Sustainability In Your Ear

Author and entrepreneur Steve Melink joins Earth911 to talk about making the conservative case for clean energy. His new book, Fusion Capitalism, is a call for conservatives to recognize the dangerous reality of climate change and invest in a rapid transition to renewable energy. His company, Melink Corp. pioneered energy efficiency and renewable energy solutions for commercial buildings in Ohio -- it also build the first LEED Gold-certified building in the state. "Shame on us" for denying as a party the reality of climate change. While younger Republicans care about the environment in numbers as great as their Democratic peers, they have not taken control of their party. He believes that's the next evolution of a conservatism that preserves the planet and not just traditional values.Melink argues that business and free choices by consumers based on accurate information can accelerate the move off fossil fuels and to wind, solar, and geothermal alternatives. He calls the solar-powered home a "small power company" that grants the homeowner independence from the fossil fuels industry. Adding that oil companies continue to receive unjustifiable subsidies, he also argues that the cost of climate change is being unfairly passed along to society. Capitalism is the "best system in the world to get out out of this problem," Melink argues, and the U.S. is now engaged in a race to the circular economy that, if it loses, will cost its global economic leadership. "We've got to get our mojo back," Melink says.This interview was recorded just before the 2020 Presidential election. Melink's call for environmental responsibility by conservatives may be perfectly timed to help bring the center-right together with the center-left community around a shared goal of creating a green economy.

Earth911 talks with Eden Green CEO Eddy Badrina about the company’s vertical greenhouses that will help the world grow locally and end food insecurity. While Americans expect to buy fresh product year-round, flying foods from Central America and Southern Hemisphere carries a heavy environmental cost. Urban farming can fill in critical gaps in local food supplies, providing year-round, locally grown fresh produce. Eden Green licenses the growing system to urban farmers who can set up in old buildings and warehouses to grow fresh greens, berries, and peppers year-round. The system uses natural light augmented by lighting on cloudy days, along with recycled water to substantially reduce the carbon footprint compared to traditional farming. Badrina discusses the pressing need for food production and security to serve a growing population.Eden Green Technologies built a research and development greenhouse farm in Cleburne, Texas and is preparing to launch its first commercial farming operation. The farm system includes 18-foot vertical hydroponic growing racks, lighting, and climate management equipment. Only one one-and-a-half-acre urban farm can grow around 900,000 pounds of salad greens or 50 other types of produce. They will allow produce that is “better than organic,” Badrina said, to grow year-round, in any climate.Badrina explains that urban farms will open new employment opportunities and promote growers to give back to their communities. The Eden Green team will work with investors and local communities to work out the financing, then builds the farm, trains the staff, and To learn more about Eden Green and vertical greenhouses, visit edengreen.com.

Pharmaceuticals represent a growing source of pollution that impacts the water in streams, and can eventually make its way into the bodies of animals, fish, and humans. Earth911 talks with Nancy Devine, chief operating officer of Deterra, a Verde Environmental Technologies business, about safe drug disposal. The company makes the Deterra Drug Deactivation System, a recycled- and bioplastic-plastic pouch that contains an activated carbon material which binds to the pharmaceutical molecules to make them inert. It's easy to use; you add water, drop the medication in, and seal it before tossing it in the household trash. Deterra's pouches work on almost all over the counter and prescription drugs, whether they be pills, liquids, syrups, and even gels or creams.Do the environment a favor and dispose of all medications safely. Devine explains that flushing or tossing medication results in soil, water, and groundwater pollution. During the opioid crisis, methadone, for example, is ending up in sewage systems and can escape into the environment. And safe disposal also prevents misuse of leftover drugs, contributing to fewer additions, overdoses, and deaths.Deterra partnered with the non-profit organization SAFEProject and the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency to launch the Gone for Good campaign to distribute enough Deterra pouches to dispose of more than 1 million discarded prescription pills during October. The giveaway will happen again in March 2020. Additionally, Deterra reaches out through community events, hospital systems, and employers to send their pouches to consumers free of charge. Generally, insurers cover Deterra pouches' cost. You can also order pouches at Deterra's web site. If you would like a Deterra Drug Deactivation System delivered to your home, visit deterrasystem.com/safe/ to learn more about the system and the pouch distribution program.

Suntory, the Japanese beverage and distillery company famous for its whiskey, American bourbons including Jim Beam and Maker's Mark, as well as Laphroaig scotch and many non-alcoholic drinks including Orangina, Boss canned coffee, and many bottled teas, is a sustainability leader. It has consistently ranked above average in the industry for environmental, social, and governance practices. Earth911 talks with Clarkson Hine, a senior executive with Beam Suntory and sustainability advisor to the Suntory Corporate Sustainability Division. He shares the deep history of social and environmental responsibility that has informed Suntory's decisions since it was founded in 1923.Suntory has created Water Sanctuaries in Japan and the United States, locations that preserve natural water sources, flora, and fauna in support of its goal to eventually preserve more water than it uses in its production processes. The company has a goal to be carbon neutral by 2050 and will reduce within its business by 25% and within its supply chain by 20% before 2030. It will use 15% less water in the same timeframe.Hine also discusses Suntory's efforts to increase recycling of its plastic packaging in the short term while seeking to use only recycled plastic or bioplastic in packaging by 2030. Suntory emphasizes partnership with customers and suppliers in its sustainability plan. In Japan the recycling rate is higher than 84%, but American recovery rates must grow from the 8% of plastic recycled today in order to support a circular economy in beverage packaging.

Arguments against embracing sustainable choices often suggest life will be less prosperous. Philosopher Kate Soper argues that the first step toward a sustainable lifestyle is changing the things we appreciate. Modern life has made us frantic and despite technical advances, people work more than ever, particularly in the United States. Soper's new book, Post-Growth Living: For an Alternative Hedonism, suggest that consumerism has many downsides that, if recognized, will allow people to rethink how they value free time, work-life balance, and the avalanche of choices that define modern life. We can find new joys in more time, slower travel and lower levels of anxiety. Soper, who is emerita professor of philosophy at London Metropolitan University, is known worldwide for her analysis of needs and consumption, and she has turned to examine humanity's relationship with nature in recent years.Soper's idea is to embrace an alternative hedonism, a different approach to values than consumerism encourages. Less stuff doesn't mean one is impoverished becuase it takes so much work to earn enough to keep up. For example, by the end of the 20th Century, Americans were spending twice to support their lifestyles as in 1948. As inequality has increased, people have pursued more to support the illusion they are keeping up with the wealthy, who are held out as examples of success because they can buy more than other people. But consumer success is not the only possible defintion of success, Soper argues. After COVID-19, our normal expectations have been disrupted. Low-wage workers have been deemed "essential" while others were allowed to stay at home, safe from contact with the virus. Supplies of food and luxury goods have been interrupted, changing how people spend and save their money.Can we use the lessons of the last year to begin a transition to a new set of values? Soper suggests that a culture war aimed at the absurd suggestions advertising promotes can help break the spell of more stuff for stuff's sake. She advocates people making free choices based on scientific information with less emphasis on consumer succes. Stories and advertising that express the value of using less, reusing more, and enjoying a slower pace can help to reshape people's expectations. She discusses the role of government, how to uncouple progress from prosperity, and the challenge of organizing socially and politically to make changes that lead to a sustainable economy. Post-Growth Living: For an Alternative Hedonism will be released on November 10, 2020 and is avalable now on Amazon.

More algae blooms and red tides are affecting the grassy coastline of the Gulf of Mexico. David Wolff, founder of OceanHabitats Inc., recognized the need for natural solutions in the 1990s, when he built the first Mini Reef, a structure that can be placed under docks in coastal waterways and canals that supports plant and ocean life. But the world wasn't ready for the idea and money ran out by 1998. Wolff pursued other businesses, which he recently sold before returning to his Mini Reef project out of concern for the Gulf Coast. Now, more than 4,000 Mini Reefs are installed in the region, filled with mussels, barnacles, and oysters that clean the water.Wolff explains the different sizes and placement options for the Mini Reef, which is available in several sizes to fit together like Lego blocks under a dock. Once populated by plants, crabs, shrimp, and other life, a small reef can filter about 30,000 gallons of water a day. Homeowners have purchased most of the installed Mini Reefs but Wolff has created a donation page to let people who do not live on the coast to support installations. Cities, non-profits, and the EPA are now engaged in assessments of the idea for use in coastal recovery projects. Mini Reefs cost between $237 and $687.The company also makes $187 The Fish Crib, a freshwater lake and pond model that helps young fish stay safe as they mature. It can support up to 300 fish each year. OceanHabitats products work in any coastal area but will mature more slowly in cold water.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency released a draft National Recycling Policy in October. Earth911 speaks with Adina Renee Adler, vice president of advocacy at the Institute for Scrap Recycling Industries (ISRI) about the plan's strengths and areas for improvement. ISRI offered comments about the EPA's focus on job creation as a primary goal and basis for measuring the new regulations' success. Instead, increased collection of valuable materials combined with lower contamination rates should guide policy.We discuss the changes to recycling collection and investments in consumer education that can raise the laggard U.S. recycling rate. Americans recycle between 28% and 35.2% of the materials they buy, depending on the source. The industry supports 750,000 jobs that pay about $36.6 billion in salaries annually, but has become increasingly complex and inefficient as the volume and variety of product and packaging materials has increased in recent decades. Individual state and municipal recycling rules make it difficult for people to understand what they can recycle in their curbside bin or at a local transfer station, and the EPA proposal will do little to reduce the confusion.Adler also shares ISRI's ideas about the importance of transparency and accountability by recyclers to help increase consumer confidence in the recycling system. The comment period for the National Recycling Policy continues through December 4, 2020. You can contact the EPA through Regulations.gov or send comments to your Congressional representative.

EarthFund Global's ambitious plan to finance and accelerate national transitions to renewable energy is starting in Greece, where we spoke with founder Alysia Helming. A veteran of the U.S. renewable energy industry, she founded Santa Monica, Calif.-based EarthFund Global in collaboration with Green Cross International as a non-profit in March 2020 to attempt to meet the challenge of making renewable energy widely available by 2030. In September, Helming's team announced its Greek project, where the team found a country has committed to move 35% of its energy generation to wind and solar this decade. EarthFund, the Greek and European Union governments, NGOs and private enterprise to create new jobs and economically equitable projects that help the population into the green era."We believe that true change starts with communities and individuals," the organization states. "[W]e at EarthFund have made communities our primary focus." Their most ambitious goal is to eliminate the need for coal-fired electricity plants by 2028. Starting with one nation, Greece, as an example, they plan to work in the EU in support of its Green Deal and goal to be climate neutral by 2050 across all sectors of society.Earth911 talks with Alysia Helming about why a non-profit was the right tool for funding energy transitions, the role of female entrepreneurs in the climate fight, and how individuals can get involved and support EarthFund projects. "We believe that true change starts with communities and individuals," the organization states. Do you want to support their work? EarthFund Global accepts individual donations.

The fashion industry is a profligate source of pollution, even when making baby clothing. Lauren Gregor founded Rent-a-Room to help parents find and reuse baby clothing. During the first years of a baby’s life, they change sizes and styles faster than a teenage fashion plate. Gregor, a new mom, decided to follow the fashion rental examples of Rent-the-Runway and StitchFix, introducing a subscription service the provides curated “capsules” of baby and toddler clothes. Available in a 7-item Just the Essentials Capsule and 15-item Complete Capsule, Rent-a-Romper’s customers can return clothing whenever baby outgrows it.Gregor estimates that instead of using and tossing out baby clothes after a single use, Rent-a-Romper can extend the use of an item up to or beyond a half-dozen uses. Lost items or those that parents want to keep do not cost extra. Gregor’s company also offers subscriptions to branded clothing through partnerships with children’s clothing makers.Do you have used baby clothes you’d like to see reused? Rent-a-Romper accepts donations and will provide a prepaid shipping label to make contributions easy. Visit Rent-a-Romper to learn more, or start shopping for your kids today.

Enspire leather is a novel take on recycling one of humanity's oldest industrial materials. Earth911 talks with Frank Fox, cofounder of Sustainable Composites, a Lancaster, Pa.-based company that recycles leather fibers to create new leather that looks, feels, and performs like the real thing. By breaking leather down to individual fibers, the grain of which you can see if you turn over a swatch of leather, Sustainable Composites produces more usable material than traditional leather recovery. The enspire process binds the leather fibers into a material indistinguishable from natural leather. It can be polished or buffed like natural leather and can be used in fashion, furniture, and other applications.Leather footwear, clothing, accessories, and furniture production are very inefficient. Because leather is cut out of treated hides, as much as 75% of the material is thrown out as scrap during the production of the typical leather item. enspire leather is made using naturally occurring chemicals and results only in wastewater that, Fox explains, "is cleaner than when we take it in from the river." Sustainable Composites can make enspire without any waste products left over. "It's more hazardous to process fresh leather than it is to use our material," he added.enspire leather will eventually cost less than general utility leather -- Sustainable Composites collects its leather for free from manufacturers, reducing both the original product waste and carbon footprint in addition to low-carbon production of the next product.