Mario Batali and EarthLab Cook Up Eco-friendly Culinary Resources and Recipes

KIRKLAND, Wash., Oct. 30 /PRNewswire/ -- The EarthLab Foundation, (http://www.earthlab.com), and world-class chef, restaurateur and author, Mario Batali, have teamed up to provide the latest in environmentally friendly food options, insights, and tips in a new online segment at EarthLab.com entitled Food & Mario Batali. The section is devoted to helping EarthLab's more than one million members learn how to make better food related choices for the environment, as well as understand more about cooking and Italian cuisine.

Batali is continuing his green journey by joining the EarthLab community and creating his personal Earth Conservation Plan (ECP), which he can save and track over time to help lessen his impact on the earth. His ECP score is 269 and he outputs 9.1 tons of carbon per year, compared to the national averages of 349 ECP and 15 carbon tons.

Batali pledges to reduce his impact by 10 percent by the end of 2008 and he encourages others to calculate their score with EarthLab and start to make changes through many small steps such as:

    -- Seek out locally grown produce and products -- Reduces the amount of
       petroleum consumed to transport your meals by as much as 95 percent
    -- Buy fresh produce over canned or frozen -- Canning and freezing food
       uses about three billion kilowatt-hours of energy per year, enough to
       power every light bulb in the state of New York for three years
    -- Choose organic food -- Encourages organic agriculture, if one percent
       of U.S. farmlands converted to organic it would remove 26 million
       pounds of pesticides per year from our food and the environment

"EarthLab shares my passion and motivation for the environment and I am looking forward to working closely with the EarthLab Foundation and community to share my experiences and expertise, while also reducing my own impact," said Batali. "I have been implementing earth-friendly changes in my restaurants, such as not using bottled water, but there is still a long way to go. Eating is something that we all do every day and there are small choices about what we eat, how we shop for food and cook that can help the environment."

Earthlab.com and its ECP Carbon & Lifestyle Calculator is now the most widely used carbon calculator in the world thanks in part to feature placements by Live Earth, SOS, Leonardo Dicaprio's documentary The 11th Hour, and the 2007 Prime Time Emmy awards this past September. EarthLab also recently announced a key Web partnership with the Alliance for Climate Protection led by its Chairman, Al Gore.

The Food & Mario Batali section located at http://www.earthlab.com/life/Food.aspx, will continue this success by offering new resources to the EarthLab community such as the following:

    -- Recipe and Wine Selection -- Features organic and regionally focused
       choices for all occasions
    -- Mario's Top 5 -- Each month Mario will compile a top five list in
       various categories related to food, wine and entertaining. For
       November, Mario lists his top five kitchen gadgets.
    -- Mario's Favorite Links -- List of favorite green-related links about
       food, products, organizations and more
    -- Shopping with Mario -- Featuring Mario's cookbooks, cookware, cooking
       essentials and more
    -- Featured Italian Region -- Mario will highlight the cuisine and related
       history of an Italian region each month
    -- Where's Mario -- Provides an update on Mario's travels and activities
    -- About Mario -- Learn more about Mario with his bio, information on his
       restaurants and green efforts

In addition to the featured section on Earthlab.com, Batali will also work closely with the EarthLab foundation to develop an annual fund raising event.

"We are excited to have someone so talented and dedicated to making a difference join our efforts," said Duane Dahl, creator of EarthLab. "Mario's partnership will help us continue to provide unique, relevant information that is helpful for reducing our impact on the earth while continuing to raise awareness for the issues at hand."

About EarthLab.com -- The EarthLab Foundation

EarthLab is the leading climate crisis community and multi-platform media brand that provides a practical guide to green living through community interaction, exclusive climate crisis news, advice from experts and key analysis, in addition to offering the most widely used carbon index and lifestyle calculator in the world.

EarthLab's free personalized Earth Conservation Plan (ECP) Carbon and Lifestyle Calculator is a unique three-minute survey that generates scores, which members can save and track over time. The creation of this private strategy focused on environmentally friendly options gives EarthLab's million plus members an opportunity to educate and activate themselves while embedding a green approach in their lives.

To date EarthLab has forged partnerships with the Alliance for Climate Protection, chaired by Nobel Peace Prize winner and former Vice President Al Gore, Live Earth/SOS, The Primetime Emmy's, Participate.net, Dell Inc. -- Dell Earth, world-class chef, restaurateur and author Mario Batali, and Terremark Worldwide, Inc.

The EarthLab Foundation is a 501(c) (3) nonprofit organization headquartered in Kirkland, Washington. The EarthLab Foundation also provides functional outreach and reverse research and educational efforts in part through EarthLab.com, (http://www.earthlab.com), capable of providing unsurpassed real-time data collection from consumers worldwide.

About Mario Batali

Mario Batali, who rides a Vespa regularly and who lives and eats in NYC with his wife Susi Chan, of Coach Dairy Farms, and 2 children, owns 8 restaurants in NYC, 2 in Las Vegas and 2 in Los Angeles with his business partner Joe Bastianich. He is also the star of the wildly popular Food Network series Iron Chef America. Next fall, his new PBS series with co-stars Mark Bittman and Gwyneth Paltrow will air. Spain ... On the Road Again will follow the threesome's adventures as they travel and eat their way through Spain.

Mario is also the author of five cookbooks including the James Beard Award Winning, Molto Italiano: 327 Simple Italian Recipes (Ecco 2005). Mario's upcoming cookbook and grilling handbook -- Mario Batali -- Italian Grilling (Ecco, 2008), takes the mystery out of making tasty, authentic, smoky Italian food.

For more info visit http://www.mariobatali.com.