Made in Minnesota

Used Wine Bottle Candle

Gordon and I took a Made in Minnesota tour through community education today.  I hadn't thought of it as a carbon use related issue when I signed up, it just sounded interesting.  But as I thought about it, carbon footprint is a big component.   As we think about global warming and the reduction of fossil fuels, shopping and manufacturing locally is very important both because of sustainability of the local economy and a reduction in the miles driven for your merchandize.  In fact, many say that the economy is currently at great risk and we should be doing all that we can to build local economies that can survive a shake up in the global economic system.

We visited four Minnesota manufacturing firms today and it is fun to think about the things that are made here, so I've Google it, and here is a list of other companies that create their products right here at home in Minnesota and here is the link: Made in Minnesota. According to this list from Manta, there are 1044 manufacturing firms in Minnesota.  It's not a very helpful list, but interesting.  Not all are small firms, of course.  Here's a list from the Star Tribune of the 100 top publicly held Minnesota firms, of which 3M is the largest manufacturer.

The companies we visited were small.  The first, the Acadian Candle Company, won the Made in Minnesota title on all fronts since not only are the candles made right there at their shop, but all of the ingredients are also from Minnesota.  When we first walked into the storehouse, we walked past a couple of boxes full of empty wine bottles and I thought -  Wow, someone had a big party here.  But as it turned out, their #1 best selling candle last year was a used wine bottle candle complete with the original label.  It actually did make a neat candle.  The wine bottles are cut at a little above the label area and then filled with a soy wax and light fragrance.  So there - using recycled goods too.  I thought it was fun to learn that they get their used bottles from friends who drop them off at the back porch as well as from a few restaurant sources.

Here's another earth friendly option - on their blog they mention that you can buy their used candle molds and supplies to do your own candle making at home.  Though I expect it is more energy efficient to buy a candle they've made since they are making so many at one time.

We also visited Abdallah Candies where I discovered it really takes a long time to make a chocolate covered cherry, J.W. Hulme Co., a manufacturer of hand made leather bags, where I learned that a company that makes $500 purses and $1000 duffel bags can actually be flourishing! and Podium Wear, where I learned that if you have 5 or more people who want to wear the same design you can have your own biking, skiing, or running gear designed and hand made for you in those fabulous colorful outfits you see on the athletes at the Olympics- for a reasonable price (though not what you'd get if it were made in China.)

Here's another way we almost reduced our carbon footprint today.  We took our tour on a big bus.  Buses are the most economical form of mass transportation because they  can pack so many people into one conveyance.  Unfortunately, we learned that the driver of this particular bus lives in Red Wing, drove to Zumbrota to pick up the bus, drove to St. Paul to tour us around all day and they had to return the bus to Zumbrota and then drive home to Red Wing.  I'm not sure that was entirely energy efficient.  So, once again, reducing our carbon footprint is just not that simple.

Chicken and Climate Change

Another of the many quandaries on my climate change challenge - to eat or not to eat chicken.  Here is the story:

I stopped at Speedi Market to buy a chicken yesterday and not only was it encased in plastic, but then the butcher enclosed it in a second plastic bag.  I said "You don't need to do that," and he gave me a look - kind of a polite "what are you thinking of lady" look.  I was upset about adding even more plastic to my shopping, but what I didn't realize was that I has buying a bio hazard.

When I got home, sitting on the table was a Consumer Reports magazine with the cover story "Is Your Chicken Safe to Eat?"  Well, evidently not. In the Consumer Reports testing of 252 samples from conventionally produced chickens and 64 from brands that use no antibiotics in raising chickens, more than half of the chicken was tainted with fecal contaminants and about half of the samples tested positive for at least one multi drug resistant bacteria.  Oh dear!  Here's the link: The High Cost of Cheap Chicken

But from a climate change position, chicken is the most environmentally friendly of the meats.  See this article on the Carbon Footprint of  Chicken for details.  Not eating meat and milk products at all is best. If everyone in the U.S. gave up eating meat for only one day a week, it would be the equivalent of not driving 91 billion miles or taking 7.6 million cars off the road.  What a simple way to have a tremendous impact on climate change.  Why not try it.  I certainly will.  Actually I've been trying to give up meat entirely, but that has not happened yet.  But one or two days a week - we can handle that.

Try giving up meat and milk products for at least one day a week and when you do eat meat - eat chicken (preferably raised without antibiotics), and follow these safety precautions:

1.  Don't wash it before preparing it - bad stuff flies around the kitchen

2.  Cook to 165 degrees F. - use a meat thermometer

3.  Wash your hands after touching raw poultry

4.  Use a cutting board reserved for raw meat

5.  Buy chicken last at the store

And if you would like your chicken to be safer in the future, read the Consumer Reports article for some suggestions on actions you can take.

No More Plastic Bags

This is not a eureka moment.  We all know about those nice cloth bags that are to be used when shopping so that we don't use plastic bags.  But if you are like me, it's hard to get into the habit.  We have accumulated quite a supply of those nice cloth bags and they are all hanging on a post in the basement where, occasionally, I remember to grab one when I walk to Speedi Market to do the shopping.

No More!  Today those bags have been brought upstairs and divided into piles.  Several for each automobile in the family and a few for those walks to Speedi Market.  So now when we go to Costco, or Rainbow or Cub or the mall!, we should have our cloth bags handy.

We also have a large supply of plastic bags, because we don't want to throw them away, you know, so I've put several in each cloth bag to use for vegies and such.

The reason we want to do this:   Over 12 million barrels of oil are used each year to manufacture plastic bags.  Huge islands of bags are clogging our ocean.  Fish are somehow eating the remnants of bags and filling their systems with all sorts of awful chemicals we end up eating as well.  Yuck!

Here's a link:
http://www.onebagatatime.com/planet/environmental-impact/climate-change/

Here's a photo:

Now I need to remember to open the trunk and grab the bags when I go into the store - and to put them back into the car after a successful shopping outing has been unloaded in the kitchen.  Wish me luck.