The Eco Good Life at Green Fest 09

Old friends, such as the Hackensack Riverkeeper and C.A.T.S., and new, took part in the Pascack Sustainability Group's first ever Green Fest.

Fortunately, many youth groups were involved. I became a vegetarian and environmentalist at just 14, so I'm living proof of how changes early on can stay with you a lifetime. Certainly, the parents in suburbia aren't doing a good job (um, driving gas-guzzling SUVs that pollute everyone's air and burn their kids college money down the tank.)

The Pascack Hills High School Environmental Club handed out free CFL bulbs. Learn more about CFL and mercury-free LED lighting.

Tips about greening your lunch box were supplied by Green Sky Industries, including choosing food with natural packaging (i.e., oranges) or less packing to throw away, and packing in-season, locally grown produce. The only thing missing? Going vegetarian, of course.

I was never a Girl Scout, but I would have rocked it as an Earth Scout if they were around in my youth. Ages 6-18 can join.

The Earth Scouts had two displays, including turning trash into art, and this one, on using reusable materials for gift wrapping, such as a kitchen towel, or an apron to wrap a cookbook. How about The Best of Vegan Cooking, from Priscilla Feral and the Friends of Animals? Or a used vegan cookbook from The Strand or your local second-hand bookshop?

The GFWC Paskack Junior Women's Club handed out Scotch Pine seedlings. The average American consumes more than 700 pounds of paper a year! Learn more about the paper industry, global warming and the environment, and some great tips on reducing your consumption, from thedailygreen.com.

Buyer beware of all this hyped up "green" fashion marketing (i.e., organic, sustainable, etc.) Personally, I feel it's just a way to make us feel better about our mass consumerism. If you're serious about being an eco-fashionista, A) be content with having less, and B) second hand (thrift shops, garage sales, clothing swaps, etc.) is the way to go.

My favorite store, the C.A.T.S. Resale Shop in Westwood, held a fashion show to demonstrate how stylish you can look in clothes that have been given a second life. These ladies look pretty fabulous to me.

Love the green runway!








NorthJersey.com also provided a round-up. Check out the red dress and necklace.

One More Time: Home on 8th

Despite my uneasiness over the disposable dishes they use to serve meals in-house, I decided to give Home on 8th (near Madison Square Garden) another try.

The vegetarian steamed dumplings, $5.50. They taste as bland as they look in this photo. Skip these.

The Peanut Butter Lover's Tofu (with carrots, broccoli and cabbage in a peanut-vinegar sauce), $9.95. I'm a peanut butter lover. Heck, I'm a borderline peanut butter enthusiast. But can I get some tofu and veggies with this peanut butter sauce?

I paired it with a teany peach berry green tea, $2. Okay, but so much cheaper and eco-friendly to brew your own at home and sweeten with agave nectar. Learn about the health benefits of agave here.

So that was take 2. I don't think take 3 will be on the horizon soon. I'll stick with my favorite, Empire Hunan, in Fair Lawn, NJ. Those disposable dishes just irk me too much. There's unfortunately a need for disposables sometimes, but it doesn't seem necessary here. I often look out the window on my bus ride to work each day and view the mini-landfills of trash on the roadside (consisting of water bottles, Doritos bags, Dunkin' Donuts cups, you name it) and think about our excessive waste and how we pollute, yet people justify the killing of geese, starlings, and even deer for supposedly polluting. Trying to cut down on our waste, and educate others on this, is a great resolution for the upcoming Earth Day and always.

Looking for vegan restaurants in New York City? Check out this Friends of Animals guide. (PDF)