The CDC sent an e-mail warning about high levels of fecal coliform bacteria in water tested in 4 Iowa cities: Burlington, Cedar Rapids, Des Moines, and Hamburg.  Increased levels of fecal coliform bacteria (types of bacteria that include E. coli) may indicate contamination from human or animal waste. The CDC did not report on drinking water; this is the water from the flooded fields.  Cedar Rapids had a particularly high bacteria level in its water because its waste water treatment plant is not working.

I’ll keep you updated on flooding, bacteria and water safety.  Just remember not to wade around in any Iowa farms.

Photo courtesy of Shannonpatrick17 at flickr.com

As a Midwesterner and a doctor with an interest in both public health and food, I really wanted to find out who in the federal government was monitoring food grown on flooded farms to make sure it stays safe, and then blog about it.  So far, I have not found the federal agency responsible for monitoring the safety of food grown on flooded farms.  I checked first with the Centers for Disease Control, but the spokesperson there said they only monitored disease outbreaks after they had started occurring.  She suggested I call the Environmental Protection Agency.  The woman I spoke with in media relations at the EPA here in Chicago also said that her agency was not responsible for food safety, only environmental toxins (I kind of thought they were linked), and suggested I call the Federal Emergency Management Agency.  Now FEMA has gotten a bum rap since they kind of forgot to rescue tens of thousands of people in New Orleans when that city floodedin 2005, so I decided to give the agency a break and not push too hard.  I asked a FEMA spokesperson in Wisconsin about food safety, one of the states hit hard by flooding and she set me straight: “We normally don’t even deal with that issue.”

So now I am asking you, dear Planetsave reader:  Can you help me learn who is keeping our food supply safe?  Please contact me with your suggestions in the comment section.

Photo thanks to Shannonpatrick17 at flickr.com.

Chicago may be famous for its 1871 fire, but my city took heat more recently for how it mishandled the 1995 heat wave, in which more than 500 excess heat deaths occurred. So many elderly, isolated, low-income people, afraid to open their apartment windows because they lived in high-crime neighborhoods perished that the city morgue was filled to capacity. Refrigerated trucks filled with corpses lined up outside of Cook County Hospital. The stench only made the morbid scene more grotesque. Even the revered New England Journal of Medicine researched the heat wave, the excess deaths, and the lack of local government response. The result: cities need to get ready for more heat waves, or heat emergency days and help protect their most vulnerable citizens when it gets really hot. So the next time it the thermometer hits 95 or 100 degrees for a few days, drink a lot of water, stay cool, and look in on your elderly and infirm neighbors. You may keep someone out of a refrigerated morgue truck.

Photo courtesy of Reverend Sam at flickr.com.

Crowds of people were walking and riding their bikes to the biggest green celebration to hit my city every year, and I just could not get enough of the samples of vegan food, the representatives from green non-profits explaining what they do, and the friendly green business owners promoting their products.

Yet the Green Festival has its detractors. Some people say it is not green enough, others say that just the idea of a green trade show is hypocritical. After all, how can an event that burns fuel to promote the environment really be good for the Earth? Here are the five things about the Green Festival that I think are truly, remarkably green (and one issue that still needs a lot of work).

1. All the food served at the festival is biodegradable/compostable.

Try the organic, fair-trade coffee, the mate tea, and some mango bean salsa from Whole Foods without feeling guilty. Each sample comes in a plant-based cup or tiny dish. Eat and drink, and when you have finished tasting everything once or four times (like I did!) put the biodegradable container into one of the compost bins available throughout the festival hall. It will end up in someone’s garden or city park again some day.

2. The festival is sustainable and carbon neutral

In addition to composting biodegradable food containers, the Green Festival organizers work very hard to make the event sustainable and carbon neutral. According to Katie Hunsberger of OrganicWorks Marketing

“Green Festival works to encourage sustainability and sustainable practices throughout all facets of the event- from production to education and programming to offering opportunities for “greener” practices to attendees. Green Festival is not just an event that offers green ideas or more eco-friendly options, the event’s production strives to be sustainable, and to encourage everyone coming to practice sustainability in their attendance and takeaway.

This entails the following on the production side:

-hundreds of thousands of pounds of waste have been diverted from our landfills: plastics, aluminum, glass, mixed paper and cardboard, electronic waste, compost and grey water

-many valuable resources have been recovered

-attendees have been educated about eco-product alternatives, composting and landfill diversion

-almost 130,000 pounds of materials from the 2007 Chicago, DC and San Francisco events were diverted (we are putting together Chicago 2008 numbers currently and will have them soon)

Last year, the Chicago Green Festival had amazing results:

Total waste collected: 48,745 lbs

Went to landfill: 1,000 lbs

Reusable content: 47,745 lbs reusable, recyclable and compostable materials

Other initiatives to reduce the festival’s carbon footprint, educate, and reduce waste include:

- Discounted admission for bicyclists (including free bike valet) and mass transit riders

- Ewaste bins at event entrance for attendees to bring old batteries, compact discs, cellphones and other handheld electronics to be recycled

- Carbon offsets for traveling festival staff members.”

3. The booths are simple, not wasteful

As a doctor, I have attended many medical conferences. Big pharma has a big presence at medical conferences, and not surprisingly, corporate America spares no financial or environmental expense to create huge displays made from non-sustainable materials that are most likely tossed out, never recycled. The businesses and non-profits represented at the Green Festival had refreshingly simple booths. Business owners, food and beverage suppliers and non-profits displayed their wares on tables without huge signs, loads of paper and cardboard, and entirely lacked the free pens, pads and plastic water bottles omnipresent at all the medical conferences I have ever attended.

4. Sustainable non-profits are well represented

The Green Festival offered a great opportunity for local green non-profits to set up a booth and spread the word about what they are doing. I particularly like talking to Naomi of BIG:Blacks in Green, an organization that promotes environmental awareness among African American in Chicago.

5. The Green Festival makes environmentally-sound practices accessible to the masses

If you are reading this, you are probably concerned about the environment and you probably try to reduce, reuse and recycle as much as you can. But what about your work colleagues, your neighbors, the other families at your child’s school? I believe that everyone should be enlightened, not only about the perils of global warming, but also on how easy, fun and delicious going green can be. Every festival goer who brings a less-than-green friend or family member with him or her to the event may very well convert another consumer to the benefits and pleasures of going green. How’s that for grassroots?

What still needs work?

Transportation to the festival could be a lot greener. I can’t blame the organizers for America’s lack of adequate mass transit. Even though Chicago has a decent mass transit system, the more limited Saturday schedule did not work with my own plans for the day, and so I drove my car. As my eco-conscious friend and green publicist Sharon Meyers remarked when I said I was driving to the Green Festival because I could not get there in a convenient way on mass transit, “Well, that is a statement, itself.” So here’s my plea to the organizer for 2009: I know you can’t build a better mass transit system in Chicago in less than 12 months, but can you arrange for hybrid buses, a carpooling website or a more pedestrian friendly location next year? I will be there, wearing my comfortable shoes.

First photo courtesy of David Paul Ohmer on Flickr

Second photo credit: chip py the photo guy on Flickr

Catherine, a lawyer, sought out a more flexible career after the birth of her fourth child. The she and her husband added an addition to her house, and she began to realize the impact that she could have helping others to make their homes as green as possible. “It was also important that we do something meaningful and challenging,” she said.

Living outside of the US for a while helped raise Jane’s awareness of the need to become more environmentally friendly. Jane has always hated waste, but while living in Mexico, Jane wrote a freelance story about garbage that really opened her eyes to how wasteful the American lifestyle can be. “As things became more Americanized, the amount of garbage became colossal,” she said.

Making the change from more structured careers (Jane worked in marketing at Starbucks for many years) to Green Homes not only allows these friends and co-business owners the opportunity to work in a field they find very meaningful, it also gives them the work-life balance they need. Jane and Catherine can schedule home visits while their kids are in school, and catch up on paperwork at home at night. They provide very detailed reports for each client, but it’s a labor of love. “We are both research geeks,” said Catherine. “We love the research part,” she added.

Jane and Catherine are self-taught eco-auditors. Though they initially considered going for formal certification, they decided instead to research home energy efficiency thoroughly, but approach their audits broadly. They not only measure heat loss, cooling, air flow, and lighting usage in a home, but they also evaluate private car versus public transportation usage, consumption of organic and bulk foods, and even what parents pack in their kids’ lunches. “What sets us apart is more of a holistic approach [to home energy audits],” said Jane.

For more general information about home energy audits, read this post by Amy Stodghill: Daily Tip: Get a Home Energy Audit.

Readers: Do you know of other green women business owners? I would like to cover this topic in more depth, so please e-mail me with suggestions.

In 2006, Evanston, IL, which hugs Chicago’s border to the south, and Lake Michigan to the east, signed the US Mayors Climate Protection Agreement along with more than 800 US cities. Those cities who signed the agreement aim to lower carbon emissions to 1990 levels by 2012.

In an effort to achieve carbon reduction to 1990 levels, more than 130 dedicated citizens formed nine task forces, and devised broad recommendations on how this progressive and diverse city, home to Northwestern University and a lively downtown, could reduce its carbon footprint. Last weekend, a broad coalition of citizens and city government workers unveiled a draft of the Evanston Climate Action Plan.

The new building that houses Jewish Reconstruction Congregation-Evanston (JRC), of which I am a member, was the best locale in town at which to hold the meeting. Completed in February, 2008, this LEED-certified synagogue embodies the spirit of the Kyoto Accords.

Steve Perkins, the convener of the Network for Evanston’s Future,was enthusiastic about the high turnout at the meeting. After having presented the draft to the public, the Evanston city council will consider it. “We are aiming for the city council to adopt the plan,” Dr. Perkins said. He cited the need for support for the plan not only from residents and local businesses, but also from the 6 non-profit organizations in Evanston (this group includes Northwestern, 2 hospitals and the local public school districts). He urged the non-profits to work together to devise ways to lower green house gas emissions. “If these institutions don’t respond, people will get angry,” he said.

Susan Besson, co-chair of the Public Relations and Communications Committee, agreed that local non-profits need to show their support for the plan. “The PR committee conducted some focus groups,” she explained. “Most people say that either government or industry is most responsible for climate change,” she added. But getting everyone to agree on how to tackle carbon emissions will be challenging. “Each group has different to-do lists,” said Ms. Besson.

More energy efficient public transportation, sustainable buildings, better food production and distribution–these are just some of the goals set by the 9 task forces that make up the Evanston Climate Action Plan. Michael Drennan, a member of the solid waste and recycling committee, stressed the need for businessses to work together to improve recycling and waste removal. “Currently, each business contracts individually for waste removal,” he said. The task force hopes to bring businesses together for more efficient waste removal and a lot more recycling. Taxes on plastic bags and bottled water may also lie in the future.

Reducing Evanstons’ carbon footprint by 13% in 2020 will require major changes by the people who live in my city, the local businesses and the non-profits. But for the more than 300 people who listened to the draft proposal last weekend, the work has already begun.

Image courtesy of Pierre Marcel via Flickr

My preaching, my free advice to business owners, my reaching out to people who never consider their carbon footprint–it all happens spontaneously. But it keeps happening, and it feels like the right thing to do. A few months ago, while shopping and talking to the owner of my two favorite women’s clothing boutiques here in Evanston, IL, where I live, I started explaining to Kelly how she could make her businesses greener. I gave her standard advice: install compact fluorescent lights, change to low-flow plumbing, get a more efficient heating and cooling system, recycle more. Even though I have no official training in how to green a business, the ideas popped into my head, and the conversation flowed naturally. As I presented the options to her, she listened.

More recently, during our annual trip to Charleston, SC, to celebrate Passover with my husband’s family, I found myself in the position of teaching far less enlightened small business owners how they could make their restaurants and businesses more environmentally friendly. We stopped for lunch one day at a small restaurant that serves tasty home-made soups and salads. Though the owners of Ladles are proud of their homemade soups, and they used some local ingredients, they serve all of their sit-down meals on disposable plastic plates, bowls, and cutlery. When I asked the manager if the restaurant recycled any of these products, and she told me that they did not, I pointed out that investing in some reusable serving items would be a much more environmentally friendly option.

The next day, while having a shared breakfast at the inn where we were staying, I met a couple who sold kayaks in North Carolina. In town for a boat fair, they also got some free advice from a green business advocate: me! One of the owners explained that they sold some kayaks that were made locally when I asked if they had a green business, the concept of a carbon footprint was completely foreign to him. I explained the concept of fossil fuel usage and greenhouse gases to him, discussed ways in which he could minimize his carbon footprint, and then finished my breakfast.

Striking up green business conversations seems to be happening more frequently in my life these days. I guess I am on a mission.

Image credit: zorilla at Flickr under a Creative Commons license

According to the Whole Foods Market website, Americans toss out about 100 billion plastic bags annually (we recycle a pitiful 0.6% of our plastic bags), crowding landfills with an energy-consuming product (it takes 430,000,000 gallons of crude oil to make the 100 billion bags) that lasts for at least 1,000 years. Whole Foods estimates that their action will save 100 million plastic bags in 2008, alone.

By drawing attention to their company policies that are good for the earth, Whole Foods also gets some good press. Was this part of their plan?

I could not get anyone at Whole Foods to answer this question, but I spoke to Jonathan Netzky, a green business owner, and the one of the founders of a sustainable business network, the Business Association for a Sustainable Evanston, or BASE, to which I belong. BASE is working on creating a cerification system for member businesses, a way of differentiating a business as being environmentally friendly.

Part of the certification involves pledging to ban the sale of plastic water bottles in an individual business. For the members of BASE, banning plastic water bottles not only helps the environment, it also promotes our business association and the indvidual businesses that make choices that have a positive impact on the environment.

“We are creating a certification,” Jonathan Netzky said. “Businesses can choose to participate and do something positive,” he added.

Green businesses should practice what they preach by engaging in commercial practices that do not harm the environment. “It’s irrelevant what they preach; what is important is what they do,” said Jonathan.

So if you give a discount to shoppers who walk or ride a bike to your store rather than drive, or bring in reusable containers to take home bulk food, keep up your business practice–and tell the world you are doing so, as long as it’s truly a green business practice. Jonathan Netzky points out that while Whole Foods had used branded plastic bags to market themselves in the past, they are now using the absence of plastic bags as a marketing tool.

“It’s a way of doing something postive for the world,” Jonathan said.

There is nothing wrong with green marketing, as long as it is truly green. Who knew that banning plastic bags could have so many uses?