This morning at 7:30, the news said it was -10 degrees outside. Sick. Seriously, I am getting tired of the wonderful statistics about this warm and fuzzy winter season. Apparently, the average snowfall is recorded at 38 inches for the entire winter. We surpassed that just a few days ago in mid-January. Don't worry, we have another 3.5 months left of great Chicago winter left. (Yes, that puts us into May, but it has snowed then too- it's wacky around here.)
I found a new "green living" type of book called Confessions of an Eco-Sinner, by Fred Pearce. It's about a guy who figures that he needs to know where all of his stuff, food, energy, etc. comes from and sets off around the world to find out. I've read so far about the gold mining in Africa and coffee farming in Tanzania and there's some interesting stuff in there. For example, I did not realize that it took over 2 tons of mined rock and 550 tons of pressurized water to make my gold wedding bands and that over 60,000 workers are mining this stuff in one location- true story. I've often wondered about this kind of thing, like "who makes this stuff?" or "are they getting fair-trade for this tiny sack of herbs and spices"? This book answers at least some of those questions. Hopefully I will trust some of what Pearce is presenting and become a more well-informed consumer.
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