Green Options

In their ongoing efforts to achieve a more environmentally friendly image, the Coca-Cola Co. announced earlier this month that they will be launching new biobased plastic bottles for their Dasani water line later this year and vitaminwater next year. They’re calling their new packaging the “PlantBottleTM.”

As the Economist wages the largest debate about bio-fuels in memory, another market opportunity appears to be showing itself in the bio production space as well. Bio plastics have been sprouting up in various applications, but a recent study puts the total market of green packaging at $43.9Billion by 2013. The highest growth gains in this market will be in bio plastics for reasons of price stability and increased capacity the report said. Bio plastics will, it is reported, preform at an annual growth rate of thirteen percent. This spells big news for an industry which currently holds only about .1% percent market share.

Part of the reason for this growth will be due to policy changes which restrict the use of some of the most environmentally damaging materials, but the largest effect seems to be coming from packaging producers themselves. Corporate social responsibility leader Coca Cola has developed a new bottle which is composed of around thirty percent bio plastics with the intended goal of developing a one hundred percent renewable option in the future. Likewise, Wal-Mart has begun sourcing toys and children’s goods made from bio plastics.

The draw is that decomposition coupled with less petroleum based material seems to be better environmentally, but some counter this analysis. According to the Guardian Newspaper, foods producers in the UK such as Innocent Drinks have chosen to stop using bio plastics due to lack of recycling options for the products at present. Likewise there have been claims that bio plastics can be environmentally damaging on par with their petroleum based counterparts. Recent innovations have made it so less energy is needed to create bio plastics and thus it seems the growth of the sector makes environmental sense. Followers of Bill McDonough’s cradle to cradle concept often tout the re-usability and closed-loop life cycle of these products, while others derided their historically slow decomposition rates.  Some applications in the burgeoning bio plastics space are:

If you live in Washington, D.C., keep your eyes open this April. PepsiCo, the makers of Pepsi, Mountain Dew, and Aquafina, have begun field-testing 30 green vending machines. The machines feature a redesigned Pepsi logo and are prominently marked as green technology.

 

My moon, my man’s a changeable land...

Former actor and survival instructor, creative writer and a recovering Type A, Mark Gerow is the founder of Lunarythms Yoga™, a combination of polarity-therapy, Ayurveda, Yin and Hatha Yoga that tailors asanas to complement specific chakras associated with the position of the moon. He likes McDonald’s French Fries, drinks one cup of coffee a day and does not relate to black and white photographs of women in leotards.

When I describe the idea behind Lunarythms, people look at me like I’m a crystal wielding nutcase. But every time I take your class, the pace feels just right. What led you to organize your practice around the lunar cycles?

My background in the metaphysical began with Polarity Therapy training.  My partner at the time had grown up with a mother who was into astrology and I would hear them speak to each other through astrology references– usually about a person’s personality or a general analogy about a situation.  I began to notice the effects and rituals that go along with the new and full moons (setting intentions, conserving or putting forth energy), and one day it dawned on me that if most everything in this world is changing to include the moon’s cycles and our own human cycles, that our yoga practice could reflect these ever changing tides of life.

India’s fundamentalist Hindu political group, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangha (RSS) has taken yet another drastic step in its efforts to cleanse India of foreign influence and promote its ideology of Hindutva, or Hindu-ness: it has created a new commercial drink made from cow urine.

How many colleges and universities belong to the NCAA’s Division I? 342

How many colleges and universities are participating in the 2009 Recyclemania? 510

College sports fans will likely say “That’s not an accurate comparison, Jeff.” They’re probably right… but, the question remains: Have you ever heard of Recyclemania?

I hadn’t until checking my feed reader today.  Apparently, I’m not alone: I checked most of the other big green blogs, and found nary a mention in any posts. There was one passing mention of it on Ecolocalizer, but it was far from the focus of the post.

Now, I don’t bring up this lack of coverage (at least within the green web) to criticize anyone, but rather to express my amazement — this thing’s huge! Founded in 2001 “as a friendly challenge between recycling coordinators at two schools in Ohio, Miami University and Ohio University,” Recyclemania now coordinates participating colleges and universities from all 50 US states, the District of Columbia, and, for the first time, schools from outside the United States.

Next time you pop open a coke or drink a VitaminWater, sip on this.  The 2009 World Environment Center’s (WEC) Gold Medal for International Corporate Achievement in Sustainable Development will be awarded to the Coca-Cola Company.  The award recognizes the beverage giant for achievements in water stewardship, packaging, climate change, and energy management.

Watching out for Water

Coca-Cola’s Signature Contribution is in the area of water stewardship.  The company’s goal is to restore to the environment all water that is used to produce of its products.  It aims to achieve this through reducing the amount of water in the manufacturing process, recycling water back into natural systems, and locally relevant conservation projects.  With a new report predicting global water shortages by 2020, increased attention to water and natural systems seems increasingly imperative.  (Hopefully Coca-Cola includes the water needed to grow and process the sugar in its calculations - approximately 200 L of water per can in Europe.)

The first time I saw the James Bond Coca-Cola ad, I didn’t think much about it. But now it turns my spit to bile.

It’s disgustingly ironic that the owners of the James Bond series would advertise Coke with a film about (spoiler alert) a greenwashing corporation stealing water from the third world. Because that perfectly describes Coca-Cola Inc.

For the past decade, Coke has invested heavily in bottled water. An increasingly health-conscious public, aware of the sickening effects of cola, drove down carbonated soft drink sales. Coke responded by bottling purified tap water and selling it under the name “Dasani.” Thanks to healthy sales of “healthy” drinks (which according to the New York Times are “still just sugar water”), Coca-Cola has enjoyed rising international sales.

Of course there have been setbacks. Coca-Cola recalled Dasani in the United Kingdom after they accidentally poisoned the bottled water with bromate, a possible carcinogen. At least it was only the Dasani that was tainted. In India, one of Coca-Cola’s fastest growing markets, problems ran deeper.

A few days ago I posted about how the Director of Communications at Nestlé Waters North America took issue with a previous post about their CEO. This time, Tom Lauria, Vice President, Communications for the International Bottled Water Association responded:

…it’s the middle of day, and you’re running erands and you’re thirsty. You can buy a coffee or a cola but you want something healthy and refreshing, so you buy a nice cold bottle of water. Zero calories. Major hydration — it wakes you up! Any attempt by anyone to get people to drink less water is not in the public interest. Why are you targeting the packaged beverage with the smallest possible carbon fooprint? And it is clear people drink more water when they drink bottled water! At the end of day, there’s GREENSMOG…where anti-corporate types hide behind “saving the earth” to bash businesses because they hate capitalism.

First, I want to say that he has a point.  From a public health perspective it is better to promote water that coffee or soda.  But what about water fountains?  What about Nalgenes and Siggs? That said, I have to admit Tom’s response actually made me roll my eyes.  The Vice President of Communications for the bottled water industry thinks that we shouldn’t criticize…the bottled water industry.  Surprise, surprise.

However, the part that really got me was how he made one good point and then, given the paucity of reasonable defenses, devolved into grade-school, 1950’s rhetoric:  Anti-corporate types bashing businesses because they hate capitalism.  Anti-corporate? Hate capitalism?  Um, Tom, this is a blog about being an entrepreneur. 

It seems as if everyone is “going green” these days. Of course, that’s a good thing–especially when it is done correctly. Green Power Conferences, a group who offers professionally organized events around the world focusing on the sustainability sector, is part of a growing trend in green event planning. Not only does the company coordinate events that promote sustainable business practices, but it does it in an environmentally responsible way.

Green Power Conferences’ green policy includes a commitment to contribute 5% of its annual income to charitable causes, a vow to only work with eco-friendly industries, and a pledge to use environmentally sustainable strategies to operate its offices and conferences.

Odd-ball green news it may be but Coke has been discovered to be an effective spermicide, which may be good for the environment; and for that very elaborate effort of discovery, a woman’s sexuality expert has just been awarded an alternative Nobel Prize for Chemistry.

Weird or wacky, you might say, but rumor actually has it that Snopes.com might soon bring down this link that debunked the long suspected (was it an urban legend until the Ig Nobel Prize?) but now confirmed sperm killing effects of the famous Coca Cola soft drink.