Plenty Magazine Issue 18 Oct/Nov 2007 by Plenty Magazine

LONDON calling! Our favorite shops, hot spots, restaurants & more

october/ novemBER 2007

ITâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;S EASY BEING GREEN

green architecture

One pioneer offers a solution to cookie-cutter thinking

PLENTY IT’S EASY BEING GREEN

The café Org-e in London’s Covent Garden offers all-organic fare to go.

Contents october/november 2007 features 44

By the year 2016, all new homes built throughout the U.K. will need to be carbon neutral. — page 44 LONDON caLLiNg! OuR fAvORITE ShOpS, hOT SpOTS, RESTAuRANTS & mORE

LONDON CALLING The intrepid Brits reinvent themselves once again. Check out our

insider’s guide to this forward-thinking, earth-friendly tourist mecca. By Zoe Cormier and Giovanna Dunmall

RESTORING THE RIVER OF LIFE Fifty years ago, the wild salmon population in the

Columbia River Gorge plunged when the Dalles Dam was completed near Celilo Falls. Today, the local Indians who’ve fished there for centuries have led the charge to protect the ecosystem’s fragile health. A day on the river with these Indians conveys their passion for protecting wild salmon. Photographs by Scott Spiker | Text by Ken Olsen

FUNCTION OVER FORM? Architect Travis Price says the green architecture movement he’s been part of for more than 30 years has veered off course—and his new book makes the case for restoring it to its spiritual and aesthetic center. But will his words get through? By Lisa Selin Davis

2|october/ november 2007|plentymag.com

IT’S EASY BEING GREEN

greeN architecture

One pioneer offers a solution to cookie-cutter thinking

Cover illustration by Joe Zeff Design, Inc.

ON THE COVER

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After size reduction.

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PLENTY

october/november 2007

FAST 15 An underwater sculpture doubles as a coral reef; world religions and their greenie roots; cool tips for visiting Hot-lanta; a hardware store for shoppers seeking simplicity; testing natural toothpastes.

FORWARD 27

America’s path to becoming more energy efficient. By Tracie McMillan

PEOPLE The cofounder of the Rocky Mountain Institute talks about

TECHNOLOGY Rooftop wind turbines are an increasingly popular way

to generate electricity in cities. By Susan Cosier

BUSINESS In search of an eco-friendly bank? Look no further. By Liz Galst

MOTION A new transit system would convert old airplanes into speedy

trains. By Dianna Dilworth

THINKING The adventuresome Richard Bangs; a dispatch from the authors of “The Death of Environmentalism”; Diane Ackerman’s The Zookeeper’s Wife: A War Story.

WILD WORLD The biggest challenge to managing animal populations with contraceptives may be getting people to agree about it.

71 4430

GREEN GEAR These back-to-school basics will brighten up any

dorm room.

CHOICES 71

HOME A warehouse-turned-condo blends cool with conscience; wall

coverings to dress up your digs.

RETREADS Brooklyn artist Sarah Cihat breathes new life into old

tableware. by Jennifer Acosta Scott

STYLE The year-old Kaight boutique mixes chic designs with smarter fabrics; non-toxic nail polishes; how to know when your personal care products expire.

FOOD Navigate the oft-murky waters of farmed, sustainable, and organic aquaculture. By Christy Harrison

THE LAST WORD Relocating an existing house proved more rewarding

79 76

than building a new one. By Leslie Petrovski in every issue 6 8 10 12

plenty online from the editor contributors letters

4|october / november 2007|plentymag.com

To subscribe to Plenty call 800.316.9006 or log on to plentymag.com

photo by scott spiker (top); illustration by john ritter; courtesy of Paul Finkel (building exterior)

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PLENTY

october/novemBer 2007 01

Just can’t get enough of Plenty?

Twice a week, food guru Nathalie Jordi rounds up bits and bites from the world of sustainable cuisine on the blog Eco-Eats. Look for her story on artisanal-cheese makers in an upcoming issue of the magazine.

Check out plentymag.com to satisfy your craving for the latest news, blogs, and more.

The Dirt Colleen Kane writes the blog The Dirt every Friday, dishing on the latest eco (and not so eco) activities of the stars. Formerly an editor at BUST and Playgirl magazines, she is currently working on her first book. In October

P43 Prana

Photos of Change Ever wonder what global warming looks like? See for yourself in a slide show of photos taken by award-winning photographer Gary Braasch, author of the upcoming book Earth Under Fire.

K77 Fire

Political Climate Ben Whitford writes Plenty’s Political Climate blog, covering the news you need about policy, legislation, and the people in power. He worked as an editor in the U.K. Guardian’s Washington bureau and contributes regularly to Slate, Newsweek, and the Guardian.

In November

College of the Atlantic At a small school in Bar Harbor, Maine, all the students study human ecology—the relationship between people and the environment. Read about Kiera Butler’s visit to the college on the coast.

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from the editor

Building blocks Since it was introduced seven years ago, LEED—a standard for eco-friendly architecture established by the U.S. Green Building Council—has been the leading driver for environmental innovations in the building industry. Many prominent new buildings these days are aiming for top LEED ratings of platinum and gold, from Bank of America’s new tower near Bryant Park in New York City (slated for completion next year) to another project in the Big Apple, the headquarters for the Hearst Corporation (which earned a LEED gold rating in 2006). Though it’s been adopted as a standard by many government agencies, LEED didn’t start out as a government mandate. Instead, it was created by a group of architects and other building professionals. They simply hoped that crafting a set of voluntary guidelines for energy efficiency, recycled materials, and other targets would help inspire an entire industry to reduce its environmental impact. And it worked—today, good architecture has almost become synonymous with green architecture. Though its goals are laudable, LEED has had its share of critics, including architect Travis Price, an innovator in the use of passive solar design in the 1970s and 1980s. In this issue of Plenty we feature a profile of Price (“Function Over Form?”, page 60), who’s touting a different emphasis for green building: He says the industry has become

too focused on incremental improvements like the energy efficiency of buildings (the very things LEED acknowledges) and has forgotten how to inspire people to think about their relationship with nature. Price’s pet peeve is near and dear to our hearts at Plenty. In each issue we strive to give you the most up-to-date information on how to improve your lives today—but we also aim to inspire you with a vision of what the future can look like. It’s impossible to achieve a perfect balance between these two goals, but we’ll keep trying to improve every issue—just as a new generation of architects is striving to make efficient and beautiful buildings that help us see our world in a different and better way.

editorial editor in chief & Publisher Mark Spellun executive Editor Deborah Snoonian | art director Tracy Toscano senior editors Sarah Schmidt, Alisa Opar | editor at large cathy garrard associate editors Kiera Butler, Susan Cosier, jessica Tzerman deputy art director Richard Gambale | research editor Sarah Parsons editorial assistants Tobin Hack, alison sherbach | copy editor dave zuckerman contributors Joshua M. Bernstein, Justin Tyler Clark, Bari Nan Cohen, Lisa Selin Davis, Liz Galst, Christy Harrison, Kate Siber, Felix Sockwell

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Advertising & Marketing asSociate publisher Lisa Haines | 212.810.2893 | lisa@plentymag.com assistant publisher Morgen Wolf | 212.757.0048 | morgen@plentymag.com detroit ad sales Joe McHugh | BreakthroughMedia | 21675 Coolidge Highway | Oak Park, MI 48237 | 586.360.3980 Published by Environ Press, Inc. | Chairman: Arnold Spellun 250 West 49th Street, Suite 403 New York, New York 10019 Tel: 212.757.3447 Fax: 212.757.3799 Subcriptions: 800.316.9006 Unsolicited manuscripts, photographs, and other materials must be accompanied by a self-addressed, stamped envelope. PLENTY will not be responsible for unsolicited submissions. Send letters to the editor to letters@plentymag.com or to PLENTY, 250 West 49th Street, Suite 403, New York, NY 10019. Copyright ©2007 by Environ Press, Inc. All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or part without written permission is prohibited. Views expressed herein are those of the author exclusively. PLENTY (ISSN 1553-2321) is published bimonthly, six times a year. The annual subscription price is $12 per year. PLENTY is a publication of Environ Press, Inc., 250 West 49th Street, Suite 403, New York, NY 10019. Periodical postage paid at New York, NY, and additional mailing offices. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to PLENTY, P.O. Box 621, Mt. Morris, IL 61054-7568 or call 800.316.9006. PLENTY is printed on paper that’s free of elemental chlorine and contains 85 to 100 percent recycled content (20 to 30 percent post-consumer). Please recycle. PLENTY offsets its carbon footprint with eMission Solutions, a division of Green Mountain Energy (greenmountain.com).

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contributors jessica hagy (“Batten Down the Hatches,” page 22), is a cartoonist and writer living in Columbus, Ohio, who regularly illustrates “The Big Picture” for Plenty’s Fast section. Her work has also been featured in BBC Magazine and GOOD, among others. The first book of her cartoons, Indexed, will be published by Penguin in February 2008. Jessica’s green roots go deep: She got her start in the environmental movement in seventh grade when she dressed up as a recycling bin and marched in the Cuyahoga Falls Labor Day parade in Ohio.

Sandcastles or houses. What will you help build? With Travelocity’s Travel for Good, you can build more than castles made of sand. How about a schoolhouse made of wood? How about helping a village in Thailand become selfsustaining? How about protecting an endangered species? How about giving back to the world, one trip at a time? Well, how about it? www.travelocity.com/travelforgood

lisa selin davis (“Function Over Form?” page 60) is a freelance writer specializing in urban planning, covering topics ranging from architecture to the environment (and even personal essays and film reviews). She is also the author of the novel Belly. Her articles have appeared on Salon and in The New York Times, This Old House, OnEarth, and ReadyMade, among others. When not writing at her desk in Brooklyn, New York, Lisa gets around primarily by bicycle.

joe zeff (cover illustration) is the principal designer at Joe Zeff Design, Inc., a three-person graphic design firm in Montclair, New Jersey, that creates digital illustrations for magazines and corporations. Joe’s firm has also designed covers for Time, Newsweek, Sports Illustrated, and Esquire. He teamed up with Ed Gabel to produce the computergenerated cookies on this issue’s cover. But, Joe says, most of the credit goes to his wife and daughter for baking the real cookies he used as a reference—and enjoyed as a delicious late-night snack.

tracie mcmillan (“Labor of Lovins,” page 27), is an associate editor at Contribute and a contributing editor for City Limits. Her writing has also appeared in The New York Times, The American Prospect, Saveur, and on Salon. Her stories typically focus on lowwage workers, health, and sustainable food issues—and often a combination of all three. A native of rural Michigan, Tracie now lives in Brooklyn, New York. She usually travels by bicycle, prefers cooking a fresh meal to going out, and would buy an apartment if only she could afford a yard to go with it.

illustration by joe zeff design, inc.

ken edelstein (“Taking a Bite Out of the Big Peach,” page 20), is the editor of Creative Loafing, Atlanta’s alternative newsweekly. He’s written extensively about the environment in the Southeast and also about metro Atlanta’s sprawl. To atone for the tons of newsprint his paper distributes each week, Ken plants lots of native greenery in his backyard, and he promises to start riding his bike to work more often during cool weather.

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letters

“The practical ideas about how to put green into practice in more ways than you normally think of are fantastic.” hooray for Drains and BBQs

I loved the information you had about barbecues and clogged drains (“Dilemma,” August/September 2007, page 16; “Blame It On the Drain,” page 24). I’ve always wondered about the effects on the environment and better products to use as alternatives. Thanks so much! Shana R. Van Meter Via e-mail What a Wonderful Web I heard about the new book The World Without Us (“New & Noteworthy,” August/ September 2007, page 37) and stumbled upon your website after searching for it. I just wanted to let you know that the website’s content is excellent. PlentyTV and the podcasts are great ideas, as well. Good stuff! Rohit Mehta Peel Environmental Youth Alliance Toronto, Ontario

Not Your Average Green Read I recently arrived home from a visit with my family to find my first issue of Plenty in the mail. This morning, I finally got the chance to look through it. There are so many tips and thoughts and questions asked that are outside the typical “reduce, reuse, recycle” answers I’ve been given. The magazine goes above and beyond to show that, just like the motto says, it’s easy being green. The practical ideas about how to put green into practice in more ways than you normally think of are fantastic. I’ve never read a magazine so deeply before. Bravo! Renée Clare-Kovacs Via e-mail

letters Lending a Hand

Making mattresses that are stuffed with old plastic bags (“Sleep On It,” June/July 2007, page 78) seems like a very worthwhile endeavor. I would like to suggest it to our church, and I would like to know if there is a way to get instructions on exactly how the mattresses are constructed, piece by piece. Thank you. I love your magazine. Alva Lamothe Via e-mail

Dear Alva, Here are some quick instructions to get you started. Decide what size the mattress is going to be (e.g., twin, full, queen) and take measurements of a mattress of that size. Bring these measurements to a local fabric store, where a sales rep can help you purchase the correct amount of fabric; make sure the fabric you choose is sturdy and non-flammable. Cut two pieces of the material to the desired size and, placing them back-to-back with the wrong

side of the fabric turned out, sew around three sides of the mattress cover, leaving the fourth side open. Turn the mattress right-side out and then stuff it with plastic bags that have been tied several times into tight knots. (Depending on its size and thickness, you may need up to a couple of hundred plastic bags for the task.) Then sew the opening closed by hand, using strong thread and a heavy-gauge needle. —The Editors

Write us at letters@plentymag.com. Oops, our bad The correct website for HAPPYBABY baby food (“Bringing Up Your Baby Green,” June/July 2007, page 66) is happybabyfood.com. Also, we made an editing error in “Jump into the City of Lakes” (August/September 2007, page 20); we’d like to clarify that Gold Medal Park and the proposed new baseball field in Minneapolis are two separate entities.

FAST

> COOL SITES IN HOT-LANTA

> WORD WAR: “GLOBAL WARMING” VS. “CLIMATE CHANGE” > SHOPPING WITH THE AMISH > HOW GREEN IS YOUR GOD?

> OUR TOP 5 PICKS FOR TOOTHPASTE

SCULPTING WITH THE FISHES believes his sculptures should be viewed on a different level—as deep as 24 feet beneath the surface of Moliniere Bay in the country of Grenada, to be exact. In 2006, the London-based artist and scuba instructor began making cement sculptures and submerging them beneath the waves, where they have become artificial reefs for aquatic life. “Hurricanes have wiped out a lot of the coral in Grenada, and the places that weren’t damaged got all of the tourism, causing further degradation. The sculpture park eases the strain a bit,” says the 33-year-old Taylor. His largest project, Vicissitudes (below), features a ring of children of various ethnic backgrounds holding hands. “It’s a comment on how children are affected by their surroundings and absorb everything around them,” says Taylor. “As the coral grows, they change in complexity.” Score one for nature in the nature-versus-nurture conundrum. —Annemarie Conte

PHOTO COURTESY OF JASON DE CAIRES TAYLOR

ARTIST JASON DE CAIRES TAYLOR

fast

Articles of Faith

Back in May, Christian, Jewish, and Muslim leaders came together to write an “Interfaith Declaration” to President Bush and Congress, calling for immediate action on climate change and citing their shared “reverence for life.” Kudos to the trifecta for coming together in the name of Mother Nature—and that shared mission got us RELIGION HINDU HINDU HINDU HINDU

thinking about whether other religious groups also have a spiritual connection to the earth. With a little digging through their sacred texts, we found that most of the world’s religions, in fact, share a deep reverence for our planet and all the creatures, from amoebas to zebras, that inhabit it. —Tobin Hack

ARTICLE of FAITH

IN OUR WORDS

Hindu

O Mother Earth! Sacred are your hills, snowy mountains, and deep forests. Be kind to us and bestow upon us happiness. May you be fertile, arable, and sustainer of all. May you continue supporting people of all races and nations. May you protect us from your anger [i.e., natural disasters]. And may no one exploit and subjugate your children. —Prithivi Sukta

Word to your Mother.

Baha’i

How unpleasing to the eye if all the flowers and plants, the leaves and blossoms, the fruits, the branches and the trees of that garden were all of the same shape and colour! Diversity of hues, form, and shape enricheth and adorneth the garden, and heighteneth the effect thereof.... —Abdu’l-Bahá, son of the founder of the Baha’i faith

Biodiversity 4 Eva! Save the polar bears!

Jainism

All breathing, existing, living, sentient beings should not be slain, nor treated with violence, nor abused, nor tormented, nor driven away. This is the pure, unchangeable, eternal law. —Acaranga Sutra

Vegans have better karma.

African Traditional religions

They gave the sacrifice to the East, the East said, “Give it to the West,” the West said, “Give it to God,” God said, “Give it to Earth, for Earth is senior.” —Idoma Prayer

Nobody puts Earth in the corner.

MERICAN MERICAN MERICAN MERICAN

Native American Spirituality

“All things are connected, whatever befalls the Earth befalls the sons of the Earth.... The Earth is precious. To harm the Earth is to heap contempt on its creator.” —Chief Sealth, leader of the Suquamish tribe

Hate on Earth, hate on God.

M ME ER R II C CA AN N

Daoism (or Taoism)

18. You should not wantonly fell trees. 36. You should not throw poisonous substances into lakes, rivers, and seas. 53. You should not dry up wet marshes. 101. You should not seal off pools and wells. 109. You should not light fires in the plains. 125. You should not fabricate poisons and keep them in vessels. 132. You should not disturb birds and [other] animals. 134. You should not wantonly make lakes. —180 Precepts of Lord Lao

The EPA’s got nothing on Lord Lao.

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AF R I C A N AF R I C A N AF R I C A N AF R I C A N

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DAOISM DAOISM DAOISM DAOISM D DA AO O II S SM M S H I N TO S H I N TO S H I N TO S H I N TO S SH H II N N TO TO

Dilemma

Q: We’ve always heard that burning leaves is bad for the environment. Is that true? A: After a good romp in a freshly raked pile of leaves, it may seem causing compounds. Smoldering leaf bonfires can result in carbon like a great idea to set them aflame and enjoy the familiar scent of autumn. But resist the temptation. “Burning leaves causes air pollution, is a fire hazard, and can pose health hazards for some individuals,” says Rosie Lerner, a horticulturalist at Purdue University. When dry leaves burn, particles that can cause nose, throat, and eye irritation float into the air. These particles can also get into your lungs, where they make you cough, wheeze, and struggle to catch your breath. Wet leaves don’t burn as fast and are more likely to emit hydrocarbons—chemicals that contain cancer16|october / november 2007|plentymag.com

monoxide emissions that, if inhaled, may reduce the amount of oxygen your blood cells can absorb. Children, elderly people, asthmatics, and those with chronic lung and heart disease are most vulnerable to the effects of burning leaves, but everyone can suffer. As an alternative, try composting. Or even easier: When you mow, ride right over the leaves on your lawn. You can collect the shredded leaves and put them in your garden, where they will suppress weeds, retain moisture, and insulate the ground. Or just leave them where they are—they’ll decompose on their own. icons by jason lee

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Burning Question

An Icelandic lighthouse doubles as a research station.

Q: “Global Warming” or “Climate Change”: Which term do you prefer? Michael Oppenheimer Princeton University Professor of Geosciences

People are now sufficiently familiar with the problem that they’ll recognize it regardless of the name. They know it by its consequences, like heat waves, drought, and forest fires. It’s like seeing a face on a Most Wanted poster; the name doesn’t matter. Laurie David

Global Warming Activist and founder of StopGlobalWarming.org

The last manned lighthouse in Iceland is perched on the southernmost bluff of the Vestman Islands, the southernmost landmass in the nation. It’s quite possibly the windiest point on the windiest island off the coast of the windiest country on Earth. Upon her visit to the lighthouse, American ambassador to Iceland Carol van Voorst was astonished not only by the power of the wind, which made it difficult to stand, but by the manner in which the island’s third-generation lighthouse keeper, Oskar Sigurdsson, took it all in stride—literally. “He was standing there like a pillar, absolutely solid,” van Voorst said in a phone interview. “He is certainly an extraordinary human being.” The 69-year-old Sigurdsson’s entire life has been spent looking out from his windy post, and while automation has nearly eclipsed the need for keeping the light on, there are certain things machines just can’t do. Research, for instance: Sigurdsson collects air samples for the Cooperative Global Air Sampling Network in Boulder, Colorado. He has provided samples every week since 1992, a remarkable effort that last summer earned him a National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Environmental Hero Award. Unlike most researchers, who spend years

at a university preparing for their work, Sigurdsson fell into science by chance. In 1992, NOAA research chemist Tom Conway was looking for someone to monitor atmospheric composition in Iceland, a place of particular interest to climate scientists because it is so far removed from pollution sources. “Our contacts at the Iceland Meteorological Office had worked with Oskar,” Conway remembered. “It was through them that we got in touch.” When NOAA came calling, Sigurdsson was busy setting the world record for tagging birds, a record that continues to grow. “It wasn’t until 2001, when I received a graph showing the CO2 increase in Iceland,” Sigurdsson said, “that I felt impressed that my data was really contributing something to an important matter.” Conway says he knew last summer that the time had come to honor the steadfast Sigurdsson for his work. “I heard that Oskar would be retiring this year,” Conway said. “I thought he needed to be recognized for the contribution that he made.” Sigurdsson has reached Iceland’s mandatory retirement age but hopes to continue his tour of duty. “For pollution research,” he said, “they need manual sampling. We are trying to reach an agreement so I can continue for as long I feel like it.” —Adam Spangler

Lighthouse keeper Oskar Sigurdsson has taken air samples every week since 1992.

18|october / november 2007|plentymag.com

Steven Poole

Author OF Unspeak: how words become weapons

The U.S., Saudi Arabia, and other oil-producing countries lobbied the U.N. in the late 1980s to change the language of early resolutions from “global warming” to “climate change” because the latter is vaguer and less frightening, and also because it doesn’t point the finger so directly at the burning of fossil fuels as the cause. While “climate change” is scientifically correct (because a local climate might get colder rather than hotter), it obscures the fact that such changes will be a result of the rising mean temperature of the planet—i.e., of global warming. In fact, one scientist I spoke to said that he didn’t think “global warming” was a vivid or troubling enough description given the severity of the problem—he might have preferred “climate chaos” or “climate meltdown.”

visit plentymag.com for more answers to our burning question.

photo courtesy of Thorsten Henn (top left)

Guiding Light

There is a huge difference between the terms, which is why I always, always refer to global warming as what it is— global warming. I think we have Frank Luntz to thank for the term “climate change,” which was popularized by the current administration as being the “less scary” phrase. It always upsets me when I hear people using it because it has been successfully forced on the public to soften the sell.

fast going places: Atlanta

Taking a Bite Out of the Big Peach metro atlanta is better known for sprawl and traffic than for eco consciousness. But Southern-fried environmentalism is sizzling across the city’s rejuvenating core. Suburbanites desperate to shorten their commutes have joined hip, young creatives as they convert splotches of urban waste-

land into New Urbanist neighborhoods. Mainly because of a commitment by Emory University, Atlanta is now among the nation’s leaders in LEED-certified construction. And even—gasp—streetcars are starting to creep into the dreams of residents’ auto-manic culture. —Ken Edelstein Worth seeing The vision of Internet-pioneer-turned-green-developer Charles Brewer, Glenwood Park (glenwoodpark.com) is an eco-village-within-the-city that includes houses, apartments, shops, offices, and public spaces. The best thing about Glenwood Park is that, unlike many other developments in Atlanta, it’s designed to get people out of their cars. Houses here follow “Earthcraft” principles established by the Southface Energy Institute (southface.org), which is housed in its own green building downtown. Exhibits at the Museum of Design Atlanta (museumofdesign.org) downtown and the Fernbank Museum of Natural History often focus on environmental issues; if your taste runs to fine art, visit the High Museum, which opened in 2005 and is lit mostly by the sun.

Light scoops allow natural light to filter into the galleries of Atlanta’s High Museum.

GEt outSide Now that so many metro-area trees have given way to development, civic boosters boast less often that Atlanta is “The City in a Forest.” But nearby natural attractions still abound. Among the highlights: a float down the Chattahoochee River (nps.gov/chat) and a hike in Kennesaw Mountain National Battlefield Park (nps. gov/kemo). Two hours north, in the Blue Ridge mountains, you’ll find the start of the Appalachian Trail and whitewater rafting on the Chattooga River (south easternexpeditions.com).

Eat up Chef David Larkworthy In addition to new farmers’ marof 5 kets, fine restaurants and even a Seasons microbrewery use locally grown, Brewery organic ingredients. Michael Tuohy’s restaurant, Woodfire Grill (woodfiregrill.com), on Cheshire Bridge Road near Midtown, relies on a network of nearby organic farmers to offer a seasonal menu. Chef Linton Hopkins’s Restaurant Eugene (restauranteugene.com), in lower Buckhead, brings a Southern sensibility to the local organics movement. The 5 Seasons Brewery (5seasonsbrewing.com) in Sandy Springs extends the concept to pub food and the city’s finest beers and ales.

Shopping Stefan’s (ste fansvintage. com) is just one of several vintage clothing stores in the alt-culture Little Five Points district. A goldmine of vintage, mid-century modern home furnishings can be found at City Issue (cityis sue.com), on Peachtree Street in Buckhead. By Hand South (byhandsouth.com) is a gallery in Decatur that features jewelry and a variety of other hand-crafted products.

ring in the new Georgia Tech architecture student Ryan Gravel conceived Atlanta’s most ambitious makeover since General Sherman torched the town in 1864. Gravel noticed a loop of unused rail lines around downtown. Now the tracks and rights-of-way are being converted into the Beltline (beltline.org), an “emerald necklace” of new parks connected by streetcars. The ambitious scheme is projected to require about $2.5 billion and 25 years to complete. But the city has already approved financing and has begun to buy property. Tours of the area are offered regularly.

20|october / november 2007|plentymag.com

Getting around The Marta rail system (itsmarta.com) whisks visitors from the airport to downtown and up most of the famed Peachtree corridor. Cycling enthusiasts will enjoy a network of paths (path foundation.org) to some of the city’s major sites, including the Carter Center, Little Five Points, Decatur, and Stone Mountain Park.

fast PLENTY LABS

Squeeze Play

Shoppers browse at Lehman’s.

Recently I grossed myself out by reading the ingredient list on my tube of toothpaste. Mine had sodium saccharine in it, an artificial sweetener. Yuk. When I looked for an alternative, I was astounded by the number of natural toothpastes on the market today. I tested a dozen of them for my thrice-a-day brushing habit (gum just doesn’t cut it after lunch). Here are my favorites. —Deborah Snoonian

BACK TO THE BUTTER CHURN J/A/S/O/N

Power Smile All Natural Whitening CoQ10 Tooth Gel $5.49 at natural food stores

Worth trying for the name alone— I mean, really, who doesn’t want a power smile? This gel with a faint amber tint had a slightly medicinal whiff, but it foamed up well and my pearly whites felt squeaky-clean afterward.

Kiss My Face

Triple Action Certified Organic Aloe Vera Toothpaste CoQ10 Tooth Gel $6 kissmyface.com

Unlike many brands I tried, this sage-green gel left my gums feeling powerfully tingly. It does smell slightly of aloe vera, so don’t mistake it for your moisturizer.

The Natural Dentist

Healthy Teeth & Gums Toothpaste, f luoride-free with Xylitol $5.99 thenaturaldentist.com

A good choice if you’re switching to a natural brand for the first time, this reassuringly familiar-looking white paste got the job done.

TheraNeem Herbal Neem Toothpaste $7.49 organixshop.com

Weleda

Once I got past its unappetizing pinky-beige color, I liked this paste a lot. It produced a mouthful of very fine bubbles when I brushed. The company also sells a mouthwash and an herbal extract for dental health.

Salt Toothpaste $4.99 at Whole Foods nationwide

Who knew that good old table salt cleaned your teeth? The minty-salty taste is more refreshing than it sounds, and the slightly gritty paste was the most bracing of the bunch—an hour later my mouth still felt fresh.

THE BIG PICTURE

Batten Down the Hatches

22|OCTOBER / NOVEMBER 2007|PLENTYMAG.COM

BY JESSICA HAGY

When the hardware store Lehman’s opened in Kidron, Ohio, in 1955, it was rather plain. And that was the point: Most of its customers were Amish people who needed the non-electric mixers, manual mowers, and wood-burning stoves that Lehman’s sold. When the ’60s came around, though, backto-the-landers took notice and found that Lehman’s had all of the supplies needed for an off-the-grid homestead, from composting toilets to oil lamps. Lehman’s became the store for anyone seeking “products for simple, selfsufficient living,” as its slogan says. These days, a new generation of environmentalists is discovering that there is much to be learned from the plain ways of the Amish. Many new customers are eager to trade in their exhaust-spewing lawn mower for an oldfashioned reel mower or any of the hundreds of other “original” green products the store sells. “Our environmentalist customers now aren’t countercultural like the hippies were,” says Glenda Lehman-Ervin, daughter of Lehman’s founder Jay Lehman. “Now they’re young people who are college educated and want to live in the world, be a part of the world, but lessen their impact on it.” Lehman’s products aren’t the only thing green about the store. An expansion of the storefront this summer incorporated green building principles into the new design. The addition was built with some salvaged materials, insulated with recycled newspapers, and is partially heated with wood cut from the lot cleared for the expansion. Lehman’s sells some of its products online (lehmans.com) using “high tech to sell low tech,” says Lehman-Ervin. A customer can now sit in Starbucks and use an iPhone to order a hand wringer that dries clothes without electricity. The product is not so different from the one the pioneers used (the wringer, not the iPhone). The store’s growing customer base proves there’s truth in the cliché: What’s old really is new again. —Ragan Sutterfield

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fast Debby Zygielbaum, vineyard manager for Robert Sinskey Vineyards, tends to her flock.

Counting Sheep if you see something white and fuzzy lurking in the rows between the vines in California’s Carneros wine growing region, there’s no need to clean your sunglasses. You’re not looking through dirty lenses, you’re spotting one of the hottest ideas in low-impact vineyard groundskeeping: sheep. These downy little vegetarians aren’t merely vineyard mascots allowed to roam free. They’re the eco-friendly solution for weeding and fertilizing Robert Sinskey Vineyards, a certified organic winery that comprises roughly 200 acres in Carneros (which includes parts of Napa and Sonoma Valleys) and their vineyard and tasting room in the Stags Leap district of Napa Valley. “They’re living lawnmowers,” says Rob Sinskey, 48, vintner and second-generation owner of the business, which was founded in 1982 with 15 acres of pinot noir, chardonnay, and merlot varietals. A staunch supporter of biodynamics—a science that views the farm as a system 24|october / november 2007|plentymag.com

of interrelated organisms—Sinskey believes his sheep and vines are a perfect pairing. “The benefit is you have animals doing the work of tractors, so you don’t burn fuel and you have less soil compaction,” he says. As you pack soil down, it begins to contain less air, so it contains fewer microorganisms and less fungal growth. “Those are all part of life’s necessary forces,” says Sinskey. Sinskey plants a low-lying cover crop of natural grasses and legumes in between the rows of vines to help maintain the desired aerated soil. More than 700 four-legged friends—most of which are rented from local sheep farmers— munch their way through it, eventually also kerplunking a pile of natural fertilizer to use in lieu of chemical-laden sprays. “If you can provide the nutrients in a natural form, the vines can access them as needed, versus when man sees a deficit and dumps on the fertilizer,” Sinskey explains. “The vines take in that fertilizer all

at once and you get this nitrogen growth that creates a big, green canopy that’s not great for wine grapes. Slow and steady is a much better philosophy.” The usefulness of Sinskey’s baah-ing beauties doesn’t stop in the vineyard either; they slaughter a few of the lambs to make sausage and other culinary treats for the vineyard’s tasting room. In the future, he also plans to make sheep’s milk cheese to pair with the wines. Rob’s wife Maria, a chef and former San Francisco culinary wiz from the PlumpJack Café and author of The Vineyard Kitchen, is the brains behind the vineyard’s food. She is a firm believer in the European tenet that wine is meant to be consumed and enhanced by a great, locally sourced meal—a “what grows together, goes together” philosophy both she and Rob share. But the real passion that fuels Sinskey is his vision of an even greener business. The vineyard’s main building, where the tasting room, crushing, and winemaking magic happens, has solar panels on its roof, allowing about 75 percent of the facility’s energy to come from the sun. And trucks used for hauling grapes and transporting employees are powered by biodiesel sourced from leftover cooking oil used at Napa’s venerable Culinary Institute of America at Greystone. “Once you adopt a green philosophy, it’s a slippery slope, because then you begin to question everything you do and battle with the contradictions of being in business,” he says. “If you are having a negative impact in one way, how do you offset it in another? We just keep looking at how to get better and at the same time be responsible to the planet—we don’t want to engage in mining instead of farming.” —Amy Zavatto Robert Sinskey Vineyards, 6320 Silverado Trail, Napa, CA, 800.869.2030, robertsinskey.com

Visit plentymag.com to see how other animals keep plants and pests in check.

photograph by bob ecker

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BIONEERS

October 19-21, 2007 marin center san rafael, ca

CHANGING THE STORY: FROM FEAR TO HOPE – FROM DESTRUCTION TO RESTORATION “The Bioneers has been consistently ahead of the curve. The issues they were raising a decade ago have moved into the mainstream. It is now a hatchery for the next wave of important ideas that five years hence people will be talking about in Rotary Clubs.” – Author Bill McKibben, quoted in The New York Times, 2006

The annual Bioneers Conference connects the dots among diverse issues, ideas, cultures and movements to inspire a lifeaffirming culture of healing, justice and democracy. Join us in exploring practical solutions at the crossroads of ecological restoration, human health, social justice and the sacred. Sharing visionary solutions for: Restoring our ecosystems Preserving cultures Greening economies Protecting oceans Creating sustainable cities Building community And so much more . . .

P Explore

Visit www.bioneers.org for details on speakers, workshops and exhibitors, to locate a Bioneers conference in your region and connect with the ever-growing Bioneers community.

P Connect P Celebrate

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18th Annual Conference

Watch for Leonardo DiCaprio’s feature documentary 11th Hour in movie theaters, featuring Bioneers founder Kenny Ausubel and many other bioneers.

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FoRward people

technology

business

motion

thinking

wild world

Lovins savors the fruits of his labor: a banana grown inside his energy-efficient home.

just a few of the concepts he’s promoted. Lovins started when he was 29, using the energy crisis of the late ’70s to reach President Carter’s ear. This year, the Rocky Mountain Institute, the nonprofit organization devoted to energy research he founded with his wife, celebrated its 25th anniversary with a forum attended by luminaries such as Thomas Friedman of The New York Times and Majora Carter of the nonprofit Sustainable South Bronx. Plenty stole a few minutes of Lovins’s time to discuss ultralight cars, an indoor banana garden, and why efficiency is the best alternative fuel we’ve got. What are the easiest ways for Americans to do what you propose: boost energy and financial efficiency?

photos by Ben Stechschulte/Redux

Labor of Lovins

The cofounder of the Rocky Mountain Institute talks about America’s path to becoming more energy efficient By Tracie Mcmillan

Amory Lovins might not be a household name, but the ideas he’s put forth for the past 30 years have affected virtually every household in America. Increasing energy efficiency, supporting small and local power generation from renewable sources, and building smart rather than big are

The best known one is to unscrew an incandescent bulb and put in a compact fluorescent—you get the same light, it uses five times less electricity, and it lasts about ten times longer. And next time you’re going to buy a household appliance, get the American Council for an Energy Efficient Economy’s guide to the most energy-efficient appliances (aceee.org); you can get them two or three times more efficient than normal, and typically they don’t cost more. Those are pretty common tips. Are there bigger changes to make?

Actually, it’s easy to build a very efficient house. But you have to optimize the whole * plentymag.com

| october / november 2007 |27

forward | people With today’s better technologies, we could save over “half our oil at a fifth of its price, three-quarters of our

natural gas at an eighth of its price, and three-quarters of our electricity at an eighth of its price.” system for multiple benefits, and that’s a way of thinking many people aren’t used to. A superinsulated window, for example, isn’t just insulated—it actually has ten different benefits.

ity at an eighth of its price. That is enormously bigger than what we’ve done so far. Say we solved efficiency. What’s next?

If green building is so easy, why aren’t more people doing it?

The information on how to do it is not very widespread. Some of the big merchant builders are picking up on it, but they have a long way to go. Most people don’t understand they can do it, or contractors say it will cost you more or you won’t like it. In the late 1990s, you talked about selling Hypercars—ultralight vehicles made out of carbon fiber. Are you driving one yet?

I’ve been driving the same car since 2000 or so—a Honda Insight, which is a two-seat, aluminum hybrid that gets 64 miles per gallon. We could actually do about 67 miles per gallon with a carbon-fiber midsize SUV; that’s how light carbon fiber is. A lot of traditional environmental work has focused on pushing for greater government regulation, but you argued early on that it’s more effective to show businesses that they could save money by going green.

I think most of the changes we need in the world will come from innovative technology and design rather than regulations. There are three main loci of power and influence in our society: business, civil leadership, and government—generally in decreasing order of effectiveness. Because we at the Rocky Mountain Institute want to get things done, 28|october / november 2007|plentymag.com

Airtight construction allows Lovins to grow food in an indoor jungle that doesn’t have a heating system.

we work almost entirely with the private sector and very little with government. You like to make the point that living efficiently doesn’t have to take sacrifice, that we can keep our creature comforts. But don’t we need to use fewer resources?

Efficiency is already our biggest energy resource by far—and we have barely scratched the surface of how much it’s worth. With today’s better technologies, if we fully applied them, we could save over half our oil at a fifth of its price, three-quarters of our natural gas at an eighth of its price, and three-quarters of our electric-

The shift from big power plants to small ones in making our electricity. In 2005, micropower—cogeneration of electricity and useful heat in factories and buildings, or decentralized renewable sources of electricity other than hydropower—provided one-sixth of the world’s total electricity and one-third of the world’s new electricity. In fact, if you add up micropower and “negawatts” (electrical savings), they now provide more than half the world’s electricity. And centralized power stations, for which we were told there was no substitute, provide less than half. Why? Because they cost too much and there’s too much financial risk involved.

Your home in Colorado is such a showpiece for eco design that you offer regular tours. What’s your favorite part of the house?

Coming in out of a midwinter snowstorm at 7,100 feet in the Rockies, where it can get as cold as minus 47 degrees, and there you are in the banana jungle, where I’ve harvested 28 crops so far. And then you realize there’s no heating system—I didn’t need it. We have airtight construction with lots of ventilation through air-to-air heat exchangers that recover most of the heat you would otherwise lose. So the building uses one percent the normal amount of energy for heating space and water. And the bananas are really tasty.

forward | tech

A Mighty Wind

Aerotecture International’s turbines twirl on a rooftop in Chicago.

Rooftop wind turbines are an increasingly popular way to generate electricity in cities By susan cosier

The wind turbines that engineer Bil Becker installed on top of a Chicago apartment building last year probably don’t resemble the structures that pop into your head when you think “windmill.” Instead of propellers mounted on soaring poles, these turbines are made primarily with curved, galvanized steel shaped like the double helix of DNA. This special design means that they can generate renewable electricity in the densely-built urban environment, unlike their counterparts found twirling in the boonies. 30|october / november 2007|plentymag.com

Becker’s Chicago company, Aerotecture International, is just one of a growing number that is developing rooftop wind turbine technology. Unlike the towering, free-standing commercial variety, these vertical-axis wind turbines extend from buildings, capturing winds blowing from any direction. Some can generate electricity in conditions running the gamut from 8-mile-perhour breezes to 100-mile-per-hour gusts—a range nearly three times that of conventional,

tech | forward

‘‘

We learned to make rooftop wind turbines safe, lightweight, and quiet.” horizontal-axis turbines. New rooftop wind turbines don’t have the same problems as their predecessors: They’re safer for wildlife, quieter, and don’t vibrate violently in howling winds. And, at as little as $3,000, they’re increasingly affordable. Obstacles to widespread implementation remain, but the number of buildings crowned with spinning turbines climbs every year. “People love the way they seem to dance,” says Becker, a professor emeritus of engineering at the University of Illinois, Chicago who founded Aerotecture International two years ago. The structures aren’t just aesthetically appealing, he adds. “We learned to make them safe, lightweight, and quiet.”

ooftop systems aren’t entirely new. In 1976, owners of a co-op in New York City installed the first urban rooftop windmill that contributed energy to the northeastern power grid. The turbine generated 200 kilowatt-hours of electricity each month, meeting 110 percent of their common-use energy needs, such as lighting hallways and heating water. Despite this successful example, rooftop wind turbines were slow to catch on. Over time, however, the materials and designs improved, and people became increasingly aware of the environmental benefits of renewable energy. As a result, there has been as much as a 25 percent growth in small wind energy projects over the last 15 years, according to the American Wind Energy Association. This demand is helping the industry expand. “We want competition,” Becker says. “There are 3.5 billion urban customers out there and there’s no way we can meet the needs for all of them.” Other companies vying for urban clients include the British company Quiet Revolution, Cleanfield Energy in Ontario, and PacWind in California. “We can’t make the turbines fast enough,” says Philippa Rogers, spokesperson for Quiet Revolution. PacWind just allied with a company to help manufacture turbines on a large scale. Right now many of them are sprinkled throughout the U.S., but company president Phil Watkins estimates that more than 40,000 turbines will be distributed by this time next year.

Each design comes at a different price depending on its size and energy-generating capacity. PacWind offers a turbine for residential homes for about $3,000 (without installation) that can produce 2,160 kilowatt-hours of electricity. At the other end of the cost spectrum, one of Quiet Revolution’s turbines designed for commercial buildings sells for about $50,000 without installation and generates up to 9,600 kilowatt-hours of electricity a year—about ten percent of the energy needed to power a 6,500square-foot office building. (The cost of installation varies, but typically increases the total price tag by about 35 percent.)

till, not everyone is convinced that rooftop wind turbines are the best way to generate renewable energy. “Small windmills on rooftops are an unfortunate distraction from the real work of building a renewable energy society,” says Paul Gipe, who has written numerous books and studied wind energy for 30 years. Instead, Gipe says, we should focus on promoting solar panels and wind farms made up of large turbines and owned by cooperatives and municipal utility companies.

Aside from the fact that rooftop systems can still be expensive to build and install— mainly because there aren’t many companies supplying materials yet—there is also no certification process in place for small wind turbines that would verify their safety and performance. The American Wind Energy Association is currently working to develop standards that will allow “turbines to be compared apples to apples,” says Ron Stimmel, an association spokesperson. Though the certification process won’t be finalized for at least another year, wind energy advocates say that the industry will continue to grow in the meantime. That, in part, is because the benefits of creating renewable energy in cities outweigh the drawbacks, according to Watkins of PacWind. “We get the power here where we need it instead of spending huge amounts of money building grid systems and infrastructure,” he says. Becker says he’d like to see city buildings become mini power plants. His company is one of those working on ways to further improve urban wind technology by designing buildings that accelerate wind through a turbine to generate more electricity. Becker predicts that “the most prevalent renewable energy form in the next 50 years will be wind-capturing devices.”

Mulling Over Your Windmill If you’re considering installing a wind turbine on your house, apartment building, or place of business, keep these tips in mind:

>The building on which the turbine will be installed must be structurally sound enough to support the extra weight and stress. >The turbine should sit above the roofline and trees. “Trees are very good at absorbing the wind—they’re like wind sponges,” warns Aerotecture International’s Becker. >Make sure that the place where you plan to attach the turbine gets average wind speeds of at least ten miles per hour.

Quiet Revolution’s Vertical-axis turbine

>Check with your local building officials before you start your blades a-spinnin’ to see if the turbine requires a permit. >If the company that sold you the turbine doesn’t do installation, ask the company or distributor to recommend a licensed contractor who can set up your system and hook it up to the power grid. >Many states offer financial incentives or tax breaks for installing renewable energy systems like wind power. Check your local regulations to see if you qualify.

october / november 2007|plentymag.com

|31

forward | business

Better Bank for Your Buck Financial institutions are putting the green back into your greenbacks by liz galst

If youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re in the market for an environmentally friendly bank, there are a variety of options these days. Many banks are becoming more eco-conscious, from the buildings they occupy to how they invest their customersâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; dollars. Choosing one thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s right for you will depend in part on whether you want a mom-and-pop shop or a national bank with branches coast to coast. 32|october / november 2007|plentymag.com

illustration by david plunkert

business | forward Because stowing your cash under an organic cotton mattress leaves you without an ATM card, consumers should choose their banks wisely. In recent years, direct deposit and Internet banking have broken down regional banking barriers, opening up a range of options to customers across the globe. Previously, if you preferred a smaller outfit, it meant staying local. And smaller communities that weren’t home to some of the nation’s larger banks were shut out of those institutions. Not anymore. With so many banks to choose from, the next logical step is to find one that meets your ethical sensibilities too.

multinational bank. It offsets 35 percent of its electricity with renewable sources, and in May it pledged $100 million to four nonprofits dedicated to fighting climate change: The Climate Group, Earthwatch Institute, the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, and the World Wildlife Fund. Similarly, Bank of America has promised The Bank of America Tower in New York City, which will open in 2008, is designed to achieve a LEED platinum rating.

iven that one green banking option— stowing your hard-earned cash under an organic cotton mattress—leaves you without an ATM card, consumers should choose their banks wisely, says Michelle Chan, program manager for the Friends of the Earth’s Green Investment Project, which works to make banks and investors more accountable for the environmental and social ramifications of their loans and investments. Smaller banks are currently developing some of the most creative green innovations, such as offering customers low-rate loans to install solar panels on their homes or investing in research into the health impacts of environmental toxins. (See sidebar to read more about a few green-banking innovators.) But several of the world’s largest banks are also taking steps to ensure their environmental bona fides. HSBC, with 450 branches in the U.S., is the world’s first carbon-neutral

to lower its operations-related greenhouse gas emissions by nine percent under its 2004 baseline within two years. The company, which has 5,800 branches, offers a $3,000 reimbursement to employees who purchase hybrid vehicles, has committed to achieving LEED certification in all new office facilities and banking centers over the next decade, and will invest $100 million in energy conservation at bank facilities. The bank also pledges to reduce the greenhouse gas emissions of its energy and utility portfolio seven percent by 2008. Citibank, which has 1,400 branches, announced in May that it’s committing $50 billion over the next decade to combat climate change. Of that, $30 billion will finance investments in wind, solar, and other alternative energy and cleantechnology projects. The company also aims to shrink its own environmental footprint by renovating offices in New York City and Dallas to achieve LEED status.

ll in all, banks large and small have come a long way to meet consumer demand for a better planet. “A bank’s real impact—either positive or negative—lies in its investment, lending, and financing portfolios,” says Chan. “Nobody wants to finance with their bank deposits the environmentally harmful practices they would refuse to support with their purchasing dollar.”

Small banks leading the way image courtesy of dBox for Cook+Fox Architects

New Resource Bank This San Francisco institution offers a wide array of financial services to consumers and small businesses—checking, savings, CDs, and an innovative solar power financing program available to California customers, even those who already have a second mortgage. Its headquarters are powered by renewable energy. The bank provided capital to solar-technology company Solaria, modular green-homes manufacturer Michelle Kaufmann Designs, and organic cheesemaker Cowgirl Creamery. “Our investment focus is on more good, not less bad,” says Peter Liu, the bank’s vice chairman. newresourcebank.com

ShoreBank Pacific

This bank, based in Ilwaco, Washington, is also a good fit for an ecophile. Its operations, including travel, check printing, and processing, are all carbon neutral. As an added bonus, it also provides free environmental consulting to small business customers. “When [small-business] borrowers come to us, we measure not only the fiscal health of the company, but the social and environmental health. We help businesses move up the scale in all three areas,” says Laurie Landeros, a vice-president with the bank. eco-bank.com

Wainwright Bank

This Boston-area bank offers reduced rates and energy-efficiency home equity loans to both consumers and small businesses. Wainwright has provided financing for nonprofit environmental groups such as the Union of Concerned Scientists, Earthwatch Institute, and the Trust for Public Lands. Its Newton Centre branch became the nation’s second bank branch to receive LEED gold certification in January 2006, and several of its branches are powered by renewable energy. “We avoid stocks of dubious ethics,” says vice president Steven Young. “People aren’t coming to us to finance coal-fired power plants.” wainwrightbank.com —L.G. plentymag.com|october / november 2007|33

forward | motion

Up, Up, and Away A new transit system would convert old airplanes into speedy, eco-friendly trains By Dianna Dilworth

Imagine a national transit system that runs on solar energy and wind power. Now imagine that it consists of recycled airplanes speeding along elevated tracks. It might sound like a vintage Disneyland ride updated for modern ecophiles, but an American company is working to make this vision a reality. 34|october / november 2007|plentymag.com

The company, Mass Tram America, is the brainchild of ex-Boeing engineer Ben Missler. He has set out to combat traffic congestion and pollution with a new mass transit monorail system that uses recycled airplane fuselages to transport people and cargo, creating a â&#x20AC;&#x153;highway in the skyway.â&#x20AC;? Though it currently exists only on paper, Missler hopes to launch a pilot project by 2011. illustration by john ritter

motion | forward

“The idea behind Mass Tram America is to provide a low-energy, low-cost elevated monorail system that adapts to the existing infrastructure and helps take some of the stress off of freeways and Amtrak,” Missler says. The project will recycle decommissioned Boeing 727, 737, and 757 planes, which are normally scrapped for metal. After being stripped of their wings, engines, and tails, the converted passenger cars will, according to Missler’s design, be equipped with solar cells and battery storage and attached to a tram. The cars would travel beneath a single rail, suspended by cables that are connected every 1,000 feet by support towers housing wind turbines or photovoltaic cells. According to Missler, the system could be integrated with existing bridges and freeways.

issler hopes the cars will travel at about 150 miles per hour. At that speed, a nonstop trip from New York City to Los Angeles would take about 15 hours. That’s slower than Europe’s TGV train, which zips along at nearly 200 miles per hour, but faster than existing U.S. trains. The system is designed to run on solar electricity, wind power, fuel cells, and a special braking mechanism that stores excess energy, exacting a lesser toll on the environment than cars, trains, and airplanes. Missler’s monorail could run entirely on energy it creates. Tram cars would run primarily on regenerative breaking and rechargeable batteries. These batteries would be charged by the electricity created from photovoltaic cells on the tram itself and at transfer stations, as well as through energy collected from wind turbines built at tram transfer stations in high-wind areas. The regenerative breaking system would collect the vehicle’s own kinetic energy and feed it directly into the tram’s drive mechanism. Backup hydrogen cells would be used when needed. Though Missler envisions a national transit system in the tradition of Amtrak and interstate highways, for now Mass Tram America has more modest goals. The company is currently working on a proposal for Oregon representatives to build a prototype train from Eugene, Oregon to Vancouver, British Columbia above the existing freeway, Interstate 5. Mass Tram also has its eye

on Oregon ski resorts Troutdale and Mt. Hood. Linking the two could be a boon to skiers who have difficulty getting to the slopes when the highway washes out, Missler says. At an estimated $8 million to $12 million per mile, Missler says, the system will cost less to build than most major urban transport systems because all of the necessary components already exist. In comparison, the Westside Extension of the Metro Purple Line subway in Los Angeles, currently in the planning stages, is expected to cost at least $353 million a mile; and the price tag for Denver’s Light Rail Southeast Corridor extension, which opened in 2006, was $23.1 million per mile.

ass Tram must overcome several obstacles before its airplane-cum-train cars appear in your neighborhood. Some critics doubt the cost estimates and question whether communities will welcome the necessary sky towers on their land. “Mass Tram America’s proposed tram route from Troutdale to Mt. Hood would likely have to go through the Columbia River Gorge Scenic area, which is adjacent to Troutdale,” said Robert Canfield, Troutdale City Councilor, in an e-mail. “I doubt the Columbia River Gorge Commission would allow such an intrusion into this environmentally sensitive area.” Cost of transit systems ➤ L.A.’s Westside Extension of the Purple Line: $353 million per mile

➤ Denver’s Light Rail South East Corridor Extension: $23.1 million per mile ➤ Mass Tram America’s projected system costs: $8 million to $12 million per mile

Savings to the environment

➤ Solar cells and a magnet power system save energy and cut gas emissions by offering an alternative to driving. ➤ Wind turbines built into suspension towers create extra power.

TIME savings

➤ Mass Tram America travels 150 to 200 miles per hour, almost three times faster than the average highway speed limit.

A new mass transit monorail system would use recycled airplane fuselages to transport people and cargo, creating a “highway in the skyway.” Still, Troutdale mayor Paul Thalhofer is willing to listen. “It is an interesting concept, and we’d be open to anything if it makes practical sense,” he says. “But so far they haven’t shown us something that would work. Still, in my day we heard about things like Flash Gordon, Buck Rogers, and Star Wars, all of which sounded pretty far out at the time, but are less far off now. We can’t limit our thinking by saying it won’t work.”

thers say that while Mass Tram might be successful on a small scale, constructing a national system may be too grand an endeavor. Traditionally, monorails have run short distances. Seattle Center Monorail, built for the 1962 World’s Fair, spans one mile, and the 14-year-old Strip monorail in Las Vegas extends about four miles. Even Japan’s popular Tokyo-Haneda line and its metropolitan Osaka route run a mere 11 and 15 miles, respectively. “[Mass Tram] would only make sense if you have a very dense traffic corridor and it runs between two big cities in a distance of more than 300 miles and less than about 800 miles,” says Daniel Sperling, director of the Institute of Transportation Studies at the University of California, Davis. “Even still, it would be expensive to build the infrastructure, and it would require government subsidies. No transit system pays its own way.” At this point, the designs for Mass Tram America are still being finalized and the company is looking for more investors. But the little startup has big plans: Missler hopes to build a national system within two decades of launching the first prototype. plentymag.com|october / november 2007 |35

forward | thinking

Oh, the Places He’s Been

Richard Bangs delves into adventure travel.

sense—especially if it means fending off hungry developers. y first attempt at tracking down eco-travel guru RichBangs’s form of tourism gives people a chance to make a livard Bangs finds him in New Zealand, on his way to ing being who they always were, allowing them to keep their dinner. By the next day, he’s in Fiji with his son, heading for land, lifestyle, and customs. a village so remote it confounds even his steadfast BlackBerry. “I think it’s wonderful in many ways that you can barely When, finally, we do get in touch a few days later, he’s in L.A., find a wild river on the planet that isn’t commercially run, where he’s about to go shopping for a new one. or a mountain that isn’t trekked,” says Bangs, countervailThere are two things about Bangs one may surmise from ing conventional wisdom. “Travel creates advocates for the information above, the first being just how mind-bogplaces—places that would’ve been paved, lumbered, or glingly often he is on the move, usually looking from vanotherwise compromised.” Very early on, Bangs recognized tage points so beyond exotic that sometimes he’s the first Adventures Purpose that the currency his company traded in was the pure wilWesterner—or person—to witness them. As the head of with by richard bangs Sobek Expeditions (named after the Egyptian crocodile Menasha Ridge Press, $16.95 derness experience, and that if he didn’t preserve what he was offering it would quickly lose appeal. “From the early god) Bangs, 56, has spent a lifetime fording un-run rivers. ’70s, we were already reflecting the old Sierra Club attitude of ‘take His adventures have included harrowing first descents of the upper only pictures, leave only footprints.’” Over the years, as more of the Nile, the Amazon, the Indus, the Ganges, the Euphrates, and the places Bangs visited and enjoyed began to be dammed, diverted, or Yangtze. When Sobek was founded in 1973, there was no such thing as a permit to explore an uncharted river. “We just went,” says Bangs. dried up, the whole proposition took on an extra acuteness. Bangs has written 16 books about his experiences and is currently “We looked like invaders from Mars, I’m sure.” Since those early working on a PBS series. In his latest book, Adventures with Purpose, days, times have changed and the company has grown. Sobek now employs a 200 guides and 40 other staffers, and offers skiing, sailing, he recalls his travels in such far-flung places as Nepal, Macedonia, Libya, and Bosnia. The book is an elegant account of those advendiving, and balloon trips in addition to river runs. tures written in the style of a 19th-century explorer, which, with the The second thing to know about Bangs, the BlackBerry juggler, is exception of the BlackBerry, Bangs basically is. Does the man ever that he doesn’t see modernity and tradition as necessarily at odds. In the rest? “I’ll sleep when I’m dead,” he says. Does anyone believe him? world’s poorest and most remote areas, he believes, encouraging Western tourists to support the maintenance of ancient cultural traditions makes —Nathalie Jordi 36|october / november 2007|plentymag.com

photo by didrick johnck

thinking | forward

Death Warmed Over

The House Under a Crazy Star

ack in 2004, writer and social values researcher Ted Nordhaus and Michael Shellenberger, an author and political strategist, released an essay titled “The Death of Environmentalism” at the annual meeting of the elite Environmental Grantmakers Association. The missive called on greenies to replace “doomsday discourse” with a powerful, positive vision like that in Martin Luther King, Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” speech. The two authors hoped to ignite conversation among insiders. To their surprise, the pamphlet was debated by readers around the world, on public radio broadcasts and Internet forums, among corporate executives and university students alike. So they expanded the treatise. The result is Break Through: From the Death of EnvironBreak Through: mentalism to the Politics of Possibility, Nordhaus and Shellenberger’s practical, From the Death of Environmentalism optimistic new strategy for confronting the global warming crisis. to the Politics of The book serves as a methodically researched and structured map of the Possibility cultural and philosophical underpinnings of today’s most pressing environby ted nordhaus and michael shellenberger mental issues. Rather than just telling people to do the right thing and calling Houghton Mifflin, $25 for sacrifice, the authors set forth specific plans based on targeted politics. Among the strategies they espouse are a $300 billion government investment in energy technology innovation, and the Health Care for Hybrids initiative, which calls for the federal government to Authors Nordhaus (left) and Shellenberger provide health care relief to Detroit automakers in exchange for production of fuel-efficient vehicles. Now that they’re writing not for insiders but a general audience (think Eric Schlosser’s Fast Food Nation meets Barack Obama’s The Audacity of Hope), Nordhaus and Shellenberger make their case elegantly and—with Austen-ian chapter titles like “Greatness” and “Pragmatism”—unabashedly. They aren’t afraid to criticize environmental icons, and they don’t blame humanity for environmental problems—they’re grateful for our general prosperity and lifestyle and think we should be too. Whether or not you agree, expect to underline a lot and then grab a friend or co-worker and say, “Listen to this!” Instead of arousing guilt and negativity, Nordhaus and Shellenberger aim to inspire. —Christine Thomas

From the first days of the Nazi occupation of Poland, and right up until the war’s end, the grounds of the Warsaw Zoo harbored a menagerie of human and animal refugees. At great personal risk, zookeeper Jan Żabiński and his wife Antonina leveraged every resource they had—the zoo’s The grounds, its many buildings and Zookeeper’s facilities, Jan’s standing as an esWife: A War teemed zoologist—to provide a Story safe haven for escaping Jews. Jan by diane too, unbeknownst to Antonina, ackerman W. W. Norton, aided the Resistance by stor$23.95 ing arms and equipment. Despite its daily perils, life at the Żabiński villa (Resistance codename: The House Under a Crazy Star) was uncommonly pleasant. Home to an ever-changing cast of artists and intellectuals, the villa also sheltered a “biblical hallucination” of animals that at times included an eagle, a chicken, a house-trained badger, and an arctic rabbit, among others. (Only smaller creatures remained after a Nazi zoologist shipped off many of the zoo’s large animals for breeding and to supplement German collections, then invited Wehrmacht officers to slaughter the rest on a “hunting expedition.”) In her seventh work of nonfiction, Diane Ackerman—also a poet and journalist—again proves capable of both exhaustive research and beautifully lyrical prose. Drawing heavily from photographs and diaries, she renders the zoo and its residents in vivid, ultra-fine detail. Absent a strong narrative arc, it’s this defining of personalities (human and otherwise) that color Ackerman’s account and lend it poignancy. At times the bounty of Ackerman’s research overwhelms (she’s fond of lists) or distracts (expect asides on the histories of penicillin and the pogo stick). But other tangents, such as a discussion of the Nazis’ reverence for nature and how they sought to extend their eugenic enterprise to flora and fauna, are illuminating and evidence of the author’s own deep concern for —David Zuckerman plant and animal life.

New and Noteworthy > > > Ignition: What You Can Do to Fight Global Warming and Spark a Movement edited by jonathan isham and sissel waage

Island Press, $18.95

Touted by its editors as an “ongoing workshop,” this book about global warming activism is full of useful tips for concerned citizens. Professors, authors, and nonprofit directors offer insight into a broad range of tactics, from mobilizing activists to supporting the role of the states in pushing for stricter regulations.

Nuclear Nebraska: The Remarkable Story of the Little County that Couldn’t Be Bought by susan cragin

Amacom, $24.95

In 1989, a group of farmers in Boyd County, Nebraska found out that government-supported private companies wanted to put a nuclear waste dump on their land. They took action. This account describes the decade-long fight of some 400 hardworking citizens who defeated corporate interests and protected their land from hazardous waste.

American Chestnut: The Life, Death, and Rebirth of a Perfect Tree

The Atlas of American Artisan Cheese

by jeffrey p. roberts

Chelsea Green Publishing, $35

by susan freinkel

University of California Press, $27.50

From southern Georgia to northern Maine, the towering American chestnut used to be almost as common as the house sparrow. But after a plague wiped out nearly four billion of the trees, they came close to extinction. This hopeful book tells the story of the dramatic history of a beloved tree—and the people who are fighting to save it.

Throughout the country, cheesemakers are milking their herds, ladling curds, and aging wheels. In his descriptions of close to 350 artisan cheesemakers—most of whom make their chèvres, ricottas, and cheddars by hand—Roberts introduces readers to the people behind some of our tastiest and most distinctive cheeses. —Susan Cosier

plentymag.com

|october / november 2007|37

forward | wild world

Bambi on Birth Control

The biggest challenge to managing animal populations with contraceptives may be getting people to agree about it BY JENNIFER WEEKS Except in cartoons, animals arenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t known to accessorize. But in the town of Estes Park, Colorado, elk have been spotted sporting Christmas lights, laundry, and even bicycles in their antlers. While it might seem amusing, the occasional sock-adorned creature is indicative of a serious problem: There are too many elk in the surrounding area, which drives them into communities they wouldnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t otherwise enter. To keep the herd size from growing even larger, wildlife managers at nearby Rocky Mountain National Park are considering putting the animals on birth control. From California to New Jersey, communities are using contraception to control deer, squirrels, and other critters that are multiplying 38|OCTOBER / NOVEMBER 2007|PLENTYMAG.COM

and damaging habitats or spreading diseases. Not everyone agrees this approach is the best solution to animal overpopulation. But for the past 15 years, wildlife contraceptives have been used in a variety of settings in which people and animals overlap, including barrier

islands, office campuses, and public lands. Encounters between humans and animals are on the rise for several reasons. Suburban development is pushing into many formerly wild areas, especially in western states. In the Northeast, forests have been growing for a century on farmland abandoned in the 1800s, creating more habitat for beavers, moose, black bears, and other large creatures. And some species, such as wild turkeys and white-tailed deer, are thriving in suburbs where there are fewer predators and hunting is banned or severely limited. Many communities that need a targeted and safe way to address overpopulation are ILLUSTRATION BY CARL WIENS

wild world | forward

‘‘

The demand for animal contraceptives is overwhelming. turning to birth control, which is generally seen as a humane alternative to hunting or culling herds. “The demand [for contraceptives] is overwhelming,” says wildlife fertility specialist Jay Kirkpatrick, director of the Science and Conservation Center in Billings, Montana. That’s because birth control is often quite effective. Enforced infertility has been used to control creatures as small as parakeets and as large as elephants. Currently, Santa Monica, California is using a contraceptive to reduce persistent squirrel overpopulation in Palisades Park. In the Northeast, several communities have used the approach to stem the ballooning number of deer within their boundaries. And Australian officials are researching contraceptives for koala bears and kangaroos. Early versions of animal birth control relied on steroids or sex hormones. However, these substances persist in the animals’ bodies, potentially posing threats to people who eat them—an important factor for game species like deer—and they increase risks of cancer and infections in animals. Increasingly, the tool of choice for curbing animal overpopulation is immunocontraception, or vaccines that stimulate an animal’s immune systems to block reproductive functions.

ne experimental vaccine, PZP, uses a protein found in pig ovaries. In order to fertilize an egg, sperm must attach to and then penetrate the zona pellucida, a membrane that surrounds mammalian eggs. When a female animal is injected with PZP, her body produces antibodies to it; those antibodies then bind to the zona pellucida, preventing sperm from attaching and fertilizing the egg. Another vaccine, GonaCon, blocks the gonadotropin-releasing hormone, which signals the body to produce sex hormones like estrogen and testosterone. By tying up the hormone, GonaCon short-circuits the reproductive cycle, rendering both males and females infertile for up to four years. The benefits of wildlife birth control are obvious. PZP, for instance, has played an important role in reigning in the herd of

”

wild horses on Assateague Island, a barrier island located off the coast of Maryland (see sidebar). “PZP has exceeded every expectation and is a wonderful management tool. I don’t know where we’d be without it,” says Carl Zimmerman, a resource management specialist with the National Park Service at Assateague Island National Seashore. “There are no signs of harm to the horses, it doesn’t appear to change their behavior or social interactions, it’s relatively easy to use, and the cost is reasonable.” But Kirkpatrick says that the vaccine won’t work in every setting. “PZP was developed to control localized deer populations in urban areas where traditional lethal methods

Planned Ponyhood and most people think of the wild ponies immortalized in the classic children’s book Misty of Chincoteague. Though no one knows for certain, it’s believed that people brought the feral horses’ ancestors from the mainland to graze on the 37-mile barrier island off the coasts of Maryland and Virginia in the 17th century. Because they have no natural predators on the island, the ponies tend to spread out and chew up their habitat, especially the beach and cord grasses that keep dunes and marshes intact. To combat the degradation, the National Park Service administers a vaccine, PZP, to each mare, allowing her to produce only one foal in her lifetime. When the program started in 1994, the herd numbered 166 and was growing 10 to 15 percent annually. Today there are about 140 horses. Initially, managers aimed to limit the herd to 150 horses, according to Park Service resource management specialist Carl Zimmerman. “But we’ve come to recognize that [this target] doesn’t balance the needs of the herd and the ecosystem,” he says. Zimmerman and his colleagues found that mares that foal only once live longer, so the population didn’t decrease as much as they expected. Now, the agency is considering ways to reduce the herd to between 80 and 100 horses. No horses will be killed to reach this goal (some might be moved to mainland sanctuaries), but contraception will be a key tool in maintaining a smaller herd. —J.W.

mention assateague

are no longer legal, wise, safe, or publicly accessible,” he says. More remote areas such as California’s Point Reyes National Seashore, where exotic fallow and axis deer are overgrazing the park and competing with blacktailed deer and other native animals, are another matter. There, the Park Service has hired sharpshooters as well as agreeing, under pressure from activists, to use contraceptives to regulate about 1,100 female deer. “Contraception won’t succeed at Point Reyes because the deer are wild and getting to them is going to be very, very difficult,” Kirkpatrick says. The difficulty is that finding the creatures in the wild and delivering the contraceptives at close range with a dart gun is both costly and time consuming. These challenges, combined with strong hunting traditions, have made some states reluctant to adopt animal contraception.

nimal-rights advocates, meanwhile, say it’s people, not animals, whose behavior needs to be modified. “When we use birth control on free-ranging animals it’s usually to create new opportunities for consumptive users—for example, sterilizing wolves in Alaska to support deer and moose hunting,” says Priscilla Feral, president of the nonprofit Friends of Animals. “We need to carve out more habitat for wildlife, but it’s outrageous for people to determine that deer and horses and geese and squirrels should all be subject to birth control.” Sometimes compromise is possible. Mainstream environmental groups including the Audubon Society and the Sierra Club have endorsed hunting, either instead of or in combination with birth control, in places where animals are seriously harming ecosystems or spreading Lyme disease. Under New Jersey’s community-based deer management program, many towns have adopted a combined approach that includes using contraception, hiring professionals to capture or shoot animals, opening off-limits lands to hunters, and lengthening the hunting season. Finding solutions that work are imperative because the problem isn’t going away. “Urban wildlife issues are getting bigger and bigger, and the questions aren’t about science—they’re political, social, and cultural,” says Kirkpatrick. “That’s the expertise we need to solve these problems.” plentymag.com

| october / november 2007 |39

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green gear

Class Act

This fall, stock up on a few back-to-school basics that you’ll want to keep even after graduation.

in the bag Slim solar panels on the back of this rugged satchel give it a modern flair while keeping your cell phone or iPod charged. Noon Solar Satchel, $500 noonsolar.com for stores (Available mid-November)

get carded Give something back when you pay for those late-night pizza binges: With GE Money’s Earth Rewards credit card, you can contribute up to one percent of the cost of your purchases to emission reduction projects. (Students may need help from parents to qualify.) GE Earth Rewards Card, myearthrewards.com

photographs by eugene gologursky

plentymag.com

|october / november 2007|41

green gear

RISE AND SHINE No need to grab a takeout cup from the dining hall—this two-in-one French press and portable mug, in chic stainless steel, needs no filter to brew coffee or tea. French Press Double Shot Travel Mug, $32.99 grassrootsstore.com

DIAMOND IN THE ROUGH This duvet’s subtle lattice print adds style to any dorm room, while organic cotton, non-toxic dyes, and a 250-thread-count help budding environmentalists sleep easy. Organic Diamond Lattice Duvet Cover (twin) and Standard Sham, $108 westelm.com

MIX AND MATCH Use different colors and patterns to make a one-of-a-kind design with these recyclable carpet tiles, which can be easily packed and moved to next year’s digs. Classic Quilt (set of 6 tiles), $69.99 flor.com

SHOE-IN A shower staple, these waterproof, recycled EVA sandals protect your feet from grime and keep plastic bottles out of landfills. Dopie Sandal, $60 terraplana.com

TIME PASSAGES Make hitting the snooze button a little more fun with this zigzaggy, LED-display alarm clock. The Brick Clock, $166 watch.brando.com.hk

GOOD MEASURE Keep supplies handy in this funky storage container made from old rulers. Red Ruler Box, $170 uncommongoods.com

LIT UP Perfect for a desk or bedside table, this portable lamp uses replaceable LEDs and rechargeable batteries. Luau Portable Lamp, $250 dwr.com

42|OCTOBER / NOVEMBER 2007|PLENTYMAG.COM

Green. With envy.

Green.

What shade are you? Green is feeling it more, not less. Green is living a lifestyle that supports innovation. Green is never compromising.

eco travel green gadgets organic goodies fair trade fashion politics with a twist

Subscribe today and save 60% off the newsstand price. Call 1-800-316-9006 or visit www.plentymag.com

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THE INTREPID BRITS REINVENT THEMSELVES ONCE AGAIN. AN INSIDER’S GUIDE TO THIS FORWARD-THINKING, EARTH-FRIENDLY TOURIST MECCA. BY ZOE CORMIER & GIOVANNA DUNMALL ILLUSTRATIONS BY ALEX WILLIAMSON

PLENTYMAG.COM

| OCTOBER / NOVEMBER 2007 |45

to pencil in Big Ben, the Tower of London, and Buckingham Palace on their London must-see checklist. But a surprisingly eco-friendly city is emerging that’s also worth crossing the pond to see. In recent years, local politicians put climate change and carbon emissions on the radar, and suddenly the whole capital is racing to go green. Many restaurants and boutiques are making fair-trade and organic offerings a higher priority, and museums and walking tours now have the earth-conscious tourist in mind. Even Prince Charles has hopped aboard the green machine, creating several environmental charities, including a foundation that supports sustainable urban development. And while we’d never suggest missing the Changing of the Guard, there’s also a whole different London to explore.

MERICANS ALREADY KNOW

ATTRACTIONS

Sightseeing need not be a gaggle-of-tourists affair. Slip under the radar and learn more about both local and global environmental efforts. ADVENTURE ECOLOGY

CLIMATE CHANGE AUDIO TOUR

This charity runs a small gallery in Camden that features eco-conscious art that raises funds for and calls attention to some of the world’s bleaker regions, like industrialized China, deforested Ecuador, and the melting North Pole. 125 Charing Cross Road, WC2, www.adventureecology.com

“And While London Burns” is a 70-minute operatic audio walking tour around the City. This historical, haunting walk explains the area’s role in climate change, taking you on an environmental adventure through the skyscrapers and alleyways. Download an mp3 of the tour from the website. www.andwhilelondonburns.com

LONDON TRANSPORT MUSEUM This Victorian building in Covent Garden was recently refurbished and just reopened this fall. The exhibits tell the story of the city’s buses, trams, rail, and the Underground. Other modes of transport like cycling, walking, and taxis are also featured. The museum also has a new family learning area and play zone for kids under five. 39 Wellington Street, WC2, www.ltmuseum.co.uk An early draft of the iconic logo.

BOROUGH MARKET Nestled in the London Bridge neighborhood, the city’s oldest food market dates back to Roman times. It’s the locals’ choice for cheap whole food or organic eats: wild boar burgers, pints of cider, and all the cheese, olives, and fish your heart could desire. 8 Southwark Street, SE1, www.boroughmarket.org.uk

>LONDONERS HAVE THE LOWEST CO2 EMISSIONS PER CAPITA IN THE UNITED KINGDOM—25 PERCENT BELOW THE NATIONAL AVERAGE. 46|OCTOBER / NOVEMBER 2007|PLENTYMAG.COM

The Original London Walks Take a stroll on one of dozens of guided sojourns throughout the city, following the footsteps of famous Brits from William Shakespeare to Harry Potter. Walks originate from different places and times and are offered 365 days a year, so the London gloom will never rain on your parade. www.walks.com

Thames Barrier Park

Natural History Museum Housed in a grand Romanesque building, this South Kensington museum is hailed as a temple to the natural world. Boasting more than 70 million specimens, it features an ecology area that details conservation efforts from around the globe and gives tips on making an eco-difference at home too. Cromwell Road, SW7, www.nhm.ac.uk

London Wetland Centre Home to one of the largest bird and wildlife havens in any European capital, this award-winning attraction in Barnes spans more than 100 acres of lakes, reed beds, and marshes created from old reservoirs. It also has a café, theater, and a children’s adventure area. Free guided tours are offered twice a day. Queen Elizabeth’s Walk, SW13, www.wwt.org.uk

Park It for its exceptional parks and green spaces. In fact, natural and landscaped greenery accounts for more of the city’s land area than buildings, roads, or other paved surfaces. To relax in some of the city’s finest, visit Hyde Park (www.yourlondon.gov. uk/parks), a holder of the Green Flag Award—a national program that recognizes England’s and Wales’s best parks and green spaces. Every half hour, the SolarShuttle ferries passengers across the Serpentine Lake. When docked and not in use, the panels’ surplus electricity is fed back into the national grid. The Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (www.kew.org) is a former royal residence and World Heritage Site near Richmond. Kew’s 300 acres feature Victorian greenhouses and themed gardens, and their postal code is one of the most biodiverse in the world. Thames Barrier Park (www.thamesbarrierpark.org.uk) spans Kew Gardens 22 acres along the river’s north bank at Woolwich Reach. A great picnic spot, it boasts fantastic views of the city’s flood barrier and a beautiful fountain plaza. london is world-renowned

Hyde Park An aerial view of the wetlands

England recycles more than a quarter of all household garbage, a 400 percent jump in the past decade. plentymag.com

| october / november 2007 |47

SHOPPING

The currency exchange rate is alarmingly steep—the dollar was worth only half a pound at press time—but London is filled with green treasures to tempt any tourist. Equa A must-go for the eco-conscious fashionista. Every stitch of clothing in this Islington boutique, including shoes and accessories, are fair-trade labels, and many are organic too. You’ll find cotton tanks, hemp-silk bras, or a dress made from vintage, pink-silk parachutes. Prices here will fit most budgets. 28 Camden Passage, N1, www.equaclothing.com

Neal’s Yard Remedies The grandmother of English herbal beauty care, this shop sells handmade, mostly organic lotions, soaps, and shampoos and herbal, aromatherapeutic, and homeopathic remedies. Indulgences include a $10 lip balm and a $50 liter of rosemary-and-elderflower shower gel. Multiple locations, www.nealsyardremedies.com

From Somewhere This brightly lit boutique in Notting Hill boasts soft, feminine designs. The eccentric, colorful tank tops, dresses, and handbags are fashioned from reclaimed new fabric taken from unused scraps or irregular garments. 83 Westbourne Park Road, W2, www.fromsomewhere.co.uk

Borough Market

Junky Styling Tucked away on trendy Brick Lane, this shop turns pinstripes, leather, and scraps into sharp and sexy garments for both men and women. They also perform “wardrobe surgery,” allowing customers to bring in worn garments for overhaul or alteration. 12 Dray Walk: The Old Truman Brewery, 91 Brick Lane, E1, www.junkystyling.co.uk

The Natural Kitchen This three-story foodie heaven near the Baker Street Tube station sells food supplied by small, independent British companies. There’s a large selection of fair-trade and organic goods, foods to sample, and a café that serves light snacks and meals. 77/78 Marylebone High Street, W1, www.thenaturalkitchen.com

>The body shop, the britain-based company with earth-friendly beauty stores worldwide, donates more than a million dollars 48|october / november 2007|plentymag.com

ASK AN INSIDER

Hit one of these hot spots recommended by members of London’s eco-minded inner circle.

“I pop in the STORY DELI off Brick Lane if I’ve got a pizza craving. (ph: 020 7247 3137) The food is organic and delicious, and the owner’s girlfriend decorated the space with a mix of vintage mirrors and sustainable cardboard. When I eat there, I always make a pitstop at BLONDIE, a great vintage boutique around the corner.” (www.absolutevintage.co.uk) VIRGINIA ROWE

editor of the eco-forward website StyleWillSaveUs.com

THE ORGANIC PHARMACY First opened in 2002, this shop is fast becoming one of the leaders in the natural skin-care world. All products are certified organic, handmade, and contain no artificial preservatives, dyes, fragrances, or petrochemicals. The Rose Crystal Lymphatic Facial at the day spa is divine. Multiple locations, www.theorganicpharmacy.com

TERRA PLANA This forward-thinking shoe store offers the eco-friendliest of footwear, and their unisex selections range from functional to high fashion. All are made from chrome-free and vegetabletanned leathers, have latex or recycled rubber soles, and feature recycled foam footbeds. Multiple locations, www.terraplana.com

“I buy all my own food from farmers’ markets, FRESH & WILD (www.wholefoodsmarket. com/uk) and PLANET ORGANIC (www.planetorganic.com). For dining out, I like THE DUKE OF CAMBRIDGE (www. dukeorganic.co.uk)—(they’re really good with organic produce. ARTHUR POTTS DAWSON

executive chef and co-founder of Acorn House restaurant “THE GRAIN SHOP, a takeaway on Portobello Road in Notting Hill (ph: 020 7229 5571), is an old-school, organic, vegetarian favorite. I also like PIZZA ORGANIC (www.pizzapiazza.co.uk) and FOOD FOR THOUGHT on Neal Street in Covent Garden (ph: 020 7836 9072). I also recommend PORTOBELLO MARKET (www.portobelloroad.co.uk) on Saturdays for great vintage and local finds.” JOCELYN WHIPPLE

London-based ethical stylist and consultant

THE WEDGE CARD PROVIDES DISCOUNTS AT LOCAL AND INDEPENDENT SHOPS AND DONATES PART OF THEIR PROCEEDS TO CHARITY. $40, WWW.WEDGECARD.CO.UK A YEAR TO ENVIRONMENTAL AND OTHER CHARITIES. WWW.BODYSHOP.COM

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DINING OUT

London’s notoriously bad restaurant scene is getting a shot in the arm from a tasty new crop of eco-friendly, locally sourced, and organic eateries.

From kitchen to table at Acorn House

MANNA One of England’s oldest vegetarian restaurants, this Primrose Hill standby is still modern and imaginative. Sample their homemade pasta of the day or their vegetarian chef’s salad made with crispy tofu and Greek butter beans. Pair it with homemade organic bread and organic wine, spirits, and beer. Entrées start at $20. 4 Erskine Road, Primrose Hill, NW3, www.manna-veg.com

ACORN HOUSE This sleek new restaurant near King’s Cross recycles and composts all waste, grows a rooftop herb and veggie garden, uses green electricity, and buys fair-trade whenever possible. Organic vegetarian entrées start at $30, and the daily special of char-grilled fish runs about $32. 69 Swinton Street, WC1, www.acornhouserestaurant.com

ORG-E This all-organic takeaway near Covent Garden serves breakfast, smoothies, and a variety of other fare, like organic beef and veggie burgers. They also use green electricity and cleaning products. Prices range from $4 to $10. 22 Wellington Street, WC2, www.org-e.com

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LEON This friendly local chain serves virtuous (often organic) seasonal food at fast food prices: salads, Moroccan meatballs, stews, and even wheat-free chocolate brownies if you still have room. They also offer sustainably farmed fish and free-range chicken. A three-course meal can cost less than $20. Multiple locations, www.leonrestaurants.co.uk

>THE LONDON UNDERGROUND CARRIES 976 MILLION PASSENGERS A YEAR ACROSS ITS 253-MILE NETWORK. 50|OCTOBER / NOVEMBER 2007|PLENTYMAG.COM

Vita Organic This vegan and organic eatery is an oasis in the Soho desert of cocktail bars and Chinese takeout. All fare is organic or whole food and served raw or gently cooked. If you’ve ever longed for an Ayurvedic meal, this is your chance. Specialties like red pepper sauce–steamed moussaka run around $16. 74 Wardour Street, W1, www.vitaorganic.co.uk

The Duke of Cambridge This yuppie haven in Islington is the world’s first certifiedorganic gastro pub. Most all food and drink is organic— and as local and seasonal as possible. And the restaurant’s power is all wind- and solargenerated. The menu of modern British fare changes twice daily. Entrées start at $20. 30 St Peters Street, N1, www.dukeorganic.co.uk

The Duke’s chocolate soufflé

Konstam at the Prince Albert This former King’s Cross pub is now a modern, atmospheric eatery. The head chef and owner prepares dishes in full view of the tables from produce sourced from the greater London area. Entrées like grilled pork chops with cabbage, dumplings, and crème fraîche start at $24. 2 Acton Street, WC1, www.konstam.co.uk Creative lighting at Konstam

getting around London’s congestion charge, which levies stiff fees on those who insist on driving in the city center during peak hours, keeps private vehicles to a minimum. Skip driving on the wrong side of the road and tap into greener ways to see the sights.

On foot

The 14-mile

Jubilee Walkway (www.jubilee

walkway.com) connects London’s key attractions. Or devise your own stroll, replete with the time, distance, calories you’ll burn, and carbon dioxide emissions avoided. www.walkit.com

On a bike

Go Pedal!

delivers a rental bike to your hotel and fetches it too. (www.gopedal. co.uk) Order a bike-friendly route map online before you go. www.tfl.gov.uk/tfl/roadusers/ cycling/cycleroutes

By Bus

Hop aboard the world’s first hybrid double-decker bus, which runs from Palmer’s Green to London Bridge station. (Six single-deck hybrid buses are also on the roads.) Powered by a diesel engine and electric power, it cuts emissions by as much as 40 percent per bus. www.tfl.gov.uk

On the Tube

The world’s oldest underground train system is also one of the most comprehensive. When your dogs get tired— or the winding streets leave you lost—descend into one of the 275 stations and whisk off to your next destination. www.tf l.gov.uk

By Cab

Green Drinks International, a group that organizes a monthly eco-networking party in 243 cities worldwide, was founded in london in 1989. WWW.GREENDRINKS.ORG

Ride guilt-free in a Green Tomato Car (www.greentomatocars.com)— a Toyota Prius taxi decorated with its namesake fruit. Green Tomato offsets double their cars’ carbon emissions. Radio Taxis (www.radiotaxis.co.uk) limits its carbon footprint with renewable energy and tree-planting projects.

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ACCOMMODATIONS

There’s room for improvement in London’s eco-lodging— no wind-powered hostel made from bamboo and bee saliva just yet—but these hotels are headed in the right direction. Apex City of London Hotel A stone’s throw from the Tower of London, this Scottish chain is as sustainable as you’ll find: energy-efficient lighting, ventilation, heating and water systems, and extensive recycling. Rooms start at $150 a night. No 1 Seething Lane, EC3, www.apexhotels.co.uk

The Zetter This Clerkenwell’s hotel is a modernist design housed in a converted Victorian warehouse. Ecophiles will love that water for drinking, flushing, and air-conditioning is pumped from the hotel’s own borehole. Rooms start at $265 a night. St John’s Square, 86-88 Clerkenwell Road, EC1, www.thezetter.com

Hilton London Metropole One Aldwych This Edwardian building in Covent Garden has contemporary interiors and is committed to eco-friendly practices and charities. Its flushing system uses 80 percent less water than conventional types, bleach is eschewed, and the lighting is timed and energy-efficient. Prices start at $425 a night. 1 Aldwych, WC2, www.onealdwych.com

London’s largest hotelier recently announced plans for carbon-free electricity in 69 of its U.K. and Irish properties. This location, a short walk from shop-central Oxford Street, also recycles paper from each room and has glass-recycling bins on every floor. Prices start at $240 a night. 225 Edgware Road, W2, www.hilton.co.uk/londonmet

Meliá White House Sleep in style while keeping a green conscience. This four-star Regent’s Park gem is the only U.K. member of the Green Hotels Association. It has efficient lighting, thorough recycling, and carbon offsets. Rooms start at $190 a night. Albany Street, Regent’s Park, NW1, www.melia-whitehouse.com

>By 2016, all new homes built in the United kingdom will have to be carbon neutral. 52|october / november 2007|plentymag.com

LONDON 2012: THE GREENEST GAMES EVER?

the LAP OF

ECO-LUXURY Pamper yourself in guilt-free style.

Previous Olympic host cities aimed to impress with dazzling buildings. London is gunning for green credentials. A look ahead for the nearly 15,000 athletes, nine million ticketed visitors, and the future of the city: >>The stadiums and Olympic village will be built in London’s East End, currently an underdeveloped industrial wasteland. Contaminated soil will be treated and returned, and new greenery will be added to create one of the largest new urban parks built in Europe in the last 150 years. >> Construction crews will reuse 90 percent of the materials from the demolished landscape in new structures, with the remaining new timber coming from sustainable sources. After the Games, the athlete’s village will be converted into 4,000 housing units, with other buildings finding new life as community and health centers and commercial space. >> In addition to creating more than 270 acres of new open space and wildlife habitats, the plan calls for restoring existing woodland and waterways and connecting these habitats to London’s other green areas by a network of terrestrial and aquatic corridors. >> Organizers aim for a zero-waste garbage policy at the Games. Wind turbines and biomass boilers will provide 20 percent of the Games’ energy. Rainwater will be harvested, graywater will be reused, and organizers will strive to minimize all emissions other than those created by attendees flying in. >> Cars will be used minimally, and organizers hope to create about 7,000 bicycle parking spots—some permanent. Transit officials plan to repair and extend existing train lines, adding more trains, more cars, new stations, and new signaling systems to boost ridership capacity. An artist’s rendering of the future Olympic Park

Petersham Nurseries

Book a room at 51 Buckingham Gate, a Westminster hotel with spacious, contemporary apartments and suites with personal butlers and chauffeur-driven limousines. Sure, those are indulgences—but this hotel harvests water, recycles comprehensively, and is reducing their energy consumption by 40 percent this year. Prices start at $530 a night. 51 Buckingham Gate, SW1, www.51-buckinghamgate.co.uk Relax your body and mind at Float, a wellness and flotation center in Notting Hill. It’s a haven of earth-friendliness, from the eco loos to the recycled stationery. Its Signature Living Nature Facial also includes a float in the tank and a massage, $230. 2A Bridstow Place, Westbourne Grove, W2, www.float.co.uk To truly experience England’s posh life, there’s no substitute for taking afternoon tea. Claridge’s, a nearly twocenturies-old hotel in the upper-crust Mayfair neighborhood, serves a selection of organic teas from 3:00 to 5:30 p.m. for $63 per person ($79 for the champagne option). You don’t need to stay there to partake, but reservations are essential. Brook Street, W1, www.claridges.co.uk Tuck into a savory meal in Richmond’s Petersham Nurseries. Their café and teahouse is the perfect respite from the city’s congestion. After your meal you can amble through the nurseries’ fruit trees. The menu changes daily, but you’ll find fall menu entrées such as pan-fried halibut with Puy lentil, roasted tomatoes, and beurre blanc. Entrées start at $32. Church Lane, off Petersham Road, Surrey, TW10, www.petershamnurseries.com

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RIVER RIV RIVE ER R

RESTORING

LIFE THE

Photographs by Scott Spiker

Text by Ken Olsen

Celilo Falls was once a magnificent series of rapids, channels, and chutes stair-stepping through the Columbia River Gorge along the Oregon-Washington border. But that changed when the Dalles Dam was completed in March 1957. Its construction—part of the building boom of hydropower dams that seized the country early in the twentieth century—flooded Celilo Falls, decimating a salmon population that drove a thriving Indian trading economy and upsetting a diverse ecosystem the size of France. Although the dam is here to stay, today the tribes who have fished these waters for centuries have banded together to create a unique agency dedicated to natural resource management. The Yakama, Nez Perce, Umatilla, and Warm Springs tribes formed the Columbia River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission, which brings together top biologists, hydrologists, and fish scientists with the goal of saving the region’s salmon. And they haven’t been working alone: They’ve teamed up with sport and commercial fishermen, conservation groups, and businesses to support a lengthy court battle to force the federal government to deal with publicly subsidized dams that are eradicating the fish. A federal judge is expected to rule in this case by early 2008; the outcome could require the feds to take meaningful steps to restore 13 stocks of threatened and endangered salmon.

The tribes are also calling for the removal of four dams on the lower Snake River, the largest tributary of the Columbia, to allow salmon to reach central Idaho’s wilderness, the region’s best remaining spawning habitat. And they’re helping conduct research on toxins in fish that may improve water pollution standards nationwide. “They put more resources into protecting and restoring salmon than any other single entity, and without their scientific expertise, we may have lost these fish a number of years ago,” says Nicole Cordan of the Save Our Wild Salmon Coalition. This passion for restoring what was once the most productive salmon watershed in the world is evident during a day on the river with these Indian fishermen. They share stories of centuries-old fishing ceremonies, tell tales of life and death on the river, and express hope that future generations will be able to enjoy the same bounty.

Tony Washines, 62, grew up fishing at Celilo Falls, and salmon remain essential to his culture, religion, and subsistence. Following a tour in Vietnam with the Marine Corps, Washines returned to the Columbia River Gorge, where he harvested salmon to support his family while he attended college. He continued fishing while working as a tribal planner, and retired as Yakama General Council chairman in 2003 so he could spend more time on the water. “The drowning of Celilo Falls was probably one of the greatest devastations of our nation, ”Washines says. Due in part to the tribes’ work to learn how to protect local salmon, he says, “it’s unthinkable it would happen today.”

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Celilo was our livelihood. I lived there in my heart year-round. Tony Washines, Yakama fisherman

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My dadâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s been bringing me out on the river since I was just a baby. WindCloud Washines

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FISHING IS A LIVELIHOOD THAT PROMOTES CULTURALLY APPROPRIATE ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT.

Scherri Greene, Nez Perce fisherwoman

Wild Pacific salmon have long held religious significance for the tribes of the region. Each spring they hold a First Salmon Ceremony to kick off the fishing season. Today, Scherri Greene and her nephew, James Greene, carry on this tradition by gill netting salmon and selling their catch. Like others, they hope the government will agree to remove problem dams and take other steps toward salmon recovery that will help enable a more bountiful future for everyone in the region.

West Coast fish buyers have begun to take notice of the quality of the salmon that Indian fishermen catch on the Columbia River. “These are some of the best fish in the world,” says Ed Garvin of Salmon Express Seafoods in Tacoma, Washington. Here his cousin, Bob Danielson, weighs some of the premium spring chinook offered for sale by Eric Queahpama, a Warm Springs tribe fisherman.

‘‘My dad’s been bringing me out on the river since I was just a baby,” WindCloud Washines says as he frees a Columbia River chinook salmon from the family’s gill net. Prior to the dam-building era, the region produced as many as 16 million salmon a year and supported tens of thousands of Indians. The Yakama, Umatilla, Nez Perce, and Warm Springs tribes balanced their dietary needs with the need to keep the rivers running thick with chinook, sockeye, and coho salmon. “Even during times of starvation, tribal leaders would not allow more harvesting than salmon could sustain,” says Mary Christina Wood, an expert on salmon and tribes at the University of Oregon.

I BLAME THE DAMS FOR THE LOSS OF SALMON. Leonard Dave, Klickitat fisherman

Like many Columbia River Basin Indians, Leonard Dave’s family has been fishing for salmon in the same area for generations. Dave, 79, still makes his living dip netting from a scaffold suspended over the churning boils of the Klickitat River, a tributary that joins the Columbia River about 75 miles east of Portland, Oregon. The work is not without its dangers—he and his 50-year-old son fell into the river four years ago, at the height of spring runoff while setting up a fishing scaffold—but it’s the only way of life he’s known. He hopes the U.S. District Court in Portland will rule to protect the salmon in early 2008.

VISIT PLENTYMAG.COM FOR MORE PHOTOS FROM THIS SERIES.

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Fifty years after Celilo Falls disappeared, the Lower Columbia River Indian tribes have been instrumental in protecting the region’s remaining salmon. They’ve restored spawning sites, secured alternate irrigation sources so farmers don’t deplete rivers during migration season, and monitored their own fishermen to ensure the sustainability of the salmon population. “We go into our day’s work knowing that half of the benefits of what we do will benefit non-Indians,” says Charles Hudson of the Columbia River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission.

We go into our dayâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s work knowing that half of the benefits of what we do will benefit non-Indians. Charles Hudson, Columbia River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission

Architect Travis Price at his home in Washington, D.C.â&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Forest Hills neighborhood.

unction

over form? by L I S A S E L I N D A V I S

ARCHITECT TRAVIS PRICE THINKS THE GREEN BUILDING MOVEMENT HE’S BEEN PART OF FOR THIRT Y YEARS HAS VEERED OFF COURSE. HIS NEW BOOK MAKES A CASE FOR RESTORING THE MOVEMENT TO ITS SPIRITUAL AND AESTHETIC CENTER. BUT WILL HIS IDEAS TAKE HOLD?

p h o t o g ra p h s b y K E N W Y N E R

ast April, the architect Travis Price spoke at the Odegard showroom, a high-end carpet and furniture dealer in Manhattan. Standing before the kilim rugs with sweeps of silvery hair and a white scarf draped around his neck, he excused himself for being a poor public speaker. (He is not.) Then he presented a slide show of his work, and the images spoke for him: copper-sided and glass houses that hug steep hills; light-filled, rounded, and graceful structures. In his heyday, Price was a pioneer of the solar building movement that arose in response to the 1970s energy crisis. His master’s thesis on passive solar design (a term referring to structures heated and cooled by their shape and orientation to the sun) culminated in the cofounding of a solar home-building company in New Mexico. He later became a housing organizer in New York City, fighting to make renewable energy available to the poor by day and socializing with celebrities by night. He worked on the Carter administration’s energy policy, and in the 1980s he oversaw the design of the million-square-foot, solar-powered Tennessee ValPLENTYMAG.COM

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In the 1970s, Price (below, fourth from left in bottom row) helped a number of New York City residents install solar panels and a windmill on top of their apartment buiding.

chitecture & the Spirit of Place—and invigorated by his new role as director of a master’s program he helped create at Catholic University focusing on sacred spaces and cultural studies, Price is setting out to create a new vocabulary and philosophy of architecture: “the mythical modern and the ecology of the spirit.”

d ley Authority headquarters in Chattanooga. Eventually, as the energy crisis waned, and this early green building movement with it, Price settled in Washington, D.C., where he has lived ever since. Since then, of course, green building has been resurrected and reinvented, thanks in no small part to the voluntary LEED standard, a point-based system that ranks buildings according to factors like energy efficiency and use of recycled materials. More than 1,000 buildings have been certified through LEED since the standard’s inception in 2000 (with 7,400 under construction and applying for certification), and scores of government agencies have adopted it as a baseline standard for new construction. But Price hasn’t jumped on the LEED bandwagon. Its goals may be noble, he says, but its methods prize what he calls a “checklist” approach to architecture, rather than nature and inspiration. “The whole green thing today is about engineering, not architecture,” he said when I spoke to him in June. Architecture should be about “making a form, a shape, an experience—not just solving a bunch of technical problems. You’re inspiring people or it’s not architecture anymore, it’s just building.” So armed with his new book—The Archaeology of Tomorrow: Ar-

espite the 94-degree heat in Georgetown, Price looked perfectly cool sitting at his conference table in a black T-shirt, black jeans, and orange sneakers. His office, in a Federal-style building next to the Ukrainian Embassy, perches above the C&O Canal, a block from M Street where 20-something bearded boys sell “Start a Revolution” T-shirts. His 14-year old Dalmatian, DixieDoodle, holds court (she’s half Southern, he explained, like him). Price was born in Augusta, Georgia. A military kid, he was shuffled between Georgia; Heidelberg, Germany; and the wilds of Panama. All this cultural diversity may explain a little about his ability to synthesize opposing personality traits: European and Deep Southern sensibilities; unabashed embracing of capitalism and selfacknowledged Marxist tendencies; inflammatory statements about green design and spectacular green buildings. He says he flunked a year of high school in Augusta for espousing a pro-civil-rights philosophy. That cost him his school of choice, M.I.T., so he went off to Georgia Tech, where he was “trained as an architect, but not educated,” he says. “I wanted a philosophic base to designing for our times, but the only way to know the philosophies of your time is to know all philosophies.” So he headed to St. John’s College in Annapolis for a philosophy degree, and then to a summer seminar at their satellite campus in Santa Fe. Finally he earned a master’s in architecture at the University of New Mexico. Santa Fe was not yet a tourist mecca, but a wild land of artists such as Georgia O’Keeffe as well as Price’s own mentors, artist and architect Bill Lumpkins and landscape architect J.B. Jackson. He loves to wax nostalgic about those years. “Suddenly, I was surrounded by all these activists,

Price says th at green archi t ecture s hould be a bout “making a form, a s hape, an experience— not ju st solving a bunch of t echnic al pr oblem s.” 62|october / november 2007|plentymag.com

Price designed a studio and library for anthropologist and explorer Wade Davis. Its circular opening frames an overhead skylight.

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Steel columns support Priceâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s copper-sided home, allowing the structure to have a small footprint on the land below.

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Left: A multi-story glass wall at Price’s home overlooks the densely-forested Rock Creek Park. Right: The library he designed for his alma mater, St. John’s University, features gently curved overlooks and staircases.

and I ran into a bunch of architectural renegades hibernating around the University of New Mexico,” he says. “Antoine Predock”—the renowned architect—“was just down the street, and we’d talk all the time.” In this idea-rich environment, Price underwent an awakening of sorts. While studying the structure of the ancient Pueblo Chaco Canyon, he says, “I saw this big curved surface with all the snow melting in it. They had this landscape-based knowledge about melting the snow passively.” It inspired him to write his thesis on passive solar homes. “I was looking at what nature was telling these people to do, and what the most extraordinary technological innovations to do it were.” The solution was fairly simple: lengthen the building east to west and orient it toward the winter sun, but add overhangs that shade the structure during the summer, when the sun is strong and high in the sky. Price and his cohorts formed a development company, Sun Mountain Design, and created passive solar homes just outside Santa Fe. But it bothered him that the houses were geared toward the upper reaches of society that had trickled in during his stay— “scientists, lawyers, and millionaires,” as he characterizes them. “All my Marxist influences were saying, ‘Why aren’t you doing this for the poor?’” he says. “And I was saying, ‘I don’t know how yet. I’ll do this first and figure it out.’ But it really plagued me.” So in the mid-1970s he moved to New York City, where he became a housing organizer, eventually helping tenants in the thenblighted East Village win the right to install solar panels and a windmill atop their building when Con Edison shut their power

off. But even while helping the poorest of the poor, he was straddling two worlds. “I’m in the ghetto all day and then I pick up my girlfriend on 70th and Park and we pick up Bob Redford—she was his agent—and we’d all go to flicks together,” he says. After three and a half years, he’d burned out on both New York and his girlfriend. He decamped for D.C. and started over again. “I went from seventy percent activism and thirty percent practice to the reverse,” he says. He ramped up the teaching he’d done at places like the University of New Mexico and the Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, focused on his private practice, and began to hone a philosophy that would take him another 20 years to succinctly express.

rice’s criticisms of the eco-building movement began in the 1980s, after he’d worked on the TVA building. “It’s not that these ideas are wrong, it’s who administers them,” he says, referring to his work with the Carter administration on BEPS—Building Energy Performance Standards—an early rating system for green buildings befallen by what Price called “a dictatorship of codes.” The same problem persists today, he says. Architects are focused more on piecemeal solutions than lessen the environmental impact of buildings—more insulation here, more recycled materials there—than creating spaces that celebrate nature or use it as inspiration for the building’s form. “We’ve reduced energy costs by 80 percent in houses just by updating the

Architects a re focused more on pieceme al solutions to lessening the envir onmental impact of buildings r at her th an cre ating spaces th at celebr ate nature, price s ays. plentymag.com

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The roofdeck of a residence Price designed in Washington, D.C., sits among the treetops.

building codes,” he says, referring mostly to requirements for better insulation. “It’s the boring six inches of foam that does all the work. So if a standard says I have to be one percent more efficient, fine, it can’t hurt—but it’s not really revolutionary.” Price’s good friend Keith Bellows, the editor-in-chief of National Geographic Traveler, where Price is a contributing editor, describes him not as a revolutionary but as a “shark in the water”—constantly moving. “He’s a reader. He’s a thinker. He’s a very curious guy. And he’s pushed himself beyond the four walls of architecture.” Price’s strength, Bellows thinks, comes from his unusual resumé and associations with people from so many disciplines and walks of life. “He’s dimensionalized himself,” Bellows says. “If you hang around with your peers too much, you start to drink the water.” So Price remains skeptical where others have gone gung ho, particularly about LEED certification. While he admires its mission, he feels LEED is in part responsible for adding even more standards (and cost) to the creative process, and for focusing more on things like how far materials are shipped to a job site than on creating beautiful buildings. (Buildings certified through LEED are subject to an extensive technical review, a sometimes lengthy and expensive process.) “Whether I get my glass from Pittsburgh or from Chicago, it’s going to be so piddlysquat in terms of energy expenditure,” he says. He also chafes at how these measures restrict free trade and free thinking. “You can’t impede bringing in Plyboo [sustainable hardwood flooring] from China because it’s not local. That’s hippie-dippie talk. We slaughtered that idea in 1972 at one of our meetings in New Mexico.” The real issue is suburban sprawl—as bad for our souls as it is for the environment, Price says—and the exportation of the American way of life to rapidly urbanizing places like China and India. The first chapter of The Archaeology of Tomorrow is entitled “Assault on the Spirit: Sprawl, Mall, & Tall.” 66|october / november 2007|plentymag.com

Yet he doesn’t believe that mandating green building techniques or smart-growth plants is the answer, either. “Checklist architecture is what’s killing architecture,” he says. “If you start telling me I had to do it green, eventually I would have no freedom to design.”

is proposal? Deregulate but inspire. “Have beauty contests,” he says. “Applaud the things that people do well, but don’t dictate it.” What Price wants is to send architects and those who hire them to a kind of beauty school, to introduce them to the three design tenets he outlines in his book: stillness, movement, and nature. “I want to lead that charge that to me is the new ecology movement: the architecture of the spirit,” he says. Stillness, to him, means timelessness, or emotional sustainability. He achieves this by incorporating a symbolic, almost anthropomorphic quality into his buildings. A home he’s creating in the shadow of the National Cathedral has curved copper sides around tall sweeps of glass—he calls it “two hands holding a sculpture.” But if future generations are going to enjoy buildings designed today, they must be of our time. That’s the movement part, which he calls “timefullness” in his book. “It has to be modern and dynamic,” says Price, who does not favor retro architecture that resurrects Italianate or Victorian styles. “Without glass, without shape and sculpting, you’re not here—you’re in another century.” Most of his buildings use materials seen elsewhere in their immediate neighborhoods, but with a twist: Instead of putting copper on a roof, for instance, he’ll use it as siding. The buildings may be in conversation with their surroundings, but they’re using different words. And then there’s the last lens: nature. “I make it green because it puts me in touch with nature and fulfills my spiritual and tactile needs,” he says. Giant glass boxes, no matter how energy efficient, don’t seem to Price to be particularly current or to necessarily respect, or reflect, their settings. “His architecture is about building within the context of the earth,”

Bellows says. In the “Spirit of Place” course Price teaches at Catholic University, students travel to majestic places—from Machu Picchu to glaciers in British Columbia—and use local materials to create reverent structures, from temples to outhouses (yes, an outhouse can be spiritual). “The course is about preserving and glorifying these incredible global icons that are really important to us,” he says. “It’s classic and it’s a really important movement and Travis is right on top of it.” Any great building, Price thinks, must be inherently green. You’d want to use the best windows, the thickest insulation, to maximize natural light and minimize indoor pollutants, to celebrate the local architecture and materials—but he stresses that these characteristics should be integral to the design, not regulated.

hough Price’s sentiments are compelling, they’re a familiar refrain among architects, even the green ones. “It’s easy to pick on LEED,” says Henry Siegel, the chair-elect of the American Institute of Architects’ Committee on the Environment and principal of Siegel & Strain Architects in Emeryville, California, a firm that designs eco-friendly homes and other buildings. “The standard doesn’t adequately take into account different strategies that work in different climate zones, or passive techniques for energy efficiency. That said, it’s been the single most important tool for transforming the market to green building practices.” Michelle Moore, vice president of policy and public affairs for the U.S. Green Building Council, the group that developed LEED, suggests it might be Price himself who’s missing the point. “Part of the USGBC’s mission is that we would all enjoy sustainable buildings within a generation, and that green building would be the way we operated,” she says. But

if you don’t happen to be a pioneering solar architect, you’re going to need education and guidelines. “For green building practices to become mainstream, you need measurable, achievable goals. To launch a critique that LEED constrains the aesthetic freedom of the architect is misunderstanding the system. It’s about a building’s performance and what it delivers for its occupants—and architecture is about more than sculpture.” Even if Price is able to merge his philosophies with the goals of LEED and other standards, he’ll still face the challenge of widening his visibility. Even his large-scale commercial work, like the National Geographic’s Explorers’ Hall, hasn’t raised him to the green star-architect level of, say, Norman Foster (the British architect who designs green commercial buildings like the Hearst Tower in New York). Most of those familiar with his projects reside in the Washington, D.C. area. To change green building, he’ll have to take his message to a broader audience.

n the end, perhaps Price’s philosophy isn’t checklist-y enough. Though he’s rejected the idealism that marked his early career in green building, his vision for how to change architecture seems, well, hippie-dippie. But even if some critics discount his goals as too broad or too idealistic, they might perk up at his passion. When he gets excited—often the case when he’s talking about his design philosophies—his eyebrows flit up and down involuntarily. It’s hard not to catch his fever, especially when leafing through his book and visiting his buildings in person. Unlike many architects who work on projects that never get built, Price gets to live among his creations every day. He lunches at a café he designed, tours neighborhoods where his houses simultaneously stand out and blend in with the existing fabric, and comes home to the rather extraordinary house he built for himself in the Forest Hills neighborhood overlooking Washington’s Rock Creek Park. Surrounded by grand Tudor homes on a steep hillside, Price’s house is perched on two steel columns to avoid affecting the trees below, while two steel drums filled with concrete (he calls them dangling earrings) help counterbalance the house on its posts. Its open floor plan allows for passive heating and cooling; the scheme also inspires visitors to embrace nature because you can see outside from practically anywhere inside. It was glorious to behold, and as soon as I stepped inside, I knew what he meant by stillness, movement, nature. Sure, the house made me appreciate the natural surroundings, as did all of his work that I saw. But can they really spur a new type of green architecture—the archeology of tomorrow, as he calls it? “His perspective is absolutely dead-on,” his friend Bellows says. “Do I think it’s going to last? Well, it has to.” “I’m very optimistic,” “It doesn’t change environmental woes but it Price says. “That’s what architects get paid for.” changes my love of nature,” Price admits. There’s something naïve and yet inspiring about his confidence in the power of beauty, and in his belief that p r i c e h opes his legacy will be the design his design philosophy will become his legacy. t e nets he outlines in his booK: “I’m very optimistic,” he says. “That’s what archis t i l lness, movement, and nature. tects get paid for.” plentymag.com

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CHOICES home

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Homeowner Alan Barr kicks back in the warehouse-turned-condo he shares with fiancée Bree Dahl.

Salvage Station

A Brooklyn condo renovation blends cool with conscience By David Sokol real estate developers can be soulless—or

so Alan Barr and Bree Dahl had concluded after two years of shopping. Seeking (but not finding) a new townhouse or condo in Brooklyn, Barr, an architect and native New Yorker, and Dahl, an interior designer transplanted from Australia, eventually agreed on Plan B: They would find and breathe new life into a wreck. That was the plan, anyway, until they met local builder Andrew Giancola, who had just completed exactly what they wanted. Giancola, a guy’s guy who, in the summer, sports cargo shorts and a T-shirt, wasn’t al-

photographs by beth perkins

ways driven by an eco-minded mission. The third-generation contractor had worked in dry cleaning for nine years before entering his family’s profession. After getting his feet wet with smaller jobs, Giancola made his first investment in a decrepit house in Brooklyn’s South Slope neighborhood in 2003. * plentymag.com

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‘‘

Caleb definitely put a bug in my ear about sustainable design,” builder Andrew Giancola says. “It didn’t take much convincing, because I wanted to differentiate myself.” 72|october / november 2007 |plentymag.com

By then he had teamed up with architect Caleb Crawford, a partner of Coggan + Crawford Architecture Design and assistant chair of undergraduate architecture at the Pratt Institute. “Caleb definitely put a bug in my ear about sustainable design,” Giancola says. “It didn’t take much convincing, because I wanted to differentiate myself.” In converting the South Slope house to a small apartment building, the two obtained an Energy Star rating thanks to strategies like liberal insulation, argon-filled insulated windows, and power-sipping appliances. Despite the roadblocks to building green in New York (Giancola says high-quality green construction can cost 40 percent more than standard construction; Crawford can enumerate his run-ins with the city’s

building department), the two decided that their next building would outdo the performance of the first one. “Every building is a master class,” Crawford says of his urge to make improvements for each new project. In 2004, Giancola sniffed out another neighborhood where he could buy cheap and build premium: Bond Street, in a rezoned industrial district on Brooklyn’s Gowanus Canal, a narrow channel of water whose reputation for nasty pollution has only just begun to change for the cleaner. The property, used most recently as an electrician’s warehouse, reflected the neighborhood, Giancola says: “The front was falling off, and a dead body was found two blocks away.” Perfect. One of the biggest challenges of the

home |choices

photo courtesy of Paul Finkel (TOP right)

Opposite: In addition to Energy Star appliances, other green features in the kitchen include shelves of Douglas fir that were made from partially demolished beams. Left: The first-floor dining room overlooks a courtyard that was created by removing a portion of the original warehouse. Above: The new steel facade is in character with the neighborhood’s history as a tough industrial zone.

project was the building’s footprint, which extended to the very edge of the property. Local building codes prohibit lotline windows, but Giancola and Crawford wanted to bring daylight into the building. So they performed a little surgery, splitting the structure into two front-and-rear units, each of which is two stories high. “I’ve always been attracted to courtyards,” Crawford says. Barr is grateful for the decision, since it lets morning sun into his and Dahl’s apartment in the rear of the building. He explains, “We work until all hours of the night, so we never see the afternoon sun.” Other than creating the courtyard and providing the building with a proper street

facade made of faceted steel sheets, Giancola and Crawford tried to minimize the transformation. Most of the original interior walls, for example, are exposed to maintain the feel of the building. “The industrial character of the brickwork and the concrete-block insertions are part of the character of the place,” Crawford explains. Preserving so much of the original structure also meant fewer new materials had to be used or shipped. Crawford and Giancola actually had several generations of usage in mind. The architect explains that owners who come after Barr and Dahl inevitably will want to insert their own sense of style. By avoiding unnecessary struc-

tural additions and employing similar handsoff strategies (making sure that, say, vent registers are in the right places) the designers reduced the amount of demolition waste that might be generated down the road. In the meantime, the condo seems to have found its rightful owners. Barr’s and Dahl’s artworks and mid-century modern furniture are easily at home in the streamlined industrial setting. On a recent tour of the house, all parties were smitten with the two kinds of insulation in the roof, recycled-tire roof pavers, and water-saving dual-flush toilets. Beams made of Douglas fir that were salvaged from the demolished part of the building were refashioned into plentymag.com

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kitchen shelves. The star of the walkthrough though was a miniscule, 92-percent-efficient Munchkin boiler and accompanying hot water tank that slip into the kitchen’s broom closet. The high green quotient of the condo has also influenced its owners’ lives, persuading Barr and Dahl to switch to eco-friendly cleaning products (Dahl, with a gleeful squeal, says that Mrs. Meyer’s is the current household fave). Meanwhile, Giancola has set his sights on a third Brooklyn building that will outperform its predecessors with renewable energy. Crawford, too, challenges himself to do better. His firm now signs only clients who embrace sustainability.

Barr and Dahl furnished both the first-floor living room and upstairs bedroom with a mix of vintage finds and present-day heirlooms, all in soothing, neutral tones. 74|october / november 2007 |plentymag.com

home|choices

Cover Story Paint is sooo yesterday. Use wall coverings to brighten up your digs—with so many options available, you’ll never go back to eggshell-white walls again.

A graphic leaf motif in sharp black and white lends drama to a small space.This wallpaper is manufactured with at least 10% post-consumer recycled vinyl. Sakai Stripe, versawallcovering.com (available through designers)

Make a room stand out—literally—with these quirky three-dimensional wall tiles made from post- and pre-consumer recycled paper. V2 PaperForms (12-tile pack), $28 mioculture.com

Made from the branches of mulberry trees, this semi-sheer paper looks extra-chic when layered over paint. China Wall,cannonbullock.com (available through designers)

Hand silk-screened using water-based non-toxic inks, this blue-and-cream print gives any room a regal air. Grand Jubilee, $90/roll modgreenpod.com

Totally tree-free! These vegetable-dyed papers are made from the fast-growing lokta bush in Nepal. Caravan XVII: SLATS, cannonbullock.com (available through designers) photographs by eugene gologursky

Strands of recycled paper are woven together to create a wall covering with a textured, cozy feel—perfect for a bedroom or den. Japanese Paper Weave, $48/yard phillipjeffries.com plentymag.com

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choices | retreads

Sarah Cihat with her colorful wares.

Let’s Dish A Brooklyn artist breathes new life into old tableware By jennifer acosta scott

I bought my first set of dishes at the Salvation Army shortly after I started college. The earthtoned, 1970s-style plates cost me $7, and they served me well until I got married six years later. I took them, chipped and well-enjoyed, back to a thrift store so someone else who was just starting out could use them. Clearly, I do not have as much imagination as Sarah Cihat. Cihat, a 28-year-old artist in the Williamsburg neighborhood of Brooklyn, New York, gives new life to old saucers through her business, Rehabilitated Dishware (www. sarahcihat.com). Cihat refires and reglazes secondhand dishes in her studio, infusing them with bold colors and silhouettes, a process she bills as “an exercise in sustainability that reincarnates existing products.” Repurposing dishware since 2003, Cihat first got the idea when she was a student at Parsons School of Design. “I went to thrift stores so often, and there were so many piles of odd dishes,” she says. “I thought maybe I could re-glaze them and make them into groups again.” Response to her work was so positive that in 2004 she began making the brightly-colored dishes full-time. Her funky, artsy designs resonated with buyers, and now her pieces are available in boutiques on both coasts and as far away as Japan. Despite saving plates from a doomed fate in a landfill, Cihat doesn’t see herself as an environmental crusader. Though she disapproves of wasteful practices—“everyone producing as much crap as possible,” as she puts it—she says

her passion is more about art than conservation. “I’d rather just [make cool stuff] and happen to be responsible at the same time,” she says. So if Cihat isn’t around, what happens to our old tableware? It’s impossible to know if my old plates were put to good use. The same can be said for all discarded dishware—most municipalities and recycling centers have no provisions for recycling ceramics, says Anne Reichman, spokeswoman for Earth 911, an environmental resource group. As for unused products, the makers of the popular Corelle and Pfaltzgraff dishware lines say theirs remain in outlet stores indefinitely until they’re sold.

Glass bottles have been a staple recyclable for decades, but ceramics are an entirely different story. Much more heat is required to melt down ceramic plates than pieces of glass, so consequently, they stay off most communities’ lists of recyclable materials. The best recycling option, Reichman says, is reuse, either by donating whole pieces to thrift stores or turning broken items into creative garden borders or mosaic tiles. Cihat has managed to marry the thrift store and creative-reuse concepts. Haunting Goodwill and Salvation Army stores on Long Island and in her native Tennessee for

creative ceramics

Looking to set an unusual table? Check out these other artists’ wares:

Recycled Glassworks

This San Francisco studio repurposes discarded plate glass and old traffic lights into dinnerware. They even accept donations for use in their products. recycledglassworks.com

INV/ALT Design

Denver artist Angela Schwab fashions wineglasses from recycled materials, as well as cupcake plates made from an old saucer and a wineglass stem. invaltdesign.etsy.com

Dish ’n Chips

This Langhorne, Pennsylvania boutique pieces together broken vintage china to form shabbychic–style cake plates, frames, and other household items. dishnchips.com

Rachael Sudlow

This Lawrence, Kansas artist makes drinking glasses from used soda and beer bottles by cutting off their tops and smoothing them down. sudlow.etsy.com

photograph by marianne rafter

retreads | choices

*Serving Suggestion

TRIM

Do it yourself: decorate your dishware With Cihat as inspiration, give your own used ceramics a makeover with some simple splashes of color. Art-supply company Pébéo offers a non-toxic, microwaveable, dishwashable paint that allows you to create lasting, inspired designs. A few brush strokes and an oven bake later, and you’re doing your part to recycle and give new life to your old dishware, vase, or picture frame.

Plenty’s Susan Cosier rejuvenated an old bowl and plate.

materials > a ceramic, porcelain, china, glass, or metal object > Pébéo Porcelaine 150 paint (pebeo.com or call 819.829.5012 for a store near you) > a soft-tipped paintbrush > a conventional oven procedure ➊ Wash the object you plan to paint and dry it completely. ➋ Using a soft-tipped brush, freehand your design. Not artistically gifted? Try a stencil or template (marthastewart.com). ➌ Let paint dry for 24 hours. ➍ Place object in a cold oven and set the temperature to 300 degrees. ➎ Bake for 35 minutes. ➏ Carefully remove the object with oven mitts and let cool.

photo by eugene gologursky

supplies, she produces anywhere from 50 to 200 new pieces a month. Her products range in price from $40 for a mug to $60 for a dinner plate for retail clients and custom buyers. Since many factors, such as depth, shape, and sturdiness, play into whether a piece is acceptable for reworking, Cihat says she tries to procure most of her pieces personally. “I’m the only one who knows whether a dish will work,” she says, noting that delicate materials like fine china are too fragile to stand up to the refiring process. As with any successful company, Cihat is diversifying her business. Last year, she introduced DIRT, a line of hand-cast porcelain vases, cups, and sculptures. But Rehabilitated Dishware is still her most popular line. Many of her clients are repeat customers, eager to own a full line of table settings from her studio. “They want to buy odd pieces, like creamers and espresso cups,” she says. “And I’m open to anything interesting I think I can refire.”

in april 2008 nyc is going green!

april 25-27

new york city For nearly every category of products & services, there are “green” alternatives. Go Green Expo’s goal is to introduce these alternatives to consumers and business owners intending on becoming more environmentally conscious. Go Green Expo will educate its attendees on the increasing number of eco-friendly choices available for daily living.

over 150 exhibits organic food & wine home & ofﬁce products investment opportunities eco-fashion health & beauty hybrid transportation energy alternatives

dozens of activities ﬁlm presentations interactive seminars children’s learning center eco-fashion show hands on demonstrations gala awards dinner

hilton new york

“We do not inherit the Earth from our parents... We borrow it from our children.”

limited exhibit space available. please contact Annie Steinberg at 212.655.4505 x229

www.gogreenexpo.com

style | choices Eco boutique Kaight offers shoppers upscale clothing options. Inset: Owner Kate McGregor.

High Fashion, Low Impact This NYC boutique mixes chic design with smarter fabrics By alison sherbach Walk past the hipsters and the casually cool coffee shops on Orchard Street in the Lower East Side of Manhattan, and you might just stumble upon Kaight (kaightnyc.com), an eco-fashionista’s shopping haven. Founded by Kate McGregor last summer, the shop combines sleek silhouettes with sustainable materials. Plenty sat down with her to chat about her vision for the store, her favorite designers, and eco-friendly clothes that don’t compromise sophistication or style.

and wearing. When I was doing my research, I found that many designers were creating really cool stuff, but I couldn’t find it anywhere in stores. So I was frustrated with my job, I wanted to open my own store, and it seemed like there was a need for a shop like this. How do you feel after the first year?

It’s definitely been a learning experience, but people have responded really well to the idea and to the store in general.

What inspired you to open your store?

The idea came from a few different sources. I had been working as a reporter for a financial media company, and I wasn’t excited about what I was doing. Independent of that, I became intrigued by and excited about clothes. I wanted to feel like I had a connection to what I was buying photographs by amanda de beaufort

What have you figured out?

It’s a constant challenge to own your own business, and you have to understand what people want. I’ve also been fine-tuning my concept. When I first came up with the idea for the store, it was very high-end, fashion-forward green cloth-

ing—a departure from what you typically see out there in terms of organic. When you talk about green fashion, eco fashion, or organic fabrics, people don’t have an image of beautiful clothing. They think of T-shirts, maybe some hemp pants, Birkenstocks—not high fashion. I want to continue to move beyond that idea and show that there’s a lot more out there to choose from. Who shops at your store?

When I first opened, I would say 75 percent of the customers didn’t know my concept. It was people walking in off the street. But it’s becoming a destination because people are interested in organic clothes. They read that I carry bamboo Tshirts, and they want to come in and feel them, and look at them. And they have this idea of what that is and then… it’s not; it’s a regular T-shirt! plentymag.com

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choices | style Who are some of your favorite greenfashion designers?

Kaight boasts environmental features beyond the clothes, like bamboo flooring.

Linda Loudermilk is amazing. She’s one of the few designers doing high fashion in this space. Another design company called Viridis Luxe creates a blend of hemp and cashmere that makes stunning sweaters and coats. And there are a lot of interesting European designers. Noir is a design company based in Denmark that has its own ethical-and-organic-fabric brand. And there’s a new denim label called Sling & Stones. Everything is earth-friendly, including its nickel-free and reclaimed hardware. Besides the clothes, is there anything about your boutique that’s eco-friendly?

The floors are made of bamboo and the shelves are all custom-steel that is made locally in Brooklyn. My desk was made out of the leftover flooring, and I had benches made from reclaimed wood and shelving made from old railroad ties. Do you wear strictly organic fabrics?

Anything I buy new is organic, but I still have favorite pieces of clothing that aren’t. I don’t necessarily believe that just because I opened my store, I should throw away everything in my closet and replace it with organic stuff. I don’t think that’s very green either.

What are the challenges to buying strictly eco clothing?

The price point can be a barrier, which is unfortunate. There’s definitely a hope that once organic cotton is farmed more, the price will come down. Right now it’s really easy to go to a chain store and buy six T-shirts because they’re $9.99. A T-shirt here runs $40, but do you really need six of them? The whole goal is that people will

eventually buy more environmentally friendly clothing, and it will make them think a little bit more about what they’re choosing. I think one of the bigger problems is the assumption that a wardrobe is disposable. ‘Oh, I’ll just buy this and wear it once and throw it out.’ I think a lot of people think that way. Hopefully if they spend a little bit more money on something, they won’t feel the need to do that anymore.

Shopkeeper’s selections Linda Loudermilk: water faucet with a drop necklace $75 “It’s a cool design, and the fact that part of the proceeds go to support the UN’s campaign for developing clean-water programs in developing countries is awesome.”

Del Forte: willow wide-leg denim $190 “This is a nice alternative to the skinny jean that we’ve all been seeing. It’s a great silhouette and doesn’t have a ton of stretch in it, so it’s more like a nice, structured trouser.” 80|october / november 2007|plentymag.com

Edun: dorian print silk shift dress $205 “An ideal transition piece. It’s a great dress for work, or you can dress it up with a heel or sandal to make it a bit more flirty.”

Anna Cohen: organic cotton trench $605 “It’s well structured, has a great cut, and is a perfect example of the designer’s Italian streetcouture aesthetic.”

John Patrick ORGANIC: vegetablewashed leather bomber jacket $795 “This is really hot for several reasons: It’s got a great cut, it’s very fitted, and the higher waistline hits you right at the waist bone. No one else is really doing vegetable-washed leather to this degree.”

style | choices

Manicure Makeover T

ricks of the nail-care trade date back to the 1920s and 1930s, when cosmetics companies borrowed methods from car manufacturers that were developing new paint technology. As antiquated as that may seem, chemicals used then to create lasting results are still in play, and some watchdog groups worry about nail polish safety. Most polishes contain dibutyl phthalate (DBP), a plasticizer that disrupts endocrine function and is linked to birth defects. And some also have toluene and formaldehyde, which are suspected carcinogens. The European Union banned the use of DBP and, in some instances, formaldehyde, in cosmetics in 2003, although the FDA says those chemicals pose no threat at such low levels. But the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics disagrees. This coalition aims to get cosmetics companies worldwide to phase out potentially harmful ingredients by having them sign their Compact for Safe Cosmetics. “We cross-reference 50 toxicological databases and conduct research to find safer alternatives, and so far, they’ve all proven successful,” says Mia Davis, the campaign’s national grassroots coordinator. So far, 600 cosmetics companies have signed the compact. OPI, a major player in the nail-care industry, agreed last year to stop using DBP in its products (though it still uses formaldehyde in some). “They’re so recognizable, this will push the nail industry to make things safer,” says Erin Thompson of Women’s Voices for the Earth, another campaign member.

Cosmetologist John Malson, founder of Syndicate Cosmetics, agrees. “It’s like when Aveda was founded in 1978, and people realized we didn’t need unpronounceable ingredients in shampoo. It takes someone to break out of the status quo.” Also a compact signer, Malson founded his company a decade ago, creating a line of single-use nail polish kits (packaged in recycleable materials) after learning about risks posed by brush-born bacteria in nail salons. Creating a safer polish does have its tradeoffs, though, like texture inconsistencies. But Malson is confident people will grow to love eco-friendly polishes. “Once they understand how much better they are health-wise, more people will get on board.” —Jessica Tzerman

polish it up

A manicure was once as simple as matching your nail color to your outfit. Now some natural beauty companies want you to select nail products that pair up with your ethical sensibilities too. > For animal-rights activists: Max Green Alchemy, which displays a humane and cruelty-free claim on the bottle. > Tired of U.S. dependency on oil? Priti Organic Spa and PeaceKeeper Cause-metics both have petrochemical-free nail-care lines. > Vegans can feel good about cosmetic companies No Miss and Almost Natural: They carry polish and remover made from organic, plant-based ingredients.

label alert icon tells us when a cosmetic product’s bottle is recyclable, but determining the shelf life of the ingredients inside isn’t so obvious. Some cosmetic companies are now voluntarily labeling products with an icon known as the Period After Opening (PAO) symbol. The image is an open-lidded jar that contains a number followed by the letter M, which indicates the number of months a product remains usable after it has been opened. The FDA currently only requires companies to print expiration dates on products that contain active ingredients, like sunscreen and anti-aging treatments. But some believe including a PAO on all products makes good sense. “You have to be up front about the length of time a product is completely effective,” says Shel Pink,

the chasing arrows

nail polish photo by eugene gologursky

founder of SpaRitual, an eco-friendly cosmetics company that includes PAO’s. But determining the life expectancy of a product is not an exact science. Companies are free to set their own parameters, and they will vary according to the type of product. Expiration dates also don’t account for how a product is stored or used; direct sunlight can compromise the efficacy of vitamin A in cosmetics, for example, and exposure to air can cause many ingredients to oxidize. You’ll also need to know the date you first opened the product, since an expiration date without reference provides no benefit at all. But ultimately, PAO’s are helpful rules of thumb. Besides, says Pink, “I like to know when my food expires, and I feel the same way about my beauty products.” — J.T. plentymag.com

| october / november 2007 |81

TM,ÂŠ 2006 Kashi Company

food | choices

Fish Tales

Learn how to navigate the oft-murky waters of farmed, sustainable, and organic aquaculture By christy harrison If you’re an eco-minded seafood lover, you probably thought you’d mastered the basics. You eschew over-fished wild varieties for farmed fare, mind your mercury, and look for organic labels. But the conventional wisdom on sustainable seafood is changing as the stakes are raised higher: A recent study found that most popular wild fish species will be near extinction in 40 years if the world maintains its current dietary demand. Some experts believe fish farming will help offset the world’s diminishing stocks, but new research questions whether that will really make enough of a difference. Here’s what you need to know now to shop smart at your local fish market.

Wild vs. farmed?

This flip-flopping debate may best be illustrated with farmed Atlantic salmon. Both chefs and environmentalists once thought farmed was preferable, since it’s available year-round and doesn’t deplete wild stocks. Not anymore. Dead fish, uneaten food, and feces that lurk below open-net pens on fish farms can suffocate the sea life on the ocean floor. Feed pellets—made from fish because salmon are carnivorous—may contain mercury and dioxins. And salmon that escape the nets wreak havoc on biodiversity and introduce disease. “Salmon farming is not as great as I’d once thought, and I’ve stopped buying and selling it,” says Rich Moonen, chef and owner of RM Seafood in Las Vegas. Now, wild Pacific salmon is thought to be the catch of the day, since it doesn’t create pollution and health problems. Alaska’s wild-caught salmon is certified as sustainable by the nonprofit organization Marine plentymag.com|october / november 2007|83

choices | food Stewardship Council, and the states of California, Washington, and Oregon also operate well-managed wild salmon fisheries. As for the other fish in the sea, for now, farmed is fine for species like tilapia, char, and catfish that are fed a vegetarian diet and live in brackish water. Wild is preferred for carnivorous fish such as tuna, salmon, halibut, and snapper. Line-caught fish are preferable to those gathered in nets, although you may not be privy to that information at the market or in a restaurant). For a list of smart seafood choices that includes which fish to buy farmed and which to buy wild, click on the Seafood Watch icon for a pocket guide from the Monterey Bay Aquarium’s website (mbayaq.org). Long-term sustainable solutions

With the world’s fish population in peril and current methods of fish farming causing environmental problems, legislation is in development that’s poised to improve the business of U.S. aquaculture. The National Offshore Aquaculture Act will create a regulatory framework for sustainable fishfarming operations in federal waters that are three to 200 miles off the coast. Advocates say it will protect wild stocks and also help to reduce the farms’ negative impacts. But some watchdog groups fear the law will

create a vast network of unmonitored, polluted, and inhumane feedlots. “Fish farming can help meet demand, but only if it is done right,” says Rebecca Goldburg, a senior scientist with the nonprofit Environmental Defense. She says that as the act is currently written, “it doesn’t require that key environmental impacts be minimized.” Until the issue has been hammered out, buy fish from farms with a good environmental record. For a list of those who are doing it right, see the sidebar “Solid Seafood Choices.” organic labeling

The organic issue remains fishy for consumers. Most of the seafood currently labeled as organic comes from abroad and might not meet the standards Americans have come to associate with an organic seal of approval. According to the Pure Salmon Campaign, some countries developed their own organic standards since there are presently no international guidelines in place. There were once two U.S. fish companies— both shrimp farms—that bore a USDA organic seal, having received certification through the department’s livestock program in 2004. But the USDA blocked that avenue of approval soon afterward, and both companies voluntarily rescinded their organic distinction. The government has still yet to develop organic standards

for farmed fish and won’t certify wild fish as organic because they can’t be monitored to the degree farmed fish can. Establishing an organic fish labeling system has been a long time coming, but in March, the USDA issued interim standards for seafood that will prohibit a future organic seal for farmed fish raised in open-net pens or those that eat wild fish. They are reconvening in November to review public comments. Eco and consumer groups praise those prohibitions but worry that fishing-industry lobbyists could water down the final results. “The USDA must take a strong stance to ensure that the entire organic label is not diluted,” says Andrea Kavanagh, director of the Pure Salmon Campaign. “We’re asking the U.S. to permanently close the door on organic certification for open-net-cage fish farming and the farming of carnivorous fish like salmon.” If current organic labels are scarce and somewhat meaningless, what does it mean in terms of quality? Kavanagh says some organic-labeled fish from other countries contain more PCBs and chemicals than fish farmed in the U.S. So for now, buyer beware. Fish lovers should stay tuned to see how the labeling issue develops.

visit plentymag.com to reaD about stores and restaurants that offer eco-friendly seafood.

Solid Seafood Choices When shopping for wild Pacific salmon, look for coho, sockeye, and King varieties. As for farmed fish, seek out one of these tasty choices, reeled in by some of the eco-friendliest fish farms in the country.

Fresh from the nets at Kona Blue.

84|october / november 2007|plentymag.com

Kona Blue Water Farms This farm offers mild, sushigrade yellowtail fish known as Kona kampachi, which is native to Hawaii. Kona Blue’s nets are suspended in their natural habitat where currents keep pollution and waste from accumulating below. They also raise the nets out of the water to let the sun clean off the algae in lieu of using the usual copper-based cleaning solution. kona-blue.com

Australis Barramundi is an Australian fish with a sweet, buttery taste and delicate texture. This Massachusetts-based company raises them using indoor farms to imitate the fishes’ native ecosystem. The company also refilters and reuses millions of gallons of water a day and donates the manure to local farmers for fertilizer. australis.us

OceanBoy Farms This Florida company raises shrimp in man-made ponds with filtered and recirculated water. (They’re of the two seafood companies that voluntarily surrendered their USDA organic seal.) Demand is so high for their now self-proclaimed organic variety that the company already sold out of their stocks for this year. oceanboyfarms.com

food | choices Sautéed Char with Fennel Salad and Mango Vinaigrette This tangy dish was developed by Rick Moonen, chef and owner of the RM Seafood restaurant at the Mandalay Bay Resort in Las Vegas. Serves 4 mango vinaigrette ingredients

1 ripe mango, peeled and diced 1-½ cup orange juice 1-¼ tsp salt 4 grinds white pepper Juice of ¼ lime 1 pinch cayenne pepper ½ cup extra virgin olive oil photo by Tim macgregor

procedure: Place the mango and

orange juice in a blender and purée them until they are smooth. Season the puréed fruit with the salt, pepper, lime juice, and cayenne. Turn on the blender, and while the motor is still running, add olive oil in a steady stream. Add more salt and pepper to taste. Pour mixture from the blender

into a container and chill in the refrigerator. The vinaigrette can be made several hours in advance. fennel salad ingredients

1 bulb fennel, shaved or thinly sliced 1/6 large red onion, shaved or thinly sliced 2 oranges 3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil 1-½ tsp salt 4 grinds of white pepper procedure: Peel the oranges and

cut them into segments. Place the segments in a bowl and pour the juice from the cutting board over the top

of the pieces, and set the bowl aside. Shave or slice the fennel and place it in a medium-sized stainless-steel or glass bowl. Add the onion slices and olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Mix together well and add the orange mixture. Taste for seasoning and chill until time to serve. sautÉed char ingredients

4 six-ounce char filets Salt Pepper 1 oz butter at room temperature 4 tbsp pure olive oil procedure: Season the char with

salt and pepper and spread a small

portion of the butter in a thin layer to the skin side of the fish. Place a large, heavy-bottomed pan over medium heat and add remaining butter. Carefully place the fish in the pan, skin side down, and sautée fillets for three to four minutes until the skin is a crispy golden brown. Turn the fish and sautée the other side for an additional minute. Remove fish to a towel to drain excess fat. to serve:

Place equal servings of the fennel salad on each plate and spoon the mango vinaigrette in a circle around it. Put the sautéed char on top of the salad. Bon appétit!

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the last word

Movin’ On Up

Relocating an existing house proved more rewarding than building a new one by Leslie Petrovski i can’t argue that owning a second home rep-

resents a stringently sustainable lifestyle—it’s a luxury. But over the course of my marriage, a dream began to emerge: Could Mitch and I live and work in the city and in the mountains too? And even if we could afford to, could we justify the environmental footprint? Both of us had fallen in love with Colorado’s Wet Mountain Valley, which is freckled with the buildings of two sister towns, Silver Cliff and Westcliffe. This wide, green valley opens onto the arcing parabola of the Sangre de Cristo, the southernmost range of the Rocky Mountains. We were—and still are—smitten with the rough granite faces, thousands of feet of sheer, wind-blasted rock rising from a velvety valley. We started our second-home search one afternoon by looking at raw acreage, fourwheeling up a precarious, rutted road with a real estate agent named Ron. The property he showed us was strewn with lichen-covered boulders, and, if we stood on tiptoe, we could see a few peaks. “If you just top them trees,” Ron suggested, “you’ll have great views.” And that wasn’t the only downside. Not only would we have to chop trees to clear a view, after land costs, we’d be looking at a price tag of about $35,000 before we hammered a single nail. We’d have to drill a well for water, and we’d also have to pay for a driveway, electricity, phone lines and a septic system. The tree chopping and the money weren’t the only reasons to think twice. Here were these proud stands of trees, rock, and earth. Could we carve a driveway through these handsome white pines, when so many of Col-

orado’s alpine valleys had already been scarred by bulldozers and second-home builders? But a dream is a dream, and so, with no real plan except to hedge against inflation and find a way to make it work, we bought four lots in the town of Silver Cliff, with lovely views of Horn Peak. The land sat undeveloped for two years, until we found a most unusual solution. The house that became our second home already lived somewhere else. We’d spent a weekend in the mountains and were heading home to Denver when we spotted it. It sat on a windswept stretch along the highway with a sign in the window that read, “For sale. To be moved.” From the outside, it wasn’t much to look at—just a rectangle with a pitched roof and peeling asphalt shingles; a simple, ’50s-style, worse-for-the-wear ranch house, perched on blue I-beams and railroad ties. Nosy and curious, we decided to stop and poke around. We climbed the stacks of railroad ties and tried the battered aluminum door, which gave easily. Inside it smelled dank and musty, like decaying carpet. The walls looked like someone had textured them with a rake. The steel cabinets—a vintage Youngstown kitchen—were horribly abraded and caked with grease. I looked at Mitch and said, “No way,” but with an unprintable thought in the middle. “C’mon,” he pleaded with me. “You’ve got to have vision.” “I have vision,” I responded. “I’m envisioning a lot of work.” “Think of it, honey,” he said, “we would be recycling an entire house.”

The work was backbreaking. We did much of it ourselves, hiring local tradespeople for the skilled labor. Because we settled the house on town lots, we could hook up to local utilities, which eliminated the need to disturb pristine land for yet another septic system and well. We saved and recycled as much as we could. All the old screen doors, metal door jambs, and the water heater went into our city alley to be reclaimed by local metal scavengers. We kept the Youngstown kitchen, sprucing it up with a good scrubbing and paint job. The bathtub stayed, as did the vintage venetians, all the interior doors, windows, and light fixtures. We painted the inside bright, ’50s colors— aqua, chartreuse, and yellow—and named it the “micro ranch.” It felt very us. When we show people photographs of the house moving into place, it’s clear that it has a rich history. We’re not the first to store pots and pans in the steel lazy Susans and gather family and friends for meals in the tiny dining room—no doubt we won’t be the last. Moving a small house over a mountain pass isn’t your typical vacation-home strategy, especially at a time when people are building enormous, toothbrush-ready mansions. But it is wonderfully satisfying to know that this modest dwelling, which might have crumbled into a pile of sticks and dust, is living its second life as our second home. Leslie Petrovski is a freelance writer who writes about higher education, knitting, and culture. She lives in Denver and Custer County, Colorado with her husband and “recycled” alley cats.

Got an eco story to tell? E-mail us at lastword@plentymag.com. 88|october / november 2007|plentymag.com

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