Copyright Laura Silver

I was intrigued by a comment I heard on a radio show about retirement planning a while back. The guest said it that was impossible to determine how much money to plan for unless you had some idea of what would make you happy in retirement—that most people tended to look for a dollar amount in a vacuum, not really connecting it to themselves or thinking about what really gives them satisfaction.

Somehow my weirdly-wired brain linked that comment with environmentalism, consumer culture, our fast-paced world, my long-ago days as a paramedic, and frequently-heard complaints of feeling disconnected—from people, nature, and ourselves. With any luck, I’ll be able to make it clear why.

It’s a conundrum of no mean complexity how a society that spawned the “me generation” and the ubiquitous, (and only half-ironic), “it’s all about me” joke, is chockablock with folks who don’t know themselves well enough to decide what might make them feel happy or satisfied.

Consumerism tells us money, and the things it can buy, will alleviate our anxiety and malaise. If the latest cell phone doesn’t make you feel better, try a movie, nightclub, TV show, extreme sport—anything to take you out of yourself.

Yet I suspect what is needed is to get more into ourselves—in a profound, less narcissistic way.  I see clear evidence that this is true in the rising paradigm that includes “green thinking”.

Environmentalism stresses reconnecting with nature; realizing that we are a part of everything around us. But if we do, it soon becomes clear that “everything” is more than just plants, animals, water and earth. Everything includes other people, and ultimately our “self” as part of that whole. We cannot strive to reconnect, to heal the whole without working to become whole ourselves.

For various and complex reasons, American society tends to fragment us, keeps us focused outward on a myriad of distractions that range from the trivial to those of apparent significance. It’s true that people who are not whole are more controllable by outside forces—and maybe that is part of what underlies the direction our society has taken—but there is good evidence that we are beginning to take it back.

The paradigm that includes green thinking is reflected in the people we see leaving corporate America to work at things that make less money, but afford them true satisfaction. It is the driving force behind Fair Trade, Spiritual Capitalism, and Ethical Investing.

That money cannot buy happiness is so old a saw that its blade is dull. What people are beginning to realize is that money cannot buy meaning, and the satisfaction that comes with believing you are something other than a faceless cog in an unfeeling machine.

When I came out of the medical field into the business world I was nearly laid flat by a one-two punch: all at once I lost the feeling that what I did mattered, and that the people I worked with were a team, with a commitment to something beyond their next paycheck. Business just didn’t work that way, and I was at sea.

But it turns out plenty of people were out there on the ocean with me. As the paradigm began to shift to one where being connected meant more than having a cushy spot in the old-boy-network, people started to look for connections that gave them true satisfaction and a sense of purpose.

Studies of the human brain have shown that we are hard-wired to seek meaning. Given a series of random facts, ideas, or circumstances the brain will immediately attempt to relate them, even if it has to construct something rather odd and empirically unsupportable to do it. The brain cannot rest until it has cataloged, related, or discarded the input and created some kind of synthesis.

It seems to me to follow that, on a broader level, we can never feel whole without having a sense that who we are, and what we do, has some kind of meaning. I don’t think it matters if the basis of it is brain physiology or something more metaphysical.  A sense of meaning cannot exist in a vacuum—it is expressed through interrelatedness, through connections to people, ideas, to nature, and the universe around us.

Saving the earth isn’t accomplished by cleaning up a beach, going solar, or buying a hybrid vehicle. Those are the outward expressions of the more profound change we’re already making to who we are, and how we relate to the “everything” around us.

As we look at how to be more green, we perforce look inward at the whole complex of what affords us meaning, because it is all connected. If we become whole and begin to heal, so will the earth.

Photo Courtesy Heartwood Cohousing

One of the things I like best about the green-building movement is that it looks at more than carbon footprints, energy use, healthy and renewable construction materials, (all of which are both necessary and laudable). It also rethinks the basic tenets of why and how we build.

Green construction has taken the concept of “planned communities” and extended it to planning a building project from the ground-up as sustainable, energy efficient, and one that also fosters a sense of community. Some of the results are termed eco-communities, eco-villages, green-based co-housing and elder co-housing. Many provide community meeting areas, classes, and social events, and some are managed and maintained cooperatively, (don’t panic boomers, it’s really not a commune).

In an urban setting eco-communities reduce reliance on car culture by combining residential, business, and shopping spaces within a ten-minute walk. Access to public transportation provides for longer trips; local parks and open spaces encourage community interaction. Usually the residences are individually rented/owned and there is less organized community building than in the other options.

Eco-villages centralize the living and parking areas, maintaining large tracts of undisturbed land. Some include a community B&B for guests so that surrounding homes can be built smaller with less wasted space. Residents own their homes but the land may be held in common or as part of a land conservancy, so owners pay taxes only on the home itself.

Villages have the option of utilizing technologies that might be prohibitive for a single homeowner. Tryon Farm in Michigan uses a septic system that routes tank outflow through beds of tuberous plants. The plants feed on the waste and their roots oxygenate and clean the water. In seven days it is clean enough to meet state irrigation standards, and is used to water community fields. (I so wanted one of these instead of a septic system when I built my house.)

Co-housing developments encourage even more community involvement. Cobb Hill in Hartland, Vermont has a waiting list to buy one of the 22 houses, though it is only five years old. Residents volunteer up to 10 hours of work a week cooking for shared meals in the common room, stoking a wood-burning furnace that heats all the homes, or working in the community gardens. One day a month is spent maintaining community land and buildings.

While San Diego has made attempts to recreate urban "villages" with combined shopping, business, and residential building, (the changes in parts of Hillcrest are a good example), they aren't necessarily green from the ground up, and don't have the built-in community aspects found in eco-villages and co-housing developments.

The Del Sur development 20 miles north of downtown San Diego features many green-building and sustainable facets. It was planned as a green community with stringent guidelines for participating builders, extensive use of solar power, water-saving features, permanent open space with 18 miles of  bike and hiking trails, and the Ranch House Welcome Center which is San Diego's first LEED Platinum building.

Del Sur would qualify as an eco-community as the homes and their properties are individually owned and community building activities, if any, are left to the residents.

The closest attempts at co-housing in Southern California are in Santa Monica, just north of Los Angeles, and so far it's just a group of people with an interest in creating a community with no actual location or development attached. At this time, there are no planned co-housing communities in the San Diego area, though perhaps when economic restraints on construction ease, we may see some movement in this direction.

In the meantime, perhaps we can all find ways to strengthen the community ties where we already live. Though I intentionally live in rural Jamul, with lots of space between me an my neighbors, I find myself more and more interested in some kind of regular, positive, voluntary community building.

I'm not sure what form it would take yet, but I'd like to see something that didn't revolve around fear of wildfires and Indian Casinos. Maybe a community garden project or other excuse to create something, rather than simply fear one form of literal or perceived destruction. I'll be thinking about it. What about you, and your neighborhood?

For an overview of the Top 10 Green Co-housing Developments, visit:

Natural Home Magazine

Learn More About Eco-Communities at:

Green Eco Communities — a sustainable living resource

VillageHomesDavis.org — 220 houses and 40 apartment units designed with solar power, walking-distance offices, stores, parks and playgrounds, and more.

NewUrbanism.org — designed like walkable European towns, New Urbanist developments surround central business and shopping areas with housing and access to public transportation, virtually eliminating the need for cars on a day-to-day basis.

NewUrbanNews.com (684 New Urbanist Projects exist, are under construction, or are in the planning stages

Learn more about Eco-Villages at:

LandChoices.org

TryonFarm.com

Learn more about the 194 (and growing) Co-Housing developments at:

Cobb Hill in Hartland, VT — a thriving cohousing development in eastern Vermont

Cohousing.org — The Cohousing Association of the United States

AbrahamPaiss.com — co-housing info and workshops

CohousingCo.com — The Cohousing Company designs and manages cohousing projects

CohousingDevelopment.com — assists cohousing groups

CoHousingResources.com — land search and acquisition for cohousing projects in early development

Wonderland Hill Development — cohousing community developer

The Annual EarthFair Children's Parade (photo credit Carolyn Chase)

The 21st Annual EarthFair will be held on April 18, 2010 from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. in Balboa Park, San Diego. If it seems a little early to be talking about it, that’s because you aren’t responsible for creating it.

EarthFair remains the world’s largest annual environmental fair and Earth Day celebration, with hundreds of green-related exhibitors and non-profits, and an average visitor count of more than 60,000 people. In addition to being the 21^st EarthFair, the coming event will mark the 40^th anniversary of the first Earth Day celebration here in the U.S.

An event this size doesn’t spring up like a mushroom overnight. Nor does it last for more than 20 years without some powerful motivation and a strong organizing effort. EarthFair is a San Diego fixture and a tradition, yet if you asked the average attendee who produces it, s/he probably wouldn’t know. Most folks don’t even know the name of the event, just referring to it as “Earth Day in Balboa Park.”

It’s time to unmask the dedicated perpetrators of this amazing event — and the months of effort they put in striving to make it look easy. (In the interests of full disclosure, I should probably mention that I am one of those perpetrators — though just one small cog in a set of gears made up of hundreds volunteers who work on EarthFair every year.)

EarthFair is produced by the local non-profit group San Diego EarthWorks, with the help of an average of 400 volunteers. About 40 of those volunteers are long-term, die-hard EF “lifers”, but the remainder are preponderantly recruited and trained new each year — many from local high school students fulfilling their volunteer service hours. Yet every year, the Fair blooms anew, with an amazingly small number of problems and issues to overcome.

How EarthFair Began

The first EarthFair in Balboa Park was held in April of 1990. It was designed as a one-off event to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the first Earth Day in 1970.

Several local environmental groups had small events planned—teach-ins, coastal cleanups, something called “Earth Day on the Bay” — but someone, (whose identity is lost in the mists of time), put out a flyer asking for more ideas on how to promote Earth Day. The flyer set a meeting date for interested participants.

Enter Carolyn Chase, looking for a life change and a new direction for her energies. She had a strong interest in environmental issues but was not (yet) an activist — just someone seeking a new purpose, a way to contribute that would give her life meaning.

Chase thought that the Earth Day planning meetings were ready-made for “one stop shopping”. She could meet with various groups, look over the options, and decide where to place her efforts. She attended the meeting advertised on the flyer, and ended up joining a committee to expand the Earth Day celebrations.

By virtue of being unaffiliated with existing groups, Chase had time to work on hatching something more that another adjunct to the already-planned events. “I thought it could be more than a few tables with literature, which was all the other committee members were proposing” she says. Her vision ultimately put her in charge of what became the largest of all the 1990 events.

After recruiting her somewhat reluctant husband, Chris Klein, to design maps and assist with planning and logistics, EarthFair began to grow beyond anyone’s original expectations. The committee had to decide what the event would entail, reserve Balboa Park, find sponsors and exhibitors, locate suppliers of everything from booths to traffic-control barriers, and enlist volunteers to help with all aspects of the Fair, before, after, and on the day.

“It was a frightful political process,” says Chase. “Since I was new, and had no axe to grind, my main job became that of peacemaker between the groups. Someone had to protect the practical/logistical people from the political people just so that anything could get done.”

But get done it did, and well enough to garner local coverage that was picked up by national news outlets. The first, and expected-to-be-only, EarthFair became a local media event.

Still, when it was successfully completed, the exhausted producers were mostly grateful that it was over, and went back to their lives.

“But the next year we started getting inquiries asking when the Fair was going to be,” says Chase. “There was such a high interest that it became a catalyst for continuing. Again, some of the previous committee members started talking about doing something smaller. I thought it would be better to have it not happen at all than to not happen at its full potential.”

So once again, they were off and running — and ever since Carolyn Chase and Chris Klein have been the heart of the effort to produce EarthFair.

Planning and Producing EarthFair — A Calm Context of Integrity

Rather than continue with a motley collection of local environmental groups, Chase and Klein recruited a Board of Directors and founded the non-profit San Diego EarthWorks to put the event on a 501c3 footing.

SDEW’s Board is the type referred to as a “working board”, meaning the members do more than meet and vote. They participate in the planning and execution of all the group’s events and fundraisers. The Board, along with particularly committed — and logistically oriented — volunteers, forms the management core of EarthFair.

“We try to recruit practical and logistically-minded Directors,” says Chase. “It would be impossible to produce an event of this size amid political infighting.”

While Earth Day itself is April 22, the EarthFair is always scheduled for the closest Sunday that SDEW can reserve Balboa Park. Planning for the April event starts in late December or early January each year, when notices are sent out to previous exhibitors, sponsors, and volunteers — these days, primarily by email.

Klein, a software engineer, has managed over the years to automate a large amount of the EarthFair registration process with online databases, creating nearly “paperless” registration and tracking. Exhibitors and volunteers can complete the entire registration process online.

Exhibitors can choose their top three preferences for location, download logistics and setup information, and check their exhibitor history from the web site. Volunteers can review “job descriptions” and choose the time(s) and location(s) they want to volunteer.

Because of the length of the event, and the number of volunteer opportunities, many high school students are able to fulfill their entire annual requirement for community-service hours by assisting at EarthFair. Of course, they have to actually work at the Fair, because accountability is one of the hallmarks of this event.

“One of our primary jobs as the producers of EarthFair is to manage the integrity of the process,” says Chase. “We hold our exhibitors, our volunteers, and ourselves accountable.”

This emphasis on integrity plays out in many ways. Would-be exhibitors can be turned away if their product or service is clearly unrelated to the spirit of EarthFair, also if their appearance at the event is judged to be “greenwashing”, or merely an attempt to take advantage of the large number of visitors that the Fair draws.

Volunteers who think they can show up for their shifts, then “disappear” for several hours, will find their managers have kept track. Vanishing students who expect community-service hours will be sadly disappointed at the end of the day.

While there is not the same kind of direct consequence for adult volunteers who do not keep their commitments, records are kept by each area/function manager of which volunteers show up and what kind of job they do. Volunteers can be “fired” or not allowed to come back if they cause problems, or fail to live up to their commitments.

All the managers and producers of the event hold themselves to the same standards. Area and “function” managers begin their preparation work months to weeks before the event, fitting their efforts around work and home life — all without pay. Below is a list of just some of the functions overseen by these volunteer managers:

“Our volunteers know they make a difference, and many of them come back every year,” says Chase. “We’ve seen people grow up at this event. Volunteers who started in high school, graduated, went to college got jobs, married and had babies, and still come back whenever they can. Several are now managers or key volunteers we know we can count on year after year.”

While Chase and Klein work with the exhibitors and handle much of the logistical preplanning for the overall event, the most important function they serve, according to Chase, is to “provide a calm context of integrity in which everyone else can express themselves”.

There is no micro-management among EarthFair managers or volunteers. The emphasis is on finding reliable, committed people with a knack for getting things done — then putting them in charge of key parts of planning and oversight.

Once they’ve proven themselves, key volunteers are trusted to complete their tasks in whatever way seems most efficient to them. If there are concerns or questions, long-time managers, or Chase and Klein are happy to provide suggestions and troubleshooting.

EarthFair Command Central

Central planning for EarthFair takes place in the downstairs offices of Chase and Klein’s Pacific Beach home. Board and Manager meetings are held in the ground-floor living room.

A few years ago the Board of Directors debated renting outside office space, but ultimately chose to put the money to use for further environmental events, and into seasonal pay for Chase and Klein, whose prodigious EarthFair efforts had been strictly on a volunteer basis for a decade and a half.

Chase has become the public face of the Fair, dealing with the media and sponsors. Over time, much of the logistical planning shifted to Klein’s hands — and computers. For years information on how the event was planned and executed resided primarily in Chris Klein’s brain, but an event this size cannot afford to have any one person who is irreplaceable. In an effort to make that information accessible to others and to preserve the “institutional knowledge” held by long-time volunteers, Klein constructed an online forum..

For the last three years, managers have been able to keep records of what they do, and when they do it — records that are accessible to any other manager or key volunteer. Files, contracts, photos, and other backup documentation can be uploaded to the forum for the benefit of new managers, or as reminders of what needs doing next year.

This has made it easier for managers to shift to new areas or functions, and for Chase and Klein to delegate some of an otherwise overwhelming workload.

One of the largest and most important areas of effort in the production of EarthFair is obtaining volunteers. While there is a core group that returns year after year, the event requires around 400 volunteers — most of whom have to be recruited and trained anew each year. How that is done will be the subject of the next article.

Next in the “Behind the Scenes at EarthFair” series: You Need How Many Volunteers? Are You Nuts?

To educate and encourage site visitors in their efforts to make "green consciousness" part of  everyday life.

To show that being green is  cool, forward- looking and fun. There is plenty of doom and gloom reporting about what is going wrong. We want to be a resource for what is going right.

To act with honesty and integrity in our relationships with each other and our community of readers and contributors. To expect the same of those who form relationships with us, and to accept no less.

by Erik Pettersen

During a time when other businesses implode from the bad investments of a greedy few, Hotel Indigo strives to grow on green principles by building San Diego’s first LEED certified hotel.

Incorporating a brand identity that uses San Diego’s own natural resources as a theme, Hotel Indigo’s attractions for green travelers aren’t just luxury for luxury’s sake.

Each hotel in the Indigo chain offers luxury that weaves local resources and art into a tapestry that rewards guests searching for a four-star boutique hotel with a conscience. Indigo’s combination of comfort and eco-friendliness give San Diegans hope its presence will bolster the downtown economy at a much lower “cost” to the environment.

Using the colors and styles of San Diego’s East village, Hotel Indigo blends, rather than disrupts, the local environment. Located on the corner of 9th and Island, one of the standout features is a series of 33 rectangular glass panels that extend from the exterior. They were designed by local artist Lisa Shirmer, and signal the hotel’s dedication to local arts, the environment, and keeping money in the San Diego economy.

When sunlight bounces off the colorful panels that make up “Indigo Waters”, the sculpture will mimic the waves of the Pacific Ocean. Set in a triangular pattern, the panels are arranged in seven layers that stretch from the 9th to the 12th floors.

According to general manager Chris Jones, “’Indigo Waters’ will be a bright spot in the San Diego skyline, and a visible moniker in our commitment to the local community.”

Arranged according to the Fibonacci Sequence, intended to create a natural harmony, the glass panels introduce visitors to Hotel Indigo’s desire to reflect San Diego’s natural beauty in the hotel’s design.

In the lobby guests will re-experience the colors and feeling they enjoyed walking among downtown’s unusual harmony of Spanish colonial buildings, Victorian homes, old saloons and hotels, and modern buildings built to complement the urban ball park.

Designed by local artist Ian Cummings, photographic-murals of agaves, California poppies, San Diego beaches, and other local scenery decorate the corridors, guest rooms, Phi Bar and Bistro, and many other areas of the hotel. Hotel Indigo invested $300,000 in local art and artists.

On the 9th floor, a rooftop garden of various herbs, such as basil, spearmint, and chocolate mint will provide the chefs at the hotel’s Phi Bar and Bistro with many of the flavors needed for their menus. It will decrease the need for trucks to ships herbs, reducing Hotel Indigo’s carbon footprint and costs — and give them more control over the quality of the food they serve.

Three stories up, another garden of native plants, including Stone Crop and Silver Carpet, will function as a “green” or “living” roof. The twelfth-floor garden will reduce the need for heating and air conditioning, filter stormwater run off, and provide a cleaner environment. Planted with organic seeds, both gardens will receive nourishment from the compost tea provided by the Phi Bar and Bistro’s organic waste.

Along with Hotel Indigo’s attempts to bring San Diego’s natural environment into the corridors, guest rooms, and restaurant, they seek to inspire guests to take part in their green efforts. Indigo will provide discounts and reserved parking to guests who drive low-emitting and fuel-efficient vehicles. For those who travel without a vehicle, Hotel Indigo is situated an easy four-block walk from the Park & Market Trolley station, within a few blocks of various bus routes, and a couple of blocks from Petco Park.

They are also pet friendly and a completely non-smoking facility. Outside decks overlook downtown, and one exclusive area has a view of the field at Petco Park.

From the 33 glass panels that make up “Indigo Waters” to the murals throughout the corridors and guest rooms, to the rooftop gardens and other amenities, Hotel Indigo’s investments in San Diego’s local arts and natural resources ensures guests the chance to stay in luxury, reduce their carbon footprint, and support San Diego’s local economy.

All these great amenities aren’t only for the tourist and traveler, either. Indigo has a commitment to local community gatherings as well. Beginning in the fall there will be weekly Canine Happy Hours in the lobby, where locals can meet and bring their doggy friends. Phi Bar & Bistro will have regular music nights featuring local musicians, and there are areas available for meetings and events.

Hotel Indigo brings a new style of green luxury to San Diego that allows both locals and tourists to enjoy a venue dedicated to investing in a green future and the local arts and economy.

Hotel Indigo will soon have 28 U.S. locations, with the addition of hotels in St. Louis and New York by the end of 2009. Each location is designed to be environmentally friendly, to reflect the local ecosystem, and to utilize as much local art and design as possible. No two are alike.

There’s a lot of good news if you look at worldwide organic food production. According to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, (OECD), organic agriculture is increasing by 25% per year.

Some European countries have as much a 10% of their agricultural land under certified organic management. That means more organic food production, hundreds of tons fewer pesticides and chemical fertilizers in use, a resurgence of healthy soil organisms, safer working conditions for laborers, and a growing change in the meaning of “business as usual”.

Organic farm corporation, Aarstiderne (The Seasons), in Denmark has grown from 200 customers in 1996 to more than 45,000 subscribers across Denmark and Sweden today. Yet they have kept the company relatively small, (120 employees), and extremely transparent.

Their reputation is so good, and trust so high among customers and non-customers alike, that there has not been a single item stolen from the produce boxes delivered to members’ doorsteps.

And in the “things you never thought of as organic” category, witness 4 Copas Tequila, a certified-organic and award-winning tequila that apparently tastes great, (I’ll have to take their word for it), and doesn’t even give you a hangover.

4 Copas, named for the Mexican expression “when you share four cups with someone, you become friends for life”, is produced in Jalisco, Mexico, where the entire venture is intended to assist the community as well as produce a fine spirit.

The field workers’ health has improved in the absence of heavy pesticides, the bottles are hand blown by local artisans and feature artwork from prominent Mexican painters, and they hire only local labor to keep the wages in the Jalisco economy.

The company is also composting their leftover agave fibers and working to develop bio-gas systems to reduce the use of diesel fuel.

Locally the Skyrocket distillery in Temecula is using organically-grown agaves to produce agave-nectar sweeteners,Temequila cocktail mixes, and a distilled spirit named JB Wagoner’s Ultra Premium 100% Blue Agave Spirits (due to a copyright conflict with Mexican Tequila, the spirits cannot be called “temequila”, but the cocktail mixes can).

Bottled in recyclable glass, the drink mixes and agave nectar are available at the Temecula Farmer’s market, The Hollywood Farmer’s market, and online. Bottles can be returned for a discounted refill at the Farmer’s markets. The alcoholic beverage is sold at many California liquor retailers.

The distillery itself is a straw bale building with tours and tasting events available for $50 plus a share of the cost of chauffeured transportation. The web site navigation is awkward, but a moderate amount of fumbling around will get you most of the information you need.

I see great hope in stories like these, because business is fundamental to human survival. We must all make a living no matter where we live, and the way most people make a living is through some kind of business.

A new idea of how business can work is on the rise, and seems to be spreading quite rapidly. It won’t overtake bottom-line thinking tomorrow, but our current economic woes will spread it more quickly than it might have otherwise.

The “quick profit” on someone else’s back is what got us where we are today. That an economy can grow forever is a delusion, and sustainable economies require a focus much deeper than the bottom line.

I think there is good reason to believe we are finally able to learn that lesson.

OECD

Aarstiderne: (unless you speak Danish, it’s best to google Aarstiderne and click on the “translate this page” link next to the name.

4 Copas Tequila

Temequila/J.B. Wagoners Agave Spirits

There’s a bumper sticker from the sunsetting Dubya Bush era that I just love: At Least the War on the Environment is Going Well. Kinda’ sums up a lot of issues in one short phrase.

It also makes me think about our tendency to use combat imagery for difficult social issues: The War on Terror, the Battle for Human Rights, the ubiquitous “we won the battle but lost the war”—shorthand for a Pyrrhic victory in everything from natural disasters to office politics.

Language shapes the way we think, the concepts we discuss, and what we acknowledge about the world. If we don’t have a word for something we may dismiss or overlook it—even fail to see that it exists.

The “environmental crisis” and our response to it are like an elephant’s trunk sticking out of a lake. We may think the trunk is all, but the elephant is there—something larger and more complex than we see on the surface.

The elephant in this case is a sea change in how we as human beings view ourselves, and our relationship to the world around us. Using war imagery may keep us focused on the trunk so much that we miss the elephant altogether.

After all, war is episodic: a victory here, a loss there; ground gained and given up. Few if any participants are in a position to see the big picture—and those who are seldom tell the truth about it.

Such imagery also frames the change as a hostile conflict. To have conflict we must have sides to take and enemies to fight. If we don’t have them, the drama requires us to create them.

The language keeps us from seeing the whole elephant, in all its complexity. This global social change is really about coming together, breaking down artificial barriers, finding ways to work with the planet and each other that are “organic” in the living sense.

We need a metaphor that isn’t so fraught with divisive subtext. If we look without prejudging at what is happening in the world, other images arise to help express the change that is in process.

I see connections everywhere—tiny, individual drops of water if you look at them one by one. Just this week I’ve heard about an organic cooperative in Denmark with 45,000 subscribers; midwives who travel to disaster and conflict areas to assist pregnant women; increasing use of holistic techniques in conventional medicine; skunky beer turned into ethanol in a home-fuel station; a financial school for social entrepreneurs; and much more.

Is each a small, separate battle in an overwhelming conflict against incalculable odds? Or are they, perhaps, tiny drops of water flowing into streams and rivers on the way to a sea change?

by Laura Silver

Photo credit Barry Rustin

I’m mildly obsessed with trees — real trees, images of trees, and almost anything with a leaf motif. So it’s no wonder I keep going back to my November/December 2007 Natural Home magazine, with its article on Chrysalis Farm — a sustainable home designed by whole-tree architect, Roald Gunderson.

Gunderson’s designs use whole young trees in place of milled lumber, in a variation on post and beam architecture. The trees average 6 to 12 inches in diameter, and are chosen from diseased, invasive, or wind-bent specimens.

Rather like thinning plants in a garden, this type of young-growth forestry leaves woodlands healthier and allows the oldest, tallest, and straightest trees — the nearly irreplaceable trees favored by the logging industry — to continue to live, thrive, and reproduce.

Appropriate younger trees are up to 100 times more abundant than straight, older trees, and will replace themselves in less than 20 years. In the meantime, the older trees will continue to grow, and sequester increasing amounts of CO2.

Young, unmilled trees used in construction actually sequester a ton and a half of CO2 for every ton of wood used, and are locally available in most areas. So instead of producing carbon through the milling and transportation processes, they help to reduce it.

Photo credit Barry Rustin

There are also excellent engineering reasons for choosing whole trees over milled lumber — even over steel or concrete framing. Wood in its living-tree form has intact and continuous wood fibers that give it a load-bearing strength 50% greater than milled wood. It has the same compression strength as steel, and twice the tensile strength.

Because tree species that would be deemed unsuitable for milling are perfectly usable when left intact, nearly any type of young tree is an option.

This type of “tree house” may be safer, too. In fire conditions, round timbers char but are harder to burn than milled lumber; they do not get brittle or weaken like steel and concrete. The axial and rotational stability of the trees might give a home an edge in earthquakes and hurricanes, (in theory, no study data are available).

Owners of Gunderson’s designs say the feeling is like living in a grove of trees. Photos show organic curves where most homes have stark angles. When the bark is left on, the trees appear to grow through the building.

Gunderson uses straw-bale insulation in walls and roofs, fire-resistant roofing and exterior wall treatments, and passive solar design that helps keep homes warm in the cold Wisconsin-area climate. With modifications, similar designs could keep out the heat of Southwestern summers and create a far more fire-resistant home than standard construction techniques.

While it seems as though the custom nature of building with unique tree shapes would be expensive, Gunderson’s structures are touted as coming in below the national average for per-square-foot cost, as well as keeping more of the construction money in the local economy.

Photo credit Barry Rustin

I have to admit to being a little skeptical about the overall costs. After all, I built my own supposedly-cheaper-than-normal sustainable home — and learned a thing or twelve in the process. I suspect Gunderson’s owners paid in time and effort what they did not spend in dollars — and I wonder if the architect’s fees were included in the listed costs.

But still, I like the concept of Whole Tree Architecture. Even at equal or higher costs than average, I’d continue to be drawn to the idea. I imagine I’ll keep looking at it, just as I keep looking at trees.

Resources:

Roald Gunderson’s Web Site with photo gallery

Article in Natural Home magazine: Nov/Dec 2007: Deep Roots, Strong Branches

On May 29th, Catt Fields White, owner of Gallery 680 in San Diego’s Little Italy neighborhood, launched Greenertables.org — a website that is designed to encourage restaurants to reduce their environmental impact by cutting waste and partnering with restaurant suppliers who produce environmentally-friendly products.

Before White moved to San Diego she lived in Phoenix, where she spent several years in the restaurant industry. As a former restaurant owner, critic, and consultant, she knows every aspect of restaurant management — including day-to-day operations, cost management, cooking great food and creating memorable dining experiences. White also publishes Serving San Diego magazine, which caters to restaurant management.

In 2008, White was nominated for the Arizona Culinary Hall of Fame; though she was not inducted, she justifiably considers the nomination an honor. All this makes her a knowledgeable campaigner for a more sustainable restaurant industry.

Greenertables.org will feature a database of green restaurants in ten cities, (with more to come), for public review. The list will include large chain and independent restaurants. The site will score restaurants according to their efforts to minimize environmental impact.

Because the restaurant industry’s water and electricity consumption is the largest of all commercial industries except heavy manufacturing, water and energy waste/conservation make up the largest portion of each restaurant’s score.

According to White, “If you want restaurants to contribute to reducing environmental impact, [it needs to] make sense to them as a business.” Since many larger restaurants are already committed to reducing water and electricity consumption, White hopes the those efforts will influence smaller restaurants to improve their profit margins by implementing greener standards.

Greenertables also helps restaurants cut costs by offering monthly membership fees that range from $14.99 to $24.99. Unlike some competitors, such as DineGreen.com, which costs $1,000 to $3,000 a year for certification, White keeps the prices low so more restaurants can participate, which should draw more users to the web site.

“We believe we can be profitable by engaging more restaurants in the effort at a lower cost,” says White.

Greenertables.org uses techniques similar to many search engines. Restaurants with the highest ratings are listed first, so page placement has the potential to affect patronage and thereby profit margins. And she hopes to encourage customers to choose restaurants that combine great dining with environmental consciousness.

Restaurant patrons can take a more participatory role in Greenertables by acquiring a free membership that includes referral cards that will be available by mail or on the website. They can distribute these cards to restaurant managers to let them know their customers care about the establishment’s environmental impact.

Participants with websites can post links to Greenertables. After a dining experience, members can post reviews, including comments about restaurants’ sustainability efforts, or what a particular establishment can do to improve.

White welcomes user comments about the food, because “it shouldn’t have to taste bad to do good.” She also encourages users to submit restaurants they think Greenertables should list.

By launching Greenertables, White is creating a site she hopes will allow restaurants, restaurant suppliers, and diners to form a natural alliance — one in which all can take ownership of a greener, more enjoyable dining future.

Photo credit Buffalo Exchange

It has been said the good ol’ greenback can get ya’ pretty much whatever you want in this world. But is salvation from the earth’s devastation one of them? Why yes, it is!

These days, retailers are picking up on what the consumer really wants: a guilt-free, karma-building, eco-friendly purchase. With merchants looking towards a rather polluted horizon for answers on how to stay in business, your greenback is being seduced into their pockets in the name of saving the earth.

Did anyone ever stop to think that just maybe it might be all the buying which has become the real problem here? Those trendy, (and expensive I might add), organic t-shirts will make the landfill no less full if we continue to constantly purchase and discard them.

But there are retailers out there who are strictly in the market to offer you yesterday’s stuff at less than today’s prices, and it’s nothing new—literally.

Buffalo Exchange has been in the business of selling and trading recycled fashions since 1974. With the recent resurgence of all that is earth-friendly, and its burgeoning popularity, business is booming.

Julie, the manager of Buffalo’s Hillcrest location says that business has been great. I asked her if she has seen an increase in sales as people are becoming more conscious of the ecological impact of their retail buying.

“Yes, people have mentioned to me that they feel this is a more guilt-free shopping experience,” she says “

And why not? Buffalo is taking the guilt out of “guilty pleasure” by giving customers an opportunity to exchange their trash for someone else’s treasure.

In addition, Buffalo offers customers a philanthropic alternative to bagging your new britches. In 1994, Buffalo began its “Tokens for Bags” program, in which customers are offered the option of ditching the bag and taking a token valued at the same price as a plastic sack.

The shopper then donates the price of the token to one of several charities. Since its inception, the store has raised over $300,000 for different charities and saved more than six million bags.

I also learned they had begun using bags made of 100% biodegradable, corn-based, bio-plastic for those customers who still want a sack.

The corn bags biodegrade naturally and do not produce any toxic residues. For whatever reason—and Julie was unsure of exactly what that reason was—California is the only state that has been banned the bags.*

All of the other Buffalo stores in the U.S. are currently using them. Schwarzenegger, if you’re reading this, get with the program, man!

In the long run, Julie says, green retail is “principal-driven for the store. The younger generation just thinks this way now”. And think this way, should we all.

As I left the store that evening in April, I saw many thinkers. The place was buzzing. Shoppers had their hands filled with coats, shoes, jeans—everything you could think of—and maybe even something you once owned.

I’ve not seen a store this busy in the absence of an impending holiday since the advent of single-serving macaroni and cheese. Maybe it was the prices. Maybe it was the ethical implications of re-using. Whatever it is, Buffalo is certainly seeing the green, in more ways than one.

*(The State of California requires that bags labeled as “compostable” or “biodegradable” conform to standards set by the American Society for Testing and Materials (Chapter 619), which include restrictions on bags made from GMO corn, eliminating many of the cornstarch-based bags—Ed.)