Ghostblog for Sustainability Consultant
This Sustainability Consultant is far too busy traveling, speaking, and consulting to maintain her own blog. So, roughly once a month, we meet to establish the next topic and create an outline. From there, we trade emails, drafts and revisions until we arrive at a finished product that she’s delighted to publish.
Three sample posts.
Gourmet Dumpster Diving.
The Greatest Race: Reducing Waste.
Change is in the Bag.
I couldn’t believe it when my husband first told me his law-school roommate went ‘grocery shopping’ in dumpsters.
The thought of wading through trash for something to eat turned my stomach but had me wondering: was financial desperation forcing him to explore those smelly, over-sized trash cans? Wouldn’t eating garbage affect his amazing athleticism?
Since that first shock in 1982, I’ve realized that this student had intentionally joined a growing movement challenging the concept of food waste and provoking the question: “Who decides when food becomes garbage?”
Last fall, my friend Mike Russell attended a networking event at Keen Headquarters – an admirably eco-conscientious company where my son works – and saved a small tub of olive oil from the trash at the end of the night. “It hadn’t been opened, and no one else seemed to be interested,” Mike told me. “I piped up just before someone tossed it out, and then I had gourmet oil for a month!”
When I brought up Mike’s experience to another friend, Suzanne Pritchard, she shared how she and her partner ate gourmet food for six months without spending a dime. “Once we found enough cheese to make our own wheel! Those ‘big scores’ boosted our confidence and curiosity to see what else we could find.”
Leading ahead of these isolated, individual efforts are charitable organizations around the country that divert edible food from the waste stream. One sterling example operates in the nation’s capital; “DC Central Kitchen began redistributing the excess food from the presidential inauguration in January, 1989” and now fights poverty and hunger by re-purposing food that would have otherwise been thrown away. Obviously, DCCK is far more sophisticated than dumpster diving. They’re coordinating with providers before a dumpster is ever an option.
In each case, perfectly good food was diverted from the waste stream and consumed without consequence. If the idea turns your stomach, ask yourself why there is no waste in Nature, yet millions of people go hungry every day while mountains of food are thrown away.
According to an article by Next Generation Food
• It is estimated that food wasted by the US and Europe could feed the world three times over.
• Food waste contributes to excess consumption of freshwater and fossil fuels, which, along with methane and CO2 emissions from decomposing food, impacts global climate change.
• In the US, per capita food waste has increased by 50 percent since 1974.
Don’t worry, being a part of the solution doesn’t mean starting your next grocery trip behind the store. Instead, consider some simple steps you can take:
1. Challenge yourself to ask about those ‘scraps’ at the next public event you attend. You might inspire someone else to pipe up next time and get the food diverted from the trash.
2. If you’re feeling adventurous, stroll around the back of the supermarket and just take a peak. If there’s nothing appealing, check back later – you may be surprised by what you find. Even if you don’t need it, someone else does!
3. Coordinate with local processing facilities and food shelters. There’s delicious, nutritious and unexpired food that can be ‘repurposed’ in your community today.
So, how far are you willing to challenge the concept of food waste?
Disclaimer: Some municipalities treat dumpster diving as a crime. Check to make sure you’re not planning anything illegal in your town.
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The Greatest Race: Reducing Waste.
Thought experiment: you’re organizing a marathon or a triathlon. What do you need to prepare?
First, a team of people just to keep everything straight. Thirsty participants would demand lots of water and a way to drink it quickly. Don’t forget signage and flagging so everyone stays on course. Remember all that registration paperwork ahead of time. And it would be nice to give out small ’awards’ to each participant afterward.
Multiply all that stuff by the hundreds of races held each summer and waste of marathon proportions may seem inevitable.
Fortunately, innovative and conscientious event organizers have the Council for Responsible Sport (CRS) to coach them through a comprehensive certification process for sustainable athletic events. Like a professional trainer, CRS defines realistic objectives and provides a framework for their realization. Race organizers get guidance for reducing their events’ impact as well as a platform to promote their efforts.
“The ultimate goal is not simply to grade events on how well they’re doing, but to provide a holistic framework to measure sustainability strategies in the sports industry,” says Marisa McGilliard, Executive Director of CRS. “The greatest change will come when every member of the sports community becomes involved in a fundamental shift towards sustainability. Community partners and strong alliances are at the heart of systemic change in sports.”
Leading the way are events like the Marin County Triathlon in San Rafael, CA, which has roared out of the starting blocks with a host of innovative solutions.
Thanks to the efforts of volunteers at the garbage/recycling stations, the entire event produced just 40 pounds of landfill waste in its first year. With roughly 500 participants, that’s less than 0.08 pounds per athlete; a fraction of the average 4.4 pounds/person Americans throw away every day.
The triathlon creatively minimized the pervasive problem of single-use water bottles. Before the race, athletes were encouraged to bring their own reusable bottles. At the finish line, participants were rewarded with metal, reusable Klean Kanteens®.
All paper-based materials created for the event used recycled paper and soy-based inks. Vendors were required to follow these guidelines with their promotional materials. Online registration eliminated excess paper waste.
Excitement has rippled across the country as racing events put their competitive nature to environmental good on many levels. First, athletes and spectators see what is possible and return home inspired to examine their own lifestyle choices and then become advocates. Second, other race event organizers wanting a slice of the publicity start to improve their own practices. Finally, the certified race can power up for CRS’s ultimate standard the next year – Evergreen!
The possibilities of the Council for Responsible Sport’s mission are bounded only by the enthusiastic support of athletes and spectators. Endurance races are just the beginning; think how your favorite mainstream sport could become more sustainable with some vision and encouragement.
However you choose to participate, just know that small choices can add up to make a huge difference. You can help change the course…
Ready to green your local sporting events?
Visit http://resport.org for more ideas.
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“Paper or plastic?”
Depending on your view, this once easy choice has become an awakening for mainstream environmentalism or just the latest effort of big business green washing. According to the Plastic Pollution Coalition “consumption of single use and disposable plastics has spiraled out of control. They are used for seconds, hours, or days, but their remains last forever.”
In 2007, San Francisco became the first of many world cities to move toward banning plastic grocery bags. The medium-term solution -reusable polystyrene bags- is far from a true green option for shoppers.
A worldwide, systemic issue like plastics won’t be solved by swapping materials. Framing this as an environmental issue, without considering social or economic ramifications, will not produce an enduring solution. Businesses won’t shift their practices without clear economic benefit. Nor will people change their lifestyles or habits without some personal incentive. We must offer economically viable and socially supportive alternatives for the people and industries that will be affected by the environmental stewardship we seek.
On February 17th, I had the honor of welcoming the second cohort of [--------] University’s Sustainable Business Practices (SBP) program. Participants are exploring the intersection of environmental responsibility, economic prosperity, and social well-being; the components of triple bottom-line business practices. Our first session focused on the dynamics of complex systems.
Limiting our discussion of plastics to its life cycle restricts our understanding of the pervasive nature of the challenge. Systematically mapping out the unintended consequences of single use plastic reveals the magnitude of the problem. Near the end of the first session, Prof. Bill Harris invited the students to play ‘stump the chump’ in a live system dynamics mapping exercise. The participants chose plastic pollution – and it was game on!
Plastic is used everywhere, so it’s the responsibility of everyone. While no one person or organization can create the needed shift, never doubt the influence and inspiration of your personal choices.
I. Keep canvas bags made from organic materials in the car, so you’ll always have them for the grocery store. The hot “green” giveaway item of the moment, those cheap, polystyrene bags, are anything but: they are often made in China, break well before organic cotton or hemp bags, and take longer to degrade than the thin plastic bags they replace.
II. Support the movement to ban plastic bags in your area. Make a quick phone call or write a short note to your representatives. If San Francisco and Mexico City can do it, why can’t your community? Let’s make Portland, OR next!
III. Take the Plastic Pollution Coalition’s pledge; help create a global community and ignite a social movement to stop plastic pollution and its toxic impacts.
So it’s now in your court – how will you carry the answer?
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We hate SPAM, too. Period.
