Sunday is a pro-Earth day

Bunches of basil come big at the farmers market

I had a good environmentally friendly day today.

First off was a 25-mile bike ride along the San Gabriel River trail. The path starts three miles from my house so I biked to the start and didn't have to use my car. To get to it, I went past the Sunday farmers market at PCH and 2nd Street so on the way back, wanting a break, I stopped and figured I'd pick up some fresh produce. I had only a small backpack with me so I couldn't fit a whole lot. I picked up a $1 bunch of basil (which at the farmers market is huge ... I had to squish it to fit it in my bag) and a tomato. My favorite stand was one selling juicy and flavorful organic strawberries, blackberries, nectarines and peaches. I knew I couldn't bike home with a pint of strawberries -- at least if I didn't want them to turn into mush at the bottom of my bag by the time I got home -- so I bought a nectarine and ate it as a snack before I got back on the bike. Organic isn't cheap, not even at a farmers market, so it cost 90 cents, but it was a good fresh treat to refuel me before the last three miles home. I hadn't been to the farmers market in forever, probably since last fall, and it was busier than I remembered it. I overhead someone say that it was the busiest she'd seen. It was probably the combination of all the fresh summer produce (lots of bright red strawberries and tomatoes) and the great weather. Luckily it had been cool during my ride but by 11:30 the clouds had burned off and it was a sunny day in the high 70s, low 80s.

Then this evening I carpooled to a meeting, picking up two of my teammates. It was at a park, which added to the happy-being-outside theme of the day. We went out to dinner afterwards, which I'm not sure is good or bad for the environment. We'll call it green neutral except that I put the rest of my salmon Caesar salad in a styrofoam to-go container. But all in all, a good Earth friendly (and healthy friendly) day.