One step forward, two steps back

Back in May I wrote an entry about greenwashing. In this entry, I questioned the Sierra Club's criteria for their endorsements, specifically talking about the Chevy Tahoe.

"How is the Sierra Club determining which products to endorse and should we trust them?" – D2E Blog, May 14, 2008

When we saw that the Sierra Club also endorsed Green Works by Clorox, but not any other great cleaning products (like D2E exhibitors Shaklee and Seaside Naturals, or Method or Mrs Meyers) I started to loose faith in their brand. It started to become clear that the Sierra Club was not using their brand as a stamp of approval based on open criteria, but more as a marketing tool.

Don't get me wrong, I am a capitalist 100%. I like to see nonprofits and for profits working together for a common goal. I see all three parts of sustainability as equally important; environment, social and economic. But we have to be transparent about our dealings and the goal is to create a new and improved environment for commerce. At least that is how we see it here at D2E. We see our weekend of exhibitors as the future of business. These people are doing business the way it has to be done in order for us to evolve. (See D2E Criteria here and D2E 2008 footprint here.)

So I was pleased to finally learn some details about the Sierra Club endorsements. Anya Kamenetz lays it out for us in the September issue of Fast Company. I recommend you read the whole article since Kamenetz does a good job reporting. She confirmed my suspicions about the Sierra Club, and she confirmed my belief that consumers are smarter than many marketers think. Apparently the Sierra Club has been taking an undisclosed amount of money from Clorox in exchange for the endorsement, and it made no demands for Clorox to offer recycled packaging or change the environmental profile of any other Clorox products.

"The take-home message for the Sierra Club and other nonprofits may be that they need to draw a careful distinction between two types of nonprofit/for-profit relationships: cause-related marketing and endorsements. .... In endorsement relationships, on the other hand, a group such as the Forest Stewardship Council or the Sustainable Fishery Advocates puts its seal of approval on a product that claims some mission-related benefits. No money should be involved, or that seal isn't going to be worth much." – Fast Company, September 2008

My take on this whole issue is that we are moving one step forward and two steps back. I am happy to see nonprofits working with for profits. But obviously they need to be careful about how they do this. I am also happy that a large company like Clorox is working to create products that are better for the environment and better for people. These large companies can touch more people, thereby expanding the natural market and educating more consumers. There is a moral to learn from the Sierra Club's story, and hopefully it will help us move that one step closer to becoming a sustainable economy.

By the way, in the same issue of Fast Company there is an interview with Jeff Swartz, CEO of Timberland. We are big Swartz fans here. This is a business person that is walking the walk.

Policy and Art are alive in Boston

While reading the Globe this morning, in my effort to be more informed of our policy makers, I was again heartened to read not only about progress in our local government and non profit sector, but also I read about some great art. So this Monday morning I am feeling all warm and fuzzy about living in a city and state that is taking action and growing culturally. In this morning's Globe I found two articles I'd like to pass on. One about Green Collar Jobs and one about a local heavy metal artist, Skunk who makes robotic sculptures out of old bicycle parts.

In regards to the green collar jobs, our job panel from this past year's show was a direct response to Van Jones' call for action. We at down:2:earth are trying to use our show as a forum for discussion and a resource center. So we brought together some young people working in the green sector with Galen Nelson from the City of Boston to talk about opportunities and to inspire people. We were surprised to see how many people over 20 years old attended the workshop, and that taught us that we should expand our job related event this year. D2E can't be the answer for every sustainable issue, but we offer a great opportunity for people to talk and learn. So please let us know if there is an issue that you want to be covered. We are working on our programming for the April 2009 show, and we want to hear your thoughts.

On Social Justice from today's article:
"We're going to need to see a lot more of this stuff on a much larger scale than we have before," says Penn Loh, executive director of Roxbury's Alternatives for Community & Environment, an organization focused on eradicating environmental racism that is also a member of Community Labor United. "This could be as big as the New Deal and the restructuring of the economy after the stock market crash and the Great Depression. We're at a turning point in human history."

On Skunk:
We love Skunk.

Lucy loves Bison too!

While grocery shopping last week I found a new toy for Lucy - the Protected Wildlife Bison Dog Toy. These stuffed animals represent endangered animals that are under protection. Sergeant's, has partnered up with the National Wildlife Federation and will make a donation to the NWF for every toy that is registered. Please note that the toy has to be registered on-line for the donation to be made.

NWF has three main missions - 1. Confronting Climate Change 2. Restoring Wildlife Habitat 3. Connecting People with Nature. So in celebration of the NWF and our new Bison toy, Lucy and I decided to head outdoors. We need to get out of the office and remember why we are working so hard.

FishPhone = Phat.

Ever wonder what type of seafood is the safest for your health and the environment? If you’re like me, you usually only remember to ponder this before ordering dinner in a restaurant, or before buying seafood in the supermarket, when the information isn’t readily available.

Enter FishPhone, “the nation’s first sustainable seafood text messaging service,” brought to you by the nonprofit Blue Ocean Institute.

To vet your seafood choice, text 30644 with the message FISH and the name of the fish you’re considering. They send a text back with their assessment of the species health and better alternatives to fish with significant environmental concerns.

Fish are assigned a color from the best option (GREEN) to the worst option (RED) based on environmental concerns (like habitat damage from fishing/farming the species or overfishing) and human health concerns (like high levels of mercury and PCBs).

To try out the service I texted “FISH Red Snapper” that I ordered last time I was in a restaurant, and within 30 seconds got the following unfortunate text back: “Fr: Fish Phone Snapper (RED) significant environmental concerns; fisheries management is poor and populations are declining.” Oops.

Blue Ocean’s Guide to Ocean Friendly Seafood is also available as a website, a webpage for your cell phone or PDA, and for technophobes, as a wallet-sized pamphlet you can print out.

I added FishPhone to my cell phone’s contact list so I won’t make the wrong choice again!

Saving trees, one fax at a time

Since we in the D2E office are planning an environmental expo, we are becoming very conscious of the impact of even the tiniest actions of our business. For instance, every day we get at least one advertisement faxed to us. Ironically, we often receive ads for ink cartridges. Do the ink cartridge companies really think we’re going to call them after their junk faxes use up all our ink?

We’ve started collecting the faxes and other pieces of one-sided paper in a cardboard box for reuse. The ads really add up! We are also calling the advertisers to remove our fax number from their list, which takes a little extra time, but will save a lot of paper.

As for the paper we can’t reuse, the D2E office signed up for Earthworm Recycling about 6 months ago. Earthworm is a nonprofit based in Somerville that recycles mixed office paper for businesses. We recently received a report on our progress; we have already recycled 481 pounds of paper, which is roughly equivalent to 4 trees.

Interesting factoid from Earthworm’s website:

Did You Know . . . Enough office waste paper is thrown away each year to build a 12- foot wall between Los Angeles and New York City?

Beware Toxic Toothpaste and Lethal Lipstick: The Campaign for Safe Cosmetics

I was floored by a recent conversation I had with Mia Davis of the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics. I never knew that beauty and personal care products like shampoo, conditioner, lotion, aftershave, and makeup aren’t regulated by the FDA or any other branch of the US government. (read more here)

Unfortunately it is common (and legal) for companies to use ingredients in these products that are known or suspected carcinogens, mutagens or reproductive toxins, like mercury and lead.

The Compact for Safe Cosmetics is a pledge taken by over 700 companies to remove toxic chemicals and replace them with safer alternatives. Signatories pledge to follow the European Union’s laws for cosmetics, which are the strictest currently available. Notably absent are all the big cosmetic companies, as well as some that I thought were the best, like Aveda, Origins (manufactured by Estée Lauder), and The Body Shop (manufactured by L’Oreal).

The Environmental Working Group (EWG), one of the founding organizations of the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics, operates the Skin Deep database, a safety guide to cosmetics and personal care products. On this website you can type in a brand, product, or ingredient to find it’s toxicity score, health concerns linked to the ingredients, and safer alternative products.

I was upset to see my facial cleanser rated 7 out of 10 - a high hazard – with ingredients linked to cancer, reproductive toxicity, neurotoxicity, immunotoxicity, allergies, and bioaccumulation. I will be replacing that ASAP. I wonder if it's bad to throw such products into the trash?

Check out this YouTube video about “Fragrance” by EWG.

WorldChanging = LifeChanging

In my sparse spare time, I’ve been making my way through WorldChanging: A Users Guide to the 21st Century. This life-changing book is a compendium of state-of-the-art sustainability solutions, and should be required reading of anyone who will live a substantial portion of their lives during the 21st century.

WorldChanging thinks way outside the green box, bringing together ideas on how to turn technology, social networking, crafting, and everybody’s everyday lives into agents of positive change for the environment, human rights, and social justice. They also have a really forward-thinking blog on related topics.

The book was designed to be attractive, but with minimal environmental impact. As disclosed in a full environmental benefits statement, it was printed on 100% recycled New Leaf paper saving 3,866 fully grown trees, and the production was powered by wind power, resulting in a savings of over 360,000 pounds of greenhouse gases.

Check it out at your library, pick up a used copy at your local independent book seller, buy it online at Powell’s, and share it with your friends and neighbors.

WOW! What an event!

On December 12 (two weeks ago today) I had the honor and privilege to participate in the Citizen Schools WOW! event. Citizen Schools is a leading national education initiative that uniquely mobilizes thousands of adult volunteers to help improve student achievement by teaching skill-building apprenticeships after-school. The event that I attended was focused on design and I was honored to be a judge.

Teams of middle school students were paired up with local architecture firms (and one development firm) to work on a public space. They could choose between the Jackson Square Station in Jamaica Plain/Roxbury, or Sullivan Square Station in Charlestown/Somerville. Each team was asked to submit concepts for a new design of the station headhouse (entry to station), a monument and the public space around it.

The value that I saw in this project was huge. First of all, kids are interacting with adult professionals. This makes a career in design more attainable. Secondly, they are learning that the design of our public spaces has an affect on how we interact as humans. They learned to observe the current spaces and be critical of them. What was working with the space? What was not working? How can we improve it? I did not start to ask these questions until I was a working adult, so to expose this thinking to kids puts our society at an advantage. In our efforts to become a more sustainable society, design plays a vital role.

Before I go off on a tangent about how important design is for our communities I will close by saying that Citizen Schools is a great organization to support – through donations or volunteering. If you are interested in the future of our communities you can help by getting involved with the kids. And I will recommend that everyone read "The Death and Life of Great American Cities" by Jane Jacobs. This book is what woke me up and it made me look at my surroundings in a much different way. Here is a NY Times review of the book. Ask your local book shop if they have it - and if they do not, ask them to order it.

Protect Our Winters

I recently learned about Protect Our Winters. This is a great organization for many reasons - but what I like most about it is that it speaks to the young skiers and riders. We can often get caught up in the "not my issue" mentality. So I like seeing organizations that target specific markets - this way the message is more likely to reach everyone.

Check out their website to see their projects and what they are all about. I love a white Christmas, and I hope my great great grandchildren will too.