Dear Ms. Laurence,
Thank you for your fast reply – it was fast. What I was trying to say is that we are inundated with green this and green that. We are looking for more content – what is “green”, what makes something “green”, why is something “greener” than something else?

Hardly anyone out there tells us why something is a greener choice than any another option. Is my All Clad Stainless steel sauté pan as green as the cast iron fry pan? If it isn’t, why not? I bet my stainless steel pan will last as long and as far as I know, the processes used to make it are less toxic to the environment. It probably did travel farther to get to me than my cast iron fry pan – but maybe the manufacturing techniques offset this? Lodge is clearly a better choice than the Le Creuset on the face of it but maybe Lodge isn’t as good at scrubbing the air at their factory? While this kind of depth may be difficult for every story, we want to know more about why you chose what you did for the story. We don’t look to you to give us information on how well they perform because we can get that from Cooks Illustrated or Consumer Reports but we would like to understand why you chose those items as being greener than other similar items. Otherwise, we know that the Le Creuset pot is a good green choice because you said so. We also don’t know if we agree with your findings. We haven’t learned much. What about the million other products you haven’t reviewed?

Example:
Plenty of media outlets and governments are saying that fluorescent lights are better than incandescent but if my mom in Detroit doesn’t know that the fluorescent bulb can’t go in her garbage – it has mercury in it. So if she unknowingly throws it into her normal garbage, it breaks, and the mercury goes into our ground water, is that greener than that incandescent? Who decided this and why? Maybe they are both bad. Which is worse, polluted ground water or using up more electricity? I can’t wait for LED lighting to be more popular so I won’t feel guilty about what light bulb I use. LEDs are clearly better than both. I know this but the general public doesn’t. Let’s tell them!

If you tell me the Le Creuset is great because it is long lived, uses some recycled materials, and new non toxic and fish friendly coatings, we can compile a store house of knowledge in our heads. Then when we go to the store to buy something we can say to ourselves, “gee, this one has fish friendly coatings, uses 30% recycled materials, and while is not cast iron, it may last awhile.” That might make me buy a greener TV or cell phone or toy. This is worthwhile knowledge to learn and isn’t that what the magazine is about? Otherwise you are like a fashion magazine, predicting that this item is currently considered “trendy” today but tomorrow some other item will be.

M Grisdale

From: Jocelyn Laurence [mailto:jocelynlaurence@castlebridge.ca]
Sent: Monday, September 22, 2008 4:28 PM
To: MGrisdale@teamsdesign.com
Subject: Green Living magazine

Dear Ms. Grisdale,

Thanks for your comments. Sorry I’ve taken a while to get back to you, but I wanted to check with both the writer and fact-checker before I responded.

Regarding our decision-making process, I simply asked the writer to give me a good cross-section of cookware that fulfills various functions and is green. She was assisted by Green Living Enterprises’ in-house researcher, who has been involved in the green world for decades.

I confess I felt that you saying the article was “sadly lacking in content” was a bit extreme. For a number of the items featured (the Big Green Egg, the Thermal Magic Cooker & Hotpan), explanations were given for how they save energy, and in the non-stick cookware, it is well explained why ceramic is preferable to conventional coatings. We try to provide readers with choices, but we don’t have the resources (or the mandate) of a Consumer Reports-type magazine.

However, as you must know, there are no easy answers or perfect solutions to green question. Somewhere, at some point in the manufacturing/growing/harvesting/distribution process, there is an inevitable fly in the ointment.

As for cast iron, I personally think it’s the best of the bunch. I have a cast-iron frying pan that is at least 40 years old and is going strong. Yes, the manufacturing casts a large footprint, but cast-iron cookware is not only something you buy once in your lifetime but also something you hand on to your kids and grandchildren.

With the benefit of hindsight, I would have emphasized high-quality cast-iron cookware manufactured in North American, to avoid international shipping. And I just yesterday found out that at least one manufacturer (Lodge) is working (successfully) towards more environmentally friendly practices.

Hope this helps and all the best with your green efforts.

Sincerely,

Jocelyn Laurence

Editor
Green Living magazine
Green Living Enterprises
70 The Esplanade, Suite 400
Toronto, Ontario
M5E 1R2

Carmel Country Inn was great and I would recommend it.

I don’t know if all the rooms are alike, but ours walked into a living room with a couch, TV/DVD, wet bar, refridgerator. Bathroom was small (and I think it was located off the living room), but it was quite clean as was the rest of the suite. The bedroom separate from the living room which was nice because I tend to stay up later than Sarita so I could watch a little TV without keeping her up.

The proprieters were pleasant (coffee and continental breakfast in the AM) and had suggestions for galleries to tour. Parking was a bit tight so if you’ll have a big car, I’d suggest parking on the street vs. in the lot in back. I’d also recommend driving to the beach; you could walk, but if you have your hands full with towels, etc it will be a long walk.

We really loved Carmel – probably our favorite place on the trip. If you do tour the art galleries, I recommend stopping in at Craghead Gallery.

Hope you enjoy your trip!

Andy Zilch

So would you suggest Carmel Country Inn for a 2-3 day family stay? We were planning a road trip around the area, so we’d appreciate any feedback that you might have.
http://www.ca-bnb-review.com/n=carmel+country+inn&id=201621&t=hotelinfo
Great thanks,
Pierre Dowing

Greenwash vs. Clean Green: Top Retailers Exposed

I enjoyed reading your blog entry. You make a good point about protecting life everywhere. What I can’t understand is how many of the “pro-life” politicians can support a war that kills the most innocent people of all – civilians. Through August 2008, there have been an estimated 642,000 CIVILIANS killed in Iraq and Afghanistan since the US-led coalition attacked in 2001. That’s not very supportive of life.