Content by specific author

Body
Bioplastics: Benefits and Pitfalls

There are a lot of claims made about bioplastic products. Some are true, some are partly true, many are misleading, and most are unsubstantiated. It’s a bit of a Wild West scenario in the world of bioplastics: producers are trailblazing into new terrain in search of petrochemical plastic alternatives; everything from corn to mushrooms to poop is seen as a polymer source. Manufacturers and retailers are hot to tout what they see as “environmentally safe” plastic. Meanwhile, policymakers and regulators are scrambling to attach real definitions to the producers’ eco-fantastic labels.

There’s plenty to get excited about in terms of finding a good alternative to petrochemical-produced plastics, but we shouldn’t ride off into the sunset with bioplastics just yet.

What are bioplastics?

 

Bioplastics are, in simple terms, plastics made from renewable feedstocks, which can include corn, sugar cane, potatoes, coconuts, mushrooms, wheat, wood, or soy beans to name a few. (Conventional plastics are made from crude oil.) Like conventional petrochemical-produced plastics, there are several types of bioplastics: Some of the most common include poly lactic acid (PLA) derived from corn, wheat, or sugar cane, and labeled with a #7 resin recycling code; bio-polyethylene made from sugar cane or corn, with a #4 recycling code; polyhydroxyalkanoate (PHA) primarily derived from corn, with a #7 recycling code.

Bioplastics are used to make a lot of so-called “green” products like food containers, cutlery, bags, bottles, foams, electronics casings, medical supplies, and beyond. Many are compostable, a few might be biodegradable, and some are also recyclable.

Sounds great, doesn’t it—a naturally derived plastic from a renewable source that just melts back into the Earth when we’re done with it? We hate to break your bioplastic bubble, but not all of these biomass-produced polymers are environmentally innocent.  

Renewable Isn’t Always Green

You probably noticed that many of the renewable feedstocks used to make bioplastics are agricultural crops—corn, sugar cane, soy beans. Industry cowboys are quick to point that out, too. But what they aren’t so forthcoming about is that much of the corn used for bioplastics is a GM (genetically modified) crop, and that crop requires a lot of industrial fertilizers, pesticides, water, and land to produce. For example, NatureWorks, one of the largest manufacturers of PLA bioplastic in the US (a subsidiary of Cargill, one of the largest suppliers of genetically modified corn in the world), uses—you guessed it—GM corn.

Magnify this process to a global scale: GM crops expanding, huge swaths of land being converted to agriculture but not for food, more deforestation, more fertilizers and pesticides being used, food costs continuing to soar, and food shortages becoming even more of an issue. Suddenly, the scenario isn’t so Earth-friendly. Sure, the stuff isn’t made from crude oil, which decreases use of fossil fuel and the production of greenhouse gases, but it has negative consequences in other ways.

But not all bioplastics use genetically modified corn, or even corn, and innovations using more sustainable biomass, like algae and even chicken feathers, are already underway. There are promising results by a California-based start-up converting sewage into biodegradable bioplastic. There’s certainly no shortage of human waste! According to Heeral Bhalala, a research associate in sustainable plastics for the Institute for Local Self-Reliance (ILSR), even mega-companies like PepsiCo. are greening bioplastics: “[They] are already working on using the food scraps from their food production plant to create 100% biobased bottles for their beverages.”

That said, even if bioplastic companies start using abundant, low-impact materials for their products, we can’t neglect to consider the end-of-life cycle of many of the bioplastics—that is to say, their ability to biodegrade, compost, or recycle.

Beware of Biodegradability Claims

This is the category in which bioplastics theoretically have huge benefits. Bioplastic producers like to hoot and holler about their bioplastics being 100% biodegradable and/or compostable. Not every bioplastic is biodegradable (e.g., bio-polyethylene (#4) is only recyclable), and even those that do biodegrade may only do so in specific environments, if at all. ILSR’s Heeral Bhalala states that most product claims of biodegradability “are usually not true.”

Part of the problem is that there are loose standards for what qualifies as biodegradable, and there’s virtually no third-party verification of manufacturers’ biodegradability claims. The Federal Trade Commission “Green Guide” gives a broad definition for biodegradability for manufacturers to use a guide in terms of marketing, but the FTC is an agency built to protect consumers from deceptive advertising—it doesn’t make environmental policy or set the standards.

ASTM International, an organization that develops international standards across various industries, created pass/fail standards for biodegrading and composting that are generally accepted and trusted. Yet, know that these are voluntary standards; bioplastic products aren’t required to be tested, except in California.

In terms of specific legislation, California passed laws that require products with compostable or biodegradable labels pass ASTM standards. And the USDA’s Certified Biobased Product label, which verifies that a product contains a proven amount of renewable biological ingredients using ASTM standards, just went into effect in February of 2011. Further legislation for marketing claims and stricter definitions of terminology are sure to come either on a federal or state level, or both.

However, even biodegrading bioplastics that pass ASTM standards need to be looked at carefully. You have to ask what conditions are required for that biodegradation? By and large, the answer is an aerobic or oxygen-filled environment (a field, a forest, an ocean) with adequate microbes to start munching away at the stuff. Here’s the hitch: a lot of plastics (petrochemically produced or biomass produced) end up in landfills. The Environmental Protection Agency reports on its Web site that “only 7 percent of the total plastic waste generated in 2009 was recovered for recycling.”

Let’s be clear on this: landfills are designed to be as anaerobic (oxygen-void) as possible—the things are practically hermetically sealed to prevent as much decay as possible. Melissa Hockstad, Society of the Plastics Industry’s Vice President of Science, Technology and Regulatory Affairs and Director of the SPI Bioplastics Council, put it bluntly, “Bioplastics are not currently designed to degrade in a landfill.”

In short, even bioplastics from the most sustainable feedstocks aren’t going to benefit the environment any more than conventional plastics if they end up in landfills. They must be disposed of in a way that allows them to biodegrade or compost.

Coordinating Composting

A biodegrading product is not held to the same standards as a composting product; composting is a more strictly defined, standardized process of degrading. “Biodegradable” means a product will break down and return to the Earth in a “reasonably short time,” according to the FTC Green Guides. They may need the help of a municipal composter to do so.

Composting bioplastics shows a lot more promise than biodegrading. “Compostable,” according to the FTC, means the product will degrade into “useable, compost-humus-like material that enriches the soil and returns nutrients to the Earth.” According to the FTC, they are supposed to degrade just like leaves and food waste in a backyard composter, but due to a lack of oversight with this label, the fact is that many will still need a municipal composter to fully break down.

Right now, consumers probably should assume that current “biodegradable” and “compostable” bioplastics can only be composted in a commercial composting facility with controlled heat and moisture (i.e., generally not the backyard heap). Sadly, these composters are few and far between, the majority do not accept material from individuals, and some may ban bioplastics anyway, since many bioplastics are indiscernible from conventional plastics. A lot of progress still needs to be made simply in terms of public access.

On the bright side, detailed international standards for compostability already exist, and the noprofit Biodegradable Products Institute (BPI) created a Compostable Label program that verifies company’s composting claims. Additionally, the Sustainable Biomaterials Collaborative (SBC) created a set of guidelines and recognition levels for compostable biomass-based food serviceware called the BioSpecs, which take into account issues of environmental protection, health, social and economic justice, and material resources. Hopefully paving the way for more cities, San Francisco and Seattle implemented   city-wide compost curbside pick-up programs that accommodate compostable bioplastics; Seattle’s municipal composter, Cedar Grove, even has its own approval label on compostable products that reads “Cedar Grove Approved.”

For other ways to get your compostable bioplastics to a commercial composter, Heeral Bhalala of ILSR suggests seeking out the compostable bins at Whole Foods (not all stores have them) and other sustainably minded stores and restaurants, which often have compost-hauling services. And you can look up your nearest municipal composter and see if it’s one of the few that accept waste from individuals on the Web site findacomposter.com.

For home-composters willing to try it, Bhalala says “it’s good to test composting [bioplastic] products in your own backyard compost pile. They do require higher temperatures to compost and are slower to break down, so it helps to shred them to increase their surface area and to put them in the middle of the compost pile.”

Melissa Hockstad, of SPI, states that the US Composting Council is “… working on growing the composting industry in the US such that more people have more access to [commercial composting] facilities, which is beneficial for bioplastics such as PLA and PHA.” But until composting facilities are readily available and accessible, bioplastics could most often end up hauled off to landfills.

Recycling Bioplastics

Recycling bioplastics isn’t always an easy accomplishment. Recyclers fear that non-petroleum-based plastics will corrupt their streams (many bioplastics have lower heat resistance—and that whole biodegrading thing they might do is not desirable in the eyes of recycled plastics manufacturers for fear that the recycled plastic will degrade prematurely).

Most bioplastic manufacturers say recyclers’ concerns are unfounded.  In fact, bioplastics are recyclable; bio-polyethylene (given a #4 resin recycling code) is even accepted in many traditional recycling streams. As for bioplastics PLA and PHA (the #7s), they are generally not accepted by municipal recycling collections, but some manufacturers offer to take back their products for recycling. However, there is no infrastructure for individuals to collect and transport the plastics back to the manufacturers, so for those unwilling to mail their bioplastics back to the manufacturer, in the trash it goes!

In essence, current US recycling and composting facilities just haven’t caught up with bioplastics. And in order to give recyclers and composters the incentive to start to invest in accepting bioplastics in their streams or facilities, there needs to be a significantly larger volume of bioplastics to recycle or compost. Basically, the problem has to get worse before it will get better. The current and predicted growth rate for the bioplastics industry (estimated to be upwards of 40% in the next four years by some experts, like Melissa Hockstad), might make that happen sooner than later.

The Toxicity Question

As we reported in the Nov/Dec 2011 Green American, plastics are rarely just made out of oil—they’re mixed with a host of chemical additives to enhance their capabilities, i.e. make them more flexible or less flammable, to prevent them from degrading or to tint them pretty colors, write Mike Neal and Dr. Anthony Andrady in a 2009 research paper published in the Royal Society’s Philosophical Transitions B. The same holds true for bioplastics—they aren’t just made from plants. They may have the same toxicity issues that a conventional plastic does.

In October 2010, a team from the University of Pittsburgh released an analysis of both petro- and corn-based PLA bio-plastics for toxicity and environmental life-cycle impact (from cradle to end use, not including disposal), published in Environmental Science and Technology.  The bioplastics were more toxic than conventional plastics when it came to releasing ozone-depleting chemicals, carcinogens, acidification, eutrophication (contributing to dead zones in bodies of water, usually via fertilizer runoff) and eco-toxicity.

These impacts came largely from fertilizer and pesticide use associated with growing the corn feedstock for the bioplastics, say the researchers. And critics of the study note that it did not take bioplastics’ sustainability trump card—its ability to biodegrade or compost—into account at all in the lifecycle analyses, which may have put bioplastics far ahead of petro-plastics in more categories.

But analyzing the manufacturing of bio-based feedstock into plastics did contribute to the researchers’ toxicity rankings.

In addition to feedstocks, chemical additives and manufacturing processes will differ between manufacturers. Other, more responsible manufacturers not included in the University of Pittsburgh’s analysis have demonstrated far different results when it came to the toxicity of their products.

What consumers can learn from this study is that just because a plastic is plant-based doesn’t make it 100 percent nontoxic.

An Evolving Industry

Responsibly manufactured bioplastics make a lot of sense in many ways. At the most basic level, they aren’t derived from petroleum, and reducing dependence on oil is always a good thing. There’s no question that conventional plastics are an enormous problem for the environment on many levels, from their production to their disposal. Adding urgency to the matter are the expected continued growth of the use of plastics and dismal rate of plastics recycling. Secondly, based on the information we know now about bioplastics, they don’t stick around for hundreds of years, though they probably don’t degrade as quickly as most manufacturers claim—certainly not if they are in a landfill.

At this point, corn, sugar cane, or soy beans may not in sum be significantly better than petrochemicals as a source for plastics, but it’s a start. Bioplastics are still a new industry and it’s evolving almost daily. Nonprofit, watchdog groups (like BPI and SBC) are stepping in where state and federal laws and regulations lag, too. Companies that are using corn, even GM corn today, are already looking to other biomass to produce their bioplastics in the future.

Given enough pressure from consumers, environmental groups, and federal agencies on bioplastics manufacturers, recyclers, and composters to coordinate their efforts, improve accessibility, and become greener, we could end up with a truly biodegradable, compostable, recyclable bioplastic—and live happily ever after.

What to Look for in Bioplastics

In the meantime, the path of least impact is to use compostable bioplastics, especially if you’re able to compost them through a commercial composter or through trial and error in your own compost pile (remember it could take a long time to fully degrade). Heeral Bhalala of ILSR recommends seeking out bioplastics that meet as many of the following criteria as possible:

- Made from biomass, not a conventional plastic with biodegrading additives (e.g. BioGreen Bottles)

- Meets at least a SBC BioSpec Bronze level

- Meets ASTM (D6400 or D6868) or EN 13432 standards of compostability or displays BPI’s Compostable Label or Cedar Grove Approved logo (European companies Vinçotte and Din Certco also have compost labels)

- Made from as much biomass material as possible, preferably displays the USDA Certified Biobased Product label

- Made from GMO-free crops

 

Hang Up On Fossil Fuels: Green America Launches Campaign Urging AT&T, Verizon To Commit To 100% Renewable Energy

 

Washington, D.C.—August 24, 2017— The two largest telecommunications companies in the country – Verizon and AT&T – are being urged by Green America to rapidly adopt renewable energy and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Both companies are currently using less than two percent renewable energy, putting them far behind many leaders in the tech industry, including Apple and Google, which have met their goals of 100 percent renewable energy. Telecom competitor Sprint is also ahead of AT&T and Verizon, with a goal of securing 10 percent of the company’s energy from renewable sources by 2017.

The new campaign is on Green America’s website, Facebook page, and a dedicated action page, to mobilize customers nationwide to call on AT&T and Verizon to make public commitments of 100 percent renewable energy in their operations by 2025.

“AT&T and Verizon are clearly behind the curve when it comes to adopting renewable energy to power their massive data centers,” said Todd Larsen, executive co-director of Consumer and Corporate Engagement at Green America. “As more and more companies recognize their obligations to lower their emissions and help the U.S. meet the goals of the Paris Climate Accords, our two largest cell phone providers are clearly lagging behind leaders like Google and Apple. Now is the time for both companies to make a commitment and provide a timeline to get to 100% renewable energy.”

With clean energy sources growing rapidly in the U.S. and prices coming down, more and more companies are getting on board with 100 percent clean energy commitments,” said Beth Porter, climate campaigns director at Green America. “AT&T and Verizon both recognize the urgency of climate change and the need for action, now we need to see that concern translate into commitments to purchase of wind and solar power.” 

“Customers of AT&T and Verizon expect both companies to be leaders,” said Fran Teplitz, executive co-director of business, investing, and policy at Green America. “As those customers increasingly use data, and drive demand for power-hungry servers, both companies need to move to renewable energy sources quickly to lower the impact of their operations on the planet.”

AT&T uses approximately 15 million MW of electricity per year and Verizon uses over 10 million MW.  Their combined electricity usage is enough to power 2.6 million homes. The combined emissions from operations is equal to nearly 4 million cars on the road for one year.

Last year in the U.S., there were 207 million people with access to data networks via their smartphones. Not only is this number expected to rise to nearly 264 million users by the end of 2021, but each user’s data consumption also expected to increase by a factor of six over the same time period, creating a growing demand for energy to power these networks.

In order to ensure security and accessibility, the servers that store data and keep the network up must be kept running for 24 hours per day, 365 days per year, using massive amounts of electricity. Unfortunately, with only one to two percent of the electricity generated or purchased by Verizon and AT&T comes from a renewable energy source like wind or solar, both companies are relying heavily on fossil fuels for their energy, which contributes to climate change.

Despite rapid growth in cellular data demands over the past several years, both AT&T and Verizon have managed to keep their energy use relatively constant. On their websites, they highlight their efforts to reduce their energy intensity; a measurement of efficiency, which is the amount of network traffic per megawatt of electricity (petabytes/megawatt). While energy efficiency is a crucial step, AT&T and Verizon are still using millions of megawatts of electricity, mostly supplied by fossil fuels, and contributing to the rise in global greenhouse gas emissions.

 

ABOUT GREEN AMERICA

Green America is the nation’s leading green economy organization. Founded in 1982, Green America provides the economic strategies, organizing power and practical tools for businesses and individuals to solve today’s social and environmental problems. http://www.GreenAmerica.org

 

MEDIA CONTACT: Max Karlin for Green America, (703) 276-3255, or mkarlin@hastingsgroup.com.

 

How to Green Your College Experience

By: Ayate Temsamani, Better Paper Project Fellow

It can be exciting to start the new academic year in college with brand new supplies! Unfortunately, those notebooks, binders, and papers can generate a significant amount of energy and water waste. Paper products are a classic staple (pun intended) of the most important “Back to School” supplies. But new paper production generates more waste and contributes to devastating climate consequences. Making virgin fiber paper is a resource-intensive process: it is estimated that 3.5 billion to 7 billion trees are cut down globally each year to produce paper, not to mention all the energy needed for bleaching, printing and transporting the paper.

 Like any product, paper produces environmental impacts throughout its life cycle (raw material extraction, processing, manufacturing, distribution, use and treatment of waste). Over 40% of the world’s industrial logging goes into making paper, and this is expected to reach 50% in the near future. Forests contain more than 80 percent of the terrestrial biodiversity and represent one of the last refuges for a large number of animal and plant species. This is why deforestation is a disaster for both humans and other species, since it is estimated that 27,000 animal and plant species disappear every year because of it. This loss of biodiversity, which can be irreversible, will eventually deprive us of invaluable services and resources. School supplies can easily turn into a mountain of paper and plastic, hurting your wallet and the planet at the same time.

Here’s the good news…

We’ve put together some tips you can use to green your back to school experience and start implementing some green living habits in college. Here are some simple habits to adopt, which can be both ecological and economical:

1) Give your school supplies a new life!

While many school supplies such as pens are reusable for several years in a row, the EPA estimated that 1.6 billion disposable pens are thrown away every year. If they are not lost or broken during the year: binders, pencils, pens, calculators can all be reused.

2) Buy second-hand

Buying second hand allows us to use resources already produced, while enjoying much lower prices. There are plenty of online used book stores such as Thriftbooks, Powells, AbeBooks.  

3) Compost in your dorm room

A list of things that are found in college students’ dorm rooms can be composted including: Fruit and vegetable scraps, moldy bread, crackers and cereal, tea and teabags, Cotton balls and swabs made from 100 percent cotton, Natural corks from wine bottles, used paper towels, napkins and tissues among other items. There’s likely a garden or Agricultural Sciences Center on campus that will appreciate the donation!

4) Recycle and encourage your friends to do so

Make sure to recycle school supplies including old class handouts, papers, unusable textbooks… Check if your dorm has a recycling program and let your friends and neighbors know about it. You can always help start one in case your dorm doesn’t have a recycling program already in place. Finally, don’t forget to donate your supplies when you leave for the summer, you can use sites like Craigslist and Freecycle, or take them to your local Goodwill or thrift store.

5) Buy non-toxic supplies!

There are lots of non-toxic school supplies that are socially and environmentally responsible. Such supplies can be found at Naturally Playful*, Far East Handicrafts*, Life Without Plastic*, Favor the Earth.* Other products such as corn plastic pens, recycled plastic mugs, recycled paper notepads among others are available at Write Choice Promotions.

6) Make a list before buying

In case there are some items that can’t be recovered from last year, make a list and stick to it while shopping for Back to School supplies. This is a great way to avoid overbuying and it also protects your wallet! You could also look up around how much you will likely spend on supplies, and then take enough cash to cover those items to make absolute certain you won’t overbuy.

7) Look for recycled paper products

If you need to buy new notebooks or notepads, make sure to buy ones that are made of recycled paper: Acorn Designs*, Earth Presents*, Greenline Paper Company*, New Leaf Paper.* For any virgin content, only use fiber from certified Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) forests.

8)  Use your laptop to take notes

You can start taking notes on your laptop or other digital devices that don’t require any paper. Moving from a paper version to a digital version can be more eco-friendly and requires less energy especially if the laptop is charged with solar power. Moving toward paperless products allow people to reduce their paper waste. In addition to reducing paper waste, taking notes digitally saves space and don’t get lost in your dorm room. It is also a great way to take better notes as more students type faster than they write!

9) Save energy in your dorm room

There are many ways you can save energy in the dorms:

  • Rather than running extension cords everywhere to power your electronic devices, put them all on power strips. Make sure to turn the power strips off when not in use!
  • Use natural plants or place a dryer sheet on the vent to keep your room smelling good at all times instead of plug-in air-fresheners.
  • Share a fridge with your neighbor and consume less energy.
  • Change your light bulbs to light emitting diode bulbs, also known as LED, which use far less electricity and last for a longer time.
     

10) Take action to save One Million Trees!

     We are calling on universities to make the Better Paper Commitment. By making this commitment, universities would be required
     to better their paper practices, starting by switching to recycled paper for its alumni magazines.

     As a matter of fact, if all colleges used 100% recycled paper for their alumni publications, we would save the wood equivalent of 1,000,000 trees, conserve enough water to fill over 700 Olympic-sized swimming pools and cut down 90,000,000 pounds of carbon dioxide emissions every single year.

     At the start of the coming school year, we are asking students to help us raise awareness about the One Million Trees campaign on campus and help us achieve our goals. See if we are reaching out to your school here – take action urging your campus to move to recycled paper for alumni magazines!

     Overall, these are simple and effective steps to green your Back to School experience! Adopt as many tips as you can and contribute to saving our planet.

 *All the starred businesses in this blog post are certified by Green America for their social and environmental impacts. Search all our green businesses on GreenPages.org.

Tell the communications industry to act on energy justice and clean energy

The communication industry uses millions of megawatts of power for their servers and networks and that's largely coming from fossil fuels.  Energy demand will increase with the ongoing adoption of 5G and AI technologies. 

  • The ten largest communications companies collectively use at least 51 million MWh of energy annually, equivalent to powering 4.3 million homes, which is more households than found in each of 43 US states. 
  • Most of these companies are sourcing less than 10% of their energy from renewable sources, with several companies reporting 0% renewables. 
  • Energy justice, ensuring the communities who are most harmed by fossil fuels are benefited by renewable energy, is poorly addressed by the majority of companies in the communications industry. 
  • Companies need to ensure that the mining of critical minerals that power the renewable energy transition avoids violating human rights and environmental justice. We need renewable energy, but companies also need to use their market power to incentivize a responsible supply chain. 

Read more about company practices and steps companies can take in our latest report

Thank you to Carla Itzkowich for supporting this work.

Campaign Updates (June 2024)

Our Hang up on fossil fuels campaign originally targeted AT&T, Verizon, and T-Mobile. 

Thanks to consumer pressure, since our campaign launched, we've seen significant movement in shifting the telecoms industry to clean energy! 

  • T-Mobile continues is the leader in the industry in the use of renewable energy, reporting 100% renewable energy usage. 
  • AT&T and Verizon are entering into significant contracts for renewable energy. And Verizon now has a goal of 100% renewable energy by 2030. 

Campaign Goals

Communications companies must set a goal for 100% renewable energy that puts new wind or solar power on the grid by 2030 and enter into contracts to meet this goal 

Communications companies must set a net zero goal for emissions in line with the Science Based Targets Initiative by 2035.  

Communications companies must ensure that the mining of critical minerals that power the renewable energy transition supports environmental justice and avoids violating human rights 

Communications companies must transparently disclose their energy justice goals and benchmarks to achieve those goals. They must also disclose their sourcing policies, and how they monitor and ensure compliance with those policies. 

Nor-Tech

Green-friendly Nor-Tech is renowned throughout the scientific, academic, and business communities for easy to deploy turnkey computer clusters and expert, no wait time support. All of our technology is made by us in Minnesota and supported by us around the world. In addition to HPC clusters, our custom technology includes workstations, desktops, and servers for a range of applications including CAE, CFD, and FEA. Our engineers average 20+ years of experience and are responsible for significant high performance computing innovations. Where possible, we integrate sustainability into the products and services we offer and encourage others to do the same.

Nature Sustained

Our mission is to inspire conscious living by providing simple and practical ways to live in symbiosis with Mother Nature. We help you take the leap forward from conscious awareness to conscious action in what you consume, whether it be products or information. Our tools will help you navigate everyday life mindfully and have a positive impact on the environment. Nature Sustained is a collective of creative individuals striving for healthier relationships with people and the planet. Everyone in the tribe is on their own journey of personal growth and development, but what we all have in common is the drive to seek information, solutions, ideas and tools that support your growth.

Green Business Network Associate
Jeff Marcous, CEO of Dharma Merchant Services, Named Board Chair of Green America

WASHINGTON, D.C.— August 15, 2017 —Green America is pleased to announce that Jeff Marcous, CEO (Chief Evolutionary Officer) of Dharma Merchant Services in San Francisco, is the new chair of Green America's board of directors.

“Jeff has a long history of engagement and leadership with Green America as both an individual member and as a member of our Green Business Network, and we are honored to work with him in his new role with us,” said Alisa Gravitz, president and CEO of Green America.

Inspired by Rachel Carson, author of Silent Spring, Marcous first joined Green America in 1988, motivated by the organization's commitment to creating an economy driven by respect for communities and the Earth. His company, Dharma Merchant Services, a payments processing firm, joined Green America's Green Business Network in 2007, earning its Gold-level certification. The company is also a California Benefit Corporation. In 2015, Marcous joined Green America's board of directors and its Green Business Committee, focused on supporting and highlighting innovations in the green business sector.

"I am dedicated to the principals of social responsibility, full transparency, ecological economics, and commerce with compassion -- making involvement in Green America 'a must' for me and my business," said Marcous. “I am inspired by the extraordinary intentions and work of the Green America team to manifest major change in our economy and society and I look forward to playing my part in further advancing Green America's mission.”

Marcous has also served on the Tricycle Foundation Board, Conscious Capital of the Bay Area Board, and frequently volunteers at San Quentin state prison.

Marcous succeeds as board chair Julie Lineberger, CEO of Linesync Architecture Ltd. and CEO/president of Wheel Pad L3C, who remains active on the board. “I'm thrilled that Jeff accepted the unanimous nomination and vote to serve as Green America's board chair,” said Lineberger. “Green America's mission is more important than ever and Jeff has the experience and commitment to successfully advance our goals for an economy that works for people and the planet.”

ABOUT GREEN AMERICA

Green America is the nation’s leading green economy organization. Founded in 1982, Green America (formerly Co-op America) provides the economic strategies, organizing power and practical tools for businesses and individuals to solve today's social and environmental problems. http://www.GreenAmerica.org.

MEDIA CONTACT: Max Karlin, (703) 276-3255 or mkarlin@hastingsgroup.com.

 

 


 

Charlottesville: We need to take action against hate

The horrifying events over the weekend in Charlottesville are just the latest events demonstrating the rise of hate in the United States.

White supremacists marched through the streets and the University of Virginia, wielding torches and explicitly aligning themselves with Nazis and the KKK, shouting racist, anti-Semitic, and anti-immigrant slogans on Friday.  On Saturday, the white nationalists and supremacists engaged in violence against counter-protesters.  A man, who is believed to be part of a white supremacist group, drove his car into a crowd of counter-protesters, killing one and injuring many. Police arrested a suspect, who faces a hearing on August 14.

These events are shocking, and they are just the latest in a growing series of hateful attacks against people of color, women, immigrants, Jews, and Muslims. Just a week before, the Dar Al-Farooq Islamic Center in Bloomington was bombed, and is part of a growing series of hate crimes against Muslims. The Council on American-Islamic Relations has reported that hate crimes against Muslims in 2017 increased 91 percent compared to the same period in 2016.

The lack of an appropriate response to these events from the Trump administration is also deeply disturbing, especially since a number of white nationalists and supremacists explicitly cite the administration as encouraging their behavior.  In response to the horror in Charlottesville, President Trump condemned the violence “from many sides,” instead of calling out the white nationalists and supremacists.  In response to the mosque bombing in Minnesota, the president has been silent, and White House adviser Sebastian Gorka, has suggested the attack was actually a fake.

With the White House failing to address hate, and actually acting as a driver of it,  it is up to us to take action to support people who are under attack.

Vigils are being organized across the country in response to the violence in Charlottesville.  Please join one of them to stand against hate.  

And, take action in favor of acceptance, and support immigrants, religious minorities, and people of color in your communities every day. Green America’s weekly Resistance Summer actions will help you find actions you can take as a community member and with your dollars, for example, supporting minority and immigrant owned businesses.

Together, we can take action to create a country that is open and accepting.

Vote With Your Dollars

All shopping is not created equal — we all have our preferred soaps and phone brands. I’d rather walk a bit further to my favorite grocery store than the closer one at the end of the block.

Sometimes these choices are based on convenience, familiarity, quality, or price. But how often are they based on the impact they’ll make on the world?

Since I started learning about environmentalism, I’ve discovered the dark sides of products I’d been blissfully ignorant of — like that they come from companies with no regard for the environment, or they’re made by people who don’t get a living wage.

With politics the way they are, it can feel like big business will soon be able to get away with anything. It can all seem unbearable, and it’s not possible to campaign 24/7 — making dozens of phone calls a week or marching every weekend.

So how can I make sure my purchases aren’t undermining my values?

By voting with my dollars.

Voting with your dollars can be done every day. It’s a goal, but it’s flexible.

For example, I buy fair trade coffee. It might cost a dollar more, but I know the farmers who grew those beans in Ethiopia, Colombia, or Peru are making a wage they can get by on. Fair Trade works by paying a premium to producers, which is then reinvested into improving the farm or community.

It’s a start at least. I could take another step and buy coffee from a local business instead of the chain I go to. I also shop at a grocery chain, but I could do better by going to local businesses or farmer’s markets more often. I buy organic dairy and eggs, but if I had a bigger budget I’d go all organic.

When I learned that my bank doesn’t treat customers well — and worse, loans money for fossil fuel projects — I changed to a local credit union. It’s not like I’m making so much that a big bank will miss me. But in a credit union, my money goes into home loans, local businesses, and development I support.

Last fall, during the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe’s fight against the Dakota Access Pipeline, we learned that big banks including Sun Trust and Wells Fargo were giving loans to the company building it.

Now at least I know I’m not supporting that project. And if you write or call your bank when you leave explaining why, they’ll know, too.

We can’t expect ourselves to be perfect, but we can push ourselves to be better.

Sometimes voting with your dollar means keeping it in your wallet. Every dollar you don’t spend on junk is a dollar you can put in a community bank or credit union to finance jobs, housing, and social services that every community needs. Or it can be donated to a charity that helps the less fortunate, combats hate or takes action on climate change.

The organization I work for is trying to build a green economy. That means more than trying to avoid supporting harmful corporations — it means actively supporting businesses that adopt green practices, grow local economies and pay suppliers fairly.

Where you shop and what you buy sends a direct message to business owners. If enough of us shift our spending and investments at once, it can force large corporations to reconsider their supply chains and business practices. And it can help small businesses stay afloat.

It can be hard to feel like your voice matters when you vote. But your money has the power to support Earth-friendly practices, fair wages, healthy food and local economies. It has that power every time you reach for your wallet.

Eleanor Greene is the associate editor of publications at Green America. This piece was originally published by OtherWords.org.

Gwendolyn Kennedy
Skip the Slip to Reduce Paper Receipts

 

Campaign Updates and Victories!

(May 30, 2023) Big news on Green America’s Skip the Slip campaign! California state legislation that bears our campaign’s name has passed the Assembly (May 30, 2023)! Assemblymember Phil Ting (D- San Francisco) is sponsoring the legislation that gives customers the option of getting a non-toxic paper receipt, getting an e-receipt, or getting no receipt at all at most businesses in the state.

Assemblymember Ting was inspired by our campaign Skip the Slip and originally introduced a bill in 2019. After listening to the input of businesses and consumers, the bill is back and is headed to the California State Senate. Thanks to all of you who have taken action on this campaign and look for more updates and action alerts soon.


Thousands of you joined our campaign urging CVS to address its wasteful, toxic paper receipts and this pressure led to a dialogue between Green America and CVS on its receipt practices.

Because of our Skip the Slip campaign, CVS Pharmacy, the largest pharmacy chain in the US, worked with Green America to make some real progress on receipts and paper.

  • CVS implemented BPA/BPS-free paper in all 10,000 of its stores.
  • In April 2022, CVS added a new receipt prompt at cash registers so that all customers could choose to receive a printed receipt, digital receipt or no receipt. Four months later, the receipt prompt saved 87 million yards of receipt paper, enough to circle the globe twice.
  • CVS reports phasing out print circulars in 2/3 of its markets, resulting in a 70 percent reduction of paper use.

How Store Receipts Impact People & the Planet

  • Every year, receipt use in the United States consumes over 3,680,000 trees and over 10 billion gallons of water.
  • Receipt production uses enough energy to operate nine million refrigerators and emits the greenhouse gas equivalent to over 471,000 cars on the road each year.
  • Most thermal paper receipts are coated with BPA or BPS - BPA has been banned from other items because it contributes to developmental, reproductive, and neurological problems. 
  • It's estimated that retail workers have 30 percent more BPA in their systems than other adults. Nearly 81 percent of Americans have detectable levels of BPS in their systems, and 90 percent of our exposure to BPS comes from thermal paper receipts.

The Solution: Skip the Slip

Green America’s “Skip the Slip” campaign is one of the first initiatives in the United States to analyze environmental and human health impacts of receipt usage and waste, propose solutions for businesses, and engage consumer action. 

We want to eliminate toxic chemicals from thermal paper and to reduce the waste of paper receipts. Many retailers are already making the choice to offer a digital option and use non-toxic thermal paper, but the majority of stores still need to take action. 

Our new report highlights cost-effective digital and non-toxic solutions for retailers to protect their employees and customers, and reduce impact on the environment. Businesses will walk away from this report with a deeper understanding of the unnecessary impacts receipts have on the environment and human health, and also be equipped with next steps for better receipt practices.

Access our full Skip the Slip report on receipts.  

Since we launched the Skip the Slip Campaign, we’ve seen significant progress in addressing waste and toxic chemicals from major retailers, including CVS, Target, and Walmart.

Our campaign is making paper-based receipts safer for people and recyclable, while also getting retailers to offer and promote digital receipts that are better for the planet.

How do Corporations Rank on Receipts

Ways to Take Action 

  • Sign up for digital receipts on retailer’s apps, websites, or in store.
  • Urge companies to improve receipt practices on social media (#SkiptheSlip).
  • If you're a business owner, check out our report for best receipt practices.
Environmental impact estimates were made using the Environmental Paper Network Paper Calculator Version 4.0. For more information visit www.papercalculator.org 
Vote to Save Forests
Support Greener Businesses

Make a difference by supporting green businesses.

Take a look at Green America's Green Pages Online to learn more.

 

Vote with Your Bank Account
Vote with Your Clothes
Vote with Your Food
Green American Magazine Guide to Social Investing and Better Banking 2017
Packing a Non-GMO Lunchbox

It is back-to-school time! As the summer comes to an end, it is time to start thinking about what you are going to fill your kid’s lunch box with. Some of the most popular lunchtime snacks and foods have GMOs hidden in them. Other brands like Lunchables and Doritos may have organic options but these products are still far from healthy. With so many great alternatives out there, make sure to educate yourself on what to steer clear of and what to stock up on. Check out our list of concerning items and great alternatives below:

Peanut butter and jelly sandwiches are an old standby when it comes to easy-to-make school lunches. But the most common varieties of jelly are likely to contain GMOs. Smuckers Jam, in particular, contains high fructose corn syrup, corn syrup, sugar, and citric acid - all ingredients that are most often produced from GE varieties of corn and sugar beets (and these sugars come with their own set of health impacts). Smuckers also contributed to anti-labeling campaigns, infringing on consumers’ right to know what is in their food. Smuckers recently purchased Jif, now owning both the PB & J. A good alternative to traditional preserve brands is Crofter’s, a great company that produces organic fruit spreads and maintains a high level of integrity around the quality of fruit and regularly checking for pesticide residue.

Tuna salad is another common sandwich filling, but it might surprise you that Bumble Bee Tuna contains soybean oil, which is most often produced from GE soybeans. Maybe we can say something like the issues with the fishing industry such as overfishing, unnecessarily killing of other animals, and impact on marine eco-systems. To avoid these hidden GMOs and environmental concerns, switch to another form of protein for sandwiches. This might be a great opportunity to embrace Meatless Monday and explore some alternative protein sources for your family. If you are looking for animal protein that makes for a good salad, try whipping up some egg salad with organic pasture-raised eggs, even better if they are from a local farm.

While you are addressing hidden GMOs in your tuna salad, don’t forget to re-examine your choice of mayonnaise. Kraft Miracle Whip* is one of the most commonly used mayo brands and is filled with GMOs. Also, most mayo brands (even organic) do not address the poor living conditions of egg-laying hens. To ensure that hens are being treated in the best way possible, skip the eggs altogether and try a great alternative to traditional mayo - Follow Your Heart vegan mayo. Check out our mayo scorecard to compare other top brands!

Honey Nut Cheerios* are an easy snack to throw in a bag, giving kids something slightly sweet and crunchy to munch on. But they also happen to be filled with GMOs. Either opt for plain Cheerios which went non-GMO or consider switching to other non-GMO Project Verified snacks like Royal Hawaiian Orchards Macadamia fruit & nut clusters, which are full of nut protein and lightly sweet thanks to pieces of fruit and without any GMOs.

Hummus and carrots can be a perfectly balanced snack if you avoid brands that use soybean oil and citric acid, both ingredients most often derived from GE corn and soy. There are lots of other wonderful hummus brands that avoid these icky ingredients; we’re big fans of Hope Hummus. Check out our hummus scorecard to find out how other top brands match up!

Hopefully, this post will help you think creatively about many more non-GMO and healthy lunchbox items. Happy Lunch Packing!!!

*Follow the brand links above to take action and tell these brands that it is time to change their ways and provide better products for families and kids, free of GMOs and toxic chemicals.

 

 

 

 

 

 

father and daugter 3
Father n Daughter 2
Father And Daughter
Rahel Hailemariam
Small Business Leaders Have Advice for Trump Renegotiating NAFTA

Over 100 small business leaders sent a letter to President Donald Trump urging him to ensure that the renegotiation of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and other global trade pacts does not allow foreign multinational corporations to attack US laws that protect US communities and the environment.

As things stand now, foreign-owned companies are allowed to challenge such laws before tribunals of three private lawyers, according the American Sustainable Business Council and Green America. That, they say, is bad for communities and the environment and also puts US-based small firms at a competitive disadvantage.

In May, Trump notified Congress of his administration’s plans to renegotiate NAFTA, setting in motion a 90-day period before negotiations with Canada and Mexico can begin in August. According to trade legislation, the administration must make public its more detailed plans for the negotiations 30 days before negotiations begin.

Of particular concern to small business is Investor-State Dispute Settlement (ISDS) – a provision in NAFTA and other trade deals that enables multinational corporations to sue the US government over laws at the local, state, and federal levels that they claim violate their broad investor rights. These laws, which US small businesses must abide by, are intended to protect the health, environmental, and financial well-being of our nation. As the business leaders’ letter to the president notes, in addition to threatening US laws, the special treatment for foreign investors that the ISDS system allows also incentivizes the offshoring of jobs by removing many of the costs and risks associated with re-locating to low-wage countries.

Corporations do not need these special privileges, according to Jerry Greenfield, co-founder of Ben and Jerry’s Ice Cream. “We started with one store in Vermont, and now Ben & Jerry’s ice cream is sold around the world,” he said. “This success required a good product and hard work from lots of folks, but not special rights to attack other countries’ laws.”

“Trade that enriches and privileges foreign multinational corporations at the expense of US businesses, communities, labor, and the environment is a bad deal,” said Fran Teplitz, director of Green America’s Green Business Network. “The Investor-State Dispute Settlement that allows multinationals to attack US protections for people and the planet should not be part of any trade agreement our nation joins.”

“While there’s no doubt that trade agreements between nations are important to economic development,” added Richard Eidlin, vice president of the American Sustainable Business Council, “the key question is whether the rules are fair to small and mid-sized businesses and to local communities. We’re concerned that the Investor State Dispute Settlement mechanism embedded in current NAFTA and other trade negotiations, tilts the playing field against smaller companies and communities.”

As a presidential candidate, Trump repeatedly denounced NAFTA, calling it “the worst trade deal maybe ever signed anywhere.” There is indeed much that economic, labor, environmental, and other civil society organizations seek to change about NAFTA, say the small business organizations. “Trump is now back-peddling on his earlier pronouncements about eliminating NAFTA,” they said, in a statement, “and we are entering a period where the voice of sectors not at the negotiating table must be heeded if a reformed-NAFTA is to be an improvement.”

The Sweet Side of Fair Trade

Sustainability has always been an important value at Food For Thought, the gourmet organic food company Timothy Young started over ten years ago. All of his products—from strawberry preserves to corn muffin mix—include certified organic fruits and vegetables. Social justice has also been a strong part of his mission, so when he saw the opportunity to sweeten his preserves with Fair Trade Certified™ sugar, he leapt at it. FT Sugar

“Choosing Fair Trade, organic sugar was an easy decision for us,” says Young. “The fruit we use comes from local farmers with whom we have direct relationships, so we know that both people and the planet are being treated fairly. Now we can also guarantee that the sugar we use is providing a fair wage to small-scale farmers around the world.”

Young uses Fair Trade Certified sugar to make his unique preserves, and you can use it in our own kitchen. Fair Trade sugar, which made its US debut in 2005, is now widely available to consumers in grocery stores and online—giving people the opportunity to buy white, brown, and powdered sugar that benefits both people and the planet.

Conventional Sugar: Not So Sweet

About 85 percent of the sugar sold in the US is grown domestically, but much of that farming is controlled by large corporations under conditions that harm the environment.

About half of the sugarcane in the US comes from southern Florida, where the sugarcane industry has been encroaching on the Florida Everglades for nearly a century. More than a billion gallons of water are diverted away from the Everglades to the sugarcane fields every day, according to the Everglades Trust Foundation. In addition, phosphorus run-offs from the sugar industry have devastated the Everglades’ ecosystem, and the sugar lobby (called “Big Sugar” by critics) has worked aggressively to avoid responsibility for repairing the damage.

The sugar lobby has consistently worked to postpone the deadlines for cleaning up contaminated water and has shifted the burden of paying for clean-up to tax payers, says Joe Browder, board member of the nonprofit Friends of the Everglades.

“Sugar controls the way water flows through South Florida, both environmentally and economically,” says Browder. “It is depriving the protected Everglades of water in the dry season, and dumping excess water into all the Everglades and south Florida coastal communities in the wet season. When sugar growers need to keep their land dry, they treat the rest of south Florida like a toilet. And those issues are no closer to being resolved in favor of the Everglades.”

US trade policies protect the jobs of domestic sugar farmers, but they result in sugar prices in the US that are usually about three times the price of sugar on the world market, damaging farmers around the world who cannot compete in an unfair US sugar market. High sugar costs also affect manufacturers of food products and beverages in the US, and their customers; a 2003 report by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) estimates that the US sugar program costs consumers roughly $1.5 billion dollars a year.

And these protectionist policies don’t necessarily help small farmers. The OECD estimates that over 40 percent of US policy benefits go to just 1 percent of all sugar producers.

Sugarcane farming abroad does not have a better record. The World Wildlife Fund estimates that, because of habitat destruction, intensive water use, heavy use of chemicals, and polluted wastewater, sugar may be responsible for more biodiversity loss than any other crop worldwide.

And the harvesting of sugar has often been plagued with labor problems. According to a 2018 report by the US Department of Labor, child labor and forced labor are used in many sugar producing countries, including reports of child labor on sugar plantations in Bolivia, Brazil, India, Kenya, Mexico, and the Philippines. 

Better Options: Fair Trade Sugar

If you want a sweetener that is easy on the environment and supports your local economy, you can look for locally grown organic maple syrup or honey. But if it’s sugar you need, Fair Trade Certified™ sugar is now increasingly available in stores throughout the US and online.

Through Fair Trade, farmers are paid a guaranteed price for their products—a price that covers their living costs while also helping to improve their communities. The Fair Trade price also includes a “social premium,” which is used for social projects decided upon democratically by the farmers, and an additional premium is paid for sugarcane that is certified organic.

“Fair Trade certification ensures that sugarcane farmers receive a fair price for their harvest, helping farmers around the world put food on their tables,” says Anthony Marek, public relations director at TransFair USA, which certifies Fair Trade sugar for sale in the US. “It also creates direct trade links between farmers and buyers, and provides access to affordable credit. And Fair Trade premiums allow farmers to invest in and improve their communities.”

Sugarcane farmers in the Chikwawa district of Malawi have put the Fair Trade premiums to life-saving use. Before the Kasinthula Cane Growers sugar cooperative was certified by the Fairtrade Labelling Organisations International in 2002, people in the farmers’ villages were beset by waterborne illnesses like bilharzias, cholera, and dysentery. The cooperative’s first project using the Fair Trade premiums was the drilling of two wells, which now provide clean drinking water to two villages and help prevent these diseases.

The cooperative has also used its Fair Trade premiums to bring electricity to the village of Chinangwa, and members are currently at work building a school.

In addition to guaranteeing farmers a fair price, Fair Trade certification also helps farmers use environmentally sustainable farming practices. On Fair Trade farms, producers must adhere to strict standards regarding the use and handling of pesticides; the protection of natural waters, virgin forest, and other ecosystems of high ecological value; and the management of erosion and waste, according to TransFair USA.

And the premiums that come with Fair Trade certification often enable farmers to switch to organic farming—90 percent of the Fair Trade Certified™ sugar in the US is also certified organic.

What You Can Do

Go Fair Trade for your sweet needs by purchasing Fair Trade Certified™ sugar. If your local grocer doesn’t have it, ask that they carry it and order it online until it’s available locally.

Learn more about Fair Trade and take action to promote it by joining Green America’s Fair Trade Alliance and by requesting a copy of our new Guide to Fair Trade.

Peaceful Pets Aquamation, Inc.

We saw the need for an aftercare company that transparently gave respectful and personal care to our pets. When we came down to it, we wanted to be a company run by pet lovers for pet lovers. We also felt that, in today's world, being environmentally responsible is an important part of honoring our pets and protecting our planet. So, we designed Peaceful Pets from the ground up, to take care of your pets in the exact same way we want our own pets to be treated. And, we decided to use the technology called aquamation. Aquamation is water-based and 100% green, providing huge benefits over fire-based cremation. It replicates and accelerates the natural process of decomposition, making it the most natural aftercare available. Peaceful Pets Aquamation has become a world leader in setting a new standard for the care of your pets.

Shrink Your Impact, Offset the Rest

When Ethan Merlin, a school teacher and Green America member in Rockville, MD, had an opportunity to take a group of students to visit Moscow, he had just one regret: by flying roundtrip across the Atlantic, he and his students would have no choice but to each cause the emission of more than three tons of carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas.
  
“The trip was an amazing learning experience for me and for my students,” says Merlin. “But I also care about the climate crisis, and the world that we are leaving for future generations.”
  
So rather than forego the trip altogether, Merlin helped mitigate the climate impact of the students' trip by purchasing carbon offsets equivalent to the greenhouse gas emissions associated with their airplane flights. 
  
"I was so glad [to discover this option,]" he says.
  
Carbon offsetting provides a powerful way to address climate change. By purchasing offsets, you help fund a project that prevents one ton of greenhouse gases (GHGs) from being emitted for each ton that you have caused. Carbon offset providers sell the GHG reductions associated with projects like wind farms or methane-capture facilities to customers who want to offset the emissions they caused by flying, driving, or using electricity. 
  
For example, Big Tree Climate Fund sells offsets to consumers from a methane-reduction project in Brazil. The Irani Project, located at a paper and pulp factory in the city of Vargem Bonita, treats wastewater from the plant in a special way, so it degrades aerobically (like compost) instead of anaerobically (like landfill waste). Anaerobic wastewater treatment produces massive amounts of climate-warming methane; according to Big Tree, businesses around the world emit 33 to 44 million tons of methane through anaerobic wastewater treatment each year. Methane is 23 times more potent as a greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide, according to the EPA. Because of the innovative methane-reducing technology it uses, the Irani Project has reduced its methane emissions by nearly 56,000 tons each year. It also reduces the paper mill's water use.
  
Over the past few years, the carbon offset market has grown rapidly, directing $705 million in 2008 to carbon-reducing projects worldwide. As the market has expanded, it has also matured—and finding a trustworthy offset provider is easier than ever.

Before you turn to offsets, it’s important to reduce your climate impact first (see box, below). A good mantra when it comes to reducing your carbon footprint is: reduce what you can, offset the rest, and then repeat. Once you’ve taken steps to shrink your emissions, follow these steps to offset what’s left. ...


Do the Math

The first step to offsetting your climate impact is to calculate how many tons of GHGs your activities emit. Most offset retailers provide online calculators (see “Resources,” below). Their estimates will come in about the same, with one exception: there is an ongoing controversy about the climate impact of air travel. In addition to the carbon dioxide that planes emit directly, they leave behind other emissions that ultimately contribute to global warming, in a phenomenon known as “radiative forcing.”

Some carbon calculators multiply a flight’s emissions by a radiative forcing index (RFI), but unfortunately, they multiply by a factor of anywhere between about one-and-a-half and three, resulting in different totals.

So what’s an eco-conscious traveler to do? Until a uniform RFI is in place, it’s best to err on the side of too much offsetting, rather than too little—after reducing your air travel as much as possible. Use a carbon calculator that incorporates a radiative forcing index, like those from offsetters in the resources box. If a carbon calculator offers a check-box to “include radiative forcing” in its calculations, choose this option.


Look for Certified Offsets

Because you can’t see or touch a reduction of greenhouse gases, it’s important to know exactly what reduction you are purchasing, and that the reduction wouldn’t have happened without your purchase. The leading offset providers have developed shared standards for carbon offsets, and their offsets are verified by independent third parties, providing assurance that you’re getting what you paid for.

Look for offset providers that have met the standards of the International Carbon Reduction and Offset Alliance (ICROA) or the Green-e Climate program. Both the Alliance and Green-e Climate require their member retailers to ensure that any reduction in GHGs sold as a carbon offset is “real, verified, permanent, additional, and unique.” (Visit www.icroa.org or www.green-e.org for a fuller definition of each criterion.) The Alliance’s members source their offsets from projects that would not have been implemented without offset funding and that have been certified to meet the above criteria by one of five standards: the Clean Development Mechanism, Joint Implementation, the Gold Standard, the Voluntary Carbon Standard, or the Climate Action Reserve.


Choose a Carbon-Busting Project 

Once you know how many tons of GHGs you’ve added to the atmosphere, select a certified offset that will reduce GHGs by the same amount. Your offset purchases can support a variety of carbon-reducing projects.

Renewable energy generation: More than half of offset purchases worldwide support renewable energy projects, which help to displace coal-fired electricity. Look for offsets certified to have caused new GHG reductions that wouldn’t have happened otherwise. For example, 3Degrees offers Green-e Climate certified offsets from wind facilities in northeastern China and Karnataka, India. Buying these offsets contributes to the viability of these projects, and you are buying new energy generation that is never resold, displacing coal power and reducing emissions in rapidly developing countries. Or, NativeEnergy’s WindBuilders program sells offsets to finance new wind projects. Many promising projects lack the capital they need to get built. So by purchasing a carbon offset that finances new construction, you help build wind farms and solar installations.

Methane projects: Another category of offset products helps prevent the release of methane, a particularly potent greenhouse gas which has over 20 times the impact of CO2. For example, TerraPass offsets support methane capture at landfills from Maine to South Dakota.

Energy efficiency and other projects: Offset dollars can also support other creative projects that reduce GHG emissions. For example, the CarbonNeutral Company offers offsets from a project to install compact fluorescent light bulbs and other energy-saving devices in hotels throughout Jamaica.

Forestry: In the past, Real Green has urged readers to steer clear of carbon offsets based on tree-planting projects (though trees have lots of other environmental benefits). Trees certainly do “breathe in” carbon dioxide, but it doesn’t make sense to offset emissions from a recent flight by planting trees that only remove that much CO2 from the air over many decades. The good news is that several of the leading offset project standards have developed clear criteria for forestry-based offsets whose GHG reductions will occur on a more immediate timeframe. Some reputable offsets based on forestry projects are available from the ICROA-member offset retailers (listed in the “Resources,” below).


Look for a Reputable Carbon Offset 

If you’re a conscientious consumer who tries to live a low-emission lifestyle, consider offsetting the remaining emissions for which you are responsible. Buying offsets will help you direct much-needed capital to worthy projects that will keep greenhouse gases out of the atmosphere.

Then, return to the beginning of the reduce-offset-repeat cycle, and continue looking for ways to reduce the climate impact of your household, workplace, neighborhood, and community.

Reduce Your Impact First 


Purchasing carbon offsets only makes sense for those who have already reduced their emissions by flying less, driving less, eating less meat, and curbing electricity use. For guidance from Real Green on reducing your climate impact, check out our archives.

For a comprehensive guide to cutting your home electricity use in half over the next five years, download the Efficiency First! issue of our magazine.


Offsets vs. RECs 

Warning: Don't purchase renewable energy credits (RECs) as offsets.

Why? When you buy an offset, you should know for sure that your purchase caused a new reduction in greenhouse gas emissions that wouldn’t have happened otherwise, and not all renewable energy qualifies. RECs are typically sold from existing projects to give electricity customers a green power option. But renewable energy that customers purchase to offset their GHG emissions is held to a different standard. Buying a REC does not ensure that your purchase caused a measurable reduction in greenhouse gas emissions that wouldn’t have happened otherwise.

To buy carbon offsets sourced from renewable energy projects, look for an offset from an ICROA member or search Green-e Climate’s “Find Certified Carbon Offsets” page for certified renewable energy offsets. These offsets can result from new renewable energy projects, but only those that are beyond business as usual.


How is Our Electricity Generated in the US?

The chart below explains where our energy comes from and what each type’s impacts are on people and the environment. Energy sources in red or yellow have significant environmental and social problems, while sources in green are key to a green energy future. Almost all types of energy generation end up doing the same thing: they turn the arm of a generator that moves strong magnets around copper coils. Copper atoms have particularly “loose” electrons, and inside generators, the steady rotation of strong magnets pumps out a flow of electrons: electricity.

 

Type of Power Source
How It Works
Eco-impact
Coal-fired Power Plants Coal is burned to heat water, which makes steam. The steam turns a turbine, which powers a generator. Burning coal emits massive quantities of greenhouse gases and leaves toxic mercury in the air and water. The mining of coal is unhealthy and dangerous work, and mountain-top removal mining is destroying ecosystems and communities in Appalachia.
Nuclear Power Radioactive uranium heats huge tanks of water. (Precisely “fired” neutron particles cause atoms of uranium-235 to split apart, and this “fission” releases enormous heat and radiation. Every fission reaction in a reactor releases a neutron that causes another fission reaction.) The hot water generates steam, and the steam turns a turbine which powers a generator.

 

Nuclear power does not produce greenhouse gas emissions or other pollution. It does use massive quantities of water, and releasing the warmed water damages ecosystems and wildlife. Nuclear power creates radioactive waste that is dangerous to people and living things for millions of years. It also creates dangerous targets for terrorists and contributes to the proliferation of nuclear materials for terrible weapons.
Petroleum or Natural Gas These fuels are burned to heat water, whose steam turns a turbine that powers a generator. When energy is in high demand, some power plants don’t just burn natural gas to heat water to make steam – they burn natural gas directly to generate vapors that turn turbines that generate electricity. This kind of natural gas power can be quickly dialed up and down to respond to fluctuating demand. Burning petroleum generates nitrogen oxides and carbon dioxide, and burning natural gas releases these same chemicals in lower quantities. The burning and transporting of natural gas can emit methane, a potent greenhouse gas. The extraction of oil and natural gas can disrupt habitats and communities.
Biomass Some power plants burn wood chips or waste products to heat water whose steam turns a turbine that drives a generator. For biomass, the eco-impact varies widely depending on what is being burned. When municipal solid waste is used to create energy through burning in huge incinerators, MSW plants produce nitrogen oxides, sulfur dioxide, mercury compounds and dioxins. Even when stronger air pollution filters prevent these chemicals from being released into the air, they collect in tons of toxic ash that has to be buried in landfills.
Hydropower Generates electricity when the force of water flowing through a dam turns the blades of a turbine which drive a generator. Building new dams can be disruptive to ecosystems and habitats, and can intervene in the migration patterns of some fish. New dams have decimated some communities, such as the Three Gorges Dam in China, and dams in Canada and New England have hurt Native American communities. Once built, hydropower is a fairly clean energy source that does not emit greenhouse gases or other pollution.
Wind farms Collections of turbines sense and turn to face the wind. Wind turns the blades of the turbines, and a gear magnifies the rotor’s speed. This shaft’s turning powers a generator. When sited correctly, wind farms are safe for birds and bats. They can generate completely clean power, emitting no greenhouse gas or other pollution. They have a small on-the-ground “footprint,” leaving the land they are placed on free for agriculture or forest.
Solar Power Photovoltaic panels are made of a semiconductor material such as silicon. When sunlight shines on the silicon, the material absorbs some of the energy, knocking some electrons loose. An electric field concentrates the flow of electrons in a single direction, generating electricity. “Solar farms” —large areas covered with solar panels—function as a power plant, placing power onto the grid for transmission to homes and businesses. Once installed, solar panels generate zero-emissions electricity. Though their manufacture can generate some pollutants, including silicon tetrachloride, which should be recycled rather than dumped, a recent study by the Brookhaven National Laboratory found that even when the manufacture of solar cells is taken into account, displacing grid power with solar power results in at least an 89 percent reduction in greenhouse gases and pollutants.
Geothermal Power In some Western states, heat from the center of the earth is used to heat water, which creates steam, which turns a turbine that powers a generator. Some geothermal power plants release hydrogen sulfide and trace amounts of other pollutants, but overall this is a significant source of cleanly-generated electricity.

Electricity Production in the United States, August 2007 [DOE]

A Power Primer: Electricity 101

Our demand for electricity is at the heart of the nation’s single greatest source of the pollution that causes climate change. Fully half of our electricity in this country is generated by coal-fired power plants and coal power by itself is responsible for 40 percent of US greenhouse gas emissions. Electricity can be difficult to think about because it is invisible. We see what it does, but not what it is or where it came from. What is actually happening when we plug something into an outlet at home and watch it turn on or light up?

What is electricity?

Everything — you, the clothes you’re wearing and the computer you're looking at — is made up of atoms. Electricity is created when electrons — tiny particles that orbit around the nucleus of each atom—are stripped off and pulled along in the direction of a positive charge.

We use electricity in our homes to refrigerate and cook food, play music, keep the lights on, drive computers and televisions, and power hundreds of appliances large and small. “Plugging something into an outlet and flipping the switch is like opening the water valve,” writes Paul Scheckel in The Home Energy Diet. “Electrons flow from the outlet into the device … the electrons can be manipulated by the circuitry in an appliance in hundreds of ways to turn motors, light bulbs, calculate formulas, play music, record movies, or project an image. The list of uses for electricity is endless and nearly miraculous.”

How do power plants generate electricity?

The force of strong magnets can push electrons off of their atoms and generate electricity. Almost all types of energy generation end up doing the same thing: they turn the arm of a generator that moves strong magnets around copper coils. Copper atoms have particularly “loose” electrons, and inside generators, the steady rotation of strong magnets pumps out a flow of electrons: electricity.

There are many different methods, though, for driving the generators that create electricity. Some have dire impacts on people and the planet; others are clean and sustainable. (See our chart.)

How is "green" electricity different from other electricity?

How electricity is generated has a big impact on people and the planet. But wind turbines, solar panels, nuclear power plants, and coal-fired power plants are all making the exact same thing—the electricity flowing through the grid is a pulsing line of electrons, indistinguishable regardless of how that energy was generated. You can’t choose what sort of energy will come to your house’s outlets from the “grid”—that energy is a generic flow of electrons, created from the “energy mix” of sources in your region.

What is "the grid"?

Electricity is a generic row of electrons pulsing at a given rhythm that enters a common system from many different sources. Electricity can travel up to 300 miles from where it is generated to where it is used. The interconnected system of wires that connects all power generators to power users is known as the “grid.” The grid is interconnected and overlapping across the country, although power generated in one place cannot be used more than several hundred miles away. That said, electricity routinely crosses state or even country lines; and households with solar panels can even create power that they place onto the grid from their homes, which joins the common energy supply for use in their area.

How do I impact this system when I reduce my energy use?

The generation of electricity is driven by demand. Fully a third of the energy generated in this country is for residential use—when you make changes in your household to reduce your energy use, your decision has an impact on the utilities that are generating energy.

Over the short term, fast-acting power plants fueled by natural gas can be dialed up and down to respond to daily changes in demand. Other power generators using coal and nuclear are used for steady demand and can only be adjusted over the long term. Because utilities generally make use of all renewably generated wind or solar power placed on the grid, changes in energy use will eventually reduce coal and nuclear power generation. All of the 108 new coal-fired power plants currently being proposed around the country are being justified as necessary because of projected power demand; and demand for more coal is driving the “mountaintop removal mining” currently taking place in Appalachia. So in both the short and long-term, reducing your own energy use helps to reduce the dirty generation of power.

How does electricity get from power plants to my house?

Generators don’t just pump out a line of electrons flowing towards a positive charge—they flip the charge from positive to negative 120 times and back again every second, so that rows of electrons vibrate in every electric wire. This pulsing line of electrons, called alternating current (AC), can transmit electricity over great distances.

The cycles of alternating current mean that the electricity moves in steady waves of rising and dropping voltage as the electrons cycle back and forth. Most generators generate power in three overlapping phases. Transformer stations “pump up” the force with which the electrons are flowing through the wires to a high voltage, hundreds of thousands of volts, for transmission over long distances.

The huge towers running through rural areas have three wires, one carrying each phase of power at very high voltage, and a top “ground” wire designed to balance the other three. (Some power towers also serve to carry telephone or cable lines.) Somewhere near your house, the power enters a substation that steps down the power’s voltage to much lower levels; typically two wires carrying just one phase of power at 240 volts splits off from the main power line to serve each household.

What happens when I buy green power by purchasing renewable energy credits?

Once electricity generated by a wind farm is placed on the grid, it is indistinguishable from electricity generated by a coal-fired plant. So energy customers who wish to support wind and solar power can do so by purchasing renewable energy certificates, also known as “RECs,” or “green tags.” The day is coming soon when government incentives and shifting market forces will bring the cost of generating zero-carbon power below the cost of burning coal for power. But until then, buying a green tag allows customers to help renewable energy projects by making up the difference between the “grid price” of 1 kilowatt of power and the slightly higher price of renewably generating that kilowatt of power. Purchasing green tags doesn’t directly change anything about what is coming into your outlets, but it is a powerful way of displacing dirty power production by helping to place renewably generated energy on the grid.

The Mystery of Deodorant: What's Really In There?

Lots of people take pride in how they smell, going to great lengths to ensure there's no funk and thinking if they're not always fresh from the shower, nobody will want to be around them. And so many turn to deodorant, making it a $70 billion per year industry. A study from the University of Bristol found that of 117 women who didn’t produce odor, three-quarters of them still used deodorant.  

Conventional deodorant isn’t very good for your body, as many types contain toxic chemicals that may harm human health and the environment. Deodorant soaks directly into skin, so it’s important to know its ingredients and their risks.  

Here are some of deodorants’ most common and toxic ingredients:  

  1. Aluminum: Aluminum is the main ingredient in most antiperspirants. It may alter the balance of odor-causing bacteria in your armpits, which can actually make you smell worse. Aluminum is linked to health issues that affect the liver and kidneys.  

  1. Parabens: These are commonly found in makeup and deodorant and are used to prevent bacterial growth. However, they can interrupt hormonal balance in the body, and they're estrogen mimickers that can lead to breast cancer

  1. Propylene Glycol: Often listed as PG, this ingredient is a suspected skin and kidney toxicant. It's also skin sensitizer, meaning it could result in allergic reactions on the skin.  

  1. Triclosan: Triclosan is a chemical that’s used to help keep the odor-causing bacteria out of your pits, but it can also kill the good bacteria in your body. Killing the good can mean that when bacteria repopulates, the good might be replaced by even more bad, which could make you stinkier or even sick. Consequently, triclosan has been linked to rising numbers of antibiotic-resistant bacteria. The FDA has issued warnings against this ingredient because of its ability to disrupt the functioning of thyroid hormones.   

  1. Silica: Silica is added to deodorant to help absorb moisture from sweat, but it is also known as a skin irritant. The silica in deodorant may also be contaminated with a compound called crystalline quartz, which has been linked to the development of cancer cells and respiratory diseases.  

Solution: Natural Deodorants 

Opting for a natural deodorant is safer than using a deodorant with one or more of the five ingredients from above. Most natural deodorants use ingredients like baking soda and coconut oil, which have antibacterial properties. Natural products tend to be deodorants, not antiperspirants, meaning they stop the smell but not the sweat itself. Most have essential oils for scent and are gentle on the skin.

  1. Creating Harmony LLC sells the Sage & Rose Deodorant Mist. This mist is made with mineral salts, which helps prevent odor. 

  1. Schmidts Naturals sells Schmidt’s Natural Deodorant Stick, which is enriched with mineral-derived odor-fighting ingredients such a magnesium and baking soda, and has plant-based powders that help absorb wetness without aluminum.  

  1. North Coast Organics offers 100 percent vegan and cruelty-free deodorant in five different scents. Natural ingredients include coconut oil and baking soda. 

Mars Takes Puppy Steps - Removes GMOs from Pet Food Brand

Recently, Mars Inc. relaunched its natural pet food line Nutroannouncing that its dry food would now be made without GMOs (genetically modified organisms). The new product line aims to have “recipes that are simple, purposeful and trustworthy, made with real, recognizable, non-GMO ingredients as close to their native form as possible.”  For the last year GMO Inside and thousands of consumers have been pushing Mars to remove GMOs from all of its pet and human food.  Producing higher quality pet food free of GMOs  is a great first step.

Learn more on the GMO Inside Blog 

Martha Stewart
Getting Scrappy: A New Life for Food Waste

At this Boston company they just love to talk trash -- composting that is!

By Alexandra Lim-Chua Wee

At CERO Cooperative, trash is never really trash. The Massachusetts-based business -- which was recently awarded the Green America’s People & Planet Award -- collects food scraps from local food businesses and turns them into compost. The compost is then delivered to local farms where it can be used to grow fresh produce to be sold and cooked again. 

In Boston, local businesses pay some of the highest rates just to get their trash picked up every day and carried off to landfills. Moreover, for the area’s food businesses, about 65 percent of daily trash collection is compostable. “At the landfills, decomposing food produces the harmful gas, methane, which is then permanently in our air,” says CERO team member, Maya Gaul. “And when you look at food waste as an issue, it is the third largest emitter of greenhouse gases in the world.” 

When they work with CERO, local businesses receive easy-to-use, industrial-grade compost carts that can be placed in kitchens or storerooms for easy food scrap disposal. At the end of each day, these carts are picked up and replaced with clean carts. Not only does this save businesses the higher cost of normal trash pick-ups -- or hefty fines under the state’s 2014 food waste ban -- but it makes for a greener environment. It’s a win-win-win! 

Another win-win is that CERO is a cooperative. The workers equally own and govern the business, and directly profit from their labor. “It’s important to approach sustainability from all perspectives, from the people to the business, to the planet,” Gaul says. “Not only are we helping to reduce methane emissions, but we’re able to provide local green jobs to the community.” 

Sustainable Computing

I have been coaching Mac users for over 15 years, boosting productivity, erasing frustration, and increasing happiness. I deeply value sustainability, showing up by bicycle and helping you compute more efficiently and with less waste. My clients appreciate my patient, inquisitive approach, ability to meet them where they are, and that I provide the tools so they can learn to help themselves.

Bond & Devick Wealth Partners

An established firm using goals-based planning for 35 years. For decades, we’ve advised clients interested in SRI investing and are local leaders for those interested in aligning their values with their investments.

Five Cool (and Free) Tools for Financial Wellness

Find Out Your Financial Health

Have a bit of time on your hands? Why not check your financial wellness with CNN Money’s financial health calculator? Enter your current debt, emergency savings, retirement savings, and other information for a big-picture look at how well you’re doing with your money. 

Pay Down Your Debt

Have debt? SavvyMoney can help you pay it off ASAP. This app gives you free, ongoing access to your credit score, and provides personalized advice on low-interest ways to pay down your debt and raise your score.  
(PC, Android)

Is Your Retirement on Track? 

Will you have enough to retire? Enter a few important pieces of info, like your age and how much you have saved already, into AARP’s calculator, and it’ll tell you how much you will have saved by retirement age and how much you need to step up. 

Add SRI to Workplace Retirement Accounts 

Do you wish you could choose SRI investments in your workplace retirement plan? Or are you an employer who’d like to offer them but doesn’t know where to start? Green America’s free Plan for a Better Future guide can help you add SRI options to your workplace retirement plan. 

Track Your Spending, Savings,& Investments

If you’ve ever thought being able to track your spending and your investments in one place would be a good idea, wait no longer. The Personal Capital app lets you know where you’re spending money, while helping you analyze the risk level of your portfolio, get advice on your 401(k), calculate what you need to save for retirement, and more. 
(PC, iOS, and Android)

Anatomy of a Proxy Ballot

Using the fictional Fizzy Cola Company, we walk you through a shareholder proxy ballot. If you'd prefer to view this image as a PDF, click here to open.

Anatomy of a proxy ballot

 

How Karen and Joe Greened Their Investments

Karen Bearden compares greening her money to a waterfall: one act of socially responsible investing (SRI) was like a drop of water that led to a cascade.  

She became a Green America member back in 2005. After reading about SRI in our publications, she and her husband Joe moved some of their investments into a Pax World socially responsible mutual fund that year.  
That one act led to another and yet another. They found a socially responsible financial advisor and started screening their investments with his help. In 2010, the Beardens broke up with Bank of America in favor of a local credit union, and cut up their mega-bank credit cards, choosing a card from their credit union and the Green America VISA instead. 

Today, the Beardens are still invested in Pax World Funds, along with Green Century Funds and Domini Social Funds. Karen screens their individual stock holdings, with her advisor’s help, to ensure that they don’t include fossil fuels or firearms. She also pays special attention to including renewable energy companies. 
The investments, she says, have paid off: “Many of our SRIs perform equal to conventional investments,” she says, noting that those that don’t are close. Plus, she says, “we know we’re investing in and supporting better companies. Those investments will pay off more in the future as we move toward more sustainable ways in the world.” 

When the Beardens receive shareholder proxy ballots, for companies in which they own stock, they always vote in favor of social and environmental shareholder proposals. Karen says she’s also brought Green America publications to her financial advisor to explain to him their values of social responsibility. 

In addition, Karen has been active in the fossil-fuel divestment movement. In 2009, she started volunteering with 350.org. After seeing the hardships that the Standing Rock Sioux faced in fighting the Dakota Access Pipeline, she helped 350.org organize activists in her area to persuade the cities of Raleigh, Durham, and Chapel Hill to divest from Wells Fargo, a bank that has loans supporting the pipeline.  

“It’s important to me to not be investing in corporations that are destroying the Earth and hurting people and hurting our food system,” says Karen. “Everything is connected.”
 

Does Social Investing Affect Performance?

You know by now that socially responsible investing (SRI) does make a difference in the world, but perhaps you’re wondering what kind of difference it will make in your portfolio. Will you sacrifice financial returns if you align your investments with your values? 

The evidence, amassed through hundreds of studies, shows that historically, SRI investments have performed as well as or better than their conventional counterparts. 

A 2015 study from Harvard and University of Minnesota researchers found that consistently, “firms making investments on material ESG issues outperform their peers in the future in terms of risk-adjusted stock price performance, sales growth, and profitability margin growth.”

GSRI graph 2017.jpg

In addition, in a white paper published in 2014, TIAA-CREF selected five widely known US equity SRI indexes with track records of at least ten years—Calvert Social Index, Dow Jones Sustainability US Index (DJSI US), FTSE4Good US Index, MSCI KLD 400 Social Index, and MSCI USA IMI ESG Index—and compared their returns with two conventional US equity-based indexes, the Russell 3000 and the S&P 500. The analysis found that the SRI indexes performed competitively with the conventional indexes.

Likewise, a 2015 survey by the Morgan Stanley Institute for Sustainable Investing found that, “Benchmark performance of the MSCI KLD 400 Social Index, which includes firms meeting high Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) standards, has outperformed the S&P 500 on an annualized basis by 45 basis points since its inception” in 1990.

And a 2012 meta-analysis of over 100 academic studies, conducted by DB Climate Change Advisors, found that incorporating SRI results in “superior risk-adjusted returns for investors.”
Conclusion: You can do well by doing good with SRI.

This graph from the Morgan Stanley Institute for Sustainable Investing shows how the MSCI KLD 400, the world’s oldest socially responsible investment index, has outperformed the S&P 500 since its inception. Graphic by Zephyr Analytics

You Can Invest in Change: Pick an Issue

Wondering how you can make a real difference in the world? Move your money. 
People who bank and invest in a socially responsible manner arguably have never been more important to the health of humanity and the Earth. As Donald Trump’s administration doubles down on anti-environment, anti-science, and anti-immigrant policies, it’s clear that Congress and the Supreme Court aren’t able to provide the checks and balances they once did. Enter investors. 

Yes, investors, believe it or not. 

For instance, Trump has denied that the climate crisis is caused by humans, signing an executive order in March dismantling Obama’s Clean Power Plan. In early June, he officially started pulling the US out of the Paris Climate Agreement, which 195 countries are supporting. Meanwhile, Apple, Amazon, Walmart,  and several other companies pledged to stick by their Obama-era promises to meet Paris Agreement emissions targets—despite Trump. And 12 states and Puerto Rico have formed the US Climate Alliance to negotiate with the United Nations to have their climate-reduction pledges counted as American participation in the Paris climate deal. As of June 14, ten more states and hundreds of US cities had pledged support for the Paris Agreement as well. 

“Strong clean energy and climate policies ... can make renewable energy supplies more robust and address the serious threat of climate change while also supporting American competitiveness, innovation, and job growth,” Apple, Google, Microsoft, and Amazon said in a joint statement to Bloomberg. 
Why would these companies and leaders stand for the environment in spite of getting carte blanche to pollute from the Trump administration? In part because their customers have demanded they do so. And their shareholders have the loudest voices of all. 

While the administration—particularly vice-president Mike Pence—hints it may try to roll back LGBTQ legal rights, some corporations are fine-tuning LGBTQ anti-discrimination policies. Many of these policies have been in place for years, and the credit for them lies largely with concerned shareholders who put pressure on companies to do the right thing.

And when Trump signed an executive order banning travelers from seven Muslim countries, 127 companies filed an amicus brief in support of a federal court challenge to the ban. (Green America’s Green Business Network® members also signed a statement against the ban.) Why? They knew their customers and shareholders—the latter of whom have been pushing for greater board and management diversity and anti-discrimination policies for decades—wouldn’t want them to be silent. 
You don’t have to be rich to be a social investor. All you need is the will to use your money to support your values—and the kind of world you want to see for the future. In spite of Washington.   

Pick an issue:

Climate Change:

As the Trump administration pulls the US out of the Paris Climate Agreement, investors are pressuring companies to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and increase renewable energy. They’re also reinvesting that money in green energy and energy-efficiency technologies.  

The Environment:  

While Trump puts people with ties to the fossil-fuel industry in charge of the EPA and rolls back environmental protections, shareholders and people with bank accounts  are pressing companies to do better for the planet —and moving their money into companies that go the extra mile to care for the Earth. 

LGBTQ Rights:  

Many Fortune 500 companies have LGBTQ policies in place, thanks to investor pressure. Investors are still working on laggards to improve—and they’re taking on entire states with discriminatory laws.

Indigenous Rights:  

The Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL) and its encroachment on the lands and rights of the Standing Rock Sioux galvanized a new crop of shareholder activists, fossil-fuel divestors, and people willing to break up with their mega-banks—and move their money into community investing banks and credit unions.

Diversity:  

Too many white men in the White House? Definitely. And while we can’t do much about it until the next election, we can push Corporate America to put more women and people of color on boards and in upper management—and invest in companies with a commitment to fostering diversity.

The Border Wall, Prisons, And More: 

The fossil-fuel divestment movement is sending a message to the market that oil and gas aren’t sustainable—financially or environmentally. Divestment is also being used to pull assets out of companies tied to Trump’s border wall between the US and Mexico, and out of private prison companies, letting both groups know that our money won’t fund these harmful efforts.
 

background
social k ad
Green Business Network Fellow
Mickey Weingartner
Vote with Your Investments for a Better World

In the 1990s, socially responsible investors played a key role in bringing down South Africa’s brutal and racist apartheid regime. Since then, they’ve made a difference on a wide range of issues, pressing companies around the world to move in a more socially and environmentally responsible direction. 

Thanks to engaged shareholders:

  • In January of 2017, ExxonMobil appointed an atmospheric scientist and climate-change expert, Susan Avery, to its board of directors. 
  • In recent years, McDonald’s and Dunkin’ Donuts agreed to phase out styrofoam cups. And Dell and Ikea have begun phasing out foam packaging. 
  • In 2016, nine tech companies, including Apple, Intel, Expedia, Amazon, Adobe, Microsoft, and eBay, agreed to publicly disclose and close their gender pay gaps. 

To press for this kind of change, anyone with a bank account and retirement savings can engage in a practice called socially responsible investing (SRI). Though SRI is known by many names—impact investing; natural investing; sustainable and responsible investment; and environmental, social, and governance (ESG) investing—it all means banking and investing in ways that make large corporations more accountable to people and the environment, as well as supporting companies with forward-thinking practices and products.

“The single greatest impact you can have is how you invest your savings, yet this is one area where most investors do not realize they have any power. ” says Andrew Behar, CEO of As You Sow, a nonprofit that promotes corporate responsibility through shareholder advocacy. “It is not only a right that you have but a responsibility to manifest your values in the real world. That is why the shareholder movement is growing stronger by the day, and corporations are realizing that it is in their best interest to listen closely.” 

Socially responsible investors use a four-pronged approach to put their money to work for change: screening, shareholder activism, community investing, and divestment. It’s a powerful way to “vote with your dollars.”

Investors have put $8.72 trillion into SRI, according to the Forum for Sustainable and Responsible Investment’s (US SIF) 2016 trends report. That’s a lot of financial might working for a better world, and it’s growing exponentially. SRI has grown 14-fold since 1995, states US SIF. Today, one out of every five dollars under professional management in the US is involved in SRI.  

If Washington won’t work for a better world, you and your money can. 

If you want to:

  • Get problematic industries like tobacco, fossil fuels, weapons, and others out of your portfolio 
  • Invest in forward-thinking companies on the cutting edge of green technologies, like renewable energy, water purification, and responsible waste management

Try: Screening

What is it? 

  • Screening is making the choice to include or exclude investments in your portfolio based on social and environmental criteria. 
  • Avoidance screens keep investments that violate your social and environmental criteria out of your portfolio. 
  • Affirmative screens seek out investments that support business practices in which you believe. 

Scale

Investors have put $8.05 trillion into vehicles where environmental, social, and governance concerns were integrated into investment decision-making, according to US SIF. 

Impact 

“The very act of buying a portfolio that’s more consistent with goals of universal human dignity and ecological sustainability changes the conversation. It expands the mission of companies. You now have over 6,000 companies filing corporate responsibility reports. You now have around 17 countries that will not allow a company to trade stock unless it files a corporate social responsibility report.  Those things never would have happened had only straight Wall Street been their shareholders.”
                      —Amy Domini, Domini Social Investments

Get Started

Do research and screen your own investments, or hire a socially responsible financial advisor to help you. Find one at GreenPages.org

If  you want to:

Use your investor power to pressure irresponsible corporations to clean up their acts

Try: Shareholder Activism

What is it:

  • Shareholder activism/advocacy describes the actions many investors take to press corporations to improve their social and environmental practices—using their status as part-owners of companies as leverage. 
  • Shareholders, generally in coalition, may start out by dialoguing behind the scenes with corporate management to ask for change.
  • If dialogues don’t work, they may introduce a shareholder resolution, which is a formal request to corporate management to change company policies or procedures. All shareholders vote on shareholder resolutions via a proxy ballot mailed to them each spring, or in person at a company’s annual meeting. 

Scale

Investors have $2.56 trillion invested in support of shareholder resolutions, according to the US SIF 2016 trends report. For the 2017 shareholder season, activists have introduced over 430 environmental, social, and governance resolutions, according to As You Sow.

Impact 

“Publicly traded companies can benefit from the unique insights offered by their shareholders. Shareholders’ specific view on the marketplace, society, resource constraints, and policy provide us with a clear, powerful, and persuasive voice that can be compelling for corporate directors and management. Through dialogue, shareholder proposals, and other channels of communication, investors serve as an important catalyst for improved ESG policies, practices, and performance.”
               —Jonas Kron, Trillium Asset Management

Get Started

If you own stock, look for a shareholder ballot to arrive in the mail in the spring, and vote in favor of social and environmental proposals. See p. 20, and visit Green America’s annual shareholder roundup on our key issues.

If you want to:

  • Put your money to work helping low- and middle-income people lift themselves up economically
  • Move your money away from predatory mega-banks tied to the foreclosure crisis, and toward institutions that are doing good

Try: Community Investing

What is it? 

  • Community-investing vehicles maximize the social impact of your investments, providing capital to low-and middle-income people in the US and abroad who are underserved by conventional banks. 
  • The simplest method is to open accounts in a community investing bank/credit union. 
  • Other options include CDs and money-market accounts in a community-investing bank or credit union, community-investing loan funds and venture capital, and mutual funds with community investments in their portfolios. 

Scale

Thanks in part to Green America and US SIF’s publicity campaigns, the community investing field has grown from $5 billion in 1999 to $122 billion currently, according to the US SIF 2016 trends report.

Impact 

“[Community development financial institutions like] HOPE [offer] a tremendous return on investment. A credit union is a powerful resource that empowers 
individuals and communities to help themselves. For more than two decades, HOPE has generated more than $2.5 billion in financing that has improved conditions for more than 1 million people in Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Tennessee. In collaboration with a strong network of partners, ... we equip members to drive positive change. When these kinds of communities have access to the right tools, they thrive. That benefits not only the region, but ultimately the nation.”
               —Bill Bynum, Hope Credit Union 

Get Started

Find a community investing bank/credit union at GreenPages.org

Charis Smith

Charis serves as Coordinator and Program Manager for both the Center and the Sustainable Food Supply Chain Innovation Network, where she facilitates operations, research, special events, and stakeholder engagement.

Previous to Green America, Charis served as Sustainability Coordinator and Partnership Manager for the corporate office of a growing organic grocery chain based in the Mid-Atlantic region before moving to her home state of Ohio. She specializes in benchmarking sustainability, sustainability reporting, training, and communications.

Charis has a passion for sustainability and social justice, particularly as it relates to food. While living in Maryland, Charis was nominated and elected as Councilmember for the Montgomery County Food Council in Maryland, where she served as the co-chair of the Food Economy Working Group. Through her volunteer work, she is exploring opportunities to sustainably grow the local food economy and increase food literacy and access throughout Northeast Ohio with the Summit County Food Coalition and the Cleveland-Cuyahoga County Food Policy Coalition.

Charis holds a M.A. in Political Science from the University of Connecticut and B.A. in Political Science from Heidelberg University in Tiffin, OH. 

Operations Coordinator, Center for Sustainability Solutions
Climate Fellow - Corporate Responsibility
Dominic Peacock
Socially Responsible Investing at Every Age

If you ask multiple financial advisors for generalized advice on money matters, they’ll likely tell you that every person’s finances are different and ever-changing based on goals and plans. If they’re advisors who specialize in socially responsible investing (SRI), they’ll also agree that no matter how much money you have, you can use your money to support sustainable business practices and local economies. 
That said, Green America pinned a few of them down on general financial and SRI advice for every decade of our lives, based on where the average person is at each stage. Use it as a rough guide to maximizing the power of your investments as you go through life. 

In Your 20s

People in their 20s tend to have: 

  • Some debt, including student loans. 
  • An entry-level salary in their field. 
  • Few expenses (may have no kids, rent instead of own a home, etc.). 
  • They are also often just starting out with investments. 

Start saving early: People in their 20s may feel that the need to save for retirement is less urgent, since it’s 40-plus years away. However, Kathleen McQuiggan, senior vice president of Global Women’s Strategies at Pax World, stresses that the money you put away today will compound over time, so the earlier you start saving, the more you’ll have when you need it most. 

Steve Dixon, principal and investment manager at Birchwood Financial Partners, says it’s critical for young people to start saving: “My parents, the Baby Boom generation, didn’t need to figure this stuff out like younger generations will need to. Pensions were more prevalent and Social Security was more secure. Nowadays, [no one can count on these]. It’s much more critical that young people save for retirement. The nice part is that there are lots of ways to do it.” 

Save as much as you can: Elizabeth Warren, Massachusetts Senator and bankruptcy expert, coined the “50/30/20” rule of budgeting, which suggests you should keep your necessary costs to 50 percent of your after-tax income, spend up to 30 percent on “wants,” and sock 20 percent into savings. When you’re just starting out in the working world, 50/30/20 might be more of a goal than a reality, but make a point to save as much as you can until you can reach 20 percent.  

Make saving routine: Steve Dixon says your financial plan in your 20s should emphasize making saving for retirement part of your routine.  

“It’s like working out or exercising or eating right; if you build it into a routine, it’s so much easier than if you put it off,” he says. “Don’t wait until you have money to put away, because invariably, we never feel like we have enough money to put away.”

Get involved in your workplace retirement account: The easiest place to start saving is at work: If your employer offers a retirement savings account and will match a portion of your savings, take advantage of that—it’s free money! Make sure to save at least the amount that earns you the maximum employer match amount. 

Save more if you’re a woman: McQuiggan warns young women to consider their savings and investments even more strategically than men: “Women live five to six years longer than men. Also, the wage gap exists—[white] women make 80 cents [for every dollar a man makes, and women of color make even less]. So when women retire, they have to have more money than men.” 

SRI in your 20s 

Break up with your mega-bank: The easiest way to use your money for good is to switch banks. Break up with your mega-bank, if you belong to one, and choose a community investing bank or credit union. (The federal government provides certification for some, which will be called “community development financial institutions.” Not all are certified.)

Community investing banks and credit unions are known for treating customers better and generally charging lower fees than mega-banks. Most allow the same convenience of online banking that a mega-bank would have.

Where does the socially responsible part come in? Community investing banks and credit unions have a mission to use their money to lift up low- and middle-income communities. For example, Wells Fargo lends its money to fossil-fuel projects, while many community investing banks make a point of avoiding fossil fuels, instead lending money to foster local businesses, support people trying to buy homes, and more. Community investing banks and credit unions are federally insured, which means they’re just as safe as a mega-bank or your local bank. 

Get SRI into your workplace retirement account: Ask your employer if socially responsible funds are included in your workplace retirement account. If they aren’t, ask your employer to consider adding them.

In Your 30s

People in their 30s tend to have: 

  • Less debt. 
  • A higher salary than in their 20s. 
  • Growing expenses, from buying a home, growing a family, etc.  
  • Some retirement savings. 

Set aside an emergency fund: The investment advice site Betterment recommends making sure you have an emergency fund by your early 30s. Most experts recommend setting aside at least six months’ worth of your salary in a savings account, in case of illness or job loss, for example. 

Don’t cash out retirement accounts: People with even a small amount of retirement savings shouldn’t cash it out early, an article from Money Magazine warns. When you cash out a 401(k), the government takes out extra taxes, so a $5,000 balance could turn into $3,500 cash. If you leave your retirement accounts alone, you keep the money growing. 

Reconsider your savings: As you age, make a point to divert as much as you can into retirement and other savings. Increase your contribution to your workplace retirement account, which you can have your employer automatically pull from your paycheck. And have your bank or credit union automatically divert money from your checking account into savings every paycheck, as well. 

Consider mutual funds: If you didn’t already start in your 20s, investing some of your savings in mutual funds may also be a good option in your 30s, because at a younger age, you can be more tolerant to risk since you have time to absorb any losses. As a general rule of thumb, the higher the risk, the more potential for greater returns.

SRI in your 30s 

Consider SRI mutual funds: Generally, socially responsible mutual funds do as well or outperform the general market (see the "Long Way to Go" section of Taking Stock of Divestment Movements), making them a great option for green-minded people in their 30s who want to get started investing outside of a retirement account.  

Look for socially responsible mutual funds, such as those listed in the “Mutual Funds” category at Green America’s GreenPages.org. Mutual funds offer automatic diversification, which can help minimize risk, and most types are actively managed. 

Consider a socially responsible financial advisor: Your life is likely to go through some big changes in your 30s. You may get married and/or start a family, and you may buy your first home. Consequently, your finances will go through some big changes as well. A financial advisor can help you navigate these changes. Look for a socially responsible financial advisor, who can offer general financial advice and help you invest your money in line with your values. 

Try out community investing: Your 30s may be a good time to maximize the social aspect of your portfolio and move some of your money into community investments that go beyond banking. These investments help finance community-building projects in the US or elsewhere in the world. They may help people build houses, install renewable energy, start small businesses, or otherwise help lift up local communities. The Calvert Foundation, for example, offers Community Investment Notes, which put your money into a pool of community development projects across the US and around the world—from loans for women-owned small businesses in Tanzania powered by solar to loans for affordable housing in Baltimore. 

“Community investing is an important part of every portfolio and can play a key role in diversification,” says Fran Teplitz, Green America’s executive co-director. 

In Your 40s

People in their 40s tend to have: 

  • The highest wages of their careers. 
  • Long-term loans from paying off big purchases.
  • Established retirement savings. 
  • A need to continue saving for big purchases/children’s needs, like college. 

Max out your retirement savings: Advisors at Bankrate recommend making the maximum annual contribution possible to your retirement savings in your 40s, if you aren’t already. For example, for the 2020 tax year, the maximum annual contribution to a 401(k) is $19,500. 

Consider individual stock investments: If you haven’t already decided to invest in individual stock, your 40s could be a good time to do so. Buying individual stock has more risk than investing in mutual funds, but the rewards can be greater if the company does well. 

SRI in your 40s 

Screen your stock investments: Research companies before buying stock in them to ensure they’re socially and environmentally responsible. And purge any companies from your portfolio that you find are being poor corporate citizens. A socially responsible financial advisor can screen your holdings for you.  

Become an active shareholder: If you hold stock, you’ll receive a shareholder proxy ballot every spring. Vote your proxy ballot in favor of social and environmental shareholder resolutions. (Mutual fund managers receive and vote the proxy ballots for their stock holdings, and they must disclose those votes on the fund website. If you disagree with how one of your mutual funds voted on a particular ballot, call the investor relations department and let them know.) 

In Your 50s

People in their 50s tend to have:

  • Peak savings and investments.
  • A short “time horizon” until retirement.  
  • A continued need to help children with college, plus assist aging parents with health and other issues. 

Consider lessening your investment risk:  As you start to think about retirement in the next decade or so, it may be time to shift your investments to be more conservative. Holliday uses the term “time horizon” to talk about how much time people can keep their money in an investment before they need it back. 

“We don’t want to be forced to sell out of a volatile market when markets are down. If you have a short time horizon or don’t tolerate much risk, you want to have a good amount in fixed, stable investments,” he says. Consider your personal time horizon until retirement, and check with a financial advisor to see if lessening investment risk is right for your portfolio. 

SRI Close to Retirement 

Find lower-risk socially responsible investments: Just because your investments may be getting less risky doesn’t mean you have to compromise on your values. No matter what your risk tolerance and time horizon, you or a financial planner will still be able to find socially responsible alternatives that fit with your needs. 

Government bonds and certificates of deposit (CDs), for example, offer fixed returns and less risk for investors. Money market funds, or pools of CDs, bonds, and certain other investments offer automatic diversification and reduced risk.

SRI At Retirement (65+)

At 65, you might be setting the date for your retirement, or be retired, and you’re starting to withdraw from your savings and investment accounts. (Be sure to read up on the requirements for starting such withdrawals, to avoid fines or penalties.) 
Steve Dixon suggests reconsidering community investing, which generally has a low level of risk, when you retire. 

“If I know I’m going to need that money in 18 months, if I’m being prudent, I shouldn’t be willing to take a lot of risk,” he says. “I want it in something secure.” 

Community investments can deliver social impact while simultaneously being available for the near term. Many community investments allow you to choose an investment term of anywhere from one to 15 years.