going green memphis 5-23-10

8/8/2019 Going Green Memphis 5-23-10

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2 GOING GREEN | S u n d ay , May 2 3, 2010 co m m er c ia l a p pea l.co m

Healthy food for all Memphis

Green policies are essential forensuring access to healthy food, saysnon-profit Common Table

Fair trade vodka

You may not taste thedifference, but this spirit

may lift your spirits

Green claims

FTC likely to crackdown on fraudulent

eco-friendly claims

T h ey re not just deadly to fleas

Pesticide-laden collars will harm pets andpeople; there are green alternatives

Say goodbye to

the plastic bag

Health questions

about the oil spill

On the cover

Cover photo illustration by Kim Coleman/Thinkstock photos

WE WANT TO HEAR FROM YOU!

Going Green is a special online publication ofThe Commercial Appeal. We welcome your commentsand suggestions. Follow Going Green on Twitter atw w w .t w i t t e r .co m /G o G r e e n M e m p h i s.

Ed i t o r : Roland Klose, 529-2776,goi n gg r e e n@co m m e rci a la pp ea l .com

Whats in this issue ...

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http://www.twitter.com/GoGreenMemphismailto:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]://www.twitter.com/GoGreenMemphis


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The Commercial Appeal S u n d ay , May 2 3, 2010 | GOING GREEN 3

The Green Page

Ev e n t s

Hear presentations from two activegreen groups at a meeting hosted by theSierra Club Chickasaw Group this Thursday

at 6:30 p.m. at the Benjamin L. HooksCentral Library, 3030 Poplar Ave. Janet

Boscarino from Clean Memphis will discussplanned projects, zone divisions, andspecial needs. Then Syd Lerner with theGreater Memphis Greenline will talk aboutupdated plans for expanding the Greenline .

For more information, contact SusanRouton at [email protected].

Project GreenFork helpsrest a u r an towners reducewaste, lower

overhead anddecrease theirenvironmentalimpact.

The CommercialAppeal file photo

Groups

Clean Memphis: Organizes communityclean-ups. cleanmemphis.orgCoalition for Livable Communities:

The organization advocates healthy,vibrant and economically sustainablecommunities. livablememphis.org or (901)72 5 - 8 3 9 0.

Friends for Our Riverfront: Formed in2003, the group advocates improvementof the public space along the Mississippi,as well as a clean and vibrant harbor.

friendsforourriverfront.org or (901) 496-073 6Memphis Botanic Garden: Display

gardens, lakes and woodlands, as well as arenowned Japanese garden and SensoryGarden. memphisbotanicgarden.com or(901) 576-4100.

Mid-South Peace and Justice Center:Works with low-income communities inMemphis to plan and plant community

gardens, providing area residents withaccess to fresh produce.

midsouthpeace.org or (901) 725-4990.Project Green Fork: A community

initiative that helps Memphis restaurantowners in reducing waste, lowering overheadand decreasing their environmental impact.p r o j e c t g r e e n fo r k .o r g .

Sierra Club, Chickasaw Chapter:Promotes policies to protect theenvironment, organizes hikes and outdoorrecreation, and supports pro-

environmental candidates.tennessee.sierraclub.org/chickasaw or(901) 324-7757.

Wolf River Conservancy: The nonprofitland trust is dedicated to preserving theWolf River corridor and watershed.wolfriver.org or (901) 452-6500.

To submit items, e-mailgoinggreen@commercialappeal .com
mailto:[email protected]://cleanmemphis.org/http://memphisbotanicgarden.com/mailto:goinggreen@commercialappeal%20.commailto:goinggreen@commercialappeal%20.comhttp://cleanmemphis.org/mailto:goinggreen@commercialappeal%20.comhttp://memphisbotanicgarden.com/mailto:[email protected]


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4 GOING GREEN | S u n d ay , May 2 3, 2010 com m er c ia l a p peal.co m

Focus on healthSimple changes can make a big differenceBy Suzanne Thompson

Special to Going Green

RENEE FRAZIER, chief executive

officer of Memphis Healthy

Common Table (MHCT), believes

that people have traded nutrition for

convenience, and have given

themselves a raw deal in the process.

Convenience has become the

driver. Eating nutritionally is not

perceived as being convenient, she

s aid.

MHCT, a nonprofitorganization, tries to help Mid-

Southerners improve their health,

and stay healthier by ra i s i n g

awareness about simple lifestyle

changes they can make.

J u p i t e r i m a ges


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The Commercial Appeal S u n day , May 2 3, 2010 | GOING GREEN 5

Access to good,nutritional food is aproblem for urban areasaround the c o u n t r y,Frazier said. Poorer, olderneighborhoods lack

services, such as grocerystores, creating fo o ddeserts. Residents ofboth South Memphis andNorth Memphis must trekrelatively long distancesto buy foods, whichmakes it tough for peoplewithout transportation tomeet their daily

nutritional needs.If you are in

Binghamton, you have togo all the way out to EastMemphis to get to a foodmarket , Frazier said.

While there is usually aconvenience store withinwalking distance, thoseretailers rarely carrymuch of a selection offresh fruits andveget ables.

Unlike many issues,where the philosophy isto conquer a challengeone person at a time,Frazier said in this case,

just the opposite is true.Trying to impact this

one person at a time is justnot enough, she said. Itsstill good. Its important,but we have to impact

environmental changes.We have to impact policy.

Green policies arecritical, Frazier said.

She elaborates:Those are policies that

foster farmers markets,policies that incentivizegrocery stores to locate in

communities that theytraditionally have notbeen located in, policiesthat hopefully incentivizerestaurants to offer menulabeling and healthier

foods, and policiesencouraging farmers toget involved with schoolsto offer students healthierlunches.

MHCT recentlyrevamped its website, andnow lists all area farmersmarkets, their locations

The Commercial Appeal file photo

Renee Frazier is executive director of Healthy

Memphis Common Table, a nonprofit organizationthat supports improved health in the Mid-South.

Trying to impact this one person at a time is just not

enough. Its important, but we have to impact environmental

changes. We have to impact policy.

RENEE' FRAZIER

Healthy Memphis Common Table executive director


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concentration is the prevention ofchronic diseases, many of which areassociated with poor nutritionalhabits, so it makes sense forMSCHD to become more involvedin promoting good nutrition,

Madlock said.Poor nutrition continues towreak havoc on the health of ourc o m m u n i t y.

MSCHD has a health promotioncontract with the TennesseeDepartment of Health and thosestaff members are responsible fortaking the message of theimportance of nutrition and physical

activity into the community,according to Cynthia Nunnally,deputy administrator for assessmentand planning at MSCHD.

We work with communitygroups, youth and adults either byrequest, or we identify a communitythat might have such a need, and wego to them and offer programsaround some of those issues, shes aid.

Educating the public aboutnutritional values ultimately willrequire more than programming.

Menu labeling in restaurants iscrucial to helping people make gooddecisions about what they eat,Frazier said.

When consumers buy most

anything, they can do research tomake the best choice before enteringa store, or that information isusually readily available at the store,but that is not the case at mostrest aurants.

We do not know the difference atpoint-of-purchase when we buy atrest aurants, she said. Its very

difficult to make the best choices ata restaurant.

Some restaurants have hopped onthe bandwagon and started listinghealthy entrees, but few providecomplete nutritional information on

all menu items.Menu labeling is already requiredin four states and several countiesand cities, according to the recentissue of Cooking Light magazine.Eleven more states are consideringsimilar measures.

Yums! Brand Inc., owner of KFC,Pizza Hut, Taco Bell, and others,has pledged to post calories on

menu boards nationwide by 2011.Tennessee does not have local

codes that require restaurant menulabeling, Madlock said. Such codeswould have to begin at the statelevel and if enacted, its likely localhealth department officials would bethe enforcers of those regulations.

People who would like to see suchregulatory changes locally areencouraged to contact theirlegislators to bring about a chancein policy.

Individuals get it. Theyunderstand that in order to eathealthy, you have to pay attention tolabels and fresh fruits andvegetables. They understand thedifference between eating an apple,

and eating a doughnut, Fra z i e rs aid.We just need to make it more

equally distributed and availablethroughout our city, so thosecommunities that are mostchallenged by this have theopportunity to use and accesshealthy foods, she said.


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8 GOING GREEN | Sund ay, May 2 3, 2010 com m er c ia l a p peal.co m

FTC likely to crack down

on fraudulent g re e n claimsBy Julie DeardorffChicago Tribune

These days, goinggreen seemingly is abreeze: Pesticides, SUVs,laptops, bottled water,

coal, airlines, cruise shipsand dry cleaners allpromise that theyref r i e n d l y, ge n t l e andkind to the planet.

Unfortunately, thereprobably is no such thingas an eco -friendlyproduct since all useresources to create someamount of waste.Environmentalists arguead infinitum about whatg re e n really means. Andthough the Federal TradeCommission, or FTC, issupposed to crack downon fraudulent advertising,critics say the agency

hasnt kept pace with theburgeoning number ofmisleading environmentalclaims.

The result is thatconsumers are oftenflooded by greenwash, thepractice of disingenuouslyspinning a product, service

or policy as greener than itactually is. Thinkwhitewashing with an eco-brush. One environmentalmarketing firm,

TerraChoice, found someform of greenwashing in 98

percent of the more than2,219 products with

environmental claims thatit surveyed.

But since no one really

knows what g re e n means and marketers haverelatively outdated FTCguidelines c o n s u m e rsare left to sort out whichgreen companies are thereal deal.

The good news is thatconsumers are taking

environment alperformance into accountwhen making buyingdecisions, said HowardLearner, executivedirector of the Chicago-based Environmental Law

and Policy Center, whichis starting to look atwhich wireless serviceproviders might be trulygreen. But if people paygood green dollars to getgreen performance, theenvironmental resultsshould justify theinvestment .

Even if you haventheard the termg re e nwa s h i n g whichoriginally referred tohotels makinginconsequentialenvironmental changes,yo u ve likely seen it.

A well-known example

is the bottled watercompany that uses apicture of Mother Natureto advertise its product.Greenwashing could be ab i o d e g ra d a b l e label on aproduct that ends up in alandfill, where it wontdecompose. At its worst,

G R E E N WAS H

The practice of

disingenuously

spinning a

product, service orpolicy as greener

than it actually is.


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Watch out for the sneaky six. Six words eco ,earth, green, friendly, gentle and kind can be mixedand matched to create a phrase that sounds green butmeans nothing, said Kim Sheehan, co-creator of the

EnviroMedia Greenwashing Index.Look for third-party certifying seals. Since there aremore than 350 different eco-seals, you have to lookcarefully. EcoLogo, Green Seal, Energy Star andWatersense are all considered trustworthy. Also look forthe Forest Stewardship Council, the FTC, Leadership inEnergy and Environmental Design (LEED) and U.S.Green Building Council (USGBC).

Use Google. Though far from scientific, try googlingthe company name plus the word environment and seewhat pops up. If consumers or environmental advocateshave a beef with the companys track record, somethingsbound to pop up, according to the Greenwashing Indexw e bs i t e.

Become familiar with TerraChoices Seven Sins ofGreenwashing. These include the sin of no proof(tissues that claim various percentages ofpost-consumer recycled content without providingevidence), the sin of vagueness (all-natural isnt

necessarily green since poisonous substances such asarsenic and mercury are also natural), the sin ofi r r e l ev a n ce (a product labeled CFC-free doesnt meanmuch since CFCs are banned by law) and the sin oflesser of two evils (the fuel-efficient SUV).

greenwashing is outrightfraud: Last February theFTC warned 78 retailers,including Walmart, Targetand Kmart, to stoplabeling and advertising

rayon textile products asbamboo which isconsidered anenvironmentally friendlyf i b e r.

Fearing that g re e n will end up asmeaningless as n at u ra l , m a rke t e rs ,environmentalists and

business alliances aresponsoring anti-greenwashing conferencesacross the nation. At theUniversity of Oregon,

journalism professorshave helped create a toolcalled The GreenwashingI n d ex , an initiativedesigned to drawattention to issues withenvironmental messages.

The FTC, meanwhile, isexpected to releaserevised environmentalmarketing guidelines,called The Green Guides,later this year, which somesay hope will signal the

start of a greenwashingcrackdown. When theguides were last updatedin 1998, words such assust ainable and c a rb o nn e u t ra l were rarely used.

Greenwashing isconfusing to consumers;it takes away business

from reputable companiesand, most of all, it delays

c h a n ge , said MarilynJones, the owner ofConsolidated Printing Co.in Chicago, a printingcompany that uses naturalalternatives toconventional printingchemicals. Why would adry cleaner or printer

become green if they canlie about doing it?

Though greenwashingis prevalent in allindustries, from energy totravel, its especiallycontroversial in the drycleaning world, wherecompanies are scramblingto find alternatives to thehazardous chemical

How to avoid greenwashing


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EARTH TALK

Control fleas the natural wayDear Earth Talk:

Despite improvements inrecent years, somepesticides in flea collarsare still harmful to petsand humans. Are thereways to minimize fleaswithout resorting tochemical concoctions?

Americans spend some$1 billion each year onproducts designed tocombat fleas. Many ofthese products do their

jobs handsomely, but twoof the most egregiouschemicals widely used inflea collars,tetrachlorvinphos andpropoxur, have beenshown to cause damageto our brains and nervoussystems, and are knownhuman carcinogens.

Residues containingthese chemicals can stayon a pets fur and

whatever he or she rubsup against, including yourrugs, furniture andchildren for weeks onend.

The Natural ResourcesDefense Council (NRDC)found that residue levelsproduced by some flea

collars are 1,000 timeshigher than the level theU.S. EnvironmentalProtection Agencyconsiders safe for childrento be around.

Previous campaigns byNRDC and othernonprofit groups

convinced the federalgovernment to ban sixother dangerouspesticides formerlycommon in flea collars,but tetrachlorvinphos andpropoxur are stillwreaking havoc on theenvironment and human

George Doyle

Get rid of flea collars. Residues containing thesechemicals can stay on a pets fur and whatever itrubs up against, including your rugs, furniture andchildren for weeks on end.


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12 GOING GREEN | S u n day , May 2 3, 2010 co m m er c ia l a p pea l.co m

and pet health.In light of these dangers, whatsa

concerned pet owner to do?For starters, ditch the collar and

buy a flea comb. NRDC reports onits GreenPaws.org website thatregular combing of a pet can helpreduce fleas while allowing ownersto monitor the extent of a given fleaproblem. Fleas caught in the combshould be drowned in soapy water.Also, vacuum frequently to rid yourcarpets, floors and crevices of fleasand their eggs. Dispose of any usedvacuum bags immediately so fleas

dont escape and re-infest the room.In the case of an extremeinfestation, a professional steamcarpet cleaning might be your bestbet. As for your pet, frequent soapybaths are a great way to control fleas.Pet bedding should also be washedweekly in hot water.

Outside of the house w h e reyour pet romps and frolics ke e p

your grass and shrubbery clippedshort to increase dryness andsunlight, which inhibits fleas.Nematodes all-natural non-chemical biological agents availableat most garden stores will get ridof fleas in problem areas outdoors.

Of course, all this diligent work

might still not be enough to keepfleas at bay, so you may need to turnto products formulated withessential oils that repel insects butdo not harm pets or people.

Be sure to start with small dosesand monitor pets and family forallergic responses. Another non-pesticide option is S-Methoprene, aso-called Insect Growth Regulatorwhich halts the growth of chitin, thesubstance that creates an insectsexoskeleton, and wont harm humansor pets. S-Methoprene is best usedas a tool in preventing an extended

infestation since adult insects areunaffected by it.With the federal government

apparently uninterested in banningtetrachlorvinphos and propoxur fromflea products, NRDC is taking theissue straight to the people.

Via its GreenPaws.org website,users can customize a letter toPETCO and PetSmart, the nations

two largest pet supply retailers,asking them to stop selling productscontaining such dangerouschemicals.

Send environmental questions to EarthTalk at P.O. Box 5098, Westport, CT06881 or e-mailearthtalk@ emagazine.com.

Do just one thingSmelly garbage disposal? Keep it clean by tossing lemon wedges and a cup

of ice down the drain and flipping on the switch. (Be sure to use the lemonsafter youve squeezed out the juice for a salad dressing or homemadelemonade.) As it whirls away, the ice will sharpen the blades and the lemonswill disinfect. How easy is that?
mailto:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]


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Stephen M. Dowell/Orlando Sentinel/MCT

Joan Kusky loads single-use plastic bags filled with groceries at the WinnDixie store in The Villages retirement community in Florida.

BYOB: bring your own bagRe u s a b l e

materialstake

over theshoppinglandscape

By Joan Verdon/ The Record

The single-use plastic bag could be an endangeredshopping species.

The thin plastic bag with handles known in theindustry as the T-shirt bag is under pressure frommunicipal bag bans and a growing number of retailers whoare encouraging shoppers to BYOB bring your own bag.

A new industry has sprung up thats churning out reusabletote bags made from recycled water bottles and other more


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eco-friendly materials,and is poised to profitfrom the passing of thetraditional plastic bag.

Dan Sabbah, presidentof Global DesignConcepts in New York, isone executive predictingthe days of the plastic bagare numbered.

Plastic bags arequickly going the way ofex t i n c t i o n , Sabbah said.His company has joinedwith a Canadian businessto form a venture calledGlobal Way to make totebags from recycled waterb o tt l e s .

In April, Global Wayshipped hundreds ofthousands of the bags toretailers including Stop &Shop, CVS and Walgreensfor reusable bagpromotions tied to EarthDay observances.

Walmart, the worldslargest grocery and retail

chain, has pledged to cutits plastic shopping bagwaste by 33 percent or 9

billion bags a year by2013. This year it began abag-free trial in California,eliminating plastic bags atthree stores there. Swedishfurniture company IKEAand organic grocer WholeFoods Market Inc. storesbanished plastic bags in2008.

Target Corp. in Aprilhanded out 1.5 millionreusable tote bags inhonor of Earth Day. Thediscount retailer givesshoppers a 5-cent rebatefor every time they use oneof their own bags insteadof a new plastic one.

An organization thatrepresents plastic bagmakers argues, however,that the future of plasticbags will be one of rebirthand recycling, not R.I.P.

Reports of the death ofthe plastic bag are greatlyex a gge rat e d , said ShariJackson, director of the

Progressive Bag Affiliates,an associationrepresenting the major

U.S. makers of plastic bagsand plastic-bag recyclers.T h e re s another side

the recycling side that is just not being told,and its growing, Ja c ks o nsaid. The PBA has set anindustry goal to achieve40 percent recycledcontent in all bags made

by its member companiesby 2015. In 2008, Jacksonsaid, more than 832million pounds of bagsand other plastic filmswere recycled and mostretail chains have bins forrecycling bags. Recycledbags are being used tomake composite deckmaterials, fencing,shopping carts, containersand new bags, she said.

Surveys, Jackson added,also show Americansreuse supermarket anddepartment store bags forwastebasket liners andlunch bags. They are

heavily reused aftertheyre used to carrygroceries home, she said.

Plastic bags are quickly going the way of extinction.

DAN SABBAH

president of Global Design Concepts in New York

Reports of the death of the plastic bag are greatly exaggerated.

SHARI JACKSON

director of the Progressive Bag Affiliates


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Alex Brandon/The Commercial Appeal

Oil from the spill was visible on the waters of Chandeleur Sound, La., inearly May.

Gerald Herbert/Associated Press

Skin contact with oil cancause irritation and rashes.

SimpleS teps.org

Dr. Gina Solomon, a senior scientist atthe Natural Resources Defense Council,provides answers to the health questionsraised by the Gulf of Mexico spill caused bythe Deepwater Horizon offshore oil rigex p l o s i o n .

Q: How do you think the health of localcommunities around the Gulf will beimpacted from the oil?

A: The petroleum vapors and mists can

Health questions answeredabout Gulf of Mexico oil spill

OIL SPILLS EFFECTS


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16 GOING GREEN | Sun d ay , May 2 3, 2010 com m er c ia l a p peal.co m

cause a variety ofimmediate health effects.There are also long-termhealth concerns becausesome of the contaminantsfrom the oil will remainfor a long time in thesediments and will

accumulate in the foodchain. Contamination infish and shellfish fo rmany years into thefuture may pose asignificant risk of cancerand other health effects.

Q: Whats actually inoil that could behazardous to health?

A: Oil contains amixture of chemicals. Themain ingredients arevarious hydrocarbons,

some of which can causecancer (such as p o l yc yc l i caromatic hydrocarbons);other hydrocarbons cancause skin and airwayirritation. There are alsocertain volatilehydrocarbons called

VOCs (volatile organiccompounds) which cancause cancer andneurologic andreproductive harm. Oilalso contains traces ofheavy metals such asmercury, arsenic and lead.

Q: How can thesechemicals get into ourb o d i es ?

A: VOCs and some ofthe other hydrocarbonscan be inhaled, causing

lung problems and otherhealth effects. Skincontact causes irritationand rashes. The oil willcontaminate fish andshellfish, causing healthrisks from eating thesefoods that could persist

for years.Q: What are the acute

health effects fromexposure to the oil?

A: Inhalation of oilvapors or aerosolizedparticles (from wind-blown waves) can causeheadaches, dizziness,nausea, vomiting,irritation of the eyes andthroat and difficultybreathing. People withasthma or other lung

Cleanupworkers pick up

debris onDauphin Island,

Ala., afterreports of tarballs washing

up on the publicbeach.

G.M. AndrewsAssociated Press

Apart from the economic disaster to the industry, this

spill poses a long-term health concern for the safety

of the fish and shellfish. Contaminants in oil can

persist for years and accumulate in the food chain.


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OIL SPILL SAFETY

Avoid areas whereoil can be seen orsmelled. If you see orsmell oil, leave the arearight away.

Avoid any directskin contact with oil,oil-contaminated waterand sediments.

If any oil makescontact with your skin,wash it off immediatelywith soap and water.

Do not fish, swim

or engage in watersports in the oilspill-affected waters.

Young children,pregnant women, peoplewith compromisedimmune systems andindividuals withunderlying respiratoryconditions should avoid

the areas near thecontaminated water.

If you experiencesymptoms such asheadache, nausea,dizziness or throatirritation, leave the areaimmediately; if thesymptoms do not resolve

within a few minutes,seek medical attention.Anyone who

experiences difficultybreathing, shortness ofbreath or other serioussymptoms should seekimmediate medicalattention.

diseases could haveserious exacerbations.High-dose inhalation (ifpeople are very close tothe vapors) may cause achemical pneumonia

known as h yd ro c a rb o npneumonia, which canrequire hospital care.Direct skin contact cancause various kinds ofrashes, includinggeneralized skinirritation, or somethingknown as fo l l i c u l i t i s

from oil-clogged skinp o re s .Q: The Louisiana

Department of Healthset up shelters for thoseimpacted by the airemissions. What do youknow about the quality ofthe air and how it wouldpossibly affect people?

A: People withunderlying respiratorydisease such asemphysema, chronicbronchitis or evenmoderate or severeasthma are atespecially high risk ofexacerbation from thevapors and aerosols.Petroleum is veryirritating to the airways.As mentioned previously,at high doses such asmight be experienced byworkers it can causehydrocarbon pneumonia.

Q: Are there risks to

pregnant women?A: Some of the volatile

chemicals in oil havebeen linked tomiscarriage, pre-termbirth and low birth

weight, so it is a goodidea for pregnant womento avoid the areas wherethere are elevated levelsof VOCs in the air. Theseare areas that includenoticeable smells of oil orvisible oil and also anyareas where the EPA

monitoring systemdetects elevated levels.The EPA air monitoringresults are being updatedregularly atepa.gov/bpspill. To becautious, pregnantwomen may choose toavoid any areas directlyalong the waterfront and

beachfront, even when oilis not visible.

Q: What about risksto children?

A: Young childrenshould not be allowednear the beach wherethey could come intodirect contact with theoil. Other than this,recommendations forchildren are the same asfor adults.

Q: How does thissituation affect thes h r i m p i n g /f i s h i n gindustry in terms of thequality of our food?


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A: Apart from the economicdisaster to the industry, this spillposes a long-term health concern forthe safety of the fish and shellfish.Contaminants in oil can persist foryears and accumulate in the food

chain, causing elevated cancer risksor neurological risks from exposureto heavy metals such as mercury. Itwill be important for FDA and othersto establish a rigorous monitoringprogram for the seafood that we eatfrom the Gulfsubsequent to thisspill.

Q: Are there any

health concernsassociated withdispersants?

A: Thedispersant that isprimarily beingused containsp e t ro l e u mproducts, sulfonicacid salts andpropylene glycol. Itis somewhat volatile and will enterthe air. Chemicals in dispersantsshare some of the same toxicproperties as chemicals in the oilitself. Therefore it is critical forcleanup workers and volunteers towear personal protective equipmentat all times when either applying the

dispersant or working where it hasbeen applied. By the time thedispersants reach shore, they willprobably be highly diluted and wontpose a threat for communities.

Q: What about the fishermen andvolunteers who are working toclean up the oil and rescue wildlife?

A: These are the people Im most

worried about. They are getting thehighest exposures and they needadequate protection, both from the oilspill itself and chemical dispersantsthat are being applied to break up theoil. BP should provide these workers

with proper protective equipment. Inthe meanwhile, volunteers at theLouisiana Environmental ActionNetwork are providing workers withrespirators, impermeable gloves andarm protectors. Were still dealing

with illnesses inthe first respondersand cleanupworkers from the

World TradeCenter attack in2001. It is a bigmistake to put ourfirst respondersand cleanupworkers at riska ga i n .

Q: If I want tohelp with thecleanup, what kind

of protective equipment do I need?A: A half-face vapor cartridge

respirator, rubber boots and butylrubber gloves are the minimumequipment needed if you will be inthe oil-contaminated zone. Skinprotection could also include Tyvekarm protectors, or a full Tyvek suit.

For proper protection, it isrecommended that you be fit-testedfor the respirator to make sure it isadequately protecting you. A paperrespirator mask and thin latexgloves will not protect you from theoil or dispersant fumes.

For more health and sustainable livingtips, go to simplesteps.org.

Gerald Herbert/Associated Press

An oil soaked bird strugglesagainst the side of an IronHorse supply vessel at the site

of the oil spill.


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Tight credit stymies homeownerswith best intentions to build green

By Joe Taschler

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

MILWAUKEE Wel l -qualified borrowers withsterling credit, Eva andDaryl Lehman didntexpect to have a problemgetting a mortgage when

they set out to build theirdream home inWi s c o n s i n s SheboyganC o u n t y.

They soon found thatlanding the mortgage forthe green-built home wasakin to running headlonginto a 12-inch thickinsulated concrete wall.

On my best day, Icouldnt make this up,Eva Lehman says of themortgage process. Imnot that creative.

The Lehmans areamong those beingsqueezed by a mortgagemarket that for certain

types of new residentialconstruction includingenvironmentally friendlyconstruction hasbecome difficult.

A variety of factors arecontributing to thesituation: governmentregulation, cutting-edge

g re e n constructiontechnology, risk-averselenders and a dearth ofcomparable home sales onwhich to base anapprais al.

And its not justenvironmentally friendlybuilding at issue. Realestate appraisers say thehousing market remainsstubbornly weak. Andfinding comparable salesdata on which to baseappraisals is a challenge.

We have the worstresidential real estate

market here in over 20ye a rs , said RichardLarkin, owner of LarkinAppraisals in Elm Grove,Wi s .

Green construction isnot immune from thehousing downturn.

Green, or sustainable,

building is the practice ofcreating and usinghealthier and moreresource-efficient modelsof construction.

The problem is often alack of comparable salesnumbers, a necessary andscrutinized portion of real

estate appraisals that aredone every time amortgage is granted.

If there are fewcomparable sales, FannieMae and Freddie Mac the biggest U.S. buyers ofhome mortgages wo n tbuy the mortgages fromlenders for resale toinvestors. The companiesmake up whats known asthe secondary mortgagemarket .

Yo u ve got to havecomparables, particularlyif youre a bank thatsmaybe going to sell theloan to Freddie or Fannie,

said Kurt Bauer, presidentand CEO of the WisconsinBankers Association.Theyre not going to buythe loans unless you can

justify the price, and howyou do that is bycomparable sales.

T h at s become difficult.


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20 GOING GREEN | Sund ay , May 2 3, 2010 com m er c ia l a p peal.co m

Colorful countertops

use recycled bottles

By Debbie Arrington

McClatchy Newspapers

Can a broken bottle bea thing of beauty? It canwhen it is recycled into a

countertop.Harvesting Northern

C a l i fo r n i a s trash, SanFrancisco Bay Area-basedVetrazzo is quickly gain-ing a national followingfor its eye-catching sur-faces made from shardsof recycled bottles.

Dazzling in a variety ofcolor combinations, thecountertops start plentyof kitchen conversations,living up to Vetrazzosmotto: A story in everysurface.

When anyone sees onefor the first time, theresthis wow moment , s ays

Olivia Teter, Vetrazzosco-founder. Its in-evit able.

That first impressionmay lie behind the salesmomentum this greenproduct is enjoying. Ve-trazzo expects to sellmore than 110,000square feet of its uniquematerial this year, up 32percent from 2009.

Even though the build-ing industry was hard hitby the economic down-turn, green building con-tinues to grow at a verydramatic rate, Te t e r

At $90 to $140 per square foot installed, the glasscountertops are comparable in price to granite andother high-end materials. Theyre also extremelydurable and green-certified.


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says. Although we sawsome fabricators go outof business, demand forour product stayed strongand steady, and wevecontinued to grow.

Vetrazzo has 450 cer-tified fabricators andmore than 600 authorizedretailers throughoutNorth America. The com-pany expects to test-mar-ket its product this yearin local home-improve-ment centers.

At $90 to $140 persquare foot installed, theglass countertops arecomparable in price togranite and other high-end materials. Theyre al-so extremely durable,stain- and heat-resistant,antibacterial and green-certified.

Centuries from now,archaeologists are goingto be digging up ourcountertops, Teter says.Theyre really made tolast .

Each 9-by-5-footsmooth slab uses up to1,000 post-consumer bot-tles and weighs about700 pounds. Recycled ar-chitectural glass andmanufacturing waste alsomake it into the mix,which is about 85 percentglass combined with a ce-ment-based matrix. Theslabs take about four

weeks to create.Many experts tout Ve-

trazzo as one of the mostenvironmentally friendlysurface materials on themarket. Vetrazzos Float-ing Blue a color combi-nation that uses skyscrap-er windows with clear

recycled bottles won the2009 Readers ChoiceAward for best new greenproduct from Interiorsand Sources magazine,which targets commercialdesigners. Readers of Cal-ifornia Home + Design al-so put it atop their 2009Hit List.

Produced exclusively inRichmond, Calif., Vetraz-zo surfaces have a small-er carbon footprint thanother countertop prod-ucts for Northern Califor-nia consumers. In part,t h at s because they travel

only about 100 miles toSacramento not thou-s ands.

I like it because its adeparture (from graniteor other solid surfaces),

says Sacramento interiordesigner Mary AnnDowney. All thatground-up glass lookswo n d e r f u l .

Teter, a longtime prod-uct designer for suchcompanies as Walmartand Target, had her own

wow moment when shehad a recycled glass coun-tertop installed in herhome by Vetrazzos in-ventor, Don McPherson,a Berkeley scientist. Shewas so impressed thatshe became a partner inthe start-up company fiveyears ago and pushed its

rapid expansion.I had become disillu-

sioned with the lack ofsustainability in the mar-ke t p l a c e , Teter recalls. Ineeded to be designingsomething sustainable.

In Richmond, Vetrazzomoved into a former Fordplant .

Its now a state-of-the-art g re e n f a c i l i t y, Te t e rsays. Its all naturally litand very energy-efficient.We re part of the reinven-tion of manufacturinghere. I feel like a newRosie the Riveter.

going green memphis 5-23-10

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