Memo to Gore: Go Vegetarian!

What is the Number 1 cause of Global Warming? Do you think it is your neighbor's SUV - the one that makes your blood boil every time you see it? Not really. A United Nations study last November concluded that livestock business generates more greenhouse gas emissions than all forms of transportation combined. Wow! That means all jet emissions, evil-SUV emissions, goods truck emissions, and so on! That is huge!

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/29/business/media/29adco.html

Plastic bags are bad

Here's a link to a salon.com article from August 9th which expounds on the evils of plastic bags. Really baffles me why more people won't carry cloth/canvas bags with them for groceries and refuse plastic bags for things which they can just carry in their purse / pant pocket / wallet! I keep several cloth bags always in my car and atleast one in my backpack.

http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2007/08/10/plastic_bags/index.html?source=rss

The plastic bag is an icon of convenience culture, by some estimates the single most ubiquitous consumer item on Earth, numbering in the trillions. They're made from petroleum or natural gas with all the attendant environmental impacts of harvesting fossil fuels. One recent study found that the inks and colorants used on some bags contain lead, a toxin. Every year, Americans throw away some 100 billion plastic bags after they've been used to transport a prescription home from the drugstore or a quart of milk from the grocery store. It's equivalent to dumping nearly 12 million barrels of oil.

Why recycling plastic bags is a pain and a myth. Speaking of San Francisco....

But this city's vaunted recycling program, which is so advanced that it can collect coffee grounds and banana peels from urbanites' apartment kitchens and transform them into compost used to grow grapes in Napa Valley vineyards, simply cannot master the plastic bag.

And here's some guilt-free fashion
http://www.anyahindmarch.com/division/environmental_bags.aspx

A Vegetarian in Carmel, CA

After a great 6-mile hike at the Point Lobos state reserve (3 miles south of Carmel) where we had our fill of breathtaking views, we were really hungry and looking to be filled up with some real food.

Since we were in search of something quick, we decided to go for a small Chinese restaurant with several vegetarian options on their menu. "Tommy's Wok" on Ocean Ave and Mission is somewhat difficult to spot at first since it is hidden in the square. The small dining room adjoins an open kitchen which also has an entrance and exit for guests.

The menu had lunch specials priced very reasonably as well as a separate Dim Sum menu. We ordered the lone vegetarian item off the Dim Sum menu, the "onion pancakes". This arrived after our main course, but no complaints since the main course arrived fairly quickly.



For the main course both of us ordered off of the lunch specials. V ordered the Vegetable Deluxe, and I ordered the String beans (one of my favorites at Chinese restaurants). Both came with brown rice.




The Vegetable Deluxe was very good with crunchy seasonal vegetables. V did not even request his customary hot sauce - maybe he was just too hungry. (However he did not forget to ask for a side of peanuts.) The String Beans were a bit of a disappointment since some of the green beans were too mature and fibrous. I think maybe they just got a bad batch of green beans. I did not care much for the onion cakes, but V seemed to enjoy it with the side of plum sauce. The bill came to around $20 for the two of us. Tommy's Wok is a great place to go for a quick inexpensive lunch, which may be hard to find on Ocean Ave in Carmel.