Go Green Expo this weekend!

Go Green Expo is this weekend at the LA Convention Center.   Sponsored by CBS Television, the event will showcase the latest and greatest in all things green & eco-friendly.  There will be300+ eco-exhibits of green home & building, eco-fashion, health & beauty, and so much more...

Speakers include:  Ed Begley Jr., Mariel Hemingway, John Picard, Jen Boulden, Eric Corey Freed, Janyi Chase, Bryan Welch & others.

If you're interested in learning about creating an eco-friendly and healthier home for you and your family, come to the panel event, "Creating an Eco-logical Home" on Saturday, January 23 at 2pm.   This panel discussion will cover many important aspects of a green home with a focus on addressing the contaminants and toxins found in our living environments.  I'll be on the panel alongside the following incredible eco experts:

- Moderator:  Nancy Astrid Lindo of Astrid Design Studio
- Eric Corey Freed:  Organic Architect - Green Architect, Author
- L. Axil Comras:  Green Home -  Product and Eco living specialist
- Shawn Berry:  Woodshanti -  Furniture and finish expert
- Stacey Champion:  Champion Indoors - Indoor Environmentalist Specialist
- Jennifer Schwab:  Sierra Club Green Home - Director of Sustainability
-Davida Heller:  Ecospire - Green Building Consultant

Other features are: an Eco-Food & Spirits Tasting pavilion, Green Job Expo with a dozen top companies, Eco-Film Festival with over a dozen captivating films, Eco-Pet Expo with speakers, organic & natural pet products, Kids interactive pavilion with free yoga, rock climbing wall, eco-artwork & more.

There will aslo be a display of the latest hybrid & electric cars and panel discussion of the future of transportation.

Friday Jan 22nd is the Business to Business & Press / VIP day for business executives & procurement professionals who buy for their companies.

Sat. & Sun. Jan. 23rd - 24th is for all consumers, families & business professionals.

For details & tickets go to the Go Green Expo website - for 50% off (only $5) use promo code gge50

Hope to see you all there!

Ten Tips for a Greener Workplace

Here's an article I wrote about greening the workplace for Alternative Apparel's Rethink Earth Campaign.

The United States makes up about five percent of the world’s population, but we use 25 percent of the world’s resources and create 40 percent of the world’s waste. It’s not surprising, then, that our businesses are the biggest contributors to this environmental footprint. Thus, a new measure for business success has taken hold, referred to as the triple bottom line, which takes into account not only financial performance, but social and environmental performance as well. Taking steps to create a green workplace has a number of benefits. A green workplace often has healthier and happier employees, increased job satisfaction and productivity and reduced absenteeism. Involving employees in the process promotes leadership, personal investment and pride in the office environment. Moreover, being eco-friendly connects a business to the local community, which in turn increases awareness of the company. Here are ten tips for going green in the workplace.

1. Implement a "grab a glass" policy.  Get rid of plastic water bottles in the office. Americans spend upwards of $15 billion a year on bottled water with no clear health benefit.  According to the NRDC, government and industry estimates indicate that about 25–30 percent of the bottled water sold in the United States actually comes from a city’s or town’s tap water. So filtered water is just as safe, if not safer, than bottled water. Instead, have a filtered water station and grab a glass, which can be refilled throughout the day.  This will reduce trash, save money and promote sustainability.

2. Decorate the office with plants.  Not only do plants brighten up a workspace with color, but they also clean the air, absorbing toxins and CO while increasing oxygen.  This improves indoor air quality, creating a healthier work environment.

3. Use green cleaning products.  This will help improve indoor air quality and reduce toxins in the workplace. Commercial cleaning often involves toxic chemicals, which are released into the air and are then absorbed into our bodies.  These chemicals cause serious health problems as well as infiltrate our water supply.  Green cleaning products are less toxic and healthier for janitorial staff and all employees, thus creating a healthier work environment.

4. Check and maintain heating and air conditioning systems regularly.  According to the EPA, our air quality is two to five times worse indoors than outdoors.  A great deal of dust and toxins find their way into our HVAC systems and we breathe them in all day as air is circulated throughout the office space.  It is imperative to make sure ducts are sealed and filters are changed regularly in order to reduce health issues among employees, especially for offices that do not engage in natural ventilation, such as opening windows.  Reducing air leakage in ducts will also result in increased energy efficiency and save money on energy bills.

5. Create a paperless office.  Review office practices and assess if printing is necessary.  When printing is unavoidable, always print double-sided and use 100 percent post-consumer waste FSC-certified recycled paper. This way, you know the paper is certified to be produced from sustainable resources.  As demand for recycled paper products increases, prices are going down.  Also, there are now paper products made without using any wood fiber at all.

6. Create a ride-sharing program.  A great way to reduce personal and corporate carbon emissions is to support a ridesharing program for people to carpool to work.  Reward those employees that partake in the program with optimal parking spaces, or create an in-office contest with prizes.  You should also reward employees that use public transportation and/or ride their bikes to work.

7. Provide healthy snacks in the office.  Offer fresh fruit and healthy snacks to employees, rather than processed food that is high in sugar and fat.  Healthy snacks promote productivity.  Also consider getting snacks from a farmers’ market to support local farmers and businesses.

8. Create energy efficiency polices.  All devices and electrical equipment including lights, computers and printers should be turned off completely at the end of the day.  When equipment is put in "sleep" mode, it still uses energy, which is called phantom energy.  Consider energy-efficient lighting and appliances.  Smart strips and energy control systems can be useful to help with reducing phantom power and wasted energy loads.

9. Reduce, reuse, recycle.  If you receive a lot of packaged items, reuse the packaging materials whenever possible.  Reduce trash loads by implement a recycling program so that all paper, plastic, styrofoam, glass, cardboard, etc. is recycled on a regular basis.  Provide each office with a small recycling bin for easy access.  Contact your trash hauler to find out more about starting a recycling program if your office building doesn’t currently have recycling.

10. Offset the company’s carbon emissions.  It’s important to reduce carbon emissions as much as possible.  For most businesses, cutting down carbon emissions is still a work in progress, as employees travel to meet with customers and energy is used on a daily basis.  Offsetting carbon emissions is a way to reduce your environmental impact until you can reduce emissions completely.  Organizations like Carbon Fund for example, provide an easy process for businesses and individuals to offset their carbon emissions.

Image Credit

Start the holidays early this Wednesday with "Celebration of Living Foods"

Kick off the holidays early this year with a night of "Celebration of Living Foods"! 

Whether you're curious about Raw Foods or you're a seasoned connoisseur, Chef Rod Rotondi of Leaf Organics will sharing his knowledge and passion for raw foods as well as provide tasty raw food appetizers from Leaf.  He'll also be debuting his DVD  "Raw Food for Real People".

Organized by Kris Willey, creator of Women of The Green Generation, guests will induldge in delicious vegetarian cuisine, decadent guilt free desserts, super food snacks and tonics, soothing herbal teas, and more!

The event will be hosted at Dan Vandenbark's Vernare Living Showroom with an amazing art exhibition of new works by Anita Rosenberg and Dragan Mrdja

Special Charity Raffle with incredible prizes - All proceeds of raffle to benefit Yoga Gives Back.

Here are the details:  
Date: Wednesday November 18, 2009   

Time: 7:00 - 11:00 PM

Where: Vernare's Living Showroom

607 N. Huntley Drive

West Hollywood, CA 90069

Cost: $10 suggested donation helps keep this event sustainable

All are welcome to attend!

Event accepts cash and checks only or you can use a credit card for advance purchase via pay pal at The Women of The Green Generation website.   Please RSVP: Kris 310.310.5692 - bhaktiyogagirl@msn.com

Parking:  Please note street parking is limited.  You can park at a meter, which are free after 6 pm, but read all signs as some areas are by permit only.

Best option is to park at the Pacific Design Center on Melrose, which is apx. one block from Vernare.  Lot is located at 8687 Melrose Ave.  West Hollywood, CA 90069.

Confirmed Sponsors:

Chef Rod Rotondi of Leaf Organics, Large Marge Sustainables, Truly Raw Gourmet, Tia's Bakery, Amazon Herb Co.Dynamics of Nature, EcoUsable, LA Yoga, Afford Eco, Yoga Gives Back and more!

The Importance of Battling Greenwashing - A Case in Point

“Who’s scrutinizing the scrutinizers?” Jay Westervelt asks rhetorically, as reported by John Sullivan in an article from the Times Herald Record. If you don’t know who Jay Westervelt is, Google the term “greenwash” and you’ll see article after article citing him as the coiner of this phrase over 20 years ago. The concept of greenwashing came about when Jay brought to light the hotel industry’s claim to be eco-friendly by asking guests to reuse their towels, when in fact their motive was not the good of the planet, but to save money on laundering.

As defined by Corpwatch, the San Francisco-based corporate watchdog, greenwashing is “Disinformation disseminated by an organization so as to present an environmentally responsible public image.” Its prevalence in the current marketplace is undeniable. Greenwashing has become a prominent word in the vernacular when talking about the green industry. Greenpeace even started a website solely devoted to outing, investigating and tracking greenwashers, with the tag line, “Clean up your act, NOT your image.”

Greenwashing is dangerous because it not only threatens the credibility of the type of product being greenwashed but the environmental movement as a whole. As defined by the communications agency Futerra’s Greenwash Guide, “Greenwash is having an insidious, measurable, and potentially catastrophic impact. It's actually quite simple: greenwash threatens the whole business rationale for becoming more environmentally friendly. Greenwash is slowly eating away at the best part of the green business case...greenwash destroys the very market it hopes to exploit.” It causes confusion and distrust among consumers trying to make sense of the overwhelming amount of information in the marketplace relating to eco-friendly products and environmentally conscious living. According to the London Business School, a survey conducted by the independent research company Forrester revealed that only 15% of US adult consumers believe company advertisements about their green products, and only 13% agree that companies are doing everything that they can to make their products greener.

Oil companies are often accused of greenwashing. BP is a prime example as they’ve created a marketing campaign around the impression that they are eco-friendly with the rebranding of their name as “Beyond Petroleum” rather than British Petroleum. As reported from Corpwatch, “BP's claim to be ‘the largest producer of solar energy in the world’ is a little more serious. But being #1 for BP is so easy. It was achieved by spending $45 million to buy the Solarex solar energy corporation. That's a tiny fraction of the $26.5 billion it spent to buy ARCO in order to increase BP's production capacity for...oil. BP will spend $5 billion over five years for oil exploration in Alaska alone. And, according to one group of BP shareholders, BP spent more on their new eco-friendly logo last year than on renewable energy.”

The scrutinizers Jay was referring to in John Sullivan’s article were “ corporate marketing teams” that saw financial opportunity in selling green products to match a lifestyle trend and creating green standard labeling systems to rate how green a product is, while being paid by the companies they were testing to give them the sought-after rating. On the flip side of that argument, rating systems like LEED and Green Seal provide structure to a rapidly growing industry. While we do need methods to keep the suppliers of our standards in check, standards are necessary to measure our progress. They are not intended to set the bar for how high we can go, but to create the foundation from where we jump off and continue on to newer and bigger challenges and accomplishments. As Bill Reid, President of Integrative Design Collaborative, said at West Coast Green this year, “LEED was never meant to be the definition of Green Design...LEED is the training wheels of sustainability.”

These standards enable us to hold ourselves collectively to a higher standard of accountability when addressing greenwashing. At West Coast Green in San Francisco this year, an incident relating to greenwashing accountability occurred during a panel discussion. At the Next Gen Design: Out of the Cradle, Now What? Session, Gadi Amit, Principal and Founder of New Deal Design and blogger for Fast Company, was one of the panelists and his presentation focused on the question, “How do you make people love ‘green’?” He presented pictures of green companies and products he was working with and one of those was the Dell’s Studio Hybrid PC with a Bamboo sleeve. On the slide, “LEED certified,” was written next to the computer. If you’re familiar with LEED, you’re aware that it is “an internationally recognized green building certification system.” LEED certifies buildings, not products.

Certain products and materials can assist with gaining LEED points, but reference to these products as LEED certified is incorrect. While it may not have been an intentional misrepresentation, this incorrect claim was an attempt to add credibility in the marketing the product as LEED certified. During the Q & A, Amit was asked about this discrepancy and the audience member attempted to discuss the issue within the larger context of greenwashing. Rather than acknowledge the error and engage in a productive conversation about the bigger picture this slide had brought to light, Amit said it’s, “people like you who are the problem.” One can only assume he was referring to the audience member’s adherence to LEED’s standards regarding certified building versus products. This interaction left members of the audience confused. Why attempt to use LEED to market the product if you’re not a proponent of the system?

The audience member approached Amit again after the session to clarify that her intentions were not to put him on the spot, but to explore the issue at hand as an opportunity as they both were members of the same community working towards a collective goal - getting people to fall in love with green. He interpreted the question regarding the accuracy of his claim as an attack. It was obvious he wasn’t aware that LEED doesn’t apply to products and his own intentions weren’t to misrepresent Dell’s green computer as LEED-certified, but, as a speaker on a panel educating others, he should be held accountable for accuracy in the information he provides. He hardly acknowledged the error and basically asked if it helps to get people to know about green products what’s the harm? That’s greenwashing. Dell was contacted directly and makes no claims to have LEED-certified computers.

As more green products, services and companies enter the marketplace, now more than ever, the green professionals, the passionate environmentalists, the leaders, the writers, the bloggers, the teachers of the green movement, are the scrutinizers of the scrutinizers. Intentional or not, it’s imperative to make all efforts to present the truth and to correct untruths when they are brought to our attention. Having integrity, embracing accountability and holding ourselves to a higher standard is the effective way to eradicate greenwashing and maintain industry credibility.

Recycled Jose Cuervo Bottles = Art?

The curtain of hanging clear glass circles and squares twinkled as you walked by them at the entrance of Environment Furniture on Beverly Boulevard in Los Angeles on Monday night.   "These glass squares are made from Jose Cuervo bottles," a woman standing nearby explained to a crowd of admirers.   Are we talking about the same glass squares?

Indeed we were.  The woman was jewelry designer Kathleen Plate and this was the launch party for her new recycled glass home collection.   The collection includes recycled glass pillows, chandeliers, lamps, wall art, glass curtains and dresses all made from recycled beer, wine, soda and yes...tequila bottles.

Chandelier

Kathleen's been designing art pieces from recycled materials for fifteen years.  Growing up in Atlanta, she was an environmentalist, before she knew "that that was a thing.  I thought everyone's mom made them compost and reuse their plastic baggies."

Kathleen with Pillow Design

Her work with recycled bottles started when she received a phone call from the Director of New Product Development at Coca-Cola.  Coke wanted her to get creative using their bottles. At that time she was working with the front of bottles, pieces of glass with the logos intact that she would melt and flatten out.  One day, she sliced a bottle horizontally to cut a circle and her new design style was born.  She slices the bottles and tempers them, working with about nine different colors.

Although she has no formal design training, her dress designs walked the catwalk at LA Fashion Week two years ago.  When asked if she saw her dresses as art or fashion, Kathleen replied, "the highest form of fashion is art...they are conceptual fashion."

Top of Dress

As far as Kathleen's carbon footprint, she uses only recycled bottles for her designs, never wasting any part of the bottle, whether for use in a current project or she saves them for future ones.  All the frames are made from iron scraps.  She's very proud that her studio's utility bill is just $35 a month, considering she uses a kiln for her designs.  "There's very little impact," Kathleen says.  They also recycle the water used in the machinery for landscaping at the studio.  

When asked what inspires her, Kathleen's response was, "I love people to know they can do something they love...its the ultimate alchemy."

Wall Pieces

Her handmade dress designs go for between $3,000 - 5,000 and the home decor hanging pieces sell for approximately $250 per square foot.   Prices for other items vary.  Kathleen's home decor line can be seen on display at Environment Furniture at 8126 Beverly Blvd Los Angeles, CA 90048.

350.org Event - Blogger Beach Clean Up 10/24/09

Yesterday afternoon a large group of concerned citizens set out to clean the Santa Monica beach between lifeguard station 26 and 27.  We collected 38 pounds of trash in just 20 minutes at the beach clean up event organized by Siel (Green La Girl) and Sara Bayes (The Daily Ocean) for 350.org as part of Day for International Climate Action.  We heard valuable talks from Heal The Bay, Cicle, Sustainable Works and NRDC.

350.org is Bill McKibbins website that states "350.org is an international campaign dedicated to building a movement to unite the world around solutions to the climate crisis--the solutions that science and justice demand." 350 refers to 350 parts per million, the highest level of CO2 in our atmosphere that is safe for humans.  We're currently at 387 ppm.  So we have some work to do

What I took away from the event is reaffirmation in what I truly believe in.  It really doesn't take much to make a positive impact.  In just 20 minutes we removed 38 pounds of waste that otherwise would be sitting there polluting our beaches and harming our wildlife.  As was said at the event, if we all just pick one thing to take on this year to battle climate change, it will make a difference.  Among other things, I've taken on riding my bike to the gym instead of driving which gives me an extra 3 miles of a work out.

Any thoughts on what you want to take on?

Choose Your Own Shade of Green

“Green” is definitely the buzzword of the moment. We are constantly inundated with information about how to go green in every aspect of our lives including our food, our cars, our homes, our kids, our vacations and even our pets. Green is all over the Internet, featured constantly on television shows and in every magazine. Global environmental issues are at the forefront of the news and we’re reminded constantly that temperatures are rising and the ice glaciers are melting. These facts among others have spurred a social movement towards greening our lifestyles.

There are some who don’t believe an individual can really have an impact, positive or negative, on the environmental crisis. This brings to mind Edward Lorenz’ Butterfly Effect. The Butterfly Effect illustrated chaos theory, by presenting the idea that a butterfly’s wings flapping in Brazil might create tiny changes, a ripple effect, that may ultimately alter, accelerate or prevent a tornado in Texas. While the butterfly doesn’t create the tornado directly, without the butterfly, that particular tornado would not have existed. Consider that there are 6.5 billion people on the planet. That’s a lot of butterflies.

A term used synonymously with green is sustainability. You may ask what does “sustainability” mean exactly? That’s a good question. Whether its preserving the rain forests in South America, eating organic food in season from local farmers, reducing our dependence on foreign oil, or protecting our overfished oceans, sustainability is the diet prescribed for the change in our communal behavior. Let’s go with the Environmental Protection Agency’s definition of sustainability as “meeting the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.” That sounds great in theory, but where do we start?

As we ask ourselves where to begin, the constant flow of new information relating to “eco-friendly” behavior, products and services can be extremely inspirational and at the same time incredibly overwhelming. This new information introduces new questions. “Are there different ways of doing whatever we do everyday?” “Could these different ways take less of a toll on the planet, create healthier living or working environment and provide a better life for our future generations?” The answer is a resounding “yes”. It’s all about our choices.



A common misconception is that living sustainably precludes luxury and comfort. On the contrary, an environmental approach to the choices we make can increase the comfort in our living and working environments. We know very well that the choices we make in how we live empower us in a consumer society. We’re beginning to make environmentally conscious choices, like switching out incandescent bulbs for energy efficient alternatives and using nontoxic cleaning products in our homes. The new collective movement to better understand the effects our choices have on our environment’s health and our own, is creating the foundation for a more sustainable society.

If you think about all the choices you make in a day, from the time you wake up to when to go to sleep, many have an impact on others as well as yourself. You may think you don’t have a choice because you have to be certain places at certain times, but you’re still choosing to be there to avoid the negative consequences of not being there. Personal choice is involved in everything we do, every moment, and every choice affects others and our environment.

So, there’s a lot to do, but don’t try to do everything at once. The goal is to integrate new choices into your life with ease so they become routine. Start with smaller projects and goals and work your way up to bigger ones gradually. It’s best to balance your new sustainable aspirations and the lifestyle you currently have.

Understanding the different aspects of sustainability will help you to determine what’s most important to you. Sustainability can be divided into several different environmental aspects: Indoor Air Quality, Energy Efficiency, Resource Conservation and Environmental Design.

Indoor Air Quality
The Environmental Protection Agency reports that our indoor air quality is 2-5 times worse indoors than outdoors, and we spend 90% of our time indoors. Consider the choices you make that affect the air quality of your home or office. Many cleaning products, air fresheners and paints contain Volatile Organic Compounds (VOC’s), which are toxic chemicals released in a gas form in the air. That “fresh paint” smell and the smell of a permanent marker are caused by VOC’s. Per the EPA, symptoms can be eye, nose, and throat irritation, nausea, headaches, damage to the liver, kidney, and central nervous system and some VOC’s can even cause cancer in animals and humans. To improve your indoor air quality, choose paints with no VOC’s and make sure natural cleaning products are used to clean your living and working environments. There are many effective, less toxic cleaners on the market. These products are increasingly available in local supermarkets or can be purchased online. Make sure your heating, ventilation and air conditioning system is properly maintained and filters are replaced regularly. Create an area at the main entrance to your home, where you and guests can easily remove shoes that have been worn outdoors. An area like this greatly improves indoor air quality by reducing outdoor pollutants, allergens and toxins being tracked into your home.

Energy Efficiency
Increasing your energy efficiency is a great way to save money and get the most value for what you’re paying for. If your home or office is not energy efficient, you’re throwing money out the window, literally. Properly maintaining your HVAC system, installing energy efficient windows and improving insulation are just a few effective ways to increase energy efficiency. Simply adjusting your thermostat by a few degrees in the summer and winter can offer significant savings in energy costs. There are energy control systems to reduce phantom energy loads, which is the energy your appliances use when they’re off but still plugged in such as televisions, phone chargers, and VCRS to name a few. A joint program of the EPA and the Department of Energy called Energy Star provides a label for products and appliances that meet strict energy saving specifications, so look for the Energy Star label when purchasing new appliances.

Resource Conservation
Water has become the new oil. Practically everything we consume or use in life requires water for manufacturing. Only three percent of the water on earth is drinkable. Americans use on average a staggering 151 gallons per person per day, more than any other country in the world. There are a number of easy ways to reduce our water waste. Faucet aerators and low-flow showerheads allow more air into the water flow, using less water for the same pressure. Dual-flush toilets and Energy Star appliances can save thousands of gallons of water each year. Consider a gray-water system for your home so that water used in showers and sinks is recycled and used for landscaping. Reduce your turf grass where possible and landscape with plants appropriate for your area’s climate. The easiest way to reduce water waste is to turn the tap off when you’re brushing your teeth or while washing your hands. If you brush and wash for two minutes each, with a low flow-faucet that’s three gallons per brush or wash.

Recycling is an important part of resource conservation. Recycle your plastic, paper, cardboard and glass and avoid using plastic bags. Billions of plastic bags are made each year and according to the Worldwatch Institute, one hundred billion plastic bags are thrown away with less than one percent being recycled. Have you heard of the Great Pacific Patch? It’s an “island” of plastic estimated to be twice the size of Texas floating in the Pacific Ocean. According to Good Magazine, people use 200 billion pounds of plastic per year and about ten percent ends up in the ocean. So, there could be 50 thousand pieces of plastic within every square mile of ocean. Unfortunately, this plastic is extremely toxic to our oceans, its inhabitants and ultimately us. Mistaking these pellets for food, many birds, mammals and fish ingest them. Bigger fish eat these fish and at the end of the food chain, we eat those bigger fish and the toxins they’ve consumed.

Environmental Design
For any project you take on personally or professionally, take a moment to consider if there’s a more environmentally conscious approach you can take. When the time comes to redesign your home or office, consider eco-friendly materials, furniture and products. Use wood and paper products certified but the Forest Stewardship Council, an organization that certifies sustainable forests and fights against deforestation. Solar energy for your water heating and electricity could be something to explore. When looking for a new car, check out the new hybrid and electric cars to reduce our dependence on foreign oil.

While the environmental issues we’re facing today are not pleasant, it’s important to be aware of them and to make informed choices. Progress is being made as more and more people are seeing the immense potential benefits in energy savings and quality of life. Enjoy the positive impacts you’re creating for yourself, your family and countless others as you create a greener, more sustainable and healthier lifestyle.