Sustainable Initiatives by Andrea Dean » Sustainability Chronicles

Green Collar Activism

admin — Thu, 11 Sep 2008 07:24:10 +0000

This weeks eco-action was testifying during a Food and Energy Sustainability Committee meeting of the Hawaii County Council. It all began a few months ago when I read an interview with Van Jones in the Sun Magazine entitled Bridging the Green Divide. The interview really helped to me to rethink the environmental transformation of our nation and our economy. I dropped off a copy of the article at Council Chairperson Pete Hoffmann’s office and he took the ball and ran with it. Van Jones’s organization is called Green for All and they have a Local Government Green Jobs Pledge. The pledge offers specific strategies to governments to help build “a green economy from the bottom up.” Van Jones’s new book is called The Green Collar Economy- How one solution can fix our two biggest problems- meaning the economy and the environment. Van Jones and Majora Carter co-founded Green for All and they advocate that Green Collar Jobs are: good strong middle class jobs, provide pathways out of poverty, require new skills, tend to be local jobs, strengthen communities and Oh By The Way… solve our environmental problems.

Green For All and its partners lobbied to make sure that the 2007 Energy Bill included two critical provisions: the Green Jobs Act and the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grant Program. The purpose of these programs is to make investments in green-collar job creation and job training which they believe to be essential to building a green economy which lifts people out of poverty. The Green for All Vision is so beautiful because it seeks to improve living and working conditions for low-income people, who are impacted more heavily by environmental problems than “eco-elites” like you and I who can afford to buy hybrid cars, organic foods and live in clean and beautiful places with alternative energy.

The Hawaii County Council Resolution 731-08 was passed unanimously and encouraged the County Administration to pursue getting a piece of the funding that will come to states (hopefully, after Congress votes to fund the Act in the 2009 appropriations bill). Send an email to our Congressional delegation telling them to support full funding for the Green Jobs Act and the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grant Program in the 2009 Appropriations Bill. Hawaii County Council Resolution 731-08 also asks the administration to prepare a list of green collar jobs that would be needed to make the County energy self-sustainable by March 1, 2009, as per the Hawaii Clean Energy Initiative.

Also on hand to testify was Brent Norris from Green Collar Technologies, a non-profit organization with a mission to educate green collar workers on Hawai`i Island.

The resolution will now have to pass the full Council, but that does not look like a problem since 6 out of 8 council members were in the committee meeting and voted aye. A great first step to be sure. Now I would like to see the County Council, and for that matter the State Legislature, adopt the Green Jobs Pledge.

Big applause to Councilmember Pete Hoffmann for introducing the resolution and to the rest of the councilmembers on the Food and Energy Sustainability Committee for their unanimous support.

Go Green with Andrea Dean- Authenticity and Compelling Story in Marketing

admin — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 21:08:54 +0000

Mary Traynor was visiting with me this weekend on the Big Island. We were working on the Marketing Plan for my company. We are working on the concept Go Green with Andrea Dean. My company is focused on the journey of sustainable living and working and employs coaching, consulting, projects and education in the righteous pursuit of living a deep, meaningful and eco life. Following is an interview/brainstorming session with Mary focused on Authenticity and the importance of a Compelling Story in marketing.

Junk Mail is Good for the Environment!

admin — Sat, 02 Aug 2008 06:31:30 +0000

The volume of paper that comes through the mail to us is really overwhelming. Here is a breakdown of the mail we receive:

- Letters and newspaper clippings from my mother (heavy volume, but unavoidable)
- Bills
- Junk mail (largely from environmental groups we support)
- Catalogs

I have attacked the paper incursion before, but it is something that you have to keep up with. To get off the marketer’s mass mailing lists you have to “opt out” with the DMA (Direct Marketing Association). The opting out process with the DMA only lasts three years and I guess the time went by quickly because here I am drowning in junk mail again and opting out again. Today I did three things:

1. Registered for on-line bill pay with my bank. I have resisted this up until now because of my other information management problem- too much email and time spent on the computer. However, I am now banking on the fact that this will save paper and it will be easier to pay the bills online.
2. Registered with catalogchoice.org. This is great- you register and choose the catalogs you don’t want to get. They notify the company and you won’t get the catalog any more. This is an ongoing process of collecting the catalogs you get and selecting them online. Very easy to use.
3. Opted Out from the aforementioned DMA lists. These guys drive me nuts. When I last “opted out” I guess we were still in the stone age because I remember calling them and asking to opt out. They required me to send three separate letters opting out- one each for me, my husband, and my son. My son was then about 10 years old and already receiving a copious volume of solicitations from CitiCard, apparently because he had an American Airlines mileage plus number. But anyway, after sending them their three letters, they sent me three letters back, which we then had to sign and send back.

Now that we are in the technological age of higher enlightenment, I was able to opt out online with the DMA. When I first went to the DMA website, I accidentally clicked on the DO NOT MAIL link, thinking this was the place to opt out. Unfortunately, this was a link leading to the DMA’s issue advocacy against measures in many states to get ride of unwanted mail. The correct link to opt out of junk mail is DMAchoice.org. After some propaganda about how beneficial direct mail is in our lives, I was asked to register online. Cleverly, they have now captured my email address. The registration process required me to enter a verification word. You know, the words written in that scary monster script? My verification word was “Gross”, strangely appropriate. After the initial registration, they thoughtfully offered me the option of receiving “fewer or additional catalogs” or “less or additional promotional mail”.

To make the process even more difficult and un-user friendly they required that I enter my credit card information so they can verify that it is really me opting out of all of the unwanted mail. For goodness sake- it’s not like opting out of marketing mail is an issue of national security. It was easier for me to set up my online bill pay.

But wait- before confirming that I am ABSOLUTELY SURE that I want to opt out, the DMA provided me with important information about the environmental benefits of unwanted mail. This is the message I got after entering my credit card information:

Important: You have selected to eliminate all mailings from organizations participating in the DMA Mail Preference Service.
Are you sure you want to proceed?
The average household can save $1422 dollars per year from marketing offers. By eliminating all mail offers not only will you miss out on these savings, but you’ll miss out on at least 80% of all commercial offers and discounts!
And you will miss the environmental benefits of shopping at home rather than driving to the mall!

By replacing just two shopping trips to the mall each year with shopping by catalogs or direct mail, DMA estimates that Americans could:

* Reduce the amount we drive by 3.3 billion miles.
* Reduce carbon dioxide emissions by more than 3 billion pounds.
* Save more than $490 million on gas costs.

When you click here, your name will be removed from future consumer prospect lists and you will see a significant reduction in all catalog and other commercial offers. If you wish to reconsider, click here.

Yes, well, the fact that I could survive the online process of opting out of junk mail (or marketing offers) proves that I am computer literate enough to shop online. Thereby helping to save the 100 million tress and huge amount of energy that is takes to create and dispose of junk mail, as well as the carbon dioxide that I save by not going to the mall. Although, of course, consumer items that are manufactured and shipped to your door have a carbon footprint as well. The root of this problem is not junk mail, it is consumerism. But one thing at a time.

By the way, you can go even further with this. EcoCycle.org is a great resource and goes even deeper into ways you can reduce junk mail.

Air Drying

admin — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 05:19:02 +0000

I know it’s a sin, but I love drying my clothes in the dryer. Unlike my husband who grew up enjoying the Yankee pleasure of stiff, abrasive towels, I grew up in suburban Long Island where my towels were fluffed in the dryer. I am still getting used to being exfoliated after every shower but am finding that I use the same towel many more times. The towel softens up after a while and the thought of going through the stiffy phase again is a deterrent.

It’s 9:40 at night and I just realized that I forgot my wet laundry in the washer. With a sound akin to a whine I said to my husband Topher, “Can you put my clothes in the dryer?” In his authoritative, bossy voice, he answered- “Honey, you got to walk the walk and talk the talk.” I was so tired but Topher talked me down and offered to come and help me. So there we were hanging laundry at 10 pm at night in the dark. It was certainly a lot more fun doing it together. Hell- I guess it was so cool that I am writing about it now. I wouldn’t be writing about what it was we were sacrificing. Most likely some form of mindless entertainment. Ahhh… another eco diva’s delicate morals not defiled.

Finally, She Remembers Her Reusable Bags

admin — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 09:34:49 +0000

Sustainability Chronicles continues with Andrea finding a reusable shopping bag she can remember because it is cleverly hidden in the bottom of her purse!

No More Styrofoam Take Out Containers

admin — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 08:49:39 +0000

My eco action for this week is to ban Styrofoam and other take-out containers from my life. I bought these great glass containers at Wal-Mart and will keep them in my car to use when I have leftovers or take-out at a restaurant.

Leaving on a Jet Plane

admin — Wed, 18 Jun 2008 19:21:49 +0000

Week three of taking one eco-action per week finds me preparing for a trip to New York- for the weekend. When you live in Hawaii, there is no better way to ratchet up your carbon footprint than leaving the island. The total lack of reliable and comprehensive public transportation on the Big Island also means that we drive in our cars a lot even when we are on the island. Since so many Hawaii residents have family on the U.S. mainland, travel to the mainland is unavoidable.

I was fantasizing about arriving into New York harbor, after a hard month at sea on the deck of a clipper ship, but unfortunately there was not a sailing vessel packed with hardened travelers and vermin departing to get me there on time. This snarky comment just prompted me to check and see if there is actually a way to sail to the U.S. mainland on a clipper ship. To my surprise I found that there are majestic sailing ships at sea, although at this point they are employed to take people on luxury vacations as opposed to utilitarian travel. More in alignment with what I am talking about, I found out about the journey of Junk- a sailing raft made of plastic bottles. They are sailing from California to Hawaii to raise awareness about the amount of plastic in our oceans.

Arriving in Penn Station and ascending up to street level outside of Madison Square Garden, the first thing I saw was a huge bottle of Ranch dressing suspended from the side of a building. Being that my primary focus is trying to be more green, my first thought upon looking around was “we’re fucked”. That is until I remembered that our brothers and sisters in Manhattan actually have a lower carbon footprint than those of us righteous rural dwellers- 30% less. My next thought was “Wow, Andrea, you self-righteous eco-elitist, get a grip.”

At any rate, I clearly needed to do something to offset the carbon generated by my trip. If you are still on the fence about offsetting your carbon, check out David Suzuki’s website, which is one of the most informative sources that I have found on the whole topic. There are a number of websites where you can calculate and offset your carbon from traveling: Planetair, My Climate , TerraPass. However, I chose to offset my carbon with Evolution Sage, a local Hawaii company that invests in renewable energy right here in Hawaii. My trip alone contributed 4,305 pounds of CO2, but I decided that I should just offset the whole enchilada right now- my home and home office. I have previously offset my travel to and from work, so I left that out of this calculation. I would like to offset more, as I know that I am barely making a dent by offsetting our electrical and transportation. What about the carbon impact of all of our consumption? But, I will need to save that for another day. For $258 I offset the 31,600 pounds of CO2 that my family spews into the atmosphere. If we make another trip to the mainland this year for a family wedding- it will be back to the carbon calculator for me. Am I now guilt free? Do I have a license to pollute? No and No. I continue to look for ways to reduce our electrical and transportation fuel consumption. Show me the clipper ship. Or the alternative fuel jets.

The Search for Eco Fashion

admin — Fri, 13 Jun 2008 03:18:59 +0000

In preparation for a business trip on the East Coast, I needed some new clothes. (I will explore the concept of needs vs. wants another time!) Before upscale resorts located in Hawaii, clothes shopping was something that you had to do at K-Mart. Now, of course, we have on-line shopping and many cool little boutiques in the resort areas. I decided to see if I could find any eco-clothes. I kept my eyes peeled for organic cotton and bamboo, although I am personally partial to organic cotton.

One shop in Kailua-Kona called Eden had a brand called Green Dragon. I can see that the surf industry has finally caught the green wave. Taking a hint from Patagonia, the original, and still the leader in environmentally friendly business. At the surf shops, I found quite a few organic cotton t-shirts for guys from Quicksilver, Local Motion. Quicksilver also has a Choose Your Cause hangtag, which indicates that they will donate 3% of net sales to teh Quicksilver foundation. You can then go online and Choose your Cause. I bought a great t-shirt that was made by a local company called The Organik.

There was limited environmentally friendly clothing options for women in the stores. I also did a pretty good online search, but was not able to find anything that fit my needs for business and organic. I ended up ordering a casual shirt from Patagonia and then went standard for the rest.

Paper or Plastic, Again?

admin — Sun, 08 Jun 2008 02:31:09 +0000

Yup- did it again, standing at the check out with no canvas bag. Once again, I carted the groceries to the car, but this time there was a full cart, not just OJ and apples. Luckily there was a big box in my trunk that I had just emptied a bunch of used books out of. I filled it with my groceries, proud of my ingenuity. When I got home I just carried the box upstairs. Such an elegant solution – that is until it broke and I dumped the groceries, eggs and all, at the top of the stairs. However… I did save 8 -10 plastic bags!

It has become obvious to me that I need a two prong approach.
1. I need a reusable shopping bag that fits in my purse, LIVES in my purse. I found a great selection at ReusableBags.com
I am still waiting for it to arrive, but I have high hopes for this.
2. In the event that I forget to put the reusable bags back into my purse after emptying them, which is likely given my current track record, I need a back-up system. I just purchased a plastic (the ubiquitous plastic) milk crate from Wal-Mart (boy, it’s hard to stay pure) and now I keep that in the trunk of my car.

This turned out to work very well. Once again, I found myself standing in the checkout line at the grocery store, “Paper or Plastic?” “Neither” I burst out, I will role the cart to my car and empty the groceries into my new milk crate. The cashier was so curious about this system that she offered to help me. She handed me the groceries and I put them into the crate. The cashier suggested I just bring in the crate next time and put it in the cart. Yet another innovation! Carrying the milk crate upstairs was easier than carrying a bunch of bags. Long live the pinky finger! Never again to be strangulated by plastic bags.

Bring the Groceries to the Bag

admin — Thu, 05 Jun 2008 02:20:13 +0000

I decided to start slowly and just try to stop using plastic bags at the grocery store. Using a canvas shopping bag is Green 101, after all.

My son was home sick with a cold and requested that I stop at the store for orange juice and apples. Standing in front of the apples, about to grab a plastic bag, I realized that I left my canvas shopping bag in the car AGAIN. I was talking to a friend about addiction the other day. Apparently a conversion, similar to a religious conversion is required to break an addiction. Well, my epiphany has not come yet, so I am relying somewhat feebly on my intellect to help me make the change.

So there I am in front of the apple display- I decided just to put the apples directly into my basket without a plastic bag. I don’t even know why I need a plastic bag for apples. Because my mother always did it? Because that is just the way it is done? I can understand wanting your veggies in plastic bags, otherwise they get limp in the fridge. (Note to self to check alternatives to that one! Almost Vegetarian has a good idea for glass containers.) I can’t think of any good reason to keep apples in a plastic bag. Didn’t people in the old days keep apples in their cellars or something?

My friend Terry told me the other day that when he forgets his reusable bags he just wheels the cart out to his car- sans bags. Great idea! That is what I did. Now I aways say, “If you can’t bring the bag to the groceries, bring the groceries to the bag.”

Then, of course, I had to bring the basket back into the food store, which is the same round trip distance had I just returned to the car for my bags in the first place. But wait! There is a point. I was not backtracking, which is important. There is also an important new idea evolving from this. If you have ever (and I know you have) carried multiple bags (paper, plastic, canvas- whatever) into your house from your car, you know that it is a pain. I always try to carry too much, two bags in my arms, one hanging off my pinky finger, cutting off my blood flow. How about an easy to carry, sturdy, re-usable box that I keep in my car? Taking a clue from Costo-they never ask paper or plastic- it is box or nothing.