A construction helmet and other objects, repurposed as flower baskets. All photos by author.

Each morning, when I step out the door and onto Infanta, there’s the triple assault on the senses: dog shit from dachsunds and mixed breeds; diesel fumes belched out in plumes from the tailpipes of Ladas and camellos, and piles of garbage sitting on street corners, baking in the sun as they wait to be picked up and carted off.

Within minutes, I feel dirty.

By day 7, I’m wondering what the long-term health hazards of living here might be.

For all of its grit, though, Havana offers the “developed” world some useful lessons in green living:

1. We don’t need to-go cups.

The guy who sells guarapo–the fresh-pressed juice from sugar cane–on Infanta doesn’t use to-go cups. You belly up to the bar, such as it is, plunk down your change, and take a long draught straight from a glass. When you’re done, you hand the glass back, it gets dipped in some water, and the guy behind you gets ready for his swig.

Whatever you’re drinking–guarapo, or coffee, or Tu Kola–you don’t need so much of it that it requires a special, disposable cup. And you definitely don’t need to be in such a hurry that you can’t stand around or sit down for a few minutes to finish whatever you’ve ordered.

2. Minimalist packaging works just fine.

My mother, in Cuba for the first time, leans over the deep freezer at Carlos III’s meat shop to inspect the chicken, some of which is packaged, some of which isn’t. No matter– the price stickers are pasted onto the non-packaged chicken, just as they are to the thighs, legs, and breasts bundled and twisted into clear plastic baggies.

In the US, frozen chicken free of packaging would likely be scooped out of the freezer and disposed of, the management citing health concerns. None of our fellow shoppers, however, seemed to be worried about the minimalist packaging.

3. Almost everything can be repurposed.

During my first Cuba trip, I watched my mother-in-law wash and reuse disposable grocery bags until the “nylons,” as she calls them, were worn out. I returned home with an obsession: everything could be repurposed. A rubber band, a plastic shopping bag, the newspaper: nothing should be wasted.

Though I’ve controlled the obsession (partly by becoming conscious of what I consume in the first place), each subsequent trip to Havana has made me realize just how much we could upcycle if we really wanted to try our hand at repurposing objects that have outlived their original use.

4. We don’t need nearly as many artificial lights as we think.

Part money-saving strategy, part resource-consciousness, Cuba’s capital is hypervigilant about energy use. Businesses that don’t need to turn on all their lights… don’t. Banks, restaurants, hotel lobbies, bookstores… no matter where you go in Havana, you’re not likely to witness any excessive use of artificial light. And really, I didn’t miss it.

5. Our bodies are an incredibly efficient source of energy.

Like the other lessons, this one’s painfully obvious–except for the fact that it isn’t in societies where folks are overly attached to cars and gadgets that promise to make their lives more convenient.

Pedal power.

But check out the guy on the right. He’s repairing some nail clippers by pedaling a bike to which he’s attached a sharpener. What would happen if more people used the power of their bodies to do the work they need to do?

Many aspects of Havana’s “green” lifestyle were/are precipitated by sheer economic necessity- and by no means is my intention to romanticize poverty. Nor do I contend that the Cuban government consciously proposes or enforces any of these strategies as part of an ultra-environmental social consciousness, a la Curitiba, Brazil.

But economy and politics aside, seven days in Havana remind me of how easy it is to go green at the individual and societal levels. It’s worth a try.

Community Connection:

Which of these strategies could you try? Any others you’ve seen in your travels that would be simple to implement? Share in the comments.

Photo: A receipt for a banana? functoruser

[Editor's Note: This article is reprinted from the Software Advice blog with permission of the author. It has been edited for length.]

I’m a Whole Foods regular. I live right across the street and every morning I stop in on my walk to work. I pick up two breakfast tacos and a coffee.

I also pick up a useless paper receipt.

I certainly don’t need a paper receipt – I have no desire to return a taco. Paper receipts represent a wasteful vestige of the last millennium. There is no reason – legal or otherwise – why consumers or retailers need paper receipts. Electronic receipts are completely valid and far more efficient.

Moreover, the production of paper receipts does real damage to our environment. Here are some stunning factoids I found at AllEtronic, an interesting business working to move receipts to digital format:

50% of forests have been cleared and 50% of that is for paper. 9 million trees a year, just for paper. It takes approximately 15 trees to produce a single ton of paper. Receipt paper demands in the US are 640,000 tons per year. This equates to 9,600,000 millions trees cut down each year just to produce paper receipts.

It takes approximately 390 gallons of oil to produce a single ton of paper. At 640,000 tons of thermal receipt paper demanded per year, that’s 249,600,000 gallons of oil used during production. That much oil could produce 115,885,714 gallons of gas that could fill 7,023,376 gas tanks (assuming an average tank size of 16.5 gallons).

The amount of carbon dioxide emitted by producing one ton of receipt paper is equivalent to the amount of exhaust a car emits while driving for an entire year. That’s 640,000 cars driving 24/7 for an entire year.

It takes approximately 19,075 gallons of water to produce a single ton of paper. This equates to 1,220,800,000 gallons of water used during the production process of receipt paper. That’s a lot of showers and swimming pools without water.

Approximately 2,278 pounds of trash are produced while producing a single ton of receipt paper. This means 1,457,920,000 pounds of trash are being fed into our landfill. This produces enough carbon dioxide emissions to significantly damage the earth’s ozone layer, leading to global warming.

Yesterday at Whole Foods, a thoughtful cashier asked me if I wanted a receipt printed. Surprised, I said, “No, thanks.” This was the first time I had ever been asked if I wanted a receipt, before printing. Usually they print it, ask me if I want it, and then throw it away (thermal receipt paper cannot be recycled). I assume Whole Foods has good reasons for printing by default, but I’d love it if they only printed the receipt upon request.

All this got me wondering why we have not embraced electronic receipts. Why would Whole Foods – a very progressive organization when it comes to environmental responsibility – continue to produce this archaic little scrap of waste?

It seems clear that the main problem here is inertia. We are accustomed to paper receipts; some people really want them. It is, in large part, a generational thing. The desire for a tangible, paper receipt is probably more common among older consumers.

So, what we really need is a strong incentive to move to electronic receipts. We need incentives – primarily monetary – that motivate consumers and retailers to push toward the vision of paperless retail purchases. Here’s my list of motivations:

Retailers gain valuable customer data: Electronic receipts need to be delivered somewhere; more than likely, email is the delivery mechanism. If consumers buy into electronic receipts, they may well provide an email address. If retailers can market through these emails in a way that benefits the retailer and the consumer, there’s a win-win opportunity.

Consumers get special offers: Most of us don’t like irrelevant, aggressive marketing, but we all love good deals on things we truly want or need. When marketing is relevant, we love it. Of course, this requires some give and take. If we are willing to give up more of our personal shopping history and an email, the better marketers will make it worth our while.

Consumers can track their spending: I love Mint, the personal financial tracking web app. Its intuitive, interactive charts allow you to drill down into your spending detail. Unfortunately, you can only analyze the transaction level, not the item level. A structured data standard for electronic receipts would enable item-level data that would power more insightful personal finance tools. Overall, it’s not the most difficult engineering challenge.

Retailers and consumers gain efficiency. A paperless organization is a better organization. I know firsthand that our company operates far more effectively since we went paperless. We can produce any invoice, receipt, contract or other document all the way back to our inception. It’s all in PDF format, on a server, backed up and searchable for everyone who needs it – in seconds. This benefit would apply to retailers and consumers.

Photo: benonthemove

The challenge with realizing most of these benefits is that there are hundreds of millions of consumers and millions of retailers. Getting everyone to change their ways and embrace technology isn’t easy. In fact, it’s nearly impossible to enact quickly.

However, almost all consumer and retailers have a relationship with credit card companies – Visa, Mastercard, American Express and the banks that issue the cards. These intermediaries have a tremendous opportunity to drive the evolution to electronic receipts and make money facilitating the aforementioned benefits. The control these companies hold is incredible.

I don’t expect to see a switch to electronic receipts overnight. I don’t expect to see if in the next five years. However, with enough incentive, innovative companies will make this happen over the next 20 years.

Do YOU think we should move to paperless receipts? Participate in Software Advice’s poll and leave comments below.

Community Connection:

Small actions can make a big difference when multiplied by hundreds, thousands, or millions of people. Read about small steps you can take to become more environmentally conscious on our Global Environmental Issues Focus Page.

Screenshot of Nalgene’s survey results. Feature photo: CanarsieBK

Last year, I made an argument for cities as potentially more sustainable than rural areas.

As a New Yorker who doesn’t own a car, takes public transportation, shops local, recycles, and has access to communities of other like-minded folks, like freecyclers, I have lots of first-hand reasons to be passionate about the environmental potential of cities.

Earlier this month, Nalgene published the results of its second annual Least Wasteful Cities study; the rankings are visible in the above graphic. San Francisco, Seattle, New York, Portland, Oregon, and Boston are the top five; Houston ranks dead last.

Nalgene defined waste aversion by questioning 3,750 respondents (approximately 150 participants from each of the 25 largest cities) about 23 different behaviors and habits that ranged from recycling to using public transportation.

As for the analytical nitty-gritty:

The answers for each question was [sic] calculated with a point-value giving to each answer based on the same 10-point scale. To derive the average answer for each question for a particular city, the number of respondents for each response was multiplied by the corresponding value (1-10), and then divided by the number of total respondents for that city. The result is the “unweighted” score for each question:

The average of all 23 questions was then used to derive the overall unweighted score for each city.

[Q]uestions were then weighted, reasoning that some actions are have a higher influence on waste or overall impact on the environment. Each question was assigned a value of 1, 5, 10 or 25 by which the unweighted score was multiplied, providing the final, weighted score:

1 Minimal impact behavior (e.g. Reusing wrapping paper)
5 Low impact (e.g. Turning water off when brushing teeth)
10 Moderate impact (e.g. Energy efficient light bulbs, reusable bottles)
15 High impact (e.g. Recycling)
25 Extremely high impact (e.g. Taking public transportation)

Do you live in any of the surveyed cities, and if so, what’s your take on the results? What might explain a particularly low score? If you live in a city outside the U.S., how might it rank according to these criteria? Share your thoughts in the comments.

Community Connection:

Why are cities sustainable? Here are my six reasons why cities are sustainable places. Let me know if you agree or disagree!

Mariel trying out the walker; Photo: Francisco Collazo

A few weeks back, my husband and I realized that our six month old was ready to practice toddling on her sturdy little legs. No longer content to lie prone on the bed, and too heavy, at 20 pounds, to sit in the swinging chair, it was time to buy her a walker.

Off we went to Target.

If there’s anything to make you aware of your materialist consumerism, it’s having a baby. Even when you resist the prevailing parent marketing narrative that it’s necessary for you to buy all sorts of gadgets and doodads (an electric warmer for diaper wipes!), it’s true that the addition of a child to your family does occasion the need to make some purchases, mostly of items that will outlive their usefulness within a few weeks or, at best, a couple months.

The environmentalist guilt associated with this phenomenon is relieved, somewhat, by deciding that you’ll pass these items on as hand-me-downs rather than toss them to the curb, but still… as I look at the plastic Kolcraft walker taking up a quarter of our living room, I can’t help but wonder where it will eventually end up.

As someone who cares about the environment, I’m fascinated by people like Colin Beavan, aka No Impact Man, who try to live as impact-neutral an existence as they can. And I admire people like Taina, a 31 year old Vancouverite who has sworn off plastics for at least a year, and Matador’s own Dona Francis, who lives fridge free and is currently trying to pare down her inventory of personal goods to just 100 items.

I’d like to be like them, and really, I try to do my part. I take cloth bags to the grocery store, I buy local whenever possible, I let natural light replace light bulbs as much as it’s feasible. I recycle, I eat organic, and I try not to buy things I don’t need.

But it feels incredibly challenging to get even close to the kind of lifestyles Colin, Taina, and Dona are leading.

I’d love to know how you try to reduce your impact on the planet and what kinds of challenges you confront. Please share your thoughts in the comments.

Community Connection:

Learn more about how you green your life on our Green Products Focus Page.

Photo: J.C. Rojas

This week is World Water Week, a time when environmentalists encourage us to become more conscious of and conscientious about our water usage.

For those of us living in the “developed” world, water is seemingly so abundant and accessible that we’re inclined not to worry about this particular natural resource.

But as Annie Leonard explains in her new video, “The Story of Bottled Water,” our water usage–and, in particular, our use of bottled water–affects people all over the world:

Community Connection:

Want to learn more about your own water usage and how you can use water more conscientiously? UNICEF has some useful resources on its TAP Project website, and here on Matador we have lots of ways you can learn more about water usage:

The Facts About Water

What’s Your Water Footprint?

40 Shocking Facts About Water

Photo by mistercullen

Fashion is complicated, and I don’t just mean in that matching-shoes-with-belts way. The style choices you make have far reaching socioeconomic implications, both at home and halfway across the world.

In short, the t-shirt you wear affects the world.

How Your Style Affects the World

A decision to buy a garment goes beyond seasonal trends. Where the garment was made, who makes it and how it is made, are questions you need ask to unearth hidden social and environmental costs. If the garment’s history reflects any of the following practices, the price tag doesn’t indicate half of its cost:

Sweatshops

Unlike the air-conditioned malls and boutiques where their work is sold, most workers in the garment industry toil in dangerous and oppressive conditions. They are forced to pull long shifts and take on large loads under the shadow of violence; for this, workers (often including children) receive abysmally low wages and no benefits.

Unsustainable Farming

Cotton is the most common raw material in the garment industry. It’s also the most damaging. According to the Organic Trade Association non-organic cotton farming uses approximately 25% of the world’s insecticide.

As a result, aggressive cotton farming has a negative impact on farmer health and the local ecosystem – it poisons waterways, soil, and air; drains water reserves; and use of excessive chemicals damages land productivity in the long run.

Animal Abuse

The popularity of animal skin encourages cruel harvesting of animals. Animals are recklessly farmed and traded in filthy, torturous conditions before being slaughtered. Endangered animals are also aggressively poached, derailing fragile conservation projects.

Environmental Waste

Production Process – On the one hand, the use of energy inefficient methods along with harsh chemicals and dyes contribute to increasing levels of pollution within the surrounding environment.

Post Use – On the other, rise in affordable fashion has given rise to use-and-discard buying trends. Once the clothes go out of fashion or favor, they are disposed. These clothes end up in shrinking landfills.

How to Get Ethical about Style

Ethical fashion is the use of ethical and eco-friendly practices in the creation and purchase of clothing so as to minimize environmental and social damage.

Photo by Uncleweed

Buy Fair Trade

Fair trade brands ensure worker welfare is taken into consideration during production and sale. This includes fair wages and benefits as well as a safe working environment. Many big retailers stock fair trade garments today. You can further source fair trade products through websites like Clean Clothes Campaign and Fashion Check.

Look for Green Labels

Eco-friendly fashion lines are becoming more and more accessible. In addition to big retailers, there is a growing green fashion movement. Leaders include Terra Plana and Responsibly Gorgeous, creating lines that use chemical free natural fibers like organic cotton, hemp, and jute.

Reinvent the Old

Shop thrift – Give your local thrift and vintage stores a shot. It may take longer, but you will find some unique pieces. Besides, what better place to shop for old trends making a comeback than at a vintage store? You’ll also find an outlet for your unused clothes.

Clothes Swap – Take into account the clothes you don’t wear and ones that don’t fit. If you’re anything like me, that’s a considerable pile. Consider a clothes swap with friends and family. This way you get to have a party, refresh your wardrobe, and get rid of unused clothes, all without waste. You can also use swap websites like www.whatsmineisyours.com, www.swishing.org and www.posh-swaps.com for worthwhile exchanges.

Upcycling – Why throw away old or damaged garments when you can turn them into something funky? Need more convincing? Check out this tutorial on converting an old t-shirt into something new.

Increase Awareness

Along with adopting green habits, it is important to learn as much as you can about these issues. Refer to the many online forums like Green America Today and the Ethical Fashion Forum for industry information, actions and policy implementation.

Community Connection

For more green solutions check out Matador’s Green Products focus page.

Photo above: Tony the Misfit (back slowly); Feature Photo: *clairity*

“The tenderness of the delicate American buttocks,” according to the UK’s Guardian, “is causing more environmental devastation than the country’s love for gas-guzzling cars, fast food, or McMansions.”

North America’s obsession with uber-soft toilet paper has driven the growth of toilet paper giants, Kleenex, Cottonelle, and Charmin, by more than 40% in recent years. With $100 million worth of marketing for products like three-ply toilet paper and tissues infused with hand lotion, it’s no wonder people are buying this stuff.

“This is a product that we use for less than three seconds, and the ecological consequences of manufacturing it…are worse than driving a Hummer,” says Allen Hershkowitz, a senior scientist at the Natural Resources Defense Council.

Although toilet paper made from recycled fibers can be made at similar cost, the fibers taken from standing trees give toilet paper the luxurious plushness Americans demand.

According to a recent New York Times article, just 2% of Americans use 100% recycled toilet paper at home… even though approximately 70% of us recycle other products regularly. We bring our own bags to the grocery store, we try to walk a little more often, but when it comes time for bathroom duty, we excuse ourselves from eco-friendly obligations.

Where’s the break down, folks?

The majority of toilet paper rolls sold in the US come from virgin wood harvested from North America and Latin American countries.  Over 10,000 hectacres of Canada’s ancient boreal forest have been clear cut to make disposable tissues, and thousands more from Brazil’s rainforest continue to be destroyed every year.

Is softness really so important that we’re willing to sacrifice our planet’s oldest forests to wipe?

In my opinion, no forest should be destroyed for the briefest and most undignified of ends. What do you think?

Community Connection:

Read 10 Tested and True Green Companies to learn more about businesses with an environmental conscience.

One more deep breath and another step. I can see my goal.

I’m so close and then I’m there: the first person of the morning to reach the summit of Kilimanjaro. The sun breaks through the clouds and lights up the glaciers. I’m lucky enough to have arrived before the hoards of other climbers.

The five days of walking, two blisters and 5, 895 meters were completely worth it.

However, the thrill of my success was tempered by concern. During the climb, I grew wary of how the porters accompanying us were treated.

We had two guides and many porters with us; they carried our tents, our food, and equipment. They taught me some Swahili. Our head guide even pulled an extra sweater from his pack when I was freezing.

Without these men, I would not have accomplished my goal.

Porters in Kenya-Ai@ce

As I got to know the porters who walked with us everyday, I learned about the conditions they worked under. I found out that they crowded into the kitchen tent to sleep after we ate and subsisted on the group’s leftovers for food. Many of the porters had no warm clothes, only t-shirts and open-toed sandals.

I saw men tossing supplies over bushes at a checkpoint to pass weight inspection before picking up the items on the other side.

According to the Kilimanjaro Porters Assistance Project,

“The Kilimanjaro National Park recommends that a porter carry 20 kg for the company, but the average reported weight is 23 kg and can be as high as 30 kg.”

The Kilimanjaro Porters Assistance Project

I explored the streets of Moshi on the day after our climb and came across the Kilimanjaro Porters Assistance Project. All my suspicions were confirmed. They told me that porters are often underpaid, underfed and not properly equipped for the conditions on the mountain.

We found out that most of the porters never receive the portion of the tip meant for them. (We made the mistake of giving our tip to the head guide and expecting he would divide it among the men.)

The Kilimanjaro Porters Assistance Project is dedicated to improving the conditions of the porters who climb Kilimanjaro. They teach classes, provide first aid certification and lend warm clothing to porters for their climb. The organization also educates the public about the porters’ working conditions and gathers information to help monitor travel companies’ treatment of porters.

Even though climbing Mt. Kilimanjaro was an amazing experience, I now know that it is ethically important for travelers to be aware of the working conditions of porters before using their services.

After learning more about the porters during our five days on the Rongai Route, we donated two sleeping bags and our coats to the porters.

What you can do

Consult a list of companies that treat their porters with respect.
Visit the Kilimanjaro Porters Assistance Project.

COMMUNITY CONNECTION:

Our own Matador associate editor, JoAnna Haugen, co-founded a fund for Machu Picchu Porters.

On Thursday February 4th, a case against the big manufacturers Procter & Gamble, Colgate-Palmolive, Church and Dwight, and Reckitt-Benckiser was taken to court in an effort to force them to uphold a 1971 New York state law requiring them to list the chemicals in their products (as well as the chemicals’ health risks) on the label.

Ingredient disclosure requirements are almost non-existent in the United States, considering that federal environmental laws do not currently require companies to report the chemicals they use.  If the activists win this case, the companies will at least need to report to the state.

Groups such as the American Lung Association and the Sierra Club, in addition to health and environmental activists, are fighting for the public’s right to know what kind of chemicals they are bringing into their homes, and the potential risks associated with the chemicals.

The outcome also has the potential to make an impact at a national level, considering that the United States Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works recently held a hearing looking into the public’s exposure to toxic chemicals, and found that the chemicals have led to health problems. The Soap and Detergent Association responded by saying “the research is flawed.”

Many companies have argued that they have disclosed ingredients on their websites as part of an initiative launched last month.  Environmental advocates responded by saying that some ingredients are too vague, listed simply as “fragrance” or “dye.”

Take Clorox, for example.  Clorox recently began disclosing ingredients on its website, but that doesn’t mean the list is easy to find, or easy to understand.  Once I did find the list, I still had to do some research to find out exactly what alkyl dimethyl benzyl ammonium chloride (found in Formula 409 All-Purpose Cleaner)  is and what it does.

Companies internationally are preparing to comply with Europe’s new chemical regulations (known as REACH), making it seem that the United States is beginning to lag behind in this area.

What can I do to protect myself?

Until companies are required to disclose their chemical ingredients and potential health risks, you might want to try more natural cleaners, which actually work just as well.

There is a great list of 10 tested and true green companies on our very own Matador Goods, all of which are healthy for you and the environment.

Care2.com has an informative article about how to make a non-toxic cleaning kit from household ingredients including baking soda, vinegar, and (a good) liquid soap.

Another useful resource can be found at About.com: Housekeeping, which describes how you can clean just about anything with vinegar, lemon juice, and baking soda.

Community Connection:

For more green products, check out our green products focus page.

Photo: imgur

In his New York Times Op-Ed column championing sweatshops in third world countries, Kristof admits he is “just about the only person in America who favors sweatshops.”

Despite suffering the common criticisms of unhealthy conditions, abuses, low wages, etc., sweatshops, Kristof maintains, “are only a symptom of poverty, not a cause, and banning them closes off one route out of poverty.”

For many citizens in poverty stricken nations, a factory job is a “cherished dream, an escalator out of poverty,” says Kristof. To take that away is more harmful than helpful. To be a garment worker is far from the worst thing out there.

In order for poor countries to pull themselves out of poverty, they must develop their manufacturing businesses. And if this means constructing sweatshops in third world countries, well, as “bad as sweatshops are, the alternatives are worse.”

Kristof makes strong points about looking at sweatshops through the lens of impoverished third world residents and being realistic about what factory jobs, no matter how low the wages in comparison to US standards, can provide.

Though, as Matador member Kelsey Timmerman points out in his comment on the post, “[Kristof's] argument ’sweatshops are good’ is too simple, just as is the one ’sweatshops are bad.’ ”

While Timmerman agrees that such factory jobs are incredibly important to the workers, he worries that Kristof’s column “encourages apathy” among consumers through it’s bottom line.

Rather than taking a black or white, good or bad side on the sweatshop debate, Timmerman feels that what people should be doing is becoming engaged consumers, asking brands where they manufacture their products and whether or not they have codes of social conduct for their factories.

“In my eyes, if an engaged consumer discovers something they don’t like about a brand they are wearing, they shouldn’t just write off the brand, they should pick up the phone and give them a call or drop them an e-mail. They should express what their concern is and see what, if any, action or response the brand is taking to correct it.”

It’s hard to say whether or not such phone calls or emails would have significant impacts on the way companies do business, but what is for sure, what both Kristof and Timmerman can agree upon, is that a general boycott of companies whose products are made in sweatshops is not the answer as it damages the lives of very workers its trying to help by putting them out of work.

What’s your take on sweatshops? Share your comments with us below.

Though I could never repay the Maasai who taught me their songs, the Boreh Boys who brought me a new year’s lobster, or the 20-year-old Israeli soldier who showed me the graveyard where his friends were buried, I am compelled to give something back to the communities I visit, especially those in developing countries.

It never feels right to go home to my comparatively charmed life and drop what could feed a far-away friend’s family for a month on a kitschy holiday gift for Great Aunt Rita. This year I found a few ways to double my holiday spirit with give-back gifts that provide that fuzzy feeling and pass it along, allowing Great Aunt Rita to give back too.

Microloans

These are loans, not donations, which means they’ll be paid back (or forward, in the case of Heifer International) in time, but are an essential starting point for impoverished but driven communities.

Fund Some College for Christmas – Seattle-based startup Vittana doesn’t give a man a fish, they teach him to fish, or more accurately, they offer student loans to select scholars in countries that don’t have a student loan program. It’s not a handout – it’s an education.

Got a picky college student on your list? For as little as $25 you can get them a Vittana gift certificate.  Let them choose and help fund a student they identify with in another country, while giving them a little perspective on the value of their education.

Buy a Heifer for Hanukkah – One of the most well-known microfinance organizations, Heifer International, offers consumers a chance to give a flock of ducks ($20), a milking goat ($120), a heifer ($500), bees ($30), or even tree seedlings ($60) to a developing community in the name of someone you love. With an option in every price range, Heifer International allows the giver and receiver to read about and envision exactly what impact their gift will have on a community.  A flock of chickens to provide 200 eggs a year to a hungry child? Sounds a little better than that deluxe can-opener you got for grandma last year.

Give a Little Kiva for Kwanzaa – Kiva is a Swahili word meaning “agreement” or “unity.” Kiva is a direct-lender site where anyone can spend as little as $25 to help fund a loan to someone running a business in a developing country. Even better, Kiva offers gift certificates so that your loved one can go online and choose whose dreams they want to come true this year. Now that’s holiday spirit.

Photo: her wings

Crafts

Perhaps there are people on your list that just won’t get excited without a gift to show off? Or maybe you, like me, are kicking yourself for not buying more of those beautiful tribal necklaces (that suddenly came into style last month) when you had the chance? Through sites like Ten Thousand Villages, Be Sweet Products, and Global Girlfriend, you can buy crafts made by women around the world at fair-trade prices, allowing them to make a real living while preserving the crafts of their heritage.

Whatever you’re looking for – jewelry, décor, clothing, or kitchenware – it will make a bigger impact if you bought it from a community you’re connected to than if you got it at Ross.

Kids

Kids really need holiday gifts they can put their hands on, but that doesn’t mean you can’t give back when shopping for them. The enormously popular One Laptop Per Child has created laptops geared specifically for children in developing countries. With long battery lives and a special screen that can be read in direct sunlight for students that go to school outdoors, the laptops make a great gift for any child, and for a limited time each year you can buy one for a child in your life and donate one to a student in a developing country.

On a smaller scale, Unicef Canada offers Gifts of Play in the form of storybooks, art supplies, and soccer balls. Donate one of these gifts to Unicef and buy a matching one for a child in your family, then watch their world-view grow a little as they imagine another, less fortunate child somewhere in the world playing with the same gift as them.

Community Connection:

For other gift ideas, check out this article for the traveler that has everything or affordable gifts for gadget lovers!

My name is Toke Adewale and I am sixteen years old. I was born in Nigeria, lived in Atlanta, GA, and now I reside in Hayward, CA. This past summer I received the biggest, most wonderful, and most life-changing experience of my life. I received the blessing of traveling to the beautiful country of Nicaragua. With a scholarship from the MatadorNetwork and through the hard-working organization named Global Glimpse we were able to expand our minds as travelers and individuals.

The one thing that motivated me to take this trip was my curiosity of what it would be like if I wasn’t living in California and I was in another country. I wanted to leave what I was so accustomed to and face different challenges than the ones I face everyday.

On July 23rd, 2009 at 10pm at the San Francisco International Airport, I waited nervously for the trip I was getting ready to throw myself into. I stood with my uncle, who brought me, and began contemplating whether I wanted to go. I told him to just take me back home and we could escape without anyone seeing us. He then reminded me of the long journey I had already taken just to be standing in that airport and going on this trip. That was enough reassurance to bring me back and to also bring back my excitement. Our good-byes were sad, but also full of hope and expectations of the three week adventure we had gotten ourselves into.

On the plane I sat next to one of my closest friends, LaTasha. We were both speechless because we had never done anything like this before. It was even her very first time on a plane. The plane ride from San Francisco to El Salvador and El Salvador to Nicaragua was a long one, but anticipation made it even longer for all of us.

When we first arrived in the capital, Managua, we were all attacked by a sudden heat we weren’t used to, and to our surprise it started pouring rain as we entered our second home – our very own school bus. This was the bus that we would be riding in for the next three weeks. I sat on the bus looking out the window as we rode through Managua.

I don’t know what it was, but so many emotions ran through my body and mind. Fear, sadness, pain, happiness, joy, and anger all suffocated me at once. As I dazed out the window I was hit by not only the beauty of the city, but also the poverty and the struggle. One minute I would see colorful billboards and then I would see the dirty face a child begging. This is why I had so many emotions.

After spending all day in Managua we took a two-hour drive to our first home in the heart warming city of Matagalpa. This was the city that put smiles on our faces, tears in our eyes, and made a difference in our lives. We went from teaching English to locals to looking into the teary faces of children whose hopes seemed to have been lost.

Nicaragua exposed me to so many things. I will never forget the day that we visited the city dump. The realities of watching people, who aren’t any different from me fight animals for food that others have thrown away. That could have been me and my family fighting only to survive. They weren’t any different from me; they just don’t have the same opportunities I once took for granted. The one thing that made my fiery heart cool was the fact that they still had joy. Watching the smiles on their faces as we played and spent time with them in the filthy horror that they call home, really touched me.

I will never forget the days we taught English two days a week. My student’s name was Mary and she was 20 years old. I would say honestly that she improved so much since the day I first said hello to her. The children in Nicaragua take school so seriously and that made me appreciate school more. This experience even motivated me to taking Spanish 3 this year. Before I traveled I didn’t want to take the class simply because I heard it was hard. Thankfully, my idea changed.

I will definitely not forget all the time I spent with the people I now call my second family. We all got so close and I am so thankful that we crossed paths and I can now say they will all continue to be a part of my life. We were all very much like family because like most families we fought, we laughed, we cried, and we challenged and pushed one another. I couldn’t imagine even being on the trip with another group of people.

Honestly speaking, I would have to say that I had some challenges on the trip and also some accomplishments. Some challenges were missing my family at home, getting used to the different emotions I faced everyday, and the tiring travel and transitions everyday. Even though these things were challenging, they helped me grow as an individual. My main accomplishments were facing new challenges, getting rid of my habit of judging others so easily, and being able to appreciate what I have and the people who are in my life.

This trip mainly taught me about the world and what real life is like. I experienced being in a different place and getting used to it because it was my home. I am now more thankful for my life and I do honestly take it more seriously because it is precious and short. That is why I feel like every human being should have an opportunity like this because it is necessary to be in another environment. It helps you realize who you are and the world you live in. I would recommend this to not only people my age, but anyone and everyone.

Being back at home was more relieving than I thought. At times I did feel out of place, but it’s okay because I now feel like I know my self more and I feel more confident in myself and those around me. This trip was life changing and I will share this experience with anyone and everyone who I come across in my life.

Community Connection:

Do you remember your very first travel experience? Share your reflections with our Brave New Travelers in the comment section below.

Learn more about the Matador Youth Scholarship Fund.

Photos: JC Rojas

In November of 2006, New York City resident Colin Beavan, along with his wife and daughter, set out to live with no net environmental impact.

Fast forward three years later, add the Huffington Post, and you have No Impact Week. According to the website, the goal is to “demonstrate ways in which small actions in our daily lives can have a profound impact on our world.” Together, they’ve provided a daily guide with steps you can take to lessen your impact over the course of a week. Each day has a different theme.

I’m joining over 4,000 people to take on this challenge to identify what impact my actions (or lack of action) are having, and to find out what areas of my lifestyle I can change to balance out my carbon footprint a bit more.

Day 6: Water

I was really surprised to find out the average American uses 1,189 gallons of water per day. You really don’t think about how much water is used with each flush of the toilet (4-7 gallons) or from brushing your teeth (about 2 gallons/day).

The first thing I did today was make a list of all the water I consume throughout the day (a general list, not specific amounts). I wrote down the basics: toilet flushing, tooth brushing, hand and face washing, showering, dishwashing, and then I looked at http://www.waterfootprint.org. I realized that I needed to add every meal as well. And my clothing. And the book that I’m reading. Almost everything in our day has or does require water. It’s mind-boggling.

When I was in Cambodia, I couldn’t brush my teeth with the faucet water, so we used water from bottles. I was trying to conserve my bottled water, so I would brush my teeth with a carefully measured cup of water. It worked perfectly fine, so that’s definitely something I could implement at home.

Something that I am already doing that was also suggested in the No Impact Guide was to reuse the same glass throughout the day. Just rinse it out and keep using it instead of constantly washing it.

Some things that most of us have heard before: take shorter showers, turn off the faucet while you are brushing your teeth. But have you heard this one? “Only flush if you must!” When you do need to flush, use water saved in a bucket from your shower.

When you go to restaurants, only order water if you’re going to drink it. If you are going to drink it, go for tap water (bottled water is 1,000 times more expensive than tap water!). Drinking water also uses less energy to produce and transport than other processed beverages.

I’m almost done with No Impact Week! Tomorrow is my last day of action!

If you’d like to find out what your water footprint is, visit http://www.waterfootprint.org.

Community Connection:

Learn more about water with these 40 facts.

Photos: stuartpilbrow

In November of 2006, New York City resident Colin Beavan, along with his wife and daughter, set out to live with no net environmental impact.

Fast forward three years later, add the Huffington Post, and you have No Impact Week. According to the website, the goal is to “demonstrate ways in which small actions in our daily lives can have a profound impact on our world.” Together, they’ve provided a daily guide with steps you can take to lessen your impact over the course of a week. Each day has a different theme.

I’m joining over 4,000 people to take on this challenge to identify what impact my actions (or lack of action) are having, and to find out what areas of my lifestyle I can change to balance out my carbon footprint a bit more.

Day 5: Energy

A couple weeks ago, one of the three light bulbs in the bathroom went out. I kept procrastinating replacing it, and then I got used to it. We don’t actually NEED three light bulbs in the bathroom; we can totally get by with two.

In my classroom, we have two light switches. A teacher next door always complains how bright my room is. I decide to turn on one switch, and I get used to it. Just like with my bathroom, when I use full light power, it actually gives me a headache.

Which brings me to today’s challenge – energy.

Today I assessed my current energy habits by making a list of EVERYTHING in my house that uses energy to operate (electricity, oil, gas, batteries). Then I went through the items and chose certain ones that I could eliminate (lights in the extra bedrooms), and others that I could definitely cut down on (turning off or unplugging electronics, turning off lights even if I’m leaving the room for a minute).

Besides using less electricity for lights, you can save electricity by stripping down or bundling up and turning off the AC or heat for a while. Use natural daylight when possible and burn candles at night. Not only will it “set the mood”, it will reduce your electricity bill!

Take advantage of the solar and wind power outside to dry your clothes. This natural drying method will save you money and your clothes will smell great. If you don’t have a backyard, use a drying rack or hang up a line in your shower.

If you are a tea person like I am, make tea from solar heated water with a homemade solar water heater.
Reuse plastic water bottles and use solar power at the same time. This is one I’m really excited to try out!

Did you know that electronics still suck energy even when you aren’t using them? Plug your computer, TV, and other electronics into a power strip and turn the strip off when you are done. I’m going to use one for my computer, printer, and wireless router, and another for my TV and video games.

Here’s a challenge that I’m going to take on – not using one of my top electronics (TV, computer, or stove) for a whole day once a week. My goal is to go for not using my laptop, but we’ll have to see on that one!

Water is the challenge for tomorrow!

Community Connection:

Curious about the environmental impact of your gadgets? Check out our article “Is Your Computer Killing the Planet?”

Photos: Francisco Collazo

In November of 2006, New York City resident Colin Beavan, along with his wife and daughter, set out to live with no net environmental impact.

Fast forward three years later, add the Huffington Post, and you have No Impact Week. According to the website, the goal is to “demonstrate ways in which small actions in our daily lives can have a profound impact on our world.” Together, they’ve provided a daily guide with steps you can take to lessen your impact over the course of a week. Each day has a different theme.

I’m joining over 4,000 people to take on this challenge to identify what impact my actions (or lack of action) are having, and to find out what areas of my lifestyle I can change to balance out my carbon footprint a bit more.

Day 4: Food

The first step today was to take my food list from yesterday and calculate my carbon “foodprint.” I found the website to be rather limited, and didn’t have most of the foods that I ate, but there was some interesting information. I read that a “high carbon” day for people in the United States would be 4,500 points (1 point=1 gram of carbon dioxide equivalent emissions of greenhouse gases). Creating this kind of carbon dioxide everyday equals about three tons of emissions each year, the same as three roundtrip three hour flights.

Most of us are at least aware that our trash, transportation, energy, and water usage have an effect on the environment, but how often do we think about the impact our food choices have? I know I didn’t.

There are several ways to lessen the impact from our food choices, and many of them will in turn improve health and save money. First, buy fruit and vegetables that are in season locally. Buying locally will cut down on the emissions created from transporting your food from another country (or just across this country), as well as support your local economy.

Check out the Slow Food movement, the goal of which is to reconnect people with the whole food process – people, plants, animals, soil, water– by conducting public awareness and educational outreach workshops, encouraging people to enjoy local, sustainable foods, and advocating for farmers.

Another way to lessen your impact is to eat fewer animal products. I’m not saying you have to go vegetarian (if you want to find out more about becoming a vegetarian, visit The Vegetarian Society) but cutting out meat just one day a week can make a significant impact. If you need recipe ideas or want more information, visit Meatless Monday.

Some of the other suggestions from the No Impact Guide include preserving your food through canning or freezing those seasonal fruits and veggies, asking for tap water instead of bottled, and bringing your own doggy bag when you go to restaurants.

After today’s challenge, I’ve committed to buying my fruits and vegetables locally and seasonally. If you want to support your local economy, find your nearest local bakery, butcher, and farmers’ market here.

Photo: Rodrigo Basuare

Fast forward three years later, add the Huffington Post, and you have No Impact Week. According to the website, the goal is to “demonstrate ways in which small actions in our daily lives can have a profound impact on our world.” Together, they’ve provided a daily guide with steps you can take to lessen your impact over the course of a week. Each day has a different theme.

I’m joining over 4,000 people to take on this challenge to identify what impact my actions (or lack of action) are having, and to find out what areas of my lifestyle I can change to balance out my carbon footprint a bit more.

Day 3: Tuesday: Transportation

The first thing to do was to make a list of everywhere I’m going today and how I usually get there. My list would be work, home, maybe the gym. The drive to work isn’t really negotiable, because my commute is 25 miles each way, but a couple years ago, I joined the Prius revolution. Going from 27 miles per gallon to 42 miles per gallon definitely saves money but also dramatically reduces my environmental impact.

I tried to think of another way to impact my carbon footprint, and remembered that another preschool teacher lives near me, so I’m going to ask her to carpool a couple days a week. Luckily, the gym is right down the street from me, so it will be easy to hop on my bike to get there. As a bonus, the bike ride can double as my workout warm up!

According to the No Impact Guide, 50% of trips are less than two miles away. I’m committing to riding my bike or walking if I just need to pick up a couple items from the grocery store.

Is there mass transit near you? Taking public transportation saves money on car maintenance, gas, and you don’t have to worry about the stress of traffic. Most major cities have a metro or bus system that you can take advantage of. For more information or to find a transit system near you, check here.

If you have to drive, some suggestions to increase mileage include keeping your tire pressure where it’s supposed to be, turning off the AC, accelerating gradually, and turning off your car if you’re not moving. Change the way you drive by learning about hypermiling techniques to save gas.

Today, I’ve also been keeping track of the things I’ve been eating to get ready for Wednesday’s challenge: food.

Community Connection:

Want to dust off your bike and get those wheels rolling? Matador has lots of guides and resources for cyclists, including:

The World’s 15 Most Bike Friendly Cities

A Traveler’s Secret Way to Save Gas Money

and many more in our archives!

Photo: CJ Sorg

In November of 2006, New York City resident Colin Beavan, along with his wife and daughter, set out to live with no net environmental impact.

Fast forward three years later, add the Huffington Post, and you have No Impact Week. According to the website, the goal is to “demonstrate ways in which small actions in our daily lives can have a profound impact on our world.” Together, they’ve provided a daily guide with steps you can take to lessen your impact over the course of a week. Each day has a different theme.

I’m joining over 4,000 people to take on this challenge to identify what impact my actions (or lack of action) are having, and to find out what areas of my lifestyle I can change to balance out my carbon footprint a bit more.

Day 2: Monday: Trash

The mailman is trying to sabotage my carbon cleanse. I come home from work to find my mailbox stuffed with junk mail AND a plastic bag hanging from my door, with samples of paper products from a local grocery store chain.

Are you kidding me?

I immediately go to Do Not Mail and add my name and address to the registry. The website says I should see a reduction in my junk mail within 6-8 weeks.

The first step for today’s challenge is to go through the trash bag from yesterday and separate the items into two piles – stuff used for less than 10 minutes and stuff used for more than 10 minutes. Considering most of my trash was food product packaging or paper products, I decide to really look at the packaging my food comes in. The least environmentally friendly package was organic pears in a plastic container. Is that really necessary? Probably not.

I also decide that if I’m going to take my own reusable shopping bags to the grocery store, I might as well take smaller reusable bags for my fruits and vegetables so I don’t have to use those plastic bags, either.

The next step is to put together a “no-trash travel kit” with a reusable cup/mug, utensils, and containers. I bring my lunch to work everyday, and already use a Sigg water bottle, but I’ve really been going through plastic bags for my sandwich and snacks. Instead of throwing away the plastic snack bag from Friday, I save it and reuse it. I find a container hidden in my cupboards that I can use for my sandwich, and voila! My no-trash travel kit is complete!

The third step is the hardest – stop making trash. I make a very conscious effort to either not make trash or reduce the amount of trash I created. I use a white board instead of Post-it notes. I use an old towel at work to clean up messes instead of using a paper towel. I actually don’t get Starbucks today because I forgot my reusable cup. It turns out reducing my trash is saving me money, too!

The No Impact Guide has some very useful suggestions about ways to avoid making trash: use bulk bins at grocery stores instead of individually packaged items, use receipts for scrap paper, use natural cleaning alternatives, download GreenPrint on your computer to save ink and paper, and re-gift or pass on items to be reused instead of trashing them.

Tomorrow’s challenge? Transportation.

Community Connection:

Ever wondered where your trash ends up? Carlo Alcos takes a look at the world’s most offensive landfills in this article from our archives.

Consumption will consume you. Photo: Daquella manera

In November of 2006, New York City resident Colin Beavan, along with his wife and daughter, set out to live with no net environmental impact.

Fast forward three years later, add the Huffington Post, and you have No Impact Week. According to the website, the goal is to “demonstrate ways in which small actions in our daily lives can have a profound impact on our world.” Together, they’ve provided a daily guide with steps you can take to lessen your impact over the course of a week. Each day has a different theme.

I’m joining over 4,000 people to take on this challenge to identify what impact my actions (or lack of action) are having, and to find out what areas of my lifestyle I can change to balance out my carbon footprint a bit more.

Day 1: Sunday: Consumption

The Sunday challenge was to not buy anything new (excluding food). Considering I am on a tight budget anyway, this would not be too much of a challenge. The first step for today in the No Impact Guide was to make a list of things you “need” this week, take off the ones you can live without, and find an alternative way to get the rest of the items (second hand, borrow it, make it). I didn’t have a very long list, so this was relatively easy. I’m also trying to jump start my workout regimen, so every time the urge to go to the mall comes up, I’m going to consider a run or bike ride instead.

What about people who do need to buy something new? Luckily, there are plenty of resources available for you to make an earth friendly purchase. Try The Green Guide for Everyday Living for information about making better product choices, or the GreenPages to find a directory of screened and approved green businesses.

There is also a non-profit organization called Freecycle, whose members give away stuff they don’t need to people who do need something. The mission statement of this group is to “build a worldwide gifting movement that reduces waste, saves precious resources and eases the burden on our landfills while enabling our members to benefit from the strength of a larger community.” Membership is free and there are close to 5,000 groups globally. If you don’t feel comfortable getting something from a stranger, have a clothing/item swap with your friends.

The next step was to start collecting my trash from the day in a separate (reusable) bag from the regular trash can. Unfortunately, my week’s worth of food runs out right around Sunday, so I conveniently finished the apple juice, cereal, and a box of crackers today. Add in the receipt for the new food I purchased, and the plastic container the pears were in, and my bag is almost full. The good thing is that those items are all recyclable, which I have a separate trash can for already, so I wasn’t too hard on myself for that one.

Day 1 complete. That wasn’t so difficult, although I am a little nervous about tomorrow’s challenge – trash.

Community Connection:

Are YOU taking the No Impact Week challenge? If so, share your experiences with us in the comments.
To learn more about Colin Beavan, aka No Impact Man, check out this article from our archives.
Want to learn more about consumption and its impact? If you do nothing else, watch this video. “The Story of Stuff” is a video by Annie Leonard about our production and consumption patterns and the environmental impact these patterns create. Its fast pace and compelling facts make the 20 minute long video feel like five minutes.

Photo: sizumaru

Here’s a look at 15 interesting uses of the bamboo plant:

1. Bamboo is used for building roads.

Bamboo is being used in road reinforcements in Orissa, India. Bamboo bridges have also been built in China, capable of supporting trucks that weigh as much as 16 tons.

2. Bamboo is used for medicinal purposes.

In China, ingredients from the black bamboo shoot help treat kidney diseases. Roots and leaves have also been used to treat venereal diseases and cancer. According to reports in a small village in Indonesia, water from the culm (the side branches) is used to treat diseases of the bone effectively.

3. Bamboo is used to promote fertility in cows.

I must admit, I was pretty shocked to read about this one. Perhaps it has human applications, too?

4. Bamboo is used to build houses and schools.

Just check out the Green School in Bali.

According to UNESCO, 70 hectares of bamboo produce enough of the material to build 1000 bamboo houses. If timber was used instead, it would require the felling of trees from an already diminishing forest. Today, over one billion people in the world live in bamboo houses.

5. Bamboo is used to make clothes.

Bamboo– it’s the new hemp. T-shirts, socks, robes, boxers… your wardrobe can become entirely organic and sustainable.

6. Bamboo is used to make accessories.

Why stop with the clothes? Bamboo is also used to make necklaces, bracelets, earrings, and other types of jewelry.

7. Bamboo is used to feed people and animals.

Bamboo shoots are used mainly in Asian food preparations. In Japan, the antioxidant properties of the bamboo skin prevent bacterial growth, and are used as natural food preservatives. Bamboo leaves and shoots are also the staple diet of pandas and elephants.

8. Bamboo is used for scaffolding.

Photo: liangjinjian

Bamboo is often used for scaffolding because it proves to be an eco-friendly and cost-effective resource. In Hong Kong, bamboo scaffolding is preferred over metal scaffolding because of its easy availability and because it is cheaper.

9. Bamboo is used to make furniture.

Beautiful and intricately crafted beds, chairs and tables are made from bamboo.

10. Bamboo is used to make rugs.

Exotic woods like the mango are often used in Oriental rugs. Buying a bamboo rug will ensure that you save a tree.

11. Bamboo is used to make diapers.

For those of you who think that going green should start from infancy, wearing diapers made from bamboo cloth is an option. According to Japanese scientists, bamboo cloth can retain its antibacterial quality even after 50 washings.

12. Bamboo is used to make toys.

Growing up, I only had bamboo toys. My parents did not encourage me to play with plastic dolls- and gifts made from plastic were all put away. It was a clear signal from my environmentally conscious parents.

13. Bamboo is used to make durable utensils.

Cups and saucers, spoons and ladles can all be made from bamboo.

14. Bamboo is used to make beer!

If you haven’t tried it yet, I can vouch for the fact that bamboo beer tastes absolutely fabulous. Do go try it.

15. Bamboo is used to make musical instruments.

Flutes, drums, digeridoos, even saxophones– bamboo is versatile when it comes to making instruments.

Community Connection:

Bamboo’s also a way for impoverished communities to become economically self-sufficient. Read about Bamboo House India in this article.

Feature photo: Diego 3336; Photo above: gauravonomics

I’m going to assume–and maybe I’m wrong, but I hope not–that if you’re a regular Matador reader you’re interested in living a conscientious life, making a minimal negative impact on the environment and a maximum positive impact in your community.

But would you go as far as Colin Beavan, a.k.a. “No Impact Man”?

Beavan, who lives in New York City, describes himself as

“A Guilty Liberal [Who] Finally Snaps, Swears Off Plastic, Goes Organic, Becomes A Bicycle Nazi, Turns Off His Power, Composts His Poop and, While Living In New York City, Generally Turns Into a Tree-Hugging Lunatic Who Tries to Save the Polar Bears and The Rest of the Planet from Environmental Catastrophe While Dragging His Baby Daughter and Prada-Wearing, Four Seasons-Loving Wife Along for the Ride.”

In November 2006, Beavan decided to undertake a radical personal project: he’d spend the next year reducing his environmental impact as much as possible. He’d swear off shrink wrap and subways. He’d take stairs instead of elevators or escalators. He’d try to trim his waste to zero. He’d buy local, eat organic, and, yes, compost his poop.

A project of this magnitude is game-changing for sure, and there’s no way his wife and young daughter would be able to go along for the ride without being deeply affected.

That’s what made directors Laura Gabbert and Justin Schein interested in turning Beavan’s experiment into a documentary film, which will be released in New York and Los Angeles on September 11, followed by other cities around the U.S.

I caught the preview for “No Impact Man” this weekend and can confirm that the Prada-wearing, Four Seasons loving wife was stretched to her limits by Beavan’s experiment to live more conscientiously. But the question left dangling in the air is whether Beavan’s experiment ultimately achieves its goal and brings his family closer in the process:

What do you think? Does Beavan seem to have gone to extremes with his low-impact living experiment, or is he right on? Share your thoughts below!

Community Connection:

Wonder how your consumption affects the environment? Read “Is Water the New Oil? Global Water Consumption Doubling Every 20 Years.“

Photo: thegordons

A few weeks back, our colleagues at Wend Magazine published an article about the “environmental ethos” of craft brew, and as small brewery enthusiasts and environmentalists ourselves, the Matador Team was naturally interested in writer Kyle Cassidy’s observations.

Here’s what Cassidy had to say about craft beer and its low environmental impact:

1. Craft brewers buy local.

“They support their communities by buying fresh local ingredients.” For this reason, the carbon footprint of the ingredients that go into making that unique local brew is much smaller than would be the case for a big brewer who trucks in base ingredients across a larger distance.

2. Craft brewers sell local.

Just as they source their ingredients locally, many craft brewers only sell locally, too. While the decision to sell locally isn’t always or strictly an environmental decision–it’s often one based entirely in start-up/small business economics–it has positive environmental benefits, nonetheless.

Like the local sourcing of ingredients, selling locally means that the factory-to-point of sale path is a short one, requiring fewer transportation resources. Also, brewers can more easily reclaim their bottles, reusing them again and again.

3. Craft brewers connect with their communities.

Because of their emphasis on all things local, craft brewers have a greater tendency than big beer companies to connect with people and issues in their communities.

Craft breweries can support environmental and community building initiatives in collaboration with other organizations and businesses in the area, and have a much better idea about the impact of their operations because their management team doesn’t live hundreds or thousands of miles away.

4. Craft brewers manage their waste effectively.

Craft brewers, according to Cassidy, often enter into agreements with farmers in their communities to dispose of the grain waste in a manner that’s environmentally friendly.

In other locations where such collaborations aren’t feasible, craft brewers are experimenting with using spent grains as a fuel source to power their own operations.

What other reasons can you think of that make craft breweries environmentally sustainable? Share your thoughts in the comments below.

Community Connection:

Want to find America’s best beer? Check out Beer Quest 2008: The Search for America’s Best Microbrew.

Still thirsty? We’ve found the 20 Best Beer Towns in America.

Hunting for craft brew abroad? Check out our guide: How to Say “One More Beer Please” in 50 Different Languages.

1. “The idea [behind this series] was to capture the scale of [our] mass consumption. It was the first time I stood in front of piles of the detritus of our mass consumption.” “Cell phones #2, Atlanta, 2005″

2. “Initially, I thought I was seeing the scale [but] in the end, I realized this was the tiny tip of the iceberg.” “Cell phone chargers, Atlanta, 2004″

3. “It was interesting to see the limitations of this series and the photos. [Mass consumption is an] invisible phenomenon– there’s no one place I can go to capture it all.” “e-Bank, Tacoma, 2004″

4. “There’s a hierarchy of activism…. What my work is about to feel these issues myself…. A large part of change is acknowledging feelings we have and connecting with these issues.” “Crushed cars #2, Tacoma, 2004″

5. “[All this waste] is something that’s sort of kept hidden.” “Oil Filters, Seattle, 2003″

6. “I almost felt like a spy. I felt like this was something people needed to see.” “Spent bullet casings, 2005″

7. “80% [of the photos in this series] were ’straight’ photos. As I ran up against these limitations of photography…I started arranging the subject.” “Circuit boards #2, New Orleans, 2005″

8. “I also felt like I aged about five years during this series. Virtually all the photos…required that I trespass. I’d go ask [for permission to photograph these piles of waste] but I’d get all these vague excuses: Homeland Security, insurance regulations…. I think it was really a weird fear about photography and exposure [even though] I offered veto [power], showed them my previous work, and explained I didn’t name individuals or companies. This was about [documenting] a nationwide, cultural phenomenon.” Circuit boards, Atlanta, 2004″

Having run into the “limitations of photography,” Jordan initiated a new series, “Running the Numbers,” a set of digitally constructed photographs that represent the actual quantities of consumed items. “I’m almost done with this series,” he says at the end of our interview. “I’m hoping to return to a photographic project. I’d like to be a photographer again.”

To learn more about Jordan and his work, please visit his website.

All photos courtesy of Chris Jordan.

Community Connection:

If you’d like to learn more about e-waste, please read this article from our archives, “The Problem with E-Waste.”

Feature photo: gliuoo; Photo: chadmagiera

Holidays always sneak up on me. Tomorrow, I’ll be scrambling around at the last minute to throw together an impromptu party for friends who don’t have their own July 4th plans, but I’ll still be able to go green. Here are some tips for you to do the same:

1. Make invitations by word of mouth only.

It’s too late for paper invitations, so you’ve already eliminated some waste! Forgo the phone and e-mail, too. Instead, issue word of mouth invitations to the people who are literally the closest to you: co-workers, friends, neighbors you say “Hi” to as you pass them in the hall. Not only will you be going green, you might make some new friends out of people who’ve just been peripheral acquaintances.

2. Eat local foods.

Whether you’re in charge of the prep or you plan a potluck 4th, challenge yourself and your guests to go with as much locally grown/raised food as possible. If you’re not sure where to find local food in your community, Adam Roy points you toward six online resources in this article.

3. Serve with reusable or biodegradable plates and utensils.

If your party is small scale and contained to the area in or around your home, consider serving food with your regular plates and utensils to cut down on waste. If that’s not possible, though, check your local grocery store for biodegradable plates and cutlery. Keywords to look for include “corn” or “sugarcane-based”; these products break down much more quickly and with far fewer adverse environmental effects than paper, plastic, or styrofoam picnic supplies.

4. Make green fun…and part of the party.

You don’t have to be preachy about your environmentalism. Instead, make going green fun for your guests. Does anyone have an old hand-crank ice cream machine? Choose a flavor and take turns cranking the handle to churn up some delicious homemade ice cream. Not only will it taste better than anything you can buy at the store; it’s carbon footprint is likely to be a lot smaller. You can find some recipes here.

5. Bring biodegradable bags: one for garbage, one for recycling.

Encourage recycling by setting up separate bags for garbage and recyclables. If you compost and have a compost bucket, consider making that available, too.

6. Forget about the fireworks… for now.

Photo: PetroleumJelliffe

Fireworks are definitely not environmentally friendly, but if you’re determined to have them be part of your celebration, there’s not a whole lot you can do about going green in this area at the last minute. The best option is to enjoy your local community’s fireworks bash. Then, do some research about biodegradable fireworks, which are allegedly used by Disney. We weren’t able to find out, though, if these are available for retail yet.

Community Connection:

What other tips do you have for greening the 4th?
Do you already have July 4th plans? If not, Hal Amen offers a list of celebrations in the US and around the world. Invite yourself to the party!

Photo: Greenpeace India

You already know that you shouldn’t just send that old laptop or printer to the landfill once you’ve upgraded and moved on, right?

E-waste– the electronics we discard when they no longer serve us–is the environmental bane of the technology age, responsible for at least 2% of solid waste in municipal landfills.

Despite the expansion of electronics donation and recycling programs, 157 million computer products and 126 million cell phones were sent to the trash heap in 2007.

Environmental advocates agree that thoughtless disposal of electronics is a bad move: hazardous chemicals leach into the ground soil and water table, causing eventual health problems for humans and animals.

But lately, environmentalists have also been concerned about where donated electronics are ending up, and they’re raising questions about the more immediate health threats the recycling and reuse of electronics are causing.

Eighty percent of the e-waste that is sent for recycling ends up in countries outside the West, where it’s typically cheaper–often, as much as 10 times cheaper–to reprocess our used goods. Much of our e-waste ends up in Asia and Africa, where workers strip the electronics of their components, such as copper wire and other metals that can be resold.

The price, though, may be higher than the payoff: workers expose themselves to dangerous chemicals that can create long-term health problems, as the video below documents:

So what can you do to get rid of e-waste responsibly? Greenpeace offers some advice here.

Community Connection:

Do you have other electronics you’d like to donate safely? Learn more about donating old cameras here. And for some ideas about other odd items you can recycle safely, please read our article, Random Things You Didn’t Know You Could Recycle.

Bluefin tuna at a Tokyo market. Photo: Stewart

In the car industry and looking for a job? Try Mitsubishi; they might be hiring.

But it’s not designers, assembly workers, or car salesmen they’re looking for; it’s commercial fishermen.

The Independent reports that Mitsubishi, worried about its future in the auto industry, is making a move into a secondary market: the fishing of bluefin tuna.

According to the article and the soon to be released documentary, “The End of the Line,” Mitsubishi is responsible for supplying almost 40% of the world’s tuna. The company itself told The Independent that it “handles between 35 per cent and 40 per cent of Atlantic and Mediterranean bluefin tuna imported to Japan….”

The move is a brilliant business strategy. Though the market price of tuna tanked last December, economic analysts predict the price will start to rise exponentially as the availability of tuna–as with many other fish species–becomes increasingly limited. Mitsubishi, which has been freezing much of its supply, will then be able to release the in-demand fish to a market ready to pay a handsome price for the delicacy.

While Mitsubishi seems all but assured to make a tidy profit in the long-term, it’s already fending off criticism from environmentalists who charge the company with contributing to the perils of overfishing.

To learn more about overfishing, visit Greenpeace’s overview of this problem. And to learn more about how you can make sure your seafood buying practices aren’t contributing to the problem, check out this useful guide from the Blue Ocean Institute.

And if you’re interested in seeing “The End of the Line,” here’s the trailer. The film opens on June 8, 2009, World Oceans Day:

Community Connection:

Know which fish are environmentally friendly? Good. Now check out Turner Wright’s guide to ordering sushi like a pro.

I love The New York Times. I grew up reading The New Yorker magazine. I always digg the Harpers index. I think National Geographic is pretty much the coolest club on the planet.

But I won’t be reading any of these fine publications until they stop taking money from lobbyists and PR firms that are determined to thwart necessary reforms of American energy policy.

The sad truth is that the finest American newspapers and magazines are serving as disinformation platforms for a massive social media campaign being launched by an energy industry that is refusing to change its destructive ways.

This onslaught of cutting-edge, highly funded fossil-fuel propaganda campaigns are more dangerous to our health than tobacco ads, and have no place masquerading as well-intentioned information on the websites of our magazines and newspapers.

The Evil of Greenwashing

When I saw greenwashing ads for Chevron in The New Yorker I smelled hypocrisy.

How could the magazine that publishes Elizabeth Kolbert’s devastating reports on climate change allow itself to be sponsored by one of the most heinous and destructive energy companies in the world today?

When I saw banners for “Clean Coal: America’s Power” on The New York Times website I was sickened. Coal is not clean.

Coal smoke is choking us. Wrapping filth in the American flag is an insult to every citizen who loves this country.

The claim that coal is “cheap” power becomes very false very fast as soon as health care costs are taken into account.

Explore sustainability with Shell and Harpers?

As a friend put it, that’s like saying “learn more about diversity! Contribute to the KKK!”.

But the final straw came today, when I visited The New York Times opinion page and saw a banner ad promising “The Truth” about the Canadian tar sands.

Let’s get one thing clear: the massive tar sand projects in Canada are fueling climate change and causing vast ecological destruction.

Thanks to wonderful journalism from sources like the Times, we know just how much we stand to lose if climate change is left unchecked.

Opposing the expansion of the tar sand projects is a life or death issue, not just for the cancer victims of Alberta, but for all Creation.

Editorial Separation

Apologists will argue that big media companies maintain a wall between editorial and advertising. That is no excuse. In the age of new media, common sense morals are more important than a self-righteous blind-eye.

How can anyone trust an institution that purports to give us the truth about important world issues, but is sponsored by harmful propagandists?

The big energy companies are mounting a sophisticated propaganda and disinformation campaign.

They are pouring money into online media projects. We need to fight back.

Boycotts and Counter Attacks

Sorry, Nick Kristof. Sorry, Gail Collins.

Tom Friedman – how big is YOUR carbon foodprint?

As much as I love the Times, I’m going to get my news elsewhere for a while. I encourage you to do likewise.

Here are some good alternatives:

Global Voices Online

The Pulitzer Center

IPS News

Google News

Additionally, in the face of the massive energy lobbyist PR campaign, it’s imperative that all of us work overtime to counter the faux-patriotic green-washing of the energy industry.

The energy reform challenge is as imperative as the civil rights struggle was in the days of Martin Luther King.

Call them out.

Expose the false arguments. Look beyond the carefully market-tested messages.

If you know someone who buys into the fossil fuel lobby’s misleading claims, sit them down for a serious talk. Be the change you want to see in the world.

Ask why the places where fossil fuel is central to the economy – like West Virginia – are the poorest and unhealthiest places in America.

Ask why places where the fossil fuel lobby is effectively countered by informed citizens – like Vermont – boast healthy populations and strong local economies.

Our future depends on our willingness to reform our energy policy. Big oil companies and their big media collaborators are standing in the way with billions of dollars on their side, but the truth needs no ally.

Further Reading

Yes, we have an energy crisis. But the problem isn’t what you think. Read “The Crisis Of Too Much Energy”.

Wondering who to trust? Read “How To Evaluate Claims About Big Oil”.

Interested in social responsibility? Read “Manifesto of a Young American”.

Image courtesy of True Cost of Chevron

Big oil realizes it’s in big trouble.

The world’s big oil companies are in a tough position: they source and sell one of the most in-demand products in a world where consumers are increasingly sensitive to the environmental and human rights impacts of oil production and consumption.

Yet the Chevrons and Shells of the world are responding to market demand and making enormous profits, so there’s little incentive to stop oil drilling.

The oil companies and the consumer public share the responsibility for the consequences of oil dependence on human and physical environments, but big oil is directly on the hot seat. In order to draw attention away from the catastrophes caused by its activities, big oil has been rolling out new advertising and marketing strategies in an effort to change the public’s perception of oil companies AND to put the onus of environmental responsibility on consumers.

Chevron’s recent ad campaign, which revolves around the question, “Will you join us?”, features diverse people in television and print ads making firm, declarative commitments to reducing their own oil dependence:

“I will leave the car at home more.”

“I will finally get a programmable thermostat.”

“I will replace 3 light bulbs with CFLs.”

And so on.

But critics charge that Chevron’s empowering, “I can do it” campaign is little more than the company’s most recent–and boldest–attempt to greenwash its own activities.

In recent weeks, 11 organizations came together to launch the website, True Cost of Chevron. In addition to producing the “Alternative Annual Report,” the activist groups designed their own ad campaign.

Modeled after Chevron’s “Will you join us?” campaign, the True Cost of Chevron ads also feature individuals from around the world, making aspirational statements of an entirely different sort:

Burma:

Chevron has refused to acknowledge both the widespread human rights abuses caused by its Yadana project and the destructive effects that revenue from the project has had in Burma.

Canada:

In Canada, the toxic burden on communities near the tar sands is already enormous. In addition to direct human exposure, oil contamination in the local watershed has led to arsenic in moose meat – a dietary staple for First Nations peoples – up to 33 times acceptable levels. Drinking water has also been contaminated.

Ecuador:

While drilling in the Ecuadorian Amazon from 1964 to 1990, Texaco – which merged with Chevron in 2001 – deliberately dumped more than 18 billion gallons of toxic wastewater, spilled roughly 17 million gallons of crude oil, and left hazardous waste in hundreds of open pits dug out of the forest floor.

Nigeria:

Chevron continues to employ and pay the notoriously brutal Nigerian military to provide it with security services.

Iraq:

In 2007, Chevron paid $30 million to settle charges brought by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission that it had paid illegal kickbacks to the Hussein regime to win its Iraqi marketing contracts, after it was revealed that Hussein had established a worldwide network of oil companies and countries that secretly helped Iraq generate about $11 billion in illegal income from oil sales.

Kazakhstan:

The surrounding populations began to suffer greatly from an unprecedented variety of illnesses upon development of the [oil] fields, including respiratory illnesses, blood illnesses, cardiovascular illnesses, and high levels of stillborn babies, all of which medical specialists have determined to be directly related to the oil industry.

Amazon Watch, one of the organizations in the coalition behind True Cost of Chevron, tried to sell the ads to CBS, which rejected the offer. Within 24 hours, visitors to the True Cost of Chevron site had downloaded the ads and pasted them around San Francisco.

Community Connection:

Want to make sure your money is supporting truly green companies? Check out “10 Brands That Don’t Deserve to Declare Themselves Green” and “10 Tested and True Green Companies.”

All True Cost of Chevron ads courtesy of True Cost of Chevron.

Photo: djlicious

A few Christmases ago, my brother and I dragged my husband along on a midnight trip to Wal-Mart. My brother had an inside tip that laptops were going on sale. If we lined up at midnight, we could each score a cheap computer.

My husband had never been to Wal-Mart, and he looked on with curiosity and sadness as shoppers started fighting about the laptops and tore into plastic wrapped pallets piled high with electronics deemed off-limits until the magic hour of the sale. Shoppers cursed one another, cried, and collapsed in the aisles from emotional exhaustion. “This place is psychotic,” he said. “I wouldn’t take a laptop even if they gave it to me.”

Last November, a temporary employee at a Long Island, New York Wal-Mart was killed when he was trampled by stampeding customers surging into Wal-Mart to take advantage of post-Thanksgiving sales. According to news reports, no one stopped to help Jdimytai Damour or three other customers who were injured.

It wasn’t the first such incident at the chain store:

If you’re not convinced that shopping at big boxes might be dangerous for your own health and well-being, here are a few other reasons why you might consider breaking the big box shopping habit:

1. Big boxes aren’t renowned for upholding employee rights.

While the big box chains vary in terms of their labor rights records, Wal-Mart has a long history of violating labor rights of workers at home and abroad.

2. Big boxes tend to overlook their impact on local economies.

Photo: urbanshoregirl

While big boxes may well improve employment prospects in many communities, their presence tends to drive other businesses into the ground. Open extended hours or 24 hours, they offer the customer convenience that a Mom and Pop store usually can’t provide. Their chain status permits them to stock a wider variety of inventory. Smaller businesses just can’t compete, as local business owners share in this documentary.

3. Big boxes don’t usually offer the in-depth knowledge and expertise that small businesses provide.

Ever gone to Home Depot and asked an employee how to find an obscure tool or how to use it? Could he or she answer your question? The answer is probably no: most of the employees at big box stores aren’t specialists in the products the store sells. At small businesses, though, the owners and employees tend to know a lot more about the products they’re selling, and they’re generally happy to tell you about them and take the time to answer your questions.

So how do you break the big box habit?

1. Start small.

If you’re a regular customer at a big box store, don’t vow to go cold turkey overnight. Weaning yourself off any habit is best done in baby steps.

2. Map your shopping habits.

What are the products you buy most frequently? Once you’re aware of the broad categories of items you purchase regularly, you can start looking for independent businesses where you can buy these same items.

3. Start developing relationships with small businesses.

Small business owners tend to care about their customers. They’ll happily special order an item for you, tell you about a product and its uses, and even give you special updates about products you buy regularly. Use the Internet and talk to friends to find out what small businesses exist in your community.

4. Stop believing that small businesses charge more than big boxes.

There’s a common misperception that big boxes offer value compared to small businesses. While this is sometimes the case, it’s often the opposite. That coupon you use at Wal-Mart requires you buy two jars of mayonnaise or three packs of toilet paper to get a meager discount. Do you really need two jars of mayonnaise?

5. Start extending your small business mindset beyond daily purchases.

Once you’ve kicked your big box habit, start thinking about the ways you can extend your support of small, independent businesses beyond daily purchases. If you’re planning a trip, for instance, do research to find local guides, food markets, and locally-owned lodging.

Community Connection:

For a more philosophical take on reasons to go local, check out Josh Kearns’ article, “How Local Self-Reliance Will Overthrow the System.” And if you’re kicking the big box habit, share your progress–and your advice–below.

Photo: Yoshimai

Maybe you’re one of the millions of people who’s watched “The Story of Stuff.”

If you’re not, then here’s the quick overview: “The Story of Stuff” is a video made by Annie Leonard, an environmental activist and former Greenpeace employee who is deeply concerned about mass consumer culture and its effects on the environment.

Leonard put the video online in late 2007 and it became what the New York Times recently called “a sleeper hit.” Though it’s free online (both on The Story of Stuff website and on YouTube), thousands of churches and schools have ordered their own copies so they can teach their members about the ways our purchases ultimately impact the world we live in.

“The Story of Stuff” has been praised because it’s simple without being insulting, informative without being dry and overly didactic. It conveys a message without being painfully preachy. And it’s stimulated conversation online and off, encouraging people to share ideas about how they can take Leonard’s message and make it real in their own lives:

But not everyone is as enthusiastic about “The Story of Stuff.” One parent in the United States, annoyed that his child had been exposed to the video at school, argued that “The Story of Stuff” was just anticapitalist propaganda. In his complaint to the local school board, he griped, “There was not one positive thing about capitalism in the whole thing.”
The school board agreed, ruling that showing the video violated school policies.

And this guy’s by no means an anomaly.

A quick scan of the comment thread on “The Story of Stuff’s” YouTube account shows that plenty of folks have confused Leonard’s message of conscious consumerism with communism.

“Would someone tell this stupid commie #*&$% about economies of scale.” wrote one commenter.

Another: “Jesus enviros and their lackiers [sic] are troglodytes.”

That’s good for a laugh, maybe, but it’s too bad that some viewers (we’ll assume they did watch the video, right?) have blown “The Story of Stuff” out of proportion and find its call to be more conscious about our purchasing patterns a threat to capitalism.

Photo: woodleywonderworks

Today is the 39th anniversary of Earth Day, founded in the US in 1970 and widely recognized as the birth date of the modern environmental movement.

While environmental consciousness, both in the US and abroad, is arguably more widespread today than it was back then, our environmental problems are also more profound.

The call for each person to play his or her part to live a more environmentally sustainable lifestyle has never been more urgent.

Yet many of us (myself included), ignore the call or respond to it selectively, reluctant to make a bigger commitment to environmentalism.

Here are six easy ways you can celebrate Earth Day today and start moving toward a more sustainable lifestyle:

1. Buy rechargeable batteries.

We’ve known for years that disposable batteries are a serious threat to the environment. When disposed in landfills, dead batteries leach toxic metals into the soil, often creeping into groundwater supplies… and, eventually, into the water you drink.

Rechargeable batteries, though not without their environmental hazards, do offer a more environmentally friendly option than conventional batteries. Rechargeables can be used up to 1,000 times, meaning that you’ll need to buy fewer batteries and fewer will end up in landfills. You’ll spend less money on batteries over the long run, too.

Rechargeable batteries–and even their chargers–are sold practically everywhere: drug stores, grocery stores, and even convenience stores.

And if you insist on buying disposables, consider recycling them after they die. If you’re in the US, visit this website and plug in your zip code to find the recycling facility closest to you.

2. Unplug the appliances you’re not using.

I just did a quick walk through my apartment to check the number of items I currently have plugged into outlets.

Photo: tomsaint11

The report, I’m sad to say, isn’t pretty. There’s the cell phone charger, two laptops, a shredder (which I use about once a week), a clock, a stereo, two lamps, a blender, a coffee maker, and a toaster oven (I don’t even remember the last time I used this).

If I unplugged the items that don’t see daily use, I’d be eliminating what scientists and environmentalists refer to as “standby” energy waste. Besides being better for the environment, a 2001 study by Berkeley researchers indicated that I might save as much as 25% on my monthly energy bill.

3. Carry a canvas or reusable bag.

Fortunately, it seems that many of you live in areas where plastic bags have been banned or where their use is increasingly limited. If you don’t, try to remember to carry a canvas or other reusable bag on your trips to the grocery store and for other purchases. There’s an economic incentive here, too– many stores, such as Whole Foods, deduct a small percentage from your total bill for bagging your goods with a reusable bag.

4. Use your coffee travel mug or your Nalgene bottle.

Photo: Ants4Pets

You’ve heard this a million times. You have a collection of reusable mugs and bottles. And you still leave them at home every time you go out.

I know- me too. This is quite possibly the easiest step I could take to reduce waste, and yet I never quite seem to commit to it. Today’s the day to break the disposable cup/bottle habit.

5. Plant a window garden.

Feeling really ambitious? If these other actions seem like baby steps and you’re ready to graduate to something bigger, test your green thumb by planting a window garden. Don’t be deterred if you live in a small apartment in the middle of a city. Matador contributor Theodore Scott has given step-by-step directions for four easy apartment garden projects, which you can find here.

6. Get outside.

Photo: atreeisnice

It’s easy to forget how much you love the land and how important it is to you if you’re always inside. So get out. Plan a picnic, go for a walk, or try a new outdoor activity you keep putting off… but just get outside!

Community Connection:

What are you doing for Earth Day? How can you take a simple step to be a better steward of the environment? Share your opinions below.

So much so, in fact, that women lined up for hours in Hong Kong just to buy this bag:

Photo: diongillard

Created by popular handbag designer Anya Hindmarch, the “I’m not a plastic bag” bag was also in demand in Los Angeles and London, where it sold out. At one New York City store, 3,000 bags were reported to have been snatched up by eager consumers in just 29 minutes.

Women who carried the bag earned instant eco-cred, and were the envy of friends who’d never entertained the thought of carrying a reusable shopping bag.

Fortunately, in many parts of the world, using canvas bags for shopping instead of plastic bags is becoming a trend that may stick around, thanks to both voluntary plastic bag bans and legislation criminalizing the use of plastic bags for shopping in some jurisdictions.

Photo: Sam Felder

In January of this year, the local government in Delhi, India passed a law banning the use of plastic bags. The city had become littered with bags, which in addition to creating land waste concerns, were also clogging the sewage and water systems. Politicians decided the only way to control use of bags was to ban them completely and impose stiff fines (100,000 rupees) and/or a five-year maximum jail sentence.

Plastic bags have also been banned in Bangladesh, South Africa, Taiwan. Other countries, including Ireland, tax customers who request their goods be bagged in plastic.

The United States has been slower to adopt legislation to decrease the use of plastic bags, but it appears that bans may be coming soon to a city near you. Environmental advocates are pushing for a total plastic bag ban in Portland, Oregon and Ann Arbor, Michigan, among other cities, though bag ban supporters in Baltimore, Maryland, Colorado and Virginia have been disappointed by stalled or vetoed bills.

What’s happening with plastic bags where you live? Have you replaced plastic with canvas or some other reusable bag?

Community Connection:

To learn about other products you can buy to reduce your negative environmental impact, check out Lola Akinmade’s article, Improving Your Goodprint.

You may know fair trade’s basic premise–paying producers in developing nations a fair price for their goods–but what else does fair trade entail? What else should you know about what’s behind the label?

Photo: Francisco Collazo

1. Fair trade represents a movement.

Fair trade began in the 1940s as a form of charity when religious groups in the West set up specialized stores to sell crafts from developing nations.

As fair trade developed in the ensuing decades, the movement politicized its approach: targeting international trade practices that favored rich nations, including dumping subsidized produce on poor countries (thereby driving down the price of local produce); imposing high duties on imports from developing nations; and forcing bilateral trade deals that flood third world markets with cheap products.

2. Without access to markets or the means of competing on fair grounds, third world producers remain mired in poverty.

Oxfam estimates that if Africa, East Asia, South Asia, and Latin America increased their share of world exports by just one percent, the resulting gains could lift 128 million people out of poverty.

In Africa alone, a one percent increase in exports would generate about $70 billion USD, about five times what the continent currently receives in aid.

3. Fair trade is also a brand.

The name “fair trade” is owned by the Fairtrade Labeling Organization (FLO), a Bonn-based association of 23 member groups that develop fair trade standards, confer certification, and monitor compliance.

Each member organization also helps traders and wholesalers in its country access fair trade-certified products from around the world. Cutting out middlemen, the process is more streamlined and cost-efficient than conventional trade channels.

FLO members include TransFair in the US; Comercio Justo in Mexico; the Fairtrade Foundation in the UK; and Max Havelaar in Switzerland.

4. Fair trade certification standards vary, depending on the product.

Producers must meet labor standards regarding working conditions, worker organization, and child labor. In some cases, sustainable environmental practices may also be included.

Photo: Ahron de Leeuw

Pricing is determined by calculating a sustainable living wage in the source country; families must be able to afford adequate housing, clean water, food, and basic education. Farmers are guaranteed a minimum price for their produce, regardless of the fluctuation of commodity prices in global markets. Producers can also access credit at fair rates.

5. Coffee makes up the bulk of the fair trade market…

Photo: jakeliefer

Coffee is a significant exportable product for more than 60 developing nations.

Though fair trade coffee comprises less than 5% of the total coffee consumed in the US, demand is growing. Starbucks recently announced it would double its fair trade coffee purchases to about 40 million pounds this year, making it the largest buyer of fair trade coffee.

6. But fair trade isn’t just about coffee, produce, and handcrafts.

You can find the fair trade label on flowers, sports equipment, wine, cocoa, chocolate, tea, rice, honey, sugar, spices, and many other products. Check the Fair Trade Resource Network to learn what products are covered and where you can find them.

You can also check Ten Thousand Villages,one of the original fair trade craft retailers, which has hundreds of retail shops in the US and Canada. Other large sales and resource networks include ;Equal Exchange and SERRV International.

7. Fair trade does have its critics.

Fair trade has been compared to farm subsidies, in which artificial price setting encourages market inefficiencies and overproduction, hurting producers elsewhere.

Photo: publik15

Other contentious issues include the rigidity of certification rules (coffee growers, for example, must be part of a small family farm that is part of a larger cooperative), fees that small producers can’t afford, and poor enforcement of standards.

FLO member groups have been criticized for liberally granting the use of the fair trade label to corporations without considering their overall business practices. For this reason, several American coffee importers have pulled out of the TransFair system, opting to use an alternative label.

COMMUNITY CONNECTION:

As an end consumer it may be difficult, if not impossible, to trace the origins of the products you buy back to their sources. Some consumers, though, are interested in doing just that. Read Matador’s interview with author Kelsey Timmerman, who tried to trace his clothes back to the factories where they were made.