Way 8 : Unplug Appliances

Way 8!

Unplug appliances that you don't use frequently. Most electronics have a standby mode that siphons energy even when not in use, or at the very least have small lights that need electricity to power them. Cell phone chargers, laptops, televisions, stereos — there's a whole list of items that can easily be unplugged when not in use. Try using a power strip for groups of electronic items. One flick of the switch and it's all off.



This is it for the year. Please check back in the late winter/early spring for a continuation of Growing Out of the Box!

Thank you everyone for reading my posts this year, and I look forward to writing more once the holidays have wound down. I need to celebrate graduation after all :)

Way 7 : Water Heater Settings

Way 7!

Most water heaters have a "vacation" setting for when you are away from home for an extended period of time. Switching to that "away" mode still keeps the water warm, but will not use the energy it takes to keep a tank full of piping-hot water. Enjoy your vacation even more, knowing that you're saving money and reducing energy used in the home while you are away.

Way 6 : Wait Before Purchasing

Way 6!

Most everyone have been gripped by the urge to spend, which leads to buying things you wouldn't normally buy. So try window shopping or browsing first. This helps ensure you are only buying things you really need, or really want, and you're not just impulse buying. Everything has a footprint and waiting to buy that heavily packaged or need to ship item can overall make an impact.

Way 5 : Landscaping

Way 5!

Everyone lives in different areas on the world, some have dry climates and others much more moist. Generally people live where they prefer the climate - and plants aren't any different!

• Use native plant species to landscape around your home or business. (Often they grow better anyways, use to the amount of sun or water your region has)
• Plants may also get shipped a shorter distance to get to your local nursery.
• Use your own crafted fertilizer or compost from in-home food scraps. It helps return nutrient to the ground.
• Green plants offset carbon!

Way: 4 Energy Proof Your Home

Way 4!

I'm not talking about anything major.

• Make sure all of your windows close properly 
• Your attic and total home is properly insulated. 
• Keep your heating and cooling systems properly maintained, and switch to reusable filters when possible. 
• Try switching from incandescent to compact florescent light bulbs.

Way 3 : Bottled Water

Advice 3!

Move past bottled water.

Bottled water has a huge carbon footprint.

• Buying and using a reusable water bottle for your water.
• A lot of restaurants have made the move from offering fancy bottled water, usually imported from an exotic source, to using in-house filtration systems that make tap water a good choice.
• Many plastic water bottles are recycled, but most are not, making the footprint even bigger.
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JCPOHNNom5M&feature=youtu.be&t=21m30s Check out the last 10 minutes or so - shows how the taste of 'bottled water' is really all in your head.

Way 2 : Pay Attention to Packaging

Number 2!

Pay Attention to Packaging

When out shopping, try to go to stores or co-ops that keep packaging to a minimum.

• Purchase items in bulk.
• If bulk purchases are too big of a food/item order, share with a friend or family member. You split the cost this way too!
• Bring your own reusable bag to the store.
• Make purchases based on packaging (Plastic container of berries vs. compressed paper mold container)

Way 1 : Buy Local

It's almost Christmas, and Christmas means countdowns!

From now until December 5th I will be writing about a single simple way that you can reduce or improve your environmental impact before the huge rush of the winter holidays start. From there I will refrain from updating until after the winter holidays, as I have the pressures of finals, graduating, and moving out of my current location.

As I've said before, one of the biggest ways to do better by the earth and your community is to buy local. If local is not possible (as defined in the past here on Growing out of the Box) buy organic or "fair trade." There's a better chance the food was grown in an more considerate way.

Try eating at restaurants that serve locally produced or seasonal foods.
Buy gifts from local vendors or the starving artist down the street.
Try to cook a holiday meal by only using ingredients bought from a local market.

Share Your Little Things

The examples given yesterday are only a small selection of many more 'little things' that can be done at home. Things us 'regular' people can do on a daily or regular basis.

What are the small little things yourself, friends, families or acquaintances do to help in regards to the three stool legs? Share them below in the comments!

Focusing on the Little Things

I have until now focused a lot of my posts on the bigger picture. How businesses and corporations can 'fix' what is going on within themselves, and how it is the chains and local stores that can do anything.

But we, as regular, ordinary, simple people, can do things too.

The following are some things us working people can do!

Shopping local - Spending money that gets used by the community. Keeping that money within a community instead of having it sent to the giant corporations and then overseas. A dollar spent locally gets spent within the community at a higher rate than a dollar spent outside the community. This is called the Local Multiplier.

Growing your own garden and composting - Having a garden, or belonging to a co-op, is a great way to save money, eat better, and give back to the Earth. Often, food scraps get put back into the earth as compost in the area the food was grown in. Each item of food taken out of the soil takes out nutrients that were once in the soil (following me?) If you just throw away food scrapes nutrients do not return to the soil. Composting puts nutrients back into the soil without adding tons of unneeded chemicals (like those found in synthetic fertilizers).

Recycling - Although a process that will eventually be phased out (I'll explain this later) recycling in today's age is a great way to keep material out of landfills, oceans, and other habitats. Which turns out to be better for everyone.

Something to Think About: Your Own State Energy Plans

Keeping with the theme of Michigan's Proposal 3 from the week, the something to think about will be on a similar topic.

Currently Michigan does already have an energy plan in place, 10% coming from alternative energies by 2015. The proposal would have simply increased the percentage and the year goal date.

What about your state or country?

Do you know what sort of energy goals your geographical area has right now?

Think about it this weekend. Maybe even do some research.

Let me know what you find out!

Current Topic Thursday: Proposal 3 Final Results

They say whoever spends more and raises the most money will win whatever position they are vying for.

This proves true with Michigan's proposal 3. The article linked here through the Huffington Post explains the highest funded companies that supported either the 'yes' or 'no' for proposal 3.

Surprise surprise,

"According to the Michigan Campaign Finance Network, Prop 3 supporters like the League of Conservation Voters, the American Wind Energy Association and the Green Tech Action Fund contributed over $10 million to the group Michigan Energy, Michigan Jobs to get the amendment passed. The Clean Affordable Renewable Energy (CARE) committee raised more than $23 million from DTE Energy, Consumers Energy and Wolverine Electric to oppose it."

Prop 3 Turnout

Prop 3 failed.

Miserably.

And it makes me sad.

Presidential Election Night

In support of more awareness (as if it needed it) for the USA presidential election I have linked a website to a current time assumption and counting system.

Keep watch on the changing events instead of reading here!

http://news.yahoo.com/control-room/
http://www.google.com/elections/ed/us/results

Proposal 3

So far I have yet to bring in anything political at all, and this was done on purpose. However, with the day before election day I have now had people ask me what way to vote on Prop 3 here in Michigan.

In Michigan we have 6 proposals total, number 3 being about requiring renewable energy to be used 25% (of total energy produced) by the time by 2025.

My suggestion? Make up your own mind about this. I am not very knowledgeable about political things, and the political style of writing (adding in little clauses, tidbits, and confusing terminology and loop holes) makes my head hurt.

I would vote yes, since on the surface it's a good thing to require our energy to come from renewable sources. The interesting part will be seeing where the renewable comes from, how they are built, how workers are treated, what land needs to be cleared, and more.

Nothing is perfect, but at least it is a step in the right direction.

Something to Think About: Devil's Advocate

Throughout the months I've been putting up thoughts, opinions, articles, and facts I have always put sustainability and sustainable business in the 'light'. To me, it is the most obvious choice to make - turning towards sustainability.

But I am not naive to believe everyone feels this way. Already I have had interviews, networking, and speaking opportunities and have had people laugh. In one instance this past week, the man I was speaking with laughed openly the whole time while I was explaining what my major was and how it could greatly help his company.

So, I'm playing devil's advocate this weekend.

Why wouldn't someone want to move towards sustainability?

Think about it this weekend, and let me know your thoughts.

Current Topic Thursday: Make Way for Superstorm Sandy!

"From the climate hawk’s perspective, there is an intense, crazy-making urgency involved in all this. A humanitarian tragedy is heading our way and we are neither preparing for it nor working to reduce its severity. A catastrophe is unfolding, right in front of us, in slow motion. Somehow — no one knows how, but somehow — the American public must be made to appreciate that urgency and demand action. It is rare that an opportunity to highlight the climate crisis emerges out of the daily news scrum. When such an opportunity does emerge, climate hawks view it as a moral and political imperative to make the most of it."

That quote is taken from the article, Hawks vs. scolds: How 'reverse tribalism' affects climate communication. With the big Superstorm Sandy that just hit the East Coast of the United States I knew there would be articles like the above popping up.

Was the storm influenced by climate change or not?

Obviously there is some influence, the climate is different so our storms and weather are different, but to how high of a different degree?

This article puts an interesting approach on that very question, the climate hawks vs scolders vs people who agree one way or another, but don't want labels.

Give the article a read and let me know what you think!

Why turn to sustainablility?

A sustainable business, a truly sustainable business, does not exist right now. Why? Both the means and the funds are not available.

But that should not stop businesses from making the transition towards sustainability. The beginning processes might have a small upfront cost, but the amount a business will save greatly outweighs the initial costs. Simply changing the light bulbs in a company, and setting timers so lights automatically turn off or shut off so as to not run 24-7 can save a company hundreds.

Right there you have, say, $1,000 dollars that would have been spent that can not be used for other things. Often if a company is now moving down a sustainable path this money (again, that [b]would have been spent already[/b]) can be used for more costly changes which, you guessed it, saved even more money down the road.

Soon you have made changes that at the beginning seemed way to expensive. And where did the money come from? Sources that would have been spent already on things like utilities, materials, transportation, and packaging.

Of course these changes don't happen overnight, but everyone needs to start somewhere.

So why not turn towards sustainability? Eventually the systems will pay for themselves and the company will make more profit than it once was before the changes were implemented.

Seems like a win-win situation to me.

Community Involvement

When you hear the term community, what do you think of? Your neighborhood The school district? Anything in-between? How about the human-built environment in which we get our needs met? That's taken from Dr. Tueth's book. Yet for many Aquinas College sustainable business students community includes more than just our buildings, transportation and communication systems, retail businesses, service establishments, and the people who live around us.



What about the natural world? Where does our environment come in? That's why in sustainable business we go a step further to include the natural world. Why? Well why not! The natural world is, after all, the sole provider of our food, oxygen, natural beauty, accustomed to climate and many more benefits we as humans take for granted every day.



Expanding our general idea of community to include the natural world does much for us. It makes us look at the natural world as something to be included in our daily lives, a responsibility (if a steward) or our companion (if a kin). It makes us shift our priorities to extend past our personal lives but to care and consider others.

Guided by the Natural World

So we learned before that a sustainable business has no negatives. The natural world has no negatives. So therefore, we can say, that a SB is similar to the natural world. And to be sure a SB is indeed full of no negatives we can say a SB should be guided by the natural world.

But what does that mean? To be guided by the natural world?

Ever hear of the term biomimicry?

It is a combination of the two words biology and mimic. Mimicking biology.

People mimic those who they look up to, a sibling, parent, friend, idol. Why should our businesses be any different? By mimicking nature we see what has worked (and what hasn't worked) and base models off that.

Janine Benyus can explain biomimicry better than I can. Her book, titled Biomimicry, defines and describes cases being put in place inside laboratories and the world as we know it.

Visit her website here for more information

No Negatives In the Natural World

To this point I've discussed many things that make up a sustainable business, in terms of the three legs. Financial, social, and environmental achievement is key.

However I've yet to describe what a sustainable business would look like.

A sustainable business (now termed from here on out SB) takes it's cues and lessons from the natural world. Why? Well think about it. The natural world has no negatives with it.

BUT WAIT MICHELLE!

What about coal, gas, and oil? When there is an oil spill it hurts the environment. Yes, yes it does. But think, where are those materials located at? They are stored in the Earth's crust, pressurized, sequestered. Not available into the biosphere (the place there there is all life on Earth - above the crust and below the atmosphere). The components of oil, coal, and natural gas are only released through intense natural disasters (in which only small amounts would be released in comparison to the fossil fuels humans have brought out into the biosphere) and human manipulation.

So, back on track. The natural world has no negatives within it. Everything breaks down into food and nutrients for something else. The only energy source is the Sun, and is transformed into energy through photosynthesis, which (you guessed it) has no negatives at all.

Why then are humans so destructive? Why do our energy sources sway away from the sun to a source that holds a multitude of negatives like air pollution, soil deterioration, as well as being a finite source (meaning there's a limit to how much there is. Coal will not go on forever, unlike wind that does)

A SB has no negatives with it. Just like the natural world.

How does that happen though? Those will be my topics in the upcoming days, so stay tuned!

Triple Top Line or Triple Bottom Line?

By now the ideas relating to the three legs of sustainable business should be quite clear. Environmental, social, and financial success. But saying "three legs of sustainable business" doesn't sound quite... professional now does it? Then what does?

Consider first the term "bottom line". In accounting, the bottom line refers to the final amount of money a company makes after everything like taxes, charges, you name it, gets deducted. The last line then, the 'bottom' line says what's left in profit.

The bottom line isn't something that can be estimated or guessed, and it's not something that can be figured out in the beginning.  Only after the quarter (for instance) can the bottom line be configured.

What does that have to do with sustainable business?

Call it now the triple bottom line. Triple implies three, does it not? With this term, not only are finances an important end of period figure, but so are the aspects of the environment and social gains a company can have. Triple bottom lines gives single bottom line importance to all three aspects - just as it should be.

Then what's triple top line? A term used many times in William McDououbh and Michael Braungart's book Cradle to Cradle and often the talking point of many sustainable business classes at Aquinas College, triple top line takes the importance of the results of a quarter and puts the importance at the beginning. At the top. Make sense? No?

Triple top line calls environmental, social, and financial benefits and gains important. So important they need to be planned for at the beginning instead of an end of the line results. Planning top line advanced implies it will for sure happen (whatever 'it' needs to be) while bottom line implies the gains were an aftereffect and just happened to gain a benefit.

Make more sense now?

Business minded people are already familiar with the idea of the bottom line, so adding 'triple' to it isn't that difficult for them to understand. Triple top line however confused business minded people. I recommend using that term only after the positive benefits of the triple bottom line are shown before opening their minds to more subjective thoughts.

Something to Think About: Have Your Views Changed?

A little late in getting this post out to you for the weekend, sleep overtook me after a busy week of school. Regardless, I still have something I would like you to think about!

I have been posting for about 2 months now (give or take) and have skimmed over many topics - never going deep into any. However there has been enough general information that by now I'm sure you have formed your own opinions on the topics.

Think back to when you first started reading, what did you think then? How do you think now? Do you feel it has been a turn for the better or worse?

I know for me, when I started at Aquinas College, I wanted to go right into the sustainable business program. Freshmen year was filled with environmental classes and I loved it. Sophomore year though was the year the sustainable classes started. My mind was blown. So many new thoughts, ideas, suggestions, opinions, debates (you name it) were happening all around. Then I had Industrial Ecology. That, without competition, has been the most depressing class I had ever taken in my life (and probably will ever). In Industrial Ecology Dr. Tueth teaches you all about what's wrong in the world.

It goes deep.

It gets depressing.

But in the end?

You are more confident than ever that you want to continue so you can make a difference. Even a small one. My viewpoints and opinions constantly were changing week to week, class to class. A new word would be debated as to what it really meant. Kinship or Stewardship? Make or Create? (that's a big one... well... they are all big ones. But this one's even bigger) Those are the sets that stand out most in my mind, and how I felt about those terms were changed forever.

But enough about me. How have you changed in regards to sustainability thoughts and opinions? Let me know in the comments!

Current Topic Thursday: Fundamentals of Sustainable Business

This Thursday I want to share with you all not a news article, but a website page written in terms and ways as phrased in the book Fundamentals of Sustainable Business. I read this book and memorized the key points of each chapter for a class, but this isn't a book restrained to just the classroom.

Fundamentals of Sustainable Business

The main points, as seen when clicking the link above, are listed and explained. Each point is a chapter in Matthew Tueth's book, and will be the topics I plan on discussing in the near future.

I will note, Dr. Tueth uses the term Triple Top Line. If this is confusing, let me explain how it is not. A business deals with the bottom line - financial income. Triple refers to that financial segment, as well as environmental and social 'top' line. 'Top Line' refers to these being a priority at the beginning of a business's plan rather than an afterthought at the 'bottom' of  a business's report.

As always, if you have any questions please let me know in the comments.

Improving the Environmental Leg

The environmental leg of the three legged stool is, to some, the easiest and most obvious side thought of when it comes to sustainable business. This is, after all, the side immediately thought of when one thinks of sustainability.

So how does a business go about starting down the environmental leg path? Low hanging fruit. The easy steps come first - changing light bulbs, paper efficiency, turning off non-use lights when no one is around, change to water efficient plumbing (sinks, toilets, faucets) etc. These things are easy to do and very afforable for businesses.

But what to do with that saved money?

Put it in a new account labeled 'sustainable changes' or something like it.

The larger changes take money. They are expensive. A solar panel array, wind turbine, re-planting natural plants and reducing blacktop outside, heating and cooling system re-vamps, material selection, machine and electronics upgraded to lower using energy models. All those take more money than a pack of light bulbs.

Yet every penny saved in the beginning gets re-invested into larger changes, so in the future that once expensive turbine is now purchased with money that would have been spent already on previous expenses.

Eventually all these changes makes the business money because the costs that were once there and seen as fixed costs no longer exist.

See how easy that is?

But it's not an over-night change. Becoming sustainable takes time, effort, and money. Not all businesses can do that. So be wary of businesses that claim they are now sustainable when just last week the paper reported their failing in, say, energy use.

Improving the Financial Leg

Finances have always been the core reason behind a business. If there are no funds or income there is no business. Making money is important. But how companies go about making and/or saving money isn't always in the best interest of anyone outside the the top tier.

So what's done? In a general basis, employees have their wages slashed or cut completely and therefore laid off, short-cuts are taken, ethics are ignored, and the company does better for another quarter or so until the process starts again. Globalization also happens, but for what might seem like the wrong reasons. It's cheaper to build or manufacture across seas. Wages are cheaper there too.

But what about the positives of the financial leg? It's okay to make money. As I said, it's the reasons businesses exist. I plan on working for a business some day and get paid well doing a job I've prepared for while in college. I am not bashing companies for making these decisions, money is money. However, the above paragraph is what happens when just the financial benefits are the only concern. Decisions that affect the environment, and societies that the company influences need to be considered in financial decisions. This would better round out the finance side, in my opinion. Businesses need to start shifting away from looking solely at the bottom line, as scary as that would and will be for nearly all business owners.

Improving the Social Leg

Last Friday I asked you readers to think about what kind of social changes you could envision being changed, added, or whatever in your place of employment. What sort of things did you come up with?

On my part I looked over my college, Aquinas, as I am unemployed at the moment. Things AQ could do to improve the social leg of sustainability? Well, from a student's perspective classes could be held outdoors (weather permitting) and/or more guest speakers could come in and talk. I have had classes where both have happened, but the occasions are few and far between. It's been studied and recorded that humans work and feel better when in natural surroundings.

And talking with speakers who are living in the day to day world has happened too, just not in every class. And I don't mean just a Q&A about their job, how they got there, etc. etc. Talks about what they get out of working there - the social behaviors and attributes they've seen in the work place, even going as far as talking about social politics in the work place. Aspects that aren't discussed anywhere it seems, but very important.

Suppose company A has leisurely lunch breaks, outside working areas (or break areas) and an open floor plan.  Now suppose company B has a strict schedule, determined working places, and set hours for everything. Neither is better than the other, it's what you perfer. You wouldn't want to work at B when you longed for A (or vice versa) would you?

It's why potential college students tour campuses after all. Which area fits you best? That's the social leg of sustainability at work. What makes you comfortable and secure is what will make you produce you best work. Need to work from home? Great. Work better in an office? Fantastic. Find what works for you and the rest will follow.

Something to Think About: The Three Legs

By now you have a decent understanding of the core meanings behind the three legs of sustainability: financial, social, and environmental. What we haven't talked about yet in detail are the ethics associated with each leg.

So for this weekend think of possible scenarios where ethics can help OR hinder the progress of these three legs, in any way you can imagine.

Living Downstream

Today I want to share with you a book that discusses in great length what happens when one area is polluted, causing effects miles and miles down from the original pollution location.

This book is Living Downstream written by Sandra Steingraber.

It's a good read.

Steingraber explores in her book the cause and effects of pollutants and carcinogens (cancer causing) in our water systems and beyond. Her chapters are divided up as follows:

Trace Amounts
Silence
Time
Space

War
Animals
Earth
Air
Water
Fire
Our Bodies, Inscribed
Ecological Roots

If you are at all curious to know about what is in our waters, soil, plants, and animals that we both see and consume give this book a read. I promise you won't regret it.

It has been some time since I've read this piece of writing cover to cover, but I often refer to it when talking about how what someone does in one area affects another area.

Something to Think About: Where You Work

After reading the article from Chipotle and thinking about social effects a company or business can have on it's employees, workers, and inventory/product sources.

So, for this weekend think on this:

What could the company, business, or place of employment you are at do better in regards to the social leg of sustainable businesses?

Current Topic Thursdays: Farm Workers

This week in current topic Thursday I am bringing up the topic that weighs heavily in the SOCIAL leg of the sustainable business stool.

The problem?

Workers (in general) are paid low-to-near-nothing wages, have what would be considered by 'regular' workers inhuman working conditions, and labor for hours without anything better in front of them.

Take the events happening with Chipotle.

I was not aware of Chiplotle's ethical meat before this, and at first I was all, "Yay ethics!" But then I was like, "Oh... half-assed ethics.

In brief the article written by Christopher Weber explains and summarizes the food business's past positives with ethical meat processes, but wonders why the jump from pigs to human work ethics is so far apart.

"But those values get complicated fast when you’re talking about an enormous mobile workforce, and it’s not clear that Ells gets that. Says Ratner, “You can’t take the same top-down approach that you might use for humane treatment of animals and just apply it to farmworkers. It takes the recognition of those workers as equal partners every bit as important as Chipotle’s customers.”

 

If you remember from before, social positives and ethical changes for the best for all are the bulk of the social leg of sustainable business. With that in mind, what are your thoughts on not only Chipotle, but the topic of worker's rights in general (unions, traditional workers, hired hands, immigrant ... any and all).

Energyception

Here is a simple image to show how the different types of alternative energies stack inside of each other. Does this help make it easier to see how not all alternative energies are sustainable?

Energy inside energy inside energy....

Again - alternative is anything not oil, coal, or natural gas.
Renewable includes sources like nuclear, biomass, or wood.
Sustainable encompass solar, oceanic, and wind.

Alternative Energy =/= Sustainable Energy

Not all alternative energy sources (or systems) are the same. At first this might be obvious, solar is very different from wind, which are both very different from coal, nuclear, or oil sources of energy. But when people say alternative energies are better than coal or nuclear energy is this really true?

Often that statement is said with a specific implication that alternative energy is best. But listen to this. Alternative energy is anything that is not traditional, ie, coal, oil, or natural gas. Renewable energies are energy sources that (by their definition of being 'renewable') are materials that can be continually obtained from the Earth, ie, wood burning, biomass (corn, grass, etc). Finally there is sustainable energy. Sustainable energy comes from sources that are renewable, but also have no harm on the Earth or it's inhabitants.

Solar comes from the sun, which is captured by solar panels or some sort of solar collector. Wind technically comes from the sun's effect on our atmosphere, but blows and whips around the Earth without any human-made cause. Oceanic - let's take tides, will always push back and forth without any aid from anything beyond the moon's pull. Geothermal is natural ambient heat found in the Earth's crust.

All the sources in the above paragraph are sustainable, renewable and alternative.

Renewable energies are only renewable and alternative.

And alternative? That's anything that's not traditional (coal, oil, gas).

Nuclear power is one that can be 'iffy to sort. It's not traditional, but isn't fully renewable, yet is obviously not sustainable. (Haven't you heard of all the nuclear waste resulted from those power plants?)


Hopefully it is clearer now that not all alternative energy is considered sustainable. Tomorrow I will post a graph that visually demonstrates what I've explained here.

Where is Energy Coming From?

What energy sources did you come up with that best fits your living location?

See? Not everywhere is best for solar

Notice where wind might work better?

Detail of the US for geothermal, showing just
how varied sources can be within a single area

Then the fourth overall category of oceanic/hydro/water should be obvious - the oceans and large natural lakes, like the Great Lakes around Michigan and Canada.

Did these maps affirm or change your mind about what energies are best in your area?

Something to Think About: Alternative Energies

Not every country, state/providence, county, city, town, village, or home has an equal opportunity for different energy sources. Some areas of the world are obviously more inclined towards solar energy, whereas others might be attracted to others such as wind, geo-thermal/earth, and ocean/water energy.

Know one knows the weather in a local area better than the locals themselves. For example, as I have lived in the 'palm' Michigan for all my life I know that it will rain at least 65% of the fall season, snow can vary but can start as early as Halloween and go past Easter. I have no idea what weather is like in the Thumb/Bay City area, Upper Peninsula, or in Michigan's neighboring states of Wisconsin, Ohio, Indiana and Illinois.

So this weekend think about the sort of weather you experience where you live. In the four main over-arching categories of wind, water, earth, and solar what would fit best? And yes, more than one can be applied.

So many choices!

Current Topic Thursday: Wind Turbines in MI

Have you ever been driving along on the highway, driving a respectable 70 mph on cruise control of course, when you see one of those HUGE LOAD truck/semi/ carriers in front of you just as you've finished merging from one highway to the next? The thought that crosses your mind is "Darn it! This ruins my cruise control and gas mileage!" Okay, so maybe not everyone is concerned about their highway gas mileage, but having to adjust your speed from cruise to slow for a large truck is always a drag.

But what if you noticed that barge was carrying a blade for a wind turbine?

Have you ever seen one? They are HUGE! I've studied wind turbines, seen plenty of pictures, and thought about how neat it would be to climb to the top of one. Never had I seen one in person, however. Until then.

See? They're HUGE!

 And that's just a single blade. Imagine how huge the whole turbine will be once it is assembled!

Turns out Michigan is installing many of these energy creating beauties. If a TV commercial is to be believed, all the parts can and are made here in Michigan. I don't see why that wouldn't be true. Michigan is where automobiles were first mass-produced, so why not move with the times and convert all that empty manufacturing space to develop wind turbines?

Check out an article here:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/06/05/dte-energy-wind-turbines-huron-sanilac_n_1570985.html

American vs Local

A huge topic that gets bounced around in the new media outlits is thus: (at least, in my home country of the United States of America)

BUY AMERICAN! CAUSE AMERICAN IS BETTER THAN ANYTHING ELSE!

'MERICA!

But then we are told in the same lines, generally perhaps even in the same article, that we should buy local. Why?

BUY LOCAL! CAUSE LOCAL IS BETTER THAN ANYTHING ELSE!!

LOCAL!

Here we are given two seemingly similar topics that might seem parallel (ie, the same). Buy things that are near you (in my case, from America) which is buying locally which is awesome for the economy and local businesses. They are not. Let me explain.

For example.

You are dying to own a sweet awesome super-legit solid oak chair. It would look perfect in your living room, you just know it. So you start shopping online and find two chairs that fit what you are looking for perfectly. 

Oh my gosh it's perfect!

One is crafted and shipped from Toledo, Canada and the other Houston, Texas. You now live in Michigan. What woodsmen and distributor do you choose? If you want to buy American, you choose the one from Houston. But if you want to buy local which do you choose? Toledo. 

But wait, that's not American! No. No it's not. But it's local. Local in terms of being in close proximity to the community you live in. Local as in the money going to Toledo has a better chance of coming back to your community thorough Canada/Michigan trade relationships than purchasing from Houston.

Mind-boggling, isn't it? Country made isn't the same as local made. Buying local means buying within a radius that evolves around your community, not just because there is a MADE IN AMERICA sticker on it. If you were to buy from Houston you might not be paying anymore online than from Toledo, but think back to yesterday's post about full cost accounting. What sorts of fees are you not paying that would incur were you to buy from Texas over Canada?

Think about it.

Buy local.

Full Cost Accounting

There is the idea in sustainable business called full cost accounting. This idea encourages and requires the complete notation and inclusion of all costs created within a process. This process can include services, product manufacturing, energy sources (like gas), food gathering etc.

Gasoline prices are the easiest idea to apply full cost accounting with, as most everyone has at least once had to pay at the pump. The numbers I put into this post are not legit numbers, but a generalization to get the point across.

Okay, so gas right now is $4.10 a gallon. That's a lot, as over the weeks and months the price keeps going up and people shout about the unfairness of it all.

"Are you kidding? Back in my day gas was just a dime!"

But what is that $4.10 covering? The cost of the actual liquid being pumped into your car, some taxes, and some other odds and ends, like the bit the gas store gets for giving the product and service of gasoline.

What's not covered?

The cost to transport the gas to the station.
The cost of refining the oil to gas.
The cost of transporting the oil to the refineries.
The cost of the drill equipment.
The trucks themselves.
The stations.
The employees working at the stations.
The oil spills and effects on the natural world.

I could keep going, but you get the idea. Some sources put the true cost of gas at $15 dollars. I'll be nice and give you a link to read (and watch a video) early this week. It was published February of 2012, so is decently current.

http://www.treehugger.com/fossil-fuels/true-cost-gasoline-closer-15-gallon-video.html

If we had full cost accounting applied to our gas we would be paying that $15+ dollars a gallon without any problem.

Magic of the Cherry Tree

If there is one topic, phrase, and/or big idea that sums up the idea of how we sustainable business students from Aquinas College think about how something should effect others it is the idea of the cherry tree.

It's so pretty I'm tearing up

Why the cherry tree? Well, lets break it down, shall we?

The tree has only benefits to offer. There are no negatives to a tree living it's life as a tree. Let a tree do it's tree-things and magic happens.

The tree overall is a home to many creatures, from small mammals and birds to insects and microorganisms. Shade is created to protect the more vulnerable plant life that tends to grow on the ground level (like grasses, flowers, and small shrubs) a food is produced (the cherries) that feeds an entire community, gives back oxygen as its only 'waste' and releases no negatives to its near and far communities.

What's not to love about the cherry tree?

 The idea of waste equaling food is prominent in the cherry tree. Nothing negative occurs, only positives. Food for the community, shelter, protection

Stewardship vs. Kinship

Ready for another word verses word post? Today's topic, stewardship verses kinship. Do either of these words sound familiar? I hope so. If not, consider this phrase: "We are stewards of the Earth". This phases is quite popular with some environmentalists and other groups with concerns towards the Earth and it's upkeep and care.

So what is a steward/stewardship? It's being responsible for something else - usually life, whether it be plants, overall landscape, an animal, a zoo, etc. Really any single to group of lifeforms. Steward implies the life you are responsible and  in charge of absolutely needs your help. Like, there is no way possible for the life to continue living without outside interference.

These chickens would NOT SURVIVE without
this classy state of the art chicken coop

Kidding aside (I'm sure those chickens would be fine on their own) this illustrates my point perfectly, as you will see as I describe what kinship is.

Kinship is very similiar to stewardship but the overall principle of why you act is different. The word 'kin' invokes thoughts of family, relationships, being kin with one another. Kinship therefore, in terms of sustainability, that we are partners with the earth with equal footing, levels, respect, etc, and that we help one another. There is no dominate partner in this relationship of being kinsmen.

Or, as my professor Dr. Tuteh puts it, "a kinship relationship - that involves a basic equality of all biota, including man." His phrase for describing a stewardship relationship? (Since I know you are all curious) "Many Americans and Europeans believe man's proper environment role is as a wise steward for all biota and regions of the natural world. Our superior intelligence and natural dominance, so the familiar ethic implies, places us in this position of control to skillfully supervise all planetary wild lands."

Technical definitions aside, let's bring in the chickens again. Chickens have no problem living as chickens do, chillin' around, eating bugs and other grains on the ground, making little chickens, fleeing from predators. You know, chicken things.

See? They are great at making baby chickens.
*gasp* With no help from us?
Who'd have thunk it!

Most of what we care for we have the thoughts that the life would not be able to survive, function, or carry on with any higher meaning of life without us. But that's not true. Really the Earth and all it's inhabitants wouldn't notice that we humans were gone (though they might notice the cleaner air, water, and less noise). We haven't, as a species, been around for that long. So what makes us so qualified for making everything ours and ours to monitor alone?

So - stewardship verses kinship. What you believe is fine, just open your mind to other ideas. Traditionally how we were raised will shape which term we respond to better. Westernized cultures grasp stewardship faster while Eastern cultures see kinship as making more sense (as a common stereotype. Please, don't be offended)

Just think on the terms and how they fit into your viewpoint of the world. Does the Earth really need us as supervisors or is it fine doing Earth-things all on its own?

A Question for You

To all my wonderful readers out there, I question from me to you, for me in return.

What don't you understand? Is there something about sustainability and sustainable business you want to know more about? Confused about? Anything?

Let me know!

I am in the process of creating a topic guide that will last for the month, but just like any teacher I want to know what you want to learn about.

Leave a message below in the comments section!

Rainy Thoughts

So, how did thinking about the rain go over the weekend?

Overall, when rain falls it soaks up all the contaminants and washes it away into the nearest moving body of water. In which the water mixes with other bodies of water and either evaporate and then fall again as rain (this is how acid raid forms) or it soaks into the earth and pollutes the soil (causing plants to grow toxic and our food be tainted).

For a better, more in depth view, read Sandra Steingraber's book Living Downstream.

Something to Think About: Rainfall

www.rainymood.com

It's raining right now, there, outside my window. And as it is a Friday night and it's been a day full of essays and preparation  for a meeting to finalize the end of my internship tomorrow morning I am leaving you to ponder this over the weekend.

So soothing.

When it rains, just like in a shower, the water washes away anything it hits. Take a moment and think about what that means for the outdoors. Pesticides, herbicides, pest killer, animal waste, car wash soap, spilled oil, tossed out food containers (tossed out anything containers and even the things they contained), rust, paint, decaying road kill, escaped car liquids... the list goes on.

So what happens to all that horrible-ness when it rains?

Why it washes into your local watershed, area ponds, lakes, streams, or other labeled bodies or water. That water then either flows to connect with larger bodies of water, or sinks into the ground to mix with the soil and the underground water reservoirs. Those always then flow to even larger bodies of water like the Michigan Great Lakes and/or the oceans. The pollutants never go away, so where do they end up?

Think about it.

I'll address more on Monday. Until then, enjoy your weekend.

Current Topic Thursday: Greenwashing

Now that everyone understands a decent basic understanding of sustainability, sustainable business, and all that encompass it's time to move onto what will now be labeled as "Current Topic Thursday". On Thursdays now I will link all you lovely people an article currently published online that relates to the many, many topics that deal with either the broader sustainability, as well as the more narrow sustainable busienss.

It could also simply be an interesting article I want  to share.

Onto the first Topic Thursday article!

This comes from Grist.org, a site I browse through frequently. It's not long, so take a moment to read though it.

http://grist.org/food/is-the-natural-label-100-percent-misleading/

So... how do you feel about your food being 'all natural'? Annoyed, foolish, enraged, hopeless, depressed... I could go on but I think we all know how we feel.

100% Eco FALSE

Cheated.

The ploy you have just read about is a term called greenwashing. Green-washing is not regulated or controlled. Anyone can slap the label of 'natural' 'eco- friendly' 'planet friendly' on it, add some smiling flowers, green leaves or plants, fresh looking air - anything that would lead you to believe it was sustainable - good for you, having no or little harmful effects, healthy, better for the planet, etc.

But it's not.

That's greenwashing.

But it can be even sneaker... How you ask?

Pick up an aerosol can and it will probably say "NO CFC'S! (CFCs = chlorofluorocarbons, an ozone destructive material). You would say, "That's great!" But did you know CFCs have been banned from use in the United States since the year of 1978? No aerosol cans in the United States have CFCs in them anyways. So why advertise it? CFCs may not there in to begin with, but having that stamp of NO CFCs makes their product look better and therefore more people purchase their product. Told you they were sneaky.

Google greenwashing if you wish to learn more. Yes, tons more information will come up and it is overwhelming and depressing. But important to know and understand. My hope is that I spurred enough thought in your head and gave you enough basic information that you will think before blindly believing facts printed on a package or in an advertisement.

Sustainability vs Sustainable Business

Those who have been keeping up to date will have noticed I use two different terms when speaking about things that are sustainable: sustainability and sustainable business. They, as I learned when speaking with my professor Dr. Tueth about an upcoming lecture like volunteer speech I was to give at a local high school, are two completely different things. Until that point I had no idea.

First - sustainability!

I defined sustanibility my very first post, and I will re-post it here.

sus·tain·a·bil·i·ty

[suh-stey-nuh-bil-i-tee] -noun-

1. The ability to be sustained,  supported, upheld, or confirmed.

2. Environmental Science . the quality of not being harmful to the environment or depleting natural resources, and thereby supporting long-term ecological balance: The committee is developing sustainability standards for products that use energy.

 I then wrote this: Sustainability is simply the way of having an item, thing, process, whatever, being so awesome it keeps going on without the help of anything else. 

This is still true, but it is not 100% complete either. Now don't get upset. I didn't want to overwhelm you the very first day. Sustainability also includes this important fact - it (item, thing process...) does not harm others like it, where it lives, or negatively effects anywhere or anyone else in the world. There is also a continual loop cycle with nothing being waste. Everything is for a purpose to either help the current organism, its surroundings, or its future generations.

Now before you say, "Well, some animals hunt one another, and plants get eaten! And what about weird fish that sticks onto whales and other fish and suck the life out of them?" let me say this: harm is not done purposefully for the sake of being harmful. There are always reasons animal and plants do what they do as a general rule.

This is how humans become different. We do things that harm others for the sake of harm. We design products that have highly negative attributes when there could be another way, or a different product all together. For us to be sustainable there would have to be no negatives associated with any of our ways of living, products, or services.

That's pretty big to wrap your mind around, isn't it? I hope it makes you think, and as always, if you have any questions let me know!

Now for sustainable busienss, this is the easier one. It's what has been spoken about for the past few days. The three legged stool.  A sustainable business is a business model, not the whole world of sustainability. 

I know this has been mostly a repeat of what was said my first post, but it is worth repeating. The two terms are not the same and interchangeable. I learned it the hard way with my professor sternly correcting me in that 'you are being foolish, think!' voice. Trust me, you don't want to be subject to it.

Think of the two as a circle within a circle. There is the first larger circle of 'sustainability' with a smaller circle inside of it labeled 'sustainable business', as well as others like 'sust. living', 'sust. transportation', 'sust. building', etc.

Now you're thinking with circles!

What is: Financial?

The last leg of the sustainable business stool is the financial leg. This is the easiest to understand and here's why:

Financial is how a business traditionally runs, how it makes money, and stays in business, manages it's funds, etc.

Crazy simple, right!?

Sure there are more aspects to the financial side, but that's the gist of it. And I'm here to make things easy to understand. In later posts I will talk in much more details specific aspects and traits of each of the three stool legs but for now I want to be sure everyone is on the same page - the basics of the three legs and why they are important.

Since the only pictures for financial related topics are (in my opinion) boring, here's a picture of the the newly discovered upward track we are all hiking together.

It's steep, but worth it.

Just think how rewarding it will be when we get to the top!

And if anyone has any questions or request in a topic being cleared up that you are confused about just leave a comment! I promise you I will do my best to answer the question with my knowledge and/or otherwise look up and research a topic I'm not as firm on.

We must stick together after all.

For science.

What is: Environmental?

So now that we all understand a basic level of what social sustainability is, let's move onto the environmental stool leg. Most people feel this is the most obvious, the one concentrated on the most, or the only one that really matters when becoming sustainable or switching a business to a sustainable busienss. It seems correct, to make the Earth better we have to do better to the environment. But like I said earlier, each stool leg is just as important and the environmental leg cannot support the seat alone.

The environment...

So pretty, and just outside your door!

That's how most people think of the environment - trees, water, grass - probably some birds chillin' up in the tree branches singing their little hearts out. It's pretty, relaxing, and most importantly:

Is it still pretty?

Most people don't care what happens to it. The environment, nature, the WILDS, are for stories and camping. It doesn't have a place in our ways of life where we need everything instantly.

Environmental sustainability has it's priorities set in making picture 2 more like picture 1 - where it is clean, prosperous for every living thing and it's ecosystem, and only has positives to offer.

Of course the results in mind look more like a hybrid of the two, something called biomimicry: a science of looking to nature for answers in solving the problems we caused by a whole spew of bad choices. (Well, that's what it is in a simplified nutshell)

What is: Social?

Previously I talked about how sustainable busienss is a trinity including the business (really, it's financial side), environment, and social aspects. The first two are self explanatory for the most part, making money and doing right by the environment. But what about the social piece? What does that mean?

Well, it terms of a sustainable business being social, or socially aware, means looking out for anyone, anywhere, by whatever your product or service touches or does. And not just the final product either. Social includes the whole lifespan of the product or service.

For example:

You sell... plastic pens.

 

 

 

ALL the colors!

Awesome choice of a business. Pens are used by anyone and everyone and come in tons of colors. But how does a pen company be aware of it's social impact?

In the beginning the ingredients had to be harvested - the plastic pellets or whatnot needed to be purchased which therefore had to be melted down from oil (since, you are aware traditional plastic is made from oil.... right?) and the oil had to be mined and pumped and all that nasty messy stuff that comes from getting oil from the Earth's crust. Same goes for rubber (since, you have a plastic based rubber), but this also might include some actual rubber from the rubber tree.

It's a real tree. See?

Rubber trees produce a natural latex - it's their sap. Just like we humans make maple syrup from maple sap we make rubber latex from rubber tree sap. But how is it harvested? Taking a generic approach for the sake of quickness, generally the trees are cared for and harvested by indigenous peoples, such as groups in Brazil. 

How does this tie into to the social aspect of the pen company?

Well, knowing that farmers and family units who both take care of,and farm this material are treated well, receive a living wage, and are not forced into rubber-tree-farming-slavery is important. The better relationship you have with your suppliers often results in a better quality product, as well as an easier time negotiating future wants and needs.

The people who work on the rubber tree farms then live better lives, feel more connected to the process as a whole, and can be proud of the work they do.

It's win-win for everyone.

There are tons of companies who look out for and promote the well being of their supply chains/ingredient sources. Coffee companies are a prime example of social well being. Same with wood harvesting and cotton. So next time you are looking to see how well a company goes about practicing sustainability, look into how they treat their suppliers. Didn't Mom always say to look at how your significant other treats their parents as a sign to how they might treat you? Same idea. A business who treats their suppliers right will treat their customers right.

Bachelor of Science in Sustainable Business [The Three Legged Stool]

So as I said yesterday, I am very close to achieving my Bachelor degree in SB. Unless you visited the Aquinas Website you probably still have no idea what this degree is. Don't worry, I get this question a lot.

What does it mean?

Easy, it's a business degree that incorporates not only the success of the business, but also benefits the environmental and social aspects of who/what/where/etc the business effects.


Overall the classes I take involve many environmental science and biology classes, basic intro to business and management, a year of accounting, a total of 3 Capstone classes (otherwise known as the highest class level in that string of classes: 2 for sustainability and 1 for business), as well as many newly designed courses for sustainability, energy, and sustainable business itself. My favorite has been a course called Sustainable Energy Systems. We went though traditional energy sources then migrated towards renewable and sustainable energy (yes, there is a difference. Perhaps I'll spend a whole week talking about that topic)

In fact, perhaps I'll spend quite a few posts discussing just what I've done in each non-basic, not-an-intro-course-or-traditional-if-I-say-"accounting"-you-know-what-I-mean course.

Does the degree of sustainable business make more sense now? At least a little? A business degree with social and environmental segments added in and made just as important. The image of a three legged stool is used commonly by my Professors and fellow students when we try to describe and clarify how the three fit in.

Wooden three-legged-stool - of SCIENCE

There are three stool legs, all of equal length, thickness, and hopefully of weight support. If you were to take off one of those stool legs the chair would fail to be a chair. It would be a pile of wood, plastic, metal, cardboard, whatever the chair is made of. Each leg is just as important than the other. Without the set everything falls apart.

Therefore the business aspect is just as important as the environmental aspect which cannot be complete without the social aspect. A = B = C, or should we say B = E = S?

What is Sustainable Business?

Hello reader, and welcome.

You have probably stumbled across here due to a variety of things: you searched "sustainability", "green", or perhaps you simply were bored and decided to blog-hop.

Whatever the cause, I'm glad you are here. My hopes for you are to learn something new every day about topics ranging from sustainable business, 'clean' renewable energy, composting, recycling, going 'green', current sustainability topics, or even be opened to a new perspective - mine.

Snazzy, GO GREEN picture.

Believe me, it's a great perspective, really. Just stick with me, alright? Especially on topics about sustainable busienss.

But wait, what is sustainable business? And why should you consider my opinion?

Let me tell you.

First sustainable busienss. What is that? Think a second - I know you can. If not, open dictionary.com and search "sustainable". Did you do that? What did it say? I bet it was something like this:

sus·tain·a·bil·i·ty

[suh-stey-nuh-bil-i-tee] -noun-

1. The ability to be sustained,  supported, upheld, or confirmed.

2. Environmental Science . the quality of not being harmful to the environment or depleting natural resources, and thereby supporting long-term ecological balance: The committee is developing sustainability standards for products that use energy.

Now that was directly taken from the site, no getting up in arms about it. Those are not my words. What are my words is this:

Sustainability is simply the way of having an item, thing, process, whatever, being so awesome it keeps going on without the help of anything else. Seems easy, right? "Why hadn't I thought of that before?"  you're thinking. Because that is not how we as humans are traditionally taught. We are taught to use what is around us at no cost. I'm sure there are exceptions, there always are. But let's continue.

So what when that term is applied to busienss? Let's here again from an official source: (No, this isn't from the wiki page)

"Sustainable business practices restore environmental quality, promote stable and healthy communities, and increase long-term profitability."

 That is right from the Aquinas College sustainable business webpage. Check them out. They were the first undergraduate school in Michigan to host such a degree. Cool huh?

So - sustainable business boils down to having a business run in ways that are positive (as well as no way negative) for the business itself, the environment, and the social units the business effects. Nifty, isn't it! Imaging if every bushiness was truly sustainable the world we would live in.

And why should you take notice of my opinion? I soon will have the degree from Aquinas College (fully, it's called a Bachelor of Science in Sustainable Business, but that's a mouthful). I'm a mere 8 credits away from having the degree, and half of those are general education credits since I attend a liberal arts school. I have a decent grasp on these topics and have debated segments of sustainable business for 3 years now. Sure I'm no Master, but hear me out.

Ready for an adventure in learning?

Science Rules

Bill Nye would be proud.