-dollar amelioration plan for a development that was built on a floodplain in Port Huron, MI.

More than half of wetlands have been eliminated since Europeans colonized the United States, according to the Audubon Society. 90% of California’s wetlands have been drained, while about half of Florida’s (a state that is naturally about 30% wetland) have been. This is one of those issues that often comes down to local land-use planning, so one way to make a big difference with this problem is to get involved in your community planning board.

7 Sexiest Green Stars of 2007

The results are in!
Well, not really. This list is based on my humble blogger opinion. Use the comment section to claim which celebs float your green boat. With enough feedback, I hope to compile a list based on “popular,” not personal, opinion.

Sheryl Crow
2007 was a great year for Sheryl Crow. In addition to advocating “one square per restroom visit,” the singer raised mainstream green awareness by touring the country in a biodiesel-powered bus. With Laurie David at her side, Crow threw the smack down on Karl Rove. After the former senior White House advisor scoffed at global warming evidence, Sheryl got feisty. “You work for us,” the singer said famously. Now, flip me a burger . . . b*tch!

Brad Pitt
Obviously! No “sexy list” is complete without this corn-fed, Oklahoma-born, man-boy from Missouri. Rugged good looks and a hard body (PEOPLE named him Sexiest Man Alive . . . twice) are fascinating, but thanks to the stalkerazzi, we’re also privy to this benevolent gentleman’s every good deed. Following a laundry list, Pitt finished off 2007 with a massive green building project in Katrina-devastated New Orleans. Pitting (ahem, excuse me) a team of world-renowned green architects for projects, Brad is determined to start an unprecedented green building trend. Adopt a green house (not one of his children) at MakeitRight9.org.

Sienna Miller
It’s hard to keep track of this British beauty’s breakups, make-ups . . . and then again breakups; yet, Sienna’s eco-record is as clear as the see-through bra she sports in Hippie Hippie Shake. An ambassador for UK-based climate-change campaign, Global Cool, Miller recently launched the carbon-neutral clothing line Twenty8Twelve. In October 2007, Sienna received an EMA Futures Award—an honor given to those who use their talent and celebrity to draw attention to the problem of global warming. Yay! Now we can raise our beers to eco-activism and sexy starlets . . . it’s Miller time!

Adrian Grenier
Unlike the character he plays on TV, Entourage star Adrian Grenier cares about the environment—no he doesn’t drive a bright yellow Hummer in “real life!” Grenier prefers driving a Prius, living in a fully “green” house (solar roof, reclaimed floors, recycled blue-jean insulation, blah, blah, blah), and offsetting. In 2007, Grenier drew massive attention to Charity Water, a non-profit initiative that sets up drinking water and sanitation infrastructures in the world’s most impoverished communities.

Word in the ‘Hood says Grenier is “fully committed to educating any lady who dares walk into his green life.” According to environmental gossip site Ecorazzi.com, Grenier said, “if a woman isn’t environmentally conscious, she will be after going out with me.”

Too bad, I’m already environmentally conscious . . .

Al Gore
I had to! This greenie may lack chiseled abs and cheekbones. Nonetheless, in 2007 Gore turned us on with unbridled activism and inspirational gusto. You go Gore!

Hayden Panettiere
Emerging from the cesspool of Disney celebs comes Hayden Panettiere. Though best known for her kiddy-porn appeal and role on NBC’s Heroes, Panettiere is raising praise and eyebrows as a young advocate.

This past October, Panettiere thoroughly pissed off Japanese fishermen during their annual dolphin hunt in Taiji, Wakayama. The young star paddled a surfboard out to a cull of captured dolphins. Though blocked from freeing the enmeshed porpoises, Panettiere’s kafuffle drew great attention to animal conservation and her bubble-butt.

Dolphin saving aside, Panettiere reportedly continues to drive a pimped out Porsche SUV . . . ugh, teenagers!

Leonardo Dicaprio
Hardly jaded by my accolades, international stardom, Oscar-nominations and embarrassingly attractive girlfriends, Leonardo DiCaprio has become one of today’s most prominent environmental voices—many say he is following in Al’s footsteps. In 2007 he produced and narrated the 11th Hour, said to be an unofficial sequel to An Inconvenient Truth. Leo’s film stars my favorite environmentalist of all—and someone who should be on this list: David Suzuki.

For more from Olivia Zaleski check in with her on The Huffington Post.

Deep Economy: Q&A with Bill McKibben

When Bill McKibben wrote The End of Nature in 1989, it was the first popular press book to address global warming in a meaningful way. Since then, McKibben has not only carved out a career as an environmental journalist; he has become one of the most steadfast and trustworthy voices in the arena.

McKibben is currently at work promoting Step It Up 2007—a decentralized protest calling for Congress to introduce measures to cut carbon emissions 80% by 2050—which will take place on April 14 in over 800 locations across the country.

In his latest book, Deep Economy (Henry Holt, 2007), McKibben submits that we’re past the point of changing our light bulbs and hoping for the best. Instead, it’s time to challenge the prevailing economic ideology of “More is Better,” with local yet systemic alternatives.

McKibben recently took some time from his work to discuss Deep Economy with Eco-Chick.

Eco-Chick: How does the idea of deep economy differ from the idea of local economy?

McKibben: Local economies are the main prescription, I think, for dealing with the deep problems of our current system—that it’s driving the Earth off an ecological cliff, and that it isn’t making us as happy as it seems to. We’ve thought much too shallowly about what we want out of the economy: not simply more, but a satisfying and workable world.

Eco-Chick: In Deep Economy, you say that it’s time to move beyond “More is Better,” but qualify that by saying, “researchers report that money consistently buys happiness right up to about $10,000 per capita income, and that after that point the correlation disappears…” (41). Do you see environmentalism as something of a class privilege? If so, do you think that has been sufficiently recognized by the environmental movement?

McKibben: I think that not caring about the environment is a kind of class privilege. The very poorest people—in this country and around the planet—feel the effects of the damage more than the rest of us do. (Go to New Orleans to see what I mean, and after that Bangladesh.) The onus on cleaning up should fall most heavily on those of us who have made the most mess—in this case, by pouring CO2 into the atmosphere, carbon that is directly related to our consumption. And we shouldn’t point too many fingers at China for their carbon emissions, not while our per capita emissions are four times greater. Instead, we need to figure out how to re-engage with the rest of the world to help them develop on something other than our energy path.

Eco-Chick: Since the Democrats took control of the House and Senate last November, many Americans have expressed hope that Congress will finally address growing public concern about global warming. However, you note in Deep Economy that unless we also critically examine our marriage to economic growth—something the Democrats have failed to do—we cannot expect to arrive at meaningful solutions to climate change and other environmental crises. What, if anything, can we reasonably expect from the Democratic Party, both in Congress and in the upcoming Presidential election?

McKibben: I hope that the Democrats will set targets—dramatic and ambitious ones—somewhere near the scientific mandate. At stepitup07.org, we’ve been saying 80% cuts by 2050. If that happens, it will help set in motion the train of events that will, hopefully with enough speed, wean us away from a world of fossil-fueled hyper-growth and towards something more durable. Congress won’t vote against growth. They may vote for higher energy prices (under some guise like cap and trade), which will then help lead us in saner directions. But an awful lot of the work is going do have to be done on the local and state level.

Eco-Chick: As I read more about local economy and, specifically, local food production, it seems to me that the discussion might need to include a reconsideration of the traditional gender roles that Americans have challenged in recent decades. In other words, the move from processed food to fresh, locally grown food requires that there be someone cooking in the kitchen. Do you think that this is part of the dialogue or is it a non-issue by this point?

McKibben: What can I say? At our house, I do the cooking. I guess I don’t think that cooking is such a bad thing—better for your body, for the planet, and probably for your mood than subcontracting it to some fast food kitchen. The fact that we’ve largely forgotten how to cook is a problem, and if we relearn, I sure hope it won’t be attached to gender as it has been in our past.

Eco-Chick: Likewise, does the idea of deep economy suggest that we might need to reconsider the roles that children and grandparents can play in a family and a community?

McKibben: Yep. Children and grandparents are now viewed as slightly problematic since they’re not contributing to economic growth. But any sensible community anywhere in the world has knit [children] into the fabric of real life—not by “child labor,” but by allowing ways that they can help. And it’s the same with grandparents.

Eco-Chick: Your research for Deep Economy took you to India, China, and Cuba, as well as cities and towns across the U.S. To me, one of the elephants in the room is that many of the most committed, knowledgeable and active environmentalists (those who would be most open to the idea of deep economy) are also people who love to travel, partly because they appreciate seeing alternatives to their own ways of thinking and living. Is there a way to reconcile travel and deep economy? Is it enough to buy a hybrid and carbon credits? Or should we heed poet Gary Snyder’s advice and, “Find your place on the planet, dig in, and take responsibility from there”?

McKibben: I think that Snyder is basically right. One of the hypocrisies of my life is that I spend a great deal of time traveling to tell people to use less carbon. I hope I end up a few gallons to the good. Of course, I buy carbon offsets, but that’s fairly token. My real joy is to stay and home and my favorite vacation of recent years is described in a book called Wandering Home, about a three-week backpack trip across my home county.

Eco-Chick: Deep Economy is dedicated to Wendell Berry. What influence has he had on your work?

McKibben: I read him first at an impressionable age, and he shocked me out of believing that the conventional wisdoms of the world were, in fact, so obvious. As I told him recently when we shared a stage, he completely changed the course of my life, and for that I’m about 85 percent grateful.

Eco-Chick: It’s been 18 years since you published The End of Nature, the first popular press book to address global warming (as far as I know). What has changed—in terms of scientific knowledge, public and government action, and your own concerns about the issue—since then? Are you satisfied with how we are responding?

McKibben: The science has gotten steadily grimmer. We didn’t understand how finely poised the Earth’s physical systems were, so we’re seeing huge responses to warming (such as Arctic melt) sooner than we would have expected. The political response—especially in this country—has been slower than I would have thought. The last six years have been totally and completely wasted, and they were important years. At the moment, though, I’m feeling a little optimistic. The response to stepitup07.org has been so much larger than I could ever have guessed and I think that we’re finally nearing a tipping point.

Oscars Still Light Green

Well, the Oscars are over, and while there’s just no way that a party this big can be environmentally-friendly, efforts were made to make this Oscar greener than ever (though the website doesn’t detail exactly how impacts were reduced), it says:

This year, the Academy, the Oscar telecast producer Laura Ziskin and the entire production team endeavored to select supplies and services with a sensitivity toward reducing the threats we face from global warming, species extinction, deforestation, toxic waste, and hazardous chemicals in our water and food.

Independently, some stars did try to reduce their impact where they could, most notably by getting to the big event in a hybrid or other kind of alternative transportation (I’d love to see biodiesel shuttle buses in the future!), in a campaign by Global Green called Red Carpet/Green Cars.

And of course, Al Gore’s speech got a lot of claps and supportive hollers at the party I went to last night. Serious….and funny!

From this Reuters article, following is a list of some of the leading green celebrity players (and I have to mention, where are the women? This list is really dominated by the guys….):

- ROBERT REDFORD: 30 years on board of Natural Resources Defense Council,
founder of Sundance Preserve, winner of 1993 Earth Day award, 1987 United
Nations Global 500 award. In April 2007, launches weekly three-hour slot
called “The Green,” dedicated entirely to the environment, on his Sundance
TV channel.

- LEONARDO DICAPRIO: started the Leonardo DiCaprio Foundation in 1998 to
promote environmental issues, drives a hybrid car, currently writing and
producing a feature length documentary on global warming called “11th Hour.”

- BRAD PITT: co-creator of design competition to build 20 affordable,
reduced energy, environmentally friendly homes in New Orleans.

- STING: founder in 1989 of Rainforest Foundation to protect rain forests
and their indigenous peoples.

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