Green News

WRI is working with Google to make our data related to climate change more approachable and interactive than ever.

Google's Public Data Explorer is a new tool that makes large data sets easier to understand and explore. Users can reimagine data sets from a growing list of providers (like the U.S. Census, Eurostat, the World Bank, and, now, WRI's Climate Analysis Indicators Tool - CAIT) as interactive charts and maps that illustrate data relationships and trends over time. These new data visualizations can be embedded in other websites and easily shared via email or social networks.

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Confession time: I am sort of a journal fiend. I feel incomplete leaving the house without some sort of notebook for jotting down ideas. It’s fun to buy a journal, but my inner crafter sometimes wishes I’d get it together to make my very own recycled notebook. Here’s some book-binding inspiration to get you going if you’re feeling the same way!

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Fab Fabrics took a little hiatus, but we’re back and ready to get the ball rolling again with lovely, sustainable fabric choices! This week, I’m drooling over Spin Spin proprietress Susan Fitzgerald’s sweet screen printed designs.

Fitzgerald prints on all natural fabrics, like hemp/organic cotton blends and uses water-based, eco-friendly inks on all of her hand-printed fabrics. The Melbourne, Australia designer says being kind to the planet is important to her and to her business because:

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One extraordinary 14-year-old New Hampshire boy is showing that kids have the power to change the world.

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If you’re anything like me, you’re pretty skeptical of any move that Wal-Mart makes. When a friend sent me an article recently about the retail giant “going local,” my first reaction was confusion followed quickly by good, old-fashioned fear and a few confusing questions.

• Is Wal-Mart going to weaken local standards?
• What will this move mean for small farms in the long run?
• Should we reward the company with our local food dollars?

One of my favorite teachers of all time, Mr. Ivey, taught us that when faced with a decision that causes this much inner turmoil, a PMI is a really helpful tool. Nope, not private mortgage insurance. Mr. Ivey’s PMI stood for Plus, Minus, and Interesting. Basically, he was a fan of divvying up what you know into those three categories, where Interesting facts are ones you don’t really consider a Plus or Minus. Here’s a PMI laying out what I know about Wal-Mart’s local food initiative:

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This is a guest post by John Simonetta, owner of Proforma Green Marketing, an eco-friendly promotional items consultancy (see proformagreen.com). John’s blogs are designed to keep us up to date on the “greening” of his industry.

Placing a company or organizational logo on a timepiece has been a cornerstone in the promotional products industry for many years.

Placing your logo on the face of a watch allows your brand to be seen again and again by the wearer of the timepiece. However it is the type of timepiece on which that logo is placed that tells the wearer the most about the organization from which the watch was given.

The mission of Sprout Eco-Friendly Timepieces is to simply “make the most eco-friendly watch we possibly can” and coming from a company that has been in the business of making timepieces for over 50 years, the company has an impressive list of claims supporting that mission statement.

By weight, the small size Sprout™ watch is 80% eco-friendly and the large size Sprout™ watch is 86% eco-friendly. What does that mean? It means making watches from sustainable and eco-friendly materials, for example their manufacture includes 99% biodegradable corn resin instead of traditional plastics, organic cotton and bamboo used in bands and faces, mineral crystal for lenses instead of plexiglass (so it can technically be recycled as all glass can be recycled), and using only mercury free batteries.

On top of that Sprout™ packaging is made from at least 80% post consumer fibers, and all Sprout™ watches are in compliance with the CPSIA and are lead and phthalate free.  The corn resin used in  Sprout™ watches is also in full compliance with the American ASTM D6400 as well as the European EN13432 standards for compostable material.

So all in all a rather bold eco statement from a very nice looking wristwatch. And happy, they look happy don’t they?

Of course this column is about eco-friendly promotional items, so it was very fascinating to recently learn that Castle Merchandising, Inc. (ASI 44315) is currently offering branded Sprout™ watches for an EQP price of around $37.00 per unit.

As well as being a great watch, I think Ecopreneurists should look at these timepieces as a great teaching tool. They are proof that a hip and functional timepiece - or indeed an common article – can be made from sustainable materials. I think these would be a great marketing idea for branding at the high school and college level, as well as for organizations working in the environmental space.

For more information on the retail Sprout sales please visit their website. If you are ASI, John Costelli is the contact at Castle Merchandising to speak with. If you are interested in the Sprout line to promote your own business, contact your local promotional items vendor or email info@proformagreen.com for information and pricing.

This is a guest post by John Simonetta, owner of Proforma Green Marketing, an eco-friendly promotional items consultancy (see proformagreen.com). John’s blogs are designed to keep us up to date on the “greening” of his industry.

Looking to get the most design for your money on Earth Day shirts this year? Well once again Vantage Apparel is offering their Name Drop Graphics program for Earth Day apparel items. And new for 2010 Vantage is offering not only screen-printed designs but also Digital Print, Embroidery, Laser etching and Laser Applique.

Vantage Apparel is one of the leaders in the industry for eco-friendly apparel, with a special focus on organic cotton t-shirts, sustainable fleece, and eco printing. With the introduction of these new imprinting methods the program has been expanded beyond just t-shirts, to jackets, fleece, bags, caps, pretty much any item the Vantage Apparel offers.

Why use the Name Drop Graphics program? A lot of organizations want to make a big splash around Earth Day but may not have a budget for a big time design when it comes to organic cotton t-shirts and other apparel items.  The Name Drop Graphics program makes getting a great design at a great price simple. In a move I can only say is very ecopreneurial, Vantage is teaming up with distributors like Proforma to offer 22 Earth Day designs ready for the addition of your organization name or company logo. Just pick your design, your color, and your apparel item, and you are done.

Runs start at as few as 12 units via digital printing methods and domestic runs can go as high as 10,000 units. Organic cotton and other eco-friendly materials are available as well as traditional fabrics. The plan is very practical in terms of matching the needs and budgets of all participants by finding the right mix of apparel options.

Schools, clubs, city departments, charities, businesses, etc., for any and all this is a great way for an Ecopreneurist to make a big splash without having to fill the entire swimming pool out of their own pocket.

If you are interested in viewing all the Earth Day pre-graphics in the Name Drop Graphics program you can download the .pdf here. For more information on Vantage visit their website.

Please note that Name Drop Graphics program for Earth Day is not mentioned on the Vantage website, so if you want more information on the program, including pricing, please email info@proformagreen.com. Or if you are in the promotional items business you can contact Julia Macdonald at Vantage.

A recent study from the National Renewable Energy Lab (NREL) suggests that the continental U.S. has the potential to produce 37 million gigawatt-hours of electricity from wind power each year. That’s a huge leap from the 52,026 gigawatt-hours we used in 2008.

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[Originally published at ecopolitology] More than one hundred wind energy representatives are traveling to Washington D.C. this week for a special lobbying effort to push for a national renewable energy standard.  Industry representatives will hold over 70 meetings with lawmakers on Wednesday, March 10 in an event dubbed, “Wind Power on Capitol Hill”, to urge passage of a national renewable energy standard that will give the wind energy industry the kind of stable policy foundation for long-term industry growth.

At the state level, the renewable energy standard has become the preferred policy mechanism in the U.S. for spurring commercial-scale wind energy development, with states like California and Colorado showing that setting high requirements on renewable energy generation for investor owned utilities can be a significant driver in new facilities coming on line. Yet while most states have some sort of renewable energy standard on the books, the lack of a national standard means that a  handful of states are way behind the curve, having developed few renewable energy projects of any considerable scale.

“We need to drive demand in a stable, predictable way,” said Vic Abate, Vice President for Renewables, GE Energy, the largest supplier of wind turbines in the U.S. “For the jobs to grow the renewable electricity standard is critical.”

But, as Chris Madison points out at the American Wind Energy Association’s Into the Wind Blog, it won’t be smooth sailing for the wind industry on Capitol Hill this week. Madison writes: “Armed with a series of specious and superficial reports, Sen. Chuck Schumer of New York—the home of GE and a state that is eight in total wind installations—has called on Congress to suspend any stimulus funds to companies that use foreign parts in their turbines.”

The report found that as much as 75% of clean energy grant money in the economic stimulus package passed in 2009 will not go to American companies.

In a letter to Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner, Senators Charles E. Schumer of New York, Sherrod Brown of Ohio, Bob Casey of Pennsylvania and Jon Tester of Montana asked the secretary to put a ‘buy American’ provision on the clean energy grant program because it is doing very little to create jobs here–and now–in the U.S.

“We cannot sit idly by while China races to the forefront of clean energy production at the expense of U.S. manufacturing, U.S. jobs, and U.S. energy independence,” said Senator Sharred Brown (D-Ohio).

But both the wind energy and federal government are not taking the criticism lying down, rather, they are insisting that the renewable energy grant money creates the kind of long-term market infrastructure and industry stability that the renewables sector needs to take root in the U.S.

Denise Bode, CEO, American Wind Energy Association said, “A national RES will result not just in new installations, but also in new manufacturing. The RES is the most important buy-American policy we can do.”

And the feds are taking a similar position. “The Recovery Act has doubled the pace of investment in America’s wind industry — including helping attract more than $10 billion of foreign investment to create U.S. jobs,” Stephanie Mueller, news media secretary at the Energy Department, recently told the New York Times.

“Manufacturers are chomping at the bit to come to the U.S.,” said Donald Furman, Senior Vice President, Iberdrola Renewables. “And it would be a tragedy if this investment were to stop. The RES is the missing link.” Furman added that the discussion about the ‘buy American’ clause is having “a chilling effect on existing American jobs.”

What do you think? Should there be ‘buy American’ clauses in these clean energy grants or do you buy the argument that the long term result will be more wind industry jobs in the U.S. if there is no such requirement?

Tim Hurst is the former editor of Red, Green and Blue and current executive editor of LiveOAK Media. Follow him on twitter @ecopolitologist.

Photo Courtesy of Brandon Hickman

At the Global Green Pre-Oscar party last week, Suzy Amis Cameron’s eco Oscar gown was unveiled. It was lovely, but there was no mention of what made this gown more sustainable than most, other than it was colored “Na’vi blue”. This sort of vagueness is how people can easily be accused of greenwashing.  Even the interview with the designer did not include this pertinent information, only her discussing the challenge of creating an eco gown. Yes, it’s a little harder, but when price is not an issue it’s no harder than designing any other couture-quality gown.

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I was listening to a report recently that determined that, rather than trying to save the planet by purchasing green cleaners, organic food and other green products, consumers generally are motivated by health- theirs and their children’s.  This is, of course, a bit of a “duh’ for me, since I and most of my marketing colleagues came up with this conclusion awhile ago. But it is a boon to green brands trying to go mainstream.

Seventh Generation’s new ad campaign reflects this new marketing philosophy as it targets moms of young children. Organic baby food manufacturers find their business booming and major brands are extending their brands to include green offerings.

This of course leaves the deep green demographic in a quandary. What to do when your favorite green “hippie” brand goes mainstream? While this seems to be a question that marketers are pondering with great concern, I think it is perhaps overblown. There is a history of niche brands going mainstream. That’s more or less how this economy works. Smaller companies come up with great ideas. The idea gains traction. Big companies buy smaller companies in niche or start their own competition brand or small niche company hits the jackpot on their own and goes mainstream.

This is of course leaves a new niche to fill. Smaller companies can then spring up to meet the needs of the recently abandoned niche.That is, if you were thinking of starting a company marketing a product to the deep green consumer…now if the time.

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The Obama administration is struggling to follow through on promises with regard to health care and climate change because of a Republican party that seems to have no interest in constructive efforts to solve problems for the American people.  But the Republicans are not the only “Party of No” that will make it difficult for Obama to deliver on his promises.  Soon after he came to office, the President gave a speech to the National Academy of Sciences pledging to have an administration that supports and listens to science (something that was notably lacking during his predecessor’s term). The scientific community was very encouraged, but we also knew that many of Obama’s supporters are themselves highly selective in their support of science,  and so it would take some real courage to follow through on the pledge.  Nuclear power is the most prominent ”test case” underway, but there is a much less publicized ”politics vs science” test underway right now for the USDA.

The Question Before The USDA

The question is: will the USDA authorities allow a permit for Arborgen to conduct field tests including flowering for a GMO Eucalypus hybrid?  These are trees that have been genetically engineered to be tolerant enough to frost to someday become a new bioenergy and pulp crop for the Southeastern US.  The purpose of the test is to get real-world data on an important question: does this new crop have any potential to become an invasive species?  Invasiveness is a very real phenomenon, but what we already know about these trees suggests that invasiveness is very unlikely.

This particular hybrid is widely grown in Brazil and has shown no tendency to spread outside of the plantations on which it is grown.  This tree has also been modified so that it does not make pollen.  The hypothesis that this tree will be a well-behaved crop is quite reasonable, but in science you test your hypothesis.  That is what these field tests are intended to do – on a small scale (300 acres over 7 states) and with close monitoring.  If the trees show a tendency to spread, it would not be hard to get rid of them on this scale. The USDA is not being asked to make a final determination about whether to allow this to become a commercial crop, it is just being asked for permission to do the next logical scientific step.  The second public comment period on this question recently closed, so now it is up to the regulators to decide.

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In what some view as a harbinger of the difficult political task of relicensing the aging stock of 1970s era nuclear reactors nationwide, Vermont’s state Senate exercised its uniquely-held state relicensing authority to reject a plan to keep the Vermont Yankee plant open beyond 2012.

The vote came at a time of controversy for the plant itself, after recent concerns about tritium leaks have gone public and as activists, protestors and lawmakers expressed concerns over the plant’s safety. By contrast, the vote came just one week after President Obama announced the first $8 billion in an expected $50 billion of government-guaranteed loans for new nuclear reactors, a plan the White House said was essential to help meet America’s growing energy needs from sources that do not emit carbon dioxide.

The confluence of events has made the question of nuclear power’s future a hot political and media item throughout the northeast in recent weeks. The Boston Globe has been the battle ground for some partisans, as a nuclear advocacy group’s comments on the leaks were met with return fire in letters to the editor citing a history of deception and misleading comments as justifying continued concerns about nuclear safety.

The issue continues to divide the environmental movement, with some groups seeming to resign themselves to grudging acceptance of the president’s plan and the fact that nuclear power may be here to stay. The concession continues a trend that began with a considerable watering down of energy legislation in the House and the introduction of a proposed Senate bill that encourages expanded offshore drilling and investment in clean coal. Still, with $11 billion in 2009’s stimulus package directed to clean tech, some green groups and Democrats on the Hill were willing to make the compromise.

Others, however, continue to vehemently oppose the idea of expanding nulcear power (or even relicensing the existing stock) on several fronts: safety of plant operation, national security, proliferation risk, unsolved waste disposal issues, and now, the financial gamble of guaranteeing loans to an industry that has a history of cost overruns and project delays.

The financial battle will be one that President Obama will have to weigh in deciding how hard to push his loan proposal. After all, if he is in for $50 billion in new stock, does not that commit the White House to the battles over relicensure by the Nuclear Regulatory Council? It would be a difficult messaging move to propose $50 billion in taxpayer-funded loans and then not weigh in on free relicensure of existing nuclear capacity. Still, the political players on his staff, with a wary eye toward 2010’s mid-terms and the 2012 election will surely be loathe to get too involved in what are destined to be nasty, emotional, local political fights over relicensure.

Of course, all renewable power sources in play today (unless you include large-scale hydro, which most greens and the federal energy bills do not) require heavy subsidy to meet parity with conventional power. All proposals at the federal level (and all existing state RPS, feed-in tariffs, etc.) put the burden of subsidy on ratepayers with some kind of add-on to the utility bill.

The difference is that nuclear requires those subsidies up front, for the capital-intensive build out of new plants, as opposed to on the back end where subsidies equalize the cost of capturing sun, wind or water on projects that have already been developed by entrepreneurs, investors and utilities. Customers (also know as taxpayers) are going to pay the freight one way or the other. But, with capital loans, the risk of default is dramatically increased.

Still, even as opponents stake claim to a new line of attack on the finance side, safety concerns remain nuclear’s number one bugaboo. The tritium leaks at Vermont Yankee do not help, and with relicensures looming, more stories about more of those kinds of problems will inevitably emerge. It also does not help that while few Americans actually know the story of or understand the meaning of Three Mile Island or Chernobyl, those phrases have become bywords for a very vivid kind of catastrophic nuclear fallout.

Nuclear advocates are trying to change that perception. It will be a hard-won fight. If they can continue to attract hard-bitten greens with credibility in the movement that makes their most persuasive line of argument on safety a possibility. The argument goes that while there may be a small risk of a catastrophic meltdown event, that rationale assumes failure of the plant, its staff and regulatory oversight. While such an event would surely have tragic results, it would be mostly-local.

By contrast, climate science is nearing consensus on the fact that the use of GHG-emitting fuels like coal is globally cataclysmic in its very essence, when used properly as designed and planned. So, why should America write off any future for nuclear given the relatively small risk of major local damage, when the country is currently committed to a track that ensures worldwide harm? Another Globe letter layed out the framework for this variation of the Bush-Cheney “one-percent doctrine.”

It is an interesting argument to make. It is a tough one to sell. After all, these plants have to sit somewhere, and it will be difficult to find a local community where parents are willing to subject thier own childre to that risk - however small - in the name of the greater good. But, just like in the Revolution, the first shots in a major battle have come from New England, this time from the Green Mountain State. And, again, the repercussions will resonate all the way to Washington. But, who will emerge as the heroes? Only history will tell.

No doubt the current Olympics has and continue to dazzle people with the drama (some outside of the venues) but somehow lost amongst the sports accomplishments remains the face that Vancouver touted this Olympics as the Greenest ever. It seems that China also made that claim a couple years ago. Instead of getting into a comparison of this green aspect versus that sustainable item, we took a look at the Vancouver Convention Center West, which marks the World’s First Convention Center to Achieve LEED Platinum Rating.

Yes, we’ve discussed our feeling about the LEED label and how we would like seeing more money going toward sustainable aspects versus a LEED plaque but nonetheless they built an impressive structure, which currently hosts the international media for the Olympic games. When the Olympics pack-up Vancouver will still have the dazzling sustainable structure.

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I used to think the smell of roses was something my grandmother might like but certainly wouldn’t pass the test of my modern girl olfactory senses. How wrong could I be! If you’ve ever plunged your nose into a fresh, powdery rose bloom on a warm day, you’ll know what I’m talking about. The new Double Rose Rejuvenating Cream from The Organic Pharmacy uses over 95% organic ingredients (most of which are cold-pressed), one of which is pure Persian Damask Rose. The smell is sheer bliss. A unique extract grown at 2,000 feet in the central region of Iran, the harvesting involves the entire village, who come together in May during the Rose harvest to pick the delicate flowers at dawn when moisture content is at its peak.

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Welcome to GreenOptions.com! If it doesn’t look quite like you remember, you’re not crazy. We’re in the process of a big switch with greenoptions.com, after which it will function as a full-fledged online community for green living. Stay tuned! (but expect the switch to happen in late March)

Best,

David Anderson

If you are reading this article, I think you are probably more concerned about the environment than most others. I assume that you keep up with environmental news a bit, reading more than the miniscule amount covered in the mainstream media.

However, I cannot make any guess as to how much you actually do to live a more environmentally friendly life.

Why?

The bottom line is, people inform themselves of the environmental problems in the world much more than they act. And even for those deeply concerned about the environment, it is very likely there is more they could be doing in their own lives to live a cleaner or greener life.

That is why I want to give one general tip for how to live a greener life. Maybe it is simple. But I think it is one of the best things you can do to transform your actions.

First, though, if you want some statistics on the difference between what people think need to be done and what they are actually doing, take a look at the results of this Americans’ Actions to Conserve Energy, Reduce Waste, and Limit Global Warming. January 2010 study from George Mason University and Yale University Project on Climate Change researchers.

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Part 1 in a series where Krates Ng (co-founder of Mokugift environmental rewards) interviews fellow ecopreneurs.  Today, Krates interviews Brendan Gill of PlentyWays.

1) Why did you start PlentyWays?

We’ve always wanted to create an environmentally focused organization and its really our first opportunity to do that.  At school and college we learned about the climate change issue and it became obvious that this issue is going to form a backdrop to our entire lives.  Its already a crucial matter, but it is only going to grow more and more important over the coming decades.  We wanted to be involved with this issue and to do our bit to help.

2) Is there a story about the name ‘PlentyWays’?

These days its very hard to come up with a name.  Finding something short, simple and with an available web address is difficult so when we finally came up with PlentyWays, we were really satisfied.  The idea behind it is that there are plenty of ways to make a difference.  That’s really our guiding philosophy: through the products we make available, the tips we provide, the services we review, we are trying to show people all the ways in which they can do their bit.

3) What was the toughest challenge in getting your company started and how you got over that?

There was a combination of challenges at the beginning.  It took us a long time to come up with our name, we even tried crowd sourcing it and put up a bounty of $200 we were so stumped, but even that proved fruitless.  The second big challenge was picking out the right products to offer our customers.  There are a lot of green products out there now and the number is increasing by the day.  We had to do a lot of research into what we thought were the most popular ones and would be most useful to our users.  Its a lot of work to then build relationships with the companies that make these products as well, which we are still working on.

4) If you had to pick one company in your lineup, which one would you showcase and why?

When people ask me what they can do to go green, the very first thing I ask them is if they have switched from incandescent bulbs to CFLs.  This is the most simple straightforward thing someone can do which is guaranteed to save both energy and money.  Sometimes it can be a challenge to convince people of a more expensive option that is more ecological, but using CFL bulbs is a complete no brainier.  Also people who are waiting for their current incandescent supply to run out before switching to CFLs - a quick calculation will show you that in almost all situations you should switch straight away.

5) How is PlentyWays going to grow in 2010? And how can other ecopreneurs help?

PlentyWays has huge plans!… We are working extremely hard on our blog, which we are going to focus on helping people to go green.  We will keep our ears to the ground on all the latest environmental apps, services and products and review them on our blog making it easy for budding ecopreneurs to take advantage of them.  We also want to provide some apps of our own.  The first we made was a very simple tool to stay on top of the latest green news, which pulls in news from some of the most popular green-focused websites out there e.g. TreeHugger and NY Times Environment.  We also want to work on a system that can monitor the energy and monetary savings people can make with various green goods.  For example, if someone purchases a few CFL bulbs from us, we would like to use the date they purchased to automatically calculate how much energy savings that has resulted in and the effect on their wallet.  It will probably use an average energy cost and an average figure for daily light usage as default, but would allow people to customize the calculation to their situation by entering their cost per KWHr and average light usage.  Stay tuned to our blog for details on all new features.

If you’ve read any of my posts about skin care products before you probably know I have issues with overly sensitive skin. Minor use of one tiny bit of the wrong thing makes me break out in all kinds of badness which could be anything from acne to hives.

Skin MD Natural may be just what the doctor ordered to solve my skin issues and give me radiant, healthy, break out free skin.

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This is a guest post by John Simonetta, owner of Proforma Simonetta Freelance, an eco-friendly promotional items consultancy (see proformagreen.com). John’s blogs are designed to keep us up to date on the “greening” of his industry.

ASI is the Advertising Specialty Institute, the trade organization for the promotional products industry. This year at ASI DALLAS (one of several yearly ASI trade shows) I was joined by Brady Anderton of FUELED FILMS (http://fueldfilms.com/). Brady is working on a project related to the greening of the promotional products industry, so similar in topic to my writings here at ecopreneurist.com.

Since Brady is a film guy he didn’t take notes so much as have his team film me while we talked. What we ended up with was a kind of rambling dialogue about industry changes for 2010 and the evolution of green in promo.

I figured we would edit some of these conversations into more manageable bits and post some of the footage here. For more visit http://www.youtube.com/ProformaGreen.

Enjoy.

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If you are an ASI distributor talk to the vendors directly about these new items. Items seen are from AMERICANNA, ASH CITY, NUMO, LEEDS, QUICKPOINT, SHEPENCO. If you are interested in these items to promote your own business contact your local promotional items distributor or email info@proformagreen.com for information and pricing.