sustainable
Sustainable Sushi in Seattle – Mashiko
I am a true sushi lover, but getting information about the fish I am eating can be a difficult ordeal. Most sushi places aren’t very forthcoming on where they get their fish, or even what kind of fish it is you are actually eating (Hamachi is often labeled as yellowtail when it actually should be Amberjack, although it can vary between several species depending on the restaurant – same with Tai or snapper).
The Monterey Bay Aquarium puts out a wonderful Seafood Watch sustainable sushi guide both as an app, and on their website as a printable card, and Sustainable Sushi has great information too, but this can still pose a problem when it comes down to sourcing (many ratings are high for wild caught or sustainable fisheries, but low for farmed or catch method, like bottom trawlers).
Enter Mashiko, a sushi restaurant in West Seattle that maintains a fully sustainable seafood menu. Mashiko is also Seattle’s first fully sustainable sushi bar
We have solid relationships with several top seafood sustainability experts. We appreciate the support we have received from both customers and industry insiders. Our education has been intense, and it will be ongoing.– Hajime
Local Seattle Vodka & Gin – Sound Spirits
It’s pretty amazing what you can find just leisurely walking around Seattle. Case in point, the other day I decided to take a walk down 15th near the Interbay area and ran into Sound Spirits, a Seattle craft distillery producing primarily Vodka and Gin (with an Aquavit coming soon!) under the label Ebb+Flow.
Billed as Seattle’s first distillery since prohibition, Sound Spirits uses local ingredients to distill each batch by hand at their Interbay facility.Their entire operation is contained within this single building, including the distillery itself, tasting room and store. › Continue reading
Local 360 Restaurant in Seattle
Local 360 is a relatively new restaurant in Seattle’s Belltown area serving locally sourced breakfast, lunch and dinner. The premise behind their name and their philosophy is every raw ingredient is sources within 360 miles of Seattle, and they really do mean it. Browse even their drink menu, and you won’t find a spirit, liquor or wine produced any further away than Idaho (most are from Washington and Oregon).
Our products are always sourced from the most humane farms we can find. Ideally, 90% of our raw ingredients come from within 360 miles of Seattle. Lemons, limes, coffee and a few other items just don’t grow in Cascadia anytime of the year.
We source these items Certified Organic from the closest place possible. Nothing we are doing is innovative or new- on the contrary, we are returning to a simpler way of functioning as a business. We have stopped asking “what is new,” and have begun asking, “what is best.”
Coconut Oil Skincare – Just Coco
The smell of coconut oil always transports me to tropical island paradise, and for good reason- coconut oil has been used as a skin moisturizer, hair conditioner and healing agent by Pacific Islander and tropical natives for centuries.
Just Coco is a sustainable, community empowering business started by my world traveling friend Sara Krosch, and uses all natural cold pressed virgin coconut oil in their products. Based out of her home on tropical island paradise in the Philippines, she runs Just Coco.
Using only all-natural and, whenever possible, organic ingredients combined with virgin coconut oil, they create skin, hair and nail care products. All of Just Coco’s products are vegetarian or vegan.
Their cold pressed, preservative free pure virgin coconut oil contains 50% lauric acid (the highest content possible) with natural antimicrobial and antioxidant properties. › Continue reading
Eco Friendly Clothes Shopping – Verdessence
A topic covered often here on The Chic Ecologist are brands and stores which carry eco friendly clothing. Based in Chicago, Verdessence is an on-line retailer opened by Lauren McGinty and Michael McCarthy out of a desire to promote positive change in the world. They were kind enough to send me an item from one of the many eco-friendly brands they carry, a sustainable hoodie by Edun (and no, that is not me in the picture).
Edun is probably best know by its celebrity co-founder, Bono from the band U2. Edun is a socially conscious clothing company launched in spring 2005 by Ali Hewson and Bono with a mission is to create beautiful clothing while fostering sustainable employment in developing areas of the world, particularly Africa.
The hoodie I received was made in Africa (Madagascar to be exact) by sustainable and recycled elements like wool, polyamide, cashmere, and PBT. It has a very modern fitted look and is top notch quality, as I would expect with all the brands Verdessence carries.
I actually initially ordered the Sameunderneath hooded coat (which was brilliant by the way), but I indicated the wrong size. The return/exchange process was very quick and easy making it painless to get a really great item. › Continue reading
What Foods to Buy Organic
I’m preparing to get married in September, and I’ve been working super hard to keep my diet healthy, while still saving money for the wedding. Even if you’re not getting married soon, you’re still probably on a budget with the way the economy is right now, and buying organic food can start to add up when your budget is tight. While it is always a better idea to eat organic food, I realize that sometimes it’s not always an option. After consulting the Environmental Working Group’s lists, and other environmental groups, I’ve compiled a list of fruits and veggies to go organic with, or to bypass if the budget won’t allow. A good rule of thumb is to consider the thickness of the skin. Melons of any type have thick skins and so pesticides have a harder time getting in. Peaches, berries, and other soft skinned fruit however eat the pesticides up like water, and tend to be highest on the pesticide scale.
Don’t forget meats, dairy, and eggs too. While they are sometimes hard to find in organic depending on where you live, they are very important to buy organic, sometimes more important than fruits and vegetables. There are so many pesticides and toxins in what animals are eating, let alone the products themselves.
Foods aren’t the only things that you should be seeking the natural approach for either. If you suffer from allergies or other health issues, environmental toxins may be to blame. It’s a good idea to buy almost anything in your bedroom, organically. You spend (hopefully) 8 hours out of every 24, sleeping in your bedroom. That’s a third of your day, and that doesn’t include other activities that you might do in your bedroom, such as work, or reading! Switching to an organic mattress or pillows might make all the difference in the world.
Solar Car Kits for Kids
A sample solar car concept
Conversely, people who begin learning additional languages as children tend to make a lot less mistakes common to later-learners and in addition, pick up the same languages much faster. Knowledge becomes more deeply rooted if it’s learned early, and bearing these facts in mind, one can also see why many professionals are able to trace their own passions as adults back to what they were brought up with.
With this in mind, it makes sense that the best way to instill green values in society would be to focus on the youth. That said, young kids won’t be too excited to read a dense non-fiction title on all the mistakes made by ourselves and our predecessors. They also wouldn’t be too keen on keeping up with environmental trends and gadgets. But few kids would shy away from being bought a new toy.
Solar Plane Begins 24-Hour Test Flight
Seven years of hard-work recently culminated in the beginning of a 24-hour test flight of the HB-SIA, an experimental solar-energy powered aircraft. This unveiling comes with a sigh of relief as the flight has already been delayed once due to technical issues with the communications equipment. The intentions of the team are to take the plane up to an altitude of approximately 28,000 feet after which the pilot will determine whether the plane can successfully fly during the night with the energy stored during the day’s sunlight.
Powered by 12,000 solar cells, the group hopes that the plane will be a harbinger of things to come – “to have a solar-powered plane flying day and night without fuel,” as the team’s co-founder Bertrand Piccard puts it. Though the group recognizes that solar airplanes won’t be replacing commercial airplanes with jet propulsion engines any time soon, the hope is that the project will be a means of moving towards a world with newer, cleaner technology.
