The first part of this equation poses many obstacles. For instance, enough cash to order all the marketing materials I need printed on recycled cardstock with soy based ink from a company across the country (because no one does that locally) and offsetting the carbon emissions it takes to ship them to me. But that’s just the beginning. I’m truly starting to understand the woes of the organizers of this year’s Democratic National Convention, even if they had $70 million to work with. Pfft… pocket change in terms of going uber-green.

Read more of this story »

Living here in Austin, I can attest that under the right conditions, bamboo doesn’t need the care (read: water) that even organic cotton does in order to thrive.  There are yards all over the city where bamboo planted as a privacy screen has busted out all over.  It’s like kudzu, only taller.

So the idea of using bamboo for fabric is extremely appealing.  Plant it, ignore it, harvest it, fabricize it. It’s that last part that’s a problem.  How exactly is thick, reedy bamboo turned into soft, fuzzy fabric anyway?

Read more of this story »

The report, Green Jobs: Towards Decent Work in a Sustainable, Low-Carbon World, says that shifting employment and investment patterns adopted in response to the challenges of global warming are already creating new jobs in many sectors and economies, and could create millions more across both the developed and developing world. In sum, UNEP predicts nothing short of a revoluton in the way the world economy will look over the next two decades.

In other highlights, the report has also found that:

Read more of this story »

…Inhabiting it uses no energy–neither heating nor cooling is an issue.  While it might seem like it at first, a tent is not just a summer option…  Look like cramped quarters?

Well, it’s big enough to sleep in and to store my clothes in.  And that’s all I need.  It means I will be spending more time outside, in nature…

Plus, unlike in an apartment, I have the ability to develop my home in unlimited ways!  Stay tuned for later episodes that show how I modify and enhance my living space to be more and more manageable, including temperature control, comfort and additional amenties.”

Dear Readers,

Sust Enable was my dearest fantasy.  Sust Enable meant that I would solve the entire world’s problem of environmental sustainability all by myself.  In an urban setting and with no money.  What’s more, I’d do so while producing a film about it!  Take that, thousands of years of environmental degradation!

For those of you who have followed my tumultuous three-month sustainable living experiment through my blog posts here at Sustainablog, you may think the quoted text above is a strange thing to say, or even bizarrely humorous.  Indeed it is.  Above is the exact wording of my original script to the Sust Enable episode on Shelter, last updated sometime in May.  As I sit in the video editing suite listening over my previously recorded voiceover, I cannot help but laugh out loud at the absurd, unsubstantiated statements I am making.  But these are sour laughs.

Because once, I believed these statements were true.

Read more of this story »

It’s no secret: businesses who build durable internal systems breed long term and sustainable profits.

In fact, the rule on the street, and this applies to enterprising green businesses who are past their mainstream ‘breaking point’ and are now swimming with the rest of the so-called ’sharks’, is often ‘automate or perish’.

But automation (business speak for “doing it better and faster”) is hardly a Darwinian one-way street – eco-minded companies are benefiting more than just their own bottom line by developing or partnering to develop software that automates green decision making: they are greening entire industries.

And, the three who are doing it – Green Printer, Workforce Software and Sustainable Minds – have a lot to share on what it takes to get there.

Read more of this story »

Read more of this story »

My local community garden, the Noyo Come-Unity Garden, is a very busy place in the summer. Each family plot is blooming with a variety of veggies and greens, and since each garden is different we are all able to trade with each other. Along the edge of our community garden are community beds, where we grow all kinds of veggies to feed the hungry in our area as well as flowers and beneficial herbs. We have donated pounds and pounds of fresh organic veggies to the local food bank and homeless shelter. Community gardens are a great way to help and grow your community!

Read more of this story »

I was so excited to get my ‘Quantum Hood’ midweight outer layer from New Zealand. No. That is not a picture of me in the coveted hoodie. I’m not quite as intense (or young) as this svelte model here.

I couldn’t wait to meet my little merino friends who endured shearing and I suppose quite a breeze for a little while for the sake of this amazing hoodie. It was remarkably ‘high-tech’ and smooth - not what you would expect when you see the farm and pictures of the family who runs it and of course the woolly beasts themselves.

Meet my sheep!

Read more of this story »

A www.greenprinteronline.com dispatch | You cannot stop a negative habit without knowing how much and how often you are doing it. Enter the financial “carrot”: the online environmental calculator with a finance edge. True, we at Green Printer believe that public demand, employee engagement, shareholder interest and sustainability goals are the “pressure points” for companies to cut their consumption habits and curb greenhouse gas emissions.

But today, organizations like Xerox, RecycleBank and Creative Citizen are offering more than just a climate change reason to decrease consumption: money. And, they are doing it by showing your employees the financial figures generated in conjunction with their online, environmental calculators.

Read more of this story »

But thanks to the National Wildlife Federation’s just released Campus Environment 2008 report card, conducted in partnership with Princeton Survey Research Associates International, we can at least be certain that, in addition to learning about beer and the opposite sex, our college students are getting a lesson in green.

The report follows up on its first run, back in 2001, by providing a review of programs at 1,068 institutions, grading them on an A to D scale for collective, national performance on a range of issues such as energy, water, transportation, waste reduction and environmental literacy.

Read more of this story »

My assumption is that kids are already well ahead of their parents in terms of incorporating green living (with less fuss than adults) into their lives and those of their peers. In fact, kids often pressure parents to recycle, according to a study published in the BBC.

Still, raising children to be good citizens and those that can quickly make the link between paper usage, recycling, deforestation, government action and climate change later in their life (I coin these savvy “Forest Citizens”) is not easy but it is well worth it on many levels. Here is who we are watching to help us raise good Forest Citizens as we embark on the craziness of the school year:

Read more of this story »

Read more of this story »

I really do like almost all the products I get samples of, but occasionally I get one that exceeds my expectations. This bag is one of them.

I’m not sure what I expected exactly, but from the image, I thought I would get a stiff, green shoulder/side bag that’s greatest quality would be that it is made from recycled plastic bottles (rPET).

As is often the case, a lot happens (at least in my world, no doubt for the rest of the world too) between the initial communications about a review and a sample being sent out and the actual receiving of the sample. That and the fact that my memory is a little shifty sometimes creates a really fun package opening celebration. My family will ask, “Mom, what is it?” And I honestly, usually don’t know, although if I look carefully at most labels, I can figure it out, but I restrain myself, because I love the mystery of not knowing as I marvel at some of the great and not-so-great green packaging people are coming up with these days.

Okay, that was a long setup, sorry . . . when this package came in yesterday, I pretended not to know what it was to enhance the thrill a bit, but when I opened up the recycled paper package, my daughter and I both squealed with delight. First of all the green color on this bag is much better in person. When I liberated it from the packaging, I was struck by how surprisingly soft and pliable the fabric was.

Read more of this story »

“Baa-ram-ewe, baa-ram-ewe.
To your breed, your fleece, your clan be true.
Sheep be true. Baa-ram-ewe”
-Sheep, Babe (1995)

This quote from one of our family-cult-classics sprang to mind as soon as I read the press release about this very clever company in New Zealand. Icrebreaker is an innovative sustainable clothing company that is serious about maintaining ethical manufacturing and environmental standards.  

Icebreaker CEO Jeremy Moon says sustainability has been a non-negotiable part of the company’s core philosophy since it was founded in 1994. Since then, Icebreaker has emerged as an innovator in merino-based outdoor layering systems, claiming to be the first apparel company in the world to source merino direct from growers.

Find out more about the Baacode . . .

Read more of this story »

You run an sustainable organization, receive referrals from the Internet and want a brand that’s memorable. You also want to automate your web traffic.

Enter the green widget - a ‘brand confirming’ tool you can’t overlook. If you have a brand, says Stefan Juhl, a widget will only confirm (or make others more aware of) your brand values. So, what is a widget anyway? Erick Schonfeld explains and Max Gladwell defines the role of a widget as one of the many tools a social (change) media practitioner can employ.

Read more of this story »

Special thanks to Jeff Strasburg for helping us indulge our imaginations in this series!  I’d also like to extend my gratitude to Justin for engaging me in this form.  It has been edifying to explore concepts about sustainability.  I hope that the readers of this “debate” have enjoyed the process as well, and I know I speak for Justin when I say: we welcome all comments!  This a dialog, a free exchange of ideas, so tell us yours and help to fuel the mutual inspiration.

(Author’s Note: I include the image above not only because, figuratively speaking, the “sun is setting” on our Sustainability dialog, but also because I will be travelling westward-ho! throughout the United States until the beginning of September.  My objective is to get some relief from my high-technology-based lifestyle right now, so the vacation will heavily consist of camping in national parks.  Therefore, I will blog if I am able to during this time, but if not… be prepared for both the Sust Enable episode debuts AND a bona fide blogging bonanza upon my return in early September.)

Without further ado,

Here are my final thoughts, in conclusion.

1) If you can learn to modify your life to be as close to environmental sustainability as possible, it is necessary that you proceed to do so. The human will is one of the most powerful–and dangerous–elements on the planet.  At first glance, it might feel like “too much” to give up using a flush toilet (just for an example).  But is it really?  Think about the idea.  Get familiar with it.  Picture what it would look like to use a composting toilet in your home.  Maybe start with a little one, to be used only sometimes.  Soon, the consequences may not seem all that daunting. There is always a choice. 

Don’t let your true identity and dreams for what the world could be become casualties of conforming.  You only have one life, so use it, in the most effective ways visible.  If many individuals decided that, deep in their hearts, ecocide felt wrong to them, that many persons when taken together comprise a mutiny against old, obsolete customs and beliefs.  Your little action today plays a role in a social revolution, of the “green” kind.

Read more of this story »

I deeply appreciate your thoughts and your comments from “Towards a (Re)Definition of Sustainability - #1″.  I can tell that this is something you’ve been chewing on!  Me too.

I believe that changing a million lightbulbs to CFLs is absolutely NOT sustainable, because CFLs are currently (and probably will never be) manufactured sustainably, and so that option is simply unacceptable in terms of one-Earth sustainability.  It may be more “green,” but it’s only an excuse to continue exploiting the Earth and its priceless natural arrangement.  Besides, what are the benefits of using more electricity versus not putting more and more mercury into our landfills and environments due to CFLs?  I’d like to see those numbers, too.

I think I seem radical (and truly, some of what I’ve tried has been too intense for me to even handle) because I demand sustainability NOW, and reinforce that sustainability can be possible NOW.  You are correct in saying that, in terms of basic “impact,” 10 people living off the grid makes less of a global difference than 1,000 people changing lightbulbs.  But will using “green” lightbulbs–or any kind of lightbulbs at all!–ever be one-Earth sustainable?

For more on this same kind of lens/perspective, check out Derrick Jensen.  He argues that, for instance, using less gasoline doesn’t mean all the gasoline won’t get used up.  We are simply attempting feel-good tactics to remove ourselves from the guilt that comes with this awareness: that we are utterly dooming ourselves and all of life on Earth by our worldwide actions.

So what’s the trade-off there: a life that’s slightly more inconvenient (but possibly more satisfying) that allows for life on Earth and a thriving ecosystem… or one single lifetime that is convenient, comfy and luxurious, at the expense of hundreds of lifetimes to come?  

Read more of this story »

Myth no. 1: The paper production industry is low on the GHG emitter totem pole.
Not so, actually the paper and pulp industry is the third largest polluter in both Canada and the United States. The Green Press Initiative (GPI) states that one of the biggest benefits of using recycled fiber is that it emits 38 percent less GHGs. Recycled fiber also uses 44 percent less energy to produce, and conserves up to 34 mature trees for every ton replacing virgin fiber.

Read more of this story »

In 2006, Cisco developed the Inside Green™ method of construction and became the first designer to create 100% FSC Pure sustainable upholstered furniture.

The company moved exclusively to FSC Pure certified woods on upholstered furniture, using reclaimed hardwoods for a collection of stunning case goods and the use of water based glues and environmentally friendly detergents to wash all fabrics.

Today, Cisco Home has six retail showrooms including a gallery at ABC Home Furnishings in NYC and the acclaimed LA Design Center in South Central Los Angeles.

For Related Posts on Green Design:

• Eco-Friendly Interior Design
• Rug and Interior Design Rides the Green Wave
• Interior Design Inspired by Local Salvage Centers

This week, greenwash fatigued bloggers (Gawker describes it as improbable a real news item as ‘the hot dog industry going vegetarian’) and non-profit spokespersons turned a skeptical eye on a group of direct marketing companies called the Green Marketing Coalition (GMC). Corporate clients, including Microsoft, Washington Mutual and OptimaHealth, are also in on the initiative.

GMC’s goal? Altruistic enough. According to the New York Times article “Direct marketing goes green. No, really”, these marketers are joining hands and taking small, albeit very conservative, steps to make an inherently unsustainable practice (i.e. sending wads of personal junk mail) at least a little bit greener. We have already written about junk mail solutions and naughty, catalogue-sending companies before and so we were curious about what best practices the industry funded group came up with.

Read more of this story »