Clif Sustainability Newsletter 5 - Fall 2008 by Clif Bar & Company

Moving Toward Sustainability Working to Reduce Our Ecological Footprint

Clif Bar Sustainability Newsletter Fall 2008 Issue #5

love bikes, I always have. When I was ten I rode a modified Raleigh Colt with a leopard skin banana seat and butterfly handlebars. (I pretended it was a horse.) And my first big purchase with my babysitting money was a purple 10-speed by Columbia. Over the years, I’ve ridden racing bikes, mountain bikes, and bicycles built for two –– and cycling has become an essential part of life. It’s easy to continue the cycling life at Clif Bar & Company. The inspiration for Clif Bar came to Gary on a bike, and bicycles remain a core part of company culture today. We celebrate our roots with an annual, companywide, 150-mile bicycle ride through Northern California. We’ve always supported cycling as a professional sport, and now we also reward employees for cycling to work (we’ll even buy the bike). Last year we converted a 1959 Greyhound bus into a biodiesel-powered bike education program (a.k.a. the 2 Mile Challenge). And yes, we’ve even conducted business meetings while cycling. To this day, one of Gary’s key business stories is about lessons learned on a bike: His “white road journey” in the Alps took him off the faster, most direct routes — marked in red on local maps — to the smaller, less predictable “white roads,” and some inspirational adventures. Four years ago I decided it was time for a white road experience of my own. I joined Gary for a five-day trip to ride several hundred kilometers over a dozen of the most beautiful passes in the Italian Dolomiti. I returned with my own lessons learned, and like Gary’s, mine applied to life and business. Three lessons in particular apply to our sustainability program: 1. Travel light — but take a book! For five days on the road, we each carried one very small pack. Gary thought I was breaking the “travel light” rule with a 500-page book in tow, but from my perspective, reading is a must. Likewise, in our sustainability program, learning is a must. We’re committed to sustainability education as the foundation of our program. It empowers employees to find their own solutions to all sorts of problems — from simple to complex — and allows creativity to flourish. Above right: bicycles have been part of Clif culture since the early days; below left to right: the biodiesel-powered 2 Mile Challenge bus encourages people to cycle once a week to fight climate change; you can save a bunch of money at the gas pump too; Kit makes a pedal-powered climate neutral ascent up the Gardena Pass.

2. Encouragement is essential. Gary’s support was the backbone of my trip. Unlike preaching or judging, which don’t work at all, encouragement works miracles. His heartening words helped me climb the Passo Fedaia, a feat that at first felt impossible. At Clif Bar, the progress we’ve made in our sustainability program is due to that kind of encouragement and positive teamwork. And much of our journey’s pleasure and authenticity lies in the meaningful relationships made on the road. 3. Celebrate progress along the way. Halfway up the Fedaia, Gary and I stopped for tea. It was an important break that gave me the boost I needed to make it to the top. Every evening we made a point of savoring the local food and atmosphere. Likewise in sustainability, we need to savor the journey and celebrate creativity, collaboration, and each step forward. We hope you enjoy this issue of Moving Toward Sustainability, and that you will join us in celebrating the many steps that have made positive change possible in our company, our communities, and our lives.

Letter from the Editor Moving Toward Sustainability is a newsletter intended to keep Clif Bar & Company employees, friends, and family connected with the vision, direction, and activities of our environmental program. Gary Erickson and Kit Crawford Owners

Growing Our Vision of Sustainability You can’t see what you can’t imagine. That’s why it’s important to envision what a sustainable future might look like. At Clif Bar & Company, in 2002 — one year after we launched our sustainability program and one year before we made our first organic products — we envisioned success to look like this: Our products would be made with sustainable, organic ingredients; baked with clean, renewable energy; packaged in environmentally friendly packaging; and delivered by transportation that doesn’t pollute.

Sustainability Team: Kevin Cleary Chief Operating Officer

Our company would provide people with nourishing food; support a vibrant, healthy, green workplace; generate profits that help people and the planet; influence and learn from other businesses, communities, and consumers; and help to create a more sustainable food system.

Elysa Hammond Ecologist Cassie Cyphers Eco-Programs Manager Shauna Sadowski Sustainable Food Systems Manager Moving Toward Sustainability: Elysa Hammond Editor Mija Riedel Managing Editor Thao Pham Assistant Editor Raphaele Shirley Design Sandy Biagi Print Management Special thanks to all our Clif Bar & Company contributors: Beth Benson, Peter Berridge, Val Bisharat, Rich Brothers, Corey Clark, Kevin Cleary, Bryan Cole, Colleen Cooke, Jessica Culane, Kate Cunniff, Cassie Cyphers, Elizabeth Davis, Tara DelloIacono-Thies, Brooke Donberg, Kristen Downs, Jennifer Freitas, Garett Heitman, David Hitchcock, Chandler Kneer, Cathy Knowles, Kristee Khleif, Matthew Iles, Melissa Leebove, Chris Leon, Justin Leste, Matthew Loyd, Carly Lutz, Christina Malham, Dean Mayer, Ryan Mayo, Kim Penney, Alison Rahn, Shauna Sadowski, Susan Sherwin, Kenny Souza, Whitney Taylor, and Marcie Winkler. Our thanks also to guest author Bill McKibben; the energy experts at the National Renewable Energy Lab for their valuable comments on biofuels; and young artists Luke and Amy Peters for the illustrations on pages 3 and 11.

Looking back over the past six years, we’re encouraged by the significant progress we’ve made toward our vision. We’re also inspired by the creativity that has emerged through this process, leading to programs like the 2 Mile Challenge, Save Our Snow, GreenNotes, the Cool Commute, and a variety of efforts developed to share sustainability in each marketing region. Practicing sustainability is cropping up on everyone’s to-do list, and influencing people’s personal lives as well. A short list of our accomplishments includes: • 23 million pounds of organic ingredients purchased a year (that’s 70% of everything we buy) • 30,000 tons of carbon offsets purchased to date, providing enough hurdle funding to help build 13 farmer-owned wind turbines and generating an environmental benefit equal to taking 5100 cars off the road for a year • 23,000 Cool Tags™ sold to date — enough to offset 7 million miles of driving • 41% of all Clif employees participate in the Cool Commute program • 33 hybrid and biodiesel cars bought by Clif employees using our sustainability benefits As we move forward toward 2009, we’re setting our sights on five key environmental objectives: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5.

Promoting sustainable organic food and farming Embracing Zero Waste as a practical and visionary goal Reducing the impact of our transportation and shipping Helping to build the climate movement Cultivating partnerships for progress and learning

By zeroing in on these objectives, we not only reduce our company’s ecological footprint, we also create positive changes all along our supply chain. These goals go hand-in-hand with our larger goal –– to reach out to and work with other businesses, civic organizations, and individuals to help create a more sustainable future. It’s our collective efforts that will make the most significant difference, and time is of the essence. I leave you with this thought from Rajendra Pachauri, Chairman of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and co-winner of the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize with Al Gore: “What we do in the next two to three years will determine our future. This is the defining moment.” With ever warming regards,

“When I see an adult on a bicycle, I do not despair for the future of the human race.” — H.G. Wells

Sustainable Food and Agriculture The Research Is In: Organic Foods Are More Nutritious by Tara DelloIacono-Thies and Elysa Hammond We’ve always known that organic foods are better for the environment. Now, scientific research has also demonstrated that organic foods are more nutritious as well. A comprehensive report released this spring by The Organic Center, New Evidence Confirms the Nutritional Superiority of Plant-Based Organic Foods, demonstrates that organic foods are, on average, 25% more nutritious than the same food produced by conventional farming methods. The report draws on nearly 100 peerreviewed studies, and examines 236 matched pairs of organic and conventionally grown foods for 11 nutrients. The organic produce was found to be nutritionally superior in 61% of the cases. Of special note: the organic samples contained higher concentrations of all-important, protective antioxidants, including polyphenols –– especially good news for people’s health. Organic farming methods promote antioxidant rich foods. Scientists are finding that plant antioxidants, such as polyphenols, help promote people’s health in a multitude of ways. To date, studies have shown that increasing intake of specific antioxidants can enhance cardiovascular health, reduce cholesterol levels, suppress inflammation, and help prevent diseases such as cancer. Some studies have even shown that certain plant compounds can protect memory and enhance athletic performance. A clear connection exists between farming methods, soil health, and the nutritional quality of foods. Organic farming practices, especially the use of compost and natural fertilizers rather than synthetic nitrate fertilizers, are among the factors that can markedly –– and in some cases dramatically –– increase the concentration of antioxidants in food, including vitamin C. Promoting the increased adoption of organic farming in the U.S. is one way of bringing healthier, more nutritious foods to the public. Read the full report: www.organic-center.org/reportfiles/5367_Nutrient_Content_SSR_FINAL_V2.pdf

Tara DelloIacono-Thies has worked as Clif Bar’s dietician for nine years, and has written dozens of articles about why eating well is one of the best things you can do for yourself and your family. You can read some of Tara’s thoughts on wellness and nutrition at www.lunabar.com/pages/eatwell

How does the U.S. compare as a cycling nation? 1% = Urban travel by bike in the U.S. 12% = Urban travel by bike in Germany 28% = Urban travel by bike in the Netherlands

Did you know that you can lower your pesticide exposure significantly by avoiding the 12 most contaminated fruits and vegetables? A study by the Environmental Working Group reports that the residues on fruits and vegetables vary widely. When making choices about whether to buy organic or conventional produce, consider selecting organic for those foods with the highest levels of pesticide residues. Highest in pesticides: Apples • Bell Peppers • Celery • Cherries • Grapes (imported) • Nectarines • Peaches • Pears • Potatoes • Red Raspberries • Spinach • Strawberries Lowest in pesticides: Asparagus • Avocados • Bananas • Broccoli • Cauliflower • Corn (sweet) • Kiwi • Mangos • Onions • Papaya • Pineapples • Peas (sweet) List based on information and studies by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), Consumer Reports, and the Environmental Working Group. Download the Shopper’s Guide to Pesticides in Produce: www.foodnews.org/walletguide.php

Organic Diets Benefit Children A scientific study published in Environmental Health Perspectives found that organic food provides dramatic and immediate protection against dietary exposure to a dangerous class of pesticides known to affect the neurological system. Researchers examined a group of 23 elementary school-age children for dietary exposure to two specific organophosphorus pesticides commonly used in agriculture. For five days in the middle of a 15-day study, the researchers replaced the children’s conventional diets with organic foods. During those five days, metabolites of the pesticides malathion and chlorpyrifos immediately decreased to nondetectable levels, and remained there until the conventional diets were reintroduced. (www.ehponline.org/docs/2005/8418/abstract.html) What does this research mean for concerned parents? Dr. Alan Greene, a leading pediatrician, said: “The average American child is exposed to more than five servings of food and water daily that contain pesticide residues. The surest way families can dramatically reduce pesticide dietary exposures is to choose organic foods whenever possible.” www.organic-center.org/reportfiles/2006.1_final.pdf

Sustainable Food and Agriculture What Does the Organic Label Really Mean? USDA organic labeling requirements assure consumers that foods bearing the word “Organic” or “Made with Organic” contain ingredients that have been grown according to strict national standards, which do not allow the use of toxic pesticides, synthetic fertilizers, or sewage sludge; contain no genetically modified organisms; and have not been irradiated. Certified organic foods are labeled in one of three ways:

• 100% Organic describes foods in which

100% of the ingredients have been grown organically. These foods can bear the USDA organic seal.

• 95% Organic describes foods in which

at least 95% of the ingredients have been grown organically. These foods can bear the USDA organic seal.

• 70% Made with Organic Ingredients

describes foods that contain at least 70% organic ingredients. (The remaining 30% of ingredients may not be genetically modified, irradiated, or grown in sewage sludge.) These foods may not bear the USDA organic seal, but may carry the seal of the certifying agency.

Learn more at www.ams.usda.gov/nop Eco labels –– find out which claims you can trust: www.greenerchoices.org/eco-labels/ eco-home.cfm

Food Matters: Working Together for a More Sustainable Food System By Elysa Hammond and Thao Pham Our health is connected to our planet’s health, and food is the bridge that joins us together. Food links us to the environment and a complex network of people and organizations, including farmers, processors, distributors, and consumers. Although food is a basic human need and a central part of our lives, the food system is fraught with problems, including hunger; obesity; subsidies for unhealthy food; polluted air, water, and soil; and family farms at risk. At Clif Bar, our goal is to help create a healthier, more just, and more sustainable food system, all along the supply chain. Here’s what we’re doing: • To help create safer and more ecologically sound ways to grow food, we’re sourcing organic ingredients. We now purchase more than 23 million pounds of organic ingredients every year — that’s 70% of everything we buy! • To promote sustainable sourcing practices, and to help us better understand our own complex supply chain, we have three projects currently underway: a Supplier Code of Conduct, Clif Roots, and Traceability. Each is designed to establish a deeper understanding of how ingredients progress from the farm to our table. • To support efforts to mitigate climate change (which negatively impacts food and agriculture), we’ve developed a far-reaching climate program that includes education, advocacy, and internal efforts to reduce our company’s CO2 emissions. We’re also sharing the message that organic farming (which uses one-third less fossil fuel than conventional farming, and stores carbon in the soil instead of releasing it into the atmosphere) is a powerful tool in the fight against global warming. • To advocate for organic farmers, conserve farmland, protect natural resources, and create federal food and agriculture policies that sustain family farms and rural communities, we support the Organic Farming Research Foundation (www.ofrf.org), Sustainable Agriculture Coalition (www.msawg.org), American Farmland Trust (www.farmland.org), The Land Institute (www.landinstitute.org), and Farm Aid (www.farmaid.org). • To address hunger at home and abroad, we make ongoing donations to food banks; support City Slickers’ local efforts to help create organic, high-yield urban gardens (www.cityslickerfarms.org); and support the grassroots efforts of World Neighbors (www.wn.org) working with farmer families in extreme poverty in Africa, Asia, and Latin America. As we address the complex and vital issue of food, we recognize the need for in-depth understanding and wide-reaching plans. As a food company, we have an opportunity to make a difference. The Community and Planet aspiration teams are excited to continue integrating our efforts, and are working in concert to create a more sustainable food system.

Did you know?

Every third bite of food you eat depends on a honey bee to pollinate it! And the U.S. honey bee population is suffering a devastating collapse. To raise awareness about this critical but little-known issue, the Clif Bar Family Foundation supported the screening of Every Third Bite at the Media that Matters Film Festival. Get the buzz at www.mediathatmattersfest.org/8/ every_third_bite/

A four-mile round-trip bicycle ride keeps about 15 pounds of pollutants out of the air we breathe.

Every Plant Tells a Story:Theobroma cacao

Montezuma’s Aphrodisiac of Choice

by Mija Riedel and Shauna Sadowski Chocolate is among the favorite flavors in every single Clif brand, from CLIF KID to LUNA to NECTAR®, but few people know much about the amazing plant it comes from, Theobroma cacao. Over the past 400 years, chocolate has been prescribed to cure “tiredness caused by strenuous business activities,” to “delay the growth of white hair in men,” and to treat “heart palpitations.”1 In 16th century Mexico, Montezuma served a frothy cacao beverage to Cortes and his troops. Cacao was so valuable in Mesoamerica that the finest beans were used as a form of currency. In 17th century Europe, Spanish royalty gave the recipe for chocolate as a wedding gift. More recently, an article in The New York Times reported that fresh cacao beans are uncommonly rich in antioxidants, and Cornell University food scientists recently discovered that “cocoa has nearly twice the antioxidants of red wine and up to three times those found in green tea” (Journal of Agriculture and Food Chemistry). ™

™

Theobroma cacao is a tropical species partial to high humidity and shade, which grows only within 20 degrees of the equator. Cacao’s flowers and football-shaped fruits grow directly on the tree’s trunk and main branches. A mature tree produces about 20 pods each year, each pod holds approximately 40 beans, and it takes about 400 beans to make one pound of chocolate. Physicians have prescribed chocolate to remedy over 100 maladies. Dark chocolate –– also called bittersweet or semisweet –– is rich in antioxidants known as flavonoids. Recent scientific literature has associated natural compounds found in raw cocoa, cacao beans, and high-quality dark chocolate (made from approximately 70% cocoa solids) with a range of medical benefits, such as: • lowering high blood pressure • lowering cholesterol levels • containing minerals important for healthy hearts2 And Theobroma cacao is good for the earth too: smallholder farmers grow over 90% of the world’s cacao, most of it with little or no fertilizers and agro-chemicals!

“From time to time the men of Montezuma’s guard brought him, in cups of pure gold, a drink made from the cocoa-plant, which they said he took before visiting his wives...I saw them bring in fifty large jugs of chocolate, all frothed up, of which he would drink a little.” — Bernal Díaz del Castillo, 1560, The True History of the Conquest of New Spain

Did you know?

In numerous epidemiological studies, apples have been associated with a decreased risk of cardiovascular disease, cancer, and asthma. www.nutritionj.com/content/3/1/5

•

• 2500

varieties of apples are grown in the United States; 7500 are grown around the world. www.nyapplecountry.com

• Two new studies from Cornell University suggest that apples may protect the brain from oxidative damage that causes neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s. www. allaboutapples.com/health/archives/science/cornell_scientists_ report_apple_brain_health_benefits.htm report_apple_ brain_health_benefits.htm

As quoted in: • The first apple orchard in the U.S. was planted by the colonists on Boston’s Beacon Hill in 1625. 1. “From Aphrodisiac to Health Food: http://www.historymole.com A Cultural History of Chocolate,” Louis E. Grivetti, University of California at Davis, • Apples belong to the rose family. www.karger.com/gazette/68/grivetti/art_1.htm 2, 3. University Of Michigan Integrative Medicine www.med.umich.edu/UMIM/clinical/pyramid/chocolate.htm

Cacoa beans must be removed from their pods, fermented, dried, roasted and then ground to produce a cocoa mass or cocoa liquor, which is then pressed and ground into cocoa powder. 3

“ Man on a bicycle can go three or four times faster than the pedestrian, but uses five times less energy in the process... Equipped with this tool, man outstrips the efficiency of not only all machines but all other animals as well.” — Ivan Illich, Toward a History of Needs

Did you know that cranberries,

blueberries, and blackberries are especially rich in antioxidants? And in a U.C. Davis study, scientists found that organically grown marionberries (a kind of blackberry) contained 50% more antioxidants than those grown using conventional farming methods.

Reducing Our Footprint Eco Update: A Report on Our Progress 2001 –– 2007 Integrating Sustainability –– A Note from Kevin Cleary The key to making progress with our environmental goals is to make sure that sustainability is integrated throughout our entire organization. We ask each department, function, and employee to commit to finding ways to include sustainability objectives in their work for the upcoming year. Sustainability integration is an ongoing process that will evolve over time; we’re learning as we go. On these two pages, we report on some of our progress to date.

Supporting Organic Agriculture

Increasing Our Use of Organic Ingredients Our goal is to continually increase our use of organic ingredients in a consistent and sustainable manner, and in a way that benefits the organic farming community. Since 2002, we’ve increased our use of organic ingredients from 2 million to 23 million pounds a year. We now make six product lines that are certified “organic” (95% or more organic) and eight product lines that are certified “made with organic” (70% or more organic ingredients). Current certification levels, and percentages of organic content of all product lines are listed below: Certified Organic % Organic Ingredients CLIF KID Twisted Fruit 95%+ CLIF KID ZBAR 95% NECTAR 95% LUNA Tea Cakes 95% LUNA Sport Moons 95% CLIF SHOT BLOKS 95%

Certified Made with Organic CLIF BAR LUNA BAR LUNA Sunrise MOJO MOJO Dipped CLIF SHOT Gels CLIF SHOT Electrolyte drink CLIF SHOT Recovery Drink

% Organic Ingredients 70% 70% 70% 70% 70% 90% 92% 76%

Moving Toward Zero Waste

Creating More Environmentally Friendly Packaging The packaging system for our products includes several components: wrappers, caddies (the flatboard boxes that hold the bars), master cases, and shipping materials to stabilize products in transit. Our long-term goal is to use more sustainable materials for every component, to reduce waste throughout, and to improve shipping efficiency.

Caddies: 98% Reduction in the Use of Shrink-wrap Since we redesigned our caddies to eliminate shrink-wrap in 2002, we have avoided the cumulative use of nearly 700,000 pounds of shrink-wrap. In 2007, 98% of all caddies were shrinkwrap-free!

Annual Environmental Benefits of Using Recycled Paperboard In 2007, we used 100% (50% postconsumer) recycled paperboard for all our caddies. By making 25 million caddies a year using 2.7 million pounds of recycled, unbleached paperboard rather than virgin materials, we generated the following annual environmental benefits: • Wood saved: 2000 tons (about 14,000 trees) • Water saved: 6 million gallons • Energy saved: 7.2 million BTUs (enough energy to run 80 homes for a year) • Greenhouse gas emissions avoided: 1.2 million pounds of CO2 equivalents (that’s like taking 110 cars off the road for a year) Environmental impact estimates were made using the Environmental Defense Fund Paper Calculator www.edf.org/papercalculator/

Number of caddies (millions) % Shrink-wrap-free

2002 10 50%

2003 10 90%

2004 10 92%

Innovation in Wrapper Reuse: the Terracycle Wrapper Brigade

2005 12.5 94%

2006 15.5 94%

2007 25+ 98%

In January 2008, we launched a partnership with Terracycle to repurpose wrappers into totes, backpacks, and messenger bags, and to help raise money for nonprofit organizations at the same time. For every wrapper returned for recycling, two cents is donated to a nonprofit of the donor’s choice. In the first six months of this program we’ve: • Recycled 300,000 Clif Bar wrappers • Raised $6000 for more than 100 nonprofits 6 • Developed a new model for repurposing waste that’s already being adopted by other companies

Clif Bar’s Climate Action Program At Clif Bar, our approach to climate action is threefold: We’re working to 1) measure and reduce our use of fossil fuels wherever we can; 2) offset our remaining climate footprint by helping to build new sources of renewable energy; and 3) promote outreach and education to our staff, public, and business partners. As part of this outreach, we offset the carbon footprint of select music and athletic events, and encourage personal action through various education efforts including the Cool Tag program, GreenNotes, the 2 Mile Challenge, and the Save Our Snow tour.

Tracking Our Climate Footprint: Total CO2 Emissions and Carbon Offsets 2003-2007 We have been tracking (and offsetting) the CO2 emissions generated by Clif Bar’s business energy use since 2003. This includes CO2 emissions generated by the bakeries, business travel (air and vehicle), intercompany shipping (trucking from the bakeries to the distribution centers), and the office. All CO2 emissions generated by these four business sectors, as well as our historic emissions dating back to the company’s start in 1992, have been offset by our investments in new farmer- and Native American-owned wind turbines in partnership with NativeEnergy. CO2 Emissions and Carbon Offsets 2003 - 2007

CO2 Emissions 2003 - 2007 Bakery energy

Business travel

Inter-company shipping

CO2 Emissions

Office energy

CO2 Offsets

16000

5000

14000 12000 Tons CO2

Tons CO2

4000 3000 2000

10000 8000 6000 4000

1000

2000 0

0 2003

2004

2005

2006

2007

Years

In 2006, total CO2 emissions decreased for two key reasons: we moved our distribution center closer to the bakery, and we began packing our trucks more efficiently. In the fall of 2006, we also switched to 100% biodiesel for all shipping from the bakery to the distribution center. In 2007, total CO2 emissions increased due to company growth.

2003

2004

2005

2006

2007

Years

Moving beyond climate neutral: In 2005 and 2006, our purchase of carbon offsets exceeded our CO2 footprint as we began to offset select music and athletic events. In 2007, we purchased additional offsets to take responsibility for our historical climate footprint, dating back to the company’s start in 1992.

Expanding Our Scope: Measuring Our Shipping Footprint Clif Bar products are shipped to our U.S. and Canadian customers by diesel freight trucks. To better understand the environmental impact of our “shipping footprint,” we recently completed a study of the CO2 emissions generated by transporting our products from the bakeries to our customers (prior to this study, we had only calculated the impact of shipping to the distribution centers). This study has greatly expanded our understanding of our larger carbon footprint. As a result, in 2007, we calculated total CO2 emissions generated by shipping from the bakeries to our customers to be approximately 3550 tons, making ground freight transport the most significant component in our carbon footprint (see pie chart to the right). In 2009, we will be researching a variety of ways to improve the environmental performance of our freight operations, and we will be collaborating with the EPA SmartWay Transport program in this effort.

Global Warming and Renewable Energy From Alaska to Argentina Fossil Fuel Free

Taking Steps Toward Sustainable Biodiesel

Did you know that Clif Bar sponsored the longest-ever road trip fueled with veggie oil? Now you can tune in to YouTube and see the award-winning story: two professional kayakers travel from one tip of the Americas to the other in a modified Japanese fire truck! Along the way, they stop to press roadside plants into usable fuel, and paddle some of the Americas’ gnarliest white water. www.oilandwaterproject.org

All biofuels are not created equal. The term biofuel refers to any liquid fuel made from plants or other biomass. Biofuels include ethanol –– made from sources like corn, sugarcane, and switchgrass for use in gasoline engines –– and biodiesel –– made from oil crops such as soybean and canola, for use in diesel engines (typically found in trucks and busses).

Expanding Support for the BioFuel Oasis We’ve been filling up for a long time at Berkeley’s BioFuel Oasis –– a women/workerowned cooperative that specializes in biodiesel made from waste oil. We’re excited to increase our support for the Oasis by helping them renovate a charming old gas station on Ashby Avenue (check it out: www.biofueloasis.com). The new biodiesel pumps will be powered by solar panels, and you can pick up urban farming supplies in the Oasis shop. Margaret and Ace of the BioFuel Oasis get ready for a delivery run in their 1988 Mack truck. Berkeley’s BioFuel Oasis is our local “gold able fuel.

Biodiesel: The Benefits

• Easy — can be used in any diesel engine; no conversion necessary. Can be blended with regular diesel fuel in any quantity. • Nontoxic –– the only alternative fuel to have completed the EPA Tier I and II health testing, concluding that biodiesel is nontoxic, biodegradable, and poses no threat to human health. • Nonflammable. • Cleaner air –– significantly less air pollutants than regular diesel exhaust, which is a known carcinogen.

The Risks

• Demand for palm oil may be contributing to increased tropical deforestation. • May compete with food crops. • For these reasons, Clif Bar continues to focus on sustainable biodiesel.

At Clif Bar, our main focus is on supporting the use of biodiesel made from recycled vegetable oil and grease; we use it as an alternative fuel for our vehicles. We support the use of other plant materials as biodiesel feedstock if they can be sustainably produced and don’t affect the food supply. We consider sustainable biodiesel a viable, transitional step for our company toward more ecologically sound transportation solutions. Interim steps such as these are critical to advancing the transition from one technology to another. In the long run, biofuels have far greater potential to become sustainable than fossil fuels.

The Clif Bar Midwest Field Marketing team supports the Chicago Park District’s Nature Oasis mobile tour –– which offers programs such as Nature Treasure Hunts for Kids, Birdwatching Workshops, and Campfire Storytelling at parks around the city –– by purchasing NativeEnergy offsets to create a zero emission tour.

Recent studies have highlighted the potential negative impact that the growing demand for biofuels, especially corn ethanol, can have on the environment. Corn ethanol comprises 95% of all ethanol made in the U.S. It’s manufactured from a crop grown with high levels of chemical fertilizers, and processed with energy-intensive methods. Other environmental and social problems occur when forests, wetlands, and other virgin terrain are converted to farmland. Additional challenges occur when land dedicated to food crops is converted to fuel crops. Biofuels can vary greatly in their net greenhouse gas emissions depending on their feedstocks, and the way they are grown and processed. Significant potential lies in the development of certain raw materials such as algae, which could greatly out-yield soy or any other oil crop per acre for biodiesel production. Research is underway to develop resources such as algae, switchgrass, and agricultural waste, and to manufacture them using renewable energy. If demand for sustainable biofuels continues to increase, it’s likely that advanced generations of biofuel feedstocks will be developed that will have lower greenhouse gases emissions and be less expensive. Biofuels also offer regions with agriculture-based economies a greater opportunity for economic benefits, and reduce the risks associated with our overriding dependence on petroleum, a resource concentrated in relatively few countries and controlled by a few large corporations. At Clif Bar, we’re committed to using the most sustainable biodiesel possible. We’re proud of our fleet of 15 company vehicles (11 trucks, 2 sprinters, a Volkswagen Passat, and a 1959 bus), all of which run on biodiesel. Our Berkeley vehicles fuel up with biodiesel made from 100% recycled vegetable oil (all studies agree that using this type of bio-based waste can have a net reduction in CO2 emissions). Elsewhere, our field marketing teams seek out biodiesel in their regions that’s made with the highest percentage of renewable content (B20–B100), and the trucks delivering product in Southern California (traveling about 50,000 miles/year) use B99 fuel made from soybean oil and 10% recycled veggie oil.

The Clif Bar Development Cyclocross Team helps kids achieve their goals of becoming top cyclocross racers in the U.S. and Europe, but that’s not all: It also provides them with opportunities to learn about and become involved with sustainability issues such as organic food and zero waste practices. The team gets around in a bus powered by waste veggie oil!

“The bicycle is the most efficient machine ever created: Converting calories into gas, a bicycle gets the equivalent of three thousand miles per gallon.” –– Bill Strickland, The Quotable Cyclist

As we move ahead, we will continue to seek out biodiesel made from feedstock aligned with our sustainability goals. Our priorities are for biodiesel that: • Uses feedstock made from recycled waste oil (vegetable or animal fats) • Avoids feedstock made from imported palm or soybean oil, or any feedstock associated with deforestation and/or land degradation • Uses domestic raw materials that are made from non-food crops rather than food crops, supports the health of local economies, and are grown using ecologically sound farming methods Even in the best-case scenario, biofuels alone can’t solve the climate crisis. That’s why our Clif Bar climate action program includes the use of biodiesel as just one of several strategies aimed at reducing our CO2 footprint.

Biofuels: What’s the Difference Between Biodiesel, Straight Vegetable Oil (SVO), and Ethanol? • Biodiesel is made from bio-based (plant, animal) oil, grease, or waste, which is modified through a low-energy process for use in diesel engines. Currently, the most common feedstocks in the U.S. are soy and canola. (Algae, which has potential for high production levels and can be grown on marginal land, is currently under development.) Biodiesel can be blended with petroleum in any quantity (i.e. B20 is 20% biodiesel, 80% petroleum diesel; B99 or B100 is considered pure biodiesel). www.biodieselcommunity.org/howitsmade/ • Straight vegetable oil (SVO), for use in modified diesel engines, is nothing more than filtered fryer grease. • Ethanol is a nontoxic gasoline additive, also know as grain alcohol, that reduces harmful tailpipe emissions. In the U.S. it’s made mostly from corn, but it also can be made from sugarcane, sorghum, switchgrass, potatoes, wheat, and agricultural waste such as cornstalks.

Wray of Hope and Other Stories Promoting Renewable Energy In 2007, Clif Bar & Company offset more than 13,000 tons of CO2 by helping to build eight new farmer-owned wind turbines in the Midwest, as well as the first commercial-scale wind turbine owned by a school district. On February 15, 2008, as the Colorado governor and hundreds of Wray, Colorado residents looked on, the nation’s first-ever school district-owned wind turbine spun into action, creating not only clean energy and local income, but also inspiration and countless new projects for local students. The Wray turbine is expected to produce about 2,700,000 kilowatt hours (kWh) of clean energy per year –– enough to provide all the energy needed by the school district, and to put clean energy back into the grid. Turbines like these demonstrate that the clean energy revolution is good both for the environment and for the economic development of rural communities. More information at www.nativeenergy.com/pages/our_projects /14.php#wray

For more information, check out the Sustainable Biodiesel Alliance www.sustainablebiodieselalliance.com and “Biofuels for Transport: Global Potential and Implications for Sustainable Agriculture and Energy in the 21st Century” at www.worldwatch.org/node/3954

Partnering for a Cooler Planet The critical issue of climate change has been part of our sustainability program since its inception. We understand that it’s going to take all of us working together to create the broad institutional change we need to grow the climate movement. For the past several years, we’ve been working with NativeEnergy, Clean Air-Cool Planet, the California Climate Registry, and a variety of grassroots climate groups. In 2007, we supported the largest global warming teach-in in U.S. history, which reached 1900 colleges, high schools, and civic organizations (www.nationalteachin.org). We also supported Step It Up, a grassroots climate action campaign that inspired 1400 communities to speak out about global warming. We’re honored to sponsor these organizations — sometimes the smallest, most grassroots groups make the biggest impact.

“Let me tell you what I think of bicycling,” said Susan B. Anthony. “I think it has done more to emancipate women than anything else in the world. It gives women a feeling of freedom and self-reliance. I stand and rejoice every time I see a woman ride by on a wheel...the picture of free, untrammeled womanhood.” — New York World interview February 2, 1896

Other Clif-supported turbines built in partnership with NativeEnergy include: • The Tuell Farm, Minnesota - status: currently up and running • The Williamson Family Farm, Minnesota - status: currently up and running • The Korkowski Farm, Minnesota - status: currently up and running • The Winter Farm, Minnesota - status: currently up and running • The Brown Farm, South Dakota - status: under construction

Sharing Sustainability Stories from the Field

Based in eight cities across the country, our field marketing managers develop unique regional programs to connect with people through athletic, music, and community events, and to expand our sustainability efforts.

Vermont Meatheads Go Climate Neutral

News from Rich Brothers & Susan Sherwin Clif Bar Northeast worked with Meathead Films to make their East Coast radicalskiing movie tour climate neutral. Meathead photographer Christopher James writes, “Clif Bar influenced us to manufacture our most recent DVD case with postconsumer recycled material, and offset our 50-stop movie tour!”

Eco Action in the Lone Star State

News from Chris Leon & Whitney Taylor Solar energy workshops? We support ’em! In Austin they’re offered by Sustainable Waves, an organization that helps bring solar power and clean energy to music events throughout Texas. And we also support Ecology Action of Texas in their efforts to reward people determined to recycle above and beyond what’s accepted at curbside.

Ringing Cowbells in Colorado

News from Kristen Downs, Colleen Cooke & Corey Clark It would have put a smile on your face to see the Telluride Bluegrass Festival turning so green! We brought TerraCycle collectors along, and rang a very loud cowbell each time someone put a wrapper in the water bottle. People brought us ALL KINDS of wrappers, and 500 festivarians signed the GreenNotes pledge.

Pedaling Day and Night in California By Peter Berridge At Sea Otter Classic, one of the largest cycling events in North America, our entire staff of 10 committed to using only our bikes for transportation! Every morning, we rode from our hotel on the outskirts of Monterey to Laguna Seca –– eight hilly miles. After standing on our feet all day and busting our butts, some evenings it was exhausting to pedal back, never mind another 3.5 miles to find dinner. One night we almost caved in but –– lo and behold — we rallied, put on our lights, and biked in to town. During the final days, we had almost a dozen people –– all clad in red Clif Bar get-ups — passing the long line of cars waiting to get into Sea Otter. We got lots of hoots and honks! (Four of us also pedaled 175 miles from Berkeley HQ to Monterey and next year, we’re planning to make it round trip!)

Photos from the Field (clockwise from top right): on Wilshire Boulevard, Brooke Donberg, Val Bisharat, and Abe Nesbitt at Car Free Day; in Chicago at Tour de Fat, Clif Bar’s 2 Mile Challenge bus made a case for Gears Not Gas; in Santa Monica, Audrey, Maureen, Megan, Michelle, Maritza, and Aisha celebrate Earth Day; at Seattle’s Fremont Fair, the NW team organized volunteers to educate some 150,000 festival-goers about the joys of recycling; in Chicago, the Midwest team supports Bike the Drive; in Seattle, the Northwest team partnered with Smart Car to create the first electric Clif car; in San Diego, the Clif team sponsored the Paddle for Clean Water –– over 3000 surfers, swimmers, and kayakers paddled for pollution-free H2O (two photos); at Sea Otter Classic, Jon Blair and an IMBA pal pass out mini Clif Bars; the L.A. team’s Michelle Hunt and Ryan Vaughn hung out with Fossil Fool the Bike Rapper and New Belgium friends at a GreenNotes event.

Greening Up the Office Wiggling Toward Zero Waste at Our Berkeley Headquarters

Two Cool New Sustainability Benefits Rolled Out in 2008

Thanks to Alameda County’s StopWaste composting program, we’ve been able to add kitchen scraps to our long list of recyclables –– and keeping food scraps out of landfill has allowed our office to achieve a solid waste diversion rate of 70%-80%, which moves us ever closer to our goal of 90% waste diversion, a critical benchmark in Zero Waste practices.

Starting in 2008, employees are eligible for two new incentives:

But there’s more: our very own Kate Cunniff, Office Manager, is a Certified Master Composter! Read the dirt on Clif Bar’s composting efforts in the following interview with Kate. How does composting work at Clif Bar & Company? We’ve put compost collection bins in each of our three break rooms at Clif Bar headquarters, and each year, we send between 10 and 15 tons of food scraps and food-soiled paper to a commercial composting facility. Then last year, I started an on-site worm-composting project. What’s a master composter? What inspired you to become one? The Master Composter program grew out the 30-year old Master Gardener program at the USDA Cooperative Extension. I learned about composting and soil health through a free four-month program at Alameda County StopWaste. For my final “test,” I had to create a composting project that I could teach in the community. (I taught a worm workshop here at Clif Bar.) What’s so special about worm composting? Worms eat kitchen scraps and produce nutrient-rich worm castings, which are like black gold for plants.

Did you know?

Why a demonstration project at the office? ¸ Food scraps and food-soiled I wanted to help Clif employees start paper are the largest unrecycled portion of composting. Composting at home benefits waste from people’s homes –– over 35% of my garden and lowers my garbage bill. And the waste stream! raising worms is a great family project –– it teaches children about how nature recycles. ¸ Composting fights global warming by Kids love feeding worms! Our Red Wrigglers reducing the production of methane, a green like most fruit and vegetable scraps, especially house gas 23 times more potent than CO2. melon and corncobs, and even eggshells –– no Food scraps emit more methane than bones or meat, and not too much food at once. any other landfill material. (Once someone tossed in a whole sandwich and almost killed the worms.) What recommendations do you have for people who want to compost at home? First, get a worm bin (at Clif Bar we have a Wriggly Ranch vermicomposter). Any Alameda County resident can get one at a discount rate, and many other counties have similar programs. Clif Bar’s Cool Home sustainability benefits also will cover the cost. Assemble it. Add bedding –– damp newspaper works fine — and food. Finally, get worms––online, or from your local community garden. And then let the wrigglers work their magic!

Cool Commute Bike Incentive Employees can receive up to $500 toward the purchase of a commuter bike, or commuterelated retrofits for an existing bike (fenders, baskets, bike buggies for your kids or your pooch, bike lights, etc.). Cool Home Incentives Employees can receive up to $1000 annually toward the purchase of home improvements that save energy, conserve water, and reduce waste. Eligible improvements include: • Energy Star qualified products • Renewable energy (i.e. solar panels) • Home energy audits • Insulation • Energy-efficient windows • Home compost kits • Other retrofits as approved As of June 2008, the new incentives have provided people with: • 7 new bicycles • 1 doggy-ride trailer • 7 Energy Star washing machines • Energy-saving window treatments • Solatube natural daylighting • 1 water-saving toilet • 4 ceiling fans • 1 compost bin • Insulation for flooring • 2 Energy Star refrigerators • 1 Energy Star dishwasher • 6 energy-saving windows We think that’s cool!

For more information, go to www.stopwaste.org, contact Kate Cunniff, or read Mary Applehof’s Worms Eat My Garbage.

Clif’s Cool Commute is catching on! In 2008, 75 people — more than half of all employees at our headquarters –– cycled to the office for Bike to Work day! Also in 2008, Clif Bar applied for official recognition as a Bike Friendly Business in the new League of American Cyclists program. www.bikeleague.org.

Growing the Climate Movement: Bill McKibben on Why 350 Should Be the World’s Hottest Number

Bill McKibben is an environmentalist, scholar, and the author of 12 books including The End of Nature, the first book written about global warming for a general audience. McKibben also is a founder of Step It Up and the new 350.org. Why 350? That’s the number that leading scientists say is the safe upper limit for carbon dioxide (measured in parts per million) in our atmosphere. Here’s more from Bill himself: Sometimes it’s better not to know how little you know. We began Step It Up in January of 2007, after six weeks of meetings around dining hall tables at Middlebury College. We’d just organized a successful march across Vermont to demand action on global warming, and we figured: why not try this on a national scale. Never mind that we had essentially no money, and no real organization. We had zeal, we had the web, and we had energy to spare. (By “we,” I mean me and six kids about to graduate from Middlebury: Will Bates, Jon Warnow, Jamie Henn, May Boeve, Jeremy Osborn, and Phil Aroneanu). And we had the conviction that there needed to be a real climate movement in the U.S., something more than the superstructure of economists and scientists and policy specialists that had been talking about the issue for a long time with little result. And so we started sending out emails, asking people to organize rallies and demonstrations three months hence, in April of 2007. Now, that’s a lot to ask — we hoped that maybe we’d find a hundred places ready and eager to participate. Instead, the thing took off like some kind of virus. It turned out there were people all over America who’d seen Al Gore’s movie, who’d watched the ruination of New Orleans, and who wanted to do something more than change their light bulbs. And so they stepped up to the challenge — by April, people in 1,400 communities organized simultaneous demonstrations. The rallies took place in all 50 states, and they showed a depth of creativity that blew our minds — scuba divers with underwater demonstrations off endangered coral reefs, skiers descending fastmelting western glaciers.

Now, our same team is trying to do the same thing globally. Again there’s an unmet need — as the world prepares for the Copenhagen Summit in December of 2009 that will decide on a framework for dealing with climate change, the plans of our leaders are much too timid. And there’s no activist movement in much of the world to push them harder. So we’re taking the latest science — the climatologist’s assessment, after the great Arctic melt of 2007, that 350 parts per million carbon dioxide is the most we can safely have in the atmosphere — and trying to use a wide variety of tactics to ram it home. We want 350 to be the most well-known number in the world, the one thing that people know about global warming if they know nothing else. Each nation has to cut its emissions, and in the U.S. that goal of 80% by 2050 remains the target. Again we’re underfunded, and without some big organization behind us. But that’s okay, because we have the web — check our 350.org — and because we have a world’s worth of creativity. In the few weeks since we launched the drive, we’ve already heard from farmers in Cameroon planting 350 trees on the edge of their village, and bike-riders in Salt Lake City, 350 of them, circling the state capitol. Many churches have already rung their bells 350 times; students in China and India have marched under the 350 banner. It’s growing. If it grows large enough, it will set the bar for success or failure in Copenhagen, and move the debate further in the direction of the science. It’s the most effective way we can think of to make a dent in the biggest problem the world faces, and in the short time the physics and chemistry allow. So visit the site, dream up something cool, and help us spread the message around the planet.

Not only that, but they worked. Our demand — 80% reductions by 2050 — had been radical when we begun, but 12 weeks later, by the time we’d finished, it had been embraced by both Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton. We hadn’t succeeded yet, but we’d helped jump-start a movement. A crowd in San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park listens to a speech by Bill McKibben on Earth Day 2008.

In the U.S., 40% of all urban travel happens within two miles of where people live. And yet 90% of all that travel is by car! In 2007, Clif Bar & Company launched the 2 Mile Challenge: “Bike Once a Week to Fight Climate Change.” Are you ready to roll? www.2milechallenge.com Printed on 100% recycled, 50% postconsumer waste paper, processed chlorine-free paper by GreenerPrinter

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