Sprint announced its first major commitment to clean energy with a virtual power purchasing agreement with Duke Renewables for a 182 MW wind farm.  The deal will result in Sprint using 30% renewable energy.

In Green America's Clean Energy Calling Report Sprint was in last place amongst the four major telecoms -- AT&T, Verizon, T-Mobile, and Sprint -- for its commitments to renewable energy targets and renewable energy purchases.  Both were near zero.

Sprint's announcement with Duke Renewables marks an important step forward for the company and it part of an overall shift to renewable energy by the sector.

Since Green America launched its Hang Up On Fossil Fuels campaign in 2017, the telecom sector has gone from using almost new renewable energy to major commitments and/or purchases from each of the major carriers. 

AT&T announced new contracts for solar and wind energy that will bring its total clean energy purchases to over 1.5 Gigawatts.  Last year the company announced 820 MW of clean energy, so the new announcement nearly doubles AT&T's commitments.

AT&T estimates that with these new clean energy purchases are the equivalent of providing electricity for more than 560,000 homes or taking 690,000 cars off the road for 1 year.

The new purchases mean that AT&T will be using over 50% renewables to meet its energy needs, and makes AT&T once of the largest corporate purchasers of clean energy in the US.

When Green America started its Hang Up on Fossil Fuels campaign in 2017, AT&T was using less than 2% clean energy.  Thanks to everyone who took action with us -- AT&T heard you.

Now, we need AT&T to go to 100% renewables by 2025.

The Ivory Coast and Ghana are the top producers of cocoa globally. Cocoa farms in both countries are plagued by child labor, with an estimated two million children working in cocoa fields. These are not children helping on the family farm part-time. These are children who are working full time, day after day, in the fields. Some of them are doing dangerous work, and some are trafficked from other countries and are forced to work for little or no money. 

Progress on Child Labor in the Cocoa Industry

Despite numerous commitments from US corporations over the past 20 years, little progress has been made in addressing child labor in the cocoa sector, meaning that child labor is still being used (and profited off of) to make many of the chocolate brands that Americans regularly buy like Godiva, Hershey, Nestle, and Mars. Though, not all companies are the same, some have made progress, others (like Godiva) have made very little progress. Take a look at our scorecard to see how corporations hold up!

But, while corporate efforts have resulted in little improvement, the Ivory Coast and Ghana have recently taken one step towards improving the sector. Both governments have announced that they will raise the floor price for cocoa farmers and levy an extra fee to cocoa buyers. This move will raise the price of cocoa by $400 per ton. While this is a welcome and important move, unfortunately more needs to be done to truly eliminate child labor and poverty in the cocoa sector. Compensation to farmers still remains well below a living income. The government policies will create a minimum compensation to farmers of $1,820 per ton. But research from Fair Trade International indicates that a living income is closer to $2,668 per ton for Côte d’Ivoire, and $2,301 per ton for Ghana, and those estimates may still be on the low end.

The VOICE Network, of which Green America is a member, is a coalition of civil society organizations and trade unions, working to address blind spots and underrepresented issues in the cocoa value chain from consumer to farmer. Earlier this month, the VOICE Network published a brief analyzing both the floor price adjustment and other necessary steps in order to make cocoa a more sustainable industry. Some of the necessary changes laid out in the paper include:

• an even higher floor price, as the current increase is still too low for farmers to make a living income;
• ensuring that the money goes to farmers, rather than being subsumed by an intermediary;
• developing reforms that provide protections for both farmers and the forests, so that further deforestation does not occur;
• address human rights and child labor together, through women’s economic empowerment, access to education, providing proper documentation to individuals, such as birth certifications, and community-based development;
• and the need for more countries to make similar commitments, such as other cocoa producing nations like Indonesia, Brazil, Ecuador, Nigeria, and Cameroon. 

To see the rest of the recommendations, check out the VOICE Network’s paper here. Several corporations issued statements following the price floor increase announcement, Green America’s ally and VOICE Network member, Mighty Earth, compiled the responses here.

Interestingly, Godiva, which Green America has an active campaign against, stated that “GODIVA supports any efforts to lift cocoa growing communities in the Cote d’Ivoire and Ghana out of poverty, and protect the future of cocoa farming and farmers.” This is great news! But let’s see if they will put their money where their mouth is… Something that would support these efforts would be for Godiva to shared who certifies its cocoa; share any plans, progress, or metrics about the amount of certified cocoa in its supply chain; and to publicly announced any programs that go beyond certification and better support farmers.

Without this information, you and other consumers have no way of knowing if Godiva is actually doing anything substantive to help address child labor and improve the conditions for cocoa farmers. As of now, all we are able to discern is that Godiva is behind a number of its peers and has a good public relations team… If you haven’t already, call on Godiva to do more and provide  greater transparency!

Chocolate without Child Labor

When purchasing chocolate, one of the best ways to support cocoa farmers and encourage corporations to take action against child labor, is to buy chocolate from companies that are trying to reshape the way cocoa is purchased, like Divine, Alter Eco, Equal Exchange, Endangered Species, Shaman, or Theo Chocolate – all of which have received an A rating on our scorecard.

After years of pressure by Green America, Amazon announced it will get to 80% renewables by 2024 and 100% by 2030.

Our demands have always been: Commit to 100% renewable energy by 2020 and end the construction of any new data centers that rely on fossil fuel or nuclear power.

Amazon was using 0% renewable energy back in 2014 when we started our Amazon: Build a Cleaner and Fairer Cloud campaign. Since then, Amazon has contracted four wind and solar farms worldwide providing over 50% of its energy use.  

But 50% is not good enough when other tech giants are already at 100% clean energy. That's why we need to keep the pressure on Amazon to reach 100% clean energy by 2020.

Many thanks to all of you who have taken action with us, and keep up the pressure.

By Ayate Temsamani, Climate Fellow

The Impact of Telecoms

The US telecom industry uses vast amounts of energy, with the major four companies collectively using over 30 million megawatt hours (MWH) of electric power every year—enough energy to power all the households in New York City. 

This has mostly come from dirty energy sources, emitting 20 million tons of CO2 every year. That's why our Hang Up on Fossil Fuels campaign urges telecom companies do better. Currently, T-Mobile is the only telecom to set a 100% target, and it aims to meet that by 2021. That's why we've been putting pressure on AT&T and Verizon to meet T-Mobile's commitment.   

Investing in clean energy would curb greenhouse gas emissions and fossil fuel use that impacts the climate. And it would help to boost the US economy through the creation of green jobs.  

Today, the world faces significant challenges: increasing shortages of raw materials, a steady rise in fossil fuel prices, and the effects of climate change already impacting communities and ecosystems globally. Countries are increasingly understanding that the fight against climate change and the efficient use of natural resources are critical. But the necessary changes also offer great opportunities for developing a more just and sustainable economy.  

Opportunities for Green Jobs

Renewable energy has a large role to play in the transition to a low-carbon economy with better quality jobs. The renewable energy sector requires a multitude of skills to meet its manufacturing, engineering, installation, maintenance, and marketing needs across the country. People with various levels of qualification are benefited by the green jobs created through a clean energy transition.

Companies have also started to invest in special training and certifications to equip people with dynamic and agile skills to increase their chances to get a job. In fact, wind power technician is one of the fastest-growing jobs in the US, and AT&T has already announced plans to support students to develop new skills that match the needs of the renewable energy industry, through the AT&T Wind Energy Scholarship fund for the Texas State Technical College (TSTC).   

Several million people nationwide are already working in green jobs. The Solar industry alone has created more than 350,000 jobs for Americans with major job growth projections in the future. In 2018, AT&T announced its acquisition of 830 MW of wind power, taking AT&T up to 30% clean energy and cutting more than 2.6 million tons of CO2 emissions. AT&T’s investment in wind power would create an estimated 1,000 construction jobs in Texas and Oklahoma and generate millions in property tax for local communities.

Investing in renewable energy delivers better quality and higher paid jobs. Landing a job in the renewable energy industry can lead to an 8-19% increase in income. Clean energy can also be installed in poorer, rural areas and thus boost economic activity, including in coal-dependent communities. According to Forbes, “wind will be cost-competitive and offer employment opportunities across the country’s second and third largest coal-producing regions, the Appalachian and Illinois Basins, by 2025.” The telecom industry can and should be part of this positive shift and provide a significant boost to the economy. 

Tell Verizon to Take Action

After months of our campaign urging Verizon to commit to 100% renewable energy, the company released a commitment to reach 50% clean energy by 2025. This commitment would mean a reduction of 2.6 million tons of carbon dioxide, or the equivalent of taking nearly 600,000 cars off the road each year. This is a great step in the right direction, but the climate impacts won't be felt halfway - so action and solutions can't be made halfway.  Verizon uses 12.6 million MWh each year, so if it moves rapidly to 100% clean energy, the climate and jobs impacts would be enormous. That's why we're calling on Verizon to set a 100% commitment to clean energy by 2025.

Join Green America's week of action, September 16-19, and tell Verizon to #Cleanupwireless and create great jobs! 

Anheuser-Busch initiative aims to help farmers transition to organic, boost organic industry

By Ken Roseboro, The Organic and Non-GMO Report  

Anheuser-Busch Company’s “Contract for Change” will provide long-term contracts to farmers, pay premium prices for transitional and organic crops 

Can a major beer brand help increase organic farming acres in the United States? That’s the aim of a new initiative by brewing giant Anheuser-Busch to support the growth of the company’s Michelob ULTRA Pure Gold, the first national beer brand in the U.S. to be certified organic. Anheuser-Busch’s “Contract for Change” aims to help farmers through the three-year transition period to organic by providing long-term contracts and paying premium prices for transitional and organic crops, while helping grow the organic industry.

Addresses challenges of increasing organic grain production

Anheuser-Busch is well-positioned to launch such an initiative, according to Jess Newman, the company’s director of U.S. agronomy.

 “We are highly vertically integrated into agriculture,” she says. “We breed our own barley varieties, we direct contract our own seed, and bring it into our own seed facilities. We own grain elevators in three different states and malt plants in two states, and we brew our own beer and take it to consumers. It’s a complete ‘seed to sip’ process.”

Anheuser-Busch works with 1,000 U.S. farmers who grow barley, rice, and hops for the company’s products.

The Contract for Change aims to increase production of organic barley used to make Michelob ULTRA Pure Gold, which is the sixth-fastest-growing beer brand in the U.S. with sales increasing by 200 percent since last year. A popular television commercial at the 2019 Super Bowl featuring actress Zoe Kravitz increased awareness of the brand.

To develop the Contract for Change, Anheuser-Busch sought advice from the Sustainable Food Lab (SFL), a non-profit organization that helps organizations implement innovations in sustainability in food production. Anheuser-Busch is an SLF member.

Elizabeth Reaves, SFL’s senior program director of agriculture & environment, said Anheuser-Busch has been innovative in supporting crop diversification and income diversification for farmers through direct contracting.

“They understand they can play a role by providing a market for some alternative crops,” she says.

Reaves says SFL shared findings of a recent report, US Organic Grain—How to Keep it Growing, that identified key challenges to helping farmers transition to organic.

One of the main challenges is the uncertainty that farmers will have a market for their crops through the transition to organic.

Newman says Anheuser-Busch can provide that assurance because of the long-term relationships they have with their contract farmers.

“It was a no-brainer to say; we’ll find a contract for four to six years, however long it takes to get transitioned. Our commitment is to buy any of the barley in that time period.”

Anheuser-Busch will pay a premium price for both the farmers’ transitional and organic crops.

They will also help farmers find markets for other crops grown in rotation with organic barley, including sugar beets, potatoes, and alfalfa.

“While we can’t buy all the rotation crops, we can help connect our growers to partners or other potential buyers. We’re working across the industry to try and forge those relationships,” Newman says.

Another challenge facing transitioning farmers is having access to crop advisors who can provide technical assistance about organic production. Anheuser-Busch’s staff of 15 agronomists can help provide that expertise. They will also work with the University of Idaho extension, which also has organic crop knowledge.

“Give barley growers an opportunity to try organic”

Anheuser-Busch will launch a pilot program for the organic transition in Idaho, one of the company’s main barley-growing states along with Minnesota, North Dakota, and Montana. The company also has a malt plant for organic barley in Idaho.

Newman says there is a lot of interest among farmers for the Contract for Change. “We see demand from growers who want to understand how organic can add value on their farm, help diversify it, and give them more choice. The whole point of the contract is to take a grower who’s never grown organic before and give them that opportunity.”

Dan Lakey, owner of Lakey Farms in Soda Springs, Idaho, is participating in the Contract for Change. He is growing 115 acres of transitional organic barley on his family’s 7500-acre farm.

“We are always looking for new opportunities on our farm,” Lakey says. “For several years we have been using less chemicals and fertilizers, and we are curious to see if our farm can grow organic crops.”

Lakey has been using regenerative farming methods that build soil health such as minimal tillage, cover crops, and diverse crop rotations.

“I want to do better than being sustainable. I want to regenerate the land I got,” he says.

Lakey says the Contract for Change could inspire other barley farmers to transition to organic.

“It may allow some current barley growers, who are hesitant about changing, an opportunity to try organic with a promise that they will have a buyer for their crops.”

Newman credits the Sustainable Food Lab as an advisor and facilitator in working to solve organic transition challenges.

“We stand on the shoulders of many wonderful companies that have worked hard to figure out how you can solve these gaps,” she says.

Reaves says Anheuser Busch’s Contract for Change can benefit both organic and conventional farming.

“There’s a big opportunity for them to build a partnership around soil, water, and the learning that can be generated between organic and conventional systems. There’s a lot of good exchange can come from both.”

Anheuser-Busch is the latest large company to launch an initiative to help farmers transition to organic production. Other companies that have launched similar initiatives include General Mills, Ardent Mills, Costco, Bunge North America, and The Andersons.

Newman thinks the Contract for Change can help the organic industry as a whole.

“I think it’s exciting to see a big company and a fast-growing brand being excited about supporting the industry as a whole. I think it will help shine a light on the good work that the organic industry is already doing.”

Attention all pollinators! Prime real estate is now available just eight miles west of Chicago in suburban River Forest, Illinois.  Enjoy native gardens on your way to work by visiting one of the 36 Parkway for Pollinators Gardens. Your kids can enjoy pollinator gardens at school and more gardens are located along the main corridor, Lake Street. Also, make sure to visit the 18,000 square feet of native plantings in the parks. River Forest is also a Tree City USA and close to the Des Plaines River for additional ecosystem support. For more information contact your listing agent, the River Forest Sustainability Commission. New pollinator properties added weekly during the summer! 

Seriously, River Forest is a great place for pollinators. With 27,000 square feet of native gardens (excluding private gardens), River Forest is committed to helping pollinators thrive. The River Forest Sustainability Commission created the Parkways for Pollinators initiative to meet the need for pollinator habitats. We partnered with a local nonprofit with expertise in organic gardening and native plants, the Deep Roots Project. 

The program’s purpose is three-fold: support pollinators, educate residents about native plants and pollinators, and ask residents to pledge to the Healthy Lawn, Healthy Family campaign. This campaign asks resident to pledge not to use synthetic chemicals on their lawns and gardens and implement sustainable lawn care practices. 

Of course we want everyone to have fun while learning, so garden education and planting are offered at our popular Green Block Parties. By utilizing this already successful program that has been running for the past seven years, we offer residents a new activity: planting a native garden on their block’s parkway for everyone to enjoy. We’re replacing grass with plants with a purpose. 

We couldn’t do this on our own. These gardens are free to all Green Block Parties with grant support from our local sustainability planning project PlanItGreen and the ComEd Green Region Grant Program in partnership with Openlands, a metropolitan conservation organization. 

Our project leader and expert, the Deep Roots Project, meets with the resident in charge of the block party—ahead of time—to select an appropriate site. The 4’ x 10’ site is prepared before the party so that children and adults can participate in the fun hands-on planting activity and learn about native flowers that attract butterflies, humming birds, and other pollinators on the block.  

The gardens are maintained the first year by Deep Roots—residents can contact the Deep Roots or the Commission at anytime with questions about their garden. In its first year, the Parkways for Pollinators Gardens initiative was incredibly successful, installing 15 gardens on parkways throughout River Forest; this year, 20 more gardens were added. The program will continue into the summer of 2020.

The Commission has been encouraging native plantings through working with Park District, Village of River Forest Public Works, and residents. We encourage residents to plant natives for their deep root structure to support healthy soils with the added benefit of supporting pollinators. We are thrilled to work with Green America’s Climate Victory Gardening program, and have mapped over 27,000 square feet of gardens fighting climate change and providing important habitat. So if you see a pollinator let them know, River Forest has space for them! 

Read more inspiring Climate Victory Garden stories and tips.

Today, we break down some responses that members and Green America received from Carter’s.  Thanks to the over 6,000 people who’ve taken action with us to send Carter’s a message asking them to reveal the toxins in their supply chain and address them to protect workers and consumers.

Carter's Statement #1 

“Thank you for your concern about Carter’s social responsibility efforts.  Carter’s is committed to operating with the highest legal and ethical standards, including in the manufacturing of our products in foreign countries.”

Carter’s doesn’t define, either in its statement or on its websites, what the “highest legal and ethical” standards are. On its own, this phrase is meaningless – highest by who’s definition? Additionally, if they were operating at the highest ethical standard, we wouldn’t have needed to reach out to them for information about their corporate social responsibility (CSR) efforts – it would be publicly available! 

A comparison between Carter’s and Target, which is a leader amongst larger retailers in addressing toxins and providing transparency, is instructive.  Carter’s provides a single vague page of information on its website regarding all its social responsibility. By contrast, Target provides pages of information on its website (starting here), and publishes a detailed corporate social responsibility report, which makes clear the extensive work the company is doing to address issues like toxins, water issues, and the use of more environmental sustainable materials.

“To that end, Carter’s has established and implemented a social responsibility program that sets forth the standards, obligations, and requirements that foreign vendors must meet in order to do business with Carter’s.  These standards are in line with, and in many cases exceed, all local country and international legal requirements and best practices, such as those set forth by the International Labour Organization, or ILO.”

Carter’s says its social responsibility program standards “are in line with, and in many cases, exceed all country and international legal requirements, such as those set forth by the ILO”. Since Carter’s also does not have a publicly available supplier list, we don’t know which country laws they are referring to; it is important to note that labor laws are often weak or poorly enforced in sourcing countries.

Current “obligations and requirements” often fall far short of prioritizing workers’ health and rights, thus the need for clear and measurable social responsibility efforts. The lack of legal requirements that protect workers and consumers is why organizations like Green America are holding corporations accountable – the current obligations and requirements fall woefully short of what is needed.

Finally, the ILO, as its name suggests, focuses on labor rights – so its standards do not necessarily address the environmental aspects of supply chains. Without more information, this statement rings of empty platitudes rather than concrete information.

“We review our social responsibility program on an ongoing basis, and to assist in implementing it, we partner with a leading third-party social responsibility firm to evaluate our vendors and conduct audits, both announced and unannounced.  In addition, Carter’s utilizes its own internal sourcing team and the social responsibility staff of our sourcing agents to help educate our vendors on, and ensure they are meeting, our social responsibility standards.”

Once again, Carter’s doesn’t direct consumers to any tangible information about standards, how their vendors perform, and what – if anything – it does to address non-compliance with standards, including standards around toxic chemicals. When suppliers are non-compliant, does Carter’s work with the factory to improve environmental and working conditions? Or does it cut and run, potentially leaving workers without a job?

Additionally, time and time again, in numerous industries, third-party social audits do not detect labor abuses and are at best a partial solution to abuses in supply chains. And, auditors may not be trained in identifying toxins in the workplace, and whether workers have adequate protections.

Here, Carter’s offers that they ‘help educate vendors’ in order to meet their standards, however Carter’s does not state if they are actually paying enough for their products so that the vendor can implement international standards without going bankrupt. While education can be useful, it cannot occur alone and is far from a solution to labor abuses in supply chains.  

“Carter’s is committed to operating under the highest legal and ethical standards of social responsibility- and we will only work with those vendors who are similarly committed.”

It’s good that Carter’s is “committed” to the highest legal and ethical standards, however what steps are they taking to turn commitment into action? Also, highest standards according to whom? And, how do these standards relate to the use of and disclosure of toxins in their supply chain? From this response, that all remains unclear.

Carter's Statement #2 – made directly to Green America

Before Green America asks the public to urge a company to improve its practices, we always reach out to the company to see if they can provide us with any information beyond what they publicly disclose, and to see if they will work with us to improve their practices without our launching a public campaign.  After numerous efforts to reach out to Carter’s, this is the reply we received back from them:

“Thank you for contacting us. We have an internal restricted chemicals list that we are working on expanding. We are also actively assessing how we can better disclose this and other environmental, social, and governance-related information to our customers and the general public.”

Carter’s says it has an internal restricted chemicals list (RSL), which is a list of chemicals that the company uses to determine which chemicals can be found on its clothing when it reaches the consumer market. An internal RSL means that consumers don’t know what chemicals Carter’s allows on its clothing, and the company’s comment about “working on expanding” indicates that it is not as comprehensive as it could or should be. Furthermore, the message does not mention a manufacturing restricted substances list (MRSL), which restricts and bans what chemicals can be used in the manufacturing process. An MRSL helps protect workers and their communities from toxic chemicals.

The assurance of figuring out how to “better disclose this and other environmental, social, and governance-related information to our customers” sounds nice, but it does not indicate a timeline for when they hope to accomplish this by – a promise with unclear intentions of follow-through. Carter’s is also not committing to issue a full corporate social responsibility report that meet Global Reporting Initiative standards, which are the standards that responsible companies adhere to in their reports.

Further, there are many examples of how other companies disclose this information to consumers; this is not rocket science, rather Carter’s is denying consumers the ability to make a fully informed decision about which clothes you buy for your children. If you are interested in seeing how other companies display this information, see Target’s CSR page on chemicals. Target provides clear deadlines to implementing the RSL and MRSL lists throughout their value chain and even provides their current RSL list. 

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You, as a consumer, play a vital role in changing industry norms. Reaching out to companies to inquire about their policies and practices, demonstrates to a company that you care and that you will use your purchasing power to advance a more ethical and sustainable clothing industry. Consumers deserve to know what chemicals their children and the workers that make those clothes are exposed to. A company that has specific policies in place is likely to either share the information with you or direct you somewhere where you can learn more about what the company is doing. If a company offers you grand statements and few details, it probably isn’t as sustainable or socially responsible as the statement sounds.

Written by Trina Calderón, a Los Angeles TV/filmmaker, journalist, and UC Master Gardener. She contributes art and culture writing to a variety of print and digital media, and writes short stories, essays, and screenplays. Committed to a creative journey as a storyteller aware of her strong female and Latinx perspective, Trina aims to add a voice where mainstream media does not.

Based in Los Angeles, California, Growing Hope Gardens is a social and environmental nonprofit organization dedicated to the empowerment of people experiencing homelessness and low-income challenges by creating regenerative, organic urban gardens in shelters, service centers, bridge housing, affordable housing, and on vacant land. The gardens provide growth for plants and people through a communal connection to healthy food. 

Our founder, Los Angeles County UC Master Gardener Carolyn Day established the program to reach out to people in need and help them restore their faith in themselves and society, while learning a great skill. We believe that time spent in contact with nature through these gardens adds meaningful, rewarding work and a safe environment for healing. While growing nutritious organic produce, our garden programs create a sense of belonging and the opportunity to make beneficial human connections. People are also connecting to the source of their food and cultivation practices that bring organic, sustainable, and seasonally appropriate food to their urban setting.

Our pilot project launched at Samoshel Homeless Shelter in Santa Monica in 2018. Mark, the self-appointed shelter resident/garden caretaker who first showed Carolyn the garden at Samoshel was also terminally ill. As he showed her the garden, he shared that he was dying and was sad because the garden was the most beautiful thing he had ever created—he was sure that it too would die when he was gone. 

Carolyn remembers, “As we spoke, I was touched by how important this garden was to Mark during his time alive and dying. This experience propelled me to do research about the impacts of gardening on people of small means.” Two years after Mark's death, Growing Hope Gardens was founded. 

Since then, we’ve installed four large ollas for irrigation at Samoshel—these extremely water efficient clay pots prevent excessive evaporation and water runoff in our hot and dry climate. The pots are buried in the garden and can be filled with water and/or collect rainwater, which gradually seeps into the soil to water the roots of the plants. In its second season, the garden is thriving and bringing joy to the residents and employees. 

Our program provides residents with workshops on gardening and a paid position for current or former residents to increase stewardship, ensure the success of each garden, and provide ongoing maintenance at each site. The workshops educate through science-based gardening knowledge originated by Grow LA’s Victory Gardens Initiative. An opportunity for job training for our homeless population is valuable, because every job is preparation for an outside job. Hands-on education creates a network of neighbors of varied backgrounds in an outdoor space, which facilitates the sharing of cultures, plants, and gardening practices. By supporting adult, youth, elderly, and disabled participation in the gardens, we build community and the care for an overall shared living environment.

We care about people and the planet; there are incredible environmental benefits to our program as well. Gardens provide food locally, which eliminates the fossil fuels required to transport produce and decreases our dependence on fuel. We also capture storm water to decrease runoff, lessen our overall water use, curb erosion, and protect our local water sources. 

By using regenerative and chemical-free gardening methods, we help mitigate our impact on the environment. Growing Hope Gardens fights climate change in each of our locations because our gardens increase the ability of soil to store carbon that would otherwise be released in the air to form CO₂. In turn, this healthy soil increases biodiversity, attracting insects, pollinators, and abundant soil fungi. We are thrilled to have our gardens registered as Climate Victory Gardens with Green America because our organization is committed to using gardening to make healthy food, healthy community, and a healthy planet. 

Our mission is to reduce the carbon footprint of each shelter, increase food system resilience, and encourage a sustainable, healthy lifestyle. To accomplish this, our programs are funded by our community, grants, and sponsors—we are happy to announce that we just received Los Angeles County Supervisor Khuel's “Food for the Soul” grant. This grant will fund three additional homeless shelter gardens, including maintenance and workshops until the end of 2020, as well as additional Community Garden Workshops and the launch of a mini urban farm alongside affordable housing. 

Please consider starting your own organic and regenerative garden or work with an organization like ours to benefit your community and help others reap the benefits. Another inspiring organization to check out is the Homeless Garden Project. For more information on our program, please visit our website and follow us on Facebook.

Read more inspiring Climate Victory Garden stories and tips.

Dama Distributing is your Premium Sustainable Cannabis and CBD Packaging Provider. When it comes to choosing the right supplier, get what you need with Dama, while being Eco-friendly. Dama Disrtibuting delivers quality child resistant, Eco-friendly and compostable products to customers at affordable prices. With an impressive selection that’s continuously growing, we guarantee you’ll find what you need. We invite you to experience our revolutionary products. Please contact us with any questions or special requests.

Picture the last event you attended. If it was like most events in the U.S., you probably noticed a lot of waste: food waste, plastic waste, printed waste, and more.

Sustainable Events LLC helps organizations and event professionals reduce the negative environmental impact of their events in order to preserve our planet and deliver powerful sustainability results.

The company provides a variety of waste-reducing services for events, including:

• Recycling programs
• Composting programs
• Food waste reduction & donation programs
• Floral donation programs
• Event supply donation programs
• Sustainability measurement & reporting

Since 2015, Sustainable Events LLC has kept more than 35,000 pounds of event waste out of landfills and incinerators. The company has also helped 4 events achieve “zero waste” status by diverting 90%+ of their waste.

Sustainable Events LLC was founded in 2015 by Julia Spangler, who is currently the company’s only employee. (The company operates under the trade name Julia Spangler, Sustainable Events Consultant.) In addition to event services, Julia consults with event planning professionals to help them understand and adopt sustainable practices.

Education is a key pillar of Sustainable Events LLC. To help event professionals get started with sustainability, Julia distributes free educational resources online, has created an online course about zero waste event planning, and delivers educational presentations to industry professionals about reducing event waste.

As a one-person business, Sustainable Events LLC is nearing its capacity for the number of events and clients it can serve. The prize from the People & Planet Award would support the hiring of a part-time event services manager who will help the business be able to provide sustainability services to more events.

Ink Forest believes T-shirts ARE the original social media. Posts on Facebook, Twitter or a picture on Instagram only last for minutes down a customer’s feed. A t-shirt will last for years. So, if you’re going to promote your business, club, school event or cause why not have them printed in an eco-friendly and sustainable manner. 

“What is eco-friendly screen printing?” Eco-friendly screen printing encompasses much more than the use of water based inks. When running an eco-friendly or green screen printing shop you have to consider your supply chain. Knowing where all of your supplies, apparel, inks, solvents and equipment is made and that it is ethically sourced is what really makes it eco-friendly. 

Ink Forest is a Certified Women Owned company specializing in non-toxic water based ink screen printing. We are committed to giving our clients high quality and durable screen printed apparel. Because water based inks do not contain PVC’s or Phthalates, your printed apparel is healthier for you and the environment. Ink Forest will use the People & Planet award to purchase larger equipment and to build a closed loop water system. 

Why do I print this way? Because it’s the responsible thing to do and our clients love it! 

Dean’s Beans Organic Coffee Company’s mission has been clear for 26 years: To use high-quality, specialty coffee as a vehicle for positive change throughout the coffeelands of Asia, Africa and the Americas.

In 1994, we set out to prove that a for-profit business could create meaningful change through ethical business practices rooted in respect for the earth, the farmer, our co-workers and the consumer.

Our work starts with decades-old direct relationships with coffee farmers. From them, we source only organic, shade-grown coffee. This guarantees that the soil is pesticide-free, and that the farmer is protecting the soil and water quality of their farm. We also ensure the surrounding environment, including critical migratory bird habitat, is conserved, optimizing conditions for growing outstanding coffees.

Our business model is radical and, some say, totally backwards:

1. We BUY HIGH and SELL LOW. We pay as much for that coffee as we can! Then, we sell it to the public as low as we can, so everyone has the opportunity to be a part of socially-just trade.
2. We design and fund People-Centered Development projects in each community we work with, based on the communities’ chosen priorities. This award-winning approach focuses on the real needs of local communities for the ecological, economic and social necessities of life that are often disrupted by conventional development assistance.

Right now, many cooperatives identify climate resilience and food sovereignty as top priority. Together, we have created reforestation projects in Peru, Nicaragua, Guatemala, and Sumatra, setting up native fruit tree nurseries and planting over 350,000 trees to date. We are engaging young farmers in Guatemala to continue farming the land of their ancestors, while utilizing new technologies that offer solutions to a changing climate, as well as green jobs to a new generation.

We are currently scaling up our 20-year long agroforestry and water conservation project in Sumatra to save the critically endangered orangutan. Our “Reclaiming Sumatra” project includes purchasing land from palm oil plantations, cutting down oil palms and reforesting with indigenous hardwoods grown in nurseries we started with our farmers. So far this year, we’ve planted 11,000 trees.

The project is decreasing palm lands, increasing orangutan habitat, adding bird-friendly and carbon-neutralizing acreage around the coffee farms, and providing alternative income to the farmers growing and planting the trees. We will donate the Green America award to this project, immediately increasing orangutan habitat and sequestering carbon in Sumatra.

Dean’s Beans Organic Coffee Company is a certified Organic company, proud to work in cooperation with Fair Trade Federation and B Corps to promote business as a force for global good.

A proven pioneer in the field of social responsibility, social justice, sustainable practices and ecological stewardship, we ask you to join our movement. Together, we can brew great coffee and create real change.

We started Bennett Compost ten years ago with $100 and a dream to make composting easy for people in the city.  Since then, we've grown to a company of 10 employees, and compost the food waste and organics for over 3000 households and businesses in the Philadelphia area.  Our goal since day one - to give Philadelphians the option to compost, even in the city! The average person throws out over 1600 lbs of "garbage" each year. Our composters throw out half of that. 

Food and landfills don't mix.  Food scraps emit greenhouse gasses when they're sent to the city dump and left to rot.  According to the UN, over 30% of the food we grow winds up in landfills, contributing to over 8% of greenhouse gas emissions each year.  

We keep these organics out of landfills and recycle them into compost just as nature intended, using traditional methods and aerated static piles.  This approach drastically reduces greenhouse gas emissions, and creates garden-ready compost in 90 days with the help of our microbe and worm friends!

Winning this grant would allow us to get another compost site up and running before the end of the year. The money would allow us to purchase blowers and timers to set up new aerated static piles and build additional worm bins. These steps would allow us to continue accepting additional material and diverting more waste from landfills.

Restaurants have always played a large role in shaping how eaters view food. They help remind consumers how food is produced and where it comes from. Their influence can sometimes bring about green trends in cooking and no-waste practices, but the full potential of the industry to help create a more renewable food system is yet to be realized. Zero Foodprint is an organization aiming to tap into that potential of restaurants to educate consumers. Food Tank had the chance to talk to Anthony Myint, co-founder of Zero Foodprint and iconic restaurants such as Mission Chinese Food, Commonwealth Restaurant, and The Perennial.

“We’ve always believed that restaurants could do more than serve food,” Myint says to Food Tank. “The restaurant industry is by far the biggest sector in the food system at US$799 billion in the United States—larger than farming and retail. And more than just financial capital, I’d argue that chefs have the most cultural capital and agility as well.” Zero Foodprint is all about redirecting a small fraction of that capital to help fund the transition towards regenerative agricultural practices, and many world-renowned chefs have already signed on.

According to a recent article from Science Advances, agricultural management practices that draw carbon from the atmosphere and place it into soils have the potential to be key in the fight to reverse climate change. These practices have been described as “carbon farming” by many organizations, including the California Water Science Center, the Western Australian Government, and in the Journal of Environmental Management. Myint tells Food Tank, “For reference, if the U.S. restaurant industry added a one percent charge at restaurants and sent it towards carbon farming in the food system and other environmental projects, it could fund practices that would offset half of the U.S. gasoline consumption. The practicality and scalability of carbon farming is the biggest climate opportunity and probably the biggest story in food.”

Myint tells Food Tank, “I mean, I am not sure if my staff is showing up to work tomorrow or if my orders are going to arrive or if customers will come or if I’ll make payroll this month. Most chefs are not even looking two months ahead, much less to the next generation.” Zero Foodprint aims to find a practical way for any restaurant to get on board that doesn’t add to their already-full plates.

Every Earth Day, Zero Foodprint brings together chefs and restaurants from all over the world to go carbon neutral. By donating one dollar per diner, restaurants can offset their carbon emissions for the day by helping fund the transition to regenerative agriculture. This year, some of the world’s best restaurants participated, including noma, Chez Panisse, Eleven Madison Park, Saint Peter, and Attica. Having many of the world’s top chefs supporting the fight for sustainable agriculture could have a massive influence on where the industry is heading. Myint tells Food Tank, “If 10 celebrity chefs started really working on climate change, soon it would be 1,000. The industry is simply waiting to be activated.”

Myint also co-founded The Perennial Farming Initiative with partner Karen Leibowitz to help steer the food system in a regenerative direction by using agriculture to sequester carbon (the capture and long-term storage of carbon dioxide) and fight climate change. Focusing on healthy soils may bring about a more holistic view of not only what we’re eating, but how it was produced, which could help make positive changes in the food system from the ground up. “The solution isn’t using the chard stems and stem cell burgers, it’s shifting millions of acres, billions of dollars and trillions of pounds of organic matter,” says Myint to Food Tank.

If climate change feels like an impossibly knotty threat to unravel, consider the outlook of Alisa Gravitz (MBA 1980), who sees being carbon negative worldwide by 2050 as entirely possible. As president and CEO of the Washington, D.C.–based nonprofit Green America, Gravitz leverages the economic power of consumers, investors, and businesses to create systems-level solutions. “On climate, it’s simple,” says Gravitz, “Stop putting carbon dioxide into the atmosphere and draw what’s there back down.”

For Green America, that’s meant leading consumer campaigns targeting telecom that led to Verizon’s move to shift its energy use to 50 percent renewables by 2025, and supply chain programs to increase carbon sequestration through soil health initiatives with companies like Danone and Cargill: “Through photosynthesis, we can sequester enough carbon in the soil to reverse climate change,” Gravitz says.

Green America’s sustainable supply chain networks provide peer learning, support, and connections to innovations. “I love the market-solution focus of what we do,” says Gravitz, noting that, in recent big utility buys, solar and wind—with battery backup—are less expensive than coal and natural gas. “I love the victories. When everyone else is in a deep depression about climate change, we can say, ‘Hey, guys! Stop despairing and take action! There is a pathway forward.’ ”

Originally published on business.com by Bryan Pena | August 30, 2019

Getting certified can help your small business.

There are more than 40 million independent workers in the U.S. today, and that means a competitive market for the attention and eyeballs of your desired clients. Becoming an effective networker, honing your social media presence, and developing a comprehensive marketing strategy are all important aspects to building a business, but they aren't always enough to differentiate you from competitors and larger companies.

Today's customers want more than low prices – they want to know the businesses they engage with align with their own personal values. One way to stand out from the crowd and tap into client values is to pursue a certification. Certifications can help attract clients who want to support a small sustainable business or value the particular focus of your certification.

For instance, more than 8 in 10 Americans say it's very or extremely important that companies implement programs that improve the environment. Being able to point to a specific environmentally focused certification can help you stand apart. Certifications can also give you access to set-aside contracts as well as specialized funding and scholarships. Here are six small business certifications to consider.

1. Green America Certified Business

Green America's Certification for Green Businesses certifies businesses that adopt principles, policies, and practices that improve the quality of life for their customers, employees, communities, and the planet. You're probably familiar with Green Businesses such as organic food and drink company Clif Bar, plant-based product company Seventh Generation, and beverage company Honest Tea.

Once certified, you can add the Green America Certified Business Seal to your products or marketing for your services. This recognizable seal can influence purchasing decisions of environmentally conscious consumers who place a high value on products or businesses that have made the commitment to go green. Certification is a straightforward process that is designed to be affordable and take only 20-40 minutes to complete.

2. Women-Owned Small Business (WOSB) and Women's Business Enterprise (WBE)

Women-Owned Small Business (WOSB) and Women's Business Enterprise (WBE) are two certifications for women-owned businesses that are offered through the U.S. Small Business Administration.

WSOB gives small businesses exclusive access to federal contracts, helping to provide a more level playing field for women who own their own company. To qualify for this certification, a business must be 51% owned and primarily managed by one or more women. WSOB-certified businesses also gain access to networking opportunities, exclusive training and mentorship programs, and leads for bids and proposals.

WBE gives small businesses access to both government and private sector contracts. Similar to the WSOB requirements, a woman must hold the highest position at the company and be active in daily management to qualify for WBE certification. WBE also provides access to new contracts, educational programs and networking opportunities.

3. Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED)

The Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certification can be a good match for a small business that operates out of a home or office where structural or interior updates can be made. The goal of LEED is to encourage green building to maximize occupant health and productivity, use fewer resources, reduce waste and negative environmental impacts, and decrease life cycle costs.

LEED operates off of a ranking system that assigns points based on the construction, design, operation and maintenance of your building. A building can be awarded a Certified, Silver, Gold or Platinum certification based on the number of points it qualifies for. A LEED-certified building enhances your company's profile as a green energy leader.

In addition to demonstrating a commitment to environmental sustainability, LEED certification can help your business reduce monthly bills by making changes such as installing fixtures that reduce water use or solar panels that increase renewable energy.

4. Minority Business Enterprise (MBE)

If your business is at least 51% owned, operated and controlled by minorities, you may be eligible for the Minority Business Enterprise (MBE) Certification. This certification provides access to private sector and corporate contracts, specialized loans, educational programs, and networking opportunities.

An MBE certification can be a great way to help your business grow. Access to loans can give your business the boost it needs to get started. Attending networking events is a great way to market your business, showcase your services to a new audience and land new contracts. By taking part in educational workshops and mentorship opportunities, you can build a strong system of support as your business evolves.

5. Veteran-Owned Small Business (VOSB) and Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Small Business (SDVOSB)

Veteran-Owned Small Business (VOSB) and Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Small Business (SDVOSB) certifications provide access to prime federal government contracts and subcontracts through set-asides. Set-asides are contracts that the federal government has specifically set aside for small business that meet a certain set of requirements. Each year, federal agencies are required to withhold a percentage of their contracts for veteran-owned small businesses to apply to, helping ensure that these businesses get a fair share of work in the federal market.

The VSOB and SDVOSB certifications can be a bit confusing to navigate, simply because there's not a single part of the government or third party that manages them. To get started, a business must become certified as a veteran-owned business through VetBiz Registry, a veteran business database. After certifying, your business can register with the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Veteran's First Contracting Program and obtain access to set-aside contracts with the VA. To become eligible for other government contracts, you can also register with the Federal Contractor Registration and the General Services Administration.

6. B corporation

A B corporation is a company that balances purpose with profit. Certified B-corps must meet certain standards of social and environmental performance, public transparency, and legal accountability. Becoming a B-corp shows that your business is committed to certain social and environmental principles.

Companies must go through a rigorous review process and complete an assessment of their sustainability practices before certification, which offers the chance for companies to ensure their supply chains and business practices are up to par with the program requirements. Companies are reassessed every three years to maintain their B-corp status.

B-corps include many well-known companies, like brewery New Belgium Brewing Co., popular ice cream brand Ben & Jerry's, and outdoor apparel company Patagonia. B-corp certification can be a great strategy to attract new clients and potential investors, as consumers are willing to pay more to support companies devoted to sustainability. Assessment for becoming a B-corp looks at how the operations and business model of your company impacts your workers, community, environment, and customers.

Bottom line

Committing to obtaining and renewing a certification each year requires a certain amount of work and dedication, but the many benefits you can gain as a small business owner are often worth the effort. After certifying, be sure to update your marketing and promotional materials to advertise your new status, and take full advantage of everything the certification has to offer – apply for open contracts, sign up for a mentoring program, and attend educational events. If you're looking for a way to differentiate your sustainable business or attract a certain subset of clients, a certification may be just the solution you need. 

Are you interested in other business-related certifications? Check out our other guides on business.com and on our sister site, Business News Daily. 

• Best Business Certifications
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• Best IT Certifications

We’ve all seen images of the Amazon forest fires. You may have already heard the news that these fires are more extensive than those in the past, with over 80,000 fires this year. You may have also heard folks explaining that this is fire season, and this is normal.

These Amazon forest fires are not normal

The fires in the Amazon Rainforest this year are not the result of lightning strikes or even accidents. They’ve been deliberately set; they’re the result of cattle ranchers, farmers, logging and mining companies, and other industries deliberately burning the forest in order to clear the land to make a profit. This deliberate destruction is blessed and supported by Brazil’s extreme anti-environmental President, Jair Bolsonaro, who supports the greed of industry over the health of some of the world’s most important forested land. It was even a platform of his campaign. As a result of domestic and international pressure, Bolsonaro signed a decree on August 29 banning fires to clear land for 60 days, but this may be a public relations ploy. Since enforcement of existing laws to protect the Amazon is lax, there is no reason to believe that future fires will be prevented, and the fires already started are still raging.

These fires are tragedy for Brazil, as people are experiencing severe health problems from the smoke inhalation and are at risk of losing their homes. Over 34 million people call the Amazon region home, including Indigenous peoples who cannot survive without a thriving rainforest. This is a tragedy for the thousands of species that call the Amazon home: one in ten known species on earth live in the Amazon and are at risk. And it’s a tragedy for the entire planet since the Amazon is a major carbon sink, helping to slow the progress of global warming. The current destruction of the Amazon is so extreme that the forest is reaching a tipping point where it could degrade into a savannah. Once that happens, the forest cannot be restored.

Actions to Take

If you are appalled by this destruction, here are actions you can take:

1. Join Events around the Country on September 5 for the International Day of Action for the Amazon. The day of action is sponsored by Act for Amazonia, Amazon Watch, and Extinction Rebellion to call attention to the plight of the forests and Indigenous peoples.
    
2. Put Pressure on the Worst Companies. While the companies directly responsible for the destruction of the Amazon are largely Brazilian, they work closely with US agribusiness companies like ADM and Cargill, and these companies are financed by some of the largest banks and asset managers in the world, including Bank of America, JP Morgan Chase, Citigroup, and BlackRock, which is the world’s largest asset manager with $6 trillion in assets. BlackRock is one of the largest investors in Brazil’s agribusiness sector and announced plans to expand its operations in Brazil after Bolsonaro was elected.
   
   Sign these petitions with Green America and our allies:

Tell BlackRock to stop funding Amazon destruction

Tell JP Morgan Chase to stop funding the climate crisis
 

3. At the Grocery Store: According to a new report from Mighty Earth, several major food companies purchase beef, soy and other products from Cargill and Brazilian firms like JBS that are implicated in the destruction of the Amazon.  If you are a customer of Ahold Delhaize stores (Giant, Stop & Shop, Hanneford, and Food Lion), McDonalds, Costco, Walmart, or Nestle, let them know that you are concerned about the fires in the Amazon, and want them to take action to get products out of their supply chain that drive destruction in the Amazon.
    
4. Use Your Banking and Investments to send a message. If you haven’t moved your money to community development banks and credit unions that support local communities and away from megabanks that finance the climate crisis, you can use our Get A Better Bank database to find a great option near you.
   
   And, if you are investing in stocks and bonds, take action to divest from fossil fuel companies, agribusinesses, and megabanks by moving your assets to socially responsible investments.
    
5. Use Your Purchasing Power, especially when buying meat or wood.

• Beef and Leather: Since 2017, most of Brazil’s beef has not entered the US market, but processed Brazilian beef can still appear in products on US shelves like beef jerky and corned beef. Also, leather goods in general may come from Brazilian cows. VF Corp., owner of Timberland, Vans, and Northface, issued a statement that it will no longer purchase Brazilian leather.  Use your consumer voice to encourage brands you buy from to follow suit.  Avoid processed beef and leather products, and in general, to address climate change, try to eat less meat, shift towards a vegetarian diet, and buy less new clothing.
   
• Wood products: Logging for wood in the Amazon is a major cause of deforestation. Some of these wood products can enter the United States. If you are purchasing tropical hardwoods, look for products that carry the Forest Stewardship Council certification. Better yet, purchase reclaimed woods.
   

6. Take Action to Protect US Forests. While the Amazon rainforest is unique, all forests are important to the environmental health of the planet. In the midst of the Amazon fires, the Trump Administration announced that it is seeking to open up the Tongass National Forest to logging. The Tongass is the largest intact temperate forest in the world and is one of the great natural treasures of the US. It is also a major source of carbon sequestration. Political and legal pressure have preserved the Tongass before, so call your Senators and Representative in Congress and tell them to fight for the Tongass forest and oppose the Administration’s attempts to sell off one of the nation’s most precious assets.

The Problem at Walmart

Green America recently launched Cool It, our campaign to address harmful emissions causing the climate crisis. The campaign focuses on hydrofluorocarbons, or “HFCs”, extremely potent greenhouse gases that are used as refrigerants in refrigerators and A/C Units.

HFCs are leaking into the atmosphere from faulty equipment and irresponsible disposal, which is dangerous because of their high global warming potential. HFCs have thousands of times the warming power of CO2, meaning there’s an urgency to address these short-lived, heavily polluting gases.

A quarter of refrigerant used at a typical supermarket leaks out every year, so we’re urging companies to act, beginning with Walmart. 

Our campaign urges Walmart to improve its refrigerant practices, as it reports that HFCs make up nearly half of its direct greenhouse gas emissions. The Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA) has also urged Walmart once again to at least catch up to other supermarkets and be more transparent on this issue. 

Walmart has recently stated that it is making “great progress” on the goals of our campaign, but their own HFC emissions data and a lack of specifics on any new actions taken in the past five years tells a different story.  

Unfortunately, Walmart has a history of claims using vague language to describe its refrigerant practices without releasing target goals or timelines. For example, Walmart committed to begin phasing out HFC refrigerants starting in 2015, however its HFC emissions proceeded to increase by 16 percent the following year.  

The below graph shows Walmart’s reported HFC emissions to the Carbon Disclosure Project, reflecting all publicly available data from 2005 to 2017 (the last year for which there is reported data). The bottom line is that Walmart’s emissions from HFCs were significantly higher in 2017 than in the baseline year of 2005. And from 2012 to 2017, HFC emissions increased by 43.6 percent while the number of stores only increased by 4.7 percent.  

Walmart's Emissions

As shown below, the company’s HFC emissions were steadily increasing from 2005 to 2009. They remained relatively stable through 2011, followed by a slight decrease in emissions in 2012.  

Then from 2012 to 2014, there was a significant increase. During this time, the Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA) published its report on supermarket emissions and refrigerant practices, which Walmart was cited as one of the “dirty dozen” companies. As the report lays out, Walmart is a member of the Consumer Goods Forum (CGF), which committed to begin phasing out HFCs starting in 2015.

In fact, the report notes that after Walmart had signed CGF’s pledge to meet this goal, the company continued opening hundreds of locations without even a single one using HFC-free refrigeration. Walmart achieved a decrease in HFC emissions in 2015, the year the pledge went into effect, but in 2016 those emissions jumped again by nearly 20 percent, followed by a slight decrease in 2017.  

Even if Walmart could return to its 2005 baseline (a 50 percent reduction from current levels) this would still be roughly 1.4 million metric tons of HFC emissions per year, the equivalent of 300,000 cars on the road.  

Graph 1. Data sourced from Walmart’s Carbon Disclosure Project. 

As the 2013 EIA report also noted, Walmart was using a secondary loop refrigeration system that combined carbon dioxide and HFCs in “over 125 stores” (representing just 1 percent of existing stores at the time). While Walmart states that it operates “hundreds of facilities” with near HFC-free alternatives, we ask for the company to increase its transparency on this process to demonstrate recent progress relative to its now 11,200 locations worldwide.

The company also claims that its strategy calls for moving to low- and ultra-low GWP refrigerant options. However, it has not released a comprehensive policy with a targeted goal and date for phasing out HFCs from all facilities and replacing with zero or near-zero GWP options.  

And lastly, Walmart states that it is looking to reduce its refrigerant leaks. As Section 608 of the Clean Air Act stipulates, if a commercial refrigeration system leaks more than 20 percent of an ozone-depleting substance, there is a timeline required to repair that leak. But Walmart has not publicly released its average leak rate or any goals to decrease that rate, even though it is considered best practice to report this information.

Walmart is notably not a member of the Environmental Protection Agency’s GreenChill Partnership, which requires companies to set goals for reducing leaks annually, report data on progress, and achieve less than a 15 percent leak rate for certified stores. Many of its competitors are members of this program, such as Aldi, Kroger, Publix, Target, and Whole Foods.  

Furthermore, in contrast to Walmart, supermarkets identified by the Environmental Investigation Agency as leaders on this issue have taken much more comprehensive steps to address refrigerant emissions, including installing HFC-free refrigeration in hundreds of stores, adopting explicit goals to improve refrigerant management, and by providing updates through annual corporate social responsibility reports and reporting data to the EPA.  

A Call to Action for Walmart Shoppers

Green America continues to call on Walmart to set a concrete timeline and plan for phasing out HFCs from all its facilities that is as aggressive as the realities of climate change demand. With dire timelines and projections from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and the effects of the climate crisis already threatening communities worldwide, eliminating these extremely potent greenhouse gases must be a priority.  

The company’s CEO announced its sustainability goals back in 2016 by pointing to a “new era of trust and transparency.” We are asking Walmart to follow through on these statements with a comprehensive and transparent plan for phasing out HFC refrigerants to address this significant impact on the climate.   

Thousands of people have already signed our petition calling on Walmart to take action – join by adding your name and telling Walmart to Cool It for the climate! 

Planted Table launched in early 2018, spearheaded by two sisters who wanted to make a heart-healthy, organic plant-based diet more accessible to everyone. The meal delivery service offers meals packaged in glass containers. Instead of encouraging consumers to recycle or reuse the glass, the company picks up the empty containers at the end of each week, washes them, and reuses them for the following week. Meal delivery services and food kits often involve loads of plastic containers and trash. Planted Table avoids wastefulness entirely by using glass containers. The company is mission driven over revenue driven, which is why using plastic containers and creating more household waste was never an option for the founders, even though it would be the more profitable option. It’s not about how to grow and scale at all costs; it’s about how to best serve customers in a way that causes the least amount of harm. Harm to people’s health, the environment and to animals. That’s why the vegan company uses glass containers for the thousands of meals they serve Bay Area residents each week. By doing this, they have saved over 100,000 plastic containers from filling landfills and customers say Planted Table helps to greatly reduce their household waste. Along with using glass containers, the vegan company works with local farms for their organic produce. 

Working with glass is not always easy. It’s expensive, heavy and fragile.  It has to be collected from customers, sanitized and stored properly.  But, knowing that we are doing our part to feed families in a way that doesn’t harm the environment makes it all worth it. Winning this award will help us to invest in much needed kitchen and infrastructure upgrades that will allow us to offer our meal plans to more families. Thank you for the consideration.

Let’s move past the green and gene revolutions to a microbiome renaissance

By Louise Elizabeth Maher-Johnson, Ayana Elizabeth Johnson on August 20, 2019

Editor’s Note (9/3/2019): This post has been substantially rewritten to change or eliminate claims and sourcing that did not meet Scientific American’s editorial standards. The revised post can be found here.

As food writer Mark Bittman recently remarked, since food is defined as “a substance that provides nutrition and promotes growth” and poison is “a substance that promotes illness,” then “much of what is produced by industrial agriculture is, quite literally, not food but poison.” Of course, it doesn’t have to be this way. Eliminating pesticides and transitioning to organic regenerative farming can get us back on track to nutritious food, restore microbiomes and protect our health. Let’s break all this down, and then talk solutions.

“You would have to eat twice as much broccoli today to get the same nutrients as a generation ago.” That is according to data from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, from 1975 to 2010, as reported by Planetary Health/Amberwaves. So much chewing! And in fact, the situation may be even more dire. Data going back to 1940, as reported by Eco Farming Daily, shows: “The level of every nutrient in almost every kind of food has fallen between 10 and 100 percent. An individual today would need to consume twice as much meat, three times as much fruit, and four to five times as many vegetables to obtain the same amount of minerals and trace elements available in those same foods in 1940.” Thank goodness for multivitamins, but we’ve also got to fix this.

Why are nutrients in our food declining? Well, for one, we are killing the soil it grows in. Prodigious use of biocides (herbicides, insecticides, fungicides, as well as synthetic chemical fertilizers and antibiotics) kill or disrupt soil microorganisms that allow plants to absorb nutrients. Also, increased atmospheric CO₂ is accelerating photosynthesis; plants grow faster but contain fewer nutrients, which is expected to lead to worldwide nutrient deficiencies. Vegetables becoming more like sugary snacks? Not good.

Not only are plants getting less nutritious, they’re also getting more toxic. For example, over 90 percent of corn plants, the U.S.A.’s number one crop, are genetically modified organisms (GMOs), with genes inserted from other species. These genes allow corn to be sprayed repeatedly with multiple weed killers including: glyphosate (in Monsanto’s Roundup, the most used herbicide ever), 2,4-D (similar to dioxin and Agent Orange) and dicamba. These herbicides are water soluble and systemic; they can go anywhere water goes, and they get inside the plant’s cells, so the toxins can’t simply be washed off before you eat.

Plus, GMO corn is also engineered with genes that enable it to produce multiple insecticides in every cell, which the EPA euphemistically terms “plant-incorporated protectants.” On top of that, GMO corn seeds are coated with neonicotinoids (associated with bee colony collapse and harm to other insects) and with bright turquoise fungicide, and the bags have a warning label not to touch the seeds with your bare hands or allow pets nearby. Of course, all of these genetic modifications become obsolete, as nature quickly evolves resistance, and we have created a toxic arms race. So, what does this mean for us? Well, because corn is in so many foods (corn syrups, oils, and products of corn-fed farm animals, etc.), we are often ingesting several toxins with each bite. Not good.

Broccoli exemplifies the “green revolution,” begun after World War II, when our munitions factories were repurposed for mass production of synthetic nitrogen fertilizers and pesticides, and large-scale industrial, monoculture farming began. GMO corn exemplifies the “gene revolution” of industrial agriculture of the last two decades. It is said this chemical and technological transformation of our food system is necessary to feed the world, but there is reason to be skeptical. It has only sometimesresulted in increased yields, while producing less nutritious and more toxic food, and much of that goes to animal feed.

Both revolutions are heavily fossil-fueled—synthetic fertilizers and pesticides, huge tractors and combines, processing and precooking, plastic packaging, refrigeration and long-distance transport—contributing to industrial agriculture being a leading cause of climate change.

Both revolutions are dangerous for human health. The epidemic of 20 chronic diseases—including diabetes, obesity, breast and thyroid cancers, stroke and autism—is highly correlated with the rise in production of “Roundup Ready” GMO corn and soy, both sprayed with glyphosate. Meanwhile, our less nutritious food reduces our ability to fight off these diseases.

Doomsday scenario? Well, maybe. Or time for a third revolution.

THE MICROBIOME RENAISSANCE

A microbiome is simply a community (or biome) of microorganisms—bacteria, fungi, archaea and protozoa. This renaissance we envision will include respecting both our internal and external ecosystems, at a microscopic scale with macro implications.

In soil, microbes in the trillions are essential for crop nutrient density, water retention for flood and drought control, soil aeration, decomposition of plant fiber and composting, defense against plant diseases and prevention of soil carbon oxidizing into the atmosphere. Notably, soils rich in microorganisms draw down and sequester the potent greenhouse gases carbon dioxide and nitrous oxide, while also purifying water, supplying plants with macro- and micronutrients, and reducing the need for synthetic fertilizers. To reap all these benefits of healthy soil, we must stop with the poisons. Duh.

In humans, our 30 trillion or so human cells are outnumbered by diverse microorganisms, our “inner soil,” that function throughout our bodies in exchange for food (bacteria in our colons prefer plant fiber!) and shelter. Our microbiome performs a wide range of critical functions, such as bolstering our immune systems, manufacturing vitamins, supporting digestion and protecting against disease. Have you thanked your microbiome today?

As physician and medical communicator Zach Bush, summed it up, “It is time to realize that pesticides are antibiotics themselves—antibiotics that are killing what is left of the good bacteria and biodiverse microbiomes in both our soil and in our physical bodies.”

The key to this microbiome renaissance will be nurturing rather than killing or disrupting the balance of our friendly and essential microbiota. This will require us, humanity, to make organic regenerative farming and gardening the status quo. Regenerative farming means working with, not warring against, nature—planting and saving diverse varieties of heritage seeds, protecting pollinators, growing biodiverse crops that are rotated, using natural fertilizers such as legumes and nitrogen from the atmosphere, recycling organic matter (mulches and composts), multispecies cover cropping and crop rotations to build soil, and grazing (not confining) farm animals. This can be at all scales, including climate victory gardens in yards, local parks, terraces and rooftops.

Additionally, a recent study found that "after only six days on an organic diet, every single person would see significant drops in those pesticides, including several linked to increased risk of autism, cancer, Parkinson’s, infertility, and other significant impacts on health."

Not only is transforming our agriculture to regenerative practices a win for our health and for nature more broadly, it’s also a key climate solution. As we’ve written here previously, we can sequester carbon and improve our nutrition through regenerative farming of land and sea.

However, the microbiome renaissance doesn’t stand a chance unless, for starters, we stop using glyphosate, an antimicrobial ingredient in hundreds of herbicides. Glyphosate has been found in air, rainwater, drinking water, and in groundwater used for crop irrigation. It moves throughout leaves, stems, seeds, roots and soil. It moves through human organs, lymph tissue and blood. It poisons microbiomes. It’s time to boycott biocides, including GMO corn products, for a return to a healthful cornucopia.

This is also a food justice issue, as organics are often more expensive and less available in poor communities and communities of color. Hence the importance of efforts like Friends of the Earth’s Organic For All, and of ending huge farm bill subsidies to corn and other big commodity crops, and instead subsidizing the transition to regenerative practices.

As a 2018 report by 130 worldwide national academies of science and medicine concluded, “The global food system is broken, leaving billions of people underfed or overweight and driving the planet toward climate catastrophe.” It recommended as solutions climate change-resilient crops, smarter crop rotation, soil protection, more precise use of fertilizers and minimizing pesticide use. Precisely.

It is pure hubris to think we can manipulate nature into agricultural perfection with synthetic fertilizers and pesticides. Instead, to adapt to and mitigate the intertwined ecological, human health and climate crises, we must respect the elegant complexity of nature. We must overhaul our food system. And it can all start with the foundation of ensuring that microbiomes flourish.

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About Spindle Mattress

Trying to find an all-natural latex mattress in an actual store has never been an easy task. Not only that but, traditionally, they were fairly expensive and vendors don’t deliver everywhere.

Then along came Spindle to change that.

All-natural latex is basically natural rubber. It’s a liquid that comes out of a rubber tree that gets processed into something that can be shaped and molded into a pliable structure. If you’ve had a latex pillow for a number of years, you get what we’re saying.

Spindle Mattress was founded by a man who grew up around mattress makers hoping to become one himself one day. He knew the possibilities behind using latex.

He created Spindle as a direct-to-consumer company that sells all-natural latex mattresses in four different firmness levels at reasonable prices … for the notoriously difficult-to-find latex mattress.

It’s not cheap in the “Oh my, that mattress is a steal!” sense, but the price is reasonable for the quality in the “That computer is expensive but I won’t have to replace it in two years like this other one at half the price” kind of way.

Maybe after reading this review, you’ll feel better. It’s not sticker shock in the classic sense. Spindle comes in at far below the $3000-6000 you could be forking over for another brand of natural latex mattress.

There are other things consider—some that may convince you this is a great price for that quality latex mattress for which you’ve longed. But if you haven’t tried one before, you should consider several other things before buying this one.

Written by Jes Walton, the Food Campaigns Director at Green America. This article was first published on FoodTank.

Imagine you’re new to a community. But it is plagued by poverty, conflict, and oppression. Parts of your neighborhood are covered in trash, and abandoned homes are a common sight. There are no grocery stores or places to buy healthy food. But you’re an entrepreneur, and you come from a long line of farmers and land stewards. You and your family endeavor to bring hope to this new community, and to your own lives, by regenerating the land around your new home—by growing food.

This is just part of Aja Yasir’s story, a snapshot of where she is today as she fights for her urban farm. She can follow her agricultural roots way back. “My family has never skipped a generation of growing food. Unfortunately, many black people in this country can trace their family lineage to enslaved ancestors,” says Yasir. “But my grandparents grew food in Mississippi, and my parents grew up seeing that. When my family fled from violence, discrimination, and the Klan in Mississippi during the second great migration, they came to Chicago and planted again. And here I am, planting with my daughter and son in Gary, Indiana. This is just a huge part of who I am.”

For Yasir, growing food in urban spaces was never unusual. When she moved from Homewood, Illinois to Gary, she brought this with her. She and her husband purchased a home that was zoned residential and agricultural and quickly went to work. While her neighbors had green lawns, Yasir slowly converted hers to a regenerative urban farm. She protected and built the soil with woodchips, compost, and mineral-rich seaweed that she harvested herself from the canoe launch near her home. She planted food and medicine, watering it from rain collected on her property.

Yasir’s newly purchased home had been vacant for two decades. It had a bullet hole in the front window, a physical reminder of the neighborhood’s not-too-distant history. But she could see past this, could see the potential. In just a few years, life surrounded this home, supporting her family within.

But there were complaints. Why? Surprisingly, about the woodchips.

Yasir admits that regenerative agriculture takes time, and the woodchips will break down as they build and feed the soil. Other urban farms in Gary have woodchips, as do many other landscapes in the city. Gary’s Department of Environmental Affairs harassed Yasir and her family over this “debris” and blamed her for pests in other parts of the neighborhood that predated her garden by decades. She finds this attack on her lifestyle and her garden hard to understand when there are much bigger issues to address in her community. “I don’t know what’s going on here. I think it’s a matter of aesthetics—even the abandoned houses in Gary have traditional lawns—combined with a power issue. Some are using the word discrimination, but I don’t have proof. I just can’t believe we’re going to court over a garden in a community that doesn’t really have grocery stores.”

Yasir’s garden is a Certified Wildlife Habitat site with both the National Wildlife Federation and Indiana Wildlife Federation. It’s a registered Climate Victory Garden, committed to pulling carbon out of the air and storing it in soil to fight climate change. Her no-dig methods and chemical-free gardening support soil life. The garden feeds Yasir’s family and neighbors. It provides fertile learning grounds for her daughter’s homeschool classes. And, it’s therapy.

The same year Yasir closed on the house, she lost her three-week-old daughter to a rare genetic condition. The garden is named for her: Rose for Yaminah. Yasir speaks about her grief and the role of gardening, “As a parent who’s lost a child, it’s like my hands are empty. Especially because I lost an infant child, my hands are empty, and I just feel like I have to do something with my hands. I need to nurture something. That’s what gardening is to me. I can go out into my garden and be taken to another world. I’m able to meditate. I go into the soil. I’m able to smell the garden. It’s just a beautiful experience.”

The blight and oppression in Gary have affected Yasir’s mental health and likely also added stress to other residents in this poorly served community. She calls it overwhelming, again pointing to her garden as a sanctuary—a place that restores her sanity and represents life. Or, at least it used to. The city’s resistance to her woodchipped yard has added to her anxiety and depression. It’s made it more difficult to cope. She hardly sleeps.

Yasir goes to court on June 24, 2019, to defend the regenerative urban farm that surrounds her home. This garden is a big part of Yasir’s identity and her family’s day-to-day life. “I won’t back down. We all deserve access to healthy food, and if that access doesn’t exist, you have to create it for yourself. People have the power to do that. If I want certain foods, I’m going to grow them myself. I’m not going to eat flaming hot Cheetos just because that’s what the system is pushing on me,” says Yasir.

Yasir sees beyond her own yard and immediate neighborhood. She’s a visionary, committed to a brighter future for downtrodden Gary. “Especially because so much of this city is zoned agricultural, I think we could be a model city for the whole nation. A city that has risen up from the steel mill and all the toxicity and unemployment. There’s so much opportunity for us to become a culture of agriculture if only people are allowed to do it,” says Yasir. The outcome of the June hearing could set a precedent for the city, which receives agricultural grants but doesn’t seem to know how to support their citizen farmers. Then, maybe the energy that’s going into fighting woodchips can be redirected towards learning and accepting that the community can change and grow.

The battle over this one garden is at once so personal and also very public. Yasir talks about flowers in her yard as an indication of hope. She sits with her plants to lift her spirits. “Mental health is a stigma that no one wants to talk about. People see it as a weakness. It’s not,” says Yasir. “Many people aren’t surviving their mental illnesses. I’ll do whatever it takes. I’m here to do more than survive, I’m here to thrive, and I’ll fight the system for this if I have to—for me to thrive, for my descendants to thrive, and for my community to thrive.”

Aja Yasir won her case against the city in October 2019.

Read more inspiring Climate Victory Garden stories and tips.

Can Pollinator-Friendly Solar Energy Work for Bees and Farms?

By: Lela Nargi, FoodPrint 

In 2016, the Scenic Rivers Energy Cooperative approached Sharon and Bob Wood about placing solar panels on nine of their 300 acres in Mount Hope, WI. The Woods, former dairy farmers in their 70s, already leased much of their land as crop ground and pasture for milk cattle. But this deal “sounded too good to be true,” recalls Bob.

To set up 1.25 megawatts worth of ground-mounted solar panels that power 300 homes a year, the utility company would give the Woods a 25-year contract for three times the amount they could charge a farmer for a lease — a financial buffer for the couple in their retirement. As a bonus, the land under and around the panels would be planted with low-lying native flowers and grasses like clover, asters, and June grass.

There was aesthetic appeal to this set-up, in contrast to the eyesore of gravel or turf grass that usually undergirds a strip of solar panels. But looks weren’t the only reason the Woods were interested. In a state with 400 bee species, many in decline, so-called pollinator-friendly solar energy offers bees and butterflies something to eat and somewhere to nest. This is important since pollinators are vital to food production, and their populations are being decimated by habitat loss and agricultural chemical sprays. It’s a win for the bugs and in Mount Hope, it’s also a win for the Amish farmers who are “a quarter of a mile away from us as the bee flies,” Sharon says, and who have vegetable crops that need pollination from the insects attracted to the Woods’ native meadow.

Solar Ascending

Just two years earlier, the Woods’ solar energy story might have turned out differently. In 2014, solar energy companies were approaching Midwest farmers to develop prime farmland into conventional gravel-and-turf-grass-based solar projects, according to Rob Davis, director of the Center for Pollinators in Energy at clean energy non-profit Fresh Energy in Saint Paul.

“Anticipating the unintended consequence of this kind of energy transfer sent shivers down our spines,” Davis says. Minnesota was in the process of moving from 150 to 8,000 acres of ground-mounted (as opposed to roof-mounted) solar. Not only would such conversions of farmland to energy-only operations have negative consequences for pollinators; they’d also take arable land out of production—the opposite direction US agriculture needs to head to meet food needs as climate change continues to negatively affect our crop yields.

Davis discovered that in the UK, some solar energy parks were planting seed mixes developed by an ecologist. Online, inspiring photos showed innocuous-looking solar panels plopped into vibrantly blooming meadows. Were such initiatives worth pursuing in the States?

Davis contacted renowned University of Minnesota bee expert Marla Spivak to ask. “She was pretty direct and emphatic and helped us understand that county, state, and federal governments and authorities were not investing enough money in conservation programs, and that private sector money for creating habitat would be meaningful,” says Davis. He got a similar answer from an entomologist with expertise in monarch butterfly populations, which have plummeted by 90 percent.

Fresh Energy began an awareness campaign that attracted stakeholders eager to discuss pollinator-friendly solar solutions, including Minnesota’s Board of Water and Soil Resources; Audubon Minnesota; the Minnesota Farmers Union; the Minnesota Corn Growers Association. In 2016, thanks to the efforts of this consortium and other players, the state became the first to pass a pollinator-friendly solar energy law, which mandates standards companies must meet to label themselves “pollinator-friendly.” Five other states—Illinois, Maryland, New York, South Carolina, and Vermont—have since followed suit; six more have written standards without the legal framework. As of this writing, there are 5,000 acres of pollinator-friendly solar energy from Oregon to Vermont.

The Benefits of Pollinator-Friendly Solar

The potential benefits of pollinator-friendly solar energy are many and varied. Yes, they provide on-site habitat and forage for beleaguered bees, butterflies, and other insects. These insects provide pollinator services to both agricultural crops planted on nearby farms, and to those that have been purposefully planted right at the edges of a field full of solar panels—a technique known as agrivoltaics. Having lots of pollinators around, to visit flowering plants over and over, actually increases crop yields.

These systems can also support rotational grazing of livestock and honeybee apiaries. And yes, they keep arable land as arable land, so that it can be used to grow things in the future; and also add to it energy and ecosystem services that improve life for everything on our planet—Davis calls this “stacking benefits.”

The ecosystem services that come about through the (re)introduction of native plants to a landscape improve soil health; help remove carbon from the atmosphere and its store in the ground; reduce flooding; and clean air and water. Larger arrangements of solar panels than what the Woods’ host on their property, for example, which are naturally situated on larger plots of meadow, make for prime foraging ground for animals like pheasants. Additionally, the plants underneath a solar array—raised two to 10 feet off the ground—help cool the panels, boosting their efficiency. Some more elevated models also allow for food crops to be grown directly beneath them.

Although native seeds can be expensive, it’s less work to prepare the ground for a meadow than it is to purchase and lay down gravel or turf grass. This lowers the cost, as does a meadow’s reduced maintenance—requiring maybe one mow a year. Jordan Macknick, lead energy-land-water analyst at The US Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), says the extra money for seed is made back in a couple of years.

Searching for Stats

Still, what’s missing is hard data—on everything from whether the meadows beneath pollinator-friendly solar panels do improve the health of insect populations, to what seeds thrive in various climates. The former has mostly been informed by parallel research from the restoration ecology sector that shows native-plant benefits to pollinators.

The latter is very much a work in progress. As Davis points out, Vermont’s agriculture (blueberries, apples) differs vastly from Illinois’s (corn, beans, pumpkins); so does each state’s native plant network and the insects that rely on it. As a result, determining standards for the steps an energy company must take in order to use the “pollinator-friendly” designation has been a challenge, requiring input from an army of experts with wide ranging knowledge.

Broadly, the standards are loose and flexible; scorecards give points for high diversity of native plants, selections that bloom throughout the year, and best management practices. Regionally, would-be solar-adopters are advised to work with local plant specialists to determine the right seed mix—in Vermont, for example, this could include Black-eyed Susans, Little blue stem grass, and coneflowers.

Still, there’s a lot to know about what works and doesn’t. Which is why NREL is studying nine seed mixes, comprised of hundreds of species of plants, at 21 solar energy test sites across the country. One of these is located at a Clif Bar bakery in Twin Falls, ID. Helping to figure out what the right mix of native seeds for this region of high desert is a way for the company to meet its sustainability goals, says Clif Bar vice president of environmental stewardship Elysa Hammond. But demonstrating pollinator-friendly solar could have wider influence. “If utilities understand they can do something that benefits farmers and the environment, that will be a whole new way to think about energy policy,” Hammond says

University of Illinois professor of entomology Adam Dolezal, who worked on Illinois’s standards and legislation, thinks that pollinator-friendly solar energy has its limitations. The state’s agricultural land leans toward conventionally farmed monocultures of corn and soy beans, which provide very few nutritional resources to pollinators needing a variety of multi-season flowers to forage from.  “If we can work patches of restored habitat in to extreme agricultural landscapes, is that the best-case scenario? Probably not,” Dolezal says.  However, research has shown that bees with access to small areas of prairie restoration, right across the street from, say, a cornfield, collect more pollen and showed increase fat stores.  And we also know, says Dolezal, “that the alternatives of turf grass and gravel are not going to have any benefit.”

Which means that, with the solar energy sector growing at a rapid clip of 14 percent a year, pollinator-friendly models still provide an important opportunity, says energy and research specialist at the Center for Biological Diversity Greer Ryan. On top of the climate benefits of switching off of fossil fuels, “We can be creative about where and how we build to protect the environment.”

Meanwhile, back in Mount Hope, WI, the solar meadow on the Woods’ property will soon be blooming for its second season. “I was so happy they didn’t just spread gravel,” says Sharon Wood. “I haven’t seen bees and butterflies around here for years, and if this brings them back, that’s a good thing.”

Washington, D.C. - August 13, 2019 - Green America, the nation’s leading green economy organization, has announced a new campaign to call on Walmart, one of the world’s largest retailers, to reduce its hydrofluorocarbon (HFC) emissions. The Cool It campaign urges Walmart to release a detailed plan to phase out HFCs in all locations, monitor and repair its refrigerant leaks and practice responsible disposal. The company’s own data states that HFCs account for roughly 46 percent of the company’s total direct emissions, according to the Carbon Disclosure Project.

Hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) are greenhouse gases with thousands of times the heat-trapping power of carbon dioxide. Used as refrigerants in air conditioners and refrigerators, HFCs leak into the atmosphere from faulty equipment and improper disposal. Walmart has made statements on the importance of refrigerant management in the past but has not released a concrete plan to cut those emissions.

“These potent greenhouse gases have extremely high global warming potential and need to be addressed,” said Beth Porter, Green America’s Climate Campaigns Director. “The energy equivalent of Walmart’s annual HFC emissions would power nearly every household in San Francisco. It is a glaring source of the company’s impact on the climate crisis and we are urging Walmart to take action.”

In 2013, the Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA) explicitly called attention to Walmart’s inaction on its refrigerant practices and HFC emissions in its report, The Dirty Dozen: How your local supermarket is killing the climate. Although Walmart released goals on cutting greenhouse gas emissions through its highly publicized initiative, Project Gigaton, which aims to “avoid one gigaton of greenhouse gases” by incentivizing its suppliers to make changes, the company does not list a public goal on direct HFC emissions despite having been aware of the issue for years. In April 2019, EIA released its Climate Friendly Supermarkets platform map to celebrate leaders on the issue (including Aldi, Whole Foods and Target) showing the actions of each company and why it makes business sense to move to climate-friendly cooling.

“In a time of acute need for climate action, Walmart, a company with a massive footprint and ample resources, continues to sleepwalk while smarter companies are rapidly adopting energy efficient HFC-free technologies,” said Avipsa Mahapatra, Climate Campaign Lead, EIA. “EIA joins Green America in once again calling upon Walmart to sever its reliance on potent super-pollutant HFCs for cooling and demonstrate that the company’s sustainability commitments are not just hollow words.”

Improved refrigerant management is identified by Project Drawdown as the number one solution to reduce greenhouse gases causing the climate crisis. The EPA reports that one quarter of refrigerants used at a typical store leaks out every year.

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

ABOUT EIA

Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA) is an independent non-profit campaigning organization dedicated to identifying, investigating, and implementing solutions to protect endangered wildlife, forests, and the global climate. EIA Climate campaign is working to eliminate powerful greenhouse gases and improve energy efficiency in the cooling sector, and expose related illicit trade to campaign for new policies, improved governance, and more effective enforcement. www.eia-global.org.

Contacts

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

Lindsay Moran for EIA, (202) 253-0006, or lmoran@eia-global.org

Back To Cool It! Campaign

1) What are HFCs and how are they different from CFCs? 

2) Where are HFCs found? And when are they the most dangerous? 

3) Who are the major contributors? 

4) What are the risks for the planet? 

5) What threat does the climate crisis pose to human health? 

6) What are the refrigerant alternatives to HFCs?

7) What is the Kigali Amendment? And how is it different from the Montreal Protocol in the 1980s?

8) What is the EPA doing to address refrigerants?

9) Why Walmart? 

10) Which supermarkets are cutting HFCs? 

11) What can I do?

Hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) are greenhouse gases containing carbon, hydrogen, and fluorine. They are entirely human-made and do not occur in the natural environment. HFCs are used as refrigerant to promote cooling in appliances such as refrigerators and air conditioners. Decades ago, appliances used chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) as refrigerants, which wreaked havoc on the ozone layer and were phased out after the 1987 Montreal Protocol. They were replaced by hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), which do not deplete the ozone, but they do have up to 9,000 times greater warming capacity than carbon dioxide.    

August 1, 2019

Amazon is funding a 23.2MW wind farm in Cork, Ireland, and a 45MW solar farm in Pittsylvania County, Virginia, USA.

The two sites, with an expected annual generation of 68,000 megawatt hours (MWh) and 100,000 MWh respectively, will be used to serve Amazon Web Services data centers when the farms come online next year - via Power Purchase Agreements.

The two sites are the company’s 65th and 66th renewable energy projects, including 51 solar rooftops. Together, by 2020, the 66 sites have the capacity to generate 1,342MW of power, and deliver more than 3.9 million MWh of energy annually. Amazon made a commitment to power 100 percent of its global operations with renewable energy all the way back in 2014, but didn't set a time frame. Also, as of 2018, it is only getting about 50% of its energy from renewable sources while Google and Apple are using 100% renewable energy.

Thanks to Green Americans taking action with us, we have been able to continue to push Amazon to keep adding more clean energy.

Written by Peter Watts, a recently retired science educator who integrated gardening, land-use, and other environmental lessons into his classes for three decades at Riverside Middle School. Today, he consults on establishing pollinator habitats, re-wilding lands, and environmental science education with his company PhenoCulture Wisconsin, LLC. 

Mrs. Morton pushed up her dark cat-eye glasses and announced the upcoming assignment, asking our fourth-grade class to collect at least four different autumn leaves for a project. The class was abuzz with enthusiasm, but I wasn’t sure how I’d be able to do this because our city street was lined with a monoculture of majestic elms (which were completely decimated by Dutch Elm Disease a few years later). 

Instead, my parents took me to a nearby park. The exuberant vibrance of autumn awakened my soul as I looked up at the blazing red sugar maple, golden white birch, electric ruby purple ash, and yellow-orange red oak. I ran along the mowed grass, embracing the trunks and feeling the bark of each tree, collecting leaves, clutching them protectively to my chest. Back at school, we pressed the leaves and mounted them on burlap in a wood picture frame. 

Later that winter of 1969, we planted marigolds and in early spring we germinated seeds and grew tomatoes and zinnias, nurturing them until we brought them home. I was allowed a small garden plot in our tiny backyard to grow my treasured plants. I was so proud of my little garden. 

Fourth grade with Mrs. Morton changed me forever—I give her credit for awakening the part of me that craves the outdoors and is heavily influenced by the changing seasons. It is because of her that I have taken the proud path of self-sufficiency, becoming an activist, environmentalist, and science educator.

Building a Modern School Climate Victory Garden 

Fast forward to early 2014, when my school was awarded a $4,000 grant from the United States Department of Agriculture and Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction to build a garden. Exciting as that was, it took convincing to get our superintendent, buildings and grounds manager, and business manager on board. They wanted the garden in an obscure location across the street where it wouldn’t be an eyesore; I wanted high visibility, closer to classrooms with lots of sun and access to water.

I invited all three of them to physically come to the frozen, snow-covered middle school site in February, where I enthusiastically walked them through my vision, step-by-step. I assured them that this would not become the weed infestation that some worried about. This garden would be an extension of the science classroom and an important resource—and in the end they couldn’t deny that the project was worth a try. 

Our district nutritional services manager was excited about the project and its potential to serve food grown by students, and she sent over the common-sense food safety requirements. We agreed on suitable crops that fit within the restrictive logistics of a modern middle school kitchen. I sent emails to parents, typed up a school newsletter article, and contacted our local newspaper. Hearing about our garden, area businesses gave us more funding even before we broke ground.

We started saving cardboard boxes, ordering seeds, designing the 1,000 square foot garden, and building a seed-starting rack. Over the next month, I made lots of visits to local stores, making connections, networking, and compiling a list of materials that were within budget. Our city street department was also greatly supportive, offering to deliver wood chips for the paths at no cost.

On April 12, 2014, fifty students, parents, and friends showed up with their own tools, ready to build the sixteen beautiful cedar raised beds for my seventh-grade students to plant and grow food. That first spring was bitterly cold and wet, so plants had to be nurtured inside to start. In early May, we had over twenty cubic yards of soil delivered. Students spent science classes outside filling boxes and laying out paths, gridding the boxes, and planting tomatoes, peppers, broccoli, eggplant, potatoes, onions, celery, and cauliflower.

Today the Riverside Middle School Garden has grown to 7,000 square feet with a 1,150-gallon roof water collection tank, 16’x32’ hoop house, 10’x20’ pergola with 10 Leopold benches, and a 12’x8’ shed—all built with grants amounting to over $30,000. 

A school garden provides so many lessons about biology, math, geology, chemistry, writing, climate change, sustainability, and regenerative agriculture. I never had to explain why we weren’t inside doing worksheets and reading textbooks. Anyone observing the chaos would know instantly that these kids were getting a real hands-on, minds-on education!

Benefits Beyond the School Yard

Food insecurity can be eradicated through education, compassion, and activism. During the summer, our school-grown fresh food is delivered to community elders and at least 40 meals-on-wheels each week. Students also built a produce stand to set out free fall harvests of squash. No one should go hungry in our community, another important lesson for my students. 

What we’ve accomplished with the Riverside Middle School Garden is a microcosm of what the Climate Victory Gardening movement is working to achieve. Through education and guidance, everyone can learn how to be more self-sufficient and connected with the earth. Gardening is an active process that teaches us about soil, phenology, the nitrogen cycle, weather, and climate. It also teaches us the importance of community and hard work. 

As one of my heroes Ron Finley says, “Gardening is the most therapeutic and defiant act you can do, especially in the inner city.” The most effective catalyst to spark community in your school while growing one’s own food? I believe it’s teachers like Mrs. Morton.

Read more inspiring Climate Victory Garden stories and tips.

Reduce your diet’s impact on the planet by adopting an eco-friendly meal plan this week or all year. Even adopting one day a week of planet-friendly eating can make a huge impact.  

Day-By-Day Meal Plan for a Health Planet

MONDAY: Meatless/Vegan Monday

During WWI, the government encouraged Americans to reduce their intake of staple foods to aid the war effort—in part by adopting Meatless Monday and Wheatless Wednesday. Though those days were left behind after the war, climate activists have also pushed for people to eat meat-free at least one day per week. Nearly 60% of all global greenhouse gas emissions can be contributed to animal agriculture, according to research published in academic journal Nature Food.

Ideas for vegetarian dinner:

• Peppers stuffed with rice and organic meatless soy “beef” or “chicken.” To make it vegan, forgo cheese topping and use salsa, vegan cheese, or olive tapenade instead.
• Tex-mex veggie bowl: Add rice, beans, sautéed veggies, guacamole, and salsa to a bowl in whatever proportions make you happy. Enjoy a tortilla on the side, or sprinkle tortilla chips on top.

TUESDAY: Reconsider Your Meal Kit

Do you get mail-order meal kits from companies like Blue Apron or Hello Fresh? The insulated boxes include enough portioned and prepped ingredients to quickly whip up a meal for two or four. 

With these boxes, you don’t need to shop or plan and there often isn’t much food waste at meal-time. But the ingredients are often wrapped in lots of plastic. We dug deep in our article “Are Meal Kits Recipes for Fun, or Waste?” and determined a good/better/best of all the plans we could find, including organic meal-kit options.

Idea for meal kit dinner: Meal kit companies often post fun recipes online for free, so you can save money by buying the ingredients yourself.

• From Whole Foods meal plan service: Layered vegetable enchiladas.
• Find recipes from Blue Apron: blueapron.com/pages/sample-recipes/.

WEDNESDAY: Try Local Flavors

Ever heard the term “locavore,” meaning someone who eats local food? It’s not possible for all foods all the time, but there are great benefits to eating local when you can: 

1. Taste: local food might taste better because it was picked at its peak, instead of weeks earlier, like produce you find at the grocery store. 
2. Climate impact: It travels less distance to get to you, which lowers the transportation footprint.
3. Supporting local economies: Buying local keeps money circulating in your local economy. Plus, knowing the farmers means you can ask questions about how your food was grown and engage in conversations about important topics, like how regenerative agriculture helps soil health and fights climate change. 

Incorporate local food by finding a farmers’ market in your area or joining a Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) program, which delivers boxes of local food to your door or an easily accessible location every week. Find a CSA or market at localharvest.org.

Idea for local dinner:

• Veggie skewers: Add seasonal veggies and organic tofu or chicken pieces to skewers. Brush with BBQ sauce, salad dressing, or oil and a favorite spice blend. Bake or grill. Seasonalfoodguide.org can help you find out what’s in season.

THURSDAY: Feeling Fishy

Fish is broadly considered a healthy food, with less fat and just as much protein as other meats, plus omega-3s, calcium, and other minerals. There’s not currently a certification for USDA organic fish. But some methods of fishing aren’t sustainable, like bottom-trawling, which can speed up coral reef destruction. Sometimes, eating specific types of fish isn’t sustainable, as they may be chronically over-fished, or unhealthy because they may have high concentrations of mercury. 

The best way to get high-quality seafood that’s caught in an eco-friendly way is to buy local and check labels. If you have a fish market in your community, talk to the employees about where fish comes from. In stores, look for labels including Marine Stewardship Council, Fishwise, and Seafood Safe. Learn more about those labels and about getting truly sustainable seafood. 

Monterey Bay Aquarium’s Seafood Watch has resources about finding safe, sustainable seafood, including an app you can use in the grocery store to see if the brands you like are green.

FRIDAY: Eating Out, Green

Many folks who are interested in their health and the health of the Earth avoid eating out because food tends to be more processed, or when it’s organic and unprocessed, it can get rather pricey. That doesn’t mean you can’t treat yourself to a night out once in a while. Check GreenPages.org for certified green restaurants, as well as the Green Restaurant Association, dinegreen.com.

SATURDAY: Be Aware of Food Waste

A study from the Natural Resources Defense Council found that 40% of food in the US is wasted. Much of it never makes it to fridges and pantries as it goes bad on farms, in trucks, or at grocery stores. But it’s estimated that households waste a quarter of the groceries they bring home—that’s like leaving a bag of groceries you’ve paid for at the store every week!

Make sure you use up the food you buy. We have lots of tips for how to make the most out of fruit and veggies and pantry staples that are aging.

Use-it-up dinner ideas:

• Frittata or a quiche. Add five eggs and a splash of milk to whatever vegetables or cooked meats you have left over from previous meals and bake in a pie pan (with crust to have a quiche, or none to make a frittata).
• Fried rice: Stir leftover cooked rice in a hot pan with eggs, cooked meats, and cooked or raw veggies, along with a bit of oil, soy sauce, and hot sauce to taste.

SUNDAY: Shopping Day

Going to the grocery store is a great way to vote with your dollars about what kind of world you want to see. 

Sunday dinner ideas:

• Come full circle with climate-friendly lentil soup. Lentils have the lowest carbon footprint per pound than any other food. Plus, this is a one-pot meal, which is great for a busy day.

Updated January 2024

Written by Priscilla Woolworth, the author of the online Eco-Living Almanac and the book LOLA: Lots of Love Always, a book for young women who are adopting a sustainable lifestyle and making healthier choices. Here, she discusses the process of starting a Climate Victory Garden at her house, in the lowest waste way possible.

Even before starting renovations on the 1790’s house I bought in the Hudson Valley of New York, I created a Climate Victory Garden. My priority was to start growing my own food and share it with my family, friends, and the local food pantry as soon as possible. Living self-sufficiently, reducing waste by reusing as much as possible, growing food organically, saving seeds, planting a pollinator garden, and composting are all essential to me.

Location Location Location

First, I had to choose a location that wasn’t too far from the house, had lots of sun, and was reachable for the garden hose. I also wanted it to be close enough to the road so that people passing by could see it and hopefully get inspired.

While I had help building the 8-foot high deer-proof fence, I simultaneously assembled 27 raised beds, leaving enough room to walk around comfortably between them. Most of the fencing and bed materials were purchased new because of the quantity needed and to ensure long-lasting protection. This was more expensive, but better for the long term because they will withstand the extreme weather and won’t leach toxins into the soil. I used cedar posts and wire mesh fencing, installed 3 feet underground, to prevent diggers from getting into the garden.

Filling the Raised Beds

When it was time to fill the beds, I spread un-composted plant-based kitchen scraps like coffee grounds and old salad greens all over the bottom. As the material decomposes, it adds beneficial nutrients to the soil and attracts worms, which aerate the soil. Then I fill the beds with a mix of organic garden bed soil (which had to be delivered) and a sprinkle of centuries-old leaf mold, which I harvested in various areas of my woodland—being mindful to just take a little here and there.

While getting the beds ready, I started vegetable seeds in reusable plastic food containers.

When the seedlings emerged and were ready to be planted, I mulched around the new plantings with chopped up straw, which helps protect the roots from drying, reduces weeds, and eventually decomposes into the soil at the end of the season. I also used reusable ID stakes, so I don’t forget what I planted and where. I especially love these stakes because they used to belong to my grandmother in Maine.

Reducing Waste by Reusing

I’m mindful on a daily basis about reducing waste in my life, and I’ve found that the garden is one of the easiest places to be zero waste. Everything used in the garden can be reusable, and even seeds can be saved from each vegetable or flower for the following year’s garden. All plant material can be composted, creating healthy garden soil that also stores carbon, helps mitigate climate change, and allows for reuse and recycling of nutrients!

I made bamboo tipis for the cherry tomatoes and, as they grew, I secured the plants to the bamboo with stretchy, reusable, and repurposed panty hose, which allow the tomato plants to grow without cutting into their stems—just use the leg parts, which can each make two ties. I also used old drawers as planters to diversify the garden and use more found objects.

Compost Area

The next thing I needed was somewhere close to the garden for composting. The perfect spot had a ton of weeds, which had to first be cut back. Once the area was cleared up, it was enclosed using old posts and discarded weathered fences. Next, I laid down pieces of cardboard (free of tape, staples, and colored ink parts)—to discourage weeds from growing back—and started adding plant waste on top. These two semi-enclosed compost areas have plenty of room to put garden waste along with the kitchen scraps and leaf litter.

In the fall, when the garden is ready to be put to bed, I remove all the spent vegetables and add them to the compost area. I dig and turn the beds, add more un-composted plant-based kitchen scraps, and cover each bed with a layer of straw. Come spring, all I have to do is scrape off the straw and add it to the compost; then the beds are ready to be planted all over again.

My new home and Climate Victory Garden made it possible for my long-time dreams to come true. It feels good to be a respectful steward of the land, while using nourishing and waste-free practices. Plus, my children enjoy picking homegrown tomatoes!

Materials I bought once and reuse every year:

• Bamboo poles for staking tomatoes, peas, and tall flowers
• Nude pantyhose, for securing tomatoes to the bamboo poles
• Metal watering cans bought at flea markets
• Plastic food containers for sprouting seeds
• Plastic food netting, for carrying harvested vegetables like cherry tomatoes and peas, or mushrooms foraged in the woods
• Woven bamboo food covers used for harvesting greens and peas.
• Round aluminum pans for harvesting vegetables

Materials I found and reuse:

• An old weathered fence and wood posts for the compost area
• A wood chair found on the side of the road, for sitting in the middle of the garden
• Fallen branches used to create support for climbing vegetables like tomatoes and beans
• Rocks and chunks of bark used for edging on non-wood raised beds
• Cardboard, ripped up and added to the compost area
• Plant stakes and terra cotta pots from my grandmother 

Read more inspiring Climate Victory Garden stories and tips.

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