Here’s another one: Last week on the way home I listened to NPR’s “All Things Considered” interview NFL environmental director Jack Groh. Yes, the NFL has an environmental director. Groh flat out admits that the Superbowl is a giant waste of resources – power and transportation producing the highest numbers of carbon emissions. In his interview he outlines new concepts which balance out the carbon footprint of the Superbowl and their related events. Cool – so how can anyone have a problem with this? A few of his ideas are interesting, such as using wind and solar energy to power events at and leading up to the game (although he doesn’t say at what percentage.)  If a company IS trying to offset their energy use, am I being a curmudgeon by bitching about an organization planting some trees in their host city?

Something about it just doesn’t sit right. They aren’t driven by true environmental motives, only the guilt of thus far being unassociated with the green movement. Jack Groh is hired, speaks for, and is a shining “green” star for in an industry that has and never will have anything to do with environmentalism. In his defense he probably does a great job with what he has to work with. And I’m only singling out the Superbowl because of this interview. A U2 concert, cruise ship, and the Democratic Convention here in Denver are all wasteful as well, and they deserve their own respective scrutiny.

However the Superbowl and other examples are by their very nature ostentatious and excessive. It’s silly to try and pretend they’re not by using the lame tactics outlined by Groh. If it’s obvious that the “Home Depot NFL Experience mini theme park” with its trucked in rides, multiple food vendors, and enormous promotional displays is nothing more than a giant waste – then the real question is “should we scale it down, or even have it in the first place?” The answer we find is NO, because it gains massive revenue.” Investors and companies prefer their numbers black, not green, so to distract us from that real question they lay down some sod in hopes we’ll coo green and justify the mountains of garbage events like this create. Ideas and suggestions that are TRULY green, like bringing your own water bottles from home, simple won’t come to fruition because they don’t make money. Jack also describes the issue of how to recycle the great amounts of trash like promotional standees and giant foam fingers. Again, shouldn’t the real discussion be whether we should be producing all this throwaway crap in the first place? (I pondered this at Target over Christmas.)

Rounding out the feel good vibe Jack Groh says they’ll insist local staff and crew shop at minority and women owned business. What? That’s great that they want to support the local community, but why mandate THAT? Demographics of small business ownership in Phoenix is a completely separate issue than environmentalism. Why lump the two together? What if an old white shopkeeper just happens to have a better, cheaper, and GREENER widget? Or what if it’s an interracial couple that co-owns the store?

Back to the green: If you consume far more than you need does it really put your mind at ease knowing a company is planting a few stickly trees in the freeway median? Can anyone really take that seriously? It doesn’t sound like the NFL does either as I can’t fine ANY bit of info regarding this program on their site.

To me these types of green programs, with their eager acceptance and lack of criticism, have the potential to do more harm than good. It mocks the true meaning and roots of environmentalism by justifying the very thing environmentalists and earth conscious consumers attempt to avoid: extreme over consumption. Making ourselves feel good by doing tiny initiatives won’t curb our insane level of wants and materialistic demands. It will only WORSEN that drive – as we’re being told that it’s acceptable, because somewhere a person in the position of “environmental director” says “Trample on, it’s OK because we’re planting a tree and have a puny parking lot wind farm.”

If I may recycle one of my favorite photos… The concept is akin to the driver of this monstrosity telling me “Hey I’m earth friendly because I don’t use charcoal in my grill.” Big picture guys. Big picture.

“You can listen to Jack Groh’s complete interview at NPR, and decide for yourself this program is logical, or if I’m just an anti-capitalist jerk, or both.

James Van Dellen

I had no idea what to expect, other than having heard the phrase “worm farms” somewhere on TV. I pictured a small fenced in mound of compost with rotting eggshells and banana peels, similar to what I’ve seen in some backyards. (Make that non HOA controlled backyards.) However that’s not the case. Worms are clean and efficient. A modern worm farm is a three or four level stack of trays. You can create them out of large tupperware bins and partition your waste so that the worms will farm within sections, but doing this requires you to dig around the sections being farmed in order to collect the soil, thus upsetting your worms. A better worm farm contains the plates of trays. You dispose of your waste in the (covered) top tray. The worms get busy munching, and soon the bottom layers collect with waste rich dirt. You collect the dirt and use it for gardening and planting, and grow your own nutrient rich fruits and vegetables without the need for fertilizers. Also since much of the organic waste has high water content the extra runoff is collected into a small can or jar. This is known as “worm tea” and can be used to water your plants with the same nutrients and minerals available in the dirt.

Because this “mini ecosystem” is constantly active there is no smell. And the part most impressive? Household items that you would normally waste: apple cores, coffee grounds, banana peels, green peppers, newspapers, paper towel rolls, and even egg cartons go straight into the worm farm, and eventually are processed into dirt. How cool is that?

Our friends keep their worm farm in the basement with a work light above it. Worms shy away from bright light but a red gel will keep them active as you watch. Or setup a webcam and create time lapse videos as our friends plans to do. You can purchase worms online or at a gardening store, and no need to worry about worms overwhelming your farm since their space will regulate their reproduction.

This is seriously the most impressive organic or green household activity I’ve seen. It’s easy, simple, and interesting. The way these worms, which live in something the size of a large shop-vac, can create natural dirt is just cool. Your organic waste now serves a purpose.

Worm Farms are becoming more and more popular. This blog features a worm farm made from Rubbermaid bins. Here’s another comprehensive worm farming site.

Left photo: adding waste for the worms. Right: Done! It’s soil now.

James Van Dellen and Caleb Cross

We hear lots of chatter about green products and companies. A LOT of chatter. In the past year the green theme has nascented into an avalanche which seemed to land mostly on the desks of marketing strategists. I don’t blame anyone for being burned out on the green scene: I see green labels at the supermarket, I can purchase carbon offsets when flying, and Mr. TV constantly tells me to “be green.” However every time I see a “green” promotion in retail or online my skepto-dar immediately cranks up and I wonder if in fact the money brought in from the green marketing collection plate is even making it to the green causes they promote.

Maybe I’m annoyed people treat the theme of environmentalism like a new scarf. Or those stupid oversize sunglasses that are so popular for some reason. It’s akin to your favorite band hitting it big, and you fervently reminding me “Hey I was with them when they were playing at…” You get the point. I’ve never mulched or torched a Hummer, but overall I think I’ve always BEEN pretty green.

With so many companies promoting “greenery” I fear eventually consumers will become tired of the theme, companies will shuffle on to the next trend, and the label “green” will once again be relegated to a pejorative for extreme environmentalists living in trees.

I’m FOR environmental awareness. I encourage people to maintain a reasonable environmental footprint. But that goes beyond retail and marketing. For those truly green it’s interwoven into your identity so tight that you don’t consciously THINK “green” with every purchase you make. Hal Taussig, founder of “Untours,” is a perfect example of this. He doesn’t need to concern himself with trendy green purchases because the entire philosophical umbrella of which he lives is life shows concern for personal and ecological sustainability. And I doubt he pontificates it daily.

I ask using Taussig’s example: Do you really need to juggle carbon offsets and weigh farmer over supermarkets if the MAJORITY of your life is already lived in the green? Personally I enjoy biking as a viable transportation method because it’s efficient and healthy. I shop local because it’s convenient and less time consuming, and our household has one car because it saves a ton of money. My motive in those choices isn’t to label myself green. It’s to maintain a simple, manageable, and enjoyable life. Fortunately these decisions end up being green. That however is a dangerous message for companies selling the “green” game, because part of being green is to eschew excess consumption and materialism. (Ok now I’ll disclose I own the Roomba and two iPods.)

Being “green” is more than just buying paper towels labeled green (in a plastic wrapper picturing the earth from space.) It’s about the sum of your individual choices. Your collective life is the denominator of what’s considered “green” or not. Should certain companies even market themselves as environmentally friendly when the products they design can never be considered green in the first place? How can a magazine even consider itself green, when as noted in the Cause Related Marketing blog the entire concept of a magazine – paper, printers, and trucks – is the complete antithesis of what being green is about?

I find it ridiculous for someone to search out green toilet paper when they have a three or four person family living in a 3,500 square foot house with five bathrooms to stock said TP in. It’s as nonsensical as slapping a lemon yellow “for the troops” stickers on a shiny black Escalade.

We live in a competitive and consumptive society. We’re told daily to purchase products we don’t need in order to solve problems we don’t have. The blog “marketing green” even examines and details strategies and methods of selling green. Green products follow the logic and money trail down another avenue of marketing. A company can’t say the REAL green message of “Don’t buy our junk – you don’t need it.” But those that are a different shade of green are astute at making smart consumer choices, limiting their consumption, and refraining from stockpiling their homes with unnecessary cheap plastic crap.

I’m a critic of our country’s suburban design, lack of accessible neighborhoods outside cities, the over reliance of cars for simple community transportation, and the quicksand pits of credit card debt that people gamble wade into. To me these larger concerns often override the efforts to be green on a small scale, and until the issue of larger than life consumption is addressed I’m not too concerned with “White Google versus Black Google.”

When thinking “green” forget about what’s on the store shelf. Examine your consumption, material drives, and balance your needs versus your wants. Scaling down in life, spending less, and making conscious consumer choices beyond whether it’s “green” or not will by proxy make you a greener person. That’s the ultimate green statement. But don’t tell the marketers.