Just as certain building products can earn Cradle-to-Cradle Certification, now disposable materials and products can earn a compostable seal. With the adoption of the American Society for Testing and Materials Specifications (ASTM), the Biodegradable Products Institute of New York and the US Composting Council are helping provide consumers with consistent information on materials and compostability. By using standard that are already in place, this allows for other companies to use the same criteria to evaluate materials, and ultimately allow for consistency across the board.

ASTM is an open forum for the development of high quality, market-relevant international standards used around the globe. According to the Biodegradable Products Institute,

…these specifications are the result of 8 years of intensive work by researchers, product manufacturers, composters, and resin producers to identify plastic and paper products which disintegrate and biodegrade completely and safely when composted in a municipal or commercial facility, like kraft paper, yard trimmings and food scraps.

With this rising attention to life cycle analysis of consumables, it is helpful to know if a cup we throw in the trash it is going to sit in the dump for thousands of years or not. Right? As consumers, we need to know what seals and labels are valid in order to trust and respect these claims. We are in a time when these issues such as life-cycle assessment, compostablility, recyclability … are bombarding us daily. If we can’t trust the validity of these claims, or if we see most things as merely greenwashed (to appear as a part of the "trend"), then consumers will lose interest. Then, the "trend" will dissipate or expire and we will be left with the same issues, and more confusion and rebellion.

This sounds terrifying right? Yes. So, it’s important to look for seals that are used on products that come from multiple product companies. If you check out the BPI website, you will see that many companies have come to them to obtain their evaluation and thus their seal to accredit their hard work. This is a good sign.

The interesting aspect to the BPI program is that they have their own private label in which they (at a first glance, anyway) disguise that they use more widely-accepted criteria to award their seal. The problem here is that this doesn’t allow consumers to leverage decisions very easily when everything is (seemingly) evaluated against a different set of criteria, and thus obtaining different seals. I can, although, leave you with the confidence that the Biodegradable Products Institute "compostable" logo is a valid one.

Over the past few years fair trade products have expanded into many new markets. With this trend we inevitably have to reevaluate the micro and macro systems involved in producing and providing fair trade products.

There is a rather large difference between fair trade products and fair trade companies, says Mary Morison, executive director of the Fair Trade Resource Network. Large corporations that sell or promote individual products are likely to have a weaker effect on their overseas labor practice or at least are not dedicated to effecting reform. “Large companies are counting on consumers to make the leap so they look good and can access a particular market segment they’ve been unsuccessful in reaching,” she says. On the positive end, by providing fair trade options in big box stores, more people have access to making responsible decisions and voting with their dollars.

While some debate that big can also be fair, others work hard to keep fair trade small and protect the purity of fair trade programs. Some support the efforts of McDonald’s, for example, which purchase coffee from the fair trade company Green Mountain Roasting Company. This type of opportunity sustains the jobs and wages of those who grow the coffee. On the other hand, some say it dilutes the standards and morals of the movement.

This debate on how far to go with sustainable and healthy products and services is the topic of the decade. Do we go big with organics? Are we willing to sacrifice the intensity of the source to make the product/service accessible to more consumers who could benefit from healthier food?

When I think about fair trade, I think of model companies such as Equal Exchange that goes above and beyond the fair trade model. Since 1986, the company imports organic coffee, tea, sugar, cocoa, and chocolate bars. With all their ingredients grown on democratically run farmer co-ops in Latin America, Africa, and Asia, Equal Exchange is able to play a large role in building democracy in these areas. They are equally passionate about building a fair and responsible work environment as they are supplying great coffee and chocolate to American consumers. “We want more profound transformations than just a kinder, gentler version of the status quo,” says Rodney North, spokesperson for Equal Exchange. “Fair trade’s historic focus has been on bottom-up economic development.”

Rodney North of Equal Exchange also argues that the “entrée of multinational corporations threatens the original goal of the fair trade movement, which was to build an alternative approach to international trade that addresses the endemic poverty, economic vulnerability, and isolation for the millions of small scale farmers who grow most of the world’s tropical agricultural commodities”.

It is hard to say what is good or bad. If we keep in mind that in supporting fair trade practices we are respecting our food and thus respecting all of those involved who bring it to us. This movement is meant to allow consumers to simply and consciously vote with their dollars, and provide fair opportunities worldwide. With this in mind, and we can help to keep the potency of the movement strong.

The majority of these quotes were taken from the Utne Reader’s Fair Trade Tradeoffs

PowerSEED began as a way to playfully and artistically beautify a Pasadena electric power plant. The art installation was commissioned by the City of Pasadena to increase safety and security in the area while making the industrial construction a little less fierce. Developed by a design duo calling themselves UeBERSEE (German for oversees), PowerSEED is a design/art installation incorporating flower-like stalks with stamen-like solar-powered lights sprouting out the top.

The 30 lights are positioned in clusters that are not so randomly scattered about the site. Each solar light sits atop a 24-meter flexible pole that sways gently in the wind and power plant exhaust. In addition, these freestanding lights double as WIFI-controlled structures. And going even further, to increase the sense of ownership towards the installation, the gentleman from UeBERSEE started an "Adopt a Power Plant Program" in which community members can own a light of choice.

The project was completed in 2006, but the excitement didn’t stop there. The design group received a runner-up position in Metropolis magazine’s Next Generation Design Competition. They also went on to receive a position as a finalist for the 2007 Index Awards, a highly acclaimed award program for projects completed in the previous year. As an extension of the PowerSEED, they also designed sidewalk tile pods. These are sidewalk tiles set right into the walkways, imbedded with solar powered lights to artfully and effectively light a pedestrian’s path. This concept in conjunction with the flower stamen solar lights were entered into these competitions, and received recognition for their simplicity, sustainable community attributes, and playful beauty.

Dedicated to "storytelling by design in the business and cultural realm both," the German design duo (Nikolaus Hafermaas and Boris Von Bormann) has worked with clients such as Mercedes, Motorola, Toyota, Audi, Zurich Financial Services, Nissan, and (as we now know) the City of Pasadena. They designate themselves as ideal partners for ad agencies, design houses that want to expand into the 3d environments realm, narrative spaces, and brand experiences. So for those of you who need to add a little play to your office campus, perhaps you should consider UeBERSEE as your environmental designers to improve the sustainability profile of your company and the aesthetic/emotional reactions towards your work environment.

More than 70% of outdoor space in the city of San Francisco is dedicated to vehicle parking. That leaves little space for public activity, public play, and public human parking. This very idea sparked an inspiration in a few young men in San Francisco who decided to intervene by paying the meter to create temporary public parks. Rebar group is what they call themselves and the event is called PARK(ing).

The first event took place on November 16, 2005, when these guys and their buddies rolled into town with a truck bed full of sod. They identified a parking spot in a part of downtown San Francisco that was lacking any sort of public outdoor human space, put some quarters in the meter (thus renting the downtown real estate), rolled out their sod, parked a bench, and enjoyed their afternoon in the park (until the 2 hour meter ran out). They invited all passing pedestrians to enjoy a little time in the sun with them, and take a rest. “By our calculations, we provided an additional 24,000 square-foot-minutes of public open space that Wednesday afternoon,” says Rebar member.

The critical issue the members of Rebar intend to approach goes beyond the excessive amount of city surface area dedicated to private vehicles. They desire to display the paucity of public outdoor urban human habitat by way of temporarily renting this private vehicular space.

It is nice to have trees in the city to clean our air and increase our exposure to nature amongst the manmade construct, but oftentimes these small plots of earth are fenced off. Why not include a place to enter and rest your feet right next to these trees?

In its third year, Rebar’s spactacular PARK(ing) event will take place in cities all over the world. Friday Sept. 21st will be a day that no one could miss while tromping around a participating city. The Trust for Public Land is heading up National PARK(ing) day in more than a dozen U.S. cities: NYC, LA, DC, Seattle, Portland, Chicago, St. Paul, Boston, Austin, Salt Lake City, Tampa, and Miami (for more info to get involved or add you city… click). Additionally, a slew of international cities are lined up to participate on this monumental day including: London, Paris, Barcelona, Valencia, Munich, Toronto, Melbourne, and others.

So in response to this information, ReBar, myself, and our community are calling on you — artists, activists, and citizens — to temporarily take over private city parking space and turn them into ephemeral public parks. Get in touch with your local coordinator, invent your perfect mini park, and build it on September 21 along with other enthusiast worldwide…and don’t forget to invite you friends!

Ever since the French monk Dom Perignon searched for the perfect closure for his new sparking wine in the early 16oos, the cork stopper has been a cultural staple that is synonymous with the celebration of opening a new bottle of wine. Since the new millennium, worldwide wine production has become a larger and more popular industry. New wine producing regions are moving towards alternative wine closures, therefore putting the entire cork industry at great risk. Can anyone remember why we started putting plastic, rubber, and foam “corks” into our wine bottles? I was always told one of two things: a more controlled (more synthetic) material allows for more stringent product, and that cork was scarce so we don’t want to destroy the cork forests. The former is a problem that has since been solved, and the later is hardly the case. Cork is a naturally sustainable material and therefore commercialization of it is easy on nature- not a single tree has to be cut down.

Cork, as we know it, comes from the outer cell layer of the bark on cork oak trees (Quercus Suber). The stopper layer is easily separated from the mother cells when the connecting layer (phelogen) becomes brittle. Once the bark (cork) is stripped off the tree in the late string and early summer, it renews itself naturally. An added bonus: each time cork is harvested, the tree stores more CO2 as a result of regenerating. It is reported that the tree stores 3-5 times more CO2 when harvested regularly.
The cork industry has found its home for centuries in the Mediterranean. Portugal has the world’s largest cork industry, yet it is an important forest crop to Italy, Spain, Algeria, France, Tunisia, and Morocco. The forests cover nearly 2.7 million hectares in total, and produce over 15 billion cork stoppers.

What’s the news? Due to “cork” alternatives, the cork industry is losing its intrigue as a cultural staple for wine bottle closures. The World Wide Fund reports that cork sales in the wine industry fell 20% between 2000 and 2005. Portugal has reported a severe drop in cork stoppers exported to Australia and the U.S. “New consumer trends and winemaking techniques, as well as more competitive markets, have led producers to look for more technical or cheaper closures – plastic ‘corks’ and metal screw tops”. Despite the optimal performance of cork as a stopper material- high elasticity, natural insulatinsulating qualities, light weight, and durability - the plastic and metal screw tops are becoming more accepted as standard wine closures to us consumers.

This increase in market share is leading to a decline in the global cork market, and thus degradation of cork oak forests that have (and could for years to come) provided one of the most diverse ecosystems and community-based industries of the region. They report that this could potentially lead to a loss of 60,000 jobs, and thus could severely harm the biodiversity of the forests.

Although the market demand for cork is slowly shifting to flooring and wall coverings, wine stoppers still account for about 70% of the industry profits. Whatever the reason might be, there is a reason that we still call a cork a cork, synthetic or woody. "We’re fighting back,” says Antonio Amorim, third generation owner of one of Portugals largest wine stopper producers. "We may have lost market share in some places but we are gaining in others.” "The shares, which shot up 79 percent in the past two years, are set to rise more as he wins back customers by virtually eliminating cork taint," said analyst Sonia Baldeira.

To help: do your best to find wine bottles that sustain the true cork community’s integrity and unscrew the cork.

To see more intensive case studies and future scenarios, view this pdf file.

For more information:

Amorim Corkfacts

WWF: Changing Markets

Amorim Cork

Images source: Amorim Corkfacts

an organic farm

People used to say that the world would go hungry if farmed organically, but that has recently been proven to not be the case. Two studies recently conducted, one by the University of Michigan, and the other by the USDA, report that organic farming can yield more food than conventional farming, and sustain a healthier soil quality for annual food production. The benefits don’t stop there.

A University of Michigan study conducted by the School of Natural Resources and Environment was geared towards investigating the benefits of organic farming in developing countries. They found that the crop yields in developed countries are nearly the same on organic and conventional farms. In developing countries, although, by using organic farming methods they can double or triple their food production.

The researches defined the term organic as "sustainable practices that utilize non-synthetic nutrient cycling processes, exclude synthetic pesticides, and sustain and regenerate the soil quality." Their study set out to disprove two common objections to organic farming: lower yields and lack of organically acceptable nitrogen sources.

"Corporate interest in agriculture and the way agriculture research has been conducted in land grant institutions, with a lot of influence by the chemical companies and pesticide companies as well as fertilizer companies—all have been playing an important role in convincing the public that you need to have these inputs to produce food," says Ivette Perfecto, Professor at the University of Michigan and principal leader of the study.

What they found was that, contrary to conventional wisdom, organic farms could produce not only more food but do it on the existing land. This is due to the regenerative properties of the organic farming process and the natural organic fertilizers. The nitrogen levels in the soil aren’t an issue as long as the farmer rotates his/her crops and plants green manures between growing seasons. Green manures are cover crops that naturally fix nitrogen and other nutrients into the soil, and naturally replace the need for synthetic fertilizers.

“This is especially good news for developing countries, where it’s sometimes impossible to deliver food from outside, so farmers must supply their own. Yields in developing countries could increase dramatically by switching to organic farming," Perfecto said. Developing countries often don’t have access to expensive fertilizers and pesticides; therefore, organic farming is not only more economical, but simply a more viable, efficient, and accessible solution to sustain their communities with enough food. This research is to be greatly applauded because the pioneers of the organic food industry such as Aldo Leopold, Robert Rodale… are finally getting vindicated by university research. Organic farming keeps the land of developing countries healthy, the surrounding ecosystem clean, manages their food production waste, and not to mention provides more nutrient rich food to keep their people healthy.

Sustainable Food News

Clean as Clean Should Be: Yes, this is the household bottleIt is difficult to find an all-purpose cleaner these days that doesn’t fill your kitchen with the fresh scent of artificial toxins. Whether the cleaning agents are safe or not, oftentimes the most harmful chemicals in cleaning products are the fragrances.

Currently, there are no regulations on the fragrance industry resulting in a lot of unnecessary airborne pollution, or VOCs (Volatile Organic Compounds). Chemicals such as toluene are abundant in the fragrance aisle; they're also abundant in auto parts stores. Toluene has been proven to cause cancer and nervous system damage, and is designated as hazardous waste in large amounts. Now, that doesn’t sound very refreshing or romantic does it?

Oftentimes these harmful chemicals in our everyday environment, from cleaning products to air fresheners, contain hormone disruptors, which are toxins that fool our body by imitating our natural hormones. Hormone disruptors bind to the sites in our body where our natural hormones usually bind, and block those sites from our natural hormones. This often results in low sperm count, high breast cancer rates, prostate and testicular cancer, thyroid problems, and behavioral abnormalities in children.

Now I’m not saying that one cleaning product a day is going to steal your health away. But, exposure to many products through out the day containing toxic chemicals can lead to an unhealthy state. So, I am encouraging you and helping you to use cleaner, safer, homemade products that perform just the same!

Following is my All-Purpose Cleaner Contents 101 just for you!

• Rule of thumb # 1: if it burns your nostril, it shouldn’t be topical.
• Rule of thumb # 2: if you can’t pronounce it, denounce it!
• Rule of thumb # 3: If the scent is strong and synthetic, keep in mind that it is probably present to mask the scent of another equally harmful chemical in the product.

Below is a recipe for an All Purpose Cleaner, and although you certainly could clean your body with it I am recommending it for windows, countertops, mirrors, sinks, tubs, even use it as a weed killer, or in a bowl to remove unwanted odors from a room!

The active ingredients are:

Vinegar: originally a French word meaning “sour wine”. It is simply made from the fermentation of ethanol (the alcohol commonly found in alcoholic beverages) in wine, cider, beer, fermented fruit juice…basically anything that has an alcohol content. The active ingredient is acetic acid, which is usually between 4-8% of the liquid volume. At a PH of about 2.4 the rather acidic liquid helps to kill bacteria, prevent bacteria from growing in the first place, and cuts through grease.

Visit these pages to find millions of opportunities to substitute vinegar in everyday cleaning and even weight loss.

The Vinegar Institute: Uses and Tips
Hints and Things: Vinegar

Borax: an umbrella word for a few closely related natural mineral compounds that differ in content and structure. Commercial borax is usually sodium borate decahydrate. It is very water-soluble and uses that property to convert water molecules into hydrogen peroxide, thereby becoming a great natural, yet mild, bleach and cleaning agent. At a PH of 9.5 the alkaline, the basic compound uses it’s salt, and/or oxygen content to disinfect and kill unwanted pests/organisms. Borax is used in many detergents, fungicides, preservatives, and disinfectants.

Now that you have the facts, here is how you make it!

Ingredient list:

• 4 T Vinegar
• 2 tsp. Borax
• 10-20 drops of the essential oil of your choice (optional)
• 32 oz hot water

Step 1: Find a spray bottle that will hold about 32 oz or more. If you want to use an old spray bottle, which is a great idea, first disinfect and clean it. How? Put in 4 T Vinegar, 2 tsp Borax, and fill it about 1/3 with boiling hot water (if your bottle is plastic, reduce the heat of the water a bit). Shake it real well, let it sit for a day or two and rinse it well.

There you have it!Step 2: Add the 4 T Vinegar right into the bottle

Step 3: Add the 2 tsp of Borax right into the bottle

Step 4: Add 32 oz of hot! Water

Step 5: Add 10-20 drops of your chosen essential oil if you please

Step 6: Put on the top/lid and shake it up.

Step 7: Clean away to your hearts fancy and be breath deep. It won’t hurt you!

Isn't it refreshing to know that having a cleaner home requires less: less ingredients meaning less harmful disguises?

Source articles:

No Perfume Means Healthier Air
About.com: How Does Borax Clean?

Rain Shout: high volume = high pressure

We curse the sky when there is drought. Then we rejoice, and bathe, and blow kisses to our plants upon the rainfall. Now that we think about it, doesn’t it seem logical to be able to reap the benefits of that oh-so-delightful rainfall for weeks following? Since I’m not here to preach doom and fear, I’m going to tell you that you can lengthen that rainfall benefit, and also why you simply can’t pass up the opportunity to do so. As a result, the environment, your plants, the gutters, and those pipes down at the water treatment plant will thank you!

Maintaining the “perfect” vanity lawn can place a high demand on our environment, our health, and our municipal utility grid. Residential communities tend to guzzle 40% of their water consumption on irrigation in a given municipality. When cities like Chicago processes 1 billion gallons of water every day for general consumption, we wonder how much we could ease this demand if we had an alternative water source for our grass and plants.

All you need to do is divert your gutter to spill into anything that will hold a large volume of liquid over time. The most common way of collecting rainwater is in a rain barrel, which is commonly made from a 50-gallon food drums. The average roof and gutter system has the capacity to fill a 50 gallon drum with only ¼ inch of rainfall.

A good formula to remember: 1 inch of rain on a 1000 sq ft roof yields 623 gallons of water. Calculate the yield of your roof by multiplying the square footage of your roof by 623 and divide by 1000.

For those of you in a city, collecting rainwater on the roof to water your household plants is a great option. I send you forth with the confidence that you will be able to convince your landlord that it is a practical and cost-effective option. It also means that his/her and your water bill is cheaper monthly. The rainwater collection will encourage rooftop gardens, and as a result cool the roof and make cooling your building easier and cheaper. The benefits are never-ending.

For those of you out in the country who might have a few more plants and acres of maintained land, this is a very cost effective option for you as well. It takes lots of water to keep those plants and that lawn healthy. Why not collect it for free and feed them the clean, untreated juice they love and deserve! You might even have the option to install multiple rain barrels on a few corners of your house or estate.

Whether you like it or not (but I think you will like it) collecting rainwater doesn’t just save you money and provide you with good plant drinking water. Rainwater collection eases our demand and impact on the municipal water grid, meanwhile keeping the environment cleaner. Rain commonly travels across our land picking up harmful chemicals from fertilizers and pesticides. After traveling across the land it dissipates to the water table and erodes our rivers, and lakes with water unfit for drinking and often times swimming. Agricultural herbicides are found in 99% of all urban streams sampled. When you think about the fact that 2.1 billion gallons of water move from the Great Lakes to the Gulf of Mexico daily, we are reminded of how much water is constantly traveling through our watershed. Since pollution from city streets, suburban lawns, and factories are of the largest of contributors to water pollution, let’s use our tools to reduce the odds of that not-so-green option.

Additionally, rainwater commonly travels down the street collecting harmful petrol-chemicals from oil and gasoline. When and if this water travels through our sewer system to the water treatment plant, it has to be treated with chlorine, lime, or calcium to restore safety. Not only do we not want to drink these solvents, but these dissolved salts, sediments, and chemicals are not palatable to our lawns and plants. When we intercept water during rainfall, we reduce the impact of all the aforementioned steps. Brilliant!

Phillip kindly wrote you a Do-It-Yourself tutorial today on how to obtain the materials and build one for your use! Check it out and get yourself leaps closer to cheaper bills, happy plants, and relaxed water treatment plants.

Devils Lake installation: image courtesy of Green Museum

There is a little family of asexual plants commonly known as duckweed, and otherwise known in the botanical world as lemnaceae. These smallest flowering plants are lean, lime-green, clean, eating machines. Lemna is the most common of this family, and has quite a profound impact for its size. Each plant has one paper thin leaf the size of the tip of an eraser. They thrive in freshwater lakes, streams, and ponds high in nitrogen, ammonias, and phosphorus. As they feed on these “excess nutrients” the tiny plants help remediate the water on which they live atop.

Though these lime-green plants are tiny, there is no need to call them fragile. They can grow in full sunshine or dense shade, and they endure a challenging range of ph levels. They hibernate during the cold months at the bottom of their watershed and, come May, the plant “springs” up and gets to work cleaning its ecosystem. This tiny plant has been known to cover bodies the size of football fields in just a couple months. It goes unsaid that these tiny soldiers are friend and not foe when it comes to water remediation.

When artist and engineer Viet Ngo established a company back in 1983 called Lemna International that applauds and utilizes the capabilities of these mini soldiers, we weren’t surprised. Ngo, a first-generation Vietnamese immigrant, and his colleagues got a little fame when they designed a carefully engineered art installation in 1990 on Devils Lake, ND. Funded by the EPA, they designed and implemented the beautiful 50 acre, 9 channel, intestine-like system that extracted all detrimental phosphorus, nitrogen, and algae from the wetland before the water reached a bay of Devils Lake. This $50 million project encouraged the group of designers, artists, and engineers to combine the profoundly simple yet complex water remediation technology with other environmental infrastructure problems to clean up the earth. Over 25 years later, the company is managing its success with innovation, consciousness, and integrity.

Lemna International designs environmentally responsible and economical wastewater treatment technologies that naturally clean our polluted waterways. They design for everything form dams to freshwater remediation to drinking water treatment plants, pipelines, and distribution systems. Based in Minneapolis, MN the company has designed and implemented over 300 projects in 16 countries.

The company does not stop at only providing us with clean water. They make sure our water stays clean by removing any harmful waste and either safely putting it in landfills built to international standards, or incinerating it to generate electricity and heat in facilities equipped with air pollution control systems. Their impressive profile of clients ranges from industrial food manufacturers and tire plants to hospitals. They additionally serve a number of cities worldwide.

As the company gained momentum with their patented water remediation technology, they have branched out into additional sectors of environmental infrastructure including transportation, alternative energy, and general infrastructure. Like the lean, lime-green, clean, machines that duckweed are, Lemna International is actively seeking to fix any environmental problem a private or public client might have with an ingenious and unique solution!