The smell of autumn permeates the air. The cool, crisp weather signals fall’s annual crimson-colored foliage. For many an avid lawn keeper, the harvest season often means returning to the never-ending chore of raking and bagging leaves, then setting them at curbside for the weekly garbage haul-off. But stop right there.

Leaves are packed full of nutrients! Under normal growing conditions — with varied values, based on the source and condition of each tree — leaves are jam-packed with nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, calcium, magnesium, iron, manganese, chloride, boron, iron, sodium, copper, and zinc. To simply rake and bag them up, only to be hauled off to the garbage landfill is a total waste of nature’s vast supply of rich nutrients, perfect for replenishing the soil.

So how do you go green in the fall? Start the process by not throwing away your leaves. There are alternatives. Mowing leaves, then mulching, and composting are the most effective way to reuse and recycle leaf mixtures. In addition, leaves can be used for overall soil improvement, directly working them into garden and flowerbed soils by tilling them in.

Master Gardener Beth Finlay, of Berks County, Pa., educated through the Penn State University Master Gardener Program, is an avid-promoter of mulching and composting autumn’s treasures.

“Rake to get the leaves off of the perennial beds; rake them onto the lawn, then mow both the leaves and the lawn together, which results in a perfect compost mix. This is an ideal mix; ready to place into the compost bin,” Finlay says.

Recycling leaves may seem like additional work, but Finlay drives the point home about these techniques: “Look, (before going green) you’re already doing all the work; you’re raking, bagging and hauling the bags to curbside. All you’re really doing differently is placing the mulched mixtures into a compost pile or taking them to a facility, it’s just a different process, and it’s extremely simple. After a while, it becomes automatic. It just makes more sense.”

“For lighter leaf fall, fine leaves are a good source of nitrogen and great for placing back into the soil,” Finlay explains. “But in Pennsylvania, we suggest using only a finer mixture of leaf mulch, because heavy leaves are too much, and can smother the ground. If your leaf fall is heavy, the fall rains and then snow, will compact the leaves and kill the grass beneath it. So mulch in the fall.”

For those who do have really light leaf fall, recycling is much easier. “In fine form, a leaf and lawn mixture that’s just been mowed, can be left on the lawn,” Finlay says. “If it’s in fine form, it will get down in between the blades of grass and incorporate into the soil; feeding it and supplying it with nutrition.”

This type of fine mixture can additionally be applied in a 3 to 6 inch layer around the base of trees and shrubs, and a 2 to 3 inch mulch mixture can be placed in annual perennial flowerbeds, for a beneficial source of nutrients.

Here’s an excerpt from my new book, Saving The World At Work:

Every day at work, you are surrounded by waste that could be easily converted into social nutrition for your community. Have you ever counted all the broken or outdated computers, monitors, printers, phones, desks, and chairs gathering dust?

Many innovators are turning their trash into food by partnering with nonprofit groups with expertise in preparing used items for community distribution. Electro-Motive, a LaGrange, Illinois–based manufacturer of electric-diesel locomotives, took a novel approach to a recent company-wide upgrade of its computers. Instead of throwing out 700 old computer workstations, the company donated them to Chicago’s Computers for Schools, a nonprofit that refurbishes computers for local school systems. And when executives discovered that the recycling program was popular with employees, they organized a three-day recycling drive. Employee enthusiasm was so high that organizers created a follow-up event for the general public at Chicago’s United Center. Between the two events, more than 80,000 pounds of computer and office equipment were collected. (more…)

By Harriet Blake

Two evangelical groups are in the spotlight for their efforts to improve the environment. The most recent to join the eco-movement is a small group of Southern Baptists whose climate initiative is receiving a lot of press these days.

The Southern Baptist Environment and Climate Initiative (SBECI) got its start with a divinity student, Jonathan Merritt. As the story goes, one day in divinity class, Merritt had an epiphany.

“I was sitting in theology class at Southeastern Seminary [in Wake Forest, N.C.],” he says. “We were discussing how God reveals himself both through scripture and through nature. My professor made the statement that when we destroy God’s creation, which is a form of divine revelation, it is similar to tearing a page out of the Bible.

“That broke me,” says Merritt, “and began a shift in perspective for me.” The 26-year-old son of noted evangelist Dr. James Merritt, former president of the Southern Baptist Convention, decided that his faith needed to get on board with global warming. (more…)

By Clint Williams

Imagine a day of running errands - grocery shopping, dropping off the dry cleaning, hauling the kids to T-ball practice - that doesn’t include a stop for gas. Now imagine a week. A month. Three months. Six months. A year. Five years.

That’s the promise of the Chevrolet Volt, a plug-in electric car expected in dealer showrooms November 2010. Powered by a T-shaped lithium-ion battery pack, the four-passenger Volt will be able to travel 40 miles on a charge.

That’s enough range for the bulk of daily driving, GM officials say, citing a U.S. Department of Transportation survey that found 76 percent of drivers commute 40 miles or less daily.

Drive a Volt and the only reasons for stopping at a QT are Slurpees and microwave breakfast burritos. (more…)

As if we needed another scare this week, the tainted milk scandal in China continues to slip its moorings, with melamine, an industrial chemical never intended for human consumption, turning up in Lipton brand “milk tea powder” products destined for Asian markets as well as in good ol’ Nabisco Ritz cracker cheese sandwiches tested in South Korea.

International food giant Unilever announced today it was recalling certain Lipton milk teas from Hong Kong and Macau shelves because internal tests found melamine contamination. The company reported, however, that none of the affected products were destined for U.S. stores and that Unilever’s U.S. division does not import any milk ingredients from China.

Chocolate and coating suppliers in the U.S. have “confirmed that all of their products used in Unilever U.S. production” of ice cream and health drinks are unaffected by the melamine contamination in China, said company spokesman Dean Mastrojohn.

Meanwhile, South Korea officials reported finding melamine in Nabisco’s Ritz cracker cheese sandwiches and said they were banning imports of all Chinese-made food products containing powdered milk. (No calls back yet from Nabisco.)

Earlier, Cadbury also recalled 11 chocolate bars after tests found a small amount of melamine in six chocolate samples. Hong Kong authorities declared the contamination to be at a “safe level” - but Cadbury said it was still withdrawing the candy, made in Beijing.

Before that it was Mr. Brown Blend Instant Coffee and Mr. Brown French Vanilla Instant Coffee, and some other Mr. Brown’s brand coffees, on the hook for contamination, and…well, the list goes on. (more…)

Last week, I was in Washington DC and had a chance to talk with some folks from the EPA about the ‘Hummers’ in corporate America.  One of their pet peeves is corporate meetings.

Frequently, corporate meetings are held in remote locations that require mega travel by attendees.  Truck loads of paper and a mountain of waste is generated (from full color Power Point print outs to bottled water).   When regulations go after carbon emissions, the meeting industry will be under scrutiny by the business managers at companies around the country.

Today, I told several hundred meeting professionals about this in Chicago.  My challenge was to re-imagine how meetings are organized, located and executed.  It’s a matter of eco-financial-social innovation I argued.  Reduce the waste, eliminate disposable products and integrate a community component.  Those are just a few ideas on how to produce a “Green Meeting.”

Beyond their eco-footprint, meetings need to green up to set an example for the managers, sales pros and vendors that attend them.  If a company purports to be committed to the environment its meeting needs to ‘walk the walk’.  In fact, at some companies like Interface or Aveda, meeting professionals have influenced the culture to go home and innovate how products are made, packaged, marketed and delivered to customers.

Download my Dirty Dozen Rules of Green Meetings

Bring me to your next meeting

“It pays to be green” is one of RecycleBank’s mantras. And that’s what the cutting-edge company, based in New York City, is all about: Paying people to be green, at least when it comes to recycling.

While most people who recycle are already self-motivated to participate, RecycleBank gives them an extra incentive in the form of Reward Points redeemable through local and national partners, such as Petco, IKEA, Staples and other retailers.

Customers can take advantage of this financial pat on the back whether they’re homeowners who recycle curbside or students who recycle through a RecycleBank Kiosk.

“We believe everyone can recycle and everyone should be rewarded for it,” says Lisa Pomerantz, director of marketing. “RecycleBank is founded on the belief that environmental solutions create economic opportunities. With that in mind, our goal is to increase recycling, reduce landfill needs, cut disposal costs, and build local economies.” (more…)

It’s hard not to be in a panic about something these days, whether it’s global warming or financial meltdown.

Which is why I found it reassuring to see some of the new green cars in various stages of development at a General Motors “Ride and Drive” at Texas Motor Speedway in Fort Worth yesterday. The array was impressive: hybrid trucks (for people who can’t give ‘em up); compacts with econo prices and above 30 mpg ratings; flex fuel cars that may be increasingly viable as the price of ethanol beats gasoline, and a couple hydrogen fuel cell test vehicles.

Naturally, the Chevy Volt, GM’s darling plug-in electric newborn, was prominently on display. The production version of the car was just “revealed” last week in Detroit, and its Dallas-Fort Worth viewing (overseen by a GM dude specifically charged with making sure no one kicks too hard at the tires of the handmade show vehicle) was the first stop on a long U.S. road show.

Parent GM is proud of the Volt, which it hopes will help reshape its entire public image, letting Americans know it ain’t just a big truck company. And if the fairy tale proceeds as planned, the four-seater Volt will kick butt in the electric car category with GM’s proprietary lithium-ion battery, though that butt-kicking will have to wait until the end of 2010, when GM says the Volt should be available for sale. (At what price, they’re not saying.)

So far, people are liking the way it looks, according to the GM experts on hand. I thought it looked decidedly racier than my aging family van. (more…)

Ryan Morton did not have a vision of a home he aspired to own until he saw the highly stylized, three-story, loft-style sustainable “green” home replete with bamboo floors, radiant heat, bathroom tiles made of recycled glass bottles, skylights and walls of glass.

“Until I saw this, I didn’t have an idea of a home I aspired to own,’’ Morton said of the house, the basis of the Museum of Science and Industry’s exhibit, Smart Home: Green + Wired, which is open in Chicago through Jan. 4, 2009. “This is it. It’s essentially zero maintenance.’’

Morton happens to know the 11-room house, including a master bed and bath, a child’s room, two baths and a powder room, inside and out. He is a tour guide. “It’s really a great job,’’ he said.

The house highlights ways—big and small—that people can make green living an all-important part of their lifestyle. Built to celebrate the museum’s 75th anniversary, the energy efficient house was designed by Michelle Kaufmann Designs, a leader in green design community, and built by All American Homes. (more…)

When David Kilbourne picked up his 8-year-old son from Lake Travis Elementary in spring 2007, he noticed smoke billowing from idling buses parked in queue behind the school. The exhaust fumes his son was breathing each day as he waited to be picked up, he says, were contributing to his son’s migraine headaches. “My son is the quarterback for his youth football team,” said Kilbourne. “Because there’s only one quarterback, when he gets these headaches, it affects the team.”

Kilbourne remembers noticing the bus exhaust during the school’s bus safety week. “They were talking about how buses are safe when it comes to traffic accidents,” he said, “but there’s more to a bus’s safety than traffic accidents, like having air that’s safe to breathe.”

The coincidence spurred Kilbourne to take action. Not only did he write several letters to his local newspaper, but Kilbourne approached the head of his district’s transportation department to discuss air quality in and around its buses. After he spoke to Rick Walterscheid, the transportation director at the Lake Travis Independent School District, the school system put a no-idling policy into effect.

Walterscheid didn’t stop there, either. Later that year the 79th Texas Legislature adopted House Bill 3469, which established and authorized the formation of the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) to administer a statewide clean school bus program. (more…)

Here’s an excerpt from Saving The World At Work that relates to the value of supporting local companies, even when a global cost cutting opportunity comes up.

The Law of the Long View says if you commit to your partners, you’re committed for the long haul. It’s your job to stick with them even if a short-term reason to change arises.
Too often we treat partners with a what-have-you-done-for-me lately attitude, or a lowest-price-wins-my-business mindset. Such thinking can result in product recalls, disappointed customers, and damage to the company brand.

(more…)

Yesterday, I was at the Fox Business Channel’s studio to tape an interview for “Money For Breakfast”.

I noticed this recycling bin, filled with dead 9 volt batteries.  This is the way to do it!  Studios use a lot of devices (audio, etc.) that require 9 volts.  Too often, they are thrown away, and make their way into landfills where they are quite toxic as they decompose.

One of the studio guys told me that they send all of this to a dedicated service that recycles them.  This is proper disposal AND the right way to approach recycling.  Too often, you’ll see plastic bottles, paper and batteries in the same bin.

When that happens, recycling takes much more energy and is less efficient.  Separating these items is tricky, and if done wrong, corrupts the recycling chain — creating more waste down the line.

What does your office burn through?  Are you thoughtfully disposing of it?  Hey, if they can get it right at this studio, with their crazy schedule, you can too!

Read more from Tim at SandersSays.