THE GREEN ZONE BLOG by LINDA MASON HUNTER
All about taking care of yourself, your family, and the planet, "The Green Zone" offers short, basic tips to incorporate into your daily life to make Earth a cleaner, more sustainable place.
In the Zone
"The Green Zone" airs four times daily at approximately. 2:50 a.m., 6:50 a.m., 4:50 p.m. and 9:50 p.m. central time. Listen every day for a new tip you can put to good use.
Why I’m cooking with olive oil
By Linda Mason Hunter
June, 2025
Seed oils have been much in the news lately, ever since Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., the current Secretary of U.S. Health and Human Services, described them as “poison.” We’re talking about cooking oils that come from vegetable seeds, like corn, canola, cottonseed, sunflower, safflower, and grapeseed. Many wellness influencers and restaurant chains say they are transitioning away from seed oils in favor of animal fats, chiefly beef tallow and butter.
Wait, what? Are nutritionists now saying animal fat is good for you? I thought it was associated with high cholesterol, heart disease, and cancer. How can plant-based seed oils be worse?
Some studies link seed oils with body-wide inflammation, which accelerates all kinds of disease. At the end of the day, good health is all about reducing inflammation.
However, much of the concern centers on the fact that, due to their high linoleic acid content, seed oils have an over-abundance of omega-6 fatty acids, whereas a balanced ratio of omega-3 and omega-6 is best for health. There’s already an imbalance in the typical Western diet due to widely available seed oils used in fried fast foods and ultraprocessed foods, which comprise roughly 10% of the U.S. food supply.
So, should you cut out seed oil altogether? The answer depends on what you replace it with. Animal fats, like beef tallow and butter, are high in saturated fat which is bad for cardiovascular health. Best to switch to olive oil or avocado oil which contain omega-3 fatty acids, thus lowering the risk of cardiovascular disease and dementia. Extra virgin olive oil has an added bonus: It’s minimally processed, thus retaining beneficial nutrients that get stripped away in the production of most other oils.
After reviewing the pros and cons, I’ve decided extra-virgin olive oil is the healthier choice. That is what I am doing, while also avoiding ultra-processed foods altogether.
Sources: “Replacing butter for some plant oils could significantly lower risk of mortality, new study finds,” by Julianna Bragg, CNN; March 6, 2025. https://www.aol.com/switching-butter-plant-based-oils-210052905.html
“Robert F. Kennedy Jr. says beef tallow is healthier than seed oils. Is he right?” by Kristen Rogers, CNN; March 26, 2025. https://www.cnn.com/2025/03/25/health/beef-tallow-healthy-seed-oils-rfk-wellness
Seed oils, “The Checkup with Dr. Wen,” by Leona S. Wen, https://s2.washingtonpost.com/camprw/?trackId=5e80b256ae7e8a594862ffaa&s=8264ecd315a3609b52471a1&utm_campaign=wp_checkup&utm_medium=email&utm_source=newsletter&linknum=5&linktot=74
BREAKING NEWS…
September, 2026
Summer 2026 broke records for heat. Summer 2027 will be worse.
In February 2026 President Trump’s EPA tossed out the endangerment finding, the basis for all climate rules and regulations, giving climate change a pass to get much worse with every passing day. And we are seeing that already.
Currently, El Nino is the problem. El Nino is a naturally occurring surge of heat in the Pacific Ocean that usually reaches maximum intensity between December and February. It happens every two to seven years, and typically spikes global temperatures and scrambles weather patterns around the world. This year’s event is already nudging up global temperatures and causing dry spells and crop failures on multiple continents.
In August the first signs of El Nino came to Kiribati, an island nation in the central Pacific Ocean. Already, the ocean surface temperature is 3.6 degrees Fahrenheit warmer than usual for this time of year. Ocean heat and salinity have bleached as much as 10% of its magnificent coral reefs. Bleaching occurs when corals become so stressed they lose the symbiotic algae needed to survive. Bleached corals can recover, but if surrounding water stays too hot for too long they die.
Scientists believe this is just the tip of the iceberg. Temps will get hotter next year. This El Nino event currently underway is expected to be one of the strongest ever recorded, and it has not yet peaked. Buckle up. This is LMH…
Source: “Early-Onset El Nino,” by David Gelles. NYT August 13, 2026.
A Great Gift for that Special Child
When I was a little kid my mother gave me a copy of Charlotte’s Web by E.B. White. That was the beginning of my love affair with books. Fifty-some years later I wrote a children’s fable of my own, dedicated to the memory of E.B. White. It’s called Three Green Rats, an Eco Tale, for ages 7 to 11 and precocious adults, a funny early chapter book filled with “green” tips preparing the next generation to inherit this remarkable planet we call Earth.
As a child in love with reading, I was entranced with glossaries, so I included a glossary at the end of my eco tale; the word “glossary” appears in the glossary. And that’s just the beginning of the clever giggles at play throughout this humorous book, making it really fun to read out loud.
So why write a book about rats? They’re nasty, aren’t they? Well, that’s what I initially thought until I learned that some Asian societies revere rats. Three Green Rats has even been translated into Korean and is for sale in South Korea. The Chinese zodiac features a Year of the Rat with this description: “People born in the Year of the Rat take on rodent-like characteristics. They are enterprising and resourceful, witty and cunning, and above all steadfastly thriftly. They work hard and are clever at adapting to their environment.” In other words, they are born leaders who don’t give a snicker what others think. That’s my pack ‘o rats, all right.
Three Green Rats, an Eco Tale is available for $20 cash, Venmo, or credit card. Simply email me at Linda@Hunterink.com and I will personally sign and dedicate the book for you. Or visit me in Mainframe Studio #275 on any First Friday where I’ll be signing and dedicating books for that special someone in your life. Rats will soon to be available on Amazon. Mainframe Studios is located at 900 Keosauqua Way, Des Moines, Iowa.
