Give Back to Mother Earth

It’s that time of the year again, time to celebrate Mother Nature! Earth Day is tomorrow and what better way to celebrate than by volunteering your time and giving back.

The United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has developed quite an interesting volunteer program for 2010 called “Pick Five for the Environment”. The international project suggests that volunteers pick five ways in which they can help better the environment. Then you can share your stories and experiences with the world to see. The EPA suggests volunteer possibilities in six categories: water, air, land, energy, waste, and advocacy. Some specific suggestions in such categories include: using only the water you need, and reuse when possible. Prevent additional air pollution by finding alternatives to burning your waste or, when purchasing goods, opt for sustainable, recycled or reused resources. Choose items in less packaging.

Once you’ve picked your choice of the many listed on the EPA’s website, you can register your choices and make your pledge. It’s that easy! The EPA website also offers a volunteer work finder, where you can plug in your zip code and find volunteer opportunities near year. I found quite an interesting opportunity on Long Island (my current location) at Old Westbury Gardens, where volunteers educate children ages Pre-K- 4th grade about protecting and cleaning the environment. What was even neater about the event is that classrooms are gardens - how cool! Want to find out more? To help out and for more information about Earth Day click here and pick your 5 today.

The History of Earth Day

There is President’s Day, Valentine’s Day, and MLK day. We have holidays in celebration of our fore fathers, holidays of love, and holidays that celebrate leaders of change. So what’s what wrong with Earth day? In 1960’s senator Gaylord Nelson believed that the earth needed a day of observation too. I mean after all, us humans use and abuse earth to our advantage every single day, why shouldn’t the earth have a holiday too.

It is actually kind of funny to tell the story of how earth day came about, the journey starts in 1962 when Senator Nelson thought back to himself that the politics of the country had no worry or issue with the poor state of the environment. Senator Nelson knew that this was not ok and urged people to spread the word for the need. His major plan was to convince President Kennedy for the need of concern for the environment while, he was on a national conservation tour. Nelson first brought it up to Attorney General Robert Kennedy, whom liked the idea, the idea was then proposed to the President who was also very impressed with the idea. The fact of matter being was that even though even the President liked the idea for many reasons the issue still did not reach the political agenda.

So where did Nelson turn next? The Senator continued to speak across the nation to encourage the “limelight” of environment. More and more people began to notice the damage being done to the earth, but still the government did not care to notice the damages. It was not until 6 years later that Nelson came up with the actual idea of earth day. Inspired by Vietnam protests called “teach- ins” that were held on college campuses around the nation, Senator Nelson, thought to himself why not have a huge grass-roots protest to bring the issue to light.

With much time and effort and the help of many other senators, college students, and local organizations on April 22, 1970 the first earth day was a success with over 20 million demonstrators. Maxim thanks Senator Gaylord Nelson for his hard work and persistence! :)

Organic Wine Tasting in NYC

One of my favorite summer activities is visiting local wineries and choosing a bottle of my favorite wine from the available tastings and spending the rest of the day outdoors, sipping away at the chosen wine, on the grounds on which the wine was born, and with close friends and loved ones…aaaah, makes me crave the summer that’s slowly creeping up behind us! Until the Summer decides to roll around, I had the pleasure of participating in a wine tasting that happened not at a vineyard, but at Vero Midtown in NYC, a fun restaurant and wine bar about two hours from the beautiful North Fork vineyards on Long Island that I like to frequent in the Summers.

I was a little hesitant about this NYC tasting only because it would mean I would have to trade my preferred outdoor wine-sipping vineyard setting for the hustle and bustle of NYC, but like almost everything else in NYC, I had a quite a unique experience. I was impressed on two different levels in comparison to my wine tasting experiences on different vineyards; one, I was truly impressed by the knowledge level of the Sommelier, Kelsi Shelton, and two, they had chosen Organic and Byodynamic wines to be the centerpiece of their fun Saturday afternoon class offering.

Based on my experiences, there’s only so much one can learn from the Sommeliers found behind the busy wine tasting scene of the vineyards I’ve personally visited. I’m no wine tasting connoisseur, but I’ve visited my share of vineyards on both coasts of this great country and never learned as much as this class had to share. After six glasses of wine offered at the tasting, I still retained the information and here are some of the main points I wanted to share with you:
1. USDA organic wine certification is one of the strictest wine certification processes in the world. For example, in Europe, their law allows sulfites to be used in the wine making process; in the U.S., the use of sulfites or sulfur dioxide (preservative) is strictly prohibited.
2. The difference between Organic Certified Wine versus strictly USDA Organic Certified Wines is that both are pesticide and chemical free, but Certified Organic Wines can have naturally occurring sulfites, up to 20 parts per million, whereas USDA Organic Certified Wines can not contain any sulfites whatsoever. So, those of you who experience allergic reactions when drinking regular or organic certified wine, try a USDA organic certified wine because it might be sulfites causing discomfort with every sip.
3. There are very few USDA certified organic wines in the United States. Here are just a few: Frey Vineyards, Coates Vineyards, and La Rocca Vineyards.
4. If you ever have trouble picking from a long list of wines, here’s an interesting tip to help meet your taste preferences; if you’re looking for a sweeter wine, look for wines coming from warmer regions, since fruits ripening in warmer regions ripen faster and the more ripe they are, the sweeter they are.

Ok, well I guess my memory didn’t soak up as much as I thought it did while I was sipping on the 6 tastings served at the VERO NYC event, but I do remember my favorite of the six tastings offered at the class – Domaine Pichot Vouvray Domaine Le Peu De La Moriette from Loire Valley, France. No, that’s not English and Yes, I feel awful about not having picked a U.S. cultivated wine, but I can’t control my taste buds!!! I do feel better about my non-local choice after reading about a study posted on drvino.com. The study claims that it is more carbon efficient for East Coast wine drinkers to consume wine that has been imported because of the benefits from the efficiencies of container shipping and decreased truck time that would be required to ship wine from California, which is where 90% of American wine comes from.

Whether your next wine tasting is indoors or outdoors, imported or not, I hope you keep it organic!