Sustainability Today -- Summer 2021

OCEAN ENVIRONMENT LEGENDS Brian Skerry • Touched by the Whales

Valerie Taylor • Playing with Sharks

PLUS:

Bear Grylls: Weaving Sustainability into Shows Buying Sustainably? 10 Fashion Brands That Get It Our Gardens: Ideal Food Source During Pandemic Blue Nest Beef: Growing Meat as Nature Intended Biden 100: Reinstating Environmental Protections

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FROM THE EDITOR

Robert Yehling Executive Editor

“ The world literally got 35% quieter, which alone enabled wildlife and plants to begin bouncing back. ”

Emerging from the Pandemic: What Have We Learned?

We’ve all had enough of the COVID-19 pandemic. It has greatly altered our lives and businesses, killed more than 600,000 in the U.S. alone, infected tens of millions, and changed so much about our way of life.

However, in the midst of this colossal human tragedy, we learned something quite remarkable: if given any meaningful time at all, the Earth can heal itself from the damage we’ve leveled through our industrialized practices and addiction to fossil fuels and carbon-based living. While societies around the world were shut down last year, some amazing things happened. The collective “hum”, or vibration of sound we busy humans make, dropped by 35 percent. The world literally got 35% quieter, which alone enabled wildlife and plants to begin bouncing back. Also, people in Delhi, India saw the Himalaya Mountains for the first time in 30 years — because the industries and cars were idled from producing smog. In Venice, Italy, dolphins and fish swam freely in the canals for the first time in decades, without the threat of tourists and boats. The oceans started to become cleaner, and fish began to replenish.

What does this mean? It means that, if we really get serious — and I mean draconian measures — then we still have a little time to mitigate climate change and adopt sustainable business practices across the board. This would have to include reducing our reliance on fossil fuels greatly, ramping up ambitious alternative energy and green programs that will create millions of jobs and save countless businesses while starting others (despite what the disinformation media would have you believe), switching to diets less intrusive on the planet, stopping the wanton burning and cutting of rainforests, and adopting corporate and governance policies as — here’s that word again — draconian as those being put into place by the European Union (see Policy column on page 20).

We will be focusing on how businesses large and small, government agencies, and our core industry utilize sustainable practices to bring about this change as the decade progresses. We will also continue to present stories that point to the effects of carbonized living and climate change — and what brave souls like Playing With Sharks star Valerie Taylor and Secrets of the Whales producer Brian Skerry are doing to not only call attention to the ailing oceans and their creatures, but also actively protecting the species they study. Both ocean conservation legends are featured in this issue.

We invite you to enjoy this issue, think through some of the suggestions made by global experts, and see what you can do — in your home and business — to make changes. The time for this being an option is over. Now we have to act. Sustainability Today will be here as your resource; please email us or visit our website, and follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, as we become a primary information source on Sustainability in the 2020s.

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SUSTAINABILITY TODAY | SUMMER 2021

This is Flagstaff

PLA NET RIDE R FL AG STAF F LU NA R LEGACY Photo credit: USG S

photo P45, F96 547c

AXOL OT L BI OL OG IX POBA M E D IC A L

chooseflagstaff.com

PUBLISHER/ EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Charles Warner cwarner@goipw.com

CREATIVE DIRECTOR Shane Brisson shane@goipw.com

EXECUTIVE EDITOR

Robert Yehling

MANAGING EDITORS

Patricia Miller Corey Noles

Erin James

ASSOCIATE EDITOR

CONTRIBUTING WRITERS

Beth Covington Destiny Nolan Karin Yehling

CHIEF FINANCIAL OFFICER V.P. BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT V.P. EAST COAST OPERATIONS

ACCOUNT EXECUTIVES

VIDEO/PODCAST PRODUCER EDITORIAL AND PR COORDINATOR SOCIAL MEDIA COORDINATOR

Mary Roche Steven Higgins Dave Van Niel Justin Jaffe James Smith Dalton Brown Taylor McLamb Crystal Segovia Gomez

Special Thanks: Brian Boothe/Nat Geo and Disney+ Sustainable Brands The Sustainability Initiative

Member, Society of Environmental Journalists

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contents

COVER STORIES 34 Brian Skerry: Touched by the Whales 38 H ow Bear Grylls Weaves Sustainability into Running Wild 42 Valerie Taylor: Playing with Sharks 2 From The Editor 8 Envirobits 16 Preview: SB ‘21 64 Coming Next Issue COLUMNS 18 N extGen: The Next Growth Curve?

Sustainability 20 P olicy: Europe’s Climate Change Policies: Will We Follow?

22 P ractices: The Core 8: Are We Doing Our Part?

24 S ustainability & Media: YouTube Announces Original Climate, Sustainability Content STORIES 26 B aking Sustainable Practices into Fashion Choices 30 T op 10 Sustainable Fashion Companies 32 W hy ‘Microbial Area Kleaners’ Can Help Save Our Seas 46 T he Ecosystem of Carbon Capture 48 O ur Gardens: Sustainable Food Source During Pandemic 50 G rowing and Eating Meat as Nature Intended 53 A n Eating Experience Like No Other 54 B iden’s Task: Undoing Nearly 100 Climate, Environmental Rollbacks 58 S terling Ranch’s Sustainable Look 60 U shering in a Greener Economic Era 62 B ig Oil Companies Form Alliance with Microsoft

Photo: Ron & Valerie Taylor

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envirobits Partnering with Green Sports Alliance Like most industries, the sports world is making a big push into green energy and technology. We’re seeing it in event planning, recycled rubber tracks, stadium features, and in virtually all corners of athletics.

In that spirit, Innovative Properties Worldwide, the parent company of Sustainability Today and Innovation & Tech Today, has announced a media partnership with the Green Sports Alliance. The partnership begins at the Kansas City Green Sports Symposium, which will be held August 17; we will feature highlights in the Fall issue of Sustainability Today.

The Green Sports Alliance is the environmentally-focused trade organization that convenes stakeholders from around the sporting world (teams, leagues, conferences, venues, corporate partners, governmental agencies, athletes, and fans) to promote healthy, sustainable communities.

The Alliance is committed to creating awareness and dedicated to creating meaningful change towards a more sustainable future.

Among its activities, the Alliance shares resources, experience, and expertise to raise awareness of what’s environmentally possible in sports, business, and society. The GSA also mobilizes sports organizations, communities, athletes, and fans to create sustainable progress and behavior change.

Under the evolving partnership, Sustainability Today will introduce the Green Sports section in the Fall issue. Additional green sports coverage will be provided in Innovation & Tech Today, along with social media and online content from both parties.

Ocean HeatWaves Are Growing

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Six years ago, a huge part of the Pacific Ocean near North America quickly warmed, reaching temperatures more than 5 degrees Fahrenheit above normal. Nicknamed “the blob,” it persisted for two years, with devastating impacts on marine life, including sea lions and salmon. It also created anomalies like 90-plus degree water in the Gulf of Mexico and 80-degree water in Southern California — not to mention quantum levels of ice melt in the Arctic and Antarctic.

appearing annually. The heat wave may cause a source of food to die off or

In a world with no human-caused warming, a large marine heat wave would have had about a one-tenth of 1 percent chance of occurring in any given year — a so-called “thousand-year event”. With the current rate of global warming, such an ocean heat wave has a 10 percent chance of

of the oceans may be in a continuous state of extreme heat. In effect, the

SUSTAINABILITY TODAY | SUMMER 2021

migrate. Heat waves can also lead to toxic algae blooms that kill fish. The events can affect humans, too.

The oceans absorb most of the excess heat trapped by greenhouse gases.

If emissions of these gases continue at a high level for decades and average global temperatures reach 5 degrees above pre-industrial levels, some parts blob may become permanent. The blob in the Pacific may have influenced weather patterns on the West Coast, worsening the drought in California, for example.

envirobits

Americans are finding creative ways to satiate their wanderlust during the COVID-19 pandemic. Would-be adventurers are showing preference for more selfsufficient domestic travel options like RVs, resulting in skyrocketed demand. With a passion for freedom, wellness, and sustainability, more of us are looking to completely self-sufficient, net-zero mobile living space.

Enter Volta Power Systems. Founded in 2014, Volta provides safe, powerful and simple lithium-ion energy storage solutions for small to midsize businesses. RV, marine and specialty vehicle OEMs trust Volta to deliver advanced, automotive-grade power systems that enhance the lifestyle, freedom and comfort of their endusers. The Volta system can charge from shore power, solar panels, an optional alternator (installed in a gasoline or diesel tow vehicle), or an optional Cummins generator. These layers of redundant power supply are critical for long-term health and safety in severe weather or natural disasters.

Living Vehicle is partnering with Volta Power Systems on lithium-ion storage for the 2021 Living Vehicle luxury travel trailer that allows users to live off-grid and recharge electric vehicles at rates of up to 44 miles per charge-hour using optional 240-volt exportable power charging directly from the trailer. Living Vehicle is releasing three different models for 2021, which will offer up to 3,080 watts of solar and 47,600 watt-hours of energy storage, the highest capacity lithium-ion system available in a luxury trailer.

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Credit: Seattle Kraken

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Climate Pledge Arena Rewrites Sustainability in Sports Get ready for the most environmentally advanced, most sustainable indoor arena in American sports.

When Amazon secured the naming rights to Climate Pledge Arena, the home of Seattle’s new Seattle Kraken NHL team, and the WNBA’s Seattle Storm, it tied the name of its pet climate change fighting initiative to the most environmentally proactive sports arena in America.

The 18,100-seat multi-purpose venue, located at Seattle Center, is expected to host 200 events each year. Besides Kraken and Storm home games, it will serve up live music and entertainment from the world’s biggest stars, along with City of Seattle community events.

From a sustainability point of view, the features of Climate Pledge Arena go on and on. It’s a sustainability wonderland of sorts. Climate Pledge Arena is expected to be the first net zero carbon certified arena in the world, and set a new sustainability bar for the sports and events industry. The arena will have all-electric operations and be powered with 100 percent renewable electricity, both from on-site solar panels and off-site renewable energy.

Then there is the truly innovative plan for waste products of all kinds. All operations and events at the arena will be ‘zero waste’ with durable and compostable containers. A minimum of 95 percent of all arena waste will be diverted from landfills on a weight basis. The arena will use reclaimed rainwater in the ice system to create the greenest ice in the NHL. The original 44-million-pound roof from the existing arena will be reused in construction to significantly reduce the embodied carbon of the building.

What about food and concessions? Well, 75 percent of the arena’s food program will be sourced locally on a seasonal basis to support regional farmers and producers. Further, all viable unused food from events will be donated to local community food programs.

Finally, NHL Seattle and WNBA Storm tickets will double as free public transit passes to promote use of public transportation for attendees, including on the refurbished Seattle Monorail.

WINTER 2020 | SUSTAINABILITY TODAY

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envirobits Eastman’s New Naia Renew Portfolio

By Destiny Nolan

Not long ago, Eastman was one half of Eastman Kodak, the world’s largest supplier of photographic film. With digital cameras and then our mobile phones rendering traditional photography all but obsolete, Eastman has taken its knowledge of chemical processes into the world of sustainability.

The producer of sustainably sourced Naia™ cellulosic fiber, Eastman has introduced its new Naia Renew portfolio of fabrics and filaments, sourced from 60 percent wood pulp and 40 percent recycled waste plastics. Eastman says Naia Renew cellulosic fiber is traceable, biodegradable and captures the value of hard-to-recycle materials that would otherwise be destined for landfills. Naia Renew recycled content is achieved by allocation of recycled plastics through mass balance accounting.

Naia Renew is produced with a low carbon footprint in a closed-loop process where solvents are safely recycled back into the system for reuse. The fiber is made from wood pulp sourced from certified forests, and the recycled plastics feedstock is generated via Eastman’s patented carbon renewal technology.

CRT is an integrated, molecular recycling technology that breaks down waste plastics, such as post-consumer carpet fiber and plastic packaging materials, into basic molecular building blocks for the manufacture of new products including fibers — a truly circular solution creating value from waste.

Their vision is to make sustainable fashion accessible for everyone. Naia Renew enables a circular economy for the fashion industry and helps brands meet their eco-conscious goals. They are transforming what a fabric can be and do to meet the sustainability demands of their customers and to create a world where brands and consumers can be in fashion without compromising on quality and performance.

Los Lunas, New Mexico Unveils Cutting Edge SolarTechnology A new, potentially game-changing solar technology went online in June at the Los Lunas Village’s Recycling Center, making the village the first municipality in the country to install it. The new “vertical polygen” technology is a compact tower that stacks panels vertically around a pole encompassing only 49 square feet. It includes a small wind turbine at the top to produce extra energy when the sun isn’t shining, plus back-up battery storage that includes a 22 kw unit to supply electricity 24/7 with no connection to Public Service Company of New Mexico or any other utility grid.

The vertical polygen solar system installed in Los Lunas, shown here, is 30 feet tall and sits beside the village recycling center, providing all facility electricity needs around the clock.

Photo courtesy of Wiltech Energy

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The new technology will put out six times the power of traditional solar systems. Since the recycling facility only consumes about 15 KW per day, the system offers about 25 percent more electricity than needed to ensure a steady supply day and night. It channels only as much electricity to the facility as needed through computer monitoring and regulation, storing all excess energy.

The Wiltech Vertical Polygen Solar System is unique to power electric vehicle charging stations, telecommunication towers and other base loads. The system was designed and installed by Wiltech Energy, LLC. The Polygen frame was designed by Oswald Wilson and built by Stephen A. Yavorski, Sr., of Airmet Metalworks in Newark, New Jersey-cost $83,000. The system is projected to run at least 20 years, with a full return on investment expected in four years.

envirobits

Climate Change Threatens Superfund Sites When the Superfund massive toxic waste sites were created, planners were most concerned with finding areas away from homes and communities. They focus on long-term (sometimes centuries) storage that would not impact people. However, another major threat has come along to create a real mess: climate change.

Take the most notorious Superfund site, the San Jacinto Waste Pits in Barrett TX. It was recently smashed by 16 feet of water that undermined a concrete cap covering the site’s toxic contents, washing dioxin down the river. A dive team from the Environmental Protection Agency later found a potent human carcinogen in the river sediment that is 2,300 times the agency’s standard for cleanup.

SPJ Recognizes “American Climate” for Distinguished Reporting The Society of Professional Journalists’ Deadline Club in New York named Anna Belle Peevey, Neela Banerjee and Adrian Briscoe of InsideClimate News as the winners of its award for reporting by independent digital media for “American Climate.”

The documentary series of short video portraits and essays focused on intensifying extreme weather events caused by climate change, which has become the frightening new normal for tens of millions of Americans. They put together the essential elements to start the storytelling—videos, essays, science, data—and an open invitation to other people and other news outlets to continue the conversation and help us face the future that’s already here.

“Everybody reports disaster stories, but InsideClimate News went beyond the death and destruction to starkly show readers how a California wildfire, a Gulf Coast hurricane and Midwestern flooding were connected. Enhanced with videos and graphics, ‘The Shared Experience of Disaster,’ paints a multi-faceted picture of the effects of climate change on the planet, making it all the more real with powerful testimony from survivors,” the SPJ said.

Sustainability Today and our parent company, Innovative Properties Worldwide, are members of the SPJ.

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Then there is the French Limited site. It was one of 252 Superfund sites inundated by Hurricanes Harvey, Maria and Irma in 2017, which exposed 70 million gallons of toxic chemicals, dumped from 1966-71, to the public water supply. More than 90 chemicals were dumped at French Limited, including known carcinogens like benzene and vinyl chloride, and dangerous heavy metals like arsenic.

These are two examples of a massive problem. Over 700 of the 945 Superfund sites considered vulnerable to climate change lie in 100-year flood plains, which means they have a 1 percent or greater chance of flooding in any given year — a number that is markedly higher now that we’re in the full grip of stronger storms and higher seas. More than 80 of these sites regularly flood at high tide, or are already permanently submerged. And 49 face triple threats—they are in 100-year flood plains, regularly flood, and are vulnerable to hurricanes. The San Jacinto Waste Pits site is on the triple threat list, as is the LCP Chemical site on coastal marshlands in Glynn County, Georgia, which is contaminated by mercury and PCBs. Another 74 sites threatened by climate change nationwide contain toxic wastes that remain uncontrolled and could damage human health, according to the EPA’s own risk assessments. Nine of those sites are in New Jersey, including the Diamond Alkali site in Newark, a shuttered chemical plant that pumped the herbicide Agent Orange into the Passaic River.

Instead of cleaning up the toxic waste at the Superfund sites, the EPA began in the 1990s to cap the sites with soil, clay or even concrete. This is a less expensive method that leaves the chemicals in place. Environmental activists prefer actual removal of the waste, which is far more costly. Three years later, the clean up project remains mired in delays, and removal has not yet begun.

envirobits FEBRUARY 2021

THE WAR ON PLASTICS REPORT The global appetite for plastic products is at an all-time high.

With more awareness than ever about the environmental repercussions, how do we combat plastic's impact on our planet?

Could JANUS, a biobased coated paper, be the ultimate solution?

Major Step for Renewable Pulp as Packaging Fiber In May, the U.S. Patent Office granted one of PulPac ’s general patents, announcing that Dry Molded Fiber is invented and duly owned by the Swedish scale-up company — and beneficial to the United States, the world’s second largest packaging consumer market.

PulPac’s Dry Molded Fiber is a patented manufacturing technology, using renewable pulp and cellulose resources to produce low cost, high performance, fiber-based packaging, and single-use products. Dry Molded Fiber gives up to 80-90% lower CO2 footprint at the same or lower cost as plastic. It enables high-speed manufacturing and can replace most packaging and single-use products presently made of plastics.

“Our duty to the planet is to spread this technology as fast and wide as we can. To empower the efforts further we have formed an open source alliance called the Dry Molded Fiber Technology Pool that welcomes any converter, brand or supplier in plastics or fiber that wish to grow with, and support the advancement in the Dry Molded Fiber process,” said Linus Larsson, CEO of PulPac. “Together, we will win on price and sustainability against plastics. We will reduce global CO2 emissions from the industry with at least 5 million tons by 2025 while conserving precious water resources,” claims Larsson.

Earlier this year, PulPac, PA Consulting, and Seismic Solutions joined forces to encourage brands and manufacturers to replace single-use plastics with sustainable, affordable, Dry Molded Fiber products and accelerate the transition towards circular economy.

Phil Fawcus, Sustainable Packaging Lead at PA Consulting, said: “Dry Molded Fiber is a unique technology that is playing a critical global role in delivering sustainable packaging at volumes needed to significantly impact plastics reduction. We are delighted this world changing technology has now been recognised with patents in the US, Japan, China and Europe.”

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The War on Plastics Report is Here Innovative paper products technology firm J&J Green Paper is tackling a well-known environmental hazard: single-use plastics. To raise awareness about the critical issue that is plastic use, production and disposal around the world, the company has released its first “The War on Plastics Report.”

In the midst of mass regulatory changes worldwide addressing the modern consumption level of plastics and other disposables, J&J Green Paper is encouraging companies in the plastics and disposable container industries to consider adopting the groundbreaking alternative materials now coming to fruition.

According to the report, if the production and use of plastics continue to increase as projected, the plastic industry will account for 20 percent of global oil use by 2050. Not to mention the related massive increase in plastics finding their way into our landfills and oceans. With plastic becoming more and more expensive to recycle, the company sees now as an imperative time to urge industry leaders to make a change before plastics do further harm to both the environment and human health, according to the company.

J&J Green Paper has invested eight years developing a cutting-edge solution to the critical issue of paper waste, more than half of which is produced for packaging. The company has considerable time and resources into developing products that will meet the consumer needs of the future.

The innovative alternative packaging company has developed alternatives that are both green and easy to use, including sustainable k-cups, paper and aseptic packaging, food prep paper, wine and soda bottles and milk and ice cream cartons.

The report can be viewed at jjgreenpaper.com/the-report/

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Preview: SB ’21 San Diego

Regeneration and SB ’21 Come Together In its history, Sustainable Brands and its members have defined, created and driven many, if not most, of the sustainable business and governance practices in North America — and an ever-increasing presence abroad. One of Sustainable Brands’ biggest strengths has been to focus on a major cutting-edge practice, build its flagship conference around it, and send off thousands of attendees to plant more seeds in their organizations.

It promises to be a festive and focused scene in San Diego October 18-21, when SB’s flagship conference returns for the first time in more than two years. Fittingly, Sustainable Brands has landed on the one theme that will make the ultimate difference in everything from climate change to greater resource management and sustainability — regeneration. For the first time, the conference will be hybrid, staging both live and virtually, the launch of a larger online outreach that will include scheduled virtual events throughout the time between live conferences.

The four-day conference, to be held at gorgeous Paradise Point on Mission Beach, will feature top sustainability experts, presentations, plenary sessions, educational sidebars, and booths and displays by some of the most innovative companies in the world. The thousands of expected attendees, 81 percent of whom are company decision-makers according to SB, will heart from a most impressive group of speakers that includes Virginie Helies, Chief Sustainability Officer, Procter & Gamble; Amanda Nusz, President of the Target Foundation, Target; Carol Sanford, Virtual Executive Producer, The Renegerative Business Summity; Janine Benyus, Founder, Biomimicry 3.8; Chris Brandt, Chief Marketing Officer, Chipotle Mexican Grill; Nathalie Green, CEO, Doconomy; Prakash Arunkundrum, Head of Global Operations, Logitech; Kathryn Farrara, Associate General Counsel, Unilever; Susan Koehler, Chief Sales & Marketing Officer, Footprint; and Simon Manwaring, Founder & CEO, We First.

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The theme of regeneration is one we’ve covered at Sustainability Today the past three years. It’s the most important topic in sustainability; after all, if we can’t regenerate — or allow the earth to self-regenerate — our resources, water, land, sea, energy sources and food supplies, we will not be able to sustain our lives, businesses or economy. “Regenerative business practices restore and renew vital natural, social and human capitals, and also improve the ability of these capitals to heal, balance and self-regulate effectively.

Regeneration is key to leaving nature and society healthier and more resilient than we found them. Developing regenerative business practices means acquiring a range of new leadership skills and capacities, reinventing business models at scale, and transforming companies’ relationships with customers, suppliers, investors, and employees,” the official SB ’21 brochure states.

The program for 2021 will include a combination of keynotes, workshops and plenary sessions, with topics including: • Activate your Regenerative Mindset • Accelerate Solutions in Regenerative Agriculture • Activating Brand Purpose • Transformative Governance and Metrics

• NextGen Design & Business Model Innovation • Influence Consumer Behavior at Scale • Regenerative Options and Supply Chain The Activate Your Regenerative Mindset and Accelerate Solutions in Regenerative Agriculture pieces offer another new format: “unconference activities,” which help attendees turn key takeaways from the main program into action items to implement beginning on Day One back in the office. In Activate Your Regenerative Mindset, world-class experts from Forum for the Future will help bridge and adapt regenerative business practices to each attendee’s context and level of comfort – all while socializing and having fun. In Accelerate Solutions in Regenerative Agriculture, the fourhour session led by Regennabis will take participants through a disruptive and innovative model. Participants will walk through storyboarding, prototyping, and building out the minimum viable solution for a regenerative design.

Registration for both the live and virtual SB ’21 conference is available through https:// sustainablebrands.com/conferences/ sustainablebrands/registration/. Sustainability Today plans to provide full coverage, which will appear in our Fall 2021 issue. ■

NextGen

The Next Growth Curve?

Sustainability Sustainability is where the growth is.

By Destiny Nolan

(Editor’s Note: Welcome to NextGen, a regular column in Sustainability Today dedicated to sustainability as seen through the eyes of the under-25 crowd. They carry the future of our society — and a critical voice as we set practices and policy.)

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I think as the younger generation, we are getting better with recycling, but I know we can do much more. Recycling helps to prevent air/water pollution and minimizes global warming. Also instead of throwing out trash that’s just going to get piled up in a landfill somewhere, we can recycle our trash, which can be repurposed for reuse, helping make sustainable products and reduce the need to harvest new raw materials. We all should get on board.

almost 60% of global biodiversity loss. Farming animals for meat and dairy requires space and huge inputs of water and feed – the average beef cow consumes more than 50,000 gallons of water in its life! And one of the biggest causes of forest loss is the expansion of agricultural land for animal feed production, such as soy. Producing meat creates vastly more carbon dioxide than plants such as vegetables, grains and legumes.

It would be amazing to think that by 2040, we could stop littering all together. But we all have to do our parts. We’re polluting the water we drink, which is already decreasing in availability, as well as the oceans where our sea life lives. Not to mention the air we breathe on a daily basis. Dirtying our surroundings will only cause further harm to us.

Moving away from a meatdominated diet towards a more plant-based diet can lower our impact on the environment.

Vegetarian and vegan foods are massively on the rise and becoming far more common in restaurants, cafes and supermarkets, so the options are available to us. If that doesn’t work, there are a lot of plantbased companies online; even WalMart and Costco now regularly stock organic, plantbased items in their grocery sections.

Another area where we need to step up is to eat smarter, for our well-being and that of animals and our planet’s resources. Food production is a major driver of wildlife extinction. What we eat contributes to around a quarter of global greenhouse gas emissions, and is responsible for

Plant based diets are great for the body. These diets are low in saturated fat, free of cholesterol, and rich in fiber, vitamins, minerals and antioxidants.

Research also reveals that following this type of diet will lower the risk of heart disease and high blood pressure. The rate of Type II diabetes and

obesity, both caused largely by meat-based diets and an overabundance of sugar in our food supply, has gone up by 400 percent since the early 1970s.

We can’t afford any more increases in our lifetime, now that 40% of U.S. adults are obese and 10% of adults are suffering from Type II diabetes.

A renewable energy resource will not run out. That includes solar, wind, and geothermal.

Wind power uses 98-99% less water than fossil fuel-generated electricity, and is a clean fuel source. Solar helps fight climate change, reduces air pollution and reduces water usage.

Geothermal provides a reliable source of energy that is always available to be tapped into. (https://www.vivintsolar.com/ learning-center/benefits-ofsolar-energy-to-theenvironment) Renewable energy will eventually create millions of new, sustainable jobs, because we need people to build them and to maintain them. The more we construct the more people we will need.

We are equally responsible to play our role in making this planet a better place. Let’s step up our game and make this planet healthier for our generations and those that will follow. ■

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Policy

Europe’s Climate Change Policies: Will We Follow?

By Robert Yehling

As Europe and the world reacted with horror to the devastating floods in western Germany, Belgium and The Netherlands in mid-July, officials on both sides of the Atlantic were mulling over a proposal that turned out to have quite auspicious timing: the European Commission’s climate change policies.

biggest climate naysayers were predicting just a decade ago, and the carbon presence in the air topping 419 parts per million (the tipping point toward climate disaster is 350 ppm), we have no time for anything but drastic policy measures.

The goal? To reduce net greenhouse gas emissions by at least 55 percent below 1990 levels by 2030 — and to make Europe the world’s first climateneutral continent by 2050.

• The creation of a “carbon border adjustment mechanism”, which would impose tariffs on some goods imported from nonE.U. countries with weaker climate change laws.

These goals were so attainable just 20 years ago — but now feel more and more akin to announcing a manned mission to Jupiter and getting there in 30 years. However, as we saw during the COVID-19 shutdown last year, the Earth is very capable of healing if given half a chance… as in, reduced carbon-based activity by humans.

• Continued tightening of vehicle emissions: a 55 percent reduction from current new car levels by 2030 compared to 2021 levels; and by 100 percent in 2035. Goal is to make all new cars registered in 2035 or later zero-emission.

The package of more than a dozen directives or regulations, sanctioned by the European Union, is loaded with strong, severe, and even drastic suggestions to countries, governments and businesses. But these are drastic times. With both air and ocean temperatures on the rise faster than even the

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Highlights of the European Commission policy proposal include:

• Lowering the cap on emissions from certain economic sectors each year. Of note: the EU has brought down emissions from power generation and energy-intensive industries by nearly 43% since 2004 — far greater than the U.S. • Produce 40% of all energy from renewable sources by 2030 across all member states.

• Phase out free emission

allowances for aviation, and address shipping emissions for the first time.

• Member states would spend their emissions trading revenues on climate and energy-related projects, including roads, transportation and buildings.

• A total carbon removal by natural sinks (forests, grasslands, etc.) of 310 million tons of C02 by 2030.

• Creation of a social fund to help low-income families negatively impacted financially by the changes, which will impose costs on both consumers and industry.

The plans in the EC policy are interconnected, and apply to all of the EU’s 27 member states.

The EU has been working harder than other industrialized nations, or groups of nations, to corral climate change; they’ve been at it since the 21st century began.

While these are highly ambitious goals, they should be seen much like we look at a family or business budget when a calamity (like a pandemic) or a major recession hits — cut drastically, and replace with programs and policies that will sustain us well into the future. And, also, making business and society stronger in the process. ■

Electric Car Charging Safety Some of the best-selling EV Charging Stations are not safety-tested and certified

A

fter deciding to buy a plug-in electric vehicle, often the next decision is to purchase a Level 2 charging station for faster charging at home. The technical name as defined in the National Electric Code for these products is EVSE (Electric Vehicle Supply Equipment), commonly called charging stations.

Safety might not be the first consideration when selecting a charging station, but safety is actually the most important thing to consider. The primary function of a plug-in vehicle charging station is to provide electrical safety for the operator and electrical infrastructure throughout the charging process and specifically to address the risks of fire and electric shock.

The good news is charging an electric vehicle is actually very safe and easy when done with proper, independently safety-certified equipment. The challenge is that not all charging stations on the market are independently safety tested and certified.

When a charging station manufacturer develops a new product, or makes even a minor change to an existing product, they should send samples to a Nationally Recognized Testing Laboratory (NRTL), such as Intertek (ETL mark) or Underwriter’s Laboratory (UL mark). Safety engineers at these labs perform months of extensive safety testing that the products must pass before they can be safety certified and made available to the public for sale. Only products with these marks appearing on the manufactured product’s rating plate are safety certified.

Look for these (ETL or UL) certification marks on the station itself when shopping for a charging station:

Do a quick experiment in your own home: look around at the electrical appliances purchased from a reputable source and you will see they are all marked with a safety label. If you find a product that plugs into the wall that is not marked, you might want to consider not using it.

Be Cautious of These Things:

Deceptive Markings - Some manufacturers use officiallooking marks such as the CE logo. If you only see a CE mark then the product has not been independently certified. CE is a self-certifying mark and it should not be trusted in the US, Canada, and Mexico. A CE mark in addition to the UL or ETL mark is acceptable.

Do NOT use a product that only has a CE mark.

Uncertified Products are being sold by what seems like a reputable seller - Buying the product from what seems to be a reputable seller doesn’t mean the charging station has been safety certified. Most large home improvement retailer stores like Lowes and Home Depot have standards in place that require NRTL certification for electrical appliances. However, there are online retailers, such as Amazon, direct sellers, and sources from outside the United States that DO carry and sell unlisted products.

Deceptive Claims - When selecting a charging station, if you are unsure about the NRTL certification status of a product, reach out to the product supplier and ask them to provide confirmation that the product you are interested in is NRTL (UL or ETL) certified.

Non-Grounded Plugs - If you are purchasing a plug-in charging station, NEVER buy a station with a NEMA 10-30 or 10-50 plug. The NEMA 10-30 and NEMA 10-50 style outlets do not have an earth ground connection.

There is NO possibility that a charging station delivered with one of these plugs is properly NRTL safety certified.

One of the key safety functions of a charging station is providing an earth ground connection to the vehicle.

This assures the vehicle body is safely grounded during charging.

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Practices

The Core 8: Are We Doing Our Part?

As we move into the next phase of transitioning from the old ways of doing business to a more earth- and humanfriendly approach, most companies have adopted lasting sustainability policies.

Many others have changed the way they make products, sourcing and utilizing materials that renew and regenerate quickly, regulating the use of more harmful components, and otherwise reducing their toxic footprint. And some have created innovative policies that have made their way into the lives of consumers, empowering them to contribute to this globe-saving effort.

Yet, when you boil down all of the initiatives and practices companies have undertaken in the last 10 to 15 years, and are carrying through this crucial decade, eight specific sustainability practices form the core of most policies: Intention: Sustainability leaders incorporated the practices into their corporate strategies and reflect them in their business goals. Sustainability becomes a priority in every aspect of the operation.

This gets carried out with a plan of action and assigning of accountability to every employee, which creates ownership in the effort.

Partnering: Sustainability leaders partner with other companies and share efforts.

They also partner with their employees.

They spend many hours training employees on the importance of sustaining the environment, and how company processes can help conserve resources. Employees in these companies are highly engaged, often offering energy- and resource-saving tips that get adopted by the company. It’s a great two-way street.

Water and Electric Conservation: It starts with converting to energy-saving faucets, toilets, lighting and appliances in offices. Nearly all organizations have done so, but those with leading sustainability

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practices extend that mentality into all of their processes, as well as expecting it from their supply chain. Speaking of which…

Supply Chains: The vote is in: Customers prefer working with environmentally friendly, sustainable companies by a wide margin. Also, with the power of social media and online shopping, customers can easily tell which brands are sustainable and which are not. That puts the onus on companies to work with suppliers who either share their policies, or to impose their policies down the line — which many are doing.

For those in the chemical manufacturing business, a big key is to fully educate employees on the proper use and disposal of chemicals — and to aim for minimal waste product in all processes.

Energy Efficient Products: A great sustainable practice is to switch to energyefficient electronics, computers and monitors, and then adjust their settings to the most environmentally friendly levels.

This saves energy and extends the life of the products.

Recycling Program: Don’t let recent news about an overflow of plastics in recycling centers be discouraging. Recycling is critical for sustainability, to reduce singleuse practices. Companies can recycle items like water, plastic, electronics, computers and monitors, fluorescent light bulbs, paper products and supplies.

Sustainability Work Policies: By creating a simple set of steps for employees to follow — create less trash, power down all equipment at day’s end, enable energysaving settings, take more walks for health and well-being — companies turn their policies into part of the culture, again giving every employee a sense of ownership.

Chemical Management: More companies are switching to green products and less harmful chemicals when possible.

Test your company, small business or even household against this list of eight core practices. How did you do? ■

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Sustainability & Media

YouTube Announces Original Climate, Sustainability Content In April, YouTube has announced a new slate of original projects and partnerships, designed to use the power of storytelling to educate users on the biggest sustainability challenges the world faces — and a variety of solutions that can be adopted to inspire change.

“Climate change presents a variety of enormous, complicated challenges that urgently need the world’s attention and collective action.

In line with Google’s long standing commitment to climate action, YouTube is proud to announce key partnerships and a growing slate of Originals that will provide our massive global audiences access to compelling content with a focus on sustainability,” said Susanne Daniels, Global Head of Original Content for YouTube.

“We are committed to producing even more projects that can inform viewers, inspire action, and ultimately improve our chances of making a more sustainable future for our planet.”

The YouTube Originals sustainability slate includes “Seat at the Table,” where a meeting with David

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Attenborough sends creator Jack Harries on a global challenge to give people around the world a seat at the table in the climate conversation ahead of COP 26, the United Nations Climate Change Conference. It also includes Stay Wild (working title), in which Brave Wilderness, in partnership with Leonardo diCaprio’s Appian Way and Madica Productions, will transport viewers directly to the front lines of nature.

There, they will bear eyewitness to the effects of climate change, and its impact on wildlife and humanity.

Google’s larger sustainability pledge also includes a focus on enabling partners to reach their climate action goals through funding, technology, and resources, and a promise to leverage their most popular products like search, maps and YouTube, to reach one billion people and help them make sustainable choices in their daily lives.

YouTube Originals now available include: • Create Together, Season 2: In the second season of the Emmy Award winning mini-series, Joseph Gordon-Levitt invites people from all over the world to come together and create art,

music, mini-docs, short films and more in celebration of our natural planet. Everything conceived for the show will be created collaboratively by the audience and draw inspiration from the natural world in all its forms. The series will feature people making a difference from around the world, including youth activist Mitzi Jonelle Tan in the Philippines to NASA Scientist Dalia Kirschbaum, in addition to

challenges like creating a music video using sounds of nature or animations about renewal after natural disasters.

• BookTube with Bill Gates: This monthly learning series features the world’s most renowned authors. It has returned with an episode featuring Microsoft founder, technologist, business leader, and philanthropist Bill Gates and a discussion of his book, How to Avoid a Climate Disaster.

A variety of YouTube Creators join Gates to discuss the book, the biggest challenges facing the global climate crisis, and a variety of solutions the world can adopt to achieve the ambitious goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions from 51 billion tons a year to zero.

That’s not all. In October, three more shows will premiere, including: • Seat at the Table: This 12-episode series follows YouTube creator and climate advocate Jack Harries as he highlights the devastating impacts and innovative solutions to climate change.

YouTube creators, communities, campaigners, and innovative

problem-solvers spanning multiple continents come together to discover the untold human and environmental stories behind the climate crisis.

Harries also meets with iconic experts, including Sir David Attenborough. At the 2021 United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP26), Harries will confront some of the most powerful people on the planet and demand action from those truly on the frontline of the climate emergency. The series aims to give people from around the world a seat at the table and the opportunity to have their voices heard on a global stage.

•Stay Wild (working title): This show arrives from actor

Leo diCaprio’s Appian Way and Madica Productions. It will explore Earth’s critically endangered environments through a series of immersive adventures with Mark Vins. In his first expedition, Vins will hack through the treacherous, sloping rainforest of Rwanda in an attempt to find the last of the wild mountain gorillas. While embedding with the park rangers who risk their lives and spend months apart from their families to protect the gorillas, he will ask, “What can we do now that will help these animals stay wild?” Vins follows a chain reaction of events to show viewers exactly what actions they can take that will have a lasting and direct impact on the other side of the world.

• Shut It Off (ASAP): In this show, two city boys leave their comfort zone and head to the country. Part The Simple Life and part I Bought a Farm, Mitch and Greg find themselves on a remote farm, trying their hand at going green, regenerative farming, and building a sustainable lifestyle. They’ll be

joined by FarmTubers, experts, and other YouTube Creators who will help execute their vision of living off the grid and deliver takeaways that can be replicated back at home.

• Kid Correspondent: This show returns with a threeepisode block exploring sustainability themes and how kids around the world can help take care of our planet. From SoulPancake and the team behind the beloved Kid President brand, Kid Correspondent first aired as a four-part election-themed special in 2020. It centers around the next generation of kid journalists dedicated to making the world a better place and helping other kids develop the necessary skills to one day become more informed and involved grown-ups. The show’s correspondents will be joined by guest “celebrity grown-ups” as well as real-world kids making a difference through sustainability, while offering viewers practical tips for protecting the environment. ■ SUMMER 2021 | SUSTAINABILITY TODAY

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Innovations in Sustainability

Baking Sustainable Practices into Fashion Choices The fashion industry continues to seek more sustainable and environmentally-friendly solutions to sourcing, manufacturing, and product lines.

By Melissa Jenkins and Destiny Nolan

As consumers, we’ve become increasingly conscious of our purchases, channeling the power of our vocalized objections to make a positive difference for the people involved in the making of our clothes and goods. How conscious? According to statistics from the fashion industry, sales of clothes, shoes, accessories and other fashion wear made from recycled plastics, nylon, and other products are estimated to hit a whopping $64 billion by 2025 — reflecting sustainable sourcing and the desire of customers to wear a more environmentallyfriendly product.

Over the years, dozens of slow fashion brands have emerged that are dedicated to ethical and sustainable practices. The companies listed below represent some of the better ethical alternatives to fast fashion companies. Each has made it a central part of its mission to approach fashion in an ethical and transparent way that considers both people and the planet.

Outerknown In 2014, legendary 11-time world champion surfer Kelly Slater, a longtime environmental activist, proponent of clean oceans and sustainable choices, teamed up with acclaimed designer John Moore and started expanding his sustainable brand, Outerknown. It seemed like the perfect fit: who is closer to the environment on a daily basis and more impacted by it than surfers who ply their trade in the world’s oceans?

Not surprisingly, casual, effortless, and casual beach styles rooted in sustainability and transparency define Outerknown.

Over 90% of their products are made from organic cotton and hemp, recycled, or regenerated materials. The company’s manufacturing partners also follow strict

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guidelines of safety and working conditions.

Outerknown also made history in the industry by becoming the first brand to pursue fair labor association accreditation before ever shipping a single product (although had such accreditation existed in the 1970s, Patagonia would have led the way). And through Fair Trade USA, they invest in the livelihoods of over 5,000 workers who bring their vision to life.

A deeper dive into Outerknown’s manufacturing practices underscores their commitment to the environment, sustainable practices, and informing their customers. Every little detail has an impact, especially the ocean plastic buttons on the S.E.A. LEGS. The buttons actually list the map coordinates of where the recycled plastic was harvested; they are also made from corozo fruit or nuts. To keep worn or torn S.E.A Jeans out of landfills, they offer to

repair, replace, or recycle them through a lifetime guarantee. Bestsellers from the brand include the cozy, heavyweight Blanket Shirt (made from 100% organic cotton) and the simple, sleek Neptune Tank Dress (made from hemp and Tencel Lyocell).

Outerknown’s sustainability practices also include sensible partnering. They partnered with Breitling to introduce econyl to Breitling’s luxury watch, crafting a heritage timepiece with NATO straps made from regenerated nylon.

For every watch sold, Brietling donated $1,000 to the ocean conservancy. Outerknown took that econyl from their board short business; 100% of those trunks are made with recycled and renewable econyl fibers from recycled fishing nets.

Outerknown’s message to its customers and the world extends to its website, which offers an

incisive look at their positions on fashion, materials, and sustainability — along with a highly appealing men’s and women’s line. They have changed the outlook on fashion by being so involved in the environment, and aren’t afraid to pull out the bullhorn and proclaim it (among other avenues, they advertise on CNN). They care about their products and how they will have an impact on people and the environment.

Rareform Backpacks Hikers and mountaineers are another highvolume outdoor group highly dependent on a clean environment and the sustainability practices it requires. Which is what brothers Alec and Aric Avedissian realized in 2013, when they started Rareform Backpacks in Southern California. They began creating sustainable luggage and recycled backpacks by using billboard vinyl and keeping them out of landfills.

Billboards are one of the most wasteful products, due to the combination of short shelf life and lack of recycling, plus the sheer volume: in 2019, an estimated 450,000 billboards lined America’s roads and highways.

The average lifespan of an advertising billboard, which averages 12 feet x 48 feet, is only four to eight weeks before it’s taken down. Now, many of them have a new destination besides the landfill: they are shipped from throughout

the U.S. to Rareform’s warehouse to be washed, hand-cut and sewn together into unique designs.

What’s cool about Rareform is that no two bags are exactly alike, and they’re designed to turn heads. So will their material composition, which is durable, waterproof, comfortable, unique, light weight, eco friendly, and veganfriendly. They make cooler bags, messenger bags, duffle bags, totes, backpacks, wallets, fanny packs, travel accessories, wristlets, surfboard bags, hats, and keychains. Also featured is TPU waterproof lining, a nylon-lined interior that fits most laptops up to 15 inch with ease and includes strong quality YKK zippers, which can be found in all products.

Rareform’s story began on the popular TV show Shark Tank. Since then, they’ve been able to recycle over 50,000 pounds of billboard vinyl a month. Rareform products can be found in 350 retail stores across the country, in addition to Whole Foods, Patagonia shops in Japan, and on BestBuy.com. Big brands and companies are reaching out directly to partner with their billboard waste, not the least of which is Disney.

Like many sustainable fashion companies, Rareform gives back to environmental causes: 1% of their annual sales go to nonprofits that sustain our natural playgrounds, in this case.

Gucci Off The Grid Gucci Off the Grid is an extension of Gucci Circular Lines, which implements a circular production to reduce waste by reintroducing byproducts back into the supply chain. It minimizes the brand’s use of new raw materials and explores all manner of regenerated textiles.

This concept of circularity bends the straight line from product to consumer to landfill by designing clothes with their “end of life” in mind instead. The goal is to ensure as many “lives” as possible for a garment by using materials that can be broken down, recycled, and made into something else on a constant loop.

Gucci is one of the first luxury brands to commit to a circular future, starting with Gucci off the Grid, a 37-piece unisex line of sporty daywear and accessories made from organic, recycled, or bio-based materials. Among their products are backpacks, shoes, shoulder bags, mini bags, hats, duffle bags, wallets, tote bags, credit card cases, vests, passport cases, pouches, jackets,and pants with gaiters.

The main material behind all of this, which we mentioned before with Outerknown, is Econyl. It is sourced entirely from regenerated materials like fishing nets and carpet flooring. The econyl offcuts are recovered from Gucci’s manufacturing and then recycled to create new Econyl materials as part of a pre-consumer fabric take-back program. Leather scraps from the collection are also recovered and upcycled as part of the Gucci-Up program, which led to the reuse of around 11 tons of leather scrap materials and saved approximately 4,500 tons of carbon dioxide in 2018, according to the company.

The brand has been following a ten-year plan, committing to amplify its focus on social and environmental sustainability. This sustainable business model was announced in 2015, and Gucci has aimed to hit specific milestones by 2025 like reducing its environmental footprint and decreasing greenhouse gas emissions. ■

SUMMER 2021 | SUSTAINABILITY TODAY

27

Innovations in Sustainability worn-out garments into polyester fibers to produce clothing such as hard shells, boardshorts, fleece, and Capilene base layers.

This reduces the company’s dependence on petroleum as a source of raw materials.

Patagonia No good article on sustainable practices in the fashion and outdoor industry can be complete without catching up with the godfather of sustainable fashion, Patagonia, now approaching 50 years as the trailblazer into this industry.

Patagonia is a designer of outdoor clothing and gear for outdoor sports such as climbing, surfing, skiing and snowboarding, fly fishing, and trail running. Since he founded Patagonia in 1973 as a rock-climbing outfitter, Yvon Chouinard has dedicated his life and his company’s mission to creating eco- and earthfriendly products, and employing workers and manufacturing operations in the same country.

Currently, Patagonia owns and operates offices in the United States, the Netherlands, Japan, South Korea, Australia, Chile and Argentina.

They also own 70 stores worldwide.

Patagonia has always focused on making highperformance products which leave the tiniest footprint possible. While the footprint of their full supply chain accounts for 97% of the company’s carbon emissions, the emissions associated with their owned and operated facilities is just 3% — attesting to this highly sustainable, eco-friendly practice. Put simply, Patagonia has always emphasized cleaning up their own house, and promoting that philosophy through their products and messaging.

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Along with that, Patagonia was using recycled nylons and plastics for a good 25 years before it became de rigueur in the fashion industry.

They began with plastic soda bottles in 1993, becoming the first outdoor clothing manufacturer to transform trash into fleece.

They turn unusable manufacturing waste and

Polyester is an important fiber in Patagonia’s clothing line. It allows them to build lightweight materials that dry quickly and can be used in a variety of applications, including trail-running tops and yoga tights. It also blends well with natural fabrics, such as cotton. However, it is the ecological side that delivers the larger benefits: for Fall 2020, 84% of their polyester fabrics are made with recycled polyester, reducing CO2 emissions by 8% (or 11 million pounds) compared to virgin polyester fabrics. In the ocean, they turned 35 tons of plastic fishing net into hat brims. Patagonia continually invests in new technologies to make its supply chain and products more sustainable.

Finally, Patagonia takes care of its suppliers who take care of the earth. More than 550 farmers are part of their Regenerative Organic Certification Pilot Cotton program, and 66,000 workers are supported by their participation in the Fair Trade Program. ■

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Innovations in Sustainability

Top 10 Sustainable Fashion Companies

By Melissa Jenkins & Destiny Nolan Fashion companies have gotten the message loud and clear: sustainable practices, hiring choices, materials selection, growing of plants needed to make materials, and disposal and recycling of waste and used product is not only all the rage, but also entirely necessary for staying in business in the 2020s.

Sustainability Today looked at many sustainable fashion companies, and found 10 that stood out for their innovative sustainability practices:

Boody is a sustainable apparel brand known for making easy on the skin, hypoallergenic, and highly breathable everyday essentials made from either 100% bamboo yarn or a blend of bamboo and other yarns such as cotton, hemp, spandex and nylon. The bamboo used to make the yarn is grown in China and is grown in accordance with the international organic standard of OCIA/IFOAM and the USDA National Organic Program, so as to ensure each bamboo stalk is of 100% natural growth and free of any chemical pesticides.

Everyday, 38,356,466 pounds of trash are dumped into our oceans and that is why United By Blue came up with a way to resource these materials in their outerwear, accessories, and single-use products. Some of the sustainable materials they use are hemp,

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organic cotton, recycled polyester, corozo, micro modal, wool, and tencel. For every product purchased, United by Blue removes one pound of trash from oceans and waterways. So far they have removed 3,430,466 pounds of trash.

Nube is a proud woman-owned company that turns recycled plastic into responsible and fashionable activewear using recycled polyester.

They partner with artists and designers around the world to create prints motivated by the environmental crisis that inspire connection and action. They work with artists, fashion students, and rag traders (companies that buy scraps to make their products, like mops) as a way to turn their fabric scraps into something new. All of their dyes are non toxic, low impact, and lead free. All of their shipping materials are plasticfree, made in the USA, and 100% recycled and recyclable.

All of the virgin cotton in Patagonia’s line has been grown organically or has been recycled, without the use of harmful chemicals.

72% of their materials are also made from recycled fibers. With Provisions they sell deeply flavorful, nutritious foods under the widespread adoption of Regenerative Organic Certification, which ensures that food is produced in ways that build soil health, ensure animal welfare, and protect agricultural workers.

Every piece of ARTICLE22 jewelry is locally handcrafted in Laos using recycled materials from Vietnam War bombs, plane parts, military hardware, and other aluminum scraps. Between 1964 and 1973, the U.S. dropped 2 million tons of ordnance on Lao PDR, averaging one B-52 bomb load every 8 minutes, 24/7, for 9 years.

Each bracelet purchased clears 3m2 of bomb

littered land. Since ARTICLE22 began working with the village in 2009, there are now 15 husbands and wives that make Peacebomb jewelry with hopeful messages that inspire action toward our future.

In 2014 legendary 11-time world champion surfer Kelly Slater teamed up with acclaimed designer John Moore and started expanding his sustainable brand Outerknown. Over 90% of Outerknown’s products are made from organic cotton and hemps, recycled, or regenerated materials. If you look closely on the buttons of their S.E.A. LEGS jeans you will find the coordinates of where the plastic was harvested.

The buttons are made from recycled ocean plastic, corozo fruit, or nuts.

waste while maximizing their impact on the planet — and look great while doing it.

If you’re looking for organic hemp sneakers, then you should check out Etiko. They were the first fashion brand in the southern hemisphere to become fair trade certified.

Etiko’s engagement with fair trade certified suppliers means they are working with raw material and factory suppliers who are investing in the economic and social development of farmers and workers. Through its fair trade purchasing model, Etiko ensures that each product it sells reduces inequality and tackles poverty. The business’ commitment to organic and FSC certified inputs also means its products create a cleaner, greener world.

Arms of Andes makes sustainable outdoor clothes from the Inca’s most functional fiber: alpaca wool. Once the alpaca fiber has been produced, it is processed into yarn, dyed and woven into a specially designed fabric, which is then used to create our high-performance garments. From the Peruvian factories, your garments are shipped to a regional distributor and then straight to you, reducing the number of flights involved in the production process and overall carbon footprint from transport. ■

LEARN MORE ABOUT THE SUSTAINABLE COMPANIES FEATURED IN THIS ARTICLE: www.boodywear.com www.unitedbyblue.com www.nubeusa.com www.patagonia.com www.article22.com www.outerknown.com rothys.com etiko.com.au

Rothy’s is inspired by the remarkable women of today, and proudly craft sustainable styles that help them effortlessly move through their day. Their signature thread is spun from repurposed plastic water bottles and transformed into stylish, sustainable, washable must-haves. Every minute, one million water bottles are sold globally. Their specialized 3D knitting technology allows them to minimize

Everything they make at Pact starts with Earth’s Favorite™ Fiber, organic cotton. Growing cotton organically saves vast amounts of water and uses no toxic chemicals. At Pact, they choose to use organic cotton because it sustains the health of soils, ecosystems, and people by using natural farming processes. That means no toxic chemicals and 91% less water than nonorganic cotton.

wearpact.com armsofandes.com To learn more about sustainability-minded companies and their initiatives, visit our friends at sustainablebrands.com

SUMMER 2021 | SUSTAINABILITY TODAY

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Innovations in Sustainability

Why ‘Microbial Area Kleaners’ Can Help Save Our Seas EMT CEO Randall Mount addresses the benefits of MAKs.

According to NOAA, restaurant closures heavily impacted the seafood industry, social distancing protocols, and the need for safety measures. Reports from the NW Seaport Alliance revealed that the industry is responsible for $1.4 billion in total business output, with over 11,300 jobs and 300 commercial fishing vessels.

Photo courtesy of Starbound

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, a third of the commercial fishing industry’s revenue vanished, subjecting the entire industry to vulnerabilities for which it simply couldn’t prepare.

The Starbound is a 300-foot fishing vessel with a breadth of 48 feet, owned and operated by Aleutian Spray Fisheries.

Microbial Area Kleaners Can Help Protect Crews On Board Restrictions are finally starting to loosen after vaccinations have become publicly available.

Several industry vessels, such as the Starbound and other ships at the Port of Seattle, are turning to new technology as a method of protection for crews onboard: Microbial Area Kleaners, or MAK systems.

The technology belongs to Extreme Microbial Technologies (EMT), which uses hydrogen peroxide plasma. The plasma eliminates viruses and other air and surface contaminants, especially in close-quarter living spaces like fishing boats.

“The Starbound, like most commercial fishing boats, has a quarantine room, sanitation procedures, and even UV lights in the HVAC system,” explained Starbound’s Captain and Managing Partner Karl Bratvold. The issue of sanitization, according to Bratvold, became even more critical during the COVID-19 pandemic.

In 2016, Bratvold oversaw and directed a $45 million project to rebuild the Aleutian Spray Fisheries C/P Starbound. It extended the vessel’s length to 300 feet while adding a new fish meal plant, factory, propulsion system, and

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electronics. For 24-years, Bratvold captained Starbound and is now serving as its Managing Partner.

Wanting greater control over the health of his crew, Bratvold began to research solutions. He quickly realized he needed a more “active” technology, unlike the “passive” technology of UV lights, which led to the creation of EMT. Since the company installed MAK systems in December, the overall health of the Starbound crew is substantially better. “There has not been so much as a single case of the common cold on board. It’s been really incredible,” Bratvold told our flagship publication, Innovation & Tech Today. “People are just amazed.”

“Consequently, the adoption of MAK technology grew incredibly quickly, which uses Hydrogen Peroxide Plasma to significantly reduce microbes such as molds, bacteria, and viruses including COVID-19” in an indoor environment.”

In using hydrogen peroxide plasma, MAK systems seek out and eliminate pathogens 24/7 in any indoor environment and are validated to reduce the concentration of microbes indoors by 99% or more.

Mount says that this type of technology is “especially effective in the close quarters of a ship.”

Passive Technologies Only Facilitate Today’s Newest Viruses “Cutting-edge MAK technology is recognized as a gamechanger for its active approach,” Mount explains. Unlike traditional passive technology, MAK’s use of hydrogen peroxide plasma makes it cutting-edge. The systems require very little routine maintenance and are customizable for any size indoor environment.

“Viruses and other contaminants have always been a concern for commercial fishing boats, which require crews to live together in close quarters for weeks or even months at a time,” said Randall Mount, CEO at EMT. “Illness can spread like wildfire on a boat and can be crippling to operations.”

“Filters and ultraviolet light are old-school technologies; these passive solutions require the microbes to find their way to the technology, instead of the other way around. Standard HEPA filters and UV systems can only trap or kill the microbes that encounter the filter material or the light waves emanating from the bulb in the ductwork. Even then, many microbes are too small to be trapped and pass through, or they are moving so quickly the UV light does not have time to adequately expose the organism to the harmful UV rays.”

He emphasized the need to find better ways to protect crew member health now more than ever since COVID-19 has continued to be part of our daily life.

This technology, according to Mount, is publicly available to consumers and is often used in single-family homes and individual living spaces, in addition to a variety of

Photo: iStockphoto.com/dcsliminky

Since 2009, cruise ship passengers have skyrocketed from 17.8 million to 30 million, an annual growth rate of 5.4%.

industries ranging from food processors and restaurants to schools, medical offices, and a variety of retail stores.

still exist and can be hard to contain aboard even large vessels like cruise ships or commercial fishing boats,” Danishek said.

“Businesses and individuals should expect to notice improvement quickly in the form of lower particle counts and fewer illnesses,” he continued. “The Starbound commercial fishing boat reports it has not had any health outbreaks since it installed MAK technology back in December 2020.”

Mount believes that cruise operators can embrace active MAK technology. The tech helps prevent the spread of illnesses and reassure customers that the indoor environments onboard like restaurants, theatres, and shopping areas are protected and safe.

The Return of 2021-2022 Cruise Season This spring, President Biden signed the Alaska Tourism Restoration Act into law. The law lifts the requirement that foreign-registered ships traveling between the mainland United States and Alaska must stop in a foreign port.

Stephanie Jones Stebbins, the managing director of maritime for the Port of Seattle, says the loss of the 2020 cruise season has already cost the Puget Sound region plenty.

“When Canada closed the ports… it essentially wiped out our cruise season,” said travel expert Steve Danishek. He points out that the bulk of Seattle’s cruise business relies on ships traveling to and from Alaska.

In taking a closer look at the Port of Seattle, Seattle’s cruise industry plays favorably into introducing MAK systems.

“An increase in registered ships traveling to and from the Port of Seattle and the mainland U.S. will only drive demand for the MAK technology — even when COVID-19 is not an imminent threat, colds, flu and other illnesses

The bulk of Seattle’s cruise business relies upon ships traveling to and from Alaska. With the closure of the 2020 cruise season, what can the cruise and commercial fishing industry expect as restrictions start to loosen up?

“Like other industries, the cruise and commercial fishing industries are regaining capacity,” Mount says. “As businesses of all kinds look for long-term solutions to the pandemic, the cleaning of air and surfaces has come to the forefront. COVID-19 has woken us up to a seemingly obvious issue: the quality of the air we breathe, like the cleanliness of surfaces we touch, is incredibly important.”

Addressing President Biden’s recent enactment of the Alaska Tourism Restoration Act into law, Mount says that any return to normal will grow demand for active technology like MAK systems, which have been validated as 99.9% effective against COVID-19 by the University of Louisville, Center for Predictive Medicine.

“The technology is being distributed across the U.S. and other areas of the world as an added layer of protection in schools, nursing homes, restaurants, and a variety of other industries.” ■

Debunking Misinformation Surrounding Air Filtration Technology Before the COVID-19 pandemic, many businesses sought to protect products and processes but now have shifted their focus on protecting people, mainly from misinformation.

We asked Mount to help us debunk industry myths that are just plain wrong today.

Myth #1 – Traditional Air Filters Work Just Fine Air filters and other passive technologies are not as effective as users might hope.

Rather than seeking out and eliminating microbes, these passive technologies require microbes to travel to them.

Additionally, when changing an air filter, you expose everyone to the microbes collected.

Myth #2 – Putting Hydrogen Peroxide into the Air is Bad The hydrogen peroxide plasma MAK units produce is entirely safe for people, pets, and plants.

Myth #3 – This Effective Technology Must Be Expensive Users of MAK technology are usually pleasantly surprised about the price for installing and operating the equipment.

When schools, businesses, and other organizations consider how much they spend on chemical sprays and other cleaning supplies, they quickly realize the MAK technology pays for itself.

Myth #4 – Getting Sick is Just Part of the Job Illnesses are quickly passed around in fishing boats and other tight work environments. But, after implementing the active hydrogen peroxide plasma technology, businesses are drastically reducing or even eliminating illnesses among staff and guests.

Photo courtesy of Starbound

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Cover Story

Touched by the Whales In filming, shooting and producing the new Disney+/ NatGeo documentary Secrets of the Whales, Brian Skerry came to new realizations about the sea’s biggest creatures — and their similarities to us

By Robert Yehling

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Brian Skerry couldn’t believe his eyes. And his are eyes that have spent 40 years shooting sea photography, and nearly a quarter-century filming and shooting for National Geographic.

What developed in front of the Secrets of the Whales executive producer and photographer defied typical cross-species senses: an orca was offering him her dinner — a freshly plucked stingray — while staring at her human visitor 40 feet below the New Zealand coastline. He’d experienced a number of interactions with whales, but never one like this.

“I was hoping to see this population of orca who have figured out how to eat stingrays,” Skerry recalled. “They love international cuisine, and the ones in New Zealand like stingrays. I jumped in the water, was swimming toward this family of orca that were hunting in a shallow harbor, and this female was coming toward me with a ray that she had started to eat. And as I got closer, she dropped it in front of me, and I swam down to the bottom. I knelt on the bottom, sort of next to that dead stingray, wondering if she would come back.

“And then out of the corner of

my eye on the right, I saw her swimming around my back. She came around my left, got directly in front of me, and then just hovered there. And then she looked at me, looked at the ray, looked at me, looked at the ray, as if to say, “Are you gonna eat that?”

When I didn’t, she just gently picked it up and brought it up. I was able to make a picture of this ray out of her mouth, and then she turned and food-shared with her family, and we got that from the air. We got that scene as well.

“So it’s just extraordinary to think that that animal may have been — I don’t know — offering me dinner, and when I chose not to partake, she went on her way.”

Below: Antarctic icebergs dwarfed the team’s expedition vessel, The Australis, while the team filmed humpbacks at the bottom of the world. (Photo National Geographic/Hayes Baxley) National Geographic photographer Brian Skerry spent three years documenting the cultural lives of whales. (Photo National Geographic/Andrew Mitchell)

not only by species, but by pod in some cases, and tracked families and communities engaging in truly complex and sophisticated lifestyles.

All of these moments, and many others, are covered in the four-show documentary series, which Skerry and his crew filmed over a three-year period. Besides the documentary series, Secrets of the Whales is also available in book form, and is featured in the May 2021 issue of National Geographic magazine.

Many sperm whales are wandering nomads. They travel freely across vast stretches of ocean and stop to interact with local whales. (Photo National Geographic/Luis Lamar)

The New Zealand dinner invitation was one of many incredible experiences Skerry and his team experienced while filming the four 45-minute segments of Secrets of the Whales, which (as of August 1) is still streaming on Disney+ (check local listings). Along with that (minor spoiler alert), he watched the astonishing practice of whales literally beaching themselves to grab seals — and then using the tide to get back to sea. He also captured a sperm whale nursing her young, believed to be the first time we’ve viewed this, one whale species adopting a lost member of another, recorded diverse language patterns that differed

The crew filmed the Norwegian Arctic, Antarctica, Hawaii, Alaska, the Hudson Bay region of Canada, the Cook Islands of the South Pacific, the Caribbean islands of Dominica, New Zealand, and other locations.

They worked in water temperatures ranging from balmy tropical seas to 28-degree arctic and Antarctic conditions — during which Skerry borrowed and wore one of only a few 10-millimeter wetsuits available on the planet (by comparison, deep divers and surfers wear wetsuits in cold water with 5-millimeter maximum thickness.)

Going to such an extent makes sense when viewing the shows.

These are truly different than other whale documentaries ever produced. The biggest difference, between a constant stream of never- or rarely-before-seen moments? The focus on whale culture and family in an increasingly fragile, hostile and food-deprived, climate-changing

ocean, a storyline never explored like this before.

“With Secrets of the Whales, it’s really about focusing on the culture of whales, looking at their ancestral traditions, things that haven’t typically been viewed,” Skerry said. “We’ve seen a lot of whale photos and documentaries over the years, but the difference with Secrets of the Whales is we’re looking at the ocean through the lens of culture. These animals do have languages, they do have dialects, and they are probably saying things that would be alarming. But the truth is we haven’t deciphered all of that at this stage. We’re just at the very beginning of trying to figure those things out. But what we can see and what science is showing us is that these animals have rich lives much like our own.

They babysit, they have food preferences depending where in the world they are, they have singing competitions, they have parenting techniques and strategies, and they also mourn for their dead.”

In a private interview with Innovation & Tech Today and Sustainability Today, Skerry later elaborated on the takeaways into his own life, in Maine. “I think that, from watching the whales and their cultures, and feeling like we were eyewitnesses brought into their worlds, I learned more about what it is to be fully human,” he said. “I mean, the greatest aspects of being human.

Everything we watched them do was consistent with community in which everyone cares for each SUMMER 2021 | SUSTAINABILITY TODAY

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Cover Story

An adult orca pursue herring in the frigid waters off Norway’s Atlantic coast.

(Photo National Geographic/Luis Lamar) Below; Humpback whales undergo one of the longest migrations of any mammal on Earth – over 6,000 miles. (Photo National Geographic/Adam Geiger) Only male humpbacks sing their famous songs – perhaps to attract a willing mate. (Photo National Geographic/Adam Geiger)

other, they look out for each other, and they even on occasion go beyond their species — like offering me dinner in New Zealand, or the sperm whales that adopted the wayward Narwhal in Alaska.”

For his part, in order to immerse into the whales’ world, Skerry had to immerse in training. Using both a lens camera and video camera, Skerry shot entirely by free diving. Hard as that sounds, it’s necessary; the bubbles of diving tanks scare off whales. He spent six months with trainers working on his breathholding capacity, as well as diving in different water temperatures and conditions. By the time of the shoots, he could dive down

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50 feet or more and remain underwater, working, for up to three minutes at a time.

Then there was coordinating the shoots themselves. When he presented the scenario of what was required for an underwater or surface shot to make the cut, it sounded like a row of dominoes lined up in a wind tunnel. All of the parts had to be perfectly in synch… and any disturbance or interruption at all could end hours, days or even weeks of careful planning. Because of that, Secrets of the Whales required a lot of raw footage. “According to the engineer, we shot 185 terabytes for this series,” Skerry said.

“That’s more than the amount of data we get from the Hubble

Space Telescope in a year.”

He elaborated further on the alignment of the stars to “get the shot.” “The greatest day of my life was when this project got greenlit, but then the next morning you wake up and realize you have to deliver the goods,,” he said. “The sun has to be out, the animals have to let you close, they have to be doing something interesting, the visibility has to be good, no outside disturbances, cameras and lenses ready, I have to have enough breath to dive down and get a shot… all of those things add up to this tiny, little bull’s-eye. But there was almost divine intervention in every location.

Produced in partnership with

Produced in partnership with

Produced in partnership with

Produced in partnership with

Belugas are extremely social and have been nicknamed the “canaries of the sea” because of their rich and varied vocal range. (Photo National Geographic/Peter Kragh) Below; Awkward on land and graceful in the water, Gentoo penguins are a favorite orca prey in the waters off Antarctica. The humpback’s tail – called a fluke – has patterns as unique as a human fingerprint. Scientists use them to identify individuals year after year. (Photos National Geographic/Hayes Baxley)

“I think it’s important to recognize that, as an underwater photographer, we don’t have the luxury that our terrestrial counterparts do, in the sense that I can’t sit in a camouflaged blind in some remote location and use the 600-millimeter lens on a tripod and wait for some elusive animal to come wandering past.

We can only stay underwater as long as the air supply will last.

And with whales, that was all freediving, just snorkeling, breath-hold diving, so I’m only underwater for a couple of minutes, maybe, at best. So I have to get very close to my subjects. Even in the clearest of water, you need to get within a few meters of your subject.”

As Secrets of the Whales showed over and over again, another secret emerged, one that works to the great benefit of all viewers — the photographer is a bit of a “whale whisperer.” Skerry’s presence and calmness, his childlike curiosity and deep caring and concern for the whales, was fully reflected in the way one species after another moved in close to him, as if knowing he would tell their story their way. That fits right into Skerry’s approach to take audiences inside their worlds, rather than feeling on the outside looking in.

“If you spend enough time with any given population of underwater animals or terrestrial

animals, you’ll see that they have individual personalities. And I think that’s really the mystery,” Skerry said. “So what we’re trying to do I think with many of these shows perhaps is to bring audiences in, show them what we see, and realize that there’s a lot more going on there than we ever realized.”

Secrets of the Whales is must-see nature, environmental and educational TV. It’s not only beautiful, informing and deeply satisfying, but also fully capable of transforming our understanding of whales as, through the lenses of Skerry and his team, they now share their very culture. ■ SUMMER 2021 | SUSTAINABILITY TODAY

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Featured

How Bear Grylls Weaves Sustainability into Running Wild Interview by Robert Yehling

Bear Grylls and Anthony Mackie climb a via ferrata.

(National Geographic/Ben Simms)

Catching up with Bear Grylls is an exercise in itself. The host and star of the Disney +/ NatGeo series Running Wild with Bear Grylls, and appointment adventure TV fixture for the past decade, even turns interviews into transcontinental wind sprints of sorts.

After interviewing Bear in person in 2019, we sought him out again as Running Wild with Bear Grylls began its sixth season. The show continues to draw millions of viewers with its format, which combines Bear’s personality and survival prowess in forbidding places, the human drama aspect of a celebrity companion

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often engaging in such adventure for the first time, and the truly dangerous, death-defying moments that come out of their excursions.

The locations for Season Six are quite as widespread around the world as in previous seasons, owing to the travel and location challenges associated with the COVID-19 pandemic. The season opened with Bear and Terry Crews on forbidding mountains in the Icelandic Highlands. Then, he took auto racing superstar Danica Patrick to Utah’s beautiful Moab Desert and its uber-challenging red rock formations. Next up was Rainn Wilson, who

engaged in some survival hiking with Bear in Utah’s little-explored La Sal Mountains. The show shifted back to Iceland, this time into its highly active lava fields; the island is literally increasing square mileage daily from an ongoing eruption. Keegan-Michael Key and Bear lightened up a hard slog with plenty of comedy in the oft-hilarious episode, which also featured major personal breakthroughs for Key. Then, Bear gave movie and TV tough guy Danny Trejo his own taste of the Moab Desert. The season wraps with fellow NatGeo series star Bobby Bones and Caitlin Parker trying to stay alive in

Anthony Mackie jumars up a frigid waterfall.

(National Geographic/Ben Simms)

probably the first person on earth you want with you if you get stuck in a forbidding place or climate anywhere in the world.

As in our previous interviews, our conversation was short, focused, and very revealing — not only on the show and Bear’s own background, but also in how the adventures covered in Running Wild impact the worldviews of the celebrity guests.

the Sierra Nevada.

Because of Bear’s crazy shooting and work schedule, we resorted to an exchange of emails, and an abbreviated interview. He can be like catching lightning in a bottle, which speaks to both his enormous amount of energy and his busy life. But, as always, he came through with thoughtful, personal answers. The beauty about Bear is that what you see on TV is the measure of the man: he’s warm, brilliant, engaging, and

Sustainability Today: What are some of the biggest reasons you feel Running Wild continues to be popular in now its sixth season? Do you feel it’s our instinctive love of adventure, of untamed natural spaces and places… or of the human drama that always happens when you take a guest to some other forbidding part of the globe?

Bear Grylls: I always feel that the wild is the real star of the show. It brings out the best side of people, demands repercussions and never judges us. We get to so many spectacular

terrains, which when you pair that with some of the world’s best known people enduring some epic survival adventures, it is always compelling.

There’s a rawness to being out in the wild together that encourages people to be very open and honest. There is a trust between guests and me that is always a privilege, and I never take that for granted. In truth, the stars and the wild make my job easy.

Sustainability Today: When you’re out on shoots with celebrities, besides going over the obvious details — trying to negotiate all of the challenges you face — do you also spend time discussing environmental and sustainability issues facing the world at large?

BG: Absolutely. That’s a subject my guests always seem to bring up. Everyone who ventures into the wild gains a greater appreciation for the beauty and awesomeness of nature, but also how delicate the ecosystem is and what kind of trouble it’s in. We see the impacts of climate

(This photo) Bear Grylls and Gina Carano jumar up a cliff in the Italian Dolomites.

(Right) Rainn Wilson navigates a Tyrolean traverse. Rainn and Bear clean and prep a fish they caught.

(All photos National Geographic/Ben Simms)

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Featured

(Top row) Bobby Bones, Caitlin Parker and Bear Grylls get underslung to their drop-off point in Buttermilk Country, CA. Bear shows Bobby and Caitlin how to start a fire.

(Bottom row) Bobby Bones and Caitlin Parker rappel down a waterfall to place a trap cam.

Bear lowers Caitlin down a chimney climb.

(All photos National Geographic/ Ben Simms)

change, pollution and man’s impact on the world almost everywhere we go, so yes, that’s on everyone’s mind. And since all of our guests have their own platforms, it provides an opportunity to put out this crucial message even more.

push through both internal and external obstacles. Their faces when they come through something truly scary always says it all. The smile that they get when they take those sorts of leaps is special to see.

always aim to take the guests close to their limits,

Sustainability Today: When we interviewed you a couple years ago, you told us one of the things that keeps you so passionate and inspired is when your guests unlock or learn something about their own deepest capabilities while in the middle of a sticky moment in some forbidding place. Could you talk about that a little, and also how you convey those types of moments to viewers when you see them happening? We’ve seen it more than once… and it’s really impactful.

Sustainability Today: How “scripted” are the shows when you start shooting? Is it a matter of finding the types of experiences you think are out there when you explore the landscape and habitat? Or remaining wide open to whatever you encounter?

it and go. That’s the part all our guests always

BG: The wild always reveals character, and I think when you face a few fears side by side and are tired and hungry, you see the real person.

That’s the magic of Running Wild; you see the unguarded side of these stars.

It’s always inspiring to see these people facing their biggest fears and challenging themselves to

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BG: We work hard as a team to plan a fun, challenging route that will be achievable for the guest but with good access and safety if needed.

We always have to have a back-up plan. Good comms and infrastructure with the local search and rescue is a key part of that as well.

On a non-Running Wild expedition, we can maybe go further afield and push the boundaries a little more, but you have to remember for Running Wild I am almost always taking rookies into these places and we have to be respectful of this and their skill level. Having said that, we

whilst always making sure it is empowering and awe inspiring. In terms of scripting – no – it is totally not in any way. We know a start point and an end point, and then with a small team we gun love... just how spontaneous it is. In terms of food, it’s not hard to find grubs and carcasses along the way, but if I don’t, then I always have a back up with the crew such as bird eggs in case we really don’t find anything!

Sustainability Today: You make it seem so easy in the wild that so many of us simply assume you’ve mastered everything you do – and yet, there still have to be some ‘firsts’ in your experience. Is there anything in Season 6 that truly was a first for you?

BG: Definitely the 3,000 ft. big wall cliff base jump into the Anthony Mackie adventure (in the premiere episode). That was the biggest, most dangerous stunt we have ever done on the show.

I didn’t sleep for a few nights before that one! ■

Cover Story

Playing with

Sharks

By Robert Yehling

This is the time in her life when Valerie Taylor should be kicking back, reflecting on 70 years of dives with sharks, fish, moray eels and other creatures of the sea. She should be playing back the countless experiences that led to more than five dozen photography and film shoots for National Geographic, Time-Life, IMAX, movies like Jaws and Jaws II, and culminating with the Disney+ epic documentary Playing With Sharks, her life story that premiered in mid-summer (and continues to stream on Disney+).

But that’s not the case. Sadly, due to a public perception that sharks are the source of a delicacy (shark fin soup), an interfering force for commercial fishermen, and deadly dangerous predators, the world’s shark population is approaching a critically low level. As much as she’d like to step back, Valerie cannot. It’s not in her nature, as her decades of establishing protected areas in her native Australia well prove. Plus, sharks have been her friends since she was a teenager. So, at age 85, she continues to voice her concerns.

“I really feel that sharks worldwide should be totally protected,” says the subject and star of Playing with Sharks. “According to what I’ve read, we have only 10 percent of the shark

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Valerie Taylor began swimming with sharks as a teenager. Now, 70 years later, she reflects on her amazing journey as the world’s greatest living shark expert and protector of the species

population that once existed. They’ve been taken mainly for their fins for shark fin soup. We don’t need shark fin soup; we need sharks.

Nature put them in the ocean to do a job.

They’re apex predators, top of the food chain.

They keep the marine animals alive and fit by eating the diseased, sick, unwary and stupid.”

Playing with Sharks is a 90-minute documentary masterpiece, produced by Bettina Dalton and written and directed by Sally Aikman — both keen followers of Valerie’s career since their own began. The movie combines priceless archival footage, shot primarily by Valerie’s late husband, acclaimed documentary filmmaker Ron Taylor, who passed in 2012. In it, Valerie interacts with bull sharks, tiger sharks, great whites and numerous others — often playfully. Playing games with sharks? Negotiating whether you or the shark is getting the fish you just speared? Getting rides by holding onto dorsal fins? It’s all in here.

The Taylors’ historic footage is mixed with live action and candid and sassy voiceover, reflective of Valerie’s personality. The action includes a memorable return visit in 2020 to one of Valerie’s favorite spots in Fiji, and the remarkable relationship she’s forged with the

ocean’s apex predators. In many ways, it was a reunion among old friends.

“Really early on, we filmed that scene in Fiji as our first scene, even though it’s later in the movie,” Aikman said. “On the dive boat on our return journey, we got the most extraordinary image of Valerie in repose, on the boat, looking out on the ocean. Then in the archival footage, there’s this image of Valerie in the 1960s, in Fiji, looking on the ocean in the same way. That night, on the rushes, I put up the shot of Valerie looking on the ocean alongside the archival image from the 60s. That’s when I realized there’s really something in this relationship of a life with the sharks that we can explore.”

A host of memories flooded back to Valerie during the Fiji shoot, including one of her most poignant experience in decades of swimming with, filming, photographing, painting and playing with sharks. To listen to her tell it, with the emotive sweep of her storyteller’s voice, is breathtaking.

“The one I’ll always remember is Nursie, who I came to know when we were working in the Coral Sea for the U.S. Navy, testing shark repellents. Along came Nursie, a very big shark, big but not dangerous… unless you put your

(Facing page) Valerie Taylor wards off an overly curious shark while wearing a chain mail suit in 1982. Top row: Valerie, in scuba gear, reading the novel Jaws on top of a shark cage; she and her husband Ron filmed the movie’s underwater sequences. Ron and Valerie with Jaws author Peter Benchley, standing next to a set of jaws in 1971.

Bottom row; Valerie, Ron and others a holding model shark. Portrait, 1964. (Photos: Ron & Valerie Taylor)

foot in its mouth,” she chuckled. “My husband said ‘get this thing out of here; it’s not a dangerous shark. We only want the potentially dangerous ones.’ So I put some fish on a string and swam away, and Nursie followed me. I put the fish under a dead coral. By the time I swam back to where we were working, she was with us again. I took her away again, as far as I could swim on the air I had, then swam back – and ten minutes later, she rejoined us. After that, I’d take her out with some fish, put the fish under a cave, hold it down with coral, and she’d remove the coral and suck out the fish. Then she’d let me hold her dorsal fin as we swam back to where Ron and I were working, saving me some air.”

“The next day, when we went back to the same place, she was waiting. I got criticized for riding that shark, but by this time, we were quite friendly. I put my arm around her, pushed her around, she didn’t mind, never tried to bite. We did this for three days. Well, we came back to the spot six months later – and found she’d been taken for her fins. Every shark we worked with there was taken; one of the fishermen told us.”

For that reason, the second half of Valerie Taylor’s career has been as much about protecting sharks and all marine life as filming and photographing her underwater friends.

Make no mistake, either: she has a voice as big as the world when it comes to ocean environment and wildlife concerns. She is to the study and filming of sharks what Jacques Cousteau was to sea exploration at large, and what Jane Goodall is to the study of primates: a singular protective force that has changed everything from public awareness to perception to policy. She’s spent the past 70 years in the water studying, taking photographs, filming, swimming and playing with sharks of numerous breeds. She also is responsible for the existence of two of Australia’s marine national preserves, one of which protects what Americans know as sandbar tiger sharks.

On the job, Valerie and Ron filmed the underwater shots for movies like Jaws and Jaws II, The Blue Lagoon, The Year of Living Dangerously, Honeymoon in Vegas and The Island of Dr. Moreau. They also filmed two dozen documentaries in their native Australia,

beginning with 1962’s Playing with Sharks (the title was reprised in an homage to Valerie) and including shows for Time-Life, as well as the 1982 IMAX movie The Great Barrier Reef.

Not to mention footage on dozens of Australian TV shows.

This treasure trove of archival footage plays a big part in the 2021 version of Playing with Sharks. Aikman and producer Bettina Dalton said that more than 60 percent of the movie consists of archival footage, reflecting their desire — and Valerie’s — to show the ocean the way it once was. “To make this 90-minute movie, besides live action with Valerie, we had about 5,000 hours of Ron’s footage at our disposal,” Aikman said. “And this wasn’t just raw footage you can race through. When he filmed, he edited daily for the rushes. Everything in there is a usable shot. Then there were thousands of Valerie’s photographs, and going through all of her journals, which date back to the 1960s.”

“In terms of way we filmed, a lot was done by Ron historically. The way Ron filmed sharks SUMMER 2021 | SUSTAINABILITY TODAY

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Cover Story

(Left) Valerie Taylor underwater wearing a chain mail suit in 1982. (Above) Ron Taylor filming a great white shark in 1964. Valerie Taylor underwater in a shark cage in 1968. (All photos: Ron & Valerie Taylor)

Valerie Taylor on the Jaws film set standing next to a shark prop in 1974. (Photo: Ron & Valerie Taylor)

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Left, Valerie Taylor underwater with camera equipment, 1970. (Photo: Ron & Valerie Taylor) Valerie Taylor framed by shark teeth, 1957. (Photo: David Mist Photography)

was never him pursuing a shark with a camera. It was always him positioning himself so that the shark glides past. That immediately conveys a sense of the benign, of sharing a world with the sharks, not ‘I’m going to show you how terrifying they are’ and throw yourself among them. There’s none of that. Ron and Valerie were really at one in the ocean with the sharks, without the rapidly beating heart of fear. When they were filming, they were at peace in their environment, and the sharks were at peace having them there,” Aikman added.

This long association with sharks paid off for the crew in 2020, as Aikman recalled. “They knew the sharks, and the sharks knew them. So when we were in Fiji in 2020, one of the sharks came playfully toward Valerie, who was trying to reach out to touch it. It gave a gentle flick of its tail, Valerie’s mask comes off, and she’s just laughing underwater… I mean, you can’t construct it or rehearse it. That’s the way it was.

I think the film conveys her ease with being in their world, and we portray them not as something terrifying, but as sentient beings with every right to be there.”

How does one become so comfortable with sharks? It began with spearfishing. Valerie tells of her first encounters with sharks while spearfishing in her native New South Wales in the 1950s, again at a time when fish teemed everywhere and we were far from the need for marine national parks and preserves to protect them.

“I’m not a person who gets afraid,” she said. “If something goes wrong, I get angry, frustrated. I want to fix it. I got used to sharks when I used to

spearfish. There was a time in New South Wales where, if you spearfished, it was guaranteed a shark would eventually come and want your fish. I learned very early you could keep your fish and fight the shark off, that you could look it in the eye and swim towards it. No predator expects its potential prey to swim toward it. If that didn’t work, I gave the shark the fish, and everyone was happy.”

“When I started working with sharks with Ron on film, this stood me in good stead. I knew quite a bit about the behavior of the potentially dangerous sharks.”

Likewise, Valerie does not mince words when addressing the growing incidents of shark attacks on beaches around the world. She’s just as likely to be protective of the potentially dangerous sharks as she is the humans who subject themselves to bites.

“Of course, there are potentially dangerous sharks — great whites, bulls, hammerheads. If you’re worried about them, stay on shore,” she says. “When you go into the ocean, that’s your decision. You’re deciding to go into the backyard and world of another wild animal. It’s one thing to go into the backyard of an animal on land – you can run away, climb a tree, shoot it dead to defend yourself – but in the ocean, it’s a different story. We’re very awkward, splashing around, frantic looking, even at our best. Most people bitten by sharks are bitten on the surface.

The damage comes when they try to pull away and panic, and they bleed. If they got the same type of initial bite and damage from a land animal? They wouldn’t die.”

Valerie’s mountain of work and her conservation efforts have made her a major role model and influence for three generations of women and girls in Australia, not the least of which is her producer on Playing with Sharks. “I saw a NatGeo of Valerie and Ron, her in a chain mail suit and her arm in a blue shark’s mouth,” Bettina Dalton recalled. “It was an organizing moment for me and my career to see that image.

She looked like a model superhero, a major influencer – I’m not the only one who had that response. And I went onto become a natural history filmmaker. About 20 years ago, I was asked by National Geographic to make a film on Ron and Valerie’s life’s work. Got to spend a lot of time with them, looking at the film archive, Ron at the lathe making his own camera housings, Valerie’s photographic and art collection, seeing her as an artist. That series went onto play on NatGeo.” And now, they’re back together again, with a film that will let America and the Disney+ universe know what Australia and the ocean environment world have known for 60 years: Valerie Taylor is one of a kind, and the best friend the shark population has on this planet.

“I hope this film gives the general public a better understanding of not just sharks, but the marine world in general,” Valerie said. “There was so much not in the film I wanted to be there, but we had so much to work with… a lot of tough decisions to decide what stayed in. The film is a great success, but you want to see every animal that you know in there. That makes a big difference, to know them.” ■ SUMMER 2021 | SUSTAINABILITY TODAY

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Photo: iStockphoto.com/Dmitry Kovalchuk

The Ecosystem of Carbon Capture

By Melissa Jenkins

One of the biggest sustainability initiatives for the next several decades, carbon capture is creating unique partnerships across several sectors Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) is a technology attracting a lot of attention and debate. Large investments and initiatives are underway from politicians and industry alike, to capture carbon dioxide emissions and tackle climate change.

Based on the need to remove carbon from the atmosphere, and the risks in relying on land sinks such as forests and soils alone to take up the excess carbon, it is believed that carbon capture and storage will be a powerful tool for making the climate safer and even rectifying historical climate injustices. Carbon also can be stored permanently if injected underground, where geologists believe it can remain in place for centuries. Carbon capture can achieve 14 percent of the global greenhouse gas emissions reductions needed by 2050 and is viewed as the only practical way to achieve deep decarbonization in the industrial sector.

Almost two dozen commercial-scale carbon capture projects are operating around the world, with 22 more in development. There are two types of carbon capture: point-source capture, which extracts carbon from smokestacks during energy production or an industrial process; and direct air capture — removing carbon directly from the atmosphere.

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We looked at a few companies on the front lines of carbon capture. In our study, we realized they are not only engaging in this technology, but also using highly innovative partnerships to create climate-based sustainable products in the process. Some of them may surprise you — but their efforts are setting the stage for another major front in our battle to combat climate change and make our world more environmentally sound and sustainable.

Bigelow Tea For 75 years, Bigelow Tea has focused on environmentally sound policies. Bigelow has reduced the emissions associated with transporting their products by efficiently planning their shipping loads and locating their facilities closer to their customers. Since 2008, they have reduced shipping miles by 50,000 miles a year. They also installed 880 solar panels at their Connecticut headquarters, which contribute to protecting the earth by supporting renewable energy and reducing emissions.

Bigelow’s manufacturing process centers around conserving energy and water, waste reduction efforts, and land preservation and protection efforts. To reduce its carbon footprint and create a more resilient energy grid, the specialty tea market leader announced an

initiative with FermataEnergy, a vehicle-to-grid technology company, that will use the power from an electric vehicle (Nissan Leaf) to supply electricity to their Louisville, KY plant during times of peak energy use. Fermata Energy’s vehicle-to-grid (V2G) technology, paired with a bidirectional enabled vehicle (Nissan Leaf) and proprietary software, has successfully reduced building costs by returning energy back to the grid during peak periods. This will save Bigelow Tea money while reducing its carbon footprint.

Bigelow is always learning new ways to advance its company’s mission and lead by example. Leveraging the power from electric vehicles to reduce building costs is the zerocarbon way to produce electricity to reduce the company’s carbon footprint. Bigelow Tea announced recently that they were now using V2X technology to offset their energy use and reduce their carbon footprint.

Fermata Energy Given the shift to net-zero emissions, Fermata Energy has accelerated its plans to bring its V2G technology to the market with proven results of saving money while making the electric grid more resilient. The City of Boulder, Colorado announced that it is working with Fermata Energy to test the ability to use an electric

Sustainable Practices vehicle for dispatching power directly to the building or structure to which it is connected; in this case, the North Boulder Recreation Center.

Fermata also announced a new partnership with the Roanoke Electric Cooperative to take steps to make their grid more resilient by piloting Fermata’s V2X system. Green Mountain Power became the first utility to use stored energy from an electric vehicle’s battery to help reduce peak demand on the grid.

LanzaTech LanzaTech, a carbon-capture company, turns industrial waste into jet fuel. LanzaTech is turning our global carbon crisis into a feedstock opportunity, with the potential to displace 30 percent of crude oil use and reduce global CO2 emissions by 10 percent. By recycling carbon from industrial off-gases, syngas generated from any biomass resource (e.g. municipal solid waste (MSW), organic industrial waste, agricultural waste), and reformed biogas, they can reduce emissions and make new products for a circular carbon economy.

With LanzaTech’s carbon recycling technology, think of retrofitting a brewery onto an emission source like a steel mill or a landfill site. However, instead of using sugars and yeast to make beer, raw pollution is converted to fuels and chemicals by bacterial breakdown. Virgin Airways was the first airline to use this recycled waste in flight. Virgin just announced a deal with L’oreal to create cosmetics plastic packaging from captured and recycled carbon emissions, which it plans to fully commercialize by 2025.

General Electric GE announced in October a goal of achieving carbon neutrality by pursuing an exit from the new-build coal power market for its facilities and operational greenhouse emissions by 2030.

Further, they set a goal that net emissions of carbon dioxide must fall by 45 percent by 2030 and reach “net zero” by 2050.

GE’s Steam Power business will work with current customers on existing obligations while pursuing this exit. This can involve divestitures, site closings, job impacts and appropriate considerations for publicly held subsidiaries. GE will continue to focus on and invest in its core renewable energy and power generation businesses, working to make electricity more

affordable, reliable, accessible, and sustainable.

Meantime, GE Steam Power will continue to deliver turbine islands for the nuclear market and service existing nuclear and coal power plants.

Amazon.com For the past few years, Amazon.com has been a busy and robust leader in environmental, sustainability and climate change initiatives.

In 2019, Amazon and Global Optimism cofounded The Climate Pledge, a commitment to net-zero carbon by 2040, a decade ahead of the Paris Climate Agreement. In addition, Amazon is on a path to powering all operations with 100 percent renewable energy by 2025. From reducing water usage in data centers to using sustainable aviation fuel, they are committed to building a sustainable business for their customers, communities, and the world. They have ordered more than 100,000 fully-electric delivery vehicles (you might have seen the TV commercials), and plan to invest $100 million in reforestation projects around the world.

Amazon also launched the Climate Pledge Fund, a $2 billion fund to back visionary companies whose products and services will facilitate the transition to a low-carbon economy.

In April 2020, Amazon committed $10 million to conserve, restore, and support sustainable forestry, wildlife and nature-based solutions across the Appalachian Mountains—funding two innovative projects in collaboration with The Nature Conservancy. The also announced the first Right Now Climate Fund project outside of the U.S. Amazon will commit over $4 million towards The Nature Conservancy’s Urban Greening program in Germany, which uses nature-based solutions to help cities become more climatechange resilient. The program starts in the Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf district of Berlin and uses a science-based, municipality-wide, and stakeholder-based approach to urban greening to ensure that projects are complementing existing local efforts. Two additional German cities will be chosen, in which the initial learnings from Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf will be applied.

By the end of the five-year project, The Nature Conservancy also aims to create and share a guide to urban greening that other German and European municipalities can use.

Amazon is also launching Climate Pledge

Friendly to help make it easy for customers to discover and shop for more sustainable products.

Customers will now see the Climate Pledge Friendly label when searching for more than 25,000 products online, to signify that the products have one or more of 19 different sustainability certifications, such as reducing the carbon footprint of shipments to customers.

Climate Pledge Friendly selection can be found across grocery, household, fashion, beauty, and personal electronics products, as well as items from a range of other categories.

As part of the Climate Pledge Friendly initiative, they are also announcing Compact by Design, a new sustainability certification to identify products that, while not always very different, have a more efficient design. With the removal of excess air and water, products require less packaging and become more efficient to ship. At scale, these small differences in product size and weight lead to significant carbon emission reductions.

Amazon also will be the first consumer electronics company to commit to address the use phase of our devices through renewable energy investments. They are building their first wind and solar farms in the U.S. to produce clean energy equivalent to the electricity used by every customer’s Amazon devices. Their eventual goal?

To account for the energy consumption of all Amazon devices. They are also striving to make their devices more energy efficient, including the addition of Low Power Mode feature on all new wall-powered Echo and Fire TV devices, to reduce lifetime energy consumption by using less power during periods of inactivity. They’ll also be rolling out free over-the-air updates to bring Low Power Mode to additional devices already in customers’ homes.

Going forward, Amazon is working to source 100 percent of the wood fiber in device packaging from responsibly managed forests or recycled sources. They are also reducing waste, eliminating over 9 million plastic bags from their device packaging in 2020 alone. The packaging for the Echo and Fire TV devices today is made from more than 98 percent wood fiber-based materials from responsibly managed forests or recycled sources. This packaging program alone will eliminate more than 900,000 tons of materials from landfills. ■ SUMMER 2021 | SUSTAINABILITY TODAY

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Sustainable Practices

Our Gardens: Sustainable Food Source During Pandemic

By Karin Yehling

We are facing uncertain and difficult times in the face of the Covid-19 pandemic. The benefits of plants (psychological, health, economic, productive) in this period of public health crisis and uncertainty can be of key importance — and will continue to be so through the coming summer.

With most of us self-isolating in urban or suburban environments through the winter, we need something to do to keep our bodies and minds active and fed. In such a challenging scenario, a vegetable garden in home spaces (indoors and outdoors) can bring recreational, health, economic and environmental benefits.

Regardless of the Covid-19 pandemic, there is untapped potential for this kind of garden to impact environmental outcomes, public awareness, and market trends.

Which brings us to social distancing, reducing visits to the grocery stores and being selfsufficient with fresh healthy greens that strengthen your immune system. These are some of the best ways to shield from COVID19. In addition to growing something healthy to eat, gardening provides an educational opportunity for those with children or young adults at home, while schools and universities are closed, and during summer when school is out of session. Home vegetable gardens could provide a small-scale approach to the sustainable use of natural resources, leading towards self-sufficiency, self-regulation, sustainability, and environmental protection.

Experienced gardeners can produce enough fruit and vegetables year-round to supply two people from a small suburban backyard. The estimated savings in doing this are between $2,000 and $2,200 a year compared to conventional agriculture prices, and about

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$3,000 to $3,200 a year compared to organic produce. On average the cost to grow 65 fruits, vegetables and herbs is about $320 a year. The average harvest is about 425 to 450 pounds of vegetables and 400 to 700 pounds of fruit per year.

Productive gardening improves health by providing contact with nature, along with physical activity and a healthier diet. Contact with good soil bacteria also has positive health effects. According to the National Gardening Association, you can even burn between 200 and 300 calories during a typical gardening session. Not only may you see physical benefits from gardening, and it likely will lift your spirits.

Plants, both indoor and outdoor, are natural air purifiers, taking air pollution and carbon dioxide in and releasing oxygen in return. This can aid in improving overall health and wellbeing while reducing exposure to harsh and dangerous toxins.

Farmers markets have long served as a way to increase food access in low-income areas, support as vital distribution channels for small farmers and local growers, and bolster a strong, locally empowering economy. Foods that are sold at farmers markets also require less packaging due to short shipping distances. Plus, they are usually grown in eco-friendly environments, as organic farming doesn’t use synthetic fertilizers and pesticides- that’s good for you and the Earth!

Farmers markets contribute about $9 billion to the U.S. economy every year, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). The Farmers Market Coalition (FMC) says that the number of farmers markets in the U.S. has grown from just under 2,000 in 1994 to more than 8,600 today.

I recently listened to “The Food Revolution Summit”. They talked a lot about Covid-19 as it relates to our immune system. The biggest takeaway was that never before has the consumption of fruits and vegetables been so important. Listed below are some crops to grow in your garden or purchase at your local farmers market to help boost your immune system during these trying times.

• Broccoli is packed with antioxidants; we know that. But, did you know that eating broccoli optimizes the function of the immune system in the case of viral infections by increasing protective cells? These cells are the guards against viruses AND cancer.

• Blueberries produce natural killer cells that protect the body against viruses it has never encountered before. Read that bold print and get some blueberries (frozen are just as good).

• Cardamom, an Indian spice that tastes a bit like licorice or anise, can supercharge the ability of the natural killer cells to protect you from viruses your body has never encountered.

• Leafy greens are packed with phytonutrients that the immune system needs for optimal function. So, start researching how to incorporate collard greens, kale, dandelion greens, spinach, mustard greens, and bok choy into your diet. Hint: a smoothie is a good place to hide these if you don’t like the taste.

• Mushrooms are linked to a smarter immune system • Purple fruits and vegetables are loaded with antioxidants, help prevent cancer, promote a healthy heart, and boost your memory. Think blueberries, red grapes, plums, dark wine grapes and dates.

• Chia, flax, almonds & walnuts all have disease preventing nutrients, Omega 3’s, Vitamin E, calcium, iron, and zinc (the gatekeeper of immune function). Tip: make sure you pre-grind (do it yourself) flax to get the biggest benefit.

• Vitamin D has been proven time and again to be an immune system booster across the board.

Most people are substantially deficient in Vitamin D; ask your doctor for a test. Your number should be 50+. The good news is that people who have it over 30 have been getting good results with Covid-19.

We all know by now that the biggest age group falling victim to Covid-19 is the 65+ group — our seniors. There’s something called “immunosenescence”, which is defined as “the gradual deterioration of the immune system brought on by natural age advancement”. But… a randomized controlled trial was conducted on 65 to 85-year-olds to determine if eating more fruits and vegetables preserve a healthy immune system as we age.

The results? When exposed to a viral pathogen, those 65-85 year olds who ate 5+ servings of fruits and vegetables per day had an 82% better immune response vs. those who ate less than 3 servings. Immunosenescence doesn’t occur nearly as often in people who are eating numerous servings of fruits and vegetables daily.

That’s information we can all live by, regardless of age. ■ KARIN YEHLING is a nutrition coach, personal trainer and Functional Medicine Health Coach.

She works with people on the diabetes continuum to help them prevent, reverse and reclaim their health from Type 2 Diabetes, featuring her group program T2 Diabetes Warriors. She can be reached at www. karinyehling.com or on Instagram @karinyehling.

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Sustainable Practices

Growing and Eating Meat as Nature Intended

Left, Russ Conser. Right, Todd Churchill

Blue Nest Beef, in partnership with the Audubon Conservation Ranching Program, has hit upon a way to deliver highly nutritious meat and restore the ecosystem at the same time.

By Robert Yehling We’ve all seen the ecological devastation of our nation’s addiction to meat and poultry. From nutrient- and topsoil-leached farms to destroyed woodlands and grasslands, the health costs of eating feedlot products, and the draining of our water supply, our dependence on a meat-based diet is the costliest, least environmentally conscious food supply operation on the planet.

Further, the high cost and low profit of running these operations — even with USDA subsidies — has resulted in the loss of 90% of family farms in the past 40 years, replaced by huge agribusiness outfits.

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a forward-thinking operation that has partnered with the Audubon Conversation Ranching Program to produce grass-fed beef and chicken that not only is healthier for our bodies, but is done in a way that restores the ecosystems of the participating ranches themselves. All while giving those family ranchers higher margins than the status quo.

Whether or not we care to admit it, we’re at a crossroads, not only on our food supply, but also the ecological impact and our abilityg to sustain meat-based diets in the future.

The point? To restore grasslands to ecologically balanced blends of grass, woods, wildlife, bird life and water retention, while also providing nutritionally superior beef and chicken that dances on the taste buds of anyone who tries it.

As Chief Marketing Officer Todd Churchill deftly notes, “Why does a rancher have to choose between raising beef and benefitting the ecosystem? Why can’t it be both?”

Welcome to a solution that takes us right back to the way farming used to be: regenerative agriculture. And with that comes Blue Nest Beef,

“We’re in a very difficult place in our ability to feed people healthy beef and chicken,” Blue Nest CEO Russ Conser pointed out. “We’re also in a

SUSTAINABILITY TODAY | SUMMER 2021

tough position environmentally, with millions of acres of land now farmed out, and farmers and ranchers relying more and more on fertilizers, herbicides and growth hormones — which makes the product less healthy and the land less productive. And, we’re harming the ecosystem.”

“Because of that, we came up with this idea of working with the people who know best -- the family ranchers who’ve been growing food for decades — to produce highest-quality grassfed beef and chicken. Not only that, but using the principles of regenerative agriculture to fortify and return their ranch ecosystem to a natural balance. And how can you best tell if a place is ecologically balanced? By the bird population.

Which is where Audubon comes in.”

There’s a lot to unpack here, all of it great news for the land and our future food supply. First, regenerative agriculture has a simple premise: restore the grasslands to their pristine natural

state, where birds and beasts roam together.

Also, instead of using chemicals to artificially prop up the growing potential of soil, restore that soil with organic material — which retains more water and allows deep-rooted plants and crops to grow, bringing in natural allies like earthworms. For instance, one acre of soil regenerated with just 1% added organic matter (compost, decomposed or turned-under plants) will retain 27,000 additional gallons of water.

When beef naturally graze on these birdfriendly pastures and grasslands, without being artificially boosted by growth hormones, not only does its nutritive value jump through the roof — but the exquisite taste often leaves people realizing they are experiencing the full taste of beef and chicken for the first time.

“We’re not doing this to get wealthy by selling a little bit of beef at very high prices,” Churchill said. “We want to start a movement that fundamentally changes how we raise our food, that it’s possible to both raise incredibly nutritious food and heal the ecosystem. You don’t have to choose. You don’t have to buy into a subsidy program that requires you to farm in a way that harms the ecosystem — and our health, since the beef absorbs the fertilizers and herbicides, and the growth hormones their feed, and the stress on their own bodies … and then we absorb all of that when we eat.”

“For sustainability, we have to figure out how to produce food like this, on regenerative farms, at a high enough quantity and low enough price so that ranchers can make a good living while also helping to restore the ecosystem.”

Conser, a longtime innovator and tech expert in the Fortune 500 world, and Churchill, a long-

time regenerative rancher, have teamed up on quite an initiative. Blue Nest Beef currently works with ranchers in Wyoming, South Dakota, North Dakota and Kansas to source meat from their collective 200,000+ acres of Audubon-certified ranches. All are family ranches, ranging from 1,000 acres to the sprawling 140,000-acre Rockin’ 7 Ranch in Wyoming. The ranchers are paid a high premium to provide beef to Blue Nest, which then ships it out to a quickly-growing customer base around the country. While the price point is elevated now — as it is in the early days of any truly innovative technology or product — the two executives said it will come down as more ranchers sign on and the scalability is increased.

“There’s a danger in the regenerative agriculture movement to define what is and is not regenerative,” Churchill said. “Our strategy is very different. We’ve come out with a pay price for ranchers which is 45-50% over the commodity market price. We don’t know that we can support that price forever, but we can for sure in the next 4-5 years. We want the word to get out that ranchers can become Audubon certified and then sell to Blue Nest. When they do, it’s an incredibly profitable premium and worth whatever investment you have to make to make the changes necessary to produce the cattle we want to buy.”

“When this happens, our scalability will increase and the prices to consumers will come down,” Conser added.

Interestingly, Blue Nest Beef benefitted in rancher participation, customer base and public awareness during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. When meat supplies became strained

in the early months of the economic shutdown, and consumers were forced to cook more at home, they started looking for the last thing one normally seeks in online shopping — meat.

Enter Blue Nest. “The general surge of online ordering for food has been advantageous to us,” Conser said. “Meat is generally the last to be ordered online, but it’s definitely picked up.

We’re still early on in building awareness with the public, so we haven’t even scratched the surface of the public’s appetite to buy online.

“We also directly addressed people now forced to cook more at home. Last Fall, Todd put together an interesting series of cooking classes, to cook quality restaurant-level food at home with our product. We have a digital virtual library of cooking classes now, everything from chickens to steaks to roasts. We’ve pivoted our whole line to either order once, or subscribe to save for repeat ordering with our mixed boxes.”

Those mixed boxes have both catchy names and stories, all evolving from a single offering just a year ago. For instance, the highly scrumptious Savannah Product sampler box of steaks, roasts, chicken and ground beef “brings the grasslands and woodlands together,” Conser said. “The theme is to sell regenerative beef and chicken and tell a story of a different food system.” Other available packages include the Flying Beef Bundle, Meadowlark Beef Box and the Prairie Ground. (See our review of Blue Nest products on page 53).

In discussing the novel concept of regenerative agriculture (not novel at all, really: it’s how all farmers grew food until agribusiness exploded in the last century), Conser brought up an interesting comparison between the state of SUMMER 2021 | SUSTAINABILITY TODAY

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Sustainable Practices regenerative agriculture today, and that of the embryonic days of renewable energy.

“Regenerative agriculture feels like renewable energy did 25 years ago,” he said. “A small Idaho farmer had a solar panel on his rooftop because he wanted to be off-grid. It wasn’t until private developers and markets created power purchase agreements on large-scale projects that these things started coming together. Right now, regenerative agriculture consists of hundreds or thousands of small farms figuring out how to move farm animals, have websites, do marketing and the rest. The supply chain needs economies of scale if we’re ever going to bring regenerative agriculture into the mainstream. Otherwise, we’re going to have a bunch of people proud of solar panels on their rooftops, so to speak.”

To get to the equivalent of renewable energy’s ascension from 1985 to 2021, Churchill feels widescale public education and awareness of the ecological and health benefits is an essential step.

“To change behavior, we have to make the right thing the easy thing, and vice versa,” he said. “We continue to see more and more evidence that regenerative agriculture is the right thing for the planet. Blue Nest Beef is an experiment: how do we make the right thing the easy thing for consumers? We can’t do much for cost effectiveness yet. But our longterm vision isn’t to have a small boutique expensive beef company. It’s to prove to the world that beef raised regeneratively is better beef. Better to eat, better for human health, for the planet, for the cattle, and for the rancher.”

Meantime, more and more ranchers are signing up to produce Blue Nest Beef as its profile grows into that of a true sustainability innovator in the food sector. ■

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An Eating Experience Like No Other Review by Erin James

The Blue Nest sampler box arrived at my doorstep within two days. With such a speedy delivery, I was eager to open it up.

The packaging was top notch, with a sturdy cardboard box carefully insulated and packed with dry ice. All of the meat was neatly vacuumed sealed in its own individual packaging.

had my taste buds salivating for my next bite.

The comfort I felt took me back to when I was a child and my grandmother would fix us grandkids freshly butchered meat from our family farm. I wanted to devour my steak as fast as my jaws would allow, but I consciously slowed my over-eager mind to enjoy and savor the best steak I have tasted to date.

And what a package it is! The sampler contains ground beef, hamburger patties, beef cubes for stew, beef tenderloin, ribeye, two whole chickens, and the flatiron steak, a cut rarely seen in stores, and thus, a bit of a delicacy.

The experience was similar for the ribeye, another delectable cut of beef. We seasoned it slightly, knowing that with grass-fed, organically grown beef, you don’t need to worry about tenderizing the flesh as you do with factory-farmed cuts. Still, its taste was sublime, the richness of the flavor revealing itself seemingly with every chew.

Furthermore, we felt energized afterward, no doubt due to the fact natural grown beef keeps its nutritional content, something that is lost to some extent in factory farming.

I chose to sample the beef tenderloin (filet mignon) first, since it is my favorite cut. I paired the meat with a sprinkle of onion powder and dash of garlic salt. I anxiously waited as my pan sizzled with the pure aroma of red meat slowing cooking. I let each side sear for approximately five minutes before pulling the medium-well steak off the flame to cool for three to five minutes.

As I savored my first bite, I experienced a taste so deep and savory, more pure than anything you will experience from your local grocery store. My steak was so tender and juicy that it literally melted in my mouth and

Next up was the chicken. We baked the chicken for 45 minutes in lemon and spices, hoping to bring all of its taste into every bite.

When we pulled it out of the oven, the first thing we noticed was its tenderness. It took seconds to cut it into drumsticks, wings, breast and thighs. From there, it was a heavenly culinary experience in juiciness and richness, the taste lingering after every bite.

Even the deepest parts of the breast were juicy and tender — and again, we could physically feel the energy from the added protein content and lack of additives.

Then we moved to the ground beef and hamburger patties. Like the other meats, when we cooked, there was no grease. The meats were naturally low in fat. We tried the ground beef in a meatloaf, and the taste exploded in our mouths — rich, deep, and so savory. It was like eating a new dish entirely.

Likewise, the hamburgers left us amazed at how much better naturally raised beef makes the simplest meal. One thing to add: we noticed it took a bit longer to cook all the beef items, as the meat is richer and thus thicker than store-bought cuts.

As our fiesta illustrates, the Blue Nest family has given consumers the chance to experience the purest form of meat consumption. The quality of meat is impeccable, allowing everyday customers complete liberation from genetically enhanced, antibiotic fed, processed meat.

Take it from this meat and potatoes kinda gal: I will definitely be investing in more of the Blue Nest Beef products in the oh-sovery-near future. ■

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Solutions

Biden’s Task: Undoing Nearly 100 Climate, Environmental Rollbacks As Joe Biden takes office as President of the United States, he and his climate and environment-friendly team will have plenty of work to do — not only to confront our current climate change situation, but to reverse President Trump’s policy of rolling back environmental regulations and opening more public land for mining, drilling and oil and forest extraction.

In President Trump’s four years in office, his administration officially rolled back more than 60 environmental policies, with another 34 rollbacks schedule to be complete by the time Biden took office on January 20. The bulk of the rollbacks have been carried out by the Environmental Protection Agency, which repealed and replaced the Obama-era emissions rules for power plants and vehicles, weakened protections for more than half the nation’s wetlands, and withdrew the legal justification for restricting mercury emissions from power plants.

At the same time, the Interior Department has worked to open up more land for oil and gas leasing by cutting back protected areas and limiting wildlife protections.

Below is the complete list of rollbacks: Air Pollution and Missions Completed 1. Weakened Obama-era fuel economy and greenhouse gas standards for passenger cars and light trucks.

E.P.A. and Transportation Department 2. Revoked California’s power to set stricter tailpipe emissions standards than the federal government.

E.P.A. 3. Withdrew the legal justification for an Obama-era rule that limited mercury emissions from coal power plants.

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E.P.A. 4. Replaced the Obama-era Clean Power Plan, which would have set strict limits on carbon emissions from coal- and gas-fired power plants, with a new version that would let states set their own rules.

Executive Order; E.P.A. 5. Canceled a requirement for oil and gas companies to report methane emissions.

E.P.A. 6. Revised and partially repealed an Obamaera rule limiting methane emissions on public lands, including intentional venting and flaring from drilling operations.

Interior Department 7. Loosened a Clinton-era rule designed to limit toxic emissions from major industrial polluters.

E.P.A. 8. Revised a program designed to safeguard communities from increases in pollution from new power plants to make it easier for facilities to avoid emissions regulations.

E.P.A. 9. Amended rules that govern how refineries monitor pollution in surrounding communities.

E.P.A. 10. Weakened an Obama-era rule meant to reduce air pollution in national parks and wilderness areas.

E.P.A. 11. Weakened oversight of some state plans for reducing air pollution in national parks.

E.P.A. 12. Relaxed air pollution regulations for a handful of plants that burn waste coal for electricity.

E.P.A. 13. Repealed rules meant to reduce leaking

and venting of powerful greenhouse gases known as hydrofluorocarbons from large refrigeration and air conditioning systems.

E.P.A. 14. Directed agencies to stop using an Obamaera calculation of the social cost of carbon that rulemakers used to estimate the long-term economic benefits of reducing carbon dioxide emissions.

Executive Order 15. Withdrew guidance directing federal agencies to include greenhouse gas emissions in environmental reviews. But several district courts have ruled that emissions must be included in such reviews.

Executive Order; Council on Environmental Quality 16. Revoked an Obama executive order that set a goal of cutting the federal government’s greenhouse gas emissions by 40 percent over 10 years.

Executive Order 17. Repealed a requirement that state and regional authorities track tailpipe emissions from vehicles on federal highways.

Transportation Department 18. Lifted a summertime ban on the use of E15, a gasoline blend made of 15 percent ethanol. (Burning gasoline with a higher concentration of ethanol in hot conditions increases smog.)

E.P.A. 19. Changed rules to allow states and the E.P.A. to take longer to develop and approve plans aimed at cutting methane emissions from existing landfills.

E.P.A. In Progress 20. Submitted notice of intent to withdraw the United States from the Paris climate agreement.

(The process of withdrawing cannot be completed until November 2020.)

Executive Order 21. Proposed relaxing Obama-era requirements that companies monitor and repair methane leaks at oil and gas facilities.

E.P.A. 22. Proposed eliminating Obama-era restrictions that, in effect, required newly built coal power plants to capture carbon dioxide emissions.

E.P.A. 23. Proposed revisions to standards for carbon dioxide emissions from new, modified and reconstructed power plants.

Executive Order; E.P.A. 24. Began a review of emissions rules for power plant start-ups, shutdowns and malfunctions. One outcome of that review: In February 2020, E.P.A. reversed a requirement that Texas follow emissions rules during certain malfunction events.

Congress; Interior Department 30. Rescinded water pollution regulations for fracking on federal and Indian lands.

Interior Department 31. Scrapped a proposed rule that required mines to prove they could pay to clean up future pollution.

E.P.A. 32. Withdrew a requirement that Gulf oil rig owners prove they can cover the costs of removing rigs once they stop producing.

Interior Department 33. Moved the permitting process for certain projects that cross international borders, such as oil pipelines, to the office of the president from the State Department, exempting them from environmental review.

Executive Order 34. Changed how the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission considers the indirect effects of greenhouse gas emissions in environmental reviews of pipelines.

E.P.A. 25. Opened for comment a proposal limiting the ability of individuals and communities to challenge E.P.A.-issued pollution permits before a panel of agency judges.

Federal Energy Regulatory Commission 35. Revoked an Obama-era executive order designed to preserve ocean, coastal and Great Lakes waters in favor of a policy focused on energy production and economic growth.

E.P.A. 26. Delayed issuing a rule limiting greenhouse gas emissions from aircraft. (The E.P.A. acknowledged it is legally required to issue the rule, but has not done so yet. The delay is being challenged by environmental groups.)

Executive Order 36. Permitted the use of seismic air guns for gas and oil exploration in the Atlantic Ocean.

The practice, which can kill marine life and disrupt fisheries, was blocked under the Obama administration.

E.P.A. 27. Proposed limiting pesticide application buffer zones that are intended to protect farmworkers and bystanders from accidental exposure.

E.P.A. – Drilling and Extraction Completed 28. Made significant cuts to the borders of two national monuments in Utah and recommended border and resource-management changes to several more.

Presidential Proclamation; Interior Department 29. Lifted ban on drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (N.O.A.A.) 37. Loosened offshore drilling safety regulations implemented by Obama after following the 2010 Deepwater Horizon explosion and oil spill, including reduced testing requirements for blowout prevention systems.

Interior Department 38. Lifted an Obama-era freeze on new coal leases on public lands. In April 2019, a judge ruled that the Interior Department could not begin selling new leases without completing an environmental review. In February, the agency published an assessment that concluded restarting federal coal leasing would have little environmental impact.

Executive Order; Interior Department In Progress 39. Approved construction of the Dakota Access pipeline less than a mile from the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation. (The Obama administration had halted the project, with the Army Corps of Engineers saying it would explore alternative routes). But, following a lengthy legal battle, in July 2020 a federal judge ruled the pipeline must be shut down and drained of oil while the Corps completes a review of its impact on the environment.

Executive Order; Army 40. Proposed opening most of America’s coastal waters to offshore oil and gas drilling but delayed the plan after a federal judge ruled that Mr. Trump’s reversal of an Obama-era ban on drilling in the Atlantic and Arctic Oceans was unlawful.

Interior Department 41. Repealed an Obama-era rule governing royalties for oil, gas and coal leases on federal lands, which replaced a 1980s rule that critics said allowed companies to underpay the federal government. A federal judge struck down the Trump administration’s repeal. The Interior Department is reviewing the decision.

Interior Department 42. Proposed revising regulations on offshore oil and gas exploration by floating vessels in the Arctic that were developed after a 2013 accident. The Interior Department previously said it was “considering full rescission or revision of this rule.”

Executive Order; Interior Department 43. Proposed “streamlining” the approval process for drilling for oil and gas in national forests.

Agriculture Department; Interior Department 44. Proposed opening more land in the Alaska National Petroleum Reserve for oil drilling. The Obama administration had designated about half of the reserve as a conservation area.

Interior Department 45. Proposed lifting a Clinton-era policy that banned logging and road construction in Tongass National Forest, Alaska.

Interior Department 46. Approved the Keystone XL pipeline rejected by President Barack Obama, but a SUMMER 2021 | SUSTAINABILITY TODAY

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Solutions federal judge blocked the project from going forward without an adequate environmental review process. Mr. Trump later attempted to sidestep the ruling by issuing a presidential permit. Initial construction has started, but the project remains tied up in court.

Executive Order; State Department Infrastructure and Planning Completed 47. Weakened the National Environmental Policy Act, one of the country’s most significant environmental laws, in order to expedite the approval of public infrastructure projects, such as roads, pipelines and telecommunications networks. The new rules shorten the time frame for completing environmental studies, limit the types of projects subject to review, and no longer require federal agencies to account for a project’s cumulative effects on the environment, such as climate change.

Council on Environmental Quality 48. Revoked Obama-era flood standards for federal infrastructure projects that required the government to account for sea level rise and other climate change effects.

Executive Order 49. Relaxed the environmental review process for federal infrastructure projects.

Executive Order 50. Overturned an Obama-era guidance that ended U.S. government financing for new coal plants overseas except in rare circumstances.

Executive Order; Treasury Department 51. Revoked a directive for federal agencies to minimize impacts on water, wildlife, land and other natural resources when approving development projects.

Executive Order 52. Revoked an Obama executive order promoting climate resilience in the northern Bering Sea region of Alaska, which withdrew local waters from oil and gas leasing and established a tribal advisory council to consult on local environmental issues.

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National Park Service 55. Restricted most Interior Department environmental studies to one year in length and a maximum of 150 pages, citing a need to reduce paperwork.

Interior Department 56. Withdrew a number of Obama-era Interior Department climate change and conservation policies that the agency said could “burden the development or utilization of domestically produced energy resources.”

Interior Department 57. Eliminated the use of an Obama-era planning system designed to minimize harm from oil and gas activity on sensitive landscapes, such as national parks.

Interior Department 58. Withdrew Obama-era policies designed to maintain or, ideally, improve natural resources affected by federal projects.

Interior Department In Progress 59. Proposed plans to speed up the environmental review process for Forest Service projects.

Agriculture Department – Animals Completed 60. Changed the way the Endangered Species Act is applied, making it more difficult to protect wildlife from long-term threats posed by climate change.

Interior Department 61. Relaxed environmental protections for salmon and smelt in California’s Central Valley in order to free up water for farmers.

Executive Order; Interior Department 62. Overturned a ban on the use of lead ammunition and fishing tackle on federal lands.

Interior Department 63. Overturned a ban on the hunting of predators in Alaskan wildlife refuges.

Executive Order 53. Reversed an update to the Bureau of Land Management’s public land-use planning process.

Congress 64. Reversed an Obama-era rule that barred using bait, such as grease-soaked doughnuts, to lure and kill grizzly bears, among other sport hunting practices that many people consider extreme, on some public lands in Alaska.

Congress 54. Withdrew an Obama-era order to consider climate change in the management of natural resources in national parks.

National Park Service; Interior Department 65. Amended fishing regulations to loosen restrictions on the harvest of a number of species.

SUSTAINABILITY TODAY | SUMMER 2021

N.O.A.A. 66. Removed restrictions on commercial fishing in a protected marine preserve southeast of Cape Cod that is home to rare corals and a number of endangered sea animals. The Trump administration has suggested changing the management or size of two other marine protected areas in the Pacific Ocean.

Executive Order; N.O.A.A. 67. Proposed revising limits on the number of endangered marine mammals and sea turtles that can be unintentionally killed or injured with sword-fishing nets on the West Coast.

(The Obama-era rules were initially withdrawn by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, but were later finalized following a court order. The agency has said it plans to revise the limits.)

N.O.A.A. 68. Loosened fishing restrictions intended to reduce bycatch of Atlantic Bluefin Tuna.

N.O.A.A. 69. Rolled back a roughly 40-year-old interpretation of a policy aimed at protecting migratory birds, potentially running afoul of treaties with Canada and Mexico.

Interior Department 70. Overturned a ban on using parts of migratory birds in handicrafts made by Alaskan Natives.

Interior Department In Progress 71. Opened nine million acres of Western land to oil and gas drilling by weakening habitat protections for the sage grouse, an imperiled bird. An Idaho District Court injunction temporarily blocked the measure.

Interior Department – Water Pollution Completed 72. Scaled back pollution protections for certain tributaries and wetlands that were regulated under the Clean Water Act by the Obama administration.

E.P.A.; Army 73. Revoked a rule that prevented coal companies from dumping mining debris into local streams.

Congress 74. Withdrew a proposed rule aimed at reducing pollutants, including air pollution, at sewage treatment plants.

E.P.A. 75. Withdrew a proposed rule requiring groundwater protections for certain uranium mines. Recently, the administration’s Nuclear Fuel Working Group proposed opening up 1,500 acres outside the Grand Canyon to nuclear production.

E.P.A. In Progress 76. Attempted to weaken federal rules regulating the disposal and storage of coal ash waste from power plants, but a court determined the rules were already insufficient. Proposed a new rule to allow coal ash impoundments of a type previously deemed unsafe a pathway to proving safety.

E.P.A. 77. Proposed a rule exempting certain types of power plants from parts of an E.P.A. rule limiting toxic discharge from power plants into public waterways.

E.P.A. 78. Weakened a portion of the Clean Water Act to make it easier for federal agencies to issue permits for federal projects over state objections if the projects don’t meet local water quality standards, including for pipelines and other fossil fuel facilities.

Executive Order; E.P.A. 79. Proposed extending the lifespan of unlined coal ash holding areas, which can spill their contents because they lack a protective underlay.

E.P.A. 80. Proposed a regulation limiting the scope of an Obama-era rule under which companies had to prove that large deposits of recycled coal ash would not harm the environment.

E.P.A. 81. Proposed a new rule allowing the federal government to issue permits for coal ash waste in Indian Country and some states without review if the disposal site is in compliance with federal regulations.

E.P.A. 82. Proposed doubling the time allowed to remove lead pipes from water systems with high levels of lead.

E.P.A. – Toxic Substances and Safety Completed 83. Rejected a proposed ban on chlorpyrifos, a

pesticide linked to developmental disabilities in children. (Several states have banned its use and the main manufacturer of the pesticide in 2020 stopped producing the product because of shrinking demand.)

bulbs subject to energy-efficiency standards starting in January 2020. The Energy Department also blocked the next phase of efficiency standards for general-purpose bulbs already subject to regulation.

E.P.A. 84. Narrowed the scope of a 2016 law mandating safety assessments for potentially toxic chemicals like dry-cleaning solvents. The E.P.A. said it would focus on direct exposure and exclude indirect exposure such as from air or water contamination. In November 2019, a court of appeals ruled the agency must widen its scope to consider full exposure risks.

Energy Department 92. Changed a 25-year-old policy to allow coastal replenishment projects to use sand from protected ecosystems.

E.P.A. 85. Reversed an Obama-era rule that required braking system upgrades for “high hazard” trains hauling flammable liquids like oil and ethanol.

Transportation Department 86. Removed copper filter cake, an electronics manufacturing byproduct comprised of heavy metals, from the “hazardous waste” list.

E.P.A 87. Ended an Occupational Safety and Health Administration program to reduce risks of workers developing the lung disease silicosis. In February released guidance to include silica in OSHA’s National Emphasis Program, a worker safety program.

Labor Department 88. Rolled back most of the requirements of a 2017 rule aimed at improving safety at sites that use hazardous chemicals that was instituted after a chemical plant exploded in Texas.

E.P.A. In Progress 89. Proposed changing safety rules to allow for rail transport of the highly flammable liquefied natural gas.

Transportation Department 90. Announced a review of an Obama-era rule lowering coal dust limits in mines. The head of the Mine Safety and Health Administration said there were no immediate plans to change the dust limit but has extended a public comment period until 2022.

Labor Department – Other Completed 91. Repealed an Obama-era regulation that would have nearly doubled the number of light

Interior Department 93. Limited funding of environmental and community development projects through corporate settlements of federal lawsuits.

Justice Department 94. Stopped payments to the Green Climate Fund, a United Nations program to help poorer countries reduce carbon emissions.

Executive Order 95. Reversed restrictions on the sale of plastic water bottles in national parks designed to cut down on litter, despite a Park Service report that the effort worked.

Interior Department In Progress 96. Proposed limiting the studies used by the E.P.A. for rulemaking to only those that make data publicly available. (Scientists widely criticized the proposal, saying it would effectively block the agency from considering landmark research that relies on confidential health data.)

E.P.A. 97. Proposed changes to the way cost-benefit analyses are conducted under the Clean Air Act, Clean Water Act and other environmental statutes.

E.P.A. 98. Proposed withdrawing efficiency standards for residential furnaces and commercial water heaters designed to reduce energy use.

Energy Department 99. Created a product category that would allow some dishwashers to be exempt from energy efficiency standards.

Energy Department 100. Initially withdrew, and then delayed, a proposed rule that would inform car owners about fuel-efficient replacement tires. (The Transportation Department has scheduled a new rulemaking notice for 2020.)

SUMMER 2021 | SUSTAINABILITY TODAY

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Solutions

Sterling Ranch’s Sustainable Look For decades, policymakers, utilities, and conscious citizens have been working to conserve electricity through sophisticated demand management tools to help customers understand the relationship between peak use periods and real costs. These measures have helped educate customers on ways to reduce usage — and their bills — while also ensuring the integrity and stability of the grid.

This same approach hasn’t yet been systematically applied to an even more finite resource: water. With energy management programs having successfully demonstrated proof of concept in reducing electricity consumption, a growing number of utilities and partners are deploying resources to do the same for water with increasing urgency.

Americans this year will pay an average of $104 per month in water and wastewater bills, an increase of more than 30% within the last decade. In most cases, consumers have no idea how much water they’ve used or how much it’s going to cost until the end of the month. As the old adage goes, you can’t manage what you don’t measure, and with a drought-intensive summer already forecasted by leading hydrologists, the threat of an emerging “megadrought” looms.

Consequently, the urgency to apply the same principles to measuring energy usage to water in real time is higher than ever.

Consider the case of the Colorado River basin, located in the southwestern United States.

Occupying approximately 250,000 square miles and stretching 1,400 miles long, the Colorado River is a critical municipal water resource for nearly 40 million people throughout seven states. Growing demands in the Colorado River system, coupled with the potential for reduced supplies due to climate change, may put water users and resources relying on the Colorado River at risk of prolonged water shortages in the future. Even a single season of drought is bad news for the Southwest, and the impact extends

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beyond residents, with dry conditions in the area shriveling crops, harming livestock, and worsening wildfires.

state was abnormally dry, 65% was experiencing

As of late June 2020, the State of Colorado recently reported that more than 80% of the

extreme drought conditions, according to the

moderate drought, 55% was experiencing severe drought, and 33% of Colorado was experiencing Drought Monitor. The monitoring group also

reported that northern and eastern New Mexico, northern Arizona, and nearly all of Utah were experiencing moderate to extreme drought, with varying degrees of water shortages and crop and pasture damage. Plus, in its most recent climate forecast, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said the drought would likely persist through the summer.

How do we apply lessons learned from energy plans with electricity to water usage? One answer lies in the deployment of wireless energy monitoring tools.

Sterling Ranch is a conscientious smart community dedicated to sustainability located 20 miles south of Denver, Colorado. The community is deploying a water resource management program to provide real-time usage data to residents in every new home that’s built. The project, carried out in collaboration with Siemens and Copper Labs, will also include real-time notifications and insights to homeowners to alert them to water shortages and price surges for informed water management.

When Sterling Ranch was created, its founders knew they would have to bring water to the community, as it wasn’t yet available in the area, and more importantly, they would have to create intelligent community and home water usage practices to keep costs down while conserving this precious resource for future generations. Water is particularly important because of the known potential for drought conditions in Sterling Ranch’s microclimate.

“We understand that environmental conservation and sustainability are crucial for future generations to enjoy the same stunning natural scenery and quality of life that residents of

our community do today,” said Brock Smethills, President of the Sterling Ranch Development Company. “That’s why we are leveraging tech solutions that align well with our core mission around environmental stewardship, specifically water sustainability. This unique platform, which is not available anywhere else in the country, enables us to engage targeted users in real-time water demand management, with the ability to measure the impact at the meter, elevating our water resource management to the next level.”

When searching for a cost-effective way to deliver real-time, electric, gas and water meter data to residents of the community, Siemens partnered with Copper Labs, an integrated hardware and software company building internet of things (IoT) products and services that help utilities and consumers leverage energy consumption data to create a more informed and sustainable energy future.

Every home in the Sterling Ranch community comes equipped with state-of-the-art technology to monitor energy and water usage, giving residents real-time data that allows them to easily conserve energy. Sterling Ranch is the first community in Colorado to use a Siemenspowered dual-water meter system within the home, which accounts separately for outdoor and indoor usage, allowing residents to adjust their habits and helping them conserve water and save money. The residential segment is one of the fastest-growing segments of the smart water management market, which analysts predict will become a $21.4 billion market by 2024.

“Siemens’ goal is to deliver on the promises of a truly intelligent infrastructure,” said Marty Skolnick, North American director of Business

Development – Connected Real Estate Innovation at Siemens. “The wireless monitoring solution’s low-cost, easy installation and ability to support electric, gas and water meters was a great match and helps Sterling Ranch residents understand demand reduction results and gain further savings from social norming and gamification.”

In spite of what we know about the water cycle, water remains the least renewable resource. It requires a lot of energy and investment to get it to our homes. As we all deal with the new normals surrounding the ongoing impacts of aging systems, fewer resources and extreme weather, forward-thinking communities like Sterling Ranch are leveraging behavioral demand response and real-time insights to curtail water usage. As the results of these projects become more widely available, the smart water management market will continue to grow and deliver value to resourceconscious communities. ■ About the Authors: Brock Smethills is the President of Sterling Ranch Development Company. He also leads the development of Sterling Ranch, a technology-driven, sustainable, planned community in Douglas County, Colorado.

Marty Skolnick is the Director of Real Estate Innovation at Siemens Smart Infrastructure. He leads the company’s efforts in providing real estate developers/owners with technology and energy “connected” planning/solutions.

Dan Forman is the CEO of Copper Labs, a Colorado-based startup that provides utilities with actionable, real-time energy measurements and consumer-friendly insights that can be immediately shared to achieve cost and energy savings.

SUMMER 2021 | SUSTAINABILITY TODAY

59

Solutions

Ushering In A Greener Economic Era

By David Feffer We are living something we never imagined: we changed the way we work, get along, consume, and relate to each other. We know how we got into this but not how we will come out of it.

What does the future hold? Nobody can predict anything and most of the paths shown are replete with “well-grounded guesswork” – reality, though, will be quite different from what we can foretell. What we realize is that there is no progress without adversities: we learned new things, broke paradigms, and started seeing (and living) the future in a whole new way.

While we have been obliged to stay home, the scenery outside has changed as well. Nature got a fresh breath of life, we once again saw sea birds through our windows, cleaner water, less pollution in urban centers and we noticed a human need to reach out to things “natural” during this period. This trend draws our attention once again to an important topic of debate that is often forgotten: the climate issue.

The subject has long ceased to be on the agenda of just NGOs and activists; it has also entered the agenda of major corporations and even become one of the key challenges in the financial markets.

That is some change of attitude: earlier, the pressure was on companies, but now the governments, too, feel the heat. The trend is to look for sustainable initiatives that generate profits but also lay emphasis on preservation, environmental restoration, and social prosperity.

There is so much to be done — and now is the time for us to make a commitment to the future.

We have a unique opportunity to become the benchmark for what is called “stakeholder capitalism”. This is our chance to show that there is no such thing as preservation “OR” growth. We must advocate and push through the “AND” so that we are ambidextrous and can do both at the same time: grow, develop, “AND” protect the environment!

Brazil, where I work, is home to the world’s largest biodiversity, which demands much responsibility. If we preserve it, restore it and do

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the right things, we can become a hub of investments sufficient to take care of our own country and the future of our species, for our economy, for society and for the planet!

I strongly believe in the “Brazil Brand”, with our country leading the world in sustainable development. Our forest, which was given to us as a gift, must be preserved and cared for. It is an extremely important environmental asset with the potential to bring us huge opportunities for economic development. It is of fundamental importance to understand that, apart from being a matter of survival, preservation is also an important economic factor.

years. And hence, we have the challenge of improving this market in Brazil. To put things in perspective, the Amazon biome alone could yield the country US$10 billion a year. Today, the credit generation process (CDM) takes around two years, so it is time consuming, bureaucratic, and expensive. If the market were regulated in Brazil or if there were a strong voluntary market, we would have specific mechanisms tailored to our country’s reality, thus increasing the volume of transactions, and driving the competitiveness of less carbonintensive players. In parallel, multilateral agreements and a more active role by Brazil in the international markets can also help leverage this environmentally positive agenda.

For that, we need the engagement AND commitment of society, as well as the private AND public sectors. As citizens, it is our duty to monitor, and especially, be engaged with the cause. From companies, we expect profits associated with sustainable development. From governments, we expect proper, efficient, and permanent law enforcement combined with comprehensive and transparent information, since we already have - generally speaking public policies and regulatory frameworks that are aligned with the best preservation practices around the world.

The green bonds market is an opportunity that Brazil must capitalize on. Green bonds are debt securities issued to fund projects with environmental benefits that can be measured, audited, and monitored by independent organizations. Investments can be made in renewable energy, energy efficiency, pollution control, conservation of biodiversity and clean transport, among others. According to the Climate Bonds Initiative (CBI), Brazil’s green bonds market reached US $1.2 billion in 2019 and there is certainly much room for growth.

Carbon may be the currency of the international financial market for the next few

The COVID-19 pandemic removed us from our comfort zone and spurred us to reflect on what we truly value and how we relate to the world. Brazil has the potential to be at the vanguard of protecting the environment, as the new economic era will certainly be oriented towards the environment and the fight against global warming. This is our green chance to spearhead the important and urgent renovation that the planet so desperately needs, thus paving a sustainable future for future generations. ■ DAVID FEFFER is Chairman of the Board of Directors of The Suzano Group from Brazil, one of the shareholders of Suzano, the world’s leading producer of eucalyptus pulp and one of Latin America’s largest paper producers. It plays a part in the lives of over two billion people with its social responsible, environmentally friendly approach.

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Big Oil Companies form Alliances with Microsoft Earlier this year, oil and gas juggernaut BP announced its goal to become a net zero emissions company by 2050 and to help deliver a net zero carbon future. By the end of the decade, it aims to have developed around 50 gigawatts of net renewable generating capacity, a 20-fold increase on what it has previously developed. It will also increase annual low carbon investment 10-fold to around $5 billion, and cut oil and gas production by 40%.

Meanwhile, in January 2020, Microsoft announced its goal to be carbon negative by 2030 and to remove more carbon from the environment than it has emitted since its founding by 2050.

Now the two have joined forces. As a result of these goals, BP and Microsoft Corp. announced an agreement on September 15 to collaborate as strategic partners to further digital transformation in energy systems and advance the net zero carbon goals of both companies.

Included is a co-innovation effort focused on digital solutions and the continued use of Microsoft Azure as a cloud-based solution for BP infrastructure, and supplying renewable energy to help Microsoft meet its 2025 renewable energy goals.

This expands on BP’s existing relationship with Microsoft, which helped accelerate the digitization of BP infrastructure and operations, while Microsoft 365 enabled greater collaboration and remote working productivity during the COVID-19 response. In addition, BP will supply renewable energy to Microsoft across multiple countries and regions including the US, Europe and Latin America.

Then on September 22, Shell International Petroleum Company Limited and Microsoft announced they are embarking on a new strategic alliance to support progress towards a

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world with net-zero emissions. This strategic alliance will support Shell’s goal of being a netzero emissions energy business by 2050. Their supply of renewable energy will help Microsoft deliver on its renewable energy supply goals and its broader goal to be carbon negative by 2050.

The alliance builds on the strong foundation of three decades of technology collaboration between the two companies. In the past three years alone, they have worked together on artificial intelligence (AI) to drive transformation across Shell’s operations through access to real-time data insights, worker and onsite safety, and delivering efficiencies to its suppliers and customers. This has helped reduce Shell’s carbon emissions and footprints.

They will also explore options on working together to help advance the use of sustainable aviation fuels.

Shell continues to use Microsoft’s Azure cloud computing system and data from Shell’s assets to strengthen operational safety, by improving risk analysis, prediction and prevention.

Microsoft Azure powers Shell’s Autonomous Integrity Recognition (AIR) system, which uses image recognition algorithms to detect when equipment or parts of a site are susceptible to corrosion.

All three companies are committed to accelerating their work together to drive efficiencies and reduce emissions for a better future. ■

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COMING NEXT ISSUE: SB ’21: Regeneration is The Focus Many of the world’s top experts, drivers and innovators in sustainability are gathering in San Diego — and virtually — on October 18-21 for Sustainable Brands’ flagship conference. What were some of the outcomes? What programs, processes or initiatives caught the eyes of decision-makers? How can we practice regeneration in our businesses and lives right now? We’ll bring you full coverage.

The Big Clash: U.S. Energy & Environmental Goals With an environment- and sustainable practices-friendly Administration in the White House, conflict is running high between the fossil fuel industry and government policies. How the two sides navigate this could well dictate our energy policy as we further blend fossil and green sources. We take a look at this issue.

Green Media Blitz: Thank the Youngers There’s a blitz of shows on platforms, from network TV to NatGeo and Disney+ to You Tube addressing climate change, sustainability, the oceans, and everything else to do with the environment and our responsibility to sustain it. Who’s behind this push? The Under-45 crowd, for the most part.

Dozens of shows have been greenlighted, and some begin airing in the fall. We take a complete look at the platforms, shows, and producers behind this blitz.

‘How the Pandemic Changed Us’ We survey a variety of leading companies in sustainability to discuss how their practices and policies changed during the pandemic — and new and improved practices with which they’re rolling through the 2020s.

The Friendliest Fall Sports Stadiums The 2021 NFL, NBA and NHL seasons are coming back upon us — and a couple of sparkling new energy and environmentally efficient stadiums make their debuts on the scene. We look at the stadiums (and franchises) with the best practices and point out their many features in this entertaining piece.

These stories and much more coming in the Fall issue of Sustainability Today.

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