Recycling vs. Upcycling: What is the difference?

by T. Caine

Over the last decade the term “Upcycling” has been coined and worked into the discourse of sustainability efforts. It appeared in William McDonough’s book, Cradle to Cradle. It has yet to earn itself mainstream popularity, but its necessity as a goal for how we should be progressing makes its definition important. Like so many things in sustainability, I come across many enthusiasts who are trying to promote the practice but may be passing around an incorrect meaning.

We all know what the basis of Recycling is: a practice that takes an item and targets it for reuse, returning it back to the cycle of daily contribution to society rather than discarding it to trash. Going to the dictionary for confirmation renders the following:

• to treat or process (used or waste materials) so as to make suitable for reuse: recycling paper to save trees
• to alter or adapt for new use without changing the essential form or nature of: The old factory is being recycled as a theater
• to use again in the original form or with minimal alteration: The governor recycled some speeches from his early days
• to cause to pass through a cycle again: to recycle laundry through a washing machine

Upcycling is described by some as reusing a material without degrading the quality and composition of the material for its next use. When plastic bottles are recycled, for instance, most often they cannot be turned back into containers associated with anything that can be ingested due to the risk of things seeping into the plastic. As a result, these usually become carpets, or toys, or winter fleeces: things that will eventually also become trash. Recycling has simply prolonged the inevitable by stretching out our waste stream and made the lifecycle costs of the material a bit less.

In this model, upcycling becomes dually important. First, the practice reduces the amount of waste that we produce and ultimately goes into the ground for longer than any of us will be around. Secondly, it also reduces the need for new virgin material to be harvested as feedstock for new generations of product. In the case of plastic, this means less oil wells drilled. For metals, less mountains mined. For paper, less trees felled. All around this means less expended energy.

Our treatment of soda cans is closer to a true upcycling model. These aluminum containers can be melted down and made into brand new cans and in the process save over 90% of the energy required to make new ones from scratch. This cycle can continue in perpetuity, reducing energy consumption and effectively removing certain materials from the waste stream. Newsprint finds similar success.

More than once I have seen people broadcasting their “upcycling” habits like making wallets from tires, or lawn chairs from pallets, or tables from wire spools. These are examples of recycling. None of those materials are going back UP the supply chain (the series of processes that an industry uses to create a product or service.) They are just making the chain a bit longer.

Upcycling represents a truly cyclical, balanced process that all industries and companies should be aiming towards. At this point, just having the aim would be another important step. All of our products could be drastically changed if the beginning of their design started with the goal of not having them end up in a landfill. A number of ways could be utilities to train our economy into an inherent practice of reuse. My personal definition of the term ends up as:

Upcycling: A process that can be repeated in perpetuity of returning materials back to a pliable, usable form without degradation to their latent value—moving resources back up the supply chain.

It is important to note that I am not saying that recycling is a waste of time or beyond acclaim. Rather, recycling is a first step in reaching a more comprehensive and sustainable solution of waste management that can eventually limit the amount of new, virgin materials that need to be produced or mined from the earth.

Photo Credit: RecyclingPoint.com.au

READ ORIGINAL ARTICLE HERE

Read Full Post »

Toxic Aspartame Gets New Name as a “Natural Sweetener”

NaturalNews.com

In response to growing awareness about the dangers of artificial sweeteners, what does the manufacturer of one of the world’s most notable artificial sweeteners do? Why, rename it and begin marketing it as natural, of course. This is precisely the strategy of Ajinomoto, maker of aspartame, which hopes to pull the wool over the eyes of the public with its rebranded version of aspartame, called “AminoSweet”.

Over 25 years ago, aspartame was first introduced into the European food supply. Today, it is an everyday component of most diet beverages, sugar-free desserts, and chewing gums in countries worldwide. But the tides have been turning as the general public is waking up to the truth about artificial sweeteners like aspartame and the harm they cause to health. The latest aspartame marketing scheme is a desperate effort to indoctrinate the public into accepting the chemical sweetener as natural and safe, despite evidence to the contrary.

Aspartame was an accidental discovery by James Schlatter, a chemist who had been trying to produce an anti-ulcer pharmaceutical drug for G.D. Searle & Company back in 1965. Upon mixing aspartic acid and phenylalanine, two naturally-occurring amino acids, he discovered that the new compound had a sweet taste. The company merely changed its FDA approval application from drug to food additive and, voila, aspartame was born.

G.D. Searle & Company first patented aspartame in 1970. An internal memo released in the same year urged company executives to work on getting the FDA into the “habit of saying yes” and of encouraging a “subconscious spirit of participation” in getting the chemical approved.

G.D. Searle & Company submitted its first petition to the FDA in 1973 and fought for years to gain FDA approval, submitting its own safety studies that many believed were inadequate and deceptive. Despite numerous objections, including one from its own scientists, the company was able to convince the FDA to approve aspartame for commercial use in a few products in 1974, igniting a blaze of controversy.

In 1976, then FDA Commissioner Alexander Schmidt wrote a letter to Sen. Ted Kennedy expressing concern over the “questionable integrity of the basic safety data submitted for aspartame safety”. FDA Chief Counsel Richard Merrill believed that a grand jury should investigate G.D. Searle & Company for lying about the safety of aspartame in its reports and for concealing evidence proving the chemical is unsafe for consumption.

Despite the myriad of evidence gained over the years showing that aspartame is a dangerous toxin, it has remained on the global market with the exception of a few countries that have banned it. In fact, it continued to gain approval for use in new types of food despite evidence showing that it causes neurological brain damage, cancerous tumors, and endocrine disruption, among other things.

The details of aspartame’s history are lengthy, but the point remains that the carcinogen was illegitimately approved as a food additive through heavy-handed prodding by a powerful corporation with its own interests in mind. Practically all drugs and food additives are approved by the FDA not because science shows they are safe but because companies essentially lobby the FDA with monetary payoffs and complete the agency’s multi-million dollar approval process.

Changing aspartame’s name to something that is “appealing and memorable”, in Ajinomoto’s own words, may hoodwink some but hopefully most will reject this clever marketing tactic as nothing more than a desperate attempt to preserve the company’s multi-billion dollar cash cow. Do not be deceived.

Sources:

Ajinomoto brands aspartame ‘AminoSweet’ – FoodBev.com

Aspartame History Highlights – Janet Starr Hull

FDA’s approval of aspartame under scrutiny – The Globe and Mail (Canada)

An Overdue Ban On A Dangerous Sweetener – Huffington Post

ORIGINAL ARTICLE

Read Full Post »

Financing Our Cleantech Future

By Joel Makower
My longtime friend and colleague Bill Green changed jobs recently. That’s not normally newsworthy — friends and colleagues do that all the time.

But if you’re concerned about the future of clean technology — in particular, how we’re going to fund the massive scale-up of renewable energy, clean water, and the other infrastructure changes needed to build a clean economy — Green’s career move warrants more than just passing interest.

Green is a seasoned environmental entrepreneur, with more than 20 years of management and investment experience. He has led five companies, including Ecolink, one of the first firms to produce alternatives to ozone layer-depleting chemicals, and the Strategic Chemical Management Group, an environmental management company. For seven years, he was in venture capital, a co-founder of VantagePoint Venture Partners’ CleanTech practice, among the largest cleantech VCs, with more than $1 billion dedicated to the sector. (In 2003, Green invited me to join VantagePoint’s Cleantech Advisory Council, where I still serve.)

Last week, Green announced that he was joining Macquarie Capital Funds as a senior managing director. If you’re like me, you probably didn’t know much about this company, part of The Macquarie Group, a massive Australia-based global investor and manager of infrastructure, real estate, and other businesses. The Funds division manages more than US$116 billion in assets around the world, much of it large infrastructure projects.

Why is this particular job change worth singling out? Green’s evolution from environmental entrepreneur to venture capitalist to a senior director of one of the world’s foremost investment banks mirrors the trajectory of the cleantech movement itself. What began in the 1980s and 1990s with a handful of scientists, engineers, and idealistic entrepreneurs, funded by a small circle of friends, came to life during the 2000s with the infusion of tens of billions in venture capital, private equity, and corporate and government investments. That gave rise to the thousands of growing companies that today are manufacturing everything from solar cells to electric cars — and all of the batteries, fuels, engines, controllers, software, and other components that make these things work.

Now, as a new decade begins, it’s time to take things to the next level: ramping up proven technologies at massive scale.

That’s where Green and Macquarie come in. They are at the leading edge of large investment banks that have the financial firepower to unleash mature technologies globally, financing the wind farms, solar fields, and energy storage facilities that will be needed to bring renewables to scale.

Bill Green describes this evolution in terms of a “corporate lifecycle.”

“In the beginning you’ve got an entrepreneur who comes up with an idea that is transformative in its promise and can attract venture capital,” Green explained recently. “The entrepreneur builds a team, develops a product that is what I call ‘pre-commercial’ — they have a product that works, by whatever definition their sub-category requires, and they’ve built one of them. They then face the challenge of building their first fully commercial deployment. Once there is an example of a fully commercial deployment, they can think about replicating at commercial scale — what in the semiconductor industry is called ‘copy exact’: Build a factory, build an identical one somewhere else, build a third somewhere else.”

That first commercial deployment is the most difficult to get funded. Once it’s proven itself — that it can perform reliably and generate a predictable cash flow — it is more or less a matter of “copy exact,” stamping them out from place to place. This is a role for project financing — as distinguished from company financing — and is the realm of investment bankers.

Deploying even one commercial-scale plant can require more capital than most people imagine. Consider BrightSource Energy, which builds and operates large-scale solar thermal plants, in which massive arrays of mirrors beam sunlight to a central tower, boiling water to create steam to run a generator. BrightSource (which happens to be funded by VantagePoint, along with Morgan Stanley, BP, Chevron, Google, and others) has contracts to build several of these plants, at $2 billion to $3 billion a pop. And then there are wind farms. Building one will set you back anywhere from $150 million to $1 billion or more. So, too, a biofuels refinery. Real money, as they say.

Big as those price tags are, cleantech projects are relatively small compared to other infrastructure projects — airports, bridges, toll roads, and the like — making them less appealing to large banks that prefer large projects. Moreover, a lot of investment bankers haven’t yet developed expertise in renewables. “Renewables is still a sector that is largely the province of a small group of people who have devoted many years to understanding the sector, who have grown up in the sector in various ways,” says Green. “And the sector has yet to fully mature to the point where every institution has developed the capabilities to invest in it. So, many bankers have taken a view that says, ‘If this is not my specialty, I would rather back the larger transaction.’ That leaves a tremendous opportunity for those of us who both understand and elect to focus on this subsector.”

Green and Macquarie view the cleantech sector as ripe for their style of banking. “There’s still a gap between Silicon Valley and Wall Street when it comes to understanding the complete capital-formation value chain from venture capital through to equity and debt,” says Green. Put another way, the VCs and the bankers haven’t yet become a well-oiled machine in handing off venture-funded companies to those who can take their technologies and products to scale — the way, say, a new microprocessor chip can go from R&D to commercial development, with manufacturing plants deployed around the world in relatively short order.

As he sets now out to find and fund proven commercial technologies, Green says he will focus on wind farms, utility-scale solar, utility-scale solar thermal, and geothermal energy. Beyond that, he says, “I’m interested in finding the opportunities that are a bit less obvious but that come in the form of more traditional infrastructure.” Transmission, for example. “We believe that there may be opportunities for Macquarie in the emerging conversation around how renewable energy is moved from point of generation to point of use. This has been a real puzzle piece that’s starting to get more attention, but I think it’s still underserved from the standpoint of capital development.” Wastewater purification and landfill waste-to-energy technologies are two more interesting infrastructure opportunities, he says.

Of course, it’s not just the financial opportunity that interests Green as he starts this next phase of his career. “I am so excited to be able to point to steel in the ground and tell my son that our company participated in bringing that wind farm or that solar field into existence. I deeply enjoyed the years that I spent in conceptual conversation around bringing to life things that were only the dream of an entrepreneur at the time I first saw them. Now, I’m ready to see these things deployed at scale all over the place, and this is the absolute best platform that I could imagine to make that happen.”

It will be interesting to watch. As the financial heft of national governments hit their limits, we’ll need the big financial machines — which funded the Internet, cellular networks, highways, bridges, water systems, and mass transit systems — to make clean technology part of the global fabric. Macquarie isn’t the first investment bank to jump into cleantech, but it has made clear that it wants to be at the front of the pack.

As if to underscore his excitement for his new role, Green leaves me with a few parting words not typically associated with the dry world of large-scale finance: “It’s really cool,” he says. “Really cool.”

Joel Makower is Executive Editor of GreenBiz.com and chairman of Greener World Media, Inc.

Read Full Post »

Saving gas isn’t just for tree-huggers anymore

By Trystan L. Bass

Greenies aren’t the only ones looking to limit their car usage these days. High gas prices are fueling inflation for everyone across America.

No matter if you drive a Prius or a Hummer, you can probably stand to save a few bucks on gas right now. Here is our collection of tips for getting the most out of each gallon…

• Use the cruise, clean the car: Forecast Earth covers the classic tricks, such as using cruise control and maintaining your car. This is a great list to begin with.
• Hypermile your way to better mpg: Pulse-and-glide driving is how those ultra-efficient hypermilers get great mileage, even without a hybrid car.
• Carpool at least once a week: Ask around your office and see whose route meets up with yours. Parents can also arrange carpools for driving kids to school. Alternate who drives, and you’ll automatically cut gas costs.
• Drive slower: Driving just 10 miles slower can reduce fuel consumption by 20 percent. And no, you won’t burn more gas because it takes a tiny bit longer to get to your destination.
• Don’t sit idle: When you let your car idle, you might as well light a dollar bill on fire and toss it out the window. It’s been proven that stopping and restarting a car uses the same gas as leaving a car idling for 6 seconds with the air conditioner on. Today’s fuel-injected cars don’t need to warm up in cold weather either.
• Reduce air drag: The Rocky Mountain Institute estimates you can save 15 to 30 gallons of gas per year if you take off a roof rack just half the time. Besides, you only need it for skis when there’s actually snow on the ground.
• Ditch the drive-thru: One test in Toronto found that you can get a fast-food breakfast faster and burn less gas in your car if you park and go into the restaurant. Considering how much idling cars do in drive-thru lanes, this isn’t surprising.
• Think big, and light: Some of EcoGeek’s gas-saving tips are government-based (like intelligent traffic lights and minimum fuel economy; feel free to suggest these to your local and federal representatives!). But everyone can carry less junk in the trunk.

Gas prices may not drop dramatically any time soon. So perhaps you’re thinking about a new car — like a hybrid. They’ve lost the tree-hugger status and are pretty mainstream. Certainly, SUVs aren’t selling very well these days. Need some car advice?

• Rethinking the cost of hybrid cars: The Rocky Mountain Institute compares the Prius to the non-hybrid Accord and Civic and shows how the hybrid comes out ahead.
• Comparing hybrid to hybrid: EcoGeek summarizes the latest findings.
• Getting to know your Prius: A few handy resources for the new owner.
• Finding the best green cars: Yahoo! Autos Green Center is fully loaded with specs on current models, from hybrid to ethanol to ultra-efficient gasoline.

If you have an older car with great mpg and you’re wondering if your ride could be even more eco-friendly, check out EcoGeek’s analysis of the greenest cars coming in 2010. Just don’t fall for a ZAP car or that bunk about running cars with water.

Read Full Post »

Going Green Made Easy

Frugality and quality are the new mantras in our changing world. Gone are the days of “the one with the most toys wins.” And good riddance. Earth911 has put together 10 simple things each of us can do to conserve, not only to save the environment, but to regain an appreciation for the things on which our lives depend.

by Earth911

How can you go green at home? Here are 10 simple steps to green up your life and change the planet.  (Photo: Schipul.com)

1. Buy Only What You Need

• Plain and simple—don’t over purchase.
• However, when buying items that you use daily or in large quantities, consider buying in bulk. You will save money and packaging. Consider splitting bulk purchases with neighbors or friends to get that savings but not the full quantity of the purchase. Sometimes we can’t always use 50 rolls of toilet paper!

  Going green doesn’t have to require a ton of money or time. Simple changes to your daily routine can make all the difference.

2. Recycle, Recycle, Recycle!

• Earth911 offers recycling, reuse and proper disposal options for more than 250 different materials, everything from plastic bags to construction materials.
• Remodeling? Don’t forget to look for recycling and reuse programs for your household items—windows, doors, tile, etc. New technology has enabled some companies to recycle old porcelain toilets and tubs into beautiful counter tops and tile.
• Don’t forget the last step in the recycling loop—buy recycled! In order for recycling to be sustainable, we need to purchase recycled-content materials! Look for and purchase post-consumer recycled content packaging and products whenever possible.

3. Change a Light, Change the World

• When your incandescent light bulbs stop working, replace them with the new, energy efficient compact fluorescent light bulbs (CFLs). According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) CFLs use 2/3 less energy than traditional incandescent light bulbs and last 10 times longer. Making this switch will save you money and energy.
• Some incandescent light bulbs may contain mercury, so remember to dispose of both properly at your local household hazardous waste facility.
• Take the U.S. EPA’s ENERGY STAR pledge to save energy and help reduce the risks of global climate change by replacing at least one light in your home with an ENERGY STAR qualified one.

4. Bag It Up the Green Way

• Plastic bags are getting the “thumbs down” in several communities around the country because of litter problems. When going to the store, consider bagging your own groceries in cloth, reusable bags. Many stores sell reusable bags and charge to provide plastic grocery bags.
• When walking your dog and cleaning up after then, use a biodegradable bag rather than a plastic bag.
• If you decide to use plastic bags, remember to recycle them. Thousands of locations are available across the country.

5. Green Your Gadgets

Electronics become “outdated” so much more quickly than 10 or 20 years ago. To insure you are responsible with your gadgets, consider doing the following:

• Resist the urge to upgrade every time a “newer” or “cooler” gadget comes out. Reduce at the source—you save money and the time (and frustration) to learn how to operate and program the new gadget.
• Donate working electronics to charities or school programs resell or refurbish them.
• Completely broken? Recycle! Electronics are the new “hot” item being recycled across the country.
• Refill or recycle your inkjet or toner cartridges.
• Close the recycling loop and buy recycled, post-consumer content paper for your printer. Most local office supply stores, such as Staples, offer a growing selection of environmentally friendly papers.
• Keep in mind even computer game equipment and iPods now have reuse and recycling programs available. G4 TV offers a new campaign encouraging e-gadget reuse and recycling.

6. Make Every Drop Count

Even though 70 percent of the world is covered by water, we should conserve all that we can. Here are some quick tips to save that last drop:

• Turn off the water faucet when brushing your teeth.
• Use your dishwasher and washing machine only when they are full. Try to avoid small, partial loads.
• Compost food scraps instead of using your garbage disposal. You’ll save gallons of water every time and have a great soil amendment for your garden.
• Clean your driveway or sidewalk with a broom instead of hosing it down with water. You’ll save at least 80 gallons of water every time.
• Don’t use running water to thaw food.

7. Turn Up the Savings

• A few degrees can make all the difference in your energy savings and your wallet. In the summer raise your thermostat two degrees. In the winter lower your thermostat two degrees. You probably won’t notice the difference, at least until your utility bill arrives!
• Use a ceiling fan to cool off a room or house. It consumes as little energy as a 60-watt bulb, which is about 98 percent less energy than most central air conditioners.
• Install a programmable thermostat to better regulate the temperature in your house through the day and night. Remember to recycle your old, mercury containing thermostats.
• When replacing an appliance, be sure to look for one that is more energy efficient. Always look for the ENERGY STAR symbol and compare water and energy usage to ensure you get the best product and environmental savings to suit your needs.

8. Clear the Air

• Carpool, ride the bus, use public transportation or bike to work
• Telecommute. Employee productivity will increase.
• Trip chain! Save fuel and time by planning ahead and consolidating trips into one trip. Also, vow to only go to certain, far away stores less frequently.
• Keep your tires inflated to the appropriate air pressure level. This will extend the life of your tires and give you better gas mileage.
• Drive the speed limit.
• Service your car on a regular basis per the manufacturer guidelines.
• In the market for a new car? Consider one of the new hybrid or fuel efficient vehicles.

9. Save A Tree

• Save paper, time and postage, and pay your bills online.
• As the price of paper cards and postage increases, consider e-mailing e-cards.
• When printing documents, print on both sides of paper. You can cut your paper consumption almost in half.
• E-mail documents and information instead of printing and mailing them.
• Save documents on your computer or on a disk instead of in a print copy in your filing cabinet. You’ll free up lots of space.

10. Home Sweet Home

• Clotheslines are making a comeback. Dry your clothes on the line instead of in the dryer. They will smell better, and you will save money.
• Use cloth napkins instead of paper napkins. They can be used over and over again and thrown in with your weekly load of towels.
• Make your own less toxic cleaning alternatives using baking soda, soap and vinegar.
• When repainting a room, be sure to look for paint that is low VOC (volatile organic compounds). Several manufacturers now offer VOC paints and they don’t leave that paint fume smell.
• Open the doors and windows to let the fresh air in! Indoor air quality is often times worse than the air outside. Open doors and windows daily to circulate fresh air in and germs and smells out.

Read Full Post »

The Five Best Cities to Land a Green Job

Jim Motavalli, writing for The Daily Green, paints an encouraging picture for job hunters. Green careers is one sector shining amid the economic storm. Even those who are employed are abandoning their traditional careers for work that contributes to the world.

So, what American cities hold top position for the best opportunities for the future? The results might surprise you.

By Jim Motavalli

In a generally bleak employment picture, the green jobs sector is growing faster than any other. By 2007, a Pew Charitable Trusts report on the Clean Energy Economy counted 770,000 jobs in all 50 states that met the “double bottom line” of economic growth and environmental sustainability. Clean energy economy jobs grew by 9.1% between 1998 and 2007, compared to just 3.7% in overall job growth in those years (before the markets crashed). Venture capital investment — thin on the ground throughout the economy now — totaled $12.6 billion in the clean tech sector between 2006 and 2009.

A new report from the Global Climate Network (composed of nine think tanks, including the Center for American Progress) predicts that the world’s eight leading economies will create 20 million new jobs between now and 2020. In the U.S., the report said, the stimulus package and the American Clean Energy and Security Act could help create as many as 1.9 million new green jobs in the period. The move to a “smart grid” could create 270,000 jobs, and a further 138,000 if U.S. smart grid technologies are exported to a global market, the report said.

On the downside, a study from King Juan Carlos University in Madrid, Spain says that for every job created with energy price supports, 2.2 are lost in other industries. According to Gabriel Calzada, an economics professor at the university, each Spanish green job cost $774,000.

But PRTM global management consultants takes issue with that conclusion, explaining that jobs building green energy and electric vehicles are part of a global race. “The rest of the world is not going to wait when it comes to EVs and green energy, and jobs will be created somewhere,” said PRTM’s Oliver Hazimeh, who heads the firm’s global e-mobility practice. “If the U.S. doesn’t capture these jobs, then they may be lost to other markets, which could lead to a result similar to what occurred in Spain.”

The federal stimulus bill contained more than $30 billion for clean energy, and the mantra espoused by now-deposed green jobs czar Van Jones was that the new positions should go to freshly trained Americans from some of the hardest-hit jobless populations. With unemployment over 10%, people need to go where the jobs are, and some states — and some cities — are making out better than others as the green jobs phenomenon unfolds. While every state and most American cities have a piece of the new economy, here are the five cities that — through a combination of federal, state and municipal programs — are faring best.

According to the Pew report, 65% of the national clean energy jobs in 2007 went to conservation and pollution mitigation — by far the largest category. Clean energy accounted for 11.6% of new jobs in the period, energy efficiency for 9.5%, environmentally friendly production 7%, and training and support 6.8%. But environmentally friendly production saw the most growth: Up 67% from 1998 to 2007 (followed by clean energy, up 23%).

Of the top 10 clean-tech employers around the world identified by Clean Edge, four are in the U.S. (in Illinois, Washington, Arkansas and California). Clean Edge defines the top five sectors for clean-tech jobs in the U.S. as (in descending order): solar, biofuels and biomaterials, conservation and efficiency, smart grid and wind power. There’s a long way to go. Only in Oregon are green jobs more than one percent of total employment (and it’s only 1.02% of the 1.9 million jobs there).

READ FULL ARTICLE TO VIEW CITIES

Read Full Post »

Avoiding Genetically Modified Foods

Jennifer Grayson of Red, White and Green wrote an excellent article for HuffingtonPost on the challenges of avoiding Genetically Modified foods.This topic is especially important given the recent report about Monsanto GM Corn being linked to organ failure in independent lab studies.

Besides the obvious health reasons, there are also moral reasons for boycotting GMO foods. Monsanto, who controls 90% of the GMOs, is an evil company. Now I don’t use that word lightly, but they’re evil. They seek control all of the building blocks of food on the planet. And their methods for reaching that goal make mafia tactics seem ethical. (watch Monsanto documentary here)

Despite the challenges of no labeling requirements in the U.S., Grayson gives some good practical advise on avoiding genetically modified foods. Read her article below.

Eco Etiquette : How Can I Avoid Genetically Modified Foods?

I’m on a kick to boycott all GMOs [genetically modified organisms] because I don’t want to support environmentally toxic agricultural policies. But how do I know for sure that the food I’m buying doesn’t somehow contain genetically modified ingredients?

-Mary

This week’s headline-grabbing news that agriculture giant Monsanto’s genetically modified corn was found to cause organ failure in rats is sure to send panicked shoppers into an anti-frankenfood frenzy. The good news is that this is precisely the kind of damning study (GM corn + animals = death) that will help bring to light the potentially catastrophic consequences of scientifically altered crops. The bad news is that even those who see that light will have a difficult time completely boycotting genetically modified organisms, or GMOs as they’ve come to be known.

That’s because GMOs aren’t just limited to the foods we eat; they’re also in the clothes we wear (cotton is one of the most prevalent GMO crops) and in the everyday household products we use. Those who buy giant jugs of distilled white vinegar to make DIY eco-friendly cleaning products might be interested to know that their vinegar may, in fact, be distilled from GMO corn. I say may, because if you live in the United States, there’s no proof that the products you buy or the food you serve your children hasn’t been genetically tampered with. While the EU, Japan, China, Korea, Australia, and New Zealand have labeling laws for GMO foods, there are no such requirements in the US, despite the fact that a 2008 CBS News poll found that an overwhelming 87 percent of Americans would like GMO foods to be labeled.

READ FULL ARTICLE HERE

Read Full Post »

Is the American Dream Just Servitude?

We were all taught the American Dream, that if you study hard, get a good job and work hard you’ll be able to own things and eventually find economic freedom in your retirement years. Indeed, this “dream” is now being sold all over the world. This story has been reinforced at nearly every dinner table in America. Once we buy into this fantasy we become shackled and our very existence becomes defined by it. We can’t logically envision another way to spend our limited time in this life.

We then pursue this dream with vigor. Our youth is devoured preparing for the workforce; we take student loans that ensure our commitment to the system, we finance a car if we are lucky enough to find a job, we sign contracts for mortgages, utility companies, and even our churches to submit our pound of “human” flesh. We all enter into this servitude willingly because we believe this to be the best way to spend our time on this planet. And for the majority it’s their only known way to survive.

The most absurd aspect to committing 90% of our waking life working for this dream is that it’s all just to function, to stay alive and have experiences. The illusion of wealth and private property provides enough allure to get most of us to submit. Sure, nice things are terrific and great to use, but that’s exactly what we’re doing – using them. Let’s be clear, we never really own property without the future obligation of taxes, insurance, or permit/licensing fees.

Since nearly everything is bought and sold on credit by governments, industry, and households, the Money Printers seem to control it all. Yup, life must be grand owning or controlling 90% of the world’s resources with just a measly 10% left to the peasants. Conveniently, they are the only ones flush with cash (loaned by us, and repaid by us), just waiting for prices of “real” things to get low enough to sweep up the rest of the crumbs.

The recent economic collapse has exposed many previously “distracted” citizens to the marriage of state and banks for the benefit of them – not us. Matt Taibbi, of Rolling Stone, has been brilliantly detailing the merger between state and big banks since the manipulated financial collapse. In short, the money printers appear to be the puppet masters of all “resources,” whose slight flick of a finger effects the entire economy, and consequently, the government and the puppet servants at the bottom of the string.

Predatory lending has been used to successfully enslave Third World countries with debt as described in great detail by John Perkins in his books Confessions of an Economic Hitman and Secret History of the American Empire. The banks discovered that they can colonize and imprison the world through the leverage of debt (although some countries are now resisting debt servitude). Once proven successful, now it seems the banks have turned to enslaving all industries and workers luring them behind bars through these same deceptive lending techniques.

In most circles it’s safe to say that our government is no longer “By The People” or “For The People” anymore. In fact, I wouldn’t even describe them as for the corporations as many gripers like to do. Instead, I contend that they merged a long time ago – especially the connected banks. ALL of our government agencies are wholly employed and run by former titans of industries that they now “regulate”. Politics is just big business; the 2008 Presidential race was nearly a $2 billion dollar industry alone. Our system, whatever you want to call it, IS big business, BY big business, and FOR big business.

It seems like rape and pillage for profits and power, where corporations are given the rights of individuals, but none of the punishment for moral wrong-doing. Understandably their policemen have long been on-the-take. Plain and simple, it seems like our cartel capitalism, fully-integrated with our government, is infinitely more oppressive than what our Founding Fathers faced with a greedy King on the other side of the pond. And yet, we continue to not only support it, but fund it.

How do we break the chains of servitude? Well, we start with either getting out of debt, or by rejecting current debt. I’m not suggesting that readers should just walk away or declare bankruptcy if they have the means to combat it. However if the illusory debt noose has tightened to the point of suffocation, your only choice is to remove it by any means necessary and declare your personal human freedom.

In this rigged game designed to sacrifice the Pawns, I can’t help but feeling like the Knight of my own life with desires to be the King of it. And that’s the good news. We all have the ability to be Kings or Queens of our individual paths. And since the current system thoroughly depends on our acquiescence, we can change it to treat resources, all creatures, and our environment with the respect they deserve.

Liberty, Peace, and Love will prevail!

Read Full Post »

10 Practical Steps to Self-Sufficiency

The global economic collapse became an eye-opening experience for many people. The ongoing crisis continues to create more joblessness at a time when the cost of essential items like food and energy continue to rise.

Inflation is only expected to continue due to excessive printing of money to compensate for the bursting economic bubbles, which were arguably created by printing too much money with artificially low interest rates in the first place.
The 2008 price shocks in oil followed by the financial collapse have led many people to begin taking measures to become more self-sufficient. Some have taken steps to conserve electricity, reduce spending and consumption, while others are planting kitchen gardens and installing solar panels on their homes. Even living off the grid is becoming a mainstream concept for those seeking independence.

Indeed, becoming more self-sufficient is proving to make common sense whether one anticipates more hardship to come or not.

Sure, many of us would love to live completely off the grid without giving up everyday comforts, but for most of us this is not practical. However, there are many steps that can be taken to move towards self-sufficiency which can be relatively painless and quite rewarding.

The following are 10 basic suggestions for more independent living.

1. Reduce your debt: Do you best to get your debt under control. Call your credit cards companies and ask for a similar work out plan that they received from the taxpayers. You can also do the same with mortgages.

2. Reduce your consumption: Evaluate your current budget and determine absolute necessity. Push your comfort level to find areas where you can scale back, and then identify comforts that you’re willing to sacrifice.

3. Reduce energy use: Change light bulbs, have entertainment systems plugged into a splitter that can be shut off completely to reduce phantom charges, etc. Carefully plan shopping trips and other transportation needs.

4. Store energy: Always have back-up propane storage and a large wood pile for a rainy day. Investing in a generator of some kind (even a solar generator) will be money well spent.

5. Invest in food storage: With a falling dollar and rising food prices, why not create a food savings account? Get some good books, dehydrators and vacuum sealers for storage methods. Best storable food items are grains (rice, beans, flour), canned goods, seeds, and some prepackaged items.

6. Produce your own food: Replace your lawn with a garden, fruit trees, and keep chickens. Go on hunting and gathering adventures for nuts, fish, and wild game. Store extra garden seeds!

7. Learn new skills: Surf the internet, read books, and take courses in practical skills like gardening, cooking with whole foods, composting, carpentry, alternative energy, natural health and wellness etc.

8. Start a side business: Turn your passion or hobby into a small side business to make some supplemental income. Who knows, it may become your path to full financial independence.

9. Install alternative energy: Start with small installations like a solar hot water system, a solar freezer, a solar attic fan, or a wood stove etc. If you have limited funds, tip-toe your way to independence.

10. Suggest solutions for your community: Engage your local community in discussions to take steps for self-sufficiency. Share your story and build support.

These steps will save us money as we move closer to the ultimate prize of independence. For me personally, each action my family takes to live more simply makes us more motivated to do better. So, the steps seem to become swifter after we took the first few awkward baby steps.

Read Full Post »

10 Reasons For Becoming Self-sufficient

We are now three to five generations removed from the rural backbone that strengthened America.  The world at large has undergone a similar transformation as the promise of easier work created a migration to big cities.  These mega-cities could be seen as an experiment gone awry, as general well-being has declined, suicide rates have increased, people work longer hours, and the cost of living has risen to the point where personal savings is virtually non-existent.  These conditions have led to rampant crime, pollution, corporate malfeasance, and a dog-eat-dog type of competition that I would describe (historically) as temporary insanity.  The recent economic crisis has been the final straw for many people, as promises of a better, easier, and more creative life seem to have been sold to us by carnival-style tricksters who are laughing all the way to (their) bank.  But there is a always a silver lining, in my view.  We now have a wonderful opportunity to recapture what we have lost over the last hundred or so years — independence.

Here are my top reasons for becoming self-sufficient; these are based on fundamental, systemic concerns for why undertaking this life change will not be a fly-by-night fad, but rather a long-lasting means for personal independence.  A companion article will follow on Jeff’s blog; he will give some immediate tips for taking back the reins and living a more self-directed life.  The following are listed in no particular order:

1. Being free of market manipulation – The traditional market-driven investment vehicles are more and more obviously controlled by traders and banking institutions.  The recent debacle with the private Federal Reserve Bank is just the icing on the cake to a previous decade full of Ponzi-type schemes to defraud investors and flat-out steal money from people’s hard-earned retirement (Enron to Madoff).
2. Hedging against inflation – Have you noticed the price of goods lately?  Prices on produce and necessities have doubled in the last 2 years.  People might have a choice whether or not to buy stocks or gold, but people have to eat — the current increases in basic goods portend hyperinflation, and will not ease anytime soon.
3. Increasing health and wellness – It has now been revealed that some “organic” items have been falsely labeled.  In addition, a host of “GMO-free” brands have been exposed as deceptive.  GMO food lacks the nutritional value of what can be grown in the average backyard.  GMO mega-corporation, Monsanto, has a sordid history, and has continuously trampled on our trust.  It is time that we do the work ourselves.
4. Building community strength – I constantly hear people say, “I don’t even see my neighbors, let alone know anything about them.”  Of course not:  80-hour workweeks and grabbing meals to go doesn’t exactly promote community interaction.  With such little time to interact with our immediate community, it is no wonder why many people report feeling disconnected.   In these trying times, it is a local community that can offer the best support.
5. Working for yourself – Working hours are increasing, pay is often decreasing, and corporate executives are taking bigger bonuses than ever.  This is leading to a prevailing disgust, as people are being forced to admit that they are living lives of near indentured servitude.  Even for those not working in corporations, working for someone else is rarely as satisfying as creating and working for something where every minute you spend is yours alone.
6. Having more free time – We have been taught to believe that life on a farm is arduous sun-up to sun-down drudgery where you collapse at the end of the day.  This is not so much the case anymore.  Sure, the setup of any farm or self-sufficient endeavor is often time-consuming and laborious, but new technologies and new skills of manufacturing food via permaculture and aquaponics are offering low-cost start up and minimal maintenance, as these techniques serve to create symbiotic systems that are remarkably self-governing.
7. Generating food and energy security – The planet is running out of food and traditional energy.  Climate volatility, market forces, GM foods, a rising population, and rising costs of harvesting and transporting food are all conspiring to create food shortages even in the First World.  This trend will not reverse.  And our oil-soaked way of life is being threatened by mounting evidence that the oil lifeline could be disconnecting rather soon.  We should be looking to the air, sun, geothermal, and wave power to wean us from the energy grid.
8. Acquiring an appreciation for life – As one gets closer to life-giving forces, there is a natural appreciation for how things come into being.  When you have created your garden, toiled there, selected the best for harvest, and have prepared that food for your family and community, the significance of what you have taken part in can be transformative.
9. Restoring balance – Nearly everything in our society is at a peak, or is drastically out of balance.  The systems and governments to which we have looked for balance restoration are missing in action.  We must take it upon ourselves to restore our own financial and environmental balance sheet.  The best way to do that is to reduce our over consumption.
10. Becoming a producer, not a consumer – This is the best way to reduce your cost of living and increase your self-sufficiency.  In the U.S. over 70% of the economy is based on people buying things.  This is a clear sign of imbalance and, by extension, is not sustainable.  Furthermore, we also have seen corporations race to the bottom to find low-cost production . . . on the backs of desperate people.  The exploitation of the Third World to clothe, feed, and entertain the First World is something that most people do not want to think about, but it is abominable.  Again, new technologies are making it easier than ever to produce your own food, and even your own clothes.

As the cliche goes: Freedom is never free.  But it sure beats the alternative.

Read Full Post »