Heart of Green

Plastic Bag Rehab

Celebrity and eco-fashion designer Stella McCartney was onto something when she released a limited-edition biodegradable shopping bag for her H&M Collection, but now San Francisco is topping her.

Staring this Tuesday November 20, plastic bags will be banned in San Francisco in large supermarkets with over $2 million in annual sales, and in large pharmacies 6 months from now. The SF Department of the Environment will begin enforcement on December 1, 2007. Now that is a job I'd like to have. The plastic bag police.

It is time to break up with plastic bags. We have all seen them flying through the air, stuck in a tree, and about to enter a drain and pollute the sea. We have all experienced the dreaded double-plastic-bagging at Safeway, which left us with a mountain of flimsy plastic bags at home.

We have all heard the shocking statistics that 500 billion to 1 trillion plastic bags are consumed globally per year, or a 1 million per minute. 100 billion plastic shopping bags annually in the U.S. 180 million in San Francisco per year, last year that is. Plastic bags don't biodegrade, they photodegrade, breaking down into small toxic bits that contaminate soil, waterways, and the food web. And plastic bags are made from petroleum. Enough said.

It is time to bag the plastic bag and move on to a more fulfilling relationship. We are trading up, from plastic bags to recycled paper bags. From plastic bags to biodegradable compostable bags. From plastic bags to our own stylish bags.

About a year and a half ago, I took an oath of "no new bags". Once you do that, you realize how many bag-pushers are out there. Since then, I have brought a Whole Foods bag to Safeway, a Mollie Stones bag to Whole Foods, and even a Barneys bag to Walgreens. Now that raised some eyebrows.

San Francisco’s Plastic Ban Reduction Ordinance was sponsored by Supervisor Ross Mirkarimi and is the first in the country. I thought it was appropriate that the lone dissenting voice on the board was the now defunct, former Supervisor Ed Jew. 

New Green Bag Love Affair

Here are some fun ways to get into the plastic bag ban spirit:

BYOB: Bring your own bag to the store and put your beer in it. Collect your bag credit. Those giant Whole Foods recycled paper bags with handles (Dura-Bags) last forever! 

Single Bags:  If you find yourself stuck at a grocery store without a bag, ask for single bags. Just say NO to double bagging!  Why is it that supermarkets are so obsessed with double bags btw?  This is an eco-disservice, unless the contents are super heavy of course. Double bagging should be the exception, not the rule.

Reusable Bags: Check out Reusable Bags for many baggy facts and lots of, what else, reusable bags in every shape and color. The Wave Bag is one of my favorites. It is made from recycled rice & feed bags and is very durable and fair trade.

BioBags: These biodegradable bags are the "new new" plastic bag. Made from corn, these bags can be put in your green bin and composted. If they are trashed, they will still decompose slowly over time, not last forever like plastic. I am using BioBags for my tall kitchen trash bags (they are a pretty color green too) and for food composting. Available in supermarkets and online via www.biobagusa.com.

Stewart+Brown:  For higher end shopping, these talented eco-designers create some of the most chic bags around. The turtle and pony totes were my favorites this season. Look under Factory Surplus on Stewart+Brown.

Green Home: This online mecca for green products has an impressive assortment of stylish organic cotton bags from Vancouver and even some hemp computer bags. GreenHome.com

Plastic Bag Rehab: If you spend $20 on Method home products this holiday season, you will receive the hip Plastic Bag Rehab tote designed by Danny Seo. And it folds up into its own sack for easy carrying.

Chico Bags: What fits in your hand, your pocket, your purse?  A ChicoBag. These little gems are quickly overtaking canvas bags in popularity.

Dance one last dance with the Bag Monster or run away if he/she/it scares you.

Celebrating the Plastic Bag Ban

Plastic Bag Ban Bash

WHEN:
Tuesday, November 20, 2007
6:00 pm

WHERE:
111 Minna Gallery, San Francisco

FEATURING:
Music by DJ Brent Northey, an Eco Trashy Fashion Contest where the winner receives $250, tasty treats, a fashion show by Haute Trash, Supervisor Ross Mirkarimi, free valet bike parking, free drinks for the first hour, and ChicoBags.

Admission: $5 donation which goes to the Surfrider Foundation and Haight Ashbury Neighborhood Council.

Be there with bags on.

Recyclable vs. Recycled Paper?

The Recyclable sign. It is popping up on more and more bills and envelopes I receive in the mail. What is up?  Is this a good thing or a mixed thing?

Promoting that paper is recyclable is good at face value because it implicitly says "please recycle me". This is a positive if more people recycle the paper, or rather the telephone bill, when they are done.

This got me thinking. Wait a second. Isn’t all paper recyclable? Couldn’t all companies therefore put a Recyclable sign their paper?  Um, yes. All paper can be put in a recycling bin, both virgin paper and recycled paper.

So companies that are using the Recyclable symbol are getting the benefit of seeming environmentally-friendly without taking the essential step. These companies want us to do the work of recycling their envelope, but they are not yet willing to print green.

Recyclable does not equal Recycled. The most eco-friendly move is to print on recycled paper with at least 30-40% post-consumer content. 100% post-consumer is eco rock star.  Post-consumer comes from paper that has actually been recycled (second generation like your newspapers and junk mail in the blue bin). Pre-consumer comes from the virgin paper-making process itself, like the holes punched in notebooks or waste from cutting envelopes. Yes way. This was a huge ah-ha moment for me.

Now the Recyclable symbol is a legitimate symbol, as is the Recycled symbol. But they look so darn similar. Recyclable (far left) doesn't have a filled in surrounding circle, and Recycled does?  Hmmm, this seems confusing.

The FTC guidelines for the use of environmental marketing claims is an interesting bedtime read.

So I have to conclude that the Recyclable sign on paper gets an eco-grade of a C. It is positive in that it promotes recycling. However, it allows a company to seem green without having to do the most important thing for the planet: print on recycled paper with a high percentage of post-consumer content.

A reader correctly pointed out that a company might be offering electronic bill pay, which is the most eco-friendly of all. Submit.

Why Recycled Paper Is So Fabulous

For each ton of recycled paper used instead of virgin paper, it reduces total energy consumption by 27%, reduces greenhouse gas emissions by 47%, reduces particulate emissions by 28%, reduces wastewater by 33%, reduces solid waste by 54%, and reduces tree wood use by 100%. Not too shabby. Said another way, 1 ton of recycled paper = 17 trees saved and 7,000 gallons of water saved.

It can be fun to find all of the virgin paper lurking in the corners of the home and office, and then replace with recycled paper. Printing, copying, tissue paper, napkins, paper towels. I like Seventh Generation products, and their tissue boxes are stylish in front of guests too. See the outstanding NRDC Shopper's Guide to Saving Forests.

Kudos to the companies that are printing on recycled paper like Dell and Bank of America. It makes paying my bills just that much more enjoyable. So let's go green and turn that "able" into an "ed".

Best of the Green Fest

The overflowing composting bins have been sent back to the earth. The hemp clothing pushers have moved on. The copious free samples of Clif Bars have sadly disappeared until next year. But the green glow from this weekend’s San Francisco Green Festival still lingers.

Here's my take on the Best of the Green Festival. I road-tested nearly every booth so that you didn’t have to. Or maybe you were there too, in which case I’d love to know what you thought sizzled or fizzled.

Kwytza ChopStick Art. Who said chopsticks were just for sushi? In one of my favorite finds of the Green Fest, Kwytza recovers chopsticks from restaurants and turns them into works of function. Folding baskets (they fold up), place mats, trivets, and more. Loved them. They make for some truly chopstick-fabulous gifts. The pictures on the web site do not do these beauties justice. www.chopstickart.com

Hip & Zen. It’s hip to be green, but how can you be green and still hip?  Take your cool eco-self over to Hip & Zen and be pleasantly surprised by their fashionable eco-friendly items. Beautiful Deborah Lindquist recycled cashmere sweaters, cute Ecoganik fashion pieces made from organic cotton, fair trade jewelry, and a plethora of gorgeous bags like the intricately-beaded handcrafted African mohair purses. It’s Neiman-Marcus meets Namaste. Almost. www.hipandzen.com

At the Hip & Zen booth, I fell hard for the chic Escama bags made from recycled aluminum pull pop-tops. These hip metallic evening bags are hand-crocheted by a woman’s cooperative in Brazil. Definitely going on my Holiday Wish List.

Green Guru. Green dudes and gear-heads. Your eco-weekend warrior wish has come true. Recycled Blow Out inner-tube wallets and inner-tube bags were flying off the shelves because they were heavy-duty, waterproof, and downright manly. Also on display were colorful Billboard messenger bags made from recycled highway billboards. Ridiculously eco-cool. Coming soon are recycled PET products and gear for adventurous goddesses, i.e. females. All made in the USA in a sustainable way. www.greenguru.com

Green To Grow. Baby bottles that are free of toxic phthalates and free of bisphenol A (a hormone-endocrine disrupter) for parents who want peace of mind and a healthy baby. Very cute logo too. www.greentogrow.com

Tree-Free Paper.  I am on a hunt for the best tree-free and recycled papers and found two strong candidates at the Green Fest. Nepalese paper is handmade in Nepal from Lokta Bush, an evergreen shrub that grows in the mountains above 6500 feet. And Nepalese Paper was very clear that their goods have been fair trade for 11 years, unlike some of the new “nepalese paper” products coming on the market made by forced slave labor in Tibet by China. Beware.

It was hard to tear me away from the Green Field Paper Company booth. They had such a fantastic selection of beautiful eco-friendly papers including 100% post-consumer recycled paper with embedded seeds (plant it and watch it grow), hemp paper, and paper made from junk mail that is surprisingly pretty with specks of color. And Holiday Cards galore. One clever and popular design said Joy on the front with a recycled symbol for the O. The new Partridge Grow-A-Note card was a total sell-out. Junk Mail Joy is not to be missed. Spread the eco-love this season with beautiful green-fabulous holiday cards. Hallmark, eat your heart out.

Side note: I learned the disturbing fact that there is no longer a recycled paper pulp mill on the West Coast. The paper that is recycled in California is being sent to China for processing. China. On boats. To bring recycled paper costs down, we need to convert recycled paper to useful products on local American soil.

ChicoBags. I had a blast with the ChicoBag team who were actively promoting their ingenious ChicoBags. They fit into your pocket, purse, or palm of your hand, and they come in their own nylon case. The perfect solution to the Plastic Bag Ban in San Francisco going into effect on November 20. Hooray! More details coming soon about the celebration hosted by ChicoBags at 111 Minna on the big bag day. The famous Bag Monster will be in full costume. www.chicobag.com

I have to give a shout out to Guayaki yerba mate and Honest Tea, whose delicious organic teas kept me honest and hydrated all weekend.

Green What?

Green things that make you go huh.

First was the Save A Snowman organization. It was pitched to me as “we save melting snowmen and put them in an orphanage.” Huh? I thought I was smelling snake snowman oil, but then learned that their real mission is to educate children in a fun and creative way about global warming. Students can adopt a snowman (comes complete with cute pictures of a non-melted snowman) and the money goes back to greening the school. Great! Many schools need help with greening. Kids can even go on a snowman building fieldtrip. It’s a creative idea that would only fly in late 2007. I still have not determined exactly where the chilly orphanage is exactly, but this brand new organization is worth a click. www.saveasnowman.org

Next up (or down) was the paper made out of 75% Sri Lankan elephant dung from Mr. Ellie Pooh. No joke. The booth was packed with the non-squeamish and the brave. Once I stopped cracking up, I learned that this linen-like paper is helping to reposition the endangered elephants in Sri Lanka as economic engines, rather than agricultural foes to be exterminated. That is a good thing. Cards, notebooks, stationary, pretty gifts, even the popular Elephant Dung Paper Poo Pads. You heard it here first. Dung this. www.mrelliepooh.com

Green Gurus

Hordes of people gathered on Friday to listen to wellness pioneer Deepak Chopra on the main stage. Deepak was in rare form, wearing red rhinestone glasses and groovy tennis shoes and clearly channeling Elton John. His words of wisdom transcended the boundaries of mind, body, and spirit. They are one, and wellness follows. And the boundaries of the green movement and the world peace movement. They can be one as well. And we are all ultimately connected to each other and to all of nature. He imagines “humanity at peace, every person wholly nourished and actively compassionate, Mother Earth and her atmosphere nurtured.”

One intriguing Deepak statement: "your consciousness is your soul and vice-versa." When you feel most conscious, you are most in touch with your soul. I think he could be right. Ambitious scientific reductionist theories of consciousness have always left me cold and uninspired. Meditate on that one, and get back to me. Ohm. And visit Deepak’s new Alliance for a New Humanity. 

The engaging Paul Hawken was on deck for some Blessed Unrest. I spoke with the folks from WiserEarth afterwards. Imagine if all of the 2 million environmental organizations on the planet could connect and collaborate. That is the wise dream of WiserEarth, and it could ultimately turn the whole world into one giant Green Fest and save the planet.

Bring Your Own Bottle (BYOB)

BYOB used to mean bring your own Beer Bottle. But thanks to green party fever sweeping the nation, BYOB increasingly means Bring Your Own Bottle, Water Bottle that is.

The plastic water bottle is becoming the eco-equivalent of the Hummer. Be seen with one and risk being un-green. Honk honk, thumbs down dude or dudette.

Interestingly, in Australia, it is more common to say BYOG which stands for Bring Your Own Grog to the party. Perhaps this will become our new favorite saying: BYOG for Bring Your Own Green.

Why are plastic water bottles going down?  Let's run the numbers. Americans spent more money last year on bottled water than on ipods or movie tickets: $15 Billion. The carbon footprint of transporting all of this (heavy) water is high as you can imagine. Exhibit A is Fiji or New Zealand. We're moving 1 billion bottles of water around a week in ships, trains, and trucks in the United States alone.

Many bottled waters aren’t as pure as advertised (Coke's Dasani is the worst) or aren't any better than purified tap water but cost 1000x or more per ounce.

And PET is a petroleum-based plastic, meaning it needs oil to be produced. After we throw them "away", the plastic lasts basically forever, in landfills or in the ocean. Our national recycling rate for PET is only 23%, which means we pitch into landfills 38 billion water bottles a year. We have all heard of the mound of plastic floating in the ocean the size of Texas?  And the plastic waste photo-degrades back to its original size of tiny pellets. Note that when plastic water bottles get hot in general, they leach chemicals into the water and into us. Nice.

Enough doom and gloom, time for some hip eco-alternatives!

Solutions:

Here are some stylish eco-friendly BYOB solutions. Pick your favorite and enjoy a swig of tasty filtered drinking water, chemical-free, plastic-free, and carbon-free.

Water Filters are an uplifting first step such as the PUR water filter. Attach one to your kitchen faucet or under the sink, and voila, no more plastic. And less trips to the store and less recycling!

Sigg Water Bottles are fashionable with many contemporary colors and patterns to choose from. They also make a great gift.

Voss Water comes in a sleek glass bottle that can be refilled with filtered tap water. Hot in LA and among celebrities.

Klean Kanteens are sporty water bottles that can be reused over and over and are great for trips. The company also provides filtered water systems for events and outdoor festivals. Real men hydrate with a Klean Kanteen.

So let’s all bring our own bottle and toast each other's Sigg. Every bottle saved counts. Please drink responsibly, your water that is. You will be the eco-coolest person at the party when you BYOB.

Chic Eco Citizen Boutique Opens

Calling all fashionistas and cool guys who care about the planet, your prayers have been answered. It is now easier to be a fashionable eco-chic citizen of the world without having to fly to NYC.

Open for ogling is the new higher-end Eco Citizen boutique situated in the Green Block of Russian Hill in San Francisco. Proceed to the corner of Polk and Vallejo Street and don’t pass go. Do stop by Eco Citizen for eco-conscious clothes, Spring for green homewares, Swallowtail for antiques, and Real Food for organic snacks.

Don’t let the seemingly small first impression of Eco Citizen fool you. After perusing the clothing racks, interrogating the owner, and of course buying some totally fabulous eco-finds, it was clear to me that each item in the store was hand-picked because it was high quality, high fashion, and high eco-purpose.

There was no gratuitous hemp in sight. Rather, there were adorable dresses and tops by local designer Kelly B, beautifully tailored eco-fashion from John Patrick Organic, feminine organic cotton pieces from Loyale, the newest from Stewart+Brown and Edun, Del Forte Denim, and vintage necklaces which are apparently blowing off the shelves. And the Zooey tees are a must for any green guy or gal. I bought one that said “Think Green” and really wanted to buy all three but figured I should leave some for you all.

Three new designers were the art-inspired Turk+Taylor shirts and dresses, made-to-order chic suits by talented up-and-coming designer Sara Shepherd, and the glamorous Ciel line including classy gold pants and hip black jackets in high-end hemp silk. Again we see how beautiful eco-fabrics make all the difference.

The bags on display were unique and inspired. Kim White clutches and Eco Citizen label bags from Germany that must be seen to be believed. 

And let’s not forget the shoes. Fair trade Veja sneakers from Amazonia and comfortable Toms Shoes, which donates one pair of shoes to a needy child every time a pair is sold. Read the Toms Shoes blog for uplifting stories about their mega 50,000 shoe drop. That is a lot of shoes!  Here is hoping that some eco-stilettos find their way to Eco Citizen too because a petite girl cannot live in flats alone.

The boutique itself is worth seeing for its green minimalist design. Nature meets technology. Sustainable wood meets antique. Reclaimed lights and materials mixed with photographs of actual customers wearing the clothes. Light colored wood to match the in-green-vogue clothes that tread lightly on the Earth.

Many of Eco Citizen’s goodies are not only eco but also sweatshop-free and ethically made. Coming soon are more brands, more sizes, more men’s, holiday, and even a few Linda Loudermilk pieces (the edgy mother of all luxury-eco fashion).

Look out for Eco Citizen this weekend at the sure-to-be-mobbed Green Festival, or wander over to Polk Street for the full stylish, sustainable, and welcoming eco-cosmopolitan experience. And pick up your free CFL light bulb while supplies last. A more efficient way to see your fabulous eco-chic self.

Eco Citizen Boutique, 1488 Vallejo Street, San Francisco, 415-614-0100

Full Circle Forum with Al Gore

Calling all fans of positive local change, you are invited to the 2007 Forum at San Francisco City Hall with Nobel Peace Prize winner and hero for the planet Al Gore.

Last year’s Forum at City Hall was spectacular. Google.org’s Larry Brilliant was the keynote speaker, everyone was there, the reception on the Mayor’s balcony was fabulous, and there was even pear-flavored Hint water. Over 500 people will be attending this year, and the event is expected to sell out again.

Full Circle Fund presents:
2007 Forum
Theme: You've Got the Power
with keynote speaker Vice President Al Gore

WHEN:
Wednesday, November 14
5:30 pm – 6:45 pm VIP Reception
6:00 pm General Check In & Action Expo
7:00 pm Program
8:30 pm Networking Party to 10:30 pm

WHERE:
San Francisco City Hall

THE FORUM:
The Forum is Full Circle Fund’s annual event that celebrates individuals who are leaders in the Bay Area community and showcases successful models of sustainable social change.

FEATURING:

• VIP Reception on Mayor’s Balcony
• Keynote by Al Gore
• Great Networking Reception
• Delicious Food & Wine
• 5 Minute Awards Program
• Action Expo of Local Organizations
• Music & Fun

TICKETS:
VIP $500 includes VIP Reception with Speakers
General $185

RSVP:
Click here to rsvp

FULL CIRCLE FUND:
The nonprofit Full Circle Fund is an engaged philanthropy organization cultivating the next generation of community leaders and driving lasting social change in the Bay Area. They have the following Circles: Technology, Environment/Energy, Housing, and Education. I was a member of the Technology Circle and am now a member of the new Environment Circle which just started working with the Ella Baker Center. To complete the circle, please see www.fullcirclefund.org

No Child Left Inside

As a little girl, I grew up playing Pac Man and Atari video games, watching game shows, and programming Apple 11e computers at summer camp.

But thanks to my parents, I also got out into the wild and encountered the beauty of nature. I remember annual trips to Pacific Grove to go tide-pooling. We hopped around on uneven rocks ogling starfish, sea anemones, and lots of limpets and mussels. This sparked my love of seashells and the ocean which I still have today. My mother’s passion for birds and wild tigers ignited the same feelings in me. My father loves to go hiking in national parks like Yosemite. I increasingly understand why he relishes being out among the trees and the waterfalls. It pretty much rocks.

I also remember my bearded geology teacher who took us out of the classroom and onto the trail to study rocks, lichen and other natural wonders like the yellow banana slug. Yuck.

It was startling to read that 30% of today’s teenagers in a recent survey had not participated in any outdoor nature activity at all this past summer [Public Policy Institute of California]. Between 1997 and 2003, the number of children who spent time hiking, walking, fishing, gardening, or playing on the beach declined 50%.

I guess it is not that surprising given the plethora of standardized tests, shopping malls, and beeping and flashing technological devices that surround us. Where does nature fit in?  Do we have a national nature deficit disorder?

Today I rode the bus and then walked through the SOMA and Mission districts of San Francisco. A maze of concrete buildings, litter, industrial chemicals, construction, cars, and general grit. Where is life in here? After a mere 15 minutes, I realized that I had stopped breathing deeply and was feeling depressed. How do the people feel who live here? It would be easy to forget that nature exists in the urban jungle. Compare this to how rejuvenated one feels when one is at the beach, or in a beautiful garden, or among the giant redwoods. It is night and day. It is gray and green.

I am grateful to my parents for exposing me to nature at an early age. I believe that it is vital for all children to have the opportunity to romp around in nature, to breathe clean air, to learn about science and study life, to play with animals, and to experience the revitalizing beauty of our planet. This is what it means to be a human being, not a silicon machine.

If we only live in virtual worlds, I submit that we will cease to be fully alive and fully healthy. Let’s have some GreenSpace with our MySpace. Let’s have some fresh air with our Facebook. How about a WiFi cafe in the middle of a national park? The trick is you have to hike up a mountain to get there.

Here are some excellent organizations in the San Francisco Bay Area that enable children and students to connect with nature, and it is great exercise too!

Bay Area Wilderness Training

Chrissy Field Center

Vida Verde Nature Education

National Wildlife Foundation’s Green Hour

Farallones Marine Sanctuary

Point Reyes

Sierra Club Building Bridges to the Outdoors

The future Living Classroom

Does anyone join the Boy Scouts or Girl Scouts anymore btw?

CA Governor Schwarzenegger issued a proclamation in July 2007 for a Children's Outdoor Bill of Rights. Sponsored by the California Roundtable on Recreation, Parks and Tourism, it states 10 outdoor activities that children should have the chance to experience by the time they turn 14. It is an inspiring list. Here they are:

Every child should have the opportunity to:
1. Discover California's past
2. Splash in the water
3. Play in a safe place
4. Camp under the stars
5. Explore nature
6. Learn to swim
7. Play on a team
8. Follow a trail
9. Catch a fish
10. Celebrate their heritage

There is a great new book by Richard Louv called Last Child in the Woods: Saving our Children from Nature Deficit Disorder. It links the lack of nature in the wired generation to the childhood trends of obesity, attention disorders, and depression. It proves that direct exposure to nature is essential for healthy childhood development and for the physical and emotional health of children and adults. And it offers simple and fun ways to have more green in our lives.

See you outside, and watch out for those banana slugs.

Are Starbucks Cups Recyclable?

Starbucks coffee cups. They are everywhere. I’ve seen many people throw them away. I’ve seen some eco-experts put them in composting bins. And personally I have even tried to wash them and recycle them. Don’t try that at home.

So which is it?  The final Jeopardy question is: what is the best thing to do with a Starbucks cup when the last drop of coffee is gone? 

A) Compost it
B) Recycle it
C) Throw it away
D) None of the above – bring your own cup (BYOC)

D is of course the ultimate green answer! but this still leaves our conundrum.

My curiosity grew when I visited Tully’s Coffee recently and was hit over the head with their new 100% Compostable Green Cup. Ah ha. This was a clue. Why is Tully’s making such a big deal about this? It is fabulous of course, but it also insinuated that competing cups might be paper in non-green clothes.

When I was randomly selected for a Starbucks survey, I decided it had to be fate. I would go to the source and ask the burning question. Are Starbucks paper cups recyclable or compostable?

Here is the answer, verbatim from Starbucks:

"Starbucks white paper cups, used for hot beverages, are made of paper fiber and the industry standard liner (low-density polyethylene plastic). The paper provides the rigidity for the cup, while the plastic layer keeps the paper layer intact by protecting it from the hot beverage. This plastic layer also makes the hot beverage cups unrecyclable in most paper recycling systems. We are continually evaluating alternatives to the current plastic coating, and are currently conducting life cycle assessments for bio-based plastics."

Wow, there you have it folks. It is the plastic cup liner that is the culprit and makes the current Starbucks paper cup neither compostable nor recyclable.

So the Answer to the question is C. Starbucks cups are not recyclable. You have to trash the Starbucks cup - throw it away - because it contains paper and plastic.

Starbucks cups contain 10% recycled paper which is an excellent start, but they are not recyclable or compostable because of the plastic liner. To use Bill McDonough's term, Starbucks hot cups are a monstrous hybrid of a biological item (paper) and a technical item (plastic).

Let’s hope that Starbucks will consider switching to a cup with a bio-liner like the new ecotainer hot cup. Starbucks goes through over 2.3 billion paper cups a year. Imagine the green bounty if all of that trash could be diverted and reused.

We can fight back via BYOC - bring your own cup, mug or tumbler to Starbacks. Care not cups. Climate not cups.

In the meantime, I still love a good Starbucks Chai Latte, and I'm trying hard to bring my own mug every time. Plus the 10 cents cup credit is almost as sweet as the vanilla syrup.

For more, please see Bring Your Own Cup.

Update May 2009:  Thanks to comments and questions from you the community, Starbucks has finally decided to try to tackle its cup issue. We applaud Starbucks for convening a Cup Summit this month. Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz has pledged that all of its iconic Starbucks paper cups will be recyclable by the year 2012. That is 3 and a half years away. Given that Starbucks is going through 3 billion cups now per year, that is over 10 billion more paper cups that will be thrown away.

In the meantime, Starbucks please implement some solutions that patrons can use right away. First, in regions where composting is feasible, switch some cafes to ecotainer 100% compostable cups and put green bins in those stores. This solution is available now. Second, offer more for-here ceramic mugs in the cafes. Some Starbucks have them now, but they are often hidden behind the counter. May I have that in a ceramic mug please?  Third, start a national irresistable Bring Your Own Cup promotion and reward each patron 15 cents. It will be popular!  Let us have our coffee - or chai tea - and our planet too. Let's continue to let Starbucks know how we feel via their Facebook page and their Starbucks customer service site. Thank you for caring about this issue. You are making a difference. Onwards to a caffeine-fueled victory! 

Forest Victory of 5 Million Acres

All you doomsday people take 5. It is time to celebrate a spectacular green victory.

5.4 million acres of inland temperate rainforest in British Columbia have been saved from logging, mining, and road building. Kudos to ForestEthics for helping to lead this 10-year campaign, and to the British Colombia government for ultimately seeing the forest for the trees and stepping up its greenness.

To high five the British Columbia Premier Gordon Campbell for his commitment, and subtly encourage him to keep it, you can send a thank you message.

The mountain caribou are smiling today. These majestic mammals are critically endangered and only 1,900 remain. With this announcement, 95% of the caribou’s favorite habitat will be protected, giving this species new hope for survival.

Cool factoids: Mountain caribou are the only members of the deer family in which both males and females have antlers. Also, caribou and reindeer are technically the same species (Rangifer trarandus).

As we continue protect the world’s remaining wild places, the planet will continue to protect us. The forests are estimated to provide trillions of dollars of natural services to humanity each year including clean water filtration, rain clouds, clean air filtration, and carbon storage which mitigates global warming.

Back to forests, it was just reported that Sears is printing 425 million catalogs per year using trees from the endangered old-growth Boreal Forest in Canada. The Boreal  Forest is among the largest intact forest ecosystems left on earth . The debauchery includes the iconic Sears Catalog and Lands End. This is so old-school. Let’s encourage Sears to go green and embrace recycled paper. See www.catalogcutdown.com for all the details.

Destination Green Gaia

Tired of being green at home and being non-green when you travel?

Have no fear, the greenest hotel in the nation is here, the Gaia Napa Valley Hotel & Spa.    

Located south of California’s famous Wine Country, Gaia is the first hotel to win a prestigious LEED-Gold honor for its eco-friendliness.

Named after Mother Earth in Greek mythology, the Gaia hotel is set on 4 acres in American Canyon and features a koi pond, a lush garden, and two beautiful resident swans. Spa Gaia is also worth sinking your eco-feet into, and the Gaia Glow treatment comes highly recommended.

So just how green is Gaia?  Let’s do the math. Forest Stewardship Council certified wood, low VOC paints and adhesives for better indoor air quality, carpet with recycled content, construction recycling, recycled tiles and granite, water-saving devices, energy-efficient windows and appliances, skylights, solar panels, a reflective roof, recycling bins in all rooms, bulk soap and shower dispensers to minimize plastics, recycled paper products, newspapers available in the lobby, chemical-free landscaping, native plants, and green cleaning products.  And let’s not forget the GreenTouch Screen kiosks that show the guests and visitors how much water, electricity, and CO2 the hotel is saving. And the rock star parking for hybrid cars, yeah!

Wow, that is very green. Please see the Gaia Green list.

Gaia is eco in every way. It is eco-friendly and economical.

The Gaia Napa Valley Hotel is the brainchild of visionary Wen-I Chang, the President of the Atman Hospitality Group. He is passionately committed to transforming the public awareness of ecology into the design of a portfolio of green hotels. Through his admirable work, he hopes to foster human interconnection and union with nature. Wen-I wants to make a difference, and he already is by showing the world what is possible. I can’t wait to visit his future sustainable hotels and crawl under those organic sheets.

Gaia Napa Valley Hotel

3600 Broadway Street, American Canyon, CA, 1-888-798-3777