The prospect of working for NRDC brought me back to NY following a 2-year stint in London and Paris getting my Masters degree in Public Policy. I miss Paris every day but more and more, I know NY is home. Besides, a politics junky like me wouldn’t miss such a challenging, exciting, opportunity-filled time in the U.S. for anything.
Apart from that, I just moved to Harlem so life these days is pretty much about exploring my new neighborhood, working on my yoga, attempting to cook fresh food daily from scratch and trying to live healthier and greener little by little. Next on the agenda: a worm box to recycle organic waste at home – yikes!
Posted May 23, 2012 by Sasha Lyutse in Health and the Environment, Living Sustainably
Our most recent Frugal Feast took place, by coincidence, the weekend before NRDC announced the winners of its fourth annual Growing Green Awards, recognizing outstanding leadership in sustainable agriculture. So I thought it was a great opportunity to connect some important dots....continued→
Posted April 10, 2012 by Sasha Lyutse in Living Sustainably
Last month, Frugal Feasts literally swept the nation, with groups of friends gathering simultaneously in New York City and Los Angeles to indulge in home-cooked, community dinners made from sustainable, low-on-the-food-chain ingredients, and which cost no more than $5 dollar...continued→
Posted March 30, 2012 by Sasha Lyutse in Health and the Environment, Living Sustainably
Whenever I blog about one of our Frugal Feasts, I’m asked to post the recipes for the various dishes, possibly because it’s hard to believe that a $5 per person budget can turn into a local, seasonal and mostly organic meal...continued→
Posted March 20, 2012 by Sasha Lyutse in Solving Global Warming
The EPA’s Biogenic Carbon Emissions Panel held a teleconference call today to allow the public to comment on its latest deliberative draft. Below is a slightly expanded version of the comments I delivered on behalf of NRDC. (My oral comments...continued→
Posted March 5, 2012 by Sasha Lyutse in Living Sustainably
Last week, I took Frugal Feasts on the road and co-hosted a hybrid Frugal Feast-Shabbat dinner with a dear friend in Washington, D.C. Now I have to be honest: food is more my religion than religion is my religion, but...continued→
Posted February 22, 2012 by Sasha Lyutse in Living Sustainably
Our last Frugal Feast host really threw down the gauntlet, creating a gorgeous home-cooked meal for a dozen of our friends for less than $5 a plate. But this month’s host was unfazed to say the least. I’ll let his menu speak for...continued→
Posted February 21, 2012 by Sasha Lyutse in Solving Global Warming
A new study examining the climate impacts of using biomass to produce electricity in the Southeast adds to a growing body of science challenging the notion that all biomass is carbon-neutral, concluding that burning trees in the region's power plants would increase carbon...continued→
Posted January 25, 2012 by Sasha Lyutse in Curbing Pollution, Solving Global Warming
Last summer, EPA temporarily exempted the carbon emitted from burning biomass from pollution standards under the Clean Air Act and convened a panel of scientific experts to advise it on crafting rules for the treatment of biomass. Last week, that...continued→
Posted January 17, 2012 by Sasha Lyutse in Health and the Environment, Living Sustainably
Last weekend, my fellow Frugal Feasters and I took part in the fanciest Feast yet. This time, our host really raised the technical difficulty bar! His menu reads like something straight out of a posh restaurant: Mushroom and onion bruschetta...continued→
Posted December 23, 2011 by Sasha Lyutse in Moving Beyond Oil, Solving Global Warming
I turn 30 this weekend. That means that for my whole life, the corn ethanol industry has been receiving federal subsidies. From the Energy Tax Act of 1978, which gave ethanol its first tax exemption, to the American Jobs Creation...continued→
Posted December 22, 2011 by Sasha Lyutse in Health and the Environment
I wrote last month about how my friends and I decided to take up Slow Food USA’s $5 Dinner Challenge. Once a month, we’d gather for a home-cooked dinner that was well-balanced, including a protein, dark leafy green and a...continued→
Posted November 16, 2011 by Sasha Lyutse in Environmental Justice, Health and the Environment
So much is being written about food these days, it’s hard to keep up. But one recent OpEd by NY Times columnist Mark Bittman really jumped out at me. In the post called Shared Meals, Shared Knowledge, Bittman echoes a...continued→
Posted September 7, 2011 by Sasha Lyutse in Curbing Pollution, Solving Global Warming
Our forests work hard for us every day, absorbing and storing vast amounts of carbon. This makes forests one of our best defenses against global warming, one we Americans rely on to offset 13% of our annual greenhouse gas emissions...continued→
Posted June 28, 2011 by Sasha Lyutse in Curbing Pollution, Health and the Environment, Moving Beyond Oil
Today, the Environmental Protection Agency issued labeling requirements for fuel pumps dispensing E15—a blend of gasoline that contains up to 15% ethanol. This announcement follows up on EPA’s expansion earlier this year of a partial waiver allowing E15 to be...continued→
Posted June 9, 2011 by Sasha Lyutse in Moving Beyond Oil, Solving Global Warming
In a post earlier this week, I talked about the Renewable Fuels Association’s new ad campaign in Washington D.C. promoting corn ethanol on the basis that it reduces gas prices. The claims in that ad—namely that ethanol reduced the average...continued→
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