If you follow the census figures, which up to this point, those in the green field may not have done since green consumers tend to be bound by beliefs rather than income, age or education, you may not be aware of the dramatic changes taking place.

Marketing green once meant seeking out consumers interested in the environment. More recently that niche has grown dramatically and gone mainstream opening up a vast army of potential consumers. At the same time, of course, hundreds, then thousands of companies have come up with green products, resulting in heretofore unseen competition, which means, green marketers now need to be aware of macro trends impacting the United States and evaluate their impact.

But then…you probably already figured that out.

Well, here’s a little overview of some of the demographic trends that will change the face of the US consumer. Some have been touted in the press for years…some are new.

We’re Getting Old

The average U.S. head of household is now nearly 50 years old (49.5, to be precise). But here’s the bigger story: More than 80% of the growth in the number of households in the next five years will be among those headed by people 55 and older

Consumers Are Vastly Different From One Another

The online youthful and mostly wireless consumer inhabits a world far apart from the older consumer who subscribes to a newspaper and uses a telephone directory.

We’re Often Two Different Countries

There are many towns in New England, for example, where only one in five households has any children, compared with a nationwide average of more than one in three. The six New England states are all among the 10 oldest states by median age, so the region leads the nation in terms of an aging consumer base.

By contrast, the Western region, which also has about one-fifth of the nation’s elderly, is home to nearly one in four children (24%). This region has just under a fifth of the nation’s white, non-Hispanics (19%) but is home to almost half of U.S. Hispanics (42%) and Asians (46%).

Immigrants Represent The Future

For the past seven years, 40% of U.S. population growth has come from immigration. Five large states (New York, New Jersey, Michigan, Connecticut and Illinois) would have seen dramatically shrinking work forces and total population declines were it not for the millions of immigrants who moved to those states.

Ecoprenuers aware of these trends will profit by examining their promotional and product development efforts and determining the best strategy for going forward. To ignore the impact that these macro trends will have on the purchase of green products is foolish. So, wire up, get regional and go worldly.

Photo Credit: Joe Shlabotnik at Flickr Under Creative Commons License

Read More About Marketing To Green Consumers

Social Networking and Online Marketing for the Ecopreneur

How to Reach Green Consumers - Using Psychographics To Define Your Target Market

Times They Are a Changing: Green Marketing Tips for Eco Entrepreneurs in 2008

Clear your calendar! This Tuesday, July 8^th, The SDForum, a non profit specializing in emerging technologies, will be holding a breakfast with a focus on Cleantech

Everyone’s talking about clean technology and a new wave of investments rolling in to fund companies in this sector. Where’s the truth and where’s the fiction? Will the funding come from angel investors, venture capitalists or project finance? And what does this mean for startups? Steve Bengston will present an overview of the investments in the sector and trends by technology within the industry (solar, biofuels, energy..) and then our veteran VC panel will discuss and debate where they feel the opportunities are and what the trends are going forward.

The breakfast, a quarterly event, will be held at Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP in Palo Alto.

Speakers will include Peter Nieh, Managing Director, Lightspeed Venture Partners.; Matthew Trevithick, Partner, Venrock; Steve Bengston, PriceWaterhouseCoopers; David J. Blumberg, Blumberg Capital; Sylvia Burks, Partner, Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP and Steve Eichenlaub, Managing Director, Intel Capital.

If you’re an Ecopreneur in the Cleantech space, this might just be the place to network with leaders in the field.

Related Posts about Cleantech:

Cleantechnica.com

Countdown to the California Clean Tech Open

How to Approach a Venture Capital Firm with Your Eco Business

Watch Your Back - Protecting Your Green Invention

]]> http://ecopreneurist.com/2008/07/06/looking-for-a-green-vc-check-out-sdforum-quarterly-venture-breakfast/feed/ http://cleantechnica.com/2008/07/06/renewable-energy-feed-in-tariff-fit-introduced-in-congress/ http://cleantechnica.com/2008/07/06/renewable-energy-feed-in-tariff-fit-introduced-in-congress/#comments Sun, 06 Jul 2008 11:40:12 +0000 Carol Gulyas http://cleantechnica.com/?p=632 Representative Jay Inslee (D-WA) has introduced legislation to establish a feed-in tariff (FIT) for renewable energy. Feed-in tariffs have made Germany a solar powerhouse that employs 40,000 people in the solar industry alone, and an estimated 140,000 jobs in renewable energy. FITs have not been a topic of discussion in this country, but now that is sure to change, as the conversation shifts to ways to finance the growth of renewable energy. Renewable Energy World reports that:

“Inslee’s legislation would require utilities — at the request of any new renewable energy facility owner — to enter into a 20-year fixed-rate power purchase agreement. Uniform national “renewable energy payment” rates would be set by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission at levels that would provide a 10% internal rate of return on investment for available commercialized technologies in regions constituting the top 30^th percentile of renewable energy resource potential in the U.S..”

In plain English, this means that if you install solar PV panels on your home, the utility has to buy the electricity you generate at a higher rate than retail, guaranteeing you a return on your investment. Extending this power purchase agreement for 20 years gives everyone — especially those who want to invest in renewables or start a small business installing solar panels — assurance of return on their investment.

In Germany this has motivated citizens and businesses to put up solar panels wherever they can, allowing Germany to get 14.2 percent of its energy from renewable sources. Though Inslee’s legislation has little hope of getting through this Congress (they are still stalling on renewing the existing solar energy tax credits), FITs will surely be in the news more as the election season heats up.

Related Posts:

40,000 Solar Jobs in a Cloudy Country

Atlantic City Convention Center Plans Largest Solar Roof in U.S.

Image Credit: Carol Gulyas

Veganic farmers practice organic farming by eschewing synthetic pesticides and fertilizers, but take it a step further by eliminating animal-derived farming products as well. Most organic farmers use bone meal, blood meal and animal waste fertilizer to make their plants productive, but veganic farmers and their customers see a number of problems with using animal biproducts around the plants.

E. Coli and Other Outbreaks

All animal biproducts carry pathogens. E. coli has a healthy presence in the intestines of mammals and birds as a digestive aid, but makes humans sick when ingested orally. Recent E. coli outbreaks have centered on produce like spinach, alfalfa, and tomatoes. While no one knows exactly how the E. coli got into the fields (wild pigs and contaminated water have been suggested), another possibility is the animal biproducts that were used as fertilizers for the plants.

But E. Coli isn’t the only cause of disease outbreak related to livestock pathogens. Salmonella, cyclospora and others have also mysteriously made their way to our produce supply. Veganic farmers believe they can lessen the chance of such outbreaks by avoiding manure and animal by-products to begin with.

Organic Plants, Not So Organic Fertilizer

While there is strict testing of the seeds, plants and soil to achieve organic certification, the animals that supply bone meal, blood meal and manure do not require such testing. They are generally from factory farms, raised on low-grade feed and antibiotics and hormones. There are two issues here: the synthetic compounds from the feed and supplements are present in manure, bending organic standards. But most of all, many farmers do not want to continue supporting the factory farming industry, where animals live and die in inhumane conditions.

Ethical Considerations

This brings us to the ethics of using animal bi-products as growing aids. There is the issue of supporting factory farms, mentioned above, but this can be resolved by sourcing bone meal and manure locally from trusted farmers. More, many vegetable farmers and their customer base eat a vegetarian or vegan diet. They view animal fertilizers as incongruous with their animal-free lifestyles and want to avail another option.

There are many reasons to support veganic farming beyond a vegan lifestyle. To find a veganic grower near you, visit the Veganic Agricultural Network or Vegan Organic Network.

More Vegan Articles:

Sharon’s Excellent Vegan Recipes

Vegan Kids

Image Credit: Chailey under a Creative Commons License

Guess I’ve always been an unconventional American patriot. No red, white and blue holiday t-shirts for yours truly. I haven’t seen a parade in years. But I do put a lot of thought into the picnic menu. The Fourth of July reminds me to remember and rekindle Thomas Jefferson’s vision of our democracy as citizens’ everyday participation in the political system – in my case, through conscious food choices.

Make a democratic statement with your food choices this weekend. Here are the criteria that resulted in my patriotic choices:

* Protect the Homeland through Homegrown Fare
Everything needs to be as local as possible, showcasing in my case the flavors of Wisconsin. The Leopold Center now estimates average American food travels over 1,700 miles, the majority shipped by airplane, producing ten to thirty times the carbon per mile. Ain’t nothing American in decorating the picnic table with fossil fuel dependencies.

Why the brat? If you’re going to eat meat, choose wisely and eat in moderation. Grass-fed, pasture raised livestock do not eat grain and, low and behold, require significantly less oil over their lifetime than needed for feedlot animals.

I’m a flexitarian when it comes to eating. Ninety-five percent of my diet is vegetarian, eager to eat lower on the food chain and mostly from my own gardens. On the Fourth of July, though, I splurge on brats, which I just picked up from Carrie and Eric at Jordandal Farm, a few miles north from our farm.

* Deliver Nutritional Fireworks
Make sure the food delivers a nutritional punch, bringing high doses of quality nutrients to the (non-Styrofoam) picnic plate. In July you can’t beat a homegrown mixed green salad for fresh nutrition, focusing on dark green and red leaf lettuce leaves with a hefty dose of spinach greens mixed in.

* Build Community
In his book, Fermenting Revolution: How to Drink Beer and Save the World from New Society Publishers, Chris O’Brien shares how local breweries increasingly embrace ecologically sustainable production and use of local ingredients, prompting a renaissance of thoughtful discussion and debate over a shared pint. Benjamin Franklin would be proud.

My community of Monroe, Wisconsin, is home to the Midwest’s oldest brewery, Minhas Craft Brewery. On a good day you can smell the spent grains wafting over Monroe’s downtown square.

* “Give Me Flavor, or Give me Death”
If it doesn’t taste great, the above three criteria wash away. Brats need a dose of preparation to truly bring out their taste potential. Especially if you, like me, eat meat in extreme moderation – make sure you do it right.

In Wisconsin, you’ll find various schools of cooking thought on how to cook up brats. Fortunately, my neighbor farmer, Anna Zettle, tutored me in the art of brat preparation when I established Wisconsin roots a dozen years ago:

Authentic Wisconsin Brats Recipe

1. Slowly simmer defrosted, uncooked brats for several hours in beer with some chunks of onions, garlic and a dash of lemon juice. This time of year, consider adding chopped garlic scapes. An energy-efficient crock-pot works well for the simmering.

2. When cooked through, throw brat on a hot grill till nicely brown.

3. Here’s the secret step: After grilling, throw brats back into the hot beer mixture for a couple minutes before serving. This vital last step adds a dose of juicy flavor.

Related Posts:

Firing Up the Grill? Think Honey

Seven Tips for Greening Your Barbecue This Summer

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Things will change here in the USA. These changes will sometimes more difficult for some than others. More of us are already using public transportation, riding bikes — even moving closer to where we work or pressuring employers to offer flextime (to avoid rush hours) or telecommuting from home. In part thanks to the mushrooming energy costs, how much of business was done in the period of relatively inexpensive oil and other fossil fuels will morph into a new model of business model where energy costs are front and center.

Another trend: the explosion of people starting their own green business as an ecopreneur, operating their business without destroying the planet or exploiting people. Energy conservation and efficiency are often the very DNA of these enterprises. Eventually, the politicians in Washington DC might realize that opening up ANWR merely delays the reality that we need to cut our addiction to oil, for climate’s sake. We need to get back to 350 parts per million of carbon dioxide to maintain some degree of climate stability. Burning more oil, coal or natural gas is not the way.

There are many financial benefits of becoming a business, depending on how you structure it. Not only are businesses taxed after their expenses have been deducted, but many legitimate deductions are available to a small business that reduce its reported earnings — like the use of your personal car for business-related and documented use.

Owners of vehicles that are used for business purposes can deduct those miles associated with business use and be reimbursed for mileage by the business. For example, when we drive to speak at a Green Festival, MREA Renewable Energy and Sustainable Living Fair, or to visit a client, we reimburse ourselves at the IRS specified rate. Make sure to maintain a vehicle travel mileage log for each vehicle used for business purposes.

Making Money from your FUEL EFFICIENT Vehicle

One of our discoveries we write about in ECOpreneuring is the tax benefit of using our fuel-efficient vehicle for business purposes. Every year, the IRS sets the reimbursable rate for the business use of your vehicle, based on national fleet repair and maintenance averages and fuel costs, both of which are rising. We get the same rate whether we drive a super-fuel-efficient Toyota Prius or Volkswagen Jetta TDI (diesel) versus a low-mileage Hummer. It turns out we’ve managed to make money off each business mile we put on our Volkswagen Jetta TDI because the cost of operating and fueling it is less than for other new and less fuel-efficient vehicles.

How? First, we only buy used vehicles because as soon as most new vehicles are driven off the dealer’s lot, they lose about 25 percent of their value. Second, by the time we might sell our used vehicle with years of reimbursed business miles paid to us as owners, the cost of the vehicle would have broken even. For example, one year we might have 7,193 business related miles put on our VW Jetta, multiplied by the IRS designated rate (2007) of $.445/mile, resulting in the business reimbursing us for the business use of the car to the tune of $3,200. Keep in mind that this expense item reduces the reported earnings of the business by $3,200 as well.

So if you have to drive, why not create a green business where you can at least deduct your miles related to business use of your vehicle? By the way, when we can, we put B100 (100 percent biodiesel) or B10 (locally secured from a Smart Station) in our Jetta. Our other vehicle exclusively used for business is an all-electric CitiCar. We also work from our home office, completely powered by the wind and sun.

Photo Credit: scotech at Flickr (under a Creative Commons license)

The “milk pitcher”, rated a story in the New York Times and is gathering both praise and criticism from retailers and consumers.

A simple change to the design of the gallon milk jug, adopted by Wal-Mart and Costco, seems made for the times. The jugs are cheaper to ship and better for the environment, the milk is fresher when it arrives in stores, and it costs less. What’s not to like? Plenty, as it turns out.

The jugs have no real spout, and their unorthodox shape makes consumers feel like novices at the simple task of pouring a glass of milk.

Despite the initial reaction of consumers, who really tend to hate anything new…even if research says they should like it, the new milk pitcher is here to stay. And we can expect a host of other products to undergo a face lift too!

The forces of rising energy prices and environmental awareness are creating a perfect storm of opportunity for packaging ecopreneurs.

For years a variety of products have been shipped to places where low labor costs offset the excess of packaging required to protect them while being transported halfway around the world. As increased energy costs begin to negate that equation, product manufacturing may move closer to home. Those manufacturing units still located overseas will be under pressure to “green” their packaging as environmental awareness spreads around the globe.

Closer to home, retailers calculations of profit per square foot are coming under scrutiny as shipping costs cut into to the bottom line. Big Box retailers are using their volume buying power to demand alternatives to bulky and heavy packaging.

Ecopreneurs in the packaging industry stand to benefit.

Related Posts:

Times They Are a Changing: Green Marketing Tips for Eco Entrepreneurs in 2008

Less is More: A Truly Green Good is Packaged Green

How To Package A Green Product

Landi, pictured here in her ‘bee bikini’, got together with fellow, bee buddy, Joe Treimel to show off their live bee apparel and accessories. Joe sported a bee beard. This all took place last weekend at the Essex County Environmental Center.

Read more about Landi and what is happening to honey bees in one of my earlier posts. Here’s a crazy story I saw yesterday morning on CNN.com about 12 MILLION honey bees that swarmed a Canadian highway after a truck carrying them flipped over!

My favorite honey & herb sauce . . .

We usually put this on grilled tuna, but it could go on a variety of things, including grilled tofu. It is a wonderful sauce that I can never make enough of! It is great this time of year because I have most of the ingredients in my garden, and of course I get the best honey from my local bee lady . . .

Ingredients

1 c. parsley
1/4 c. dill
1/4 c. olive oil (I usually mix 1/2 flax seed oil)
1/4 c. apple cider vinegar
3 T. honey
1/2 t. salt
1/2 t. ground blacks pepper

your favorite capers

Wash and pat dry the herbs and throw everything but the capers in a blender or food processor. Voila! Spoon it onto your favorite fish or veggie protein and add capers.

NOTE: you can adjust any of the seasonings AND the oil and vinegar to your own taste. I’ve actually done this with cilantro, parsley and used lime juice.

Check out these other sweet GO posts
Oh Honey. Eat. Drink. Better Series This Week
Honey - The Cure for Just about Everything
Pollen - The Bees Knees?

Now — in one of the most significant conservation sales in history — The Nature Conservancy and The Trust for Public Land have preserved 320,000 acres of forestlands in western Montana that provide valuable habitat for species in the Crown of the Continent.

In fact, cattle pasture now covers 7.8% of the Amazon region, with an ever growing presence as worldwide demand for beef skyrockets. Illegal cattle grazing helped Brazil become the world’s largest beef exporter in 2004, but after several years of declining deforestation rates in the Amazon, degradation of the rain forest is again on the rise. The pressure to produce more and more has led many ranchers to ignore regulation.

It is rare to find a politician who is willing to stand up to an industry that is responsible for a significant portion of the GDP, but Minister Minc made good on his promises to crack down on illegal ranching last week when his office confiscated 3,100 cows from one rancher who used a nature reserve in the state of Para as pasture land, cutting away forest that got in the way of his cattle. Not only is Minc committed to punishing those who clearcut the Amazon, he sees a use for the contraband livestock. In his announcement of the ranch seizure, Mr. Minc reported that the cattle would be auctioned off to the highest bidder with proceeds directed towards Fome Zero - the national anti-hunger organization (literally, “zero hunger”). The money will also go toward helping indigenous health organizations and further livestock confiscation efforts.

The Brazilian government’s environmental ministry, known as Ibama, reported that much of the Amazon’s deforestation can be blamed on cattle farmers who ignore the boundaries of protected areas in search of ideal ranching land. For example, the rancher involved in the seizure last week had already faced fines of close to US$2 million for illegal deforestation.

This move is an example of how environmental ministries must take decisive, punative action to stop the degradation that is fueled by in-demand industries such as ranching. Environmentalists can combine their efforts with other government programs (like Fome Zero) to emphasize the connectedness of our environment to our food, housing and health. Minister Minc is reclaiming deforested areas, raising money and awareness for the national anti-hunger campaign and making a strong statement to the agricultural community.

Trying to reach these varied consumer groups can be challenging. Advice is always welcome.
So some interesting information from Yahoo Green, a website launched last year by the venerable internet giant, sheds some light on the best way to do that. Yahoo managers have been tracking click-throughs, purchases and eyeballs on their new site. Incremental changes in the sight have revealed nuances not considered before and at the recent Sustainable Brands Conference,Erin Carlson, director of Yahoo’s social responsibility department, went over a few.

1. Consumers don’t want doom and gloom. They want to hear about optimistic innovations – to hear about what’s possible. For example, a story on an air-powered car proved a powerful draw

2.There’s a lot of skepticism about celebrities’ green endorsements. “People want to know if there’s been a back-room deal signed to promote that star’s image,” Carlson said. “Green and celebrities are not necessarily a good match.” Imagery of real people making a difference is much more effective.

3.Consumers love surprises. Some of last year’s biggest clickthroughs? An article about a woman who lives in an 84-square-foot house, and a feature on the Pope adding environmental degradation to list of sins. “People want to be able to drop these tidbits at the next cocktail party,” said Carlson.

4.What’s in it for me? Consumers are interested in new gadgets that save money and products that offer health benefits.

5.There’s a shift from awareness to action. Top-searched environmental term in 2006? “Climate change.” Top-searched in 2007? “Recycling.”

Reported in Sustainable Brands Weekly, the advice provided by Yahoo Green is applicable for both web based and more traditional, bricks and mortar companies.

Carlson’s advice to online marketers? Piggyback green promos on traditionally high-interest categories (remember all those consumers that are curious about green products and services, but only if they’re served up on a platter). For example, Yahoo’s holiday gift guide last year featured a green product alongside the latest hot gadgets and toys – and traffic on those products went through the roof.

Related Posts:

How to Reach Green Consumers - Using Psychographics To Define Your Target Market

The 4 Green Fashion Consumers – Which One For You?

Target Practice - Finding The Right Green Consumer

Now, mounting pressure from both Europe’s farmers and global food aid organizations have caused the high courts of various EU countries to reconsider.

The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) wants to collect upwards of $20 billion from member nations to help the world’s famine victims, particularly those in Africa. Many food aid workers believe that restricting GM seed use is harmful to relieving the hungry and see seed integrity as secondary to their cause of hunger relief.

On the other end of the spectrum, the farmers of Europe are watching their North American, South American and Asian counterparts clean up in the booming grain market, using the highly prodigious GM seeds. Nowhere has the struggle between profit-minded farmers and opponents of GM foods been more visible than in the high courts of France, where farmers sued to use a banned Monsanto-created corn seed in March. When the courts upheld the ban, proponents of biotechnological intervention warned that such legislation could exacerbate rising food prices and economic difficulties for small-scale farmers.

France is Europe’s largest agricultural economy and has maintained one of the stricter oppositions to GM seeds and the biotechnology companies like Monsanto that bring the seeds to market. But recently, France’s National Assembly passed a hotly-contested bill by a single vote that will allow genetically-modified seeds that have been previously approved by the E.U. health commission to be grown in France. The E.U. - while restrictive by global standards - still approves more GM seeds than many of its member nations.

But what’s so bad about a seed that resists pests and draught through genetic modification, thereby reducing the need for fertilizers and pesticides? GM seeds can cause a whole host of problems, but little research is conducted to ensure their safety before they are brought to market. In many instances, undertested GM seeds have wreaked havoc on the indigenous landscapes, animals and people that came into contact with it. In one example in 2005, Monsanto’s BT Cotton was banned in India after it killed livestock and contaminated indigenous plants. The cotton had been injected with some material from bacillus thuringiensis, a bacteria that kills boll worms - a cotton parasite.

But more than quarrels over particular seeds, opponents of GM crops articulate their discomfort with the commodification of food staples that allows a few multinational conglomerates to have control over all of the basic crops that feed humans. In other words, a GM corn seed is not nearly as dangerous as the patent that allows Monsanto to control who grows it and for what purpose.

In the heated debates across Europe, this issue seems to have gotten lost amid the discussions of farmer rights, humanitarian aid and the doomsday predictions of economic and crop failure.

Image Credit: Charles Platiau for Reuters

The Drake Landing Solar Community collects solar energy in a heat storage fluid through an array of solar panels on the roof of each home and covering all of the garages at the back of each home. The heated fluid is transferred to a neighborhood energy center, and then into the ground beneath an insulated layer, where the heat is stored in the earth.

Combined together, the 52 home community is able to collect and store enough energy from the sun during the summer that the ground storage temperatures reach 80 degrees C (176 F). This heat is sufficiently insulated beneath the ground that it can be drawn from throughout the winter to provide heat and hot water.

The homes in the community are moderately sized, ranging from 1,492 to 1,664 square feet, and are insulated to a level 30% higher than the average home in Canada in order to keep the energy needs low enough to work with the system. The homes are also closely located to one another. This provides a more walkable neighborhood, as well as reducing the lengths that the fluid for the solar heating system needs to travel.

Entire Neighborhood Has Shared Solar Heating

The system works in part due to the scale of the project utilizing the combined capacity of the entire community. A similar system scaled down to a single family home version would not work as efficiently simply because too much heat would be lost. But the scale of a system for 52 households makes this a feasible project.

While the technology is similar to a ground source heat pump, which relies on a relatively stable, constant temperature of the ground, the Drake Landing Community is actually storing heat throughout the summer and then relying on that banked heat during the winter.

Solar heating is a more exciting prospect than solar generation of electricity because heating is a much larger percentage of a home’s total energy use (60% for space heating, 20% for water heating, and 20% for appliances, lights, and other electrical loads).

Related articles on Green Building Elements:

Geothermal Energy and Ground Source Heat Pumps

GreenBuildingTalk: Solar Hot Water and Heating — Is it Right for You?

Traditional Neighborhood Development and LEED Go Hand in Hand

Green Communities, Part 1: New Urbanism

images via: DLSC

Having staffed a booth two years running at the Chicago Green Festival, I know what a challenge it is for meeting planners to stage a truly green convention. The Green Festival posts volunteers at the garbage cans, to help the public choose the right bin: compost, recycle, or trash. Exhibitors have to attend a conference call and sign a “leave no trace” agreement.

Now, it’s the DNC’s turn to wrestle with the inherent problems associated with inviting thousands of people to converge on a city for a giant party, while keeping their carbon footprints as low as possible. The Wall Street Journal’s front page story on “The Greenest Show on Earth” provides some insights into the problem:

• After trying to source an organic, union made fanny pack to be given to volunteers, Bob DeMasse, the convention’s organizer reported that such a thing doesn’t exist.
• The same goes for baseball caps: there are union caps and organic caps, but no cap with both requirements. (Come on, unions, step up!)
• Andrea Robinson, the convention’s Director of Greening, is testing balloons to make sure they are really biodegradable — by burying them in steaming compost piles.
• She has also hired an Official Carbon Advisor to measure the show’s carbon footprint so that it can be offset by investments in renewable energy.
• “Lean and green” catering guidelines are calling for no fried food and 70% organic or local ingredients.
• And, yes, the DNC will also have a team of garbage monitors.

Some inevitable compromises have resulted, but the Dems can at least be given credit for forcing everyone to think about the environmental impact of their meeting — and perhaps building a template for future meetings as well. It’s all part of an encouraging trend in the meeting planning business, which the Green Meeting Industry Council is helping to lead, and it’s creating ripples throughout the hospitality industry, evidenced by such organizations as the Green Hotels Association.

Image Credit: Kevin P. Casey, USA Today

Though I was mainly interested in kitchen and bath products like IceStone, PaperStone, and Vetrazzo countertops and Koch & Co. cabinets, I found myself sitting down with exhibitors who had something new and interesting to present, like the guys from Huntleigh McGehee, who specialize in Green Insurance, which I plan to write more about next week.  Other exhibitors showed off windmill technology, natural insulation, SIPs panels, sustainable printing, green design/architecture firms, solar shades, green roofs, and much more.

For me, the most impressive part of this year’s conference was the increased expertise of those with whom I spoke.  In past years, it was clear that some exhibitors at green conferences were salespeople who had little idea of what made something green - or worse, they clearly believed that green was just a fad that they could make a quick buck off.  There was a little of that this time around, including someone who, when asked about his product’s VOCs, told me about the company’s carbon credits.  But overall the exhibitors were much more knowledgeable on all aspects of their product, from embodied energy to formaldehyde levels to LEED credits.

The St. Louis chapter of the US Green Building Council, as well as diamond and platinum sponsors Wal-Mart and Interface Flor,  should be commended for this year’s Greening the Heartland convention.  It was well organized, well attended, the food was outstanding, and the party Monday night, sponsored by Landco Construction, was held at the City Museum, one of the coolest venues in the country to hold an event.

This type of thinking is an integral part of the current movement towards more ethical meat consumption that we often discuss on this blog. Consider below the similarities between Zibah - the Halal slaughter method - and members of the slow food movement. This similarity is not lost on Riaz, the owner of Madani, who told Gourmet that he believes Halal butchery can help many Americans to accept Islam through shared eating values.

According to the Halal Food Authority the following conditions must be met in order for meat to be considered passable:

• Animal must be alive and healthy at time of slaughter (no downers)
• Slaughter must be done in quickest, most painless method: cutting the jugular, carotid artery and windpipe in one single motion
• Animal must not be stunned or abused prior to slaughter (such abuse would render the animal “dead,” disobeying the first rule)
• Animals must not be fed anything containing meat (grass and grain fed)
• A muslim must perform the slaughter while reciting the shahada, as a prayer of dedication.

Many of us will recognize these considerations in our own choices. Not only are these healthier, more sanitary conditions, the elements of gratitude and respect are essential to a thoughtful approach to eating. Much of my own family keeps Kosher, which is very similar to Halal and I long considered it an archaic, even exclusionary practice. I wondered why otherwise contemporary, scientifically-minded people would adopt ancient sanitation laws that prohibit them from socializing over meals with friends. But the mindfulness advocated by these laws need not apply only to the religious - we can all benefit from this strong niche in the meat industry.

Given the high premium put on ethically-raised meat at farmer’s markets and in health stores, it is a relief to know that consumers can get such meat from Halal butchers at a reasonable price. In doing so, we are supporting the ethics behind the practice of Halal butchery and also supporting independent and community-oriented butchers - a dying breed in the era of pre-cut chops in the supermarkets and megamarts that dominate our country’s food consumption.

Image Credit: sciondriver under a Creative Commons license

The Skoll Awards provide later-stage, or mezzanine, funding, which is generally structured as a $1 million award paid out over three years, subject to payment limitations described below under