Every Day is Earth Day: “Falter” & Zero Waste Cocktails

It’s no surprise that every movement needs equal parts leadership and encouragement and bliss.  We’ll get to hope and the emotion spectrum..

Happy Earth Day. Hope you celebrated in a respectful, green homage to our environment…

I’m so blessed to have not only been able to bask in the evolving, ephemeral spring gardens at our country house and at our clients’ but to indulge in greenmarket seasonal glamour and a rare opportunity to learn about the impending climate chaos from notable green advocate, Bill McKibben.  All in a day…

There was an Earth Day-connected talk at the Strand Bookstore around the corner and I couldn’t resist  So with one book purchase-as-ticket - later to be autographed by Mr. McKibben It was a fascination.  

Of course, if you subscribe to Garden Glamour you’re already hyper-committed to all things green as I am.  We horticulturists have more than a few green genes!

But let’s take it up a elevated green garden or two, shall we?

The rainy weather didn’t keep these hearty, planet-loving, science enthusiasts away; it was an SRO crowd.  I was lucky to have a front-row seat, offered up by the Holt Publishing rep. Thank you.  After an almost reverential introduction, the author and his “interviewer, Naomi Klein, author of “This Changes Everything” and “The Shock Doctrine” (who gamely walked in with a foot boot and crutches - no explanation.  The two were seated in patina-aged leather chairs with the book shelves as backdrop - it all looked like a set design for a storied book store - which The Strand is having been founded by the Bass family in 1927.

The two authors and long-time friends, activists, and agitators to save our planet. So the talk was a bit like listening in on two wise professors.  They are both scandalously calm in their demeanor, especially when considering what’s at stake. Naomi is powerful and I enjoyed her perspective very much.  

Falter - according to the book jacket (No, I have not read the entire book yet!) tells the story of these converging trends and of the ideological fervor that keeps us from bringing them under control. And then, drawing on McKibben’s experience in building 350.org, the first truly global citizens movement to combat climate change, it offers some possible ways out of the trap. We’re at a bleak moment in human history -- and we’ll either confront that bleakness or watch the civilization our forebears built slip away.

Falter is a powerful and sobering call to arms, to save not only our planet but also our humanity.

The book also takes on technology’s darker side - particularly genetic engineering - and some AI. McKibben suggests that if we go down this road of engineering our children we will, in effect, bring about the end of human nature.  He gave some examples comparing child one to three is not unlike an upgrade from IPhone 8 Plus to iPhone Xr to the Xs.

Some interesting insight I learned at the talk:  Too often, we use children to describe the problem - as in “You don’t want your children - (or can add, grandchildren) to live in a world that’s ___ For climate deniers that might say, living with all this lack of convenience offered by burning fossil fuels.  Those who follow the science and the facts would say they don’t want future generations to live in a world that is hotter, under water, (the book is dedicated to Koreti Tiumalu, whose island nation will soon be submerged by rising sea levels) or suffer from extreme weather conditions.  And lack of food. And migration. Migration is at the center of the debate. People leave their homeland when they can’t eat or have access to water…

And speaking of leaving it to the children, they cited a true child hero, Greta Thunberg, the 16-year old climate activist (with Asperger’s) who is a successful role model for all.

A particularly salient point Naomi made was of all the proposed “technology” to fight climate chaos, there is one that has proven peerless for drawing down carbon: The TREE!  She explained how reforestation and habitat rehabilitation is what’s needed.

Look no further than the New Deal’s effort in the 1930’s to combat the effects of the man-made “Dust Bowl” disaster by having citizens, hired by the government, plant more than 2.5 billion new trees.  

Works for me.

There was discussion about the entire issue is laden with high emotions: anger, fear, greed, love, despair, and hope...

Shaking off the bleakness and hard fight that awaits us on climate chaos, I arrived home determined to enjoy a bit of green - as in garden-to-glass cocktail. From the fearful to the fanciful.

Garden To Glass Cocktails

Lucky for me, some key brands have pitched me on more than a few Earth Day drinks.  A guilty pleasure? You bet.

Shake up some low-waste cocktails!  You can argue that you’re helping our planet.  Seriously, reading all the steps that Patrón Tequila takes to insure sustainability, I admit I was impressed.  

Sustainability at Patrón

·        At Patrón, we’ve always been committed to doing our part to preserve the environment and support our people and the community in our birthplace and hometown of Atotonilco el Alto in Jalisco, Mexico.

·        We’ve taken important industry-leading steps to limit the environmental impact of our tequila production, including a state-of-the-art water treatment process, a natural gas pipeline that acts as a main energy source (reducing CO2 emissions into the atmosphere), and the creation of more than 5,500 tons of fertilizer compost a year from leftover agave fibers.  

·        At Patrón, we not only turn our own agave fiber into compost, but also agave fibers from several neighboring distilleries and farms.

·        To help preserve the land in our community, since 2015, we have reforested and/or donated approximately 16,000 trees in the local area of Atotonilco el Alto.

·        We are proactively working with a top agricultural research center in Mexico to help fund a scientific study to better understand Weber Blue Agave sustainability, and to help ensure the future of this important plant.

·        We pioneered the practice of guaranteeing a minimum price to our agave farmers to ensure they are profitable even when agave supply is at a surplus and prices are at a low.

These cocktails are made with sustainable option ingredients, including cantaloupe shrub (a liqueur made using seeds, rind and juice), pressed cucumber juice (using the whole cucumber), and even lime stock (cooked citrus husks) – all with low-waste methods in mind.

Mother Earth Pepino

.5 oz Herb-Infused Patrón Silver

1 oz Pressed Cucumber Juice


.5 oz Simple Syrup


.75 oz Lime Juice


1 oz Soda Water

Method:

Combine ingredients (except club soda) in a mixing tin and shake with ice to chill

Strain onto fresh ice in a highball glass

Garnish: Top with soda water and garnish with a cucumber ribbon

Pachamama is a goddess revered by the indigenous people of the Andes. She is also known as the earth/time mother. In Inca mythology, Pachamama is a fertility goddess who presides over planting and harvesting, embodies the mountains, and causes earthquakes.

Pachamama Sour

1.5 oz Hendricks Gin

.75 oz Zamaca

.5 oz Yuzu

.5 oz Demerara Ginger Syrup

Egg white

Method: Combine all ingredients in a shaker, add ice and shake vigorously, Double Strain into a Cocktail Glass

Garnish: Lemon Zest discard then Angostura Hearts, Dehydrated Lemon.

Glass: Cocktail Glass

I especially like this drink - so named for the Andes goddess who is the earth mother to the indigenous people. I first learned of Pachama while working at Hacienda Cusin in Ecuador

Melon Collins

1.5 oz Patron Silver


2 oz Cantaloupe Shrub

1/4 oz Lime Stock


1 oz Soda Water

Method:

Build ingredients in a cocktail shaker and shake with ice

Strain over cantaloupe juice Ice in a Collins glass

Garnish with a dehydrated lime wheel

Jardinero Gimlet

1.5 oz Roca Patrón Silver

.5 oz Mezcal


.75 oz Rosemary-Lime Cordial

Method:

Combine ingredients in a mixing glass and stir to chill

Strain into a coupe glass

Garnish with rosemary sprig

Earth Day with GrowNYC

“Environmental stewardship has been a cornerstone of GrowNYC from day one. Put simply: each person can make a difference through action and deed. Since their founding in 1970 (the same year as the first Earth Day), the programs have been weaved into the fabric of every borough” of Gotham.

GrowNYC helps by:
* building green infrastructure - think rain barrels!
* improving access to food from local, family farms;
* providing food scrap and textile collection sites, recycling education and neighborhood reuse events
* teaching the next generation about why each action we take matters.

Here’s are a few upcoming events you can enjoy and learn from:

April 30: A Supper that Sustains Us

1 Hotels is launching a zero waste dinner series on Tuesday, April 30, and all proceeds will go to GrowNYC. Join us at Jams NYC at 1 Hotel Central Park to enjoy a night of thoughtful culinary innovation that honors the environment and local farmers. Get your tickets now or donate $25 or more this month to enter our giveaway.

SEEDLING GIVEAWAY: BROOKLYN AND MANHATTAN LOCATIONS

May 4, 2019, 10 am - 1 pm

BK: PS 26K Jesse Owens, 1014 Lafayette Avenue, Brooklyn, NY 11221

NYC: School of Cooperative Technical Education, 321 E 96th St, New York, NY 10128

Get your transplants at Grow to Learn’s annual giveaway! Registered Grow to Learn schools can choose mixed flats of vegetables, herbs, flowers, and native pollinator plants. All seedlings are available on a first-come, first-served basis while supplies last. Pre-registration for schools is necessary; please RSVP by April 26th, 2019. Schools must have an updated registration file with Grow to Learn. One site pick-up only.

Bring bags, some friends or a vehicle to transport seedlings!

Home Tips

The experts at HomeAdvisor provided me with some helpful home tips - so here I am sharing with you.

HomeAdvisor, shares three ways people can make their homes environmentally friendly just in time to celebrate Earth Day - every day.

* Eliminate energy hogs: Start with the water heater. Many homeowners don’t realize it’s the second highest energy user in the home. Upgrading an old unit to a high-efficiency model will save more than $300 a year. Just making the switch would eliminate 155 billion pounds of greenhouse gas emissions, equal to 15 million cars.

* Solar panels: If you ever considered getting solar panels for your roof, now is the time to act. While the federal tax credit covers 30% of this project, it’ll start being phased out at the end of 2019. The 20-year electricity savings from solar can be significant, ranging from the low end of $10k to almost $30k. And as McKibben pointed out at the book talk - wind and solar IS the future. And it’s free!

* Smart thermostats: Each degree you adjust the temperature equals a 2% annual energy savings -- enough to pay for the smart thermostat in just a couple of years. You can save as much as 10% a year on heating and cooling by simply turning your thermostat back 7°-10°F for 8 hours/day from its normal setting. If every U.S. household switched, it would offset 13 billion pounds of greenhouse gas emissions each year. This is one of the best ways to keep costs at bay.

Please honor your home - the one you live in. And the one you live on.  Yes, we can all do our part. But it will also take a movement, a collective of citizens and the government - to make the needed changes.  It was done nearly 50 years ago after the first Earth Day. Let’s make America Green Again!