Green Lenses

FLOCK

2008-06-09T22:10:00.001-04:00

Just discovered the MOST AMAZING ECO BROWSER! Download FLOCK.

green takes the screen

2008-06-06T16:38:00.002-04:00

Planet Green, a television channel devoted entirely to the green movement, aired yesterday, June 4. Unfortunately, broke college students like who can't afford the extra channels are unable to watch it, but it's still an amazing example of the proliferation of this movement into popular culture, as television is one of the most ubiquitous forms of popular culture around. Check out the website for the channel, and some of these preview videos ... as soon as I get the chance to watch a bit of it, I'll be commenting more!

H&M

2008-06-05T10:16:00.001-04:00

I've been wondering whether H & M is green or not, so I did a little research this morning. Read all about it here.

ecocho

2008-06-04T09:47:00.002-04:00

check out Ecocho, a new search engine that grows 2 trees for every 1000 searches made.

how green is the red bullseye?

2008-06-04T08:05:00.009-04:00

Having just moved into a new place, my roommates have been making frequent trips to Target for this and that. I always talk about sustainable living, but I'm really learning now the things that are simple (conserving energy and water) and those that are not-so-easy (buying organic food etc.) Target is a broke college student's shopping heaven, but while I was in that red store, I kept thinking, how green is this place?

The better world shopper guide grades Target at a C+ for social and environmental responsibility. But there is no detailed explanation of where the company fails or succeeds at achieving green goals. Co-op America rates the company poorly, citing among other things that "As a big box retail store, Target contributes to environmental and community degradation and sprawl," and "is the subject of repeated allegations of sweatshop sourcing worldwide." Yet according to the Target Corporation website,

"[Target] recognize[s] that we have a responsibility—as team members, as a company, and as global citizens—to minimize our environmental footprint. So we've sought ways to reduce waste, use energy more efficiently, and operate more sustainably. We're proud of our accomplishments and we're continually improving, one store at a time."

The thing is, whether or not Target is true-blue-green or brown-tinted, most college students can't really afford to shop anywhere else for housewares. So if we're going to shop at Target anyway, despite unclear ratings, how do we do it in the greenest way possible?

1) buy the green products

Target online has an entire section devoted to eco-friendly products, and carries known green brands such as Seventh Generation and Method.

2) be skeptical

Reusable shopping bags are among the products on the eco-friendly list. Yet, nowhere in the product descriptions for the bags could I find whether the bags are made from recycled or even organic materials. So it's important to look for details about the "green" products listed, and to know the brands that are good/bad before going in. (This is where the better world shopping guide pocket-sized book comes in handy. More info on greenwashing.)

2) Bring Your Own Bags (BYOB)

Unlike grocery stores that sell cheap reusable bags (made from recycled materials) by the counter and give a discount for those who BYOB, Target has no such policy. Furthermore, they use only plastic bags at the register, and though these bags have clever tips for reuse, quitting plastic is best. So it's important to BYOB. (And check out the Center for a New American Dream's C^3 campaign which includes an entire blog page for BYOB.)

3) Ask when returning a defective item

I returned a set of Gladware that was missing a piece, and the lady at the register told me that it would most likely be thrown away as a defective item. I thought, this is ridiculous! But I had already finished the transaction so that was that. Ask when returning items where they will go - if it's something perfectly good that will be thrown away, I'd say to ask about donating it.

- green = + green

2008-06-03T19:33:00.004-04:00

So I moved into my summer sublet apartment this week, and I have to say that the first thing that I realized is that the best way to make sustainable living popular is through pinching pocketbooks. Oil, water, and electricity costs are sky high, so greenness is not the only thing motivating my roommates and me to flick off the lights, take shorter showers (and turn off the water in between scrubbing), and let the yellow mellow.

Why pay for furniture if we could adopt it? Our couch was so-conveniently left by the road across the street, beds and shelving units were picked up on Craig’s List, the TV was bought from the previous apartment owner, and parents, aunts, and grandparents handed down kitchenware and other miscellaneous items to fill the cabinets.

bookmooch

2008-06-03T19:17:00.006-04:00

One aspect of popular culture not talked about too often anymore is fiction. Yes, in a world of TV, computers and the Internet, books are still considered a form of popular culture. Well, I am addicted to a sustainable way to get my hands on the books I want. I go to the library of course, but sometimes you just want to be able to keep a book forever, or at least hold onto it for a while. So I use BookMooch.

BookMooch is a book sharing website, where members receive “points” for giving books away and use those points to “mooch” books from other members. When you give a book away, you pay to ship it to the recipient, and when you mooch a book, you receive it for free. It’s inexpensive (about $2.50 to ship book-rate), so say, for the price of one new book (generally around $15 for a paperback) you can get 5+ used books.

Not only this but I find this site to be a real community of avid readers, eager to share book reviews, connect to readers who have similar interests, etc. You can even send someone a “sMooch.”

Though the publishing industry is definitely trying to be more sustainable, BookMooch offers a sustainable solution for avid readers. It saves paper, connects people, and the only thing that is not-so-green is the shipping (but the US Mail will run anyway no doubt).

community

2008-06-03T19:14:00.002-04:00

In his essay, The challenge to environmentalism, Bill McKibben writes,

“The average shopper at a farmer’s market has ten times as many conversations as the average shopper at a supermarket—that order of magnitude is a sign of the world we might be able to build, of the pleasures we might be able to substitute for stuff. I predict that environmentalism will find itself increasingly interested in promoting this kind of reconnection: that ‘wilderness,’ since Muir the animating force of environmentalism, will become relatively less important than ‘community.’”

I agree with this statement 100 percent. For me, sustainability has much more to do with a sense of interconnectivity between people and the world we live in. This is why I think that the green movement in popular culture is a good thing – it allows people to make that first connection between their everyday life and sustainability in easy and fun ways that then hopefully will serve as a starting point for bigger changes.

(p.s. - sorry I haven't been posting a lot! My internet access is very limited.)

why expensive gas is great

2008-05-29T09:59:00.002-04:00

Although it's not to popular, expensive gas is really the best thing ... Thomas Friedman explains why.

in china, plastic bags no more

2008-05-28T11:00:00.002-04:00

Sounds like the Chinese got word of those adorable bags I made and have decided to ditch plastic all together ... I better break out the sewing machine and quick!

jason mraz gone green

2008-05-28T10:35:00.004-04:00

Jason Mraz is dabbling in the sustainability movement. Grist wrote a great feature about it. He's certainly not as hardcore as Jack Johnson, but it seems like he's working on it. I like his music so this news made me pretty happy.

my t-shirt bags

2008-05-26T17:55:00.003-04:00

Oh the joy of being home with nothing to do. Today my friend and I made reusable shopping bags out of old t-shirts! It was quick and easy, and we didn't have to incorporate any new materials. And they are going to be so useful.

earthfest

2008-05-24T18:51:00.021-04:00

Today I spent the day at the 15th Earthfest, Boston radio station 92.9's annual "celebration for the earth." I had a great day with my friends, wandering around to the various booths, picking up lots of free stuff, and listening to some good music. Overall, I'd call the day a success, but I walked away somewhat disappointed in the greenness of this mega-event poised to spread the message of sustainability.

As a college student, I have been trained to sniff out and never refuse free food. So my friends and I mozied from booth to booth tasting the free giveaways - organic cereals, energy bars, juices, fruit, yogurts, etc. Now I know beggars can't be choosers, but I found the distribution of the samples, and some of the samples themselves, to be quite unsustainable. First of all, most of them were individually wrapped, and I know that this is for health reasons but it is incredible wasteful if you think about tens of thousands of people taking these little packages, opening them up, eating the food, and then throwing the wrappers away.

Second of all, as I've written about in a previous post, eating organic is more eco-friendly than not, but eating local is much more sustainable in the long run. So - especially as there were signs and tips all over the esplanade encouraging people to eat local - I was disheartened to see Whole Foods handing out free organic bananas. Now I know that they are delicious - bananas happen to be my favorite fruit- but you don't see too many banana trees around New England. Not this time of year, not any time of year. So that means that those bananas most likely emitted a hefty amount of carbon to make it to Earthfest. That just didn't seem in tune with "celebrating the earth" to me.

For all of the banana peels, cups, juice boxes and wrappers left over from all the samples, I was happy to see that Waste Management stationed trash cans, single stream recycling bins, and even some compost bins around the area. My complaint? Except for in one place, it was impossible even for this green girl to figure out where to put what waste. There were no signs explaining which kind of waste belonged in which bin - so it all ended up as just a mish-mash of trash.

My last and most major issue with Earthfest's green credibility was that I had trouble find information about the energy used to power the different booths and of course, the CONCERT. Was the energy from clean sources? Were the carbon emissions from the even offset?

**Added 5/25** It turns out that the concert stage was SOLAR POWERED.

I definitely discovered some great things today. I loved the little ecotips posted all around the esplanade that told visitors what they could do to live more sustainably. And I really liked seeing booths from mainstream stores such as Home Depot advertising their new highly energy efficient washers and dryers. Of course, the various nonprofit organizations signing up new members and getting their messages out - and handing out planting paper filled with seeds!

The best of all was izzitgreen.com, a rating website where users can log on and review businesses from a variety of genres ranging from arts and entertainment to financial services, health and recreation, spas and beauty, and restaurants. I registered on the spot, and I'll definitely be logging in to write a review when I get the chance. I think it's a great concept for a site, and much needed. After all, as I've been pointing out, it's hard to tell what's green and what's not in this greenifying world. See, even this dog thinks so.

50 ways to help the planet

2008-05-23T23:10:00.003-04:00

click here for fifty ways to help the planet

home is where the green is

2008-05-23T22:08:00.012-04:00

Finals are finally over. Wahoo! Since this blog originally started as a project for a class, it may seem to shift and take new form now that it is truly able to become my own. With that said, let's get back to green business.

Today was my first day back in my home town of Worcester, MA - a historically industrial city that is, today, somewhat rundown (even though it still has its charming parts), and doesn't seem to have too much green about it except for the fact that it happens to be situated in the heart of the great green state of Massachusetts. Still, I spent the day with my sister and my friends romping around the city visiting some old and discovering some new green hot spots along the way.

Even though I put a green theme to every place I went today, what I first realized was how difficulty it is to be true blue green when I am away from my college campus. I can no longer walk everywhere, and although there is some public transit around these parts, it's easy to give into the convenience of driving. Fortunately, I stayed pretty much in the same area all day so we didn't drive too far.

First stop was a lunch date with my sister at the new Asian/vegetarian eatery, Buddha Hut, which opened a few months ago about 2 miles from home for me. (If I didn't have to drive my sister to work right after lunch, I totally would have walked there!) I did wonder however, as I munched on my our veggie lo mein and faux chicken - is eating out or eating in is more sustainable? According to this blogger on Not Eating Out in New York, eating in is much more sustainable than dining out. But I figure, if I'm going to have a special day with my sister and eating out is going to be a part of it, supporting a family-owned, vegetarian restaurant was the way to go. Never mind the fact that the food was delicious (don't worry - those smoothie cups were recyclable).

The next 2 stops were Classic Toy Shop, a local toy store, and Unique Boutique, a vintage/consignment shop just to look around.

Final destination was Tush, a new boutique downtown - and I think one of the only high end clothing stores in the entire city. I had never been and I honestly wasn't planning on going to this designer shop for a while - given the fact that I'm a broke college student and striving to be sustainable shopper. But overall, the experience was a green-heart-warming surprise.

(stay tuned for pictures)

We walked in, and the first shirt that caught my eye was one that read "Little Miss Green." No where on the tag could I find whether the top was made from recycled or organic cotton, but the tag itself was made from 100% recycled paper. At this point I was thinking, OK, probably not going to find anything green here, but then I turned around and spotted some bags on display that looked like they were made from magazines and newspaper. Turns out that they were! The designer, Jen Sherr, a local, uses decoupage techniques to create funky bracelets and decorate shoes and handbags. She also makes really cool bangles. Talk about sustainable style.

Along with Sherr's designs, the store owner told me that all of the jewelry sold in Tush is from local designers. And I was most impressed by an effort by the store to collect old designer jeans that customers no longer wanted. They were offering a rebate for bringing in your reject jeans, and planning to hold a thrift party to re-sell the jeans. The next step is to donate any left over jeans to a local charity come the holidays. It turns out that you don't have to be an ecoboutique to have hints of green.

to meat or not to meat

2008-05-20T17:55:00.019-04:00

Dilemma # 2: Bessie? Broccoli? Or a little bit of both?

I am a vegetarian. It's OK, give me funny looks, tell me that you could never do it, be astonished. The thing is, even though I'm fine with being veggie, sometimes I don't really feel like I have to be, and sometimes I actually kind of wish I wasn't.

I'm not a vegetarian because I think it's morally wrong to eat animals. I'm a vegetarian because I don't feel that I can call myself "green" as a meat eater. These days, most of the meat that you can get your hands on is a product of the second greatest greenhouse gas emitting industry (next to electricity production) according to Mark Bittman (video below). Bryan Walsh writes in TIME magazine's global warming survival guide that,"The international meat industry generates roughly 18% of the world's greenhouse-gas emissions—even more than transportation—according to a report last year from the U.N.'s Food and Agriculture Organization."

If I could get meat from a local farmer who I knew and trusted (unfortunately college dorm life doesn't award me this luxury) I would probably eat meat once in a while. At the very least I would eat chicken. Just as I don't want to give up my carbon-vices (traveling for instance) I don't think that people need to give up meat completely. The problem is that most people - as in most Americans - don't eat meat in moderation, and the meat that most Americans do it is raised on factory farms. According to Mark Bittman in a January article for the New York Times, "Americans eat about the same amount of meat as we have for some time, about eight ounces a day, roughly twice the global average ... if Americans were to reduce meat consumption by just 20 percent it would be as if we all switched from a standard sedan — a Camry, say — to the ultra-efficient Prius."

The average American doesn't need to - and probably wouldn't even if we wanted him/her to - go through a radical sustainable transformation, for example by going cold turkey on meat consumption. All we need is for everyone to down shift a little. I for example, am not a vegan. I haven't made it to that extreme yet. But I've cut down my dairy and egg consumption, and I feel good about it. (Besides, soy milk is yummy.)

With the green movement in popular culture, could moderate vegetarianism, a low-meat omnivorous diet, become part of the mainstream?
Locavore was the 2007 word of the year for the New Oxford American Dictionary. According to an MSNBC article back in the archaic year of 2004, the vegetarian food market was just beginning to take root (yes - pun intended) doubling in sales from 1998 to 2004. But this was mostly for health reasons, not because Americans were becoming more eco-conscious. If meat prices were to rise high above those of grain, I wonder if factory farm meat would go the way of the SUV.

Until then, I'll be munching on tofu, thank you very much.

The following speech by Mark Bittman is a little long (20 min) but if you have some time and you want to learn more about the necessity of reducing meat consumption - for the sake of our health and that of the planet - watch it.

Just for fun:
The 'world's sexiest vegetarians.'
10 reasons to go veggie

green feast

2008-05-20T16:11:00.012-04:00

Would you like it in a box? Would you like it with a fox? Would you like it here or there? You can eat it ANYWHERE! Green eatin' isn't just for Sam-I-Am anymore: green popular culture has invaded our grocery stores, our refrigerators, our dining room tables and our stomachs!

There are some pretty basic well known trends in green food consumption - organic, local, and of course, the big scary V ... and by that I mean vegetarianism (coming soon). But there are some critical questions to consider when it comes to these green eats. (should we call them "gr-eats?") Is it better to buy organic fruit that has been shipped all the way from Chile, or to buy locally grown food that isn't organic? And if course, when it comes to meat and meat products, is it really best to go cold turkey (pun intended) and ditch everything that ever had eyes? (For starters, I'll talk about the organic v. local dilemma here- you'll have to wait for the main course for the meat in another post coming soon.)

Dilemma # 1: Organic? Local? Or some combination of the two?

Before I go any further with this, I want to make sure that you do not get me wrong - whether organic and local, eco-friendly food is better than not. But so far, it seems to me that the in the competition for the spotlight in popular food culture, organic food has been winning out. John Cloud notes in a recent TIME article that "nearly a quarter of American shoppers now buy organic."

There are a few reasons for this 1) organic food is right there screaming "buy me" in your regular big-chain supermarket. You don't have to go anywhere special to get it, and even though its a little more expensive, it's no big ordeal finding it. 2) It's easier to see the connection between organic food, the environment, and of course, a more immediate concern for most people: human health. No chemicals and pesticides running off into the drinking water, no steroids, if you can scrounge up a few extra dollars it seems like the way to go. But nowhere on that organic sticker does it say just how many miles traveled, or how many greenhouse gas emissions it took to get that organic produce to you.

Eating local on the other hand seems like it would involve a lot of extra effort; you're not too likely to happen upon a full-fledged farmer's market in aisle 4 of your average supermarket. And even though buying from your friend farmer Ted can be easily associated with supporting local business, it's less commonly associated with protecting the earth or your own health. Little do you know that you can often find locally grown foods in the supermarket, go figure. And as Cloud writes, though studies have shown that organic food is more nutritionally valuable, the bodily harm of pesticide use is debated.

This debate could go on forever, so I'm just going to get to the, well not to the meat, to the vegetables of it. In my eyes, and Cloud's apparently, if you have to choose between the two, eating local is the way to go (if you can find local AND organic then that's just a green diner's dream). Far traveling food shipments - even organic ones - emit greenhouse gases, and to me, it's just not worth the trade-off. I'd also rather support my farming friends - as Cloud puts it "I help keep Ted in business, and he helps keep me fed--and the elegance and sustainability of that exchange make more sense to me than gambling on faceless producers who stamp organic on a package thousands of miles from my home." Talk about community based living (see my previous post about smart growth).

For 10 reasons to eat local, click here.

Hungry for more? Check out my friend's blog, The Knead to Feed (she inspired me to do this post) to learn more about how you and your dinner can go green together ...

my "pop" earrings

2008-05-20T09:42:00.001-04:00

this is me procrastinating ...

cool! someone's reading this...

2008-05-20T09:20:00.003-04:00

And I thought no one was looking ... check out this response to my post, "exploring ecotourism," by none other than STA travel buzz. COOL!

it's called "smart growth"

2008-05-20T08:33:00.010-04:00

Paul Krugman's NY Times column yesterday, "Stranded in Suburbia," highlighted the need in the face of rising gas prices - never mind climate change - for Americans to change our lifestyles - our neighborhoods, our driving habits, etc. I'm with ya pal. It's a concept called Smart Growth, and it's nothing new. There's just finally a real incentive (with a $ value) for it to catch on.

I never thought that I would be giving a little environmental policy lecture in this blog (thanks to my ENSP102 professor I know this stuff), but I think that changing our style of living goes hand in hand with popular culture in that these types of neighborhoods and cities are only going to be built and lived in if the idea gets ... POPULAR, so here it goes. The principles of Smart Growth are as follows:

mixed land use (allow for residential aka homes, "industrial" aka workplaces, and "commercial" aka shopping in the same zoning areas)
strengthen and direct development towards existing communities
take advantage of compact building design (not necessarily all small structures, but houses that are closer together, that use space efficiently and that are are efficiently built)
create a range of housing opportunities and choices
provide a variety of transportation choices
create walkable neighborhoods
foster a distinctive sense of place

The reason that the first few concepts are bold is because they are exactly what Krugman is writing about - and exactly what our communities need to shift towards if we are going to create a sustainable future. Mixed land use is really the key, especially when it comes to driving less. Think about living on a college campus - minus all of the crazy drunk 18-20 year olds - but for a different stage of life. Everything is pretty close together, and there are pedestrians on every sidewalk. You've got your shopping and you're workplace, and you really don't have to leave too much. And if you do, there's accessible public transportation - at least on my campus - to get you places.

So what does this all have to do with popular culture? Well, if popular culture is an expression of our everyday lives, then what does it NOT have to do with popular culture? Suburbia arose as a popular phenomenon, fueled by affluence and cheap oil. The idea of the LOCAL - community based living where we don't have to drive to the nearest sprawling parking lot / shopping plaza to fulfill basic material needs but can walk there, bike there, take a bus there, bump into our neighbors there, this is where our communities need to be heading. But in order for these communities to be built, people have got to warm up to the idea. And as Krugman points out, maybe our suburbanocentric culture isn't ready for it yet. But if not now, when will the tipping point come?

Check out the trailer to the documentary, "The End of Suburbia." It basically says what I just said in a much more entertaining way.

check out MTV switch

2008-05-20T00:46:00.005-04:00

MTV, historically at the forefront of bringing together social movements and popular culture, has created a new global climate change campaign: "Switch" . This website is interactive and overall just pretty awesome. Check it out!

tune into green

2008-05-17T23:32:00.009-04:00

I wrote about the green stylings of the green music world in some earlier posts. But now I want to get into another aspect of green music: the music itself. As the quote by Jack Johnson in an earlier post so aptly put it, there's just something about music that can bring people together and get the message across. It's a way to get people thinking about current issues in their everyday life, even if the message is subtle.

Well, there are certain songs that have connected to my inner greenness, and either got me thinking about environmental issues or in some way inspired me to keep fighting the green fight. So here's a playlist with some lyrical analysis for your green listening and literary pleasures ...

Track 1: All At Once - Jack Johnson

In his interview with Treehugger, When asked whether any songs on his new album are specifically in reference to the environment, Jack Johnson responded:

"They talk more about the emotions that I think people are going through right now with sort of the worry of tomorrow. I don't know that there is anything we specifically talk about, you know, environmental issues ... I think a lot of them use a lot of imagery of nature to try to explain things better whether it's anybody could understand, you know. And they make you feel like when I sing one of these they make me feel like wanting to do something positive and so I guess in the end that's the goal. I don't set out writing the songs for any purpose besides just getting ideas out of my head. I hope they have a positive impact on people."

Well, it definitely had an impact on me. When you're out there trying to get people to care about climate change, trying to get them to recognize the value and necessity for lifestyle change, life can get pretty disempowering. So this song really struck a chord for me (I can't help it - I LOVE PUNS), because it seems to be all about feeling overwhelmed by the problems of the world but being about to do something about it. Take a listen:

Track 2: Sleeping In - The Postal Service

... And then last night I had that strange dream
Where everything was exactly how it seemed
Where concerns about the world getting warmer
The people thought that they were just being rewarded
For treating others as they like to be treated
For obeying stop signs and curing diseases
For mailing letters with the address of the sender
Now we can swim any day in November ...

This song makes explicit references to global warming, and they're pretty hard to miss. To me it's a song pointing out how it's so easy to just close your eyes to the problems in the world, and live in a dreamlike state where you don't have to deal with the complexities of life. If only climate change were really as simple as swimming any day in November.

And as I mentioned in an earlier post, The Postal Service records with Sub Pop Records, the first green-e certified record label.

Track 3: Union - Black Eyed Peas

While this song is mostly about abandoning war for peace, for me, sustainability isn't just about the environment. Peace is central to the concept of sustainability, the whole concept behind interconnectivity. And to me, the words, "Realise that you can change the world by changing yourself" can apply to anything.

And the Black Eyed Peas performed at Live Earth.

Track 4: With My Own Two Hands - Jack Johnson Feat. Ben Harper

I think this one pretty much explains itself.

Any song suggestions? I'll be building on this playlist as time goes on. Comment and give me some ideas!

ecotourism in Costa Rica and Madagascar

2008-05-17T23:22:00.001-04:00

Here are some clips about the effects of ecotourism projects in Costa Rica and Madagascar. Take a look!

exploring ecotourism

2008-05-17T21:02:00.012-04:00

Here's my green-confession: I love traveling. Last year, I spent 9 months exploring Israel, during which I took a week-long seminar in Poland, and afterwards I hopped on over to France and Spain for 2 weeks before finally landing in the US - and unfortunately due to insufficient funds I've been stuck here since then. The big problem with my favorite hobby? It is oh so not sustainable: taking long flights adds a big chunk to this aspiring-to-be-climate-friendly adventurer's carbon footprint.

So, when the highlight of my e-mail update from the student travel website STA Travel was entitled, "Eco-Friendly Travel" I got pretty excited - after all, here are my two greatest passions wrapped up in one sustainable world exploring package! And then, of course, I got a grip on myself and thought... wait a minute, what exactly is this "ecotourism" and how green can it really be?

I'd heard about ecotourism before, but I'd never really thought too critically about it or even investigated what it's all about. (Considering that it encompasses my two favorite things, I have no idea why this was.) While it is pretty broadly defined, essentially, the whole idea behind it seems to be to travel in a low impact way while remaining conscious and taking responsibility for of your environmental footprint and the effects of your presence on the social welfare of the host country. According to the International Ecotourism Society, ecotourism is "responsible travel to natural areas that conserves the environment and improves the well-being of local people," (TIES, 1990). The guiding principles, according to TIES are:

"-minimize impact
-build environmental and cultural awareness and respect
-provide positive experiences for both visitors and hosts
-provide direct financial benefits for conservation
-provide financial benefits and empowerment for local people
-raise sensitivity to host countries' political, environmental, and social climate."

This all sounds great, and I'd certainly rather hear that when people are traveling they are making an effort to be more conscious of their impact, but I had also heard that ecotourism has it's vices, so I wanted to investigate them too. Ironically even ecotourism has an environmental impact, simply by virtue of the fact that getting to these natural destinations involves planes, trains and automobiles.

A recent article by the Seattle Times cited the calculations for greenhouse gas emissions resulting from REI Adventures, an ecotravel program through REI (the outdoor gear and apparel retailer that is attempting to go carbon-neutral): nearly 1/3 of the company's emissions came from the travel program. So what's better? have people travel without a care for their surroundings, stop travelling completely, or travel ecofriendly and reconnect with the environment while seeing a different part of the world?

If we're on a carbon diet, instead of starving people of their everyday pleasures, why not offer a light option? Ecotourism is just another example of how green popular culture can be a happy medium, breaking people in to the movement without forcing it down their throats, and letting us have out carbon-guilty pleasures in a less harmful way.

Jack Johnson - green extraordinaire

2008-05-16T08:53:00.015-04:00

Jack Johnson is probably my favorite musician alive. Let’s just put that out there. So it’s only fitting that he also happens to be one of the greenest musicians out there, and this post is dedicated to him and all of the work he has done/is doing not only to bring the green movement to the masses but to be green himself. Because if you haven’t noticed, I think that if you are going to trying to be one of the prophets of the ecological revolution by bringing a culture of sustainability to the masses, you’ve got to practice what you preach (more on this later).

Well Jack Johnson certainly does just that. His most impressive feat is the creation of his solar powered recording studio, in which he recorded 100 percent of his new album, Sleep Through the Static.

The album materials are also made from 100 percent post-consumer recycled paper, and the concert tour that kicks off June 13 in Noblesville, Indiana will - thanks to Reverb! - be seriously eco-friendly as well. (I’ve signed up to be a volunteer in the Village Green outside the Mansfield, MA concert, so cross your fingers that I get this amazing opportunity to take part in this genesis if green popular culture).

But beyond what Jack Johnson is doing to spark green fire through his music, what sets him apart from a lot of those who are hopping on the green-band-wagon (which I still think is great), is that he seems to really care about the issues that we’re dealing with when it comes to “going green” - climate change, environmental degradation, etc. I think that one of the problems with the proliferation of green popular culture is that the message of the whole idea - sustainability, no-impact living - is lost somewhere along the way. But I could tell from his interview with the Wall Street Journal about the eco-concert tour, that Jack gets it, pointing out the inconsistencies of using megaevents like the Live Earth concert (they said "Live 8" in the interview but I think they meant Live Earth because the interview was in 2008 and "Live 8" hasn't happened since 2005) last year to spread the eco message:

WSJ: You participated in Live 8 last year. How do you feel about the effectiveness of those high-profile and, in a way, celebrity-driven events?

Mr. Johnson: I have mixed emotions with those things. They give you their word that they're doing everything as green as possible and I try to be optimistic about that. Half the battle is making people feel like it's cool to support things like this. But it depends on what angle you look at. People were flying in on private jets. And there's the oxymoron of a gigantic event meant to fight the impact of gigantic events...

"Half the battle is making people feel like it's cool to support things like this." Jack's on the money with this one. I think that this is the role that green popular culture plays: as a stepping stone towards a culture of sustainability in which it is taboo NOT to care. But in doing so, it's pretty hard not to be hypocritical as many venues of popular culture - music, fashion, marketing - are entrenched in wastefulness. So creating a green viral message in popular culture takes big changes in the traditions of those aspects of the culture - like eco-friendly concerts - themselves.

And of course using celebrity power to get people involved. Jack Johnson just created the All At Once Community on his website, where members can connect with nonprofit organizations and are encouraged get involved with "your actions" - in social action by volunteering, "your voice" - getting politically active, and "your choice" by being smart consumers. There are also interactive discussion boards where members can connect with and learn from each others' actions and ideas.

When asked in a Treehugger interview why he uses music to reach people, Jack Johnson replied:

"It's kind of obvious in the sense that it's about the best thing for gathering a crowd and you know, everybody comes together and we are all seeing those same words. People sing along. It's a really neat feeling when you feel that you are in a room or you are in a place, whether it's outside or inside, you are in a place where everybody is in agreement on something.

You know, whatever the song is about, it's like you come together and it feels nice to feel like you have the same feelings as other people, so connected to people. And when you have that connection it feels like with this amount of people having this connection we can do a lot to make change, you know.

And so that's the nice thing about touring and trying to apply all these nonprofits to it, and the change aspect. It feels like you can do a lot when you are on tour and you see all these people kind of getting together for a common cause. It’s nice.”

(above: Jack Johnson performing at Live Earth in July 2007).

Stay "tuned" (sorry couldn't help myself) for my next post about the message in the music - how the music itself can serve as inspiration to get involved, and stay involved.

music to my green-ears

2008-05-07T23:59:00.000-04:00

Just because green is a color, who says you can't hear it?

Though I'm no expert, with all of the people and products, flashy lights and booming speakers and sound systems at concerts, the high-tech process of recording, and the materials that go into the production of CDs, IPods and home-sound systems, it doesn’t seem too likely that the music industry is TrueBlue Green … or so one might think.

It turns out that its seemingly high-energy/high-emissions nature has not stopped the determined from greening the music industry. In 2006, Sub Pop records - producer of some awesome bands that I love including Fruitbats, the Postal Service, and The Shins - was the first record company to go green by offsetting all of its emissions with carbon offsets to support renewable energy solutions such as wind and solar. Green Owl Records, a new entirely green label, has initiated green changes from production to packaging and has even recently come out with a special compilation CD to benefit the Energy Action Coalition. In July 2007, the Live Earth concert series rocked out under LED lights.

But in the spirit of sustainability, the organization that really sparks my interest in green-music is an entire community of artists come to go green together. Reverb , founded by Lauren Sullivan and Adam Gardener (of Guster - another one of my all time favorites) is a non-profit organization dedicated to "educating and engaging musicians and their fans to promote environmental sustainability." They partner up with musicians to provide on-site "greening services" at concerts, set up a festival-like "eco-village" green fair at the entrance to every show, coordinate a program to offset the carbon emissions from fans' commutes.

And it's not just the Sheryl Crowe's of the world who are hopping on this green-band-wagon (but of course Sheryl is, too). Over the past year, Reverb has worked with a lot of mainstream musicians from diverse genres including Kelly Clarkson, Linkin Park, and the Red Hot Chili Peppers, and even the show Blue Man Group. In the process, they have as of today "greened" 50 tours, 754 events, reduced 37,619 tons of CO2, and have reached their message to at least 4.6 million fans!

This to me is the most important statistic. Of course spreading the message without practicing it would be ridiculous, and this is why I love the idea that masses of people are getting this green message at actual green concerts (I still wonder how many of these musicians have minimized their exorbitant lifestyles, but at least they are starting somewhere). I especially love that these musicians' audiences are chock-full of young people, and that is where the revolution needs to take root. People emulate celebrities, and these celebrities deserve to be and should be looked up to. (Below: Guster performing in Boston.)

Eco barbie?

2008-05-07T23:27:00.000-04:00

As many in the green blogosphere have commented on, Mattel recently hopped on the greenwagon releasing Barbie BCause collection. The items are all made from re-purposed fabric that the toy company would otherwise have thrown away. But from lead paint to underpaid workers, Mattel doesn't exactly have a true green history.

" 'Barbie is always a reflection of current cultural trends and issues, and girls are increasingly aware of making a green statement,' said Richard Dickson, Senior Vice President of Marketing, Media and Entertainment, Worldwide, Mattel Brands. 'Barbie BCause is for eco-conscious girls who believe that being environmentally-friendly is the right thing to do, and we are thrilled to give extra meaning and extra style to what was once just extra Barbie doll fabric.' "

Smells like a load of greenwash, but the framing of the company's motives with the controversial product line are interesting. Shaping young minds is an important aspect of creating a culture of sustainability, but encouraging this kind of green consumerism doesn't seem like the right direction.

More sustainable style

2008-05-01T00:03:00.000-04:00

I think this guy is hilarious.

try GREEN on for size

2008-04-30T21:03:00.000-04:00

One of the first expressions of the “green” movement in popular culture that struck me was the eco-fashion movement. At Fashion Week in New York in January, a show called FutureFashion displayed the environmentally friendly styles – usually made from organic materials and natural dyes - from famous designers including Versace and Calvin Klein. Eco-boutiques have been popping up across the country - the first one I ever saw was Envi on Newbury St. in Boston. If there is any way to merge sustainability and consumerism, this must be it… right? Not necessarily.

As I’ve said before, the best way to be an environmentally conscious consumer is to buy nothing at all (which is great for broke college students), but as a nonmaterial girl living in a material world, I know that people just don’t give you the kind of attention necessary to make real change if you walk in the door with HIPPIE written all over you.

So, since we have to shop (or so we think) of course it’s better to buy “eco-friendly” fashions than not, but I see some flaws in “green” style fad. First of all, just as we need to sort out greenwashing corporations in all of our consumption, it’s important to distinguish between clothes that are actually sustainable, and those that are abusing the green trend to make sales. Graphic Ts featuring recycling symbols, trees, and crying globes are all the rage – but buying lots of trendy t-shirts, even if they’re made from organic materials and natural dyes, is not the best way to sport a sustainable style. Second of all, I find it to be unrealistic and unfair that eco-friendly clothing tends to be high-end and high-cost, so it’s hard for those who are truly living minimally (ahem, broke college students) to shop at eco boutiques.

Fortunately for those who are on a budget, there are ways to look green and great without breaking the bank. Jill Danyelle, who experimented with sustainable style through her project in fashion and sustainability called fiftyRx3, applied the environmental concept of the 3 Rs (Reduce, Reuse, Recycle) concept for waste management in greening her wardrobe.

Jill explains the application of the 3 Rs in fashion as:

Reduce = using environmentally friendly fabrics and dyes and production

Reuse = wearing clothes from the past (instead of buying new ones)

Recycle = making clothes out of something else

Here's my take:

REDUCE.

If you’ve really got to go out and buy something new, I think that it’s important to ‘reduce’ in more than one way. Of course by buying clothing with a reduced environmental impact, but also by buying less. There are multiple benefits to this:
1) You’re lowering your environmental impact because you are lowering the demand for the production of new clothes, which uses energy in manufacture and transport.
2) You’re saving money! (This is pretty exciting to me). This means that if you are buying less low-cost but maybe less environmentally friendly or socially responsible, you have more money to buy more from more expensive, socially and environmentally conscious shops – and if this gives you the opportunity to support a local business it’s even better.

REUSE.

Keep it simple. Different looks come in and out of style, but if you are already reducing your shopping habits , you are more likely to be buying simpler clothes (less flashy / trendy prints) which means that they are less likely to become fashion no-nos anytime too soon. Also, seemingly plainer clothes tend to match with more outfits, so you can wear them more often and in lots of different ways - American Apparel, (pictured) though a tad bit expensive, is great for simple clothes - and productions is sweatshop-free and made in the USA - I almost always wear solid colors but I like to get a few accessories that I can pair with a variety of outfits so that I can mix and match and get really creative.

Go vintage or hand-me-down. Different looks come in and out of style, and this means that if it was hip once, it's probably going to be hip again. Buying fashionable clothes second-hand is a great way to look chic with a small environmental footprint - and I'm not talking about shopping at Salvation army or Goodwill. There are lots of cool second-hand boutiques where you can find chic clothes for cheap. My personal favorites are Second Time Around and The Closet in Boston, and Ragtime in Chapel Hill, NC.

RECYCLE.

Recycling old clothes into new can be time consuming, but what better a way to artistically express yourself through fashion? My personal favorite example of this is underwear made from recycled t-shirts, but this bag made from recycled t-shirts is another pretty awesome example.

AND NOW, I make my first ever video appearance on my blog to weigh in with some examples of my very own sustainable style! Please forgive the pathetic editing... I'm new at this.

For more, check out this article by E magazine.

green humor

2008-04-22T00:42:00.000-04:00

It's sustainable satire ... the comics have gone green for Earth Day!

green your ________.

2008-04-22T00:33:00.001-04:00

This is a very cool new website that tells you how to "green" just about anything: GreenYour.com

"eco-shape" bottle

2008-04-22T00:07:00.000-04:00

I know I might be beating this 'green' marketing thing to death here, but this is the perfect example of what I am talking about:
The Eco Shape Bottle. It's all the rage from the bottled water companies - and of course it's better than using a regular plastic water bottle.

But honestly people. How can the words bottled water and eco really be used in the same advertisement? Bottled water is one of the most wasteful inventions of our lovely oh so unsustainable society. According to treehugger, "Approximately 1.5 million barrels of oil—enough to run 100,000 cars for a whole year—are used to make plastic water bottles, while transporting these bottles burns even more oil." What's more, "Nearly 90 percent of water bottles are not recycled and wind up in landfills where it takes thousands of years for the plastic to decompose."

The only real eco-shape bottle is a reusable water bottle like these from Sigg or Klean Kanteen.

the master's tools: thoughts on consumer culture and the "green" revolution

2008-04-16T23:01:00.001-04:00

"The master's tools will never dismantle the master's house"
-Audre Lourde

When I was talking to a friend recently about our efforts in the youth climate movement, she brought up this quote. Granted, in this essay Aurdre Lourde was writing about nothing directly related to global warming or sustainability, but the quote struck me as oddly applicable to one of the more stark contradictions that I find in our consumer culture's adaptation of the "green" movement ...

One of the best ways to be sustainable is to live simply, to break from the norm of overconsumption that exists in this country and to buy less. Out of the three R's, it is first about REDUCING, then REUSING, and then recycling. So whether or not a company is environmentally and socially benign or a raging greenwasher, is "green" marketing as an effort to sell more products contradictory to living simply , one of the central themes of sustinability? Can we shape a culture of sustainability using master consumerism's tools of advertising and marketing goods?

In some respects, I do think that it is possible. Just because things are heating up in the stratosphere, our water is a little contaminated, and there are workers being mistreated, we're not going to just STOP spending money. Unfortunately, despite all of its externalities, the economic show must go on. So if businesses and corporations are actually working to reduce their environmental impact and to be more socially responsible (see "echoing eco" to find out how to tell whether they are greenwashing or not), we should be supporting those venues as opposed to other ones.

But sustainability is not just about production - a big chunk of a sustainable transformation will have to happen on the consumption side of the market. Is all of the hype about sustainability and "going green" really going to have a substantial impact on reforming the unsustainable way that Americans overconsume?

Green marketing gets the idea out there, it certainly puts some concept of sustainability on the average person's radar - and this is great. But just because it's popular, I don't think that tomorrow, everyone in America is going to wake up and think, "I'm going to go green today." And for those who do decide to hop on the green bandwagon because it is trendy and cool, how does this ensure that these people are living the message of the movement? One of the problems that I see now that the 'green' revolution has reached the tipping point is that it has become so trendy that it's hard to distinguish between those businesses, people and practices that are truly environmentally sustainable and those that are just a part of the fad.

Sure, you can wear a shirt with a recycling symbol on it, you can buy a hybrid car, you can put solar panels on your house; but if you have three closets full of organic cotton clothes, if you drive your hybrid 500 mi each week, or if your McMansion is running on 10% solar power, I don't think that we can really call this a sustainable lifestyle. (For example, above we see Julia Robert's new eco-friendly Mansion - do you see the oxymoron in this?)

The truth I think that green marketing, media, and messaging is an effective way of getting this "green" movement started. But these tools alone will not dismantle the master's unsustainable house - they can only make waves to a certain extent. Hopefully, they were serve their purpose of introducing the vague idea of environmental sustainability into the mainstream, so that we can build a truly sustainable culture of simply living and environmental/social consciousness from there.

"Live simply so others may simply live."

echoing eco: a critical look at "green" marketing

2008-04-16T22:27:00.000-04:00

Of course, if people are buying into Green,the market is going to sell it. Green advertising is one of the fastest growing trends in marketing. Even Wal-Mart, notorious among the activist community for their social irresponsibility, has launched an Eco Campaign. BP- yes, the oil company - began marketing themselves as "Beyond Petroleum" to tout their alternative energy investment initiatives.

When fighting global warming is hot, there is a strong incentive from the business perspective to hop on the green-wagon (in general I think this is a good thing, but I've still got some further thoughts on this for a later post). This brings up a critical question...

If we are trying to "vote with our dollars" by buying from sustainable companies, how do we know if these businesses are practicing what they preach?

A recent study completed by environmental marketing firm Terrachoice found that 99% of "green" marketing labels were either false or misleading. Greenwashing is defined by CorpWatch as "the phenomena of socially and environmentally destructive corporations, attempting to preserve and expand their markets or power by posing as friends of the environment." The following interview with the President of Terrachoice, Scott McDougall explains the "six sins of greenwashing."

So much of this "green" advertising could be a bunch of "all natural cyanide," so to speak. In order to protect ourselves from buying the faux-green products, we've got to be skeptical. Planet Green suggested asking questions before buying such as

1. Where did this material come from?
2. What are the byproducts of its manufacture?
3. How is the material delivered and installed?
4. How is the material maintained and operated?
5. How healthy is the material?
6. What do we do with the material once we’re done with it?

And of course, checking for certifications from well known programs such as

Green-e, EcoLogo, and Green Seal.

Unsuitablog also suggested looking out for buzzwords and phrases, and poor use of scientific facts.

But if you were to go to the store right now - not Whole Foods or Trader Joe's, just average Joe's store - or to flip through magazine advertisements, or to watch TV commercials, do you think that you would know who's greenness is for real? Here's a quick test to get an idea of your green IQ:

With their Ecomagination campaign, GE is claiming that

"Ecomagination puts into practice GE's belief that financial and environmental performance can work together to drive company growth, while taking on some of the world's biggest challenges. Learn about the GE commitment to products and services that are as economically advantageous as they are ecologically sound."

Are they for real?

Starbucks claims that

"Contributing positively to our communities and environment is so important to Starbucks that it’s one of the six guiding principles of our mission statement."

Are they for real ?

On their website, Clorox writes,

"With Green Works cleaners, Clorox has set a new standard for natural cleaning – the products are as effective as conventional cleaners in its category but made from plant-based ingredients."

Are they for real?

How did you do? If you want more, a good website to sample some greenwashing ads is the Greenwashing Index, where people post ads and others rate them 1-5 on level of greenwashing (the only problem is a lot of the ads are car companies, oil companies, and energy companies - which is also quite ironic). For information about specific products, Coop America's Responsible Shopper guide can be helpful, and I really like the Climate Counts Scorecard site as well.

consumption nightmare

2008-04-11T08:39:00.000-04:00

"We live in a culture that tells us that bigger is better, selling the belief that big houses, expensive cars and more stuff will make us happier - and we buy this idea, even if we don't have the money for any of it. We are told that quantity is more important than quality. It's not just at McDonald's - our society as a whole embraces supersize..."

This is one of my opinion columns for the Diamondback - the University of Maryland's Student Newspaper. Check it out HERE

stripping down sustainability

2008-04-04T00:03:00.000-04:00

The main force behind this blog is the current ECOdemic - the infiltration of the "green" movement into so many aspects of our society today, especially the arts, the media, and the market. But with so many catch phrases and definitions associated with the word "green," before I get this blog rolling I think it's important that I step back and define what the concept of sustainability means to me.

Sustainability: Development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.

This is the general definition crafted by the 1987 World Commission on Environment and Development (also known as the Brundtland Commission). The definition is broad and general, and can be interpreted in a number of ways.

One of the greatest misconceptions about sustainability is the perception that it is a purely environmental agenda, one that requires sacrifice of higher standard of living. In actuality, the concept of sustainability is often broken down into to 3 parts - economic, environmental, and social sustainability, which interact in sustainable development.

Sustainability requires change, not sacrifice; it is a new quality of life. It is not necessarily a goal to reach or an ultimate outcome, because it deals with the most dynamic processes: human society and our natural resources.

Rather, sustainability is a way of being, a recognition of the interdependency of humans and the earth, and humans ourselves. Sustainability is a part of this ideology built on the idea of interconnectivity, a philosophy allows the individual to view herself not as her own entity, but rather as a unique component of her society and her environment, each of which work to shape her as well.

Today being "green" is sexy, it's fun, it's cool, and it's getting easier every day - the trick is to continually think critically about the different "shades" of green. Because in a society born out of raw individualism, creating a culture of sustainability is going to take a massive transformation of our current way of life, and the values and norms by which we measure our standard of living.

The question is, is a "green" fad going to send us in the right direction, or does spreading the idea of sustainability through consumerism and popular culture contradict its inherent purpose?