Fast Company, often just a source of hype for V.P.’s who are too lazy to spot industry trends on their own, actually has an informative and entertaining article called Resources: The Revolution Begins. From the by-line, “Businesses large and small are finally seeing the green light. It isn’t just conscience–or all those nice young people in Guatemalan sweaters–that’s doing the trick. It’s the sight of all that money.”
You know, in my more cynical moments I actually think that sustainability’s largest obstacles are gray haired execs who think first and foremost that anything that might be called green is for pansies and tree huggers. It’s nice to see some green speak in the mainstream media. The pansies and tree huggers are takin’ over.
I ran across a article on Grist.org, Soy You Want to Be a Vegetarian?, that questions an assumption that a lot of vegetarians and vegans make; that being veg*an is better for the environment. Umbra Fisk, Grist.org know-it-all takes a hard look at the numbers, and the answer is: Yeah, like, duh. The veg*an diet has a much less environmental impact. This article makes no mention of the health benefits or the cruelty issues, it only covers resources consumed. Umbra also points “sustainably raised, locally procured meat-based diets can hold their own, environmentally, against heavily processed, far-shipped veggie diets”. That’s assuming that the veggies you eat aren’t also locally and sustainably grown. If they are, us veggies still win out (if “win” is even the right word).
I bought my first tank of biodiesel today. I had been wanting to drive out to Austin Biofuels since I found out about the place, but it’s on the outskirts of town. It didn’t make much since to drive all the way across town, using a lot of fuel, to buy environmentally friendly fuel. Recently I learned that EcoWise had partnered with Austin Biofuels to sell biodiesel from their South Congress shop. Now all I had to do was drive downtown to get on the biodiesel bandwagon.
So this afternoon I drove down to “SoCo” as all the cool kids are calling it now, and said “Fill ‘er up Phil,” which was odd because the woman behind the counter was not named Phil. At any rate I moved my Golf TDI to the back of the store, where sat a small trailer. The trailer held a small scale gas pump and tank, a portable diesel station. I watched as the woman who’s name was not named Phil filled up my tank. The smell coming from the pump was not the usual stinky petroleum smell, but that of vegetable oil. A little of spilled on the ground, and the woman commented “That would be bad if it was gas, huh?”
“It’s still flammable,” I said. “It has to be.”
“Oh yeah,” she said “But it doesn’t smell bad.”
Assuming biodiesel was safe would be an easy and dangerous mistake to make, I thought. This stuff not only smells harmless, but kind of like food. Yet, it’s not harmless, it’s very combustible.
I also brought a five gallon gas can with me, so I could “splash mix” biodiesel in my car’s tank later. I plan to splash mix it to a 80% regular diesel to 20% biodiesel mix. B100 (biodiesel 100%) currently sells for $3.55 a gallon, more than a dollar more a gallon than regular diesel. Regularly buying a full tank of it is not something I can really afford right now, but I can make my own B20 without it effecting my pocket book too much.
I’ve been looking into the area of environmentally and socially conscious clothes, recently. This stuff is starting to become more and more available. Here are a few retailers I’ve run across that have at least some clothes made from either organic cotton or recycled materials:
American Apparel - Some organic, but all made in the USA, no sweat shop labor.
Certified Jeans - Organic, no sweat shops, but small selection.
Prana - Largely sports-wear
Patagonia
Blue Canoe - Women’s clothes only
Whole Foods - Yes, Whole Foods, Alarmo, hook me up!
Update:
I can’t believe I forgot my favorite shoe company, Vegetarian Shoes. Non-leather, non-sweat shop, very cool shoes, belts and jackets.
For more info about socially and environmentally cool stuff check out:
Treehugger
MetaEfficient
