Sustainable Greenville

Beyond Greenville’s Bottom Line – A Green Economy is Growing

Sat, 06 Dec 2008 12:53:00 -0100

Just days ago the nation discovered that over 500000 jobs were lost in November. For many Upstate South Carolina residents, these statistics only exacerbate the already withered strands of emotional lifelines. We look for ways to stretch our funds and time, conserve energy and resources, and hope for the economic white knight to ride in on a gilded stallion.     Despite these fragile economic times, some of the best news Greenville has recently received is our ranking for weathering the economic downturn. We were recently ranked 4th in a recent study as to our ability to withstand these tumultuous times. Woohoo!   Well maybe I should be a little more conservative in my woohoos. We continue to hear of companies either closing or laying off employees. What is an employee but a number; replaceable or even a burden to the bottom line. We all know employers that care only for the bottom line. But now the backlash is showing its beautiful behind. Americans are standing up and making it clear that the bullish and greedy owners and CEOs are not welcome to continue their traditional ways. Both Republicans and Democrats are saying enough is enough. Many of the people I have recently spoken to are in agreement, most big businesses are dinosaurs and the hearts of those dinosaurs are blackened and hardened with age. Most of us want a better business model, but are uncertain as to what that model should look or feel like.   And yet there dozens of models out there that respect the lives and economic burden of employees, suppliers, customers and owners. These models follow the concept of a triple bottom line: people, planet and profits. More and more businesses are embracing sustainability in its many forms where socially responsible enterprise is the next generation of global economic modeling. From parallel currencies to fair trade to green banks to B-Corps, the market is expanding to include a variety of ways to establish a new way of doing business. By including people and the planet in a company’s mission and vision, they are venturing into slightly tested waters with the intention of placing value on more than just money. Yet the pioneers are mostly in agreement, you still need to grow and make profits. In other words, a new kind of social capitalism.   So where are these businesses here in the Upstate? Is this area ready to ride that wave of new and challenging economic swells? What happens when it breaks? Do we ride in smoothly and then paddle out into deeper waters? Or do we watch from the shore, making sure the waves are neither too large nor dangerous to ride?   Well there are companies here in the Upstate that have already been testing the waters for a while and not really knowing what to call their business model. They knew only that to not address the social and environmental issues was a crime to humanity, our community and their own business. These small businesses are scattered across our fractured landscape. There are, as well, the large well known companies taking on these issues as a recourse to traditional models for many reasons. Some recognize the importance of conducting business in a way that takes in account the social, economic and environmental factors where the ends do justify the means. It’s a matter of developing circular systems that mean more than just growth and decay.   Then there are the large companies who are only using the models to hoodwink the general public into believing they are doing good for goodness sakes. But it is sometimes difficult to identify the “greenwashers” and “socialwashers”. To some degree all large companies greenwash. Since more people want to incorporate green-living principles and products into their lives, these large companies recognize the marketing potential. They may already be adding better ways to conduct business, but are now pushing harder for the potential buck from that demanding public. Yes, I am glad the companies are promoting the new principles and products. I only wish there [...]

Sustainable Agriculture is Blooming in the Upstate! Or is it?!

Sun, 19 Oct 2008 17:32:00 -0100

Yesterday I heard some troubling news that demanded a call to action. The Clemson University Student Organic Farm is under the chopping block as a direct result of the current economic downspin.   As Vice Chair of the Board of Directors for the Greenville Organic Foods Organization I am well aware of the growing presence and support for sustainable agriculture here in the Upstate of South Carolina. I am also highly aware of financial constraints within the current economy that is also hitting our educational system.   However, there are certain things we need to strongly oppose when cuts are wanted. I was sent a petition to preserve and strengthen this treasure of the Upstate; one that demands more than our attention, a true necessity for future generations.   It is now globally accepted except for a radical minority that we need to find alternative sources of energy. Oil and its byproducts will eventually disappear. This we know for a fact. What is in debate is how quickly this will happen and to what degree we as human despoilers can alter the climate. Oil is a limited resource. Middle East countries already know this and are positioning themselves for the day when their global oil exports dry up.   You may be asking what this has to do with organic farming? Well let’s take a look at what we use oil for. Oil of course is used in the production energy, but it is also used for producing plastics (another whole blog topic), pesticides and herbicides. All of these products of production are necessary for large scale agribusiness. Even large scale organic farming use energy and plastics. Farming requires technology to run on energy to prepare the soil, grow the food, pick the food, package the food, transport the food and sell the food.   Let’s look at the unseen ways in which oil plays a role in this linear system. We will focus on one particular area of interest: selling produce.   Most food can be categorized into three areas: processed, packaged and produce. (I wanted to replace produce with whole foods, but meats, dairy and eggs are all whole foods that are all processed and packaged.) Processed and packaged food items encompass the great majority of what is found throughout the grocery store. The inputs for these foods are immense and the profit margins become extremely small as a result. The demand for marketing and advertising is high to offset the costs. Stores want people to buy packaged and processed foods over whole foods. (Avoid the center of the store if you want to save money.)   Selling foods require advertising. The number one source for advertising is circulars, which require massive amounts of paper and ink. Most paper is produced using power from coal burning plants (another blog topic). However, most ink is still derived from petroleum products. The sheer volume of circulars and general advertising in papers make up most of the content. Shipping these papers made up of mostly advertising requires a large amount of petroleum. Hence, these two oil inputs for the linear system to get agribusiness (and some organic) products to your plate is incremental to the success of the system.   The byproducts of consumerism demand a shift in our approach to producing, picking, packaging, shipping and selling food stuff. The linear system of the old “green agriculture revolution” must be replaced with a circular system within the new “sustainable revolution” of organic/sustainable agriculture. We are learning to avoid all petroleum based pesticides and herbicides with organic farming. We are learning a “local food system” shifts us away from intensive, long distance shipping using large amounts of petroleum to locally grown and sold organic/sustainable foods at local markets, fairs, groceries and farm stands. Advertising is being replaced with word of mouth and sustainable networks. People are reconnecting food with place. And nothing tastes better than organic produce grown on small farms nea[...]

OH, GREAT PUMPKIN, WHERE ARE YOU?!

Tue, 30 Sep 2008 10:28:00 -0100

You may not have to search as hard as Linus to find The Great Pumpkin, but your search still is not easy. Sustainably grown pumpkins are a rarity. It is probably the one vegetable we think about the least when considering how it was grown.   Halloween is one of our great consumerist holidays, filled with pumpkins, lot ands lots of  overly sweet goodies, autumn decorations and of course disposable costumes. Most of what we buy (and see across the Upstate landscape) ends up in our landfills fairly quickly. We will spend a couple of billion dollars on all of this STUFF. This Halloween let’s make a contribution by having a green Halloween.   Yikes! Who ever heard of a green Halloween!   The bright orange pumpkins we buy for Halloween as jack-o'-lanterns are one of many types of pumpkins. The sugar, green and white lumina pumpkins are available in many stores and markets and are great for food dishes. However, a sustainably grown pumpkin is more difficult to find. There are a few pumpkin patches around that offer healthy, clean pumpkins. Mini-Miracles Farm in Taylors and Rose Hill Plantation in Easley are two of them. If you go to any other farm or the market, ask about the pumpkins. Find out how they were grown. Izzys at The Saturday Market in downtown Greenville has several types of sustainably grown pumpkins for the next few weeks.   Except for pumpkin pies (which usually are made from squash), most people have never eaten pumpkins. Pumpkins are good sources of Vitamin A, Vitamin B, potassium, protein, iron and they are low in calories, fat, and sodium and high in fiber. Pumpkins are actually a fruit and are classified as a type of squash related to cucumbers and melons. Pumpkins are native to our continent and have been domestically grown here for several thousand years. In 1584, after French explorer Jacques Cartier explored the Saint Lawrence region of North America, he reported finding "gros melons". The name was translated into English as "pompions," which eventually evolved into the modern "pumpkin."   If you want to hunt for or pick your own pumpkin, start your search at http://www.pickyourown.org/SC.htm . After Halloween, instead of throwing away the jack-o'-lantern, here are a couple of environmentally friendly things to do with it: put it in the compost heap - it will make good fertilizer, bury it in the garden - it will decay quickly and enrich the soil, and last and probably best, wash, dry and save the seeds to plant next year (they will grow!) What not to do: eat it! Unless you want to get sick.   And of course every trick or treater has gotten sick from eating way too much candy. The amazing thing is how toxic much of the candy landscape is, with ingredients too difficult to pronounce to the abundance of saturated fats. Organic and all natural sweets are on the rise. Not only are natural food stores offering organic candy bars, even the average grocery is carrying the healthy sweets. An awesome small chocolate bar is Green & Black's. Even Nestle has gotten into the organic fray. Other ideas? Pick up some fruit leather or honey sticks at grocery stores, health food stores or tea shops. Another suggestion is to hand out individual microwave popcorn packs. Newman's Own Organic makes wonderful microwave popcorn. You can even give away nonfood items like coins, gift certificates, organic seed packets or endangered animal stickers.   What about all of those decorations? Corn stalks stalk our lawns assuredly. Yet there are a lot of fake plastic decorations running amok. Can we not refrain from the consumer urge to festoon our homes with gaudy decorations? Switching to all natural locally grown pumpkins, gourds, corn and the ever approaching falling leaves offer up a green solution and also provides attractive appeal up through Thanksgiving. Keeping in mind of course the need to find sustainable farms that are willing to give up some sustainably grown corn stalks, is the best way to go. Want to fi[...]

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