CT Green Scene

CT NOFA's 31st Annual Winter Conference

2 March 2013

8:30 AM-5:00 PM

Registration Fee Depends on Status

Wilton High School

Wilton, CT

Join the Connecticut Northeast Organic Farming Association as they celebrate 31 years of growing better together! There will be over fifty vendors providing fresh local food, crafts, and books as well as a raffle that includes offerings such as a basket of gardening supplies. Lunch will be Included for an extra fee, but it is worth the price. During the lunch break, attendees have the opportunity to taste delicious local flavors concocted by chefs involved in Fairfield County's farm-to-restaurant program. The New Connecticut Farming alliance will also meet during this time to discuss news and share information. 

    Guests may select from a wide variety of workshops to attend. There is no need to register for your desired workshop, you may simply show up at the allotted classroom. A program will be handed out to you upon registration that looks exactly like the link provided above. Parents and families are welcome to participate in children's workshops as well. There will also be a screenings of the GMO documentary "Genetic Roulette" throughout the afternoon, where Elaine Titus of GMO Free CT and GMO Free Moms will be available to answer any questions. 

Schedule for the Day                                                               Registration Fees

8:30-9:30 : Registration (pre-register at this link)                  Non-Member:      $60
9:30-10:45: Workshop I                                                          Member:           $50
11:00-12:30: Opening announcements and Keynote               Student/Senior:    $35
12:30-2:00: Lunch                                                                  Children:           FREE
2:15: 3:30: Workshop II                                                      *Lunch is optional: an extra $15 for adults
3:45 to 5:00 ~ Workshop II                                                  and $8 for children

2013 Conference Program: http://www.ctnofa.org/winterconference/2013%20WC%20programOPT.pdf

Register at: http://www.ctnofa.org/winterconference/2013WC_registration.html

If you forget to register for lunch: http://www.ctnofa.org/winterconference/winterconference_lunch_registration.html

For more Information: http://www.ctnofa.org/winterconference/index.html

6th Annual Global Environmental Sustainability Symposium: Transportation, Human Mobility, and Sustainability at CCSU

April 4th, 2013

9:45 AM-7:15 PM 

FREE, Registration Required

Central Connecticut State University

New Britain, Connecticut

The CCSU Global Environmental Sustainability Action Coalition invites the public to learn and to teach one another about the actions that we, as human beings, must take to ensure that we live in such a way that we are able to satisfy our needs while ensuring that our children and grandchildren will be able to satisfy their own. The symposium will offer 3 classes, two performances, a panel discussion, a tour, and an optional attendance at the town meeting, as well as opening and closing notes from distinguished professionals in sustainability. This event is FREE: anyone can register online to show up. *Exhibitor tables are still open.

Schedule

9:45-10:00 AM: Symposium opening and welcome with Dr. Charles Button and Dr. Jack Miller (tentative) at Alumni Hall

10:00-10:45: Transportation, Migration, and Sustainability in Four Worlds Alumni Hall

Dr. John Kelmelis expands upon a possibility raised by the United States National Intelligence Council when they published Global Trends 2030: Alternative World. This work explores four very possible future worlds. Dr. Kelmelis will explain what each of these worlds might mean for our future as well as what strategies we might use to make the most of each circumstance at the local, regional, national, and global levels. 

11:00-11:45: Panel Discussion: Electric Cars and Alternative Vehicles Alumni Hall

The president of the New England Electric Auto Association (Dave Oliveria), an environmental writer and speaker (Jim Motavalli), the Senior Associates Autos Editor for Consumer Reports (Eric Evarts), and a natural gas car owner (Joe Booth) all come together in one place to talk about the real value that hybrid, extended hybrid, and electric vehicles hold. This is a special opportunity to discover what users and reviewers genuinely think about these alternative vehicles.

12:00-1:45 (*with second free registration): Water Wars Performance and Lunch Alumni Hall

While you enjoy your lunch, the Sonia Plumb Dance Company will be performing Water Wars. This is an emotionally charged piece of art that exposes the very important and very tenuous relationship that human beings have with one of our primary sources of life: water.

End of the World?

by Eileen Weber

With all this hype about the end of the world and Judgment Day, I'm just wondering what the environmental impact will be from this "massive annihilation" we're expecting this weekend? Surely, all that fire and brimstone will adversely affect climate change. Think of all those greenhouse gases.

And, I'm assuming post-Judgment Day will mimic the fires of Hell, so please expect a hot summer this year.

A few questions that have been gnawing at me: How do you pack for the end of the world? Should you bring clean underwear, or is that simply a waste of time? And if the end of the world doesn't come, do the believers get to drink the blue Kool-Aid? I mean, how disappointing would that be? You sold your home, quit your job, gave away all your worldly possessions, only to find out you're just homeless, broke, and stupid. Kind of a bummer, isn't it?

A Blogger For Any Diet

by James Simpkins

Last week I wrote about a pizza place in Avon and no one said a word. Over the holidays I penned two articles expressing my displeasure about shopping at Discount Food Outlet in Canton; and readers are still writing in droves to expressing their displeasure about my perspective, even attacking me personally. More than one comment suggested that I leave town since I didn’t like it. I was both confronted and amused by such responses. The confrontation part is obvious, I hope—no one likes being openly despised, especially by people they are unacquainted with. Unfortunately, humans seem all too willing to express malice towards those people with opinions that do not match their own (see our current political climate). In my mind, this is akin to hating the guy next to you because you don’t like the color of his tie. Ties, like opinions can, and do, get changed. The life that wears that tie or has that opinion, however, is no less precious, and we are all hard-wired to preserve it. Fortunately that is not all us humans are born with. Laughter, they say, is the best medicine.

In another sense, I was very much amused by all the uproar realizing people’s anger was not because of an unpopular stance on abortion or gay marriage, but a grocery store. Now that is funny!!! I had no idea that people were so attached to where they bought their food. Shame on me, though, as food is always chock-full of intimate meaning for people. Lesson learned.

In the wake of the fallout from the DFO articles, this week allow me to offer a more personal piece that I hope will establish a context for what I write, and why I write it; a kind of road map to my inner gastronome.

The first item on the colloquial menu is the term “connoisseur”; this is what I consider myself in the food arena. Think of it as the “who does this guy think he is?” part of my writing. The second proffering is the usefulness of critique and analysis. While criticism nearly always gets a bad rap, I think we need critics and critical understandings of any subject, food included. As subjectivity is common to all of us, being critical can actually help us appreciate even our least favorite ideas by allowing us to see there is always another side to any story. But first, the connoisseur…

Eco-Crackpots and New Year’s Resolutions

by Eileen Weber

If being green is your cause, I applaud you. Whether it’s eating local, organic foods or composting for your garden or reducing your carbon footprint, it’s a solid plan that helps the environment. But while every movement needs its champions, there are some that take their interest to a level of fanaticism.

That’s when a good cause loses its steam with the rest of the general public. You, the sweat-pant-wearing, bon-bon-eating, armchair quarterback of life. Blossoming interest is lost once the passion for something—in this case, the environment—comes across as craziness. It’s just another good message gone bad.

Case in point: A friend of mine sent me a Facebook link to the Organic Consumers Association. In it, a woman called for an organic New Year’s Resolution. She is planning on taking her commitment of an organic lifestyle to the next level. She wants to eat more responsibly and hopes you will, too. Certainly a noble cause and I wasn’t alone in thinking that. A number of people responded positively to the organic challenge.

But for me, that challenge was more than a little bit tainted when one person responded by grand-standing. Where one woman tried to start a grassroots movement and offered others to join her, this crackpot wandered aimlessly from topic to topic: Everything from “It’s all the government’s fault” to a nation-wide increase in pill-popping to the evils of pesticides. Frankly, it was a bizarre and rambling romp through narcissicism.

Commentary: Copenhagen

by Michael A. Cuomo

First steps can be frustrating. The climate accord reached early last Saturday morning in Copenhagen is a first step toward achieving a comprehensive, enforceable agreement among members of the United Nations. But while the accord furthers the dialogue of influential players such as China, India, Brazil, the EU and the U.S., it fails to come through with specific targets for the reduction of greenhouse-gas emissions. Instead, it contains a vague promise to limit global warming to two degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels. 

Feelings were mixed about the end results of the summit. Gordon Brown described the negotiations as "frustrating” and the Obama administration hailed the meeting as an “important breakthrough.” Most notable among the accord’s successes: A commitment by wealthier countries to provide an annual fund of $100 billion by 2020 to countries who do not have the financial resources to develop their industries. With little to no financial backing, these countries must simultaneously follow ever stricter environmental regulations. 

Balancing the needs of developing versus developed nations has been a sticking point at previous climate summits. Developing nations have been hesitant to sign an agreement that may cripple their economic advancement. Industrialized nations, on the other hand, have been disdainful of granting more achievable emissions restrictions to their less developed neighbors.

Squashing Some Green Job Hunting Myths

by Anneli C. Olila, Editor-in-Chief of Boston GreenScene / Principal of Olila Documents & Communication Strategies

Each week, I spend hours talking to job seekers of all levels—from those just graduating from school to highly-experienced C-level executives. Many are contemplating a green career, either out of their passion for the environment or simply because other markets are tight and the green market shows promise. Often, what I hear is a fatigued and resigned voice on the other end of the phone saying, “I’d love to join a green company, but they all want you to already have vast experience in the green industry.” 

When anyone, let alone a top-level, international, well-accomplished executive, says this to me in the midst of cataloging his or her milestone achievements—such as dramatically increasing revenue, efficiency, and organizational prestige; adeptly handling countless mergers and acquisitions; building exceptional cross-cultural and cross-functional teams; applying proven project management and Six Sigma skills; and achieving numerous patented inventions across regulatory environments—I am astonished. I am astonished as editor-in-chief of a green information portal, and I am astonished as a communications specialist who works closely with companies, schools, recruiters, and job seekers. I am also astonished just as a thinking person. There is an apparent and unfortunate mystique built around the green industry—and, frankly, around the job search industry itself—that is completely unwarranted.

No, You Do Not Like Pumpkin

by James Simpkins

Autumn is always a bit of a bugger for me. On one hand, the trees change color and “sweater weather” arrives—two of my favorite things in the world. On the other hand, everything pumpkin returns to the forefront of the gastronomic world and I have to put up with the ubiquity of “delicious pumpkin ravioli with sage brown butter” in every restaurant that I go to. People also remind me how insane they are by lining up for Pumpkin Spice lattés at Starbucks as if they are tickets to the Promised Land. The colossal success for Starbucks, whose debut in 2004 actually improved their bottom line towards the end of the fiscal year, is now annually anticipated event for their faithful and an annual cash cow for the company.

Not to be outdone (though they already had been), in 2007 Dunkin Donuts unveiled four new menu items to ring in the fall with, and three of them had pumpkin in the title: The Pumpkin Muffin, Pumpkin Donut, Pumpkin Spice Latte and Vanilla Spice Coffee. Their executive chef said this about it:

"Americans feel such a strong emotional and sensory connection to the foods of fall, and our new fall-flavored menu items will help customers celebrate the season and the warm feelings it evokes." -Dunkin' Brands' Executive Chef Stan Frankenthaler

Honestly, I was nauseous after reading it. When chefs talk like that about haute cuisine that has taken many hours to prepare, I can tolerate it. I still don’t love it, but I get it—the artist is talking about their art. When a “chef” is talking about MAKING DONUTS AND MUFFINS that is where I draw the line. I digress…

The point is I don’t think most people like pumpkin at all.

On Cooking

by James Simpkins

The term cooking—when I say it, anyway—means taking raw food items, preparing them and applying heat or culinary technique to affect change—not throwing a frozen pizza in the oven. In the ever-augmenting rush of our daily lives, cooking is taking a back seat. Without putting too fine a point on it, I think we’re just lazy.

James, what are you talking about? What about The Food Network? “Julie and Julia”? Rachel Ray? I mean, food is so “yum-o”, how could the practice of cooking go second fiddle?

Well, to use those examples: 1) The Food Network is a TV channel---you really shouldn’t be cooking yourself when the next episode of “Look How Much Better I Cook Than You Do” is on. 2) “Julie & Julia” is a decent movie about a young woman with a cool blog idea piggy-backing on a cultural icon. At least she’s in a kitchen. 3) Rachel Ray has a talk show. I know that after I get done listening to all that high discourse, I’m too tired to cook. Michael Pollan just wrote a great (and slightly less catty) piece on this very topic of not cooking in the New York Times Magazine that I’d recommend reading. The upshot is that cooking as entertainment necessarily wants—no, needs—you out of the kitchen. I’d like to convey a couple of my own reasons to get back into it.

Is Whole Foods Green?

by James Simpkins

James Simpkins will be a contributor on this site every Wednesday. A former chef and Le Cordon Bleu culinary instructor, he is a PhD student at UCONN putting his culinary know-how to work studying American food culture. He will be writing about anything and everything related to food in the Farmington River Valley. Having grown up in Ohio, he has been living for the past two years in the Canton area.

I have a new studio apartment in West Hartford that my wife and I affectionately call “The Cave”. It’s a television-free, renovated attic dedicated to reading books, writing, and eating meals—mostly from Whole Foods in West Hartford Center, a five minute walk down the road. This got me thinking: Would Whole Foods Market be considered green?

There are seven Whole Foods in Connecticut, impacting a large number of folks here in The Nutmeg State. So I thought it would be worth a look-see. But first, I must confess: I worked for Whole Foods for fifteen months, leaving last summer, and didn’t like it very much. They told me in that special, pallid, human resources style they didn’t like me either. I think shopping there is a completely separate experience than being an employee. But, I can’t say my insider’s perspective doesn’t come into play. You’ll see why.

Reality Check

by Heather Burns-DeMelo

I started this blog two years ago when I was gripped by fear--the paralyzing sort that came as a result of being shaken awake by numbers spiking off charts in Al Gore's documentary.

It was as if a bucket of ice cold water was splashed in my face, and I felt in my bones that every day I was selling my children a lie.  A lie that our society can be run on fossil fuel indefinitely and without negative impact. A lie that they will always have clean water to drink and enough to spray on their children on hot summer days. A lie that the mattress and pillow they sleep on at night is safe to breathe. A lie that the food on the super market shelves is healthy and safe to eat.

All lies.

So, I've kept my nose so close to the grind stone that many days I'm afraid to look up. For when I do, what I see around me threatens the sense of hope I've worked so hard to instill and foster and grow in myself and those around me. Why hope? Because hope fuels courage and fights despair. It creates a space for creativity, innovation and compassion to blossom. And those, we need in spades.

In Thoreau's Legacy: American Stories about Global Warming, Barbara Kingsolver writes, "We abolished slavery, we granted universal suffrage. We have done hard things before. Each time it took a terrible fight between people who could not imagine changing the rules.  If we run out of hope at the end of the day, we'll rise in the morning and put it on again with our shoes. Hope is the only reason we won't burn what's left of the ship and go down with it. If somebody says, "Your money or your life," you can say, "Life." And mean it."

Now that's perspective.

The Earth Day Rush--and a Personal Wish

As happy as I am to see the "green" wave swell beyond what I could have imagined, I'm equally disappointed by the mad rush to throw together "Earth Day" events because it's THE thing to do. Department stores, shopping malls, furniture outlets and companies who go against Mother Nature all year long--have targeted April 25th as the day to wash away their eco-sins and start anew.

It's as if a light bulb goes off in a late March staff meeting when someone realizes Earth Day is in April and one valiant soul takes it upon him or herself to lead the effort.

If I can be so bold as to make a wish: I hope that Earth Day 2009 brings with it a complete understanding of the depth of our planet's ailments and how they relate to our physical well being, the renewed determination necessary to deeply change our habits, and an unwavering commitment to put Planet first.

When we consider all that our Planet bestows upon us every day--namely, LIFE SUPPORT--the least we can do is to make decisions based on what was disturbed or killed or made extinct to bring it to bear, as well as what will fester and leech in the water, the air and the soil when we no longer need it.

And if that's too big, too deep or too inconvenient, perhaps the most honorable way to say 'thank you' to Mother Earth is to stay home and sit on the porch.

Hopping Down the Green Bunny Trail

by Eileen Weber

This morning at some ungodly hour, my three daughters burst into our bedroom with lots of chatter and more energy than anyone should legally possess. The Easter Bunny had arrived. They were sure of it.

Flopping down the stairs in my flannel jammies, fuzzy slippers, and a sleep mask perched above my weary eyebrows, I followed my progeny into the living room where the infamous rabbit had left baskets of goodies.

Upon opening said baskets, it occurred to me the amount of waste and plastic involved. The Easter Bunny needs to hop on the eco-friendly bandwagon. The baskets were covered in plastic wrapping. There was enough excess cardboard and tape inside you could gift-wrap a Lexus with it. There was only slightly less garbage than Christmas, for Pete’s sake.

There are plenty of people who agree with that statement. “Easter is yet another plastic crap-filled holiday,” said Lisa Sharp on April 1st in her Retro Housewife Goes Green blog. “Plastic baskets, plastic eggs, plastic grass, candy wrapped in plastic, the list goes on and on.”

No Lunch Left Behind

Published by The New York Times
February 20, 2009
Op-Ed Contributors
By ALICE WATERS and KATRINA HERON
Berkeley, Calif.

This new era of government bailouts and widespread concern over wasteful spending offers an opportunity to take a hard look at the National School Lunch Program. Launched in 1946 as a public safety net, it has turned out to be a poor investment. It should be redesigned to make our children healthier.

Under the program, the United States Department of Agriculture gives public schools cash for every meal they serve — $2.57 for a free lunch, $2.17 for a reduced-price lunch and 24 cents for a paid lunch. In 2007, the program cost around $9 billion, a figure widely acknowledged as inadequate to cover food costs. But what most people don’t realize is that very little of this money even goes toward food. Schools have to use it to pay for everything from custodial services to heating in the cafeteria.

On top of these reimbursements, schools are entitled to receive commodity foods that are valued at a little over 20 cents per meal. The long list of options includes high-fat, low-grade meats and cheeses and processed foods like chicken nuggets and pizza. Many of the items selected are ready to be thawed, heated or just unwrapped — a necessity for schools without kitchens. Schools also get periodic, additional “bonus” commodities from the U.S.D.A., which pays good money for what are essentially leftovers from big American food producers.

For Worst Perfomance by a Recycling Committee

by Elizabeth G. Howard

So I live in Stratford, a smallish town of 50,000, here in our fair state, New England. Since I am not from this part of the country, I have discovered a curious quirk of the New English people -- they take political landscaping to an entirely different level than anywhere else I have ever lived.

In Connecticut there is no real county government, and the State government is mostly ignored. Instead, there are 169 “municipalities” that all have their own way of doing things. Actually, that is putting it lightly. Town governments in Connecticut are more like rivals on "Survivor", where the shared dialect across townline is usually "F--- you! We're the REAL Daughters of the Revolution and we're preserving our individual, municipal rights, even if we have to use canning jars and vinegar!"

For example, in the case of road maintenance, for example, the municipalities, in total, have 17,115 road miles that they are required to maintain… 4.5 times the number that the State maintains. As a result, the sheer cost of road maintenance (hmmm, every town has their own rules, storage sheds, equipment, crews, etc.) is enormous.

As far as I can see, the only thing consistent across the municipalities is enforced by the State law requiring that a very bored looking police officer be on every roadwork site, either sitting in his squad car reading a Harlequin Romance, or chatting with one or more of the otherwise-idle workers about the imminent threat of terrorism in Haddam Neck.

So, fast forward to this week, when I started to research the RECYCLING PROGRAM in Stratford...

Editorial Credibility in an Online World

by Elizabeth G. Howard

I was recruited by MomCentral.com to take part in their blog tours, when the subject was appropriate for my blogs. I have two blogs -- Letters from a Small State, which reflects on my life in Connecticut, and Honk if You Compost, my eco-humor blog.

I am on a mission with these tours: to write great reviews and thoughtful pieces for whatever I sign on to. I take the job seriously, even if the pay isn't much.

Recently I committed to review Clorox's Green Works Natural Biodegradable Cleaning Wipes. I am seriously curious about this brand-- I particularly wanted see if Clorox could sell me on this disposable product.

They didn't ... the wipes, although compostable weren't amazingly useful enough to make them worth adding to the cleaning products that are tried and truly low-impact.

Everyone's Truth is Out There
Curiously, my negative eco-humor-review was not too overly adored by the MomCentral crew-- I was asked if I didn't want to tone it down just a little bit? This has indicated to me what I have been suspecting about this far-reaching and influential website (and others like it): online reviews can often be more about promoting products than they are about giving serious consideration to the product and its impact on the audience. In the case of MomCentral, I fear this may be the case.

It is certainly true that with online writing, the lines between advertising and editorial are gone. As is illustrated by contextual advertising (ie. Adsense), where once there was a firm division between the ad and the ed, we now decide precisely what we advertise based on the page content.

The result? The more niche reporting becomes, the more difficult it becomes to evaluate the credibility, objectivity and even the usefulness of information we find online. Everyone has an opinion--and that opinion is backed by an agenda that becomes more and more hidden.

I have one recommendation, and that is awareness. For more information about how to evaluate what you read on the web, have a look here.

Tip Toe

by Krista Richards Mann

We talk about our carbon footprint and we try to reduce our impact by turning off the lights when we leave the room and by taking the train instead of filling the highways with more SUVs.  But, perhaps the biggest thing we can do is to be happy with what we already have.

I was poor before it was chic. I can’t blame it on Madoff but on my own poor judgement in marriage and in an emotionally and financially expensive divorce. I simplified my life by necessity, not by any means of altruism.  But it suited me, and my children.  Suddenly less was expected of us, and we expected less of ourselves.  My wounded spirit and empty pocketbook encouraged us to stay in more, to make due with what we had and to accumulate less.  There have been times that things have been scary, late rent and automotive troubles.  But for the most part, we’ve stopped wanting more and are grateful for an evening spent reading aloud or to bake a cake and consume it warm from the oven.

My old house was larger than any I have rented since.  I drive by it daily; an imposing fence now surrounds it.  And as I search in my rearview mirror to see if the cherry trees are blooming or if they have relocated the peonies, which had become crowded, I never wish to go back.   We don’t need more space.  We don’t need more things, and the seven lamps I now own are easier to remember to click off as a room is deserted. 

I don’t miss a bigger foundation or a bigger footprint.  A little house costs less to heat, it consumes less energy.  When I was living in Cambridge in a tiny house owned by the University, in the spring older couples would come by and knock on the door, their offspring - potential freshmen lingering behind – humiliated that their parents were about to do this.  I would open the door as if surprised, and they introduced themselves.  They had lived there in grad school.   They named their pets after the little lane and they told their children stories of when they had no money and shared a tiny, but charming house.  It was, they always said, the best days of their lives.  I invited them in and they marveled at how little had changed, and how much smaller the kitchen felt – or had they just grown?  I worried then, as they left, that those too would be the best days of my own life. 

What if it was never any better than this?  I wondered.  I liked it there.  I had fallen in love with the little house when I first saw it.  But could that be the best time of my life?

It wasn’t.  I am happier now.  But I wasn’t happier with a big house, or more obligations. 

If you have a big house, that’s great.  It’s lovely to have pretty things!  I am in no way superior to someone who is more affluent, of course!  There are plenty of darling things I would be tempted to acquire if I could right now, a pretty little house with a sunny garden would be first!  But, learn from me, there’s no reason to have to experience for yourself what a constant checking account balance of almost zero feels like.  You’ve likely been there.  Remember when you were in school and you had to dig in the bottom of you closet for enough quarters to pay for a pizza?  It was fun, wasn’t it?  You didn’t want a new car – though you wouldn’t have refused one.  You wanted that night to have some pizza, drink some beer and to laugh with your friends.  They weren’t the best days of your life, I hope.  But they were pretty damned good.

Bigger isn’t better.  Make a smaller footprint and enjoy each other just a little bit more.

Our first green president?

 

by Barry Katz

In five days we will inaugurate our first African American president. It's momentous. It's historic. And it's about time.

Back in the early days of the primary campaign some black leaders raised the question, is Obama black enough. My only question is this - is he green enough.

I think he just may be. I sure hope so. I have watched with pleasure and relief at the science/climate/energy/environment team he has put in place and each appointment raised my level of optimism. Could Barack Obama really be our first green president?

We are faced with an historic opportunity. At no other time would it have been possible to get Congress to approve the kind of spending that could really jump-start the new clean green economy we so desperately need. Only a financial melt-down of current proportions can shake that kind of money from the tree.

It will take bold action and a lot of very smart decisions to make this work, and I'm waiting with bated breath to see if Obama and his team can pull it off. Back in December I wrote a post for my blog, The Future is Green entitled "What we need now" in which I suggested that this administration should be judged primarily on the extent to which the next four to eight years is devoted to energy and climate policy. In my mind, nothing else matters. Nothing else matters because everything else hinges on this.

I'll be watching.

Are the Green Bags Really Green?

by Eileen Weber

A few weeks ago, I wrote an article about reusable bags. Whether it’s at your supermarket chain or an organic market, a growing number of shoppers are toting around these spiffy little bags.

Allie, a reader who commented on the article and has her own “green” web site, had this to say: “I remember about a year or two ago when every grocery store caught up with Stop & Shop and started crowding their front aisles with reusable, polyethylene bags. I was driving home from work on Route 8 and saw one of the tell-tale green bags on the side of the road. I thought, ‘Well, it was only a matter of time before they started clogging the storm drains like their plastic predecessors.’”

She continued by posing a few queries: What is the environmental impact of producing all these new bags? And how safe is polyethylene, for us and the environment? What about the communities where these are being produced?

Excellent questions. What is the impact of disposed reusable bags? And, are they as great as we think they are?

Be Neat

by Krista Richards Mann

Last week, I stowed away with a friend on her business trip to Barcelona.  I hadn’t spent much time preparing for the trip, so my expectations were limited to Gaudi architecture, tapas and what I had seen in the Olympic games in 92. 

My girlfriend worked and I wandered during the days (a perfect division of labor).  As soon as I walked out of the hotel room on the first morning, I fell in love with this city.  It was impossibly neat. 

Bicycles could be rented with a monthly subscription and left at varying posts around town.  Residents drove small scooters, rode bikes or walked.  It seemed cars were left for large parties and delivery vehicles.  On every road, there was a large pedestrian and bike route.  Even as the roads were built centuries before Europeans discovered the New World, civil engineers managed to make room for strolling. 

On every block there are three trash receptacles for various forms of recycling, and not a gum wrapper or cigarette butt littered the streets.

Though, I spotted a few Starbucks, coffee was consumed seated with a friend in a café or bakery out of a ceramic cup– not sloshed from a paper cup, fitted with a spill-proof plastic lid. 

I was away from home, and speak no Catalonian.  It was a perfect time to observe and to reflect.  In the mornings, I noticed residents in the building across from my hotel hanging out their laundry to dry, and in the evenings, it was removed.  Shoppers pushed handcarts to outdoor markets with gorgeous locally grown vegetables and fresh-caught fish.  Dinner is consumed late; small plates of flavorful and satisfying tapas and is punctuated by philosophy, laughter or the occasional political (or domestic) debate. 

The simplicity of this city enhanced its luxury.  I found myself embarrassed by the suitcase of clothes I didn’t wear, and the waste that so often pervades my life.  I waste not only resources, but also opportunity.  How many lunches have I gobbled thoughtlessly, scarfing nutrients alone, I have neither savored taste nor company?  I’ve hardly stopped to breathe. 

I’m glad to stepped outside of my town and my life long enough to consider how I might bring the lessons of Barcelona home.  I’ll invite a friend over to join me for a cup of coffee and a bit of chatter this weekend.

Ode to the Transfer Station

By Krista Richards Mann

Having given up on my garbage collection service for both financial reasons and the early hour at which the cans were clattered and garbage compacted, I have begun making frequent trips to the transfer station.

I know now why it is called the transfer station.  I seem to transfer as much to my vehicle and back to my garage as I leave there.  While, the town for reasons of liability does not condone “scavenging”, how can one let three adorable retro-chic bicycles go to landfill?  The timing was perfect!  My daughter had just outgrown her bicycle and nearly everything else she possessed.  The difficulty would be in convincing her to accept a rusted and dented old bike. 

While still in my car, I took the bike to Westport Hardware begging a bit of advice.  Restoration would require a can of paint, another of WD40 and some sandpaper.  Before she arrived home from school the bike was painted green (representing the intention of conservation) and leaned against the garage.  I turned its front wheel in a beguiling manner and hoped for the best.

It worked!  With a promise of letting her further decorate it with peace signs and flowers, and attach a basket with zip-ties, she was beaming with contentment.  (It should be mentioned that the bike could also use some new brakes in the near future, but for now we’ll stop sparingly.)

My son has asked that I help him restore one of the other cycles now cluttering our garage, but they are a bit tall for him, and I am still scraping rust from my cuticles.

I’ve been to the Greenwich town dump.  (I know... I go to the nicest places!) 

Social Media at Its Finest

I felt a bit like a little kid before Christmas this week, as I conjured up the idea that a Tesla Roadster would be fun to have at a special event we're having at Windermere on the Lake on November 20th (yes, mark your calendars).

The 100 percent electric sports car goes 0 to 60 in 3.9 seconds and over 200 miles on a single charge-which comes from a 220 v plugin.

A two-seater and priced at $100,000, it's well beyond my means, but some people in this area may be able to do the planet a favor and trade in their HUMMMER for one.

Well, I wasn't able to get a Roadster for the event...we're getting TWO...one for display and one to test drive around the Windermere Eco-Village grounds!

So how did I do it? Using social media, networking and groupsites. People from around the U.S. wrote back and gave me connections that I followed until I got an inside connection to Telsa Corporate.

It's amazing how connected we all really are, and what you can turn up if you only ask!

Who Inspires Me?

by Heather Burns-DeMelo

Being an entrepreneur isn't easy, and being an eco-preneur presents a whole other set of challenges.

While it's invigorating to do what you believe in, rewarding to be an innovator, and gratifying to contribute to positive change, entrepreneurs in the green space need courage, commitment and patience to make it.

Here are some who have inspired me over the past year:

1) Jay Whelan, CEO The Green Revolution. Jay took a break from the fast paced world of Wall Street to focus on his family and developed, funded and launched the first of its kind: an energy converter that fits onto exercise equipment (spinning cycles) to harness its energy and feed it to the grid. Now that's out-of-the-box innovation for ya.

2) Gil Friend, CEO Natural Logic. Simply one of the most brilliant minds on sustainability I've met. Thirty plus years of experience developing metrics to measure footprints and amazingly creative, articulate and charming to boot.

3) John Collins, PhD, CEO VeruTEK Technologies. John and his partner developed a plant-based surfactant that oxidizes oil, coal tar, and other soil and water nightmarish pollutants. No need to move buildings to clean up the soil either: you can pump it under buildings. Congratulations on recently winning an award from the Connecticut Technology Council!

4) Lisa Landone. Works at a small post office in Stamford, CT and organized a conference on greening the postal industry that was so successful, the national organization took notice and made change.

5) Mark Robbins, President, Windermere on the Lake. Built the first LEED certified and habitat managed community. Mark's vision and commitment to be a steward of the land caused him to go above and beyond what was expected, or had been done before within this type of land development. In fact, the water that goes out of the community leaves cleaner than when it arrived.

6) Christopher Kent, CEO Windstreet Energy Inc. Chris is a true social entrepreneur and uses his business to create positive change for people and planet. For example, he staffs his call center with people who are looking for jobs after being incarcerated, and has hundreds of success stories of men and women who have built new lives and are building our new, green economy.

7) Doug Moss, Publisher of E Magazine. Doug has dedicated nearly 20 years to The Earth Action Network, and its print publication, E Magazine. The content is some of the best around, and even the most seasoned environmentalist can reference E and find something cutting edge.

8) Kathryn Blume, Playwright and touring actor of The Boycott Play, her one-woman show about a first lady who convinces the women of the U.S. to go on sex strike to combat global warming. Kathryn is a visionary and one-of-a-kind activist.

9) Herster Barres, PhD Founder of Reforest the Tropics. RTT started off as a program of the UN and for the last few decades, Dr. Barres has worked to research the fastest growing trees that sequester the largest amounts of carbon. But perhaps what's most remarkable is the business model that he's been able to develop to make tree farming a win-win for locals, who used to use their land for raising beef cattle.

10) James Roby, President, CT NOFA, Owner of Roby's Organics in Berlin, CT, and master of the best damn organic garlic ever grown. Rain or shine, farmers are out there getting down and dirty and working hard to bring food from their farm (seed) to our (comfy) table. Organic farmers protect the integrity of our soils, water and food. Visit an organic farmers market today and support our local farmers.

 

Thanks to all of you for inspiring me and filling me with hope that we just might be OK after all!

The Cow in the Living Room

A few months ago while I was surfing for events to post, I came across the CT Audubon Society's Annual Fundrasier. Dramatic images of soaring birds promoted this year's theme: Birds of Prey.

I glanced at the menu for the event: Chicken cacciatore.

I picked up the phone and did a quick survey of meat-eating friends and family. Did this strike them as odd?

I held back from posting about it: until I read the latest issue of E Magazine and saw the publisher of this Connecticut-based magazine may agree.

The Cow in the Living Room

By Doug Moss, Publisher E Magazine, Norwalk, CT

"I politely passed on the offer of a bison burger at a recent Ted Turner-hosted fundraising event I attended in New York City (no, I’m not a donor—we were invited as press). But I couldn’t resist a wisecrack and a wink to the server that it was only because I was full, having had a dog burger on the way over.

It is funny, though, how social and environmental change work. The bad news about meat has been plain as day and out in print for decades (the only new news is that we have now discovered that the industry is also warming the globe). Jim Mason’s Animal Factories (Three Rivers Press), written with Peter Singer and published in 1980, could be re-released today without a heckuva lot of updating. Mason traveled some 10,000 miles around North America with a photographer friend, documenting the horrific conditions on factory farms and what the industry meant for our health, the environment, world hunger challenges and animal welfare.

When the book came out, though, the press didn’t want to know about it. Neither did most of the environmental groups or, for that matter, many of the animal welfare groups that were content to focus on their puppies and kitties and charismatic wildlife, which raised a lot of money and sold a lot of wall calendars. Peter Singer’s seminal solo effort, Animal Liberation (Harper Perennial), published five years earlier in 1975, also fleshed out the topic, as have numerous books since—but it’s still steak and chicken for dinner 33 years later at many an environmental fundraiser.

Environmental leaders and advocates who resist change in this area need to realize that this is exactly how the world at large reacts when we come at them with our demands to properly recycle, eschew bottled water for tap, opt for the hybrid vehicle (or the bus or the bicycle), replace those incandescent bulbs with compact fluorescents or use both sides of a sheet of (recycled) paper. It’s sometimes not easy to make changes to lifestyle habits that are so ingrained. But if those of us in the trenches are hammering the world at large to do so, we need to look at the poor choices we still make ourselves and do what we’re always telling others to do: change." Visit E Magazine to read more...

Ticking Off the Ice Cream Truck Man

I was at the park today with my kids when a diesel ice cream truck pulled in. The man, in his fifties, kept the fifteen year old truck spewing smoke as he passed out frozen treats packed with artificial colors and flavors and enough preservatives to outlive the kids who ate them.

I stood by silently, my  young ones knowing better than to ask, since for the past four years their mommy claims not to have any money, or rambles on about how unhealthy that ice cream is, convincing them to go to the New Morning to pick up some organic, lactose-free, all natural, frozen desserts.

Then it hit me: this must have been what the first proponents of banning second hand smoke must have felt like. Unsure, insecure, timid. I marched up to the truck and asked if he'd be staying long. "Nope."
"Good, I replied, because we can smell your truck all the way across the park."  "If you're so worried about it, why didn't you walk instead of drive here?" he spat back.

Tonight, I'll dream of electric powered ice cream trucks that sell organic, healthy frozen treats on sultry summer days.

Are you a Social Entrepreneur?

The Great Green Social Experiment

 

By Sherwood Martinelli

As Global Warming rears its ugly head, the world (or at least the United States ) is racing to embrace and profit from the brave new Green Society. As someone that has been involved in all things environmental for many years now, I have some ideas on where we as a world need to move in becoming a sustainable, green, healthy world. Having these ideas, I am thinking there could be some merit, perhaps even a lot of merit in putting these ideas into motion, conducting a social experiment of sorts to measure the workability and implement ability of what I am thinking.

 

To start, it is my impression that a lot of great green ideas never get off the drawing board due to a lack of funding. It has been further observed, that other great ideas get compromised along the way as greed rears its own hideous head. It therefore seems prudent to eliminate the Siamese twin set of problems involving money…lack of financing, and the worry of having to turn a profit. To address this problem, I am seeking donations from incredibly wealthy people (think Bill Gates, Warren Buffet, any member of the Saudi Royal Family) in the amount of $25 MILLION DOLLARS! $50 million would be better, but $25 million will do…surely someone like Lord Branson can write out a check for such an amount?

 

Now I know what some of you are thinking…$25 million dollars is A LOT OF MONEY, and you are right. However, we need to eliminate two serious problems. First, any experiment costs money, and a green one is no different! Secondly, by assuring me enough funds to not only pay my bills, but turn a handsome profit UPFRONT eliminates any chance of my cutting corners in drawing my conclusions in this green social experiment that I have in mind.