dealing with high food prices

Unless you live in a cave (and grow your own food), you’ve probably noticed that food prices have risen a bit in the past few years.  I think it’s a good thing, personally, if it makes us think harder about what we spend our money on.

Americans spend a much smaller percentage of their budgets on food costs, compared to the rest of the world.  At the same time, we spend more proportionately on discretionary spending (ie, luxury goods) than the rest of the world.   So even with the higher cost of food, we’re still spending less than anyone else.

So why has the price of food gone up?  There are a number of reasons.  We’ve seen declines in supply of various staple foods because of lower production, failure of crops, etc.  We’ve seen farmers switch from food crops to commodity crops (ie, corn for ethanol).  We’ve seen oil prices rise, which increases the cost of transportation.  And we’ve seen demand rise sharply, as incomes and populations increase.

What can you do to combat the rising cost?  Well, there’s the traditional method - clip coupons, place the grocery game, etc.  Or, you can adjust your whole approach to food and your diet:

Go vegetarian. Vegetarian staples cost less than meat.  They are also healthier for you.  If giving up meat altogether is too much, considering cutting it out once a week or more.

Go seasonal. Buying food out of season is expensive.  This is because the food comes from much further away, and the cost of shipping is built in.  Out-of-season food is also not very fresh, and thus not really good.

Go basic. Purchasing a few major staples and building meals around them can be economical.  If you buy beans or grains in bulk, for example, you can see significant savings.  These dry goods will also store well, so as produce goes on sale, you can plan meals around the vegetables that fit your budget at the time.

Go green. Plant a container garden.  Your local garden store will have kits that you can place in your window.  You’ll have fresh tomatoes or peppers all summer.

Go local. Locally produced food is cheap and plentiful.  Visit your local farmers’ markets and check out the options.  You’ll also reap the benefit of fresh and often organic produce as well.

There is no consensus as to whether we’ll continue to see prices rise, or if they’ll level out, or even drop.  There is some indication that they are leveling out this year in some areas (ie, milk) but will continue to rise in other areas (ie, rice).  That leaves us with trying to find more sustainable ways to maintain our lifestyles.

a case of conflicting principles

I recently wrote a guest post on Mrs. Micah, discussing the situation in Burma and ways in which we can help. One of the major dilemmas we face in this disaster is the need to prevent more lives being lost vs the desire to continue opposing the government.

I’ll be honest - I think innocent lives trump politics any day. Regardless of who is running the country (and how), I think we have a responsibility as members of a global community to uphold international law and our own governing principles.

I understand the quandary: aid going to Burma is being rerouted through the government, who is likely taking a cut, and redistributing itself, likely in a very inefficient way. None of us wants to support such a regime.

But here’s the kicker - we already do. Emergency relief aid is actually a very small amount of money, relatively speaking. No military regime can prop itself up on it. What this government thrives on is a much larger stream of money, and one to which we all contribute.

Burma is a country of natural gas and oil resources, and the Chinese, Russians, and South Africans have heavy investments in the area. They continue to support the junta because it’s a win-win situation for them (and let’s be frank - none of the those three countries has the best governance or human rights record).

But we support the military regime too. Despite our economic embargo, some of our own companies invest in the region. And even more insidiously, the products we buy from places like China are produced with the energy and profit China receives from its investments in Burma.

In the end, it’s not aid money that will keep the junta in control - it’s our own purchasing power.

guest post today

Today, I have a guest post over at Mrs. Micah.  Head on over and take a look.

And for those visiting from Mrs. Micah - check out a few similar posts here, here, and here.

i have no candidate this year

There was a time when I was an ardent admirer of John McCain. Then he went a little nuts, though he seems to have recovered somewhat.

I thought Barack Obama was a breath of fresh air in his first senate run. It’s nice to get some fresh blood with ambition.

And while Hillary originally turned me off, I have grown to respect her. She has experience and she has drive (plus the Bill factor). Until recently, she had my vote.

But, now I’m done. Obama’s energy “policy” is full of hot air, and McCain and Clinton have demonstrated they don’t know a thing about sustainability. It’s a wacky, weird world when Thomas Friedman sums up my thoughts almost perfectly. And it’s a sign from the gods that our politicians are so out of touch with reality that we can’t get one decent candidate who isn’t completely ridiculous.

it’s a green world. we just live in it.

Lately, everyone’s caught the green bug.  I watched quite a bit of TV today, and I saw several interesting ads highlighting industry’s eco-friendly commitment. Of course, I’m a cynic, so I immediately dissected the ads and dismissed just about all of them.  Which might be a bit unfair, better 50% than 0%, yes?  And, corporations exist to make a profit. If they do so while being green, then hey, who am I to complain?

Of interest, Coke has a smart new t-shirt campaign.  This one will appeal to the tweens, who we know don’t care to reduce their spending in an economic downturn (unlike their parents).  The ad (brought to us by Target) explained to me (via 2 teenage girls) that the t-shirts are made of recycled Coke bottles, so if you buy it, you’ll be, like, saving the world, or something.  There’s some fabulous statistic, such as “if every Target customer, all 200 million of them, bought a t-shirt, that would be 5 million plastic bottles recycled”.  Ah, the logic of teenagers is impeccable.  Coke, here’s a thought - if every Target customer bought one less plastic bottle, that would be 200 million plastic bottles not consumed.

Another interesting ad came to me after a trip to the grocery store.  Apparently, Safeway is one of the largest users of wind/solar energy in the US.  They also support plastic bag recycling.  The trucks run on biodiesel. They are green and proud, dammit! And yet, everytime I go into one with my reusable bag, I get dirty/blank/confused looks and poor customer service.

Then there’s Toyota’s long-running ad about zero-waste production.  Ambitious, to be sure, considering that the production of cars is naturally a wasteful process.  This is rather promising, because Toyota is possibly at 100% success.  Subaru is not far behind, either. Of course, the best way to be zero-waste?  Buy a used car… or bike.

The new programs are certainly a welcome change from the past.  And zero-waste and wind power are certainly laudable achievements.  But there is still something really important that we’re missing here.  The true path to being “green” lies in reducing consumption, not just greening it.  This seems to be the point that everyone is missing.

never again

I was searching through old emails when I came across this plea I sent to my address book. I wrote this in November of 2006. At the time, I was convinced that we would resolve the issue in Darfur imminently. More than a year later, it boggles the mind that the issues raised in this email are still of major humanitarian concern today.

Dear Friends,

As we head into the holiday season, we take this time to look back at the past year, or the past several years, to count our blessings and be thankful for all that we have. This year, I hope that we can extend that reflection beyond our immediate lives, and think also of our brothers and sisters around the world who aren’t quite so lucky as we are.

As you know, there is a crisis currently engulfing the African continent, in the western region of Darfur, Sudan. Unfortunately, as is often the case, the victims of crisis tend to be innocent civilians - mothers, wives, children, grandparents. In Darfur, mortality rates are estimated at 5 times above the emergency benchmark, the majority of which are directly related to the fighting.
Even more alarming, surviving victims have been forced to uproot their lives and flee, resulting in massive amounts of displacement. It is estimated that approximately 3 million people have been forced to migrate since the start of hostilities in 2003. Some of these people have managed to find their way to neighboring Chad, where they currently live in refugee camps which offer some measure of protection. But many are still in Sudan as Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) and are still vulnerable to attack. And now the violence has begun to spill into the rest of the Sahel, threatening to destabilize the region.

While not an official declaration, the Government of Sudan’s focus on the non-Arab African population of Darfur has elements of genocide. There is a pattern of attacks on this specific population; men are disproportionately targeted for murder, and women and girls are systematically targeted for massive, widespread rape. In 1948, the world promised that never again would we allow genocide; we have failed in that promise twice (in Bosnia and Rwanda) since then, and we are failing again now.

The African Union has deployed a woefully inadequate peace-keeping force with limited powers. More than that needs to be done. The UN Security Council has declared that a scaled-up UN Peacekeeping Force is necessary, but they have been slow to act due to threats from the President of Sudan to meet these troops in force.
And here is where we can help. I have attached a letter (based on one created by Physicians for Human Rights) that you can send to President Bush requesting that we act now to save the lives of those at risk in this conflict.

There are 4 ways to send this letter:
by email: comments@whitehouse.gov
by fax: 202-456-2461
by phone: 202-456-1111
by snail mail: address is on the letter
The last is by far the most effective, but any one will do. In addition, if you could forward this email to others you know, that would be helpful as well.

To paraphrase one of the most-respected voices in humans rights, we are all we have. If we don’t act as a global community to ensure the safety, security, freedom and livelihood of all people, no one else will. The responsibility is ours alone.

Thank you for your help.

All the best,
Deepali

For more information, please visit: http://www.phrusa.org/research/sudan/ . I strongly recommend watching the brief video entitled “Darfur: Lives Destroyed.”

further proof that education standards have gone down

There is general consensus that Lolita is considered one of the best English-language novels of the 20th century - definitely top 10, if not top 5.

So of course, this came up in my news reader today. I will emphasize, in case you scanned over it:

“What seems to have happened is the staff who run the website had never heard of Lolita, and to be honest no one else here had either,” a spokesman told British newspapers.

Never. heard. of. Lolita. WOW. So I can only conclude that they’ve stopped teaching this stuff in schools…. and no one listens to The Police anymore.

in the news

I got a little bored this morning in class and surfed the internet for interesting news stories. Here are my favorites of the day:

Felons love Michael Jackson. Movement therapy has always been a part of rehabilitation, but some prisoners in the Philippines are taking it a step further. It seems, as part of their daily activities, these guys are learning to dance. They’ve choreographed pieces to Michael Jackson, among other things.

I Heart my Farmers Market. We all, even those we assume know nothing about healthy eating, know that the best produce is at the farmers market. But a recent study has shown that including vouchers to farmers markets in WIC packages increases purchase of fruits and vegetables. With healthy eating being a more expensive habit than unhealthy eating, this is a program that definitely needs expansion.

Lighter than Air. Apparently, there is some sort of Apple convention going on. Who knew. Jobs launched MacWorld Expo today, with some exciting (for Mac users anyway) announcements, including a new skinny laptop.

USDA vs FDA: Taxpayers Dollars at Work. What are the two most worthless government agencies up to? Does anyone care? Well, probably, this time we should. FDA has approved cloned animals for consumption, and USDA is asking for a temporary hold on introducing these animals into the market. A lot of other people weigh in as well. Of note is the interesting lack of requirement for labeling of cloned products.

Obama and Clinton Play Nice. For 2 hours. My dreams of a Clinton-Obama ticket are going down the drain. Not that they were ever realistic to begin with, but a girl can dream!

Will Work for Loan. Citi took a nosedive today. Not surprising, really, but what is interesting is this little offer they made. Apparently, Citi is willing to offer to you, the average citizen, the same deal offered to Prince Alwaleed bin Talal. Bail them out of their current mess, and they’ll reward you beyond your wildest desires.