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This summer has been a doozy for fires in much of the Northwest. Here in the heart of North Idaho, an area not necessarily known for rampant forest fires, the threat is on everyone's minds. Last week the Parker Ridge fire came uncomfortably close to the patchwork of farms and homes that surround our house. Like so many fires that have dotted the U.S. and Canadian Northwest in recent months, it started as a small lightning strike far from a residential area and grew, nurtured by exceptionally dry conditions and almost unheard of triple-digit heat waves.

But get used to it. According to a study released last month, fires like the difficult-to-contain Parker Ridge, the Kamiah fire, which has claimed 50 homes in North Idaho, and the Rock Creek blaze that roared through part of central British Columbia will be more frequent.

Megafires on the rise

A group of researchers at the University of Idaho has published a study that shows the occurrence of mega-size fires is likely to balloon in coming years. The reason? You guessed it: climate change.

"Very large fires," or megafires, are fires like the inferno in Kamiah, which take mega-size resources to contain, drain state coffers and often, when compounded with other fires or complications, lead to federal assistance. Or they may be ones like the Rock Creek B.C. fire, which is believed to have been caused by a smoldering cigarette butt, and moved with such speed within hours that campers were forced to flee on foot. According to the researchers, the data they studied suggested that a sharp increase in dry climate conditions, like drought, heat waves and loss of snow pack in the winter set the stage for megafires.

With the increase in climate change, said University of Idaho Geography Professor John Abatzoglou, "the projections are almost unanimously an increased" likelihood for wildfires.

Fighting the megafire

For the rural communities, the megafire presents a sizable problem.  Volunteer firefighters are the front-line defense for most small towns and many cities in the U.S. To put that into numbers: two-thirds of the fire departments are volunteer, and 70 percent of the country's firefighters that turn out to fight a fire, handle a toxic spill or aid in the rescue of an injured person are unpaid or receive nominal stipends for their work.

Yet according the National Volunteer Fire Council, the number of volunteer firefighters has decreased by 12 percent since 1984. And, "[while] the number of volunteer firefighters are declining, the age of firefighters is increasing," notes the report. Compared to 1984 statistics, when 12 to 15 percent of the firefighters in small- to medium-sized communities (2,500 to 10,000 people) were age 50 or older, 20 to 31 percent of today's front-line community firefighters are 50 or older.

And there's a clear reason for that, says the NVFC and the United States Fire Administration: Not as many younger community members are signing up.

Department of Labor statistics for 2004 show that nearly half (45.6) of those who declined to reenlist as firefighters for their community stated it was because they did not have time to volunteer, either because of job responsibilities or other commitments. Another 9.3 percent stated family issues prevented them from volunteering.

It's often easy to look at the rural community as a town or a place outside of major cities, ambiguously separated from major population centers. But in most cases, they aren't. As the Hayman fire in eastern Colorado proved a few years back, small towns often make up the first defense for major cities, and the resources that bolster the smallest towns often ensure the safety of the largest.

To combat volunteer retention problems, the NVFC launched a couple of new initiatives in 2014. One is the Fire Corps. Administered as part of the Homeland Security Department's Citizen Corps, it serves to bolster enlistment numbers, particularly in regard to emergency medical volunteer staffing, which is often handled by rural firefighters. A Federal Emergency Management Administration grant will also help the NVFC figure ways to increase the interest of millennials in firefighting roles.

And fire departments in both the U.S. and Canada have realized that increasing enrollment numbers may mean starting younger. In towns in the interior of British Columbia, an area known for hot, dry conditions and challenging fires, young men and women  taught fire fighting skills. The classes and competitions have been sponsored in the past by rural First Nations communities. It not only offers an excellent means to capture the interest of potential new recruits, but provides disengaged teens a up-close glimpse at what firefighting involves.

The NVFC admits on its Junior FireFighter site that here in the States, junior training problems often face liability problems while negotiating state laws. In Massachusetts, for example, a cadet must be 18 to be able to ride on a fire truck.  The limitations offer added protection, but as the Connecticut Office of Legislative Reports points out, it results in a maze of restrictions when it comes to teaching young adults about a crucial volunteer skill that helps keep their community safe.

Federal firefighting assistance on the way

This week Idaho Gov. Butch Otter, faced with increasing demand for firefighting resources, declared a state of emergency. It is odd to observe this transition, when taken with the recognition that Otter's administration has been stalwart against accepting any federal monies from the Obama administration. Idaho has until recently, remained steadfast against improving its Medicaid allowances for the elderly and disabled, all of which garner support from the federal government.

Fortunately, that line against federal funding seems negotiable when it comes to fire suppression in a state known for its mild summers and great snowpack. The new funding will likely not soften his position on enforcing environmental regulations to combat climate change but it, and the troops due to arrive shortly to assist local firefighters, will offer a much-needed buttress against this year's fires spurred by our changing climate.

Image credits: First responders - USDA; Suppressant - BLM; Firefighters - USDA

The Connecticut Labor Department shut down 23 nail salons after surprise inspections revealed that the parlors were violating wage laws.

Two of the salons passed the random inspection, but the others were shut down after the report showed employers were paying their workers under the table in cash in order to evade paying taxes like Social Security and unemployment. Many of the 23 salons shut down were also guilty of not paying their workers the state’s minimum wage of $9.15 an hour — tied for the third highest minimum wage with Vermont, behind Washington and Oregon.

At one salon, the employees earned just $40 for a 10-hour shift, shafting them of overtime pay to add insult to injury. Tips could have potentially pushed those workers’ wages over the state’s minimum wage, but in Connecticut only restaurants and bars are allowed to have tips compensate for smaller hourly wages.

Following the department’s rampage of shutdowns, it is demanding the salons pay at least $62,000 in back wages to more than 50 workers who were underpaid. On top of that, they’ll be required to pay $130,000 in combined civil penalties for underreporting payroll, instituting improper workers’ compensation, and violating wage and hour laws.

The random inspections were influenced by a New York Times investigative article that shed light on the unsatisfactory paying conditions in nail salons. Connecticut residents and workers inspired by the article urged their own state to investigate the conditions of salons in their own backyard.

New York has seen quick changes since the story publicized the truths of how neglectful salons were to their employees. Democratic Gov. Andrew Cuomo employed a task force to conduct nail salon inspections, which has since inspected more than 750 salons and issued just a hair under 1,800 violations. Cuomo also pushed for legislation to give the state more authority to shut down nail salons.

Unfortunately for workers owed mass amounts of money from these nail salons that have been forced to shut down, the parlors often hide their assets after their foreclosure. Cuomo, combatting the issue, introduced a new rule which requires salon owners to secure wage bonds to pay for any potential future legal misdoings.

The task force doesn’t stop with just nail salons; Cuomo is also busting down doors in 13 other low-wage industries like restaurants, retail, farms, construction and car washes. Connecticut will likely look to its neighboring state as an example of how to handle wage theft and employee mistreatment in such a popular industry.

Image credit: Flickr/Karol Franks

By Joseph Plummer

The Federal Reserve has a very clear mission that includes three basic objectives: maximize employment, keep prices stable and keep interest rates reasonable. And before 2008, the Federal Reserve and other central banks were able to effectively manipulate the financial system -- and, by extension, the economy -- using very simple levers such as adjusting interest rates or changing reserve requirements. However, central banks are now relying on quantitative easing as a powerful tool to increase positive economic activity. This makes sense, as there is undoubtedly a limit to the impact of adjusted interest rates and reserve requirements.

The jury is still out on the effectiveness of quantitative easing though. This is yet another debt-driven tool. In other words, the tool is considered to be working when banks increase lending. There also seems to be a time-lag between when quantitative easing takes place and when banks increase lending. Furthermore, it is unclear how much more lending banks can do under the given regulatory framework. In other words, just because banks have more money to lend doesn’t mean they will be allowed to make riskier loans, nor should they be allowed to make risky loans. There is clearly a limit to a bank’s willingness and ability to loan money, as well as a limit to an individual’s willingness and ability to borrow money.

It is worth noting that when the Federal Reserve decides to use quantitative easing as an instrument, there are 22 “primary dealers” from which securities can be bought. In other words, there are 22 banks that are able to conduct transactions with the Federal Reserve. Not all of them are U.S. banks. This number changes from time to time, but in general those 22 banks are the only ones conducting business with the Federal Reserve. Those 22 banks are all profit-driven corporations. Of the 22, there are none that have missions or objectives that align with the Federal Reserve’s mission and objectives. These are corporations that find ways to profit whether the market goes up or down, whether prices are stable or not, whether interest rates are reasonable or not, and with complete disregard for the country’s rate of unemployment.

Banks are not bad. Banks are not evil. Banks provide much needed services to society. But, the purpose of corporate banks is not to stabilize prices, keep interest rates reasonable and decrease the unemployment rate. The purpose of corporate banks is to make a profit. Profit is a good thing. However, the Federal Reserve has a higher purpose. Quantitative easing is an effort to increase the money supply, and by doing so, increase economic activity. There is no reason why quantitative easing must be channeled through those 22 banks. It might be time for the Fed to consider a new kind of “primary dealer."

Unlike banks, many philanthropic foundations and public charities have mission statements and objectives that align with the Federal Reserve’s objective of maximizing employment. This makes the nonprofit sector an ideal partner for the Fed. It seems to be within reason that the Federal Reserve could establish a new quantitative easing mechanism that injects capital into the nonprofit sector in such a way that stimulates economic growth in key areas. This could easily drive the unemployment level to an unprecedented low.

The latest round of quantitative easing (QE3) started in September 2012 at a rate of $40 billion per month and peaked in 2014 at a rate of $85 billion per month. At a rate of $40 billion per month, a year of quantitative easing channeled through the nonprofit sector would effectively double the sector’s operating budget. Likewise, at a rate of $85 billion per month, a year of quantitative easing channeled through the nonprofit sector would roughly quadruple the sector’s operating budget. To put those numbers in perspective, $40 billion is about 10 times bigger than the Gates Foundation’s annual giving. It's almost as big as the Gates Foundation’s endowment ($42 billion).

As our global challenges continue to grow, the role of the Federal Reserve in addressing those challenges will also grow. And, as the Federal Reserve considers the next round of quantitative easing, it should also consider new mechanisms that utilize the superior mission alignment within the nonprofit sector. The Federal Reserve remains one of the most powerful organizations on the planet. However, the Fed’s effectiveness is yet to be determined.

Image credit: Flickr/Pictures of Money

Joseph Plummer is a degree candidate in the Executive Master of Natural Resources (XMNR) program at Virginia Tech, expecting to graduate in May 2016. He currently works for a non-profit organization that works with schools and school districts on renewable energy and sustainability initiatives.

By Kyle G. Crider

It has been claimed that “coal saved the forests, oil saved the whales.”

Whether or not this is true – and I must leave you to do your own research on this interesting topic – it is quite true that coal’s birth in Britain as an energy source was precipitated by another energy crisis: deforestation. A November 1977 Scientific American article (PDF) explains:

"This transition from woodcutting to coal mining as the main source of heat was part of an early British economic revolution. The first energy crisis, which has much to do with the crisis we now face, was a crisis of deforestation.

"The adoption of coal changed the economic history of Britain, then of the rest of Europe and finally of the world. It led to the Industrial Revolution, which got under way in Britain in the last two decades of the 18th century. The substitution of coal for wood between 1550 and 1700 led to new methods of manufacturing, to the expansion of existing industries and to the exploitation of untapped natural resources."

Of course, the coal-lined road to Industrial Revolution, for all its benefits, brought many problems of its own related to the mining and burning of coal. (Interesting coal trivia fact: The first edict against coal burning in England actually dates to the latter part of the 13th century!)  In a 2012 paper, Air Pollution and Fuel Crises in Preindustrial London, 1250-1650 (PDF), William H. Te Brake quotes Royal Society Fellow John Evelyn of London from 1661:

"It was one day, as I was Walking in Your Majesties Palace at White-Hall, ... that a presumptuous Smoake . . . did so invade the Court that ... Men could hardly discern one another for the Clowd, and none could support, without manifest Inconveniency. This smoke, he explained, came from one or two Tunnels (smokestacks) nearby, indangering as well the Health [of the king and his subjects] as it sullies the Glory of this ... Imperial Seat. And what is all this, but that Hellish and dismall Cloud of Sea-Coale, an impure and thick Mist, accompanied with a fuliginous and filthy vapour, which renders them obnoxious to a thousand inconveniences, corrupting the Lungs, and disordering the entire habit of their Bodies, causing Catharrs, Phthisicks, Coughs and Consumptions [to] rage more in this one City, than in the whole Earth besides."

Fast forward to today. According to the World Health Organization, burning coal is a major contributor to “1 in 8 of total global deaths – as a result of air pollution exposure. This finding more than doubles previous estimates and confirms that air pollution is now the world’s largest single environmental health risk. Reducing air pollution could save millions of lives.”

This is not just a developing-world problem due to coal- and wood-fired cook stoves. Desmogblog lists the following facts from the Union of Concerned Scientists’ Clean Energy report:

A typical-sized 500 megawatt coal-fired electricity plant in the United States puts out each year:

1. 7 million tons of carbon dioxide. Carbon dioxide (CO2) is the main greenhouse gas, and is the leading cause of global warming. There are no regulations limiting carbon dioxide emissions in the U.S.


2. 10,000 tons of sulfur dioxide. Sulfur dioxide (SOx) is the main cause of acid rain, which damages forests, lakes and buildings.


3. 10,200 tons of nitrogen oxide. Nitrogen oxide (NOx) is a major cause of smog, and also a cause of acid rain.


4. 500 tons of small particles. Small particulates are a health hazard, causing lung damage. Particulates smaller than 10 microns are not regulated, but may be soon.


5. 220 tons of hydrocarbons. Fossil fuels are made of hydrocarbons; when they don’t burn completely, they are released into the air. They are a cause of smog.


6. 720 tons of carbon monoxide. Carbon monoxide (CO) is a poisonous gas and contributor to global warming.


7. 125,000 tons of ash and 193,000 tons of sludge from the smokestack scrubber. A scrubber uses powdered limestone and water to remove pollution from the plant’s exhaust. Instead of going into the air, the pollution goes into a landfill or into products like concrete and drywall. This ash and sludge consists of coal ash, limestone, and many pollutants, such as toxic metals like lead and mercury.


8. 225 pounds of arsenic, 114 pounds of lead, 4 pounds of cadmium, and many other toxic heavy metals. Mercury emissions from coal plants are suspected of contaminating lakes and rivers in northern and northeast states and Canada. In Wisconsin alone, more than 200 lakes and rivers are contaminated with mercury. Health officials warn against eating fish caught in these waters, since mercury can cause birth defects, brain damage and other ailments.


9. Trace elements of uranium. All but 16 of the 92 naturally occurring elements have been detected in coal, mostly as trace elements below 0.1 percent (1,000 parts per million, or ppm). A study by DOE’s Oak Ridge National Lab found that radioactive emissions from coal combustion are greater than those from nuclear power production.


10. A 500 megawatt coal-fired electrical plant burns 1,430,000 tons of coal, uses 2.2 billion gallons of water and 146,000 tons of limestone a year.

The Atlantic, in documenting Coal’s Devastation, writes:

"Hundred-million year-old sunlight has heated our homes and powered our factories for decades. Today, that energy is delivered less often by the friendly neighborhood coal man and more by the ubiquitous electrical grid: About 39 percent of U.S. electricity is generated by burning coal. All that combustion carries a cost, though, as the carbon previously trapped underground in long-dead plants becomes greenhousing carbon-dioxide in the atmosphere."

While carbon dioxide is a worrisome chronic pollutant emitted by coal-fired power plants, there are serious acute pollutant effects on human and environmental health as well. Here in Alabama, due to pollutants like mercury, the Alabama Department of Public Health (PDF) warns folks to limit consumption of fish in many of our rivers and lakes and, in some cases, to not eat from those waters at all.

For example, at Widows Creek – site of a former coal-fired power plant, which Google recently announced is to become one of its newest renewable-energy-powered data centers – fish consumption advisories range from “do not eat any” to no more than one meal per month, defined as “one meal of fish = a half pound or 8 ounces (raw) of fish.”

Coal is facing hard times, and not just in Alabama, where according to a July 18, 2015 AL.com article, Birmingham-based Walter Energy “filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection with $5 billion in debts on Wednesday, a number topping Jefferson County’s bankruptcy and any other coal company in the country since prices started dropping in 2012.” But for coal, the handwriting (that coal had been weighed in the balance, and found wanting) had been visible on the wall for some time. For example, a March 24, 2015 the Guardian reported that “the U.S. coal sector is in a ‘structural decline’ which has sent 26 companies bust in the last three years.”

Andrew Grant, co-author of the report cited by the Guardian, explains: “The roof has fallen in on U.S. coal, and alarm bells should be ringing for investors in related sectors around the world. These first tremors are amongst the clearest signs yet of a seismic shift in energy markets, as high carbon fuels are set to be increasingly outperformed by lower carbon alternatives.”

Of course, King Coal would like to lay the blame for its woes on those upstarts and rogues Obama, environmentalists and the Clean Power Plan. However, even the Wall Street Journal and the Washington Post know that the picture isn’t that simplistic. ‘Twas economics, not politics that deposed the king.' And we will all be able to breathe (and eat) a little easier for it.

Image credits: 1) Flickr/Roger W 2) Alabama Department of Public Health

Kyle G. Crider is Energy Project Manager for the Alabama Environmental Council and the Alabama Solar Knowledge project. Kyle holds a bachelors in Environmental Studies and a Master of Public Administration (MPA) degree with a double-emphasis in Urban Planning & Policy Analysis. He is a Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design Accredited Professional, Neighborhood Development (LEED AP ND).

By Daphne Stanford

When Radio Boise went on the air in April of 2011, the station had no idea it would garner such a loyal following in the community — especially the arts community. At a physical operations level, Radio Boise is powered by wind and solar energy: “Our main radio transmission is now powered exclusively by electricity sourced from regional wind and solar energy producers. We’re supporting renewable energy by purchasing renewable energy credits from Idaho Power’s Green Power Program to match the electricity used for our radio transmission,” the station said.

This investment in renewable energy is only one part of Radio Boise’s sustainable approach, however. Radio Boise is also a big supporter of eco-friendly causes through hosting several green-themed shows on a weekly basis: "Building a Greener Idaho," "Talk Dirt to Me" and "Elemental Idaho."

According to a recent TriplePundit article on the Three Phases of Sustainability, effective implementation of sustainable practices includes incorporating:

• Eco-efficiencies and risk reductions,


• Competitive advantage, and


• Reinvention and regeneration

In addition to utilizing green sources of energy to power the station and supporting green-themed programming, Radio Boise also encourages a sustainable lifestyle through a focus on ‘green’ premiums during its biannual fund drives, as well as supporting local artists, festivals and events that place a premium on sustainability and responsible use of resources, along with minimizing waste. For example, during the last Radiothon, the station gave away handmade ceramic mugs as premiums and featured a graphic designed by local artist Erin Cunningham on Radio Boise T-shirts and hoodies.

In addition to supporting local arts and sustainable causes, Radio Boise is attempting to address the shortage in local news coverage by planning a local news broadcast — currently in the works. In addition, regularly occurring weekly and monthly events such as "Radio Boise Tuesdays" and "Campfire Stories" are covered extensively by Radio Boise via a variety of social media and mediums: via live broadcasts, coverage on the KRBX website, and the establishment of an online presence via social media sites such as Tumblr, Twitter, Instagram and Facebook.

In business and organizational marketing, establishing an online presence via social media cannot be emphasized strongly enough. In fact, Chrissy Symeonak argues, social media is essential to marketing these days: The majority of marketing, in fact, takes place on social media. It would be madness to launch a marketing campaign that lacks this crucial component. Moreover, Symeonak encourages social posts and tweets that don’t take themselves too seriously. One great example of this social media involvement in action can be seen every spring during the last week of March.

Boise’s Treefort Music Festival has been going strong for three years -- each year growing in size and number of festival days. Along the way, Radio Boise has assumed an integral role by broadcasting freely accessible, on-the-ground coverage of the festival from the main stage, as well as broadcasting live, in-studio performances of many of the artists. In addition, Radio Boise utilizes Facebook and Instagram to snap candid snapshots of moments captured in real-time and posted immediately via the use of tags and a Tumblr account to funnel all the social media team volunteers’ pictures and videos into one place.

There’s also the annual Pre-Fat block party, one of the station's largest annual fundraisers. It’s basically a night-before party in anticipation of Tour de Fat: a celebration of bikes and bike culture that begins with a bike parade and culminates in a bike-centered festival filled with bike-centered activities, contests, music and entertainment. During Pre-Fat, the station tweets and post plenty of Instagram and Facebook updates and photos, trying to encourage social shares and excitement about the event. This social media activity not only provides a great service to the community by providing coverage of events to those unable to attend in person or festival-goers who want to keep up with various events around town — it’s impossible to be everywhere at the same time, after all! — but it also helps to brand Radio Boise as a provider of local news coverage that is free and readily available to the community.

This focus on local community-building is crucial to the mission of Radio Boise, which is also in line with TriplePundit’s Sustainability 3.0 model, which calls for identifying “serious local and/or global problems which could be addressed by your core competencies.” Rather than perpetuating the for-profit model that popularizes corporate artists and capitalistic radio models, community radio creates original, innovative programming from the ground up. KRBX is sustainable because it is run by the community, it is local, and it does not perpetuate a top-down approach to media and news consumption, but rather a grassroots mining of local resources.

The station is also in support of values that reflect green and sustainable codes of conduct such as gardening, supporting local CSAs, having conversations with local figures connected to issues related to sustainability, and investigating ways to move toward greener building methods in our neighborhoods and downtown infrastructure. Shows like Building a Greener Idaho – in addition to being focused on sustainable, green building methods — encourage listeners to suggest a topic for the show. Recent guests include the Boise Urban Garden Schools (BUGS), the Boise International Market and Eyes on Conservation.

This online push to greater participation in a local radio show acknowledges the realities of audience attention and consumption: Most people are online for much of the day these days — whether while at work or after work on their smartphones. In this way, it makes sense that Radio Boise has tapped into this online audience by staying active on the social media sites where potential listeners might be present. Community has become the No. 1 way brands are marketing themselves to consumers, followed by co-creation. If listeners feel that they can call the station and request a song, that type of community connectedness and input is highly valuable when Radiothon comes around each spring and fall and listeners are asked to donate what they can to sustain the station.

The feeling of co-creation and co-ownership are important to what makes Radio Boise sustainable — not just in terms of the environment, but also in terms of local growth and people-powered energy. As a nation of consumers and citizens, we’ve come a long way in our standards of corporate and organizational responsibility — in regards to sustainability, specifically — since the first Earth Day in 1970. This focus on locally-grown values also translates to the increasingly important role that energy-conservation and environmental sustainability has in people’s decisions to support or boycott a company.

In the future, this focus on sustainability will lend even more of a competitive edge to companies and organizations that want to increase awareness of the importance of conservation to our continued health and vitality. Both as individuals and as a collective, sustainable values are crucial to renewal and regeneration for our planet and our communities.  The old top-down model of mindless consumption, of corporate news and watered down top-40 music, is being replaced by grassroots journalism and critical mining of music, literature and information.  The ability to think critically and pursue lifelong learning will save us all, and it starts with the homegrown efforts of community radio stations like Radio Boise: radio, live transmission.

Image credit: Flickr/Andréanne Germain

Daphne Stanford has lived in four states and six cities, and she plans to visit the Basque country sooner rather than later. She puts her three degrees to good use through nonfiction and poetry writing, as well as through her weekly poetry show on Radio Boise. Find her on Twitter at @daphne_stanford or on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/ThePoetryShow.​

By Julie Urlaub

The grocery store industry has been making strides in setting and meeting sustainability goals, but Lisa Stanley, vice president of product management for the Washington, D.C.-based U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC), told Grocery Headquarters that supermarkets have more work to do.

According to Biz Energy Advisor, grocery stores in the U.S. use an average of 52.5 kilowatt-hours of electricity and 38,000 Btu of natural gas per square foot annually. In a typical store, refrigeration and lighting represent about 65 percent of total use, making them prime targets for energy efficiencies.

Energy conservation within these four walls

Grocery stores are the heaviest users of energy of any type of commercial building in North America, and the cost is high. "On average, grocers spend about 1 to 1.5 percent of their revenue on electricity and natural gas. This means the cost of utilities may equal half or more of total profits. A 10 percent reduction in energy cost could increase profits by 5 to 10 percent,” Mike Parks, president of customer innovation at Verisae, Inc. (a provider of enterprise energy), told Retail Leader.

Stanley agrees: “The grocery industry is focused on energy efficiency work, with good reason — they can make a significant impact to the triple bottom line when they embrace energy retrofits for lighting, HVAC and refrigeration equipment.”

Many grocery chains (small and large) are investing in different kinds of energy-saving solutions. Market of Choice (Eugene, Oregon) installed air curtains at its front entrances that saved energy and cut costs while conserving valuable floor space. Kowalski’s Cub Foods (White Bear Lake, Minnesota) installed smart sensors and controllers in frozen glass display cases, a move that has already paid for itself and continues to save money. Stater Bros (San Bernardino, California) swapped its 60-watt fluorescent lights for GE’s 16-watt LED system in 163 participating stores, resulting in annual energy and maintenance savings of around $570,000.

Tracking the data

But once stores invest in energy-saving technology, how do they track their usage, gauge their savings, set goals, meet them and continue to strive for more savings? Parks recommends investing in a tool that will help track energy data.

New Seasons Market, based in Oregon, has 18 locations, with two more in the works. The grocery chain embraced sustainability measures right from the beginning, not only composting its own waste, but also offering composting and recycling services for hard-to-recycle items to the surrounding community. As New Seasons expanded in size and geographic area, it became more and more important to capture utilities data, analyze it for potential savings, set sustainability targets and evaluate the company’s progress. In 2014, New Seasons chose data management tool Scope 5 to track their energy usage [full disclosure: Scope 5 is a client].

Data collection leads to energy savings

Previously, Teak Wall, New Seasons’ sustainability program manager, says she spent hours and hours poring over utility data for all the store locations. Even though New Seasons is in the early stages of implementation, after entering the chain’s historical data, Wall said that seeing all the data together was immediately eye-opening. And not just for her. Now she can easily create a chart that can be shown to different audiences, clearly illustrating any number of data points.

For example, once all the water data had been collected from all of the company's locations, Wall was able to see that the water consumption in one of its brand-new stores was twice what she had expected it to be. That information enabled her to detect and fix an issue that had not been obvious before.

“If we had not been able to look at it in that visual capacity, that problem could have gone on and on,” Wall says.

Wall also found that several different people in her organization interacted with the utility data unnecessarily, prompting her to implement new efficiencies that save time and effort.

Wall can see several ways the data management tool will help the grocery chain going forward. For starters, Wall was able to measure the chain’s carbon footprint for the first time, giving her an important data baseline she has already used to begin drafting ambitious energy and water reduction goals.

“We [also] want to use it as an engagement tool to help our store operations teams compete with each other to reduce their usage. We are already transparent with our financials, and I would like to do the same thing with what we are calling our mission dashboard information so we can see how we are doing from a triple bottom line perspective,” Wall says. “Then we can think about it from a continuous improvement standpoint.”

Sustainability has always been a core value for New Seasons. The chain has undertaken several sustainable projects, including green building improvements, innovative refrigerant solutions, and heat recapture from the refrigeration system to preheat water, in addition to composting, recycling, food donation and waste reduction programs that have been in place for many years. The chain is actually a certified zero-waste company, diverting 92 percent of its waste away from the landfill.

Time equals money that can be used to help someone else

Now that the company’s data is being collected consistently and is more easily analyzed, Wall is looking for ways that New Seasons can not only capitalize on energy efficiencies, but also save time.

In 2015, New Seasons needed to re-certify its B Corp status, which is a task that Wall says can be time-consuming. However, since its historical data had all been compiled into one system, the process was significantly streamlined.

Many of the chain's sustainable efforts, including composting, recycling and zero waste, are complicated and time-intensive, but it is determined to continue to offer its communities these services. New Seasons also makes a point of working with small, local vendors and family farms, something that many larger chains don’t do, due to the increased manual effort it takes to place orders and process thousands of paper invoices by hand.

“We do it,” Wall says, “because we think it’s important for the local economy. But what we’ve done lately, which I think is really exciting, is to work with those small vendors to create an infrastructure to make it more efficient for them as well as for us. We try to be innovative and think differently.”

So, wherever New Seasons can save time, it looks for ways to reallocate that effort toward helping someone else. In the past, it has sometimes been difficult to measure the return on investment of these projects, but now Wall is looking forward to seeing the data roll in from these “homegrown” programs so it’s easier to quantify the positive impact New Seasons has always known was there.

And, as if all that wasn’t enough, New Seasons gives 10 percent of its after-tax profits to various organizations through grants and donations, so any increased energy savings found through data analysis don’t just help the environment and benefit the grocery retailer, but they also result in profits that go back into the community. That’s quite a return on an investment in data collection.

Image credit: Stock image

Julie Urlaub is the Founder and Managing Partner of Taiga Company and author of The Business Sustainability Handbook. Her award winning blog, engaged Twitter following of 50,000+, and her large, loyal following on Facebook, Pinterest, and Google+ has garnered her recognition as one of the top resources and thought leaders in social media engagement for sustainability.

About Scope 5. Scope 5 helps you extract value from your sustainability data. Our web-based software solution makes reporting more efficient, accurate and transparent. Our analytics help reveal opportunities to reduce costs and risks.

One of our current customers put it this way: "Once folks start focusing on the metrics, it motivates them in new ways to do a better job." 

Companies typically get started using spreadsheets to support their sustainability reports; Scope 5 is the accessible upgrade alternative to "big software" solutions. 

Today, TriplePundit and Diplomatic Courier hosted Mars, Inc., IBM Research, The World Food Prize and National Geographic Magazine for a special Twitter Chat about the intersection of food and sustainability – at #FutureOfFood. Special thanks to Mars, Incorporated for sponsoring the conversation!

During this hour-long Twitter Chat, Mars, IBM Research, The World Food Prize and National Geographic Magazine took an analytical look at global issues facing us in 2015. The conversation focused on the future of food in relation to sustainability and changing global needs, and our guests discussed the connection between food, health and technology, bringing to the forefront the role food plays in wellness. Additionally, we discussed the importance of food safety and security in a global distribution system. Overall, the #FutureOfFood chat drove awareness of the opportunities for collaboration among experts, innovators and policymakers.

Highlight topics of Twitter Chat included the following. Check out the Storify summary for more details!

• Overcoming the challenge of nourishing 9 billion people by 2050


• Breakthroughs at the nexus of food and wellness


• The role that corporations and startups can play in collaborative innovation


• The importance that food safety and security play in the future of food discussion


• And our guests answered ten questions from the audience!

 
 

FEATURED GUESTS:

• Dave Crean, Vice President of Corporate Research and Development at Mars, Inc. (@MarsGlobal)

• Jeff Welser, Vice President and Lab Director at IBM Research (@JeffWelser /@IBMResearch)

• Ambassador Kenneth M. Quinn, President at The World Food Prize Foundation (@WorldFoodPrize)

• Kelsey Nowakowski, Reporter at National Geographic Magazine and National Geographic’s The Plate (@NatGeoFood)

MODERATORS:

• Marissa Rosen (@MarissaR1) — TriplePundit Director of Social Media


• Jen Boynton (@JenBoynton, @triplepundit) — TriplePundit Editor-In-Chief


• Mary Mazzoni (@Mary_Mazzoni) — TriplePundit Senior Editor


• Diplomatic Courier (@DiploCourier) — Global affairs media network connecting publics to leaders

 

Most of us have been faced with the challenge of disposing of a computer at one time or another in our professional careers. Perhaps the unit you are using has died. Maybe it is no longer able to keep up with current technology and software. Or it’s just not the right model for your business needs.

There’s a million reasons why we get rid of a laptop, desktop or other electronic item. And there's about 300 times that number of electronic units manufactured each year and put out into the market. The U.S. and China are among the biggest producers of e-waste, and not surprisingly, among the biggest manufacturers of electronics. In 2013, more than 3 million tons of e-waste was generated, and only 40 percent of that burgeoning pile actually ended up getting recycled.

Recycling: The challenge of value recovery

So, what is making it so hard to do away with e-waste? And just what is it that is recovered that makes old, out-of-date recycled computers both valuable and a sustainable resource for business? Most importantly, what is it that still needs to happen to ensure that our average rate of 40 percent recycled can be transformed to 100 percent?

To get to the bottom of this pile of questions, we reached out first to Arrow Electronics, a company that specializes in electronic and component recycling.

Arrow first started as a forward distribution company for electronic components. In other words, it manufactured and sold the new components that went into the earliest hard drives, servers and many other electronics that launched the current electronics industry.

Today, Arrow's main specialty is value recovery: the reclaiming, restoration and repurposing of electronics and the myriad of components that make those 300 million-plus units that go to market.

When a computer is recycled it usually ends up at a company like Arrow. The fate of that discarded unit may depend on a number of things, but ultimately, says Carol Baroudi, its end-purpose will be the reuse of viable materials. Baroudi specializes in IT asset disposition solutions for Arrow Electronics.

"Our first and foremost goal is reuse," says Baroudi, who notes that the company has a goal of zero landfill in all of its operations."If a computer, or a server, or a phone or a tablet can be used again -- that is, if it is already in working condition and there is a market for it, or if it can be repaired for less than it costs to sell it for -- we will repair it, we will refurbish it, and we will find a new owner for it." Reuse can also take the form of components -- from the tiniest, the size of a drop too small to pick up with your fingers, to the bulkiest, in the form of casings, wire and plastic.

Sounds like a pretty comprehensive system to take care of the world's e-waste, right? So, why does the e-waste problem still exist?

Getting rid of that loveable old CRT

 

First, says Baroudi, "there is a huge education gap" when it comes to recycling options for electronics. She says many consumers may realize that they can sell their cell phone at a kiosk for a few cents or a few dollars, or trade it in for credit at places like Best Buy or Staples, but not everyone realizes knows that their computer manufacturer probably has an agreement to take the unit back and recycle it when it's reached the end of life point. "Most electronics just get thrown away or tossed aside" says Baroudi, "and that is a big danger from both a data security perspective and an environmental perspective."

The second problem is actually interrelated to the first: a lack of infrastructure. Trade-in policies at stores like Best Buy are a new phenomena, relatively speaking, and only sparsely supported by city and county recycle drop-off programs. "If there is no Best Buy or Staples near you, what do you do with your computer?"

But it is the third challenge that speaks to the heart of the problem: "The lack of economics of recycled computers are very, very tricky," says Baroudi. "There is a market for a two-year-old laptop, absolutely. But there is no market for a 12 year-old CRT," especially one with leaded glass or materials that are now considered toxic and require special handling.

Redesigning the rare earths market

For years, electronics manufactures looked to China for the rare earth elements that are so essential to their industry. Rare earths like  neodymium and metals like tungsten fill a variety of roles and are generally indispensable in the manufacture of electronics.

But China's clamp-down on its sale of these vital minerals, which emerged after it entered the electronics and clean energy markets has heightened the interest in recycled rare earths. And that's a challenge when the material you are harvesting is so small it can't be separated mechanically. "It’s like a putting a little eyedropper of liquid into a pot," says Baroudi.

Wayne Rifer, who serves as the director of research and solutions for the Green Electronics Council, is well acquainted with the problems associated with rare earths. He and Jason Linnell, the director of the National Center for Electronics Recycling, published a paper on the challenges of recycling precious metals like tungsten and other related rare earth substances. The first point to acknowledge, says Rifer, is that rare earths are actually pretty common.

"They are improperly named," says Rifer. "They aren’t rare. They are everywhere."

And they are a technological feat that requires the recycling company to use manual, time-consuming and often ineffectual means to pull them from machines - steps that often make it cheaper to simply purchase new sources of rare earths.

Rifer and Linnell add that the relatively miniscule size of the magnet in the hard drive for example becomes a discouraging factor for the recycler "because the priority for many recyclers is to move large quantities of product as efficiently as possible [and therefore] "are often overlooked by the recycler."

"They have to be removed from the hard drive so there can be a concentrated source of rare earths" on hand, says Rifer, and that is difficult when the manual cost of harvesting them in multiple numbers may exceed the customer demand.

In other words, says Baroudi, "recycling works when there is a buyer for the end product," and in order for there to be an economical end product, there must be the infrastructure and a system to provide the product economically.

Rifer points out that that there are a number of steps being examined to improve the harvest of rare earths. He doesn't believe that government subsidies, such as those offered in other industries would help incentivize recyclers to dig into rare earth recovery because it can be uncertain, making it difficult for business to plan. He also isn't sure regulation will incentivize private industry to develop new ways to harvest a potentially expensive component.

The answer, he believes, is to develop a volunteer standard that offers a modest premium for the recycling of rare earths. The standard could also be built into programs like EPEAT, where there is a ready supply of manufacturers interfacing with the consumer market.

But first, he says, there must be better consideration to end-product design so that recyclers can find and remove rare earth components quickly and easily.

"How products are designed tend to affect how easily they are recycled," says Rifer.

Changing green electronics

Jonas Allen, director of marketing for GEC, acknowledges that the challenge with any recycling system is to find a way to stay in step with the advancing technology of a very fluid market.

"The world of electronics changes so quickly," says Allen, who added that the GEC is currently working with stakeholders to expand the EPEAT registry beyond the current types of products it covers and to resolve challenges around e-waste processing, including those sources that hold the world's most precious elements.

"We have a vested interest in helping [the electronics industry] become green," says Allen, and a vital part of that ongoing dialogue is how to reduce e-waste.

Ed note: To learn more, consider attending the Emerging Green Conference September 24-25, 2015 in Portland, Oregon. Enter code TRIPLEPUNDIT to receive a 20 percent discount! 

Abandoned CRT: Endlisnis; Ancient cat-warmer: Steve Rainwater; Neodymium magnets: Thanh Ngyuen; LG monitor: LG

 

 

Thanks to an ongoing drought exacerbated by climate change, California and the Western U.S. are facing one of their worst wildfire seasons on record.

The worst fire in recent memory and the third largest in California history, the 2013 Rim Fire, claimed more than 250,000 acres in and around Yosemite National Park. In comparison, nearly 118,000 acres have already burned in California alone this wildfire season, more than double the five-year average for this time of year, Mother Jones reported on Monday. (Check out the magazine's interactive map of current California wildfires here.)

Fires are also burning in Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Montana, Nevada and Colorado, causing the evacuation of more than 1,000 people and claiming 1.1 million acres in total, the National Interagency Fire Center said Monday in a news release. About 200 active military personnel will be deployed to fight ravaging wildfires in the seven Western states, CNN reported.

But California has a dirty little secret for keeping wildfires at bay: recruiting prison laborers.

The state has relied on the cheap labor of volunteer inmates to fight wildfires since the 1940s. The state now boasts the largest volunteer inmate firefighting program in the country, with around 4,000 inmate firefighters, according to the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation.

To put that in perspective: The California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (Cal Fire) — the state’s emergency fire response program — has about 10,000 firefighters on the ground combating wildfires, meaning almost half of its firefighting force is made up of volunteer inmates, Think Progress reported last week.

Although all firefighting positions with Cal Fire are volunteer, civilian volunteer firefighters receive minimum wage for the dangerous work of fighting 100-foot flames ($9 an hour in California). In contrast, inmate firefighters are paid about $1 an hour for fighting fires. When they're working in camp or training, they receive anywhere from $1.45 to $3.90 a day.

That seems shockingly low for a state-run program, but “it’s good money for prison standards,” Bill Sessa, spokesman for the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, which co-operates the inmate firefighting program with Cal Fire, told Think Progress.

As you may guess, this program saves the state (and the taxpayer) a boatload of money, although estimates vary as to just how much. Cal Fire pays a typical civilian firefighting crew (12 to 15 people) between $2,592 and $3,240 for a 24-hour period of fighting fires -- while inmate firefighters cost between $288 and $360 over the same period. Estimates for annual savings of the program range from $80 million to $1 billion a year.

On the surface, this may sound like a good deal for the taxpayer: Thanks to cheap prison labor, the state saves millions of dollars a year on a necessary service. And it's far from unprecedented for inmates to do odd jobs for the state, like the age-old example of making license plates.

But when it comes to fighting wildfires, a highly dangerous job that claimed the lives of 300 men and women between 2000 and 2013, an uncomfortable yet imperative question arises: Are these inmates really volunteering? Are they really risking their lives of their own free will? What does free will mean when you are behind bars?

The inmate volunteer firefighting program in California operates on what's called a 2-1 credits system, which incentivizes participation by offering inmates twice as many credits toward early release as they would earn by working inside the prison.

That already starts to smell a bit fishy. Offering an inmate a reduced sentence for a dangerous job presents a painfully obvious conflict of interest. Even if an inmate volunteers, one can never fully argue he or she did so willingly.

If your nose is already wrinkling, get ready because it's about to smell even worse: It seems some state officials are actually nervous that reforms seeking to reduce California's notoriously overcrowded prison population will put a damper on its successful inmate firefighter program.

In November of last year, lawyers for the state filed court documents arguing that a proposed expansion of parole programs would "drastically undercut the appeal of the state’s fire program," Think Progress reported. Attorneys for the state argued that such an expansion would “severely impact fire camp participation—a dangerous outcome while California is in the middle of a difficult fire season and severe drought,” the site reported last year.

The program has historically recruited volunteer inmates from state prisons, with some limitations (no arsonists, no violent offenders, no inmates serving a life sentence, and no inmates with behavior problems in high-security institutions).

But as prison reform takes hold in California and more inmates are granted early parole or moved into county jails, the state has started to look to county facilities to fill the program. The most recent investigative piece from Think Progress (here's that link again) includes several disturbing quotes from state officials, including referring to inmates as "resources." But for those who don't have time to read in full, this doozy about reform shifting prisoners from state to county prisons should give you a pretty good glimpse at the full picture:

“We are always concerned, but we have contingency plans,” Sessa of the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation told Think Progress. “There were predictions a few years ago that the population would drop dramatically, and fortunately those predictions did not come true, but anticipating that they might the state negotiated contracts with counties to provide jail inmates if we need them. Out of the 3,800 that we currently have out there, only about 200 or so are actually from counties.”

Yes, you read that right: "fortunately those predictions did not come true." When the state has become so dependent on cheap prison labor to execute programs as necessary as fighting wildfires, that raises serious ethical questions. It should be a glaring red-flag that state officials are so nervous about losing their pool of cheap labor that they'll actually push back on reforms seeking to reduce the state's prison population. Yes, those same prisons that  have been described as unconstitutionally overcrowded.

This story only adds to the backdrop of a prison-industrial complex that increasingly treats people as commodities. From recent allegations that a private jail near Nashville, Tennessee, is exploiting free prisoner labor to line staff members’ personal pockets, to a Pennsylvania judge being sentenced to 30 years for selling people (many of them children as young as 10) into the private prison system in return for cash bribes, it's clear something is wrong.

It can be easy to dismiss inmates simply by saying: "Don't want to be paid $1 an hour? Don't commit a crime in the first place." But if an entity -- whether it be the state or a private firm -- is profiting directly off the backs of underpaid prison laborers, often recruited under duress, that presents a serious human rights issue we need to start thinking about. We're already on the path to a reality in which a "made in the United States" label could really mean "made by prisoners paid sweatshop wages right here in the U.S." Heck, organic, "American-raised" salmon being sold at your local Whole Foods may have been raised in a prison labor camp.

While California will likely continue to depend on prison laborers to fight its drought-induced wildfires, it's glaringly obvious that the program is unsustainable. As talk of the prison-industrial complex and inmate exploitation moves from a whisper to a roar, regulatory reform will only strengthen in the state. And officials may be wise to think about other options now, so they're not left in the lurch when the state (finally) gets its prison population down to a reasonable level.

Image credit: Flickr/U.S. Department of Agriculture

Four years ago, I traveled out to Salina, Kansas, to visit the Land Institute and meet its founder: the prairie philosopher and agricultural visionary, Wes Jackson. Jackson is the author of numerous books and essays and is quite outspoken on the sins of modern agriculture, or to be more precise, of agriculture in general. We basically got it wrong all the way back at the beginning, he says, when we began plowing up fields for the planting of crops. Jackson has famously said that we may have done more harm with plowshares then we ever did with swords, turning the famous Bible quote on its head.

Instead, says Jackson, we should look to nature as a model. Natural fields consist primarily of perennial polyculture, which makes them far more resilient than the annual monocultures that we force from the earth with the aid of endless interventions and tons of chemicals. Also at peril is the element that Jackson calls “the foundation of any civilization” -- topsoil.

Citing “the genius of the place” where he lives, he talks about the way that hundreds of different plant species have co-evolved to form native prairie, which barely blinked when the weather turned nasty and converted the Midwestern farm belt into a dust bowl. One reason why: Perennial roots go much deeper than those of annuals, making them far more tolerant to droughts and temperature extremes. Those are characteristics that could be in high demand in the years to come.

Jackson, who holds a doctorate in genetics, has been working for close to 40 years now on the development of a man-made perennial polyculture that could mimic the synergistic quality of native prairie. Can his team find a group of plants that will work together, with the net result of some kind of edible grain? They’ll need to find perennials that will produce seed that can be used as a grain, other plants to fix nitrogen (and thus eliminate the need for fertilizer), while others might act as green mulch (eliminating the need for cultivation).

Key in all of this is the preservation of topsoil. By not turning over the soil and planting a new crop each year, the undisturbed soil will not be carried off by the wind. The Environmental Working Group estimates that heavy storms in Iowa carried off dangerous amounts of topsoil from 10 million acres in 2007. Says Jackson: “Agriculture is eroding much more than soil. It is accelerating climate change and fouling waterways. It is the single human activity most responsible for dismantling the biodiversity that makes life as we know it possible. By using industrial techniques, agriculture is racing through resources future generations will need. It is no exaggeration to say that humans are destroying their future.”

Of course, perennials as a rule don’t produce a great deal of seed, since they don’t need to replenish 100 percent of their population each year as annuals do. But the team at the Land Institute has been studying the problem and conducting experiments since 1976. Jackson told me it’s a painstaking 100-year effort to breed, cross, sample, record and keep trying new combinations based on what looks promising. Researchers are using only traditional breeding methods and no genetic modification. In some ways, the work is reminiscent of Gregor Mendel.

Jackson, who is now 79, admits yield will never be as high as with annuals, but it doesn’t have to be. For farmers, eliminating the need for plowing and cultivation, for fertilizers and pesticides will lead to higher profits even if yields are lower. When you figure out the savings in equipment cost, chemicals, fuel and seed, it’s not hard to believe. The institute's goal is 50 percent of current yield with annuals.

Progress has been slow but steady. The institute's prime candidate for a perennial grain is a descendant of an ancient intermediate wheat researchers have trademarked Kernza. The wild wheatgrass has been cross-pollinated with annual wheat to improve its yield.

Kernza has been in development for 13 years. It has many of the properties that Jackson and his team have been looking for. According to Gene Logsdon, writing for the Contrary Farmer, Kernza “is exceptionally high in some nutrients known to be important to human health and deficient in many modern diets: Omega 3 fatty acids, calcium, lutein, and betaine. It is particularly high in folate, important for preventing stroke, cancer, heart disease and infertility.”  It also helps to build soil fertility.

Unfortunately, it doesn’t have enough gluten to make bread out of, and according to the folks at Civil Eats, the taste still needs some work, though it does makes some decent pancakes. On the other hand, there is more than one way to use a grain.

Now a milestone is beginning to emerge, like a first bloom on an apple tree. Patagonia Provisions is a recently-formed wing of the outdoor clothing company, famous for the sustainable principles of founder Yvon Chouinard.

Building on the company's commitment to “real foods,” Patagonia Provisions has taken an interest in Kernza. It is now growing the crop, under contract, on 90 acres at the University of Minnesota. While it hasn't yet disclosed what foods it will produce from Kernza, according to Scott Seirer, managing director at the Land Institute, the company is experimenting with the idea of making beer out of it. At the same time Henry Tarmy, of Ventura Distillers in California, is also having some grown with the notion of turning it into a “really delicious” whiskey.

Meanwhile, Lee Dehaan, the scientist at Land Institute primarily responsible for Kernza, is continuing to develop the plants, to improve their yield and to get them to hang onto the seeds longer. Wild plants tend to drop their seeds freely, for obvious reasons, while domesticated varieties have been bred to avoid this to allow for more complete harvesting. Dehaan has been working on Kernza since 2002.

The whole enterprise has been, perhaps first and foremost, a study in patience and determination. Originally estimated to take 100 years to fulfill the vision of a synergistic perennial polyculture, 40 years in, says Seirer, “we now believe we are ahead of schedule.”

Images courtesy of the Land Institute