Last week’s news really illustrated the push and pull between green ideals and the realities of life here on Planet X.

The Obama Administration put logging jobs ahead of forest preservation with its decision to allow a road into an undisturbed forest in the Tongass National Forest outside of Ketchikan, Alaska. The forest, a watershed and recreation area, had been left alone under a Clinton-era rule that protects “roadless” forests.

Now, the U.S. Forestry Service will allow two miles of road to be built so a local logging company can access timber. It will help local loggers weather tough times. But conservationists say its a bad call. There’s talk this might be a one-time exception. But then, the road to hell is paved with exceptions. Or is it intentions? In any case, this exception-al road will be bordered with clear-cut timberland. (See more in the Juneau Empire.)

Speaking of blowing up pristine lands, the debate over shearing off mountaintops to obtain coal continues unabated. You’ll recall a few weeks ago climate scientist James  Hansen and Darryl Hannah made headlines while protesting a coal operation in West Virginia.

Another mess, another bank, a different issue

This week, the Rainforest Action Network announced a new tactic in their guerrilla operation to save Appalachia: Go for the money. A newsletter to supporters asks them to call Chase Bank in New York City because the bank is a key financier of these coal operations. They’re not wasting time with some aggravating 800-number either, they’ve got names and numbers of employees and a script to follow. Cute.

So while people chip away at forests and mountains, eco-groups chip back. But what’s missing from these dialogues is, well, you. Consumers are end users of wood products. We don’t know exactly if you’ll be wiping your bottom with the trees from Ketchikan, or settling your lovely tushie on a new chair from Ketchikan. Maybe they have some high-level use in mind for these trees. Hope so.

In the meantime, there are a few small things that you can do to offset the destructive practices in any number of forests where the chain saws roar right now. Buy 100 percent recycled paper with the highest post-consumer content possible. Do this whether you are shopping for printer paper or TP.

Look for these brands, for example:

• Seventh Generation – (their TP is 100 percent recycled, minimum of 80 percent post-consumer fiber)

• Marcal – Their new “small steps” brand is 100 percent recycled “premium paper” (translation: Your tush will be safe)

As for that Appalachian coal. That’s problematic. You can’t ask people to turn off the electricity. But everyone who’s paying an electric bill should check out their power options. In many states you can choose your provider, and often you can choose a clean energy or cleaner energy plan. When you opt for wind or solar you’re keeping the pressure up on the fossil fuel industry.

(Want to know more about coal? Visit the Reality campaign, where they will share tidbits like this one from the US government: “CO₂ emissions from U.S. coal-based electricity are greater than emissions from all the cars and trucks in America.”)

March, take aim and… get great prices on organic yogurt?

Finally, on the green frontlines, was the Wal-Mart story. Bless their ginormous eco-heart, they have done a lot to bring sustainable practices to the mainstream. They’re selling Stonyfield Farm organic yogurt, organic teas, cage-free eggs, and they carried Kleenex Naturals (until that experiment folded).

But they’re still treading heavily on the land with big box stores that make a big thud when they plop down. Check out the controversy over their plans to set up shop next to a historic woodlands and Civil War battlefield in Orange County, Va. Wal-Mart claims it’s not taking a strong offensive; but defenders of history and nature are united in their pique. They want the store moved farther down the road.

The timing of this firefight exposed Wal-Mart’s weak flank: It broke out a day after the world’s largest retailer announced plans to promote green transparency with a worldwide sustainable products index. Ummm.

The moral of the story: It is NOT easy being green. Whoever said that?

(Photo credit: US Forestry Service, Kip Tyler)

Copyright © 2009 Green Right Now | Distributed by Noofangle Media

From Green Right Now Reports
(This story has been updated to add Wal-Mart comment.)

The Wal-Mart blow back has begun.

A day after the world’s largest retailer announced a plan to develop a worldwide sustainable product index, a Virginia group blasted the company for its plans to build a store on more than 50 acres of historic woodlands near the Civil War-era Wilderness Battlefield in Orange County, Va.

“Perhaps we should call this the Wal-Mart Paradox,” Jim Campi of the Civil War Preservation Trust, said in a statement. “On one hand, they are launching a big, splashy, public relations campaign touting how ‘green’ they want to be. Yet, on the other hand, they continue to move behind the scenes to destroy irreplaceable, historic land, which still retains its scenic beauty.”

Wal-mart wants to construct a 138,000-square-foot store in Locust Grove, less than a mile from the formal boundaries of the Wilderness battlefield. The plan has drawn opposition from environmentalists and public officials alike. Preservation groups have formed the Wilderness Battlefield Coalition to oppose the project, arguing that it is likely to produce a significant increase in traffic and subsequent development.

Wal-Mart points out that the store will be smaller than its normal SuperCenters, which are closer to 200,000 square feet. Of the 50-acre site, the company plans to leave 17 acres as a permanent conservation easement, and assures that the store will not be visible from any part of the battlefield.

The Wilderness Battlefield Coalition has proposed Wal-Mart build elsewhere in Orange County, at a location farther from the May 1864 battleground. The coalition has offered to fund a planning study to identify an alternative site away from Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania National Military Park.

This week, Virginia Gov. Timothy M. Kaine and the speaker of the Virginia House of Delegates William J. Howell also asked Wal-Mart and Orange County officials to find an alternative site for the proposed store. They noted that the battlefield “ranks supremely important” among the many Civil War battlefields in Virginia.

But Wal-Mart says the alternative sites were all considered and rejected on their merits.

“One of the alternative sites is less than a quarter of a mile away, so I don’t see how that’s any different,” said Keith Morris, Wal-Mart’s director of Public Affairs and Government Relations for the Northeast Region.

He points out that there “are almost 7,000 homes on the border” of the battlefield. “That’s who you’re trying to serve. Some of those people step right out of their homes onto the battlefield.”

Morris says “there hasn’t been any consensus” among the various opposition groups on another location. But he said Wal-Mart is continuing to have a dialogue with preservation and environmental groups.

The Battle of the Wilderness was fought in Orange County on May 5-6, 1864, with 29,000 Union and Confederate soldiers injured or killed. It also is noted as the first time that Generals Ulysses S. Grant and Robert E. Lee faced each other in battle.

The controversy is indicative of the challenges that Wal-Mart faces as it attempts to lead on sustainability on the one hand, and yet the scale of its stores and its expansion plans make it a frequent target of environmentalists and preservationists.

Rob Nieweg of the National Trust for Historic Preservation noted “the irony of Wal-Mart’s ‘green’ announcement is particularly acute when viewed against their plans to build on top of the Wilderness Civil War Battlefield, especially since Wal-Mart is ignoring viable alternatives that would allow them to build the store, create jobs and not harm the battlefield.”

Walmart’s proposal also has been denounced by some of the nation’s top historians, including Pulitzer Prize winners James McPherson and David McCullough, as well as documentarian Ken Burns. Others who have spoken out include Academy Award-winning actors Richard Dreyfuss and Robert Duvall, as well U.S. Congressmen Ted Poe (R-TX) and Peter Welch (D-VT).

Wal-Mart’s Morris emphasizes that the company has been working with and listening to local officials in choosing a site.

“We’re trying to follow their vison for growth in the area. This site has been endorsed by the chamber (of commerce) and the (local) newspaper. I don’t see how these outside groups or someone from Texas knows that.”

Greenpeace, guardian of oceans and forests, has reissued its Recycled Tissue and Toilet Paper Guide to help people make the switch to recycled paper.

The newly updated pocket guide endorses brands such as Green Forest, Earth Friendly, Natural Value and Seventh Generation, which are made of recycled paper.

It recommends that shoppers avoid products such as Kleenex, Cottonelle, Charmin, Angel Soft, Bounty, Brawny and the Target and Wal-Mart house brands because they are not made from recycled wood products.

Using recycled personal paper products can make an impressive impact in curbing global warming, according to Greenpeace, among others — far greater than one might suspect from contemplating the lowly roll of toilet paper.

Greenpeace reports that Americans could save 400,000 trees if every family replaced just one regular roll of TP with a recycled one. Imagine if more people switched over completely to recycled brands. Untold acres of carbon-absorbing, life-sustaining forests could be saved.

Even if Greenpeace’s calculations are off-the-mark, consumers could still wield impressive sway in saving forests by ditching conventional paper products.

Mainstream paper companies have responded to deforestation concerns by turning to wood from sustainably managed forests, which require them to harvest according to guidelines that preserve the forest and provide for replanting.

Advocates, though, worry that even these sustainable practices still winnow trees for throwaway paper products.

Greenpeace’s position is that paper companies should get their wood fibers from post-consumer wood or paper waste, or failing that, from Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) forests and tree farms. Companies should not use wood from old-growth forests, a practice that’s slowing, but has not stopped.

For its guide, Greenpeace eschewed paper products that were made from virgin wood fibers, and gave improved rankings based on how much of the product came from post-consumer waste. It also looked at whether the paper was bleached using chlorine, a process that pollutes groundwater, lakes and streams. It suggested that consumers look for products that are made of 100 percent overall recycled content, a minimum of which is 50 percent post-consumer recycled content.

It’s an attainable goal: Green Forest, the top TP pick, is made from 100 percent recycled fibers, 90 percent of which are post-consumer waste, meaning this paper is truly on its second incarnation. By contrast, several TPs in the “avoid” category contain no recycled or post-consumer content. In other words, they might be Angel Soft, but they’re not green.

Wal-Mart has drawn fire over all sorts of issues through the years, but the company certainly is pushing to be a leader on environmental matters. Just this month, the company announced two green ventures representing serious investment and another initiative that could greatly influence the eco-friendliness of common household products.

First came the announcement that the retailer is following the lead of REI with the opening of its first-ever “Environmental Demonstration Store.” Located in Burlington, Ontario, the building is reportedly the first large-scale retail site in Canada to use geothermal energy for heating and cooling (15 kilometers of pipe are buried under the parking lot to harvest that energy). It will maximize natural lighting with skylights and auto-adjusting light sensors, and buys 100% of its power from a utility providing wind- and water-generated electricity.

The store will also use in-floor radiant heating and cooling, and recapture heat from refrigeration units, to help heat the Burlington store. More stores like it are slated to open this year.

Then came news from south of our borders that Wal-Mart Mexico has installed “the largest photovoltaic complex in Latin America” atop a store in Aguascalientes.

The 174 kW project relies on over a thousand solar panels and is projected to generate 20% of the store’s energy this year. It’s the first project of its kind for the company, both in Mexico and worldwide, but likely won’t be the last if the company intends to meet its goal of 100% renewable energy by 2025.

Finally, speakers at the company’s quarterly sustainability meeting reported that Wal-Mart will be using its clout with product manufacturers to “reduce phosphates in laundry and dish detergents in the Americas region by 70 percent by 2011.”

Many cleaning products contain phosphates – notably laundry detergent and dishwasher soap – which “can damage aquatic ecosystems by stimulating the growth of algae that depletes oxygen in the water for fish and plants.”

Copyright © 2009 Green Right Now | Distributed by Noofangle Media

Food companies producing peanut snacks announced a series of voluntary recalls of their products over the weekend in the wake of a salmonella outbreak that has apparently sickened hundreds and may have contributed to six deaths over the past several months.

The snacks and foods recalled do not include name brand peanut butter in jars, but the federal Food and Drug Administration has warned that it is still identifying affected foods and that consumers should refrain from eating commercially prepared snacks with peanut butter or peanut butter served in institutional settings until further investigation is completed.

Authorities investigating the illnesses, which date back to September, said last week that they had traced the source to contaminated peanut butter and peanut paste produced in a processing plant owned by Peanut Corporation of America (PCA), in Blakely, Georgia. The plant supplies nursing homes and large manufacturers.

Samples of a tub of King Nut brand peanut butter sold to a Minnesota nursing home tested positive for salmonella, leading investigators to PCA. The company is now recalling literally tons of creamy, crunchy, “feed grade” and other peanut butters, sold to commercial food makers in five- to 475-pound containers. It has issued a list of the affected products and the serial numbers from the containers.

So far, the recall has not included any family-size jars of peanut butter prepared for direct retail sales.

But those who hope to avoid large scale food processing snafus such as this by seeking out the higher ground of organic labels, will not be comforted. The PCA list of commercial grade peanut butters being recalled include several labeled organic or natural. So theoretically, affected peanut butter could have found its way into organic snacks, just as it did with conventional snack foods.

As it is, large and small label products are being affected. Over the weekend, the FDA confirmed that it had found salmonella contamination in a package of Austin Quality Foods Toasty Crackers with Peanut Butter — a snack item made by Kelloggs and voluntarily recalled by the company after the FDA warned consumers to avoid eating products with peanut butter.

Kelloggs also recalled some other snack items containing peanut butter, sold under the Austin and Keebler labels, because of the risk of contamination.

The best source for information on the voluntary recalls is the FDA’s online list of alerts and recalls, where many of the manufacturers’ recalls are posted.

Other companies issuing voluntary recalls of their peanut butter products to avert any possible risk to consumers include:

• General Mills Inc., is recalling  Larabar Peanut Butter Cookie flavor snack bars and JamFrakas Peanut Butter Blisscrisp flavor snack bars because the peanut butter in those products was sourced from Peanut Corp of America.

• Ralcorp Frozen Bakery Products has recalled all Wal-Mart Bakery brands of peanut butter cookies sold by the on-site bakery sections of Wal-Mart Stores. It is also recalling its Lofthouse brand and Food Lion brand peanut butter cookies. See the recall notice for more info.

• McKee Foods Corp said is recalling two varieties of “Little Debbie” peanut butter sandwich crackers that could potentially be contaminated.

• Clif Bar & Company is recalling a variety of Clif, Luna and Mojo bars made with peanut butter from PCA. See the list on Clif’s recall notice.

• Meijer groceries  is recalling certain Meijer Brand crackers and ice cream, though none of the Meijer brand products have been specifically identified as contaminated.

Scientific American recently asked the question that’s probably on many minds at this point: How does peanut butter get infected with salmonella? Their recent interview with a food safety expert sheds some light on the topic, but may still leave some queasy. As one might guess, contamination occurs on the processing plant floor when water containing animal feces ends up in the product.

On the positive side, there aren’t that many outbreaks of peanut butter being infected with salmonella, which causes diarrhea, cramping and fever. It may seem that way, however, since the last big recall was just two years ago.

This time around officials believe that more than 400 people have been sickened by the affected peanut butter, with four to six suspected deaths.

Copyright © 2009 Green Right Now | Distributed by Noofangle Media

Harvesting daylight is an ancient trick – as old as the first man-made structure, as old as life on our planet, actually. Using the sunlight provided by nature is the most basic and simple way to illuminate one’s world. But when it comes to modern, sustainable architecture, the idea is relatively young.

Only in recent times has “daylighting,” as it’s sometimes called, made a blip on the broader green movement’s radar, with industry experts speculating that fewer than 1 percent of all U.S. buildings use natural light in a substantive manner (going beyond windows). The 21st century approach is waaaay more technologically involved than, say, a prehistoric clan setting up its fire pit next to the cave entrance.

More from GRN

Slideshow: Lighting with natural daylight

“In a layman’s terms, daylighting – which was our original term for it – is the process of bringing natural sunlight into a building and distributing it so you can turn the electric lights off,” says Bruce Bilbrey, co-owner of the Natural Lighting Co in Phoenix, founded in 1990 by his brother, Paul Bilbrey. (See the photo above of Frito Lay offices in Arizona — lit totally by daylight.)

“It’s not using the sun to create power to run the lights. It’s not a solar electric system. It’s using the sunlight directly. You use it with lighting controls, so that the lights can be off when there’s an adequate amount of daylight in the space.”

Bilbrey says the technology involves installation of skylights and reflective “lightwells” that architecturally bend lighting into a space, then, via large lenses and diffusers, deflect the light around. The company’s various systems can be used in residential and commerical spaces, and, depending on a building’s size, ceiling heights, lighting requirements and other needs, different types of diffusers and are employed.

“In very basic terms, it’s solar lighting. We call it simple solar,” Bilbrey explains. “But it’s not the same as having a skylight, which is just a feature on the roof where the light kind of comes in and goes where it wants – though the whole process does (use) ‘skylights.’”

Over the past several years, he and others in the business, such as Lighting Control & Design in Glendale, Calif., have noted a steady rise in the harvesting and harnessing of natural solar goodness. By doing so, “daylighting” converts don’t just save on energy bills and carbon output; they increase productivity among workers and create a healthier indoor environment that can lift spirits as well as enhance mental prowess. (This picture shows a daylight system at a charter school in San Diego.)

Daylighting even helps boost retail sales, studies show.

Large retailers including Whole Foods Market, Kohl’s, Target, Wal-Mart and JC Penney now use solar lighting (known generically as light, or daylight, harvesting) in many of their stores, while corporations such as Frito Lay/Pepsi and branches of the U.S. military employ solar harvesting to shed light on multiple situations – provided the situation occurs during daylight hours.

“Solar lighting really only works during the day,” says Bilbrey, who along with his brother and co-founder James Hennessey works with retailers Whole Foods, Target and Safeway, as well as various schools, municipalities and military bases around the U.S.

“We manufacture and install Component Daylighting Systems, which don’t store light, like a solar electric system,” the Arizonan says. “But in many buildings, the (daytime) lighting load is 50 to 70 percent of total energy use. The lighting load in one gym we worked with was 70 percent of the energy used in that building.”

Wal-Mart Stores is joining the Global Forest & Trade Network (GFTN), World Wildlife Fund’s initiative to save the world’s most valuable and threatened forests. The giant retailer also announced this week that it is moving toward making some of the jewelry it sells meet standards for sustainability and social responsibility.

Both steps are aimed at aiding the environment, with dual goals of assisting wildlife in jeopardized forests, and in the case of the jewelry, mitigating human rights issues in mining operations.

In joining the forest network, Wal-Mart is committing to phasing out illegal and unwanted wood sources from its supply chain and increasing its proportion of wood products originating from credibly certified sources, according to a WWF news release.

The United States is the largest consumer of industrial timber, pulp and paper in the world. The U.S. also is a top destination for imports of wood from areas where illegal logging and trade are common, such as Indonesia, China and Brazil; places where deforestation is stripping endangered species of habitat and contributing to global warming.

Wal-Mart’s commitment includes the importation and sale of all wood-based products with an initial focus on wood-based furniture. Wal-Mart says it sources furniture from the Amazon, Russian Far East, northern China, Indonesia, and the Mekong region of southeast Asia — some of the most biologically diverse places on earth.

Within a year, Wal-Mart says it will complete an assessment of where its wood furniture is coming from and whether the wood is legal and well-managed. Once the assessment is completed, Wal-Mart has committed to eliminating wood from illegal and unknown sources within five years. The company reports that it also will eliminate wood from forests that are of critical importance due to their environmental, socio-economic, biodiversity or landscape values and that aren’t well-managed.

The world’s largest retailer also wants to make its sources for jewelry more transparent, starting with a new line of baubles called Love, Earth.

Through a collaboration with Conservation International, the materials for Love, Earth will be traceable online from mine to store so that customers can see that the precious metals and stones used come from socially responsible mining operations. The criteria for the new line will take into account the environment as well as human rights issues.

The mid-term goal: to have 10 percent of Wal-Mart’s jewelry meet these new sustainability standards by 2010.

Read more about WWF’s work on sustainable forestry.

Copyright © 2008 | Distributed by Noofangle Media

Wal-mart has long been criticized for its labor policies and its impact on family businesses in smaller communities. But Henley, for one, seems satisfied that the mega retailer’s pledge to become an environmental leader is real. A press statement says the band and Wal-Mart share a “commitment to environmental sustainability.”

“We’re pleased that with Long Road Out of Eden we are able to present new music to our fans in a package that incorporates recycled fibers and is certified by the Forest Stewardship Council,” said Henley. “Using recycled materials and paper products from well-managed forests has a great global impact in conserving biodiversity.”

The album packaging features Domtar EarthChoice papers and is made from 30 percent post-consumer recycled fiber. EarthChoice papers are certified by the FSC, endorsed by the Rainforest Alliance and supported by World Wildlife Fund and Forest Ethics. However a seal isn’t a guarantee that a product is OK. Just this week, the FSC said it will impose stricter rules for certification after The Wall Street Journal revealed that one company carrying the FSC seal of approval has destroyed rainforests and engaged in illegal logging.

The Long Road Out of Eden CD is available for $11.88 in U.S. and Canadian Wal-Mart stores. The lowest impact way to go is to download it in MP3-format at Walmart.com for $10.88.

– Tom Kessler