CT Green Scene

Connecticut's Ethan Allen Leads on Safer Chemicals & Sustainability

by Heather Burns

Mr. Farooq Kathwari, Chairman, President and CEO of Ethan Allen

We asked Ethan Allen what it means to understand the value of embedding sustainability principles and practices into company DNA; including finding ways to eliminate toxic chemicals from their products. 

Answers provided by Farooq Kathwari, Chairman, President & CEO of Ethan Allen. 

How does Ethan Allen view sustainability from a business standpoint? 

Ethan Allen started with its first plant in the Green Mountains of Vermont in 1932, and sustainability has been an integral part of our culture as a company and our DNA as a brand ever since. We like to say that green isn’t a buzzword here, it’s a business model. We have always been always been an industry leader on environmental issues, from establishing our own internal standards of excellence on recycling and energy consumption to partnering with the American Home Furnishings Alliance on all of its important sustainability initiatives. Wherever we do business in the world today, we are deeply dedicated to the responsible management of our planet’s precious natural resources.

What led to the decision to stop using fire retardants in your products?

The effectiveness of flame retardants has been called into question, so with the revision of upholstery flammability standards, we took the opportunity to take a leadership position in the industry, and now Ethan Allen can offer upholstery fabrics, leathers and resilient filling materials that are free of flame retardants yet still meet or surpass the most stringent U.S. flammability requirements for residential upholstered furniture. We are a client-focused company, and the safety and peace of mind of our clients always come first.   

How do you anticipate this action benefiting your business?

We have always prided ourselves on taking the long view. Not just on what’s best for short-term profits, but what’s best for the people we serve and the planet we share. The decisions we make today will have lasting impact on tomorrow, and we never forget that. From a business perspective, it’s our hope that we connect with people who share those values. 

What have been some of the operational difficulties or other barriers associated with this action and how has your company overcome them?

I go back to the culture of this company and the DNA of this brand. In other organizations, maybe these changes would’ve been met with resistance or grudging acceptance. But here at Ethan Allen, the challenges are always met with raised hands and the answers are always, "Yes” and “How I can be part of this?” 

What is the AHFA Eco3Home certification and what does Ethan Allen hope to accomplish by participating? 

This is another area in which we are partnering with AHFA on environmental responsibility issues. Basically, the initiative encourages the use of tags on a product to identify its carbon footprint. It’s a great idea. We are working closely with our AHFA partners to bring it to life. In the meantime, visit the Eco3Home section on the AHFA website. And you can always find our environmental initiatives detailed at http://www.ethanallen.com/en_US/sustainable-operations.html.

 

2nd Annual Hyper-Local Craft Brew Fest June 14th

Friday and Saturday, June 14th and 15th

 6:00 PM-9:00 PM

$35.00 to Register

21 and Up

The Armory

Somerville, MA

This is an exciting opportunity to celebrate beverage producers who pull together local ingredients to make ciders, mead, artisan beverages, and brews. This event is a huge fundraiser for the Sustainable Business Network and all of New England is encouraged to join in the fun. In addition to unlimited 2 ounce tastes tests of the locally brewed and cultivated beverages, people are welcome to taste tests of locally produced food from local companies such as Taza Chocolates and Valicenti Organico. Local ingredients from cranberries to hops will be presented by experts in the beverage industry. Moreover, for the first time ever, there will be a presentation of a hyper-local home brew showcase that will celebrate home brewing and brewing with locally grown ingredients, an experience that will encourage local brewers in the New England region by showing them the resources that are available to them. This event runs in three different sessions that can be mixed and matched at will during registration. Any over the age of 21 is encouraged to register for what is sure to be an exciting and enlightening experience. 

An Overview of the Sessions

Session I: Hyper-Local Home Brew Showcase Night & Brewfest

Friday, June 14, 2013, 6:30 - 9:30pm

Session II: Hyper-Local Brewfest

Saturday, June 15, 2013, 3:00 - 6:00pm

Session III: Hyper-Local Brewfest

Saturday, June 15, 2013, 7:00 - 10:00pm

 

To register for the event and learn more information on the different sessions: http://hyperlocalbrew.eventbrite.com/

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.

Amazing Video: RSA Animate - The Truth about Dishonesty

 

Going Green with Google

by Chitra Esther Chelladurai

Google is an American public corporation that controls and researches many computing technologies. According to Wikipedia, Google hosts and develops a number of internet based services and products, and generates profit primarily from advertising through its AdWords program. 
   

Google has many green initiatives and is one of the leading organizations in developing green technologies and encouraging their use. Their main initiatives are to reduce their carbon footprint, ensure efficient computing, and help their employees be green. In addition, they are trying to research and develop more efficient tools to enable their users to make their lives more green.

Ruby Red Stilettos Gives CTGS a Boost

by Danielle Travali

photo: Mark Watkins

Via CT POST

On Thursday, Sept. 24, the Fairfield County chapter of Green Drinks, an international organization that encourages people in local communities to socialize and share their ideas for improving the environment, hosted a presentation at the Discovery Museum and Planetarium in Bridgeport. The last time I’d been to the Discovery Museum was for a Girl Scout field trip in the second grade. So, when a friend told me about the event, I decided to make an appearance and see what it was all about. I was especially excited that the evening would end with a light show in the planetarium, synchronized with the music of Irish rock band U2.

Heather Burns-DeMelo, founder of CT Green Scene who helmed the event along with the Connecticut Alliance for Sustainable Enterprise, described the evening’s theme as “Innovation in Developing Sustainable Solutions”—introducing new ways to save water and electricity, encouraging green habits and improving the condition of our earth. 

Wearing the well-known “Hello, My Name Is______” tags scrawled with their identities, friendly guests mingled and meandered on the first floor of the museum, nibbling on organic lemon curry brown rice and vegetable sushi from Health in a Hurry in Fairfield and sampling locally-produced organic beverages: wines such as “Live a Little” shiraz from Organic Vintages, local beer from Burnside, and organic agave-sweetened tea from Steaz.

Not only did I swirl my wine glass and tap my heels to the smooth, sophisticated tunes played by the Jazz Guild of Fairfield County, but I gleaned “green” tips and advice from sponsors and supporters of this affair.

Easy CFL Recycling

By Elizabeth G. Howard

OK, as good and decent greens, we try our hardest to hate the BIG BOX STORES that swallow up our open spaces and cause massive globalization and needless consumerism.

However, occasionally they do something useful that I encourage. In June of 2008, Home Depot, the nation's second largest retailer (behind guess who) launched a nationwide CFL recycling program at their stores.

Unlike other ridiculously complicated and antiquated Connecticut recycling programs, there are no restrictions on the return of CFLs to Home Depot, except that they must not be broken.

The program has been in effect for over 6 months, but it isn't likely to see a huge impact until 2009, since CFLs (which last a long time!) were not widely available or in use before 2008.

True Colors?

I am sure there are heaps of people who might argue that anything a BIG BOX STORE does to seem environmental is "greenwashing," however I feel that we can draw the line with a free recycling program. After all, customers do not need to buy anything from the store in order to leave their bulbs at customer service.

I am following up on what happens to the recycled CFLs after they leave the store and I'll let you know. Meanwhile, tell me what you think? Home Depot's recycling program another corporate evil, or useful community service?

Green B&Bs

by Eileen Weber

 

Thinking of making a last minute get-away for the holidays? You might want to consider a “green” hotel or bed and breakfast.

Increasingly, proprietors are trying to meet their clientele’s interest in greener practices. From organic foods to green cleaning practices to energy efficient amenities, your next stay could be more eco-friendly than stopping off at a roadside Super 8.

Kate Bauer, co-owner of Homespun Farm Bed and Breakfast with her husband Ron in Griswold, takes being green very seriously. They compost their organic refuse and use the eggs from the chickens they recently purchased. Bauer said on the B&B’s web site, “I hope this [green] movement is in time to save what is so important to us all.”

In a New York Times article dated June 26, 2007, Kimpton Hotels and Restaurants found in a survey they conducted in 2005 that 16 percent of guests choose their properties because of the company’s environmental practices. Kimpton, named for its founder Bill Kimpton in 1981, is a San Francisco-based collection of boutique hotels that leads the hospitality industry with its ecologically-sound practices.

Michael Depatie, Kimpton’s president and chief executive, was quoted in the article saying he got a lot of unsolicited letters from guests about the company’s green initiatives. “I’m a little surprised by how many mention our green programs. We’ve been doing this for a while, but it seems like it’s suddenly at a tipping point.”

Are you a Social Entrepreneur?

Corporate Sustainability: Employees Want the Change

Via Fresh Marketing

"It's a new era for business:  more and more business leaders recognize that their company's future is increasingly intertwined with the needs and demands of society.  What many executives don't understand is how best to manage that changing relationship."

New research by Fresh Marketing reveals that employees are embracing the principles of corporate social responsibility - they want the change and they are looking for ways to bring their values to work. The research also reveals the uncertainty felt by executives over how to successfully address the environmental, and social impacts of their businesses.

Fresh Marketing has engaged many peers and business leaders in this conversation over the past few years. With the goal of supporting employees, we conducted the Corporate Sustainability Employee Study, a 9-minute online survey, in the first quarter of 2008. Study sponsors included Re:Vision, Kelley Campaigns and Natural Logic.

Addressing the environmental, social and economic impacts of business, or corporate sustainability, includes many areas that run deep and wide in an organization.  This can include eliminating waste in the supply chain, reducing the carbon footprint of office buildings, ramping up corporate wide volunteer programs, ensuring that all workers are paid fair and equitable wages and reducing the toxins or harmful ingredients in products. 

The 2008 Corporate Sustainability Employee Study reports on data collected from 129 employees from a range of large corporations to small and medium enterprises. 

To delve more deeply on this topic, we also held in-depth conversations with thought leaders and willing employees. 

Those who agreed to be quoted include interviews conducted with:

Michael Dupee - Head of CSR, Green Mountain Coffee
Tavia Bentley - Community Affairs Executive, PriceWaterHouseCoopers, UK
Amy Hall - Director of Social Consciousness, Eileen Fisher
Justin Smith - Business Development Manager, Domtar 
Catherine Sanders - Project Manager, Morningstar, Inc.
Dianne Dillon-Ridgley - Board Member, Interface

Email: [email protected] for the full report.

Green Jobs, Green Jobs, Green Jobs

We've made a modest attempt at listing green jobs in Connecticut with that little widget on the right hand side bar, and from the number of email inqueries we receive, it's clear that lots of you are out there looking.

So...here's a wee roundup:

Vertrue, with offices located in Norwalk has at least a half dozen positions open.

The Stamford Nature Center needs a Head of Media Relations and Marketing. Contact Kate Combs, 203-977-6522. [email protected].

Early Childhood Educators needed in totally green facility in Stamford.

Sustainable Business has the following positions listed:

-Solar Installer, Milford

-Green Building/Sustainability Consultants, Norwalk

-PV Sales, Milford

-Environmental Engineer, Farmington

Sleep Better with IKEA

Last year, Sweden-based IKEA launched an initiative called “Bag the Plastic  Bag.” 

The  goal was to reduce the more than 100 billion plastic  bags used annually in the United States. Beginning March 15, 2007,  they began charging customers 5 cents for every plastic bag; they  also reduced the price of their durable, reusable IKEA blue bag from  99 cents to 59 cents. 

And, to make it a win-win for everyone, all proceeds from the plastic bag sales are donated to American Forests, the  nation’s oldest non-profit citizens’ conservation organization.   IKEA North America has partnered with American Forests through the  Global ReLeaf Tree Planting program and over ten years, has planted 
more than 500,000 Global ReLeaf trees in environmental restoration  projects.

So how much  money has been raised by selling the plastic bags, by what percentage were they able to reduce the number of plastic bags used, and what are their plans for the next phase of the “Bag the Plastic Bag” program?  (The  goal was a 50% reduction in bag usage, but it’s projected that that they surpassed expectations.) Stay tuned or read on for reasons why banning plastic bags is vital.