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A Practial Journal for Friends of the Environment c GreenLivingJournal.com d Winter 2010-11
Contents
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Sustainable Living and Responsible Gardening Columbia River PDX c Green Living Journal d No. 11 Winter 2010-11
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Publisher’s Page - Walking the Walk ........................4 National Editor’s Page Wearing Black and Weighting in at 256 Pages.......5 Local Notes............................................................................8 Celebrating 20 Years - One Green World . ............. 13 Nature - The Promise of Fungi..................................... 15 Transportation - Life Without Wheels . ................... 17 Health Smiling & Longevity .................................................... 19 Is Exercise killing You?.................................................. 20 Building - The Greenest House in Texas? . .............. 22 Gardening Community Seed Order Saves Big Bucks.............. 24 Earth Talk - Merino Wool ............................................. 26 Food - How to Choose a CSA........................................ 27 Cartoon - Leah Wittenberg........................................... 27 Events .................................................................................. 30 Letters to the Editor....................................................... 31 Classifieds........................................................................... 31
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Green Living Journal
Publisher’s Page continued
P. O. Box 677, Cascade Locks, OR 97014 Publisher: Columbia River Press LLC PDX Editor: Gary Munkhoff 541.374.5454 gary@greenlivingjournal.com Advertising: Susan Place 541.374.5454 crads@greenlivingjournal.com Prepress/Graphics/Ad Production: Katie Cordrey, Sticks and Stones Company info@sticksandstones.us 509.493.1250 National Editor: Stephen Morris ed@greenlivingjournal.com Webmaster: Michael Potts Michael@thepublicpress.com Cover Photos: The following are used under licensing unless noted - Background Image: flickr-skiena; Winter Armageddon: flickr-meanbone; Fungi: wikimedia; Seeds flickr- henna.lion; Kevin Pile by GLJ Staff Printed: with soy-based inks on Blue Heron recycled paper by Signature Graphics.
Well, we ran the article with the object of inspiring some of our readers to, if not achieve net zero, reduce their energy demand radically. But for all of its practicality, the plan still requires a hefty commitment and cost to any family that decides to follow in the Jones’s footsteps. So even though we all know that we should be on just such a plan, there are obstacles that make it difficult or inconvenient for that to happen. However, there are individuals and families all around us that are making tremendous commitments and efforts to reduce their energy consumption and their carbon footprint by following steps suggested by the authors. There are some that are even going above and beyond the plan, and thanks to the annual solar home tours every fall, we get the chance to meet a few of those hardy techno-pioneers and see their homes. We were unable to take the Portland Green and Solar Home Tour on September 25th, but we did make it to the Columbia Gorge Earth Center Enviro-House Tour on October 2nd. One of the homes featured was the remodeled LeFevre residence in Hood River and since we knew the Lefevres casually we decided to head there first. As we walked around following the self-guided tour and reading the handouts that detailed their progress over 8 years, it suddenly dawned on us that the Lefevres were well along on their own multi-year plan. Their plan’s goal was to turn their 1970’s style ranch home within the city limits into a net energy producer and to restructure their daily lives to approach the carbon free status. They were remodeling not just their house, but their daily lifestyle as well, and this all started when they decided to relocate to Hood River from Colorado. The house that they would buy had to have the potential for solar hot water heating and solar electric power generation, room for a large garden, a shop and office building for their business, as well as being close enough to town that they would be able to walk or ride bicycles to almost all daily activities. This “systems” approach to achieving their double remodel goal was essential to being successful. Beginning in the summer of 2003 and ending in the fall of 2010, they made impressive and “The journey of a thoughtful changes thousand miles begins each year, with 2011 beneath one’s feet.” being the year that will determine if they meet Lao-tzu, Chinese philosopher their goal. The house (604 BC - 531 BC) was transformed with super insulation, triple pane windows, solar tubes, solar array, solar hot water system, wood stove, energy efficient appliances, CFLs and a heat recovery system all to the tune
The Columbia River edition of the Green Living Journal is published quarterly and 16,000 copies are distributed free of charge throughout the Portland-Vancouver metro area. We encourage our readers to patronize our advertisers, but we are not responsible for any advertising claims. Subscriptions $9.95 per year. Copyright © 2010 Columbia River Press LLC The Green Living Journal Family is Proud to be a Member of . . .
Publisher’s Page Walking the Walk By Gary Munkhoff
In the Summer 2008 issue (our very first) of our Green Living Journal we ran an article entitled How to Get Carbon Free in10 Years by Brooke Jarvis & Doug Pibel that outlined a 10 year plan, using a sensible practical schedule of actions and purchases, that would enable any homeowner to bring their carbon production to net zero. With the exception of their electric car purchase in year five, all of the steps taken by the authors’ fictitious family of 3 were practical and doable using the technology, products and programs that were available at the time the article was written in 2008. And now it appears that the authors had their crystal ball tuned just right, because by 2013 (year 5 of the plan) a diverse selection of electric cars will be available. 4
A Practial Journal for Friends of the Environment c GreenLivingJournal.com d Winter 2010-11
Publisher’s Page continued
National Editor’s Page Wearing Black Ink and Weighing in at 256 Pages By Stephen Morris
Some people think deeply about religion. Some think deeply about politics. Some think deeply about the Red Sox. (Well ... define “deep.”) I think deeply about books. I write them; I publish them; I sell them; I review them; and, occasionally, I even read them. As a bibliophile I have been unabashed in my love and support of independent booksellers, underpaid writers, and local booksellers. But I also admit to being guilty of “literary” (as opposed to “literal”) adultery. I have an Amazon account, and when someone recommends a back list book that sounds interesting, I go to Amazon, find it, and order a copy used, sometimes for as little as $0.01 (plus $3.99 shipping). I justify this by the small ecological footprint it leaves. No additional dead trees; no fossil fuel Join others in the community with a passion burned en route to the bookstore. for sustainability, become a My conscience on transacting business was assuaged when I talked to a bookseller friend who was Register for the FREE Clark County lamenting her inability to compete Master Composter/Recycler Volunteer Training. with the box stores on best-sellers, Learn about composting, recycling, wormbins, but who also said that the used book & other ways to healthier, green living. sales via Amazon was the fastest growing part of her business. I Thursdays 6-8:30 p.m. Feb. 3-April 7, 2011 wonder how Amazon and the local This community service program bookseller split that penny? makes a difference in Clark County! We lost our local bookstore recently in my hometown, but a Information and applications at replacement materialized quickly. www.columbiasprings.org/mcr The new proprietor financed her or call 360.882.0936 x 224 entrepreneurial effort by selling CSA shares, following the model of Community Supported Agriculture. 5 Columbia River PDX c Green Living Journal d No. 11 Winter 2010-11
BE THE CHANGE! SHARE, EDUCATE, INSPIRE
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of approximately $70,000. In order to remodel their lives they spent another $43,000 on their yard, garden, shop/ office building projects, and a Senkai Motor Works “Hauler” solar work bike. They did receive $38,000 in tax credits and other incentives for doing all of this. Eight years and $113,000 to build a sustainable life for one family is a huge commitment and a ton of money. So are you discouraged yet? Well don’t be. Instead take heart, lay out a plan and then take just one step. Any step will do. And then take another, and another, and so on and so on. Remember, you are walking the walk, and walking is nothing more than taking one step after another with a destination in mind. Been that way for thousands of years. You can do that, and so can I. We have to if our grandchildren are to have any chance for a healthy life.
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National Editor’s Page continued It only took a nano-second for me to fork over $100 for a membership. It’s a no-brainer to keep a local bookstore that stages author events, provides an outlet for local product, and keeps that used book mill churning. But now this situation is muddied further. Anticipating a convalescence that would afford me some serious reading time, my sister offered to buy me a Kindle as a gift. Kindle is the reading device offered exclusively through Amazon. “Reading device” ... yuk. I like books, I like paper on ink, I like something I can take to the beach, I like something that I can pass along to a friend. Initially, I declined, but later reversed myself. The publishing professional in me spoke up and said, “How can you be dismissive of something you’ve never tried.” Other reading devices are offered by Sony, Barnes & Noble, and Apple with its iPad. The Kindle arrived in a few days, simply and ecologically packaged. Turning it on (it comes fully charged) and getting started was so easy that even a college-educated adult can manage it. Within a few minutes I had downloaded my first book, The Girl who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest by Stieg Larsson. This is the third in the “Dragon Girl” series. I had been hooked by the first two, but held off on the series climax since it was available only in hardcover at $27.95. A call to my local bookseller confirmed it was not in stock (she wasn’t playing the bestseller game, remember?), but she could get it by special order in a week or so. For $9.99, the Kindle book was mine. No round trip to town. No waiting until the next order from the distributor arrives. First round to Kindle. The device itself is the literary equivalent of the phrase “You can’t be too rich or too thin.” It’s lightweight; the screen image is good; the controls are well designed and convenient. I spent my next few days devouring the Dragon Girl, taking her with me everywhere, pulling out the Kindle to sneak in a few pages whenever 6
the chance presented itself. For reading a text-only book, I found the Kindle to be a delight. Round two to the Kindle, too. Coming out for the start of the third however, the Kindle began showing its limitations. The device has lots of other features, such as allowing downloads of magazines and blogs. The more I looked into them, however, the more valueless the features became. If I don’t have time to read blogs in my daily life, why do I want to pay money to be able to carry them around with me on my sleek, little device? I considered subscribing to The New Yorker, a wonderful magazine that I used to subscribe to, but stopped when I found myself taking unread stacks to the recycling center. I read some customer reviews (a decidedly good Kindle feature) and found that most subscribers were disappointed with their Kindle New Yorkers. You just can’t flip through a sequential electronic device like you can a magazine. Plus, there are no cartoons in the Kindle version. No cartoons? Forgedaboutit. I finished my Dragon Girl book. My first inclination, upon finishing a good book, is to pass it along to someone I love. I had already done that with the first two volumes of the “Dragon Girl.” To give my Kindle version, I’d have to part with the device itself. Kindle also offers access to the ‘Net via Google, but it’s such a visually limited version, that you’d use it only in a pinch. Kindle also offers free downloads of books from the public domain. Imagine, the entire works of Shakespeare for free in the blink of a download. Granted, this is mindbending, but how many of us really want to walk around with the complete works of the Bard in our back pocket? Hm-m-m, think I will sneak in a few pages of King Lear while I’m killing time here in the checkout line. Ditto Moby Dick and The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes. Kindle also offers a number of free new books. These tend to start with the opening line “Her breast heaved as
A Practial Journal for Friends of the Environment c GreenLivingJournal.com d Winter 2010-11
National Editor continued
Stephen Morris is the National Editor of Green Living Journal. His latest novel, Stories and Tunes, is now available as a Kindle edition.
www.greenlivingpdx.com
he fumbled with the buttons of her blouse, his manhood pulsing like the...” As for the best-sellers, they’re really not cheap. I checked on the biography of baseball star Henry Aaron. Retail $29.95, Kindle $16.95 ... or you can buy the real deal used for $10.00. I will buy the book used, supporting some independent local book-seller somewhere, read it, pass it along to my baseball-crazed sons, and when they’re done, I will donate it to the local library or take it to my local book seller who can put it on her shelves for local browsers and list it on Amazon for that bargain-hunter out there in electron land. This seems like a much better idea than having a bunch of electrons for my exclusive use in my elegant, slim Kindle. All the middle rounds to the traditional book. For the time being, it’s a victory for the traditional book by unanimous decision. I’m glad I have a Kindle, and I’m glad I got it as a gift. I will keep it for travel and for those rare times when I have an irresistible urge to read a Jane Austen novel. Left to my own devices, I’d pass until the price comes down to $19.99 (probably not far in the future). The media world is a swamp these days, well beyond the ability of the mortal to comprehend. Too many devices, too much on the learning curve, and too little being produced in the way of original content. Now if I could train my Kindle to operate my television set, or to figure out why it takes three separate remote controls for me to watch the evening news. Last night my cable provider told me that I can download the first of the “Dragon Girl” movies ... for free, but only if I can figure out how. HEL-P-P-P-P!
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Local Notes
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Gorge Businesses Form GO!
The Gorge Owned Business Network, a new membership-driven organization based in Hood River, is looking to its local businesses and customers to jumpstart an economic surge—just in time for the Holidays. The new organization, focused on educating business owners and customers about local economies and sustainable business practices, hosted an official coming out party November 11, 2010 at Doppio Coffee + Lounge, attracting more than 70 business owners and community members and raising $300 for its cause. “The Gorge Owned Business Network (GO! for short) aims to connect businesses, nonprofits and individuals throughout the Gorge regardless of state, county and city lines,” says GO! founder and director Becky Brun, a Hood River resident and former editor of Sustainable Industries magazine. “Business as usual is not a survival strategy. We’re aiming to help businesses learn how to survive and thrive while also thinking about their environmental and social impacts.” “GO! is creating a consistent brand identity for its membership as a whole so that together they can send a powerful message to customers,” Brun says. “The GO! logo stands not only for local ownership and local economic development, but also environmental stewardship and social equity.” As a result, GO! is able to serve small, local businesses that might not have the marketing prowess to compete with the likes of publicly traded corporations. GO! business members must be privately held and more than 50 percent of their business must be owned by a resident of Hood River, Wasco, Sherman, Klickitat or Skamania Counties. They must have the autonomy to make decisions about employee benefits, purchasing, marketing and they must be committed to creating a sustainable and prosperous regional economy. To learn more, visit www.gorgeowned.org or contact Becky Brun at 541-399-6813 or becky@gorgeowned.org.
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Local Notes continued of downtown, the Pearl, NW and inner NE and SE Portland can now order food for office meetings, parties, and other gatherings from PPP’s partner restaurants and food carts and have it delivered by bicycle. Orders are delivered on PPP’s unique cargo bikes with enclosures. A trailer made from recycled bike tubing and bamboo is used for larger orders. The expansion of services was made possible by a redesign of the PPP enclosure interiors. The enclosures are now equipped with wooden shelves that substantially increase the capacity for cargo. Portland Pedal Power’s mission is to accelerate the sales of sustainably-minded local businesses through bike deliveries, promotional services, and mobile Pedal Ads. They specialize in the delivery of fresh local food and products and partners with local restaurateurs, food cart vendors and artisan product makers. PPP is licensed by the OLCC to deliver beer and wine. Portland Pedal Power has been operating in downtown Portland for over a year. Vendors who have partnered with PPP include: food carts Koi Fusion, Savor Soup House, and Aybla Grill; restaurants like Seres Restaurant and Bar, PK Thai, and Habibi; and local companies such as Alma Chocolates, City Flowers & Interiors, and Little Green Grocer.
Portland Pedal Power Expands Services to Offer Catering by Bicycle Portland Pedal Power, Portland’s sustainable food and product delivery company, has expanded its services to offer catering delivery. Residents 8
Visit Our Tasting Room
A Practial Journal for Friends of the Environment c GreenLivingJournal.com d Winter 2010-11
Local Notes cont. In addition to the delivery services, PPP provides clients with mobile marketing. Bike enclosures are equipped with distinctive signs called Pedal Ads, and PPP promotes partners through flyer distribution, sampling, and presence at local events.
The One Stop Sustainability Shop Has Moved
Household, Office, Children, Personal, Pets, Energy
Open 7 Days a Week 1468 NE Alberta Street Portland, Oregon 97211 503-241-5404 www.sustainabilitypdx.com
Local Notes continued able materials by environmentally and socially responsible companies and made as locally as possible. The One Stop Sustainability Shop sells a wide variety of necessities as well as some gifts that fit these criteria. These two nature loving Portlanders would love to share their sustainable expertise with you and support your choice to live an ecologically wise lifestyle. Open 7 days a week: http://sustainabilitypdx.com/
EcoApprentice Set to Launch
A soon to be launched, interactive website will unite businesses and college students in an ongoing effort to better the environment. EcoApprentice.com is the brainchild of Richard Halpern, a public high school counselor who drew on 15 years of experience in education to combine two of his passions — sustainability and career based education. EcoApprentice will foster collaboration between college students and businesses in the implementation of sustainable goals. Participating businesses and nonprofits will post EcoChallenges, while students enrolled in
participating colleges and universities will post EcoSolutions. This practical collaboration could lead to earning college credits, career based learning experiences and future employment contacts for the students. Moreover, businesses could gain improved efficiency, new ideas and increased profitability. “We are giving students the opportunity to be part of real business solutions that are good for the planet and their future resumes,” said Halpern. Thirty Ore. and Wash.-based businesses, including Mt. Hood Meadows and GreenShipping.com, have already signed on to participate in EcoApprentice.com once it is launched. Additionally, students in Portland State University’s School of Business MBA business program have chosen to complete their capstone project — required for graduation — on an EcoChallenge that has already materialized through EcoApprentice. Membership is free for everyone including posting EcoChallenges and EcoSolutions. A variety of revenue models are being considered for specific business users to access the application in the future. Students and nonprofit organizations will always be able to use the service free of charge, and can participate in an unlimited number of EcoChallenges. For further information, visit: www.ecoapprentice.com.
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The mission of The One Stop Sustainability Shop is to help people meet their consumer needs while changing their lifestyle to one of greater sustainability. Opening first in a small garage space off Northwest Lovejoy Street in November 2009, TOSSS recently moved to a larger venue at 1468 NE Alberta Street between the Alberta Co-op and the Tin Shed restaurant. Co-owners Barbara McLean and her daughter, Jessica Ilalaole were inspired to start the business out of a wish to educate and support customers wanting to make wiser purchasing choices. A major source of this inspiration comes from Better World Shopping Guide author Ellis Jones who writes: “The average American family spends about $18,000 every year on goods and services. Think of it as casting 18,000 votes per year for the kind of world you want to live in.” Jessica and Barbara wanted to create a store that sold household products made of non-toxic, sustain-
Your source for sustainable goods for your...
Local Notes continued
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Green Dog Pet Supply Has Moved to a New Location! Green Dog Pet Supply, previously located in the courtyard of a building at 46th and NE Fremont St in Beaumont Village, has moved 2 blocks down the street to a larger, street-front location. Says co-owner Christine Mallar, “We’re so very grateful to our customers that we have had such good success at growing our business. In fact, it’s grown so much that we needed more space! When the opportunity arose to move to a larger space on the same street, we had to jump on it, because this is our neighborhood - we’d never want to leave Fremont St and all of our loyal customers”. The new space also has the benefits of better parking and better visibility from the street. “We’ve just had our 6th Anniversary, yet most of our new customers are folks who live right in the neighborhood and never knew we were there. We definitely did the right thing”, says Mallar. The new space opened on July 6th, and many customers will recognize much of the store from the old location, as built-in cabinetry was disassembled and reassembled, and doors, walls, and even the giant cement sales counter were transported to the new location. As was the case with the first location, a very large percentage of the construction was done with reclaimed materials, such as a ramp into the food room that's made of reclaimed shipping pallets, or the storage room wall that was transported from the old store, faced with a mosaic of weathered barn wood and completed with a sliding door made of reclaimed douglas fir. Green Dog Pet Supply specializes in environmentally friendly pet supplies and gifts for dogs, cats, and their people. Green Dog Pet Supply was the first green pet supply store in the nation, in business since August 2004. New location: 4327 NE Fremont St in the Beaumont Village area of N.E. Portland Website: www.greendogpetsupply.com
PCC Invests In Rocket Composter Portland Community College is proving that composting and creating an effective closed loop recycling system isn’t rocket science. The college’s Rock Creek Campus (17705 N.W. Springville Road) officially joined a select few institutions of higher learning in the United States in improving its sustainability by unveiling its new Rocket composter. The Rocket, which will help recycle post-consumer waste, is the fourth of its kind in the United States, is the only one west of the Mississippi River and the lone Rocket composter in the country being used for post-consumer waste like plastic and paper service ware. “We really walk the talk,” said Rock Creek President David Rule. “People talk about sustainability, but PCC, and Rock Creek in particular, are really doing it. Who else is doing this? It’s the community colleges and PCC in Portland that are stepping out and being entrepreneurial by buying something and testing it.” It was entirely a student-driven process to research and acquire the Rocket composter. Last year, Rock Creek students were given the opportunity to determine where money from the college’s increased enrollment (PCC has had 13 consecutive terms of enrollment growth) could be used to improve the college’s infrastructure. As a result, this pilot project will, if successful, lead to the purchase of additional Rocket composters at all of PCC’s campuses, making the college the only institution in the nation to have that many. For more information on the Rocket composter visit http://www.tidyplanet.co.uk/food-waste-composters
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Local Notes continued
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A Practical Journal for Friends of the Environment
We Like This ! Idling Awareness & Reduction Tool Kit from Sierra Club The Sierra Club chapters have joined together to fund the development of a comprehensive Idling Awareness & Reduction Tool Kit available at: http://www.idlingtoolkit. com/ This informational effort is intended to promote energy conservation by vehicle drivers and town staffs that drive vehicles. A Sierra Club official commented, “If one million people idle only one minute per day, the total amount of time needlessly idling is about 16,660 hours of idling per day. If we can encourage people to refrain from idling only one minute, it would save about 8,300 gallons of fuel and about 160,000 pounds or 80 tons of carbon emissions PER DAY.”
C
Brammo, Inc. a global leader in the electric motorcycle business and Flextronics (Nasdaq: FLEX), a leading global Electronics Manufacturing Services (EMS) provider today announced that Brammo has selected Flextronics as its global manufacturing partner for the production of plug-in electric motorcycles and components. This strategic partnership enables Brammo to rapidly scale its manufacturing production in order to meet growing international demand for its products. This partnership is a continuing expansion of Flextronics’ Automotive segment and augments services to include new clean tech technologies and electronic systems for electric vehicles “As Brammo pursues its international growth strategy it is critical to our success that we continue to build our strong reputation for quality, reliability and serviceability,” stated Craig Bramscher, CEO and founder of Brammo, Inc. “Flextronics is focused on providing a high quality end-to-end solutions approach to leading global companies, including automotive, and this is why we have selected them as our strategic manufacturing partner. We can now scale globally with the demand and the rapid evolution of this growth industry.” Brammo Inc is a leading electric vehicle technology company headquartered in Ashland, OR. They design and develop electric vehicles including the award winning Brammo Enertia motorcycle and the recently announced Empulse. For more information visit www.brammo.com.
Plastic Bottle Recycling Plant in St. Helens ORPET, a public-private partnership between businessmen Tom Leaptrott and Dennis Denton and the Oregon Beverage Recycling Cooperative (Oregon’s predominant administrator of the Bottle Bill), is building the Northwest’s first facility for recycling plastic water and pop bottles. The facility will convert millions of PET bottles (polyethylene terephthalate) collected each year through Oregon’s Bottle Bill into materials for manufacturing, construction and packaging. Once operational, bottles from six regional collections sites will be brought to ORPET’s facility. The bottles will arrive in bails, which will then be busted, sorted by color (green or clear), put through a grinder, ground into flakes and washed. The flakes will be sold to manufacturers as a raw material for a variety of products, from clothing to packaging materials. ORPET’s building will meet LEED certification standards set by the U.S. Green Building Council. Green features will include rooftop solar panels, building materials containing recycled content and a variety of features to conserve energy.
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Brammo Selects Flextronics as Its Global Manufacturing Partner for Electric Motorcycles
Local Notes continued
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First Bottle and Can “Redemption Center” for Bottle Bill Returns Now Operating For the first time since the enactment of Oregon’s famous Bottle Bill law in 1972, consumers have the opportunity to return bottles and cans to a recycling center instead of a grocery store. The Oregon Liquor Control Commission unanimously approved the first redemption center for redeemable bottles and cans. It is located in Wood Village and has been open since July The center is operated by Oregon Beverage Recycling Cooperative (OBRC) which is owned by local and national distributors. “We’re thrilled to get this first Bottle Drop approved and open,” said Alisa Shifflett, OBRC Redemption Center Project Manager. “Our goal is to make it easier for consumers to return cans and bottles while also strengthening Oregon’s Bottle Bill.” The new Bottle Drop simplifies the bottle deposit system for Oregonians. For starters, the new facility features the EZ Drop system, which allows consumers to drop off their redeemable bottles and cans in a labeled bag. The redeeambles will be counted and consumers will receive the credit amount on a plastic card, similar to a gift card. The card can be exchanged for cash or merchandise at nearby stores. The center also has employees ready to hand count small amounts of bottles and cans and immediately return deposit money to consumers. In addition, the center will have new reverse vending machines for consumers to use. The machines will be faster and more user-friendly than the machines in use today.
SolarWorld launches SolarWorld Financial Solutions
ECO MAIDS Local Notes continued eral incentives can be realized. Commercial customers and not-for-profit organizations can select among various leases or a power purchase agreement (PPA). Under a PPA, a third party finances a solar system for a property owner; in turn, the property owner pays the financier for the system’s power at a discounted rate. The residential lease is currently available only in select Western states. SolarWorld Financial Solutions will continue to explore new financing options into the future. “This portfolio provides a broad range of options for a variety of customers to ease financial access to solar projects,” says Kevin Kilkelly, president of SolarWorld Americas. “The advance in ready-made financing versatility leads American markets in addressing solar’s upfront costs - the only ones that matter in a technology requiring no fuel, moving parts, maintenance, emissions or labor to operate. The upsides to the pocketbook and planet alike begin accruing immediately.” Media contact: Ben Santarris Public Affairs Manager ben. santarris@solarworld-usa.com SolarWorld Industries America Inc. 25300 N.W. Evergreen Road Hillsboro, OR 97124 Office: 503 693 5189
SolarWorld Americas, the sales and marketing arm of the largest and most experienced U.S. solar electric panel manufacturer, today unveiled a pioneering suite of nomoney-down financing options that the company’s authorized installers and their customers can seize to speed their Batteries Plus Encourages Customers solar projects over initial cost hurdles and onto economic to Commit to Battery Recycling and environmental savings. Stop a moment and think about the number of devices The SolarWorld Financial Solutions program delivers you use each day that are battery powered or have a batfinancing options from outside financial-service partners tery back-up. Your cell phone, computer, alarm clock, MP3 to empower the company’s authorized installers to further players, portable tools and more all depend upon some type differentiate their businesses and close more sales. With of battery to operate – the average household uses 21 such SolarWorld, customers of those installers now can tap not battery operated devices. And when all those batteries die, only high-performance crystalline silicon solar panels but many of us don’t think twice and just simply toss them in also those financing solutions that work best for them in the trash. Batteries Plus wants to change that. immediately capturing power from the sun without staking Batteries Plus specializes in selling battery products and significant upfront system costs. accessories, and also in battery recycling. In fact, Batteries Initial offerings enable residential customers to lease Plus’ goal is to be a net collector of batteries, recycling more Sunkits solar systems or defer payment until state and fed12 A Practial Journal for Friends of the Environment c GreenLivingJournal.com d Winter 2010-11
Celebrating 20 Years
Now streamed on www.kkpz.com
The Green Living Journal has been publishing practical information for friends of the environment in Vermont for 20 years and our Portland-Vancouver edition has been up and running for over 2 years now. As part of our celebration of these milestones we felt we needed to publish the stories of some of the other local businesses that are also 20 years old or more. We look forward to the next 20 years and all the exciting changes that are coming. In this issue we are featuring One Green World in Molalla, OR.
One Green World Surprising to many of us, one of our nation’s most unique nurseries is located batteries than it sells. just south of Portland. One According to the EPA, each year consumers purchase Green World, founded by more than three billion dry cell batteries. These batteries Jim Gilbert, not only grows contain heavy metals such as mercury, lead, cadmium and an extraordinarily diverse nickel that can leach out of landfills into soil, groundwaselection of fruiting plants; ter, rivers, lakes and streams. Recycling batteries not only it is a pioneer in sustainable protects the environment, it preserves our natural resources agricultural practices. since the recovered plastic and metals can be used to make It is hard to talk about new batteries. One Green World without “A single battery may seem like an insignificant piece acknowledging its founder. of household trash,” says Russ Reynolds, CEO of Batteries A fifth generation OregoPlus. “But discarded batteries account for 88 percent of the nian, Jim Gilbert grew up mercury and 54 percent of the cadmium deposited into our Jim Gilbert landfills. Every battery reclaimed through our recycling in Portland and eventually program helps to reduce those percentages.” graduated from PSU with a degree in Russian Language. In In the past year alone, the more than 425 Batteries Plus 1979, he founded Northwoods Nursery in Hood River and stores recycled more than 27 million pounds of lead acid in 1982 he moved the nursery to the Molalla area. In 1994, batteries, and more than 850,000 pounds of all other chemJim founded One Green World; a retail/mail-order nursery istries including alkaline, lithium ion, NiCd, and others. that publishes 80,000 catalogs annually and sells plants to All Batteries Plus stores offer recycling for the recharge- gardeners in all of the United States. able batteries used in cordless phones, cordless tools, two Jim’s vision of a truly green world led to his extensive way radios, camcorders, bar code scanners, digital cameras, travels in search of new plants. In addition to journeys to cell phones and laptops as well as the batteries used in cars, Europe and Asia, his knowledge of Russian led him to the trucks, emergency lighting, watches, hearing aids, and countries of the former Soviet Union, where he found not many other devices. only a wealth of new plants, but also a network of friends In addition to recycling the batteries that power them, and horticulturalists with whom he has exchanged many Batteries Plus recycles many of the electronic devices interesting varieties. Among the valuable new plants Jim themselves, including laptops, cell/smart phones, iPod/ has introduced to American gardeners are Sea Berry, HonMP3 players, pagers, portable tools, power cords, handheld eyberry, Magnolia Vine, Cornelian Cherry, and Goji. games, and other devices. Since the beginning, Jim has been committed to growing Batteries Plus is the nation’s largest and fastest growing battery retailer, selling more than 50 million batteries per plants sustainably. He challenged existing growing practices year. Batteries Plus, has over 425 locations in 44 states and and began mulching nursery rows with sawdust, conservPuerto Rico. To learn more about our exciting franchise op- ing water and eliminating the need for herbicides. He also portunities and joining the battery franchise leader please began growing a grass cover crop between the nursery rows, visit BatteriesPlus.com. eliminating soil erosion and suppressing weeds. For many years employees have been using bicycles and electric carts Contact: Jeffrey Lentz Marketing Specialist (262) 912-3278 for onsite transportation and in 2004, the nursery began jlentz@batteriesplus.com using B99 biodiesel in its tractors, farm equipment, delivery 13 Columbia River PDX c Green Living Journal d No. 11 Winter 2010-11
Local Notes continued
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Celebrating 20 Years continued van and truck. In August 2006, Northwoods Nursery / One Green World became the first nursery operation ever to earn Salmon-Safe certification. This designation recognizes the nursery’s commitment to using appropriate and sustainable farming practices; reducing impacts to the environment while improving efficiencies. To qualify for Salmon-Safe certification, the nursery met rigorous conservation requirements. These include finding natural methods to control weeds and pests, protecting streams and wetlands, planting cover crops on fallow fields to prevent erosion and runoff, and reducing irrigation water use. To solidify Jim’s commitment and make Northwoods Nursery / One Green World an exemplary model of sustainability for the nursery industry, Jim along with his partner, Lorraine Gardner created a dedicated staff position and hired a Sustainability Director in 2006. Northwoods Nursery/One Green World is now recognized as a distinguished Business Recycling Awards Group (BRAG) member, actively recycling all plastics, potting soil, cardboard, paper, metal, glass, motor oil, and batteries. The nursery composts all organic matter for reuse onsite, collects rainwater for irrigation, uses biodegradable packing materials in its shipping facility, uses energy-efficient lighting, fans and greenhouse insulation, purchases 100 percent Clean Wind electricity, and produces approximately 10% of its electricity through an onsite solar photovoltaic array. Northwoods Nursery / One Green World also actively supports community projects such as healthy watersheds, local edible landscapes, community gardens and school gardens. Currently, the nursery is working on installing two exciting new projects – a large rainwater harvesting system and a radiant heat installation in its greenhouses. In partnership with the Clackamas County Soil and Water Conservation District (CCSWCD), Northwoods Nursery / One Green World was awarded a grant through USDA’s Conserva14
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Celebrating 20 Years continued tion Innovation Grant Program to design a 309,000 gallon commercial scale rainwater harvesting pilot demonstration project. By harvesting rainwater during the wet season and reusing irrigation water during the summer, this project will decrease demand for groundwater, reduce stormwater runoff and provide an example for area farmers limited by low summer surface water flows and decreasing groundwater levels. It is estimated that the system will offset over 10 percent of the nursery’s total annual water needs. In 2008, Northwoods Nursery / One Green World conducted an energy audit which led to a grant from the USDA’s Rural Energy for America Program. Through this project, the nursery is switching from forced air heaters to in-floor and under-bench radiant heating in its greenhouses. It is estimated that this conversion will reduce annual propane usage by 47 percent, plus improve plant health. The payback for this project is less than 4 years. With the price of propane on the rise, it could pay for itself even sooner. Northwoods Nursery / One Green World continues to be on the cutting edge of sustainability. As a participant in the Climate Friendly Nurseries Project, the nursery inventoried its greenhouse gas emissions in 2009 and has committed to reducing its carbon footprint even further in
A Practial Journal for Friends of the Environment c GreenLivingJournal.com d Winter 2010-11
Celebrating 20 Years continued future years. The core focus of the business, growing edible plants, is one deeply rooted in a desire to promote self-sufficient communities that can sustainably feed themselves. For more information on the nursery’s sustainability efforts or to browse their vast selection of unique edible plants hardy for the Pacific Northwest climate, visit: www.onegreenworld.com.
Nature The Promise of Fungi
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By James Trimarco For more than a decade, mycologist and inventor Paul Stamets has known that mushrooms eat oil. There were still a few kinks to work out; bringing the technology to scale and winning the acceptance of government agencies were two of the most challenging. Yet the basic science was solid and had been replicated many times by other scientists. Then Stamets heard about the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. While his first reaction was horror and regret, he also knew that he might be able to offer practical solutions, while at the same time giving his oil-eating mushrooms a chance to show their stuff. He wasn’t the only one who thought mushrooms might be part of the solution. In the days after the explosion in the Gulf, the EPA contacted him several times to request a proposal. They wanted to understand how mycoremediation— the reduction of toxic compounds into harmless ones by fungi—could work as a component of their cleanup strategy for the spill. Stamets drafted a three-page proposal and sent it off. Then he ramped up the pace of his research and shifted his focus to finding oil-eating mushrooms that could tolerate the Gulf of Mexico’s salt water and powerful sun. Stamets is a bit of a rogue scientist. He began his career in the forest as a logger, not as a scientist, and holds no degree higher than a bachelor’s from the Evergreen State College. Yet he has published three of the most widely read books on the art of growing and using fungi, founded a unique biotechnology company that now employs 37 people, and appeared in films and on talk shows to praise the talents of the powerful and mysterious fungal kingdom. Stamets calls fungi the “interface organisms between life and death” because they specialize in breaking indigestible substances down into smaller particles that other living things can use as nutrients.
In fact, polishing the public image of fungus may be more important for Stamets than any decision to bring mushrooms to the Gulf spill. This is because he sees human partnership with fungi as essential to the broader project of creating a sustainable society. Like most other environmentalists, Stamets believes our society is hurting the earth and that the consequences of this damage will be severe. But he differs from the others in his conviction that fungi are the key to repairing that damage, healing the planet and accepting decay as part of nature as well. Part of the problem is that most people don’t know much about fungi, so Stamets is constantly working to educate them. He talks a lot about the mycelium, the underground network of hair like cells that constitute the main bodies of mushroom-forming fungi (the mushrooms themselves are merely the reproductive organs). The mycelium is a little-known but fascinating form of life that colonizes the soil and partners with trees and other plants growing nearby. It gathers information about water, nutrients, and pests, and then takes a surprising range of actions. It can move water and nutrients from many meters away to moisten a rotting log or nurture a growing
Nature continued
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tree. It can remove toxins from water or zap dangerous bacteria that threaten a partner plant. Most trees cannot reach maturity without its assistance. And, of course, the mycelium eats. Stamets calls fungi the “interface organisms between life and death” because they specialize in breaking indigestible substances down into smaller particles that other living things can use as nutrients. It is this ability to digest complex organic compounds that makes fungi so promising for cleaning up oil. A Side of Diesel with those Wood Chips, Please Stamets first tested the fungal appetite for oil in 1997, when he teamed up with researchers at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory to provide fungi for several labbased experiments. The team selected mycelial strains and set them loose on diesel-contaminated soil. At the end of eight weeks, they found that the fungi had removed 97 percent of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs)—heavy chemicals within oil that other forms of remediation had consistently failed to break down. The chance to study this process outside the lab came a year later, when the Washington State Department of Transportation partnered with Stamets and the Battelle Marine Science Laboratory to compare different cleanup methods at a maintenance yard contaminated with diesel fuel. Workers scooped piles of the toxic soil onto tarps, and each pile was inoculated, either with a form of oil-eating bacteria or with Stamets’ mix of oyster-mushroom mycelia and wood chips. There were also several control patches of soil. Again, the results were encouraging. The bacterial patches, Stamets says, remained “dead, dark, and stinky.” Same with the control group. Meanwhile, his own patches were teeming with huge oyster mushrooms feasting happily on the diesel compounds. “Analyses showed that more than 95 percent of many of the PAHs … were destroyed,” Stamets wrote, “and the mushrooms were also free of any petroleum products.” Because the contamination in the soil patches was very uneven, it was difficult to measure the precise concentration of contaminants both before and after remediation. However, researchers at the Department of Transportation eventually declared the fungi-cleansed soil pure enough to use for landscaping purposes along the highways of Washington. In the years since, many other researchers have replicated Stamets’s findings, and further study has shown that various types of fungi are able to partially or fully detoxify oil and pesticides. Geoffrey Gadd of the University of Dundee, 16
Nature continued Scotland, even found that fungi can break down depleted uranium from anti-tank shells by allowing it to bond with phosphates to form a more stable mineral. Since the Deepwater Horizon spill in April 2010, Stamets has been testing his oyster mushrooms for tolerance to salt water and sun in preparation for a gig off the coast of Texas or Louisiana. So far, he’s managed to isolate a strain that can tolerate the salinity of Puget Sound, which is only slightly less than that of the Gulf. And he’s found ways to float the mushrooms cheaply on hemp “mycobooms” filled with straw and mycelia from which the mushrooms can metabolize oil on the surface of the sea. Stamets says this new research is “very cool and unlikely to have been discovered if it were not for this disaster.” He believes it will be used in the near future and has applied for a provisional patent to prevent oil companies from stealing the research. But he says he would be happy to share it for free with affected communities in the Gulf of Mexico. James Trimarco is a writer and activist based in New York City, and a consulting editor for YES! He wrote this article for the Fall 2010 issue, A Resilient Community. This article is reprinted with permission of YES! And has been shortened here due to space limitations.
A Practial Journal for Friends of the Environment c GreenLivingJournal.com d Winter 2010-11
Transportation Life Without Wheels
An Interview with Kevin Pile
Transportation continued I was forced to confront my conveniences on Christmas Eve, 2008. That’s when my VW’s transmission decided to give out. I was, as every American has been at some point in time, faced with owing more money on the car than the car was worth. So I asked myself the typical questions that begged to be asked. Do I pay $5000 to replace the transmission, and continue to make monthly payments? Do I trade in and get a new car? Or, what are my other options? It was during this decision process that I chose to follow my heart, and beliefs; although inconvenient, and financially burdensome. As with all decisions to implement sustainability, the financial value of my decision needed to be with the long term in mind. This was my opportunity to start a new chapter in my life without an automobile. I decided to confront the fear and financial consequences looming in the short term. On paper, I was able to quickly calculate the long-term savings of not owning a vehicle: insurance, gas, maintenance, speeding tickets, and all those other unexpected expenses. These savings would quickly pay for the financial burden that came as part of my immediate decision to live without a car. So, in early January of 2009, I proceeded with a “voluntary repossession” of my vehicle. I moved to a community that was walking and biking friendly.
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Surely you’ve had one of those days when you thought about just giving up owning a car altogether. You know, one of those days when you just found out that the new timing belt’s going to cost you $1800 and while they are in there working on that they might as well do…(you fill in the blank)… for another $….(again, you fill in the blank)…. Or maybe it was the day the monthly payment, the gas bill, the new plates and the insurance premium all had to be paid in the same week. Or even better, maybe you are one of those that is tired of spewing exhaust gases into our air and exporting money to OPEC for the privilege of doing that. Either way, you need to meet Kevin Pile, Co-founder and CEO of Ecotrain Media Group, Portland, who no longer owns an automobile. The Green Living Journal thought his story might stimulate others to, if not follow suit, at least plant the seed of the idea for Kevin Pile later consideration. GLJ: When did you decide to give up your car? KP: I decided to give up my VW TDI Biofuel Jetta in December 2008 GLJ: What led you to make this decision? KP (chuckling): This was a decision that was a long time coming. For years, I had wondered how far my belief in sustainability could go. We acknowledge congestion, pollution, noise, and oil consumption as being major problems facing our society and we continue to push for progress and legislation to curb these problems. We continue to look and wait for our leaders to combat these issues on national, state, and local levels. Now at the age of 32, I have been involved in four political elections and somewhere in that timeframe, I realized I was tired of looking to others for answers. So, I began to look within for solutions that I had control over. The consciousness of what I wanted to do was just the beginning. Reality followed. I loved my car, I needed my car, and I, as many, had a car debt that needed to be paid every month. From realization to actualization took several years.
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Transportation continued Now two years later, I am forever grateful of my decision. Now located in Portland, my walking commute is even easier. On my commute to work, and before I begin my day at the office, I have already had my exercise, community connection, and mediation to start the day off right. GLJ: What modes of transportation do you use? KP: This is evolving every day, as specific needs come up that you don’t even think about during the process of giving up your vehicle. This is where your lifestyle changes, and you begin to get creative. There are not many places in Portland that I am hesitant to walk. I walk roughly 10-15 miles per day for commuting purposes. The Ecotrain Media Group office located at SOUK, an entrepreneurial co-operative workspace, was decided on because of its close proximity to the Post Office, TriMet, Amtrak, Greyhound and rental cars, and other shared offices we spend time at such as Ned Space and the Portland Ten office. For long distance business trips, we have used various combinations of each of these services. GLJ: What are some of the problems and benefits of these? KP: Of course, time and convenience are the major downsides to public transportation, walking, or having to purchase a rental car. Time and Convenience. This is part of my decision that I have had to just accept. Some things just take longer to achieve, sometimes all day, depending on the errand. There are some components to sustainability that this forces me to live with, such as routine walks to and from work and random community connections that I would not experi-
ence in my car. There are other inconveniences that are lessened with advances in technology, such as my iPhone which gives me instant connection to email, phone, text, browsing capabilities, and one new app that allows me to make instant sales with a credit card reader adapter. Certain benefits are not having to deal with parking, not having to deal with traffic, not having to deal with unexpected car problems, saving money associated with vehicle responsibilities, not having to deal with always giving rides, and of course the greatest benefit is feeling as if I am playing a small part in the solution. GLJ: How do you handle the chores that we all use our cars or pickups for, or go to the beach, or MT. Hood or rafting on the Deschutes? KP: However, with all this comes sacrifice. I enjoy hiking, the coast, the mountain, and just getting out to explore. Sometimes I need to carry large or heavy items. I am not able to make these journeys without planning, and definitely not as spontaneous as I would like. (Chuckles) Transporting heavier materials or doing chores has been interesting. For instance, imagine this, when I first moved to The Dalles after giving up my vehicle, I successfully carried an 1/8 inch flimsy 8ft X 5ft melamine white board on top of my head. It was comical to watch the oncoming traffic drive in fear of me letting go of this huge piece of flailing material in the Columbia Gorge wind. That is an example of those mile treks that I am accustomed to. I repeated that process when I moved to Portland carrying 3 pieces on separate commutes 25 blocks through NW
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A Practial Journal for Friends of the Environment c GreenLivingJournal.com d Winter 2010-11
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Transportation continued
Smiling and Longevity by Krista Anderson-Ross, ND
Facial Expressions are the mirror of our inner emotional landscape. Try this right now, while you read this. Smile. I mean really smile: feel the corners of your mouth lifting and your eyebrows arching. Maybe you will even feel your scalp move or cheekbones lift. Now imagine how you must look while you are doing this: smiling like crazy whilst you look at your “You’ve got to get up computer... you might even be every morning with able to see your a smile on your face reflection in and show the world your monitor... and perhaps you all the love in your will smile even heart. Then people more! Smiling gonna treat you better, breeds smiling, in yourself and you’re gonna find, yes others around you will, that you’re you. It sounds beautiful as you feel.” silly but it’s simple, and ~Carol King true. I have been experimenting on myself. When I notice my brow furrowing I actively lift the muscles in my forehead and immediately start to feel better. The neuronal pathways
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Portland Districts. When my parents were in town, I asked for a ride to the other side of the river to visit the ReStore to look for a desk. Friends have delivered bookshelves and dressers. Transporting necessary networking event provisions such as beer is always done from a local brewery and hauled over my shoulders, sometimes up to a mile or more. Grocery store trips are made more frequent with less to carry home. This is beneficial for more fresh produce opportunities, buying what I immediately need. For random spontaneous adventures to the mountain or wherever, I need to rely on invites from friends and these trips often don’t mesh well with a start-up ecopreneur’s schedule, so then maybe a rental car. This is also the predicament I face when I want to visit many of my friends in the outer parts of Portland, yet, my enthusiasm to trek across town often seems to be curbed at the end of the day with tired legs. GLJ: Any thoughts of switching back to a life with wheels? KP: Of course. I think it about it often. (chuckles) I am 32 years old with a long healthy life ahead; who knows what the future holds? I am not married, I do not have any kids, and at some point I will purchase a homestead. These are some of life’s intricacies that would change my immediate needs for a vehicle. My next step is a bike. I sold mine a year ago during the initial stages of Ecotrain for some extra cash. In the future, I support alternative and appropriate technology within the transportation sector. At this point, I have no immediate desire to return to being a vehicle owner. Right now, I am focused on Ecotrain’s mission to connect key workforce stakeholders; industry, education, and individuals. I look forward to unveiling Ecotrain Underground in January, a vast online social network of innovative decision makers fostering solutions and facilitating partnerships for currently underway green workforce initiatives. Kevin Pyle, CEO Ecotrain Media Group http://www.ecotrainmediagroup.com
Health
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Health continued associated with smiling are also associated with good feelings. You can actually change the way you feel by simply smiling. The Journal Psychological Science recently reported that the length of one’s smile might dictate the length of one’s life. Researchers from Wayne State University examined Baseball Register photos of 230 Major League Baseball Players who started playing before 1950. The researchers classified each smile into one of three categories: nonsmilers; partial smile - where the muscles around their mouths were only slightly raised; and “full smile” or Duchenne smile: wide grin, both cheeks raised. Of the three categories, who lived the longest? You guessed it, the smilers. The non-smilers lived an average of 72.9 years, the partial smilers lived an average of 75 years, and the biggest smilers lived the longest, 79.9 years. Interestingly, the researchers also did a follow-up study with the same baseball players exploring attractiveness and longevity, and found that good looks did not correlate with a longer life. This hearkens back to Carol King’s lyric “you’re beautiful as you feel.” We have long sensed the benefits of laughter and humor in our lives, now science is bearing out our suspicions.
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Laughter reduces levels of the stress hormone cortisol, which in turn stimulates the immune system and lowers blood pressure. After a good long laugh have you ever felt soreness in your muscles? Laughter gives your diaphragm, abdominal, respiratory, facial, leg and back muscles a workout. Researchers estimate that laughing 100 times is equal to 10 minutes on the rowing machine or 15 minutes on an exercise bike! A good laugh enhances oxygen intake, stimulates the heart and lungs, relaxes muscles, triggers the release of endorphins, eases digestion, improves mental alertness and creativity, improves sleep, the list goes on. Krista Anderson Ross is a Naturopathic Doctor with a family practice at Heartspace Center for Healing in Lake Oswego. Krista is also a blogger, lecturer and mother of three. www.wholefoodmatters.blogspot.com
Is Exercise Killing You? Be Still!
By Gibran Ramos L.Ac. We have some very healthy areas in the U.S. but after reading Dr. Nishant’s article on the Blue Zones I started to wonder why we don’t have more Blue Zones (areas where the population often lives past 100). There are many regions in this country where obesity is low and people are very active.
A Practial Journal for Friends of the Environment c GreenLivingJournal.com d Winter 2010-11
Health continued person has a very low resting heart rate, he would be considered weak or deficient by Chinese medicine standards. I do not expect a person with a slow resting heart rate due to extreme daily exercise to live to be a centenarian. All of Chinese medicine is about balance. When we exercise at an extreme, our bodies respond in an extreme way, by wearing down quicker. Want to live to be one hundred years old? Start by getting moderate low-intensity daily exercise. Health requires moving, not maximum intensity. Here are some ideas: • Find a local walking club: The Walking Site • Learn Tai Ji: International Yang Style T’ai Chi Chuan Association or International Chen Style Taijiquan Association • Plant a garden or work at your community garden: National Gardening Association Gibran Ramos, L.Ac. completed his six year training and internship in Naturopathic and Chinese Medicine at National College of Natural Medicine. Mr. Ramos helps patients transform their lives and optimize their well-being at Northwest Natural Medicine in Milwaukie, Oregon. http://nwnaturalmedicine.com
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Wait a second, I thought, could that be it: activity? While a great majority of Americans don’t get enough activity and suffer from chronic diseases and obesity, the other end of the spectrum is comprised of some super-active individuals who run, bike, and swim every day. Most Americans would say that a person who is very active and has a resting heart beat of 32-34 beats per minute is very healthy. Here’s what I say: over activity, much like under activity, is not healthy! To explain this, we have to ask what type of activity they do in those Blue Zones that allows them to live so long? It is a type of activity done on a regular basis that they can do well past 100 years old. These octogenarians are not biking at an average speed of 24.9 MPH to the gym, then doing an hour long, near the verge of breathlessness, kick-boxing class or spin class, followed by a circuit on the free weights and ending with 400 meters in the pool. Instead they’re gardening, walking, engaging in Tai Ji and other moderate low-intensity physical activity. Chinese medicine supports my theory. Until recently, you would rarely see a Chinese person jogging. Why? Jogging induces excess sweating and creates “a loss of a fluid of the heart.” When the heart loses its vital fluids it also looses qi or energy. Copious amounts of sweating, as done in high intensity activity creates a slow, but steady depletion of one’s heart energy. The result is a slowing down of the heartbeat. Also with the loss of heart qi the intense activity causes an increase in what the Chinese term “blood stagnation.” With the blood stagnation, one gets an enlarged heart. So even if a
Building
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The Greenest House in Texas?
By Robyn Griggs Lawrence Heather Ferrier grew up around green building. Her father, Don Ferrier, was crafting earth-sheltered homes in the Dallas/Fort Worth area in 1982. Heather Ferrier began helping out around the construction company’s offices at age 9. When she graduated from college and later became general manager of Ferrier Construction, Ferrier wanted to build a deep green house. Not only did she crave a sunny, healthy place to live, but she was also determined to show the world it could be done on a budget. Because of mortgage stipulations and real estate minimum size requirements, Ferrier found she would have to build a roughly 2,000-square-foot house. That left her with a modest budget of $115 per square foot—and she wanted a house with some flair. “Most clients have much larger budgets, needless to say,” she said. Her accomplishment is astounding. Her 2,028-squarefoot passive solar home, built for $235,000, is the first home in Texas (the third in the United States) to get the U.S. Green Building Council’s highest Platinum ranking. It’s a prototype for the U.S. Department of Energy’s Building
Building continued America program; was named the 2007 Dallas Builders’ Best Green Home; and won the Gold Energy Value Housing Award, which honors the nation’s energy-efficient elite. Nearly 4,000 people have toured the home. “Heather wanted to dispel people’s grumblings that only the elite can afford a green home,” Don Ferrier said. Her goal of using the home as an educational tool has worked. “This house has really hit a nerve locally and nationally,” Heather Ferrier says. “It’s caught the attention of a lot of people.” Of no less importance, Ferrier has a bright, natural home to share with her sister, Lacey. She’s created a nontoxic, light-filled environment that doesn’t trigger her asthma or allergies, and she’s spending about $200 less per month on utilities than her neighbors. “When people visit, the first thing they say is that this place feels happy,” Ferrier said. “I believe there’s a psychological impact from living in a green home. Having this experience, I wouldn’t live in any other type of house.”
Finding the right site Ferrier set out to build a small home, which isn’t easy in the Fort Worth suburbs. She spent a year and a half looking for the perfect lot, but most subdivisions required her to build a 3,000-square-foot or larger home. An urban infill lot in Lake Weatherford, an architecturally significant lake community 15 miles west of Fort Worth, proved to be exactly what she wanted. The park like 1-acre lot accommodates a south-facing home and offers several large oaks to provide summer shade. Because Ferrier didn’t have cash for expensive green features, good design was crucial to her vision. She turned to Dallas architect Gary Gene Olp, who specializes in passive solar design, to take advantage of her site’s natural bounty. Ferrier Custom Homes was building Olp’s home at the time, and Ferrier requested a smaller version. “This is really a Mini Me—a smaller, more-efficient version of my home,” 22
A Practial Journal for Friends of the Environment c GreenLivingJournal.com d Winter 2010-11
Building continued Olp said. “We wanted to show you can build responsibly for your region using passive solar, good design and efficient use of space. And it’s affordable—that’s the key.”
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“You can build cheap, or you can build affordable,” Olp said. “In this house, we had a lot of fun playing with materials and using them on the raw side.” Ferrier opted for energy-efficient, easy-to-assemble structural insulated panels (SIPs), and Olp clad the exterior in James Hardie fiber-cement siding and stucco for low maintenance. Heather’s budget wouldn’t accommodate solar panels (although the home is hardwired to hook them up when she can afford them), but she was able to install solar water-heating panels with help from a federal tax credit. “Solar hot water in our climate is a no-brainer,” Olp says. “It pays back so fast.” Ferrier, her father With little money, and Olp worked to make recent college sure everything in the graduate Heather house would have a fiveto seven-year payback. Ferrier wasn’t the That ruled out renewable likeliest candidate energy systems such as geothermal and wind, to build the but energy-saving design greenest house techniques such as in Texas. Her well-placed overhangs, determination a thermally effective building envelope and proved stronger whole-house ventilathan her limited tion fans keep her utility dollars. bills way below average. Ferrier’s home is nearly zero-energy; her utilities average $75 per month. She’s also become more conscious of energy use since she began reporting her monthly consumption to Building Science, a Boston consultancy that uses her home as an energy-efficient prototype. “It’s not like I live in a laboratory,” she says, “but I’m much more aware now of how my behaviors affect energy consumption.” She’s also more water-conscious now that she irrigates and flushes her toilets from the roof ’s 3,000-gallon rainwater cistern. Along with drought-tolerant landscaping, Olp says water catchment is “another no-brainer.” He adds: “Why would we draw off drinkable water from the purification plant to flush down the toilet or water the lawn? It doesn’t make any financial or common sense.”
Gardening Community Seed Order Saves Big Bucks by Stephen Morris
Building continued
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No going back Ferrier loves country suburban life. She’s surrounded by tall trees, and deer come to visit at dawn and at dusk. Her home is light-filled and peaceful, and it works. The only thing she’d change? “I’d make it smaller,” she says. “I would just try to squeeze it down a bit more.” Excerpted from Natural Home, a national magazine that provides practical ideas, inspiring examples and expert opinions about healthy, ecologically sound, beautiful homes. To read more articles from Natural Home, please visit www.NaturalHomeMagazine.com Copyright 2009 by Ogden Publications Inc.
We Like This ! Exposing Little Green Lies and Producing Green-Minded Graduates
This is a titillating story, but only for gardeners. Many residents who live on my road have home vegetable gardens. You know because in late August you can see wheelbarrows beside driveways filled with oblong, green baseball bats with hand-scribbled signs “Free Zucchini. Take them ... Please!” One year someone tried “Free Zucchini. Take them ... or else!” Then, every spring, we plant too many zucchinis again, and we will this year, too, but this year local residents got smart and decided if they were going to plant too many zucchinis, they may as well save a little money on the seeds. It was with this in mind that local residents gathered on a cold, January night to place a collective seed order. “Seeds keep getting more expensive, especially if you want organic. And supplies are limited, so if you wait too late you can find your preferred varieties sold out for the year,” says Zach McDermott, a professional landscaper who specializes in growing Blue Hubbard squash in his garden. After shedding coats and putting out tea, coffee, and sugary goodies, the group settled in for business. The first item was easy- to decide which company from which to order. With one of the nation’s fastest-growing, organic seed companies located just up the road in Wolcott, Vermont (High Mowing), it was easy to decide to buy local. The economics of seed packaging are eye-opening. A single package of Detroit Dark Red Beets, costs $2.75 and contains 1/16 ounce of seed. Do the math and this works out to a whopping $704.00 per pound. The next size option is a 1 ounce package for $4.30 ($68.80 per pound, or the
When it comes to sustainability and the challenges of climate change, sometimes it’s the message that needs to be fixed. To that end, a pair of University of Oregon journalism professors are teaching students how to communicate accurately and responsibly about brands and companies and their green messages. Their tools in this new venture? New courses in sustainability challenges and green leadership in the communications industry, and a phalanx of industry leaders ready to help. The UO’s Kim Sheehan and Deborah Morrison are partners in developing the Greenwashing Index in partnership with Enviromedia Social Marketing of Austin and Portland. This index allows people around the world to rate a company’s message in terms of its green claims. Just one more way the UO is helping to improve industry and the world, by giving students the right tools for a new future. The new green leadership curriculum is funded by a grant from the Meyer Fund for a Sustainable Environment at the UO. The Meyer Fund is supported by the T & J Meyer Family Foundation. 24 A Practial Journal for Friends of the Environment c GreenLivingJournal.com d Winter 2010-11
Gardening
1. Decide which vegetable varieties to order. 2. Collect the individual orders and translate them into the nearest bulk quantity. 3. Calculate the costs per individual. (Don’t forget to include shipping.) 4. Place the order 5. Divide and package the seeds when they arrived
This last function was accomplished by purchasing a quantity of small, brown envelopes (two cents each), then dumping the seeds onto a large white plate (for visibility), then separating them into piles that approximate the percentage of each individual’s order. We considered more scientific methods of measuring out the seeds, but ultimately concluded that eyeballing was accurate enough. There were a few wrinkles. In some cases the economies were reversed. A package of zucchini seeds cost $2.75, but contains 20 seeds, and any gardener can tell you that 20 zucchini plants will result in pick-up trucks, not wheelbarrows, parked out by the “Free” signs. By sharing a single packet among 5 people, we were able to reduce the “unit cost” to $0.55. Then there was the issue of onions, ordered from a separate source, but offering the same economies of scale. Expect to see a lot of Lancelot Leeks vying for the Blue Ribbon in next year’s County Fair. None of the attendees qualified as spreadsheet whizzes, but luckily an operation like this can be managed with a legal pad, calculator, and 9th grade algebra skills. It’s easy to envision the development of a more sophisticated spreadsheet that would automate the clerical part of the process. The seeds are now nestled comfortably in their envelopes, awaiting the arrival of spring. No one at the “seedy affair” could think of a way to calculate our collective
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savings, but our best guess is that we each paid about 1/3 of what it would cost us to order on our own. But saving money wasn’t only what it was all about. Here are a few comments heard as people put on the coats and boots, preparing to face a cold January night: “It was a fun thing to do on a winter night. I would have come even without the seed part.” “It got me psyched for spring. Looking at the seed catalogs is fun, but this was even better.” “Olenka’s coffee cake was great.” “I think I might have ordered enough spinach seed to start my own farm.” Stephen Morris is National Editor of Green Living, an avid gardener, and a self-described “cheapskate who loves saving money.”
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equivalent of $0.27 per packet. The next size option up is 1/4 pound (4 ounces) for $7.40. This brings the per pound cost down to $29.60 and the packet equivalent to $0.12. Can someone check the math? For $0.12 a package can anyone afford not to garden? High Mowing sells a package of Black Seeded Simpson lettuce for $2.75 (1/32 of an ounce). A half-ounce packet is $5.50, and two ounces are $7.00. This translates to per pound costs of $1408/$176/$56 and single packet prices of $2.75/$0.34/$0.11. Said differently, the same amount of lettuce seed that cost $2.75 in a single package only costs $0.11 if purchased as part of a two-ounce bulk order, a savings of 96%! In addition to deciding which company to order from and figuring out what to do with all the savings the group had to:
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Dear EarthTalk: Merino wool undergarments tout themselves as being kinder to the environment than other wools or synthetics. How is this so? -- Stella Cooley, Bangor, ME Since the 1970s, professional athletes and weekend warriors alike have sworn by base layers made out of synthetic “fibers” that would let sweat-based moisture escape, dry fast and be easy to care for. But such garments don’t come without trade-offs: They tend to get stinky when mixed with bodily odors and, like so many modern technological marvels, are derived from petroleum. Merino wool-based garments function just as well or better—and without the olfactory stigma or carbon footprint increase. The soft and pliable cousin to the traditional wool our grandparents wore, Merino wool is revolutionizing outdoor wear while helping manufacturers and consumers lower their impact on the environment. This natural fiber, derived from Merino sheep in New Zealand, is soft on the skin, wicks sweat effectively, dries out COM quickly, is naturally odor-resistant—and is machine-washable to boot. And since SPUD. Merino can be easily spun into different weights, it is used in a wide variety of clothing types (underwear, shirts, coats) making it a natural choice for layering. Some of the leaders in the Merino underwear revolution include Ibex Outdoor Clothing, SmartWool and Patagonia, each which sources its wool through Zque, a New Zealand-based certification for Merino producers that adheres to a strict set of sustainability and ethical treatment standards. Qualifying ranches must feed Simplify the Holidays their sheep natural grass and spring water and maintain a low “head-to-hectare” with Spud.com ratio. Upwards of 170 New Zealand Merino ranches have been certified accordingly by Zque as “ethical wool” producers. Your online organic grocer, delivering local groceries, Unhappy with plus Oregon beer & wine. synthetic base layGet $25 off this holiday season, ers that made him use promocode: GREENJOURNAL “sweat like a gorilla,” cross-country skiing enthusiast John COM SPUD. Fernsell teamed up with sheep farmer and mountaineer Peter Helmetag to start Ibex in 1997. “Everything looked the same and didn’t work,” says Fernsell. “It was all either Gore-Tex or polyester fleece.” The duo set out to find a better choice. With its inherent functionality, style, comfort and sustainability, Merino 26 A Practial Journal for Friends of the Environment c GreenLivingJournal.com d Winter 2010-11
EARTH TALK cont.
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How to Choose a CSA By Erin Barnett Know Thyself
Utterly fantastic idea though it is, Community Supported Agriculture is not Bumble Bee Farm for everyone. Deciding CONTACTS: Ibex Outdoor Clothing, www.ibexwear.com; Pawhether or not CSA is for you requires a healthy dose of self tagonia, www.patagonia.com; SmartWool, www.smartwool. knowledge. Some of us confuse how we are with how we com; Zque, www.zque.co.nz; REI, www.rei.com., Icebreaker, would like to be. Not that there’s no room for movement, www.icebreaker.com but if you truly do not like vegetables, signing up to receive SEND YOUR ENVIRONMENTAL QUESTIONS TO: five to 20 pounds of them a week is probably not going to go EarthTalk®, c/o E – The Environmental Magazine, P.O. Box 5098, Westport, CT 06881; earthtalk@emagazine.com. E is well. When considering whether or not to join a CSA, there are a few questions that you might ask yourself. Be sure to a nonprofit publication. Subscribe: www.emagazine.com/suanswer for yourself and the people you live with since asking scribe; Request a Free Trial Issue: www.emagazine.com/trial other people to change their eating habits is no small thing. • Do I like to cook and does my schedule allow me to make homemade meals most evenings? • Will it be fun to eat vegetables that are new to me? • How will I handle excess produce? (Do you have a neighbor who would like to get some if you get “behind”?) Feeling bad about wasting food is one of the top reasons former CSA members site for not renewing. • Am I willing to accept the unknowns involved in “shared risk”? A note on that last question: implicit in the CSA concept is the idea that members share with the farmer the risk that some crops might do poorly due to bad weather, pest problems, and the like. With so many crops included in a CSA, it is expected that even if some languish, others will flourish and there will be plenty of food overall. Members pay the same whether it turns out to be a bumper year or a skinny one. One day soon I’ll devote a whole article to “shared 27 Columbia River PDX c Green Living Journal d No. 11 Winter 2010-11
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emerged the victor. Today Ibex sells sev/ http: eral different cuts of Merino wool undergarments, including a line of underwear for men and women, long johns for men and women, and boxers for men. SmartWool, better known for its Merino socks, also makes highly regarded Merino undergarments, such as the men’s’ Microweight Boxer Brief and three long johns for men and women of varying weights. Patagonia also sells a full line of Merino under- and outerwear. Additionally, many more companies have jumped on the Merino bandwagon, so consumers interested in trying it out now have more styles and varieties than ever to choose from. These products are available directly from the manufacturers’ websites or through outdoor retailers including REI. Merino undergarments are still expensive compared to the alternatives. But Merino converts insist that the rugged material lasts much longer than synthetic or cotton clothing without sacrificing comfort, style or fit. Scratchy old wool has come a long way indeed.
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Food continued risk” and all that it implies about the human relationships in a CSA, but for now suffice it to say that if the possibility of receiving less than full market value for your vegetables makes you anxious, CSA may not be for you. Instead, you might choose to shop at a farmers market, where you can still get terrific fresh produce directly from the farmer, and you can pay for just what you buy. Shop Around If after some self-assessment you think you are a good
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candidate for a CSA, the next task is to choose a particular CSA. There may be only one or two to choose from, but if you live in a place where there are plenty of options, it is a good idea to take time to look around, because each farm varies in its particulars. For example, some CSAs require members to work a certain number of hours on the farm. (This is more common on the East Coast than elsewhere.) Most pre-pack the produce for you, but others have a mixand-match or “farmers market style” system where members pack their own boxes and have a degree of choice about what is included or left behind. Some farms allow members to pay monthly; more common is a system of paying up front for the year. You may want to ask whether the farm provides all the produce itself, or if the farmer sometimes purchases produce from other farmers. If so, you might want to know which farms, where they’re located, how much of the produce comes from them, and whether it is organically grown. The parameters of the contract may vary too. Be sure to ask how the farm handles situations where members are dissatisfied. Some will work with you and prorate a refund of your balance, while others have a strict policy against refunds. Still others don’t have any policy at all, having never had a seriously dissatisfied customer. It’s all about not making assumptions, and having reasonable expectations ahead of time. Here’s an example: if you assume being a CSA member means never having to buy produce at the farmers market or grocery store, you’ll likely be disappointed. Most CSA members find that they have to supplement their produce, particularly fruit and oft-used items like onions. How much supplementation to expect is something you might reasonably talk about with the farmer before signing up. You’re considering making a major investment: go ahead and ask a lot of questions before you join. Caveat Emptor: Let the buyer beware And now for the delicate part of the article. How can I put it? We at LocalHarvest spend a lot of time promoting CSAs because we think they’re a great thing. And we feel it is important to acknowledge that some CSA farms have problems. As in every occupation, there are some stellar practitioners, some good ones, and some that are not making the grade. Filling members’ baskets with a variety of beautiful vegetables, each at their peak, week after week, requires an advanced set of skills. It is not like having a big garden, and it is
A Practial Journal for Friends of the Environment c GreenLivingJournal.com d Winter 2010-11
Food continued that most CSA members have really good experiences. We have over 3,000 CSAs listed in our directory. Members of 1,280 of these have written 2,895 reviews, describing their experiences. Of these, there are 211 reviews (of 120 farms) gave their farm one or two stars (out of five). Writers of the remaining 2,684 reviews gave their CSA four or five stars. The vast majority of people have a good experience with their CSA, and if you choose to join one this year we sincerely hope you do too. Reprinted with permission from the Local Harvest website: www.localharvest.org
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not for beginners. Most who do it well have been vegetable growers for some years, or have had a few years of training on an established CSA. It’s a good idea to talk with the farmer about his/her training and experience. If this is the farm’s first CSA season, are they starting small? (They should be.) If your farmer is just starting a CSA, you may still want to join and be supportive – but again, it comes down to expectations. If you start the season knowing that part of what you are doing is helping a new farmer work out the kinks, you probably won’t mind a few bumps. If you expect a first year CSA farmer to produce like a grower with 10 years of experience, you may be frustrated. Finally, we highly recommend that you ask the farmer for references from past CSA members before you sign up. Or ask your friends for recommendations of a quality CSA. Or look the farm up in our directory and read any reviews that others may have written. If you do these things and still aren’t convinced, wait a year. Shop at the farmers market in 2011 and ask the farmer if you can stop by the farm a few times throughout the season to peek in the boxes and see what the members are getting. We dug into our database and pulled out a lot of numbers. Here are a few more to back up our claim
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Letter to the Editor
Provender: Spirited pioneers educating and inspiring the natural foods community
Hello Stephen Morris, Editor.
22835 Jennie Road • Lyons, Oregon 97358 888.352.7431 Fax 503.859.3608 info@provender.org www.provender.org soil will not give Charcoal, the material is already burnt off and will continue to burn in the soil until all oxygen has been consumed, then what is left is just unburnt organic matter. Not pure carbon. In an environmental sense this sort of information should not be given to the public as how to make bio char, this method is just air pollution and more CO2 in the atmosphere. I am an Agricultural scientist and I am working on bio char. Regards, John Bethune. Renew Ag
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Just a note of dismay. In a past issue of your publication Green Living Journal. An article written by Tracy Volan Titled: Organically Improve your Vegetable garden with Bio Char. Although well intentioned, I am sure. It is very poorly researched and presented to the uninformed. Bio char is not merely incorporating (as Tracy presents, “burned” organic matter into the soil of your garden) but, actively incorporating Charcoal into the soil at depth. Charcoal or Bio Char (as it is termed now), is derived from exposing organic materials to temperatures of around 500-650 degrees F in an oxygen free environment. All of the sugars and other volatile compounds become vaporized at these temperatures and are removed. What is left behind is the carbon in the shape of the original plant. This is Bio Char. The method that Tracy describes in the article is just burning the organic material in the outdoors fully exposed to oxygen. The smoke is all of the compounds that make up the plant in entirety including the carbon. Covering the burning material with