And now a note about ‘real’ Christmas trees. Don’t buy one. During the first years of a tree’s life they are carbon-negative due to the carbon released during planting, fertilization and their size. Christmas trees represent a worst case scenario because they provide no benefit and are typically mulched after use, releasing their carbon into the environment.

Tell your friends- this is tradition that has to stop. Get one of the silver fake ones with the rotating colored light machine 

I buy organic fair trade coffee because it tastes a lot better and regular coffee is one of the most polluted food products we consume- most of it is grown in third world countries with virtually no regulations on the use of pesticides.

While shopping at my local natural food store for coffee I realized I needed milk so I picked up some organic milk. When I got home (Rochester, NY), I looked at the carton and found that this milk was either from Wisconsin or Oregon- it wasn’t clear. This is crazy. We ship a commodity like milk thousands of miles? Don’t the organic food people realize what the carbon cost of this is?

I think if we’re going certify things like Fair Trade and Organic we should add a third food label: Estimated Carbon Cost or ECC. It would a shocker to know that the supposedly environmentally friendly products we’re buying are actually much worse for the planet than those that are local.