Here are 3 mini-stories on food with news this week:

“WHOLE FOODS” TAKING YOUR “WHOLE PAYCHECK” FOR NON-ORGANIC FOOD?

Not everything in Whole Foods is organic. In fact, the Organic Consumers Association has found that this natural food store carries only about 1/3 organic products. The remaining 2/3 is “regular” food disguised as natural. Whole Foods claims that selling the other 2/3 of the food allows them to offer the organics at a reasonable price.  The OCA would like us all to participate to test this claim. It will require effort and time, but this writer believes it is the worth it in the end.

Download the Whole Paycheck” Organic Price Survey Worksheet which you can use to list Whole Food’s organic prices in your local community. The results will be tallied and all personal information will be protected; maybe this way consumers can get the truth on what they are paying at Whole Foods Markets.

SEAFOOD WATCH iPHONE APP

If you eat fish on a daily basis either at home or in a restaurant and want to know if it is fresh, toxic, endangered or shipped from countries violating the fishing laws, this is the guide for you. The Monterey Bay Aquarium offers a Seafood Watch app so that you can have the information at your fingertips. This seafood watch ranks seafood as Avoid (red), Good Alternative (yellow), and Best Choice (green). Plus,

• Free, up-to-date recommendations at your fingertips
• Regional guides highlight the seafood that’s best in each area of the country.
• Loads the right guide for your location using your phone’s GPS
• Lets you search for seafood quickly and easily within regions
• Lets you sort seafood by rank

Download the iPhone application or Visit mobile.seafoodwatch.org for our online pocket guides, just in time for your next seafood meal!

TARGET STOPS CARRYING FARMED SALMON

Greenpeace jumped for joy this week when Target stores announced that they would no longer carry farmed salmon. “Greenpeace applauds Target’s decision to replace farmed salmon with wild Alaskan salmon, a relatively sustainable and healthy product, throughout its operations,” said Casson Trenor, Greenpeace’s Senior Markets Campaigner. “The company’s decision to address this issue represents an incredible willingness to challenge old paradigms in favor of sound science and environmental preservation, as well as provide real market value to its customers. We have no doubt that the leadership will set a new standard for the seafood industry; one we hope is echoed by other retailers.”

So what’s the issue with farmed salmon? Seafood Watch (mentioned above) gives us the details. They include a health advisory for increased PCBs in the farmed fish, as well as major environmental issues (like the fact that it takes 3 lbs of wild fish to “make” 1 lb of farmed salmon).

SLOW FISH DINNER: MIAMI JAN 31, 2010

Reserve Your Seat for a Slow Fish Dinner at The River Oyster Bar
Sunday, January 31 7 p.m. - 9:30 p.m.

$80 per person including tax and gratuity.
$15 of the ticket’s purchase price benefits a school garden program in Downtown Miami.

Chef David Bracha has created a menu showcasing regional seafood and local produce. Menu items will be paired with Domaine Chandon wines. Reserve now!

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A new matchmaking service has just been started in Fort Lauderdale. It isn’t for animals, human’s or birds: it is for trees. Yes trees. Now how can trees be married? Well, these trees are not married to each other they are married to a new partner, a new location a new place to live and breathe and provide enjoyment to humans, animals and birds.

A “green” program of the Riverwalk Trust in partnership with the City of Fort Lauderdale, Riverwalk Trust Tree Harmony is dedicated to saving trees on privately-owned properties that would otherwise be lost, by transplanting them in the Riverwalk Park and other public spaces. Where once there were unhealthy trees, causing danger for those who played or walked among them or lived within their shelter, are now healthy trees, providing all of the elements they were meant to give us.

Recently 14 trees were taken from the beachfront property where the Yankee Clipper is under construction to become the Sheraton Fort Lauderdale Beach Hotel. Within 36 hours they were replanted in Riverwalk Park behind Broward County Courthouse. No easy task!

Related: Sun Sentinel - Riverwalk replants Yankee Clipper trees

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We love Yelp. If you aren’t familiar, this is THE site (and iPhone app is killer) for restaurant and business reviews. It’s a growing community of really great people that want to share their recommendations with you. In fact, we originally joined in order to share our own reviews of local green businesses. Of course, we are behind on just about every project right now, so we have nothing to report there.

The good news is, the Yelp community is doing it for us! This week, they featured vintage & thrift shops around Miami. Buying used items is the ultimate in eco-friendly shopping. No new resources, keeping items away from landfills. It’s a win all around! This list includes businesses we’ve never even heard of…and what’s best, you can read about other people’s experiences before you even get there.

Do you have a favorite used spot? If you know me at all, you already know mine!

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“Help save planet earth starting with uranus.” That pretty much sums up this product! Uranus eco-friendly boy shorts (ladies underwear) are made from soy material. They are super soft, and what’s best perhaps, is that the entire concept came from a couple of local Miami girls (and fellow Gators).

In an interview with the New Times, the founder tells the story of Uranus:

We came up with the idea a little over a year ago. We were painting my sister’s room in our underwear and were talking about our favorite planets. Somehow we got to talking about how it would be funny if there was an underwear company called Uranus. I think we were slightly delirious because of the paint fumes, but my dad heard us talking and thought it was a great idea, so Uranus Apparel was born. We decided we wanted to make the underwear out of eco-friendly fabric and came up with our slogan: “Help save planet earth starting with uranus”. We did a lot of research about different types of sustainable fabric and chose soy because it is the most eco-friendly and the softest.

The soy fabric is made from by-products of the soy food production process (tofu, etc). A set of 3 pairs is priced at $19.

The Good

• A green product created by Miamians…love it!
• I think this is my first soy garment. Very nice material. The fabric really is super soft.
• I love the story in the New Times article. They have really thought about the fabric, where it comes from, the entire process. Though it’s currently coming from China, they are being open and honest about the entire process with the consumer. That is invaluable.
• The name. Come on. It’s awesome.

The Not So Good

• Currently the only option is to buy a 3 pack of the underwear and it arrives in a burlap sack. Though burlap is pretty eco-friendly, I’d reserve this kind of packaging for “gifts”, and allow people the option to order without. They do request that you compost or reuse the bag, however!
• I’m not a boy shorts person. I think it’s just not the right cut for me. I’ve never had luck with them and these didn’t prove to be any different. However, if you like boy shorts, I bet you would like these!

The Verdict

• We would recommend this product to others. It is truly an eco-friendly product, created by some creative local ladies that seem to be taking the big picture into account.

Have you tried Uranus? Tell us your experience in the comments section below!

Want greenerMiami.com to review your product in our ProdLab? Contact us!

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The “keys” have just been handed over. (Push button start? I have to learn all over how to start a car.) I’m the “owner” of a very serious BMW for the weekend.

BMW’s 2009 line included two diesel models, the 335d and the X5 xDrive35d. Both of models are improving fuel efficiency while minimizing emissions and are the first clean diesels from BMW in the US in 25 years. I’ve been given the X5 to test out, and I’m a gonna test it, alright.

We’re taking the family on a mini-road trip to see what this car is all about, test out the mileage (supposedly 19 mpg city, 26 mpg highway, 22 mpg combined), and frankly to enjoy a little luxury for once!

BMW has an Eco Credit offer that is about to expire on August 31, 2009. It’s similar to the Cash for Clunkers program, but doesn’t require a clunker. You’ll get $4500 towards the purchase of one of these diesel cars. Details here.

So follow us along for the ride this weekend. We’ll be tweeting as often as we can from @greenermiami on Twitter.

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I need to take a moment to show off my new professional photos. Along with the relaunch of the new look and feel of greenerMiami.com, I had some professional photos done. One evening while tooling around with some Twitter app, looking for users in Sarasota, FL (where I grew up), I found Mandy. I went from her Twitter profile to her website, Mandy & Me Studio. Wow. I mean wow. I was so impressed. These were not just ordinary pictures. These had style. I had to have some!

In celebration of Oliver’s first birthday (if you are new to greenerMiami, you’ve got to know that he was named through a contest on this site!), we scheduled a shoot with Mandy & Me in Sarasota, and I took my photos during this time, as well.

My dream is to have Mandy & Me take photos of my family every chance I get! The photos are incredible. As I was wandering around their site, I even found “the backstage”…something special they do for weddings. How fun!

These are just a small selection of the photos that Mandy took of me and my family. And for those of you that have followed Oliver since before he was born, there’s a shot of him on his 1st birthday. Enjoy!

More photos can be seen on the About Rebecca Carter page and on RebeccaCarter.net.

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Welcome to greenerMiami’s Product Testing Lab, aka: ProdLab. This is the first of many reviews to come of green products. We test it, and then tell it like it is! 

A friend of mine referred me to MixMyGranola, a locally based online custom granola company. They sent me a gift certificate so that I could try out the entire process myself. 

There are several steps to creating your own mix. In ours that we dubbed “Midnight Anchor”, we included organic granola, dried raspberries, dried bing cherries, goji berries, pistachios, organic pepitas, amaranth seeds, and choco espresso beans. It was delish!

The granola comes in a 16 oz tube, which holds a lot of granola. Of course, the amount of granola inside depends on how many ingredients you add. Ours was almost filled to the top. It would have cost about $15 for the granola and about $5 for the shipping. 

The Good

• Custom, custom, custom. There’s always something in pre-made granola that you just don’t like. Maybe you hate banana chips or maybe the raisins. Here, you add only what you want. Plus, they have some very random ingredients (hemp seeds anyone?) that you can try that you just might fall in love with. 
• It was super fresh tasting. I liked it a lot more than I thought I would. And I thought I would like it. 
• You could shake it up in the tube, transport it easily on a road trip, and my hand even fit inside to fish out my favorite ingredients. (I apparently have small hands.)
• Adding the ingredients is a fun process, especially if you are making it with someone else. Click on “more info” on any item and you can see the nutritional info for that particular ingredient.
• They say the tube is made from 95% recycled materials and can be recycled by removing the top and bottom of the tube. 
• The name: You get to name your mix, as I did “Midnight Anchor”, and it arrives with the name of your mix on the nutritional label. Nice personal touch. 

The Not So Good

• The Price. It’s a little expensive for me, but I’m cheap. However, you do get major deals with MixMyGranola when you buy in bulk. Buy 4 of the same mix, get the 5th free. Plus, shipping is always $4.99…no matter how many you order. That makes a difference. 
• I was hoping that the fact that the granola arrives in a tube that looks like a shipping tube, that there would be no additional packaging. After discussing this with the owners, it’s just not safe to ship the food in that manner. They place the tube in a cardboard box that fits perfectly, so no additional protection is needed. 
• I’d like to see a little more information about the packaging on the site, as well as specific instructions on how to recycle it and where. 

The Verdict

• You can’t deny that this is a quality product. It was delicious. 
• If you are a granola lover, find your favorite mix and buy these babies in bulk! 
• I would also recommend this as a gift for someone that you want to send an original and personal item. 
• Light green: This product  is “green” because many of the ingredients offered are organic. 

Have you tried MixMyGranola? Tell us your experience in the comments section below!

Want greenerMiami.com to review your product in our ProdLab? Contact us!

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