Food & Travel

Online Retailers: Help Your Customers Offset Their Carbon Emissions

jplatt — Fri, 01 May 2009 08:00:00 -0400

Studies have shown that shopping online is, on average, greener than driving around and shopping at a bunch of retail stores. But even shopping online creates carbon emissions, and many people feel guitly about buying anything that needs to be shipped.

GreenWorld's ShopGreen can help alleviate that buyer's remorse.

ShopGree is a free program that online retailers can download and install. It integrates with your shopping experience, and gives your customers the opportunity to make a voluntary additional contribution -- up to 1% of their total purchase -- to offset the carbon emissions created by the shopping exerpience.

In addition to paying a little bit extra, ShopGreen gives your online customers a very powerful user experience, allowing them to see how much carbon their shopping creates, and what is being done to offset it:

Customers receive tracking ID numbers that can be used to view records of their carbon offset investments at any time
They can also see statistics that show the cumulative ShopGreen™ impact for your site therefore and increase the likelihood of future transactions

How does it work? GreenWorld is working with EcoSecurities, "a company in the business of sourcing, developing and trading carbon offsets from greenhouse gas emission reduction projects throughout the world, to offer both Certified Emission Reductions (CERs) and Verified Emission Reductions (VERs) from a range of domestic and international projects that reduce greenhouse gas emissions, including renewable energy, energy efficiency, forestry and methane capture."

So if you've got an online business, and want to do a little bit of good for the environment every time you sell something, give GreenShop a try. It might add a lot to your customer experience, and earn you some customer loyalty in return.

PepsiCo Introduces Greener Vending Machines

jplatt — Fri, 10 Apr 2009 08:00:00 -0400

Soda giant PepsiCo announced recently that it will soon deploy a small number of “green” vending machines that will "significantly cut pollution compared to standard vending machines."

The new machines -- which employ Greenpeace's Greenfreeze technology -- not only require 15% less energy than traditional vending machines, they do not use fluorocarbons or "F-gases," "greenhouse gases hundreds to thousands of times more powerful than carbon dioxide that are one of the major causes of global warming and are currently used in almost all U.S. refrigerators and air conditioners."

According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, F-gases are currently responsible for 17 percent of global warming.

Now, Pepsi is only introducing 30 of these machines to start, since the Greenfreeze technology doesn't yet have EPA approval. But they do hope to roll them out around the world, where the company has a between 4 and 5 million vending machines and coolers.

You can read more about PepsiCo's environmental sustainability initiatives here.

Which Is Greener: Shopping Local or Shopping Online?

jplatt — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 09:00:00 -0400

Shopping locally uses less energy, right?

Not necessarily, according to a study by Carnegie Mellon's Green Design Institute. The study looked specifically at Buy.com's e-commerce model, and found that shopping online through that site "reduces environmental impact with 35 percent less energy consumption and carbon dioxide emissions than what is produced in the traditional retail shopping model."

Obviously, this isn't going to work for every online retailer, or compare to every brick-and-morter store in your area, but still, these results are surprising.

The study found that "approximately 65 percent of total emissions generated by the traditional retail model stemmed from customer transport to and from retail stores." This could change if you drive a hybrid or ride a bike (or god forbid, walk to the store!), but it does illustrate the effect of short drives on our environment.

Buy.com also has a unique element that reduces its carbon footprint. If you order something from their site, it doesn't ship from Buy.com, but from the company that made the product in the first place. By comparison, Amazon.com maintains huge warehouses; products must first ship there, after which they get shipped to customers. Buy.com's model cuts out a step, and saves emissions.

So, while this study shouldn't necessarily cause you to change your buying habits, it does give us some ideas to think about when shopping. Every time a product moves from one place to another, it inspires the release of greenhouse gases. The fewer times it moves, the better. So if you can buy a product that hasn't moved very far or very often, you'll be doing yourself -- and the environment -- a favor.

Drive Smarter, Greener with ecoRoute from Garmin

jplatt — Tue, 20 Jan 2009 09:00:00 -0500

If you own a Garmin GPS unit, and you're looking to make your driving just a little bit greener, then the company has something just for you.

Their new ecoRoute program -- announced recently at the Consumer Electronics Show -- helps you to calculate the most eco-friendly driving routes available to you. ecoRoute users have the option of choosing the route that will use “less fuel” compared to other routes. Garmin says the program "will determine if more fuel efficient routes exist based upon road speed data and vehicle acceleration data for a given route."

ecoRoute also keeps track of your mileage and your fuel economy over time, both of which are great data points to have to help you improve your driving.

ecoRoute is available online as a free download. It's compatible with Garmin's nüvi 205 and 705-series products.

A Delicious Sampling of Great Green Food Stories of 2008

scleaver — Wed, 31 Dec 2008 00:00:00 -0500

The holidays are behind us now, and reflecting on 2008 (and what a year!) here are my top ten headlines from the RiverWired food blog (posted in order of appearance, starting in January):

1. Creative and ultimately delicious, Apple Farmer Uses Pigs Instead of Pesticides in January.

2. At last, help at the grocery store in Finally! A Guide to Eating Green.

3. The downer cow scandal breaks as Hallmark/Westland Goes to Congress.

4. Fish headlines started with Where Have All the Salmon Gone? back in March. The headlines continued in June (SOS: Save Our Salmon) and October (Seafood Delight).

5. Looking to the future, in the spring we were Building The Doomsday Vault -- Seeds to Save the Human Race. The seed bank is still growing and, according to the Chicago Tribune needs help with funding heading into 2009.

6. You know green is big when fast food companies join in: The Golden Green Arches?

7. This year, we learned about the impact of our food choices, from soup to nuts: Saving The World One Plate At A Time.

8. From organic to hormones in milk to hamburger meat, labels were big this year (see September’s: A Real Hamburger Helper).

9. But, once the bad financial headlines started rolling in, saving money at the grocery store became increasingly important. Hence November’s The Economics of Organics

10. And, our opinion was solicited again and again this year, on milk, corn, and more. The latest: The Department of Ag Wants Your Opinion on GE corn.

What headlines do you think were most important? Did I miss any?

Image from Stephanie Cleaver.

New Year's 101

scleaver — Sat, 27 Dec 2008 00:00:00 -0500

To ring in 2009, I plan to be sitting on my couch in Chicago with a glass of champagne in hand, watching the ball drop in New York. Then, I’ll wait an hour to officially ring in my new year in Central Standard Time. Whatever your plans to ring in 2009, get a green start to your new year with these New Year’s Eve necessities:

Of course you need organic champagne. Fill a flute with a bottle from DiamondOrganics.com or head to your local party store and pick up a bottle of organic NV Pascal Doquet Premier Rose (a pink champagne from pinot noir grapes) or the biodynamic ’97 Vilmont Coeur de Cuvee, both recommended by TreeHugger.

Serve appetizers using organic ingredients with recipes from: Henry's Farmers Market, Organic Valley, or Delicious Living.

And, ring in 2009 the right way, with a noisemaker or two.

Happy New Year! Now for those resolutions…

Image from the Triple Tri Blog.

Shop Sustainable Seafood

scleaver — Wed, 10 Dec 2008 10:11:37 -0500

GreenPeace released the supermarket rankings on their seafood sustainability. As reported in The Food Section, Greenpeace graded 20 supermarket chains (national and regional) on their seafood purchasing and sales policies and practices.

Of the national and regional chains, none earned a “good” grade. Four supermarkets earned a passing grade: Whole Foods, Ahold, Target, and Harris Teeter. Right after the “passing” supermarkets, however, was Walmart. And, the lowest ranked four were Price Chopper, H.E. Butt, Meijer, and Trader Joe’s. Find your favorite supermarket on the Scorecard.

But, perhaps of more importance, Greenpeace also published a list of their favorite sustainable seafood retailers. (See the full list here.) On that list: Andronico’s Market in San Francisco, Hanover Co-op Food Stores, Davis Food Co-op, and my old favorite when I lived in the DC area, My Organic Market.

To find Greenpeace’s rating of a supermarket near you, use their Supermarket Search tool.

Image of an albacore tuna from Greenpeace.

From The Bog To The Table

scleaver — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 11:41:41 -0500

It’s Thanksgiving, and that means its cranberry time! What holiday meal isn’t complete without a splash of red cranberry sauce? But, cranberries are more than just colorful, they’re also good for you.

We all know about cranberry’s power when it comes to preventing UTIs. According to OrganicAuthority.com, cranberries are a major source of antioxidants, and phytonutrients that protect against cancer, heart disease, and more. A study from the University of Massachusetts-Dartmouth, found that compounds in cranberries were toxic to a variety of cancer cells, from breast cancer to leukemia cells.

So, you want to incorporate these prize-fighting fruits into your holiday meal? Make sure your cranberry sauce is chemical free by buying organic cranberries from Cranberry Hill Farm in Massachusetts (or find a local organic cranberry blogger by using the Local Harvest tool on the River Wired Home Page).

Get any and all cranberry recipes from Ocean Spray. Here’s an easy cranberry sauce recipe. Epicurious.com has cranberry recipes for the advanced cook. And, here are cranberry bread recipes to help you use up the cranberries that don’t make it onto your Thanksgiving table.

Photo from VegPod.com.

Thanksgiving 101

scleaver — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 09:49:58 -0500

Top 10 Things to Try This Thanksgiving

10. Set Your Table

Outfit your table with these bright, autumn-colored hemp tableclothes, napkins, and placemats. All you have to do to find a great centerpiece is head outside, collect a bunch of pinecones, leaves, and evergreen sprigs to the table and you’ve got yourself some Thanksgiving décor.

9. Visit a Local Bakery

As you plan your dessert table, make at least one dessert hassle-free by checking out a local bakery at BakeryFinder for your pumpkin pies, carrot cakes, and turkey-topped cupcakes.

8. Get a Green Wine

Take a tip from Treehugger and put a bottle of sustainable wine on your table. Some options: the carbon neutral winery Mendocino Wine Company or LEED certified Stratus Winery.

7. Start Right

Get your Turkey Day off to a tasty start with a host of appetizers, from cheese balls to sugar coated pecans to the inevitable (in my house anyway) olive bowl.

6. Prepare for the Day After

Store leftovers in reusable, biodegradable storage containers from GreenHome.com. Then, get creative with your leftovers by trying out some creative turkey recipes, like Turkey and Black Bean Soup, a turkey or veggie pot pie, or the Moistmaker late-night turkey sandwich with enough tryptophan to put you right to sleep.

5. Save Room for Dessert!

Get organic baking ideas (or a delicious treat if you’re in the Los Angeles area) from Ghalia Organic Desserts or try one of the healthier treats from Eating Well, the pumpkin pie with rum sounds especially amazing.

4. Don’t Forget the Sides

As important as the turkey is, the sides are just as vital. Get an array of side dishes that will wow every guest. Try winter fruit salad with lemon poppyseed dressing, bread stuffing, or sourdough dressing with truffles. Browse even more sides at The Food Network.

3. Celebrate the Pumpkin

Pumpkin is the featured veggie at Thanksgiving, so take yours to new heights with pumpkin turnovers or curried pumpkin soup. Or, choose one of the many pumpkin recipes from the Pumpkin Nook's Cookbook.

2. Make Tubers Terrific

Thanksgiving comes with two potatoes—sweet and white. My suggestion, keep the white potatoes the way they should be, mashed. And make something delicious with the sweet ones, sweet potato cassarole or mashed with maple butter anyone? Or, go for a total spud surprise by adding Roasted Fingerling Potatoes With Dried Figs and Thyme to your table.

1. Make the Perfect Turkey

Follow the cooking directions at Organic Authority to cook an organic turkey and you’ll find that there’s more than one way to cook a turkey—in an oven, grilling, frying.

Here are the answers to every turkey question you could have on the big day. Happy Thanksgiving!

Photo from Vanelsas.wordpress.com.

Winter Squash 101

scleaver — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 10:25:39 -0500

Squash can be intimidating to work with, and for good reason. Apparently, according to the San Francisco Chronicle, there are more squash varieties sold now than have previously been in supermarkets. And, with such varied textures, colors, and shapes, it’s hard to know just which you can cut up and sauté, which should have their insides scooped out and pureed, and which should be put on the mantel for admiring only.

Here’s how to buy and use your winter squash:

When you’re in the produce aisle, look for a squash with a rind that’s unblemished without any soft spots. And, it should feel heavy for its size, the sugars in the squash add weight.

There are many types of squash, here are four that you’ll likely come across:

Butternut: shaped like a large pear with cream-colored skin, orange flesh, and a sweet flavor.
Acorn: have green skin with orange speckled patches and yellow flesh, has a sweet, nutty flavor.
Turban: green and speckled or striped, orange-yellow flesh that tastes like hazelnuts.
Hubbard: a large squash with dark green, grey-blue, or orange-red skin, not as sweet as other squash. (From Homestead Farm.)

After you choose your squash, store them in a cool, dry place for a few weeks so some of the starch can convert to sugar, and they can dry out a bit.

Instead of buying pre-hacked chunks of larger squash, like butternut, buy a big squash, cut your own pieces, and keep the rest chilled until you need more.

One way to cook your winter squash, cut it in half, roast it, and add a pat of butter before eating. Or, try a squash soup recipe from Homestead Farm, cook up a butternut squash with a recipe from All Recipes, or bake squash pie from Seeds of Knowledge.

Photo from What's Cooking America.