July eMail Update

Go Beyond the Pledge!

Take a good look at your food habits - what you purchase has a huge effect on your carbon emissions. The fact that buying local food is often fresher, keeps the local economy thriving and creates a sense of community are just added bonuses to the decrease in your carbon emissions when you purchase more food that is grown near Madison!

 

Did you know that each food item in a typical U.S. meal has traveled an average of 1,500 miles? If every person in the U.S. ate one meal a week composed of locally and organically raised meat and produce, we would reduce our country’s oil consumption by over 1.1 million barrels of oil every week - or avoid emitting 473,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide into our atmosphere every week! Why organic? Over 25% of all farming energy goes into synthetic fertilizers, pesticides and herbicides – buying organic cuts out the need for synthetic fertilizers and thus cuts out the oil and emissions associated with them. Read more about organic farming and climate change.

 

Little changes in buying habits sure do add up. So start small and challenge yourself to start purchasing more locally. Start with a loaf of bread from your neighborhood bakery or half of your produce this summer from the farmers market. Already do that? Check out this map and challenge yourself to the 100 mile diet! You can start planting your own food – even if it’s just an herb garden and a potted tomato.

Start a competition with your co-workers, see who can bring in the most local lunch every Tuesday! Or have everyone plant one potted vegetable, and the gardener of the plant that produces first gets taken out to lunch (to a restaurant serving local food of course!) Find lots of useful information on urban gardening for those of us without a backyard.

 

If you want to eat local, Madison is a great place to be.  Madison’s farmers markets are some of the best in the United States! We also have two food related Mpowered Business which can help you go beyond your pledge:  MACSAC and Metcalfe's Sentry. MACSAC can link you directly with a farm - there are new farms and some fall shares still available. Can’t make it to a farmer’s market or live too far from a co-op? Think again! Even “normal” grocery stores supply local food, Metcalfe's Sentry carries items from over 175 local suppliers; ranging from Bagels Forever with 0.8 food miles to Roth’s Maple Syrup with 253 food miles. Contact your grocery store for a list of their locally supplied items.

 

Another area in which you can make changes is what you eat. Reducing your meat consumption can have an even greater impact than buying local according to this study . For an average American diet, eating vegetarian one day per week reduces one’s emissions equivalent to driving 1160 less miles per year!

Recommended readings on food issues: Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver; The Omnivores Dilemma and In Defense of Food by Michael Pollen; The New York Times Business Series The Food Chain.

 

Mpowered Business: Metcalfe's Sentry

 

Metcalfe’s Market has supported renewable energy since it was first offered by MGE in 1999, as a Charter Member and Leader in MGE’s first Wind Power program.  In March of this year, Sentry stepped up their commitment to sustainable practices and began offsetting 100% of their carbon dioxide emissions from electricity use by purchasing clean, renewable energy from MGE! Sentry is currently one of the largest leaders in the Green Power Tomorrow Program and is a member of the Green Power Leadership Club with the US EPA. They are offsetting approximately 4,184 tons of carbon dioxide and 1,416 tons of coal annually - or about 19.8 railroad cars full of coal. We congratulate Sentry for their decision which benefits us all! 

 

Art Fair on the Greener Square: July 12th and 13th

 

Art Fair on the Square will celebrate its golden anniversary with a number of green initiatives intended to lessen the fair’s environmental impact, while also shinning a light on sound environmental practices. The Madison Museum of Contemporary Art, with generous support from Madison Gas and Electric, has collaborated with local and regional organizations, as well as participating artists and vendors, to create an Art Fair on the Greener Square campaign for the fair’s 50th anniversary.  Bring your camera and take your picture with the 9 ft M! Would you like your photos of you and the M featured on mpoweringmadison.com? If so, send them with (or without) your Mpowering story to info@mpoweringmadison.com.

 

You are invited to the Applied Tec Open House: July 29th

 

Join Applied Tech, Dane County’s second largest independently-owned IT firm, for their open house event that will include drinks, food, networking, fun, and the 42-foot Microsoft truck. Experience the latest technology first-hand and tour their unique office space that was created by using repurposed materials! Come see for yourself why Applied Tech was voted one of the 2008 Dane County’s Small Business Award recipients.

 

 Please RSVP to Applied Tech by calling the office at 608-257-6051 x23, or online at: www.clicktoattend.com Event Code: 129152

There will be an exciting announcement at 6 pm – as an Mpowered Business you won’t want to miss this!

 

Date: Tuesday, July 29, 2008

Time: 3 pm to 7 pm

Where: Applied Tech - 203 S.  Paterson Street, Ste 500

(Between E. Washington Ave & Williamson St.)