MHI announces they now are producing thermoformed packaging made 100% from collected and recycled water, juice and sports drink plastic bottles. Trays, clamshells, blisters and more produced with Good Earth(tm) 100% recycled PET are also Biodegradable, Compostable and Recyclable. FDA approved, this proprietary material can be used for food and non food applications.

Good Earth(tm) 100% post consumer recycled content PET is the newest addition to MHI’s proprietary family of eco friendly packaging. This material expands MHI’s existing selection of material options marketed as “Todays’s Most Practical Alternatives” for environmentally responsible packaging.

Developed and manufactured by MHI, a vertically intergrated division of CEI Incorporated, this new proprietary material offers many environmental, performance and cost benefits for those looking to use more eco friendly packaging. This carbon footprint reducing option is not only made 100% from recycled plastic bottles, it is also biodegradable and compostable in a landfill or compost environment. It can also be recycled through existing programs.
Currently, the average person discards 166 plastic bottles annually with 8 out of 10 ending up in landfills.

FDA approval, high clarity, range of colors, temperature range and good strength make it an attractive and practical alternative for a wide range of food and consumer goods packaging. Performance and physical characteristics are the same as or close to the traditional materials (PET & PVC) it can easily replace and does not have any shelf life, storage or heat sensitivity limitations.

Cost of packaging manufactured from this newest Good Earth ™ material is usually less than the traditional material it replaces and is readily available.

Also available (depending on certain factors) is a “closed loop” program where plastic bottles can be picked up and then remanufactured into 100% post consumer recycled content thermoformed packaging for the company or institution returning the bottles.

For more information call 978-745-8876 or visit www.goodearthpkg.com

http://www.pr.com/press-release/106801

The hippies are coming! The hippies are coming!

That may have been what the Wakarusa Music and Camping Festival initially attracted in its first few years of existence. The four-day festival at Clinton Lake State Park in Lawrence, Kan., prides itself in bringing in plenty of big names from the jam band scene along with premiere acts in alt-country, Southern rock, reggae and bluegrass while raising awareness for environmental issues.

For its fifth year, Wakarusa is trying something different.

The festival, which takes place Thursday, June 5 through Sunday, June 8, is expanding its musical horizons even further. They are bringing in indie rock mainstays like Built to Spill, piano-playing singer/songwriter Ben Folds, country legend Emmylou Harris, goofy alt-rockers Cake, underground hip-hop acts like Blackalicious and Del the Funky Homosapien and Uncle Monk, a bluegrass duo featuring none other than Tommy Ramone, the last surviving member of the seminal punk rock quartet The Ramones.

These are just a few groups on a jam-packed lineup including headliners like The Flaming Lips, Sound Tribe Sector Nine, Keller Williams, Zappa Plays Zappa, Mickey Hart Band featuring Steve Kimock and George Porter Jr., Galactic, The Avett Brothers and a ton of others.

Brett Mosiman, co-director of Wakarusa, realized that this year instead of having similar genres competing for the festival’s crowd over the four-day period, it would be beneficial to the festival to do a little bit of counter-programming with the more than 120 bands on the festival’s lineup.

“I think of part of it was just getting a handle on the fact that we have 300 or 400 hours or music,” Mosiman says. “If we wanted to keep five or six stages, we had to broaden the booking.”

The festival’s five stages will have music playing nearly 24 hours a day, which will be perfect for attendees who pay between $129 to $169 for a four-day pass.

But this year, Wakarusa is hoping that their diverse lineup featuring several big-name acts will get more of a local audience from Kansas City and other areas close by to get the Wakarusa experience, even if it’s only for a night.

“We kind want to offer a little something more for the people here in the regional community,” says David Barrett, director of marketing for Wakarusa. “We want people just to come out to Wakarusa for a day and see what it’s like.”

Or a weekend. Wakarusa is offering its usual single-day tickets for $49 while also offering a weekender pass for $99 in case people couldn’t take off four days because of something silly like jobs or kids or things like that.

While you are at Wakarusa, you may notice how friendly the festival is to the environment it occupies. The generators run on biodiesel. Recycling also is a huge emphasis. Last year’s festival recycled 8,000 pounds of waste that would normally end up gracing local landfills. They are also instituting their first-ever composting program, so whatever food you don’t want (or think tastes like crap) can go towards growing a happy little plant. Bob Ross would be proud.

They will also have a sustainability meeting featuring the editor of Mother Earth News, Brian Welch, a campus tour of human rights awareness and a no-sweat fashion show to display clothes not manufactured in sweat shops.

If you ask Mosiman, these activities are an essential element of Wakarusa’s identity.

“(They’re) all the normal things for us, but I don’t think they are normal for most festivals,” Mosiman says. “We just consider that part of the brand now.”

And another characteristic of the Wakarusa brand is the vendors. The 75 food, arts and crafts vendors will be selling a little bit of everything. On the arts and crafts side, you could pick up clothing, glass marbles, art, glow-in-the-dark light covers, bottle holders and goods made of bee wax. As far as food goes, Madina Salaty, Wakarusa’s vendor coordinator, says they have everything from “healthy options to junk food.” You’ve got your pizza, hamburgers, fries, but you’ve also got organic and vegetarian options, Cajun, Indian, Middle Eastern, Mexican and Chinese food to choose from.

Salaty says that while the number of vendors has slightly increased this year, high gas prices have kept vendors who consistently travel many miles to sell their products at Wakarusa from making the trip.

“We have lost several vendors,” she says. “They have specifically told me that that’s the reason.”

The location of Wakarusa should be enough for people to ignore the prices at the pump. The festival will once again place at Clinton Lake State Park, southwest of Lawrence, Kan. The 1,500 acre facility has plenty to offer those who aren’t just there for the music, with beaches, an 11,000 acre lake, horseshoe pits and hiking trails.

“The amenities are really like no other festival that’s held in a field or a polo ground,” Mosiman says. “It’s really like a family vacation.”

Mosiman knows the traveling aspect of Wakarusa may be less tempting with gas prices so high, but he thinks that shouldn’t stop you from enjoying a unique musical experience, no matter how long you decide to stay.

“I think it’s impacting everybody, and our big message is that you still got to have fun. You have to cut loose,” Mosiman says. “Don’t let those greedy oil bastards take away your fun and your Wakarusa weekend.”

For more information, go to www.wakarusa.com.

by Blake Hannon

http://www.stjoenews.net/news/2008/may/30/loud-outdoors/?diem

Of all the things to obsess about, toilet paper has never been at the top of my list. Or the bottom.

Then I met Jeff Wells, a pleasant, earnest ornithologist who lives in Maine and was visiting Philly. Wells and a few environmental groups say I should buy paper products made from recycled paper - not trees.

Now, Wells obsesses about birds, billions of which breed in Canada’s boreal forest, which he also obsesses about because he’s a scientist with the International Boreal Conservation Campaign.

The boreal stretches nearly from Alaska to the Atlantic; it absorbs tons of carbon dioxide and it’s a major summer nesting ground for birds that winter in backyards like mine.

But the boreal forest is being logged at the rate of 2.5 million acres a year, Wells says. Some is for lumber, sure. But also for paper. Toilet paper.

Paper giant Kimberly-Clark says all the leading consumer tissue brands in North America contain primarily virgin fiber.

In a longstanding dispute, the company says it mainly uses leftover tree pulp, but environmentalists insist that entire trees are being given over to toilet tissue.

The company said about 11 percent of its virgin pulp comes from the boreal - which is then reforested.

Still, environmentalists wonder why we are, in effect, flushing virgin wood pulp of any sort down the toilet when at the same time we’re sending nearly half of all the perfectly good paper left over from home and office use to landfills.

“It’s one of those things that just doesn’t make sense in today’s world,” Wells said.

At least half a dozen companies now make TP from recycled paper. I took a field trip to area grocery stores to investigate.

OK, then, talk about obsessed. In one paper goods aisle, there were 18 kinds of toilet paper - including one aimed specifically at children.

Every store also had at least one eco brand. I bought seven. Back home, I piled my loot onto the dining room table and took stock.

The eco-packages had pictures of trees and cute slogans: “Soft on Nature, Soft on You.”

And in case anyone should miss the “100 percent recycled” label, they had names such as Nature’s Balance, Earth First, Sunrise, Earth Friendly and Seventh Generation.

All were white, so I guess that matters to most people. (The eco brands touted a chlorine-free bleaching process.)

Many were embossed with flowers or butterflies, which seemed silly until I learned the designs hold the paper together after it has been air-fluffed to make it softer.

Traditional toilet tissue ranges from half a cent to 4.5 cents per square foot. The eco-brands were actually less: half a cent to 2.3 cents per square foot.

Seventh Generation contends on its packaging that if every household in the United States replaced just one four-pack of virgin fiber TP with recycled, it would save the equivalent of nearly a million trees.

The toilet paper awaited me. I tried them all.

I’m happy to report I have not had to seek medical attention for abrasions from scratchy paper - because it was fine.

Allen Hershkowitz is a proponent of recycled toilet tissue and a scientist with the Natural Resources Defense Council.

Now, he is obsessed. He has timed himself in the bathroom and says it takes less than five seconds to use up a piece of tissue.

And for that, he asks, we’re using trees?

Recently, he went to a swank French spa to give a speech. The TP was brownish, stiff. But, “the president of France goes there,” he said, “and everybody survives.”

Still, I recently had a bad cold, my nose raw from all the tissues, and I wasn’t even using recycled.

I told the spokeswoman at Seventh Generation, and she laughed. In cold and flu season, even they “concede to softer brands,” she wryly noted.

So maybe I’ll just go with the virgin pulp for my delicate nose. And I’ll take eco-paper for, uh, the other end.

No more trees for me.

GreenSpace:

For more about recycled paper and trees, go to: http://go.philly.com/greenspace

GreenSpace: Pointers for Paper Products

What’s in recycled: Environmental groups advocate paper products made from 100 percent recycled materials. Look for a high percentage of “post-consumer” material, made of paper recycled from homes and offices. Regular “recycled” can contain leftover paper from industrial processes.

Paper recycling update: Last week, the American Forest and Paper Association announced that in 2007, an all-time high of 56 percent of the paper used in the country was recovered for recycling. It totaled 54.3 million tons - more than 360 pounds for every person in the country. The group set a goal of 60 percent by 2012, which still leaves 40 percent more to go.

Historical note: Yo! Philadelphia is a cradle of paper progress. In 1690, William Rittenhouse and William Bradford founded the first North American paper mill along the Wissahickon Creek, making paper from old cloth rags. (Wood wasn’t used in the United States until the early 1900s.) Scott Paper Co., founded by two brothers in 1879 in Philadelphia, marketed the first rolls of toilet paper, and today Kimberly-Clark employees still make Scott products at the plant in Chester.

What’s ahead: Major manufacturers are making changes. Kimberly-Clark is test-marketing Scott Naturals. The line includes facial tissues from 20 percent post-consumer recycled fiber, TP from 40 percent, and paper towels from 80 percent.

By Sandy Bauers

http://www.philly.com/inquirer/columnists/sandy_bauers/20080407_GreenSpace__On_a_roll__Dead_trees_go_down_the_toilet.html

I’m happy to see that ‘environmentalism’ has become trendy, and that there is a growing movement in our society to reduce the impacts of our civilized lifestyle. Yet, those of us who have long considered ourselves ‘environmentalists’ fear that it may be too little too late, and that the movement is becoming co-opted by the very forces that we have been struggling to defeat.
http://treesit.blogspot.com

The crisis we face now can be traced back to decisions our culture made over 10,000 years ago, and compounded since then by millions of subsequent decisions. This process, whereby we went from a species in equilibrium with it’s environment to one that is currently destroying all life around it, has been greatly accelerated in the last 100 years or so. While this acceleration roughly corresponds with the rise of fossil fuel use, it is not these particular resources, or use thereof, that bear the entire responsibility for our current crisis.

The use and impacts of these energy resources, being such a prominent and immediate threat to life, have been focused upon by the new environmental (green consumer) movement as not only key targets, but in some cases, the only targets.
Many old-school environmentalists define their ideology and activism not just by a desire to reduce our ‘carbon footprint’, but also by a desire to have an abundance of intact eco-systems and a broad diversity of life on the planet. Hybrid cars and compact fluorescent light bulbs may reduce the amount of carbon we emit into the atmosphere as we go about our busy civilized lives, but unless we begin to take a brutally honest approach to a wide variety of elements of society, the toxic sprawl will continue to drive thousands of critical species (including our own) into extinction.

The problem lies in the centralized, industrial way that we choose to support ourselves as a culture. The most sustainable and ‘eco-friendly’ products of the mass consumer culture still require appalling amounts of water, energy, resources and labour to produce. All of these things need to be transported, and as these industries have been globalized, the distances that these things need to be transported have increased to the absurd and convoluted. The fuel used by the production and transportation is but one impact of the process. An army of heavy equipment, fabricated from steel, copper, zinc, iron and other resources (as well as petroleum products such as lubricants and plastic) are used in the production and transportation of ALL industrialized mass consumer products. In the case of the automobile, the vast majority of the energy and materials used and the waste and pollution created occurs in the production process.

Where do these materials come from? Whose land? Where does the massive waste our consumer society generates go? Whose land? Who builds the earth moving equipment and mining machinery? Who operates them? Who works in the factory that processes the raw materials and assembles the products? Who loads them onto trucks, ships, planes and trains? Who drives these vehicles? What are the working conditions for all these people? What kind of quality of life do they have? A great deal of exploitation is occurring around the world to bring us our ‘sustainable’ products. The cost of retrofitting the world with green technology and fuelling it with energy that costs more to produce than fossil fuel (as all other energy does) certainly doesn’t leave us much with which to pay a living wage to those who toil for our comfort.
These issues, though often referred to as ‘social justice’ issues, factor into the ideology of many environmentalists. Nowhere is an environmental issue not a social justice issue. Every step in the process of bringing mass consumer goods to the homes of the civilized world, impacts the lives of people who work in these industries and whose homes are downriver, downwind or have been destroyed by these industries.

A globalized mass consumer world is not compatible with the ideal of social justice for all. The industrial system requires slavery and exploitation. It requires increasing access to resources, which means displacing people, mainly poor and indigenous people, from their land base.

Mining and blasting processes, which are critical to the production of material for ‘green energy’ infrastructure, are apocalyptic to any ecosystem. The waste generated by these processes poisons rivers, lakes and oceans and in turn poisons the people who rely on these waterways for sustenance and survival.

These and other effects are also to be seen in the production, transportation and retailing of the ‘green’ and ‘sustainable’ products and infrastructure that is being created and proposed. (A good local example is the development on Spaet [Bear] Mountain, in which the future of the local indigenous cultures, which are in jeopardy in part from diabetes and other health effects of the western diet, relies on access to traditional wild foods. By reducing the land base of these peoples, you reduce their access to healthy food and sabotage their efforts to survive into the future. This can reasonably be called genocide.)

In short, any movement of ideology that does not advocate eliminating our dependence on a globalized industrial way of life can not with any real conscience call itself ‘environmental’, at least not in the sense that the word is used to mean respect and active protection of biodiversity and ecological equilibrium.

Any eco-philosophy that fails to take into account the impact of actions on all life from the smallest micro-organism up to entire human cultures is but a means to feel good about one’s excessive consumption and material addictions.

Those of us in the privileged world have become addicted to the comfort of abundant material wealth. Yet in the majority of the world, thoroughout the majority of history, people thrive, on far less, produced closer to home with less resources, used more efficiently for longer periods of time before being discarded, and discarded in a way that can even contribute to new products.

The true sustainable energy sources in this world are direct solar (to heat food, water, grow food, etc), methane digesting of food waste to produce electricity, heating and cooking fuel, and other technologies that can be built and maintained on a personal or community level.

Further energy reduction is achieved by localizing resource use and reducing the need for most transportation, as well as eliminating many of the products that those of us in the privileged world take for granted.

It’s true that we live in a world where many communities lack the resources for even basic survival, and must rely on imports from other communities, but from this need has arisen a system that is wasteful, inefficient and in most cases unnecessary. If we cannot return to a localized economy than we should be focusing on a future where these impacts occur only where they truly need to, and resources and energy used in the most efficient ways.

Those of us who live in areas with abundant resources could do a much better job of utilizing these resources. Cities could be growing food on rooftops, or in yards that are now only used for ornamental grass and shrubs. Rainwater can be utilized and grey water collected to reduce impact on watersheds and oceans. Food and other waste can be used to produce methane to eliminate the need for hydro-electricity, natural gas and home heating fuel. (And to save land from landfill and avoid flushing it into the ocean where it harms marine life.)

Other waste materials can be used to make new products, and this reduces the impact of extracting, producing and transporting materials and products.

We need to start perceiving the true impacts of using new products. As necessary as each new product may be in our lives, each time we purchase and consume them it is like throwing a live grenade into the communities affected by the production of these products. As necessary as each product may be, it can never be forgotten that we must TAKE LIFE to create it, and in the case of the land and ecosystems from which the raw materials and energy originate, that life may take thousands of years to return, if it returns at all.

Some purchases are unavoidable, but in the case of our culture, most ARE avoidable, thus we have no excuse for such casual taking of life.

‘Sustainable’ products and energy are that which can be harvested and produced close to where we live, with the least possible impact on the natural environment, with attention to quality (so they last), that fill a needed role in our lives, and can be re-used, recycled or discarded in a way that creates the least impact. All other products are destructive and counter-productive to our struggle to survive on a healthy planet.

The green consumer movement is not ‘environmentally friendly’, and the measures being proposed by the new mainstream environmental movement are nowhere near a solution for the crisis we face. If the power to ‘save the environment’ is in the hands of the people, than we need to use those hands to create the world we want, not to hand power over to the corporations and governments to pervert and waste. A centralized industrial world can only create ecological damage, genocide and exploitation. It’s time we began taking the radical alternatives seriously and begin to examine the impacts of every aspect of our lives.

- in solidarity with all life,
Kalanu
http://treesit.blogspot.com
http://bullsheet.wordpress.com
http://pedaltopetal.blogspot.com

PHOENIX— Goodwill of Central Arizona celebrates its newest store opening with a “green spring cleaning” theme. So clean out your closets and clean up on bargains!  Donating and shopping at Goodwill keeps hundreds of millions of pounds of used clothing and household items out of landfills and puts them into the hands of those who can reuse them. Revenue generated from the resale of donated items is put directly into the community to fund work skills development and employment services for the disadvantaged in central Arizona.

Goodwill will open its 39th store near Ahwatukee, 15633 S. 32nd Street, at 9 a.m., Friday, March 28, 2008.  Stop by, shop and enter to win prizes, as well as find great bargains and unique treasures.  Prizes include an Oreck vacuum, EarthMaids cleaning services certificates and earth-friendly cleaning products and the grand prize of two open-ended roundtrip domestic air tickets, donated by US Airways. Individuals donating items during the grand opening will receive a $5 off coupon good toward their next purchase.  Refreshments will be served.

Regular store hours are 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday through Saturday; 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Sunday. Tax-deductible donations will be accepted during regular store hours.

Grand Opening events are stocked with over 100,000 quality items including electronics, furniture, clothing, jewelry and household goods.

Goodwill of Central Arizona, an organization dedicated to helping individuals in central Arizona with disadvantaging conditions overcome their barriers to employment and find self-sufficiency through the power of work.

Celebrating 60 years of serving the community, Goodwill of Central Arizona is one of the oldest and largest non-profit agencies in Arizona. Our mission is to “Put People to Work” throughout Arizona by providing job training and career services to those with vocational disadvantages that can include physical and emotional barriers, welfare dependency, illiteracy and age. In 2007, we served almost 11,000 youth and adults on their quest toward self-sufficiency and secured over 4,400 employment opportunities. For more information on Goodwill of Central Arizona visit www.goodwillaz.org.

http://www.evliving.com/cities_news.php?action=fullnews&id=9153

What role, if any, do antiques and collectibles play in the environmental movement? The answer at the moment is a small one, albeit a growing one. But it is time to make it a major one. Antiques and collectibles are environmentally friendly.

What can the trade do to increase public awareness that antiques and collectibles can and do play a vital role in the greening of America — no, make that the globe? The first step is to acknowledge our historical past. We are the first recyclers. As early as the Middle Ages, individuals gathered on Fair Days to sell and exchange used goods. The individuals who bought them reused them. ”Reused” is the key word. Reusing existing resources is one of the basic tenets of the environmentalist movement.

During my recent visit to Lincoln City, Ore., to participate in its annual Antique Week celebrations, I visited with Rick Brissette and Dan Beck, owners of the Little Antique Mall (www.littleantiquemall.com). During our conversation, I asked Rick and Dan if they had developed any new sales techniques. Rick offered a one-word answer: ‘’sustainability.”

I take pride in my ability to be at the cutting edge of developments in the antiques and collectibles trade. Rick’s ‘’sustainability” took me completely by surprise.

Rick explained that an increasing number of customers are shopping at the Little Antique Mall for environmental reasons. Their goal is to buy older goods for reuse. They have two primary motivations for doing this. First, all the items they purchase are cheaper than new. Second, by purchasing and reusing older items they are reducing the necessity to manufacture new products, thus conserving scarce environmental resources.

As I wrote the above paragraph I heard conservative cries of unpatriotic, antibusiness and unAmerican in the back of my mind. America is a capitalist country. The sale of new goods is a vital part of its economy.

While true, it is clear that global consumption of natural resources cannot continue at its current pace if future generations have any hope of maintaining our existing lifestyle. We need to conserve. We must restore balance.

When did America reach the point where reusing older goods became unpatriotic? My parents experienced the Depression and the shortages of World War II. They recycled goods. I wore more than my fair share of hand-me-down clothing. My first apartment was furnished with hand-me-downs from my parents, aunts and uncles, and friends of the family. We repaired appliances that did not work. My parents and my generation assumed products were meant to last more than one generation.

Although Bernard London’s ”Ending the Depression through Planned Obsolescence,” published in 1932, introduced the concept, it was Brooks Stevens, an American industrial designer, who popularized the concept in the mid-1950s. It was widely accepted by the 1960s.

When individuals in the antiques and collectibles trade complain about something, I often recommend they look in the mirror to find the first solution to the problem. An honest look in the mirror reveals that my generation and the first wave of baby boomers are largely responsible for the advancement of planned obsolescence. We were tired of the old. We only wanted ”new” things, if not for ourselves, for our children. We ignored the advice of our elders who urged us to check out auctions, thrift shops and garage sales where we could buy cheaper than new and often better quality.

Planned obsolescence does work. Consider the abandoned BETA cameras and players, cassette tape recorders, out-dated computer equipment, dial telephones, pocket calculators, Polaroid and instamatic cameras, 331/3, 45, and 78 rpm records and the equipment to play them that consume space in America’s attics, basements, closets, garages and sheds.

The good news is that planned obsolescence does not work all the time. Consider the enormous quantity of reusable items available for sale at auction, estate/tag sales, flea markets, garage/yard sales and swap meets. Applying the cheaper-than-new concept, add antiques malls and shows to the list. There is more non-obsolescent material available than we realize.

In researching the concept of sustainability, I found numerous definitions. The definition on the Web site of the United States Environmental Protection Agency had the strongest appeal: ”Sustainability means ‘meeting the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.”’ The EPA Web site features four areas of concentration: (1) Built Environment, (2) Water, Ecosystems & Agriculture, (3) Energy & the Environment, and (4) Materials & Toxics. I assume the reuse of antiques and collectibles is one aspect of the Built Environment.

Sustainability’s goal is to achieve a level of balance that can last indefinitely. The critical question is: ”How long can human ecological systems be expected to be usefully productive?” Is our modern industrial society destined to collapse?

The answer does not have to be yes. I realize encouraging individuals to buy antiques and collectibles for reuse rather than collecting and decorating (although some decorating may be viewed as reuse) purposes has an extremely minor impact relative to issues such an anthropogenic climate change and the depletion of fossil fuel reserves. However, the old cliché applies: Anything is better than nothing.

Rick and Dan recently developed this tag line for their mall: ”Antiques — sustainability, retainability, sensibility!” It is a great marketing approach, especially for younger consumers. Rick indicated there’s a growing number of younger customers buying for reuse rather than collecting or decorating purposes.

In an editorial, ”The Compact Market,” S. Clayton Pennington noted: ”This type of buyer can help infuse new life in the world of antiques, where dealers offer plenty of functional yet unique objects, often for reasonable prices.

”Compact shopping may be coming to a neighborhood near you. We think it makes sense for dealers to embrace, and help actively promote, this green philosophy. It’s good for the Earth, and good for the bottom line.”

The Compact originated in January 2006 in San Francisco when nine individuals decided to purchase nothing new for one calendar year. It has become an international movement.

It is not clear if ”new” applies to all goods or only to newly made goods. It certainly means all goods to those participating in San Francisco’s Really Really Free Market where a sign reads ”No Money, No Barter, No Trade, Everything Is Free!” Such an approach is clearly an anathema to the success of all business, including the antiques and collectibles business.

The less extreme members of The Compact stress living with secondhand goods. They stress reuse and are willing to buy reusable goods that fit into their lifestyle. While the antiques and collectibles trade needs to be aware of The Compact and develop sales techniques that appeal to its members, it will achieve far more by stressing the sustainability concept.

Finally, I asked Rick and Dan what objects were selling well at the Little Antique Mall. Their immediate response was glass storage dishes, especially those that can be refrigerated and also used for cooking. Rick told me to check out the concept of offgassing. Offgassing is the evaporation of volatile chemicals in non-metallic materials, such as carpet, paint, plastics at normal atmospheric pressure.

When lecturing antiques and collectibles dealers about how to survive in the trade, I stress the concept of giving the customers what they want. Guess I will be seeing a lot more glass containers for sale at antiques malls and shows and flea markets in the months ahead.

Let the greening of antiques and collectibles begin!

Rinker Enterprises and Harry L. Rinker are at http://www.harryrinker.com .

You can listen and participate in ”Whatcha Got?, Harry’s antiques and collectibles radio call-in show, on Sunday mornings between 8 and 10 a.m. If you cannot find it on a station in your area, ”Whatcha Got?” streams live and is archived on the Internet at http://www.goldenbroadcasters.com

By Harry Rinker

http://www.mcall.com/entertainment/all-rinker303.6296622mar04,0,5606230.story

DUBLIN — There is something missing from this otherwise typical bustling cityscape. There are taxis and buses. There are hip bars and pollution. Every other person is talking into a cellphone. But there are no plastic shopping bags, the ubiquitous symbol of urban life.

In 2002, Ireland passed a tax on plastic bags; customers who want them must now pay 33 cents per bag at the register. There was an advertising awareness campaign. And then something happened that was bigger than the sum of these parts.

Within weeks, plastic bag use dropped 94 percent. Within a year, nearly everyone had bought reusable cloth bags, keeping them in offices and in the backs of cars. Plastic bags were not outlawed, but carrying them became socially unacceptable — on a par with wearing a fur coat or not cleaning up after one’s dog.

“When my roommate brings one in the flat it annoys the hell out of me,” said Edel Egan, a photographer, carrying groceries last week in a red backpack.

Drowning in a sea of plastic bags, countries from China to Australia, cities from San Francisco to New York have in the past year adopted a flurry of laws and regulations to address the problem, so far with mixed success. The New York City Council, for example, in the face of stiff resistance from business interests, passed a measure requiring only that stores that hand out plastic bags take them back for recycling.

But in the parking lot of a Superquinn Market, Ireland’s largest grocery chain, it is clear that the country is well into the post-plastic-bag era. “I used to get half a dozen with every shop. Now I’d never ever buy one,” said Cathal McKeown, 40, a civil servant carrying two large black cloth bags bearing the bright green Superquinn motto. “If I forgot these, I’d just take the cart of groceries and put them loose in the boot of the car, rather than buy a bag.”

Gerry McCartney, 50, a data processor, has also switched to cloth. “The tax is not so much, but it completely changed a very bad habit,” he said. “Now you never see plastic.”

In January almost 42 billion plastic bags were used worldwide, according to reusablebags.com; the figure increases by more than half a million bags every minute. A vast majority are not reused, ending up as waste — in landfills or as litter. Because plastic bags are light and compressible, they constitute only 2 percent of landfill, but since most are not biodegradable, they will remain there.

In a few countries, including Germany, grocers have long charged a nominal fee for plastic bags, and cloth carrier bags are common. But they are the exception.

In the past few months, several countries have announced plans to eliminate the bags. Bangladesh and some African nations have sought to ban them because they clog fragile sewerage systems, creating a health hazard. Starting this summer, China will prohibit sellers from handing out free plastic shopping bags, but the price they should charge is not specified, and there is little capacity for enforcement. Australia says it wants to end free plastic bags by the end of the year, but has not decided how.

Efforts to tax plastic bags have failed in many places because of heated opposition from manufacturers as well as from merchants, who have said a tax would be bad for business. In Britain, Los Angeles and San Francisco, proposed taxes failed to gain political approval, though San Francisco passed a ban last year. Some countries, like Italy, have settled for voluntary participation.

But there were no plastic bag makers in Ireland (most bags here came from China), and a forceful environment minister gave reluctant shopkeepers little wiggle room, making it illegal for them to pay for the bags on behalf of customers. The government collects the tax, which finances environmental enforcement and cleanup programs.

Furthermore, the environment minister told shopkeepers that if they changed from plastic to paper, he would tax those bags, too.

While paper bags, which degrade, are in some ways better for the environment, studies suggest that more greenhouse gases are released in their manufacture and transportation than in the production of plastic bags.

Today, Ireland’s retailers are great promoters of taxing the bags. “I spent many months arguing against this tax with the minister; I thought customers wouldn’t accept it,” said Senator Feargal Quinn, founder of the Superquinn chain. “But I have become a big, big enthusiast.”

Mr. Quinn is also president of EuroCommerce, a group representing six million European retailers. In that capacity, he has encouraged a plastic bag tax in other countries. But members are not buying it. “They say: ‘Oh, no, no. It wouldn’t work. It wouldn’t be acceptable in our country,’ ” Mr. Quinn said.

As nations fail to act decisively, some environmentally conscious chains have moved in with their own policies. Whole Foods Market announced in January that its stores would no longer offer disposable plastic bags, using recycled paper or cloth instead, and many chains are starting to charge customers for plastic bags.

But such ad hoc efforts are unlikely to have the impact of a national tax. Mr. Quinn said that when his Superquinn stores tried a decade ago to charge 1 cent for plastic bags, customers rebelled. He found himself standing at the cash register buying bags for customers with change from his own pocket to prevent them from going elsewhere.

After five years of the plastic bag tax, Ireland has changed the image of cloth bags, a feat advocates hope to achieve in the United States. Vincent Cobb, the president of reusablebags.com, who founded the company four years ago to promote the issue, said: “Using cloth bags has been seen as an extreme act of a crazed environmentalist. We want it to be seen as something a smart, progressive person would carry.”

Some things worked to Ireland’s advantage. Almost all markets are part of chains that are highly computerized, with cash registers that already collect a national sales tax, so adding the bag tax involved a minimum of reprogramming, and there was little room for evasion.

The country also has a young, flexible population that has proved to be a good testing ground for innovation, from cellphone services to nonsmoking laws. Despite these favorable conditions, Ireland still ended up raising the bag tax 50 percent, after officials noted that consumption was rising slightly.

Ireland has moved on with the tax concept, proposing similar taxes on customers for A.T.M. receipts and chewing gum. (The sidewalks of Dublin are dotted with old wads.) The gum tax has been avoided for the time being because the chewing gum giant Wrigley agreed to create a public cleanup fund as an alternative. This year, the government plans to ban conventional light bulbs, making only low-energy, long-life fluorescent bulbs available.

By ELISABETH ROSENTHAL

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/02/world/europe/02bags.html?_r=3&hp=&pagewanted=all&oref=slogin&oref=slogin&oref=slogin

The bag was a must-have item: sleek, stylish, in tune with the latest fashion, just the thing for spring. It also turned out to be sturdy and big enough to hold about $20 worth of groceries. At 99 cents, the bag was a bargain. OAS_AD(’Right3′);

No, this carryall isn’t the latest accessory from Fashion Week, but a reusable grocery bag. It’s only the first to come home with us, but I suspect it won’t be the last.

We were making our once-monthly trip to Whole Foods Market; the light-Kermit-green bag was on a spindle at the checkout. Buy a bag; save the Earth (and save 10 cents). Plus, get a carabiner on a key fob. Makes sense to me. Whole Foods seems like the progressive kind of place that could get its customers to switch to reusable bags.

These days, it’s got plenty of company.

Over at Wal-Mart, stuffed between the Britney tabloids and the Brangelina magazines, are totes that proclaim “Paper or Plastic? Neither!” Every mainstream grocery store I’ve visited has reusable bags for sale, with a discount per bag to the customer who uses them instead of killing trees or dinosaurs.

So how difficult is it to go green, anyway? Not too, apparently.

It starts with a mind-set. Before we include Whole Foods or ShopRite or Pathmark among our destinations, we have to remind ourselves to take the bags. If we’re taking a drive, we try to figure in the best route at the best time to save gas, money and our nerves.

While the coffee is brewing, we wash our mugs instead of hauling out paper cups. If we choose to grab a bottle of Poland Spring, we refill it at least once from the filter on the tap. And we do have our eyes peeled for refillable water bottles of the right shape and size. (My problem is remembering to bring my bottle home from the gym. Misplacing those things can get far more expensive than buying water at Costco.)

I’ve been sneaking compact fluorescent lights into fixtures at home wherever and whenever I can. With twisty-curly ones that fit in the same space as incandescent bulbs, and which produce the same light as 100-watt soft-whites, the conversion is painless, mostly. I haven’t seen any three-way bulbs; our bulbs take a little while to yield full brightness in our chilly unheated basement, and they don’t last a full seven years in vibrating ceiling fans. (Even though the fans got a bad rap on “Trading Spaces,” they help keep rooms comfortable with less heat or air conditioning. Old-school green.)

I shave in the shower during that one indulgent minute while I let the hot water massage my bum shoulder. I wet the toothbrush, scrub my pearly whites with faucet off, then sip before rinsing. (Alas, in an unenlightened policy, my municipal water utility charges a minimum that does not encourage excessive conservation.) And you may already know the one about yellow and mellow.

Corporate America is discovering greenbacks in green goods. Giant Clorox is now hawking Green Works cleaning products, joining Simple Green and Bon Ami and a host of others in the marketplace. (Treehugger.com mused about what Clorox’s purchase of the Burt’s Bees company might mean.)

Doing these things and using eco-friendly products won’t win any one person a Nobel Prize, but we’ll all share a far greater reward.

By Bill Zapic

http://www.thnt.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080208/COLUMNISTS24/802080402

Flimsy satchels deemed scourge to Earth, so stores offer alternatives

How do you get a registered nurse to talk trash?

Ask her about plastic bags.

As University Medical Center nurse Kim Hofstad loaded her pickup with groceries from Smith’s Food & Drug on Rancho Drive on Wednesday afternoon, she talked about why she refuses to cart her food home in plastic sacks. Part of it is convenience: Paper bags simply fit better in Hofstad’s kitchen garbage can.

But Hofstad also deplores the environmental fallout of ubiquitous plastic film.

“You rarely see a paper bag flying around as litter in the wind or on the street, but you see all kinds of plastic bags everywhere,” she said. “I don’t know what the deal is.”

Hofstad may soon see fewer plastic sacks adrift on local streets, as growing numbers of grocers encourage consumers to buy reusable bags to cut back on plastics, and to return plastic bags to stores for recycling.

Smith’s is the latest company to roll out a reusable-bag program. The grocer began selling reusable bags at all of its 133 stores, including 42 Nevada locations, about six weeks ago. The bags consist of polypropylene, a stiff plastic, and come in two varieties: a standard version for nonperishable goods that sells for 79 cents, and an insulated bag for hot and cold foods that retails for $1.99. The bags resemble brown paper bags, and they can hold three plastic bags’ worth of groceries.

“There’s a heightened awareness among consumers about how they can make simple adjustments in their daily shopping decisions and have significantly less impact on the environment,” said Marsha Gilford, vice president of public affairs for Smith’s. “We see it in our stores in terms of consumers’ interest in organic produce, and in Earth-friendly products such as less-toxic cleaning agents. We think customers are eager to take measures that will help the environment.”

Smith’s isn’t the first local grocer that’s aimed to shift customers to plastic alternatives.

Albertsons began selling 99-cent reusable bags in 2006. Trader Joe’s also sells reusable sacks for $1.99, and bags groceries in paper, too. And Whole Foods will go plastic-free in all its North American stores by Earth Day on April 22. It will be offering 99-cent reusable bags and recycled paper bags instead.

Entire states and municipalities are also acting, curbing the use of plastic bags or passing rules to keep them from becoming litter. The New York City Council enacted a law this month requiring stores to collect and recycle bags, following a similar law in California. The nation’s first bag ban took effect in November in San Francisco, where big grocers may use only plastic bags made of compostable material.

Officials at the cities of Las Vegas and Henderson said they don’t have plans to address plastic bags. Clark County officials have looked into other jurisdictions’ policies and continue to consider possible action on the topic, spokesman Dan Kulin said. But there are no concrete plans right now to craft new rules.

The city of North Las Vegas didn’t comment for this story.

The United States lags behind many other countries in limiting use of plastic bags. Ireland and Germany levy fees for every bag stores hand out, and several African nations have set thickness requirements that have effectively banned flimsy bags that float in the air. Earlier this month, China, the world’s fastest-growing economy, banned free plastic shopping bags and encouraged people to use cloth ones instead.

Plastic bags may be the latest addition to an ever-growing litany of environmental nemeses, but they weren’t always deemed an ecological threat.

They first appeared in the late 1970s to serve as saviors to vast stands of forest. It would take about 41 million trees a year to yield a volume of paper bags equivalent to the number of plastic bags people use, said Keith Christman, senior director of packaging for the American Chemistry Council and Progressive Bag Affiliates. Making plastic bags also uses “dramatically less” energy than manufacturing paper sacks, and plastics production generates half the greenhouse gases that paper-making creates, he said.

“There really are some dramatic environmental benefits to using plastic bags,” Christman said.

So what’s with today’s sudden ground swell against plastic grocery bags?

For one thing, as Hofstad noted, people spot them as trash everywhere: sailing on the wind, entangling trees, lining gutters. And despoiling both countryside and cityscape isn’t the best way for a product to build a positive public image.

“They’re just not good for the environment,” said Las Vegan Cathy Gilpin as she loaded groceries into her car Wednesday afternoon at Smith’s on Rancho.

What’s more, Christman added, consumers believe that plastic bags are oil-based, and with today’s concerns about the United States’ dependence on foreign oil, people are likely to approach any oil-intensive product with caution.

Christman said neither reason is cause for bagging plastic bags.

First, many packaging materials, not just plastic bags, become litter — a problem improved recycling would help. The Progressive Bag Alliance is working with environmental advocate Keep America Beautiful to boost recycling programs. Also, Smith’s and Albertsons are among grocers who ask customers to return plastic bags they won’t reuse. Bag makers already recycle 650 million pounds of plastic bags annually, Christman said.

And plastic bags in the United States are made from a natural-gas derivative rather than oil, so the petroleum issue is, well, a nonissue, Christman said.

Besides, 92 percent of consumers already reuse their plastic grocery bags for picking up pet waste, bringing lunch to work and keeping the car free of trash, Christman noted. It’s important to give consumers a “lifestyle choice” on bags they receive at the store, he said.

If that choice is left to customers, expect to see them carrying more reusable bags.

Gilford said it’s too early to post sales numbers on the reusables, but a sales rack inside Smith’s on Rancho was nearly empty Wednesday afternoon, with just seven bags left.

Gilpin has already bought several reusable sacks from Smith’s and Albertsons. Her shopping cart on her Wednesday trek to Smith’s still contained several plastic bags full of groceries, because she bought more food than her reusable containers could carry. She said she hopes to eventually have enough reusable bags to use them exclusively.

“They’re handy, and they’re sturdier than a plastic bag,” Gilpin said.

Linda, a Smith’s shopper who declined to give her last name, said she asks for plastic bags, and reuses them to pick up after her dog. Linda said she hadn’t noticed the reusable bags for sale inside the store, but said she’d look for them on her next trip to Smith’s.

“It’d be nice to always have my own bags, and keep them in the car after I’m done shopping,” she said. And ditching plastics would mean “we don’t fill up our landfill so fast,” she added. “It would be good for the environment.”

Even Hofstad, who swears by her paper bags, could be convinced to go the reusable route.

“If they stop carrying paper bags, I would buy half a dozen reusable bags, but I would never go to plastic,” she said. “I think that’s what it will come to — it’ll come to the point where we’ll all have to bring our own bags.”

By JENNIFER ROBISON

http://www.lvrj.com/business/15490331.html

Flowers, chocolates and diamonds will top many people’s shopping lists as Valentine’s Day approaches. Unfortunately, the items most associated with romance are also marred by environmental and social justice concerns.

As the green movement gains momentum, and support from Hollywood heavy hitters such as Al Gore and Leonardo DiCaprio, consumers are becoming increasingly aware that the items they purchase might be obtained in ways harmful to the Earth and its inhabitants, according to experts in the diamond and flower industries. Frontline workers in Latin American countries, key suppliers of chocolate and flowers, and Africa, where the majority of diamonds originate, are most affected, dealing with hazardous working conditions and unlivable wages.

With diamonds, demand for conflict-free stones spiked after the 2006 movie “Blood Diamond,” which addressed the link between diamonds and political unrest and violence in Sierra Leone.

“People were shocked that for such a beautiful gemstone the history behind it could be so tragic,” said Beth Gerstein, co-founder of Brilliant Earth, a San Francisco-based company specializing in conflict-free diamonds. “More and more people are starting to ask questions about where products are coming from and demand a more socially and environmentally friendly product.”

The trend is rippling through the flower industry as well.

“People are getting more concerned about the broader implications of what they buy. I want to make sure my purchasing decisions don’t hurt someone else in another part of the world,” said Amy Stewart of Eureka, Calif., author of “Flower Confidential: The Good, the Bad and the Beautiful.”

There are ways to make Feb. 14 special for your loved one and still be environmentally and socially responsible. Here are some tips to consider.

Chocolates

Organic and fair-trade chocolate still has all the calories of regular chocolate, but at least it helps alleviate some of the guilt. Wild Oats-Whole Foods in Vancouver offers a variety of organic and fair-trade chocolate bars in several flavors. The store carries Alter Eco, a fair-trade label; Equal Exchange, organic and fair-trade chocolates; and Seeds of Change, an organic line. The bars range from $3.69 to $4.59.

Equal Exchange also offers a variety of organic, fair-trade certified chocolate through its Web site, equalexchange.com. Options include Organic Milk Chocolate with Ground Hazelnuts, Organic Mint Chocolate and Organic Very Dark Chocolate. A 3½-ounce bar costs $3.95, plus shipping, and a case of 12 bars is $40.50. The minimum order is $25.

Dagoba, an Ashland, Ore.-based company, also offers organic and fair-trade chocolate bars and syrup, hot chocolate mix and chocolate-covered ­coffee beans. Products can be ordered online at ­dagobachocolate.com.

Based out of Seattle, Theo Chocolate offers fair-trade, organic and vegan chocolate bars through its Web site, theochocolate.com.

The Uncommon Gift in Camas sells Moonstruck Chocolate Co.’s organic dark chocolate bar for $3.95. The regular bars are $3, but the extra 95 cents is worth it to some eco-conscious customers, said The Uncommon Gift co-owner Carrie Schulstad.

Flowers

Surprise that someone special with a bouquet not tainted by pesticides or imported from thousands of miles away. Many area florists buy from local growers whenever possible to support their community, know more about the products they’re selling and save on the fossil fuels and other non-renewable natural resources required to ship merchandise long distances.

Garside Florist Inc. in Vancouver gets its roses from Peterkort Roses in Portland, and buys tulips from Holland America Bulb Farms Inc. in Woodland.

Although most of Garside’s flowers come from Colombia and other Latin American countries, many of these farms are VeriFlora-certified for sustainable practices. Esmeralda Farms is one such operation, and supplies many of Garside’s carnations, poms and daisies.

For Valentine’s Day Wild Oats-Whole Foods will be offering organic roses from Biogarden.

To send blooms to a long-distance­ love, check out ­organicbouquet.com. The site sells certified organic and VeriFlora lilies, irises, roses and other flowers.

Diamonds

Diamonds are a girl’s best friend, but not if they come at others’ expense. Industry-wide, most jewelry manufacturers, wholesalers and retailers are aware of conflict diamonds and try through the Kimberley Process to maintain a pipeline of conflict-free jewelry, said Erik Runyan, owner of Runyan’s Jewelers in Vancouver.

Runyan’s has written guarantees from its vendors stating that their diamonds, to the best of their knowledge, are conflict-free. Most of Runyan’s diamonds are mined in South Africa and cut in Belgium, but Runyan’s also sells some Canadian diamonds.

Because it’s hard to track the origin of diamonds from mine to jewelry store, buying Canadian gems is the best way to assure an ethically sourced stone, Gerstein said.

All the diamonds Brilliant Earth sells come from Canada. Brilliant Earth also designs sapphire pieces using stones from small, family owned mines in Australia and Malawi. The yellow and white gold and platinum settings Brilliant Earth creates are recycled metals.

Other gift ideas

Give the gift of philanthropy. CharityChoice gift cards allow the recipient to choose a cause to support from among more than 100 charities. Charities range from the Sierra Club to the American Red Cross to Special Olympics International Inc. Electronic cards start at $5 and are tax-deductible for the purchaser of the card. For more information or to buy a card for your sweetheart, see ccgiftcards.org.

There also are many fair-trade gifts available locally and online created by artisans worldwide.

The Emancipation Network sells handicrafts made by survivors of human trafficking and slavery. The organization’s store, Made By Survivors, provides jobs for women and helps them become entrepreneurs. Products are available online at madebysurvivors.com and include beaded bracelets from Nepal ($10), batik scarves from India ($30) and handwoven cotton napkins from Thailand ($20 for a set of four).

Wild Oats-Whole Foods carries World of Good products, a line of fair-trade jewelry and women’s accessories handcrafted in Colombia and other South American countries. Prices range from about $15 for a bracelet to $40 for a purse.

Vancouver-based Organic Products Trading Co. develops and imports organic and fair-trade coffees from around the world. Its Café Feminino line is fair-trade, organic and shade-grown. Roasters have agreed to donate a portion of the proceeds to either local women’s shelters or the Café Feminino Foundation. The beans are available locally at Trader Joe’s and Café Sip-n-Play.

If your paramour enjoys a romantic dinner brimming with fresh, locally grown ingredients, try a gift certificate to Roots Restaurant & Bar in Camas or 360° Pizzeria in east Vancouver near the Camas border. These restaurants, both owned by Brad Root, feature produce and meat from Northwest farms.

Or visit Seres, a new, upscale Chinese restaurant in east Vancouver. Seres emphasizes organic, local ingredients and boasts an energy-efficient kitchen and menus made from recycled paper.

For an elegant and educational experience heavy on local fare, get a group of four or five couples together and sign up for a demonstration dinner at Applewood Northwest Cuisine and Catering in the Cascade Park neighborhood. The dinners are offered Tuesday nights at 6 p.m. They last about two and a half hours and include four courses and wine. Meals are prepared step by step, and recipes are provided. The cost is $75 per person.

For an inexpensive but poignant gift, try a love letter. The Paper Lantern in Camas sells cards made from recycled materials, so you can save a tree and give your honey a note to treasure. And though perhaps not as romantic as an actual card, virtual cards are environmentally friendly. Sites such as greetings.yahoo.com and 123greetings.com allow people to personalize and e-mail electronic cards.

Did you know?

Fair-trade certification means that farms receive a reasonable price for their products, and that employees on those farms work in safe conditions. Forced child labor is not tolerated. With fair-trade goods, importers work directly with farmers whenever possible. Farmers and workers also receive a premium to invest in community development projects. Harmful agrochemicals and genetically modified organisms are eschewed in favor of environmentally sustainable farming methods. Fair-trade certification is available for coffee, tea, herbs, cocoa, chocolate, fresh fruit, sugar, rice and vanilla. Look for the Fair Trade Certified logo on products.

VeriFlora certification signifies that flowers and potted plants were produced in an environmentally and socially conscious manner. Look for the VeriFlora logo, or ask your florist if the wholesaler he or she uses works with VeriFlora-certified growers.

Kimberley Process certification regulates trade in rough diamonds. It aims to keep conflict or “blood” diamonds out of the retail market. Conflict stones, those that help fund civil wars, have been particularly devastating to central and western Africa. When shopping for diamonds, inquire about retailers’ policies on conflict diamonds. Ask to see a System of Warranties statement, a written guarantee that the diamonds come from legitimate sources and are, to the retailer’s and supplier’s best knowledge, conflict-free.

Products certified organic meet U.S. Department of Agriculture standards. Organic farmers emphasize the use of renewable resources, as well as water and soil conservation. Organic meat, poultry, eggs and dairy products come from animals that are given no antibiotics or growth hormones. Organic farming emphasizes biologically based pest management, as opposed to pesticides. In addition to the farms, companies that handle or process organic food on its way to restaurants and grocery stores must be certified organic. Any product labeled organic must be certified by a nationally accredited agency.

Sources: transfairusa.org; veriflora.org; kimberleyprocess.com; diamondfacts.org; ams.usda.gov/nop; David Granatstein, Washington State University sustainable agriculture specialist.

Mary Ann Albright

http://www.columbian.com/lifeHome/lifeHomeNews/2008/02/02062008_A-love-thats-sustainable.cfm