environment31

CURRENTS (amtinued)

Global Cr-afts making a difference one purchase at a time

FAIR

Our Mission is to offer income generating opportunities to craftspeople in developing countries by following fair trade practices including paying in advance at least the market price for items, ensuring that craftspeople receive payment, and ensuring that the craftspeople work in fair working conditions. We work directly with artisans, craftspeople, and producer groups to achieve these goals and hopefully help improve the lives of some of the people with whom we share this planet.

www.GlobalCrafts.org Toll Free 1.866.468.3438

'i^

A IhTranspersonal Counseling Psycffoio Wilderness Therapy Grounded in natui'e's ability to nurture spirituality and buman wholeness. tbe wilderness tberapy program offers theoretical and practical experience in counseling psychology, adventure therapy, ecopsychology, ecology, outdoor skills and leadership. -» -r

www.naropa.edu/matcpwild Naropa

u r-j I V £ R s 1 T r J .

Boulder, Colorado 800-772-6951

[.adizinasky says, "The city has gone into green mode. You won't find too many places greener than we are." And it goes beyond talk. The city is acquir- ing hybrid vehicles. Beach cleanups bring out hundreds of volunteers. Ladizinasky adds, "Our city horticul- turalist makes sure all our plantings are native to the region. It's good for the environment, but it's also good for Del- ray Beach because native plants are hardier and can withstand winds and hurricanes. And of course we're very concerned about global warming. We're flat as a pancake here. If climate change raises the sea level just one or two feet, you're talking about consider- able encroachment on the shore of Delray Beach. People are very con- scious of that."

CONTACT; Delray Beach City Man- ager, (561)243-7010, www.delraybeach .com; Florida Governor's Office, (850) 488-7146, www.flgov.com. —]im MotavaWi

Paper or Plastic The Best Answer May be "Neither"

Each year, Americans use more than100 billion plastic shopping bags,consuming an estimated 12 million barrels of oil. After a very short work- ing life, these bags retire to landfills where they take 500 or more years to break down, or become litter that clogs storm drains and threatens marine wildlife. City governments that have passed or are considering plastic bag bans include Steamboat Springs, Col- orado, Portland. Oregon, California cities San Francisco, Oakland and Santa Monica, Boston, and both Annapolis and Baltimore in Maryland. Consumers in these cities must use paper or bring their own bags.

Sam Shropshire, a Democratic city council member in Annapolis, says that many city residents moved to the city to be close to Chesapeake Bay, which is being damaged by the 95 per- cent of plastic checkout bags that end up in landfills or the environment. "We intend to put a stop to it right here in Annapolis," he says. Large chains will have six months to stop using plastic; smaller companies nine months. Mer- chants can substitute 100 percent recy- cled paper bags for the banned plastic.

According to Reusablebags.com, four of five shopping bags are made

2 2 E MAGAZINE NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2007

A stiopper in Annapolis, Maryland, site ofa proposed plastic bag ban.

.. from plastic, and the average American 5 family accumulates 6() of these "free" I bags in only four trips to the grocery :, Store. More than 90 percent of plastic 5 bags are simply thrown away. Arthur t Liu, account executive at EPI Environ- % mental Products, says the plastic hags in

landfills take up space and don't allow food and other garbage inside them to hreak down with the help of oxygen.

"Plastic is still pretty new, and a lot of Iplastic hags| manufactured half a century ago are still around," he says. Nei! Seidman ofthe Institute for Local Selt-Keliance says "Accumulating plas- tic is destroying our rivers and oceans."

In the dehate between paper and plastic, however, the real answer may be neither. Reusablebags.com Presi- dent Vince Cobb says that paper bags are also resource- and energy-inten- sive. According to his site, paper bag production generates 70 percent more air pollution than plastic, and while paper bags are rec7cled at a higher rate than plastic, 91 percent less energy is needed to recycle a pound of plastic than a pound of paper.

"1 wanted to know, paper or pias- tic?" (x)bb says. "But that question doesn't hit the heart of the matter. If you want to make a difference, con- sume less."

Amar Mohanty. associate professor at the School of Packaging at Michigan State University, says that in a compost pile, paper bags will take just two to five months to biodegrade. But in terms of resource consumption, he says plastic bags are superior. "We are depleting the forests and we also use a large amount of water and energy to produce these paper bags," Mohanty says.

While some cities are pushing for outright plastic bans, in 2003 Ireland

introduced the "Plastax," levying a fee of approximately 29 cents on each plas- tic bag a shopper uses. Cobb says he considers the tax to be widely success- ful, reducing Ireland's annual 1.2-bil- lion-bag habit by 90 percent. That's one billion fewer bags. "The brilliance in the Plastax is that they t a ^ e d a cost on an item conceived as free," Cobb says.

Other alternatives to bans are also available. EPI distributes an environ- mentally benign chemical additive to packaging companies that Liu says can

break down plastic bags completely from a few months to a few years. The bags break into pieces through a process called photodegradation. When the pieces are small enough, microorganisms can ingest and biode- grade them in a completely non-toxic process, Liu say?.

"Banning plastic bags is not a very good solution because you don't give people an alternative," L,iu says. "Plastic gives us convenience, hygiene and other benefits, so 1 think we need a •

E MAGAZINE NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2007

CURRENTS (continued)

less-drastic solution." Rayton Packaging President Patrick

Arnell says his company annually makes 100 million additive-treated bags, some of which go to Costco, Wal- Mart and other supermarkets. The treated bags add a five to 10 percent price premium.

Mohanty argues, however, that chemical additives will only help a bag degrade if it is exposed to constant light and oxygen. Buried in a landfill, it may be unable to degrade.

Trellis Earth of Portland, Oregon makes corn-based plastics from poly- lactic acid (PLA) into bags that biode- grade in 120 days. "People are looking for a green alternative," says Trellis Earth cofounder Chad Biasi.

Though PLA could be used to make alternatives to petroleum-based poly- ethylene bags, Mohanty says the limit- ed size of U.S. corn crops (already fac- ing increased pressure from the ethanol industry) won't be able to meet the demand.

The market for degradable and renewable resource-based plastics is continuing to grow. South American companies are making "green" poly- ethylene from sugar cane. This process reduces greenhouse gas emissions but the final product is not biodegradable. Other researchers are looking at wood waste, grasses, wheat straw and rice straw as possible source material for "green" plastic production.

The drawback to most of these processes is high cost. "The keystone of success in bio-based and biodegrad- able packaging depends on maintain- ing a balance among ecology, economy and technology," Mohanty says.

Cobb isn't convinced. "Neither recycling nor biodegradable bags are the answer," he says. "We need to re- duce usage."

Reusable bags help achieve that goal. Some stores, including Whole Foods, now give a 5 to 10 cent credit for each reusable bag a shopper brings, and oth- ers (Ikea among Uiem) have started charging customers the same amount for each plastic bag.

CONTACTS: Reusable Bags, www.reusablebags.com; EPI Environ- mental Products, www.epi-global.com; Michigan State University School of Packaging, www.packaging.msu.edu; Trellis Earth, www.trellisearth.com. Q —Shawn Query

The makers of BioWillie filed far batikruptcy.

8I0DIESEL GOES BANKRUPT Country music star Willie Neison is singing the

biodiesel blues. Though interest in the alternative fuel is steadily increasing, the road to making biofuels profitable doesn't come without some bumps, even when one of the world's most beloved singers is involved (see "The Biodiesel Band Bus," In Brief, November/December 2005). Five investment groups filed an involuntary Chapter 7 bankruptcy petition July 11 against Dallas-based Earth Biofuels, which produces, distributes and markets biodiesel fuels, including Nelson's own BioWillie.

In May. Earth Biofuels listed morefhan million in losses for 2006 in its annual report to the Securities and Exchange Commission. Despite the dismal numbers, the company—and Willie Nelson—aren't giving up. Says a company spokesperson. "Earth Biofuels.. .will continue its ongoing operations and commitment to provide biodiesel fuel and liquefied natural gas to its mafi<ets."

CONTACT: Earth Biofuels, (866)7654940, www.earthbiofuels.com. —Jessica A. Knoblauch

BEYOND THE BOTTLES While consumers continue to buy bottled water

as if their faps held poison, (see "Keeping America Cluttered," Currents, September/October 2007), long-term neglect of our nation's public drinking water supply is slowly turning their attitude into a self-fulfilling prophecy. A 2007 report by Food and Water Watch, "Take Back the Tap," suggests that the laudable goal of reducing bottled water consumption to save our waterways is simply not enough. Due to chronic inadequate funding of public water agencies meant to protect public drinking water and sewage

systems, water lines built as eariy as the late 1800s are wearing out under the "weight of age and a growing population.'"

According to the report, public health agencies issued more than 20,000 warnings against swimming on U.S. coastal beaches in 2005. And the Natural Resources Defense Council recently warned that more waterbome disease outbreaks will occur unless "substantial investments" are made to improve our drinking water and sewage storage and distribution systems.

Food and Water Watch recommends that a federal clean water trust fund be established fo make up for the almost $22 billion annual shortfall needed to maintain and improve public drinking water and sewage systems. The report suggests the trust be funded by polluters, and include fees on flushable consumer items, increased permitting fees for dumping and fees on toxics manufacturers.

CONTACT: Food and Water Watch, (202)797- 6550, www.foodandwatematch.org.—J.A.K.

COOL FOOD Seafood retailers in the U.S. must, by law, affix

country-of-origin labels on their products (see "Sustainable Seafood," Eating Right. November/December 2005), The 2002 Farm Bill included this provision mandating country of

origin labeling (COOL) not only for seafood but also for meat products, fruits and

vegetables. But despite the bill's passage, congressional Republicans

(and the Bush Administration) have held off mandatory labeling of meat products for five years,

claiming the labeis would hurt the meat industry. But now supporters of the

labeling, led by Senator Tom Daschle (D-SD) are gathering their forces and lobbying for consumers' right to know where their food comes from.

Importers, meatpackers, food processors and grocers say labeling of meat products is unnecessary and costly. Ground meat, they claim, often includes more than one cow, making labeling increasingly difficult for meat processors. But a 2000 U.S. Department of Agriculture study indicated some livestock producers and farmers support COOL, since consumers often prefer to buy domestic products. United Fishermen of Alaska says COOL increased demand for wild salmon products.

Americans for Country of Origin Labeling says in the wake of well-publicized Instances of meat contamination, consumers should be able to "make an informed choice at the supermarket" and track the origins of the meat they buy.

CONTACT: Americans for Country of Origin Labeling, (800)895-2221, www.americansforlabeling.org. • ro —Shawn Query

2 4 EMA6AZINE NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2007