Growing Greener

Well, it looks like this will be my last blog for the semester with graduation just a couple of short weeks away. Looking back on my last semester at the University of Arizona and writing for the Cat Scan, our theme "living green" has proven to be more than a success. For me it's been educational, a change in my perspective, and something that will remain as an ongoing learning experience long after I've graduated.




Initially I was resistant to the idea of the Cat Scan's green theme, and thought it was too limited. But I quickly came around and found that whether it's sports, fashion, businesses, or cars, it's more than likely there's something green.

Writing on businesses going green for both my blog and the Cat Scan has been a valuable experience. Not only has it given me the opportunity to get my hands on some real-world reporting, but it's made me more aware of what being green is all about. It can mean carpooling, buying local produce, or recycling. Whether you do all of these things or just one of them, remember this: it's a bunch of little things that create a big change in the future of the environment.

I can't say I embrace a green lifestyle or that everything I buy is 100% organic, but I'm working on it. My reporting experiences through the Cat Scan has opened my eyes and made me more aware of my impact on the environment.

To learn more about a greener lifestyle, check out some of my favorite sites:

• Treehugger - a great place to check out anything and everything that's green
  
• The Green Guide - by National Geographic, this site is great for searching the most recent eco-friendly tips, tools, and product reviews
  
• Simply Green - blog by Danny Seo that offers creative and sustainable solutions from everyday materials
  
• Greenloop - a great place to check out eco-fashion
  

Lick Global Warming

Many of you may know Ben and Jerry's for their innovative ice cream creations like their Cherry Garcia, Chunky Monkey, or Phish Food. (My favorite is Oatmeal Cookie Chunk.) However, Ben and Jerry have been redefining more than just ice cream since day one. Through their dedication to a sustainable corporate concept, they embrace progressive values that focus on children and families, the environment and sustainable agriculture on family farms.

Below are some examples of how Ben and Jerry's embrace and continue to improve upon eco-friendly business practices.

• 2002: Ben and Jerry's launched their Ben and Jerry's Lick Global Warming campaign which educates others on the challenges of global warming
  
• 2006: "Cool Your Jets"" program was introduced to educate the public on carbon-offsetting and encouraging them to purchase carbon offsets to counter the greenhouse gas emissions from their airplane travel
  
• 2006: Ben and Jerry's converted their vanilla extract and the cocoa powder to Fair Trade Certified in 2007
  
• Beginning in 2007, all eggs used in their U.S. ice cream production were transitioned to Certified Humane cage-free suppliers, making Ben and Jerry's one of the very first national food manufacturers to commit to this practice
  
• Ben and Jerry's continues to work closely with farmers who supply milk and cream for their products in order to help implement sustainable practices on the farm
  

Ben and Jerry's also launched four organic flavors: strawberry, vanilla, sweet cream and cookies, and chocolate fudge brownie. All are made from certified organic ingredients and cultivated in environmentally-sustainable ways.

GreenCareers at MonsterTRACK

As I've mentioned before, my plan is to graduate in December - and I say "plan" because I don't want to jinx myself before my diploma comes through the mail if heaven forbid, something goes wrong until then...

Anyway, I was online the other day job-searching on MonsterTRAK when I came across a page dedicated strictly to GreenCareers for college students and recent graduates. As I clicked around, I found out that MonsterTRAK has been onto green businesses for awhile and is recognized as the first environmentally responsible recruitment website.

In partnership with ecoAmerica and sponsored by Environmental Defense, GreenCareers supports companies and recent graduates who share a desire to impact the environment in positive ways. People searching through this site can check out the featured employers of the week, such as Greenpeace, BP Solar, and Malcolm Pirnie. It also has specific links for Green Opportunities, Career Advice (for pursuing a green career), and articles on green actions such as how to live green or becoming more involved.

GreenCareers even has a link for green scholarships intended for students studying conservation, sustainable agriculture, or have promoted eco-related subjects throughout their community.

Consistent with MonsterTRACK job searches through their homepage, GreenCareers is set up in the same way. Students and graduates can conduct a career search using a specific job type (part-time, full-time experienced, internship, etc.) with specific keywords and locations to find a compatible job opportunity.
For more information, check out GreenCareers powered by MonsterTRACK.

Organic Beauty by Alba

I recently purchased a lipgloss by Alba, a bodycare line that is both pure and environmentally-conscious, from my local Walgreens. I had never seen their products before, though recently the all-natural brand went from being sold primarily at Whole Foods and specialty markets to Walgreens, making it more accessible to the general consumer who might not know much about eco-friendly beauty.

My coconut cream lip gloss from Alba's Hawaiian line is made from 70% certified organic ingredients, though they also offer products such as sunscreen, hair care, lotions, and shower gels, all made from vitamins, natural plant oils and protiens, fruit extracts, and organic herbs.

Alba is under Avalon Natural Products, supporting organic products, and a strong environmental commitment stating "Alba is committed to reducing our footprint so that our company helps to preserve and heal the planet, now and for future generations."

Who's House? Helios House!

Over the weekend during my visit to L.A. for a brief getaway, I was able to check out Helios House, a futuristic-looking gas station that offers sustainable alternatives for the future. Helios House which was created in February 2007 by BP, a global energy group, is made from recycled materials and is the first LEED certified gas station in the United States.

When I got a tour from Josh Weber, a BP employee, he explained that everything at Helios House had a purpose and way of contributing to the environment. "The little things add up. That's all this station is, it's a bunch of little things," said Weber.

The station's structure, made from 100% recyclable stainless steel, is solar-powered by the 90 solar panels sitting on the roof. Helios House also recycles all of its water through a graywater system to irrigate the bamboo plants and succulents scattered throughout the station's landscaping. Even the ground is recycled! The cement is mixed with recyled glass which not only gives it a nice sparkle, but sends back 70% of the sun's heat-causing rays which helps reduce heat island effect found in large urban areas.

During my visit, I realized that the gas station didn't even smell like gasoline. Weber later explained that all gas pumps in the state of California must have to use a special device on their pumps which siphon out the carbonmonoxide and CO2 vapors emitted while pumping gas. These pumps in particular catch between 98-99% of all of the vapors which eliminates the usual smell of gas fumes that are inhaled. You can even watch the screen while you fill up your tank, which flashes green tips with little things everyone can do to improve the environment.

Sitting between pumps are stations offering hand-sanitizing wipes with natural oils and lavender on 100% recycled paper, and mini paper postcards with snippets of information from the greencurve.com that raise awareness about sustainability. After you read the card, you can water it, plant it, and grow wildflowers.

There are also three cans - one for trash and two for recycling - between every two pump stations for customers who want to clean out their car while they fuel up. "if we make it available, if it's right here, people will do it," said Weber.

Marissa Sanchez a local resident said she's been coming to Helios House for the past four months becuase of convenience and because it's green. "The prices seem to be a little bit more expensive, but I think it's worth it overall," said Sanchez. "They make it really nice they have hand-sanitizer here and they have recycling here so you can get a lot done."

Everything at Helios House comes together full circle. "They [BP] really built it with the idea of 'can we take this back apart and reuse it' becuase we know it's not going to be here forever," said Weber. "Sustainability is they key to everything."

The Gap Goes Green

Earlier this year, Gap launched a line of men's organic cotton T-shirts, reinforcing their commitment to being a socially responisble business.

In 2007 the store released a line of organic cotton mens' T-shirts which are not chemically dyed so they retain a natural color, and are made from 100% organic cotton. The shirts which come in three styles - crew, v-neck, and tank - are all made without the use of fertilizers or pesticides and are available in all North American Gap retail stores.

Courtesy of Gap

The idea to integrate organic cotton into their clothing and products was motivated by their customers' concerns and a desire to find new ways to create more options for their consumers.

"Our customers have shown an interest in environmentally-friendly products and our production is always researching new and innovative approaches," said Kris Marubio, a representative for Gap Inc. Corporations.

In 2005, Gap Inc. joined the Better Cotton Initiative aimed at promoting environmentally, socially, and economically sustainable cotton cultivation practices.

"It's a collaborative group that uses a multi-stakeholder effort to address an issue that cannot be taken on by just one retailer," said Marubio in an interview.

Currently, men's T-shirts are the only organic products that can be purchased in stores locally. Organic products for babies is also available through Baby Gap, but can only be ordered via online, or in Gap stores located in the U.K. and France. Hopefully, a women's line will be relased in the near future.

Through BCI and new initiative to offer organic products, the Gap has found a way to support and create products that are fashionable and environmentally friendly.

Healthier Cleaning

Over the weekend, I attended the Green Building Expo. along with some classmates to report on the event in downtown Scottsdale.

The two-day event was absolutely amazing with 100+ booths of companies that embrace an eco-friendly approach through their products and services. Being a clean-freak with borderline obsessive compulsive disorder tendancies, I gravitated towards a joint booth that featured Earth Maids and Shaklee, who both contribute to a toxic-free approach to cleaning.



Earth Maids, a cleaning service for homes and offices, embraces a greener way of cleaning, only using products that are eco-friendly, non-toxic, and biodegradable, by Shaklee.

Ranging from window cleaners, to dishwash soap, to laundry detergent, Shaklee's Get Clean line is both versatile and safe to use. Each bottled product is highly concentrated and can be mixed with different soap-to-water concentrations for the cleaning need on hand.

"What that means is less bottles and then it also means you're not shipping the bottles so it's less greenhouse gases, and you save money," said Jane Pederson, a Shaklee distributor.


With just a couple of drops added to one of their empty cleaning bottles and water filled to the top, Shaklee users improve their home and the Earth's environment, by reducing waste and toxins. They're just as effective in the way the clean, too.

"Most people think if you use those types of products," referring to natural household cleaners, "that they don't work as well," said Pederson.

Earth Maids and Shaklee embrace sustainability and raising awareness. Being socially responsible businesses, both strive to encourage others to make even the smallest change in their routine, for a healthier environment, and are more than willing to show other how to make these changes. Earth Maids only offers their services to homes and offices in the Phoenix Metropolitan area, however, natural cleaning tips using common household ingredients can be found on their website, along with additional guidelines on purchasing cleaning products.

Wal-Mart gone green?

Earlier this month, my roommate picked up a September issue of Fast Company, a magazine geared towards the business world, with information on mangagement, leadership, and career advice.

To my good fortune, September's issue happened to be all about green. Talk about perfect timing. On the cover was a young man, holding a plant with the cover story reading: "He Sold His Soul to Wal-Mart". Something wasn't making sense to me and from the cover I thought to myself, "Wal-Mart and environmentalism...kind of an unlikely pair."

The man on the cover is Adam Werbach, a 34-year old environmentalist who ironically, has abadoned mainstream methods of environmetalism to strengthen his efforts for a more sustainable environment. At 23, Werbach was one of the youngest presidents of the Sierra Club. He's also co-founded the Apollo Alliance, created to support and lead the way towards an alternative-energy economy, and started Act Now, a company geared towards positioning businesses to a greener customer base along the way. Today, with Act Now, Werbach is embracing what could be one of his most ambitious goals: transforming Wal-Mart into an environmentally sustainable business.



In the article, Werbach talks about how Wal-Mart become his biggest client for Act Now. One of the main obstacles Werbach saw in Wal-Mart's goal in becoming a more sustainable business was the appeal of Wal-Mart's low prices which would indefinitely supercede the appeal of sustainability. He points out that even if green products make it to the shelf, how do you get people to buy them?

Werbach realized that the only way to get people to change their habits was to get the company, and its employees to care about sustainability. Through the development of what is now the Personal Sustainability Project, Werbach and Andy Ruben, Wal-Mart's vice president of sustainability, have created a way to show how even the smallest changes can benefit the environment greatly. It is a program that encourages Wal-Mart's employees to apply sustainability into their own lives and share it with others.

Who would have guessed that Wal-Mart would become a business for the environment? This article shows that the trend of being green has picked up in places, no one would have ever imagined. For Werbach, he mentions that it's not the goals of environmentalism that aren't enough for him, it's the methods that aren't effective. These methods paired with sustainability result in sacrifice. His method with Wal-Mart however, doesn't involve sacrifice at all and focuses on baby steps in making changes: "People care about themselves first, so you have to start with what's important in their lives."

What the afterlife of a tree could be

Last weekend I visited Phoenix to interview one of the owners of Twigg & Twill, an organic retailer, for an upcoming story. During the interview I found out about the business' dedication to promoting an organic lifestyle through their products, such as clothing, housewares, and furniture--all of which are 100% organic.

The furniture in Twigg & Twill however, was one of the most interesting products the store carried. Each piece sold in the store comes from the company, Exotic Home. In my interview I found out that Exotic Home creates all of their furniture from old palm trees from Fiji's coconut plantations, only using all-natural materials without the use of any chemicals in the process of manufacturing.

Interestingly, coconut trees from Fiji's plantations planted over one hundred years ago have become a severe problem for the Fijian landscape. Once coconut trees stop bearing fruit, ( after about 85 years), they become useless and begin to pollute the land. Currently, Fiji has over 100 million old palm trees which they are unable to burn or sink, making these old trees from the plantations one of the world's largest unusable resources.

Taking advantage of this abundant resource Exotic Home has found an effective and eco-friendly way to take the palms from Fiji and convert them into something useful. Using all parts of the tree this business creates classic, durable pieces of furniture as well as art, and home accessories. Their sensible solutions allows them to produce organic products without having to rely on glue or lacquers. Instead, Exotic Home uses knots instead of glue to hold their handcrafted furniture together and relies on the naturally occurring coconut oils to provide a shiny finish, ensuring that everything they make is 100% organic.

Making things a little bit greener

Create a Free Slideshow

Over the weekend I traveled to Phoenix to check out a business called the Green Room which after opening a little over a year ago, has found a way to make the lives of others, greener. Tucked away off the street in Old Town Scottsdale, the Green Room offers interior plantscaping services conducive to both work and home environments to help alleviate stress or even better -- inspire creativity.

The philosphy of the Green Room is really to "create an inspiring place and bring nature into people's home," says Charlie Ray, the owner and founder of the business. And he doesn't need to tell you twice once you walk through the front door leading into the Green Room.

As soon as I entered, I could see plants of all shapes and sizes growing out of handmade glazed pots that were scattered throughout the store, on shelves, tabletops, and counters. Smaller plants, as well as dried out bulbs and roots hung from the ceiling, while larger plants in sturdy clay pots dotted the floor. The entire room was flooded with natural sunlight entering the room from every angle, and along the back wall hung a series of canvases with that displayed abstract paintings done by local artist James Sanders, for inspiration.

The room I walked into was in every way, green. Decor with an organic feel and knick-knacks for the sake of decoration made from the raw materials of old plants were scattered across tables throughout the store. And with plants filling every corner still leaving plenty of room to move comfortably around, it was easy to both see and experience how plants contributed a therapeutic vibe to their surroundings.

But in my mind, it wasn't what I would have imagined as a "green" way of living. When I asked Charlie how he thought his business was tied to the way people are living greener, thinking green meant organic foods and saving energy, he explained how the word itself, has more meaning than ever before:
"Green is such a hot word now whether it's construction or design or plants."

For the Green Room, living greener means living with plants. And with his goal to inspire others with plants, it's obvious Charlie feels that plants are more than part of a room's decor and have plenty to offer. They have value and can contribute to a more positive atmosphere. What he wants to share with others through his business is the therapuetic aspect plants can bring to any environment.

(You can take a quick look for yourself on the contributing effects of plants...HERE)

"Plants can really change the space... it makes it so inviting and inspiring to me and i just look at these plants as artwork. I've always thought of them as living sculptures."

Integrating plants might not be the first thing that comes to mind when people decide to go green with their lifestyle. But Charlie's business and belief of what plants can offer shows that being green doesn't necessarily mean eating only organic foods, or using every type of energy-saving houseware that's been invented. You could simply start living green by buying a plant and putting it in your home. It seems logical actually, to become in touch with nature and understand its meaning before taking bigger steps to preserve it. It might just be another passing trend if you've never owned a plant to understand what nature can offer. And it seems it could be more than just a splash of green.

Don't throw away that shoe!

Many of you know Nike as a supplier for sports goods, shoes, and athletic apparel. However, despite their strong brand recognition for athletics, this company has shifted their focus to something that has more to do with than just sports.

It's Nike Grind.

Created in 1993 as part of Nike's Reuse-A-Shoe program that collects old shoes to create something from nothing, Nike dreamt up a way to reduce its waste materials with a long-term goal "to create zero waste in the manufacturing of our product".
With an ongoing collection of thousands and thousands of old, worn-out athletic shoes, Nike processes the shoes and then separates out the useful material known as Nike Grind. The material is integrated into sports surfacing to create more opportunities in neighborhoods and communities for sports to live on. Ranging from tracks, to basketball courts, to playgrounds, Nike has found a way to incorporate their recylced material into something that can be shared by everyone in communities from around the world.

Check out companies that have partnered with Nike to incorporate the Nike Grind materials into their product:
*Atlas Track
*FieldTurf
*PlayTop

Blogging for businesses

Hi everyone. I'm Renee, a Journalism and Communication major at the University of Arizona. For my last semester I will be writing blogs for "The Cat Scan", an online publication by students from the U of A.

Each week I will be writing about a business that has made the decision to go green. Businesses will range from large corporate companies interested in using their influence to set forth a positive example in their communities, as well as small local businesses who have rooted themselves in being more eco-friendly.

I must admit, I'm not very familiar with a green approach to living aside from recycling, and I hope that over the course of this semester I'm able to gain a better perspective of what it includes, why it is picking up in popularity, and how the green approach can be used in more ways than one.