Living Like Ed
Page 19
Eat Well, Live Well
It’s so obvious that you’re going to feel better eating the freshest, most healthfully prepared organic food that’s available to you. And there’s nothing better than that sense of satisfaction that comes from eating food you’ve grown yourself.
It also feels wonderful to get to know your local farmers—whether at a farm stand or at a farmers’ market—and to support their organic practices and support their local businesses.
You can do so much good for yourself and your community in that way. And you can do so much good for the world as a whole by growing trees and other plants, by cutting down on the distance food has to travel to your table, and by reducing the use of chemical poisons.
When you do buy things from a greater distance—especially from an underdeveloped country—you can choose to buy things that are fair trade.
You can also make much the same choices when it comes to clothing and hair- and skin-care products. You can choose to buy organic and buy local and buy fair trade. And you can choose to stay away from harmful chemicals and to be kind to your body and the environment.
The average distance that food travels from field—or ocean or orchard—to table is about 1,300 miles. That’s the average distance.
According to the EPA, gasoline-powered lawn and garden equipment, on average, produces 5 percent of the ozone-forming VOCs in areas with smog problems.
The oxides of nitrogen and sulfur dioxide released by lawn equipment react with water in the atmosphere to form acid rain.
It’s much easier—and much more environmentally friendly—to choose plants that are native to your area or that are native to an area like it.
Choosing the right plants for your garden is good for your pocketbook, too; by planting varieties that don’t need a lot of watering, you will be keeping your monthly water bill lower.
If you have 600 square feet of rooftop, nearly 375 gallons of rainwater would hit your roof for each inch of rainfall, enough to fill close to seven 55-gallon rain barrels.
There are an estimated eighteen thousand community gardens throughout the United States and Canada.
Healthy trees—and other plants—absorb carbon dioxide and release oxygen, so they’re literally cleaning the air we breathe. They also filter water, prevent soil erosion, help retain groundwater, and provide homes for wildlife.
A typical lawn mower can be as loud as 95 to 100 decibels, and a gas-powered leaf blower can register 95 to 105 decibels. When it comes to composting, brown materials are high in carbon, while green materials are high in nitrogen. For the best compost, maintain a ratio of 50/50 brown to green material. In 1980,
the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) defined organic farming as a system that excludes the use of synthetic fertilizers, pesticides, and growth regulators.
Organic agriculture is better for the soil and the ecosystem in which the crops and the livestock are raised.
The market for organic products worldwide is now valued at $28 billion.
There are more than 4,300 farmers’ markets held regularly in cities all across the United States.
It’s more land efficient, water efficient, and energy efficient to grow plant-based materials than to raise animals for meat; it simply takes a lot more land and water and energy to raise a pound of beef than it does to grow a pound of broccoli or a pound of grain.
A solar oven harnesses the sun’s energy. So there’s no additional energy required for cooking. Cooking in it is free, and eco-friendly.
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CLOTHING AND HAIR AND SKIN CARE
ALL THE THINGS YOU PUT ON YOUR SKIN
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Even people who are very aware of the food they eat—people who make it a point to eat only fresh, organic food—often aren’t aware of the choices they have when it comes to clothing and hair- and skin-care products.
In fact, most people just don’t realize the significance of things like organic clothing and organic shampoo. It sounds kind of out there, like some kind of crazy New Age stuff. But it’s not only what you put into your body that matters; what you put onto it matters just as much, too.
I used to think Ed was just being Ed about all this stuff. What’s the big deal? But then I learned that the skin is our body’s largest organ, and because it’s porous, it’s absorbing stuff all the time. If medicine can be applied to the skin—hormone patches and that sort of thing—just imagine what else your skin is taking in. Studies on the effects of toxins in drinking water have actually found that people took in more of the toxins by showering in the water than by drinking it!
So contact with your skin—for ten, fifteen, maybe twenty hours in a day—is a big part of why the clothes you wear matter so much. And it’s not just your clothes, but all your lotions and shampoos and makeup—not to mention the air we breathe. Everything that comes in contact with your skin matters.
If you stop for just a minute and think about it, the same principles that apply to organic gardening and organic farming clearly should apply to the growing of crops used to make clothing and hair-care and skin-care products, too. Pesticides that are harmful to food and the ecosystem are just as harmful when they’re used on nonfood crops like cotton and lavender.
And then there are the synthetic materials used to make everything from clothing and shoes to makeup and sunscreen. Manufacturing these materials requires a lot of energy and natural resources—including problematic resources like petroleum—not to mention all the emissions from the manufacturing processes.
So there are real, measurable consequences for the environment—as well as for our bodies—when you choose what to wear and what to apply to your skin and hair. For that reason, it is doubly important to choose carefully and wisely when you shop for clothes and beauty products.
“Conventional” Clothing
If you’ve spent any time reading the labels on your pants and shirts and sweaters or dresses, you know most clothing these days is made of one or more of these materials:
• cotton • wool • rayon
• nylon • polyester • acetate
• spandex • acrylic • cashmere
• silk • linen • angora
Some of these materials are natural and some are synthetic. By definition the natural materials are found in nature and include cotton, silk, wool, linen, cashmere, and angora.
Cotton and linen both come from plants. Cotton obviously comes from the cotton plant—specifically, from fibers in the plant’s seedpod. Linen comes from fibers in the stalk of the flax plant.
Silk, wool, cashmere, and angora all come from animals. Silk is made from the cocoon of the silkworm. Wool is made from the fur of animals including sheep, goats, alpacas, and llamas, while angora, a specific kind of wool often used to make soft, furry sweaters, is made from rabbit fur. And cashmere is made from the cashmere goat’s fur.
Those are the most commonly used natural materials, and they are widely available. However, many fabrics combine natural fibers with other, synthetic fibers to give them more durability or other qualities. Many of the synthetics—including nylon, spandex, polyester, and acrylic—are petroleum-based thermoplastics. Plastics! They’re man-made substances manufactured in a lab, and they all contribute to our dependence on foreign oil.
Rayon and acetate are a little different from the other synthetics. They’re actually made from cellulose, which is wood fibers, so rayon and acetate will feel more like natural fibers, such as cotton or linen, but they’re still manufactured fibers that require a lot of water and energy to produce.
So which are the most environmentally friendly clothing choices? The answer is not always obvious.
Growing Cotton
Most people think of cotton as a sort of friendly fiber. It breathes. It’s washable. It comes from a renewable resource. If we need more fabric, we can just grow more cotton, right?
I always wondered what the big deal was about organic cotton. Cotton is cotton, r
ight? It wasn’t until very recently that I learned cotton is one of the most toxic plants on the planet—not because of the plant itself, but because of the boll weevil, a virulent pest that infests the cotton plant. Boll weevils are very hard to kill, and cotton farmers have to use all these pesticides to protect their crops. Eventually weevils become immune to a pesticide, mutating around it, like a cockroach, and the farmers have to find a brand-new pesticide. They keep adding pesticides and making them more intense until you have a crop with more pesticides used on it than anything else out there.
Rachelle’s right. Cotton is one of the most pesticide-laden crops in the world.
The obvious problem with pesticides is that they’re poisons. Moreover, they’re typically not highly targeted poisons, particularly those used in the growing of cotton. These pesticides work more like a shotgun blast than a sharpshooter’s bullet when it comes to killing insects. Instead of just killing the boll weevil, these pesticides wind up killing spiders and wasps and all kinds of other beneficial insects, putting the entire ecosystem out of whack. Eventually you have aphids multiplying like crazy and wreaking havoc on the cotton, because their natural predators have been destroyed, which in turn requires more pesticides.
Sadly, they work like a shotgun blast when it comes to their application as well. Thousands and thousands of farmers and farmworkers and children and animals have been made seriously ill—and have even been killed—by pesticide poisoning, even when the pesticides are applied in a way that’s 100 percent legal. When you’re flying an airplane over a field and dousing it with toxic chemicals, just a bit of a breeze can carry those chemicals for many yards or possibly miles. Even if you have people walking through the fields and spraying the pesticides directly onto the crops, those pesticides can be deadly for farmworkers as well as wildlife.
And it gets worse. Where does that pesticide go when the cotton field gets watered, or when it rains? Does it wind up in the streams? Does it wind up in the water table? Of course it does.
Does some of that pesticide wind up in the clothing made from that cotton? Probably. Most of it gets washed away as the fiber is cleaned and milled, but then where does that wastewater from the cleaning process go?
The bottom line is this: Why put all that poison out there?
Organic Cotton
Fortunately, organic cotton is a good alternative to pesticide-laden cotton. Organic cotton is just like organic broccoli. It’s grown without the use of synthetic pesticides, with attention to the ecosystem and biodiversity and the health of the land and the wildlife around it. By wearing organic-cotton clothes you are ensuring that you aren’t walking around in clothes full of residual pesticides, and you’re not supporting the introduction of more chemicals into the ecosystem. That’s why I always look for organic-cotton clothing.
Sure, it costs more. But how much more? A buck? Two? For a T-shirt that I’ll be wearing next to my skin for many years, even if it’s an extra five bucks, it’s worth it to me.
I consider it a very promising sign that some of the biggest retailers on the planet have gotten involved with organic cotton. Through its suppliers, Wal-Mart is fast becoming the biggest buyer of organic cotton in the world, buying more organic cotton in a single year than was sold worldwide just a few years ago. And you know if it’s being sold at Wal-Mart, it’s not expensive, so the cost factor is no longer an issue.
Organic Clothing
It’s important to point out that organic clothing is not just limited to cotton. You can also find organic clothing made from:
• hemp • jute • silk
• ramie • bamboo • wool
All of these fibers are natural, and all except silk and wool come from plants. Naturally, the plants would have to be farmed organically in order for their fibers to go into organic clothing.
Of those plant-based materials, hemp has been the most controversial. For years it was banned in the United States because Cannabis sativa, the plant whose stalk yields hemp fibers, also yields dried flowers and leaves that are better known as marijuana. Yet hemp is such a valuable fiber for making everything from rope to clothing that our Founding Fathers actually required people to grow hemp back in the 1600s. Today, organically grown hemp has become a staple of the organic-clothing industry.
Another natural fiber is jute, a relative of hemp that’s commonly used to make rope and twine and burlap sacks, as well as carpet backing and, to a lesser degree, clothing. Ramie, from the ramie plant, also known as China grass, is used to create a fabric that feels much like linen. And bamboo is a wonderful material. It’s one of the most sustainable resources, and it can be used to create a soft, silky fabric.
As for the animal-based materials, organic silk—or what’s sometimes called peace silk—is gathered from wild silkworms after the moths have emerged from their cocoons. Organic wool comes from sheep (and other animals) that have been raised in a sustainable, organic fashion.
While there is no official standard for labeling clothing organic just yet, most organic-clothing manufacturers—I won’t say all, but I sincerely hope all of them—also avoid the use of hazardous chemicals during the manufacturing process. By this I mean things like dyes and other chemical treatments that come in contact with the workers in the factory—and with your skin when you wear the clothing.
Whenever I buy new clothes, I always look for organic fabrics. I can’t find absolutely everything organic yet, but I always make a real effort to look for organic clothing of every kind. Does that mean you and I should throw out all our old nonorganic clothing? Of course not. Why would you fill a landfill with perfectly usable stuff?
I still have some old, nonorganic T-shirts that I’ll wear until they fall apart. And when they do fall apart, I’ll probably use them as rags so they can have a second life around the house or out in the garage.
Shorts and T-Shirts: Simplicity Is the Answer
I’m a simple guy, and I keep my wardrobe pretty simple: shorts and T-shirts. If it’s cool out—or if I’ve got the heat turned way down to save energy—then I throw on a flannel shirt over my T-shirt. Of course, I’m in Southern California, so I’m not dealing with snow and sleet and ice on a regular basis.
But I’ve really made a conscious choice to keep my wardrobe—and my life—simple. And because I choose to wear simple styles, it’s easy to find organic clothing that suits me.
Occasionally, I have to wear a suit. If I have to go to a Hollywood event, a premiere or an awards ceremony or some fancy-dress occasion, I wear one of the suits I bought in the ’80s and early ’90s that still fit me. These suits are old, but they’re well made and they’re wool. I’ll probably have them for a few more decades. (As I mentioned in Chapter 5, I’m mostly vegan. Some vegans won’t wear wool, but just as I eat some salmon once in a while, I do also wear wool. It’s my personal choice.)
When it is time to buy a new suit, there are eco-friendly choices. In the ’80s, it was nearly impossible to find business suits and tuxedos and dressier clothing made from organic fabrics, but it’s much easier now.
I also keep a suitcase packed and ready at all times. (Soldiers in battle-field conditions always have their packs ready to go; I’ve got my suitcase.) The suitcase is taking up space in my closet anyway; what better place to store a few T-shirts, some socks, and some underwear and toiletries than where they will surely next be used? This way I’m ready if I get a last-minute acting job or a speaking engagement. If someone calls and says, “Can you leave right now?” I really can.
Green Style: The Fashionable Compromise
I love clothes and shoes. I think I’m actually a borderline shopaholic. However, I’m all about comfort with style. Most days, I wear stylish casual wear, like a fashionable T-shirt and jeans.
Several nights a week Ed and I go out, and I’ll put on something a little more elegant. Even then, though, I like to be comfortable. There’s nothing worse than wearing a nice dress and tugging at the straps all night. I want to know that I’m goin
g to be warm enough and I’m not going to be complaining about my lower back because my heels are too high. Having been a dancer and having hurt my body, I know the importance of good shoes, so I look for stylish shoes with lower heels.
I love fashion, but I’m not a slave to it. The most important thing about all my clothes is that they fit. If it doesn’t look good on my body, I won’t wear it. I know my body type and what colors look good on me.
Color is important to me. I love blues and spring and summer pastel colors because I’m a blond, blue-eyed, fair-skinned person and those colors just look better on my skin. Of course I also tend to wear a lot of black, because every designer does black. Most people look good in black, so it’s a great option. If not, try navy or gray.
Until very recently I would have never considered “green” clothing. It was not even on my radar. Why should I bother to go that extra step to wear organic?
Now, of course, I know the difference between pesticide-laden cotton and organic cotton. And then there’s the sustainability factor with the clothing manufacturer. How do you get your fabric? Is it fair trade? Those things are important, and they’re becoming much more important to me.
But style is important to me too, and many of the organic fashions I’ve come across are either Pacific Northwest or grunge or hippie-granola-girl style. I like a little more tailoring. For me the new frontier is finding eco-friendly clothing with a more couture attitude so I can know my clothes are created in a way that won’t hurt me, the people who made them, or the land—and are still the most stylish looks of the season.