Ideal Bite

San Francisco's an hour away from wine country, so it makes sense that our office is full of wine snob-I mean, connoisseurs. But whether you're a connoisseur, or hate the stuff and just keep a bottle of pinot noir in your pantry in case of unexpected wino guests, it still helps to know what some of the vocab words on the label stand for.

The U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms is the government department that handles wine labeling, and it's created four categories of green vino:

1.       100% organic wine is made from 100% certified-organic grapes grown on an organic farm, and doesn't contain any added sulfites (a preservative in most wines).

2.       Organic wine contains at least 95% organically grown grapes from an organic farm, without added sulfites.

3.       Made with organic grapes

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San Francisco's an hour away from wine country, so it makes sense that our office is full of wine snob-I mean, connoisseurs. But whether you're a connoisseur, or hate the stuff and just keep a bottle of pinot noir in your pantry in case of unexpected wino guests, it still helps to know what some of the vocab words on the label stand for.

The U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms is the government department that handles wine labeling, and it's created four categories of green vino:

1.       100% organic wine is made from 100% certified-organic grapes grown on an organic farm, and doesn't contain any added sulfites (a preservative in most wines).

2.       Organic wine contains at least 95% organically grown grapes from an organic farm, without added sulfites.

3.       Made with organic grapes

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I used to be that antimakeup girl - you know the one. And I can't lie, the words "natural beauty" escaped my lips on more than a few occasions. But that was all pre-sunspots. Now that I have what I've come to resentfully refer to as my "cheetah face," I embrace with open arms the stuff that evens my skin tone. Thanks, makeup (and makeup brushes).

Still, I try to steer clear of slathering myself with more of the hormones that got me into this spotty mess to begin with. That means nothing paraben-laden touches this face, thankyouverymuch. Check out SkinDeep.com to make sure your favorites are on the safe side. Oh, and check out some of the cool things the natural-beauty believers at Aveda are doing to raise money for clean water and Read the full post... 

For some reason, for me there's always been a higher barrier to entry to composting versus, say, recycling, or avoiding plastic bags and water bottles. Part of this is that I don't have a yard; I have public park. For years, a fellow apartment-dwelling friend of mine has collected all of her compost in a large plastic bag that she stores in her freezer until she can drop it off at a city composting facility or throw it into a yard-owning friend's heap. It's smart and doesn't require tons of effort, but it's still not what I'd call easy.

Luckily, some cities are putting a lot more effort into making it even easier - in SF, for example, we not only have communal veggie gardens popping up behind and between apartment buildings, but we also have a major city composting program, where you can chuck your compostables into a green bin just like you'd throw a can into the blue

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I tried to find a common thread here, but came up empty-handed. Hope you enjoy our genre-busting, Biter-iffic springtime mix...

1.       Life of Everything by Larkin Gayl (Co-founder Heather)

2.       Hello Bonjour by Michael Franti (Co-founder Jen)

3.       Where Do You Go To by Peter Sarstedt (Editorial Director Jenifer)

4.       Fly Paper by k-os (SF Editor Mike)

5.       Not Ready to Make Nice by the Dixie Chicks (SF Intern Natalie)

6.       Rich Girls by the Virgins (LA Editor Molly)

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I had the op to see the clandestine gray water system mentioned in today's Personally Speaking firsthand on Easter. The thing was pretty impressive - rigged by [Anonymous]'s dad for under $100 and a lotta elbow grease.

[Anonymous]'s mom took a shower before Easter brunch, so we watched the slightly sudsy water trickle out onto a bunch of healthy California poppies in the yard. Gray water systems: the eco-friendliest way to break the law, ever?

-Toshio...off to suds up...

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I had the op to see the clandestine gray water system mentioned in today's Personally Speaking firsthand on Easter. The thing was pretty impressive - rigged by [Anonymous]'s dad for under $100 and a lotta elbow grease.

[Anonymous]'s mom took a shower before Easter brunch, so we watched the slightly sudsy water trickle out onto a bunch of healthy California poppies in the yard. Gray water systems: the eco-friendliest way to break the law, ever?

-Toshio...off to suds up...

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Ah, the irony of today's tip: dried fruit...on my birthday. (Toshio swears it wasn't me that inspired the wrinkle references...but thanks guys, thanks.)

I guess I have a few more years before I become that cranky, pretending-to-be-deaf old lady who just does whatever the hell she wants and no one will say anything, but when that day comes, I plan to boost my antioxidant intake with dried fruit morning, noon, and night...by way of heavily buttered panettone (with a bottle of Moscato on the side).

I guess for that to be eco, I'll need to actually live in Italy. Oh, shucks...

-Jenifer Morgan...off to see if I look more like a dried prune or a dried apple...

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Let us know here in the blog comments or by using the Submit a Tip form what big green issues are on your mind (alternative energy? Antibacterial resistance? Mascara?) as 2008 rolls on, so's we can make some space in our editorial calendar to address those issues.

-Toshio...off to get voted most controversial Bite team member...

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So the IB office is pretty darn green, down to the organic tea in our make-shift kitchen and the 20-ton reused desk Toshio and I lugged over from a closing office building across town.

But we're green by accident in one arena: We print almost nothing. That's partly because we're aware that most edocuments are just as easy to ref as a printed page, but also because our inclination to print was nipped in the bud by a temperamental wireless printer. We just didn't want to hassle with it and found ways around needing it.

Easy Way to Go Green at the Office #11: Technical malfunctioning.

-Jenifer Morgan...off to print in draft...from home...

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