Happy Earth Day! Obviously there are many ways to lessen our impact on the earth, from transportation to waste reduction, and one of those ways is to incorporate more local food into our diet. Local food travels fewer kms creating fewer emissions (and probably using less packaging to boot). I could go on and on, but seeing as how this is “waste watch wednesday”, we better get on with the main feature.
The 100 Mile Diet is both a concept and a book (written by two engaging Vancouverites I might add), and now it’s a tv show called The 100 Mile Challenge. The best thing is, that they are posting each episode online in its entirety, so regardless of where you live, you can check it out.
The rules are simple. You can only eat food and beverages that come from within 100 miles of your house. Sounds easy, but then you start thinking about things like sugar and flour and tea and coffee, and you realize it’s harder than you thought.
In the book, James MacKinnon and Alisa Smith lived for 1 year on the 100 mile diet (foolishly starting in the depths of winter on January 1st) and have since become spokespeople for the local food movement.
James and Alisa host the show which follows 6 families from the city of Mission, British Columbia as they try to live the 100 Mile Diet for 100 days.
I can’t figure out for the life of me how to embed a clip, so you’re going to have to go straight to the source to watch episode one at http://100mile.foodtv.ca/video/episode-1-purge.
You can find the rest of the episodes here.
The Clean Bin Project Blog 
I don’t know how this is possible. In the heart of a Quebec winter, what fruits and vegetables are we supposed to eat? I know it’s probably feasible if you are willing to eat potatoes and squash and apples all winter. And it’s probably a little easier in a province like BC. Even the garlic comes from China!
In our local Loblaws they started selling meat with the picture of Montana’s farmers on top of it. That’s more than 100 Miles.
You should definitely read the book -those two were seriously eating “sandwiches” with turnips for the “bread” because they couldn’t find wheat. For the next winter they ended up canning and freezing and drying like crazy. I think 99.9% of people wouldn’t take it to that extreme, but it’s definitely something to think about. For example, I’m trying to wait for the BC strawberries to be in season instead of buying the California ones. However, with mangoes, I know they’ll never be in season here, but I buy them anyway.
ya, I just found that out about garlic being from china! Crazy, since it grows so well here. You can get it in BC at farmers markets, and I’m trying to grow some of my own this year.
For the record, it looks like the TV show was done last summer in June, July, August – the three “easiest” months. it would just be plain mean to start them in the winter.
i didn’t know this was out already! there goes my productivity….good thing exams are basically over. was there any footage of the pemberton slow food day?
i think the spices would really be the hardest. I don’t really find the tropical fruits and stuff to be a big deal. once I stopped eating them for a while I just kinda forgot it was even an option to buy oranges and mangoes…plus when you wait all year for strawberries they’ll taste sooo much better!
Kate- Yup, we do have footage of the Pemberton slow food cycle from last year. Hopefully Grant will get it up in time to promote this year’s ride.
This is such an inspirational idea and I love the concept. I’m going to take your recommendation and read the book. I’ve browsed various sites about eating locally, but I want to read more.
Thanks for the book recommendation 🙂
Thank you for posting this link. I very much enjoyed the book, and it opened up my thinking to the possibilities for local eating on the prairies, and to eating more mindfully. I enjoyed watching the first 3 episodes, and have the release dates of the remaining episodes in my calender! Very inspiring television.
Thank you for your blog. I have been stopping by for a few months now, and have learned much, and been moved to look more closely at my own behaviour. Really looking forward to watching your film! You are doing an awesome thing.
I really do recommend the 100 mile diet book. Le-Anne, I’m glad you enjoyed it. I’m currently reading Animal, Vegetable, Miracle which is a similar concept, but focused more on the family growing their own food and connecting with their neighbours.
Global Warming To:cleanbin.wordpress.com
We think this is a great idea!
It helps the next generation to live and if the whole world did this then we could stop global warming for a whole year and if the whole world did that for more than a whole year we could get a brighter future help the world to regaining its health it must be hard for you but at least your stopping using plastic and showing people that you care about the environment and maybe if the government shows people in the news people will start doing what you’re doing. my friend and I think what your doing is great!
We think that the “Clean Bin Project” is a good idea. We think this because waste is bad for the environment, but if we reduce our waste we can have a better and healthier world. For example: a type of skating bags called Zuca bags. Zuca bags are good because they last a very long time, have lots of pockets and lots of space. The best part is that you can use them for years and years and they’ll still be good. You don’t only have to use them for skating, you can use them for other things like school and work. They are also good for traveling. This is why we think that the “Clean Bin Project” is a good idea.
Clean Bin Project
By:Kalinda Siu & Irena Han
We think the Clean Bin Project is a good idea because it reduces trash.It can also save money by not buying stuff that’s not useful.We also think that less trash will go into the landfill.Then,the trash wouldn’t pollute the planet and that means that we will breath fresher air.We could also reduce trash by not buying things that have lots of packaging because the packaging will go in the garbage can.Then,the trash in the garbage can will get thrown in the landfill and it will pollute the fresh air.Also,we will not be really healthy by breathing the polluted air.If the landfill gets bigger,it can spoil wildlife of the animals.The planet will be horribly stinky if the landfill is humongous.The pollution will rise to the Sun and the Sun will die.Imagine life without the Sun!The whole Earth will die(and so will we).Us humans will be extinct.We wouldn’t want that to happen!This is why we think the Clean Bin Project is such a good idea.
Clean Bin Project
By:Kalinda Siu & Irena Han
We think the Clean Bin Project is a good idea because it reduces trash.It can also save money by not buying stuff that’s not useful.We also think that less trash will go into the landfill.Then,the trash wouldn’t pollute the planet and that means that we will breath fresher air.We could also reduce trash by buying things that have lots of packaging because the packaging will go in the garbage can.Then,the trash in the garbage can will get thrown in the landfill and it will pollute the fresh air.Also,we will not be really healthy by breathing the polluted air.If the landfill gets bigger,it can spoil wildlife of the animals.The planet will be horribly stinky if the landfill is humongous.The pollution will rise to the Sun and the Sun will die.Imagine life without the Sun!The whole Earth will die(and so will we).Us humans will be extinct.We wouldn’t want that to happen!This is why we think the Clean Bin Project is such a good idea.
A big thank you to people who wrote in from Halton School District! We love to see people of all ages getting involved and thinking about reducing waste. You have great ideas for alternatives such as using reusable bags that will last a long time and buying products without packaging. We think it’s important for people to think about the big picture of our impacts on the Earth because you are right, pollution from our landfills is a big environmental problem. The amount of garbage we create is something we can change both at home and at school, so we’re always inspired to hear about people who are spreading the word and trying to reduce, reuse, and recycle.