Going Green in Tie-dye: Bonnaroo 2010

There is no argument over whether hippies are green or not. That is not under investigation. At Our Green Book, we aren’t too concerned about a few kids keen on getting their kicks on tie-dyes and dreads because, naturally, that’s what Bonnaroo is – a mecca for 80,000 college kids, hippies, middle-aged men and hipsters alike forgetting the real world and living the good life for 4 peaceful days of music. We are, however, a major magazine concerned with the general population making beneficial decisions. So why Bonnaroo? Why this popular, hippy convention flooding with freaks in orange Volkswagons driving from far distances, wasting huge amounts of energy, creating tons upon tons of waste, just to power massive stages… just to wallow in the vibes of music? Is it not disingenuous?

Planet Roo

Perhaps. But while there seems to be much wasting going on, there is a finely tuned conscious behind the masses of all these festival goers… something or someone behind the controls working towards a goal, not a couple hundred thousands honest bucks, but the future of a sustainable planet, nudging each and every member to think about what their impacts are on the Earth. It can be seen the very instant you walk into the festival grounds. All around, there are hundreds of trash cans/waste stations manned by “Trash Talkers” – volunteers who decipher whether to recycle, compost or throw away. In Planet Roo, where a whole section of tents filled with non-profit organizations such as Greenpeace and other local and international organizations volunteers educate, educate, educate the concertgoers on pursuing a sustainable planet. There are Earth promoting documentaries playing every hour or so, discussions and hands on forums hosted by different non-profits, and numerous debates taking place on The Solar Stage, a stage powered with photovoltaic cells (the stage also hosts several bands). You can see that Bonnaroo invests in its plan down to the very cup you drink your beer out of: they are made from corn and are 110 percent compostable.

Somewhere in there is a giant pile of recycling

The festival, yes, may have a reputation for drug binges, lice, morbid heat and mud, and the name itself, Bonnaroo in Louisianan, may mean having a really good time, but where there are good vibes, there is an eagerness and excitement to learn, and the Bonnaroo staff provided both.

Two birds with one stone

The Festival started in 2001, and since then, the organizers have always discussed the importance of the Earth. Director, Rick Farman, says that every year the efforts to green the festival become stronger. Their concentration comes down to improved composting and recycling tactics and, in the near future, to turn completely solar. Farman said of the initiative: “We’re putting in a solar installation to generate one-third of the festival’s energy needs, and we hope to become totally solar in the next few years.” Nearly everything, originally considered waste by the layman, including plates, cups, forks, toilet paper, napkins and basically everything else, was made from post consumer, recylable/compostable material. Last year, out of 4,090 tons of garbage scattered around the grounds after 4 decadent days, half was recycled and about 12 percent was composted. Only 1,420 cubic yards went into actual landfills. The 12 percent of compost, equaling about 30 tons, stayed on the festival grounds and was used in the garden where many of the vendors got their food. Recycled products went to local waste management centers. Of all of the generators behind the 12 or so massive stages, each was powered with bio-diesel.

While action is perhaps the most important, education and inspiration are a necessity for our future. As part of the green initiative, Bonnaroo hired a large green waste management team, two small companies called Clean Vibes and Carbon Shredders. Besides serving as the heart behind the waste management, both companies aimed at educating the community at large, while providing some fun. A competition was created for all the concert goers, challenging everyone to collect the most bottles and cans, the winner receiving a ticket to next year’s festival. Bottles and cans could also be exchanged for points in which you could receive tee shirts and other fun stuff.

But perhaps most insipiring for the event and its green future, was a one-roomed abode abutted right off a main drag of the campsite. It was created by a group of concertgoers, made with windows and doors and walls… built completely out of crushed cans. An immobilized bike was set up near the base of the fort that acted as can crusher for anyone who wanted to ride it. The wheel of the bike also acted as a machine for a conveyer belt that would climb as the wheels turned. As the cans were crushed while pedaling, the conveyer belt would move the cans up and dump them into the foundation around the structure, thus creating the walls. Different Bonnarooers could come by whenever they wanted and get to recycling. It seems the vibes from previous years had inspired a little love for mother Earth. And that’s what Bonnaroo is all about – living the good life and spreading some Earth saving vibes.

Beef: Feed for a Revolution

Original Photography

Meat eaters are taking some flak these days. Leaders of the green movement have pointed angry fingers at the gruesome details incorporated with the production of beef. Documentaries such as Food Inc. and Super Size Me have underlined our country’s oblivious effort at “eating” mother Earth to death, spreading some light to the ignorant. Although there haven’t been riots, yet, the strong words are right – one fifth of human greenhouse gasses are emitted by the beef industry. The fuel used to produce their feed, the animal’s methane release, and the deforestation caused for land all rank amidst the top catalysts of global warming.

But there is a kind of beef that will satisfy the stomach of even the most maniacal tree hugger. We’re not talking tofurkey or that fecal looking excuse your hippy aunt will bring out at reunions, we’re talking all-American, grade A, ranch raised Beef – cows raised out on the open range, grazing on the fresh grass. While it seems old school, progression is not always gleaming with neon lights and touch screens.

The concept of grass fed beef is quite simple: the cows roam; they eat grass and they continually seek out newer, greener pastures. As a former, natural member to the great-plains eco-system, the cows actually cultivate the land, fertilizing the grass with their waste as they roam. While they continue through the prairies and fields, the grass behind them grows back, sucking up carbon from the atmosphere. There are different techniques certain farmers use in order to maintain the freshest grass and healthiest cows, but overall, the results are inspiring for beef eaters: meat from grass-fed animals requires only one calorie of fossil fuel to produce two calories of food, where as grain and vegetable crops require anywhere from 5 to 10 calories of fossil-fuel for every calorie of food produced.

On the other hand, sitting next to the grass fed beef in the meat aisle of your run of the mill grocery store, is grain fed beef patties and steaks. Maybe appearing a little cheaper, this beef is considerably worse for you and for Mother Earth, and there is no surprise why: the cows are raised like car parts in a factory, or like living in a tenement building compared to a cabin in the woods with fresh air – disease festers in the unsanitary, close quarters. The cows are mass-produced and fed hormones and grains, on the cheapest amount of land. The conditions are simply improper and foreign to the cow’s immune system, leading to the use of antibiotics, ammonia cleansing solutions and other weird techniques to right the wrongs. But inevitably, sickness spreads and mass-amounts of methane is released. Federal health officials estimate that tens of thousands of people are sickened annually by the e coli pathogen, a disease found in the feces of cows. Last year, a girl was paralyzed from grain-fed meat that was eventually recalled in Minnesota.

Grass fed beef is much healthier. According to a report in Nutrition Journal, it has lower levels of unhealthy fats and greater levels of omega-3 fatty acids, which are important for cardiovascular. When cooked, the grass-fed beef is not oozing with grease, but sitting pretty like a nice hunk of meat. It is also lower in dietary cholesterol; it is packed with vitamins A and E as well as numerous antioxidants. According to the Surgeon General, the cows have about twice the levels of conjugated linoleic acid, or CLA isomers, which may have cancer fighting properties and lower the risk of diabetes and other health problems.

So why, despite its purely archaic features, are we still eating what we have come to believe as “normal” beef? Perhaps it is the taste? Some backwards folk believe that taste is not actually subjective and that the public will not be able to back the product because of its grassy flavor. Others, like fine restaurants all over cities, are serving it up, believing it tastes fine – even better. We decided to give you a list of restaurants serving up grass fed beef so that you could decide for yourself. The evidence is there, it’s just about making right decisions for a sustainable community. Also, join coops, shop at farmer’s markets or Whole Foods – they’ll hook you up.

Here’s a link of restaurants selling grass fed beef: http://www.cenyc.org/greenmarket/chefswhobuy

Here’s a link for farmers markets in New York selling locally grown foods: http://www.cenyc.org/97greenmarket

The New Open Road

It is not green to drive a minivan to the other side of the country. The blissful past that saw anonymous middle class men secretly polishing up their hogs and waiting for that one day to whip out to some nature reserve on a distant coast, is slowly turning into an ignorant future. Maybe it’s the wind through the hair, maybe it’s meeting new people in new places; either way, there is something primitive and fresh about escaping monotony on the open road.

It is one of our nation’s finest traditions – the great American road trip, and it has received some unfavorable heat. With scientists making doomsday predictions, inflated gas prices, and long, ugly wars fought for foreign oil, is road tripping becoming just another fleeting, nostalgic story? The new thing your aunt brags about, carbon counting, has become popular, and detrimental to racing a van across the country, simply for the joy of doing so; some folk would have you think it’s depressingly selfish.

Yet there is hope on the horizon.

While in the past, the buffoons in the oil industry nearly killed the electric car (blame it on the media, maybe the government or even yourself, however the oil companies are certainly a culprit), it still exists. But to trek across the country in an electric car today is simply absurd. The cars can only travel a 100 miles or so before they run out of juice. Depending on your geographical location, you might make it past your neighbor’s mail box, and then charging the battery takes about three hours. You might make it out of your neighborhood before sunset.

But some are changing the game. Already, the eco-conscious pioneers are strapping their hybrids and hippy vans with photovoltaic cells, giving their rides an extra 20 miles on a clear day. The intelligent car companies, like Toyota and their hybrid series, are doing the solar thing too. Nissan has a fully electric car and is continually striving to increase its battery life. Best Buy is selling a line of electric motorcycles that can reach speeds of 100 miles per hour.

Getting involved as well is the government. Out West, Washington, Oregon and California have come together to create a “green freeway.” They are projecting that within this year, Interstate 5, stretching from Canada to Mexico, will be lined with renewable fueling sources such as recharged batteries, pumps with bio-fuel, ethanol, hydrogen and compressed natural gas. Obama recently bolstered up the public transit budget with hefty billions, promoting states to invest in renewable fueled transportation. His preposition is to create a high speed rail system across the U.S. that if you read our train post recently, you would know all about. It would likely, according to the Center for Clean Air Policy, result in 29 million fewer car trips and 500,000 fewer plane flights each year, saving six billion pounds of carbon dioxide emissions – the equivalent to removing a million cars from the road annually.

Perhaps it is the sad end to the mini-van and the loud boom of the Hog. The road trip has not died but evolved. My advice is take some time off, buy a used hippie van, convert it into an electric/bio-diesel hybrid, strap it with some solar panels, maybe a detachable, mini, wind turbine, mark up a map with nature reserves, and head West, or East, depending on your preference. Buy local foods. Drink at local brew pubs. Get rugged. Bathe in the ocean. Maybe ride a bike through the Rockies. Pull a Forest Gump and run, run, run. If you’re not into the whole treading softly thing, buy the new, fire apple red, Ferrari Hybrid, zip out into the sunset and donate a lot of money to some nature reservation project to keep your conscious clear (http://www.carbonfund.org/).

Perhaps the predictions were correct and Manhattan, Cape Cod and New Orleans went underwater, and San Francisco split off during some epic earthquake… now is the time to discover the other side of the country.

Planet 100 – 100 seconds of Weekly Planet News

Sustainable Brands Conference 2010 – Monterey, CA

As AVI Publishing’s CEO, and my deep desire to become enriched in “all things Sustainable”, I made the 3000 mile journey from New York City to the scenic coastline of Northern California. The Monterey Conference Center and the Portola Hotel & Spa, located in the heart of historic Monterey, was the breeding ground of unbelievable inspiration. Four full days, filled with intense learning, networking, thought leadership programs, think-tank applications and remarkable lectures was the nature of my experience. Every aspect of this event was fruitful. Every person I met was inspirational. Every idea I captured had its merits. Here are some highlights of my experience – and its only the first two days:

Monday June 7th – 9AM-12PM Workshop:
Driving Sustainable Culture Change Through Employee
Engagement
Led By: Mike Mercer

Monday June 7th 1:30-4:30 Workshop
Breaking through the Green Clutter: Groundbreaking Campaign Sells Sustainability through Cereal, and Urges North Americans to “Get on the Path.”
Led By: Maria Emmer-Aanes, Marty McDonald and Hilary

Tuesday June 8th – 9AM – 10:45AM – Lectures

Welcome and Morning Kick Off:
Gil Friend, CEO/Founder, Natural Logic, Inc.
SB’10 opens with a look at some of the key market drivers and trends shaping today’s sustainable business marketplace.

The Unfolding Green Brands Landscape:
Notes on the Trendline
Annie Longsworth, President, Managing Director,
Cohn and Wolfe

Updating research presented at SB’07, SB’08 and SB’09 Cohn & Wolfe will present new research that explores specific behaviors and attitudes that are driving (or preventing) purchase of sustainable
products, as well as the latest public perception about which brands are the best at being green.

Re-Defining the Metrics of Success: The Emerging
Measures of Qualitative Growth
Hazel Henderson, Futurist & Economics Iconoclast,
Ethical Markets Media
Hazel Henderson, a well known and globally respected futurist, economist, syndicated columnist, consultant on sustainable
development presents some of her newest thinking on why GDP
is no longer a serving us as the ultimate measure of progress.

Responsibility AND Profit: From Corporate Responsibility to Responsible Profit
Jason Sau, CEO, Mission Measurement
Jason Saul will outline five types of social innovation that turn social change into powerful business strategy. Combined with experience-based best practices in impact measurement, these innovation
strategies make measuring the business and social value of CSR program practical, timely and relevant to your company.

Design for Behavior Change: Helping Consumers
Co-Create a Better World
Bruce MacGregor, Managing Partner, IDEO.
SB’10 opens with a look at some of the key market drivers and trends shaping today’s sustainable business marketplace.

Today’s Data Explosion and the Drive to Radical
Corporate Transparency
Paul Herman, Founder/CEO, HIP Investor
Dara O’Rourke, CEO/Founder, GoodGuide
Cynthia Figge, President, COO and Co-Founder, CSRHUB
Jay Golden, Co-Director, Sustainability Consortium
One of the prime drivers behind sustainable brand innovation at the moment is the explosion of new data initiatives that promise increased clarity to all stakeholders on the comparative sustainability
of various materials, suppliers and brands.

Tuesday June 8th – 11:15 – 12:30

Open Innovation: An Apropos Paradigm Shift for Sustainable Brand Innovators
Henry Chesbrough, Professor, UC Berkeley
Open innovation is the use of purposive inflows and outflows of knowledge to accelerate internal innovation, and expand the markets for external use of innovation. Dr. Chesborough provides a look at the idea of open innovation as a backdrop to this year’s launch of GreenXChange, an open sustainable innovation coalition launched at Davos in January.

GreenXchange AND the Effort to Speed Eco-Innovation
Kelly Lauber, Director, Sustainable Business &
Innovation Lab, NIKE
GreenXchange, spearheaded by 10 companies and social enterprises
including Nike, Yahoo!, IDEO, Mountain Equipment Co-op, salesforce.com, the Outdoor Industry Association, and others, is a groundbreaking initiative geared to empower companies working to protect the environment to share their research — legally — for social good and mutual profit.

Recycling the Cup: Systems Thinking and the Importance of Getting the Questions Right
Peter Senge, Director Center for Organizational Learning, MIT Sloan School of Management / Ben Packard VP Global
Responsibility, Starbucks Coffee Company
As part of Starbucks Shared Planet goals, Starbucks has set a bold goal to develop a recyclable cup solution. The company has enlisted MIT Professor Peter Senge and his expertise applying systems theory to approach this situation.

Solutions Innovation to the Rescue: Making the
Waste = Resource Connection
Brooke Farrell, Co-Founder , RecycleMatch
Today, companies of all kinds are focused on the triple bottom-line of people, planet and profit to create a sustainable business. Finding
the competitive edge often means revisiting and challenging “the way it’s always been done”. Focusing on zero waste goals can go a long way to re-setting stakeholders points-of-view while lowering
costs and environmental impact.

Kids AND Parents: Why the Longterm Market for Sustainable Goods is Stable
Tom Feegel, Founder & Principal, GreenMyParents
Jordan Howard, Film Maker, GreenMyParents
How do you get 1,000,000 kids to help their parents save $100 at home? Traditional media doesn’t take kids seriously. Green media is worse. It slaps green onto an existing brand or celebrity by telling kids to “recycle” or “save energy.” The $100 MM Kids Campaign demonstrates that kids, even before they can have a real job, can do the work of sustainability at home.

Tuesday June 8th – 2PM – 3PM – Workshop

Extended Producer Responsibility: Establishing Boundaries,
Tackling the Challenges
Ben Packard, VP Global Responsibility, Starbucks Coffee Company
Seetha Kammula, Founding Partner, Simply Sustain

Tuesday June 8th – 3:15PM – 4:15 PM – Workshop
Open Innovation / GreenXchange in Action
Kelly Lauber, Director, Sustainable Business & Innovation Lab, NIKE
John Wilbanks, Vice President of Science, Creative Commons

Everywhere you turn, there was somebody of interest. People, brands, remarkable ideas, and this wonderful open-forum is the type of setting that is required for positive change. The overall feeling was exciting, in the sense that people returning home will actually use the knowledge and wisdom acquired throughout this experience, and actually apply it. I know I will. Sustainable Brands Conference is a must for all entrepreneurs, executives, marketers, publishers, consultants, and so much more. Be prepared to come excited, get filled with wisdom, have a ton of fun, and leave feeling accomplished. I cannot wait for SB’11… Hope to see everyone there!

Sustainably Yours,

Abraham Slavin

CEO – AVI Publishing, INC.

Product Report

Scrubz, body scrub

Location: Whole Foods Market, Columbus Circle, New York

Date: September 15, 2009

Company: Scrubz Body Scrub Inc

Founder: Roberta Perry

Contact: www.scrubzbodyscrub.com

email: scrubz@scrubzbodyscrub.com

Telephone: 1 877 SCRUBZ 8 (1.877.727.8298)

Recently I spent a day on site with one of our biggest clients Whole Foods Market, where I first learned about Scrubz. As the name suggests, the product is an all-natural sugar body scrub.

The company was giving a demonstration at Whole Foods, highlighting 4 of the 20+ scents in their effective yet gentle green scrub/exfoliant/facial products.

It wasn’t too long ago that finding such products that were clean and pure, without harsh chemicals, was not easy and more than confusing. My family and I grew up with allergies and sensitivities to commercially and chemically made products. The only place you could find natural skin-care products was in small specialist health food stores with no one to really guide you.

Scrubz founder, Roberta Perry, has a life story that is as rich and complex as the fragrances in her products. The powerful message that her products radiate, is one with the air we breathe, the food we eat, and what we put on our skin – our body’s largest organ. What goes ‘on’ really goes in. It feels good to choose healthy skin care. There are many small companies making products that are better for you and for our environment and Scrubz body scrub is one of them.

Scrubz Body Scrub, Inc. is a very young company and the natural sugar body/face scrub line is just the beginning. People like me who insist they can’t use any products with scents have become devotees of Scrubz Body Scrub, which uses a combination of essential oils and fragrance oils that meet or exceed RIFM guidelines.  Loyal users rave about the subtle scents, which Roberta blends like perfume. For those who prefer no scent, their unscented products contain nothing added whatsoever. We at Our Green Book call that “transparent green” – the green is there, but it doesn’t have to hit you over the head.

Terence Rickaby – Our Green Book

Because a Magazine Is Only as Good as Those Who Read It!

Because a Magazine Is Only as Good as Those Who Read It!

By John Brown

This past Friday, the 21st was a landmark day here at “Our Green Book”. I was one of the lucky few in the company who went over to Whole Foods in order to set up our distribution there as well as offer a quick tutorial about the magazine to Whole Food consumers. Upon arrival, I was awestruck by the air of good nature and cosmic consciousness encompassing the store. The pleasant and knowledgeable staff greeted us with open arms and were tremendously helpful in accommodating our every need.
Whilst handing out our books, which where about as popular as green on grass, I got the opportunity to really talk to and get to know, the typical Whole Foods customer. These LOHAS consumers are extremely value driven, care about the world surrounding them, and are just an absolute joy to speak with. Seeing the magazines fly off the shelves like all natural rice cake was joy enough, but to really be able to speak with our readers made the day all the more special. One lovely young lady mentioned to me: ‘you know how they make reusable shopping bags and drink containers? They should make a reusable food container that you could bring in to get soups ‘. I was intrigued by this but I was talking to about a half a dozen readers at the same time so I had to put this thought on the backburner for the time being. However during a brief lunch break (which I of course took in the marvelous hot foods section of the store) the thought rushed back to me like a tidal wave. I ladled some delicious vegetarian chili into a disposable cardboard lunch container they provided and the eco-bulb went off, why doesn’t someone come up with a reusable food container you could bring into the store when you will be acquiring hot food? It seems like it would be a fantastic way to reduce waste and provide a powerful marketing vehicle as well. I mean if Starbucks can give discounts for using reusable drink containers why can’t the same method apply for hot foods? Granted I’m not an authority on manufacturing or designing goods, nor am I a patent clerk, just a humble advertiser that believes we should care for the planet we currently occupy. Hopefully one of our more engineer or law friendly readers out there will see the potential and take this tremendous idea, courtesy of a lovely, bright, young “Our Green Book” reader to the next level.

Go Green By Going Black

Go Green By Going Black

By

Zack Miller

After four loyal years of service I noticed that my laptop was beginning to break down completely. Due to some sort of combination of loyalty and laziness I refused to get a new one. That was until this past weekend when I went to start my computer up and the entire thing was fried. It was at this point that I realized, I left my computer on too long and I was partly to blame for burning the battery. Vowing not to get fooled again I decided this time around I was going to go green from the get go and buy a laptop.

Laptops use less energy than desktops. In addition to the energy savings you will discover uncharted room on your once cluttered desk. After deciding on a laptop the next thing you should do is look for the words “Energy Star 4.0 Compliant” to maximize your energy savings.

So you just bought yourself an Energy Star laptop and you are ready to see some nice little changes to your energy bill, right? Well here is a dirty little secret that can cost you money. On average 75% of the electricity used to power home electronics is consumed while the products are turned off. Now a crafty eco consumer like you knows to turn off your computer and monitor (if you are so anti-laptop) when not using it. But how many of you know to unplug the power cord or switch off the power strip to which your electronics are attached when you’re not using them? Something else to consider is the use of cell phone chargers. These things suck up power even when you’re not charging the device. I plug my phone charger in the same power strip as my laptop so turning off that one strip can save me a nice chunk of change. But I digress.

Quick show of hands: how many of you have ever used Google? That’s what I thought. Back in January of 2007 there was a blog post titled “Black Google Would Save 750 Megawatt-hours a year” which theorized that since Google is the most popular search engine in the world and that since monitors use more energy to display white pages then darker ones, a Google web site that used a dark page would translate into less energy consumption for any monitor displaying the site. Heap Media ran with this concept and created Blackle, which is powered by Google custom search. It is recommended that people change their homepage to Blackle in order to save energy. As a measurement tool, Blackle provides a running count of megawatt-hours that they saved right on its homepage.

Here is where the debate lies. There are those who say that Blackle doesn’t save any energy at all. The website itself admits that the savings are small but that a little can turn into a lot. So the questionis: Is it even worth using Blackle?

My answer is: why not? The truth is that small steps can make a big difference provided enough people take them. The entire concept on which the green is built consists of taking small steps for the environment and this is no exception. Switching to Blackle requires no more effort than going to another website and there is no extra cost whatsoever. If you can knock a couple of cents off of your energy bill, why not? If you feel like you are making a difference in the environment, why not? It’s literally the least you could do for the planet.

Attention San Francisco Beach-goers

As many of you know, Our Green Book is hard at work to bring New York, San Francisco, Los Angeles and Chicago the best eco-friendly options out there.

Today is your lucky day, San Francisco! Someone tweeted (yes, tweeted) to us a list of the Top 10 beaches in the San Fran area.

Of course, being in New York, we can’t tell you our favourites. But we hope you will. Let us know what beaches you frequent.

Top 10 Beaches

Also, today is the last day for Nicholas and Sarah. Without them, our social networking wouldn’t be what it is today. Goodluck to both of them!

Infomile Hosting

I recently was checking “Our Green Book” website for any faulty links or errors and remembered that our website would not be possible if it wasn’t for InfomileHosting. We want to share with you what makes it so great.

Infomile Hosting is eco-friendly! They use more efficient servers. As a result, they are 130% sustainable! That’s amazing, right! Some companies are sustainable but how many do you know that are reversing the negative effect we have on the Planet.

And, they are reasonable. Starting at $6.95/month, InfomileHosting is perfect for any size budget and company.