Fireworks displays

Pyrotechnics for the Planet: This cover story by Bethany Halford in the June 30, 2008 edition of Chemical & Engineering News (Vol. 86, No. 26, pgs. 14-18) provides information on the environmental hazards associated with fireworks and other pyrotechnics and provides an overview of the efforts of scientists to replace both hazardous substances (e.g. perchlorate, certain metals and combustion products, etc.) and potentially polluting processes (e.g. using compressed air to launch fireworks as opposed to using black powder that produces smoke) to create more environmentally friendly pyrotechnics.

Grilling/Backyard Barbecues

Green Grilling Tips: Best Grills and Fuel:  This 6/27/08 post by Mindy Pennybacker  on the Plenty Magazine web site (now defunct and folded into the Mother Nature Network) provides an environmental comparison of different types of grills and fuel, links to further information and a brief description of why it’s important to consider the environmental impact of grilling.

Also, whether they’re grilled or not, consider local ingredients for the dishes at your celebration to reduce the energy used to bring your meal to your table while supporting your local economy. If you’re not aware of a local farmer’s market or other source for local ingredients, check the Local Harvest web site.

Make it Reusable, Recyclable or Compostable

When it comes time to eat what you’ve grilled, consider using reusable plates, bowls, napkins and cutlery. If that simply isn’t feasible, be sure to consider options that are recyclable or compostable and made with recycled content if possible. Check out the Preserve web site, Green Earth Office Supply, EarthShell, NAT-UR or Treecycle for some ideas.

Other Ideas

For more information or conversation on this topic, check out the U.S. EPA’s Greenversations Blog, where the question of the week is “How Will You Green Your 4th of July?” Also, feel free to share your tips for greening your Independence Day celebrations in the “Comments” section of this post.

If your company or organization is planning a special event or activity for Earth Day, consider sharing your plans in the “Comments” area of this post–you might give another organization a great idea for next year.

• Wind Power: According to Sustainable Energy Ireland, “wind energy provides electricity to the equivalent of 40 million European citizens, and wind farms in Ireland supply enough clean green power to support over 146,000 users.” Their web site provides an interactive map of existing wind farms in Ireland (as of April 2007). A recent post on the Green Tech Blog (“Ireland: Where Wind Power is King” by Michael Kanellos) discusses the great potential for further wind farm development on the island, both on and offshore.
• Cultivate Living and Learning Centre: The Cultivate Centre in Dublin serves as a hub for environmental activities and ideas. Their web site provides a green map of Dublin; environmental workshop listing; a directory of schools, businesses and other organizations in Ireland that are teaching or training and have principles of sustainability rooted in their mission and strategies; information on energy issues and climate change; and a host of other resources. The themes addressed in their educational programs include green building, permaculture and organic gardening, renewable energy, energy conservation, and rethinking urban design and planning.
• Cleaner Greener Production Programme (CGPP): This program of Ireland’s Environmental Protection Agency encourages Irish business and industry to produce goods and services in more environmentally friendly ways. That agency defines “Cleaner Greener Production” as “the application of integrated preventive environmental strategies to processes, products and services to increase overall efficiency and reduce risks to humans and the environment, for example: (1) Production processes: conserving raw materials and energy, eliminating toxic raw materials and reducing the quantity and toxicity of all emissions and wastes (2) Products: reducing negative impacts along the life cycle of a product, from raw materials extraction to its ultimate disposal (3) Services: encouraging and supporting the development of higher environmental performance in the service sector, by incorporating environmental concerns into designing and delivering services.”

I receive their electronic Green Tips newsletter, and was pleased to see them taking the opportunity to tie St. Patrick’s Day to raising environmental awareness. The lead story in the latest newsletter was entitled “Kiss Me, I Recycle” and is an obvious play on the “Kiss Me, I’m Irish” slogan you’re likely to see emblazoned on t-shirts, buttons and hats starting this weekend. (Incidentally, the SWMCB web site provides a handy “Kiss Me, I Recycle” St. Patrick’s Day button template for anyone interested in wearing green and simultaneously promoting green activities.) As eluded to in my previous post, there are likely to be lots of bottles and cans associated with St. Patrick’s Day festivities, and the SWMCB and MPCA are trying to ensure that folks consider recycling and are aware of how to properly recycle as well as what can be recycled. The “Kiss Me, I Recycle” story links to a helpful can and bottle recycling guide on GreenGuardian.com. The guide not only tells you what and how to recycle (which is strictly speaking, not pollution prevention since it’s an “end of the pipe” sort of activity) but also highlights the energy savings associated with recycling, as well as the reduction in greenhouse gas emissions, air and water pollution, and water consumption that result from recycling containers as opposed to throwing them in the trash–all of which are important environmental benefits that are certainly complimentary to P2 activities.

This sort of campaign got me thinking about opportunities for similar outreach activities on college campuses. For example, I’ve heard that Mather House at Harvard University has a “green happy hour” for St. Patrick’s Day that involves the promotion of recycling, sustainability and waste reduction. I’m curious to know if other campuses have been involved in similar activities, perhaps on a wider scale. If you know of a “Green St. Patrick’s Day” event or promotion at a college or university, or if your organization, like SWMCB and MPCA, is tying environmental awareness campaigns to St. Patrick’s Day, please take a minute to share what you’ve done in the “Comments” section for this post.

As is the trend with most organic foods and beverages, organic beer is becoming more and more widely available as even big box retailers climb aboard the “green products are good for public relations, profits and the environment” train. Co-op America offers an overview of organic beer and wine as well as the rationale for choosing locally produced beers whenever possible (to reduce negative effects of long distance shipping, among other reasons). You can also search their National Green Pages under “Wine/Beer” for examples of breweries that produce organic beer. There is also a North American Organic Brewers Festival, scheduled this year for June 27-29 in Portland, Oregon. The festival web site lists the participating breweries and the beers they’re presenting.

For those of you, like my husband, who enjoy brewing your own beer at home, you might find the Seven Bridges Cooperative an interesting resource. Based in California, Seven Bridges provides certified organic ingredients for home brewing, such as organically grown hops and grains.

Interestingly, organic beer became the topic of controversy last year, as the USDA added to the list of non-organic ingredients that may compose 5% of a product by weight and still allow that product to bear the label “organic.” Hops were on the list, and while critical to the production of beer, they do make up less than 5% of the finished product by weight. The Organic Consumers Association was outraged by what it termed the “Budweiser Exception” that could allow big brewing companies to mass produce “organic” beers without using organically grown hops; the controversy was covered by MSNBC. Anheuser-Busch has since switched to using 100% organic hops. See the USDA’s web site for more information on organic food standards and labels.

Turning to waste reduction and efficiency in the brewing process, regardless of the use of organic ingredients, the March/April 2007 edition of In Business magazine featured a profile of Mad River Brewing Company in Blue Lake, California, which recycles or reuses 98% of its residuals, with a goal toward generating zero waste. The April 2007 edition of eco-structure Magazine included a look at the sustainable practices of New Belgium Brewery in Fort Collins, Colorado. Among other things, the company purchases wind energy to power 100% of its brewery’s operations, the packaging hall was designed with energy efficiency in mind, and the brewhouse features a closed-loop heating system. For more information about New Belgium’s sustainability initiatives, see their web site.

For an example of sustainable initiatives at a brewery within the Great Lakes region, check out Michigan DEQ’s case study on the Leopold Bros. of Ann Arbor, Michigan. Goose Island Brewery in Chicago, Illinois is also a founding member of the Chicago Waste to Profit Network. An article from the October 2000 edition of Conscious Choice discusses several organic beers, including Goose Island’s organic beer production and partnering with Panorama Brewing Company to produce Wolaver’s Organic Ales regionally. Lakefront Brewery in Milwaukee, Wisconsin was the first brewery in that state and the first business in Milwaukee to receive the Travel Green Wisconsin certification from the state’s Department of Tourism. Check out the brewery’s web site detailing what they’ve done to reduce their environmental and social impact and earn this recognition.

For more resources related to P2 for breweries, check out the GLRPPR Food Processing Sector Resource. I’ll be adding a “Beverage Manufacturing” subcategory in the near future to make finding resources related to brewing and other beverage production within this Sector Resource easier.

Whenever a holiday approaches, I like to consider how pollution prevention applies. In honor of St. Patrick’s Day and my sainted mother, I’ll be taking some time over the next few days to ponder a different shade of “green” than the one you’ll find on “Kiss Me, I’m Irish” t-shirts. Happy Birthday, Ma! [Note that my mother will likely never read this; she doesn't own a computer and is as non-technical as a person can be. Try as I might, I can't get her to understand what it is I do for a living. She knows it involves "environmental stuff" and computers, and that it is somehow tied to the University of Illinois. Still, she's the greatest, and without her I could never have grown up into a person who cares about the environment and concepts such as pollution prevention (P2).]

If you’re interested in finding out more about St. Patrick’s Day in general, check out Wikipedia and the History Channel. Also, the name for this series of posts (”P2 Go Bragh”) comes from the incorrectly spelled, Anglicized phrase “Erin go Bragh,” which is intended to mean “Ireland forever” (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erin_Go_Bragh). Thus, this series of posts is in the spirit of “pollution prevention forever” and sustainability.

The Chicago Edition of Ideal Bite also reports that the InterContinental Chicago is offering a green valentine hotel package for $219 a night and up, February 14-16. They also recently featured information on Ellie Thompson, a Chicago jewelry designer that uses reclaimed metals and fair-trade gems to create wearable works of art, if you’re considering jewelry for your special someone. The national Ideal Bite also offers additional information on organic flowers.

New American Dream’s Conscious Consumer Marketplace can also help you find environmentally and socially responsible Valentine’s Day gifts, such as flowers, chocolate, and jewelry. TreeHugger has also compiled a Valentine’s Day Gift Guide.

Finally, consider an electronic card instead of a paper one. For example, the National Wildlife Federation has Valentine’s Day e-cards available.

Environmental Protection Magazine provides green holiday suggestions from the Nature Conservancy in the article “Tips: Dreaming of a Green Christmas”. The Minnesota Pollution Control Agency has some excellent suggestions for a no-waste holiday while Use Less Stuff offers 42 Tips to Trim Your Holiday Wasteline.

U.S. EPA suggests ways to add some green to your travel and recycle for a tech savvy holiday and San Francisco Chronicle staff writer Susan Fornoff examines the environmental impact of real and artificial Christmas trees in her article,“Real vs. Fake: Which Tree is Greener?”

Librarians’ Internet Index points to several sites with a focus on green crafts:

• Eco-Friendly Kwanzaa
• COEJL Hanukkah: Let There Be (Renewable) Light: A New Look at Hanukkah
• FamilyFun: Have a Happy Green Holiday

On the retail side, Barneys New York is lighting their tree with LEDs this holiday season. They also have a green gift guide for items available from…Barneys. Meanwhile, Grist reviews the green gift offerings from Target, Wal-Mart, and K-Mart.

Yahoo! and Treehugger offer green gift suggestions from a plethora of retailers. The Madison (WI) Public Library, California Department of Conservation, Eco-Libris, Grist, Reduce.org, Environmental Defense, the Natural Resources Defense Council, Co-op America, and the Sierra Club also have green gift guides.

If your favorite tip for a more sustainable holiday isn’t covered by these sources, post it in the comments.

If you’re planning an activity or celebration in honor of P2 Week, or if your organization offers information on its web site promoting P2 Week, tell us about it by using the “Comments” area for this blog post. The comments will serve as a way to promote your events and share ideas and experiences with the rest of the P2 community.

To leave a comment, click on the word “Comments” (proceeded by a number or the word “No” indicating the number of comments currently associated with a post) or “leave a response” that appears at the bottom of this post after the list of categories the entry was posted to. This will take you to a form in which to type your comment. You must be logged in to WordPress (the blog publishing system used to produce the GLRPPR Blog) in order to leave a comment; if you have not commented on a post before, you’ll need to register (It’s free and easy–it just requires filling out an online form to establish a user name and password. You’ll need those to log in anytime you want to submit a comment.).

Michigan DEQ has a section on P2 Week on its web site, including a P2 Week planner and sample resolution, an environmental calendar, and P2 Week posters. The Indiana Partners for Pollution Prevention are hosting the 10th Annual Pollution Prevention Conference and Trade Show during P2 Week, and IDEM will present the Indiana Governor’s Awards for Environmental Excellence during this event. Check the GLRPPR Calendar for other events that are taking place during P2 Week, and if you know of others, share them in the “Comments” section!