Chicago Green Business Conference Day 2

It’s day two.  I came late to the conference today because it was my son’s last day of preschool for the year.  All of the 3&4 year old preschoolers did a little singing program - it was entertaining

What that meant to me was that I missed my girlfriend - ummm  - I mean I missed Sara Snow speak.  Although, that was redeemed when I got here and she was one of the first people I saw.  Today has been a little more laid back.  I sat in on three different panels - both excellent - one from the City of Chicago, one from Chicago business folks, and one with the cofounder/CEO of gDiapers, and president of Seven-Star Events.

Carol Moseley-Brown was here talking about her organics company - yes that Carol Moseley-Brown - the one who ran for President and was a US Senator from Illinois.  She called herself a “recovering politician” and spoke about biodynamic organics.  Biodynamics are most widely associated with wine production, but her company is currently producing teas, spices and coffee in a responsible way.  She hopes to expand this to general nutrition in the near future.

Also on the panel was Erik Larson (not the guy who wrote that Devil in the City book) from Indie Energy.  They are a local geothermal company.  Damn I wish I could afford me some geothermal energy - it makes so much sense - I guess I’m stuck with natural gas and freon - f minus to me.  Their company is taking note from Europe and doing away with the traditional large well rigs - growing up in rural Western PA, I had a well on my property growing up.  I remember very well digging up my yard to get to a part of the well once.  They had to come in with a 40′ boom and drill again.  As you can imagine, in the city, that is not very feasable.  Now they have 8′ boom rigs that can get pretty much anywhere.  One day I’ll find it - the geotherm connection - for lovers and dreamers and me…all of us under it’s spell…you could probably say that it’s magic.  Something like that.  If you don’t know what geothermal heating and cooling is - you’re missing out on an amazing technology that has been around for more than 40 years - only problem is that it is very expensive.  To simplify it, a geothermal installation will heat and cool your property using the core temperature of the earth.  Too bad it’s really friggin expensive.

Last on the panel was the founder of Reusablebags.com.  I had no idea that they were a local company based here in Chicago.  I only have two stores linked off of my blog - the very first was Reusablebags.com.  They are fantastic - what a great store.  Go buy a bunch of stuff from them and get yourself an ACME bag - they rock!  I had a bunch of Chico bags, then I snagged an ACME bag for free when I bought something else from them - the thing is so nice and compact - rockstar!

This conference is very difficult to write about because I could easily write about each and every company featured in depth.  gDiapers is an amazing brand that treats their employees very well.  I’ll save them for another post.  Same with Seven-Star Events.  They are just amazing - last year the Chicago Green Festival had 35,000 people.  They were able to divert 95-98% of the waste from landfill. 

If any of you get the opportunity to attend the Green Business Conference run by Co-Op America - go.  It isn’t very expensive and what you will get out of it will be more than worth every penny you invested. 

After two days of the conference, I am back at my “regular” job - tired and catching up.  Tomorrow I’ll hit the Green Festival and feel part of a community again - not some freak who has worms in his basement or makes rain barrels for fun.  Thanks for listening.

A big thanks to Co-Op America for putting this on and to my friends at Organic Works Marketing!

Co-op America Green Business Conference Day 1

That is the lovely Ms Sara Snow above - she is actually speaking tomorrow - but you can’t get too much of Sara, right?  Delicioso.  She is not only the host of her own show on Discovery Health, but she’s the Natural Health cover girl.  Anyway - I digress - on to the show…

It almost felt like I was going to work.  I took my normal train into the city and then picked up the local 121 bus to Navy Pier.  I should have been prepared for the long, long walk from the bus to the meetings - which were pretty much at the very end of Navy Pier (the #1 tourist site in Illinois).  My timing was perfect.  I arrived, registered, grabbed some granola with yogurt, and sat down at a front table for the first presenter.

I guess I could have been late - I just saw Sadhu Johnston (Chief Environmental Officer for the City of Chicago) speak less than a month ago at Green Drinks.  Along with Sadhu, Arnold Randall and Suzanne Malec-McKenna spoke.  Suzanne is the Commissioner for the Environment for the City of Chicago.  Coincidentally, I worked with her step-son and daughter-in-law for years at my past job. 

I should tell you that EVERY speaker was fantastic.  Each and every one of them were very intriguing.  I think I could write a long post on each and every speaker.  They’re all so interesting.   

Next up to the docket was Raphael Bemporad from BBMG and David Lubensky of Bagatto, Inc.  These guys were great.  Raphael was once a speech writer for Ann Richards.  He was well spoken and convincing.  I have always been interested in user experience and it kinda goes hand-in-hand with the industry I work in.  If you want to see some great stats on the green conscious consumer, read their whitepaper.  They didn’t do some hokey focus group - their research consisted of actually spending time in people’s lives - on average 8-16hrs each.

The ever-sexy Bianca Alexander, Executive Producer/Host on Conscious Living TV moderated a panel (her husband, Michael, was also there with her) that consisted of Jeff Harvey, CEO of Burgerville and Erin Ford, of Organic Valley.  Each business rocked. 

The main problem I see with Burgerville is that I’m just pissed and jealous that they aren’t around here.  For those of you who aren’t aware, Burgerville is a fast-food joint - 39 of them - in Oregon and Washington state.  They know exactly where each food item came from.  The tagline is “Fresh.  Local.  Sustainable.”  The mission is “Serve with Love.”  It seems that the employees love working there.  They have amazing benefits for part-time and full-time employees.  The company is dedicated to investing in their people.  They teach life lessons - not just how to flip a burger.  All of the facilities are run on wind power.  By investing in wind power, they are helping the local economy.  Some of the turbines have even been installed on farms they use for beef and veggies.  They’re also working on a waste vegetable oil (WVO) project.  WVO is a byproduct of fast-food.  They can take 4,400 gallons of WVO and turn it into 3,300 gallons of biodiesel.   Damn - that’s dope, yo (I’m so not urban).

Organic Valley Farms.  Wow.  Just wow.  They started this co-op in 1988 with something like $1,000 and seven farms.  Today, they are worth something like $440million and have 1,200 farms in their co-op. They recently built a brand-new headquarters in rural Wisconsin.  The new HQ is LEED Silver and twice as many square feet as the previous building - yet it uses 1/4th the energy.  Awesome.  Organic Valley now has a few different businesses.  I found it interesting that they have their own logistics company called Organic Valley Logistics.  They were sending their products out on trucks before and found out they were half-full.  Now that they are in control of their pipeline, they make sure each truck going out is full - if not their own products, they’ll call other organic producers to help them ship product.  They are also working on a domestic fair trade program.  Erin sits on the board of the Domestic Fair Trade Association.  I will happily give Organic Valley my money over others  - they’re good people and help local farmers stay alive.  The average farm only has 40 head of cattle - it’s not some huge environmental impact of an inhumane feedlot .

The last speaker of the day that I was able to see was Melissa Bradley-Burns - a venture capitalist.  The original speaker was Chris Van Dyke of Nau clothing.  If you haven’t heard, Nau is going out of business.  Melissa graciously stepped in.  Her speech consisted of why Nau failed.  I won’t go into all of the details, but it was fascinating.  She emphasized that you can’t change the world if you’re not in business.  It’s a business first.  Just like anyone who volunteers knows - you have to take care of yourself first.  I respect Nau a lot - but I can see why they failed.  I’m not sure if it was delusions of grandeur or not, but they may have bit off more than they could chew at this point in time. 

Unfortunately, I had to miss the end of the day because I coach my daughter’s first-grade soccer team.  It’s unfortunate that I missed the last two speakers, but I was really happy to be out on the field with the kids - that’s what it’s all about. 

I want to give mad props to my lady friends at Organic Marketing Works - Megan and Katie.  Thanks so much for this opportunity!

Sun Chips Offers 100 Green Steps

Sun Chips is going green.  We talked in the past about Frito Lay and solar energy for their plants.  Now Sun Chips is not only going green - they’re getting in on the social media trend with a new Facebook Application.  It’s similar to other green Facebook apps - it just gives you a list of green items and you say if you do them or not on a 3pt scale.  We happened to get this list in magazine ad from Sun Chips.  In bold are the steps we’re taking right now.  There are more that aren’t an option here.

 

 

1.       Get an Energy Audit

2.       Donate Used Computers

3.       Use Cloth Napkins

4.       Switch to energy-savings bulbs

5.       Hang dry your clothes (we try when we can)

6.       Make your next outfit vintage

7.       Ride the Bus (Train)

8.       Pay your bills online

9.       Say no to Plastic Bags

10.   Plant some Bamboo

11.   Unplug appliances when off

12.   Taste test a local wine

13.   Say Bye to your leaf blower

14.   Rediscover your library

15.   Switch off your computer

16.   Plant a Garden

17.   Buy rechargeable batteries

18.   Start a compost heap

19.   Put back unused napkins

20.   Bring you own coffee cup

21.   Learn to love weeds

22.   Read about green weddings

23.   Carpool

24.   Keep car tires inflated

25.   Support Local Farmers

26.   Use both sides of paper

27.   Turn Heating down 1 degree

28.   Return old Cell phones

29.   Drive smart-Plan your trip

30.   Wrap water heater in blanket

31.   Install low-flow showerheads

32.   Wash clothes in Cold or Warm

33.   Lights off when you exit a room

34.   Use a lunch box, no paper lunch sacks

35.   Give cloth diapers a chance

36.   Pick up litter and recycle it

37.   Take shorter showers

38.   Choose Green-E products

39.   Buy the largest size practical

40.   Tune up your cars engine

41.   Donate used books

42.   Seal drafts around windows

43.   Leave your car at home for a day

44.   Don’t idle car more then 10 seconds

45.   Think before you print

46.   Look for EnergyStar Appliances

47.   Unload your car of excess weight

48.   Don’t buy veggies in trays

49.   Choose an energy-efficent vehicle

50.   Fix leaking faucets

51.   Wipe spills w/ reusable towels

52.   Install low-flow toilets

53.   Make your own Cleaning Solutions

54.   Hold your own “buy nothing” day

55.   Reuse Jars & Containers

56.   Clean windows w/ old newspapers

57.   Build w/ Salvaged wood

58.   Share magazines

59.   Wrap presents in old calendar pages

60.   Make Rags from old t-shirts

61.   Send e-cards

62.   Buy spices in bulk

63.   Capture rain water for gardens

64.   Return unused sugar packets

65.   Drive the speed limit

66.   Make note pads from used paper

67.   Don’t accept plastic utensils

68.   Take a break from TV (No way!  I love my TV)

69.   Give a donation instead of a present

70.   Buy a bike-Use it.

71.   Buy organic cotton

72.   When buying clothes, say no to tissue wrap

73.   Start a green team @ work

74.   Don’t boil more then a teacups worth

75.   Read about carbon credits

76.   Appoint an “office lights” monitor

77.   Use your legs, not the elevator

78.   Stop chasing “the latest”

79.   Invigorate your green passion, spend time w/ nature

80.   Start a toy-swap w/ friends

81.   Ease up on meat products

82.   Buy items for durability

83.   Buy seasonal produce

84.   Take bubble wrap back to packaging stores

85.   Upgrade your furnance

86.   Snip six-pack rings (don’t buy 6-packs?)

87.   Use low-phosphate detergent

88.   Avoid chemical flea collars

89.   Choose sustainable flooring

90.   Offer art schools your “trash”

91.   use a bucket not a hose

92.   Learn to mend your socks

93.   Eliminate impulse buying

94.   Take extra hangers to dry cleaners

95.   Teach kids thriftiness

96.   Don’t sign up for mailing lists

97.   Slow down- consume less

98.   Fertilize w/ Grass clippings

99.   Consider using a solar cooker (how did this tip get in there?)

100. Eat simply, choose whole grains

Happy Mother’s Day To Mother Earth

Happy Mother’s Day to all of the mothers out there…and to our Mother Earth.    Enjoy the videos… 

Jack Johnson and Ben Harper - With My Own Two Hands

Discovery Channel Commercial I Love The World
(yes I just posted this recently - think of it as “recycling”)

 

 

Minnesota Boy Rides Bike Into Prius

I read this story over on AutoBlogGreen and it reminded me of an episode of Weeds last season on Showtime.  In the episode, a drug dealer was riding in a Prius and loved how quiet it was for a drive-by shooting.  Of course that was all in the spirit of the show and not for reality. 

This is a real life.  An eight year old boy in Minnesota turned onto the road in front of a Prius that he claims he didn’t hear.  The boy is fine - he escaped with a few cuts and scrapes.  According to AutoBlogGreen, legislation is before the US House of Representatives for hybrid car noise - or lack thereof.  It’s crazy, but I guess it makes sense.  What is a blind person was walking by without a dog - just a cane.  I kinda liken it to alcohol.  Back in the day - way before my day - you could buy grain alcohol - lab-grade.  Just like isopropyl which is 70%.  They have to make it denatured alcohol so people don’t drink it.  Now we’ll have “denatured hybrids.” 

Here’s the video story from CNN.

Oh yeah - my daughter is almost 8 - WTF are those parents doing letting their 8 year old boy ride his bike in the street alone? 

Source: AutoBlogGreen

Book Review: Go Green, Live Rich: 50 Ways To Save The Planet

I was sent this book to check out - no strings - nothing promised that I write about it - just check it out and see if I liked it.  Well, I did.  I was skeptical when I first saw it - thinking that this is just another person who doesn’t know jack about green trying to capitalize off of the “fad” with a little greenwashing.  David learned about “green” almost by accident when he moved into a green building in New York City to be closer to a park his son loved.  He quickly learned that the family asthma and allergies were much better than before now that he wasn’t living in a “sick building.”  I definitely didn’t feel greenwashed reading this.

While I don’t necessarily think this book is geared towards the seasoned greenie - I definitely wouldn’t discount it, either.  You can always teach an old dog new tricks or give a slightly different perspective on something you think you’re well educated on.

If you’ve read The Green Book or the Grist book, Wake Up And Smell The Planet or one of the other “green tip” books, this has a lot of repeat material (those are great books, too).  It’s a general 50 ways to go green book.  It would make an excellent gift for any relative who is curious.  Personally, I like the write up on each tip - they’re well written, but short.  There are also “green action steps” for each tip which provides you a direction to find more info if you’re interested.  In the back of the book, you’ll find a list of sources, too.  This is a nice little reference section.  On top of that, the book is organized in 11 sections - with related tips.

Here is another reason I like this book.  David Bach is already a New York Time’s Best Seller.  He has a following from his Automatic Millionaire series.  This means he has a built-in audience that will buy his book just because David wrote it.  In turn, more people will become educated and hopefully take steps to make this world a little better for themselves and everyone living in it.

If you want to green your life and don’t know where to start, Go Green, Live Rich: 50 Simple Ways to Save The Planet will be a good helper.  Check it out for yourself, then give it to a friend or buy it as a gift for someone. 

Easy Green: Rain Barrel Time

In most parts of the country, you don’t have to worry about freezing anymore.  It’s time to break out the rain barrels!  I actually put mine out several weeks ago. There is a lot of rain this time of year and your barrels will fill up amazingly fast.  My water is just sitting there waiting for the new flowers that need some love.

Why have a rain barrel?  I have one because I wanted to build a project and I wanted to harvest rain water.  It’s not entirely because I’m cheap - part of it is definitely the standard answer - because I can.  The less water going into our storm sewers, the  better - back to the earth, baby. 

There are a few options on rain barrels - buy one or make one yourself.  It all depends on the look you’re going for.  For me, I made my own. After doing some research, I found that the best recommended barrel material is food-grade plastic.  I called up a Coca-Cola bottling plant nearby and they happily gave me as many barrles as I wanted.  I could only fit two in the car and I thought that was a good starting point.  If you really wanted them to be prettier, you could paint them with some Krylon plastic paint (it’s made for childrens outdoor plastic toys, etc) - but I can’t really recommend spray paint on a green site, right?

Last year, I only hooked up one barrel.  That seemed to be pretty sufficient for our watering needs, but since I had the other barrel just staring at me, I decided to daisy chain them together.  So right now, I have two 55gal barrels on my deck - about 2 feet above the ground with spigots coming off of them. 

Basic setup:

• Food-grade barrel
• Spigot
• Downspout attachment with screen
• Overflow pipe (important)

My Setup

• Downspout into barrel one
• Overflow pipe out of barrel one - flexible sump pump hose
• Spigot near bottom of barrel
• Barb connector near top of barrel one - just below overflow line
• Barb connector in identical spot on barrel two
• Spigot near bottom of barrel

When barrel one fills up, it spills over into barrel two.  When barrel two is full, there is no where for the water to go, so it exits from the overflow flexible hose.  The barrels are elevated about two feet which is plenty of gravity to water pretty much anything I need.

One big question everyone asks is regarding mosquitoes.  Yes, they can be an issue with an open-ended rain barrel.  You want to make sure your barrel is as tight as possible or has screen prevening mosquitoes from getting to the water in the first place.  If they can’t get in, they can’t lay eggs.  Maybe you inherited barrels that have open holes.  In this case there are a few options.  Instead of contaminating the water with some chemicals, try adding a little veggie oil. The oil will create a barrier at the top of the water and not let the eggs break through.  Another option is adding some cider vinegar to the water.  This will kill anything that has hatched and deter moquitoes from visiting to lay more eggs.

 

Review: King Corn Documentary

 Ian Cheney and Curt Ellis are best friends from Boston, Mass.  For some reason, they decide to see what their bodies are made of and human hair is the tape recorder.  They visit University of Virginia scientist Steve Macko who is an expert in analyzing hair.  They find that the carbon make-up of their body is predominantly corn.

Why are our bodies so filled with corn?  The meat you eat every day from beef to pork to chicken is fed with corn.  In the supermarket, everything is made with corn.  Cookies are made with corn.  Juices are sweetened with high fructose corn syrup. Cereal is made from corn.  Everything has a form corn in it from HFCS to the corn glutens to corn starch. 

Most cattle feedlots only feed their cattle corn.  It allows the cows to hit market weight fast - and it’s a good thing because the cows would die from disease and stomach issues from eating just corn.  Past 120 days of eating just corn, many of the cattle suffer from acid overdose or acidosis. 

Coincidentally, Ian and Curt both have great grandfathers that hail from Greene, Iowa.  A tiny midwest town - just a speck on the map.  Since they found out they are made up of corn, they decided to pack it up and and move to Iowa for a year and plant one acre of corn - trying to follow their corn from planting to harvest to the food stream.  In their grand parent’s day, 30%+ of the take home pay went to food - today it’s 10-16%. 

After securing a one acre plot in a corn field in Greene, Iowa, the boys head to learn more about corn.  Corn is a very close relative of turf grass - just on steroids.   They also learn that because of the farm bill and subsidies, they will earn $28 from their one acre of corn - without doing a thing.  Thanks to pesticides and fertilizers, one acre of corn can produce up to 200 bushels of corn (4 times what their great grandfathers were capable of harvesting).  That’s 5,000 pounds of food.  So the boys start planting.  They spread plant 31,000 kernels on their acre by machine and the field is sprayed with anhydrous ammonia.  31,000 kernels of Liberty  Lake corn is planted in 18 minutes.  Once the corn is growing, weeds become a problem.  They spread Liberty fertilizer which is specially formulated to kill everything except for the genetically modified Liberty Lake corn.  In the end, the boys harvest 180 bushels from their acre. 

More facts:

• 32% of corn goes to ethanol production
• More than half of the crop will go to feed animals
• Livestock consumes 70% of the antibiotics in the US
• An Iowa farmer can’t feed himself from his land because the corn is inedible until it’s processed
• Real vegetables for eating aren’t subsidized

Watch the movie or buy the DVD and watch the guys make HFCS in their kitchen. 

Overall, I really liked the documentary.  It was recently on PBS.  I thought it flowed pretty well.  It was more about their journey than the facts over how predominant corn is in our society.  I guess it left us to draw our own conclusions.  I really think that without so much corn everywhere, America would be a leaner society.  Michael Pollan is interviewed in the movie.  I always think of when he said in an interview,  ”don’t eat food that doesn’t rot.”  It’s so true.  So much of food isn’t real.  The western diet is that of convenience and total crap - yet most of us (and I am definitely one of them) don’t know how to prepare and eat real food.  I’m definitely infinitely guilty of eating crap.  I even know I’m not making smart food decisions.

Source: King Corn Website, PBS

Rising Food Costs - Maybe It’s A Good Thing?