 1. Greenwashing and the Ecology Center's Solution Salons
by Debra Berliner, Climate Action Coordinator
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Walk down the aisles of most stores and prepare to be inundated with the language of "green." From Safeway to Saks, products claiming to be "sustainable," "all natural," "ecological," or "earth friendly" cover the shelves. Turn on the TV or open the newspaper and you'll be flooded with "green" vocabulary once again - not only in product ads, but in the rhetoric of political candidates, government entities, trade associations, and even non-governmental organizations. We can likely agree that reducing waste, toxicity, and greenhouse gas emissions are goals with great merit. But how do we distinguish between genuine environmental action and cynical attempts to cover up environmentally harmful behavior and preserve and expand one's market with the semblance of environmental responsibility?[i] In other words, how do we identify greenwashing? And what can we do once we catch greenwashing in action?
Click here to read more.
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2. The Savvy Consumer: Greening Your Laundry | | [Photo by Susy Morris] |
by Alison Moreno, Store Manager In your quest to live a more environmentally responsible life, don't overlook your laundry routine. How you go about washing and drying your clothes every week affects your energy and water use, as well as air quality and health. This article is intended to help you navigate the many choices from an informed perspective, and to turn you on to options that you may not have considered. Detergent Ingredients to Avoid Thoughtful consumers who are in the habit of reading ingredient labels won't glean much useful information from most laundry detergent labels. The ingredients are mostly protected as "trade secrets." Two of the most problematic ingredients are phosphates and some surfactants, particularly nonylphenol ethoxylates. The good news is that polluting phosphates have been eliminated from most commercial detergents for decades. The bad news is that the surfactants made from nonylphenol ethoxylates - which mimic estrogen - are still found in US laundry detergents, even though the substance has been banned from detergents in Europe. Ammonia and chlorine are sometimes added to laundry booster products, but they aren't usually in a basic detergent. Ammonia and chlorine are both dangerous to inhale, so it's best to avoid products with those chemicals. Manufacturers are not required to disclose the ingredients used in fragrances, so unless the source of the fragrance is specified, you can assume that it is a synthetic, petroleum-derived substance. Some fragrances are suspected of releasing volatile organic compounds that can cause headaches, dizziness or nausea. The Water Center at the University of Washington has a helpful fact sheet about the harmful effects of fragrance chemicals on human and aquatic health. Click here to read more. |
3. Ask the EcoTeam: Homemade Cleaning Products
Ask the EcoTeam is created by Beck Cowles, the Ecology Center's Program Manager of Information Services. Cowles and her team staff the Help Desk at the Ecology Center and answer the Ecology Center's Information Hotline from 11:00am to 6:00pm, Tuesday through Saturday.
Dear EcoTeam,
I'd like to start making my own cleaning products at home to both cut down on costs and to use more safe, nontoxic ingredients that won't harm my health or the environment. Do you have advice on getting started? What are some of the best ingredients, and which natural ingredients are effective for disinfecting?
-Clean, green, and pennywise
Dear Clean,
The best way to start is to try a few recipes out and have fun finding ones that you like best. One of the easiest recipes to try is a basic window cleaner: mix =BC cup white vinegar, =BC teaspoon liquid soap, and 16 ounces of water in a spray bottle.
Better Basics for the Home by Annie Berthold-Bond is an excellent book that includes an expansive collection of do-it-yourself recipes for housecleaning products, as well as other things like natural varnish and playdough. The book walks you through how to make, use, and store your own supplies with a recipe for just about everything. This book is a staple at the Ecology Center Info Desk. Feel free to come by and check it out from our library.
A sundry of natural ingredients are woven throughout the book with an emphasis on five that can form the basis for cleaning - baking soda, washing soda, liquid soap, white distilled vinegar, and antiseptic essential oils. Baking soda can cut grease, is a mild abrasive and is a good starting place for many cleaning jobs in the home. Washing soda is more heavy duty, a little caustic and can be used as a nontoxic replacement for solvents. Liquid soap works as a surfactant (can mix with grease and water). A good choice is Dr. Bronner's liquid castile soap, which is made with organic oils. White distilled vinegar will neutralize many stains and odors as well as cut through scale. Essential oils such as eucalyptus, lavender, tea tree, and a few others have antiseptic properties and some can be used to kill bacteria and mold.
Click here to read more.
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4. Farm Fresh Choice Attends the Rooted in Community Youth Leadership Summit  | | Youth Food Bill of Rights |
For the past several years, youth interns from our Farm Fresh Choice food justice program have had the privilege of attending Rooted in Community (RIC), an annual national summer conference focused on empowering youth leadership. This July, RIC was held in Philadelphia. This was an exciting opportunity for our interns, some of whom had never traveled outside their home state. Nakia Dillard, who started out at Farm Fresh Choice as a youth intern and has now become the FFC Outreach Coordinator, attended RIC for the third year, this time as an adult leader. Here is her recap: During RIC, Farm Fresh Choice youth presented a youth-led workshop about the food injustices in the food system and not only did they represent FFC, they represented themselves very well. I worked many hours with the youth training them in workshop development, and I felt a great joy to witness the outcome of tremendous growth, success, and leadership skills. I'm so proud of the youth. Also during RIC, I attended workshops centered around poetry and expressing your voice, took community and school garden tours, ate REAL good food, learned about many other programs/organizations, and met and grew with new people. I had the opportunity to perform poetry, learn new skills, and most importantly, witness over 150 youth present the first YOUTH FOOD BILL OF RIGHTS. I enjoyed being able to provide my support to youth and adults by being an adult leader to the youth as well as still being able to represent the youth's voice when I felt it was much needed or requested by other adult leaders. There aren't enough words to describe my experience at RIC. Below are written reflections from the Farm Fresh Choice youth interns who attended RIC this year. Dijonnae Hopkins To me, food justice means giving everyone access to fresh, organic produce. Most young people I know aren't aware about the food they eat, and really don't care. We have a lot of corner stores in the Berkeley community, and a lot of people suffering from chronic disease because they are not eating as healthily as they should. Everyone should have the right to know where their food comes from. There should be less liquor stores and more farmers' markets in our communities. At RIC, I learned workshop development skills to interact with the youth I present to. The Day of Action was really powerful and exciting. All of the youth from the RIC conference marched to present the Youth Food Bill of Rights to the community of Philadelphia. We did food justice chants and shouted to the people on what we want and believe. The youth got their voice heard. I know the work I do at Farm Fresh Choice is really special, and now I know that I am not alone in the food justice movement. Our work really changes lives, so that makes me stronger knowing that my work means something. Johnathan Hill To me, food justice means equal access to food, more small farms, and community gardens for all people, no matter what income, race, or color. I don't really think young people think about what they eat; they eat what is around, which means they may not care if it is organic. Some food injustices in my home community include food-related illness, lots of factory-farmed foods in our markets, little to no community gardens, and not much awareness among our youth. We as the youth can try to undo what's going on in the food system for the next generation, if not ours. But I feel we can make it happen for the people of our time. The Day of Action was full of people who really cared about their community and the impact of our future food system. It felt empowering to be around 150-plus people, trying to make a difference for all people around the world. The sound of the youth demanding better food was empowering. I feel empowered to make change happen in the food system. David McClellan To me, food justice simply means having access to healthy, fresh, sustainable food in all communities, and allowing it to be affordable to the public. Everyone should be able to grow healthy food. I think the youth are really serious about their food nowadays, and they want change! In my home community, there are more stores that sell liquor and junk foods than stores that sell healthy foods. At RIC, I learned that the youth can fight for food justice by gathering with our regional food justice organizations and protesting. We the youth have our voice as a tool; people are going to listen to the young people of the communities. I've grown by being able to network, and not getting so nervous during public speaking. My whole thought process about the food justice movement is not the same anymore. |
 | | [Photo by Lena Zentgraf] |
5. Gaining Efficiency: The IntelliWaste Study of Berkeley Curbside Recycling
This past spring, the City of Berkeley asked the Ecology Center to help reduce the cost of recycling services by transitioning from two-driver routes to one-driver routes. The Ecology Center hired IntelliWaste - a consultancy firm - to do a detailed in field study to find out what it would take to make that change, and to identify any other ways we can be more efficient.
What The Consultants Studied
IntelliWaste was tasked with determining what it would actually take - in terms of drivers and trucks - to effectively collect the City's residential recyclables with single-driver routes. To that end, the consultants reviewed all pertinent data and performed an in-field time-and motion study to determine the actual number of carts that can be tipped per hour, and how much time is needed for off route activities like daily truck inspections, truck emptying, and travel times to the route. They also noted issues such as traffic delays, customer cart placement issues, and local geographic constraints such as hills, alleyways, one-way streets, etc. that slow us down.
During the time-and-motion study, Intelliwaste studied each of the six routes our drivers service every week. As our trucks are configured for both types of collection, the routes were studied with both two and one driver configurations to compare them. IntelliWaste tested routes on different days of the week in order to study the conditions that make collection difficult or slowed down.
Summary Results
Intelliwaste's conclusion was that the Ecology Center is providing a very high quality of service. They were very pleased with what they saw in the field with regard to driver practices, safety, and customer service.
They found that in order to pick up Berkeley's residential recycling using one-driver routes, without making other changes, the Ecology Center would need ten full routes per day to achieve balanced routes with no overtime. Currently, we are running six routes per day and using two-driver teams. The study also showed that a definite efficiency was to be gained in one-person routes, as the two-driver route is only collecting 28 percent more containers than a one-driver route. The down side is that to achieve this greater efficiency, more trucks will be required.
Findings
In addition to those primary findings, the consultants made other observations, such as:
- Since the initiation of the split-wheeled cart system, the Ecology Center is collecting 20.53 percent more recyclables by weight.
- Since all trucks are equipped with back up cameras, the need for a second driver is eliminated. They did not identify any customers in the City that require two drivers for recyclables collection.
- Many customers are jamming cardboard in the fiber side of the container, which causes the materials to get stuck when the cart is tipped. The driver is then required to remove the stuck cardboard by hand.
- Many customers are not setting their containers out on the curb, where they should be. Servicing these carts resulted in a longer time for Ecology Center drivers to service each container.
Recommendations
IntelliWaste provided the Ecology Center with a list of recommended actions to take, in order to make our operations more efficient and to capture savings. Besides transitioning to single-driver routes citywide, they recommended other changes, such as:
- Comprehensive customer education program on the proper set out procedures, and on proper cardboard handling.
- Establishing turn-by-turn routing to improve efficiency and consistency of collection, and reduce customer calls.
- Fueling up the truck at the end of the shift rather than the start to avoid traffic congestion.
- Improving truck weighing by taking a tare weight on each collection vehicle once a year and having it stored in the scale system, instead of taking the tare weight of each truck after each load.
Conclusions
The Ecology Center is pleased to have the results of this study so we can move toward greater efficiency with a solid foundation of knowledge. The recommendations show that we would need to increase the number of vehicles we have, which comes with significant annual capital and operations expenses, to achieve these new efficiencies. We are hopeful that we can actually reduce the number of projected routes from 10 to 9 by improving other efficiencies noted in the report, particularly cart placement and cardboard concerns through customer education.
We are currently reviewing the IntelliWaste study with City staff in search of a financial solution, which will allow for greater long-term efficiency. As City-owned fleets transition away from two-driver systems, these findings may inform their planning as well. We are considering many of the consultant's recommendations, and will keep you informed of our progress!
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6. Letter from Director Martin Bourque Dear Friends of the Ecology Center, These days, the large systems that many people have come to rely on - whether it's the stock market, the energy market, or our industrial food system - are showing cracks. These sprawling, global systems are vulnerable to shocks, gaming, and political influence. Topsoil and retirement funds are disappearing along with the polar ice cap. We can't trust that these systems are becoming safer and stronger, or that the players have our best interests at heart. They aren't and they don't. But the Ecology Center does, and your support is forging another pathway to sustainability. In August, Cargill announced an immediate recall of 36 million pounds of ground turkey products tainted with salmonella. Elsewhere, investors are betting on drought to decimate harvests and raise grain prices, essentially profiteering from hunger. And after 15 years of study, USDA microbiologists are claiming that the ubiquitous herbicide Roundup is causing fungal root disease and creating superweeds. Here's the good news: we can drop out. We can stop participating in systems that destroy lives, land, and livelihoods. Thanks to supporters like you, the Ecology Center has spent decades creating vibrant, community-based alternatives to urban food and waste systems, and guiding people to wean themselves from other industries that lack integrity. We can take our power back, with our daily actions, our common voice, and by choosing to support what we believe in. We don't have to support Monsanto or Safeway when we eat. Instead, our dollars can go directly to farmers who take care of the ecosystems where they farm. Your donations have helped the Ecology Center to expand the reach of our farmers' markets and employ strategies to make fresh, regional produce accessible to neighbors with lower incomes. Your support is helping build a new food movement that asserts our right to a safe, healthy, and ample food supply.
We can speak out and empower others to do so as well. This summer, your support helped us send our young food leaders to Rooted in Community, a national gathering where they led workshops and worked with youth from around the US to develop the Youth Food Bill of Rights, which will enrich the 2012 Farm Bill discourse.
We can create our own economies. A recent report from the Union of Concerned Scientists evaluated the economic impacts of farmers' markets on the communities where they operate, and offered surprising data on their potential to create jobs. "These achievements have been particularly remarkable in that (farmers' markets) have been mostly self-sufficient - realized without the governmental subsidies that the increasingly consolidated mainstream food system receives." The oil industry is one of the most environmentally devastating and anti-democratic industries in the world. Yet most of us can't help but feed the beast, as we travel or use everyday products made from plastic. Petroleum products are even in our food and cosmetics! Our appetite for oil has led directly to the mining of tar sands, a process that generates two to four times the amount of greenhouse gases per barrel as conventional oil production. But we can get out of our cars. Your donations have allowed us to offer classes, workshops, and events to help people do just that. This fall, we are hosting "Refuel, Repair, Re-imagine: a series about the future of Bay Area Transportation." Visions of EcoCities, alternative fuels, better commuting, and just growth will be explored. All of us are caught up in systems that exact too much of a price. Together, you, the Ecology Center and our other members are creating new paradigms, trying to birth better models that reflect our values: environment, community, justice. Thank you for walking this road with us. Please donate to the Ecology Center this fall so we can keep moving forward. In gratitude, 
Martin Bourque Executive Director |
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