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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We’re pleased to be a media sponsor for the upcoming 2nd Annual MiaGreen Expo & Conference to be held on February 25 & 26, 2010. This is a business to business event, run by the same folks that put on the Miami Living Green Expo in August.

MiaGreen is currently accepting booth reservations & sponsors. Please see their current special, or check out details on their website.

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It’s with great pleasure that we announce the launch of Eco Echo, a sister site, if you will. Eco Echo will be your destination for green content that isn’t just South Florida based. The website, however, is just one feature of Eco Echo. It is actually a television show for which I have worked with Spiral Media to create. We have made the pilot and are now seeking sponsors (both local and national) so that we can get the show on the air in the South Florida market in the beginning of 2010.

Please check out our promo spot and definitely browse around EcoEcho.tv. And hey, if you Facebook and Twitter…so do we!

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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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Have an individual, business, or organization that is demonstrating leadership and innovative ideas in sustainability and green practices? Nominate them to win in the first Sustainable South Florida Awards! Deadline has been extended through September 4, 2009!

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Capablanca signing the UN agreement

This is a guest post by Fernando Capablanca, president and chief executive officer of Union Credit Bank (UCB).

Now, more than ever, businesses are embracing an eco-friendly attitude. We encounter the infusion of environmentally friendly living in our everyday activities from supermarket chains with organic-only aisles to clothing stores selling apparel made of organic cotton. It’s becoming increasingly clear to many that the earth is in dire need for us to change and adopt a more sustainable lifestyle.

Therefore, it should come as no surprise that several banks are also embracing eco-friendly ways of doing business. Leading the pack in this movement is Union Credit Bank (UCB), a Miami-based community bank. UCB is the first community bank in the nation to sign the U.N. Environment Program Finance Initiative, which aligns the bank with environmentally friendly principles.

This pairing allows UCB to offer its customers “green” services such as hybrid car loans and green home equity lines of credit. Customers are offered loans at a reduced interest rate to help them purchase a new hybrid vehicle, an environmentally friendly home or a business as well as make improvements on their current home or business. Green incentives have also been implemented to encourage green builders. UCB provides funding with higher loan to value rations to help green builders borrow enough money to cover higher costs of construction, which later translates to an increase in asset value.

Beyond all of these initiatives, the bank truly understands that reducing carbon imprint begins from the inside. UCB’s Miami headquarters, located at 1150 South Miami Ave, is completely environmentally equipped; the building is registered as a “green building” and is considered to be a historical site. This alone has allowed the bank to acquire benefits such as tax incentives and zoning incentives.

The bank’s second branch located in the city of Doral (map), is entirely eco-friendly.

All the furniture, carpeting and flooring are made out of recyclable material. Not to mention the fact that UCB effectively reduces power and paper usage by encouraging paperless statements, offering electronic marketing brochures and installing a recycling program.

More recently UCB is in talks to sign an agreement with the Certified Green Partners as well as considering the possibility of adopting the Equator Principles.

About the author: Fernando Capablanca is president and chief executive officer of Union Credit Bank (UCB), a full-service Miami-based bank. With more than 40 years of banking experience, Capablanca founded UCB in 2006 and has overseen the bank’s expansion in South Florida.

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Green Dwellers is still open for business! By appointment only and through their online store. Visit GreenDwellers.com for more info. [updated 8/30/09]

We’re sad to see them go: Green Dwellers, an eco-boutique in Plantation, is closing their doors. You have just a few more days to buy up their inventory at cost. Here is the message from the store’s owner:

Dear Friends,

Though business has been good despite our economic times, I have decided to close my brick and mortar store in order to spend more time with my family, but will continue to offer some of the same great green products online via GreenDwellers.com Owning the first green boutique in South Florida has been a very exciting venture and I got to meet all of you but also a very demanding task for a mom. This lifestyle change will allow me to work at home and continue to educate and speak about the importance of going green and making healthier choices for your home.

I will continue to sell my organic mattresses & pillows and some baby products through sharing of space with the new tenant. In the meatime, I must liquidate the physical inventory as well as the IKEA furniture used for display to make room for the new tenant so I urge you to come take advantage of this one-time, limited time, in-store only opportunity! Spread the word and bring a friend!

Thanks for your business and support!

Mylene D’Arelli

Be sure to call ahead to make sure their doors are still open! I don’t expect they will be open past June 14, 2009. We wish them the best of luck in the future. Thanks for getting the green ball rolling in brick & mortar in South Florida, Mylene!
View Larger Map
5215 W. Broward Blvd.
Plantation, FL
954-533-2295

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Happy Earth Day! We hear it all of the time, Reduce, Reuse, Recycle. (Listen to this while reading.) It's in a specific order for a reason. First, you don't use stuff. Then, if you do use stuff, use it as many times as you can. Finally, if you have stuff that you can't reuse, recycle it so that the material can be used again. The greenest thing you can do is reduce!

So how can Miami Goin' Green (April 25, 2009 @ Bayfront Park) help with the 3R's? Please note that everything is FREE. Here it goes:

REDUCE

Clear2Go Water Bottle with Filter - Bring in 6 disposable water bottles to recycle and get a free reusable bottle. It gives a whole new meaning to BYOB (bottle!).

REUSE

Fashion Forward (a clothing swap) presented by Goodwill - bring a bag of gently used clothes and walk away with clothes that are new to you!

Green Gift Wrapping Demos - Swing by the Eclectica booth for a demonstration of how to use items around your house to wrap gifts!

RECYCLE

All American Secure Shredding - bring your documents to be shredded and recycled.

eWaste Recycling - bring your old cell phones, computers, and other electronic waste for recycling.

Green Team - watch out for our Green Team around the festival! They'll help you sort your trash into compostable, recyclable, and actual garbage. This will lessen the impact of the festival, as well!

Please note that there will be a drop-off area on the edge of the park by the Intercontinental so that you can drop off your items and then go park your car. Of course, you guys are all arriving on bikes (free valet!) and the MetroMover, right?

You can also learn about the 3R's at our Eco Stage. Check out the schedule. 

Click below to see a full list of vendors. See you Saturday!

Read the full story

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10:15 am Green Yoga for Kids by Green Monkey

Kids 18 and under can come on a journey that will enhance their love for nature, conservation, unity with earth along with quotes that highlight the importance for care of the environment. (Recommended: Bring a towel or mat) 

11:00 am Relaxation Yoga by Zen Village (This will take place in the Yoga area by the fountain.)

11:00 am Local Food, Good For You, Good For the Planet by Natural Zest Health Counseling

11:40 am Giving Products their Next Life by NextLife

1:00 pm Earthman Concert by The Earthman Project

2:30 pm Ekotik Eco-Friendly Fashion Show by ekotik

4:20 pm Non-Profit Open Mic by Various

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Did you know that there is a Green Urban Living Center in MDC North Campus? A place to learn all of the eco-knowledge that you can imagine? 

We're a little late getting this posting up, but there are still lots of classes that you can register for: 

Gardening: 

Intro to Horticulture (5/16/09),
Native Landscaping (06/06/09),
Pruning & Propagation (06/13/09),
Container Gardening (2/29/09; 5/30/09),
Organic Composting (02/28/09; 4/19/09; 05/09/09),
Pruning & Propagation (6/13/09),
South Florida's Top 40 (6/20/09), 

Children's classes:

Urban Wildlife – Birds in the Hood (4/19/09, 6/27/09),
Bugs & Butterflies (3/22/09; 04/18/09; 05/30/09),
Oceanography Program (03/07-04/04)
Kids Garden Club (05/12/09-06/02/09)

Please support programs like this - we want them to exist, so we need to attend! Let us know if you've been to any classes at the Green Urban Living Center yet!

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