The Red, White, and Green

This video would probably be more apropos to post around Halloween than the middle of August, thanks to the Vincent Price–esque voice-over, but I thought it would be the perfect complement to my Eco Etiquette column this week, which touches on the growing problem of vampire power.

Vampire power (or standby power, as it’s also known) refers to the continuous draw of electricity by appliances that are plugged in, even when they’re not technically “on.” And it’s becoming a substantial source of energy consumption in the US (not to mention greenhouse gas emissions), thanks to the proliferation of electronic devices: It’s estimated that 10 percent of all electricity in this country is wasted on idling standby current, at a cost of nearly $10 billion a year.

What does that mean for you personally? Well, if you’re anything like the average tech-loving American, with an LCD TV, DVD player, DVR, laptop, PDA, iPod, etc., the standby power from those devices could easily be costing you up to $200 a year.

That’s completely wasted money, mind you, since that electricity serves no other purpose than to vanish into the ecosphere. You may as well go to the ATM, take out two Benjamins, and light them on fire.

Fortunately, the fix is a relatively easy one: Unplug appliances like your coffeemaker and toaster when not in use, and consider getting a smart power strip — like this one from iGo — for other devices that aren’t as easy to unplug, like your television and computer.

–Jennifer Grayson

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Photo via Flickr: Ilovemypit

Those still miffed with Whole Foods CEO John Mackey over his decidedly right-wing health care harangue last summer will not be pleased to read that their most effective epithet — Whole Paycheck — may no longer be valid. According to a recent study by JPMorgan Securities, the natural foods chain seems to be taking on Walmart’s “falling prices” M.O. (Which, ironically, are falling no more; Walmart’s food prices are up 2.3 percent since February.)

From CPG Matters, a monthly e-zine for the consumer packaged goods industry:

According to [JPMorgan], Whole Foods has dropped its prices on food by an average of 5 percent since December [2009]. Of course, even with lower prices, Whole Foods is still seen as being significantly higher priced (about 14 percent) than traditional grocery store rivals such as Harris Teeter, Kroger, and Safeway.

In a separate market basket analysis, Ryan Krueger, co-founder of Krueger & Catalano in Houston, concluded that Whole Foods is — in its way — price competitive.

Mr. Krueger told the Minyanville website, “I spent time with a store manager putting together a basket of everyday items — stuff like chips, bread, and peanut butter. We compared 10 average products to the closest big grocery chain and it was closer than you would think: $25 vs. $21. The unknown might be that the $21 basket came from Whole Foods, and its private labels….”

I, for one, am surprised by the Krueger & Catalano breakdown. I’ve known for some time now that it’s significantly less expensive to buy organic produce at Whole Foods than at my local big-chain supermarket (click here to see my comparison), but packaged foods like chips and peanut butter? That’s news to me.

Stay tuned for my own “market basket” analysis…

–Jennifer Grayson

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The 2010 Women of the Green Generation Conference will be hosted at the LEED-certified eco-luxury Evo South building in downtown Los Angeles. Photo via Flickr: Todd Jones Photography

Are women, by nature, more interested in environmental issues than men? Rebecca Harrell Tickell, producer of the award-winning film Fuel and author of the upcoming book Hot, Rich & Green: The Secret Formula Women Are Using to Get Rich and Save the Planet (Living Well Publishing, 2010), asked me this question a few weeks back, and I haven’t been able to get it out of my mind since.

Sure, there are plenty of prominent environmentalists who are men (Al Gore, for one, not to mention Rebecca’s husband, Josh Tickell); and in my personal life, I know just as many men as women who are concerned about the direction our planet is headed. But I do think the way women communicate — wanting to connect with one another, being willing to open up about their individual experiences — presents a unique opportunity to spread the word about green issues.

That’s why I’m so excited for the Women of the Green Generation Conference taking place on June 12 here in Los Angeles. Founded just one year ago by musician-with-a-vision Kris Wiley, Women of the Green Generation brings together LA-area women interested in starting or expanding their eco-driven businesses. The green networking group has proven such a hit, in fact, that it’s since attracted coverage on CNN, the LA Times, and numerous green lifestyle blogs.

The all-day event on June 12 will give attendees the chance to check out a slew of sustainable products and services, not to mention sit in on a number of thought-provoking discussion panels. Scheduled speakers include Rebecca Tickell and yours truly, as well as:

• Sarah Backhouse, host of Planet Green’s “Planet 100”
• Sophie Uliano, New York Times best-selling author of Gorgeously Green
• Kim Barnouin, co-author of New York Times best-seller Skinny Bitch
• Rachel Lincoln Sarnoff, founder of Ecostiletto
• Davida Heller, sustainability consultant and founder of Ecospire
• Siel Ju, founder of Green LA Girl
• and more (click here for full speaker list)

Over 300 women and 50 green businesses are already expected to attend, so snap up your ticket before it’s too late (space is limited).

–Jennifer Grayson

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Photo via Flickr: Gwydionwilliams

In the midst of ecological disaster in the Gulf of Mexico and stock market meltdowns, here’s some news to be thankful for: US carbon dioxide emissions are down — way down — declining more last year than at any time since 1949, when this sort of data started being collected by the US Energy Information Administration (EIA).

So what do we have to thank for the full 7 percent decrease in 2009 alone (that’s 405 million metric tons, by the way)? Pretty much the answer to everything in a country that runs on capitalism: It’s the economy (stupid).

From Environmental News Network:

“The large decline in emissions was driven by the economic downturn, combined with an ongoing trend toward a less energy-intensive economy and a decrease in the carbon-intensity of the energy supply,” said EIA Administrator Richard Newell.

It seems this may be the only bright side of the Great Recession. Gross Domestic Product (GDP) fell by 2.4 percent in 2009, and much of that decrease was from cutbacks in energy-intensive industries. Output from these industries, such as primary metals (-33.9 percent) and nonmetallic minerals (-17.4 percent) fell faster than total industrial output (-9.8 percent).

Industries also focused a lot on conserving energy from an environmental and economic standpoint. Therefore, energy consumed per dollar of GDP also fell by 2.4 percent.

In plain terms, we need a lot less materials because we’re just buying a lot less stuff. And that — not driving the latest hybrid, not installing rooftop solar panels (though those are both good things) — may be how we as individuals can most effectively fight global warming.

The question is, will the downturn in CO2 emissions continue when (or if) the economy rebounds?

–Jennifer Grayson

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[Watch video on YouTube]

In the spirit of Easter weekend, I thought this video was pretty apropos. Sure, it’s a promotional tool for LED lighting manufacturer Cree, and I don’t even celebrate Easter, but I couldn’t exactly resist a chocolate bunny — especially when said bunny so effectively demonstrates the inefficiency of traditional incandescent bulbs.

What’s cool about Cree is that the company is focusing on commercial applications for its LED lighting. We talk a lot about how much energy individuals can save by  swapping out their regular light bulbs for CFLs and the like, but that energy savings is magnified when giant stores like Walmart jump on the green lighting bandwagon. (Walmart is a Cree customer, along with Friendly’s, IHOP, Taco Bell, and KFC — not exactly establishments you would normally associate with environmental consciousness.)

The biggest motivator for these companies, of course, is their bottom line. To wit: An “eco-friendly” (and I use that term lightly) McDonald’s in Cary, NC, has reduced its electricity costs by 78 percent since the installation of its Cree lighting system.

And unlike at home, where the aesthetics of eco-friendly lighting can leave something to be desired, who cares if a store uses LEDs or fluorescents for an outdoor parking lot? There’s no excuse not to.

–Jennifer Grayson

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Photo via Flickr: Photos8.com

Last Friday, I was out and about between appointments and stopped to grab a quick lunch at the Pita Kitchen in Sherman Oaks, CA, since I had read good things about it and was really in the mood for some Middle Eastern food. As I devoured an insanely delicious falafel sandwich that set me back a measly $5, it occurred to me that there’s one thing vegetarians — and Meatless Monday fans — don’t emphasize enough when they’re trying to convince other people to eat less meat: It saves you a boatload of money! (A chicken shawarma pita, for example, would have cost a dollar more.)

Sure, I spend a lot of money on organic produce, but I’ve noticed recently that our grocery bills are now significantly smaller than they were a year ago, when my husband and I were eating more meat. And I’m not even a full-time vegetarian. But just by making a stir fry with tofu ($1.49 a container) instead of with chicken ($6.99 a pound) two nights each week, we save $44 a month — that’s $528 a year! You can imagine how much more we could save if we went meatless even three or four nights a week.

A few tips to keep your vegetarian grocery bills low:

• Choose whole, unprocessed foods (beans, tofu, vegetables, grains) over ready-made vegetarian entrees (much as those Amy’s pizzas look tempting)
• Use dried beans instead of canned ones (click here to learn how to soak and cook dried beans)
• Buy staples like grains, beans, and nuts in the bulk bin section of your natural foods market

For those who can’t stand the thought of soaking beans and pressing tofu several nights a week, don’t fret: You can also afford to treat yourself to a night out more often, since ordering meatless off a menu is usually a lot cheaper, too (a vegetarian pasta at my favorite Italian restaurant costs a few dollars less than one with meat, and nearly $10 less than a meat-based secondi).

–Jennifer Grayson

Do this now: Check out this Monday’s menu on the Meatless Monday website.

More Meatless Monday posts:
Meatless Monday: Lean bean tacos
Forest Whitaker’s slimmed-down look: He’s a vegetarian!

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Wow. Dasani (or Coca-Cola, I should say) is really working hard to make you feel OK about drinking filtered tap water out of a plastic bottle. I caught sight of a new Dasani PlantBottle ad in the March issue of Glamour, and there’s one thing I have to give the company credit for: effective advertising.

Lovingly caressed in the dewy leaf of a plant and topped off with a bright green plastic cap, even I was momentarily seduced by the seemingly pristine looking bottle. That’s a bold step for a company as large and mainstream as Coca-Cola, I thought.

Wait a second. This is water I could get from my tap. For free. And it’s served up in a plastic bottle. The PlantBottle may be manufactured from 30 percent sugar cane-based plastic, but this is still a completely unnecessary product. The Dasani website boasts a new section entitled “Eco-Living,” but there is absolutely nothing eco about this.

At best, it’s a small improvement for an incredibly wasteful industry. The plant material supposedly reduces the bottle’s carbon emissions by 25 percent, but consider that the bottled water industry produces more than 2.5 million tons of CO2 a year. And that it takes three liters of water to produce every single liter of Dasani. I suppose you could also argue that using plants for plastic lessens our dependence on foreign oil, but you know what else would lessen our dependence on foreign oil? Not having a bottled water industry.

An advantage of a lot of the new plant-based plastics is that they’re compostable, which helps cut down on pollution (e.g., the Great Pacific Garbage Patch). This Dasani PlantBottle can only be recycled though, since the remaining 70 percent is still made from good old-fashioned petroleum-based plastic. Too bad only about 20 percent of the 34.6 billion single-serving plastic water bottles bought in the US every year actually make it to the recycling plant.

I apologize for the rant, but nothing revs me up more than a massive case of greenwashing. Is it great that green has reached a critical enough mass that Dasani’s customers would even care about a plant-based plastic bottle? Of course. The bottled water industry isn’t going to disappear overnight; isn’t it better that Dasani is using 30 percent less petroleum-based plastic? Sure. But the model wearing a T-shirt on the Dasani website that says “Make Your Plastic Fantastic” is where I draw the line. No wonder she’s hiding her face.

–Jennifer Grayson

Do this now: Buy a reusable water bottle. I like Klean Kanteen.

Related posts:
Greenwashing alert: Baja Fresh
Avoiding bottled water at the airport

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Photo: Sustainable Health Enterprises

Warning: If you’re a man who didn’t grow up with sisters, you may be a bit squeamish when it comes to the following topic; but stay with me — this is important stuff.

When trolling the feminine care aisle, most of us give little thought to the matter at hand beyond how to get rid of those cramps and preferred absorbency. Judging by the plethora of plastic out there, the environment isn’t much of a consideration, either, despite the fact that 12 billion pads and tampons are sent to US and Canadian landfills every year. But in developing nations like Rwanda, menstruation is a matter of survival: Millions of girls and women miss up to 50 days of school or work a year because they can’t afford to buy sanitary pads.

One woman, Harvard Business School grad Elizabeth Scharpf, has come up with a way to change all this, and to do it in a way that actually helps the environment: sanitary pads made from trash-bound banana-tree fibers. As if this weren’t amazing enough, Scharpf and her Sustainable Health Enterprises (SHE) organization are working to help Rwandan women set up their own businesses manufacturing these pads. (Farmers benefit, too — they now get paid for those banana-tree fibers that were once thrown out.)

This is world-changing stuff: Scharpf shared the stage with Nobel Prize winner Muhammad Yunus and President Bill Clinton at the Clinton Global Initiative last September.

I came across Scharpf’s story in the February issue of Marie Claire, but that article is not online, unfortunately. Read more about the incredible work Scharpf and her team are doing by visiting the SHE blog.

–Jennifer Grayson

Do this now: The average woman throws away between 10,000 and 15,000 tampons, pads, and applicators over her lifetime. Believe it or not, there are eco-friendly options out there that don’t suck. Keep an open mind, and check out some cool alternatives here.

Related post:
Save water, pee in the shower

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I’ll admit, I’m human: Today I didn’t have time to make a homemade lunch before I had to rush out to do errands, so I swung by Baja Fresh for a veggie burrito. I like that Baja uses minimal packaging for its smaller orders — usually the burritos are just wrapped in foil and placed in a tiny paper bag with a few tortilla chips — so imagine my surprise when I saw this waiting for me at the pickup counter. Does anyone see the irony here?

I’m sorry, Baja Fresh, but using plastic bags made from 50 percent recycled materials does not an eco-friendly company make. It may be a step in the right direction, but those single-use plastic bags still end up clogging our landfills and polluting our waterways — and less than 5 percent of them are recycled every year.

Quite curious to see what sort of green initiatives are underway at the company — since the franchise uses even more plastic (plates, cups, and utensils) for its dine-in customers — I went to the company website, thinking that maybe there would be a full environmental report. Nothing there.

It would be great if Baja Fresh switched to 100 percent post-consumer recycled paper take-out bags, but at the very least, don’t plaster that you’re a green company all over a plastic bag! Ridiculous. This is greenwashing, plain and simple.

–Jennifer Grayson

Do this now: Minimize the amount of packaging you consume by avoiding takeout whenever possible; or, at the very least, refuse that extra plastic bag if you’re only going to be traveling a short distance.

Related posts:
Taco Bell’s new ‘green’ menu?
Los Angeles moves one step closer to plastic bag ban

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I have to share a little secret: Since the July launch of my Eco Etiquette column for The Huffington Post, I’ve breathed a sigh of relief with each passing week that no one has yet taken me up on my offer to explain the difference between cap and trade and Cap’n Crunch. The carbon cap and trade legislation being hammered out on Capitol Hill is so complex, and the source of such heated debate, that to distill it into 800 words or less would be a head-scratching task, to say the least. Thankfully, someone else did the work for me: I’ll now only have to refer inquiring minds to The Story of Cap and Trade, a new 10-minute video from Annie Leonard and the other brilliant minds that brought us The Story of Stuff.

[Click here to watch video]

All in all, the video does an excellent job making sense of an issue that only 1 in 4 Americans understands, though it lacks some of the light bulb moments I experienced after first watching The Story of Stuff — but maybe I’m just more jaded now. (The first time I saw that now-famous takedown of consumerist society, I thought: Planned obsolescence? Companies are really that evil? But then again, that was before we bailed out Wall Street firms with our taxpayer money only to have them turn around and hand over $140 billion in bonuses this year.)

–Jennifer Grayson

Do this now: We can’t afford to profess ignorance about an issue that has the power to change the fate of the world (for better or worse). Email The Story of Cap and Trade to your friends and family, post it on Facebook and Twitter — spread the word!

Related posts:
Senate needs to pass climate bill
Global warming will threaten national security

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