Equal Exchange Blog: An Organic Solution

It’s a Friday morning at Equal Exchange and one day short of the official start of Spring. A truck backs into one of our loading docks. But it’s not here to take away boxes of Equal Exchange products. It’s here to pick up chaff.

“Chaff is a skin that comes off the coffee as it roasts,” said Lead Coffee Roaster Thomas Lussier. “As the coffee dries out and expands during roasting, it sheds this skin.” Each week, we produce about 30-40 tall garbage bags – about 430 pounds of chaff. That could be a lot of waste, albeit organic, but fortunately chaff has another use  in the garden. Coffee bean chaff adds helpful nutrients to a compost mixture, and is especially good for the growth of vegetables.

In the fall of 2008, Rodney North, Equal Exchange’s “Answer Man,” started looking for ways to distribute chaff to local farmers. Eva Sommaripa, a certified organic grower of fresh culinary herbs, cut flower bouquets, edible flowers and specialty greens, took interest. Her business, Eva’s Garden, is based in South Dartmouth, Mass. They make deliveries to markets and restaurants in the Boston area and could easily pick up chaff on the trip back to South Dartmouth. “As an organic farmer she was more interested than most in making her own compost and getting an organic compost ingredient was a plus,” North said.

So since then, about once a month from early spring until fall, the Eva’s Garden truck pulls up to the dock. This week, Ted Perry is behind the wheel. Perry has worked at Eva’s Garden for two years. He’s the Technical Equipment Director, which means he oversees the maintenance and repair of all tools and machines used at the garden. He’s also heavily involved in the planting and growing aspects of Eva’s Garden, and helps manage farm projects, irrigation projects and sometimes makes deliveries to Boston. It’s after one such delivery that he’s come to Equal Exchange to load the empty delivery truck with chaff and burlap bags.

At Eva’s Garden, chaff is used in the compost mixture. “Chaff absorbs the moisture and dries the pile out,” Perry said. “It’s a great way to bulk up the compost, which in turn becomes soil used for planting.

James Reynolds of The Dahlia Farm in Middleboro, Mass., has also utilized chaff from Equal Exchange for the last year. The farm is an organic CSA producer of vegetables and cutflowers. “We’re regularly experimenting with alternative means of production,” said Reynolds. “Initially I used the chaff as a general additive to the farm’s clay-loam soil, but soon began to specifically target mulch and bedding, mixing the chaff with soil to make a lighter backfill for both leeks and potatoes  both of which require a series of stem-covering during the growing season. The chaff is a good substitute for foul bedding as it absorbs excess moisture and ammonia, which is later turned into compost.”

In organic cultivation, weeds are one of the biggest time consumers. So burlap sacks  something else we have plenty of at Equal Exchange can be used as a suppressant for invasive root species and weeds. “[The bags] block light, so it prevents weeds from growing,” Perry said.

The bags can also be used in winter to protect things like dahlia bulbs or tulips. “You bed them down as insulation,” Perry said. They also work well in raised beds, especially with tomatoes. “Just cut a hole in the bag and put a plant in it. It retains moisture and keeps weeds from growing,” Perry said.

Don’t have access to chaff? Instead of throwing out your coffee grounds after brewing, put them in your garden! Coffee grounds are high in nitrogen, and can be sprinkled around plants, added to compost piles, or mixed into soil for houseplants or vegetable beds.

Our very own Banana Coordinator, Nicole Vitello, is also an organic farmer, and has used coffee grounds in her compost pile for years. “As an organic farmer, compost is a key ingredient in soil fertility but also in improving soil tilth,” Vitello said. “Tilth is the structure of the soil and relates directly to its ability to aerate plant roots and both hold and shed moisture. In New England, farmers often have to contend with high clay concentrations in the soil which can make it heavy and difficult for plant roots to penetrate and access available nutrients.”

Since working at Equal Exchange, Vitello has had access to a lot of coffee grounds. “I have been composting our communal kitchen waste which contains a high concentration of coffee grounds,” she said. “I also add coffee chaff to the mix as a carbon component and to lighten the amount of vegetable matter. What I have noticed most from the higher concentrations of coffee grounds is the structure of the compost. It is finer and lighter with better texture. With this composition, I feel I am not only adding nutrients to my soil by composting but also providing better structure to my soil and encouraging soil microorganisms, all elements of better tilth and ecology.”

Just like with coffee roasting, gardening is a mix of art and science!

Do you have a garden tip using coffee grounds, chaff or burlap bags? Send your ideas and/or pictures to asymons@equalexchange.coop

EE6692

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

Dissecting Marlboro College’s MBA in Managing for Sustainability

Here In Good Company we have been busy keeping up with all the business schools who have recently been adding sustainability and CSR course content to their curricula. Whether that’s MIT’s Sloan School of Business, the recent announcement by University of California, Berkeley’s Haas School of Business on the revamp of their MBA curriculum or Marlboro College Graduate School.

The rationale for this continuing trend is linear, at least for now. The schools are responding to demand from students as well as recent graduating classes for addressing a systems thinking approach in their classes and making sustainability at the center of their leadership modules, despite an acknowledged apathy from recruiters when it’s time to look for a job that encompasses the principles of sustainability.

At the recently concluded CERES conference in Boston last week, 3BL Media interviewed Ralph Meima who is the program director of Marlboro College’s MBA in Managing for Sustainability. Besides addressing some of the core reasons behind the program’s initiation, Meima addressed several questions I have raised in the past on this blog: Sustainability as core content and not as electives, as a part of the program’s DNA and not optional, etc. Tune in to the complete interview below. If you are considering an MBA and want to emphasize on sustainability business practices, or graduating soon to enter a volatile job market, the interview should help us all with some direction.

 

Got something to add? Feel free to comment by leaving a note below, emailing In Good Company or connecting with me on Twitter @VaultCSR.

 

Aman Singh is the CSR Editor at Vault.com, where she focuses on how corporate diversity practices and sustainability translate into recruitment and strategic development. Her blog, In Good Company, discusses on many of these issues.

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

15 Small Business Tips to Going Green

Integrating sustainability concepts into core business functions makes companies more nimble in a fast-changing world.  It also makes a business’s brands more attractive to consumers and retailers, and its management more respected by employees, regulators and the financial markets. In short, the drivers for improved business sustainability equate to cost savings and improved performance.

 Our sustainability consulting practice works with small business owners to integrate sustainability concepts into the core business, the workplace, and the communities in which the business operates.

 Are you looking for ways to green your business?  Following are 15 ways to go green today!

  1.    Office Energy Consumption – Evaluate the average energy use per square foot of office space and implementing best practices to reduce: energy consumption studies, efficiency practices, equipment modifications, etc.
2.    Employee Commuting – Offer employees incentives to ride public transportation or participate in car/van pooling.
3.    Employee Telecommuting – Reduced office space and transportation as a potential win-win-win practice for businesses, employees, and the environment.
4.    Sustainable Design – Consider materials selection, energy consumption, manufacturing, product use and operation, and final disposition, early in the product development process.
5.    Water Conservation – Manage water entering the company and look for opportunities to reuse water.
6.    Management Systems  – Raise eco awareness and company commitment through established sustainability policies, standards, metrics, and self audits.
7.    Environmental Philanthropy – Beyond just corporate volunteering efforts provide access to technology, engineering support, information and research that benefits the local community and the environment.
8.    Packaging – Focus on using as little packaging material as needed and making packaging as recyclable as possible.
9.    Pollution Prevention – Keep attention on both source control and waste reduction
10.    Recycling and Waste Reduction – Anywhere there is a trash can, there should be a recycling bin.
11.    Resource Conservation – Consider material and energy consumption across the entire value chain…reduce, reuse, recycle.
12.    Printing Less – Paper makes up about 35% of a typical company’s total waste stream
13.    Go Digital – Reduce paper use and get contracts and documents signed more quickly by using electronic signatures.
14.    Sustainable Partnering – A key aspect of business sustainability is making sure that you manage your supply chain and partner with companies with similar values.
15.    Sustainable Education and Development – There is always more you can do to make your business more sustainable.  Encourage education and innovation within the organization.

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

Dancing Our Way to a More Sustainable World

Drop the disco balls!  Bring on the magic lights!  Pump up the volume!  Are you ready to break out into a master groove to help a worthy cause?  Well, now is your chance!  If you are in the New York area on May 12th,  Bpeace  is celebrating its annual DanceGiving  FUNraising event.  DanceGiving is a culmination of a year of fundraising by the Bpeace network of 300+ business professionals.  More than 100 dancers will take eco action by participating in next week’s event to help the organization grow but more importantly, to support the brave women entrepreneurs in Rwanda and Afghanistan, who are creating employment and building more peaceful futures for their communities.

 Exactly who is Bpeace?  Bpeace (Business Council for Peace) believes the path to peace is lined with jobs. They work with entrepreneurs in conflict-affected countries to scale their businesses, create significant employment for all, and expand the economic power of women. More jobs mean less violence.®

 Why you should care?  Generosity and sustainability are intrinsically linked.  While we are here on this planet, at this precise time in history, many of us want to make a difference in the way we treat our environment and our world.  Many of us want to make a significant contribution to the role business takes in shaping our economy, society, and environment.  DanceGiving is addressing those needs. 

 Networks of teams and individual dancers have been working together to spread the word about Bpeace. They aim to raise over $200,000 for DanceGiving 2010. All proceeds go to train and coach entrepreneurs in Afghanistan, Rwanda, and a third country that will be selected in 2010.

 If you can’t be there or just plain don’t have any good dance moves, you can contribute here.

 To learn more about Bpeace and the women entrepreneurs they assist, check out the Bpeace website and the Bpeace blog.

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

7 DIY Recycled Birdhouses and Feeders You can Build this Spring

OK, it’s late spring, the bugs are back. In force. But it’s only a matter of a few weeks before the baby birds, bats and dragonflies come out and start snacking them back down to a reasonable level.

I love to attract and keep birds around on my rural Massachusetts homestead by building feeders and houses for them. I mostly cobble mine together out of scrap wood. 4 sides, a bottom, two pieces for a rood, cut a hole and put a stick on it and you’ve got Habitat for Birds. Leave one or two sides open and you’ve got a feeder. ‏But here are some very cool designs that use recycled cans, jugs, even a cinder block to make shelter and feeders for our feathered friends. I found these on ThePetsCentral, OttoBlotto, and New England Birdhouse. There are a lot of resources out there for these things, and plenty of scrap materials to fashion tiny food and housing units from. These were some of my favorites:

Coffee Can Bird House
Designer Ignacio Pilotto created the Nestle Bird House, made from a recycled aluminum Nestle coffee can. I suppose any brand will do. Just put eyes through the side for hanging, cut a hole in the lid, and push a pencil or old pen barrel through it for a perch. Hang from a tree branch, and listen for the offline twittering.

Apple Juice Bottle Birdhouse
Marcel Wanders designed this modern bird house with from a ceramic apple juice bottle. I suppose painted glass would work as well. Just add sticks to this recycled bird house, attach through the bottom to your tree or post, and you are all set.

Billbird House
Michael Bom of Rotterdam took pieces of old billboard signs and used drawer pulls to create the Billbird house. Making them with the billboard adds color and pattern. Fort the modern and trendy wren in your life.

Cinder Block Bird House
What’s sturdier than a brick house? The Cinder Block Bird House is unique use of an old cinder block. It can be hung from a sturdy limb-don’t sit below it — or simply placed on the ground. Fill in the cinder block holes with scraps of wood and add a perch and entry. A great way to use old materials to give sturdy housing to a bird in need.

Key House
The Key House has a front and half roof made from slab wood. The rest of the house is made from scrap 1 inch boards. The roof is covered in tin from an old barn. Old keys add décor (you could even hide your spare house key among them), and perch is an old door stop and a brass plate. A maple sap bucket lid might make a good roof as well.

House of Shalom
If you keep a Kosher home, this little house is also made with slab wood and the right side has the word “shalom” in Hebrew burned into the side. The left side has a tree of life burned into it, and both sides have colored wire and nail Stars of David. The front uses an old floor vent grate and the perch is a pewter drawer pull. The roof is partially covered in old barn tin, decoratively edged with pull chain. All it needs is a mezuzah by the entry.

Recycled Bottle Hummingbird Feeder
Last, if you are into hummingbirds, and who isn’t, you can build this feeder from a reclaimed soda bottle and cap, a scrap of copper tube, and a burst beach ball or old silk flower.

Rinse the used bottle, cap and ¼ inch copper tubing with fresh water. Using a 7/16″ inch drill bit, make a hole in the bottle cap. Cut 6″ of copper tubing and sand rough edges smooth. 2 inches from the top of the pipe, make a 30-40 degree bend in the tube, and insert the short end into the bottle cap. The tube should fit snuggly into the hole. Put a bead of hot glue around the tube inside and outside of the bottle cap. Don’t get it on the cap threads.

Then make a “flower” for the end of the tube. Insert the tube through the middle of the silk flower extending flower, extending the tube about halfway through the flower. Secure with hot glue, or wrap with string or wire.  A flower pattern can be cut from a red or orange panel of an old beach ball, cinched around the tube and wrapped with a wire.

Last, wrap a coat hanger or bit of wire around the bottom of the bottle, leaving enough length to make a hook for hanging. Add sugar water and hum along! Full instructions here.

To see more pictures and DIY projects, visit the original blog post.

Greenopolis.com is dedicated to our users. We focus our attention on changing the world through recycling, waste-to-energy and conservation. We reward our users for their sustainable behavior on our website, through our Greenopolis recycling kiosks and with curbside recycling programs.

GREENOP6678

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

The Challenges of Intercultural Leadership

Cross-cultural, multicultural, intercultural…these terms are often used interchangeably yet have finely nuanced distinctions. For a leader, the cross cultural context means literally crossing cultures to do business, provide service, or vacation in another culture. Multicultural refers to multiple cultures existing in a geographic place or organization, each separate and distinct. Intercultural refers to the act of understanding the values and beliefs of a culture and being able to communicate and collaborate with people across multiple cultures. Interculturalism has as its goal innovation, inclusion, and friendship. Intercultural ism implies interaction.

Milton Bennett, an interculturalist and the founder of the Intercultural Communication Institute in Portland, Oregon suggests the following definition for “Interculturalism”. It is “the learned and shared values, beliefs, and behaviours, of a group of interacting people”. There are at least two key ideas embedded in this definition. One is the notion that with enough curiosity and respect we can come to share values and beliefs and the second is that real understanding between people has to come from mutual interaction. The positive spinoffs to this approach are manifold. The act of valuing differences rather than imposing your own norms, values, and beliefs, applies to all cultures…international, professional, corporate, and perhaps best of all, families. 
 
It seems to me that many organizations believe that a “global” perspective on leadership will simply emerge as a leader interacts with diverse cultures. This is unlikely to happen. Our own western culture values and recognizes certain kinds of behaviours. As leaders grow within an organization they quickly discover what gets recognized and therefore rewarded. We place a high premium on “getting it done”, on production, and timeliness. Someone who can bring a project in “on time and on (or under) budget” is likely to be highly sought after. Yet these valuable skills may be at odds with another cultures respect for relationship and collective decision-making. The challenge in becoming truly intercultural is raising our awareness of how and why we do, say, react and respond in the ways in which we do. It requires a high level of curiosity aimed not only at another culture but at our own.  
 
My own curiosity is piqued when I see the preponderance of leadership books, articles, and blogs with diversity or multicultural leadership as their subject. My lived experience tells me that few of us actually know how to enact these competencies. What prevents us from seeing our own way of being in the world? Is it system blindness, cultural blindness, personal blindness? Is it because our systems don’t recognize and reward curious, reflective, experimental behaviour? What’s more rewarding the path of greatest or least resistance? Let me know when you figure it out…I’m curious.   
 
This blog was written by Christine Bonney, Managing Partner at The Acacia Group, Responsible for Leadership and Coaching.
 
ACACIA6654

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

Plastic by the Numbers: What to Choose, What to Lose

With oil still gushing into the Gulf of Mexico from the Deepwater Horizon disaster, the tiny firestorm that erupted around Greenopolis’ partnership with PepsiCo to recapture bottles and cans, and some of the pushback on my recent blog How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Plastic, I thought I’d bring a little data on plastics to the conversation.

First of all, two-thirds of all the oil we extract is used for transportation fuel. Plastics, chemicals, and other uses make up the other third. Plastics are also made from natural gas, and can be made from plant materials. Which doesn’t make them biodegradable necessarily. Some fossil fuel based plastics can biodegrade, and some biobased plastics don’t. Using food crops like corn for plastics can raise food prices for the poor. And in some cases plastics have a smaller environmental foot print than other materials like steel or glass or wood. When it comes to plastic, there are no simple answers. It’s usually situational, not black and white. If we stopped using all plastics tomorrow, we would likely strip the planet of critical natural resources for substitutes. There’s no black and white here, but shades of gray; not all plastics are created equal. It’s a lot like picking mushrooms- you need to be able to identify the ones you want.

Whatever the plastic, recycling it saves energy and a trip to the oil or gas well. So that’s step one — reuse, recapture, and recycle as much as we possibly can. The rest can be used for energy. Under no circumstances should any plastic be landfilled or tossed- except for fully compostable bioplastics. We need to close the loop on plastics and take them to higher and higher usefulness and purpose. PET bottles can become new bottles or a bucket, computer housing, appliance part, building material. Plastic’s durability suggests that we use it for increasingly durable applications, in its first, second third or later life.

But what about toxicity? One of our Facebook fans suggested we read Slow Death by Rubber Duck, which we did. And given the amount of plastic that surrounds us, it’s not surprising that a lot of the chemicals that make plastics end up in our bodies. Often it’s the additives to color, soften, harden or otherwise modify the plastic that causes the problem. But some of the most common plastics are pretty benign in use. Some are not. So here’s a simple guide that is aligned with even books like Rubber Duck. It’s easy to follow because it’s based on the numbers we see on nearly all plastics. Turn your plastic container over, look at the number inside the triangle, and read on to see what those numbers mean.

Safer plastics:

(I use the word “safer” because few materials, even natural ones, are totally ‘safe’ in every circumstance):

#1 PETE or PET (polyethylene terephthalate), also known as polyester. This plastic is used for most clear beverage bottles, such as water bottles, and two-liter soda bottles. It is one of the most commonly recycled plastics on the planet at about 25%, and represents about 48% of all plastic bottles.

Packaging applications: Soft drink bottles, water bottles, beer bottles, mouthwash bottles, peanut butter containers, salad dressing containers, juice bottles, vegetable oil bottles

Recycled products: Fiber, tote bags, new PETE containers for both food and non-food products, fabric for clothing, athletic shoes, luggage, upholstery, furniture, carpet, fiberfill for sleeping bags and winter coats, industrial strapping, sheet, and film, and automotive parts, such as luggage racks, headliners, fuse boxes, bumpers, grilles and door panels

#2 HDPE (high-density polyethylene) – This is used to make milk jugs, shampoo bottles, and laundry detergent bottles. No. 2 plastic has been found not to leach. Nalgene water bottles are now made from this plastic rather than No. 7 as they were previously. 47% of all bottles are HDPE. PET and HDPE represent 95% of all plastic bottles.

Packaging applications: Milk containers, juice bottles, water bottles, bleach, detergent, and shampoo bottles, trash bags, grocery and retail carrying bags, motor oil bottles, butter and margarine tubs, household cleaner bottles, yogurt containers, and cereal box liners.

Recycled products: Drainage pipe, liquid laundry detergent bottles, oil bottles, pens, benches, doghouses, recycling containers, floor tile, picnic tables, fencing, lumber, and mailbox posts

#4 LDPE (low-density polyethylene) – used in most plastic shopping bags, food storage bags, some cling wraps and some squeeze bottles. Because of its toughness, flexibility, and transparency, LDPE is commonly used in applications where heat sealing is necessary. It is also widely used in wire and cable insulation and jacketing.

Packaging applications: Squeezable bottles, bread bags, frozen food bags, tote bags, clothing, furniture, dry cleaning bags, and carpet

Recycled products: Film and sheet, floor tile, garbage can liners, shipping envelopes, furniture, compost bins, paneling, trash cans, lumber, landscaping ties

#5 PP (polypropylene) – used in opaque, hard containers, including some baby bottles, cups and bowls, and reusable storage container (i.e. Tupperware). Drinking straws, yogurt containers, and cottage cheese containers are sometimes made with this. Polypropylene has the lowest density of the resins used in packaging. It is strong and is resistant to chemicals. Since it has a high melting-point it can be utilized in applications requiring that a container be filled with a hot liquid.

Packaging applications: Yogurt containers, syrup bottles, ketchup bottles, caps, straws, medicine bottles

Recycled products: Signal lights, battery cables, brooms, brushes, auto battery cases, ice scrapers, landscape borders, bicycle racks, rakes, bins, pallets, and trays

Plastics to Avoid:

These may have carcinogens like benzene or toxins like chlorine in them and can release toxins especially when heated or burned:

#3 PVC (polyvinyl chloride) – commonly called “vinyl”, is used in commercial plastic wraps and salad dressing bottles, shower curtains, and sad to say, kids toys, backpacks, lunch bags, and binders. 3% of plastic bottles are vinyl. PVC contains phthalate (softeners need to make the plastic bend) and they have been found to interfere with hormonal development. The production of and burning of PVC plastic releases dioxin, a known carcinogen, into the atmosphere. Find alternatives to this one. Nike has banned it from their products.

Packaging applications: Window cleaner bottles, cooking oil bottles, detergent bottles, shampoo bottles, clear food packaging, wire and cable jacketing, medical tubing, with additional significant usage in household products and building materials, particularly siding, piping, and windows

Recycled products: Binders, decking, paneling, mud flaps, roadway gutters, flooring, cables, speed bumps, and mats

#6 PS (polystyrene) – used in Styrofoam cups, meat trays and “clam-shell”-type containers. No. 6 plastics can release potentially toxic materials (like benzene- a carcinogen- and styrene), especially when heated. Remember that the next time you see a Styrofoam cup of hot coffee. Polystyrene can be made into rigid or foamed products. It has a relatively low melting point, as you may find if you pour rally hot water into it. McDonald’s switched to paper packaging from this. So should you.

Packaging applications: Plates, cups, cutlery, meat trays, egg cartons, carry-out containers, aspirin bottles, compact disc jackets

Recycled products: Thermal insulation, light switch plates, egg cartons, vents, rulers, foam packing, carry-out containers

#7 Other – This is a grab bag of plastics – anything that doesn’t fall into categories 1-6 or combines 2 or more of them. A wide-range of plastic containers are lumped into this category This includes those hard polycarbonate plastic bottles which contain bisphenol-A (BPA). No. 7 plastic is used in some reusable water bottles, baby bottles, and some metal can linings. Soft or cloudy colored plastic is not polycarbonate. Avoid polycarbonate, especially for children’s food and drinks. Trace amounts of BPA can migrate from these containers, particularly if used for hot food or liquids.

Packaging applications: Three and five gallon water bottles, certain food product bottles

Recycled products: Plastic lumber, custom-made products

Beyond understanding the numbers, you can also use plastics more safely:

• Don’t microwave in plastic containers. Heat can break down plastics and release chemical additives into your food and drink. Use ceramic or glass instead. Cover food in the microwave with a paper towel instead of plastic wrap.

• Use plastic containers for cool liquids only, not hot.

• Don’t reuse single-use plastics. Recycle them.

• Recycle old, scratched plastic containers. Exposures to plastics chemicals may be greater when the surface is worn down.

• Wash plastics on the top rack of the dishwasher, farther from the heating element, or by hand.

• Blend, mix, whip in glass or metal bowl instead of plastic to avoid chipping bits of plastic into your food.

• Use wood instead of plastic cutting boards.

• Use a cotton shower curtain instead of vinyl.

• Choose glass or BPA-free baby bottles with a clear silicone nipples.

• Don’t let your kids chew on plastic. Give your baby natural teethers like frozen washcloths.

• Look for toys made of natural materials, like wool, cotton, and uncoated wood.

• To avoid PVC in school supplies, check out this Back-to-School Guide to PVC-Free School Supplies, which lists the most common back-to-school supplies made out of toxic PVC and suggests safer PVC-free products.

Finally, when rethinking your plastic, remember to recycle any that you don’t need or don’t feel safe using any more. Keep in mind that No. 1 and No. 2 are almost universally recyclable. Give all your plastics another life!

Greenopolis.com is dedicated to our users. We focus our attention on changing the world through recycling, waste-to-energy and conservation. We reward our users for their sustainable behavior on our website, through our Greenopolis recycling kiosks and with curbside recycling programs.

GREENOP6668

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

10 Reasons to Bike Commute to Work

A Rodale Press survey found that Americans want to have the opportunity to bike to work instead of driving, with 40 percent of those surveyed saying they would commute by bike if safe facilities were available.  

 As explained in our eco friendly consulting, bike commuting to work is a valued component of a personal sustainability program.   In a recent post, Top 10 Benefits of Bicycle Commuting Programs for Businesses, we explored the benefits to employers offering a bike commuting program.  But what’s in it for the employee?

 Bike commuting improves your health:

• Staying in better shape will decrease your chances of getting sick. 
• National health statistics show that when you’re more active, you decrease your risk for cancer, heart disease, obesity and diabetes.
• Bicycle commuting allows you to include your workout in your daily schedule and helps to meet fitness goals.

Bike commuting improves your mood:

• More energy available throughout the day.
• Improved health and happiness.
• Regular participation in a cycling routine naturally shifts your focus to include thoughts of the weather, areas in your community to ride, road safety, and traffic.  Thereby increasing your awareness of the link between the environment and your community.

Bike commuting saves you money:

• Reduce car maintenance.
• Reduce your gas bill.
• Reduce parking costs.

Bike commuting helps the environment by reducing your carbon footprint.

 Are you ready to get started and bike to work?   As mentioned in our eco friendly training, following are resources to help you get started.  Whether you are cycling to work to reduce carbon emissions or cycling to promote a sustainable lifestyle, there’s something here for you. 
 

• Green Resources for Bike to Work Week: offers green gear suggestions and information on sustainable organizations that promote cycling for fun, fitness and transportation, and advocacy for a more bicycle-friendly America.
• Cycling Inspirations for a Sustainable Lifestyle: a look at organizations expanding eco awareness via cycling and contributing to an environmentally sustainable world.
• Live Green! Ride a Bike! Explores the benefits of riding a bike in green living. 

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