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Issue 13 — April 2005
Greetings!
Yet the daily activities each one of us chooses can make a powerful difference. If Congress and Detroit won't improve auto fuel standards, carpool more often or buy a Honda or Toyota hybrid. By voting with our actions and our dollars, we send a direct message to the marketplace. Just taking a small step like bringing a cloth bag to the health food store conserves resources and sets a positive example. Please see our full Earth Day article below. In 1990 I helped organize Southern California's largest Earth Day event yet, at Pasadena's Arroyo Seco Canyon. Forty thousand people attended, many by bicycle and bus. I first learned about hemp at this event, when Jack Herer showed the US Department of Agriculture film Hemp for Victory. Little did I know that I would one day write books about hemp and start America's leading hemp foods company. As many of our readers know, on April 27 the California Assembly will vote on the state's hemp farming bill, AB 1147. Please send a letter of support and forward this E-News issue to your friends and family members in California. The April 5, 2005, Associated Press story "Bill Would Allow Hemp Farming in California" featured our company, Nutiva. Already the California Farm Bureau is opposing the measure, so those of us supporting the bill are facing a hard fight. Have a great Earth Day! In health, John W. Roulac PS: Will
you help "spread the word" of Nutiva to friends and family by
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Many communities
across the United States are celebrating Earth Day this April. It's easy
to despair for our Earth, with Washington's heedless "drill and burn" policies
that ignore the "innovate and conserve" ethic as if using up
resources faster and faster were the answer.
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[As we said above,] the daily activities each one of us chooses can make a powerful difference. If Congress and Detroit won't improve auto fuel standards, we can carpool more often or buy a Honda or Toyota hybrid. The Department of Agriculture wants to allow toxic pesticides to be sprayed on our carrots and tomatoes, so buy organic! Further, the Department of Energy is cutting back its R & D for solar power, but you can still install a solar rooftop system on your home. Yes, and the US Drug Enforcement Agency says the market for hemp products is so small that they won't give permits to grow hemp in the United States. So take action: buy a hemp wallet or food bar. Often the "less is more" adage is positive for the health of our planet. Consider not buying extra clothes or try making your own gifts—and, in these ways, pay down your credit cards. Instead of driving to the gym, how about just going for a brisk walk or doing yoga at home? Small actions like bringing your own cloth bag to the market can conserve resources and inspire others to do the same. By voting with our actions and our dollars, we send a direct message to the marketplace. Thus the market shares of greener firms will rise, while companies still stuck in wasteful ways will see their businesses wither away. One good example: compare Toyota, a firm that’s making 10 billion-plus a year while leading the way in high-mileage cars, to the General Motors auto division, which is losing billions. Many are predicting Chapter 11 for GM, as its low-mileage car inventory accumulates on dealers’ lots and in the showrooms. It's sad that many Americans will lose their factory jobs, yet GM's management has ignored the obvious: that both the rise in oil prices and ecological concerns would cause buyers to look for hybrids and higher-mileage cars. By taking positive steps today as green consumers, we can know that we’re doing our part to leave a more vibrant and healthy future to our children. A growing number of people are starting to understand that a big benefit of moving toward a more sustainable society is better health. The best thing we can do is reduce our reliance on fossil fuels and move toward the abundance offered by our sun. Did you know that "The sunlight that fell on the roads in the United States last year contained as much energy as all the fossil fuels consumed last year in the world"? (from Denis Hayes, national coordinator of the 1970 Earth Day). With high-mileage cars, less oil is burned and our air is cleaner; thus we breathe fewer smog particulates. By switching to wind power and shutting down outdated coal-burning plants, we eliminate much of the mercury going into the fish that we eat. So remember that health and sustainability go hand-in-hand for creating a more liveable world. Nutiva Extra-Virgin Coconut Oil
Our coconut oil is now back in stock in both the 15-oz and 29-oz sizes, and our gallon containers will be available again in late May. After a February Woman’s Worldcover story on "The Coconut Diet," our sales boomed at the same time that we had some supply disruptions. We appreciate your patience and understanding. So many people tell us how much they love our fragrant oil for cooking, and as a beauty product for their hair and skin. Here is one recent email from a delighted customer: "After experimenting with numerous coconut oils, I can definitely say that Nutiva creates the freshest, most alive, and most delicious coconut oil on the market." Learn more about Nutiva's products here. Coconut Nut Butter Sandwich Looking for a simple fast way to get some good fats and complex carbs? Try spreading Nutiva's delicious organic coconut oil on a slice of whole grain bread, and then spread any nut butter such as almond, peanut, sesame, or hemp* onto another slice. Viola .... you have a great sandwich - try adding some agave cactus syrup or honey to sweeten the taste. * To make hemp butter, place shelled hempseeds into a coffee blender (free from coffee grinding), with a small amount of hemp or olive oil to assist in the grinding process. 1%
Donation Spotlight:
This month we're delighted to honor GE-Free Sonoma County GE-Free Sonoma County is a grassroots organization working to keep Sonoma County's farms, ecosystems, and public lands free from contamination by genetically engineered (GE) organisms. The GE-Free Sonoma initiative will go to the voters on November 8, 2005. This initiative would establish a 10-year moratorium on planting, raising, or selling genetically engineered crops, fish, trees, viruses, and other organisms. To learn more about GE-Free Sonoma County, visit http://www.gefreesonoma.org
Since its inception, Nutiva's 1 percent campaign has donated more than twenty-eight thousand dollars to exemplary organizations, including: •Bioneers •Californians for GE-Free Agriculture •Ecological Farming Association •the Hemp Industries Association •GE-Free Sonoma County •the Organic Farming Research Foundation •the Organic Consumers Association •Oregon Concerned Citizens for Safe Food •the Solar Living Institute •The Land Institute •Vote Hemp •Watts Garden Club •the Wild Farm Alliance Coconut Oil and Weight Loss Nutiva continues to receive phone calls from satisfied customers who use our delicious organic extra-virgin coconut oil. Last week a woman called to say she had purchased two bottles of Nutiva Coconut Oil after reading the Coconut Dietbook. She reported that she had lost eight pounds in the first week and three pounds in week two, and she wanted to buy more coconut oil. She had cut down on junk carbs (i.e., "chips and puffed, empty-calorie foods") and was enjoying three tablespoons of Nutiva Coconut Oil a day. Another coconut oil user called to say that her friends now tell her that her face is less puffy, and she added that she herself had noticed that her dress size is now smaller. The main change in her diet? Just the addition of Nutiva Coconut Oil. While some of the behind-the-times media is still reporting that eating fats causes weight gain, the fact is that consuming healthful natural fats such as coconut oil helps people to maintain an appropriate weight and enhances their vibrancy. Consider the fact that many people in Thailand, Sri Lanka, and the Philippines consume, on average, 50 grams a day of coconut fat from oil and milk. Some would think that their hospitals would be filled with overweight people suffering from heart disease and inflammation. Yet this is not the case; the citizens of these countries are, in fact, slender. Here in the United States, we eat less coconut oil than is eaten in almost any other country. We also eat the highest ratio in the world of unsaturated Omega-6 fats vs saturated fats. Yet our country is the fattest nation in the world, and our health care system is in free fall, pulling down our economy with it. Inflammation is rampant, and many doctors now recognize that consuming too many Omega-6-rich vegetable oils such as corn, soy, and canola is a leading cause of poor health in the USA today. FYI, olive oil is low in Omega-6 and high in Omega-9, and as such is a great fat, best used raw. It can be combined with hemp oil (creating an ideal three-to-one Omega-6 to -3 balance) for salads and sauces. So isn’t it time America got an oil change? • Bill
Would allow Hemp Farming in California • Hemp:
Coming to a Kitchen Near You. A promising new use for hemp fibers in
producing kitchen top counters • Innovative
Organic Programs Sprout in Inner-City Chicago. Bridging the Organic Divide • Americans
Clueless about Gene-Altered Foods. Few Aware of How Many Genetically
Modified Products They Eat, Study Finds
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Nutiva
donates 1 percent of its sales to groups supporting sustainable agriculture.
The efforts of these groups, taken as a whole, may range from community
gardens or GMO labeling to the banning of toxic pesticides or mutated
gene fragments.
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