by Tao Oliveto, Carrboro, NC

Not surprisingly, in public opinion surveys, ‘women express higher levels of environmental concern than men, Riley Dunlap, a professor of sociology at Oklahoma State University’, as reported in NY Times last month. Motherhood can and does stir up feelings about protecting and nurturing offspring, and that includes protecting the environment around them, the food they eat, the air they breathe, their future on the planet.

Granted, things seemed to backslide when mothers decided to trust television commercials before their instincts. Like many kids, I grew up with Tide, Windex, Velveeta and Jello. (More recently and more shocking, I witnessed doting new parents holding a can of Coca-cola to the lips of an infant.)

But moms are waking up and when they talk, the world - and the market - listens. EcoMoms Alliance is a growing organization with 11,000 members from all over the world, dedicated to greening motherly ways and more. Sign on with EcoMoms and you are immediately asked to take 10 First Steps for A Sustainable Future - a challenge which includes changing lightbulbs, changing your driving habits and composting. But don’t expect to stop there. These Earth Mothers talk the walk - from local living, smaller cars, smaller houses, clothing swaps, natural cleaning products and water reuse. The mission is to share, support, teach and learn - not just with each other, but within schools, neighborhoods, communities and beyond.

The organization, founded and led by Kimberly Danek Pinkson, includes an extensive and impressive team, including experts in areas of environmental medicine, waste management, eco-gardening and more. Not just for the SUV-driving soccer moms, the Alliance reaches far and wide with educational outreach programs, campaigns and training for a new generation of women leaders. With celebrity members like Robin Wright Penn and corporate sponsors, Native Energy, Method and Sustainable Websites (to name just a few), EcoMoms Alliance is poised and ready to join the mainstream and be a force for good.

Two years ago, Jerry contributed to a sustainable industries’ online forum asking branding agencies “how to make sustainability cool.”

Here’s what he told them~

“Sustainability IS cool. From Bo Diddley to Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Jack Kerouac, the young Elvis, Jimi Hendrick’s, punk DIY culture, the Merry Pranksters, Marlon Brando, and Burning Man – the essence of cool is personified by communities and sub-cultures driven by individuality and self expression. The essence of being cool is being your own damn self. The opposite of cool is forming yourself based on social influence and conformity. (No one buys a Ford Explorer or a McMansion because they’re following their heart).

And in an organic, local, ethically hip, off-the-grid world, individuality and self- expression are rampant.

Reported on Ecorazzi.com, Actress, Thandie Newton, on clothes - “It is grotesque how out of control manufacturing has become, and the excess, the pollution that’s caused by it. Vintage (clothing) is not only glorious and stylish, it’s also the way forward in terms of recycling. Whenever I go into great vintage stores, I wonder why we ever buy new things.”

Some celebs walk the walk - red carpet and otherwise - and Thandie gets going green.

The Change founder, Jerry Stifelman, knows the consumer end of fashion, and he loves all aspects of thrifting, especially the new clothing and accessory swap site, Swango.com. At Swango, you can find quality and style for a few dollars and the price of shipping, and you don’t have to leave home. Here’s more from Jerry on the experience of thriting:

For the core thrift customer, it’s a conscious, highly valued choice. For them, the glossy sterility of The Gap or Banana Republic pales in comparison to the possibilities of used clothing. The foundation of the thrift experience is that it is AN EXPERIENCE.

These assets include:
- DESTINY. Everything at a retail store is calculated to appeal to people. There is no thrill in buying a pair of jeans that a marketing department has predicted that a half a million people including yourself will purchase. At a thrift store, if you see a sweater, or a hat that appeals to you — it’s the only one there. It has taken its own path across space and time to reach you. It’s meant to be. It’s special. It’s meaningful.

- STORY. A new t shirt comes to you from a factory where it was made alongside thousands of others. A thrift store shirt has an utterly unique story — you don’t necessarily know what the story is — but you know it’s there.

- COMMUNITY. Like anything that involves a choice that deviates from the mainstream, there is a sense of community associated with the thrift experience. You know that others feel similarly and it creates an instant connection. The exchanges between thrift store employees and customers are more intimate, relaxed and less businesslike than between typical retail employees and customers — in fact, they are more apt to be genuine conversations — not just polite exchanges.

Fashion doesn’t get any better than this.

by Tao Oliveto

Some things are so simple.

For instance, clean-up at public urinals is a disproportionate problem in many places. Then someone in Europe decided to strategically place a small drawing of a fly inside the basin as a “target”. The problem decreased by a measurable 80%.

Hmm. This makes me think of the issue of plastic bag use. Years ago, Whole Foods stores started offering a nickel back for bringing your own bag and over a decade, has encouraged approximately 20% of their customers to reuse. Ho Hum. As an new and enthusiastic employee back then, I suggested that charging a nickel for bags instead would be a stronger motivational message and decrease bag use even further, saving waste and the company dollars. I also thought we should sell our reusable canvas bags at cost in compensation for any perceived “inconvenience” to customers. Nobody agreed.

Wouldn’t you know it…a decade later (as reported in Fast Company), Ikea stores in the UK decided to charge their customers 5 cents for every bag they took. Plastic bag use dropped by 90% in less than two years! When the same policy took effect in U.S. stores in Mid-March, 2007, bag use dropped by 50% in less than one year - more than anyone expected. Ikea also dropped the price of their re-usuable bags to 59 cents at checkout - and those sales increased 10 times.

Can green guidelines live happily with customer service and profits? It sure looks that way.

For better or worse, we humans are a predictable bunch - and more willing to Change than marketers realize.

Simple as that.

by Tao Oliveto

More bad water news appeared recently - fear of pharmaceuticals. Trace levels of prescription drugs have been found in some water supplies. Strangely, we won’t hesitate in swallowing the latest quick-fix for pain-relief, depression, appetite control or menopause, but we panic when considering the possibility of ingesting our neighbor’s prescriptions by drinking water from the tap. So, it’s back on the bottle for many - sad news for the environment and for our overall health.

It’s still unknown exactly how much contamination our treatment plants can remove from our drinking water, but going back to the waste of bottled water obviously doesn’t solve the problem, especially since 40% of bottled water, including Aquafina and Dasani, is simply filtered tap water. Never mind that numerous studies have shown that bottled water is generally no safer or healthier than tap water. When fear leads, people follow and the bigger fear usually wins.

Moreover, the problems of drinking bottled water have not disappeared. Dioxins and other plastic-derived toxins can and do leach into water in plastic bottles. (I’ve previously posted details here and here.) Remember, we are also paying up to 10,000 times more to drink this bottled water than what is coming from the tap.

Environmental costs? Still with us. It takes more than 10 million barrels of oil - emissions included - to produce bottled water. Americans still throw away over 60 million plastics water bottles each day, each taking up to 1,000 years to break down - more pollution, more toxins getting back into our soil and water supply…the vicious cycle continues.

I stopped wanting to drink from the tap when I was overpowered by the smell of chlorine but it made more sense - economically and otherwise - to purchase a counter top filter to improve the quality of what I was drinking. I started with a basic, inexpensive version, but even since I’ve upgraded to a 3-filter system, it has paid for itself 10 times over by now if I compared it to buying even the cheapest bottled stuff. There are many models available. You can start here.

(There is no perfect solution to our water contamination at present, although a return to the sanity of composting human waste, rather than sending it directly into our water system would eliminate much of it.)

Filtered tap water is still the best option for our health and the environment.

by Tao Oliveto
Bats are dying in mass numbers in at least 6 states in the Northeast. Reports show 40% dead in 4 caves in New York State alone, predicting a loss of approximately 1/2 million in the region.

A mysterious fungus, showing up on the noses of the dead and dying bats, is thought to be a symptom of what is still an unknown affliction causing the mass extinction. Ten laboratories are working on the issue, studying what could be causing the fungus as well as what appears to be a severe decrease in body fat on the bats which normally provides the warmth and nutrients needed during hibernation.

Since bats migrate hundreds of miles and colonize by the thousands, the disease can and is spreading rapidly. Decreasing populations at this rate is compounded by the fact that female bats give birth to only one pup each year.

Scientists wonder if recently introduced pesticides are contributing to to the the problem, either as a toxin causing illness, depleting immune systems, or by decreasing their natural food supplies. Read this NY Times article for details.

Nobody is yet talking about global warming in this issue, but, as revealed in both West Nile Virus and the tree-eating beetles, it’s bound to link up in some way. I don’t know about you, but I keep hearing Mama Earth saying, “Can you hear me now?”

Bats play a large role in keeping insect populations balanced, protecting crops and people and are an important part of our fragile eco-system. You can help protect bat populations in your area by decreasing light pollution and providing safe nesting sites by hanging bat boxes. In return, they will decrease your populations of bothersome insects. Besides that, you’ll barely notice them as they are clean animals who work the night shift.

I recently purchased a bat box at my local hardware store - a small, affordable, specially-designed box that is easily attached under your roof line or to trees. I’m now thinking of getting a few more. You can read all about bats and bat boxes here.