A handful of vendors and retailers who’d championed earth-friendly processes and products in the furniture industry for some years found themselves in 2007 surrounded by people singing the same tune. Those pioneers, who all along had been developing “green” product incorporating recycled wood or timber from well-managed forests in case goods, and upholstery using organic fabrics and environment-friendly foams, found themselves on the front end of a wave of companies paying more attention to the environment—at least in word.

How that buzz—spurred by a wave of media attention to the environment over the past year—plays in the long term among consumers (many of whom don’t know yet, or maybe even care, that they have earth-friendly options in home furnishings) will depend heavily on how well or how poorly retailers and vendors handle the issue of “greenwash.”

“Greenwash” refers to slapping a marketing-over-substance label on goods targeted at well-meaning consumers interested in making more environmentally friendly purchases. If bogus “eco-friendly” furniture gets exposed, shoppers (many of whom are jaded by pricing and quality issues, as well an often-negative assessment of their buying experience) could view furniture with a more cynical eye.

A LOT TO CONSIDER. John Billington, CEO of Five Rivers in Boise, Idaho, said retailers seeking out eco-friendly product have to go through their own educational process. A good place to start is talking with suppliers, asking specific questions about where, how and from what their products are made.

About 50 percent of the furniture Five Rivers sells comes from vendors who participate in the Sustainable Furniture Council (SFC), of which he’s a founding member. (The store also features jewelry, organic cotton clothing, and lighting and accessories.) He sees the SFC as having a huge role in setting effective, measurable standards for the industry, as well as providing a rallying point for retailers and vendors committed to making sure their operations are as environmentally sensitive as possible. Groups like SFC can provide leadership, but retailers still have to do their own legwork to verify environmental claims about a particular line, and their own operations, Billington said.

“The Sustainable Furniture Council has become a powerhouse in creating a reliable ‘green’ rating system for retailers and consumers by evaluating products and manufacturers’ impact to our global environment,” he said. “It’s sort of like a ‘Green Housekeeping Seal’ of approval.”

The SFC might be an enormous help in raising industry awareness of its environmental impact, but Billington said retailers must gauge their own carbon footprint and make responsible choices for their communities, and do their own homework when it comes to suppliers.

“Ask questions and then tell your customers what you have learned,” he said. With programs such as the Forest Stewardship Council and Sustainable Forestry Initiative in place for years now, wood products are a bit simpler to gauge than upholstery in that retailers can look for wood certification from such organizations.

“For sustainable forestry, organizations like the Rainforest Alliance, the Forestry Stewardship Council and Smartwood guide forestry practices toward sustainability,” Billington said. “The impact of these organizations has reached 20 countries and certified over 100 million acres of forests.”

Upholstery, with hidden components such as cushioning, is a more complicated category for retailers to vet.

“You’re seeing a lot more foam cushioning for leather and upholstery that’s eliminating harmful vapors during production and emitted from the product itself,” Billington noted. “There’s little oversight in that regard to my knowledge, and it’s necessary to do your own research.”

Determining whether or not wood in a vendor’s furniture is from responsibly managed forests is the first question retailers looking to get greener should ask, said Tim Loveday, a founder of the Design Green Alliance (formerly Channel Logic), a cooperative effort for sustainable manufacturers to increase their marketplace presence.

The second question to ask is what kind of paints or finishes are used in the manufacturing process? Those questions “are a good start for people to begin with, as most manufacturers haven’t ventured into much more detail for sustainability yet, and the responses won’t be overwhelming for the average retailer,” Loveday said.

Third, retailers might ask about certification programs suppliers participate in; and fourth, ask what makes suppliers eco-friendly. “The third and fourth questions allow manufacturers to give more detail on their sustainable practices within their own organization,” Loveday said. “However, the most important precaution retailers can take (to avoid greenwash) is to train their sales staff on the level of sustainability for each manufacturer. Having the answers to the questions above will keep them out of hot water for now.”

CHALLENGES LOOM. The word about going green is definitely out there for all to hear in furnitureland, but the industry still has a way to go, and Loveday said the development of an online resource guide would assist interested companies in increasing sustainable practices and offer advice from experts, as well as contributions from members of groups such as Design Green Alliance.

Watch for more and larger “Living Green Pavilions” such as the one at Las Vegas Market’s temporary spaces at the MGM Grand—a joint effort of DGA, SFC and Las Vegas Market. That area centers on sustainable furnishings or furniture using wood, cushioning, fabrics and finishing materials that are made from renewable resources.

“Our primary objective is to create larger, more dominant pavilions at the different furniture markets worldwide,” Loveday said. “Part of our services through our Web site will be to have a posting board for (reps) to post ‘products wanted’ and/or manufacturers to post ‘reps wanted.’”

Building a “green” network for reps poses challenges. “No question, the biggest challenge for representatives ‘going green’ is to substantiate their products as truly green,” Loveday said. “Second, mainstream retailers’ number one objection is; ‘If I transition 20 percent of my showroom to eco-friendly products, then how do I sell against the other 80 percent that isn’t?’

“In 2008 our goal is to get the message out that we now cover every category with green products, so retailers can begin transitioning their store to 100-percent eco-friendly products without giving up quality, creativity or design capabilities.”

Diversification of DGA’s participating lines is helping to create a range of environmentally friendly product in all categories for interested retailers.

“I currently have database of over 300 sustainable manufacturers, some with SKUs ranging into the thousands,” Loveday said. “My goal is to take sustainability out of the niche market it currently resides (in), and begin establishing a very strong presence to make our eco-pavilions a destination point for buyers worldwide.”

The industry also has internal issues to work through regarding its environmental approach. Already, the American Home Furnishings Alliance (AHFA), whose EFEC program for limiting manufacturers’ environmental impact has made strides, ran afoul of the SFC (AHFA’s a founding member) when it proposed retail tagging for its Sustainable By Design (SBD) program. SFC declined to grant SBD achievers its Silver Exemplary status due in part to what SFC deemed an unacceptable percentage of FSC- or equivalent certified woods in the product in question. At press time that question remains unresolved, but AHFA’s attention to environmental issues is not in question. (See this month’s “Hot Seat” for discussion of the AHFA/SFC situation.)

AHFA and SFC also were in the process of setting up a panel discussion tentatively scheduled to take place at Las Vegas Market.

THE TIPPING POINT. Kevin Tuerff, president and a principal at the Dallas-based environmental marketing consultancy EnviroMedia, said events such as the November United Nations conference on global warming are raising the environment’s profile among consumers, whatever their politics, and that a major resource for furniture was high on the agenda.

“Deforestation was the first- or second-hottest topic there,” said Tuerff, who attended the conference. Tuerff said he’s surprised at the amount of attention environmental issues get these days, and that those serving consumer markets had best be ready to at least answer questions.

“We’ve been in environmental marketing for 11 years, and we never would have predicted what’s happening now,” he said. “‘Tell me what to do’—that’s what consumers are asking now.”

EnviroMedia worked with the University of Oregon to launch a new Web site, greenwashingindex.com, to give consumers the info needed to weigh the green component of their purchase decisions.

Loveday doesn’t believe the furniture retail community has seen its tipping point due to market confusion on “what is considered sustainable.”

“However, we did a test study on a handful of retailers that carried no sustainable furniture products and asked them if they would ‘go green.’ Most were hesitant,” he said. “However, when we rephrased the question and discussed indoor environmental health and the risks associated with standard manufacturing, we saw a completely different level of interest, especially when it came to children’s furniture and bedding.”

Other industries are having success in the environmental movement. For example, The U.S. Green Building Council, (founded by SFC director Mike Italiano), developed a green building rating system through its Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) program, to encourage sustainable construction among architects, interior designers and landscape architects.

When it comes to going green, though, it’s important to do your own homework.

“Many eco-friendly organizations have developed over the past two decades to provide guidelines for global ecology,” said Billington. “There are so many products that are eco-friendly today, and so many that claim to be, that it is hard to know who to trust.”

By Powell Slaughter

http://www.hfbusiness.com/story/story.bsp?sid=89696&var=story&publication=Home%20Furnishings%20Business&publicationDate=2/1/08&slug=HFB_0208_cover_greenwash&category=None&section=Unknown&page=1

WASHINGTON - Though you have to bend down to read it, the fist-size green logo on the front window of Le Pain Quotidien might be the most visible sign that the bakery-restaurant is environmentally sensitive. But that little sticker’s declaration that the Georgetown business is a “certified green restaurant” describes a host of ecologically minded practices taking place on the other side of the door.

Going green, it turns out, is all in the details. And some are less obvious than others.

At Le Pain Quotidien, which opened last spring, the 39-seat communal dining table was fashioned out of reclaimed wood from vintage Belgian train cars. Cleaning products used on the floor and kitchen counters are nontoxic and non-polluting. The to-go cups are made of corn and the spoons of potato starch; they will disintegrate within 30 to 90 days in a commercial compost site rather than sit in a landfill. The exceptional croissants, like the other baked goods, are made with organic flour and butter.

Although it is so far the only restaurant here to earn certification from the Boston-based Green Restaurant Association, Le Pain Quotidien is in good company nationwide. Restaurateurs increasingly are realizing that environmentally minded customers care about more than local produce, sustainable seafood and free-range meats. In a survey by the National Restaurant Association, 62 percent of consumers said they would be likely to choose a restaurant based on its environmental friendliness.

Bergen Kenny, 29, was one of them as she stood in Le Pain Quotidien’s takeout line on a recent morning, waiting for her daily organic pumpkin muffin and fair-trade coffee. “You try to be green in your life, and when you come here they’ve taken care of all that,” says Kenny.

The restaurant association also reported that, in another survey, a quarter of restaurants said they plan to spend more on going green this year. Besides the environmental benefits, restaurant owners hope that such efforts can in the long run help them deal with increased energy and waste-management costs.

“Companies and restaurants are investing in the hard costs of ecologically friendly operations, and people are responding,” says food industry consultant Clark Wolf, president of the New York-based Clark Wolf Co. “These green restaurants are popping up all over the country, in New York like crazy.”

Although the GRA has certified all U.S. operations of Le Pain Quotidien (French for “the daily bread”), a Belgium-based chain with 28 locations in the United States, none is totally sustainable. The D.C. restaurant still needs to find a company in the area that will haul away compostable kitchen waste. It can’t find a source with adequate supplies of organic chicken. But it has satisfied the major requirements of the GRA, a nonprofit organization that has bestowed “certified green” status on more than 300 restaurants and cafes in 30 states and Canada.

“We look at everything,” says executive director Michael Oshman, who founded the GRA in 1990. His 11 environmental guidelines cover energy and water efficiency and conservation, recycling and composting, the use of sustainable food, green building design and construction, and more. The association helps clients find suppliers of locally grown foods, which helps reduce the amount of pollution from fossil fuels used in transportation. “We take a restaurant, no matter where they are in being green, and help them with the steps,” Oshman says.

The stakes are high. Among other environmental effects, the GRA says, the U.S. restaurant industry accounts for one-third of all energy used by retail businesses and is five times as energy-intensive as other retail businesses, including lodging. The group cites studies gathered for Dining Green, a book published by the GRA in 2004, showing that on average, every restaurant meal served produces 1 1/2 pounds of trash. Half of that, the GRA says, is food waste that could be composted.

This past year, the GRA has generated the most interest in its history. Oshman credits the popularity of Al Gore’s documentary on global warming, “An Inconvenient Truth.” Since the movie’s release in May 2006, Oshman says, “the phone has been ringing off the hook.” Not only restaurant owners are calling. Oshman says the National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda, Md., has asked for an environmental assessment of its food service operations.

The GRA did not invent the concept of the environmentally friendly restaurant. The group has, however, raised the consciousness about Earth-friendly issues beyond a niche group of food businesses that were sometimes perceived as esoteric.

But in Washington, one chef was green long before green was cool.

“For them it’s all big news. It is a wonderful thing for awareness. But we’ve been doing these things for years,” says chef Nora Pouillon, who opened Restaurant Nora 29 years ago. Eight years ago the restaurant was the first in the United States to be certified organic.

In addition to cooking with all organic and mostly local ingredients, Pouillon has long used recycled paper and soy-based ink for the menus, which change daily. Four employees compost 75 gallons of vegetable waste in home gardens each day. She eliminated fresh flowers in the restaurant when it became too difficult to find blooms that had not been heavily sprayed with pesticides. Pouillon’s search for Earth-friendly solutions goes on.

“What I haven’t been able to find is certified organic cotton chef jackets and pants,” she says. “No one is making organic shirts for the wait staff anymore.”

Overall, she says, organic ingredients add 20 percent to her costs, and labor costs are 20 percent higher than for a restaurant of comparable size.

“Someone has to haul the compost. Everything adds up,” Pouillon says. “But my business is better than ever, because more and more people are aware and concerned about healthy eating and the environment.”

Nicolas Jammet, co-owner of Sweetgreen, a salad and yogurt bar in Georgetown, also hopes to be certified in the next month. Energy-efficient wiring was installed before the business opened in August. Walls are made of recycled hickory. The owners use salad bowls made of corn-based materials, and the forks and spoons are biodegradable.

For Jammet, there is more to accomplish on the green checklist. Every step, he says, “adds to our mission.”

“It’s not a trend or a gimmick,” says Jammet, a Georgetown University graduate who has lots of customers from his alma mater. “It’s the future to be eco-conscious.”

For Le Pain Quotidien, the environmental commitments extend to some of the smallest decisions that employees make.

“You must watch your trash audit,” says Patrick Jenkins, vice president of operations for the chain. “When you make a latte, you can’t throw a milk container into the trash instead of recycling.”

One model, Oshman says, is the Grille Zone in Boston, which he calls “the best example of a zero-waste business.”

Through recycling and composting, this GRA-certified burger joint has pared its total waste per day, after serving an average 150 customers in 900 square feet, to half of a standard 55-gallon trash bag. (By Oshman’s calculations, a similar-size restaurant without recycling and composting procedures produces 10 to 12 bags of garbage per day.)

Le Pain Quotidien is working toward such success. Managers in Georgetown regularly check bins for misplaced refuse and call it to the attention of employees. And they continue to look for a company to haul away scrap dough and other food waste for composting.

It’s a difficult challenge, Jenkins says. “We’re looking for a total zero” when it comes to waste, he says, “but we’re not there yet.”

http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/0118restaurants-ON.html

By Lila das Gupta

A few months ago we had unexpected guests for lunch, so I sent my 12-year-old son out for some lettuce. “Mum, I got the one that says it was grown in England, not the one that was grown in Spain. I thought that’s what you’d want.”

He knew I might be thinking about the lettuce’s air miles. I didn’t have the heart to tell him that the Spanish one might be more environmentally friendly because it was probably grown in an unheated greenhouse, unlike its British counterpart.

But then again, who’s to know? If you shop with a strong eye on the environment, then going to supermarkets has become soul-destroying. “No, we can’t have beans flown from Kenya.” “Sorry, darling, that sweetcorn has way too much packaging.” “C’mon, you know those strawberries aren’t in season.”

Frankly, I don’t have the time or the energy for such twists and turns: like a lot of consumers, I’m suffering from “eco-fatigue”.

While one half of the population is busy making itself obese, the other half seems to be obsessing about the ethical ramifications of what it eats.

On Wednesday, the Soil Association, which certifies organic produce in the UK, announced that it would certify air-freighted organic produce only if the suppliers could guarantee a “Fairtrade” element to their production. It was widely seen as a disappointing cop-out by environmental groups, who’d hoped for a blanket ban on airfreighted goods.

I see their point, but under the circumstances, I think the Soil Association did the best it could. While the organisation has a commitment to “curb climate change”, its founding and primary goal was to encourage farmers to adopt organic practices.

I see two issues at play. The first is the certification of organic food, in which the Soil Association has an important role. The second is to do with why people want to eat organic food in the first place.

It is not just because many consumers perceive it to be a healthier option, it’s also because they believe organic production is better for the environment. Flying food half way round the world is clearly far less “eco-friendly” than eating conventionally grown food that’s locally produced.

So, where do we go from here? In the end, surely it is the job of the government and supermarkets, not the Soil Association, to work out what an acceptable level of food packaging is.

The same applies to the “eco-footprint” of what we eat, and ensuring that farmers (in all countries) get a fair deal. That’s not something that I, as a consumer, can easily influence when standing in front of the shelves.

Supermarkets should start by trusting that consumers are grown-up enough to eat seasonally; I won’t stop going to Tesco if they stop selling asparagus in December.

They could also trust us to handle vegetables that are not totally uniform and gigantic. Heaven knows, we’ll happily put up with a bit of mud if that means the return to a little more flavour.

We spend more time in Britain discussing food (when not talking about property) than any other nation on earth, but by fetishising what we eat, we seem to have become the most confused nation as well. What is food for? We shouldn’t lose sight of the fact that while it is primarily there to nourish, its secondary, but no less vital, role is to act as social glue that brings families and friends together.

Breaking bread with another should be an act of intimacy, not of mental acrobatics.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/opinion/main.jhtml?xml=/opinion/2007/10/26/do2604.xml

Donna and Kevin Maltz, owners of the Fresh Sourdough Express Bakery in Homer, have perfected their recipe for success over the past 25 years. Scratch baking and environmental sustainability are the hallmarks this business, which just this summer became the first certified “green restaurant” in the state. The certification was awarded by the Green Restaurant Association, a nonprofit organization that bestows the title on restaurant owners who adopt sustainable practices, such as conserving water and energy, composting, recycling, and using non-toxic cleaning products and chemicals.

In an effort to encourage other area businesses to adopt environmentally friendly practices, the Maltzs started Sustainable Homer, an organization that works to unify Homer’s environmentally conscious citizens and make it a “green star” community. Donna said she hopes Sustainable Homer will persuade other Alaskan communities to take steps toward sustainability.

“We started Sustainable Homer to encourage business owners to ask questions like, how can I make my business more responsible? How can I be contributing to the economy by doing things that aren’t taking advantage of the resources?” Donna said. “Anything we do today can protect the future for our children - that’s sustainability.”

Originally from Washington, Donna had earned a degree in social ecology from Evergreen State College.

“I was an organic farmer and a hippy,” Donna said. “I was a true child of the ?70s. I was passionate about the environment and doing anything I could to walk lightly on the earth.”

Donna came to Alaska when she was 24 years old. She planned to travel the state, selling baked goods and soup from her van. So in 1982, she loaded her van with bags of split peas and organic grain, and set out along the Alcan Highway. It took her nearly a month to get to Alaska as she baked and drove through blizzards.

“I arrived on fumes and with only $43 in my pocket,” Donna said. “When I got to Homer I said, ?I ain’t leaving.’”

Donna took residence in a fish shack and slept on a bunk bed. Broke but determined, she called her dad and asked for a $10,000 loan. She used the money to purchase a little shop on 1316 Ocean Drive, where the Fresh Sourdough Express Bakery remains to this day. The original bakery van sits out front, a testament to Donna’s youthful determination. “I want people, and especially young people to know, you don’t need a huge amount of startup capital to start a business,” Donna said. “You need integrity and passion. Stand up for what you believe in, put yourself out there, and the rest will take care of itself.”

Donna’s husband, Kevin, was hired as head baker in 1984. They married in 1988, and their son was born three years later.

The bakery has evolved over the years, expanding from a fledgling 375-square-foot bakery to a fully remodeled full-service bakery and restaurant.

In 1991, Donna went national with AH!LASKA organic cocoa and chocolate syrup. The Maltzs still own a percentage of AH!LASKA, and Donna also works in brand management and consulting for new product development and concepts. Donna said she created the products as a way to heighten people’s awareness of food choices.

“Your food choices don’t just affect your body and environment, but the body and environment of the people who are growing, processing, packaging and marketing your food,” she said. “It’s a whole global picture.”

Eventually, the Maltzs would like to move their bakery from its current location to a larger lot with a view of Kachemak Bay and the Homer Spit. They would also like to focus more on weddings and catering, and Donna plans to do more brand management and consulting. But their main focus is, has and will always be sustainability.

When she arrived in Alaska 25 years ago, Donna estimates that 25 percent to 30 percent of her food was grown and harvested locally.

“Now it’s about 2 percent,” Donna said. “People are abandoning their gardens. Alaska used to be a much more sustainable state, but we’ve become complacent. We need to support local businesses to protect the wealth of resources that we have.”

In order to keep their green certification, the Maltzs will incorporate four new environmental measures a year. Their focus for next year will be energy and water efficiency.

In the meantime, they’ve changed all their incandescent bulbs to fluorescents, replaced paper towels with hand-dryers, replaced old seals and gaskets, and incorporated low-flow hoses.

For the Maltzs, sustainable practices are almost second nature. Donna said she was grinding her own organic grain, drinking organic coffee and driving fuel-efficient cars before it was fashionable.

“I was into sustainability before I knew what it was,” Donna said. “Now it’s about helping the community.”

By Carly Horton

http://www.alaskajournal.com/stories/102107/hom_20071021073.shtml

Paper or plastic? If that’s the only issue that crosses your mind at the grocery store, you have some catching up to do. As concerns about the environment have gone mainstream, consumers are finding more and more ways to turn a typical grocery trip into an eco-friendly experience.

Getting started on your Saturday run to the store doesn’t have to be overwhelming. Experts in green living say taking small steps is a great beginning.

“It’s not about going home today and trying to change everything or opening your cupboards and saying, ‘I’ve done it all wrong,’ ” says Sara Snow, host of “Get Fresh with Sara Snow” on the Discovery Home channel, which is relaunching as Planet Green early next year. “It’s all about trying one thing. Just try one thing this week, try another thing next week and baby-step your way to a more natural way of living.”

Here are eight ideas on how to make your weekend grocery run a little friendlier to the Earth.

Try a reusable bag. Opponents of plastic bags are piling up almost as rapidly as the nonbiodegradable totes themselves. A site called Reusablebags.com estimates the average family gathers 60 bags in four trips for groceries.

“People have seen the sheer accumulation of plastic sacks in our trees, in the garbage, everywhere. The sheer ugliness of that phenomenon is really encouraging people … to bring their own bags,” says Paul McRandle, deputy editor of the Green Guide, a publication and Web site from the National Geographic Society.

Reusable bags are a hot new item and fashion trend, but they’re not commonplace yet in metro Detroit. A simple way to start is with one bag, like Linda Consiglio, 56, of Plymouth, who keeps a Lands’ End tote given to her by her sister in her coat closet. “It’s one of those spur-of-the-moment things, like with an umbrella,” says Consiglio. “You always try to remember to bring it.” Also, keep in mind that paper and plastic bags are reusable, if you save them at home and actually go to the trouble of using them again.

Think reduced packaging. In today’s rushed world, grab-and-go snack packs are sometimes a necessity. But saving time now can fill a waste dump later. “Think about how much packaging went into all those little bags of chips instead of one big bag,” says Snow. “It’s terrible, and it goes beyond food.”

One way around the packaging problem is buying in bulk, advises McRandle, who adds it also is a way to save money. If bulk isn’t your thing, try to become more aware of packaging choices in general: Couldn’t you buy a regular-size bag of cookies and divvy them up into snack sizes at home?

Then again, won’t that create another problem with sandwich bags? Not if you view those bags differently. “They’re not necessarily bad if they’re reused,” says McRandle. “If you can get the kids to bring them home instead of throwing them away, there’s no reason not to, especially for cookies or something dry that can be shaken out.”

Consider alternatives to bottled water. Americans have a love affair with bottled water. They drank more than 8 billion gallons of bottled water last year and purchased more of it than any other beverage besides soda, according to Time magazine.

Know another drink that tastes good? Tap water. “Our water that we have in this region is a Top 10 for water quality in the United States, so we really should be drinking our water out of our faucets,” says Oakland County Sierra Club conservation organizer Melissa Damaschke.

Even if you need to keep bottled water around for emergencies, think about toting tap for everyday use. Fill up a reusable bottle and refrigerate it the night before or add ice to give it that cold snap of bottled water.

Buy local, buy organic. Buying local can mean a fun trip to the farmers market and the chance to eat fresh, delicious produce. Plus, it helps the local economy and addresses issues like the energy needed to haul food over vast distances, Snow says. The challenge is to make the most of whatever is in season.

Buying organic is just as crucial, Snow argues, because it means less exposure to pesticides. “There’s this whole thing now about local versus organic, which is more important, and in my opinion, they’re both important,” she says.

Snow, who grew up outside Ann Arbor and lives in Indianapolis, also suggests growing vegetables in your backyard. “If you have kids, it’s a great way to teach them a tomato doesn’t come from a can in a store,” she says.

Read labels. Louise Berg, 36, of Northville has two daughters, Charlotte, 2, and Fiona, 6. She has noticed that her older daughter seems sensitive to preservatives in food. “My main focus is the health of my children,” she says. “I try to buy them whole foods and things without preservatives.”

She’s part of the growing group of label readers who are out to avoid chemicals, additives and other ingredients they don’t recognize. Less processing leaves a lighter footprint on the environment, but it also means more actual cooking, which can be hard for time-pressed people.

Try buying enough vegetables, beans or meat to make one homemade dish a week, McRandle suggests. That way, you’ll have leftovers and avoid burnout from vowing to cook every meal from scratch.

Bike to the store. Pam Murray, 46, of Pleasant Ridge spent the summer riding to grocery stores and food markets in Ferndale and Royal Oak. Her son and daughter ride bikes, too, and her husband, an anesthesiologist at Beaumont Hospital in Royal Oak, bikes to work. Not counting vacations, she got by on filling up the car about three times this summer.

Two people on a bike can carry home three or four bags of groceries using carriers and backpacks, according to Murray, who saves up a list for runs to Costco for items like paper goods.

The weather can be iffy in the fall, but on nice days, a bike ride to the store is an enjoyable — and health-conscious — way to give the car a rest. Murray, a former triathlete, considers it a creative way to squeeze in a workout.

Try gentler cleaning products. Choosing eco-friendly cleaners cuts down on your exposure to harsh chemicals, some of which can harm ecosystems. Green cleaning products are especially worth sampling for households with children or anyone with asthma or other breathing problems.

A green multipurpose product cuts down on the number of products you need to buy overall. Better yet, look into basic ingredients that double as cleaners, like vinegar, hydrogen peroxide, lemon juice and baking soda. They’re a cheap and old-fashioned method of tackling ordinary grime.

Talk to your grocer. Trendy chains like Whole Foods and Trader Joe’s have a selection that attracts some green shoppers, as do local markets that focus on produce. But major retailers like Meijer and Kroger are going greener, too, and paying attention to things like energy efficiency and organic foods.

Whichever stores you prefer, talk to the managers about what’s new in their policies and let them know which products and issues are important to you. The more active shoppers become, the more “it will help them feel more connected with the food they’re eating and the community they’re involved with,” McRandle says.

JULIE HINDS at hinds@freepress.com.

http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071006/FEATURES01/710060391

Defining the terms for environmentally friendly life Being “green” means being aware of your responsibility to the environment and to the community. Here are other common green terms and their meanings:

Organic: Organic food is produced by farmers who place an emphasis on renewable resources and soil and water conservation, and use minimal pesticides as defined by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Organic meat, poultry, eggs and dairy products come from animals that are given no antibiotics or growth hormones. The USDA sets the standards for being able to label products “organic.” Visit www.ams.usda.gov/nop for more information.

Fair Trade: Fair Trade helps family farmers in developing countries gain direct access to international markets, allowing them to compete fairly and receive a fair price. This also deters cost-cutting practices that diminish quality. Look for the fair trade certification on products, and visit www.transfairusa.org for information.

Shade grown: If you buy Fair Trade-certified coffee, tea and chocolate, it is usually shade-grown. This means that the products you buy provide shelter for migratory birds and help reduce global warming.

Sustainable: A method of harvesting or using a resource so that the resource is not depleted or permanently damaged.

Biodegradable: The product has the ability to break down, safely and relatively quickly, by biological means, into raw materials of nature and disappear into the environment.

Erin Wade

http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/fea/home/ideaarchive/stories/092007dnlivgreenglossary_0923liv.f209634e.html

Meagan and Katie McGovern are two sisters who have always been there for each other. When Katie struggled with being a single mother, Meagan stepped in to help her raise her son Matthew. Years later, when Meagan started her own family and became overwhelmed by her toddler Sander’s ceaseless tantrums, screaming, and sleeplessness, Katie gave up her lucrative job in hotel administration and relocated to Austin to help Meagan cope.

Unlike in celiac disease, where the removal of gluten from the diet always leads to a lessening of symptoms, not all Autism Spectrum Disorder children respond to a gluten-free, casein-free diet. However, enough do to merit giving it a try, and Meagan McGovern wasted no time.

Photo by John Anderson

They decided to start up an organic dessert company, combining Meagan’s love of baking with Katie’s catering experience and business acumen. The business took off, and they were doing well, when it became apparent that Sander was not just going through a difficult phase: He was beginning to show signs of autism. At 22 months, he still wasn’t talking. He refused to play and didn’t respond to his name. He spent much of his time moaning aloud. Never one to take things lying down, Meagan researched Sander’s symptoms on the Internet and found that many children his age with similar behavior patterns were diagnosed as having ASD: Autism Spectrum Disorder.

“The way they think of it now, there is a spectrum of autism-related disorders; at one end you have attention deficit disorder and hyperactivity, and at the other end you have profound autism. In the middle is Asperger’s syndrome. They are all thought to be related,” Meagan explains.

She also discovered in her research that many children showing these symptoms (especially very young ones like Sander) have benefited greatly from following a gluten-free, casein-free diet. Gluten, a very small protein found in wheat and a handful of other grains, is the trigger of celiac disease, an inflammation of the intestine that causes great suffering in approximately 2% of the population. Casein is another very small protein, one found in all animal milk. Because these proteins are so small, they are able to travel through inflamed intestinal walls into the bloodstream. Once in the bloodstream, they are suspected of wreaking havoc on the central nervous system.

Unlike in celiac disease, where the removal of gluten from the diet always leads to a lessening of symptoms, not all Autism Spectrum Disorder children respond to a gluten-free, casein-free diet. However, enough do to merit giving it a try, and Meagan wasted no time.

“Within three days, I knew we would never be going back,” she says. “Sander was cheerful; he stopped moaning; he began sleeping. He started laughing! He began responding to his name; he started playing with his toys. But, because I was breast-feeding him, I had to go gluten- and casein-free, too. These proteins are so small they are carried in breast milk. And when I went on Sander’s diet, what I discovered is that the gluten-/casein-free food out there is terrible!

“Katie and I began experimenting with making delicious, satisfying gluten-/casein-free foods, especially breads and baked goods. And the more I talked to other parents about Sander, it seemed no one knew where to get good gluten-free food. So, we switched our business to gluten- and casein-free only, and here we are.”

The McGovern sisters changed their business model to offer what parents of ASD children need most: a home-delivery service. Many mothers of ASD children are so exhausted and sleep-deprived that asking them to learn how to cook gluten- and casein-free food is close to asking the impossible. Functioning like personal chefs, Katie and Meagan take the pressure off. They cook a week’s worth of tasty, satisfying meals and deliver them on Fridays.

“Probably our bestsellers are the foods that kids like that parents don’t want to refuse to their children: pizza, chicken fingers, and macaroni and cheese.” Meagan says. “These are all foods that are hard to make without dairy and without wheat, but we have figured out how to make them absolutely delicious, and the kids love them. We also sell a lot of cupcakes, cookies, birthday cakes, and bread. Baked goods are very hard to make without gluten, and no child wants to go without treats they see the other kids having.”

It is one thing to say your gluten- and casein-free baked goods are fantastic, and it is another to prove it. After sampling several of the McGovern sisters’ muffins, cookies, and cupcakes, I have to proclaim that these women are geniuses. I cannot say this emphatically enough. Their baked goods are completely and totally indistinguishable from regular, fancy-bakery products. Most gluten-free baked goods simply never have a normal texture or mouthfeel; and if they have a decent texture, they have no flavor. The McGoverns have solved these problems and come up with ways to make bread, pizza crust, cake, cinnamon rolls, and piecrusts that are gluten-/casein-free and flavorful, with wonderful texture and “bite.”

“Our bread is our bestseller,” Meagan says. “We had a woman from France take one of our cooking classes, and she practically lost her mind she thought our bread was so good. ‘I can’t believe I think this gluten-free bread is good!’ she said. ‘I am French, and I think this bread is good!”

The sisters’ website, www.mcgovernsorganics.com, has a comprehensive list of every dish they make, and that list is so long and varied that it won’t all fit in this article.

“Probably the most popular dinners are lasagna, pizza, pot roast, chicken pot pie, and shrimp in spicy coconut sauce,” Meagan says. “Everything we sell is made here in our commercial kitchen, from scratch, by my sister and me. It’s made to order. Peoples Pharmacy at 183 and 620 are so excited about what we are offering that they have bought a freezer unit solely to enable them to carry our products. Peoples Pharmacy in Westlake is planning to do the same. People can just stop by on the way home from work and pick up a gluten-/casein-free meal.

“For some people, that’s enough. But, if you can’t have eggs or beans or rice, in addition to being on a gluten-/casein-free diet, you can call us up or e-mail or order on the website. You can tell us, ‘I can’t have gluten or dairy or potatoes or mushrooms or pineapple. What can I have?’ And we can say, ‘Okay, here are 20 different things we can make you for dinner.’ People are so excited; you just don’t know.” Meagan beams. “They have had to make so many sacrifices; they think they can never have a decent meal again. They are so happy and so grateful.

“Because we are already cooking without dairy, it is easy for us to make vegan food, too. I mean, we are already halfway there. We are willing to work with whatever dietary needs a client has.”

For those who can’t afford to order meals premade, the McGoverns offer cooking classes about once a month. “Our classes are really fun! They’re always a blast,” Meagan laughs. “So far, each class has been about half adults with celiac disease and half mothers of ASD kids. We show them how to make pizza, chicken fingers, chicken pot pie, meatloaf, and ‘glorious morning’ muffins. A lot of these people have been gluten-free for five or six years, but learning a whole new way of cooking has them stumped.

“If there are groups who want to take a class, we are perfectly willing to set up a class especially for that group,” she says. “And we offer phone and Internet support to people who have just gotten a diagnosis and aren’t sure where to turn.” There is no charge for support and guidance; it’s just something Meagan does. “Following this regimen gave us our son back,” she says quietly. “If I can help another mother recover her child, just by pointing her to the right resources, that’s a blessing.”

BY KATE THORNBERRY

http://www.austinchronicle.com/gyrobase/Issue/story?oid=oid%3A540584

http://www.southcoasttoday.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070909/NEWS/709090334/1018/OPINION

By Pamela Marean

At a time when the global economy appears to have trumped local goods, it can be easier to find a specialty food from a foreign land than a tasty vegetable from a farm nearby.The people behind a new enterprise called How On Earth are investing in the idea of “food less-traveled” for SouthCoast in order to increase regional sustainability and reduce the fossil fuel it takes to bring goods to market.

Based on the vision

of promoting homegrown resources, How On Earth is supporting two farms, one in Rochester and one in Dartmouth, that are sprouting a variety of organic produce and supporting livestock. Food, however, is just a starting point for this enterprise.

“What’s more basic than food? People have become disconnected from their food,” investor Margie Baldwin said of her motivation, with her husband, Michael Baldwin, for launching How on Earth. The Baldwins founded the Marion Institute, which for 15 years has sought to “enhance life for the Earth and its inhabitants.”

Thanks to How on Earth, an array of greenhouses was built this year in Rochester at the farm Lucky Field Organics to expand on the New England growing season. Produce includes salad greens, squash, peppers, radishes, cucumbers, kale, bok choy, leeks, culinary herbs, roots, edible flowers, pea greens and all sorts of other “heirloom” vegetables.

Heirloom vegetables tend to be tastier, and more resistant to regional pests and diseases, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. They come from seeds with lineages that trace back at least 50 years, before long-distance distribution inspired industrial agriculturalists to engineer produce that could withstand the rigors of traveling to supermarkets.

At the How on Earth-supported farm in Dartmouth, it is primarily an animal kingdom. “Pigs are grubbing about, cows are chewing, sheep are pooping, chickens are laying eggs,” Mrs. Baldwin said.

She also described a nursery venture starting up there in “edible landscaping” — native species of nuts, berries, herbs and fruit trees that How on Earth will offer for sale in the future. Co-investor Leslie Barclay keeps a close eye on progress by living on the property.

The produce, meat, eggs and dairy products from How on Earth are available through a storefront location on Route 6 in Mattapoisett across from Turk’s Seafood. That is where people who decide to buy shares of the bounty pick up their weekly allotment. It also is where anyone can stop in to find tasty heirloom tomatoes, vegetables in season, artisan cheese, free-range eggs, grass-fed free-range beef, or goat’s milk.

How on Earth shareholders receive fresh produce weekly from June through October. Although this year has been sold out, new contracts will be offered for the 2008 season toward the end of winter. A small share, which contains enough vegetables to satisfy two people, costs $350. A large share, which feeds four adults, costs $550.

Unlike most community-sponsored agriculture systems in which bags are pre-filled with the farmer’s choice, How on Earth shareholders have almost complete freedom to pick and choose what they want to take home.

This is more than a glorified roadside farmstand, however. “We’re not going to make it on lettuce leaves alone,” Mrs. Baldwin said.

How on Earth offers local jams and dessert sauces, chutney, pesto and salsa. There are daily deliveries of pastries, pies and cakes from two bakeries, Flour Girls in Marion and The Artisan Kitchen in Rochester. Soon to come are casseroles, homemade soups and other foods prepared by graduates from the Culinary Institute of America who have signed on to cook for How on Earth.

Meredith Ciaburri of The Artisan Kitchen said that its breads, muffins, scones and brownies use the herbs and fruits from local farms. Jill Houck of Flour Girls said they bake organically whenever possible for their cookies, cakes and pies.

For How on Earth visitors who want to have a bite and drink in the eco-friendly atmosphere, there are cafe tables. Beverages include Fair-Trade coffee, tea and filtered water (not sold in plastic containers).Unique gifts from New England artists are on display, including pressed-seaweed stationery and painted tablecloths. Cookbooks and magazines encourage people to try new recipes and understand the philosophies behind buying locally and eating seasonally.

Further beyond the usual fruit and vegetable fare, How on Earth is carrying an array of environmentally friendly cleaning products made by Rochester-based company Olde Maids Inc.

A pivotal member of the How on Earth working team is UMass Amherst graduate Ben Hunsdorfer, who recently earned a degree in agro-ecology. He knows about practices that once were common sense for pre-industrial farmers — integrated pest control, no pesticides, no chemical fertilizers and crop rotation to keep soil fertile.

“We can’t have a healthy society without a healthy environment, food security, self-sustainability,” he said.

Mr. Hunsdorfer splits his time between working in the store and working the farms. He is glad to talk to visitors about How on Earth, its philosophies and the challenges of running the farms.

Instead of using his degree as a highly paid consultant, Mr. Hunsdorfer chose to be hands-on, with farm dirt under his fingernails because “I can really make a difference and would rather do that then be an armchair revolutionary,” he said.

More than making fresh foods convenient to SouthCoast residents, How on Earth aims to do its part in reducing the dependence on oil that is inherent in buying goods that are transported around the globe.

Store manager Yvonne Sabourin, whose background is in medical herbalism, said she there are health benefits in a locally-grown diet.

“Food is our medicine. It’s very true that we are what we eat. In the 1970s it was ‘Better living through chemistry.’ For many years we’ve been exposed to a lot of chemicals without realizing it. It’s important to eat as clean as possible.”

Weston Lant, who runs Lucky Field Organics with his wife, Eileen, took the plunge to lease much more land than he was accustomed to farming when he was inspired by the discussions with Mr. and Mrs. Baldwin and Mrs. Barclay that led to How On Earth.

The Lants previously farmed a few acres part time in Mattapoisett after Mr. Lant retired from 25 years as a special effects expert in the motion picture industry.

“I’m acutely aware of the absurdity of an oil-driven economy, and I wanted to see local food production for local people,” Mr. Lant said.

How on Earth is open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Tuesdays and Fridays, and until 5 p.m. Wednesdays, Thusdays and Saturdays. For more information, call (508) 758-1341.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/features/chi-shop_green_22aug22,1,7489648.story?ctrack=1&cset=true

By Monica Kass Rogers | Special to the Tribune

August 22, 2007

It’s not easy shopping green. Searching for food products that are good for the body and good for the earth takes effort, especially in mainstream markets. Yes, organics are now easier to find and do help the cause. And yes, choosing locally grown products cuts food miles.

But experts now say figuring out which products are most eco-friendly requires a new sort of yardstick — one that measures more than growing practices and food miles.

“You have to measure the entire life-cycle of a product, to determine how environmentally friendly it is, to come up with its ecological footprint,” said Dan Heiges, director of research and development, standards and quality assurance for Boulder, Colo.,-based Wild Oats. That means, he said, figuring out how much energy is used to take a product from growth to harvest to processing to packaging to shipping, with recyclability factored in. It’s not something the average shopper could calculate. But it is information experts are starting to gather, first for industrial/institutional use, then for public knowledge.

New way to measure

“These measurements are starting to drive commodities purchase decisions across many industries, and institutions, not just the food industry” said Julie Newman, director of Yale University’s Office of Sustainability in New Haven, Conn. “We’re all trying to figure this out.”

“This is a new frontier for us,” agreed Joe Dickson, quality standards coordinator for Austin, Texas-based Whole Foods Market. Dickson is scrutinizing product life-cycle measures, as well as testing alternative materials for packaging — such as takeout boxes made with sugar-cane pulp.

National grocery store leader Wal-Mart is on track to reduce its food packaging 25 percent by year-end 2008 as part of the comprehensive sustainability plan it launched in February.

At Wild Oats, Heiges is using life-cycle measurements of the chain’s private-label products to create a “Vendors’ Guide to Sustainable Packaging,” which will be completed and applied this year. Once that’s done, Wild Oats also will let shoppers know which foods and food packages are best from a sustainability viewpoint.

Measurements can be surprising, said Heiges. General wisdom suggests that organic, minimally packaged, locally grown products are best. But depending on practices used, he explained, a product shipped from Idaho could have a smaller carbon footprint than a product shipped from northern Illinois.

“It’s extremely complicated, because there are so very many variables,” said Heiges. His simplest example is the comparison of liquids packaged in PET (polyethylene terephthalate plastic) vs. liquids packaged in glass. While both glass and PET are recyclable, “it takes more energy to [transport] glass than PET, because of the weight,” Heiges said.

The move toward better measures of sustainability in grocery stores is laudable, said James E. McWilliams, author of “A Revolution in Eating: How the Quest for Food Shaped America.” “In my perfect world, mainstream grocery stores would have ’sustainable sections’ where shoppers could go pick up a product and view something like a life-cycle measurement right on the package,” McWilliams said.

Smart shopping choices

In the meantime, said Tom Kelly, chief sustainability officer at the University of New Hampshire, “there is more than enough room for common sense in making food choices that not only have a small carbon footprint but also sustain local communities.”

To do this, shoppers can make purchasing decisions based on a “sustainability tier,” said Dennis Fiser, program assistant at Sustain, an environmental communications firm in Oak Park.

First, he said, head to the produce section for items that are organic, locally grown and not bundled in plastic. Do the same, where possible, in meat, dairy and other perishable goods sections. When shopping for proteins, look for labels that indicate that sustainable practices were used in raising and feeding the animals.

When shopping in the packaged-food aisles, choose biodegradable packages (paperboard not coated with glossy finishes, barriers or coatings) or recyclable packages (glass, PET, aluminum) when you can, Fiser suggested.

Single-ingredient items are more eco-friendly than packages containing many ingredients, he added.

“Multiple ingredients means multiple sourcing and a whole lot of energy goes into getting it all there, and into processing it into one packaged item,” Fiser said. That’s why he puts prepared meals from the packaged foods aisles or frozen foods section, far down the sustainability tier.