The Banff Mountain Film Festival World Tour
Award-winning adventure films from the 2009 Banff Mountain Film Festival. This year's tour features a collection of the most inspiring and thought-provoking action, environmental, and adventure mountain films, submitted to the 2009 festival. More...

The following crops are ranked by highest pesticide load (1, peaches) to lowest (45, onions) by the Environmental Working Group. Download their wallet-sized pesticide guide. Prioritize purchasing organics for the lowest ranked crops, and head to the farmers markets listed in our Guide to support local farms.

Working with local schools on their fundraisers we often hear their great ideas to raise money and awareness for green living. This fall one of the schools fundraising with EcoMetro Guide, Glenview Elementary opened its first-ever produce stand, a project of the PTA’s school food and nutrition committee. Open from 2-4pm every Tuesday afternoon, the stand includes a “tasting” table, where all Glenview students have the opportunity to taste the fruit or vegetable of the week. More...

Live: Master Gardeners Garden Walk 
Contra Costa Master Gardeners are offering a garden Walk which showcases stylish ways to landscape without lawns. View 6 Master Gardener owned neighborhood gardens located in Walnut Creek, Pleasant Hill, and Martinez. Nearly all of the gardens selected for this year's Garden Walk demonstrate how to have a vibrant and useful garden without extensive turf. $15/person. 
September 12, 10am - 4pm 
Various locations in Contra Costa County 

Eat, Play: Webster Street Jam
Join us in September for the annual Webster Street Jam, a special weekend of music, wine, international food and art, plus a fun-filled area for the kids! Stop by the EcoMetro table on Saturday. 
September 12, 10am - 6pm and September 13, 10am - 5pm 
Webster Street, Alameda More...

Earlier this month, I celebrated one of my favorite holidays – the beginning of farmers market season!  What with the rising prices of oil and gas, and the popularity of books like Animal, Vegetable, Miracle and The Omnivore’s Dilemma, plenty of people are thinking more about buying local and organic.  That being said, sometimes farmers’ markets can be a daunting place, especially for newbie visitors.  There are sometimes strange fruits and vegetables, crowds of people you might not know, and masses of dogs and children. 

How do you navigate the market?  And how can you be sure you’re buying something you want?  In this article, I’ll take you on a guided tour through market day with some simple lessons about market etiquette and include questions you can pose to farmers to make sure you’re getting what you want.
  More...

Becki Walker writes about farmers market manners on Fridays and crafts recipes. We're running a recipe a day until May 22nd.

I consider myself a somewhat philosophical person, as do, I imagine, a goodly number of people who read this blog.  Chewing over questions in our brains is a good exercise for our mental mastication muscles, but I’ve taken the teeth out of one question: for the purposes of this blog, the chicken comes after the egg. Yesterday we ventured into the shelled world, today we’ll focus on our feathered friends. More...

Becki Walker writes about farmers market manners and crafts recipes. Search our database for a farmers market near you, and leave your review.

As we scavenge our cupboards and refrigerators in search of the next great meal, we often overlook some of the more common ingredients in our pantries.  We pass over these foodstuffs because they seem less glamorous than other treats lurking in our kitchens, but that doesn’t make them any less tasty. With a little creativity, you can create a classy meal out of nearly anything, including today's special ingredient: eggs. Pickled, frozen, aged, and sauteed. More...

This post is dedicated to a green with what seems to be multiple personality disorder. Today, we examine endive, or rather chicory. Or frisee. Or grumolo. Or succory. Or escarole. Or witloof.

Endive/chicory/etc. is botanically referred to as Cichorium endivia.  However, within that species, there are a number of varietals – including radicchio, untarelle, and Belgian endive. The two main varieties of endive we eat in the US are broad-leaved (escarole) and curly-leaved (frisee, which is also a technique for wilting leaves in oil). We usually eat only the leaves of the plant, but if you travel to Louisiana, you’re bound to see chicory coffee. This coffee doesn’t have lettuce leaves in it – it contains ground Cichorium root. Do yourself a favor and drink a cup or two with a beignet – it’s delicious. More...

Becki Walker writes about food and crafts recipes. In this Fridays series, she examines the culture of farmers markets.

Nearly everyone’s heard (probably over and over again) that one of the best ways to lower your carbon footprint and love the planet is to eat less meat, especially red meat.  Eating less meat’s better for your health, too – when you’ve removed meat from your plate, there’s more room for foods lower in fat and calories, like fruits and vegetables.  But what if, even after trying to be the best environmentalist ever, you’ve still got a craving for something fleshy? More...

Becki Walker writes about food and crafts recipes. In this Fridays series, she examines the culture of farmers markets. Here she explains Certified Naturally Grown, an alternative to USDA Organic, and shopping on a budget using the food chain model and pesticide guides.

Over the course of the next few articles, I’ll be examining the farmers market.  I’ll cover how to get to know your farmer, shop on a budget, and experiment with more “unique” fruits and vegetables. Before heading to the market, though, it’s important to know some of the terminology you’re likely to find there.  Just what does organic certification mean?  Are there alternatives?  Which foods are most important to buy organically?

To be organically certified, a farm must be inspected by an agency approved by the US Department of Agriculture.  Products that are 95 – 100% organic can display the organic seal on them.  Products with at least 70% ingredients may state that they are “made with organic ingredients.”  However, anything less than 70% organic cannot include the seal on its label. More...