Category: Goods

This is the first in a series of posts that will preview some aspect of my upcoming FR*EE teleclass  “How to Overcome Green Overload in Your Small Business: 5 Steps for Cutting Through the Clutter.” At the end of this post, there is a bit more detail about the class.

The other day I had a conversation with a client who was rationally trying to decide where to go next in greening her household, which she rightly thinks of as a small business. Having effectively reduced her family’s energy use, she now wants to turn to their diet. She’s weighing all the options, to decide what actions might be feasible, based on their preferences, schedules, and budget.

She got on the subject of industrial agriculture and its terribly negative impacts on the Chesapeake Bay. For example, in the past, farmers were pressured by the chicken industry to produce vast quantities of chicken as cheaply as possibly, despite pollution and health risks. We can easily become paralyzed by worry and overwhelm from the messages we get in the media about how bad things are and especially our role in the destruction.

These messages speak to our inner sense of shame, turmoil, guilt, and anxiety. And it’s paralyzing because we don’t like feeling that way, so we tend to push away and avoid the subject. And rightly so – these dark feelings are a survival technique, part of how we are designed and wired. The problem is, we cannot act effectively from a place of negativity and avoidance.

During the call, I advised her to focus on things she really likes doing. Pass up the actions that blow her schedule, require her to drive a lot, or completely overhaul her family’s eating habits. Even if she did implement some dramatic changes, they would be at great cost and so would be only short-term fixes without lasting power in their lives. They would eventually drop them, because they are just too hard to maintain over the long haul.

A lot of messages about going green are genuinely helpful lists of things you should be doing – emphasis on the word, “should.” Rather than trying to conform to somebody else’s list of “shoulds,” it’s a much more fruitful and enjoyable exercise to notice, in looking at one of those lists, what things pop out, which appeal to you and which are simply irrelevant.

Start with the things that appeal to you, and start small. Small changes can ripple through with big effects. For instance, if you are thinking about not eating meat altogether, for health, environmental, or even spiritual reasons, the best way to start could be to cut out meat one meal a week or one day a week. (This site, Meatless Monday, is a great resource.) That gives you the experience of planning, preparing, and eating a meatless meal. It allows you to test-drive that change, rather than making it wholesale across the entire week.

This way of customizing green actions from a place of desire, rather than obligation, is one aspect of my upcoming FR*EE teleclass, “How to Overcome Green Overload in Your Small Business: 5 Steps for Cutting Through the Clutter.” This call is on Thursday, Nov. 12, at 4:00 p.m. EST. I’ll show you how to:

• Bring your desire to go green into alignment with your need to grow your business;
• Create new opportunities for your business by going green; and
• Find reliable yet innovative eco-friendly resources

There’s just so much information out there, and I will teach how to put on a pair of green-colored glasses. How to see through all the clutter to the strategies, goals, and vision that really fit you, that are uniquely tailored to your needs, your business, your life.

7 Questions to Ask When Considering Purchasing a Product or Material for Your Business:

1. Apply life-cycle thinking. This includes:

a. Does the product contain toxic materials?
b. Where do the raw materials come from and where is the product manufactured?
c. How much energy is used to extract and ship components or parts of a product?
d. How much energy, water and resources are used to create and package the product?
e. How can it be disposed of or recycled at the end of its useful life?
f. Are there any environmental or health impacts of its use?

2. Do you even need to purchase the product new? Sometimes a used item is just as good.

3. Exactly how much of it do you need? Don’t buy more than you need; this wastes money and resources.

4. What type of packaging does it come with? Environmentally-conscious companies are doing all sorts of creative things to green their packaging. This addresses the materials that packaging is made from, as well as the amount of it.

5. Is the product well-designed for its intended purpose? Often, cheaply made goods fall apart and are thrown away within 3 months of purchase.

6. Does the use of this product require special ventilation? If so, don’t buy it! There are plenty of alternatives for low- and no-VOC cleaning products, paints, and adhesives.

7. Depending on how far you want to take it, ask about labor practices. Does the manufacturer pay a living wage, do they give their employees benefits, do they have a diverse workforce? Do they contribute to their community? The social aspects of sustainability / green are sometimes overlooked, but have huge potential payoffs.

7 Tips:

1. Look for locally-produced and sourced products. This helps support your local economy, and reduces transportation-related environmental costs. Continued

Joel Makower, longtime green business guru and executive editor of Greener World Media, wrote an excellent article in his blog recently asking this question.

Joel writes,"Better. It’s a word I’ve been thinking about lately. And as I look at the landscape of sustainability, the green economy, and green marketing, I’m struck by how much of what’s greener isn’t necessarily better, at least not in the ways that matter to most people. And until "green" is synonymous with "better," it’s destined to remain marginalized, incapable of fomenting change at the scale and speed necessary to address climate change and other pressing problems."

In this article, Joel surveys the green landscape: cleaners, clothing, computers, cosmetics, energy, furnishings, buildings, appliances. Many of the greener alternatives are of higher quality, last longer, result in lower bills, all of which indicate higher quality. But, Makower, notes, it’s not all roses and honey. Green marketing is still stumbling over this simple fact:

"But many mainstream consumers believe that "green" equals "worse" — that making environmentally responsible shopping choices means making a sacrifice in quality, affordability, convenience, or some other attribute. A relative few are willing to make such sacrifices in the name of a healthier planet or a better world. But not many are. And they won’t do so until green = better."

Read the full article and see what you think.

I had the luxury while on our sailing trip to read an entire book, start to finish. I didn’t just read it – I DEVOURED it. Fitting, then, that it was a book about food and eating: In Defense of Food by Michael Pollan.

I’ve been a Michael Pollan devotee forever. I still remember where I was sitting when I read his brilliant essay, "Weeds Are Us," in the NYTimes Sunday Magazine. That wonderful meditation on the push-pull of nature and culture is in his book, Second Nature: A Gardener’s Education . But I digress. We’re talking food here.

This book is so full of great observations, factoids for those of us who are info-obsessed, philosophy, and downright good sense. All packaged in Pollan’s signature intelligent, pleasure-to-read prose. It’s conversational, but not condescending. Among the MANY gems, three themes particularly spoke to me.

1. Good for us = good for the earth

Right off the bat, he makes the observation that good personal choices are usually good ecologically. I completely agree! It’s at the heart of our EcoBlueprint program; right down to my example showing how Thanksgiving dinner meets multiple needs beyond simple sustenance: family connection, aesthetics in choice and arrangement of the food, expressing love, giving care, pleasure, support of local economies, participation in the great cycle of life. I LOVE that he defends the pleasure of eating, and I’m just so glad that he’s not the only one singing that song lately.

2. All about relationships

Another great theme is that of food relationships. In nature, food is all about relationships among species: we call them food chains. Pollan takes a clear-eyed look at our place in this chain. Who better to guide us than the man who has spent much of his writing life on the topic of the intertwining of nature and culture? Culture, he says, has played a critical role in helping to mediate people’s relationship to nature. Eating is one of the most important manifestations of that relationship.

This is likely why, in the ever-growing sustainability movement, food is often a first entry point. We all have to eat! Buying our food directly from farmers is an excellent way to experience this connection . Pollan’s advice is to shake the hand that feeds you: meet the people who grow and raise the food you eat.

3. Traditional + now = a way forward

In another brilliantly creative passage, he likens traditional diets to vernacular architecture . Continued

by guest writer Nedda Wittels

Help Yourself, Help the Animals, Help the Earth.

How can having a greener footprint benefit our animals? Here are some thoughts and insights that have changed the way I care for my animal family members.

1. Feed Your Animals Naturally

Have you ever read the labels on your cat and dog food packages? Admittedly, you may need a magnifying glass to do so, but it is well worth the $10 or so investment to discover what you are actually feeding them.

Unfortunately, most of the pet foods readily available and promoted on TV are really full of things that no animal should be eating: chemical preservatives, artificial flavoring, meat by-products, and so on. Do you know what the big, long, barely pronounceable words in the contents list actually stand for? I challenge you to look them up online and discover what you are feeding your animals.

The expression, "You are what you eat " is correct, and today we and our animals are sicker than ever before. A lot of it has to do with what we are eating.

It’s time to tell the corporations that we want to feed our animals natural foods, not foods filled with industrial waste products. Companies are getting rid of industrial waste by putting it into your pet’s food.

Feeding organic foods (and some "all natural" foods) will mean healthier dogs and cats. Animals need foods filled with nutritious substances that are readily available to their bodies.

For example, what is a "meat by-product"? Do you ever see it in the meat section of your supermarket? Do you know that it’s the parts of the slaughtered animal that is considered unfit for human consumption? If humans shouldn’t be eating it, neither should our animals!!

Do you know WHY some pet food have artificial flavorings? Because no animal would touch the food if the real flavoring wasn’t covered up. Continued

A guest article by Stefanie, founder of the Focus Organic website. Stefanie is, like many of us, trying to live a more green life herself. She shares what she’s learning with the visitors to her site, and also learns from them. She believes that, in our quest to be more eco-friendly, we can better ourselves, our lives, and the planet. Implementing even just small changes into our daily lives can make a big difference. Welcome, Stefanie!

In spite of tough economic times, people are still slowly realizing that switching to an organic lifestyle may be an important decision. While the growth of the U.S. organic food industry has slowed, down from 18.3% growth in 2007 to 15.8% growth in 2008, reaching a sales total of 22.9 billion USD, it is still growing, and seems it will continue to grow. The organic industry as a whole, including non foods, grew 17.1% in 2008, while organic non-food sales alone grew 39.4%. Organic food sales now account for 3.5% of all food sales in the U.S. (Source: Organic Trade Association )

Says something, doesn’t it? In spite of tough times, more people are still willing to pay a bit extra to ensure their health. We’ve heard it all when it comes to naysaying the organic lifestyle – "There’s no proof organic food is better for you," "We don’t know the chemicals are doing us any harm," "Organic food tastes like dirt," etc. I’m calling the nonsense police on these claims.

"There’s no proof organic food is better for you"
Besides the obvious chemical problem traditionally grown food has, which we will get to in a minute, there have also been studies done comparing nutrient value of organically grown to traditionally grown foods. One study, whose results were published in March of 2008, says, "There were 236 valid matched pairs across the 11 nutrients. The organic foods within these matched pairs were nutritionally superior in 145 matched pairs, or in 61% of the cases, while the conventional foods were more nutrient dense in 87 matched pairs, or 37%. There were no differences in 2% of the matched pairs." Want to read the full (53 page) report? "New Evidence Confirms the Nutrititonal Superiority of Plant-Based Organic Foods"

"We don’t know the chemicals are doing us any harm" Continued

Artist and educator Hugh Pocock sent us some very interesting information today. First, he has a solo show at the Contemporary Museum from May 22 through August 16, 2009. My 7-year-old son would adore the show’s title: "MY FOOD — MY POOP ." It’s a brilliant premise: Hugh weighed all the food and drink he took in and the waste he put out over the course of 63 days. Determining these weights and then calculating the differences between them would represent an approximate measurement of each day’s energy production.

He also kept a daily diary of his interactions, thoughts, and activities throughout the project.  Entries comment on the importance of the sun for all sources of energy, the role of fossil fuel usage in his daily life, and his body’s continuous cycle of energy transfer. It opened up questions like, "where does the energy go after it leaves my body?" I plan to go to the exhibit and report further. The thought that we contain sunlight reminded me of "Last Hours of Ancient Sunlight ," by Thom Hartmann. One of the first points he makes is that we are all made out of sunlight. "Everything you see alive around you is there because a plant somewhere was able to capture sunlight and store it."

Speaking of plants, Hugh is also teaching an urban farming course this summer at various locations throughout Baltimore. One of them is Participation Park , a 1/3-acre urban farm that was founded by artists in winter, 2007. Artists, being such hands-on people anyway, seem well-disposed to thoughtful engagement in such a deeply hopeful enterprise. The course’s blog currently has a lengthy piece with 10 things learned about compost, with gems like this: "Contrary to popular belief, just leaving waste in a big stupid pile does not magically transform it into dirt."

Three cheers for Hugh’s leadership in waking us up and making us more aware.