Global Warming is a phenomenon that is occurring as a result of an excess certain gases being present in the earth’s atmosphere.  These gases, known as greenhouse gases, trap the sun’s heat on the earth’s surface.  Normally, this is a good thing – it is called the greenhouse effect.  However with humans releasing greenhouse gases into the atmosphere at a much faster rate than would occur naturally, the earth’s atmosphere is becoming overloaded.  This is resulting in a warmer planet with much less stable climate.

Here is a little illumination from a well-written greenhouse effect/global warming lesson plan from Teacher’s Domain:

“To put this into perspective, consider the temperature difference between now and the last ice age (about twenty thousand years ago): nine degrees Fahrenheit. If the IPCC’s [Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change] predictions hold, that same temperature change will happen within the next one hundred to three hundred years. Natural cycles of warming and cooling usually take tens of thousands of years, not hundreds. So what’s going on?”

Environmental Protection Agency

Activities that contribute to the more rapid accumulation of these gases in the atmosphere include the burning of fossil fuels, the use of man-made compounds such as sulfur hydroxide and hydrofluorocarbons in industrial processes, and agressive livestock production.

Earth has a natural check and balance system to deal with greenhouse gases; plants and oceans can act as sinks to absorb many greenhouse gases.  However, these systems are not able to absorb all of the excess gases and the situation is getting worse.  Trees are being cut down at an incredible rate and due to the melting of places like the Artic tundra, greenhouse gases that have long been sequestered are now being released into the atmosphere.

Here is a nifty little video that explains everything much better than myself from the folks at National Geographic:

If you want even more information, here is a video of a lecture from the University of California. It is an hour long, but good:

I recently read plans for an “Eco Hotel” that is to be built in my area and I decided to do some research.  The term “Eco Hotel” seems pretty vague to me.  It turns out that it is!  There do not appear to be any standards in place for that a hotel needs to follow in order to be able to declare itself an “Eco Hotel”.  However, there are some standards you can use to judge if a hotel that advertises itself as “green” or “eco” really is.

U.S. Green Building Council has a certification process called The Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Green Building Rating System.  This is a very complicated system, but lets just say that it mainly consists of a checklist that developers and builders have to follow while they are building and requirments that the building has to meet once it is finished.  I waded through some of it and it includes categories for alternative transportation, erosion and sediment control, reduced site disturbance, water-efficient landscaping, and the use of rapidly renewable materials.  If you’d like to delve into it all, check out the LEEDS website.  Although this system is not only used for hotels, knowing that your hotel has been certified through this process is a great piece of information to have when researching the hotel you’d like to stay in.

Be careful to do your own research!  There is also a group called the Green Hotels Association.  As far as I can tell from reading their membership application, you don’t actually have to prove anything to be a member of this group.  So just because a hotel claims to be a member of this association, doesn’t mean that they actually do anything special to be “green”, although membership does give them access to special prices on green building materials and hotel supplies.

In short, my recommendation is to do your own research.  It’s easy to be attracted by the terms “green” and “eco-friendly” and business like hotels know that!  Somewhere in the back of your mind also remember the term “greenwash”.  Hotels that are setting standards for sustainability and recycling are going to want to brag about it, so check out the website for the hotel you want to visit.  If they say they are a member of an organization or certified by a certain group, be sure to visit that organization’s website and see what their criteria are.  The hotel you stay in can be an important part of any trip or vacation so if you can, take it one step farther and find a place to stay that promotes sustainability and a cleaner environment.

“Greenhouse gas” is a term for gases in Earth’s atmosphere that trap energy from the sun.  Greenhouse gases can  be divided into two categories: those that occur naturally, and those that humans have introduced into the atmosphere.

Naturally Occurring Greenhouse Gases:

• Carbon Dioxide(CO2) – produced naturally by any organism or microorganism that utilizes plant matter as part of their diet.  It is also consumed by plants during respiration.  It can also be released into the atmosphere during several chemical processes such as the combustion of coal and other fossil fuels.

• Methane(CH4) – a gas that exists, among other places, in deposits in the ocean floors and under the earth’s crust.  It also is produced in the metabolism process during the decay of organic matter.

• Nitrous Oxide(N2O) – a chemical compound also know as happy gas(!).  According to the EPA, it is produced naturally “from a wide variety of biological sources in soil and water, particularly microbial action in wet tropical forests”.  It is also introduced unnaturally through fertilizers and sewage treatment.
  

  An Alder leaf showing ozone discoloration

• Ozone(O3) – Ozone exists naturally in the ozone layer in Earth’s atmosphere.  It helps filters ultraviolet light from reaching the surface.  However, at ground level it can be a harmful pollutant and affect respiratory function.  It is often used as an oxidizing agent in chemical reactions.

• Water Vapor – Water vapor is simply the gas phase of water.

Introduced Greenhouse Gases

• Hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) and Perfluorocarbons (PFCs) – chemical compounds known as haloalkanes often used as a refrigerant.  According to this article from the Environmental Investigation Agency: “HFCs are “super” greenhouse gases, with global warming impacts hundreds to thousands of times higher than CO2″

• Sulfur Hexafluoride (SF6) – A manmade gas that is used mostly in the electrical industry.

Other sources:

National Polutant Inventory – Fluoride and compounds fact sheet

EPA – Greenhouse Gas Emissions

Greenhouse Gas Online

What is a Conflict Diamond?

Conflict diamonds, also known as Blood Diamonds, result when a gemstone is mined and sold in order to fund a war or insurgency.  The United Nations defines it thusly:  “Conflict diamonds are diamonds that originate from areas controlled by forces or factions opposed to legitimate and internationally recognized governments, and are used to fund military action in opposition to those governments, or in contravention of the decisions of the Security Council.

Where do Conflict Diamonds Come From?

Conflict diamonds have been sold from the following countries: Angola, Democratic Republic of congo, Liberia, Republic of Congo, Sierra Leone, and the Ivory Coast.  Each of these countries experience some type of civil war – almost all of which occured during the 90s – and some group involved in the conflict used conflict diamonds to fund their actions.  You can read the details about each of these countries wars, how it involved diamonds, and what is going on today at DiamondFacts.org.

Workers in Sierra Leone

How Can I Make Sure that My Diamond is Conflict Free?

The Kimberley Process is an initiative that countries can join to get their diamonds certified as conflict free.  Countries that join the Kimberley Process have to prove that their diamonds are conflict free, and they also have to promise not to purchase and distribute conflict diamonds.  According to the Kimberley Process website, as of November 2008, there were 49 members of this group representing 75 countries.  This process has drastically reduced the amount of conflict diamonds being sold.  Their website claims: “KP members account for approximately 99.8% of the global production of rough diamonds”.

There is also a process called the System of Warranties (which is endorsed by the Kimberley Process) under which all buyers and sellers of rough diamonds have to make the following statement on their invoices:

“The diamonds herein invoiced have been purchased from legitimate sources not involved in funding conflict and in compliance with United Nations Resolutions. The undersigned hereby guarantees that these diamonds are conflict free, based on personal knowledge and/or written guarantees provided by the supplier of these diamonds.”

Because the Kimberley Process works with countries and not individual jewelers,  it is important to ask the business from which you intend to purchase diamond jewlery about their stance regarding conflict free diamonds.  Also be sure to ask about the System of Warranties.

Websites with More Information:

Kimberley Process

DiamondFacts.Org

United Nations – Conflict Diamonds

ConflictDiamonds.com

In my search for all things eco, I came across the term “Environmental Racism”.  At first, I thought this might refer to a state of mind in a person, but as I began to research the topic, I found that it’s not really a state of mind; environmental racism has more to do with the degree to which various ethnic groups are exposed to pollution.

The term “Environmental Racism” has been credited to Benjamin Chavis Muhammed; a civil rights activist and a former executive director of the United Church of Christ’s Commission for Racial Justice.  Among other issues, he spoke out about putting landfills near predominantly minority neighborhoods.

STUDIES ON ENVIRONMENTAL RACISM

In 1987, the United Church of Christ’s Commission for Racial Justice commissioned a study on this issue and then did a follow-up study in 2007.  The study is called “Toxic Wastes and Race at Twenty” and basically proposes that landfills are placed near populations containing high percentages of people of color.  The study says that race is a “higher independent predictor” of landfill placement than income and has charts and graphs galore detailing studies on landfill placements and population breakdowns.  Here are a few of statistics stated in the report:

1. Neighborhoods with clustered facilities have higher percentages of people of color than those with non-clustered facilities (69% vs. 51%)
2. For 2007, host neighborhoods with commercial hazardous waste facilities are 56% people of color
   whereas nonhost areas are 30% people of color. Thus, percentages of people of color as a whole are 1.9 times greater in host neighborhoods than in non-host areas.

University of Colorado at Boulder Assistant Professor Liam Downey also did a study on this issue and came to the conclusion that although hispanics and blacks tend to live in more polluted parts of town than whites, this was not always true and that the levels of pollution each racial group was exposed to tended to vary greatly.   You can read his article here: Environmental Racism Study Find Levels Of Inequality Defy Simple Explanation.

ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE

In response to claims of environmental racism, there are many groups now devoted to what is called “Environmental Justice”, including the EPA.  They define Environmental Justice thusly: “Environmental Justice is the fair treatment and meaningful involvement of all people regardless of race, color, national origin, culture, education, or income with respect to the development, implementation, and enforcement of environmental laws, regulations, and policies.”  Their website lists ways that people can get involved and discusses policies in place to protect minority groups from environmental racism.

One such policy is Executive Order 12898, which was signed by Bill Clinton on February 11, 1994 (Earth Day) and aims to “provide guidance to Federal agencies on criteria for identifying disproportionately high and adverse human health or environmental effects on minority populations and low-income populations”.

Obviously, this is just a brief overview, and there are many sources where you can get more complete information.  Aside from the sites already cited, here is a website with a wide collection of studies and opinion papers:

Environmental Racism/Environmental Justice

Here’s a video done by some college students to promote awareness of environmental racism.  It is extremely dorky — but I like it and I get to put up the video!

As part of a more in-depth look at Biofuels, in today’s article I will explain what Ethanol is and I will describe the different types of Ethanol that are currently in production. I will also provide links to websites for further reading.  The U.S. Dept. of Energy (DOE) was my main source of information for gathering facts regarding the legality of current ethanol use and the availability of ethanol-based fuels in the U.S. In the places that I have used their information, I will cite the pages from their website.

What is Ethanol?

Ethanol is a fuel created from an alcohol formed by fermenting sugars or starches found in various plant materials. For you science types, here is the chemical formula: CH3-CH2-OH. Ethanol has been labeled a renewable fuel, which means that the materials that have been used to create it can be regrown at a relatively quick rate (as compared to fossil fuels).

There is now also a way to produce ethanol from parts of plants such as the stalks and leaves.  This is called “cellulosic ethanol”.  One benifit is that is would not be using parts of crops that could be used as a food source, however, it is much more difficult to extract sugars and starches from these “waste” plant parts.

Some Types of Ethanol:

Note on Labeling:  The percentage of ethanol used in a blend is denoted by the number following the E, so E20 would be 20% ethanol and 80% gasoline.

High level blends are anything from E85 and up.

E100: This is 100% pure ethanol.  To my knowledge, I do not believe that E100 is really available in the United States.  It is not really discussed on the Alternative Fuels page on the DOE Website.  I know that it does not work well in colder temperatures and that cars do require modifications in order to process it correctly.

E85: This fuel is available in the United States as the 15% gasoline allows the fuel to operate in colder climates.  You need to have a flexible fuel vehicle in order to use it, however.  Here is the website at the U.S. Dept. of Energy that you can use to find E85 Filling Stations Near You.  Simply click on your state.

Intermediate Level Blends include everything from E10 to E85

E15 & E20: These fuels are available but also require a fuel flexible car, however, this may change at some point.  This is directly from the intermediate blend page of the DOE website:

“However, intermediate ethanol blends cannot yet be used legally in standard (non-flexible fuel) vehicles. For this to happen, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) must approve a waiver to the Clean Air Act, classifying the blends as “substantially similar” to gasoline. Research on intermediate blends is underway, which could lead to a waiver application to the EPA.”

Here is the link to their page of RESEARCH on these intermediate blends.

Low-Level Blends include any mixture from E10 on down

E10: As mentioned above, in order for a gasoline containing ethanol to be used in a car that is not a flexible fuel vehicle, the EPA mandates that it be “substantially similar” to gasoline.  E10 and below fall into this category.  According to the DOE page on low-level blends, “nearly half of U.S. gasoline now contains up to 10% ethanol (E10) to boost octane or meet air quality requirements”.

For more information on what Ethanol is and how it is used, please visit the following websites:

Driving Ethanol

DOE: Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy: Ethanol

Ethanol Facts.com

EPA – this is their main website.  If you go to their search box at type in “Ethanol” you will find many official documents regarding ethanol use and production

I’ve tried to find websites that are impartial, but I have also included websites partial to ethanol so that you can see many different opinions.  There is a major debate over the energy used to produce ethanol, the land use, and the efficiency (it takes more ethanol to produce the same amount of energy as gasoline).  But that is a topic for another day.  Hopefully this article and the attached websites will help you begin to understand what ethanol is and how it is currently being used.

This is the fourth article in the What Is…Biofuel series.  To read previous articles see What is Biofuel?, First Generation Biofuels, and Second Generation Biofuels.

Whew!  We made it!  The last classification of biofuels (as far as this author is currently concerned) is Third Generation Biofuels.  These alternative fuels are derived from algae.    The oil extracted from algae is used to create variants of fuels discussed in the previous articles: biodiesel, biobutanol, biogasoline, and methane.

There are several cool things about creating fuel from algal sources, including:

1. Algae is completely biodegradable, so if there was an algal spill, we wouldn’t have the same mess that we have when an oil tanker goes kaput.
2. Algae can be produced using ocean water or fresh water.
3. Also, the algal production sites can be placed on land that is unsuitable for farming, and so would not displace any food crops.

Current disadvantages include:

1. Right now it is too expensive to produce on a large scale, so is not readily available to consumers.
2. According to the United States Department of Energy, it would take 15,000 square miles of land in order for algal fuel to replace all petroleum fuel – however – according to the Environmental Protection Agency, that is only 1/7 of the land currently used to produce corn and seeing as how we don’t need farmable land to produce this stuff ….surely we can find some untenable land somewhere in this country!

As I said before, this type of fuel is not really available yet, but there are plenty of companies working hard to change that!  Check out the folks at Solix Biofuels.

That’s it for research!  I am all studied out.  My next step will be to check out biofuel options here in Austin and see if any of them will work in my little car.  Stay tuned!

<–Previous Article: Second Generation Biofuels

This is the third article in the What Is…Biofuel series. These articles detail what biofuels are, their components, and how they are used. For previous articles, see What is Biofuel and First Generation Biofuels.

Second Generation Biofuels seek to solve problems that are association with First Generation Biofuels. Those problems are:

1. Threatening the food supply
2. Limited emissions savings
3. Are too expensive compared to other fuel

One of the goals of Second Generation Biofuels is to use the parts of the foodcrops that would generally be considered inedible, such as stems and leaves. For you want to be fancy you cant start using the word “Lingoncellulose” – this means the woody part of plants. If this method is perfected, it will allow us to use current crop materials without threatening anyone’s food supply or clearing new land.

The problem however, is that second generation biofuels are not commercially available as of yet. At least not widely. Many different types are in production and I will include some links and explanations:

BIOHYDROGEN – Through a fermenetaion process, hydrogen gas can be created from biomass (stuff that was recently alive) and then used to power fuel cells.

Read more at Biohydrogen

2,5-dimethylfuran molecule

DMF – DMF stands for 2, 5-dimethylfuran. There is something else called dimethylformamide which is also abbreviated DMF, but which is bad! Don’t get them confused. 2, 5-Dimethylfuran is formed through the thermal degredation of sugars – that means breaking down sugars with heat. It has an energy density – how much punch per drop – that makes it comprable to gasoline and it is easily procured.

Read more at Reference.com

BioDME -Straight from the BioDME website: “The overall project objective is to demonstrate production of environmentally optimised synthetic biofuel from lignocellulosic biomass at industrial scale. The final output of this demonstration is dimethylether (DME) produced from black liquor through the production of clean synthesis gas and a final fuel synthesis step. In order to check technical standards, commercial possibilities and engine compatibilities the bio-DME will be tested in a fleet consisting of 14 Volvo trucks.”

Read more at BioDME

BIOMETHANOL – Biomethanol can be produced from Syngas (see the First Generation Biofuels article). It can be used as a substitute in spark ignition engines and can be blended 10 – 20% with petrol without any modifications to the vehicle.

Read more at Refuel – Biomethanol

FISCHER-TROPSCH FUELS – Fischer-Tropsch fuels are derived from the Fischer-Tropsch process (named after – you guess it – two dudes named Fischer and Tropsch). These guys developed a reaction in which synthesis gas is converted into hydrocarbons. The purpose of this was to create a synthetic petroleum substitute. And the cherry on top is that these guys did it in 1923! Hmmm.

Read more at the Fischer-Tropsch Archive

WOOD DIESEL – This really caught my attention! This dude at the University of Georgia, K.C. Das has helped to create something called a biorefinery. One of the products is char, which they can put back into the soil as fertilizer. This puts carbon back into the soil, which is the opposite of emitting CO2. In other words – reverse greenhouse effect people! I don’t know how difficult the process is to create this fuel, but it would give us negative carbon emissions. Check it out: Georgia Magazine: Future Fuel

For some MUCH more detailed information, please reference the following articles:

Renewable Energy World

International Energy Agency (IEA)

<– Previous Article: First Generation Biofuels

Next Article: Third Generation Biofuels –>

This article is part of a continuing series explaining what biofuels are, what biofuels are made from, and their pros and cons. For the previous article in this series see: What is Biofuel?
First Generation Biofuels are any fuels made from animal fats, starch, sugar, or vegetable oil. All of these come from renewable sources, although there is criticism that growing the products for these forms of biofuels divert farmland that could be used to grow food crops. There are several different categories of first generation biofuels including:

1. Biodiesel
2. Vegetable Oil
3. Biogas
4. Syngas
5. Bioalcohols

BIODIESEL

Biodiesel has a composition similar to fossil/mineral diesel except that components in biodiesel include animal fats and oils from soy, mustard, flax, and sunflower seeds just to name a few. The oil or animal fat is reacted with an alcohol through a process called transesterification to create the fuel.

Currently, biodiesel can be used in many diesel engines when it is mixed with some mineral diesel. According to biofuel.org.uk, many manufacturers of the diesel engine are making sure that their engines work well with biodiesel. The website also states that biodiesel is the most common type of biofuel used in European countries. Biofuel.org.uk also has a list of cars that work with biodiesel and information on engine warrantees that cover using biodiesel.

PROS:

• In general, biodiesel is cleaner-burning than conventional diesel. You can read a report on emissions done by the EPA which has a detailed comparison chart.
• Biodiesel is biodegradable
• Biodiesel comes from a renewable source

CONS:

• Increase in nitrous oxide in biodiesel emissions (which contributes to smog) – this increase is 10% according to the study done by the EPA
• Biodiesel acts like a solvent. As it runs through an engine, it cleans out deposits which can then create clogs, so if you switch to biofuel, you should clean out your filters often.

Of course, this is just a brief overview. For more comprehensive information on Biodisel, check out the following website: National Biodiesel Board

VEGETABLE OIL

Now don’t go into your kitchen and pour your bottle of vegetable oil into your gas tank! The type of vegetable oil used to create biofuels is of lower quality than what we use in cooking and baking. Vegetable oil is most often used in the production of biofuels, but there are cases where straight vegetable oil is being used as a fuel. I have read that some people have experimented with pouring vegetable oil straight into their tanks but there are companies (Elsbett and Wolf) that offer conversion kits.

PROS:

• Restaurants throw out a ton of cooking oil every year that could be used as fuel. I do know that one of Austin’s local burger joints, TerraBurger, donates their waste vegetable oil to a biofuel facility.
• Vegetable Oil burns similar to biodiesel, so the emissions are similar – see the link to the EPA’s report above in the Biodeisel section.

CONS:

• It would take a lot of farmland to grow enough crops for vegetable oil to be a competitive option.

Read more at Bionomic Fuel

BIOGAS

Biogas is created when organic matter breaks down anaerobically (that means without any oxygen). It can be produced from gunk like manure, sewage, and municpal waste. Some biogas, like landfill gas, contains something called “volatile organic compounds” and can be bad for the environment. The Clean Air Act contains legislation directed at landfill gas and the treatment of non-methane organic compounds (NMOCs).

However some countries, like India, have created ‘micro plants’ that are filled with cow dung and used to power houses. These are called Gober gas plants (the word ‘gober’ means cow dung) and you can read an article about them at Green Trust

PROS:

• Cost is cheaper than putting up and maintaining solar panels and wind turbines
• Is a renewable source – things will always have to poo!

CONS:

• Still releases CO2 and Nitrogen, so there is a little pollution
• Requires a lot of cleaning and bacteria management

Read more at PennState – Biogas

SYNGAS

Syngas is a mix of carbon dioxide and hydrogen. It is created when biomass (stuff from recently living organisms, i.e. manure) is combusted with a certain amount of oxygen. Syngas can be used to produce diesel and can also be converted into methane.

PROS:

• Because syngas comes from biomass, it is considered to be renewable.
• Burns cleaner than fossil fuels, so would reduce pollution.

CONS:

• There is often lower energy recovery efficiency than conventional combustion systems
• There is CO2 formed when syngas is burned

Read more at Biomass Magazine

BIOALCOHOLS

Bioalcohols are produced through the fermentation of starches and sugars. Ethanol is the most common, although there is also butanol and propanol. Just like some biodiesels can be used directly in a diesel engine without a conversion kit, some bioalcohols can be used directly in gasoline-powered engines.

PROS:

• Butanol is not as corrosive as Ethanol and can be transported in gas pipelines
• Again, bioalcohols come from a renewable energy source
• Bioacohols also have less harmful emissions than gasoline

CONS:

• It takes a larger volume of Ethanol to produce the same amount of energy as gasoline
• Ethanol can be corrosive to rubber parts like hoses

Read more at Bioalcohol Fuel Foundation

Whew! That’s quite a bit of information (and I still don’t know what I’m doing!). So, the research continues!

What is Biofuel? <–Previous Article

Next Article–> Second Generation Biofuels

I have recently begun thinking about switching to biofuels. I don’t know anything about them, so I have decided to begin researching what biofuels are, how they are made, and what wastes are created when they are processed to determine if switching to a biofuel would be a good choice for me. The information I started to dig up was very overwhelming, so I will try and break it up into small pieces that are easy to read.

This article will outline the different types of biofuels and give a very brief explanation of each. Further articles in this series will explore each type of biofuel and highlight the criticisms and praises of its use.

So: What is a Biofuel?

A biofuel is a type of fuel made from recently living or living biological material. There are many different types of biofuels – I never knew how many! In short, they are:

1. First Generation Biofuels
2. Second Generation Biofuels
3. Third Generation Biofuels

FIRST GENERATION BIOFUELS

First generation biofuels cover a range of fuels including vegetable oil, biodiesel, bioalcohols, bioethers, biogas, syngas, and solid biofuels. They are made from animal fats, sugar, starch, or vegetable oil. Since these biofuels are manufactured mostly from food crops, there is some debate that converting these products to fuel instead of food may have a negative impact on certain populations.

SECOND GENERATION BIOFUELS

Second generation biofuels can be made from non-food items such as wheat stalks and inedible waste products and therefore do not pose a threat to food production. However, many of these types of biofuels are still under development.

THIRD GENERATION BIOFUELS

Third generation biofuels are made from algae. This type of fuel is biodegradable and so we wouldn’t have any of the nasty problems like we do when oil tankers spill. However, the oil is hard to extract and in order to grow enough of it to replace traditional petroleum, the United States Department of Energy estimated that we’d need 15,000 square miles!

So the next time you see a sign that says “BIOFUELS SOLD HERE”, know that the term ‘biofuel’ can reference any number of fuel types. Be sure that you have researched each biofuel type and that you have installed the proper conversion equipment in your car as necessary.

Next article: First Generation Biofuels —->

Other articles in the What Is… series:

What is Geocaching?

What is USDA? Understanding the Label

What is Fair Trade?

What is Greenwashing? Are you a Victim?

Fair Trade labels are showing up on products everywhere from grocery stores to Starbucks.  But what exactly is Fair Trade?  How does it benefit the suppliers and how can you tell if a product you are buying is actually Fair Trade Certified or just a load of “Tradewash”?  This article will give you the bare bones version with links at the end  if you are interested in learning more.

What is Fair Trade?

Fair Trade is the label for a movement that includes the following goals:

1. To help marginalized workers get a higher price for their products so that they can become economically stable.
2. To set standards of production for those products.
3. To help those workers become more involved with the international sales of their products.

So basically, Fair Trade cuts out the middle man.  It allows Fair Trade workers to get their products to the market more efficiently and therefore get a higher price paid directly to them.

According to Fairtrade Labelling Organizations International, as of 2008, “more than 1 million producers and workers in 58 developing countries now benefit from global Fairtrade sales”.  The FLO also estimates in their 2008-09 report that with the number of dependents per worker, the total number of people be affected by Fair Trade has reached approximately 5 million.

Visual Learner?  Watch the video:

How Can I Tell if Something I Buy is Actually Fair Trade Certified?

In order for a product to receive the Fair Trade label, it has to meet several qualifications, including:

1. Any crops must be grown and harvested according to standards set by FLO International.
2. Products must come from a FLO-CERT certified organization.

When you buy a Fair Trade certified product, you know that:

1. No child or slave labor has been used
2. There has been an effort in conservation and the protection of the environment
3. Workers involved have been given the right to form Unions.
4. The workers have also been paid an additional sum which is to be invested in development (like education)
5. Workers have been paid a price for their product to cover “sustainable production”

To see a full list of the certification standards, visit the Standards page of the FLO.

When looking at a product, these are the labels that you should look for:

Okay, I’m interested.  Where can I go to learn more?

Fairtrade Labelling Organizations International (FLO)

World Fair Trade Organization (WFTO)

FLO-CERT

The Wikipedia Article (very well written and documented!)

I have always wondered about companies that falsely claimed to have products that were eco-friendly.  Turns out there is a term for this:  Greenwashing

I began to research the term to see if any of the products I am currently using fall into this category and I found several bits of information that may help you fellow eco-monkeys make the same determinations.

www.sinsofgreenwashing.org

There is a company called TerraChoice Environmental Marketing which is an environmental marketing agency.  Back in 2007, they produced a report called “The 6 Sins of Greenwashing” in which they sampled 1,018 products that made all made environmental claims.  Out of all of those products, TerraChoice only found ONE product that did not commit one of the 6 sins.

The 6 Sins of Greenwashing are:

1. Sin of the Hidden Trade-Off – This applies to companies that claim to use recycled products, but their manufacturing processes have negative environmental impacts.

2. Sin of No Proof – Products that make claims at being eco-friendly or being free from animal testing, but provide no proof.

3. Sin of Vagueness – Products that make a claim that is easily misunderstood.  Like “all natural”  There are several naturally-existing materials that are toxic (arsenic?).

4. Sin of Irrelevance – Products make claims like being CFC free.  Um, hello?  CFCs were banned before I was born.

5. Sin of Lesser of Two Evils – Eco-friendly claims that distract the consumer from how bad the product actually is.  Example from the report: Organic cigaretttes.

6. Sin of Fibbing – Outright lying!  My favorite from the report is: “A dishwasher detergent that purports to be packaged in “100% recycled paper”, and yet the container is plastic”.  Duh.

In 2009, TerraChoice updated that report with “The Seven Sins of Greenwashing“.  The new sin is:

7. Sin of Worshipping False Labels – This is where companies make up their own eco-friendly label when the product nor the company is eco-friendly at all.  Liars!

www.sinsofgreenwashing.org

So how can you tell if a product you are using commits one of these sins?  You’re going to have to do a bit of research.  One helpful site is the Greenwashing Index where people can put of ads for products they’ve seen.  Other members of the site will provide feedback based on their research and rate the products.  You can put up ads you’ve found or use their search tool to see if your product is already there.  Or you can check out the environmental page at CorpWatch whose mission is to “expose multinational corporations that that profit from war, fraud, environmental, human rights and other abuses, and to provide critical information to foster a more informed public and an effective democracy”.

One helpful site to find more environmentally friendly products  is the Consumer Reports “Greener Choices” website which breaks down products by category to help you find the most eco-friendly versions of what you are looking for.

If you are interested in taking action against Greenwashers, I recommend the StopGreenWash website put out by Greenpeace.

It turns out that “greenwashing” is much more prevalent than I suspected it would be.  I am definately going to have to research my purchases more closely!

The best way to begin describing this particular phenomenon is to take the explanation directly from www.geocaching.com:

“Geocaching is a high-tech treasure hunting game played throughout the world by adventure seekers equipped with GPS devices. The basic idea is to locate hidden containers, called geocaches, outdoors and then share your experiences online. Geocaching is enjoyed by people from all age groups, with a strong sense of community and support for the environment.”

Back in 2002, a friend of mine in college invited myself and a few friends to do something called ‘geocaching’.  My friend, a geography major, explained that people all over the country would hide things in containers on public property, upload the gps coordinates onto a website, and then fellow geocachers could go and find it.

As it was the day before finals, we were up for anything that took us off campus, and we gamely got in a car and drove out to a nearby town where the coordinates were located.  What we didn’t know is that when you find a cache, one tradition is to take one item from the cash and to leave one of your own.  I believe I traded a pen from my purse for one of those little toothpick umbrellas.

I never really thought about it after that until several years later when my mother and grandmother began to talk about going geocaching together.  Since my sole geocaching adventure, things have really changed.

I’ve heard stories of people creating coins with their geocaching alias on them to leave in caches.  There are items that you can track as they move from place to place, so people can literally race items around the world.  My own mother has even placed two “Travel bugs” on her car.  These are stickers with serial numbers on them.  When a geocacher spots them, they can log into the geocaching.com and claim that they have found that cache.

Not all caches involve physical items.  Some are ‘virtual’ caches.  On a trip to Disneyland a few years back, my mother had us take a picture of ourselves in the aloe garden and then she posted on the web.  This too counted as finding a cache.

This is one of those rare activities that I believe makes the world a little smaller and brings the human race closer together as a team regardless of age, religion, ethnicity…the list goes on.  These caches exist all over the world and finding their location can be as simple as finding a film can stuck in a tree stump.

One of the things I like most about geocachers is their attitude of respect towards their environment.  One of their programs is called Cache In Trash Out (CITO).  This is where geocachers band together and go into their local parks to clean out the trash.  Some of these events are coordinated so that they occur around the same time all over the world, but there are local events that happen all the time.

Anyone with a GPS tracking device can download coordinates and after familiarizing themselves with a few guidelines can be on their way!  This is great for people who like to work alone, or travel in groups.  There are even regionally organized geocaching events where people can meet up and try to log several cache finds in a short amount of time.

For more information on getting started, please visit the Getting Started page on the geocaching website.

I also borrowed this nifty little video from that page that is the trailer for an upcoming movie named Splinterheads that has a geocaching explanation:

So if you’re looking for something that you and your family and friends can do that takes you out into nature and will enable you to make a whole new international circle of friends, and eco-allies, this might be the place for you!  On your mark, get set, geocache!

USDA seal

People are hearing the word organic more and more these days.  Those little green and black USDA Organic labels are popping up on all foods from fruits and vegetables to crackers and fruit snacks. But what does organic mean?

The Official USDA Organic Seal

When you see this little label on food in the grocery store, it means that the US Department of Agriculture has certified it as “organic”.  This means that farmers or companies that have produced these items have had to meet a standardized set of criteria and paid a fee in order to be able to display this label on their product.

According to the National Sustainable Agriculture Information Service, the “Commitments” that organic farmers or ranchers must follow are:

1. Farmers must follow practices that “conserve and build the soil resource, pollute little, and encourage development of a healthy diverse agroecosystem, which supports natural pest management”.

This really means that these farmers will engage in crop rotation and that they will not use prohibited synthetic pesticides and fertilizers.  A farm that sells organic produce cannot have used prohibited synthetic pesticides and fertilizers for three years prior to being certified.

2. Farmers must also dedicate specific areas of the storage to organic use (Conceivably so that any equipment used in organic food production does not become contaminated by equipment that might be used in conventional farming).

3. Ranchers must make commitments that concern the treatment of their livestock. This includes providing room for the animals to move around in (i.e. a pasture) and agreeing not to perform certain body modifications.

The process to becoming certified as an organic food or livestock producer is not an easy one, and requires a tremendous amount of work and documention.  In brief, the steps are:

1. Find a Certifier

A farmer or rancher may hire any certifying entity that is accredited by the National Organic Program (a division of the USDA)

2. Submit an Application (and pay a fee)

3. Have the Certifier review their application

4. Have the Certifier come and inspect their farm/ranch

5. Complete a “Final Review”.  If this step is successful, then the farmer/rancher may begin advertising their products as USDA Organic.

*Note – After a farmer or rancher has received an organic certification, they must also maintain records detailing their farming or ranching procedures and practices.

USDA labels

Now we know what it means when fruit, vegetables, and meat (for you carnivores) are labeled as organic. But what makes a cracker organic? Here are the standards for USDA Organic labels as applied to processed food:

1. 100% Organic – This means that 100% of the ingredients used to make this food are organic according to the previously mentioned criteria. (*note – this does not include water or salt)

2. Organic – When the 100% is missing in front of the word Organic, then 95 – 99% of the ingredients used to make this food item are organic.

3. Made with Organic Ingredients – This means that 70-94% of the ingredients in this food item are organic.

4. If something is not labeled as organic in any way, it means that less than 70% of the ingredients used to make that food item or product are certified organic.  Any organic foods or products will be listed as such in the “Ingredients” portion of the label.
Now whether, or not these products are better for you than commercially processed foods is another topic entirely.  You ultimately have to make the decisions on what you put in your body or on your table.  Be armed with the best information you can and make your decisions based on knowledge and research.