Sustainability Savvy

Some interesting buzz about sustainability this week, which reminded me of a great piece in The Atlantic and a thing about fishing stocks in the Guardian. So let's have at them. 

First up is another great mention for Meatless Mondays in USA Today, that most mainstream of mainstream middle American rags. They point out that going meatless is "good for you, good for the planet." This is old news, of course, but better late than never. This article will help push that 50% of people who have heard of the MM movement up to 75% and beyond. They also mention the Environmental Working Group study which showed cheese in third place for carbon footprint and the author of the piece goes right ahead and includes a meatless and cheese-free recipe right there. It looks really good, too. 

The piece in the Atlantic has the fascinating new angle regarding how much food waste goes into landfill (10%) and how much more CO2 it creates than plastic (1%). The catchy title says it all: "Recycling Isn't the Answer: to save the Planet, Eat Plants." Her group in Lincolnshire, England follows a "Low Carbon Diet" which has the same impact as "Meatless Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays." If that kind of thinking spread, the impact would be huge. And the Guardian piece has a related theme about the sustainability of the EU fish regulations and the problems of "by-catch." Interesting and horrifying reading all at once. If it weren't such a mouthful, a better name for MM would be "Meatless, Non-cheesified and Fish-Free Mondays." I can't see that catching on, however.

And at last we get to this week's delicious recipe proposal, a no-cook, quick-prep meal salad that would travel really well to a potluck or picnic. Leftovers are fine in the fridge for several days and just as yummy eaten out of the container with a fork, leaning over the sink, not that any civilized person would do such a thing, right? For a reminder of the great health benefits of lentils, you can always travel back in time to my original post about this, thanks to the fine people at blogger who store all my ramblings, musings and recipes on their enormous servers somewhere on the American west coast.

Tune in next week when we hope to present the very first MM dessert recipe, third-hand and triple-tested by loyal readers. More on that will have to wait until then. Have a great one!