Growing up, your parents always told you: “Eat all the food on your plate because you’re fortunate enough to have a meal.” While they certainly were talking about the broccoli and quinoa that you were just pushing around, for example, what about all the food going to waste in your backyard?
According to the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (UNFAO), 33 percent of the food grown is tossed without being consumed. Even worse, when such food rots in a landfill, it produces up to 10 percent of the greenhouse gases released into the atmosphere, according to the UNFAO. Grist reports that if global food waste were a country, it would be the third largest emitter of greenhouse gases.
So how does this relate to you? The fruit tree or vegetable garden in your backyard that goes unharvested year after year is contributing to the problem.
But gleaners can help.
Gleaners — people who salvage food that would have gone unharvested — walk residential streets and alleyways looking for trees full of ripe fruit. According to AlterNet, modern day gleaners knock on doors and ask if the homeowners will be harvesting the food. If the answer is no, they ask if they can pick the fruit and keep it.
Fruit taken by gleaners can be frozen, juiced, turned into jam or dehydrated. Ari LeVaux, a gleaner who writes a food column for AlterNet, says she prefers dehydrating the fruit because it’s simple and doesn’t involve extra ingredients. Vegetables can also be attained by striking deals with farmers who are ready to turn their fields under in the fall.
“Sometimes the grower will invite me to come glean it myself, old-school style,” LeVaux writes. “But more often they’ll offer to harvest a massive amount and sell it to me at a bargain rate. Technically speaking, food that’s acquired in this manner isn’t gleaned, but recovered. Either way, it’s food that wasn’t wasted, and by filling bellies it puts less demand on a carbon-intensive, land-hungry food system.”
If you’re feeling ambitious and would rather take it upon yourself to gather food for the hungry and to help your environment, you can find more information using Falling Fruit’s website. The organization is currently building a worldwide database of urban edibles, so you can check out what’s growing in your neighborhood. (A smartphone app is currently under development.)
So whether you’re a homeowner with unwanted food in your backyard or a prospective gleaner getting ready to pick, remember that such a method can not only feed the hungry in your community, but it can also limit the number of carbon emissions your backyard is producing.
“This is such a solvable issue,” Dana Frasz, a gleaner, told Grist. “Tackling it effectively will have ripple effects on these areas that are so important to the climate, to our communities and to the world.”
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Category: Preserving the Environment
This New Type of Bank Invests in the Earth’s Future
Green is a color often associated with banks, or at the very least, with the crisp bills kept inside their vaults.
Recently, however, New Yorkers have another reason to associate green with finance. It’s called the Green Bank — a new form of banking dedicated solely to financing energy-efficient projects.
The $1 billion investment fund aims to help make local energy-efficiency and clean energy projects a reality. Many times these projects are passed over by the big banks, which is where the Green Bank will step in.
It operates with two goals in mind. First, to establish a viable green projects marketplace supported by the private sector, and secondly, through the Green Bank, to have residents to see a reduction in the cost of these technologies.
While New York is the latest state to establish a Green Bank, it is not alone. Connecticut paved the way for others back in July 2011 when it opened its first one. And now, not far behind New York is Hawaii, which is currently in the process of establishing its own. Then there are California, Maryland and New Jersey which are considering similar proposals in their legislatures.
Although the states may use different designs, their mission to bring clean-energy projects to the states remains the same.
So how is New York financing its Green Bank? By redirecting existing state grant money and raising $165.6 million on utility customers through clean-energy surcharges, the Green Bank now has $218.5 million. And by the end of 2014, the bank will reach the $1 billion mark when all of the funds arrive.
The end of the year will also herald the announcement of some of the bank’s lending deals with outside groups. Although no exact details have been given, project proposals concerning solar, wind, storage and energy-efficiency have all been received and considered.
These Green Banks are showing just how far a little green can go when it comes to saving the planet.
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Could Olive Trees Save California’s Drought-Stricken Farmers?
The olive branch — a timeless Greek symbol of peace — could now signal a new beginning for drought-stricken California. All but completely built for total dryness, these trees are mighty impressive and may just save America’s biggest agriculture state, according to Grist.
With small, waxy leaves and the ability to sense drought and go dormant during rain-free times, olive trees are the perfect crop for California’s future – a future that soon enough, may not be able to support the crops currently growing.
That’s because California’s drought is very real — and goes far beyond a simple slowdown in rainfall. According to the San Francisco Chronicle, Governor Jerry Brown has called for residents to voluntarily reduce water use by 20 percent, and a recently passed law makes wasting water illegal.
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“[Farmers] are coming to the stark realization that, no matter what they do, there won’t be enough water to keep their trees alive,” Peter Fimrite of the San Francisco Gate writes.
Which is where olive trees come in.
Dan Flynn, executive director of the UC Davis Olive Center, told Grist that “there’s 10 times more California-grown olive oil than we had 10 years ago,” meaning an oil boom — olive oil, that is — already has legs and is off and running. That’s because the California climate is becoming nearly identical to the native habitat of olive trees: the Mediterranean. This makes them incredibly easy to farm, as they are significantly more sustainable than the almond tree, which, in many cases, they will displace.
Especially with the advent of almond milk, that nut has been in high demand. Almond trees require a lot of water, though, which makes them bad crops for the new California.
Health fanatics shouldn’t worry, though, as olive oil has been shown to be extremely good for you. Another plus is that an increased domestic supply could make for olive oil that’s both higher in quality and better tasting.
So what does all this mean?
We get tastier olive oil and become healthier as a country in the process? Yes. Most importantly, however, is that California can continue on as an agricultural powerhouse even as the climate changes.
This olive branch is bringing peace. Peace of mind, that is, that we don’t have to give up in the face of drought.
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New York City’s New Composting Program Will Save Money and Get Rid of Rats
Separating your recyclables and setting them out curbside is a no-brainer green act. But as composting becomes more in vogue, you’re not sure how you feel about collecting your food scraps.
If you’re a resident of New York City, however, separating your organic waste from the rest of your trash could be easy, thanks to a pilot program run by the city’s Sanitation Department. Advocates of the $10 million project hope that discarded foods, such as peels, eggshells and even a half-eaten burger will end up at composting sites.
The initiative will not only benefit the environment and save the city more than $300 million annually in trucking food scraps to landfills, but it will also reduce the city’s rat population, a benefit that residents love, according to The New York Times.
“When we talk to people, lots of times we lead with the rats because they’re such a visceral issue,” Haley Rogers, a sanitation employee, told The New York Times. “It’s like we’re giving them a buffet every night.”
The city’s program began last year when Mayor Michael Bloomberg led the first pilot program in May on Staten Island, which achieved a 43 percent participation rate, according to Bloomberg. While it was successful in a borough with the highest percentage of single family homes, the question is now whether or not the program can do as well with high-rise residents.
The program is now running in all boroughs, where 100,000 households and 350 schools are embracing it. The hope is to have children return home and urge their family members to sign up for it.
If it succeeds, the Sanitation Department will recommend an expansion of it by the end of next summer. And by October 2015, the sanitation commissioner must also issue a report on the program, as instructed by the bill that was passed by the city council to expand the initial pilot program.
“This is the opening of what could be a very dramatic change in how we deal with a large portion of our waste,” said Eric Goldstein, New York City environmental director at the Natural Resources Defense Council. “On the issue of solid waste and recycling, the administration started slowly but it’s finishing strongly.”
But while some residents are skeptical about the recycling everything program, because of storage issues and “the yuck factor,” the reality is that composting can help the city with its waste problem. And while the program is now running in all boroughs, more can be obviously be done with regards to expansion.
“The bottom line is we can do an awful lot better,” Mayor Michael Bloomberg said in a press conference in 2013. “This saves us money and it dramatically makes the environment that our kids are going to inherit from us better. It’s hard to argue that you shouldn’t do this.”
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How a New Technique is Changing the Way Sneakers are Made
You wear knitted sweaters, scarves and hats, but knitted shoes?
Introduced by Nike and Adidas, who are now battling for patent rights, the knitted Nike Flyknit and Adidas Primeknit are the future of shoe-making. Instead of being made of leather or nylon like traditional running shoes, the uppers of these are made from a single piece of fused yarn — a model of sustainability and efficiency.
With the old shoe-making process, excess material could not be reshaped or reused — creating a large amount of waste. But according to Nike’s sustainability report, the production of knitted shoes results in 80 percent less waste. That’s because when working with yarn, only an exact amount is used. Then, the thread is cut and the rest of the yarn can be used to make another shoe.
The technique isn’t limited to one type of fiber, either. Anything that can be made into a yarn – carbon, wool, Kevlar, gold and stainless steel – can be used to make these shoes.
Sustainability isn’t the only benefit threaded in those shoes, as the simplicity of the project is streamlining the industry as well. Knitted shoes mean a reduction in materials, labor, shipping and time. The shoes can now be produced all in one place, making it a self-contained process that can be used by small companies. All this means that more production can be done locally — benefiting both the business and consumers.
And just because the shoes are sustainable, doesn’t mean that they’re not fashionable. While the companies have been focusing on athletic footwear (Nike with their running, soccer, training and basketball shoes) they are now looking to create more lifestyle shoes that can be used by people in everyday life. Additionally, Adidas will soon be featuring a limited edition designed by Kanye West.
Adidas’ director of running Mikal Peveto has noticed the endless possibilities for this process and the shoe industry.
“Let’s be honest: This is beyond a need-based industry — it’s also a desire-based object,” Peveto told City Lab. “From an aesthetic standpoint, when our style group really gets into it, there’s no horizon.”
So as we head out on our busy days, it’s time to follow a path toward a more sustainable and efficient future — with our knitted-clad feet leading the way.
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This App Tracks Your Carbon Footprint So You Know How Eco-Friendly You Really Are
Environmentalists are up-to-date on all the sustainable practices to reduce their impact on climate change. Using reusable bags, riding a bike to work and eating vegetarian meals reduces one’s carbon output — but by how much?
Oroeco, created by a San-Francisco based company of the same name, is an app that can help individuals track their own carbon footprint. According to EcoWatch, the app calculates your carbon value based on your daily decisions — including retail purchases, food choices, energy consumption and travel.
But that’s not all. The app allows you to link to Facebook and share your carbon output, so you’re subjected to shame from your friends and followers. You can also compare your own carbon output to your friends, and the results may surprise you.
“Something that comes as a shock to a lot of our users: The average person who says they care about climate change actually has a substantially worse than average footprint,” Ian Monroe, CEO of Oroeco told Grist.
What could be someone’s carbon output downfall? Traveling.
“You have a lot of people who are using reusable bags and water bottles, driving a Prius, maybe eating a bit more of a veggie friendly diet,” Monroe said. “But then they’re flying to Bali or South Africa or something once a year. They end up having a larger carbon footprint than a conservative guy who drives an SUV in the suburbs of Atlanta but doesn’t fly anywhere.”
So what if your carbon output is higher than your friends? The app provides 50 personalized tips on how you can cut down and save money while doing it.
Monroe said that the first goal of this app is to tackle awareness, but he wants to make sure that a person’s carbon footprint remains visible. “What I want to know is how am I doing versus what’s normal, how am I doing versus what my friends are doing, how am I doing versus what’s actually needed to solve climate change — versus what’s actually achievable,” he said.
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5 Inspiring Green Initiatives Moving America Towards a Bright Future
Stranded polar bears. Rising sea levels. Extreme weather. By now you know the devastating impacts of climate change, and it’s pretty easy to get disheartened by it.
Fortunately, there are some pretty smart cookies here in America who have come up with positive solutions that might change how you feel about our warming planet. Perhaps, you might even feel inspired to take action yourself.
Recyclebank has ranked the 10 most inspiring sustainable innovations happening from coast to coast. We’ve picked five of our favorite projects, but you should really head on over to EcoWatch for the whole list. (The polar bears will thank you!)
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1. Organic food in La Farge, Wis.
We’ve already told you how the food industry is a big environmental nightmare in so many different ways. But at Organic Valley (aka the biggest organic farm co-op in the country) food and farmers are truly treated with respect. Its 45,000 square-foot barn (constructed from locally-sourced materials, naturally) sells sustainable food and hosts workshops and exhibits to help educate the entire community. As the company boasts on their website: “The central mission of our cooperative is to support rural communities by protecting the health of the family farm — working toward both economic and environmental sustainability.”
2. Xeriscaping in Denver
This form of water-wise landscaping might sound unfamiliar to you, but here’s why it’s important: Drought. For water-pinched states in the southwest, xeriscaping is not only a beautiful alternative to water-intensive lawns, it conserves much more water, too. As EcoWatch reports, Denver’s water board has put up free downloadable instructions so you can remodel your own yard.
3. Green building in Chicago
As we’ve mentioned before, it literally takes a lot of energy to go to work. The EPA found that commercial buildings in Chicago are responsible for 70 percent of the city’s carbon emissions. But in an effort to reduce its carbon footprint, Chicago has a Green Permit Program that promotes, expedites and reduces the cost of green architecture. In fact, the Windy City has the most LEED-certified projects in the U.S. at 295.
4. Alternative transportation in Portland, Ore.
Light rail, streetcar, bus, biking, smart cars. If there’s one place you want to be without a smog-emitting automobile, it’s probably Portland. Thanks to the Portland Bureau of Transportation and the Bicycle Transportation Alliance, it’s one of the most bike-friendly cities in the country.
5. Wind Energy in Corpus Christi, Texas
Back in 2002, Texas deregulated its electricity market, which meant that consumers could pick their own energy provider. That’s when Corpus Christi decided to pave the way for wind power. The city is now home to the county’s first on-port wind farm that ships wind turbines to all other states. By using the power of all-natural wind, Texas now saves more than 8.1 billion gallons of water and avoids 22 million metric tons of CO2 emissions each year.
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How A Popular Computer Software Company is Making Itself Greener
We all know that Chicago has been known as the Windy City for some time. But now, one well-known computer software company is using the phrase to their advantage.
Microsoft recently announced in their blog that the company is taking action to reduce their carbon emissions by purchasing wind power from a new Illinois wind farm. Representatives from the company say that the The Pilot Hill Wind Project — a 175 megawatt (MW) wind facility located 60 miles from Chicago — will align with Microsoft’s future goals.
“The Pilot Hill Wind Project is important to Microsoft because it helps solidify our commitment to taking significant action to shape our energy future by developing clean, low-cost sources to meet our energy needs,” Brian Janous, director of energy strategy for Microsoft said in a statement. “Microsoft is focused on transforming the energy supply chain for cloud services from the power plant to the chip.”
According to The Chicago Tribune, the wind farm is currently under construction, but when completed in 2015, it will operate on the same electric grid that powers Microsoft’s datacenter in the Chicago area. It’s expected to generate enough electricity to power 70,000 Illinois homes.
EDF Renewable Energy, a U.S. subsidiary of French utility Electricite de France SA, owns 96 percent of the wind farm, which will be powered through a 20-year power purchase agreement between the company and Microsoft, according to EcoWatch.
This is Microsoft’s largest wind project to date but it isn’t its first. This past November, the company announced that it would buy power from a 110 megawatt wind farm in Texas.
And Microsoft isn’t the only company taking on eco-friendly initiatives. According to The Chicago Tribune, Facebook has also announced that it will use energy from a wind farm to power its new Iowa data center. And the furniture store IKEA is also building a wind farm in Vermilion County, located south of Chicago, to power its stores.
Ryan Pfaff, the executive vice president for EDF Renewable Energy, says that corporations who seek to reduce their carbon footprint are not only making the right choices for the environment but also for their businesses.
“It is encouraging to see leading corporations investing in the U.S. wind sector based not only on their desire to positively impact the environment, but also because it simply makes good business sense,” he says.
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While Our Actions Sometimes Say Otherwise, This New Survey Reveals That We Really Do Care About the Earth
What do you care about more, the environment or your bottom line? As it turns out, Mother Nature is finally trumping bank account balances for most Americans.
A recent survey by the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor found that Americans care (or at least say they do) more about the environment than energy affordability. In the past, many studies have asked about this subject by posing it as a trade off — a would you rather, in a sense, pitting dollars and cents over birds and bees.
This time around, the research team led by John DeCicco went about it quite differently. By clearly inquiring about the importance of energy cost and environmental impact separately from each other made respondents show their true beliefs, untainted by how they feel about the other.
By asking respondents how they feel about environmental impact, DeCicco was able to show that “roughly 60 percent of respondents said they worried a ‘great deal’ or ‘fair amount’” about it, according to Fast Company. This even held true across multiple income levels.
What’s so groundbreaking about these results? They show that caring about the environment is a natural and popular opinion, which should put more people in support of individual and communal environmental efforts. A similar study was done in October 2013, with results coming in about even, which was impressive at the time, but this newer study shows a great trend in our collective thinking.
So whether it be oil spills or hurricanes or just hotter summer days, Americans seem to be caring more about the place around them. Which is certainly good news for the planet.
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Would You Eat Cheese Created in a Lab?
No animals will be harmed in the making of this cheese.
Seriously.
A team of “biohackers” in Oakland, Calif. are trying to develop an ethical cheese that doesn’t require any milk. Their product — called Real Vegan Cheese — will use genetically-altered yeast to create a vegan cheese protein, Modern Farmer reports.
You might be asking, what’s the problem with real cheese? A cursory Internet search will show you how many cows are treated by Big Dairy. (There are some pretty horrific results.) In short, these cows are fed antibiotics and growth hormones, live in confined spaces, use up a lot of resources and create greenhouse gases.
And even though there are already soy- and nut-based cheese alternatives, many say that cashew and almond varieties don’t hold a candle to the real milky deal.
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That’s why these Bay Area researchers have answered the (cattle) call. “The really awesome thing about doing cheese this way is it’s a renewable source of cheese,” team member and molecular biologist Craig Rouskey told East Bay Express. “We’re not going out to harvest nuts to do this. We’re not using cows that are totally polluting the environment. We are actually using a closed system.”
So how is this cheese made? According to the group’s successfully-funded Indiegogo campaign, “It all begins with regular old baker’s yeast. Through synthetic biology, we engineer our yeast to become milk-protein factories, churning out real milk proteins (known as caseins). These milk proteins are then combined with water, vegan sugar and oil to make a kind of milk which is ultimately converted into Real Vegan Cheese using the age-old cheese-making process.”
The team also points out it’s not technically a GMO product since you won’t be eating this obviously modified yeast, but the proteins it creates.
After securing funding ($17,000 and counting), the team is now working to create something that’s actually edible by this fall. Pending FDA approval, of course.
Can’t be any different than lab-grown meat, right?
[ph]
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