Green Environmental

Tesla: An Electrifying Experience, But Not for Everyman

Wednesday, July 21, 2010 by Jennifer Schwab of SCGH

I had a chance to drive the fascinating Tesla Roadster this past weekend. In a word, it was, well, electrifying. The power and performance of a Lotus Exige, without the noise and pollution. More on this in a moment.

We were at a special "Bastille Day" event held by L.A.'s Petersen Automotive Museum in Malibu. Everybody dressed in white, great cars were everywhere, and Tesla was offering demo drives to this select group of automotive opinion leaders. In case you've not heard of Tesla, it is a Bay Area startup run by CEO Elon Musk, who made a couple hundred million by selling his previous Big Idea, PayPal. Tesla plans to build an electric car that will be affordable, but the initial product really is not. It sells for about $125K, plus extras such as the deluxe charging station, sport package upgrade, etc.

Let's evaluate the car first, not the price. It is based on the Lotus Esprit chassis, or platform as the car industry calls it. I have always loved the Lotus and confess to taking a special Lotus driving school in my previous life. As fast cars go, it is very lightweight, gets close to 30 mpg, corners like a mother, runs zero to 60 in less than five seconds and does this running a four cylinder Toyota engine. It is also very hard to get in and out of, has little storage space, poor visibility and is not very practical as a daily driver.

The Tesla is thus based on the Lotus, and looks are rather similar -- at a glance it's tough to tell them apart. Upon further inspection, the different wheels and trim do give the Tesla a different look. Tesla claims zero to 60 in less than four seconds, and while I didn't test it with instruments, it did seem possible. All you do is turn the key, punch a round button on the center console to choose "P" or "R" or "D" and off you go. No shifting, it is a direct drive transmission, just stab and steer, so to speak.

This thing really lights it up from low speed. A strong, firm push in your lower back, a shrill but jet-like whistling sound, and you are doing over 60, just like that. No traction problems, either, Tesla puts the power down. Despite lots of carbon fiber and other lightweight materials, you can feel the difference in weight as opposed to the Lotus. Indeed, Tesla may look very similar but achieves speed and efficiency with a heavy battery pack, mounted behind the passenger compartment. This is reflected in the steering, which can feel rather heavy in certain maneuvers.

Handling felt good on Highway One and nearby twisties, but the road was very smooth so we couldn't really say how it does on rough pavement. Tesla claims range of nearly 250 miles, but this can be as much as 75-100 miles less if you are climbing hills in hot weather, and/or if you are hammering the throttle -- which is kind of addictive especially with zero noise or pollution.

In case you can't tell, I loved the Tesla driving experience, and the idea of literally plugging it into the wall when returning to your garage and NEVER visiting a gas station, ever. That said, it is on some level more of a novelty than a green solution. At it's price point, Tesla is more a rich man's toy than everyman's solution to fossil fuels and global warming. The price point makes it cost prohibitive to the general public, which financial access to these types of vehicles is an absolute priority if we are really going to reduce global carbon emissions.

Yes, I know that Tesla, and its competitor Fisker, are planning to sell mid-sized family sedans priced at less than $45,000 by 2012. Even so, I am not sure I agree with the government investing over $500 million of our tax dollars in either of these companies. Why not just incentivize the consumer instead? Anybody who buys an electric car gets a $5,000 rebate or perhaps a 30% federal tax credit similar to how the government incentivizes solar could apply to electric cars. Seems like a better way to encourage us to drive electric vehicles, no?

Nissan will be bringing the new Leaf, a full electric, next year, as well as GM coming with its Volt. Toyota is also planning a fully electric Prius. And Chinese maker BYD is also threatening to bring an electric model to U.S. shores. Bring them on, the more the merrier. I only hope they can be sold at prices low enough to touch middle America and get some volume -- and thus measurable energy and environmental benefits -- into the electric car segment.

It will be intriguing to see how this shakes out. In the meantime, if you can afford it, buy a Tesla you will not be disappointed. As always, thanks for reading, and we love to read your comments.

Follow Jennifer Schwab on Twitter: www.twitter.com/SCGreen_Home

2010 LOHAS Forum Insights

Tuesday, July 6, 2010 by Ted Ning

LOHAS (acronym for Lifestyles of Health and Sustainability) provided three days of insightful panels and networking opportunities attended by thought leaders across industries, government, non-profit organizations, research organizations and academic institutions including Faith Popcorn, Joel Makower, Dr. Alan Greene, Philippe Cousteau, U.S. EPA’s Stephanie Owens, Coca-Cola’s Tom LaForge, eBay’s Elisabeth Charles, Edelman’s Henk Campher, Alex Bogusky, Dr. Larry Dossey, 1% for the Planet’s Terry Kellogg, Mother Jones’ Madeleine Buckingham, Malika Chopra, Ode Magazine’s Jurriaan Kamp, among others.

Key insights from the LOHAS 2010 Forum include:

“Learning from the Past to Shape the Future”
• “We are in the midst of an evolution of our Cultural mindset from a ‘me’ mentality to a ‘we’ point of view. This transition is a response to a society where economics, ethics and environment are collapsing simultaneously,” said Faith Popcorn, founder of BrainReserve and best-selling author of EVEolution, Clicking, The Popcorn Report, and most recently Dictionary of the Future.

“LOHAS and LOHOE: How Health & Sustainability are Complemented by Hedonics or Economics”
• The mainstream is more often motivated to act upon hedonic reasoning (i.e. seeking pleasure and avoiding pain) and their choices are constrained by economic realities. 42 percent of the population considers buying eco-friendly or ‘green’ versions of big-ticket items if the price is about the same as conventional versions.
• “Frankly, there is a little HOE [hedonics or economics] in everyone. It is natural human instinct to gravitate toward those things that bring us both temporal pleasure and long-term satisfaction. We are all able to act upon our desires within the constraints of our personal economic situations,” said Wendy Cobdra, president of Earthsense.

“The Situation in the Gulf”
• “We spend 1,000 times more money every year in our federal budget for space exploration than we do to understand our oceans,” said Philippe Cousteau, environmentalist and founder of EarthEcho International. “Knowing whether there was ever water on Mars – not critical to surviving on this planet. The oceans are.”
• “There’s a lot of talk about boycotting BP while a lot of [BP] gas stations are owned by small business owners…it hurts those people. What we need to be boycotting is our dependence on oil, single use plastic bags, plastic bottles, coal; shutting off the power; and living in more reasonable houses,” said Philippe Cousteau.
• “The type of dispersant that was chosen, Corexit, was only proved 56 percent effective in a lab. There were 12 other EPA-approved dispersants, and two were 100 percent effective and they were not chosen. That was an inside oil industry thing because Corexit is produced as a by-product from the refining process,” said Charles Hambleton, producer of Oscar-winning documentary The Cove.

“Where are the Green Jobs?”
• The Obama administration has made it a priority to connect low-income communities to green jobs based on the billions of dollars placed into the Stimulus Bill. For example, the U.S. Department of Labor put out $148 million of green job training grants through its Pathways Out of Poverty grants.
• “The economic business case for sustainability is being made every day by companies as diverse as Patagonia and Walmart. Their effort to green their supply chains is driving the economy and creating new business opportunities, innovations and jobs in support of sustainable business practices,” said Andre Pettigrew, executive director of Denver’s Office of Economic Development.

“Phood and Kids”
• The Center for Disease Control (CDC) has stated that children born in the year 2000 in the U.S. will be the first generation in our country’s history to have a lower life expectancy than their parents due to a projected 33 percent of Caucasians and 66 percent of African Americans and Hispanics contracting diabetes in their lifetime as a result of poor diet. “We are actually killing our kids with food and this must stop,” said Ann Cooper, author of Lunch Lessons: Changing the Way We Feed Our Children, chef and educator.
• One in three American children now have autism, allergies, ADHD or asthma. “As we work together, to inform and inspire each other about ways in which we can protect our children from toxins like growth hormones, pesticides, synthetic dyes and genetically altered ingredients in food, we realize that there is so much that we can do together to create the change that we want to see in our food supply,” said Robyn O’Brien -- author of The Unhealthy Truth: How Our Food Is Making Us Sick and What We Can Do About It and founder of Allergy Kids.

“Understanding the Carbon Economy”
• The US represents five percent of the population yet emits 25 percent of the world’s carbon. “We need to reduce our energy use now and promote renewable energy to offset the remaining energy we consume. If we all do our part today, we can create a bountiful, healthy future together,” said Margi Gardner, CEO of Bonneville Environmental Foundation.

“Spirituality and Health: What the Fuss Is All About?”
• In 1993, three of the 125 medical schools in the U.S. taught courses in spirituality and health and now 90 schools have such courses.
• In 1997, the Joint Commission on Accreditation strongly recommended that every healthcare institution have a vehicle in place to assess the spiritual history of incoming patients, which is now a requirement.

“Global LOHAS”
• Mobium Group data shows that the Australian consumer market for LOHAS products and services has grown from $12 billion in 2007 to $19 billion in 2009 with 2011 projected at $27 billion. (Source: Mobium Group)
• “LOHAS in Asia is a brand rather than a movement and, as such, offers a great opportunity for LOHAS companies trying to enter the markets. By using LOHAS on their marketing material, they are appealing immediately to their target audiences in Asia,” said Adam Horler, founder of LOHAS Asia.

“Convincing Mainstream Consumers to Go Green: What really motivates them to make sustainable choices?”
• Conversations matter – when kids talk to their parents about green issues, it results in behavior change 68 percent of the time. Those conversations with neighbors and co-workers result in behavior change 56 percent of the time. (Source: Shelton Group)

“New Paradigms in Health & Sustainability: What's Working and What's Not”
• Mainstream consumers comprise the majority of users for many LOHAS products such as compact fluorescent light bulbs (CFLs), organic food, natural personal care and natural household cleaning products. There has been an increase in usage of many LOHAS products despite the recession, such as organic foods. (Source: Natural Marketing Institute)

“The Social Currency of Social Media”
• If Facebook were a nation, it would be the third largest in the world with 50 percent of users logging in daily and over 70 percent of users outside the U.S. “Measuring ROI with social media marketing is tricky, but the consensus is that more engagement correlates to achieving more marketing objectives. So your goal should be to cultivate customer communities,” said Joey Shepp, founder of Earthsite.

“The Storytelling Value of Location-based Services”
• “Location-based social media is rapidly increasing in value, popularity and relevance. LOHAS businesses will benefit from experimenting with tools like Foursquare, Gowalla and Twitter Places to get a feel for how these applications can help engage consumers and grow business,” said Nathan Rice, interactive director for Haberman Group.

Promoting lifestyles of health and sustainability, the annual LOHAS Forum brings together entrepreneurs, government heads, Fortune 1000 executives, investors, research institutions, academics and media for a program designed to inspire innovation and further expand the LOHAS market share. The 2010 Forum was held from June 23rd to 25th at the St. Julien Hotel in Boulder, Colorado.

The Black and White on Going Green

Thursday, June 24, 2010 by Jennifer Schwab of SCGH

Needless to say, I try lots of green products. Since we are still in the second inning of America going green, new products are just now entering the marketplace in slightly increasing numbers. I do my quarterly big box runs to examine just how close we are getting to green alternatives of everyday products. Fortunately or unfortunately, I have had the opportunity to test drive many new products and quite frankly the results are mixed.

I worry about this because when curious but non-green citizens are ready to try a green product, it had better live up to its billing. Otherwise, those folks won't try going green again for many years, if ever.

While admittedly lots of the things I try are personal care products, here is an overview of what has worked well -- and what hasn't.

I tried Organic makeup, the Foundation product is just super, easy to apply, feels nice, right consistency. Other Organic makeup products, however, fell short. Especially the pressed powder packaging. While environmentally friendly, the paper containers virtually ripped apart after only two weeks, thus rendering the products useless. Cost is about on par with an average brand like L'oreal but longevity of the product and packaging did not match up.

EcoVer laundry detergent is a "must" as is their all-purpose cleaner. It is one of the few cleaning solvents that is comparable in results to Clorox Greenworks. Simple Green, I'd take a pass. It left an oily residue on my counters.

As for green shampoo and conditioner, the Burt's Bees items I bought seem better suited for my dog (who will use them as I sure won't) than a long haired woman. They left my hair frizzy and dry. Burt's Bees lip balm, hand cream and other products are really good on balance, it should be mentioned.

Time to dry your hair? Don't bother with an Eco hair dryer. Painfully slow due to reduced power wattage, it takes twice as long, thereby negating the power savings. Next. I tried sustainable cork sandals; they looked reasonably stylish, but the fit and comfort left a lot to be desired. So much so that cork shoes are off my list. And while I buy my clothes at second hand boutiques, I don't really want to wear somebody else's shoes...

We tried to decorate our living room with sustainable furniture. Overall, even from a high quality store like Cisco on the West Coast, we found it to be 30-40 percent more expensive, and the designs were, well, homely. Sorry but this category has a long way to go. On the other hand, we picked up some FSC wood outdoor patio furniture that is great looking, very affordable and seems to be weather resistant. Ours came from Target and other large retailers also carry FSC outdoor lines. Buy these -- a great way to test out some sustainable products that you will be happy with!

We also had to replace our wood deck due to termite damage. We told our contractor it had to be made of FSC wood, period, no options. After an exhaustive search, he finally located a suitable batch of FSC wood, which had to be sanded and sealed. The texture was quite rough. This added cost but otherwise, the raw wood cost was the same as normal pre-treated wood. This took a little extra work and expense but not too much, and the results are fabulous. I highly recommend that if you are building decks, fences, water bridges, and so on, insist on FSC wood.

FSC Furniture A not so great home improvement experience came when using AFM Safecoat wood sealant. Our home is made of spruce, so, it needs to be sealed every two to three years. We had to do quite a bit of research but identified a San Diego-based firm that makes fully sustainable sealant which is water not oil based. We purchased it at a slight premium price, and upon first application it looked great -- we were thrilled. Then, it rained. And rained some more (we LOVE this in Southern California, the more rain the better!). Lo and behold, the sealant literally rinsed off the wood, which felt dry and looked "naked" after the rain. We had to re-seal the entire structure at great expense, Ouch! Another case of a sustainable product that cannot compete with its non-sustainable brethren. Too bad.

The list goes on but you get the idea. When it comes to green products you can use at home, there is some risk involved. Like most new Clean Technologies, there is still a lot to learn and overall quality will improve. Hopefully, these personal anecdotes will help steer you in the right direction. Comment back to us and we will advise you on which green products to try -- and which ones to avoid.

Follow Jennifer Schwab on Twitter: www.twitter.com/SCGreen_Home

Kathy Ireland: Green Times Three

Friday, June 11, 2010 by Jennifer Schwab of SCGH

When offered a chance to chat with Kathy Ireland, we thought, "why would Sierra Club Green Home want to talk to a Sports Illustrated cover girl?" To our surprise, Ms. Ireland has quietly become a clothing and furniture designer and built a $1.4 billion a year business. And that sustainability ecological thinking is a core value of her vast enterprise.

Those of you over 40 surely have seen Ireland's willowy, shapely physique on at least one of the three covers -- including the bestselling 25th anniversary edition -- of the Sports Illustrated swimsuit issue. She appeared in the SI cheesecake magazine for 13 consecutive years, which must be some kind of record. Ireland began modeling while attending high school in Santa Barbara, and says it was "good money for not a lot of work."

She prefers to be thought of as a designer and businesswoman first, an author second (she has written three bestselling children's books and two self-help books, most recently Real Solutions for Busy Moms: Your Guide to Success and Sanity) with acting and modeling a distant third. Ireland is also a wife since 1988 and mother of three. In 2004, Inc. Magazine named her one of the top five celebrity entrepreneurs, mentioned in the same breath with Paul Newman, Magic Johnson, Sean "Puff Daddy" Combs and Francis Ford Coppola. She believes in giving back, and has numerous philanthropic credentials including pro bono work for March of Dimes, PTA, Feed the Children and City of Hope.

Ireland does not just lend her name to products for a fee. She is a real designer and is intimately involved with products that bear her name, from raw materials through distribution. Her first big success was a line of socks (yes, socks) for K-Mart which ended up selling over 100 million pairs. That led to a series of other apparel and furniture lines, all of which are closely supervised by Ireland and must be produced using sustainable materials and processes.

Ireland's customers are basically the moms of America. She encourages them to think sustainably. Her furniture products are recyclable, and she uses only faux furs and skins to respect the animal kingdom. One of her furniture lines is made from sustainably harvested woods from Africa. A genuine outdoorsy type, Ireland was a long-time Sierra Club member and used to go on club hikes with her parents as a teenager.

Ireland faced obstacles on her way to mogul-dom. "Rejection is a gift, it gives you perseverance," she says. "Modeling was good training that way because rejection is part of the job." Not surprisingly, she had more than one instance of not being taken seriously as a designer or businesswoman because of the stereotype associated with modeling.

With more than 15,000 products including furniture, clothing, linens, candles and more, Ireland's company is one of the few highly-profitable ecofriendly and sustainable companies in America (it is rumored that Ireland personally hauls in over $10 million a year). Plus, she has a scandal-free record as wife, mother, philanthropist and corporate sustainability do-gooder.

Not bad for a cover girl, eh?

Follow Jennifer Schwab on Twitter: www.twitter.com/SCGreen_Home

The Globalization of LOHAS

Tuesday, June 1, 2010 by Ted Ning

With LOHAS spreading across the globe over recent years, LOHAS Journal thought it timely to reflect on what is driving the phenomenon globally, some of the key differences in interpretation across the world, and what binds LOHAS and LOHASians together—wherever they are.

Businesses the world over are leveraging LOHAS as a way to understand the consumption preferences of a growing number of people who care deeply about personal, community and planetary health and well-being, and are willing to spend accordingly.

While this theme acts as a backbone for LOHAS globally, significant differences exist in the interpretation of LOHAS from one geography to another. Not surprisingly, these differences tend to be largely driven by local cultural, environmental and social nuances.

For example, according to Peter Salmon from Moxie Design Group, LOHASians in New Zealand express their LOHAS values through outdoor experiences, seeking a connection with the landscape and concern about social issues. This differs from U.S.-based LOHAS consumers, who typically have a stronger focus on personal well-being. In Australia, the situation is different again, with environmental issues of drought and climate change hitting many Australians hard in their own backyard. Severe water restrictions are forcing Aussies to change how they think about their much-loved gardens and lawns.

CERTIFICATION KEY TO MARKET ACCEPTANCE
A key theme emerging from European and Australian studies is consumers’ desire for certification marks or “trust” marks from credible certification bodies, providing independent verification that the product lives up to its LOHAS claims. Supporting this claim are the findings of a recent Porter Novelli report, which revealed that Europeans were 32 percent more likely than American consumers to buy products with such marks, and Mobium Group’s Living LOHAS report, which found similar conclusions among the Australian population.

LOHAS IN ASIA
Despite many similarities, key differences have emerged in the use of LOHAS between Western countries and the countries of East Asia—including Japan, Taiwan and South Korea, where LOHAS is a booming consumer term. The emergence of LOHAS-branded foods and beverages, fashion labels and even LOHAS department stores heralds a new use of the LOHAS term as it crosses from business-speak into the consumer vocabulary.
While most Western consumers would draw a blank if asked for a definition of LOHAS, approximately 70 percent of Japanese adults at least recognize the term while up to 40 percent can articulate its meaning, according to Toshi Ide of the Japan-based LOHAS Business Alliance.

But how is LOHAS really interpreted in Asia? In China, LOHAS has been roughly translated to mean “good life” and has even been picked up by Chinese state radio. And English-language website Chinadaily.com.cn has published several articles referring to “escaping city life” and enjoying LOHAS experiences on the weekends in the countryside surrounding Beijing.

In Singapore, the city state’s Tourism Board markets the country to its Asian visitors as the LOHAS city—focusing on its spa resorts, authentic Nyonya-style cooking and its water recycling efforts (a necessity in such a small island nation, as the key to its LOHAS claims).

The emergence of LOHAS as a consumer brand has brought with it a range of organizations seeking to capitalize on the term, with varying levels of commitment to the values of core LOHAS consumers offered through a wide a range of products and services.

INNOVATION
Small and medium-size enterprises comprise one sector where serious efforts have been made to address the needs and desires of LOHAS consumers on platforms of personal and planetary health and wellness. In many cases, these businesses have been the keys to LOHAS innovation.

One example of this sort of innovation is U.S.-based Terracycle.net, a company achieving mainstream distribution and significant success turning waste streams into value through a range of innovative products and services, including a novel approach to garden fertilizer. With major distribution agreements across North America and licensing interest from across the globe, Terracycle has demonstrated that LOHAS innovation can deliver clear business value.

Another example is Australia-based professional garment cleaners, Daisy (www.daisy.net.au). Daisy has managed to eliminate the harmful chemical, perchloroethylene (tetrachloroethylene) from its dry cleaning process, using a water-based alternative to deliver an odorless dry cleaning solution free from harmful toxins. Such is the popularity of the Daisy service, excess demand currently means a wait of three days to have your suit cleaned! But based on the volume of customers prepared to wait, the LOHAS approach to dry cleaning has again demonstrated a commercial payoff.

Similarly, this year saw the launch in France of Velib (www.velib.paris.fr), a Paris-based commercial bicycle sharing operation that provides bicycles for commuters for a nominal fee. With over 10,000 bikes in circulation across 750 self-service docking stations throughout the city, this model is providing inspiration for cities the world over.
It seems that everywhere you look, there are examples of innovations, often by small and medium enterprises that are working toward more sustainable and healthier outcomes for people and the planet.

CONNECTIVITY
One of the difficulties faced by LOHAS consumers and the businesses that supply their needs is seeking out and finding each other—and connecting.
This key theme is driving the emergence of media platforms that respond to LOHAS consumers’ desire for greater connectivity—to other LOHASians and the organizations that manufacture and retail products and services that meet their values criteria.

Examples of recent activity in this space include Gaiam’s acquisition of Lime.com and zaadz.com, two strongly LOHAS-oriented information and social networking sites. Businesses, including U.S.-based Sustainlane, New Zealand-based Celsias, and a range of other sites across Europe, are springing up across the globe to fill this gap for information, referrals and advice. Discovery Channel recently purchased website Treehugger.com as the online property for its soon-to-be-launched Planet Green program.

Across the globe, mainstream consumer and investor interest in opportunities related to renewable energy, organic food, complementary medicine, low-impact transportation and other LOHAS products and services clearly demonstrates that LOHAS businesses have moved out of the fringes and are now attracting significant investor capital and expertise. Companies and investors that embrace the opportunity that LOHAS presents have the opportunity to take a leading position in the industries that will define the 21st century.

Key Facts: LOHAS in Australia
• Nearly 4 million adult Australians (26 percent of adult population) are LOHAS aligned.
• Individuals with a LOHAS outlook are drawn from all parts of society; their values and world view are not strongly tied to income, geography or gender.
• Australian consumers currently spend $12 billion on goods and services in the LOHAS market segments, with an overall growth rate of 20 percent expected to continue. The market is expected to reach $21 billion by 2010.
• While 8 percent of the population are LOHAS “Leaders” who are highly committed and active participants in fully integrated healthier, more sustainable lives, the LOHAS “Learners” are the largest of the four segments, identified at 46 percent and standing as a largely untapped opportunity.
• Learners would like to do the “right thing” but are not sure where to start. Solving for their key barriers, which include price and availability, are paramount to unlocking this market.
Source: Mobium Group, www.mobium.com.au, Living LOHAS Report, 2007.

Key Facts: LOHAS, New Zealand
• 32 percent of population Solution Seekers (NZ Equivalent of LOHAS)
• 57 percent female
• Greatest concentration (29 percent) are in the 45-54 year age bracket
• Slight skew toward rural rather than metropolitan locations
• Income profile of NZ LOHAS is growing over time
Source: Peter Salmon, Moxie Design Group, www.moxie.co.nz
Examples:
1. Media/online:
2. Lime – online portal to information, help and advice on LOHAS lifestyle
3. Zaadz and Riverwired – online LOHAS-oriented social networking sites
4. treehugger.com, Celsias.com – innovative online information sources for LOHAS-related themes and online collaboration
5. lohasguide.de (Germany), Sustainlane.com – LOHAS-related product and service listings and market information
6. Mobium Group – Australian research and strategy business focusing on sustainability and well-being; conducted the first research into Australian LOHAS consumers
7. Macro Wholefoods (Australia) – organic and natural foods retail store chain
8. Eco Age (eco-age.com) – a new store in London claiming to provide “a store, showroom, consultancy and destination that will offer inspiration, ideas and specific domestic solutions for all those who want to lead a greener and more energy efficient life”
9. Terracycle – Innovative company that re-uses waste streams and turns them into value-added products
10. Velib – Paris-based bicycle-share company
11. Flexicar.com.au – Australian car-share business winning support from local governments for their eco-friendly and cost-effective car-sharing program

21 Things You Didn’t Know You Could Recycle

Tuesday, June 1, 2010 by Ted Ning

For all of you out there who’ve asked us how to recycle or compost assorted items over the years, here’s our list to post on your refrigerator door and copy to share with friends. If you have other resources and information please feel free to share. Enjoy!

1. Appliances: Goodwill accepts working appliances, www.goodwill.org, or you can contact the Steel Recycling Institute to recycle them: 800/YES-1-CAN, www.recycle-steel.org.

2. Batteries: Rechargeables and single-use: Battery Solutions, 734/467-9110,
www.batteryrecycling.com.

3. Cardboard boxes: Contact local nonprofits and women’s shelters to see if they can use them. Or, offer them up at your local Freecycle.org listserv or on Craigslist.org. If your workplace collects at least 100 boxes or more boxes each month, UsedCardboardBoxes.com m accepts them for resale.

4. CDs/DVDs/Game Disks: Send scratched music or computer CDs, DVDs, and PlayStation or Nintendo video game disks to AuralTech for refinishing, and they’ll work like new: 888/454-3223, www.auraltech.com. For recycling, see “Technotrash.”

5. Clothes: Wearable clothes can go to your local Goodwill outlet or women’s shelter. Donate wearable women’s business clothing to Dress for Success, which gives them to low-income women as they search for jobs, 212/532-1922, www.dressfor success.org. Offer unwearable clothes and towels to local animal boarding and shelter facilities, which often use them as pet bedding.

6. Compact fluorescent bulbs: Take them to your local IKEA store for recycling: www.ikea.com. Or, order a Sylvania RecyclePak for $15, which is a special lined box large enough for eight average CFLs. Your fee covers shipping to and recycling at Veolia Environmental Systems. To order, visit www.sylvania.com/Recycle/RecyclePak.

7. Compostable bio-plastics: You’ll need to take them to a municipal composter; find one at www.findacomposter.com.

8. Computers and electronics: Find responsible recyclers, local and national, at www.ban.org/pledge/Locations.html.

9. Exercise videos: Swap them with others at www.videofitness.com. (See also “Technotrash.”)

10. Eyeglasses: Your local Lion’s Club or eye care chain may collect these. Lenses are reground and given to people in need.

11 . Foam packing peanuts: Your local pack-and-ship store will likely accept these for reuse. Or, call the Plastic Loose Fill Producers Council to find a drop-off site: 800/828-2214. For places to drop off foam blocks for recycling, contact the Alliance of Foam Packaging Recyclers, 410/451-8340, www.epspackaging.org/info.html.

12. Ink/toner cartridges: Recycleplace.com m pays $1/each.

13. Miscellaneous: Get your unwanted items into the hands of people who can use them. Offer them up on your local Freecycle.org or Craigslist.org listserv, or try giving them away at Throwplace.comm or giving or selling them at iReuse.comm. iReuse.com will also help you find a recycler, if possible, when your items have reached the end of their useful lifecycle.

14. Oil: Find Used Motor Oil Hotlines for each state: 202/682-8000, www.recycleoil.org.

15. Phones: Donate cell phones: Collective Good will refurbish your phone and sell it to people in developing countries: 770/856-9021, www.collectivegood.com. Call to Protect reprograms cell phones to dial 911 and gives them to domestic violence victims: www.donateaphone.com. Recycle single-line phones: Reclamere, 814/386-2927, www.reclamere.com.

16. Sports equipment: Resell or trade it at your local Play It Again Sports outlet, 800/476-9249, www.playitagainsports.com.

17. “Technotrash”: Easily recycle all of your CDs, jewel cases, DVDs, audio and video tapes, cell phones, pagers, rechargeable and single-use batteries, PDAs, and ink/toner cartridges with GreenDisk’s Technotrash program. For a small fee, GreenDisk will send you a cardboard box in which you can ship them up to 70 pounds of any of the above. Your fee covers the box as well as shipping and recycling fees. 800/305-GREENDISK, www.greendisk.com.

18. Tennis shoes: Nike’s Reuse-a-Shoe program turns old shoes into playground and athletic flooring: www.nikereuseashoe.com. One World Running will send still-wearable shoes to athletes in need in Africa, Latin America, and Haiti: www.oneworldrunning.com.

19. Toothbrushes and razors: Buy a recycled plastic toothbrush or razor from Recycline , and the company will take it back to be recycled again into plastic lumber. Recycline toothbrushes and razors are made from used Stonyfield Farms’m yogurt cups. 888/354-7296, www.recycline.com

20. Tyvek envelopes: Quantities less than 25: Send to Shirley Cimburke, Tyvek Recycling Specialist, 5401 Jefferson Davis Hwy., Spot 197, Room 231, Richmond, VA 23234. Quantities larger than 25, call 866/33-TYVEK.

21. Stuff you just can’t recycle: When practical, send it back to the manufacturer (with a copy of our McDonough interviewon p. 26) and tell them they need to close the waste loop. This list was originally created by Green America. For more information from Green America click here.

All That Glitters Is Green: First-Ever Christie's Green Auction

Tuesday, May 18, 2010 by Jennifer Schwab of SCGH

How about a private lunch with Vera Wang, followed by a visit to her boutique for a $10,000 shopping spree focusing on Eco Friendly Fashion? Or lunch with Ted Danson, plus a painting from his personal art collection? Ladies, how about a day on the set with Hugh Jackman? Or for Yankee loyalists all over the world, dinner with General Manager Brian Cashman plus four game tickets? Want to find out what working for George Steinbrenner is really like!?

There were items available through May 6th at http://www.charitybuzz.com/abidtosavetheearth, which is the silent auction portion of Christie's first-ever green auction. The celebrity-rich live event, held at Christie's near Rockefeller Center in late April, offered similarly unique and desirable items and experiences, all to benefit environmental charities including Oceana, Conservation International, Natural Resources Defense Council and Central Park Conservancy. Indeed, these four charities will end up splitting a pot of around $2 million dollars, a wonderful windfall especially when contributions have been hammered by the Recession.

At the live event, guests entered an environment that looked more like something out of Babylon and Adam and Eve than an auction house. The theme was "a collision between art and nature" and the result was spectacular, especially after entering on the green carpet - literally - surrounded by a throng of paparazzi. A crowd of over 800 attended including a host of celebs such as Candice Bergen, Sam Waterston, Ted Danson, Salma Hayek, Brian Williams, and many more from Hollywood, business, the arts and government. Speeches were short, just a few meaningful words from Christie's Chairman Christopher Burge and Susan Rockefeller (she and her husband David were co-chairs of the event).

This was a great concept, taking what has traditionally been a bastion of the elite -- Christie's -- and putting their vast resources to work for a good green cause. Christie's was supported by Target, Deutsche Bank, NBC Universal and several other sponsors, which resulted in a super high end event that brought visibility to climate change issues and created significant revenue for the general funds of four deserving charities.

I really hope this becomes an annual event for Christie's and that other organizations and NGOs take advantage of this innovative green marketing strategy for fundraising. Everyone knows that the recession has been brutal on the budgets of most non-profit organizations, as donations are down and their own portfolios have been decimated. The green auction idea is a fun and ecofriendly way to raise consciousness as well as funding for the environmental movement. Come to think of it, also very appropriate for Christie's since their very business is sustainability as they sell old items which get "re-used" as they are handed down through generations.

A final anecdote: at risk of sounding like a celebrity hound (I'm not) and a TV fan (I don't watch much), a personal highlight was the chance to visit one on one with Sam Waterston of Law & Order at the after-party, held at the trendy Monkey Bar. I admit to being a bit of a Law & Order junkie, and got to ask him about the departure of Detective Goren, his thoughts on our clean energy future, amongst other tidbits around Oceana and the environment. All in all the Christie's Green Auction lived up to its hype in every way. Click on the link and enjoy your opportunity to participate -- http://www.charitybuzz.com/abidtosavetheearth

Follow Jennifer Schwab on Twitter: www.twitter.com/SCGreen_Home

Sustainable, Durable Style: English Retreads honors Earth Day with Eco-Friendly Bentley Luxe Laptop Bag

Friday, April 30, 2010 by Sandja Brügmann

Who knew that a laptop bag could be practical, eco-friendly and offer cutting-edge style? Thanks to English Retreads, who recently debuted the Bentley Luxe Laptop Bag, sustainability meets functionality, as well as fashion. English Retreads turns recycling into a bold fashion statement with eco-chic vegan handbags and accessories handcrafted in Boulder, Colorado. The Bentley Luxe is made from repurposed rubber and recycled PET, and expands a growing line of English Retreads vegan totes, clutches, and accessories which combine to make a high-impact fashion statement with low impact on the environment.

The Bentley Luxe accommodates 17” MacBook or 15” PC laptops in a padded and secured compartment; additional features include specialized inside and outside zippered pockets, a mesh bottle holder and adjustable padded shoulder strap. Reclaimed tire inner-tubes are given new life as the external material for the eco-bag and five internal color options of Scarlet Red, Quarry Blue, Jet Black, Apple Green, and Pumpkin are available using a 100% post-consumer recycled plastic bottle PET material.

When asked about the Bentley Luxe, Heather English, Founder and President of English Retreads, said “We recognize the emerging opportunity to integrate fashion and environmental consciousness on behalf of the green consumer's need for a stylish and sophisticated laptop carrier. With the addition of the Bentley Luxe, we are excited to lead the market in innovative repurposed raw material use, while simultaneously delivering on functionality with a unique style all our own – our Company could not be more excited to be able to go to market with our new eco-bag on this very special 40^th anniversary of Earth Day.”

Thanks to English Retreads, every day is a day to honor the earth. Let the new Bentley Luxe Laptop Bag, as well as other English Retreads products, act as reminders of your contribution to reducing, reusing and recycling, all while looking good!

For more on English Retreads go to www.englishretreads.com

Fortune Brainstorm Green 2010: A Conference for the Environment

Wednesday, April 28, 2010 by Jennifer Schwab of SCGH

Billions of dollars are at stake. Not to mention reputations of leaders in business, academia and government. Even the public image of our country on the world stage is hanging in the balance.  

 Despite differing viewpoints on nuclear energy, coal-fired power plants, wind energy and a variety of important subjects in the world of green, one consistent theme emerged at the Fortune Brainstorm Green conference, held earlier this month at the sumptuous Ritz-Carlton Laguna Niguel Resort in Southern California. And that is: we need an official, approved and legislated policy on carbon reduction and we need it now. Not only careers, but also many thousands of jobs and potentially the future of our planet (not to mention Sierra Club Green Home.com) are all seemingly on "hold" until Washington can cobble together a bill on carbon reduction that will pass in the Senate.

Over 300 luminaries from the environmental world, as well as corporate America, Wall Street and Silicon Valley populated  the conference. Listening to the panel discussions, I realized just how committed the big time venture capital groups are to the clean energy movement succeeding. It almost felt like we are all loaded into the same boat together, furiously rowing out to sea but without a compass. Environmentalists, corporate sustainability officers and the investment community look back in nostalgia to the 2009 conference when it seemed certain the U.S. would have an energy policy in place by now.

Some companies and investors cannot proceed without knowing exactly what the U.S. government will ultimately call law on carbon reduction. Be it cap and trade, cap and dividend, a straight carbon tax, or some hybrid thereof, it seemed most participants would be happy with any reasonable approach at this point. In my mind, it would be the start of an evolving framework that will take years to perfect.   

Aside from this glaring issue, a wide variety of provocative topics were batted about, including Lee Scott from Wal-Mart on how the company is going green (Wal-Mart's proposed Sustainability Index is truly groundbreaking as it requires their supplier companies to use sustainable practices or lose their accounts with the retaining giant); Fred Krupp of Environmental Defense Fund, Mark Turcek of Nature Conservancy and our own Michael Brune of Sierra Club trying to explain what environmentalists really want; "Electric Cars: Mass Market or Mirage?" featuring BMW Engineering VP Tom Baloga and David Sokol, who is Warren Buffet's point man on energy investing; legendary green guy Stewart Brand along with several power company CEOs on whether nuclear power is part of the answer (I am still very questionable on this); Aspen Skiing Co. CEO Mike Kaplan on whether sustainable business can operate without the usual hypocrisy and morality issues; "Chasing the Dream of Sustainable Consumption" with top execs from Dell, Starbucks and Wal-Mart, among many, many more.

A representative from Dell explained their commitment to going carbon neutral: they are changing their packaging from polyethylene to bamboo; powering down all corporate machines every evening; offering free recycling for all Dell computers among other initiatives. IBM's expertise in nanotechnology is being leveraged to improve the water desalinization process. Starbucks is feverishly working on making all their cups recyclable, as due to the high temperatures of the beverages, standard recyclable paper cups will not work. Bill Ford of Ford Motor Co. reminded us that no true economic recovery has ever occurred in this country without a strong industrial base. Manufacturing, he said, is critical to keeping America employed and productive.   

Also way cool was a performance by rock keyboardist Chuck Leavell, best known for his work with the Allman Brothers and Rolling Stones. Leavell was on hand not only to entertain, as he is co-founder and primary investor in Mother Nature Network, the green news and information site.

Equally impressive was the true green practices utilized for the entire conference. The Ritz-Carlton offers extensive recycling; efficient watering systems for all landscaping; greywater recycling of washing machine water; and reuse of sheets and towels unless otherwise specified by guests. FORTUNE served organic and sustainable produce from local providers; organic wines, beers and teas; reusable water bottles provided by Dell; onsite shuttle service by electric and hybrid vehicles; and all leftover food was given to local shelters. These are things that ALL conferences and meetings should do, but kudos to FORTUNE for keeping it real -- I've attended too many green events that didn't even have recycling, much less green practices or sustainability management!

 I'm already looking forward to next year's conference. At least by then, there should be resolution one way or the other about what legislation governing carbon reduction we will be working with.  

 As always, we love to hear your comments, let us know what you think will happen in Congress and how it will affect green business and jobs.

Follow Jennifer Schwab on Twitter: www.twitter.com/SCGreen_Home

Happy Earth Day~ Happy Every Day!

Tuesday, April 20, 2010 by Cheryl Terrace

In Honor of the 40^th Anniversary of Earth Day ~ I present a tomato powered lamp!

Ok, this seems a bit out there…and is one of the reasons, lately, when I hear ‘green’, I see red!

I was pioneering green when it was far from mainstream (not easy), and formed VITAL DESIGN LTD in 1997. Anyone who knows me considers me a shade of ‘bright green’, however, in this time of so much green washing, I have become ‘jaded green’. Is there anyone, or anything, that doesn’t have some eco–angle these days? From the ‘shock you green’ of terrifying statistics, nearly all Americans test positive for traces of BPA, and the ‘silly green’ of recycling everything from dogs to diapers, (ok, I was kidding about the dogs).

This circus of eco mendacity is getting to me.

In our rampant Environmental Virtuosity, there is new research that suggests that those who make "green" purchases are subsequently more likely to behave selfishly, cheat and steal (Exposed: green consumers' dirty little secrets). Beware the pitfalls of Eco Myopia!

Yet in our crazy green-washed world it is the simplicity of nature that reminds me why I am ‘green’. A simple walk in Central Park renews my sense of wonder witnessing the magnificent resilience and rebirth of flora and fauna. I am awed by Mother Nature’s power and experience my own spring awakening.

I believe our Homes are an extension of ourselves, and in order to connect with our 'greater home' (earth) we need to start with self (& our homes). By creating a loving, beautiful, comforting, non toxic, sacred healthy home environment, we can then go out in the world & be better humans, help one another, & basically live up to our highest & greatest good on this planet. This is Vital, Enlightened Design and I am honored to be of service to this cause.

This is taking Green to whole new level. Happy Earth Day, ~ Happy Every Day!
~ Cheryl Terrace. VITALDESIGNLTD.com

Ring the bells that still can ring.  Forget your perfect offering.  There is a crack in everything.  That's how the light gets in.

Leonard Cohen

Gotta Start Small to Go Big

Monday, April 12, 2010 by Jennifer Schwab of SCGH

Anybody remember President Obama's recent State of the Union speech? We were watching it at the Sierra Club Green Home offices, excited to hear about his successes on the environmental front.

President Obama is one impressive orator but according to that speech, he plans to: fix the economy; implement a new health care policy; complete the war in Afghanistan/Iran; rebuild our standing internationally; help impoverished nations; among other important problems to address - not to mention, foster the green movement and bring renewable energy to America.

Noble goals all, but at some point I began to wonder, is it realistic to accomplish even a portion of this by 2012? Perhaps but knowing how monumental these problems all are, it is unlikely that even one or two of them will be solved in three short years.

The same thought occurred to me while attending a recent green conference, which shall remain nameless. The speakers talked about making recycling mandatory throughout the country; bringing wind and solar power to all municipalities; ending coal mining and replacing it with clean renewable energy; providing adequate supplies of clean water and air to all citizens of the world; retrofitting American homes with proper insulation, energy efficient windows, low flow toilets and showers, composting, and more. We need all of these things, no doubt, but at some point, it just won't work to say we can accomplish all of them simultaneously.

Consider this a plea for community leaders, politicians, non-profit executive directors and others in position to help fix our problems and affect change in America: please, let's try to take a more realistic approach to going green. This means PRIORITIZING our goals, if not nationally then by municipality or geographical area. This way, it might be possible to get one or two or even three of the mission-critical agenda items accomplished. Yes they ALL need to be addressed, but trying to do so simultaneously will most likely result in making a little progress on all fronts but completing none. Better to select one or two major issues and work them intensely to actually succeed -- then and only then move to the next ones.

Here's an example of what I'm talking about: instead of having each major city in America try to work on a full sustainability plan, why not assign a specific area of focus, and then share the solution with other cities in the form of a best practices template? For example, Chicago would work on indoor air quality since they spend so much time indoors; Las Vegas would work on water conservation since it is in the desert; Los Angeles would work on solar power since it has a high percentage of sunny days, and so on. Then at the end of three or five years, each city would have to share their completed template with other cities nationally and even internationally. In this way, we'd have a collection of significant successes instead of all cities recording varying degrees of success in many categories.

I know this is rhetoric but I have an innate fear that thousands of well-meaning volunteers who support these leaders will end up frustrated and unfulfilled. It is up to our leaders to choose a path that can lead to success, one goal at a time.

Thanks for reading; I'd love to hear your thoughts on this....

Follow Jennifer Schwab on Twitter: www.twitter.com/SCGreen_Home

The Conscious Shift in Consumer Behaviors

Sunday, April 11, 2010 by Ted Ning

The global economic downturn has not only affected many people’s wallets it has also caused a dramatic shift in the way people look at the choices they are making in their lives. In the U.S. there is a strong desire to be self reliant and to conserve resources as people prioritize their spending and behaviors towards more purposeful decisions. Choices as small as bringing meals to work rather than eating out, taking public transport instead of spending on gasoline and garden grown foods rather than store bought foods are some examples of trends that are picking up. These are changing the way companies approach green business strategy.

Today not only LOHAS consumers but ALL consumers are demanding a greater value from products and services. This value is derived from a strong desire to make the most of everything that a person has. Considerations including investment, functionality and cost are being assessed and are creating new dimensions of ROI that are increasingly a part of the emotional and social values a brand typically provides.

According to Brandweek.com a new survey by firms Landor Associates, Penn Schoen Berland and Burson-Marsteller, transparency and corporate responsibility have become far more important to consumers in a tough economy. It found that despite the recession, 75% of consumers believe social responsibility is important, and 55% of consumers said they would choose a product that supports a particular cause against similar products that don't. The most surprising findings pointed to the fact that nearly 50% of 18-24 and 25-34 year olds said they are more likely to take a pay cut to work for a socially responsible company—a much higher percentage than any other age group. This may be because this is a year where there seems have been so much social responsibility expressed, especially in light of the earthquake in Haiti. But the report also said only 11% of Americans say they’ve heard corporate CSR communications.

Redefining Luxury

The shift in values in not only from those ages 18-34 but also affluent families who are redefining luxury. A recent study called "The New Face of Affluence," from Dwell Strategy and Research focuses on attributes that drive purchase decisions of newly affluent U.S. households, whose average age is 45 and income of nearly $200,000. These people are called “New Affluents” and claim, "luxury" brands, are no longer important to them, or even relevant; neither is "overall social status." These people have the economy and the environment top-of-mind when making purchase decisions. The study found that most are shunning "conspicuous consumption" in favor of brands that represent quality, aesthetics and authenticity. These attributes, along with uniqueness, integrity, design and performance, represent today's "prestige" for these high-end consumers. There is a shift occurring in society that demonstrates how a brand does not have to be expensive to attract customers. What consumers are now demanding from brands is a new and different kind of relationship. And, as supported by these findings, the days of controlled, top-down brand marketing are over, especially for this sector. These wealthy and would-be elites are actually looking for brand interaction -- a dialogue -- based on integrity, authenticity and performance. And not only are they equipped for interaction, they're demanding it. In fact, Dwell compiled a visual so that brand representative could see, clearly, how the top 50 companies named by the surveyed group compete against one another. The size of the text in the following word cloud connotes its ranking:

So what brands do New Affluents find meaningful, authentic and relevant? Apple, Sony, BMW and Ralph Lauren, unsurprisingly. But Crate & Barrel, Ikea, Whole Foods and Levi's, too. Porsche, Lexus, Chanel and Viking. And Target, North Face, Volkswagen and The Gap. Missing from this segment's 75 favorites list are classic luxury brands like Cadillac, Gucci, Louis Vuitton, Armani and Versace who have yet to demonstrate how they are keeping up with emerging trends.

People Want to Simplify

There are growing desires for purity and simplicity. Companies should respond with a move to simpler inputs, focused messaging, cleaner labeling, streamlined design and easy delivery of goods and services. Society is also demanding the removal of the layers of complexity – a change desired because it becomes easier to determine the true fit of products and services with personal values. This “less is more” trend is resonating with consumers everywhere – purity and simplicity is now the ultimate sophistication! Indeed some companies are doing this. For example the beverage ‘Innocent’ from the UK has an ingredient list of 6 items that are all recognizable fruits with no additives or preservatives. This is very different from typical soda or juice ingredient lists we commonly see in conventional stores.

Green is Recession Resistant

Green products still appear to maintain their value among shoppers despite the recession. According to a survey on “green” living from market research firm Mintel research firm Mintel 35% of U.S. consumers say they would pay more for environmentally-friendly products. Mintel found the green market outperformed the economy as a whole, growing more than six percent in 2008, followed by flat growth in 2009. The report also finds that the market took a hit from tighter consumer budgets due to the recession and trading down from high-end green brands. Even though the green market grew about 41% from 2004 to 2009 the report finds that the number of consumers purchasing all categories of green household consumer goods declined slightly in 2009, primarily due to the recession with household cleaners and paper products still the most frequently purchased green products.

The Future is Now

We find ourselves facing a complex set of problems that threaten the global population, economy and environment. The recession has sped up the inevitable evolution of our society and economic system that puts businesses and consumers in the driver seat of change. People are paying more attention to what they spend money on and demand a new definition of sophisticated value from companies. Those companies that cannot keep up with the progression of LOHAS consumer demand risk losing market share. Those companies that do respond will not only provide superior LOHAS products but also provide a better company overall for society and the planet. Together we can help transform the problems we have today to the solutions of tomorrow.

Ecofriendly Travel

Thursday, April 8, 2010 by Ted Ning

Ecotourism is travel with ethics. It has, in essence, three core tenants: 1) protect and enhance the natural environment, 2) respect local cultures and provide tangible benefits to host communities, and 3) be educational and enjoyable for the traveler. LOHAS and ecotourism are part of the same growing consumer movement focused on sustainable living, social justice, and personal development.

Ecotourism emerged from the environmental movement of the late 1970s. By the early 1990s, it was the fastest growing sector of the tourism industry, expanding globally between 20% and 34% per year. In 2004, ecotourism and nature tourism were growing three times faster than the global tourism industry as a whole (UNWTO). In 2002, LOHAS found that ecotourism was a $77 billion market in the U.S alone.
According to Travel Weekly, sustainable tourism could grow to 25% of the world’s travel market by 2012, taking the value of the sector to approximately $473 billion a year. The following are current trends in the dynamic field of ecotourism:

Travelers Philanthropy

There is a growing source of international development aid, spearheaded by ecotourism companies, to support community projects in host destinations. Increasingly, conscientious companies and travelers are providing “time, talent, and treasure” to further the well being of host communities. Travelers’ Philanthropy projects are helping to empower local communities by providing social services, jobs, skills, ownership, education, and environmental stewardship.

Case-in-point: After a trek in

Nepal

, Dr. Antonia Neubauer, founder of Myths and Mountains, a Nevada-based travel company, asked her Sherpa guide what he would do for his village. “Build a library,” he responded. That library project has since evolved into READ (Read Education and Development), which is today a network of 40 community-owned and operated libraries across

Nepal

. Myths and Mountains donates $50 from every traveler to support READ. For about $46,000, READ builds a library; stocks it with 3,000-5,000 books; trains locals; and funds sustainable community projects. The program won the 2006 Access to Learning Award from the Gates Foundation.

"Voluntourism"

Closely linked to Travelers Philanthropy is the movement for “Voluntourism,” active, hands-on, volunteer vacations that address global issues of environmental degradation and poverty alleviation, while fostering understanding between visitors and host communities.

Its origins trace back to the days of healers, explorers, and sailors who traveled while offering services to those in need. With growing awareness of global citizenship and social responsibility, it is no surprise that “voluntourism” is booming. According to Peter Yesawich, CEO of America's leading hospitality marketing agency, 6% of all U.S. active travelers took a volunteer vacation last year.

Case-in-point: Coral Cay Conservation (CCC) is a not-for-profit organization that uses volunteer visitors to protects tropical marine environments. CCC’s Fiji Reef Conservation project is just one example of a two week trip that trains volunteers to collect scientific information, which is then used to provide recommendations for the sustainable management and conservation of coral reefs and tropical forests.

Carbon Offsets for Travel:

There are increasing concerns about global warming and the effects of carbon dioxide produced from flights, road trips, and other fossil-fuel based recreation. Air transportation alone is believed to produce between 4%-10% of greenhouse gases worldwide. A range of businesses are taking responsibility for reducing their “carbon footprint” by decreasing emissions and donating to tree planting, forest protection, and solar, wind and other renewable energy projects.

Cases in point:

- Carbon Offset Companies: Dozens of companies help travelers calculate the greenhouse gas emissions caused by their travel and then “offset” the impact. Vermont-based company, NativeEnergy, collects “carbon offset” donations to invest in Native American-owned farm projects such as wind turbines, solar arrays, and a manure digester project that powers a 160 kW generator to displace fossil fuel and methane emissions.

- Travel Websites: Expedia and Travelocity have developed programs for travelers to buy carbon offsets when purchasing tickets online. Expedia has partnered with TerraPass to offer “Carbon Balanced Flyer” luggage tags. For about $5.99, travelers can offset approximately 1,000 pounds of carbon dioxide.

- Airlines: NatureAir, based in Costa Rica, is the first airline to pledge to offset all its fights. The airline launched a program to financially support sustainable reforestation in Costa Rica, through a system outlined in the Kyoto Protocol, and is conducting research into alternative energy sources such as ethanol and pig waste.

- Ski Resorts: With snow melting two to three weeks sooner than it used to in the 1950s, it is no surprise that 46 U.S. resorts are investing in renewable energy sources. Nineteen are offsetting 100% of their energy use through wind-power credits. Leading the industry is Aspen Skiing Company, with a purchase of 21,000 megawatt hours (MWh) of renewable energy credits, the largest purchase in U.S. ski history, Aspen will keep nearly 20,000 tons of carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere.

Green Architecture:

Organic gardens, native landscaping, solar and wind power, waste water composting, rain water harvesting, gray water irrigation, and recycled building material are a few of the signs of the burgeoning field of ‘green’ architecture linked to tourism. Small ecolodge owners and luxury chains are beginning to recognize the ecological and often economic benefits of green architecture.

Case-in-point: Fairmont Hotels & Resorts has a global reputation for environmental stewardship through its Green Partnership Guide, a 17-step process to sustainable best practices in the lodging industry. Each property has developed initiatives that support the corporate commitment to reduce the ecological footprints of its properties. For example, by simply changing 40 watt incandescent to 9 watt compact florescent bulbs, Fairmont San Francisco reduced 351,942 kilowatt-hours with an annual cost savings of $41,564.

Agroecotourism:

Many family-owned farms are tapping into travelers’ interest in rural heritage and lifestyle. Through agroecotourism, farmers generate additional income by hosting visitors, educating the public, and promoting farm products. In Vermont alone, income from farm based tourism activities generated $19.5 million in 2002, representing approximately four percent of the total gross farm income.

Case-in-point: Shelburne Farms is a 1, 400-acre working farm, National Historic Landmark and a nonprofit environmental education center that hosts some 66,000 visitors per year. Originally built in 1886 as a private country estate of William Webb, his descendants have turned the estate into model of agroecotourism. According to Director Alec Webb, Shelburne Farms is an educational center that uses a sustainably managed landscape as a classroom to foster an appreciation for the natural world and demonstrate stewardship in sustainable forestry, dairy-making, and cheese-making. Shelburne Farms received the 2006 National Conservation Achievement Award from The National Wildlife Federation for its environmental stewardship.

These are just a few trends that highlight ecotourism principles of environmental and social stewardship. To further promote responsible travel, The International Ecotourism Society is hosting a Global Ecotourism Conference in Oslo, Norway from May 14-16, 2007 and a North American Ecotourism Conference in Madison, Wisconsin from September 26-28, 2007.

Ecotourism:
The International Ecotourism Society
www.ecotourism.org

Global Ecotourism Conference
www.ecotourismglobalconference.org

North American Ecotourism
www.ecotourismconference.org

Philanthropy:
Travelers' Philanthropy
www.travelersphilanthropy.org

READ Global
www.readnepal.org

Voluntourism:
Coral Cay Corporation
www.coralcay.org

Green Architecture:
Fairmont Hotels & Resorts
www.fairmont.com

Agroecotourism:
Shelburne Farms
www.shelburnefarms.org

Preparing for the Pitch

Thursday, April 8, 2010 by Ted Ning

Preparing for the Pitch:
Tips for Mission-Driven Startups Seeking Outside Capital
By Matt Lombardi

Raising capital for a LOHAS mission-driven venture is exceptionally challenging and is a key element of successful green business strategy. One obstacle that social entrepreneurs face is a scarcity of traditional funding sources. Conventional investors tend to avoid double-bottom line companies for fear that such investments would yield lower and slower returns. As traditional investors dominate the venture capital arena, finding investors with two bottom lines is not an easy task.

While there is no single way to attract mission-aligned investors, there are practical guidelines to help social entrepreneurs locate viable backers, understand their needs, and avoid the most common fundraising mistakes.

Where to Find Mission-Aligned Capital
Angel networks, which are groups of individual investors who provide capital to startups, are a viable option for for-profit socially responsible investment ventures. Individual investors tend to consider a broader range of deals than most venture capitalists. An extensive list of angel groups can be found at the Angel Capital Association’s website (http://www.angelcapitalassociation.org). One of the more established groups listed, Investors’ Circle (www.investorscircle.net), is a national network comprised of individual and institutional investors dedicated to backing for-profit social entrepreneurs.

Several double-bottom line institutional lenders and venture funds have sprung up over the last couple decades. A few examples of these institutional investors include RSF Social Finance, Calvert, and SJF Ventures. A comprehensive list of socially responsible funds can be found on Columbia’s Research Initiative on Social Entrepreneurship (RISE) website located at www.riseproject.org

The U.S. Small Business Administration (www.sba.gov) is a helpful resource for ventures seeking loan opportunities.

Mission-driven ventures that take a non-profit form should consider the extensive list of grant resources found on SocialEdge.org, a website dedicated to supporting social entrepreneurship. A more traditional list of funders can be found at Foundation Center Online at www.foundationcenter.org

Matt Lombardi is the Entrepreneur Services Director for Investors’ Circle, a non-profit national network of angel investors, institutional investors and foundation officers who seek to balance financial, social and environmental returns.

What Do Socially Responsible Investors Look For?

The array of investment criteria is overwhelming in breadth, however most double-line investors zero in on a few key factors when it comes to making the right investment decision.

Before shopping your idea to investors outside your immediate circle, you will want to be confident in the following:

1.) Strong and relevant industry experience. Investors are said to invest in entrepreneurs, not ventures. If your team lacks experience in a specific area, be forthcoming about your plans to fill that gap. Developing relationships with reputable advisors will also help build credibility.

2.) Attractive and realistic financial projections. Enough with the hockey stick projections! Being overly optimistic is a sure way to lose credibility. In the same vein, take care not to be too conservative. While being realistic, make the opportunity compelling from an investment standpoint.

3.) Firm understanding of competition. Refrain from minimizing your competition. Acknowledging your competitors demonstrates that you understand the market and are prepared for the challenges that lie ahead.

4.) Traction in the marketplace. Demonstrating that there is a demand for your product or service is key to peaking an investor’s interest. Documenting letters of intent from strategic partners and potential distributors will also strengthen your value proposition.

5.) Built-in values. Socially responsible investors favor ventures whose mission is core to the company’s business model, rather than just an afterthought.

Fundraising Tips

Investor meetings can vary from a cup of coffee to a full-scale pitch before an investor group. Regardless of the level of formality, keep these tips in mind to avoid common fundraising mistakes:

1.) Keep it simple. Avoid getting lost in non-essential details. Start with a concise encapsulation of your business concept to draw in your audience from the start. Then deliberately hit the key areas of interest to investors (i.e. competitive advantage, market size and trends, business model, social or environmental impact, management team, financials, and the potential exit).
Practice presenting until your delivery time is consistent
and appropriate for the occasion.

2.) Come prepared. When meeting with an investor or group of investors, a concise 5-15 minute PowerPoint presentation is standard. Come prepared with an updated business plan and executive summary. If applicable, bring a prototype or product.

3.) Engage the audience. Avoid text-heavy slides. Presentations should guide viewers through your key points, not serve as your script. If you want the audience to remember verbal points, provide a handout sheet at the end of the meeting.

4.) Attitude Matters. Appearing “too confident” or “egotistical” is a common mistake that entrepreneurs make at investor meetings. While it’s critical to come across as both passionate and competent, an approachable demeanor will help open a dialogue between you and your potential investors. Simple tactics such as smiling and making eye-contact are essential to making a good first impression.

5.) Interview your investors. Due diligence should not be a one-sided process. It’s essential to trust and respect potential investors before signing term sheets. Sharing a common vision of the company’s future (as well as the investors’ exit) will help reduce conflict as the company matures.

LOHAS Venture Fair Not to be Missed!

For LOHAS oriented companies or values based investors please check out the LOHAS Venture Fair. This event is developed from a partnership between Investor's Circle and LOHAS and is a great opportunity for you to interface with likeminded prospects and peers. It also coincides with the LOHAS Forum June 23-25th.

A Bid To Save The Earth

Friday, April 2, 2010 by Jennifer Schwab of SCGH

How about a tour of Central Park with Candice Bergen? A day on the set with the world's leading action hero, Hugh Jackman? What about a private lunch and falconry lesson from Robert F. Kennedy Jr.? Or a cruise on David Rockefeller Jr.'s yacht with an oceanographer providing one-on-one commentary?

These are but a few of the items being offered in the Christie's Green Auction, "A Bid To Save The Earth," set for April 22 at Rockefeller Center in New York in honor of Earth Day. Christie's New York and a list of prominent celebrities, cultural and intellectual elite, along with several leading environmental charities, are behind this unusual, captivating event.

When you think about it, the entire auction business is green. After all, it's built around buying and selling valuable antiquities that are recycled, reused, and/or preserved. Many of the finest art, design and car auctions will only deal in pieces that are old and in good condition. Inherently green, beautiful, historic, it's all good for mankind and for sustainability. Owners of these items are mostly caretakers, preserving and passing them on to future generations.

The concept here is that leading artists, philanthropists, celebrities and businesses are donating artwork, experiences and other unique gifts - preferably ones valued at $100,000 or more - to be auctioned off at Christie's main showroom in this special event which benefits several sustainability-related charities. Oceana, Conservation International, Central Park Conservancy and Natural Resource Defense Council will receive 100 percent of the proceeds as Christies' is waiving commissions and fees, as well as donating its space and services. Corporate sponsors such as Barneys New York, Deutsche Bank, and Target are also supporting the effort. NBC Universal is the media partner who will be promoting the effort through on air and online assets.

Source: Damien Hirst's "All You Need is Jealousy," an auction item

"We are bringing together corporations, celebrities, non-profits and the arts community, all setting aside their individual agendas to go green," explains Toby Usnik, Head of International Communications for Christie's and a prime mover behind "A Bid To Save The Earth." This event will even have a "Green Carpet" as participants walk in front of major national and international media to support this worthy cause. "We feel like we are on to something here," Usnik said. "It's a total cross-section of participants all committed to honoring Earth Day and supporting the environmental non-profits."

Among the most desirable auction items are art pieces by Damien Hirst and environmental artist Alan Sonfist. "The Christie's auction is a wonderful concept. It also helps to validate and strengthen the environmental art movement, which I helped pioneer back in the 60s," Sonfist explained.

Source: Alan Sonfist's "Naked Earth," an auction item

Respected environmentalist/documentary producer Susan Cohn Rockefeller acted as adviser to Christie's in helping to choose the participating charities. (Selfishly, I wish Sierra Club could be included, maybe next year?) "This is a tool to generate significant revenue for the non-profits," Rockefeller explains. "This event is generating so much excitement, and generosity, far more than we ever expected in this economic climate." Rockefeller is donating jewelry from her own line for the auction in addition to her behind the scenes support.

Cameron Diaz, Arianna Huffington, David Duchovny, Christina Aguilera and Vera Wang, among others, are also donating personal, not material, experiences.

I spoke with Bergen about her involvement, which stems from her love of Central Park. "Central Park Conservancy has improved the park 100 percent over the past 20 years. I remember when you'd see hypodermic needles, rats...now we have the Shakespeare Gardens, it's wonderful for tourists, this is a great example of the "Adopt the Park" initiative," said Bergen.

Whomever makes the winning bid for the Central Park tour with Ms. Bergen, not to mention dozens of other unique items, will have a special experience. I plan on attending the auction on Earth Day and will provide a full report shortly thereafter. As always, thanks for reading and your comments are encouraged.... For more information, please check out www.abidtosavetheearth.org.

Follow Jennifer Schwab on Twitter: www.twitter.com/SCGreen_Home

ECO:nomics -- Creating Environmental Capital

Thursday, March 11, 2010 by Jennifer Schwab of SCGH

Santa Barbara, Calif -- Talk about brains, power and money in one room. This was the ECO:nomics Conference, put on by The Wall Street Journal at the lush Bacara Resort. Legendary investor T. Boone Pickens; top venture capitalists John Doerr and Vinod Khosla; CEOs of Royal Dutch Shell, Rio Tinto and American Electric Power; Energy Secretary Steven Chu; the list goes on. This was almost enough business horsepower to warrant autograph seeking.

If there is one clear message coming out of this gathering, it's that we need to assign a price or cost to carbon emissions, and soon. Almost all the speakers agreed that be it through a direct tax on carbon -- which would affect the average consumer at the pump and on their energy bills -- or the cap and trade model, which auctions off "permits to pollute" to all businesses that emit carbon, we need to enact some serious legislation on this immediately.

Other provocative subjects discussed included wind energy, natural gas, nuclear energy, other types of alternative power, synthetic genomics (I will admit I had a hard time following J. Craig Venter's rocket science, but it involves using genomic research to discover new ways to produce energy) and not incidentally, water.

In fact, one of the best speakers was Patricia Mulroy, General Manager of Southern Nevada Water Authority. She explained that even with the winter rainfall we have been enjoying, Lake Mead (which supplies water for most of Southern Nevada) will be at dangerously low levels by 2016 and Hoover Dam may stop producing electric power. Scary stuff indeed. Mulroy added that water conservation efforts have been quite successful so far, including incentivizing citizens and developers to remove grass and replace it with low-water landscaping. Southern Nevada's water requirements have been reduced by almost a third since 2002, quite an amazing statistic. My comment is this: for those who think climate change is a myth, what do you propose we do about a situation like this? Even with strong conservation measures in place, we are running out of water...

I am one of many who were wondering whatever happened to T. Boone Pickens' wind energy initiative? Well, the answer is oil prices that were $125 a barrel ended up around $80 and thus the math no longer works. Pickens had 648 wind turbines on order from GE, he was able to negotiate that down to 324 and those will indeed be arriving on his doorstep. He will deploy them but the problem with wind energy remains transmission. Of course, Pickens has now moved on to natural gas as our savior. This concept had a number of supporters in the room but was far from unanimous.

Tom Albanese, CEO of Australia-based Rio Tinto, one of the world's largest mining companies, believes in clean coal and thinks it can be part of the energy solution. (As Director of Sustainability for Sierra Club Green Home.com, I must add that I strongly disagree.) Gregory Boyce, CEO of Peabody Energy which is one of the largest coal companies in the world, gave statistics showing just how married to coal American, Japanese, India and Chinese industrial companies are. Albanese made a very strong point that businesses and investors have been preparing for a cost on carbon for quite awhile now, and not having legislation in place leaves a giant question mark going forward for everyone. This point was echoed by top V.C. John Doerr, who ought to know since he has deployed hundreds of millions of dollars into Cleantech over the past nine years.

One of Doerr's early investments was Bloom Energy, which makes a fuel cell technology called the Bloom Box. This self-contained power unit runs off natural gas and provides enough energy, off the electric power grid, to run a large industrial facility and eventually, a smaller unit will power homes. Bloom has used up over $400 million of investor capital already and the audience was mixed on whether the Bloom Box will ultimately be commercially viable. Stay tuned on this one.

The final speaker was Energy Secretary Steven Chu. I was hoping he would address the important question raised by Rio Tinto's Albanese: now that the world's leading companies have braced themselves for assigning a cost to carbon emissions, when will that be, what will that entail, and how will it be administered? His answer: I am optimistic that energy legislation addressing this issue will be passed this year. And that America still can win the worldwide race to lead the green economy. "The Clean Energy movement is ours to lose. China is moving quickly; they see this industry as a huge export opportunity," he added. "This is an incredible economic opportunity for the United States. We have to rebuild our energy infrastructure to make us energy independent."

Follow Jennifer Schwab on Twitter: www.twitter.com/SCGreen_Home

A Purpose Driven Career

Sunday, March 7, 2010 by Ted Ning

CAREER EXPERTS PROVIDE TIPS ON HOW TO OBTAIN YOUR DREAM JOB

As consciousness about environmental and social issues rises, so does the number of people who would like a job with purpose. But how do you become Director of Sustainability or Chief Environmental Officer at a Fortune 500? What is the best path to becoming VP of Strategic Marketing and Fun or Head of Innovation and Ecology at an environmentally friendly company?

Experts say there’s no one way to land a job that reflects your values. Chances are that no matter what you have been doing in business, you have transferable skills that can help you find a position in sustainability or corporate social responsibility (CSR). Companies built around principles of sustainability need to fill all of the roles of traditional companies: sales, finance, marketing, operations, etc. Traditional companies looking to become more sustainable need people that are passionate about the issues while skilled in business practices. Individuals in these roles must also demonstrate how more than ever sustainability affects the bottom line though energy efficiencies and cost savings.

Aaron Frank, Director of Environmental Affairs at Disney Corporation, suggests that you carefully think through where you fit into the organization. “Corporations are looking for a strong team of people,” says Frank, “there is room within sustainability for people with expertise in external communications, research, operations, internal communications, and the like. If you don’t have direct experience in sustainability but you have strong business skills, look for companies with departments large enough to require and accommodate people with your skills.”

Salaries vary based on size and location of the company. Martin Kartin, who runs a boutique retained search firm, says most Director of Sustainability salaries are in the $100,000 to $175,000 range.

According to Chuck Bennett, Vice President of Earth and Community Care at Aveda, while people need to have an interest in their area of responsibility, a business background is very valuable. Previously, Bennett served as Head of Environmental Safety at Nabisco and Head of Environmental Affairs for Coors Brewery. He maintains that people coming out of the business world with an interest in environmental issues can be very effective even if there is a learning curve on the issues. “A lot of being successful is knowing how to get things done as much as it is knowing what you want to get done,” Bennett says.

Kartin concurs. “For a company that wants to be sustainability conscious, give me the business mind with the environmentalist heart,” he says and adds that LOHAS companies looking to compete with traditional companies need to hire people who understand those competitors.

Frank advises to consider the size of a company. “Larger corporations have the opportunity to make a larger impact, but it takes longer to create change,” he says. “At a smaller company change can happen more quickly.”

Roy Notowitz of Generator Group, an executive head hunting firm in Oregon also has some suggestions for the eco-job seeker. “The key is identifying transferable skills, finding connections, and understanding your competencies in order to convince employers you will be successful in a position.” Notowitz recommends getting involved with interest groups and organizations working on initiatives globally that you would like to work on at a corporate level in order to meet like-minded people who may eventually need to hire leaders and managers.

Demonstrating a history of innovation and learning ability helps, too. In some cases, a person stepping into a sustainability or CSR management position will find themselves having to define their job and their role within the organization while navigating a corporate culture that may not be completely receptive to change.

In these difficult economic times, it is critical that sustainability activities benefit a company’s bottom line. “In many cases, increasing efficiency has economic benefits,” says Disney’s Frank. “In cases where there is an initial cost, there’s often some long-term value to the company.” Notowitz agrees that enhancing a company’s profitability and helping move the corporation toward its goals is crucial. Sustainability and CSR departments that cannot demonstrate cost reduction or brand enhancement run the risk of being rolled into more traditional marketing and communications departments or completely cut during economic downturns.

For those who might be looking to enhance their education before looking for a job, Bennett has some thoughts. “We love MBAs with a strong commitment to environmental sustainability, like those coming out of the University of Michigan or the Presidio Green MBA programs.”

“Those just beginning their career in a sustainability or CSR department need street smarts and a strong work ethics in addition to a broad educational background,” adds Bennett, who suggests getting some internship experience, too. “Commitment and willingness to work is important because these jobs tend not to be easy,” Bennett warns. “People who come in thinking everybody will totally align with them and help them get things done will be really disappointed.”

Michael Dupee started out with Green Mountain Coffee in an entry-level position and also led the internal environmental Committee. After leaving to earn his MBA then working as an investment banker at Goldman Sachs, he returned to Green Mountain in a newly created position, Vice President of Corporate Social Responsibility. “It’s great to spend my days focused on issues of social and environmental impact,” says Dupee. “The challenge of integrating those issues into a profitable growing business is terrific.”

As far as job satisfaction goes, Kartin says it’s important to remain patient. “Those people at companies where sustainability is not a new paradigm—Ben and Jerry’s, Burt’s Bees, and others—reap the job satisfaction in spades. But for people at companies where sustainability is a new approach, the jury is still out based on how effective these people are really going to be in these newly created positions.

Mike Duppee adds, “Many people have romantic notions about jobs like mine but it’s important to remember it is still a job—some amazing days, some really tough days, but most of it is great.”

Leslie Berliant is a partner at BLU MOON Group, a marketing and communications firm that specializes in cause marketing, and co-founder of BLU MOON Foundation.

The Greening of Spas

Sunday, March 7, 2010 by Ted Ning

The term “green” and all of its variations—”going green,” “green building,” and “greening your home”—was so ubiquitous in the late 2000's that it received the most nominations for the “Words Banished From the Queen’s English for Misuse, Overuse, and General Uselessness” list. At first this accolade might appear to be bad news, but such recognition indicates that the concept has reached significant market penetration.

Much like the word “green,” the term “spa” has also become completely woven into the fabric of our current society. One in four Americans visited a spa in 2008 reports the International Spa Association. Both green and spa represent a reconnection with the treasure of our natural resources.

Spas and Sustainability
Fifteen years ago the spa movement and industry ignited in unprecedented growth in the U.S. on the wave of increasing awareness of the mind-body connection and alternative approaches to health. The double digit annual growth of the industry brought in new players, elaborate spa facilities and the perception that spa is luxury with no limit on the consumption of resources. Now new wave in spa is providing consumers with a choice to enhance well-being naturally in an environment that values and cares for our planet’s health.

The Green Spa Network and member spas embrace the responsibility of living these values personally and professionally to attain measurable improvements towards full integration on the sustainability spectrum. Cici Coffee of Natural Body International, Inc. provides an example of spa leadership in practice: “In 2004, we implemented a charitable campaign with Georgia Organics in which we sold co-branded T-shirts and donated 100% of profits to the nonprofit, GO. In 2005, we implemented an employee contribution campaign with Earth Share in which Natural Body partially matched such contributions. We are now in our fourth year with workplace campaigns for Earth Share and have pledged in excess of $40,000 to this environmental nonprofit. We reward our eco-ambassador in every location to excite the team to achieve their philanthropic goals, so the store that improves the most is awarded a team party.”

The ultimate goal is to become a zero waste spa by sending nothing to landfills—an audacious goal on the sustainability path. Sheila Armen at the Strong House Spa in Vermont has taken this goal of achieving zero waste to heart. Strong House started the Cosmetic Recycling Program that allows clients to bring in old products that contain chemicals and get a $5 credit toward organic products. “We then recycle not only the containers but the products inside,” says Armen. “All cleansing products go to our recycling company to wash their trucks.”

Such simple changes are proving successful for spa morale and cost savings across the country. Michael Stusser, founder of Osmosis and president of the Green Spa Network, explained that “our spa has had much stronger cohesiveness since we have become a committed sustainable spa. Many favorable stories in the press and awards from local governmental and business organizations have contributed to a good feeling among staff and guests as we all work together to reduce our load on mother Earth. We estimate that the hard cost savings in training and operational effectiveness to be $12,500 per year, and the improvement in staff moral and customer service substantial.”

Highlights of current greening initiatives in GSN member spa operations include:
• Use LED and CFL lighting, lighting sensors, and educate employees about the conscious use of energy.
• Design spa treatment protocols with conservation fixtures and client messaging that prevents water waste. Subtracting only 1 minute per hot shower can save $75 on utility bills and 2,700 gallons of water per year for a family of three. Eliminating water waste in 14,000 US spas is part of the GSN mission.
• Collecting recyclable microfiber linens that can be used in building materials, and other damaged and worn textiles are donated to animal shelters.
• Reduce paper waste through technological options such as online client software and management tools and eliminate need for printed materials.
• Replace single use supplies with items such as durable beverage cups, cloth hand towels, and microfiber body wraps.
• Utilize biologically safe laundry detergents, non-chlorine bleach and energy efficient equipment.

Stusser states, “The GSN is dedicated to creating a culture of merit by celebrating and sharing best practices. We have begun by having our members take realistic steps that can be easily accomplished with the intention of gradually raising the bar for sustainable business practices throughout the entire spa community. The network acknowledges that we are in this together and sharing our individual successes and innovations will bring everyone closer to the possibility of a transformed world.”

360˚ SUSTAINABILITY
The concept of “green” is often thought of only in terms of environment. The GSN has adopted a 360- degree view of sustainability that benchmarks and measures progress. The benchmarks range from startup initiatives to fully integrated sustainability practices within the following categories:

leadership
employee experience
guest experience; treatment protocols
retail products
linens and textiles
food and beverage
community connection
waste
water use
lighting
environment
equipment
sanitation/laundry
linens
energy use
pool operations

SELECTING A PRODUCT
When it comes to a spa’s retail product line, the GSN encourages members to select product lines that correspond with philosophies of well-being, quality, sustainability, and responsibility. The sustainability continuum progresses with these benchmarks:

Incubator level: Whenever possible select retail skincare and other product lines that fit your sustainability goals; communicate your sustainability and ingredient goals to product suppliers; plan to eliminate products that contain synthetics, fragrances and dyes, phthalates, parabens, and triclosan.

Initiative level: Audit retail products from a sustainability perspective; request that supplier(s) employ sustainable practices such as packaging, local sourcing of raw materials; and ensure that at least 20% of products offered are fair trade, organic, sustainable, made with pure ingredients, and packaged sustainably.

Integrated level: 100% of retail skincare products are certified at the highest level [USDA NOP, EcoCert, Natural Products Association, NaTrue, Soil Association, NSF, or BDIH certification] for product quality, purity, and sustainability.

Most GSN member spas are beyond the initiative level in the retail product category and aspiring to the fully integrated level as certifications and verifications are made available.

OSMOSIS SPA IN CALIFORNIA SEES GREENING AS A STEP IN SHIFTING THE IMAGE OF A SPA VISIT AWAY FROM ONE OF PAMPERING INDULGENCE TO A MORE GROUNDED AND HOLISTIC EXPERIENCE THAT MAKES THE OBVIOUS CONNECTION BETWEEN PERSONAL AND PLANETARY WELLNESS.

THE NATURAL BODY SPA IN ATLANTA HAS 100 YEAR OLD RECLAIMED BARN WOOD FLOORING AND SHELVING AND HAS BEEN AN OFFICIAL DROP OFF SITE FOR USED CELL PHONES THAT ARE THEN PICKED UP BY EARTH SHARE FOR RECYCLING

Rhana Pytell is co- founder and director of GAIA Spa in La Jolla CA. Ms. Pytell also founded Amethyst Systems, a company that provides templates and spa management tools in a web-based format. Rhana serves on the board of the Green Spa Network.

The “Natural” and “Organic” Skincare Lowdown

Sunday, March 7, 2010 by Ted Ning

For those who are seeking LOHAS atributes for spa and skincare here are some thoughts from the green spa specialist of Univesal Companies Lisa Sykes.

Serious money is being spent on natural and organic personal care products. According to Mintel, a leading market research company, the natural and organic personal care market has risen from $345 million to $465 million since 2005. Furthermore, Mintel’s Global New Products Database reveals a 53% increase in new natural or organic product lines in the past two years.

In the wake of the paraben scare and the petrochemical backlash, consumers are becoming more concerned about what they apply to their skin, and their demand for chemical-free personal care products has been the call to action for many spas to enthusiastically adopt clean, green retail and treatment protocols. This cumulative buying power has cultivated the once meager selection of natural, organic spa products to grow into an overabundant cornucopia of choices. Tradeshow aisles and magazines have recently bombarded spa professionals with vibrant, foliage-rich advertisements boasting natural, food-grade ingredients. And although it may be satisfying to have a wide array from which to choose, it is also incredibly frustrating for spa professionals to translate marketing claims and decode ingredient lists so they can make wise purchasing decisions. However, there are some simple label “tests” the besieged spa professional can perform for prudent product assessments:

Determine if you want “natural” and/or “organic” products

Contrary to popular belief, these terms aren’t synonymous. The term “natural” is generally assigned to products containing plant or mineral ingredients. “Organic” describes the non-pesticide/herbicide/ GMO method in which a product’s plant-based ingredients are grown. However, sometimes these claims are made without regard for the percentage of natural or organic ingredients in them.

Look beyond labels
Labels that boast glistening fruit, grassy fields, and fanciful butterflies may belie the contents. Here’s what to do:

Search for third-party certification seals
There are third-party organizations that strictly assess for natural criteria (e.g., Natural Products Association), organic (e.g., U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Organic Program), or both (NaTrue). These unbiased boards require manufacturers to undergo evaluations to verify that a given set of standards are met. If a manufacturer meets or exceeds these standards, then it is awarded product-claim certification depending on the percentage of natural or organic ingredients (e.g., USDA NOP requires a product to be at least 95% organic for the seal to be visible on a label and a minimum of 70% organic materials to use the “made with” term). Other considerations include whether water is regarded as “natural” or “neutral” and manufacturing processes.

Read ingredient lists
Sometimes quality brands do not display seals on their labels because they are in the middle of a lengthy certification process, the cost may be too high, or they choose to keep their labels simplistic. If you do not see a third-party seal, look at the ingredient list.

Retail packaging
Ingredient lists should display all contents—both actives and inactives—in descending order of predominance. Note two exceptions: 1) The FDA does not require colorants or ingredients present at <1% to be listed in order of predominance; and 2) The FDA does exempt manufacturers who claim “trade secret” status for a particular ingredient but stipulates the tag line “and other ingredients”.

Professional or sample packaging, literature, and websites
The FDA does not impose ingredient declaration on these materials, so many companies will only list “natural” active ingredients for marketing reasons. This is troublesome for the consumer because inactive ingredients are commonly the causes for concern. In these instances, ask for complete ingredient lists.

Know which ingredients to avoid
If you can’t pronounce it, chances are it’s a petrochemical. Petrochemicals are derived from nonrenewable sources and are potentially harmful due to their manufacturing processes, which include metal catalysts and contaminates. The nonprofit Campaign for Safe Cosmetics states that “consumers use as many as 25 different cosmetics and personal care products containing more than 150 different chemical compounds daily.” This staggering statistic is compounded with the fact that “1 in 5 of all products contain chemicals linked to cancer, 80% contain ingredients that commonly contain hazardous impurities, and 56% contain penetration enhancers,” according to the Environmental Working Group. You should also be aware that some chemicals are more hazardous than others. For a list of “dirty dozen” ingredients to avoid, easy-to-read charts, and more information about skin care, enlist the help of the Green Spa Network, a nonprofit organization dedicated to promoting environmental awareness throughout the spa community, by visiting their website www.greenspanetwork.org.

Packaging
If it is designed with post-consumer materials, printed with eco-friendly inks, or readily biodegradable, the brand will boast about it in marketing materials. However, if you don’t see it, ask. You can also look for the official recycling symbol (the “mobius loop”), which shows three arrows in a triangular shape. Frequently, on paper products, a loop in the center of a shaded circle means the package contains recycled materials. Conversely, a plain loop (no circle) indicates that the package is recyclable. On the bottom of most plastic containers, the loop features a number in the center, but this doesn’t always mean that the container is feasibly recycled. Note that numbers 1, 2, and 5 are easily recyclable; the others are not. In fact, recycling #3 (PVC) is actually hazardous to the environment.
As daunting as it may seem, undertaking these initiatives is something that your clients will deeply appreciate because it will help you offer more well-informed advice. Transparency is desperately needed in the personal care market, and spa professionals are perfect advocates for this cause, but they must have a lucid understanding of the subject before they can reflect the changes they wish to make.

SACRED BOTANICALS MASSAGE OILS ARE CERTIFIED ORGANIC, UNSCENTED, HYPO-ALLERGENIC, AND DO NOT CONTAIN SYNTHETIC FRAGRANCES OR COLORS.

FARMESTHETICS SKIN CARE LINE ARE 100% NATURAL UTILIZING CERTIFIED ORGANIC HERBS, FLOWERS AND GRAINS FROM AMERICAN FAMILY FARMS.

AROMAFLORIA DEVELOPS NATURAL PRESERVATIVE SYSTEMS UTILIZING ESSENTIAL OILS AND MINERALS THAT REPLACE THE STANDARD SYNTHETIC
PRESERVATIVES. AS A RESULT, SALTS, SCRUBS AND MASSAGE OILS ARE 100% PRESERVATIVE FREE.

Lisa Sykes works as a full-time eco-friendly specialist for Universal Companies, where she researches, writes informative articles, helps initiate greening policies for the company, and makes an art out of decoding marketing materials and product labels.

Organics can feed the World

Sunday, March 7, 2010 by Ted Ning

by Seleyn De Yarus

THE UNITED NATIONS AND LEADING RESEARCHERS CONCLUDE THAT ORGANIC FARMING IS A VIABLE OPTION FOR GLOBAL FOOD SECURITY, ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT, AND SUSTAINABILITY.

There are an estimated 6.9 billion humans on planet Earth. Of those, there are an estimated 3 billion people living on less than $2 a day. Access to healthy food, housing, and drinkable water challenges nearly half of our species. However, evidence is mounting that organic agriculture can feed and provide income and sustainability to a growing number of the world’s poor while also ensuring healthier ecosystems and more nutritious food.

A shining example of how organic agriculture provides sustenance on many levels is the Tigray Project in Ethiopia.
Local and national experts have cooperated with farmers in the Tigray region and tapped the rich knowledge of the farmers to understand and utilize local ecosystem elements rather than depend on fertilizers. Tigray has achieved higher yields, higher groundwater levels, better soil fertility, increased household income, and stronger livelihood opportunities for farmers than previous efforts with conventional agriculture. The Ethiopian government has now adopted this approach to mitigate soil damage and alleviate poverty in 165 local districts in the grain producing parts of Ethiopia.

A report showing further evidence that organic farming can feed the world was presented in October 2008 by the United Nations Environmental Program. In a statement to The Independent, the head of the UN’s Environment Program, Achim Steiner, said the report “indicates that the potential contribution of organic farming to feeding the world may be far higher than many had supposed.”

The report analyzed 114 projects in 24 African countries and found that yields had more than doubled where organic or near-organic practices had been used as compared to conventional crops. Additionally, the study found that organic practices provided environmental benefits such as improved soil fertility, better retention of water, and resistance to drought. The research also highlighted the role that organic farming could play in improving in areas such as local education, agro-ecological knowledge, leadership training, adult literacy, computer knowledge and experimental farming programs. The report can be found at www.unep.org.

Out With The Green Revolution, In With The Organic Revolution

The Green Revolution, so named in the 1960s and 1970s, offered a package of hybrid seeds, farm technology, better irrigation techniques, and chemical fertilizers and pesticides. It was successful at meeting its primary objective of increasing crop yields and augmenting aggregate food supplies. Yet, despite its success, the Green Revolution as a development approach has not necessarily translated into benefits for the lower strata of the rural poor in terms of greater food security or greater economic opportunity and well-being.

Research shows that the latest scientific approaches in organic agriculture offer developing countries affordable, immediately usable, and universally accessible ways to improve yields. Rodale Institute is a 60-year-old research and education nonprofit with the longest ongoing comparative agricultural field trials in the world.

“Yield data just by itself makes the case for a focused and persistent move to organic farming systems,” explains Dr. Tim LaSalle, CEO of the Rodale Institute. “When we consider that organic systems are building the health of the soil, sequestering CO2, cleaning up the waterways, and returning more economic yield to the farmer, the argument for an Organic Green Revolution becomes overwhelming. These methods also build the soil, increase drought and flood resistance as well as adaptability to climate change,” LaSalle says.

Remember the high yield goal of the Green Revolution? The quest for maximum yield in conventional agriculture has often resulted in declining nutritional quality, says Dr. Donald Davis of the University of Texas, Austin. He and his team analyzed 50 years of USDA nutrition data. According to a study published in 2004 in the Journal of the American College of Nutrition, 13 major nutrients in fruits and vegetables tracked by USDA from 1950 to 1999, six showed significant declines—protein, calcium, phosphorus, iron, riboflavin, and vitamin C.

Dr. Davis noted that over many years of using yield potential as the dominant criterion in developing improved varieties, while average yields have risen, plant root systems have not been able to keep pace in drawing more needed micronutrients from the soil. When breeders selectively breed for one resource, using a selected trait like yield, fewer resources remain for other plant functions, the study explains.

Organic fruits and vegetables on other hand, are on average 25% higher in 11 key nutrients than their conventional, chemically produced counterparts, according to research published in March 2008 by The Organic Center. Organic fruits and vegetables also are 30% higher in antioxidants when compared to their conventional counterparts. The higher levels of antioxidants in organic food may also contribute to better taste, according to a 2006 Organic Center report.

Both international and national research is substantiating that food security, human health, economic development and ecological sustainability are better served through organic agricultural methods than previously recognized. The increased recognition of the downsides of chemically intensive agriculture combined with the growing body of evidence for the benefits of organic agriculture provides new momentum for more sustainable agricultural practices to be adopted globally. This is good news for the burgeoning populations of the developing world and their local environments.

Seleyn DeYarus is the development director of The Organic Center and has been an advocate of organic farming and ecological sustainability for 25 years. For more information, visit www.organic-center.org.