MOM’s Organic Market’s ER Blog

Recent conversation around my dinner table at home has been leaning in the direction of extinction and the depletion of the world’s natural resources. The one fairly new to the conversation plate, alongside our sunchokes and rice or spaghetti squash, is the recent announcement by scientists that the world’s seafood will soon be depleted. It is crazy to think that entire species that we depend on for food will be wiped out by 2048.

The prediction came after a four year study based on effects of pollution, overfishing and other environmental factors. All these things combined could spell extinction for popular fish species that fill our plates and bellies, as well as hamper the ocean’s ability to produce and filter enough nutrients to keep the stocks up and the spread of disease down among commercial and non-commercial fish alike.

It’s hard to imagine that in a world that is comprised of over two thirds water, which is filled with so much diversity, wonderment, and the backbone of so many cultures, that it could come to the point that soon the only seafood that will be available will be that raised in hatcheries. But it makes sense, right? We are living in the 21st century where now more than ever people are eating more healthy and are encouraged to fit fish into their diets. According to recent reports, we are consuming more seafood than ever before, and harvesting faster than the species have a chance to repopulate. Add on top of that pollution, global warming and human ignorance, and we have a recipe for catastrophe.

As someone who likes to keep an open mind, I, along with the scientific predictions, could be wrong. Nature could suprise us. (Probably not.)

Kenyan Nobel prize winner launches campaign to plant 1 billion trees in 2007 By Elizabeth A. Kennedy ASSOCIATED PRESS

5:59 a.m. November 8, 2006

NAIROBI, Kenya — A Kenyan environmentalist and Nobel Peace Prize winner called on people around the world to plant 1 billion trees in the next year, saying Wednesday the effort is a way ordinary citizens can fight global warming.

Wangari Maathai, who in 2004 became the first black African woman to win a Nobel in any category, urged participants to ensure the trees thrive long after they are planted.

“It’s one thing to plant a tree, it’s another to make it survive,” said Maathai, who founded Kenya’s Green Party in 1987 and focused on planting trees to address the wood fuel crisis here.

Maathai said the campaign is meant to inspire ordinary citizens to help the environment.

“This something that anybody can do,” Maathai said Wednesday at the U.N. conference on climate change, which has drawn delegates from more than 100 countries to Kenya.

Scientists blame the past century’s 1-degree rise in average global temperatures at least in part on the accumulation of carbon dioxide, methane and other heat-trapping greenhouse gases in the atmosphere — byproducts of power plants, automobiles and other fossil fuel burners.

Africa is the continent expected to suffer most from shifting climate zones and droughts, like the one now in its fourth year in East Africa.

Destroying trees through burning contributes to global warming, releasing about 370 million tons of greenhouse gases every year — about 5 percent of the world total — scientists say. Planting trees can offset climate change in part because they absorb carbon dioxide.

The tree-planting project, organized by the United Nations Environment Program, shows that “action does not need to be confined to the corridors of the negotiation halls,” said Achem Steiner, UNEP’s executive director.

The project calls on participants — including individuals, schools and governments — to sign up on UNEP’s Web site and register the trees they planted.

Also Wednesday, some climate conference participants said the results of Tuesday’s midterm elections in the United States were a good sign for environmental issues. The U.S. — the world’s biggest emitter of greenhouse gases — has rejected mandatory emissions cuts, saying they could hamstring the economy and because poorer countries are exempt.

On Tuesday, Americans swept Democrats into power in the House of Representatives for the first time in a dozen years and largely dismantled the GOP Senate majority.

“President Bush still has two more years in office so it’s very unlikely that the U.S. negotiating posture will change,” said Alden Meyer of the Union of Concerned Scientists.

But, he said, the fact that Democrats, many of whom support emissions caps, took control of the House means climate and energy issues will be prominent in the 2008 presidential campaign.

On the Net: www.unep.org/billiontreecampaign www.greenbeltmovement.org/

WAL-MART - Recently Wal-Mart has opened three super stores that they are calling their Environmental Demonstration Stores. In these stores they have implemented energy efficiency techniques, that include changes to their structure, equipment, parking lot and the areas surrounding their stores.

The changes made don’t make up an incredibly long list, but a start. In the lighting department, a skylight system has been installed so that more natural light can filter in. Wind turbines have been constructed outside to help reduce their electricity consumption by as much as 5%, and there is one small turbine solely dedicated to powering the street sign. Structural changes include the use of “sustainably harvested” wood for their wood beam roof. New plumbing has also been installed to help redirect runoff water from parking lots, the roof and drinking fountains to a water treatment system. From there the water can be reused to water the plants and trees on the property. Equipment wise, upgrades to their traditionally energy hungry air-conditioning system as well as ice storage system have been made. This will help cut down on ozone depletion. And finally, the parking lots are now made up of recycled asphault to help conserve resources.

Now, with that information put out there, I would like to commend Wal-Mart on the baby steps that they are taking to help make a positive impact on the environment. I will also say that the changes made are long over due, and that they have a long way to go before becoming a positive role model for other organizations and businesses. The recent changes to their stores and sudden interest in the environment, I’m sure, stem from the unpopularity that they have gained over the recent years as more and more reports are being made on the impacts that they are making on new building sites. Why did it take them so long to open their eyes?

I can only hope that Wal-Mart continues to strengthen their environmental efforts and expands the changes to already existing stores. The more people, companies and organizations that get on board with the environment, the better off our future will be.

California is making big headlines this week with Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger announcing that he is striking a deal with legislators over reducing the state’s greenhouse gas emissions by 25% over the next 14 years. If the bill passes, it would put tighter reigns on utility and industrial companies on their carbon dioxide emissions.

As it stands, California is one of the largest states in the US, and apparently accounts for 2% of the world’s carbon emissions. With no huge surprise, oil companies oppose the bill, as I’m sure that it would create a blow to their standard operations.

I applaud the Governor’s attempts at chipping away at the core of our environmental problems, whether the bill passes or not. I can only hope that this will turn more heads and cause more citizens, officials and elected officers to scrutinize big industries, and help cut down on greenhouse gas emissions.

Among the many things that I have had on my mind lately, corn starch based “plastics” is one of them. Sound strange? It’s not as strange as one may think. Alternate forms of fuel, energy and packaging has been all over the headlines lately. From ethanol fuels to corn stoves, new innovations are making big splashes in the environmental pool.

Corn starch based “plastics” is something that MOMs is working towards in our packaging, and something we encourage from our suppliers. Not only is the material made out of a renewable resource, corn, but it also has no toxic materials and biodegrades in a matter of months. This ultimately means less waste in our landfills and the materials can be composted to help grow more corn.

Many of MOMs suppliers already have taken the step to make a positive environmental impact. Many of the shipments we receive are packed in either edible popcorn or corn starch based packing peanuts. These have an even shorter span of time for biodegrability. The corn packing peanuts will dissolve before your eyes when in contact with moisture. We also carry products whose packaging is corn based; Annie Chun’s noodle bowls, Newman’s Own Organics salad mixes, and a new water bottle out by New Wave Enviro, just to name a few.

Keep your eye out next time you’re walking through MOMs for corn based products, whether that be your favorite salad in a corn starch container or MOMs prepacked prunes and dates.

I recently learned about Geothermal Heating from one of my coworkers who is considering installing the system in his home. I guess I had heard about this before, but I didn’t really know what it was all about. What exactly is geothermal heating? and why don’t more people use it, or if they do, why don’t we talk about it?

From what I’ve gathered, geothermal heating is a method of basically heating and cooling your home by taking advantage of the warmth stored in the earth. Normally the earth’s temperature is at about 55 degrees about 10 feet down. This is good in warmer climates, as you can use that to cool your home. In cooler climates it can be used for warmth. One can harness the earth’s temperatures by drilling deep holes, 6 to 200 feet deep, and placing pipes down the shafts. In effect, you are creating wells that will help circulate liquids and air that can be brought up to flow through your home.

There are two different types of geothermal heating systems. There are closed loop systems and open loop systems. Closed loop systems continuously circulate water and antifreeze through the loops and into a heat exchange system, which can be controlled at a thermostat. These systems are primarily used for heating. An open loop system, used more for cooling, has pipes leading to water wells or into deep water. It draws water from these and circulates the water through the house, providing cooler temperatures. The water is then circulated right back to that source, but further away from where it is drawn so to keep the cool temperature.

It sounds like geothermal heating is pretty great and one of the most efficient ways to heat and cool your home. Geothermal heating also has the benefit in that it helps conserve non-renewable resources, such as natural gas and oil, which, when burned, helps contribute to acid rain, green house gases and smog. The one thing that might steer people away from geothermal heating is the initial high costs for installing the system, between the drilling, laying the pipe and manpower. But the benefits, monetary and environmental, far outweigh the costs in the long run.

Today I was talking with a customer about wind power and the Clean Energy Partnership when she asked me if I knew about corn stoves. “Corn stoves? I’ve never heard of those.”

Corn stoves were apparently invented in 1969 by a woman named Carroll Buckner from North Carolina. Corn stoves have been popular in the South and Southwest, and even made an appearance at the Oval Office during President Jimmy Carters term.

To give you a general idea, from the information that I found on the web, corn stoves are a clean, renewable way to heat your home. Instead of burning wood or oil, dryed corn kernels are used in your indoor burning stoves. While wood and oil can heat a home efficiently, they also significantly contribute to environmental pollution. Corn, however, is seen as a renewable resource that is not only abundant and cost-efficient, but also gives off little to no pollution while being burned. It not only creates less smoke, but also is great news for farmers.

I think that this sounds like a great alternative to wood and oil burning stoves. Not only is it good for the environment, but it is also good for your health, as the two can be directly linked. I was told by the woman that I was speaking with that there is a small community in Takoma Park that uses the corn stoves. They have actually installed a corn silo for the users to access, which follows the countless others popping up all over the nation. Who knows, one could pop up in your neighborhood. Keep your eyes peeled.

Today a few workers from the MOMs store in College Park and myself embarked on a mission to make the streets of Rhode Island Avenue clean once again. Each of our stores has “adopted” a portion of road near our locations that we help to keep clean, all organized through the Office of Highway Maintenance for each county.

You would be suprised by both the quantities of trash that are out there lurking in the bushes, invisible to a passerby, as well as the actual things you may find along your treck. To give you an idea of what I mean, when we first sized up the road this morning, about a mile stretch, it didn’t look too bad. Piece of cake! No such story. The roadway was littered with over 45 pounds of garbage and 30 pounds of recyclables. This is just what we could find. There could be more buried in the leaf debris. Among the litter, we found 3 full lighters, 4 pairs of socks, 2 pairs of gloves, countless candy and fast food wrappers, empty beer and soda bottles, batteries and…a wig.

It was a lot of hard work today, but well worth the effort. We made an immediate impact on the environment by going out and getting involved. Stay tuned for more adopt-a-road stories.

Today as I sat on the green line train, we passed a wet marshy area where I have seen many beavers, wild birds and even some deer taking a drink in the past. What I saw today was that someone had actually dumped their computer monitor right there on the edge. I couldn’t believe it. Someone had actually gone out of their way to dump it, instead of taking the time to drop it off at a facility that could reuse or recycle it.

Computer monitors can hold a lot of hazardous materials that people don’t really know about. Toxic materials in computers can include, but are not limited to, lead, lead oxide, barium, cadmium and mercury. From what I understand, when these elements are contained, they don’t pose much of a hazard, but when the computer monitor starts to break down, or is in pieces, it can pose a real threat to the environment. The leaching of these toxins can contaminate our water supply, kill off the flora and fauna of the surrounding areas, and can even directly effect our health.

Computer monitors can be recycled. There are different companies, organizations and recycling centers that will take in computer monitors and equipment that will either salvage the components or fix them up to be reused. There are local trash services that may even do curb side pickup…all you have to do is call and ask.

So, the next time you or someone you know has an old computer monitor, please, think about where it’s going and take the time to make an environmentally sound decision.

Cape Hatteras isn’t the first National Park to have an electric vehicle. The Ford company first donated 500 vehicles to National Parks in California, and their popularity has spread ever since.

It’s great to see the strides being made towards a cleaner environment.