LFLindell’s Recent Comments

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  "The Year with No Summer" - NOT!  If you want a picture broader than local weather (and doesn't weather cumulatively add up to climate, anyway?) see this dramatic graphic from the National Climatic Data Center, which shows that "the year with no summer" would be a misnomer for most areas of the globe:

  www.ncdc.noaa.gov/sotc/index.php?report=global&year=2009&month=jun

  
  Scroll down to the two small maps titled Temperature Anomalies June 2009, and click to enlarge them (one map is for land surface temperatures, the other for blended land and sea surface temps.) The dots show variation from average, red = warmer, blue = cooler, with bigger dots representing bigger variation. In case you have trouble seeing it for yourself, the "global highlighs" section just above the maps states plainly, "Large portions of each inhabited continent were substantially warmer than average during June 2009." 

  
  I was directed to this graphic by Dr James Dontje, who directs an environmental center at a small midwestern college, where June was indeed cooler than usual. Other resources he suggested are ClimateProgress.org, and (if you want "just the facts, ma'am") ClimateData.info, which aims to provide facts apart from position-oriented contexts.

  On Ask Umbra on combating climate denial posted 2 months, 1 week ago 55 Responses

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  Decent Exposures make custom-fit bras, including organic fabric if you choose (current colors for organic cotton with lycra are cream and blue; or for plain organic cotton are cream, blue, pink, black.)  These bras are very comfortable in my experience, but  fit in the category Umbra describes as probably not-particularly-supportive, along the lines of the Gaiam and Fairies Dance ones, although with a much greater range of sizes.

  On Ask Umbra on eco-undies posted 5 months, 3 weeks ago 14 Responses

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  Simply in Season

  Like a couple of other readers here, I use the cookbook "Simply in Season" a lot. It has color-coded page edges to visually group recipes suitable for cooking in each of the four north American seasons, plus a fifth "all seasons" section for dried beans, dried fruit, whole grains, tofu/tempeh, dairy and meats.

  The cookbook is also indexed by key ingredients, with lists for such things as sweet potatoes, strawberries, mint, dandelion and other wild greens, quinoa, rabbit, persimmons, and many more. Not all ingredients will be local to all parts of the U.S. but most cooks will find something relevant.

  Simply in Season's recipes are consistently easy, practical, and economical by intention; this is not a gourmet-type cookbook, and you probably won't have to do any special preparatory shopping if you have the usual basics on hand, stick with the appropriate seasonal section, and choose recipes that match your most available fresh ingredient(s). (The most complicated recipe, in my opinion, is one called "Pumpkin Chocolate Cheesecake": it's tasty, but I wrote in my cookbook margin that it barely qualifies for the "simply" part of cooking simply and in season.)

  Simply in Season also includes stories, reflections on cooking and eating, information on maximizing nutritional value, and lists of "invitations to action" at the end of each section. The book is subtitled "Recipes that clebrate fresh, local foods in the spirit of More With Less," which refers to a predecessor cookbook that my mother, and then I, have cooked from for decades. (I also love the international recipes in the second book in the trilogy, "Extending the Table", although as I work to increasingly eat more food grown locally, I have had to regretfully give up some long-standing favorites from that cookbook.)

  All three cookbooks were commissioned by Mennonite Central Committee, a relief, community development and peace organization, and can be purchased directly from the publisher at www.worldcommunitycookbooks.org.  On Umbra on cookbooks posted 1 year ago 16 Responses