Workshops along the tour will include Creative Direct Action, Arts in Action, Organizing Online, Corporate Research & Power Analysis, Women & Workers’ Rights, and more. Renowned singer/songwriter Anne Feeney will also join the Tour, sharing her inspirational music that has infused hope and energy in many struggles for labor rights and economic justice nationally and internationally.  Local groups that are interested in working with the Tour can propose other workshop themes as well that would help build their community organizing efforts.

For more information, to schedule an event, or to make a donation visit: www.SummerofSolidarity.org

This time around the vote received less Democratic support than past, similar bills on the KXL have garnered. Nineteen Democrats supported the legislation introduced by Rep. Lee Terry (R-NE) and one Republican voted “present” rather than for or against the bill.

The White House has stated that it would veto the bill were the Senate to pass it. The Senate might defeat the measure if it comes to a vote – yet if it passed the Senate there are not sufficient votes to over-ride a Presidential veto.

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2013/05/23/1211165/-Nineteen-House-Democrats-vote-to-take-authority-over-Keystone-XL-decision-away-from-the-president

As reported in the Daily Kos, Oil Change International found that “supporters (of the KXL legislation) have taken six times more campaign contributions from the oil industry than did the opponents, a total of $56 million.”  

Green America strongly urges President Obama to act on his commitment to addressing climate change and to oppose the Keystone XL pipeline for the sake of present and future human and environmental health. We haven’t a moment to lose in shifting to a clean energy economy.

May 23, 2013: Women, Climate, and Energy!

Today Green America participated in the White House Leadership Summit on Women, Climate, and Energy. More than 100 women leaders from across the country gathered in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building to share information and strategies for promoting clean energy, cutting carbon emissions, mitigating climate change impacts on the most vulnerable populations, and developing messages and actions that will resonate with a majority of Americans.

Participants represented civil society organizations, academia, business, government agencies, and philanthropy. The new U.S. Secretary of Energy, Ernest Moniz, addressed the group on what was his third day in office. He stated that science requires that we respond to climate change and reminded everyone that the 400 parts per million of CO2 now measured at the Mauna Loa Observatory in Hawaii does not include non-CO2 greenhouse gases – so the danger is even greater. Many scientists worldwide believe 350 parts per million is the safe upper limit for carbon dioxide in our atmosphere.

Former astronaut Dr. Kathy Sullivan discussed how seeing Earth from orbit really makes one understand how much time we waste on boundaries that divide us – when there is only one “we” – we Earthlings.

The Rev. Canon Sally Bingham of Interfaith Power and Light acknowledged the magnitude of the challenge before us and asked, “What is the difference between hope and optimism?” She said, “Hope is a verb, with your sleeves rolled-up.” So we must all roll-up our sleeves and take all the actions we can to reduce carbon pollution and promote renewable energy and efficiency — immediately.

Fran Teplitz, Green America with Kristin Graf, Women of Wind Energy at Eisenhower Executive Office Building.

As Green America’s policy director, I was able to introduce the potential of Clean Energy Victory Bonds as an innovative financing mechanism for clean energy and efficiency and will be following up with new contacts from the event to advance the bond.

The Summit was hosted by the U.S. Department of Energy, the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, the White House Council on Environmental Quality, the White House Council on Women and Girls, and the White House Office of Public Engagement.

Faith-based Leaders Mobilize on Climate Change

An interfaith panel of leaders spoke movingly about the spiritual mandate, across faiths, to protect the natural world. Premier climate scientist James Hansen joined in bestowing this year’s NRCCC award to Bill McKibben, founder and director of 350.org.

The religious leaders spoke on a range of themes, including:

• * The role of the faith community in developing a compelling message of urgency and hope as we confront the global climate crisis.

* The linkage between ecological and spiritual crises.

* The need to continue to focus on carbon mitigation, not just adaptation.

* The plight of environmental refugees.

* The destruction of ecosystems and animals unable to adapt.

* The human role in repairing or healing the earth; “creation care” as a matter of life.

Bill McKibben Addresses Faith Leaders and Activists

Bill McKibben was introduced as “a writer, warrior, philosopher, and patriot.” NRCCC recognized Bill’s leadership in building a movement that harnesses the energy of young people and empowers people to take action. Bill spoke of “the most interesting technology of the 20^th century,” saying it wasn’t nuclear power or the internet – but rather the process of non-violent social change. He added, “It is impossible to guarantee that we will win, but at the same time, if we believe and hope while we take action, then we may prevail.”

For information on 350.org summer actions visit – http://joinsummerheat.org/

Green Americans Join Interfaith Action on Climate

The measure is anticipated to be fully supported by Republicans and it might garner some Democratic support as well. Fortunately, this push for more fossil fuel is unlikely to advance in the Senate.

We need to maintain pressure against the KXL – from concerned individuals, businesses, investors, religious leaders, students, and everyone who recognizes the need to focus our nation on renewable energy development.

The pipeline has dire implications for climate change, human health, the environment, and the U.S. economy. Extracting dirty, Canadian tar sands oil, transporting it through the U.S., and exporting much if it via the Texas Gulf Coast is an irresponsible strategy….unless you represent Big Oil. It does not serve the interests of the U.S. public that will have to endure oil spills, health problems, and rising fuel costs in Midwestern states that could lead to increased unemployment. It does not serve the interests of the Cree, Dene and Métis indigenous communities that now endure the consequences of tar sands extraction.

Tell your Representative today that you oppose the Keystone XL  pipeline and urge your Representative to VOTE AGAINST any legislation to advance this dirty energy project. Congressional switchboard: (202) 224-3121. To find your Representative: http://www.house.gov/representatives/find/

NOAA states that this record:

“marks an important milestone because Mauna Loa, as the oldest continuous carbon dioxide (CO2.) measurement station in the world, is the primary global benchmark site for monitoring the increase of this potent heat-trapping gas.

Carbon dioxide pumped into the atmosphere by fossil fuel burning and other human activities is the most significant greenhouse gas (GHG) contributing to climate change. Its concentration has increased every year since scientists started making measurements on the slopes of the Mauna Loa volcano more than five decades ago. The rate of increase has accelerated since the measurements started, from about 0.7 ppm per year in the late 1950s to 2.1 ppm per year during the last 10 years.”

Climate leader Bill McKibben, founder of 350.org, asserted, “The only question now is whether the relentless rise in carbon can be matched by a relentless rise in the activism necessary to stop it.” Many scientists believe that 350 parts per million is the safe upper limit for carbon dioxide in our atmosphere. It has never been clearer that we must do everything in our power to end our reliance on fossil fuels. To support financing for renewable energy and efficiency, visit: www.CleanEnergyVictoryBonds.org

What’s more, we invite YOU to listen in on a live-stream of the opening of the Summit from 10:00 AM to 12:00 PM on www.whitehouse.gov/live.

Speakers will (tentatively) include:

• Dr. Kathy Sullivan, Acting Administrator, NOAA
• Chair Nancy Sutley, Council on Environmental Quality
• Heather Zichal, Deputy Assistant to the President on Energy and Climate Change
• Dorothy Robyn, General Services Administration
• Kateri Callahan, President, Alliance to Save Energy
• Nancy Pfund, Managing Director, DBL Investors
• Frances Beinecke, President, NRDC
• Cecilia Estolano, Estolano LeSar Perez Advisors
• Reverend Sally Bingham, Regeneration Project

We hope you can listen in on the conversation on Thursday, May 23, 10:00 AM to 12:00 PM on www.whitehouse.gov/live.

Erika Nicole Kendall’s before and after shot. Photo credit: blackgirlsguidetoweightloss.com

Martha van Gelder: What do you recommend to people trying to get rid of a sugar addiction?

Erika Nicole Kendall: Therapy, and the book The End of Overeating by David A Kessler. Seriously. Learning to cope with life out of the context of binge eating is hard, and getting assistance with that is always okay.

Martha: So, what’s the big problem with juice? Can something made from fruits and veggies really be bad for you?

Erika: Now, I’m not a juice drinker because I prefer to eat my calories, not drink them, but also because I’m a recovering binge/emotional eater; sudden and swift intakes of sugars aren’t emotionally healthy for me.

However, there are two big things that I struggle with with people who juice: 1) I can’t understand adults who refuse to eat vegetables unless they can drink them in a glass full of juiced fruits, and 2) I’m relatively certain that the intake of sugar, in the absence of fiber, is what contributes to high blood sugar and, thereafter, type 2 diabetes. (Robert Lustig talks about this an awful lot.)

Photo Credit: blackgirlsguidetoweightloss.com

If people are juicing tons of fruits and there’s no fiber to soften the blow of that sugar on their system, then that’s a problem. If people are just juicing kale with pineapples, apples, strawberries, pears and mangoes because they can’t stand to try to find a way to cook the kale healthily, then that’s neither sustainable nor sensible.

Martha: What has been the hardest thing for your readers to hear from you?

Erika: They seriously struggle with the fact that I don’t do juices, supplements, diets or detoxes. It’s almost like it’s an affront to everything they’ve learned about what it truly means to be healthy.

Martha: Kids LOVE sugar – what do you do with your daughter to help her learn about healthy eating?

Erika: It’s hard with kids, especially since they’re in school, and they’re learning about life WITHOUT you. It’s more important for me to reinforce for my daughter a standard understanding of what “healthy” is, because she WILL eat the Oreos when I’m not around. I’ve accepted that. So, I try to ensure that she not only knows what “healthy” is, but also what “tasty” is. If I take her to a bakery and pick out a macaroon, and sit that next to an Oreo, she’s going to choose the macaroon. She knows quality.

Photo Credit: Mihoda of Flickr

I also don’t spaz on her if she manages to eat the Oreo, anyway. They’re kids. I’d rather her grow up healthy than teach her the specifics as a teen, than have her develop a complex that results in her hiding in bathrooms eating “bad foods” because she doesn’t want Mommy and Daddy to look down upon her.

Martha: I thought your “come to fitness moment” in your blog was a pretty powerful story – but it also seemed to illustrate that making such a huge change in your life requires a huge change in mindset. Do you think your message can reach people who haven’t had a big shift in clarity like that?

Erika: Yes, only because I think people often wonder what’s separating them from making the kind of progress they may want to make for themselves. I find that most people are waiting for a big motivational push to come from the sky to make them get moving, but it never happens that way, and I think the “come to fitness moment” is the cornerstone of that realization. No, a giant foot will not descend from the clouds and kick you in the hindquarters. You’ve just got to breathe deeply, stand up, and dive head first. And, more often than not, you’ve been made better for it.

You can read more from Erica at her website here, and connect with her on Twitter and Facebook.

I’m not proud. But because of the fast, normal desserts are just too sweet for me. So, instead of making a straight-up batch of cookies when my inevitable fall to delicious cookie temptation occurred, I made a low-sugar variety.

To compensate for the decrease in sweetness, I added more vanilla extract, and a dash of cinnamon. I’d really love to do a vegan version of this, and I’m planning on trying out a low sugar version of this vegan cookie  recipe next.

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup (1 stick) softened butter
• 1/3 cup packed brown sugar*
• 2 tsp. vanilla extract*
• 1 egg
• 1 cup flour
• 1/2 tsp. baking soda
• 1/2 tsp. cinnamon*
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1/2 cup dark chocolate*
• 1/2 cup broken walnuts

* Starred ingredients are moderately common in Fair Trade form.

Directions:

You know the drill: Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Then grease the cookie sheet unless you want to live dangerously. Mix the wet ingredients together in one bowl, and the dry ingredients together in another bowl. Then mix them together. Warning: if the butter is too hot, it will melt some of the chocolate chips (you can see by my photo that this happened to me).

Final word of warning: don’t go eating three times as many cookies just because it has 1/3 less sugar. That sabotages the whole effort.

“I’d never do that!” you say.

Yes you would. These cookies are so darn good.

Guest blogger and Certified Nutrition Specialist Tricia McCauley

Guest blogger Tricia McCauley is a Certified Nutrition Specialist and herbalist, and the author of the popular  Green American article “Managing Stress with Herbal Support.”  Twenty years ago, Tricia began her exploratory journey with food and cooking as she coped with severe food sensitivities. Learning to cook with brand-new staples; cutting all gluten, corn, soy, garlic, canola oil, and sugar out of her diet; and discovering the connections between digestion and stress taught Tricia a great deal about patience and self-care.  She is thrilled to have recently re-introduced her formerly forbidden foods back onto her plate! She’s the resident herbalist at Common Good City Farm in Washington, DC, and through her business Nutricia Consulting, she helps clients adopt healthier relationships with food, specializing in identifying food sensitivities, undertaking dietary transitions, and managing stress. See the end of this blog entry for a special deal on her e-book and e-workbook on detoxing.

Green America asked Tricia to talk to us about how to best cope with “detoxing” from too much added sugar.

Does the title of this article make you feel anxious or a little jittery?  Does the idea of taking the added sugars out of your diet seem overwhelming?  Do you feel like you have a Relationship with sugar, that it functions in your life as a friend or maybe even a significant other?

These are good signs that a sugar detox is exactly what you need.

For all the reasons outlined in the “Sickeningly Sweet” issue of the Green American, taking a break from sugar is a worthwhile experiment.  Maybe you’ll find that it’s not a problem in your life.  Or, maybe you’ll find that you actually are an addict and that the detoxing process is a true rite of passage.  I’m a big fan of having as much information as possible about the effects of food on my body.  Even if you decide, after a detox, to return to eating candy corn for lunch, you’ll have a clear idea of how sugar affects you, and how much power you have over your cravings and addictions.

What can you expect when detoxing from sugar?  That depends on two things:  (1) how deeply you are addicted, and (2) how gently you approach your cleanse.  Going cold-turkey from sugar can be a huge challenge.  You might experience shakiness, sweatiness, lethargy, mood swings, or even skin breakouts as the body re-orients itself.  It seems counter-intuitive, but often when we take out toxins, things get worse before they get better.  Sort of like when someone quits smoking and then gets a bad (or worse) cough.  The body is readjusting itself to the lack of toxic inputs, and that can feel disorienting. Or, you may feel just fine and have no side effects.

If you skip the cold turkey and instead plan a GENTLE, gradual detox, it’s very possible to have a delightful experience.

I took refined sugar completely out of my diet for about two years, over a decade ago.  It was in conjunction with a lot of other dietary changes in an attempt to get my food sensitivities under control.  When I couldn’t eat any gluten, corn, or soy, it was so easy to avoid sugar.  Lately, though I’ve noticed that the sugar has crept back in—this past year of unrestricted eating has been a slippery slope of temptation!  When I’m at a party, I can actually have a piece of cake; and when my friends Olivia and Jeff invited me to their Seder, ohmygosh yes I did sample all three decadent desserts.

I’m currently leading my annual spring cleansing group (students learn how to design a gentle detox for themselves, and then we support each other as we embark on our cleanses), and I’m very excited to get my food choices back on track .  (Full disclosure: I’m more of a salt-and-fat girl than a sugar girl.  So for me, an off-track diet is surviving on store-bought hummus, cheese, and nut crackers, rather than cooking up the salmon, kale, and brown rice.)  And even though nutrition is my profession and I’m an experienced cleanser, I’ll still follow all my own rules to create a gentle experience for myself.

Here they are, in a nutshell:

Rule #1: Practice Kindness and Patience

Why is removing sugar such a challenge?  Because as with any addiction, we’re dealing with both the physical and the psychological triggers.

Physically, the body will experience cravings when something is missing. Cravings are like a red flag: Are you dehydrated?  Are you hungry? The body is trying really hard to keep you alive, and when something is awry, its first go-to craving is sugar.  This is because, historically (as in, before the invention of refined sugar), sweet foods such as berries and honey are nutrient-dense and safe.  Isn’t the body smart??  It’s amazing.

Psychologically, the relationship between a sweet taste and nurture is reinforced by holiday treats, birthday cakes, and even lollipops given out at the dentist’s office. We’ve been programmed to equate sugar with reward, safety, and comfort.

So there’s a lot riding on the relationship you have with sugar.  For some people, the physical addiction is the biggest challenge, while for others, it can take a lot of work to root out the psychological triggers.

Whatever your particular relationship with the sweet stuff, practice compassion for yourself.  Remember that you and your body are on the same team, despite all those cravings.  And keep in mind that a detox is not punishment!  You’ve already been punishing yourself by ingesting sugar, right?  So breathe deeply and make the commitment to this journey.

Rule #2: Make A Plan

To effectively, gently detox, you’ll need a plan.  You can make this plan in a journal dedicated to your sugar-free experiment, or on the computer, or on a coffeehouse napkin—whatever works for your brain.  But you will need a plan to support you when the going gets rough.

Start by gathering information.  Identify the ways sugar shows up in your daily routine, read labels, and observe when you seem to crave it the most.

Choose a start date that works for you, and put it on the calendar. From there, sketch out the rest of your detox.   I’m not a fan of going cold turkey: it can be harsh for the body and intense for the mind.  In the spirit of gentleness, I put my vote in for gradually easing the body off of an addiction.  For example, Day 1, no more candy from the office candy dish.  Day 2, no ice cream after dinner.  Day 3, use honey in your morning coffee.

Rule #3: Add Things In

Deprivation is no fun.  So once you’ve gotten through your plan to eliminate sugar, you get to the joyful part: adding things in!

Address both the physical and the psychological aspects.  For the body, stay hydrated; get dense nutrition through vegetables, healthy fats, and proteins; indulge in sleep; and exercise.

For the taste buds, add in healthy sweet foods—fruits and root vegetables.  It may take your taste buds some time to readjust and find the sweetness in natural sources. If your addiction is particularly intense, you can use a tablespoon of honey as a treat.  One student of mine had to add honey to her fruit smoothies, because fruit didn’t taste sweet to her. That’s not the perfect long-term solution, but satisfying the craving will help get you through the early days. Honor your body and start where you are.

For the mind, add in other forms of sweetness: creative projects, massage, time in nature, a special adventure.  Really nourish yourself, body and spirit.

Rule #4: Get Support

It helps to have community when doing any sort of detox.  Find support by announcing your project to friends and co-workers, finding a cleanse buddy, or simply by reading about the experiences of others through this blog!

Rule #5: Remember Rule #1  :)

SPECIAL OFFER: You don’t have to be in DC to get Tricia’s advice on detoxing your diet. Her e-book Cleansing & Detox Made Simple: Create Your Personalized Healing Diet for Any Season is available for $9.99 at NutriciaConsulting.com .  Green America blog readers can get a free companion e-workbook, which includes 11 worksheets to help you plan and focus your short-term detox, plus shopping tips, recipes, and more resources to guide you along the way.

To get your free e-workbook, visit NutriciaConsulting.com, add both the Cleansing and Detox Made Simple e-book and e-workbook to your shopping cart, and use coupon code SugarDetox.

Don’t forget to let us know how your sugar detox is going in the comments below!