What Is In Your Garbage?

Were you aware that the average American throws out 550 pounds of paper, 318 pounds of food, and 90 pounds of glass per year?   About 80 percent of that garbage ends up in landfills.  Garbage isn’t necessarily a fun thing to think about but it certainly is an opportunity to evaluate ones choices and lifestyles.

 As a green living consultant, I oftentimes ask clients, “What is in your garbage?”  Your garbage can give you clues as to how to live a more sustainable lifestyle. 

 Clue #1:
This is an easy one.  If you look in your garbage and notice paper, plastic, aluminum, kitchen waste and more all combined together, then your first step towards building a personal sustainability program is to embrace the sustainability concept of recycle.  Separate the paper, plastics, glass, and aluminum into bins and begin a recycling program. 

 Clue #2:
Inspect the paper and plastic in your garbage.  Are the paper products you are using made from recycled content?  Do you receive a lot of junk mail? Are you using reusable containers?  What kind of garbage bags do you use?  Take eco action and make a difference.  Address each area and explore ways to reduce your waste as well as make more environmentally friendly choices.  Following are some suggestions from our eco friendly training classes:

 Reduce Food Waste:
•    Pre plan your meals, buy in bulk, and prepare what you need.
•    Compost and turn your old food into healthy soil.

 Reduce when you shop and shop with the environment in mind:
•    Purchase products that are returnable, reusable or refillable.  Use reusable and refillable containers in your home instead of disposable items.
•    Purchase products with the least amount of packaging.
•    Get the most out of what you buy by comparing warranties and cost to repair or replace the item.
•    Look for products designed with the environment in mind.  Organic clothing, sustainable furnishings, and solar powered products are just a few examples.
•    Rent or borrow instead of purchasing.

 Reduce items at home:
•    Reduce paper consumption- go paperless.
•    Find new life for old furnishings, appliances and clothes.

 By evaluating the contents of your garbage, there exist the opportunity to make more sustainable purchase choices,  to reduce your waste, and to modify behavior to support the environment.  

Posted via web from 3BL Media, CSR News, and Emily

Top 10 Plants to Reduce Stress, Cut Toxins, and Live Green

The Environmental Protection Agency estimates that Americans spend up to 90% of their time indoors.  With today’s modern, energy efficient office buildings, the sealed air inside can contain 10 times more pollution than the air outside due to toxic emissions from building constituents, airborne mold, viruses, and other pollutants.

 Improved indoor air quality can directly contribute to good health, improved productivity and ability to sustain living a sustainable lifestyle. Our professional consulting services have worked with clients expressing potential indoor air quality concerns:

 •    Carbon Monoxide
•    Nitrogen Dioxide
•    Respirable Particles
•    Household Chemicals
•    Pesticides
•    Formaldehyde
•    Dust Mites
•    Mold

A sustainable solution for improved indoor air quality is plants.  Plants naturally clean your air of toxins and chemicals, reduce stress, and improve your overall well-being.  They also increase eco awareness in your environment.   In fact, NASA research has consistently shown that living, green and flowering plants can remove several toxic chemicals from the air in building interiors.  

 As professional consultants, we suggest that one plant should be allowed for approximately 10 square yards of floor space, assuming average ceiling heights of 8 to 9 feet. This means that you need two or three plants to contribute to good air quality in the average domestic living room of about 20 to 25 square yards. 

Our sustainability consulting practice advises small businesses and individuals of the importance of managing indoor environment.   Following are the best plants to reduce stress, fight colds, and reduce toxins in your environment. 

 Plants to Fight Stress

• Chinese Evergreen – In one study from Washington State University, people in a room of plants including this Chinese Evergreen had a 4-point drop in their systolic blood pressure after taking a stressful test, compared with only a 2-point drop in a group that had no exposure to plants.
• Arrowhead Vine – In one study, the Arrowhead Vine helped induce a 4-point drop in systolic blood pressure among stressed-out test subjects.

 
Plants to Fight Colds

• English Ivy
• Small openings on the underside of a plant’s leaves release moisture into the air, boosting humidity to alleviate cold symptoms. Because of English Ivy’s high volume of leaves, horticulturists recommend it as one of the most effective cold-fighting plants.
•  Heart-Leaf Philodendron – In one study from the Agricultural University of Norway, people with office plants including the Heart-Leaf Philodendron reported 37% less coughing and 25% less hoarseness after 3 months than when they left their offices plant-free.
• Fragrant Dracaena – This Fragrant Dracaena variety reduced workers’ sore throat symptoms and helped cut complaints of fatigue by 30%, in a Norwegian study.
• Peace Lily – Peace Lilies paired with a few other plants, including the heart-leaf philodendron, can boost a room’s humidity by up to 5%, finds a study from the Bavarian State Institute of Viticulture and Horticulture. In the dry winter months, this small increase is enough to relieve dry throats and noses.
• African Violet – An African Violet works well with other plants to add moisture to the air and kick cold symptoms.

 
Plants to Cut Toxins

• Janet Craig – When plants take in oxygen and carbon dioxide, they also pull in VOCs, toxins that are released by cleaning supplies, printers, and other household items. Three Janet Craigs cut VOCs in a 130-square-foot room by up to 70%, finds research from the University of Technology in Australia.
• Sweet Chico – Six Sweet Chicos, a smaller table-size peace lily, have the same toxin-reducing effect as floor-standing Janet Craig plants, according to Australian research. 
• Kentia Palm -The Kentia Palm breathes in toxins effectively, cutting VOC levels–toxins that are released by cleaning supplies, printers, and other household items–from a home, according to a study from the University of Technology.

 
The natural inborn ability of live plants to clean the air means that live plants are a sustainable solution for improved indoor air quality.

Posted via web from 3BL Media, CSR News, and Emily

Sustainable Brands ’10 Announces SB Innovation Open, a Contest for Sustainable Start-ups

(3BLMedia/theCSRfeed) BURLINGAME, CA -  March 24, 2010 – Sustainable Life Media today announced the addition of Sustainable Brands Innovation Open (SB’IO) to its flagship conference, Sustainable Brands 2010.  Sustainable Life Media is seeking company applications in two broad areas. Those in the Idea Stage will be self or family funded with a solid business plan and limited operational experience.  The second category, Early Stage, seeks companies that are operating to plan with less than $1 million in outside capital invested.  Entries are sought in both consumer and business-to-business categories (those providing solutions supporting the growing sustainability industry).

Ten start-ups will be selected to participate in the SB’IO and will receive an opportunity to pitch at a pre-conference event to a group of green/social investors, executives from leading companies, top brand consultants and peers. 

In addition to free attendance, the selected start-ups will be able to exhibit their products and services at the three-day conference. Ultimately, the winning company will receive significant visibility, strategic support and recognition from this influential community of brand and thought leaders. 

“SB’IO supports innovation in sustainability from consumer brands AND those companies helping facilitate more sustainable practices inside existing companies,” said KoAnn Vikoren Skrzyniarz, CEO of Sustainable Life Media.  “The SB’IO gives ten emerging companies a platform to showcase their early stage company and build a network of supporters that can accelerate their route to market.”

A team of judges will review each submission and make selections based upon their commitment to sustainability and growth potential. The 2010 panel of judges is expected to include Steve Bishop, Sustainability Practice Lead, IDEO; Boyd Cohen, serial entrepreneur; R. Paul Herman, Founder, HIP Investor; Fast Company staff writer, Anya Kamenetz; Kelly Lauber, Head of Sustainable Business Innovation at Nike; Steve Newcomb, serial entrepreneur and Founder, Virgance; KoAnn Vikoren Skrzyniarz, Founder and CEO, Sustainable Life Media; Andrew Winston, author, Green to Gold; and others. From the ten companies that are accepted to pitch, two will then be selected to present on the main stage to the entire conference delegation during the Sustainable Brands ’10 conference sessions.

Applicants should submit a one-page executive summary that includes the company description, sustainability focus, market opportunity and details about the business formation, competition, sales strategy and financials by the May 1 deadline. For specific information and to submit your application online, please visit www.sustainablelifemedia.com/events/sb10/innovation-open

Sustainable Life Media now offers companies and individuals the option of year-long Corporate or Professional memberships to maximize the value they receive from participating at in-person events and provide them access to a growing online archive of sustainable business education. For more information on memberships that include seats at SB’10, visit http://www.sustainablelifemedia.com/membership.

About Sustainable Brands Conference

Widely reputed to be the most compelling sustainability conference of the year, Sustainable Brands 2010 will convene over 700 brand leaders, top executives from the global brands leading sustainable innovation today, all types of designers participating in this global shift, and an unprecedented list of others. Speakers and sessions will provide inspiration, techniques and best practices as economic realities, corporate responsibility and the environment come together to create a new strategic business imperative. Registration is now open and seating is limited: http://www.sustainablebrands10.com

About Sustainable Life Media

Sustainable Life Media (SLM) is the leading producer of sustainable business conferences and educational events, with products and services designed for the sustainable business community including membership, targeted e-newsletters, online learning programs, community, and the flagship Sustainable Brands conference.  SLM delivers top news stories related to the who, what and how of environmental and social innovation, and helps community members connect with thought leaders, peers, partners and solutions providers who can help them quickly reach their goals. For more information, please visit: http://www.sustainablelifemedia.com/about. To subscribe to SLM Newsletters for free, please visit http://www.sustainablelifemedia.com/newsletters.

  SLM5641

Posted via web from 3BL Media, CSR News, and Emily

How to Engage Employees in Corporate Responsibility

Sometimes, corporate sustainability is like playing telephone.  Witnessed from a high level, a company’s corporate sustainability plan may embrace all the right frameworks, include the buzz words, and authentically and credibly, embrace sustainability initiatives.  However, witnessed from the employee level, all that jargon and vision may be lost. 

 It seems there is a disconnect between a corporate sustainability plan and how that vision filters down and is exercised in the day to day processes of an individual worker’s life.  Granted, there are leading organizations that have successfully tied process to sustainability initiatives; currently, they are the exception, not the norm.

 So, how do engage employees in corporate responsibility?
 

• Corporate volunteering:  Engaging employees in corporately supported volunteering is an essential piece of all credible CSR programs that translates CSR values to action.

• Green teams are formal or informal groups of people in a company organized around environmental issues and tasked with ways to promote sustainable business practices. Green teams are excellent in spearheading eco efficiency programs: paper reduction, recycling programs, promote energy conservation, and more, making a huge difference within a department.  Great for team building too.

• Create individual employee sustainability programs. The basic premise of a personal sustainability program is to reduce the carbon footprint, lighten the load on the planet as well as reap the benefits of living a more sustainable lifestyle.    Eco actions taken in a personal sustainability plan can be anything from riding a bike to work or eating organic healthy meals or recycling.

• Educate: Offer ongoing workshops, training, lunch and learns, and educational activities to educate workers on the environmental issues (energy, water, waste, and others) and the associated actions causing the problems.  Identify new behavior and eco actions that individually workers can take to create new patterns of behavior and choices that support environmental solutions and are aligned with the company’s overarching sustainability plan.   We’ve learned in our eco friendly training classes, the first part is educating; the harder part is changing the behavior. Ongoing education helps create lasting change.

 
Tying corporate sustainability initiatives to day to day processes makes CSR more personable to an employee and helps employees to identify their role in corporate responsibility.

Posted via web from 3BL Media, CSR News, and Emily