Indiana Living Green - December 2012

ILG /// DECEMBER 2012 /// INDIANALIVINGGREEN.COM 3

C O N T E N T S DECEMBER 2012

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EDITORIALEDITOR Jim Poyser

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CONTRIBUTORS

The ApocaDocs, Wendy Bredhold, Ashley Crofoot, Lynn

Jenkins, Anne Laker, James Lowe, Joe Lee, Bowden Quinn,

Renee Sweany, Ed Wenck

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18 Ants and the Apocalypse If you somehow survive the 12/21/12 apocalypse by hunkering down in your basement, only to find yourself in dire circumstances, your food depleted, where to turn?+ BY SHAWNDRA MILLER

07 Unnatural HabitatIt seems the grass needs to be green in Westfield, Indiana, where “Keep-ing up with the Joneses” requires a conventional approach to the lawn. Green lawn often trumps green living, despite the environmental and monetary burden.+ BY JAMES LOWE

12 Organic NFLHow do you feed a professional football lineman 6,000 calories a day? Organically, of course! Especially if your name is That Organic Girl.+ BY ED WENCK

COVER PHOTO BY KRISTEN PUGH

D E P A R T M E N T S05 Doom & Bloom05 Gardening with Lynn07 Watts and Whatnot12 Organic NFL16 Advocates18 Apocalyptic Food & Drink19 Apocalyptic Poetry20 Green Reads20 December Events21 Green Marketplace22 The PANIQuiz22 Ask Renee23 Life is an Egg by Joe Lee

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doom & bloom with Jim Poyser

I’ve been waiting for this for most of my adult life: December 21, 2012. The end of the Mayan calendar. The beginning of who knows what?

The conflation of Revelations, the Rapture, the Apocalypse and our climate crisis combines for inescapable drama, hilarious

hyperbole, and I am thrilled to have the chance to add to the viscous din of voices.

No, wait. Let’s take a step back and calm down.There.From what I can tell, the word Apocalypse means

“the unveiling.”That’s it: unveiling.About four years ago, my friend Michael and

I created a website and performance art project called The ApocaDocs [see PANIQuiz, pg. 22]. Our idea was to take the conceit of the Mayan prediction and pair it with climate change — surely not an original pairing. We thought we were very clever, but something strange hap-pened along the way.

We grew afraid, very afraid.Since keeping up the site meant grabbing sto-

ries and articles and blogs and opinion pieces and laboratory reports and university theses about our environment, we began to experience, on a daily basis, content from around the world, almost all of it detailing extraordinary evidence of the destruc-tive impact of human beings.

The Great Garbage Patch. Industrial pollu-tion. Acidified oceans. Greenhouse gas emissions. Invasive species.

Pretty soon, it wasn’t so funny. It was in fact horrifying. We couldn’t stop, though, because we were mesmerized — the same way you can’t turn away from watching an out-of-control train hellbent for a wall.

And now, given all the extreme weather events, the broken records and the increasingly intact science connecting these catastrophes to greenhouse gas emissions, we all get to watch this apocatrain hit the apocawall.

So what’s this unveiling? It is this: It is the moment when more people get it than don’t — when a slight majority of humans on the planet understand we have one world, that’s all, and we are systematically ruining it.

Goodbye, 2012. You were a great year. You were the year of the drought. The year of record-breaking heat, the year the Arctic hit its all-time low. The year three men sailed the Northwest Passage. You were the year Heartland Institute went too far. The year we discovered billions of tons of methane lurking in the Antarctic. The year demand for water outstripped supply.

The year of Sandy.The year we got it.Hello, unveiling. It’s time to stop waging war

against nature and start putting it back together. It’s going to take us all.

The greatunveiling

GARDENING WITH NATUREby Lynn Jenkins

Gifts fromthe garden

The gar-den demands much from us. Gardeners labor through wet springs and hot summers. Our faith is tested by early frosts in

fall. Mosquitoes chew on us while beetles chomp the crops. Even politicians took their toll as they robbed us of that extra hour of morning garden work by establish-ing Daylight Saving Time.

Yet we garden on. Brown-stained hands with stubborn dirty fingernails, sunburned arms and neck (proudly called a farmer’s tan), insect bites scratched raw, deer and rabbits gorging on the just-up seedlings, failed crops from drought, insects, disease and more. How is this fun? Non-gardeners may question our sanity. What is it that keeps us gardening?

The garden offers gifts beyond the carrot or corn. It shares its secrets of life, presenting us with more than seeds alone can give. The gifts from the garden include:

Hope—a message repeated each time we plant a seed with anticipation of its miracle.

Patience—learned by waiting day after day for that first green tomato to ripen.

Appreciation—very little in life comes easily. Tending a garden teaches the value of hard work and perseverance.

Humility—no matter how tall a building or long a bridge, we cannot build them with a “just add water” perspective. Yet, insig-nificant seeds grow into bountiful plants that satisfy our hunger.

Respect—soil’s capabilities are remarkable. Treat it with respect and it will astound you with its yield. Remember that it’s soil—not dirt, which is what is on my kitchen floor.

Generosity—the bounty from the garden offers the opportunity to give to others. Neighbors, co-workers, friends can all partake of the gifts from a simple patch of soil. How good it is to share in community.

Gardeners who work their gardens know well that its bounty goes beyond veggies, fruits and flowers. Wishing you a pleasant season of garden respite, and encouragement to enjoy the gifts from a garden next year.

Got a comment, question or a tip to share? Contact Lynn at [email protected]

^illustration by shelby kelley


WATTS & WHATNOT ^photo by mark lee

It seems the grass needs to be green in Westfield, Indiana, where “Keeping up with the Joneses” requires a conventional approach to the landscape. Green lawn often trumps green living, despite the environmental and monetary burden [see sidebar]. Lurking under the blades of grass is a riptide of consequence that not only carries the voiceless concerns of the ecosystem, but also the plight of Gloria J. Cassady.

In 2011, Cassady sat among 1,200 patrons in the Clowes Memorial Hall at Butler University to hear the words of conservationist author Dr. Douglas Tallamy. Professor and Chair of Entomology and Wildlife Ecology at Delaware University, Tallamy penned the 2009 title Bringing Nature Home, an informative text regarding ecologically sustainable landscapes in suburban environments. [See pg. 10]

“I saw Doug when he spoke at Butler,” Cassady recalls. “He was so eloquent and so persuasive. I picked up the book and thought, there are so many things in the world that I can’t affect, maybe I can do something with my little corner of it.”

Cassady had done so earlier in her life. Native to Winchester, Indiana, she left the state following college at Ball State Univer-sity to pursue the arts in California. While in San Diego, she transformed her property into a self-proclaimed haven. “I was only 15 minutes from downtown but I had almost an acre,” she says. “My little cottage tripled in value in ten years. My yard was a destina-tion, and people appreciated it. I really expected the same here.”

Returning after a thirty-year hiatus, she purchased a home in Westfield in a subdivi-sion called Beacon Pointe. Following her encounter with Dr. Tallamy, Cassady began drafting plans on the transformation of her half acre plot in Westfield from traditional landscaping styles to one incorporating na-tive plants and progressive themes. “I’m just happy when I see more of nature,” she says. “I knew what I wanted conceptually. I knew that I wanted density, contrast in shapes and textures and visual interest.”

To hear her speak of her intentions, the plan seemed more akin to a meditation garden than simply an eco-friendly twist on the norm. “When I would look out my windows I would see green,” she says. “Transition gardens with lilies... Top dressed with bark chips. I would have trees, shrubs…a path that would be like a dry river stream with stepping stones in it. I would have a place to have tea in the morning. It would be inviting to everyone. My inspira-tion was to be surrounded by green and to contribute positively to the environment.”

But instead of a sustainable landscape, Cas-sady’s plan created community scrutiny, cita-tions, legislative amendments — and a lawsuit with the homeowner’s association.

Social ireAs Cassady initiated her yard’s transformation

on May 7, Beacon Pointe HOA president Mark Jordan demanded a moratorium. “[Mark] came charging down, demanding I stop and not plant

even a single solitary flower until I submitted a detailed landscape plan for my entire property and ask for his architecture design committee’s approval,” Cassady recalls. “I said that there’s nothing in the HOA docs that require this, I read them before I bought the property. I asked if he could tell me a precedent.”

According to Cassady, Mr. Jordan replied that there was no precedent, and that the HOA documents were “vague.”

Editor’s note: Beacon Pointe HOA refused to comment for this article due to pending litigation against Cassady.

Cassady explains, “My understanding of the law is that if I chose to use their form and sub-mit, asking their permission, I’m giving them rights that their own HOA documents do not give them, and am setting new precedents for the entire community. That’s inappropriate. My reasoning is that when someone is bully-ing you, you don’t hand them a bigger club.

“The day after that, I went over to the vice president Chris William’s house and he told me to hire a lawyer and to not get him involved,” she continues. “I thought that was curious. I wrote an email to the president and copied the whole board on it. I basically just said that anytime I can be a part of the dialogue, I’d be happy to share the details with anyone who wants to see them, but I’m not asking for permission.”

Undaunted, Cassady reached out to the city’s planning commission for approval and

The saga of Gloria Cassady By James Lowe

Unnatural habitat

8 INDIANALIVINGGREEN.COM /// DECEMBER 2012 /// ILG

WATTS & WHATNOT

a formal place to begin. It appears as though her reputation had preceded her. Conversa-tions with bordering neighbors and Beacon Pointe HOA regarding her plan seemingly had stirred the pot, as the city began receiving complaints prior to the initiation of her plans.

“I called the city and asked who I should talk to about plans to improve biodiversity,” she says. Kevin Todd is a senior planner for the city of Westfield on the technical advisory committee. According to Ms. Cassady, he was initially recep-tive to the ideas outlined in her plans. “I asked Kevin if he saw any problems with [my ideas], he said no, that sounds great,” she recalls.

Mr. Todd scheduled a time to meet with Cassady the following day, asking for permis-sion to photograph her property and get a bet-ter idea of her intentions.

Upon arrival at her home, however, opti-mism had apparently faded. “When he got here, he was kind of vague, talking more about the complaints,” Cassady recalls. According to her, Mr. Todd mentioned neighbors by name, declaring that he was hesitant of her project out of fear of losing his job.

Editor’s note: Mr. Todd did not reply when asked for comment on this story.

In her search to improve her plot’s biodi-versity, Cassady had become aware of section 14 of Westfield’s “Tall Weed Ordinance 12-20.” Initially drafted as a provision to prohibit properties from becoming overgrown, the Tall Weed Ordinance stipulated that all “weed or rank vegetation” growths in any residential property only reach an average maximum height of 12 inches.

Section 14 of the ordinance claims that any property that meets the approval of the Director of Community Development may qualify as a Natural Habitat, or in other words, an area exempt of typical vegetation jurisdiction for the means of accomplishing greater ecological goals.

Seeing the value of Section 14 to accom-plish her goals, Cassady pressed Mr. Todd for further information regarding converting her property into an ecological habitat. Despite his hesitation of further aggravation among neighbors, Mr. Todd proposed that Cassady submit an application to Community Director and City Council member Matt Skelton.

Cassady applied for the permit as sug-gested by Mr. Todd. While out of the state in mid June, she was informed via email that her request had been approved by Director of Community Development and City Council member Matt Skelton and signed by Mr. Todd.

However, with progress having halted due to HOA intervention, by her return weeks later, her yard had become unkempt. Her grassy areas had achieved a height of roughly three feet tall, helping to solidify the opinions of those opposed to her attempts.

Westfield steps inDays later, she received a citation via certi-

fied mail due to the state of her property. “I had told the HOA and the city that I had plans to be out of town,” she says. “I wrote Kevin and said that I didn’t want anything to happen in my absence.” According to correspondence received by Ms. Cassady’s realtor who helped

her purchase her home, during her absence the city sent an inspector to her property to check for violations against the tall weed ordinance. “I got a terse email from Kevin saying that he had issued a citation for what they said was Canada Thistle.” [The citation was eventually dropped.]

As the citation was issued, pressure began to rise. Within days of the citation being sent, Matt

^submitted photo

Gloria Cassady’s best laid plans, currently in hiatus.


WATTS & WHATNOT

Skelton, Director of Community Development and the original issuer of Ms. Cassady’s Natural Habitat permit, proposed drastic changes to the Tall Weed Ordinance. On June 25, Westfield’s city council met to discuss the amendment of section 14 of the ordinance, removing the ability for natu-ral habitats to exist in properties built after 1977.

Cassady’s home in Beacon Pointe was con-structed in 1989. Missing the cutoff date to be grandfathered into the ordinance, Cassady’s property would now be unable to qualify for her previously issued permit.

On the same day that the ordinance change was first proposed by Mr. Skelton, Beacon Pointe HOA formally filed a lawsuit against Cassady, attempting to legally force her into compliance with neighborhood standards regarding landscape.

Editor’s note: Matt Skelton deferred com-ment on this story to Westfield’s Office of Communications, but those communications directed the writer to another contact who never responded to his queries.

Following the initial council meeting, council member Steve Hoover formed a com-mittee to look into the ecological ramifica-tions of the proposed changes. The group was hopeful of creating a more informed vote through interaction with local experts.

Two weeks later, with no public forum, the

city council called the Section 14 amendment to a vote. The ballot came so quickly on the heels of the amendment’s proposal that Mr. Hoover’s team didn’t have the opportunity to gather any further information. Mr. Hoover asked that the council delay the vote, and ac-cording to Cassady, who was in attendance, said “I see no urgency in this matter, and we haven’t met yet. I really think that our committee … might want to make additional changes.” The council proceeded despite Mr. Hoover’s appeal.

The proposed changes passed, with Mr. Hoover voting in favor of the amendment. The only nay vote came from Councilman Robert Stokes, voting against the motion for the sake of wanting more information regard-ing the proposal’s impact.

Available for interview, Mr. Stokes submitted that Cassady’s circumstance was in fact the force behind the change in legislation. “Her situa-tion definitely pushed it to the point where we needed to dosomething,” he says. He believes, however, that the new change in the ordinance was not due to nepotism towards other Beacon Pointe residents, but rather due to the extreme circumstance of Ms. Cassady’s property. “It’s good to have the ecology aspect in mind, that’s a good thing,” he says. “But she also has to take into account that she lives in a platted subdivi-sion. Her plan looks great. Progress just wasn’t there. That’s how we got to where we are.” De-spite his dissenting vote, Mr. Stokes believes that

additional input from local ecological groups wouldn’t have changed the vote’s outcome.

John South, engineer and district manager for Hamilton County Soil and Water Conser-vation was in attendance at the first meeting introducing the amendment. He believes that the amendment leaves too much room for interpretation. “The concerns that I have against the ordinance specifically…is the word-ing,” he says. “Unfortunately by the definition I suppose ‘grass’ can be a rank vegetation be-cause it grows vigorously. The problem is that a lot of our native vegetation commonly grows taller than 12” but is very beneficial. The defi-nitions leave a lot of area for interpretation.”

South also feels as though the process oc-curred uncommonly fast. “It did happen fairly quickly,” he says. “I was surprised that they could and would revise an ordinance without any kind of a public hearing. I thought that was a little unusual. This one probably oc-curred quicker than most.”

The passing of the Natural Habitat amend-ment removes the legal safeguard for Cassady’s plan, putting her conflict directly with the HOA.

She claims her progress was stalled not due to a fault in her plan, but rather to impedi-ments by the lawsuit of the HOA and the city of Westfield. “My yard is in its current condition because I’m not able to plant anything,” she says. “No one is more daunted than me. My number one priority is I have to respond to this bogus litigation against me. That overshadows everything. I have this shadow looming over me. I’m 65, retired and living on Social Security. I’ve invested everything in this property.”

Due to the ecological nature of the lawsuit and Ms. Cassady’s personal circumstance, she says that a local law firm has been willing to take on her case for limited cost. As of this fall, she was optimistic about the direction that legal

Why lawns suck for the environment• Americans buy 70 million pounds of chemical

fertilizers every year (EPA)• Americans spend around $6.4 billion on lawns

every year (Lawn Institute)• Turf grass takes up nearly 32 million acres of the

U.S., making it the nation’s largest irrigated crop• 50 to 70 percent of residential water is used

for landscaping• 10,000 gallons of water is spent on average

each summer on 1,000 square feet of lawn• Equipment for lawn maintenance burns fossil

fuels and costs add up• Grass grows best and becomes the most du-

rable when many varieties are grown together• Natural habitats help water retention• Natural habitats keep nutrients in the soil

instead of eroding• If you aren’t using pesticides, earthworms can

help keep soil healthy• Well-maintained, natural landscapes act as

carbon sinks

^photo by mark lee

Cassady: “If you keep putting good out into the world, something good has to come back to you eventually.”


WATTS & WHATNOT

talks were proceeding. “I had a meeting with Mark and [his] attorneys yesterday,” she said via email. “My attorney petitioned for another 30-day extension of time to work out, as our first draft was not ‘agreement exemplifying and as-suring equitable treatment.’ So nothing’s signed yet, and the devil may be in the details, but they are verbally agreeing to pull the litigation and to schedule an informative meeting about ecosys-tem and beneficial landscape practices inviting all Beacon Pointe residents, and to allow my improvements to move forward as availability (plants / contractors / etc.) permits.”

Sitting in the sun in her backyard, Gloria Cassady is still determined. “Here now, hearing the birds, I’m energized by it. I haven’t changed, much to many people’s dismay. I don’t have time to plant a tree at a time. Our environment can’t stand for people to plant a tree at a time. I didn’t go into this thinking this will be an example, I was thinking that this was something that would nurture my spirit and nurture the environment, and other people would appreciate it.”

She turns and looks out at the yard that has yet to become her dream. “If you keep putting good out in the world,” she says, “something good has to come back to you eventually.”

Doug TallamyDr. Doug Tallamy believes progressive

plans like Gloria Cassady’s can have profound influence on suburban areas. “Humans have developed landscapes for their own use that are very poor habitats for anything else. I’m trying to suggest that it doesn’t have to be that way,” he says. “We can actually have landscapes that are useful for us, are beautiful for us, but are also functional for other things.”

Professor Tallamy likes to use birds as his prime example of facilitating nature in subur-ban environments. “Everybody likes birds,” he says. “There are 32 million people in the US that feed the birds every winter. 96% of birds when they’re rearing their young are feeding them insects. Those insects that they’re feed-ing them are being made by plants. The plants that are best at making them are [native]. If you bring plants from Asia, and 79% of our ornamentals are from Asia, they’re very poor at supporting food. The themes in my book are consistent across the whole planet.”

Those interested in bringing nature to their own backyards, they should start by planting trees. “Woody plants are more productive in terms of the number of insects that they sup-port than say perennials and annuals,” he says. “Those are still important, but for example the

most valuable plant that we have…are Oaks. We’ve shown that they support 534 species of caterpillars, so that’s 534 species of bird food. Which plant you’re going to put in there is go-ing to determine how full you’re filling your bird feeder. That’s how I look at it.”

Despite his passion for infusing sustainable practices into everyday environments, Tallamy understands the social dangers associated with making such changes. “I don’t think we’re ever going to achieve what I want to achieve by going forcibly going against what’s considered socially acceptable,” he says. “Because then you’ve got people who are going to fight change. I want people to recognize the benefits that this type of landscaping is bringing them. I want it to be done carefully, I want it to be done in a way that everyone in the neighborhood drives by and says, ‘I want that.’ We’re making progress, I think landscape designers have to play a bigger role in trying to achieve the goal of more…native plants in your landscape without making it look like you’ve just moved out and forgot to mow the lawn. People are just going to rebel against that and it just sets the whole movement back.”

— JL

More information on Dr. Tallamy and his book, Bringing Nature Home, can be found online at plantanative.com.


WATTS & WHATNOT

Editor’s note: In last month’s ILG, you read our story about Indiana’s lack of a climate change action plan. Here’s your chance to take action.

Amanda Shepherd is a native Hoosier, working mother of three, former high school science teach-er and freshly minted climate leader, having received Al Gore’s Climate Reality Corps training in San Francisco this past August.

Soon after returning from the training to her home in Attica, Indiana, Shepherd was surfing the ‘net and found a page on the Environmental Protection Agency website devoted to states’ climate change action plans.

“I didn’t know anything about them,” Shepherd said, “but I found a link to a map that showed that Indiana is one of only a hand-ful of states that hasn’t taken any action on climate change.”

It occurred to Shepherd that advocating for a Hoosier plan to address climate change would allow her to make a significant difference. She talked with an EPA represen-tative who suggested that if she wanted a climate change action plan with teeth, she should appeal to those who write the law of the land.

So Shepherd is organizing an online petition drive — and launch-ing a new organization — urging Governor-Elect Mike Pence and the new state legislature to take action and protect Hoosiers by develop-ing a climate change action plan. Her new organization, WeCAN (Climate Advocacy Network), came to fruition in November.

“By doing it that way, we can reach the government but also make a public statement, so oth-ers feel they have a hand in it as well,” she said. “With more people involved we can evoke more change. It’s too easy to ignore one or a handful of people.”

The EPA defines a climate change action plan as “a compre-hensive document that outlines a state’s response to climate change, tailored to the state’s specific circumstances. It typically includes a detailed emission inventory,

baseline and projected emissions, a discussion of the potential impacts of climate change on the state’s resources, opportunities for emis-sion reductions, emission reduc-tion goals and an implementation plan. It also usually identifies and recommends policy options based on criteria such as emission reduc-tion potential, cost-effectiveness and political feasibility.”

“We know climate change is happening,” Shepherd said. “We’ve seen it in the drought and heat wave here in Indiana this summer and the storms that have battered other states as well. It’s a need we must address along with a need for renewable, clean energy sources, and the petition will provide a means to begin this process.”

Having a climate change action plan will provide a framework for Indiana to begin to address climate change and energy efficiency, Shep-herd asserted. “Without a guide to work from, there’s a smaller chance of movement on this front.”

Lame-duck Governor Mitch Daniels’ administration does not acknowledge that climate change exists. Pence is on record say-ing “I think the issue of climate change — and the cause of any cli-mate change that’s occurring — is a subject of scientific debate.”

Amanda Shepherd will attend Hoosier Environmental Council’s “Greening the Statehouse Forum,” Dec. 1. See pg. 20.

Sign the petition at climateadvocacynetwork.com.

^submitted photo

Amanda Shepherd

UpdateIndiana’s lack of climate action plan

By Wendy Bredhold

Expires December 31, 2012


Walk into any organic or health-food store, and you’ve probably got an image of who’s shopping there: crunchy granola types, Lexus libs who just wrapped up an hour or two of yoga, jogging or Pilates, your friendly neigh-borhood art professor.

Right?Now here’s a knock to your preconceived

notions: Add Mr. & Mrs. NFL Lineman to the checkout line.

When Purdue grad and defensive end Ryan Baker began to see playing time with the NFL’s Miami Dolphins, he was put on a 6,000-calories-per-day diet by his nutrition-ist at St. Vincent Sports Performance, where he trains in the offseason.

Six thousand calories — that’s between two and three times what the average human male needs to function; but a 6-foot, 5-inch, 300-plus pounder hoping to make the team roster at pigskin’s highest level needs a lot more gas in the tank than the average weekend touch-foot-baller — or football watcher, for that matter.

Ryan and his wife, Susanah, Bishop Chatard High School sweethearts who tied the knot in July of 2011, realized that the player had a prob-lem — there are ways to swallow such a large number of calories that will clearly be rough on the cardiovascular system. Beyond that, Susanah felt that the more traditional the foods Ryan ate, the higher the doses of additives, antibiotics and hormones he’d be consuming.

Susanah began a mission to feed her husband not just healthfully, but organically as well. “You just can’t pump yourself full of junk,” says Susanah.

Goodbye to processed foods

Ryan’s not alone when it comes to eating healthy in the NFL, according to Susanah: “It ob-viously depends on what weight they need to be at, but for the most part, they all eat pretty simi-larly. Lots of lean proteins, white meat chicken, fish — good fats, and, yes, there ARE good fats out there — almonds, other kinds of nuts, avocados, lots of vitamins, fruits and vegetables.”

To ensure that all of those foods are deliv-ered in a manner as chemically free as possible, Susanah began investigating ways to help Ryan hit that 6K per day as naturally as pos-sible — and as a result, the Bakers have cut out processed foods entirely.

“People don’t understand how aware these guys are of their bodies,” says Susanah, “It’s their liveli-hood. They understand how much better their bodies perform with good food in them — and a lot of them are really into eating organically.”

The Bakers are part of a growing trend. According to the consumer analytics group TABS (The Analytical Business Solution), “Sales of organic beef increased by 48 percent last year [2011], followed by ice cream — which saw a 44 percent jump — then hair-care prod-ucts at 28 percent, vegetables with 26 percent, milk at 25 percent, eggs with 21 percent and at 17 percent for chicken.”

To hit the huge caloric total he needs, Ryan eats six meals a day — 1,000 calories per meal, one meal every two-and-a-half hours. “So he ^

photo by kristen pughRyan Baker played football for Purdue and has enjoyed success playing for the Miami Dolphins.

rganic NFLLINEMAN RYAN BAKER EATS 6,000 HEALTHY CALORIES

DAILY, THANKS TO HIS WIFE, SUSANAH

BY ED WENCK O


is basically constantly eating. ... Who wouldn’t want a job that required eating a ton of food, right?” Susanah laughs.

The Bakers quickly realized that narrow-ing Ryan’s menu to a constant conveyor belt of chicken breasts and almonds would get old pretty rapidly, so she began to investigate how to modify recipes.

“You’d be amazed how much healthier a meal can become by simply changing the ingredients to organic ones.”

If Ryan’s got a hankering, for say, a pulled-pork sandwich, Susanah will swap the meats — she’ll sub organic chicken breast for ol’ Wilbur. “You can still eat the way you always have — it’s just slightly adapted.”

Feeling the effects — immediately

Despite a Stanford study that seemed to find that organic foods didn’t have any more vitamins or nutrients than conventional eats, Susanah and Ryan are convinced that the lack of hormones, pesticides and the rest of that synthetic soup foreign to organics is the key to health, and there-fore, improved performance for the lineman.

When the Bakers made the shift, both felt the effects almost immediately. Susanah says, “Your muscles work better, your body works better — you have more energy, because you’re not getting all those additives that you’re get-ting in conventional food.”

One of the big problems with shifting to a nearly all-organic diet, however, is the cost. Ryan isn’t Dwight Freeney, the Colts player who is one of the highest paid defensive line-men in the NFL. In fact, Ryan is an on-again, off-again player in the league, so the Bakers need to be mindful of their budget [Editor’s note: at press time, Ryan had been released by the Dolphins; he says it’s possible to get a call at any point — from any team.]

Susanah leans on coupons and sales — she points out that companies that make organic foods use the same marketing tactics as tradi-tional food producers.

Susanah also takes the long view when it comes to cost cutting: “When you’re not getting all these hormones and antibiotics, artificial in-gredients and flavorings, your body is healthier. It sounds crazy, but we have less doctor visits; you don’t need as much medicine. … I haven’t taken Tylenol in — gosh, I don’t know how long.”

The diet is just the starting point of a con-tinuum of health, according to Susanah: “You eat healthy food, you feel better, you want to work out regularly. It’s all a snowball effect.”

Making the switch to organic wasn’t easy, so Susanah realized quickly that the change was a process — she couldn’t simply throw away everything in the pantry. “It has to be gradual — otherwise you’ll just get overwhelmed. You just start out kind of small and then you let it grow. You start substituting things. You can use olive oil

instead of butter. You can use egg whites instead of whole eggs. It’s not easy — it’s work, just like any good thing.”

Dodge the fatThe stereotypical footballer’s diet — the notion

of a lineman sitting down to a massive plate of rib-eye steak and taters — has become more and more of a work of fiction for the Bakers. “You’d think red meat — a lot of protein, a lot of nutri-ents — would be fine. But it really has a lot of fat in it, fat that’s not good for your heart. We still eat red meat, we just do it in moderation. We’re very aware of it — we’ll go lean red meat, like a filet.”

The Bakers have also switched to organic, skim milk — despite his bulk, Ryan needs to dodge the fats that could damage that precious muscle in the middle of his chest. “And if you’re not buying organic milk, you’ll be getting those antibiotic and hormones that are given to the cows. So if we’re not buying organic, nonfat milk, we’re buying almond milk instead.”

Yes, Susanah shops at Whole Foods and Fresh Market, and she’s appreciative of the ways these chains have changed the grocery-buying experience.

“Farmers’ markets are a great place, too,” Su-sanah says. “The thing about farmers’ markets is that you’re not going to find that ‘organic’ symbol on a lot of their foods. That’s because the certification is expensive — but it does NOT mean that the foods at farmers’ markets aren’t organic. So you just ask.”

^photo by kristen pugh

Susanah: “You eat healthy food, you feel better, you want to work out regularly, It’s all a snowball effect.”


Susanah’s interest in organics soon became a passion and she started a website called thator-ganicgirl.com. Her mission statement reads, in part: “After being introduced to the concept of organic foods I became a little overwhelmed with all the issues and controversies surrounding our food and overall health. So ... I thought I would start writing about it, maybe poke a little fun at myself, and to try to inform, not scare, you all about the latest in the food and health industry.”

The website is loaded with info, and most importantly, recipes — everything from a kale and spinach smoothie (which sounds, thank-fully, that it won’t taste anything like kale) to a recipe for a homemade green cleaner. Again, the

Bakers aren’t the Mannings — the cold fact of the NFL is that there are players like Ryan who spend part of the regular season working out and waiting for the call that some other player’s injurious misfortune means a fresh paycheck for the family — so the recipes are cost-effective.

Susanah wants to make one thing clear: the Bakers aren’t missionary zealots. “It’s not like we don’t go out to dinner, or dinner parties, or whatever — we don’t refuse any food that isn’t organic, we’re just careful with the foods we can control.”

Disclosure: ILG Editor Jim Poyser is related to the Bakers via marriage.

The Bakers are philanthropically minded and have their own foundation: The Ryan Baker Foundation.

Foundation Mission Statement: Through our team and partnership with businesses, private sponsors and dedicated volunteers, The Ryan Baker Foundation, founded in 2010, exists to generate funds and create opportunities for the benefit of children and young adults, with an emphasis on health, education, sports and mental well being.Says Ryan Baker, “The Ryan Baker Foundation is my way of giving back. We exists, solely, to generate funds and create opportunities for children less fortunate, with every, single dime that we raise going to those kids. We have recently teamed up with a foster center where we will be working with foster children that are aging out of the system. It has been so rewarding to look back and see the prog-ress and impact we have made in just 3 years, it’s makes me really excited about the future.“Also: The Ryan Baker Football Camp is a FREE, one-day, non contact football camp held in India-napolis, and is open to all 4th-8th graders. Each camper is provided with a camp T-shirt, meal and opportunity to win several awesome prizes.Learn more about both at RyanBakerFoundation.org.

Earth Fare13145 Levinson Lane, Noblesville(317)-773-3271, earthfare.comThe new kid on the block: Earth Fare’s motto is that food should be as close to the ground as it gets, which is why they only offer healthy eating that’s convenient, affordable and delicious.

Georgetown Market4375 Georgetown Road(317)-293-9525, georgetownmarket.comAt Georgetown Market you can find fresh and organic produce as well as tasty deli items that cater to both vegans and meat-eaters. The staff will gladly answer any question you have regard-ing health and organic food.

Good Earth Natural Foods6350 Guilford Ave.(317)-253-3709, good-earth.comThis family-operated business has the best products at the lowest prices, offering a wide variety of natural and organic foods. They were organic before organic was cool!

Indy Winter Farmers Market202 E Market St.indywinterfarmersmarket.orgFinding healthy, fresh food during the cold season isn’t be so difficult. Offering produce from over 60 local vendors, the IWFM is open Saturday morn-ings through April 27 at The Platform.

Nature’s Pharm8215 US 31(317)-888-0557, natures-pharm.comLocated just 15 minutes from downtown India-napolis, this locally owned health food store offers a broad selection of organic produce ranging from fresh fruits and vegetables, dairy and meat to bulk grains, nuts, seeds and herbs.

Whole Foods Market1300 E. 86th St., (317)-569-1517;14598 Clay Terrace Blvd., Carmel, IN(317)-569-1517, wholefoodsmarket.comCalled “America’s Healthiest Grocery Shop,” Whole Foods has been around for over 20 years. Their experience, commitment to sustainable agriculture and strict quality standards combine to bring the freshest natural groceries.

Winter Market at Carmel City Center719 Hanover Pl., Carmelcarmelcitycenter.com/visit/winter-market-at-carmel-city-centerThis market provides another excellent option to get fresh produce during the cold months. Taking place every Saturday through Jan. 26, it will feature some 20 vendors from the Carmel Farmers Market.

Bloomingfoods3220 East Third St., (812)-336-5400;419 E. Kirkwood Ave., (812)-336-5300;316 W. Sixth St., (812)-333-7312;bloomingfoods.coopDedicating themselves to good food and good health, Bloomingfoods is a staple in the Bloom-ington community, offering excellent fresh products from local and regional producers.

Bloomington Community Farmer’s Market401 N. Morton St.bloomington.in.gov/farmersmarketRunning from April to November, this weekly gathering allows consumers to acquaint themselves with the local growers of the food they buy, offering a great variety of produce with several different vendors each week.

Sahara Mart2611 E. Third St., (812)-339-6222;106 E. Second St., (812)-333-0502; saharamart.comSahara Mart’s most distinctive feature is their offering of products that ranges from the exotic to the ordinary while maintaining a wide selection of organic and fresh food.

Places to buy organic in the Indianapolis area

... in the Bloomington area

^photo by kristen pugh

Not your stereotypical footballer’s diet.


HEALTH & WELLNESS: YOGA

Wide-eyed, wise and prone to playing in mud and snow, Indianapolis native Heidi Fledderjohn is a lightning rod for wellness. As a yoga teacher, dance/movement therapist and facilitator, Fledderjohn shares her skills in various contexts: offering therapy to patients at Riley Children’s Hospital, guiding medita-tion in the Hawley Mountains of Montana twice a year, or organizing huge public games of freeze tag. She has a private practice us-ing movement in psychotherapy and is an Outward Bound Professional facilitator, too. In this conversation with ILG, Heidi talked about deserts, dance and the quest to “live juicy.”

ILG: You’ve travelled in the worlds of medita-tion, yoga, dance. What came first for you? Where did it begin?

Heidi: It began with milkweed plants. There is something magical about milkweed plants. Gray-brown and shaped like a flame. The pod full of silken parachutes was just magic to me as a kid. I still seek them out! I grew up in Presbyterian-ism, at Tabernacle Presbyterian Church. I’d have deep experiences, similar to the milkweed sensation, when the choir would sing — I was broken open to things other than myself, things without words. I come from a family where there’s lots of playfulness. Nature and play and the art of music were all about being profoundly open to something bigger than myself.

I moved to San Diego, and spent a lot of time in the desert there. In the desert, everything is in proportion. The mountains can dwarf you, the city can dwarf you. The desert doesn’t care about you; you just get to be who you are there.

When I moved to New York, I discovered yoga. And I was dancing a lot: salsa, west African, zydeco. These dances were done in community and I danced whenever I could.

ILG: What’s the relationship between yoga, meditation and the great outdoors?

Heidi: Art, nature, community, the body: they all carry beauty in them. All are bigger than us and are us at the same time. You can get to this place of beauty through all three. Nature, community and meditation bring the vastness where we go to remember what we forgot. The body brings the same in the microcosm of intimacy…and then you remember what you were looking for.

ILG: Can you tell a story about a person you’ve helped?

Heidi: One day at Riley, I came in and asked a teenage patient what she wanted to do. Did she want to do something strong, soft, stretchy, quiet? She said “strong.” We practiced standing yoga poses, and she and her dad practiced holding each other up. Right after this, she faced her most frightening proce-dure. She reported that she hadn’t held her breath, or been afraid, or screamed, like usual. The Dance/movement Therapy had helped her take control of her own physical and emo-tional process.

ILG: Fundamentally, what do you think people need?

Heidi: We need to honor who we are. Once we honor ourselves, then we can step into the capacity to see other people and move into

possibility and change from groundedness. I never come back from the desert feeling less than I am. If we knew that all of this was for our own awakening, what could stop us?

ILG: Can you talk about the retreats you facili-tate in Montana?

Heidi: The most amazing things happen there in Montana. There are 100 million acres of feder-ally protected wilderness. It’s all about that sense of wonder. In the Tantric Hindu philosophy that I’m studying now [The Radiance Sutras, a translation of the Vinana Bhairava], there are experiences called rasa, a Sanskrit word mean-ing “the juice or essence of life.” There are nine rasas: fear, sadness, anger, wonder, compassion, courage, love, peace, and joy. Wonder, courage and compassion are transformers – they move us toward love, peace and joy. At the Montana retreats, we sit by the river and do quiet medita-tion, with only the sounds of the river: that will take you right into wonder.

ILG: Where in Indiana do you go to find this natural wonder?

Heidi: I like to walk the canal towpath. And the IMA’s 100 Acres Art & Nature Park.

ILG: What’s next for you?

Heidi: I’m always in new territory. I get to walk beside people as they find their own paths. I’m travelling all the time even when I’m standing in yoga pose.

Fledderjohn will be teaching an instinctual meditation class this winter in Indy. To con-nect with her: www.heidifledderjohn.com

Heidi Fledderjohn:a lightning rod for wellness By Anne Laker

Interested in doing some yoga? Here are some suggestions:

All People Yoga Center1724 E. 86th St.

(317) 818-1800; allpeopleyoga.com Altered Body Mind Yoga

50 S. Madison Ave., Greenwood(317) 250-8005; alteredbodymindyoga.com

CITYOGA2442 N. Central Ave.

(317) 920-9642; cityoga.bizIndy House of Pilates6960 Gray Road, Ste G

(317) 750-3024; indyhouseofpilates.comInvoke Yoga & Pilates Studio

970 Fort Wayne Ave., Ste C(317) 631-9642; invokestudio.com

Perfect Pilates Studio100 N. Union St., Westfield

(317) 441-7364; perfectpilatesstudio.com Source Yoga Studio

8609 E. 116th St., Fishers(317) 915-9642; sourceyoga.net

^photo by michelle craig


The ecopsy-chology move-ment asserts that healthy human development is dependent upon the health of Earth, or more-

than-human nature – and vice versa. Furthermore, the violence which humans inflict upon our-selves, one another and the world results from our psycho-spiritual separation from nature.

As a society, we have overlooked the importance of a directly felt, conscious connection within our larger ecosystem – a connection foundational to human sanity.

Industrial Western culture has traditionally limited the concept of psychology to strictly human realms. From an ecopsychological perspec-tive, however, our emotional, physi-cal and mental lives have both in-dividual and collective dimensions. Consider how human consciousness has necessarily co-evolved with our environment and other members of the world’s living system.

There lives in each of us a deep knowing of the connec-tion between humans and our relations. Even the individual psyche arises from the larger psyche of nature, just as each cell in one’s body expresses and serves the processes of the body as a whole. We are both consti-tuted of and immersed within the materials and intentions – i.e., the psyche – of the Earth.

Why is all of this relevant to a discussion about wellness? The foundation and center of the “mind” is actually the shared psyche of nature, and repression of this dimension of ourselves is arguably the deepest root of a collective madness pervading industrial society.

It’s difficult to argue against the fact that as a culture, we live in a state of psychological disconnect from nature. How else can one ex-plain the attitudes and conventions that allow us to pollute, subjugate and drain our living systems?

How else can one describe our continued engagement with clearly self-destructive behav-iors, but madness?

Madness may be described as a form of psychological discon-tinuity, arising from the inability to reconcile two or more aspects of self which seem to be in op-position – resulting in a break from reality and loss of integrity between perception, belief, and action. Loss of integrity means that we make choices that do not reflect our deepest values.

This kind of madness is endemic to our fast-paced, consumption-oriented, intense-ly environment-controlling society, which encourages us to ignore a fundamental part of who we are: nature itself.

Denial of our true nature leads to a chronic yet largely unnamed sense of dis-ease.

Without a basic sense of whole-ness, nothing can satisfy or soothe us for long. Thus, an underlying existential problem gives rise to an entire society acting out through addiction, violence, and competition, all in misguided pursuit of the unmet need for belonging and meaning.

A path of true wellness is one that awakens our inherent sense of affiliation with more-than-human nature and brings us into direct experiences of deep connection with it. This perspective goes far beyond simply using nature as a tool for increasing personal sense of well-being – it is a worldview that actively honors the intel-ligence of the living world and its instinct toward self-expression and relationship, through us.

We reclaim our sanity when we include wild nature as part of our-selves, and act in accord with the wellness of the larger system. With the Earth “in mind,” what then does wellness look like for you?

Ashley Crofoot, MA, RSMT, is an ecopsychologist and body-based psychotherapist in the Indianapolis area. Her healing approach em-phasizes mindfulness, movement, creativity, and nature connection. For more information on Ash; pub-lic workshops and private therapy offerings; and further readings on related subjects, visit www.TrueNa-tureEmbodiedArts.com, or contact [email protected].

Healing our separationfrom nature

ecopsychology by Ashley Crofoot


sierra club by Bowden Quinn

The Indiana Department of Environmental Management (IDEM) has found a way to re-duce the number of Indiana water

bodies impaired by mercury-laden fish. Unfortunately, it has nothing to do with removing the mercury.

Instead of addressing the problem of mercury from coal-fired power plant emissions, IDEM has grabbed an opportunity offered by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (E.P.A.) to change the way it determines what rivers and lakes have such high levels of mercury that the department would have to find a way to clean them up.

Up to now IDEM has listed any water where it found a single fish with mercury levels that exceed the E.P.A. standard. However, the agency allows states to average the amount of mercury contamination in all the fish taken from a sampling site, based on a formula of what types of fish most people catch and eat. Since mercury tends to accu-mulate in fish at the top of the food

chain, like walleye and trout, adding pan fish like bluegills in the calcula-tion lowers the average.

As a result, instead of the 348 mercury-impaired waters cur-rently on the Indiana list, IDEM will inform the E.P.A. that there are only 104. We still have as much mercury and mercury-tainted fish in our waters, but now we have fewer that IDEM needs to worry about.

By itself, the new method is valid, since most people do eat a variety of fish. Indeed, the fish consumption advisories that the state Department of Health issues for many of the waters in our state

inform people to eat more of the species lower on the food chain rather than those that are likely to have higher mercury levels. These advisories remain in effect.

Mercury is especially dangerous for young children and women who may become pregnant be-cause it can harm the development of the nervous system, so they should be more cautious about eat-ing fish than the general popula-tion. IDEM’s approach doesn’t take that into account.

The E.P.A. wants states to adopt the new fish-tissue mercury con-centration into their water quality standards. IDEM isn’t proposing to do that. If it did, it would have to consider putting mercury limits into water discharge permits, which might cause a problem for power plants and coal mines.

The agency would also like to see more states working to clean up waters that have lots of mercury in them. IDEM says that it plans to begin that work, but don’t hold your breath. If it wanted to reduce mercury, it could have begun long ago. We know that power plant emis-

sions are the main source of mer-cury in our waters. Most of the water bodies that have so many mercury-contaminated fish that they remain on the impaired waters list are in the southern part

of the state, downwind from the concentration of power plants in southwestern Indiana.

We don’t need individual clean-up plans for all of these waters. We need a state policy to reduce power-plant emissions. That’s not something we’re likely to see from IDEM. It has resisted the E.P.A.’s request to add other metal-impaired waters to our list because doing so might lead to stricter permits for coal mines.

IDEM is more interested in protecting the coal industry than in protecting people’s health. Its new mercury-impairment policy is further evidence of that.

Mercuryin the water

IDEM is more interested in protecting the coal industry than in protecting people’s health.


If you somehow survive the 12/21/12 apoca-lypse by hunkering down in your basement, only to find yourself in dire circumstances, your last jar of peanut butter KO’ed and your stash of bread gone moldy, where to turn?

You’re golden if you’re lucky enough to share your home with cockroaches. You’ve got a renewable source of protein just waiting to be harvested. And with cockroaches’ purport-ed ability to withstand much greater doses of radiation than humans, even folks surviving in sealed bunkers might want to invite them in.

On second thought, get them in there before the cataclysm, cautions Indianapolis herbalist and forager Greg Monzel. “They could bring radiation from the outside to the inside of your home in a nuclear event,” he notes.

So not every plan is foolproof. But when there’s nothing left but rubble, it’s good to know that many bugs will still be buzzing, slithering, jumping, and flying around the wreckage — possibly right into your willing mouth.

In-home sources of unexpected eats in-clude those pesky crickets, ants and, termites you’ve never gotten around to exterminating. Termites and carpenter ants turn out to be great sources of probiotics — a good thing to know when the stores have been ransacked, their shelves empty of yogurt and sauerkraut. When it comes to these so-called pests, practi-cally speaking, you can eat them out of house and home. You’ll boost your healthy gut flora while conserving your dwindling energy for battling the zombie hordes.

Never gonna happen? Eating creepy-crawlies might sound like a scene straight out of Fear Factor, but if you don’t want to consume the critters you spray, swat, smash, slap, or stomp, consider this: In most parts of the world, bugs are a dietary staple. According to Creek Stewart, the Anderson-based survival instructor and owner of Willow Haven Outdoor, “Over 1,000 insects are known to be eaten in 80 percent of the world’s nations.” Plentiful, nutritious, and much lower-impact than livestock, bugs are only as creepy as your cultural training.

Also, “pound for pound, bugs have more pro-tein than beef,” he notes. No wonder the witch-etty grub has sustained Australian Aborigines for generations, and farmers markets in some parts of Asia have whole stalls dedicated to insects.

Back home in the Hoosier state, there is still a serious ick factor to putting a six-legged or slimy creature to your lips, even with a grow-ing number opportunities to do just that (see sidebar). But as people get more familiar with foraged plant foods, shelling out good money for wild-gathered morels and ramps, it might be less of a leap to consider the lowly insect as food.

However, as longtime plant forager Monzel

points out, “Bugs are tricky because they can fight back more than plants.” He’s sampled a few ants in his day — crunching them down before they can bite back — and finds them somewhat acrid in taste, but palatable. Their larvae are tasty and nutritious, with more fat and less exoskeleton.

Robbing an ant nest of larvae is probably not the most efficient or ethical way to go about getting a meal, but could be helpful in a pinch. (If you put all the ants in the world on a scale, they’d weigh about as much as all the humans in the world, biologist E.O. Wil-son has said — and ants are hugely adaptable, regenerating forces quickly.)

Still think you would never be able to go there? In actuality you already have: Every one of us has already eaten numerous bugs. Monzel notes that spiders crawling in unsuspecting sleepers’ mouths result in roughly two swal-lowed spiders a year per person. Fruitfly larvae live in bananas, moth larvae in flour and grains. Grasshopper parts augment commercial pasta sauce. The life (and death) of the humble bug is intertwined with ours already — supplying many an unwitting vegan with ample B12.

Nibbling worms right out of the rice bag might be a stretch, but what about cultivating your own? You can raise a herd of mealworms on your kitchen waste, and harvest them for stir fries. It’s hard to imagine a less resource-intensive livestock operation. Further, knowing your bugs have consumed a healthy diet makes for greater peace of mind than trapping them out of your basement, where they’ve eaten God knows what.

It’s possible to go a step further and use snails, a natural filtration organism, to clean your gray-water, then harvest and serve them as escargot.

There’s a global push to recognize bugs as the next culinary frontier: Development experts from the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization, among others, are working to capitalize on insects’ nutritive value and broaden their tentacled reach. Aside from being a sustainable, inexpensive protein source, raising bugs may also offer small-business op-portunities for the enterprising entrepreneur.

Monzel speaks for many when he envisions that, barring the world’s cataclysmic end on 12/21/12, we will need to take a hard look at our options by 2050, when the global popula-tion could encompass 10 billion souls. The UN expects that feeding the world’s population with our present agricultural methods will increase water demand 70 to 90 percent by that year. Add to that the fact that livestock are responsible for 18 percent of greenhouse gas emissions — a bigger share than transpor-tation — and you’ve got a recipe for disaster.

Or, perhaps, a recipe for cockroach au vin.

Ants and the Apocalypse:It’s not the end of the world to eat bugs

By Shawndra Miller

Safety first!If doomsday comes calling and you

run out of homegrown bugs — or your house gets vaporized, leaving you without a ready source of insect life to sustain you — Creek Stewart offers some handy guidelines for foraging. No matter how desperate the survival scenario, there are some bugs you should never eat, under any circumstance. Avoid the brightly col-ored, the excessively hairy, and the smelly — these might contain toxins. Think twice about catching any critter with a harsh de-fense mechanism; while bees, wasps and scorpions are perfectly edible, the pain of catching them might not be worth it.

Stewart also advises starting out slowly whenever trying an unfamiliar food of any kind, to make sure your body tolerates it. (A Florida man who died after winning a cockroach-eating contest this fall may have suffered from an allergy.)

Above all, “Always boil, roast or fry any insect before eating it,” Stewart says. Aside from the softening effect of heat, theoretically making a crunchy body a little more chewable, the idea is to destroy any pathogens. So much for your grab-and-go grasshopper snack.

Finally, you can always stock up on prepackaged Crickettes and Larvets at Willow Haven Outdoor’s gift shop (willow-havenoutdoor.com). A few other venues around Indiana will offer a chance to satisfy your bug hunger in 2013, apocalypse permitting. Visit Purdue University’s Bug Bowl, April 13 and 14, for all things buggy, including cooking demos with free samples. Or check out Bug Fest, happening in August at Indianapolis’s Southeastway Park. There you can try your hand at cricket-spitting or grab a snack at the Bug Café.

For recipes, tips and inspiration, look no further than girlmeetsbug.com.

APOCALYPTIC FOOD & DRINK

^submitted photo

Creek Stewart

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The Apocalypse

ApocaPoetry contest winners,

Crossroads

Is Gonna Git Us!

announced

APOCALYPTIC POETRY

Like Riley said of the goblinsWho’ll gitcha if’n you don’t watch out,The same is true of the apocalypse,‘N that’s what I’m writin’ about

I’m sendin’ ya all a warnin’ With a great big noisy shout.The Apocalypse is gonna git usIf’n we don’t watch out.

The Mayans said ‘twas comin’In December of this year.They said ‘twon’t be nuthin’ left—Just everything ruined and drear.

There’ll be no farmers left,To make Indiana green?No more corn or oats or wheat, Or nary a soy bean?

No more indy 500?No more Fountain Square?Just loss and desolationLotsa nuthin’ everywhere.

No more war memorial,In which we all take pride?We consider it a tribute toBrave heroes who fought and died.

No more Golden Arches?No more Kentucky fried?The Apocalypse is gonna git us,If’n we find no place to hide.

Yep, we’d better hunt us a hidin’ spot,Of that there is no doubt.‘Cause the Apocalypse is gonna git us,If’n we don’t watch out!

— VIRGINIA L. ANDERSONMorristown, IN

Virginia L. Anderson is a retired secretary who enjoys writing poems and short stories.

Ya say it ain’t a comin’Even though it’s twenny-twelve.Ya say t’ min’ ma bisnessAnd y’all ‘ll min’ yerself.Ya say it don’ much matterIf th’ Earth we try t’ help.So I say t’ watch ‘er hinesideWhen like trees we all ‘re fell’d.

Ever’ day’s more signs a showin’As man rises against man.Ever’ day the Earth’s a tellin’As there’s quakin’ in th’ lan’.Ever’ day we’s gettin’ closer—Th’ fertold time’s at han’.Yer oil ‘ll a surely burn yaIn the fi’ er i’ th’ pan.

When ya hafta pay RepublicT’ recycle up yer goods,An’ th’ fish i’ th’ White River

Ain’t fit t’ serve as food,Go walkin’ i’ th’ winterAn’ don’t even need yer hood(‘Cept fer th’ chill a goin’ through yaOf that Armageddon mood),

Ya hear th’ sandhills callin’An’ they’re flyin’ th’ wrong way,An’ ya hike i’ th’ state forestsSeein’ loggers sayin’ “Hey,”No bears near th’ Blue RiverT’ spot along yer way,Then ya know th’ ends a comin’In yer dear home Hoosier state.

Th’ road o’ th’ destructin’Is th’ one we’re trav’lin’ onAn’ we’re goin’ mighty speedy,But don’t jus’ sit an’ frown.Yer livin’ in th’ CrossroadsAn’ there’s always turns ahead,

So git th’ wheel a spinnin’‘Stead o’ waitin’ full o’ dread.

Pedal down th’ MononT’ farmers markets ‘round th’ bend.Tote home yer local applesI’ yer homemade bags an’ thenPlan’ some trees t’ grow yer own—Give tomorra’s gif’.Lil’ acti’n’s all add up—Th’ ‘pocalypse migh’ lif ’.

If i’ don’t, we’ll sure fin’ out Maybe sooner, maybe later.But i’ Mama Er’ wipes us up,I’ won’ be because you made ‘er.

— AMANDA FAGANIndianapolis, IN

Early this year, in honor of the Year of the Apocalypse, we, along with the Writers’ Center of Indiana, announced a poetry contest. Not just any poetry contest, but a contest with a theme: the Apocalypse. Contestants were instructed to write their poem in the style of James Whitcomb Riley. That’s right, the Hoosier Poet himself. Write in the dialect, keep to the form and rhyme about the Apocalypse, with an Indiana angle. Judged by writer Charlie Sutphin, we are now proud to announce the winner, Virginia L. Anderson, from Morristown. She’ll be receiving our first place gift of $250. Fortunately, we had room to run the second place entry, Amanda Fagan, from Indianapolis.

Thanks for all the submissions!

#1

#2


MEET THE MAN BEHIND INDIANA’S FIRST ZERO NET ENERGY LIBRARYNov. 28, 5:00 p.m.William Brown, director of sustainability at Indiana University will be speaking about his work to develop the first building with zero net energy in Indiana. Brown designed the library branch while working as an architect for Indianapolis firm Browning Day Mullins Dierdorf. Located in Chrisney, Indiana, the 2,400 square-foot library branch produces as much energy as it uses and actually sells more energy back to the power company than it buys. The event is free and open to the public, and will be held in the Johnson Board Room at Butler University.

HEC ANNUAL GREENING OF THE STATEHOUSE FORUMDec. 1, 8:30 a.m. - 3:30 p.m. $10-$20Indianapolis. The Hoosier Environmental Council will be teaming up with other environmental organizations from across Indiana to host the 5th Annual Greening of the Statehouse. The event will focus on identifying strategies and tactics to im-prove the environment for the 2013 Indiana legisla-tive session. Some topics of discussion include the summer’s drought and overall climate change. The keynote speaker with be well-known meteorologist Paul Douglas. The event is $10 for students and $20 for the general public.Hecweb.org

CHRISTMAS ON THE FARMDec. 15Traders Point Creamery is decking out the hay for its 5th Annual Christmas on the Farm event Saturday, Dec. 15, from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Come join the fun as the creamery turns into a winter wonderland with activities and events for family members of all ages! There will be sleigh (hay) rides, caroling, crafts, and even an appearance by Old St. Nick himself! Ad-ditionally, the Green Market will be open for last minute gifts and 100% grassfed eggnog and hot chocolate will be available to savor. Admission is free.tpforganics.com

CHASING ICE AT THE IMADec. 27-29Indianapolis. National Geographic photog-rapher James Balog travels to the Arctic to document images of Earth’s climate change. Presented at the IMA’s Tobias Theatre, the 76 minute film captures unbelievable images of shifting glaciers and documents Balog’s own harrowing journey through the Arctic. In 2012, Chasing Ice won the Excellence in Cinematog-raphy Award at the Sundance Film Festival. Admission is $5 for IMA members and $9 for the general public. 317-923-1331; imamuseum.orgsubmitted photo Top, ‘Chasing Ice’;

bottom, Christmas at Traders Point Creamery

DECEMBER EVENTS


GREEN MARKETPLACETo advertise in Green Marketplace, contact Robert Barnes at 317-808-4611 or [email protected]

Homemade & Fair Trade

Organic cotton sheets, towels, kitchen linens. Also recycled glass and paper items. Excellent place for green wedding registry. Brands include Coyuchi, Green Glass, In2Green, bambu and more!

honeysucklehome.com

Pets

Pet Esoteric Healing with Lynne Hirschman. Remote 30-minute sessions allow your pet to receive treatment without leaving home. Since 1998.

Call 317-205-9020.

Health & Wellness

Celadon Road with Amy SmithSelling organic, eco-friendly, and fair trade personal and home care products. Shop, host, or sell.

myceladonroad.com/17906

Relief from Chronic PainManual Therapies including craniosacral work. Serving clients since 1985. Lynne Hirschman, MS, PT.317-205-9020.

Local Farms

Community Supported AgricultureLocal Fruit, Produce and EggsMake a change to 100% local farm produce this seasonCertifi ed Naturally Grown!FarmIndy.com

[email protected]

Heartland Family Farm1949 Sunny Acres DriveBedford, INChemical free, custom grown heirloom and European fruits and vegetables for professional chefs. Produce of exceptional quality and fl avor for the home chef. CSA shares available - summer/winter.

localharvest.org/heartland-family-farm-M9428

Products & Services

Offering retail sales of cloth diapers and accessories, gift sets, baby slings, and natural parenting products. We provide one-on-one diaper consultations, local workshops, and on-line gift registries.

ecologicalbabies.com

Olry PhotographyEco-Friendly Wedding, Engage-ment & Event Photographers Proud to be certifi ed members of Greener Photography’s Lead-ership Circle

www.olryphotography.com

Organic Foods

Endangered Species Chocolatechocolatebar.com

Endangered Species Chocolate is committed to providing premium, ethically traded, all-natural and organic chocolate bars. 10% of net profi ts are donated to support species, habitat and humanity. Indulge in a cause.

Litterally Divine Toffeeand Truffl esNatural chocolates made with organic and locally sourced ingredients. Found at Traders Point Creamery Green Market

litterallydivinetoffee.com

An Indy Food Co-op store, Pogue’s Run Grocer is a full-service natural and organic grocery featuring affordable, fresh, healthy, and locally-produced products.www.poguesrungrocer.org

Place your ad foras little as$20

Add a logo for $15Contact

Robert Barnes317-808-4611

or [email protected]


The ApocaDocs’ Pre-Apocalypse News & Info Quiz (PANIQuiz) tests your knowledge of current environmental news. Brought to you by the ApocaDocs, Michael Jensen and Jim Poyser. Check your results (at the bottom), then see www.apocadocs.com to find out more.

THE PANIQuiz

1. What caused the 12-day shutdown of part of the Millstone Nuclear Power Station?

__ a. Native American protest__ b. Seawater too warm to cool the plant__ c. Environmentalists__ d. Lack of finances__ e. The Albatross Foundation

2. What happened to the US polar bear researcher accused of scientific misconduct?

__ a. He was found to have systematically “fudged the numbers.”

__ b. He shot himself.__ c. The investigation was postponed

until after the election.__ d. He was, ironically, eaten by

polar bears.__ e. He was cleared of any wrongdoing.

3. Why is it significant that high-Arctic heat is now the highest in 1800 years?

__ a. It signals the dreaded polar shift.__ b. Another favorite skeptic argument

bites the dust.__ c. Because low-Arctic heat is the

lowest in 1800 years.__ d. It’s not significant. Climatologists are

just trying to freak you out. Again.__ e. It proves things are getting better!

4. Why are farmers using MORE pesticides these days?

__ a. None of these answers are true.__ b. Habit.__ c. All of these answers are true.__ d. Because GMOs didn’t work.__ e. Because they required by contract

to increase amounts.

5. According to a survey, how many Corn Belt farmers believe climate change is human-caused?

__ a. 8%__ b. 15%__ c. 22%__ d. 27%__ e. None

6. In what way are American newspapers unique in the world?

__ a. They contain multiple copy-editting erors.

__ b. They are impossible to set on fire.__ c. They are no longer delivered by boys.__ d. They publish uncontested claims

from climate deniers.__ e. They are largely free on-line.

7. What are school officials in Kanawha County considering to bring revenue to the school system?

__ a. Frack at the high school__ b. Consolidate into one giant school__ c. Everyone speak in pirate brogue__ d. Put solar panels on the high

school roof__ e. All sports played with flaming balls

8. How are churches in Michigan getting involved in the environmental movement?

__ a. Calling people who don’t recycle “sinners”

__ b. Praying for sun to beat down more intensely

__ c. Advocating for renewable energy__ d. Calling the Koch brothers “the devil”__ e. Praying for more wind to turn

the turbines

9. What does a fact check say about DOE’s success rate for clean energy?

__ a. 10 percent success__ b. Only Solyndra’s failure matters.__ c. There are no such things as facts.__ d. 90 percent success__ e. 98 percent success

10. For the first time, what have scientists connected global warming to?

__ a. Duration drought__ b. My inability to sleep__ c. Tornado spin__ d. Acidified ocean__ e. Hurricane strength

Correct Answers: 1. (b): Seawater too warm to cool the plant (Hartford Connecticut Mirror); 2. (e): He was cleared of any wrongdoing. (London Guardian); 3. (b): Another favorite climate skeptic argument bites the dust. (The Earth Institute at Columbia University); 4. (d): Because GMOs didn’t work. (Reuters); 5. (a): 8% (E&E Publish-ing); 6. (d): They publish uncontested claims from climate deniers. (Climate Progress); 7. (a): Frack at the high school (Charleston Daily Mail); 8. (c): Advocating for renewable energy (The Daily Climate); 9. (e): 98 percent success (National Wildlife Federation); 10. (e): Hurricane strength (Climate Central)

ASK RENEE

Q: We have paper recycling at work for copier paper, bulk mail, catalogs and cardboard, but what should we do with

our bits from our cross-cut paper shredder? Since we got the shredder I have 3 large garbage bags full and don’t know what to do with them.

Robin

I shred some documents and then every so often, when the shredder is full, I dump all the shreds into the recycle bin. Based on your answer below I’m assuming that’s not a good way to get it recycled. Is that true? Would putting them in a bag be better? Or are paper shreds not recyclable?

Thanks, John

I often put out shredded paper in big bags. If I can’t put it in a paper bag, I have to put it in white plastic garbage bags. They seem to take them, but I wondered if it’s ok, since they only take plastic that’s labeled 1 or 2? Can it be separated or do they just put it in the trash??

Mary

Hi Robin, John and Mary,

Your questions all came in shortly after we posted what happens if you place a non-recy-clable item in with recyclables.

While I’d like to do further research on this topic, I don’t want to delay my initial findings any longer. A conversation with a customer service rep at Republic informed me that shredded paper in fact is NOT allowed in your blue and yellow curbside recycle bin.

I know! I was shocked too. I mean, if they accept regular paper, why not accept it in its shredded form???

So, for now, I guess my best solution is to seek out a paper shredding service or take your bagged paper shreds to a collection site or recycling center like RecycleForce.

Stay-tuned – if I learn more, I’ll pass it along!

SIGN UP for the Ask Renee newsletter at indianalivinggreen.com

Got a question for Renee? [email protected]


Look for the Jan. issue of ILG on stands Dec. 31

Home EnergyOur January stories will be

all about energy efficiency… in the home.

Where the PLUS is our sincere effort Where the PLUS is our sincere effort to improve the well being of all pets.to improve the well being of all pets.

Serving the communities of Avon,Broad Ripple, Greenwood and Noblesville

www.pspindy.com

Documents

Indiana Living Green - December 2012