Toy Story

Here is my soundslide about Fuschia, a cafe specializing in sustainable food and flowers:

This map displays many sustainable restaurants and businesses in Montreal using Google map’s create your own map feature, which is actually really cool!

View Map

jonah-neumark-interview-final

Jonah Neumark talks about his rocket stove and other green cooking tools

I found both pieces really interesting, but definitely preferred the Kabul piece. It was very dramatic, with the voice over and the black and white pictures. It kind of pulled you into the story and made you a part of it. It was also very candid and beautifully photographed. The photographer played with light and darkness to add drama to the pictures, which I found beautiful. One criticism would be that the pictures shown often had nothing to do with what was being narrated on the voice over. I expected to see what I was hearing, but there was no correlation.

The fox hunting piece was much happier and more colorful. The narrator clearly felt very strongly about fox hunting, which shined through in the piece and made me more excited about it even though I don’t relate to the topic at all. The pictures correlated with the narration, which made it much more comprehensive than the Kabul piece; it made for a full story with a beginning, middle and end.

I think my soundslides piece will be much more like the Hounds piece. It will be brighter and happier, so the drama and darkness in the Kabul piece won’t be there. The pictures will be in color and the narration will correlate directly with what is being shown in the pictures, as in the Hounds piece.

Telling stories with sound was actually really helpful for my interview. Learning about background noise, ambient noise etc. really helped me when doing my interview. I enjoyed the course much more than the previous one and found it really helpful. The accompanying stories were really interesting. Thanks NewsU!

We’ve all heard of green cooking, but what is it really? Is it just buying organic or using the right cookware, or does it involve fully transforming your life?

Your Kitchen

Let’s start with the fridge. Side-by-side fridges use twenty percent less energy than freezer-top ones. Set the freezer to -17 and the fridge to 5 for optimal energy savings.

Matching pot and pans to the right-sized heating element makes a huge difference.

Double-up when using the oven. Have a once-a-week cooking day where you get all your baking done. If you have a microwave, use it to heat up leftovers rather than pre-heating the oven or toaster-oven.

Only use your dishwasher when you have a full load and if you absolutely must. Hand wash your dishes.

Replace old appliances with energy-star rated ones; they’ll save you 15 percent in energy. Add that to the 20 per cent you save with the oven and that’s thirty-five percent! Electric stoves are 50 percent more efficient than gas or convection ovens.

An efficient pilot flame turns blue. If yours is any other color, call a service person. Keep top of burners clean. That food on top absorbs heat and makes food take longer to cook.

Replace weather strip down the side of the oven door as it wears out over time. Do not use plastic in the microwave, only glass and other approved materials. Use the self-clean in the oven as soon as the oven has been used. Better yet, don’t use it at all.

Use saucepans with flat bottoms. Use a lid when boiling water or cooking on the stove. This reduces cooking time by 10-15 minutes.

Buy a stove with an electric ignition. This saves gas because the pilot light isn’t continuously burning. Buy an electric, propane or natural gas grill and use it! Burning charcoal or wood briquettes produce smoke that is toxic and harmful to the environment. If you must use charcoal, use an electric lighter instead of lighter fluid to burn fewer toxins.

Boil only the amount of water that is necessary.

Cook with a pressure-cooker. This time and energy saver makes large amounts of food in a little amount of time. Also requires less water.

Use a meat thermometer to prevent overcooking.

Low-energy baking

If your dish requires baking for more than thirty minutes, no need to preheat! Just pop it in and bake for the desired length. Of course, you must keep the oven closed (no peeking!) If your dish requires more than twenty minutes of cooking time, you can usually turn the oven off twenty minutes earlier.

Use glass cookware for faster cooking time.

Grow your own vegetables!

This sounds a lot easier that it actually is, but it is worth the effort. Hone-grown veggies not only taste amazing but are amazing for you and cost-efficient. Look around for community gardens if you lack green space.

Cut raw food into smaller pieces for faster cooking time. This works with anything and gets you eating faster. Cook things in one pot, like stews and ragus. Cook vegetables less, this leaves more nutrients in them. Use pressure cookers and microwaves when you can. This significantly reduces cooking time.

Buy local, seasonal produce. Another huge money-saver, buying local is the way to go. Think of it as supporting your farmers and markets. Buy your fruits and veggies at the fruit store, not the supermarket.

Always save your scraps. No, not for the compost. Make vegetable stocks and chicken stocks and freeze for later use. Better yet, start composting.

Eat less meat and seafood. This may be really hard for some, so start slow. Cut it down to once or twice a week.

Double or triple recipes and freeze extra meals. Not only does this save time and energy, you have homemade TV dinners at your disposal.

Save water you run from the faucet for other uses while waiting for it to heat. Save water used to cook veggies and pasta, and save water used to clean them. You can always find uses for them later. Grow your own veggies and herbs with this water. Don’t use a lot of oil!

EXTRA TIPS…

Teflon is B-A-D!We all love that non-stick cookware, but it is absolutely terrible for the environment and for you. In fact you are poisoning yourself (can you say Perfluorooctanoic acid?) every time you use it. So throw out those pans and get some cast-iron grills! Use a Wok to be extra green-friendly. Stick with wood or metal utensils.

How to cook green pasta (no, not the color green!)

Boil only enough water to cover noodles plus an inch. Add a bit of salt to lower the boiling point and keep lid on. When the water’s boiling, add noodles. Crack the lid and boil for only one minute. Turn off the stove and let sit for one minute past the cooking time.

Enjoy! You’ve just saved the environment.

Secondary Sources:

1) This article from the Paramus Post about “earth-friendly cooking”

2) This piece by CBC weather anchor and green queen Geeta Nadkarni

3) This article by Candice Batista on green living

4) These tips from St-Supery chef Ron Barber

5) These tips from greenshopper.com

6) These tips from enviroman’s blog

7) These tips from greenlivingonline.com

These pieces are similar in the sense that they both use online video to tell the story, but that’s pretty much where the similarities end. Yolanda’s crossing is a touching portrayal of a young woman’s journey from her small Mexican hometown to Dallas with her abusive uncle. It is told by Yolanda and is comprised of video and stills of her life. It is very touching and kept me watching until the end. It is in very straightforward documentary style. The annoying thing about it was you had to keep going back to the main page to go to the next segment. The Las Vegas piece was also really interesting, and it employed a lot of multimedia. It was a slightly drier (pardon the pun!) topic, but kept me hooked through graphs, historical material, landscape video and talking heads.  It was very flashy and moved around a lot, where the Dallas piece was a lot quieter and stiller. I really enjoyed both pieces.