Avalon Hotel and Spa, the First Hotel in Oregon to be LEED Certified

The Avalon Hotel and Spa in Portland, Oregon is the first hotel in the state to receive the silver Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certification. Nationwide, only ten hotels have yet received LEED certification.

For a project to be considered LEED certified they must receive 32 credits in the areas of sustainable sites, water efficiency, energy & atmosphere, materials and resources, indoor environmental quality, and innovation in upgrades, operation, and maintenance. There are six phases to the certification, as well as a series of requirements. The requirements consist of the formation of a "Green Team," environmentally friendly and socially responsible project purchases, material reduction and diversion, energy reduction (no incandescent bulbs in building), and improved indoor air quality (air filters).

Portland has received numerous awards for their commitment to recycling and the Avalon Hotel and Spa is the fifth hotel to receive an award for recycling 60% of waste with a goal of 80% by 2009. The Avalon Hotel is marketing themselves as an "eco-friendly sustainable luxury hotel."

In What World Can You Call Tetra Pak Green?

"In What World Can You Call Tetra Pak Green," by Lloyd Alter on the Tree Hugger website discusses Tetra Pak packaging and their "green" marketing campaign. Tetra Pak is an aseptic packaging product with the ability to extend canned and bottled perishable food items shelf lives, for example, extending the shelf life of milk for months when not refrigerated. The company is the largest packaging company worldwide and has done an amazing job of marketing its limited "green" qualities. In the UK and Ireland, Tetra Pak has been FSC (Forest Stewardship Council) certified.

Tetra Pak boasts of its sustainability, yet only 20% of America has the recycling facilities that are able to break down the product's seven thin layers of various components (plastic, aluminum, and paper). However, even when "recycling" Tetra Pak, toilet paper is the only thing that can be produced from breaking down and reusing the product's materials. Hence, Tetra Pak cannot be recreated from recycling Tetra Pak. Alter refers to this as, "the most elaborate green washing scheme ever."

It was interesting when reading the "In What World Can You Call Tetra Pak Green?" article and then looking at the "ALL UK and Irish Tetra Pak Packaging to be FSC Certified" by Bonnie Alter that is also on the Tree Hugger website. It appears that the FSC certification is helping Tetra Pak become more dedicated to recycling in the U.K. and Ireland, as the Innocent drinks (London headquarters) have worked with Tetra Pak to have 100% recyclable product packaging. Hopefully, these changes will also begin to happen in the U.S. soon.

Resources:

"In What World Can You Call Tetra Pak Green?"

http://www.treehugger.com/files/2009/10/are-tetra-paks-green.php

"All UK and Irish Tetra Pak Packaging to be FSC Certified"

http://www.treehugger.com/files/2009/10/tetra-pak-fsc-certified.php

How to Go Green: Halloween

"How to Go Green: Halloween," by Blythe Copeland is posted on the Planet Green website. The feature story focuses on different ways to be more environmentally conscientious throughout the festivities of the fall season. I really enjoyed reading the article because it help me put my traditions and fall activities into perspective. Considering that between candy sales, costume shopping, and decorations, Planet Green estimates that Halloween is a $6 billion a year industry, your amount of consumption is something to keep in mind when getting in the "holiday spirit."

One of the key points of advice from Planet Green is to consider creating a more individualistic costume, rather than purchasing a plastic, packaged, and manufactured costume. This year, I have actually taken this advice to heart, as I am putting together my own costume from thrift stores, roomie closets, and my mom's old treasures at home (this is an option because my roomies and I are dressing up as Red Hat Ladies for Halloween). Goodwill actually has recently come up with an online auction website, so that thrifting from Goodwill is now possible from the convenience of a home laptop.

The article mentions burning soy holiday candles and participating in more traditional Halloween games, such as bobbing for apples. When handing out candy, fair trade chocolate and organic candies are recommended, although in my experience many parents today don't trust unwrapped candies from strangers to be given to their children. In particular, suggestion #9 stood out as something interesting for families to look into:

"Support Fair Trade with 'reverse trick-or-treating' is a way to highlight the plight of cocoa farmers and to showcase the benefits of Fair Trade, the folks at Global Exchange have started a Reverse Trick-or-Treating program to help raise awareness while collecting goodies on Halloween. It's really easy. Sign-up through the 'Reverse Trick-or-Treating website to receive samples of Fair Trade chocolates, along with some cards that outline the program. Kids hand out the cards and samples to adults when they go to the door on Halloween."

If you are interested in these ideas, I would suggest visiting the website for more in-depth information: http://planetgreen.discovery.com/go-green/halloween/

Ecological Footprint, Reduction Goals and Strategies

It's time to evaluate my progress towards reaching the reduction goals and strategies i outlined at the beginning of the quarter for reducing my ecological footprint. Here is what has been working so far and the challenges that I have faced:

• Working to keep electricity costs down has been very effective. Turning off lights, unplugging phone chargers and laptop battery chargers, and reducing water usage have all been pretty easy to stay accountable on. One of the challenges, however, is that my roomie owns a very large big screen television that I know eats up lots of electricity. Hence, we have been very cautious to never leave the television on or plugged in when we leave town/ aren't using it.
• Our house has been very committed to recycling. We have found that most often we take out the recycling more often than the garbage.
• Cell phones! I still have more research to do on recycling cell phones. I have heard that there are some different locations in town that could help with recycling cell phones.
• I haven't been grocery shopping for weeks, so I haven't personally been using my reusable shopping bags. However, I keep them in the kitchen so my roomies have been able to utilize them for trips to the grocery store.

I have been successful in achieving most of my initial goals to help with the reduction of my ecological footprint. Another goal that I would like to start for myself is to reduce my use of water for laundry. I can easily oftentimes combine loads with a roomie or with kitchen/ bathroom towels to fully utilize wash and dry laundry cycles.

Environmental Working Group

The Product:

Garnier Fructis, Fortifying Cream Conditioner Color Shield

The Ingredients:

Aqua/Water, Cetyl Alcohol, PEG 180, Behentrimonium Chloride, Amodimethicone, Pyrus Malus (Apple) Fruit Extract, Parfum (Fragrance), Cetyl Esters, Methylparaben, Hydroxyethyl Cellulose, Lauryl PEG/PPG 18/18 Methicone, Lanolin, Niacinamide, Pyridoxine HCI, Ethylhexyl Methoxycinnamate, Trideceth 12, Citric Acid, Saccharum Officinarum (Sugar Cane) Extract, Chlorhexidine Dihydrochloride, Poloxamer 407, Dodecene, Cetrimonium Chloride, Linalool, Citrus Limonum (Lemon Peel Extract), Camellia Sinensis Leaf Extract

The Surprise:

Ingredients in this product are linked to:

• Cancer
• Developmental/reproductive toxicity
• Violations, restrictions & warnings
• Allergies/immunotoxicity
• Other concerns for ingredients used in this product: Neurotoxicity, Persistence and bioaccumulation, Organ system toxicity (non-reproductive), Miscellaneous, Irritation (skin, eyes, or lungs), Enhanced skin absorption, Contamination concerns, Biochemical or cellular level changes

Of the ingredients listed for Garnier Fructis Fortifying Cream Conditioner, over half turn up on the Environmental Working Groups database, categorizing the product as a moderate hazard. Fragrance and mehylparaben both score an 8, fragrance for neurotoxicity and allergies/immunotoxicity, while methylparaben for violations, restrictions & warnings, allergies/immunotoxicity, organ system toxicity (non-reproductive), irritation, and biochemical or cellular level changes. PEG-180 also ranks a 6 because of developmental/reproductive toxicity, organ system toxicity (non-reproductive), and contamination concerns.

It is really scary that such a mainstream and over the counter conditioner can be so harmful to my body, especially when involving organ system, developmental, and reproductive toxicity. Garnier Fructis always focuses on their “reinforced active fruit concentrate, with vitamins B3 and B6, fructose, and glucose” in commercials, portraying an all-natural, healthy brand image. However, according to the Environmental Working Group database their products in actuality are very contrary to this image.

Although I do look for hair care products that support color treated hair, I will defiantly not be purchasing this product again. Looking through the database, I didn’t recognize any low hazard U.S. brand alternatives for color treated hair so I will have to compare ingredients the next time I am shopping. Now I am aware that any ingredient that begins in “meth” or “fragrance” should send up an instant red flag in my mind. Buts Bees and Natures Gate are brands that I am familiar with were listed as low hazard products, so I will be sure to keep an eye out for them when purchasing new hair care products.

For more information on the Environmental Working Group visit:

https://pod51000.outlook.com/owa/redir.aspx?C=d874a47ee5684fcbb106a2e29f2f02ff&URL=http%3a%2f%2fwww.cosmeticsdatabase.com%2fproduct%2f230684%2fGarnier_Fructis_Haircare_Fortifying_Cream_Conditioner%252C_Color_Shield%2f

Posing Naked to Save Organic French Wines

While browsing online today I came across TreeHugger.com, A Discovery Company website devoted to informing the public on all things "green." The website features articles on "green" topics of all varieties, "Posing Naked to Save French Wines," by Bonnie Alter, particularly caught my attention.

The article is about a French sit-in that was organized by Spencer Tunick with Greenpeace to attract attention towards global climate change and as part of a campaign to "urge political leaders to take action" during the UN's Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen this December. Tunick has been working with mass nude artwork as a means of spreading awareness towards global climate change for the last 15 years.

Basically, 713 men and women spent the last weekend posing naked in French vineyards to create awareness for how global climate change is affecting wine harvest. Earlier wine harvests affect the taste and body of the wine. "According to a recent Greenpeace report, 'Wines end up having higher sugar levels and alcohol content while retaining less acids - which means they are unbalanced with an overripe flavor and heavier texture.'" Hence, with the predicted increase in emission levels of four to six degrees Celsius between now and 2100, France's wine producing reputation is in jeopardy.

The article finishes with a quote from a letter addressed to President Obama, President Merkel, and other heads of state, written by Greenpeace,

"We're not asking you to take your clothes off in Copenhagen - but we do expect
you to be there - to sign a fair, ambitious and binding deal to save the future
of our planet. A half-decent climate treaty simply won't do. "

For more information on "Posing Naked to Save Organic French Wines and Greenpeace, visit: http://www.treehugger.com/files/2009/10/nude-posing-organic-wine.php?dcitc=TH_rotator

Putting social media to good use... tracking the COP15 Copenhagen

I'm not going to lie, I love Twitter. I tweet daily and read common tweet threads and the home tweets of those whom I am following online. Today, when searching for more information on Social Media Conference Northwest through variations of the title, I came across Planet Green. Planet Green, from the website http://planetgreen.discovery.com/, is a Twitter account that "offers practical, everyday tips on how to live a greener lifestyle."

Perfect, I'm thinking. This is exactly the sort of account that I should be following to help inform me on what I can do to lead a more sustainable lifestyle. Thus, the first tweet that appears on my screen is this, "Track Copenhagen Climate Conference with Twitter and Social Media http://bit.ly/1CYZZT #cop15."

Through following the link, I came across the article "Track Copenhagen Climate Conference with Twitter and Social Media" by Derek Markham on the Planet Green website. The article, which I encourage everyone to read, focuses on how to utilize social media outlets to track environmental change through the 15th United Nations Climate Change Conference. Twitter, Facebook, StumbleUpon, and digg.com are all outlined in the article, as well as means for utilizing them to gain and spread awareness of the conference.

It has only been in the last year that I have begun to think about social networking websites in terms of information sources for current events, trends, and as essential marketing tools. However, it is articles like this one that help make me aware of the possibilities for social media and ways in which I can make a difference, maybe not in a large scale, but possibly in my small circle of friends.

Sustainable Connections, a local organization worth looking into

This summer, I was a Marketing Intern at the Downtown Bellingham Partnership. Through the partnership, we worked with Sustainable Connections. If you aren't already aware, Sustainable Connections is a non-profit local organization working with Bellingham businesses on energy efficiency, sustainable businesses development, and green building.

It's really interesting to see what businesses in our community are doing to move towards sustainability and eco-friendly business practices. I would highly encourage anyone that hasn't already taken a look to check out the website: http://sustainableconnections.org/. Specifically, I am really amazed with the Zero Waste campaign, which already has over 150 business participants committing to a 80% reduction in waste. For a listing of these Bellingham businesses, check out:http://sustainableconnections.org/bizdev/tzw/tzwbiz. You may be happily surprised with the Bellingham community!

Keeping good on my promises?

So, after attending Sustainable Marketing last Thursday, I decided to add additional Sustainable Challenges...

• To remember to bring reusable grocery/ shopping bags with me when grocery shopping. I have nearly half a dozen reusable shopping bags sitting around my home, yet I oftentimes walk out the door and completely forget to bring them along. I know what a difference it makes to carry out two reusable bags from the grocery store, rather than four or five category-sorted individual plastic bags.
• Buy less! I would like to make it a goal to make purchases less frequently and only when things need replacing.

Now, for this week's progress on my already-documented sustainable goals:

• Not charging my phone throughout the night has been difficult! Out of habit, that seems to be the only time that I can remember to plug my phone in the charger. Thus, when not charging my phone overnight my phone has consistently been dying throughout the day at very inconvenient times.
• I have been doing a really good job at turning my laptop off at night and unplugging the battery.
• I definitely did not meet this week's tv goal. Swine flu has not helped this goal one bit! However, I will do better this week. I'm feeling much better and I will definitely be spending more time at the gym and library and less on the couch!
• I couldn't say that I have had much opportunity to turn off the the house lights because our whole house was pretty much home from school last week with the flu. We have, however, been really good about turning off the bathroom and laundry room lights when they are not in use.