Ode Magazine

The 2008 Organic Top 20

2008-03-05T14:25:39-05:00

Twenty praiseworthy products that are good for your body, your soul and the planet.

With all the talk of recession, Ode decided to check in with two pioneers in the organic market to get their takes on what the money crunch might mean for their businesses'and for the sector as a whole. Walter Robb is co-president and chief operating officer of Whole Foods Market, America's biggest organic food retailer. Joseph Wilhelm is co-founder and managing director of Germany-based Rapunzel Naturkost AG, one of Europe's leading producers, manufacturers and distributors of organic food. Both men are decidedly upbeat about the future. And in that spirit, Ode presents its fourth annual Organic Top: our list of praiseworthy products.

Will the growth of the organic sector be threatened by the troubled state of the economy?

Robb: "I don't think so. The sector has grown so much in the past decade that a significant number of people have incorporated their choices for organic food into their daily lives. That's quite different from the way things were 10 years ago, when most people were still asking what organic food is exactly."

Wilhelm: "I don't expect that the organic sector will be threatened by the cooled-down economy, since we are still protected in a niche market. If you look at all the economic ups and downs of the last 30 years, these didn't hit
the organic market."

How will your companies try to keep customers who may decide to buy cheaper, non-organic food?

Robb: "It's essential for us to continue to encourage and develop the supply of organic products to meet the ever-increasing demand. This will eventually lead to better pricing relative to conventional products. We will also continue to support farmers staying in organics, as well as farmers transitioning to organic."

Wilhelm: "In these times, it's important to remain authentic and stay true to our philosophy. We've now introduced a new private label, BioGourmet, which has more than 100 certified-organic products - jam, oil, muesli, tomato sauce, etcetera'that we're selling in bigger supermarkets. But we'll never be able to compete on the price, and I don't even think it's necessary or sustainable to try to do that."

What's your advice on how to spend household money in hard times?

Robb: "You should consider prioritizing and spending money on things that matter most. I would always choose organic in fruits, vegetables, meat and dairy, because research has shown a clear health benefit. Cookies, cereals, chocolate'that might be of less importance. People should realize that when we buy cheap food, we're not paying for the hidden costs of personal and environmental degradation. If people see whole foods - with a lower case 'w' - are health-giving, it will go a long way toward saving them money on their health-care expenses."

Wilhelm: "When money is tight, live simply and healthily. Choosing organic is definitely part of that. After all, in the long term, organic food will be cheaper for you, especially if you live in a country where the health-insurance system is not as good as in Germany."

Is an economic crisis the bottom-line test for sustainability within the organic sector?

Robb: "No. If anything, the economic crisis makes clear that organic is the greatest investment opportunity of the 21st century. It's a matter of life and death for the planet, for our communities and for us. In fact, I think we should keep evolving the standards to incorporate evolving consumer concerns that include pasture requirements for organic dairy and animal care standards. We should even consider having levels above the base organic standard to reward progress on the farm."

Wilhelm: "No, it's the opposite. The organic sector is the sustainable answer to the economic crisis, since organic doesn't depend so much on non-sustainable sources of energy and raw materials."

	Treetap Rubber Wild rubber isn't only used to make lovely bags, wallets and fashion accessories, but to help preserve a tradition among small communities in the Amazon. The tapping of wild rubber nearly disappeared when the Amazon's ancient rubber trees were felled back in the late 1980s to make room for cattle-grazing. Most rubber is no longer made in the traditional way'tapping trees every five years and letting them rest for another five'so demand for the wild variety dropped. Treetap is a Brazilian company that's been turning wild rubber into beautiful design products since the early 1990s. It's thus helping maintain a tradition, as well as the rubber tree. > This pictured black Treetap bag costs about $150 and is available at treetap.com.br. Read more: odemagazine.com/treetap
	USBCell Rechargeable Batteries All those alkaline batteries for the TV remote, the digital camera, the flashlight - contain nasty substances like zinc, manganese and sometimes even mercury and lead. Yet each year, some 15 billion of these batteries are tossed into the trash. Here's a solution: the USBCell rechargeable battery. Just plug it into the USB port of your laptop computer, iPod, XBox, Wii or other device with a USB port. Wonderfully compact, the USBCell battery can be recharged 500 times and comes with a charge-level indicator. It does, however, take awhile to amp up fully: about five hours. > A package of two USBCell batteries costs $17.50, and can be ordered at usbcell.com.
	Macbeth Footwear In 2002, Tom Delonge - a member of the punk rock band Blink 182 - decided to move into the footwear business. He was frustrated with the corporate sponsorship surrounding his music, and eager to apply the DIY ethos of punk to a business. Macbeth Footwear is the result. A crucial component to Macbeth's philosophy is the vegan lifestyle. In addition to providing alternatives to leather and suede, Macbeth ensures the glue used for soles is never bone-based. This attention to detail recently earned the company a Libby award for "Best Vegan Skate Shoe" from People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), in the group's annual vote on animal-friendly products. The spring '08 collection includes stylish vegan models. The Wallister sneaker is spunky and casual; a black pair of Jackson slippers evokes a more adult sense of refinement. > A pair of Bronson Eisley vegan shoes sells for $59.99. macbethfootwear.com
	Isodisnatura Omega-3 Fatty Acids The relationship between omega-3 fatty acids and health is getting a lot of attention these days. Research suggests that omega-3s'typically found in fatty fish, certain nuts and linseed oils - can help increase blood circulation, reduce heart disease and prevent mood disorders. Belgium's Isodisnatura offers natural dietary supplements supported by this research. The supplements address specific concerns: "OM3memory" focuses on brain power; "OM3junior" is designed for children and "OM3emotion," the top seller, is targeted at moods. Isodisnatura uses the oils of wild fish, which are more likely to consume the algae essential to the development of omega-3 fatty acids. Capsules are made from fish gelatin. > A box containing 30 capsules of OM3emotion is available for $14.95. isodisnatura.net
	Numi Organic Tea Looking for an exciting way to spark conversation at your next dinner party? Consider Numi's "flowering" teas. Loose tea leaves are hand-sewn and assembled into flower-like clusters. No bags or filtres are necessary'simply drop the bundle (or "rosette") into a glass teapot and pour in hot water. The leaves unravel into a lovely "flower" as the tea brews. Each ingredient in Numi teas is certified organic and free of artificial additives and is harvested according to fair-trade practises. If you're not in the mood for flowers, bagged teas come in 21 varieties - each including 2.2 grams of full-leaf tea, which produce a rich and natural flavour. The website has useful information regarding processing, health benefits and preparation. > Boxed teas begin at $5.99 for 16 to 18 bags. numitea.com
	Zsweet Natural Sweetener Do you want something sweet in your tea or coffee but prefer to avoid sugar? Zsweet offers a natural alternative to artificial sweeteners. The active ingredient in Zsweet Zero Calorie Sweeteners is erythritol, a sugar alcohol occurring naturally in fruit. The company produces erythritol industrially, through a fermentation process that avoids genetic modification, and adds fruit extracts. Erythritol is resistant to oral bacteria, so it can help prevent tooth decay. It's well-suited to special dietary needs. Diabetics, for example, needn't worry about erythritol, since it doesn't increase blood glucose levels. > A bag of Zsweet sells for $25. zsweet.com
	Vegware Tableware Picnics are fun, but all that plastic silverware produces an environmentally unfriendly mess. The British manufacturer Vegware has come up with biodegradable or compostable alternatives: cutlery, plates, cups, napkins and - for the ultimate summer experience - ice cream spoons made from 80 percent (non-genetically modified) potato starch and 20 percent vegetable oil. Hot food can be transported in boxes made from waste fibre left over after pressing sugar cane. > A mixed pack of knives, forks and spoons (10 each) costs $5.80 and is available at vegware.co.uk.
	gDiapers Dirty diapers can be a nasty business, which is why many people forget about them as soon as they're in the trash. But a plastic diaper can take up to 500 years to decompose in a landfill. And cloth models aren't always greener, given the energy and cleaning agents involved. Jason Graham-Nye, who co-founded gDiapers with his wife Kim, jokingly refers to his products as "hybrid diapers." Like hybrid cars, gDiapers balance conservation and convenience. Your baby slips into a pair of reusable (and fashionable) "little g" pants, made primarily of breathable cotton. The interior contains something called a "flushable" - a plastic-free insert designed with your toilet in mind. You tear the flushable from the pants and, after a few simple steps, send it to the sewer instead of the landfill. Flushables are great for composting as well, but be sure to dispose of the icky stuff first. Jason and Kim Graham-Nye support a family as well as a company. The idea for gDiapers came shortly after their first child was born. The offices of gDiapers are home to 15 employees and include an on-site child development centre, with two full-time teachers. According to Kim, 'the Village,' as they call it, strikes a balance "between making meaning and money." By allowing employees intimate access to their offspring, gDiapers aims to ensure a stable future socially as well as ecologically. > A gDiapers Starter Kit, including two "little g" pants and 10 flushables, is available at gdiapers.com for $26.99.
	Auro Natural Paints Anyone who's ever painted the kitchen has seen what paint can do to the brush: turn it into a stinking, syrupy chemical-soaked mess. And the solvents (like turpentine) released during evaporation can make you feel dizzy'as well as damage your lungs and the environment. AURO natural paints don't make you feel tipsy or leave you with a chemical hangover. That's because AURO, a German manufacturer of paint, varnish, wax, glue and oil, uses only sustainably produced natural raw materials. Linseed oil and natural resin from the dammer tree (found in tropical rainforests) are used as binding agents, for example. The citrus oil thinner comes from orange peels. AURO does use solvents, but they're water-based or made from natural mixtures such as gum turpentine. Brushes can be cleaned with water and stored in a jar filled with linseed oil. Plus dried paint scraps can be composted. > A 13-ounce can of paint costs $29. aurousa.com
	Oro Verde Gold Gold is the symbol of purity, DURability and love. No wonder gold rings have been tokens of undying fidelity for millennia. But the work of goldminers - involving long days at low pay - is anything but loving. Extracting the precious metal is bad for their health and the environment. Mercury and cyanide end up in nearby rivers, where locals fish; dynamiting creates huge dust clouds that miners breathe and clearing the old growth forests leads to soil erosion. Take the Colombian region of Choco, famous for its biodiversity - and, since the 16th century, for its gold deposits. Today, descendants of the African slaves who mined this area live off the small nuggets of gold they find the natural way, using shovels, sieves and their bare hands. Through the Colombian co-operative Oro Verde ("green gold"), these mine workers not only get a better price for their gold, but assistance in fine-tuning their craft. The socially minded Colombians involved in Oro Verde help the miners plant trees to rebuild the forest and crops to help feed the communities. > The price of Oro Verde products ranges from $875 to $2,200. Jewelry shops that carry it can be found at greengold-oroverde.org. Read more: odemagazine.com/oroverde
	Annie's Homegrown Macaroni and cheese has traditionally been more suited to dorm rooms than organic kitchens. The meal's bizarre colouring and synthetic texture has made it the antithesis of nutritional food. Annie's Homegrown is changing that. Annie's transforms macaroni and cheese from a quick-and-easy solution into a delicious, healthy treat. Each box features fresh, natural cheeses and organic semolina pasta - without artificial additives or preservatives. Certified organic cheeses are available in seven of Annie's 11 varieties. (Who knew there were so many ways to make macaroni and cheese?) The adorable, bunny-themed packaging will attract your child's attention, while you can browse the tips for green living on every carton. > A six-ounce box of Annie's Natural Mac and Cheese (shells and white cheddar) costs $2.39. annies.com
	Macaroot Supplement Add a few drops of Maca Magic Energy Extract to a glass of water, and great things begin to happen. University researchers from Pittsburgh to Peru have concluded that its active ingredient - macaroot - can help increase resistance to toxins. Herbs America, the Oregon-based company that produces Macaroot, says the herbal supplement's mix of vitamins, minerals and fatty acids can assist in maximizing energy and revitalizing the immune system. Maca Magic products take a number of forms - including capsules, powders and breakfast shakes. Macaroot was discovered in the highlands of Peru some 2,000 years ago. Once nearly extinct, communities in the high Andes region have restored the root's production over the past 30 years. Herbs America works with local Peruvian communities to cultivate it. While maintaining an awareness of the indigenous traditions surrounding its harvest, Herbs America ensures sustainable, organic practises in the region. > A two-ounce bottle of Maca Magic Express Energy Extract sells for $16.99. macaroot.com
	Teeccino Coffee Alternative Coffee is as much a ritual as a beverage. Many people can't get through the day without it. But coffee also loads you up with caffeine, which can lead to anxiety and heart problems. Teeccino is a certified organic, caffeine-free herbal coffee alternative that mirrors the robust flavour of coffee with a roasted blend of grains, herbs, fruit and nuts. A typical cup contains 80 milligrams of potassium, which stimulates the nerve impulses that send oxygen to your brain - giving you that boost of energy you crave in the morning. > A one-pound refill bag of Vanilla Nut Herbal Coffee is $12.95; the Java Herbal is $11.95. teeccino.com
	Kashi Natural Foods Kashi products contain a mix of seven whole grains and sesame, forming what the company calls "Kashi pilaf." The Kashi range comprises more than 50 products, including hot and cold cereals, snack bars, waffles and frozen pasta. Most items are high in fibre and protein. Organic Promise cereals come in three light, flavourful varieties - Autumn Wheat, Cinnamon Harvest and Strawberry Fields. All are naturally sweetened with organic evaporated cane juice, and two are sodium-free. The Kashi website offers tips, tests and recipes to help you stay healthy. > The cost of 10 ounces of Kashi Organic Promise Strawberry Fields ranges from $3 to $5. kashi.com
	Levi's Eco Organic Jeans Looking to get the pesticides out of your wardrobe as well as your kitchen? Levi's offers an innovative way to turn your blue jeans green. Levi's eco range features clothing made from 98 to 99 percent organic cotton (the remaining 1 to 2 percent Lycra is used in the elastic). The external packaging is made from recycled paper and organic fibre, and all text is printed with soy-based ink. The contents come in a wide range of styles. For the ladies, the Mid Rise Boot 553 is the most conservative, while the Low Skinny 531 is sassier and more revealing. For guys, the Slim Straight 514 is the no-nonsense classic that sells best. Levi's eco line isn't limited to jeans either'the Hi-Rise skirt is playfully bookish, and the spring collection features miniskirts and ladies pants. Looking for a premium upgrade? Check out the Capital E series. Made entirely of organic cotton, this line offers recycled buttons and zippers - as well as a more nuanced fit. For men, the Matchstick jeans look casual but sophisticated, while the ladies can go retro with the Super Hi-Rise Wide jeans. Shirts, shorts and tank tops are available as well. > A pair of Levi's eco Skinny jeans sells for $78. levis.com
	Natural Collection's Logmaker If you don't live in or near the woods, having a fireplace can be as frustrating as it is enticing. Logs and kindling are often hard to find - and once you've purchased them, there's the question of storage. A cramped urban apartment can be an awkward place to stack lumber. Fortunately, the UK's Natural Collection offers an inspired solution: the Logmaker. This quirky contraption reduces clutter instead of creating it. The mechanics of the Logmaker are pretty simple - a valve and two levers. Simply feed old newspapers into its open end, and after some simple compression, you're the proud owner of a log of recycled paper. It takes about one newspaper to make a log, which will burn for roughly an hour. It's an inventive alternative to forest depletion and landfill waste. And it makes a good conversation piece while you're sipping cocoa next to the fire. > Natural Collection's Logmaker is available online for about $60 plus shipping. naturalcollection.com
	TCHO Chocolate Bars Few vices are more enticing than chocolate. On Valentine's Day, you might buy it for someone special. But desirable as chocolate may be, just a handful of chocolate-makers take it as seriously as TCHO of San Francisco, California. Made from scratch in the company's Pier 17 factory, TCHO's premium dark chocolate reveals the many undetected flavours hidden in cocoa beans. The "nutty" taste is smoky and savoury, whereas "fruity" is tangy and slightly bitter. For a refined improvement on an old favourite, the "chocolatey" bar does the trick. Two other flavours- "earthy" and "citrus" - are scheduled to appear later this year. TCHO's approach is inquisitive and experimental. Biting into a bar doesn't simply delight your senses, it challenges them. TCHO founder Timothy Childs has developed a 'smart sourcing' program to "bring more value directly to the producers themselves." TCHO provides incentives for its cacao farmers to improve the quality of their raw materials - including supplying them with drying racks and fermentation equipment. And they're offered samples of the end result. According to Childs, most cacao farmers have rarely tasted the product of their labour. Childs hopes to expand the specialty market for premium dark chocolate, believing it deserves the same distinctions found in wine or coffee. It's a compelling idea. Next to a bar of TCHO chocolate, those old Valentine morsels might taste like a freeze-dried cup of decaf. > A two-ounce TCHO Bar sells for $6. tcho.com
	Orlio Organic Beer Healthy and ethical consumption can be fun, and Orlio Organic Beer proves it. Throughout the year, Orlio offers a Common Ale that's smooth, firm and not too heavy. For the winter, the Seasonal Black Lager makes a bolder impression. Its rich flavour will please beer enthusiasts, and its playful hint of chocolate helps separate it from the pack. As summer grows closer, try the Seasonal India Pale Ale for a sharp, slightly bitter taste. > Orlio's markets are rapidly expanding - click the "locator" function on the website to find the provider closest to you. A six-pack of Orlio's Common Ale costs $8.99. orliobeer.com
	Cell Sensor Gauss Meter Many consumers worry about the potential health effects of low-frequency electromagnetic fields (EMFs) emitted by everything from televisions to microwave ovens to cellphones. The Cell Sensor Gauss Meter monitors the strength of EMFs, allowing you to detect levels of magnetic fields within your environment. Simply turn on the hand-held Cell Sensor and watch the metre as you move about your home or office. As EMF levels rise, the sensor provides audible and visible alerts. If you think an appliance puts out too many gauss, simply move it away from the most frequently used parts of the room. Be sure to test all your appliances; the EMF levels of something as mundane as an electric toothbrush might surprise you. > The Cell Sensor Gauss Meter is available through the Life Extension Foundation for $36. lifeextension.com
	Kettle Chips A bag of Kettle chips might arouse your suspicions as well as your appetite. How can a potato chip made from natural ingredients taste so good? Healthy snacks are known to be brittle and flavourless, but organic Kettle chips are rich, crunchy and yummy. They're also made from real potatoes, cheeses and spices, and come in three flavours. At the firm's headquarters in Oregon, more than 600 solar panels power offices and manufacturing sites. The energy not produced by the panels comes from wind. And all the excess cooking oil is converted into biodiesel. > A five-ounce bag of organic Kettle chips costs about $2.50 at a natural foods store. kettlefoods.com

Issue: April 2008

Related Reading

Rosa Parks
Envirosax Gives Away Water-Saving Tool For the Holidays
Saving the Environment??? Perhaps....
Natural & Organic Certifications

All for food and food for all

James Geary — 2008-03-05T14:25:39-05:00

A community kitchen where patrons pay what they think the meal is worth.

What’s your ideal dining experience? A candlelit evening of fine wine and haute cuisine? A stack of blueberry pancakes at a greasy-spoon diner? For Denise Cerreta, it’s a “community kitchen” where there’s no set menu (so customers are served whatever the chef feels like making) and where patrons pay what they think the meal is worth. And that’s exactly the experience she created beginning in 2003 at One World Café (www.oneworldeverybodyeats.com) in Salt Lake City, Utah, in the western U.S. One World meals are all organic, and guests pay the price they feel a meal deserves.

Because customers choose their portions, Cerreta says, there tends to be little or no waste. If you turn up at One World and are short on cash, volunteer for an hour—washing dishes, cleaning or working in the organic garden—to earn a meal voucher. Every day, a traditional Indian meal of dal and rice is provided free.

Cerreta’s One World Everybody Eats foundation wants to put a community kitchen in every city. A first step in that direction was taken in 2006 when Brad and Libby Birky, inspired by One World, opened the So All May Eat (SAME) Café (www.soallmayeat.org) in Denver, Colorado. Like One World, SAME uses fresh organic ingredients, doesn’t have a set menu and allows patrons to set their own prices. Instead of a cash register, customers deposit their payments in a donation box.

Issue: April 2008

Around the world on zero carbon a day

Josey Duncan — 2008-03-05T14:25:39-05:00

Around the world on zero carbon.

It’s a bird, it’s a plane, it’s… Hy-Bird! The race to fly a “green” plane around the world is on, and French company Lisa Airplanes says its zero-carbon Hy-Bird aircraft will make the trip as early as the summer of 2009. The Hy-Bird—which looks kind of like an airborne high-heeled shoe—is made of lightweight carbon fibre and weighs in at just 1.1 tons. The tail and wings—20 metres or 65 feet tip to tip—are outfitted with photovoltaic cells to supply energy for takeoff and onboard power supply. A hydrogen fuel cell (hence the name, “Hy-Bird”) provides power while the craft is in flight. “It is solely powered by an electric engine,” Lisa President Erick Herzberger explains. “It will be the first airplane that does not emit any greenhouse gas and is completely silent.” It could still be years before travellers can book a flight on a Hy-Bird, and when they do, flight times will likely be significantly longer—cruising speed for Lisa’s first model is an estimated 150 kilometres or 95 miles an hour, compared to 920 kilometres or 570 miles an hour for the average 747. The company hopes, though, that the technology will improve and the plane’s maiden voyage will inspire excitement about the future of clean transportation.

Issue: April 2008

Related Reading

Sir Arthur and the Round Orbit
Worlds first biofuel airplane takes flight
California solar industry adding many jobs
Greener than a hybrid

Can fast food be sustainable?

Jurriaan Kamp — 2008-03-05T14:25:39-05:00

My friend looked shocked when I showed her a picture of this issue’s cover. In her view, fast food stands for many of the lost values of our modern Western world. Fast food is unhealthy; it thrives on industrial agriculture, which threatens the planet’s ecosystems, and it destroys vital family values such as a simple daily meal around the same table.

Of course, Ode’s fast food is different. As Mary Desmond Pinkowish points out in her international report on the new fast food, more and more initiatives are rooted in organic and local agriculture. Fast food, in other words, can be sustainable. But is that enough to convince my friend? What about the importance of a home-cooked meal?

The discussion relates to a conversation I had this month with a potential new employee of Ode. He felt bad that he’d have to drive his car to our offices outside San Francisco, whereas he was able to walk to his previous job downtown. Wouldn’t it be an upside-down world if he started driving his car to work when he started working for a magazine that stands for a just and sustainable world?

I understand the challenge. Fast food and cars are not the first things that come to mind when one envisions a better, more sustainable world. Yet this challenge touches the core mission of Ode. Yes, we want to contribute to making this world a better place. But we also believe in the ingenuity of the human mind. The history of humanity is very much a story about creativity, about finding new solutions for new problems—in short, about progress.

It might be much better for the planet if we all went back to our pre-historic caves and warmed ourselves around a simple fire after the hunt. Better it might be, but it’s not going to happen—unless a meteorite hits Earth.

Our real challenge is to find ways to make our world a better place from the starting point of our current reality. That reality includes cars and fast food. Ode stands for sustainability, but I use a car daily. We don’t want cars to go away; we want cars to be sustainable—much more sustainable than today’s hybrids, which are becoming more and more popular. We would also question when it’s right to use a car. We favour public transportation and bikes (and legs!) whenever possible, and we would encourage governments and businesses to increase investments in such facilities.

I really believe we can make our planet sustainable without retreating to the caves of the past. But we have to do much more. Ode is about the people, companies and initiatives pioneering the creativity we need for a sustainable future. And that future includes fast food as well.

Our family recently watched the Oscars for the first time since arriving in the U.S. in 2004. That’s another unhealthy sign of consumerism, I admit. Still, while watching Hollywood stars, we ate pizzas from a restaurant that uses only local and organic ingredients and heats its oven with renewable energy. We enjoyed the evening together, unconsciously blending old and new values—and, indeed, on our way to a better world.

Issue: April 2008

Childhood unplugged

Leah Dobkin — 2008-03-05T14:25:39-05:00

My struggle to save my kids from consumer culture.

A war is raging between parents trying to raise children and corporate America trying to raise customers. As a parent of three children, I think I'm losing, or at least losing my mind. I've tried to educate my children about our materialistic society and how our family values differ from those of a culture of consumption. My kids, however, want more, buy more and throw away more.

I've decided advertising is my biggest enemy. Thanks to ads, my kids won't take no, no, no for an answer and instead nag, nag, nag. Advertising targeted to children in the United States is estimated at more than $16.8 billion annually, over twice what it was in 1992.

Product placements are on the rise in TV shows, movies, children's books-even textbooks, since my kids' schools have become commercialized because of budget cuts. The number of corporate-sponsored school events and commercialized lunches is climbing too.

I'm most frustrated with the offensive products targeted directly to my teenaged kids. My daughter (14) covertly buys thongs with "Do I know you?" written on the front. Last year, I couldn't find a Halloween costume that didn't make her look like a prostitute. Meanwhile, my oldest son (16) is a walking advertisement for Puma sneakers and Joe Boxer underwear (which is never worn under). My youngest son (12) organizes backpack sales so he can offload his six-month-old, outdated CDs, DVDs and software, and buy the new stuff.

How do I protect my children and raise them to become healthy, caring and well-balanced people in what seems an off-balanced world? I have responded by becoming the media police in our home. I put parental controls on my children's computer, but one child maneuvered around this system, designating herself as the administrator, changing my password and obtaining complete access to the Internet.

I programmed parental controls on our TV that limited viewing to PG- or G-rated programs, and blocked TV access during the school week. My other child figured out the password and shut off the parental controls. My oldest child kept it easy. He just went to his friends' houses to watch violent movies on their TVs, and steal cars and mutilate people on their computers.

Media policing was a losing game. I decided on another tactic. My husband and I bought property in northern Wisconsin to give my children an antidote to the commercialized tech world. The land has 100-foot-tall pine trees, a quiet lake and creatures galore to explore. The natural assets were augmented with a canoe, kayak, floats, tubes, fishing gear, badminton and archery sets, even a 15-foot-wide water trampoline. (Hey, I'm not completely immune to consumerism.)

The only rules were: Have fun, and no electronics once we arrive at the lake. That last one was problematic. You'd think we'd asked them to cut off their arms. We allowed their cellphones, CDs and MP3 players in the car travelling to and from our property. But once we got there, we insisted everyone unplug and encouraged them to listen to the magic of the natural world: to slow down, look around, talk to each other, ponder, wander, sleep, play instruments, sing around a campfire.

Our youngest seems to appreciate our little piece of heaven, but the two older kids hate the place. I'll never forget passing my oldest son's tent late one night and seeing that eerie blue light spill out into the forest. I peeked in and there he was, zoned out while plugged into his smuggled cellphone playing a video game. My daughter spends most of her time putting makeup on, and vegetates in the car or in our camper.

But we won't give up the 'good' fight, for I know we're planting seeds of change. My 12-year-old son whispered to me this summer, "Mom, do you think when I get older I could have my wedding up here?" I whispered back, "Yes, honey. I would really love that."

For me, this was a small victory in my personal crusade against consumerism.

Leah Dobkin is a freelance writer who writes about social change and aging issues.

Issue: April 2008

Related Reading

Poetry in the community: Stanzas creating Esperanza
Remembering Sally Smith an education pioneer
Peek-A-Boo Peace
Appreciative Inquiry Books For Young Readers

Good for the sole

Katie Keenan — 2008-03-05T14:25:39-05:00

SolesUnited hopes to shoe the world by recycling old Crocs.

“We plan to essentially shoe the world,” says Ron Snyder, CEO of Crocs, makers of the ubiquitous colourful resin clogs. His goal: to recycle old, worn-down Crocs and turn them into new shoes that can be distributed among feet in need. The company started donating shoes a little more than a year ago, when the brand’s materials scientists figured out a way to recycle their super-comfy proprietary Croslite material. At that time, the Croslite that was given away were the scraps left over from the manufacturing process. Snyder wanted to take it a step further and use material from discarded Crocs. Enter the non-profit recycled footwear-donation program, SolesUnited. Donated shoes are sorted, cleaned, ground and manufactured into brand new lightweight clogs that are shipped to Africa and the Dominican Republic; Snyder hopes to reach more countries this year. The program is unique in that Snyder and Co. are giving away new shoes instead of old. If you’re a Crocs-lover with used models to spare, check out solesunited.com to find out how you can help brighten the lives of those in need with these snazzy shoes.

Issue: April 2008

Related Reading

Recycle Bank
USPS permits free recycling of electronics and printer cartridges
No teenage e-wasteland
The 2008 Organic Top 20

Here be compost heaps

Diane Daniel — 2008-03-05T14:25:39-05:00

Where to compost a banana peel in lower Manhattan.

more photos

If you’re searching for a green oasis in urban Jakarta, Indonesia, or a place to compost your banana peel in lower Manhattan, a Green Map can show you the way. The innovative mapping project (greenmap.org) has more than 350 printed or downloadable maps covering 50 countries, with many more in the works. The guides focus on places as diverse as Jerusalem, Israel; Keng Zih, a traditional village in Taiwan; and the New Jersey Meadowlands.

Wendy Brawer initiated the project with her own Green Apple Map of New York City in 1991. That map, which she updates, includes farmers’ markets, thrift stores, greenways, bike paths and, yes, places to compost. It was so successful Brawer started working with community members to enable them to create their own maps. The venture went online in 1995 and has been growing every year since.

Local community groups create maps using the Green Map System software. So although the guides come in a variety of languages, including English, Chinese, Spanish, Japanese and Hebrew, the use of a universal iconography makes them understandable for all readers. “We have a standard set of 55 icons and then there’s an extended set that a community creates for itself,” Brawer says. The standard icons have recently expanded to highlight progressive entities such as social justice and enterprise organizations.

Brawer is most excited by what happens when citizens gather to work on a community map. “The local mapmakers decide who the audience is and what they want to showcase,” she says. “It helps people who live there feel better about their place and gives them a stronger connection.”

Issue: April 2008

Lighten up

2008-03-05T14:25:39-05:00

A photograph of the world at night shows evidence of the need for better power supply in developing nations.

This manipulated photograph, showing the world at night, provides ample evidence of the need for a better power supply in developing nations. Since the 1970s, improvements have been made to bring electricity to countries in Latin America, Asia and the Middle East, but so far Africa has lagged behind with only 25 percent of the population having access to electrical power. The World Bank is expecting a big power surge over the next decade, especially in Africa and South Asia.

Issue: April 2008

Related Reading

Seeking to sow peace
Welcome to Thisted, home of the renewables revolution
World clock of statistics
Down on the (crowd) farm

No teenage e-wasteland

Jay Walljasper — 2008-03-05T14:25:39-05:00

Alex Lin is fixing old computers - and the planet.

Alex Lin, a 14-year-old living in Westerly, Rhode Island, is like most kids today. He plays sports, hangs out with friends and worries about the future of the Earth. But unlike most teenagers—or people of any age—he’s taken big steps to tackle environmental problems.

It all started when he was 11 and read a newspaper article about e-waste, toxic chemicals from discarded computers that leech into groundwater and soil. “I didn’t even know that was a problem,” he says. “But I thought we could do something about it.”

And Alex has done a lot. With friends, he founded the Westerly Innovations Network (WIN), and testified in favour of a proposed state law to prohibit computers from being dumped in the garbage. When that failed, he and his friends wrote their own version of the bill, which passed as a local ordinance in Westerly and was approved by the Rhode Island legislature. It goes into effect in August.

What should people do with outdated computers anyway? “The best thing is to recycle them,” Alex says. “So we asked people in the community to donate old computers to us.”

His father, an engineer, showed the kids how to test the machines for problems and fix them. Cast-off computers they collected are now used in local schools as well as those in Mexico and Sri Lanka. If they can’t be repaired, they go to a recycling company. Today, Alex and his pals are working with the United Nations Environment Programme to draft a plan for distributing used computers to children around the world.

“I want to keep doing something like this,” Alex says when asked his future plans. “But I’m not sure exactly what.”

Issue: April 2008

Related Reading

Peace with technology
Video: Lessons from a 10th grader
Good for the sole
Reducing food packaging waste

Not the same old drive-thru

Mary Desmond Pinkowish — 2008-03-05T14:25:39-05:00

The meat is raised naturally; the packaging is recycled; the ovens use renewable power. New green fast-food chains are serving up burgers and fries to feel good about.

It's really cold and windy in Manhattan. The Friday lunch crowds scurry in and out of delis and take-out places. But at one fast-food joint, the customers calmly form a line that spills out onto the sidewalk. This is Chipotle on East 44th Street, and I join the queue accompanied by two fast-food industry experts - my teenaged son and daughter.

Once inside, we decide among a burrito, fajita burrito, burrito bowl or tacos and a filling - chicken, steak, carnitas or barbacoa (spicy shredded beef). At the head of the line, we tell the lady behind the counter what we want, and she and her colleagues move the meals down the line in about a minute, letting us choose among pinto and black beans, roast chili-corn or several types of tomatillo-chili. We pay (about $8 each), then hunt for a table in the crowded dining room. It seems like a fairly typical fast-food experience, but we're tucking into a meal that Steve Ells, the founder of Chipotle, says embodies a philosophy of "food with integrity." Is he serious?

It's no joke. We knew we were in for a different kind of fast-food experience at Chipotle from the beginning. The customers lined up outside are nice to one another, making eye contact and smiling. The women behind the counter seem older than the typical fast-food worker, and there's something attentive and almost motherly in their manner. But once we unwrap our meals, we're focused on one fact: This food tastes really, really good - nothing at all like the fast food we've tasted before.

Instead of sampling each other's selections (as we originally intended), we greedily eat our own meals - no sharing. I'd never share any food that tasted as good as these carnitas. Fuggedaboutit. This is flavourful, succulent pork, with no hint of greasiness. The tomatillo green-chili salsa is fresh and couldn't have been made more than an hour ago. The subtly spiced pinto beans have a warm, homemade taste, and there's fluffy, soft rice underneath it all.

My attempts to sample my kids' tacos and burritos are rebuffed, but they assure me this is the "best" fast food they've ever tasted. "It's way more satisfying than normal fast food, says my 19-year-old son, who's downed more than enough burgers and fries to know.

Chipotle is just one example of a new brand of green fast-food restaurant springing up across Europe and the U.S. faster than you can say, "Supersize my sprouts and tofu, please." These establishments provide the speed and convenience we've come to expect from conventional fast-food joints, but they're doing it while looking after the quality of the food and the health of the environment.

Much of the food is seasonal, family-farmed, naturally raised, hormone-free and/or organic. The meats and vegetables are sourced locally; the packaging is recyclable; the energy is renewable. In one restaurant, the tables are made from fallen trees rather than felled ones.

For decades, fast food has been seen as emblematic of just about everything that's destroying our bodies and our planet. These fast-food restaurants are proving we can have our burgers - and feel good about them too.

The fast-food industry is blamed for promoting unhealthy food (especially to children), contributing to the obesity epidemic, facilitating a drive-thru lifestyle and contributing to the demise of family farms and ranches. There's at least some evidence to support these claims. A recent study by researchers at the University of Pennsylvania showed people who live in neighbourhoods with a high density of fast-food places are more likely to be obese than people from areas with more full-service restaurants. A 2006 report from Greenpeace fingered McDonald's and similar corporations for the deforestation of the Amazon rainforest. According to Greenpeace, the chickens that end up as McNuggets in European branches of McDonald's are fattened on soybeans grown on illegally cleared land in the Amazon rainforest.

In Fast Food Nation, author Eric Schlosser notes that McDonald's is the largest purchaser of beef, potatoes and pork in the U.S. and that the "centralized purchasing decisions of the large restaurant chains and their demand for standardized products have given a handful of corporations an unprecedented degree of power over the nation's food supply." He blames them for "wiping out small businesses, obliterating regional differences and spreading identical stores... like a self-replicating code."

To be fair, chains like McDonald's and Burger King have offered salads and a grilled alternative to fried chicken for years. And the health-food cafe has been a fixture since the 1970s. So is the "new" fast food really all that new?

Well, yes. Menus in these new establishments cater to people who want healthier, tastier food - and want it fast - but who may not be keen on tofu burgers. Others want food that's more authentic than a square hamburger. But other changes in the business, like food delivered in hybrid vehicles and composted waste, are in response to climate change and the imperative to do something about it.

"There's no point in creating a profitable business if it contributes to climate change," says Tim Hall, founder of POD Food in London, England, which specializes in healthed-up classic British fare and exotic Asian offerings. Then again, customers won't come back to even the greenest restaurant if the food isn't terrific. So, how can restaurants like POD and Chipotle satisfy consumer appetites for quick, delicious meals that are good for us and for the planet? Here are the five ingredients for a greater, greener fast-food joint.

1) KEEP IT LOCAL

In an Internet survey of more than 1,200 professional chefs conducted in October of last year by the National Restaurant Association, locally grown produce was voted No. 2 on a list of nearly 200 hot trends for 2008. Organic produce ranked third (bite-sized desserts led the list). These new fast-food places are clearly on to something.

Burgerville, a chain of 39 fast-food burger places in the U.S. Northwest, enjoys near-iconic status in the new fast-food market. Keeping it local has been the company's policy since the beginning. The first Burgerville opened in 1961, and Tom Mears, the son-in-law of founder George Propstra, is at the helm today.

The chain is renowned for its use of local produce, especially in its berry milkshakes. "We start early in the spring with California strawberries, then a few weeks later we move to berries from Oregon, then Washington state. When the Washington strawberries go away, we switch to raspberries, then blackberries. In the winter, we make shakes from hazelnuts, which are abundant around here," Mears says. Potatoes for Burgerville's french fries come from eastern Washington state and Idaho.

According to Mears, the berries led to an interest in Walla Walla onions, unique to the Northwest and available for just a few months each year. The chain uses them to make its famous onion rings. But when the season is over for Walla Walla onions, patrons are out of luck - the onion rings disappear from the menu. Loyal customers know the drill, but new customers often don't understand the seasonal nature of many of Burgerville's menu items. "We tell them to come back at the end of June for onion rings," says Mears, laughing.

Burgerville gets its meat from Country Natural Beef, a consortium of ranchers with 100 members located primarily in Washington, Oregon, Idaho and northern California, all of whom are committed to raising hormone-free cattle. "Our connection with Country Natural Beef came at just the right time for us, in the middle of the mad cow scare," Mears says.

Ranchers affiliated with Country Natural adhere to principles of sustainable agriculture, own and raise their cattle from birth and don't purchase cattle from other herds or ranches. Mears says knowing where Burgerville's beef comes from is a big draw for many customers, who may also know the Country Natural brand from shopping at Whole Foods grocery stores.

Deb Sellers, co-owner and co-founder of Sellers Markets in San Francisco, California, renowned for its "eco-friendly, straight-from-the-earth food," says using the same brands her customers purchase for their families is an asset to her business too. "We're a fast-casual place that supports local artisans who practise sustainable agriculture," Sellers says, noting that their market tables are made from trees that have fallen in San Francisco.

Cheeses used at Sellers Markets come from Cowgirl Creamery, a well-known local producer of artisan cheeses. Other purveyors include local favourites Boulangerie Bay Breads and Scharffen Berger Chocolate. Sellers Markets promotes the fact that its meat comes from Niman Ranch, which raises hormone- and antibiotic-free vegetarian cattle and pork. While Niman isn't strictly local, with participating ranchers in several states, it does adhere to sustainable ranching methods.

2) MAKE IT GOOD

"Let the real flavour sing," Deb Sellers says. She practises what she preaches at two Sellers Markets restaurants (a third is on the way): "This is not fine dining. It's a simple menu done well and fast and to order. Hot ham-and-cheese sandwiches made from the best cheese, bread and ham we can get. It's amazing how great that tastes. We keep the menu fresh and exciting by changing it." In the winter months, free-range turkey pot pie is a big seller. Not so in summer, when other seasonal items take its place.

Really good food is the selling point at Chipotle too. Spokesman Chris Arnold says the restaurants are usually categorized as fast food because the chain now includes 700 stores and the food ends up in a bag. "But that's where the similarity ends," says Arnold, whose title at Chipotle is "director of hoopla, hype and ballyhoo." Unlike Sellers, Arnold is quick to make a fine-dining connection. He explains that Ells, founder and CEO of Chipotle, attended the Culinary Institute of America and has taken his cues from fine dining. "That's the model he understood, and that's the model we adhere to," says Arnold.

In 2000, after seven years in business, Ells added another layer. While working to improve the quality of his carnitas, he visited some Niman Ranch hog farms in Iowa. In mainstream hog production, animals are confined to cages or crowded pens. Most don't even have room to turn around, and need antibiotics to stay healthy. At Niman, Ells encountered some happy anomalies: pastured, antibiotic-free animals that slept in deeply bedded barns.

After this revelation, Ells was determined to serve only naturally raised pork- "no antibiotics, no hormones and a vegetarian diet," says Arnold. It tastes better, he says. Pigs raised outdoors develop back fat to protect them from the elements, and it gives the meat nice marbling. Not like that dry 'other white meat' they sell at the supermarket."

3) MAKE IT HEALTHY

Chipotle's tortillas' huge - made-as-you-wait beauties - won't help you lose weight. Neither will the major-league portions. But 100 percent of the pork served at Chipotle, along with 80 percent of the chicken and 50 percent of the beef, is raised naturally, boosting management's claim that it serves "food with integrity": edibles raised humanely, without antibiotics or hormones, and by sustainable means.

Burgerville makes no health claims about its burgers, but Tom Mears concedes management is considering adding the option of a smaller patty. Better Burger, which runs three restaurants and a bustling delivery business in Manhattan, already does this, offering its Classic Beef Burger in half-pound portions, as well as a more calorically correct one-third-pound portion. Both versions of the Classic Beef Burger are striking because they look handmade - an unusual find in the fast-food trade. Pret a Manger, a London-based sandwich, salad and soup chain, offers "slim" portions and sandwiches made on half- and full-size baguettes.

But good nutrition is about more than calorie control. Some people think the recent emphasis on low-calorie, low-fat food has actually made us heavier in the past 20 years or so. Maybe it's because these foods are less satisfying and so we eat more of them, or maybe it's because the no-guilt labelling makes it easy to justify eating more than we should.

Pret a Manger is running a campaign with the slogan "Eat with your head." Simon Hargraves, commercial director of Pret, explains, "Basically, it means 'Think about what you're eating before you eat it. Understand food and you'll eat well.'"

Pret a Manger counts on customers who appreciate that its foods are free of genetically modified ingredients. Some menu items are organic, and all are "natural and as free of additives as they can be," says Hargraves. "Sandwiches, salads and wraps are made today and eaten today and don't need all those additives designed to enhance and lengthen shelf life. Natural, fresh food also tastes better."

Pret's customers apparently agree, because the chain serves 500,000 people across Britain every day, as well as thousands more at its U.S. and Hong Kong outposts. In a visit to one of the Manhattan stores, my kids and I noticed that just a few of each type of sandwich were in the cases ready for purchase. Employees buzzed in to replenish them, but only as necessary. A few bites of a baguette sandwich confirmed it - the bread was fresh, not soaked with moisture from the cheese and tomato.

EVOS is a U.S. chain with fast-food outlets in Florida and Nevada - and without a single deep-fryer or grill. "We slow-roast our burgers with hot air and moisture," explains co-founder Dino Lambridis. "This method is healthier and cleaner and avoids the buildup of cancer-causing heterocyclic amines, which occurs when proteins in meat hit high heat."

French "fries" are actually air-baked at EVOS, and Lambridis says they contain 50 to 70 percent less fat than conventional fries. The New York City chain Better Burger also offers air-baked fries that are appealing even to skeptical teens raised on the McDonald's variety. High praise indeed. At Ozone Organics, a small, all-organic fast-food company based in London, Ontario, nutrient-dense sweet potato fries are outselling conventional fries 10 to 1, according to co-founder Scott Kay.

"Our customers ask us all the time about where we get our meat," says Patrick Terry, founder of P. Terry's fast-burger joint in Austin, Texas. "I tell them my wife and I have actually visited the place where we order our beef - Harris Ranch in Fresno, California. We've seen everything there - the feedlot, slaughterhouse, the packing area. We've watched them sanitize their trucks. And I explain how Harris Ranch hires extra meat inspectors so that they're able to check the meat three times more often than the USDA requires."

Terry is also proud of the fact that none other than Eric Schlosser dined at P. Terry's just before the world premiere of the film version of Fast Food Nation, which took place in Austin.

POD, in London's financial district, sells foods that appeal to customers who appreciate traditional British fare. "But instead of basic hot food, our customers get something with a strong health benefit," says founder Tim Hall. POD Food customers order items like oatmeal combined with antioxidant-rich goji berries, which are reputed to enhance sexual function. POD also offers a breakfast sandwich made of baked (not grilled or fried) bacon on brown bread with tomatoes.

Another popular green entry on the fast-food landscape, Pizza Fusion, aims at several distinct customer targets. "We thought we were going after the Whole Foods customer," says co-founder Vaughan Lazar. But the restaurant found a following among expectant couples and parents who want to keep their young children healthy.

Seventy-five percent of the food offered by Pizza Fusion is organic. The expanding chain also offers vegan-friendly, soy-based mozzarella. "And we answered customer requests for gluten-free pizza crusts. I recently had a customer drive three-and-a-half hours for one," says Lazar.

4) TAKE CARE OF YOUR EMPLOYEES

The restaurant industry is the largest employer in the U.S. after the federal government, according to the National Restaurant Association. A large portion of these workers is employed by fast-food restaurants. Many of the new fast-food chains pride themselves on better employee relations than those typically encountered in the conventional fast-food world.

Lazar of Pizza Fusion says he and his partners spent hours with about 100 workers at Starbucks to learn more about those famously content employees. Starbucks, where employees are called "store partners," ranks No. 7 on Fortune magazine's current "100 Best Places to Work" list because of programs like sponsored gym memberships, job sharing, health-care coverage (to which employees contribute), domestic partner benefits and more than 200 hours of on-the-job training each year.

Pizza Fusion took some of those lessons home. The company pays 100 percent of employees' health-insurance premiums and offers discount gym memberships. "We all went rock climbing at an indoor gym last week. We like to do fun stuff with our workers," says Lazar.

Deb Sellers reports that employee turnover at Sellers Markets is well below the industry average. "All of our employees are stockholders," she says, adding that about 40 percent of the original employees hired in 2005 are still on staff. Tom Mears says some Burgerville customers tell him they're loyal because they know the company provides an affordable health-insurance plan to employees.

Passion matters too. "A lot of these restaurants are following the example of the Apple stores," says Jerry Newman, distinguished professor and chair of the department of organization and human resources in the School of Management at the State University of New York in Buffalo. "Apple hires people with a passion for Apple products. Prospective customers walk into the stores and see that these are believers. It provides a competitive advantage," says Newman, who is also the author of My Secret Life on the McJob, which he wrote after covertly obtaining counter jobs at McDonald's, Burger King and other chains.

Newman adds that many of the employees at the new fast-food places are similarly dedicated to environmental causes and organic food. He suspects many of these places select employees who are sympathetic to the green, sustainable, healthy-food cause.

Michael Oshman, executive director and founder of the Green Restaurant Association, says he recently had a call from a restaurant employee about introducing some green initiatives where she worked. At the end of the conversation, she added she'd happily jump ship to work at a greener, more environmentally friendly restaurant if the opportunity arose. It's not just company employees who benefit from greener initiatives at the new fast-food places. According to Chris Arnold, each time Chipotle opens a restaurant, Niman can add a family ranch to its operation. "So we help create opportunities for family farmers," he says.

5) TAKE CARE OF THE ENVIRONMENT

Brenden Sachs and his buddies are big fans of the milkshakes at Burgerville, and he can describe the blackberry and marionberry shakes in great detail. "The shakes are fantastic because they actually contain real berries, unlike most restaurants where the shakes obviously consist of a powdered mix and some fruit syrup. And the berries are always in season, so the shakes are never tart," he enthuses.

But Sachs says he had "no idea at all" that the chain is exceedingly green. Burgerville is at the forefront of the greening of fast food. "Portland General Electric approached us for help in pushing wind power," says Mears. "So we pay a slight premium, about 10 percent more than a normal utility bill, to support growth of windmills in this area."

The extra costs aren't all passed on to customers. The Burgerville utility bill may be offset by other initiatives. By recycling cooking oil instead of paying to have it hauled away, for example, Burgerville saves money. And burgers are modestly priced here, ranging from $1.19 to $4.79, in the same ballpark as those at McDonald's.

Most of Burgerville's customers aren't fully aware of the company's environmental initiatives, which include composting and recycling at each store, converting used trans-fat-free cooking oil to biodiesel and supporting local farmers and ranchers who adhere to sustainable production methods.

In fact, the need for green is particularly acute in the fast-food sphere. The restaurant industry overall is the largest consumer of electricity in the American retail sector. Fast-food packaging accounts for an estimated 20 percent of litter in the U.S. The city of Oakland, California, forces local restaurants to help pick up the tab for litter removal. In Taipei, Taiwan, fast-food restaurants are required to recycle, and customers are asked to separate their waste into four categories: leftover food, recyclable material, regular waste and liquids. Restaurants that don't comply face stiff cash fines.

The non-profit U.S. Green Restaurant Association, headquartered in Massachusetts, was founded to help restaurants meet the green challenge. Businesses often save money in the process. "We define for restaurants what's green and what's not," says Oshman. "We maintain the nation's largest database of environmental solutions for restaurants."

He adds that the GRA can help restaurant owners find recycled, tree-free, biodegradable and organic products and non-toxic cleaning and chemical products. Restaurants that consistently adhere to the association's 11-point plan become certified green restaurants .

The GRA also endorses products offered for sale to restaurants. "A manufacturer came to us with a compostable packaging product made from renewable resources. But we pointed out it was still made from virgin products. They called back a few days later saying they had changed the manufacturing process to include recycled products so they could get the endorsement," Oshman explains.

Pizza Fusion happily promotes its green efforts. The chain's motto is "Saving the Planet One Pizza at a Time." Restaurants are insulated with recycled blue jeans. Pizza deliveries are made in hybrid vehicles. Customers get discounts for returning pizza boxes for recycling. Other food containers are made from cornstarch and are compostable. A "smart" system kills lights when a restroom is vacant, and the restaurant's power consumption is offset by purchasing renewable energy certificates.

"Each day we learn more and more ways to be sustainable, and we implement them as we go along," says Lazar, adding it's almost a daily contest at the office. "Sometimes we forget to tell people that the pizza is great," he says with a grin. A medium pie at Pizza Fusion runs about $13, a dollar or two more than at a conventional un-green pizzeria in the New York area.

All of these businesses have expansion plans. Some, like Burgerville, aren't ambitious beyond their areas, while others, like Pizza Fusion and Pret a Manger, are more aggressive. All are counting on increased demand for what they offer and growing public appreciation for their environmental and health ethics. But even if the corporate heart is in the right place, the most loyal customers will drift away unless, in the words of Deb Sellers, "the real flavour sings."

And the big chains are taking notice. McDonald's has engaged healthy living guru Dean Ornish as one of its featured "wellness experts," and asks poultry suppliers to knock off using antibiotics to promote growth in chickens. The chain recycles and purchases products made from recycled material, and its energy conservation efforts won a USA 2007 Energy Star Partner of the Year award from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

Burger King gives customers opportunities to - stay calorie conscious -with items like the Whopper Jr. sandwich and the Tendergrill Chicken Garden salad (which would account for one-third of your daily fat intake - so it's good to be conscious of that). BK also offers "regional favourites" like the Texas Triple Whopper and bagel and sourdough breakfast sandwiches.

Taco Bell now operates a trans-fat-free environment. Its management is even concerned about the book value of your car. Noting that a clean interior can add thousands to resale value, and that 60 percent of Americans eat in their cars, it has designed car-friendly products like the Crunchwrap Supreme, which won QSR Magazine's "Best Meal for on the Move." Whether that's a sign of progress is debatable.

When my kids and I depart Chipotle at about 2, after the Manhattan lunch crush, the line outside is slightly longer than when we entered. The ultimate tribute comes from my 14-year-old daughter, who insists she can't wait to come back next week "with just my friends." And my son laments that there's no Chipotle in the upstate New York town where he attends college. That means the food must be good; these guys are the experts.

I'm the mom though. I still get the last word. But if this is the kind of fast food they decide to opt for, I'd feel pretty good about that.

Mary Desmond Pinkowish is a health writer with a fast-food fetish.

Issue: April 2008

Related Reading

Put your words into action
Carlo Petrini
Community Living
Big changes start with small steps

Oro Verder Gold

2008-03-05T14:25:39-05:00

In this year's Organic Top 20, we feature Treetap's Wild Rubber Handbags and Oro Verde's Green Gold - two products that help conserve the Amazone rain forest. Find out how these companies are creating products focusing on social environmental sustainability. Read exclusive excerpts from the book Amazon Your Business by Dutch conservationist Meindert Brouwer here.

Book: Amazon Your Business / Opportunities and solutions in the rainforest
Amazon Your Business is the first ever guide to sustainable Amazon products from the rainforests and rivers of all Amazon countries: Brazil, Bolivia, Peru, Ecuador, Colombia, Venezuela, Guyana and Suriname.

Click here to buy this book: www.amazonyourbusiness.nl.

Amazon Your Business / Opportunities and solutions in the rainforest a Meindert Brouwer publication designed by Studio Olykan, Amsterdam. Photography Green Gold Story: Ronald de Hommel.

Issue: April 2008

Small farmers, bigger markets

Jay Walljasper — 2008-03-05T14:25:39-05:00

When little farmers go to market.

more photos

Poverty is often regarded as a matter of political policy and economic aid. But for Thomas George, who grew up on a farm in India where his family struggled to make ends meet, it’s a simple question of agriculture. The vast majority of the world’s poor live on the land, so how do we make farming more profitable for them?

“A farmer can produce a lot of wonderful tomatoes but that’s no good if there isn’t a demand for those tomatoes at the time they are ready for harvest,” explains George. “The capacity to know what to produce, when to produce it and how to sell is limited.”

New technology and microcredit are often held up as solutions. But George, a former University of Hawaii agronomist who worked many years on introducing new technology to rural communities in Asia, believes high tech isn’t enough. And he contends that microloans—giving poor people small loans to start businesses—offer opportunity only for those who already have an idea of how to get ahead and the capacity to make it happen. He hopes to reach the rest with Vipani (Sanskrit for “marketplace”), an organization that seeks to create “fair play for small farmers.”

George started with three communities in Kenya, a country in the throes of political and ethnic violence. “Our goal is to create a marketplace where everyone can make a profit,” George says. Vipani staff members research the demand for crops, then recruit an agent for each community who works with the organization to create a comprehensive network of farmers, buyers, suppliers and lenders.

Kenyan farmer Johnson Nduati Kimuhu, 34, barely made money on his crops of kale, French beans, tomatoes and eggplants because “the prices kept fluctuating so that I could not plan beyond one day. When Vipani came to my community, it got us a reliable market and my produce got good prices.” After a few months, he had the means to build a kiosk to sell vegetables. After a year, he says, “I now have more, [about $700], saved toward my dream to buy a piece of land.”

The idea for Vipani came to George while he was working on a project to promote new agricultural technology and access to information for Filipino rice farmers. He realized these improvements would make little difference if farmers couldn’t get fair prices for their crops. He researched this idea further during a fellowship at Stanford University, and in 2004 launched Vipani in Kenya to demonstrate how it works. The three communities where Vipani is active have so far been spared the violence flaring up across the country. George thinks boosting small farmers will help heal deep-seated ethnic conflicts in Kenya and other countries. “At the root of the crisis is widespread poverty,” he says. “If people have hope for their future and opportunities, they would have little incentive to go on a rampage at each other.”

George is looking at expanding to Rwanda and Uganda. “Because Vipani is built on local resources,” he says, “it can be adapted anywhere in the world.”

Find out more: vipani.org

Issue: April 2008

Tax the beautiful

Marco Visscher — 2008-03-05T14:25:39-05:00

Ugly people should be compensated for their obvious disadvantage in society, argues Gonzalo Otalóra.

Gonzalo Otólora, once a pimply teenager, has written Feosexual, an ironic book about his decision to ignore people's opinions about his looks. In his native Argentina - the country with the most beautiful women in the world, he says - his book is a bestseller.

In your book, you call for a tax on beauty. Why should people have to pay because they're attractive?

Gonzalo Otólora: "Countless studies show that good-looking people have an unfair advantage. It's easier for them to find jobs; they're paid more and find partners more easily. In a true democracy, beautiful and ugly people should be given equal opportunities. So I think we should tax the beautiful, a kind of compensation for the ugly ducklings. There are also other ways to reduce this unfair advantage."

Such as?

"In Argentina, companies are allowed to ask applicants to send in a photograph; that should be outlawed, just as the immoral practise of manipulating pictures of models in magazines and advertisements should be banned."

But how can we blame people because others consider them hot?

"Why not? If they spend money on diets, gyms, anti-wrinkle creams and plastic surgery, surely we can wheedle even more money out of them and donate it to the ugly among us. We, the unattractive, won't squander that money because we're not compulsive consumers. We're not worried about failure because we've learned from all the rejections we've suffered. As a result, we're well- suited to think strategically and reach our objectives quickly. Our relationships with people are more honest and durable. Society ultimately benefits from these qualities, which is why ugly people should be recognized, emancipated and supported."

Are you saying life's really about what's inside?

"Absolutely. The ideal of beauty doesn't exist. I discovered that when I threw my mirror and scale in the trash. If you're trying to be beautiful you're chasing a dream, but that dream only ensures you'll suffer. If we can develop our sense of self-confidence, we'll all have the same opportunities."

Issue: April 2008

Teach your kids to be consumer conscious

2008-03-05T14:25:39-05:00

In this issue, Leah Dobkin, mother of three teens, writes about losing control of her kids to corporate America, a fear many parents share. Find tips on how to regain control by teaching your kids about advertising and consumerism.

It is estimated that children in this nation watch an average of 3.5 hours of television every day, the equivalent on an annual basis of a 50-day marathon of TV viewing. For pre-teen youngsters, "prime time" does not mean "Roseanne" and "Cheers." Instead, children are most likely to settle down in front of the television to take in the exploits of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles or the Ghostbusters. Much of this viewing by children takes place on weekday afternoons and Saturday mornings, when parents are at work or even asleep. This guide has been prepared by the Children's Advertising Review Unit of the Council of Better Business Bureau (CARU) and is directed to partents of youngsters between two and 12 years old.

Helping your child to think about advertising

Television can be an important learning tool for your children, but it must be used with the greatest care. As part of the television "picture," advertising can provide your children with a great deal of information about the world around them. Advertising also may be a child's first introduction to what it means to be a consumer in this economy. Ads can help a child appreciate the diversity of available choices, and how to select wisely from among them. But, it must always be remembered that children need close parental guidance when it comes to advertising.

1) General concepts of advertising
It is useful with very young children to start by talking about the general concept of advertising. For the purposes of such a discussion, parents may want to clip and then refer to magazine or newspaper ads for starters. Show your child such a print ad and ask:

What do you notice first when you look at this ad?
What is pretty or ugly about this ad?
What product is this ad for?
How does that ad make you feel about the product?
What questions should you ask before buying this product?

Encourage your child to seek more information than the ad contains. How is the product used? Does it work well? Do you really need this particular product? What other comparable products are available and at what cost?

This line of questioning is guaranteed to spark a lively discussion! More importantly, it will serve to start your child out on the path to wise consuming. Children should know that the purpose of advertising is to get people interested in buying products, not to entertain the viewer or reader. Extend these discussions to television advertising. Talk about the ways in which the product is made attractive on the television screen. Assist your child in identifying the claims made in the ad and then sort the statements into two categories: fact and opinion. Ask your child to consider which of the claims can be "proven" and which cannot.

2) Marking Commercials

When your children watch television, be sure that they know when the commercials start and stop. Young children may consider the commercial to be part of the program, so it is a good idea to "mark" the commercials for them. At the beginning of a commercial, say:

"Oh it's a commercial. After the commercials, we'll be able to go back to the story."

Help your child to recognize when the commercial starts. There will be a brief "black-out" or other indication of the shift from program to commercial. There is an announcement: "We'll be right back to our program after this . . "

3) Explaining How Ads Work

Parents should strive to keep their discussions about advertisements on a level that their children will understand. To do this, use terms, analogies and concepts with which your child already is familiar. For example, you may wish to say that:

Advertising makes a product into a "star." A commercial dresses up the product, puts make-up on it, shines bright lights on it, and makes it look larger than life. The advertiser hopes that the commercial will make consumers want to have the "star" in their home.
Advertising makes a product "stand out in a crowd." It's difficult to be seen in a large crowd; things tend to get lost and blend in together. However, if one person in the crowd is wearing a brightly-colored outfit, or a large hat, that person will stand out. An advertiser wants its product to stand out in your mind, and, as a result, highlights the product in a way that attracts attention. One way to demonstrate this is to take your child to the supermarket. Ask your child to point to the boxes, cans or bags that feature artwork that is the most noticeable on the shelf. Packaging is one type of advertising for products.
Advertising is like a "bicycle reflector." A commercial works like a reflector on the back of a bicycle at night; it makes the product more visible, so that it can't be missed.

4) The Rest of the Story ...

Children should learn that advertising gives them some, but not all of the information needed to make informed choices. Help your child to understand that product information does not come from advertising exclusively and that a commercial is only an "introduction," not the whole story.

How can you help your child learn to investigate products before making a decision about a purchase? The best way for parents to make this point is to lead through personal example. Involve your child in the decisions about family purchases, from clothing to appliances. Let your child see how you weigh the relative merits of particular brands. Help your child in making similar decisions when it comes to even minor toy and entertainment purchases.

5) Reality Checks

Whenever and wherever possible, parents should share in their children's TV viewing and urge them to discuss and think critically about what they are seeing. When viewing commercials, talk about the various elements which may make them deceptive or misleading. These discussions need not create cynics nor inevitably lead to the conclusion that all advertising is suspect. Instead, "reality checks" can foster responsible decision-making behavior in growing children.

Suppose you and your young children see a TV ad for a "900" teleprogram featuring a talking unicorn. The commercial might sound something like this:

"Hi, kids! I 'm Ursula and I live in a magical land with lots of other magical friends. I want to talk to you and be your friend, too. You can call me here and I'll tell you all about my magical adventures."

A voice-over then interrupts with the words:

"$1. 75 the first minute; $1.00 each additional minute. Kids, get your parent 's permission."

After the commercial, do a "reality check" with your children to help them distinguish between reality and fantasy. For example:

Are there really unicorns?
Can animals really talk?
If we call the "900" number, do you think you'll really talk to the unicorn? What do you think will happen when you call? Will you hear a story about a unicorn?
How long is a minute? (Then you can time something to find out.) If you can buy three story books for the cost of this one telephone call, would you rather keep the books or just listen to the phone for a few minutes?

Asking these questions and having your children think about the answers will spur them to analyze advertising and products on their own. More generally, this process also should help to build your child's self-confidence and sense of competence when it comes to making decisions. To keep your child on this positive path, encourage him or her to bring to you any questions about ads that are viewed when you are not present.

6) Make it real for your child

Parents also can help their children judge the reality behind the images in advertising by encouraging them to draw upon their personal experiences. For example, take an advertisement showing a child performing tricks on a particular brand of skateboard. Ask your child:

"If you bought that skateboard, do you think you would be able to do the tricks the boy in the ad is doing?"

"How long do you think he had to practice before he could do them?"

"What do you think would happen if you tried to do those stunts without practicing first?"

After viewing this type of an ad, talk with your child about a skill or activity that he or she has attempted to master. Whether it is staying within the lines of a coloring book or riding a two-wheeler without training wheels, reminding your child just how much work and practice was needed in order to become better at the activity will help your youngster identify realistic (and unrealistic) claims in advertising. Your child will be less likely to be misled into thinking that particular equipment, foods, or clothing can provide short-cuts to greater proficiency, self-esteem or social acceptance.

The following are additional strategies for drawing your child into the process of examining advertisements:

Red Light/Green Light
Distinguish the fantasy from the reality in a television commercial by marking it with a "red light." This might be accomplished by uttering the phrase "red light!" or holding up a drawing of a traffic light.

Stepping Out
Identify a product you have seen advertised on TV and then visit a store that has the product. Compare the television version with the actual product. Ask your child: How are they different? Which is more exciting?

A Star Is Born
Choose a product in your home, and make it "a TV star." Put the product in a box and "dress it up" as if it were going to appear on a real television. Use crayons or markers to decorate the box; shine a flashlight on the product, etc. This exercise helps your child understand the process of advertising and how products can be enhanced by various advertising techniques.

Keep a Log
Monitor the types of commercials that appear on children's programming. Help your child keep a record of how many of each type (food, toys and clothing) are shown in a given period of time.

Watch Your Language
Look for words that come up again and again in advertising. See if your child can find particular words that are used for particular types of products, like "delicious" for cereal, or "beautiful" for dolls.

Who's That Girl?
Identify the spokesperson for the product and encourage your child to speculate about why an advertiser may have chosen that particular person. How is the product made more attractive or interesting by virtue of its association with the spokesperson?

What's the Story?
Break the commercial down into the parts of its "story." Ask your child to decide which elements of the story provide information about the product and which parts are not relevant to a purchasing decision. Encourage your child to list the things he or she still needs to know after seeing the commercial.

Junior "Ad Agency"
When your child has grown comfortable with thinking about how advertisements work, ask him or her to draw and color a series of ads for a list of products, such as a breakfast cereal, dump truck, bicycle, doll and board game. Ask your child why he or she decided to present products in certain ways? What was highlighted? Are "facts or opinions" used in the ads?

Educators report that one of the most effective ways to teach children is to involve the youngsters directly in the subject that is at hand. By encouraging your children to put themselves "in the shoes" of the makers of products and their advertisers, you open up a new and exciting way for your children to think and make informed decisions. The exercises suggested here should help your children to sit up, pay attention and decide for themselves about advertisements that appear on television or in newspapers and magazines.

The Children's Advertising Review Unit of the Council of Better Business Bureaus was established in 1974 by the advertising industry to promote responsible national advertising to children and to respond to public concerns. More info: caru.org

Issue: April 2008

Related Reading

Poetry in the community: Stanzas creating Esperanza
Remembering Sally Smith an education pioneer
Peek-A-Boo Peace
Appreciative Inquiry Books For Young Readers

They all can fly

Fred De Vries — 2008-03-05T14:25:39-05:00

South Africa's Zip Zap Circus works to end racial segregation and foster trust, dedication and teamwork.

more photos

A circus? Twelve-year-old Andiswa Nkebendu, raised by her mother in the notorious Khayelitsha township near Cape Town, South Africa, had never heard of such a thing. When a friend took her to the Zip Zap Circus rehearsal studio, a new world opened up for her. Kids her own age were hanging from ropes and swinging from a trapeze. Andiswa wanted to do that too. She applied, and soon she was part of the human pyramid. After that, she balanced in the rings. The trapeze eventually became her specialty.

And now, seven years later, Andiswa and her 21-year-old friend, Portia Kewane, are stealing the show at the O.R. Tambo Hall, Khayelitsha's community centre. Their arms and legs are twined together, high above the ground. The audience stares open-mouthed at the two young women; they could break their necks any second. But it all ends well. Andiswa and Portia are so skilled on the trapeze by now that they've just signed a contract with the UniverSoul Circus to spend two years performing in the United States.

America! Away from the slums, crime, murder and rape that have made Khayelitsha one of the most dangerous places in South Africa. Sure, she nods, smiling broadly, of course she'll miss South Africa. Her mother especially. But her 'family' of circus performers too. This isn't her first time abroad though. "We've travelled all over Europe with Zip Zap," she says nonchalantly.

What would Andiswa be doing now if she hadn't joined Zip Zap? "Hanging around on street corners," she says without hesitating. "Doing nothing, like all my friends from school. They really look up to me now."

The man who helped Andiswa Nkebendu scale such acrobatic heights is standing a little way down the hall. Brent van Rensburg is stocky, with dark curly hair tied in a ponytail. Thirteen years ago, he and his French wife, Laurence Esteve, drove his delivery truck - with ropes, mats and a bunch of kids in the back - to a Grahamstown art festival for their debut performance. It was the beginning of the realization of his dream: starting a circus school for underprivileged South African kids, an environment in which colour didn't matter, and trust, dedication and teamwork did. Emphasizing play and interaction, the circus would bring together kids from starkly different backgrounds. Whether your pal was rich or poor, black or white, when he's flying through the air, you don't let him fall.

"Kids are colour-blind," says Esteve. "They live together and play together. If you teach them to get along with each other in a safe environment, they'll quickly come to trust each other."

Van Rensburg adds, "Away from the politics and the bullshit," referring to the violent times around the first democratic elections in 1994. "We wanted to see if we could make a difference." His circus would be a rainbow nation at the micro level.

Like most of his pupils, Van Rensburg comes from a broken family. He grew up poor and white in a shanty in Cape Town's Observatory suburb; by age 10, he was bouncing on a trampoline. Six years later, he was a professional trapeze artist. He travelled through Europe, the U.S. and the Caribbean, where he met Esteve while performing at Club Med. She learned the circus trade from him.

In 1991, they went on vacation to South Africa together, after Van Rensburg had to stop performing because of back trouble. There, he acquired a new ambition: He'd start a free circus school for the young people he saw hanging around on the streets. The school would be a base for them, a place they could learn circus acts - and in the process, lessons on building a society with other people. He went recruiting at his old high school, another school in a black township and a shelter for street kids. A year later, the first pupils - white, black and mixed-race - were flying through the air.

Kids who join Zip Zap can decide for themselves how often to come and how long to stay. Some have been here since the beginning. The dozens of members are divided into three groups: the most promising artists, pursuing careers in the circus; those for whom the circus is a hobby; and kids with HIV who regain their self-confidence by doing the acts.

The circus supports itself through performances and international tours (20 in 15 years). Nelson Mandela is a fan, and so is Canada's famed Cirque du Soleil, with which Zip Zap collaborates. There's no dearth of quality here. Shortly before Andiswa Nkebendu and Portia Kewane signed their American contract, Zip Zap's Jose Dorego and Kagiso Mutlane - the Joka Boys - won a Golden Clown at Cirque de Demain, Paris' international circus festival.

Sooner or later, many young South Africans from slums and broken homes get involved in alcohol, drugs and gangs. Van Rensburg often sees problem cases. His principle is to be tough but fair. Drug or alcohol use gets you a warning; three warnings and you can pack up your stuff. "But there's no warning for stealing," he says. "That's it - you're out."

Andile Poni, 29, was one of those problem cases. He was part of the first crop of Zip Zap artists in 1992. "I joined the circus because I like challenges," he says. "I wanted something different, and there weren't many circus artists of my colour." Poni - small and slight - became a clown, acrobat and juggler. After a couple of years, he left Zip Zap to work at a brewery. One day almost 10 years ago, someone tried to rob him with a knife. Poni took away the weapon and beat up his attacker so badly that the former clown ended up behind bars for six years.

In his cell, Poni came to his senses. He remembered what he'd learned during his years with the circus, and the oft-repeated mantra "Respect, love, trust." "We were like a family," Poni recalls. "We slept and ate in the same room. It didn't matter what colour you were. Brent and Laurence were like a father and mother to us."

His insight inspired Poni to join the prison choir and gumboot dance troupe. After he was released two years ago, he founded a volunteer organization that provides projects for unemployed people in Khayelitsha. "Everything I am today, I owe to Brent and Laurence," he says.

Back at O.R. Tambo Hall, Andile Poni is doing duty as ringmaster. Decked out in a bright red suit, he talks between the acts about respect (the Aretha Franklin hit rings out) and imagination (John Lennon's "Imagine" plays), alternating between English and Xhosa. The room is filled with thousands of children, mothers and chaperones, most from Khayelitsha.

Onstage with the professional-track Zip Zap kids are their HIV-positive friends from Khayelitsha's clinics. They're still fumbling a bit, but that doesn't detract from the fun. The show's message is clear: AIDS is nothing to be ashamed of, and it should never be a reason to exclude people.

Pamela Sidinana, 32, sitting next to me, concurs. She contracted HIV 11 years ago after being raped. She has come to the circus with her two young sons and a group of HIV-positive children. Pointing to the stage, where the performers, now dressed as wild animals, are enthusiastically executing an act, she says, "Look. Those kids handle it so well. Some of them have been raped, but look at the guts and self-confidence they radiate."

After the show, I ask Sidinana's sons who their favourites were. They look shyly at the floor. Their mother pokes them. Softly, they say, "The girls who flew through the air."

Fred de Vries is a freelance journalist living in Johannesburg, South Africa.

Issue: April 2008

Related Reading

Poetry in the community: Stanzas creating Esperanza
Remembering Sally Smith an education pioneer
Peek-A-Boo Peace
Appreciative Inquiry Books For Young Readers

Treetap's Wild Rubber Handbags

2008-03-05T14:25:39-05:00

In this year's Organic Top 20, we feature Treetap's Wild Rubber Handbags and Oro Verde's Green Gold - two products that help conserve the Amazone rainforest. Find out how these companies are creating products focusing on social environmental sustainability. Read exclusive excerpts from the book Amazon Your Business by Dutch conservationist Meindert Brouwer here.

Click here to buy this book: www.amazonyourbusiness.nl.

Amazon Your Business / Opportunities and solutions in the rainforest a Meindert Brouwer publication designed by Studio Olykan, Amsterdam. Photography Green Gold Story: Ronald de Hommel.

Issue: April 2008

Video: Lessons from a 10th grader

2008-03-05T14:25:39-05:00

Watch how Alex Lin and his squad of 14-year-olds refurbish old computers to put an end to toxic e-waste.

Issue: April 2008

Video: Zip Zap Circus School

2008-03-05T14:25:39-05:00

Watch students of the South African Zip Zap Circus perform stunts, including tightrope-walking, acrobatics, juggling, trapeze and clown acts.

Scenes from Zip Zap Circus School in Cape Town, South Africa through the eyes of Sara Deull, including workshop for HIV-positive kids in Khayelitsha. www.zip.zap.co.za

Issue: April 2008

Welcome to Thisted, home of the renewables revolution

Josey Duncan — 2008-03-05T14:25:39-05:00

A town where windmills supply all the electricity.

The Danes have seen the future of energy—and it looks a lot like Thisted, a municipality in northern Denmark. Thisted’s 46,000 residents get their power entirely from renewable sources. Torben Juul-Olsen, the municipality’s technical director, couldn’t be prouder. “We reached 100 percent faster than we thought, due to a good wind year,” he says. More than 250 windmills scattered across the lush, pastoral landscape generate all the electricity, but local leaders aren’t stopping there. “We are now planning for further big windmills up to 136 metres,” Juul-Olsen explains. “Five of these mills will be able to produce energy for more than 12,000 private buildings in our municipality.” Thisted also boasts a geothermal heating plant, the first of its kind in the country. Last year, the European Association for Renewable Energy honoured Thisted’s achievements with a Eurosolar award. The good people of Thisted have eagerly embraced the renewables revolution, with many homes sporting their own windmills and several local farmers operating biogas plants. All of this is reducing Thisted’s carbon footprint and attracting many renewable energy companies—and more jobs—to the area.

Issue: April 2008

Whirling through the centuries

Ton Maas — 2008-03-05T14:25:39-05:00

CD Review: Mercan Dede by 800.

This nice bit of ethno and trance dance is a contemporary ode, offered by the Turkish-Canadian sound brewer Mercan Dede to his master, the famous mystic Mevlana Jalal ad-Din Rumi, born 800 years ago. Among the Mevlevi brotherhood, as Rumi’s followers call themselves, Dede’s musical ideas are controversial. That’s not because he abandoned the classical set of instruments that accompany the whirling dervishes (practitioners of the spiritual Sufi rotation dance)—including ney (flute) and qanun (dulcimer)—but because he amplifies them and manipulates their sound with electronics. On top of that, he shamelessly enhances the traditional idiom with steamy grooves and hip samples. To add insult to injury, Dede introduced female dervishes. Mira Burke and Tanya Evanson caused a stir during Mercan Dede and Secret Tribe’s first Turkish tour a few years ago, but even in Turkey, young women, inspired by Dede’s example, have begun to whirl.

Strengthened by his success at world music festivals and on rock stages, Arkin Alicali (Dede’s real name) feels confident about the path he has chosen. His international breakthrough in 2002, with the spectacular album NAR (“fire”), was followed by two lesser discs, but 800 achieves full rehabilitation. Apart from a few familiar names, such as qanun virtuoso Göksel Baktagir, oud player Yurdal Tokcan and fiddler Neva Özgen (daughter of the legendary kemence master Ihsan Özgen), the Tribe currently includes Ismail Tunçbilek, with his electric baglama, and young Turkish rapper Ceza. Another wonderful addition is Hasan Gözetlik on trumpet and trombone. Although Dede’s music remains firmly rooted in the Ottoman tradition (many of his samples were taken from 78 rpm discs dating back to the glorious era of court music), he keeps exploring new territories, such as Balkan brass and Egyptian strings. By doing so, he has secured the viability of this ancient spiritual tradition for at least a few more centuries.

Issue: April 2008

Ode Magazine

The 2008 Organic Top 20

Treetap Rubber

USBCell Rechargeable Batteries

Macbeth Footwear

Isodisnatura Omega-3 Fatty Acids

Numi Organic Tea

Zsweet Natural Sweetener

Vegware Tableware

gDiapers

Auro Natural Paints

Oro Verde Gold

Annie's Homegrown

Macaroot Supplement

Teeccino Coffee Alternative

Kashi Natural Foods

Levi's Eco Organic Jeans

Natural Collection's Logmaker

TCHO Chocolate Bars

Orlio Organic Beer

Cell Sensor Gauss Meter

Kettle Chips

All for food and food for all

Around the world on zero carbon a day

Can fast food be sustainable?

Childhood unplugged

Good for the sole

Here be compost heaps

Lighten up

No teenage e-wasteland

Not the same old drive-thru

1) KEEP IT LOCAL

2) MAKE IT GOOD

3) MAKE IT HEALTHY

4) TAKE CARE OF YOUR EMPLOYEES

5) TAKE CARE OF THE ENVIRONMENT

Oro Verder Gold

Small farmers, bigger markets

Tax the beautiful

Teach your kids to be consumer conscious

They all can fly

Treetap's Wild Rubber Handbags

Video: Lessons from a 10th grader

Video: Zip Zap Circus School

Welcome to Thisted, home of the renewables revolution

Whirling through the centuries