Inside this issue:

BIKENOMIC$

$TAY COOL!

YOUR NEW FOOD PYRAMID

Seasonal Newsletter

FALL 2011issue 14

A BEACON IN THE SMOG

710 2nd Ave # 860Seattle, WA 98104

YOU’RE ENVITED TO

OUR GALA!

This is your password for Grist’s one-night only SPEAKEASY Party. Shake your senses and experience an exciting night out at Grist’s swinging-est club scene featuring Chef Caspars’ decadent cuisine, drinks “a gogo”, keynote speakers on green issues, and much more...

Proceeds from the auction will help support Grist’s online magazine and Going Green programs.

WHEN: 8:00 PMFRIDAY, JUNE 16TH

WHERE: BENAROYA HALL200 UNIVERSITY STREET SEATTLE, WA 98101206.215.4800 • TICKETS

COME SUPPORT GRIST!

More and more of us have less and less money these days. Fortunately, there are a lot of things you don't need money to do, and bicycling is one of them. When you're broke, a bicy-cle can help a lot. Financially, for starters. Cars are expensive beasts. If you make less than $70,000 a year, you probably spend almost 20 percent of your household income on transporta-tion. That's more than you spend on food. But bicycling also has lots of other benefits, the kind that shouldn't have anything to do with money, but that are all too elusive when you have none. Health. Lack of stress. Com-munity. Civic participation. Fun. Joy. Bicy-cling makes you feel free, and when you feel that way you believe that more is possible.So here's a short guide to bicycling through the new, not-so-great Depression. In true Depression style, your first step is to not buy anything. There's a good chance you already have a bike in your household -- most people do. Grab it! If you don't have a bike in your house, borrow one from a family member or neighbor, preferably someone who's about your height. Make sure to shift the seat. Borrowing will save you from buying a bike you hate, one that will fill you with guilt whenever you walk past it to the car or the bus stop. And it will become your new best friend. It will teach you what you do and do not want out of a bike. It will remind you that you have generous friends.Once you have that bike, ride it! Ride it wherever you like. If this means down the corner to get milk from the store, don't

Freewheeling: Bicycling & the art of being broke

by Elly Blue

forget to bring your backpack. If this means 5 or 10 miles to work, spend some time with a map first to find routes that don't suck. Some places, including New York and Chicago, are covered by an app called Ride the City that can tell you the safest and/or fastest routes around town, and Google Maps and other sites have also started offering biking directions. If you can find someone to ride with, even

better. Put some air in the tires -- if you don't have a pump, your nearest bike shop will gladly let you use theirs. Take a minute to familiarize yourself with some safe riding

basics, and give the bike a basic checkup. And just go!

There is one expense you cannot escape: Fuel. You'll eat more, and you'll find that the

very cheapest food on the market, the fried and processed bready stuff, just

doesn't get you up those hills. This all costs something, but it's nothing next to the price of inactivity.

At some point, if you don't like your neighbor's bike or if they aren't interested in trad-ing it for your old push mower, you'll need to do some shopping. Figure out your budget and what you absolutely need from a bike.

Start shopping around. Try local thrift stores, rummage sales, and

the internet. See if someone else you know may actually want to sell or trade

you theirs, so you both score. You should also know that there is a huge worldwide network of places where you can fix your bike, get parts and gear, and even get a new bike, for free. A bike can be key to running a business, large or small. You are free to go where you want, when you want.

Stay cool for next

nothing.to

At Grist, we’re making lemonade out ofYou know how some people make lemonade out of lemons? ?

climate apocalypse.

1. Buy a fan. A good

one. Not too big.

2. Secret Sauce: Buy

a polymer bead-filled

bandana or a synthetic

“cooling towel”

3. Aim fan at head.

Marvel at results.

Here’s the USDA’s new food guidelines, in an appropriate graphical form: the plate chart. (A pie chart would have too much refined sugar.) It lacks the mystical and ancient appeal of the food pyramid, but is perhaps more relevant to your daily food-eating life. (But is it kosher or something? Why is the dairy on a separate dish?) [Update: It’s a glass of milk! I JUST got that.] The take-home messages are:

Hard to argue with that. The USDA takes the plate thing a little far, though, demonstrating portion sizes by showing food on generic white dishes, with no size reference except a grid. (As cliche as “the size of a pack of playing cards” was, I can visualize that better than “taking up the pictured amount of real estate when put on a 10-inch dinner plate.”)

• Avoid oversized portions.

• Make 1/2 your plate fruits & veggies.

• Make 1/2 your grains whole grains.

• Switch to fat-free or 1 percent milk.

• Go for lower-sodium options.

• Drink water.

Introducing a new food pyramid...

by Jess Zimmerman

LACK OF STRESSFUN

HEALTH COMMUNITYCIVIC PARTICIPATION

JOY.

loomingthe