Bicycle Diaries with David Byrne
If the name David Byrne sounds familiar, its because he has been making music since the 1970s with the Talking Heads. He has since gone solo, and continues to release albums. Yet it isn’t his four decades of music-making that has gotten everyone talking. He recently released a book titled “Bicycle Diaries”(although not his first book either). It chronicles his experiences biking throughout the World since the 1980s. With conversations and highlights about who he meets, the culture and landmarks of the cities, and the politics that guide them as he pedals around town.
Pedaling through New York City starting in the early 1980s, Byrne used bicycling primarily as a form of transport due to convenience not to make a political or environmental statement. Since purchasing his foldable bicycle, he has brought it with him worldwide to discover cities with a different set of eyes.
“This point of view, from his bike seat, became his panoramic window on urban life, a magical way of opening one’s eyes to the inner workings and rhythms of a city’s geography and population.”
So check out what this perspective has to bring either through your own bicycling experiences, and/or living through his!
To check out Bicycle Diares, visit David Byrne’s website.
The Same Dress for 365 Days…
A brilliant demonstration in social entrepreneurship and the fact that not all things need to be shiny and new came about through The Uniform Project. A female entrepreneur, Sheena Matheiken, decided to design a plain black dress to wear for 365 days in a row as a statement about eco-fashion, creativity, and to bring awareness to education. She designed a tunic-like dress that was reversible with a friend, made seven copies, and then made a blog and awareness campaign.
Goal: To wear the same dress for an entire calendar year.
Of course she spiced it up a bit with accessories and other pieces of clothing, but all of it was recycled, donated, or reused. Her goal was to raise money and awareness. Awareness around sustainable living, the uniqueness that a Uniform can encompass, and to support the Akanksha Foundation. This foundation is a grassroots movement that is changing education throughout India, and the money will specifically go toward funding uniforms and education expenses for children living in the slums of India.
She has fundraised over $103,000, in large part toward EBay matching all money donated during the holiday season. This is equivalent to the cost of sending 287 Indian children to school every year. Donations are still being accepted. Now that’s what I call a positive impact!
Check out her “uniform” transformation:
Check out her blog to watch the video of all 365 and beyond and to learn more!
Conserve Energy & Save Money at Home While on Vacation
There are a few times a year when you can easily increase electrical conservation in your home. Leaving home and going on vacation is one of those times. If you are planning a summer vacation, don’t be misled into thinking that you’ll save money on your utility bills when you’re away. It takes more than locking the door and leaving to save power while you’re gone. If you’ll be going on vacation this summer, you’ll want to read the following tips to prevent coming home to high utility bills. Whether you’ll just be gone a few days or for a few weeks, the following tips will help ensure that you aren’t paying for unnecessary electricity while you are out.
The A/C
It’s not always enough to turn down your a/c. Instead, shut it off completely. If you have a programmable thermostat with advanced settings you may be able to program it so that it cools your house before you come back. A timer may be necessary to have the a/c power go on.
Water Heater
Water heaters are notorious for wasting energy, as they constantly heat the water in your home. Turn off the water heater at the circuit breaker or fuse box. This could save you $15-$20 a month. If you are going to be on vacation for more than 2 weeks, this step is really worth your while.
Refrigerator and Freezer
Slightly raise the temperature on your fridge and freezer if you’ll be gone for just a few days. If you’re going on a longer vacation, empty all contents and shut it down. Prop open the door to prevent mildew. Clearing
out and shutting down your fridge and freezer can prevent you from a substantial loss. Unfortunately, I learned this the hard way. During the Northeast Blackout of 2003, we went on a month long vacation out of the country, leaving behind a freezer full of food. I had even prepared a few frozen meals so that we could eat well on our hectic week back from vacation and had stocked up on frozen goods to avoid a shopping trip. Our loss definitely amounted to a few hundred dollars.
Lights
Make sure that all lights are turned off. Depending on how important home security is in your area, consider leaving a few lights on timers to create an occupied look for your home.
Close Your Blinds
Make sure the blinds or drapes are closed. If your a/c is on, closed shades will help keep the house even cooler for your return by keeping the sun out.
Pull the Plug
Unplug all appliances and anything electrical before you leave. Electrical items that are plugged in while not in use utilize what is referred to as a standby power. Standby power can contribute to as much as 10 percent of your electricity bill. Go through each room in your home and make a checklist of each electrical item. Here are a few that you shouldn’t overlook:
. TV
. Digital TV recorder
. Cell phone and battery chargers
. Computers
. Printers, scanners, fax machine
. Microwave
. Digital clocks
. Lamps
Written by Marcy Tate
Marcy is a blogger at Networx. She also writes for Electricians Networks.
Are Food and Retail Behemoths Responsible For Greenwashing?
A few days ago we looked at the Consumer Conundrum of Greenwashing and how to use your right to bear arms of knowledge during the Information Age. Yet some companies claim innocence due to ignorance or lack of guidance. Among the top offenders lay the food and retail industries. Filled with behemoth corporations, these industries are led by companies that are either so removed from their supply chain that they claim innocence or so controlling of the supply chain that they control accurate information and regulation.
Food Industry is Control-ling
In the food industry, you will find a handful of companies that control nearly everything. Agribusinesses bought up America’s farmland after the 1970s farm crisis and still own the vast majority of land. Who knew Farmer’s Markets represented a precious minority of either diehard farmers or newbies that want to create a different system (of course a few agribusiness farmers are there too). Keep in mind that the farmers that grow the very crops we depend on (read corn and soy which have infiltrated a great many consumer products) have little to no control over land that used to be theirs, they are simply leasing it to make a living. So who is making ludicrous claims like “Safe-Hen Cage Farming”? Agribusinesses eager to cash in on the eco-friendly train.
The mechanization and monoculture that runs rampant throughout the agribusiness sector is exactly what distances it from its true agricultural roots. The roots that help determine the strain on the land, healthy crop rotations, sustainable animal operations, and the impact of extensive chemicals and fertilizers. This degree of separation from the natural limits of the land and their operations has led to skewed regulation and agribusiness-favorable, not farming-favorable, legislation and production. With so much control over the industry, the information the public is fed is limited and carefully constructed. Perhaps not the best source for credible information and research.
Retail Industry is Un-controlled
In retail we find a different story. Big Box stores run the Land of the Free these days, with Wal-Marts popping up and shutting down local businesses for most of my adolescent and adult life. These stores’ supply chains include hundreds if not tens of thousands of companies. Each of these companies is merely a component of production from shipping to manufacturing to storage. This winter’s Bamboo Scandal, in which many companies cashing in on the Bamboo and Sustainability craze were caught selling Rayon, not Bamboo, led to the big box stores claiming ignorance. If they don’t know what’s in the products they feel comfortable selling to us, we have a serious problem with accountability. This is the same argument companies have used regarding sweatshops, child labor, toxic exposure to chemicals in the electronics industry, and the use of the term “organic” prior to regulation. Ignorance.
These companies are not ignorant at all. They are part of an incredibly diluted global supply chain that makes it difficult to track the social and ecological impacts of the products they sell. Don’t start sympathizing with them quite yet. This is a system that they have decided to willingly participate in, and in most cases, help create. The simplified goal of this system is to utilize the cheapest labor and materials to produce the cheapest desirable product and sell it at a reasonable yet significantly profitable rate. This dilution and “ignorance” is in fact part of their business model. They are choosing to source their labor and materials from parts of the World with corrupt governments, poor factory management, and most importantly cheap labor. Their choice leaves you with one of your own, should you still support this system?
Synthetic Ingredients, Synthetic Authenticity
Similar to the food industry, synthetic additives and the like are running the show these days. Mechanizing and simulating things that don’t actually need to be simulated. This type of un-natural production creates a large misunderstanding in scarcity and abundance, which is what the neo-liberal classical economics that run our market society rely upon as an indicator. So we push the land, animals, and one another to extents that a natural market would not allow based on simple productivity, supply/demand, and scarcity/abundance. This skewed view fails to value what we truly do find important, if not essential, to leading a good and healthy life including a safe environment, a strong social fabric, and a healthy work/life balance. If the valuation system of these two behemoth industries is a bit off, do we trust that their marketing claims will be spot on?
Perhaps the age of the Enlightened Consumer is upon us, and with that hopefully the more genuine advent of the corporations. I am in favor of hope with caution in this case. For now, I will keep up to date on their “going ons” but keep my dollars for more localized, credible, and authentic places. And yes, I personally will still hold them accountable for being true to the real definitions of sustainability as opposed to a more favorable version a company may create.
What do you think? Are they accountable for their greenwashing?
Enjoy Your 4th of July
The 4th of July is coming up this weekend and I just want to wish everybody a Happy 4th of July. Enjoy the holiday and please check out these tips I wrote last year to make this a Green 4th of July.
Pack a Carry-On and Save Money, Time, and Fuel
Full disclosure: I am writing this post in Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport, and my flight has been changed three times and delayed over six hours (so far). I am fairly convinced that, if I had checked a suitcase for my original flight when I first arrived at the airport, there would be very little chance of my luggage meeting me back home in New York City. So having all of my belongings with me in a carry-on has been particularly beneficial – otherwise my laptop power cord and cell phone charger (not to mention clothes and souvenirs) might be halfway to Timbuktu by now.
But packing a carry-on has environmental and monetary benefits, too!
Pack a carry-on and:
- Avoid checked luggage fees. As more and more airlines are starting to charge for checked luggage, carry-ons are becoming more and more appealing.
- Save fuel. Because carry-ons are usually much lighter than checked bags (which, if you travel like me, can usually weigh close to 50 pounds) and thus require slightly less fuel to transport.
- Maneuver easier on public transportation. With only my carry-on to worry about, taking the subway or bus home from the airport is a breeze. A fifty-pound suitcase makes the subway stairs much more challenging!
- Skip the baggage carousel when you reach your destination.
When Big Time Marketers Get Into Greenwashing We All Lose
One of the more incredulous greenwashing claims I have heard just came coka-doodle-dooing out of a CAFO (Confined Animal Factory Operation). When you see the label “Safe-Hen Cage Farming” what comes to mind? Perhaps a cage with only 1-2 birds inside in place of 10, or a well ventilated area where the hens can see light and actually have their feet (claws) on the ground, or perhaps you thought that no cage is a good cage. For those of us hoping it means some form of enlightenment on behalf of the animal handlers and multi-million dollar companies that own them, we have been duped. 
This particular company has developed the label “Safe-Hen Cage Farming” to mean that the birds are safe from predators (inside of a building locked in tiny cages…yes, I guess you could say that outside of the human predator and one another they are safe). It also is supposed to indicate that the eggs are cleaner, fresher, and indicate anything but improved animal welfare. This example comes from Rose Acre Farms who host pictures of their impressive span of buildings and birds that will never know what the sun or ground actually feel like. The complete mechanization of the birds, their routines, and the belief that their normal lifestyle produces ‘contaminated’ eggs that are dangerous seems to arise out of the past. Yet, for the vast majority of the American public, using “safe” and “farm” in their main tag makes the CAFO sound quaint and familial, if not trustworthy.
This raises the larger question of what happens to us, the consumer, when big time marketers have studied the psychology of the consumers and base their marketing claims on that as opposed to their products. Now marketing to specific audiences is not necessarily new nor unethical, yet when claims fail to match their product’s supply chain, Houston We Have A Problem.
How Bad is It?
Depends on how much you know, what you read, and who you believe. Since sustainability hit it big time, companies have been falling over themselves to “cash in”. With disproportionate marketing budgets to most true “eco” companies, they can spread the word about their products faster and often more effectively than smaller businesses. This boom has led to a great deal of innovation, albeit a significant portion misguided, into sustainability both internally and externally. So they are going to new extremes to appeal and prove the “eco-style”. Unfortunately, much of this is also supported by questionable marketing strategies. A common example is the group that studied how many “nags” it takes a child to get what they want. Instead of focusing on the adult population, which was over-saturated with direct marketing, they moved on to their little ones. This tactic has been outlawed in most Countries (not in the U.S. though to a great extent). So with those minds that have a questionable interpretation of ethics guiding the marketing forrays, it is no wonder it can be confusing for us!
How Can I Protect Myself?
Arm yourself with knowledge. With the Age of Information surrounding us, it can be overwhelming. The good news is that there are quite a few credible organizations that have developed guides to help us become more active in dictating what we do and do not want as consumers. Simple food guides like the Monterey Bay Aquarium’s Regional Fish Guides fit in your wallet or on your phone for big seafood eaters. The Eat Well Guide helps you locate restaurants, bakeries, and farmers in your region or places you may want to hit up when traveling. The Good Guide helps with basic consumer products, and the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics, the Cruelty Free eco-labels among others are there to help us help ourselves. So decide how involved you want to be, or think of the activities and products that are most common in your life and find out how to improve upon them!
Can the Consumer Know Everything?
Absolutely not. We are not each manufacturing experts, ecologists, toxicologists, climatologists, engineers, or any other kind of specialty. We can know a little bit about everything or a lot about a little thing. Either way that suits you, try to find the most credible source of information from academic third parties. There are plenty of “Think Tank” organizations littering the field. Some, not all, house industry in place of academic or field experts. This means that the information you receive may be crafted for the benefit of someone or something other than the common consumer and our global environment. So be your own Smoking Gun!
Tiff’s Top 5 Picks for Ludicrous Marketing Claims of 2009 – 2010:
Drum roll please…
- Oil spills happen…of course if we took necessary precautions and were properly regulated it may have been different.
- Made of 100% Bamboo…er, we mean Rayon.
- EcoWindow 2000…we just like the name, its not more efficient or made from sustainable materials.
- High Fructose Corn Syrup…since the average person doesn’t know why it’s bad for you, why should you?
- Safe-Hen Cage Farming…safe from those vicious foxes that is, not us.
If you want to show those marketers that you will not be had, check out EnviroMedia’s Greenwashing index. They offer some valuable information on what greenwashing is, how to spot it, and why it’s important to know the difference between greenwashing and a true eco-friendly company.
So go ahead, show them who’s boss!
