7-Eleven Wrapping Nature’s Naturally Wrapped Fruit
Posted by Audrey November 11th, 2009 
3 Comments
There are so many great things about bananas. In addition to being an important source of fiber, vitamin C, and potassium, they’re naturally wrapped, so companies that sell them don’t have to worry about packaging. That is, unless that company is 7-Eleven.
Last month, 7-Eleven tested a new plastic wrap to keep single bananas yellow and firm for five days (more than double the two-day shelf life for unwrapped bananas), according to an article from ABC news. This is no small matter, as the chain will sell more than 27 million bananas this year.
That means 27 million individual plastic wrappers that are entirely unnecessary. But the question is, who is the culprit here?
Public Produce: Filling the Sidewalks with Fruit Trees
Posted by Jen Boynton November 10th, 2009 8 Comments
This review is part of the Green Books campaign. Today 100 bloggers are reviewing 100 great books printed in an environmentally friendly way. This campaign is organized by Eco-Libris, a green company working to green up the book industry by promoting the adoption of green practices, balancing out books by planting trees, and supporting green books. A full list of participating blogs and links to their reviews is available on Eco Libris.
Triple Pundit was thrilled to take part in the green books campaign because we love reading and we especially love reading books that have been produced in an environmentally responsible way.
We reviewed Public Produce: The New Urban Agriculture
At first glance, this doesn’t seem to have much to do with sustainable business, because the book argues for a shift in municipal policy. But Triple Pundit is a place where we love to talk about food and we’ve covered many businesses that deal with food innovation. The policy laid out in Public Produce has all the tenets of an innovative model: cost reduction, life improvement and a healthy a dose of “why haven’t I thought of that.” Author Darrin Norahl lays out all the problems with our current food production and distribution system: the dearth of affordable healthy food in the inner city and its connection to obesity; hunger; the 1500 miles the average piece of produce travels; outbreaks of food borne illness that sicken and kill people country wide and the environmental degradation associated with big ag. Then he provides an elegant solution:
Boots on the Ground: Gathering Data from Cow Pastures and Raspberry Fields
Posted by 3p Guest Author November 3rd, 2009 0 Comments
This is the this is the fourth post in a series on the business of sustainable agriculture by the folks at Bon Appétit Management, a company that provides café and catering services to corporations, colleges and universities. To read past posts, click here.
By Carolina Fojo
Part I: Cow Poop
Last week, while on the road gathering data on sustainable agriculture and labor practices, I was having a chat with a Minnesotan grass-fed beef farmer about water contamination. As he extolled the virtues of pasture-raised cattle, I asked him if grass fed cows’ poop getting into water is really any better than CAFO cow poop getting into water: “I mean, poop is poop, right?” He paused, and then coolly replied, “Well actually, poop is not poop.” (He then went on to explain about how the health of the cows impacts the “health” of the cow poop which in turn impacts the health of the waterway being contaminated…)
So poop, apparently, isn’t poop. Oh, learning.
Chocolate Goes Green: Kraft Rolls out Sustainable Sweet Treats
Posted by Jace Shoemaker-Galloway November 2nd, 2009 8 Comments
Move over Willy Wonka, a different type of chocolate will soon be coming to a store near you.
Kraft Foods recently announced it is launching a type of chocolate derived from sustainable cocoa farming. The premium dark chocolate, Cote d’Or, contains cocoa from farms that meets Rainforest Alliance Certified standards. Cote d’Or chocolate will first launch in France and Belgium. The sweet treat will then roll out in Germany, Spain, Hungary, Poland, Portugal, Netherlands, Canada, UK and the US. The special seal will be added to Kraft’s Marabou chocolate brand in Sweden, Denmark and Finland. And finally, the sustainable chocolate will be available in Switzerland and Austria under Kraft’s Suchard brand.
Finisterre Finds Best Path to Staying Warm and Dry Is to Act Like an Otter
Posted by Mary Catherine O'Connor October 30th, 2009 1 Comment
On any given day, you’re likely to find a small team of product designers, material developers and scrappy marketers holed up in a converted mine building in the town of St. Agnes on the North Cornwall coast—unless, of course, the surf is good. At those times, you’re more likely to see these folks, who operate the Finisterre outdoor apparel company, bobbing in the chilly waters of the Atlantic, just a quick walk away from the office of Finisterre.
Finisterre makes jackets and base layers for people who love being outside, whether they’re surfing, hiking, skiing, climbing…whatever.
Most of the baselayers it sells are made of the soft, high-performance wool of sustainably-raised merino sheep. But the company is not only using materials from animals in its products, it’s also designing products that mimic the way that animals stay warm and dry. In developing this season’s Humboldt and Storm Tracker Finisterre jackets, the designers employed biomimicry.
Cash Cows: Vermont Dairy Farm Converts Cattle Manure into Electricity
Posted by Jace Shoemaker-Galloway October 30th, 2009 6 Comments
A Vermont dairy farm is producing something other than milk. Earlier this month, state officials were on hand to visit Vermont’s newest methane facility. Westminster Farms Inc., along with Green Mountain Power (GMP), have been working together in an on-site plant that converts methane gas released from cow manure into electricity.
Cow manure is one of the largest contributors to greenhouse gasses and the runoff from manure pollutes water. Taking a liability and converting it into an asset, just made environmental and economic sense to the farm’s Shawn Goodell. An anaerobic digester is used to mix, heat and break down the manure. The raw manure and ag substrates produce methane biogas, which is captured and then generates electricity. And with an estimated 1,200 cows on the Westminster-based dairy farm, finding a supply of manure is not a problem! Sure gives new meaning to the term “natural gas” doesn’t it?
Organic Farming and the Future of Food
Posted by 3p Guest Author October 29th, 2009 5 Comments
By Laura Klein
Sustainable agriculture is the fastest-growing sector of the food industry. On the other hand, less than 1% of American cropland is farmed organically.
In light of this conundrum, what keeps the organic farmer going?
I spoke with Richard Wiswall, author of The Organic Farmer’s Business Handbook: A Complete Guide Managing Finances, Crops, and Staff – and Making a Profit, to find out more about what it’s like to be an organic farmer in these tough economic times.
“The future of organic is very, very solid in spite of level sales,” says Wiswall. A farmer first and author second, Wiswall is seeing a groundswell of new organic farmers entering the marketplace, which he and others attribute to the writings of Michael Pollan, films like Food Inc., and the increased concern surrounding food safety issues in general.
However, there are big speed bumps in the way of an organic farmer’s success.
Smart Choice Label Fails Industry, Consumers, FDA
Posted by Carly Smolak October 27th, 2009 1 Comment
On Friday, the highly controversial Smart Choice food labeling program announced it will voluntarily “postpone active operations” three days after the FDA unveiled its plans to review any health claims displayed on the front of food packaging. While this means there will temporarily be no new processed junk food added to the list of “smart choices,” many existing products will continue to boast the deceptive label.
That’s weird. Why would a label that claims to be “coalition-based” run for the hills upon the FDA’s announcement that it will begin to vet nutritional claims found on the front of food packaging? If “scientists, academicians, nutrition educators, public health organizations, food manufacturers, retailers and government observers came together to create a robust system designed” for the consumer, if they were truly “transparent,” and if their standards were sufficiently “comprehensive” to apply to the “diet and health needs of the entire U.S. population,” then there should be no cause for concern.
Chipotle to Use Solar Power at 75 Restaurants
Posted by Jace Shoemaker-Galloway October 26th, 2009 3 Comments
Colorado-based restaurant chain, Chipotle Mexican Grill, is going solar. The popular restaurant chain is taking another step towards a more sustainable future.
According to a company press release, Houston-based Standard Renewable Energy will be installing solar panels at 75 Chipotle restaurants during the next 12 months, making the chain the largest producer of solar power in the restaurant industry. The company has “committed to panels that will produce 500 kilowatts of electricity.” So far, solar panels have been installed at 13 restaurants at various locations across the United States.
The solar initiative will reduce Chipotle’s energy consumption during peak operational hours from 11:00 A.M. to 7:00 P.M. Once the project is complete, it is estimated the initiative will reduce global CO2 emissions by about 41 million pounds. Not bad.
Day Two BSR Conference Highlight: Oceanographer Sylvia Earle
Posted by Jim Witkin October 23rd, 2009 1 Comment
Sure, the BSR conference brought together CSR thought leaders to discuss the latest sustainability strategies. But the Day Two highlight for me was listening to the oceanographer Sylvia Earle, author of several books including her latest, The World is Blue.
Ms. Earle was soft spoken, but delivered a powerful lecture on the current state of our natural systems, particularly our oceans, providing an important context for why socially responsible business practices are important in the first place.
The ocean is home to half the earth’s species and provides half our atmospheric oxygen produced by phytoplankton photosynthesis. But we are so concerned with carbon, she warned, that we often neglect our oceans.
Food Compost: There’s Gold in Them-There Green Bins
Posted by Mary Catherine O'Connor October 21st, 2009 5 Comments
My desk is at the front of my house, right by a street-facing window, so I keep an unintentional vigil on my San Francisco street. Wednesday is garbage day on my block and at around four o’clock this afternoon, I noticed something unusual: the compost collection truck.
It was coming through a few hours later than usual. But then something dawned on me that today is the first day in which composting in San Francisco is mandatory. These drivers are extra busy.
Michael Pollan at Bioneers: How Much Oil Are We Eating?
Posted by Deborah Fleischer October 17th, 2009 3 Comments
By Deborah Fleischer, Green Impact
The 20th Bioneers, a three day conference celebrating breakthrough sustainability solutions, kicked off on Friday in Marin. The agenda is chock full of speakers on a wide range of topics, from the arts, indigenous knowledge and restoring our ecosystems to youth and women’s leadership.
I was excited to hear Michael Pollan speak, a leading critic of our industrial food system and author of The Omnivore’s Dilemma and The Botany of Desire (you can listen to his talk here). For those of you who aren’t attending, you can catch some of the keynotes via live webcast.
Cattle Company Forces Change in Michael Pollan University Lecture
Posted by BC Upham October 16th, 2009 1 Comment
Where’s the beef? At Cal Poly San Luis Obispo.
After receiving pressure from the owner of an agribusiness — that just happens to be a major donor — the university decided to turn what was to be a guest lecture by noted sustainable agriculture guru Michael Pollan, into a “panel discussion” including a scientist favored by the beef industry, according to the Los Angeles Times.
Friends Might Start Letting Friends Drink Starbucks
Posted by Carly Smolak October 16th, 2009 8 Comments
Coffee accounts for 80 percent of all Fair Trade certified products sold in the US, and with 40 million pounds of Fair Trade coffee purchases in 2009, Starbucks is by far the largest buyer of Fair Trade coffee on the planet. Starbucks’ commitment to Fair Trade is commendable, and in fact seems exceptional, in a world where the vast majority of companies engage in less-than-ethical business practices. TransFair USA, the only third-party Fair Trade certifier in the US, calls the relationship between the non-profit and Starbucks “deeply transformational” to thousands of farmers and their communities.
In honor of Fair Trade Month, TransFair USA CEO, Paul Rice, and Starbucks senior vice president of Coffee & Tea, Dub Hay, met on Monday to discuss the virtues of Fair Trade and how the relationship between the non-profit and the world’s most well known coffee slinger has grown in recent years. The discussion was broadcast live over the Internet, with Rice and Hay fielding questions submitted via Twitter, Facebook, and live chat.
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