NATURE NOTES FROM A NOVICE

~ By Leigh Anne Geiter

With the July 4^th Holiday approaching and tens of thousands of families heading outdoors and specifically in our area, to the beach, please consider how what you use and consume affects everything around you…the beaches, lakes, rivers, streams, parks, forests, camping grounds, and in general the great outdoors.

All plastic should be disposed of properly; preferably into a recycling container.  Remember to cut through all 6-pack rings.  Tie plastic shopping bags in knots.  These types of plastics, as you know, take thousands of years to breakdown and in actuality, if they are hidden from the sunlight (i.e., buried), they will take even longer to dissipate.  These types of plastics are only broken down by the sun’s rays.  This means that ocean life and birds are more susceptible to ingesting or being ensnared in plastics than most other species.  And the effects are more than disturbing.  They are tragic!  Surely we can be better stewards of our planet and its inhabitants than this:

THINK when you plan your outdoor activities this summer!  Avoid nuisance plastics like 6-pack rings and plastic shopping bags.  If you MUST use them, please dispose of them properly, so that they don’t end up being left to destroy nature where you just had a great time…  The death of our oceans will be the death of our planet!!

UL Environment aims to be the cop for zero waste initiatives

By: Jenilee Rivera

Nearly every week, it seems at least one prominent company is announcing a new landfill waste reduction strategy. But finding out whether those initiatives are paying off can be a challenge.

UL Environment hopes to provide some clarity in this emerging area by pioneering a series of new environmental claim validation services for businesses.

The business unit of Underwriters Laboratories, famous for its product-safety certification, is now validating the variety of methods that companies use to minimize the amount of waste sent to landfills -- everything from energy creation through waste incineration to recycling and composting.

The UL Environment validation is offered at three levels:

• Companies that achieve a landfill diversion rate of 100 percent qualify for its Zero Waste to Landfill validation.
• Companies that achieve a diversion rate of 98 percent or greater qualify for the Virtually Zero Waste to Landfill validation.
• Those companies that achieve a diversion rate of 80 percent or greater qualify for a Landfill Waste Diversion validation.

From DuPont to Walmart, major corporations are beginning to roll out new policies that address landfill waste reduction. As new initiatives continue to be developed by companies large and small, there is a growing need for third-party validation of landfill waste diversion claims, said Angela Griffiths, director of operations for UL Environment.

"We found that when it comes to standards in zero waste, there's not a lot of consistency across the board," she said. "There are no federal standards, for example.”

While there are a scattering of private consulting firms offering certification for landfill waste diversion, UL is one of the first major organizations stepping into the certification realm.

"We offer a very transparent service," Griffiths said. "Our protocol is publicized so people understand what validation means," she said.

Validation from UL Environment will help companies promote their efforts to reduce landfill waste, said Griffiths.

A secondary goal for the new program is helping to develop a set of validation standards for landfill waste reduction, said Bill Hoffman, an environmental scientist in green chemistry at UL Environment.

"In reality, zero waste may mean different things to different companies," he said. "Sometimes it's 10 percent of waste that's going into landfills, sometimes it's all of the waste. We hope that by offering our validations we are giving some consistency to the marketplace."

Hoffman said he hopes UL Environment can also create a stronger market for recycled material.

"One company's waste is another company's raw material," he said.

As part of the development process for the validation service, UL reached out to its customers.

"We've been working for quite a while now with several different companies getting important feedback on how waste reductions work for them," said Hoffman, who noted that UL Environment has worked for about a year developing the services.
"Part of the process was fairly complicated because there's not a lot of precedent on how you measure and document zero waste," he said.

The price point for the UL Environment validation starts at a few thousand dollars and goes up depending on the size of the business, Hoffman said. The validation process could take as little as a few days if a company has everything in place or longer if a company has a fairly complicated process.

"The basic aspect is that we'll look at the flow of material -- everything that's going in and everything that's out," Griffiths said.

She said UL staff will pore over company documents and conduct site visits in making their validation determinations. An annual review will also be conducted in order to keep UL Environment's validations current.

Going Green, Eco Friendly Jargon and Terminology- For Dummies

By: Misty Capley

Going Green is a win – win, it helps the environment we live in and the future generations that will follow. Here are some Going Green terms and jargon that may help you understand what everyone is talking about! 

Authentic: Guarantees that food was grown and produced within 50 miles of its end retail point. The term “organic” has been diluted in recent years primarily through the successful lobbying efforts of major corporations. Recognizing that consumers were riding the organic wave to new shores, corporate farmers and manufacturers succeeded in watering down the term to include their products, much to the confusion of the consumer.

Carbon Neutral: Any entity or person who manages resources to eliminate carbon production. This can include offsetting the emissions from activities in one location by green restoration or enhancement of others.

Certified Organic: Means that the producer has paid sufficient amounts of money and submitted their materials to rigorous testing to meet increasingly limiting governmental restrictions. Small producers almost certainly cannot afford the high cost of certification, so sell their products under the less restrictive “authentic” or “non-certified organic” label.

Fenestration: The energy efficiency of windows. Considerations include square footage of windows in relation to structural surfaces, thickness of glass, gas barrier and tinting.

GREEN: GrassRoots Environmental Effectiveness Network: Nationwide group devoted to supporting activists committed to protecting wildlife and the environment.

Green Business: Any business that employs eco-friendly processes to reduce its carbon footprint. Measures include alternative power sourcing, paper reduction, recycling, use of recycled materials, incorporating water and power saving devices, and processing and reusing gray water.

Green Collar: No, not Mr. Green Jeans, but a rapidly growing workforce devoted to sustainable agriculture and organic or authentic farming.

Green Pricing: For a slightly higher cost or periodic up-charge consumers can choose to have their power supplied by green power producers, such as wind, solar and water driven energy suppliers.

Net Metering: Allows a home’s utility energy meter to cycle in reverse when the home’s energy consumption is less than the amount purchased by installed green energy devices, such as solar or wind generators. In these cases the energy stream flows in reverse and the home unit supplies additional energy to the utility’s power grid.

Phantom Power: Trickle power drawn by “sleeping” devices such as computers, ovens, telephones and entertainment equipment.

Hopefully these terms have helped you understand the Going Green movement a little better. These are just a handful of the most commonly used terms. 

GREENING THE GAMES

By: Terry Shannon

No matter what jersey your favorite team wears, there's one color that every sports fan can root for: green.

Whether it's Major League Baseball's All-Star Game, the NBA Finals, NHL’s Winter Classic, the NCAA Final Four or the U.S. Open tennis championship, some of the biggest games in professional sports are making an effort to be more environmentally conscious by using NRDC's specially developed Greening Advisors.

They've teamed up with NRDC to examine everything ranging from their purchasing decisions to transportation choices, energy use, and waste management policies, looking for ways to reduce their environmental impact. And they're encouraging fans to do the same online and in their stadiums and arenas.

The benefits for both professional and college sports leagues are robust, from saving thousands of dollars on energy, waste, and water bills to creating new sponsorship opportunities and enhancing brand value with corporate social responsibility--not to mention the environmental benefits.

NRDC started working with the NFL's Philadelphia Eagles in 2004, providing advice for the team's "Go Green" effort. Since then, Major League Baseball, the National Basketball Association, the National Hockey League, the National Football League, Major League Soccer, the U.S. Tennis Association, and the NCAA Final Four have all picked up the ball.

NRDC has produced Greening Advisors for all MLB, NBA, NHL, MLS teams and the USTA. The NRDC Greening Advisor is a web-based environmental resource guide designed to help each team and facility operator identify what they can do in their specific city and facility to pursue environmentally superior operations and supply chain options. The Greening Advisor won the EPA’s Environmental Merit Award in 2008.

One of the many ways NRDC has been helping stadiums and arenas reduce environmental impacts is by commissioning energy, waste, and water efficiency audits -- many of which result in significant cost savings. For example, between 2006 and 2009, the Seattle Mariners reduced Safeco Field’s use of natural gas by 44 percent and electricity consumption by 17 percent, saving over $1 million in just over three years.

Since first partnering with NRDC in 2008, each year the US Open has recycled 18,000 tennis ball cans and replaced 2.4 million virgin fiber-based napkins with 90% post-consumer recycled content napkins, along with many other initiatives.

In 2011 NRDC was asked to join the NCAA Final Four Sustainability Committee to integrate ecologically intelligent practices into the event’s planning and production. Over the course of the event weekend, the Final Four recycled more than seven tons of paper, bottles and cans; composted 1.5 tons of food waste; and donated unused food to local charities.  100% of the energy used at the George R. Brown Convention Center was sourced from wind and solar, and carbon offsets were purchased for energy used at Reliant Stadium. And these efforts don’t end here: the Convention Center is currently seeking LEED Silver certification.

NRDC provides the framework and expertise for leagues and teams to measure their environmental impacts, develop baseline information and track environmental progress. NRDC also offers tools to help leagues educate their employees, sponsors, players, and fans about the importance of environmental issues. NRDC has helped develop the first ever environmental impact measurement template to help teams and leagues keep track of energy use, water use, waste generation, recycling, and paper use. This data collection system, already in place at Major League Baseball, is being considered for use by all leagues. Additionally, all the leagues NRDC is partnered with have distributed a publication produced by NRDC and the Bonneville Environmental Foundation entitled Solar Energy for Your Stadium or Arena: A Guide to Understanding Opportunities of On-Site Photovoltaic Solar Power Generation, encouraging stadium and arena operators to install on-site solar technology at their facility and providing detailed information about the process. 

NRDC’s sports greening work has also prompted the formation of the Green Sports Alliance, an unprecedented collaboration of professional sports teams from six major sports leagues, coming together to advance an environmental agenda.

The result: A win for all of us.

FMI:  http://www.nrdc.org

Green Father's Day

By: Amber Cervantes

Father’s Day is almost upon us. This year consider going green with a Father’s Day gift that is eco-friendly. You can celebrate the special man in your life by giving either a traditional or unique gift that inspires green lifestyle choices. There’s actually a website called inhabitat.com that has a list of creative gift ideas ranging from ‘wearable green gifts’ to ‘green gadgets’. Check out  this great website so you can surprise your Father with a sustainable gift this year.

http://inhabitat.com/index.php?s=father%27s+day