+ Understanding Leisure with Christopher C. Deam

To learn more about how we define leisure and entertainment, we spoke with architect and designer Christopher C. Deam. With projects ranging from residential architecture to furniture to Airstream trailers, we knew he would have a strong perspective on the subject. Thanks to Chris for taking the time to speak with us.

Please tell us a little about your background and some of the projects you've worked on.

I am trained as an architect, and I studied quite extensively in Italy. I took that knowledge and started applying it to a variety of scales all the way from furniture design to urban design. I've done everything from starting my own furniture company to interiors for Airstream to advanced concept design for Herman Miller, Target, and Kenworth. I'm just finishing a floating home in Sausalito. I've also got a prefab home in development as well as one on the market. If you could characterize my studio, I guess you could say it's a nondenominational design studio in that I like projects that are innovative but also sort of quirky. Those types of projects gravitate towards me.

How do you define leisure and entertainment? Do you think our society's idea of leisure has changed over time?

Whenever I hear that word leisure I always think of the leisure suit that my mom forced me to wear when I was twelve years old, so I dislike that word. If I had to define it, I'd say that it's unprogrammed time, but in some manner you're active involved. It's not just laying on the floor, there's some component of being engaged, but in an unstructured way. The odd thing to me is that nowadays we have to schedule our unscheduled time. It's getting to be a pressurized way of life, it's creeping into this idea of leisure. For example, you can't just go for a run anymore, you have to better your time on your run. So there's a real striving for optimization.

I think leisure and entertainment are distinctly different. Entertainment is a much more passive experience – like listening to music or watching television. The exchange is typically one way. That's changing a little now with the internet, but in general I think of entertainment as one directional.

I think leisure and entertainment are distinctly different. Entertainment is a much more passive experience – like listening to music or watching television.

Compared with other parts of the world, do you think we have difficulty finding leisure and being entertained? What can we as designers do to help?

We as Americans have a hard time letting things happen, or not happen for that matter. We want every moment scheduled and optimized, and I think it's easier in Europe to be leisurely. In that urban landscape, it can be a feast for the senses just to sit and wait for the bus. Here, people pop on their headphones and tune it all out. I think as designers the best thing we can do is to give some space away from those hyper designed and programmed landscapes to allow more organic development and experience to happen. You could argue that it's a purely cultural difference, but I think the physical environment affects us. With the way our culture is car-based, people are more isolated and not as used to being social.

Furniture seems to play a part in creating places for leisure. How does our designed environment help us find that state of mind?

Right now, I see a lot of design based around creating cocoon-like places or furniture. In theory, it creates your own peaceful space so that people can have relaxing experiences. That may be fine in an office landscape where we sometimes need to be able to concentrate. For me, those designs are further isolating us and keeping us from being able to deal with our surroundings or form relationships with the people around us. When you view leisure as a thing apart from others, people become less practiced at being social. There's a real skill to being a good conversationalist and being able to relax around people. The trend says that isolation is the solution, but I don't think it is. When I am designing and thinking about leisure, I try to leave holes in the design, leave it semi-incomplete, so that people can feel more engaged to it and complete it themselves.

With your help, Airstream has experienced a nice renaissance over the past few years. Why do you think they're becoming popular again?

I think there are a couple things at play. First, I think they're resurgent because the Airstream trailer embodies the timeless ideas of mobility and independence. Those are really great American ideals. We're a mobile country and independent thinkers and Airstream is the
perfect vehicle to embody that. Suddenly with the advent of wireless technology, we're redefining the idea of what mobility and independence are. Now, you can live anywhere or be anywhere and still be connected. I also think that they're resurgent because people understand that it's authentic: hand built, made of real materials. In America right now there's a real hunger for authenticity.

People understand that it [Airstream] is authentic: hand built, made of real materials. In America right now there's a real hunger for authenticity.

What are the challenges you've experienced when designing spaces to help people relax and enjoy themselves?

I think the biggest challenge is knowing when to stop designing. You can program spaces to death and overdesign things so people feel trapped. I want people to feel free. I think that's the trouble with design right now in general. We're almost becoming addicted to it – more, more, more. Frankly, I don't want my toothbrush to be in the MoMa. I just need it to do the job, because otherwise it's taking up a lot of mental headspace. It's important to know when to stop and to let people have their own experiences with spaces instead of being controlled by the designer's experience of things.

Can a brand still have good recognition if designers relinquish control and let consumers have more individual experiences?

I think so. Certain stores like Harley Davidson and Apple really create a certain vibe. While you're in one of those places you get into the fantasy world of that brand. The problem was that is it's so complete, such a total experience. When you take home your new computer or your new leather vest, out of that context of the store, it can feel empty. By hyper controlling those environments, you actually create a more difficult time for people to contextualize the products in a greater way. Everyone falls in love with their iPhone, and they are great, but sometimes you realize it's just a phone.

To see Christopher Deam's work, visit his site.
Dwell has a nice video on Deam and his work for Airstream here.

+ PartnerUp interviews Demetrius Romanos

Megan Dorn at PartnerUp recently interviewed Kaleidoscope's Demetrius Romanos on how to develop and design new products. It's a nice overview on how we work as design consultants to help our clients bring a new product to market.

Q: Once your customers come to you, where does the process go from there?

A: This depends on where we’re engaged, but the primary point of entry is that a client needs to enter a market with a product. We’ll do research and strategy to define the consumer needs, positioning and business opportunities, with the outcome driving design concepts. We’ll then start broad then focus in on the design and engineer of those concepts, working our way down to the direction for manufacturing. At that point we may even assist in selecting the appropriate vendors and may serve as a liaison during the manufacturing process to maintain design integrity.

Thanks to the PartnerUp team for their support. Check out the whole interview here.

+ The Best Offense is a Good Defense: An interview with Paul Sparling from the Cincinnati Bengals

In The Greener Grasses continued effort to interview experts and connect people that are doing, and thinking interesting, progressive things we called upon a local authority in the health and wellness community, The Cincinnati Bengals’ Head Athletic Trainer, Paul Sparling.
For you health conscious people, Paul has timeless words of wisdom- and for you sports fans, it’s just cool to hear directly from a member of a professional club.

As you mention the title here is Bengals Athletic Trainer. It unfortunately is a misnomer, in the old days simply calling somebody an athletic trainer would suffice, but in this day an age the head athletic trainer for an NFL team does much more than just the standard injury care and prevention.

So to start, what made you go into Athletic Training?
I had an interest in going into athletic training back in high school when I was too small for football, too short for basketball, and too slow for track. So it kind of limited my options. I had a coach there who was great and he asked me if I would help him out as a manager, so I toted the clipboard and the stopwatches, but then at the end of the season he asked if I was interested in athletic training. I had no idea what athletic training was, or what it meant. He spent $10 and sent away for a home correspondence course from Cramer products, one of the original product manufacturers for athletic training supplies and I absolutely fell in love with it. With the concept of seeing injuries, trying to prevent them, treating them when they happen, everything from open wounds to sprained ankles to torn rotator cuffs and all the sort of thing and really enjoyed being involved in athletics without having to let any physical limitations get in the way of my participation. So I did that through high school, I was a nine-letter winner in high school all as an athletic trainer. And interestingly enough Don Brown who was a sports director up at one of the local television stations up in Dayton, Ohio where I went to High School, reminds me of this he was a junior when I was a senior in high school and he asked me what I was going to be when I grew up and I told him my goal was ultimately to become the head trainer for the Bengals. Little did I realize that I would end up putting my self on a path that would get me there.

Tell us about your educational background.
I worked as a student trainer and manager at Dayton Stebbins High School, where I went to school. Then I went to Wilmington College I received my undergraduate degree at Wilmington College of Ohio. It was a triple major of industrial education, health education, and athletic training, and then I ultimately received my master’s degree from The University of Cincinnati in health administration. The reason I chose Wilmington was two-fold. One because it was a smaller school, at that time you had to have a teaching degree in order to sit for the certification test, because essentially we are teachers, unfortunately I think the National Athletic Trainers Association has gotten away from that concept and quite honestly you can see a difference in students today than what you had 25 years ago because now they do not have to have that teaching degree. But the other reason I decided I wanted to go there is because I figured if there facilities were good enough for the Bengals to go there for training camp, it had to be good enough for me, and maybe I’d have a chance to meet the head athletic trainer, little did I realize that I would ultimately become the head trainer.



How did that happen?
It turned out the Bengals were looking for a laundry boy to do laundry during training camp and they in the past had always hired somebody from the student trainers. At the college there were three kids ahead of me by seniority that had the rights to be offered the position first, and they all turned it down and I jumped at the chance, and after about two weeks of doing it getting done 3 or 4 hours before the guys in the past used to, the equipment manager asked me to start helping him in the equipment room so I was fitting helmets and shoulder pads, changing cleats and that sort of thing and then Marv Pollins who was the long time trainer there with the team at the time said “When you’re done helping out in the equipment room, why don’t you come in here and help me out in the training room”, once he found out I was a student trainer. So the next thing I knew I was taping ankles and mixing Gatorade and cold whirlpools and making ice bags and stuff. They took me on a couple of road trips that year, I worked all the home games, and in the next year they let me hire a couple of high school kids to do the laundry, so I still oversaw that but was working as a student assistant trainer in the training room and just kinda fell into it, right place at the right time.

Has the Head Athletic Trainer role changed from when you first started out at Wilmington to where you are now?
It is a unique position. It’s changed it’s evolved a significant amount. Probably 25 years ago the head trainer would spend 70% of their time out in the training room actually administering treatments and such, and 30% of the time in the office. Unfortunately now it’s almost reverse. Now you spend 70% of your time in the office doing administrative duties, 30% of your time out in the training room actually treating, and fortunately we’ve got good assistants and student trainer interns that carry out the appropriate treatments. That’s the big change I’ve seen.

What is a typical week like for you during the season?
It’s 7-days a week, there is no such thing as a day off. You use the day after the game as the starting point, which is a Monday. You’re taking care of all the bumps and bruises that occurred from the day before, scheduling MRI’s or x-rays, or administering treatments, and whatever else needs to be done. Tuesday is a player off-day, but for players that are injured, they are required to come in and do treatments. And in addition to treating the athletes, we also give our best forecast for who’s going to be available during the week and who is likely gonna be not able to play on Sunday, because that obviously plays a great deal in the game planning. Wednesday is a full practice day; you’re here from 6:45 am until about 5: practice, treatments, and I’ve got doctor clinic here first thing in the morning to see if there is anything else that we missed earlier in the week. Thursday is the same way. Friday is a lightened, shortened version of that where you practice, but they are in shorts and helmets, there is no hitting on Fridays. Saturday is a walk-through and Sunday is the game, then you start the whole process over again.

What is a typical week like during the off-season?
During the off-season, years ago, about a week after the season was over you could turn off the lights and lock up the doors and then come back in March when the players started coming back. Nowadays there is no such thing as an off-season; we just call it the “non-playing season,” - affectionately. You’re taking care of all the guys that were injured during the year; you’re doing off-season surgeries and doing their re-habs. To prepare for free agency, injury evaluation physicals on the players you’re considering bringing in. You’ve got the NFL combine, which is held every February, where you are looking at the potential draft eligible players - doing physicals on them. And then you’ve got the draft, and then mini-camps and then you’ve got the OTA days, which are basically organized team activities – that’s a nice way of saying practices, and then you’re getting ready for training camp. So you don’t have that long lull, and it makes it a little bit more of a challenge. You do what you can to manage your own personal schedule.

Nowadays there is no such thing as an off-season; we just call it the “non-playing season,” - affectionately.

When did the off-season phase out like this?
This change occurred gradually, over about the last 10 years. The OTA’s changed, free agency became a big deal about 15 years ago, off-season conditioning has become more of a standard around the league, I mean years ago, when the players were not making the kind of money they are now, a lot of the teams had the philosophy, and Paul Brown certainly had it, that the players during their off-season need to be preparing for life after football. That football is considered a short-term occupation, and you better be preparing for that by doing internships and that sort of thing. Nowadays, with the minimum salaries being what they are, if you are fortunate enough to play for several years, you can really prepare yourself quite well financially, where you don’t have to do those kind of things during the off-season, and you can kind of pick and chose what you want to do. So that has definitely changed.

How has this change affected your role?
As the responsibilities have expanded, the administrative aspects of the head trainer’s position have expanded. It’s forced us to increase our staff, which has been good because it frees me up to do the other things I need to do.

How big is your staff?
In addition to myself I have two full time assistant trainers, and then I have a season-long full time fellow. It is a fellowship that we offer to a person who has already graduated, already has their license and is certified. They work with me during the season, and we try to help them at the end of the season get hooked on with another NFL team or into a college setting. We started that last year, and the guy that we had last year we got him a full time position with the Tennessee Titans. And then in addition to the fellow, I have four college student trainers from local colleges and they work with me during the season as well as during the off-season. And they are again full-time college students as well, so this is considered an internship for them. Many of them get college credit for it and it really gives them a head start in what their going to do and what they want to be when they grow up. I’ve got a list of student athletic trainer interns that have worked with me over the past 15 years and on that list there are physical therapists, there’s a physician, there are chiropractors, there are professional athletic trainers- you name it, we’ve seen our guys graduate and move onto other fields related to athletic training, and we’d like to think we’ve played a little role in where they’ve gone.

One of the things The Greener Grass looks at it is how to help consumers sort through all the information out there. How do you find out about methods and products that are relevant to your field and how can the average consumer learn from those methods to evaluate products and services for themselves?
The consumers that I have obviously are my athletes. And we do everything we can to provide up-to-date research on given techniques and given products. There tends to be a general perception that if the team is doing it there’s got to be a newer way to do it. There are gurus out there that get their hooks into these players and sell them on ideas that they’ve got a better mousetrap or they have this better supplement or they have this better exercise technique and what have you, and sometimes it can become a little overwhelming when you’re continually bombarded by it. We have found that most of the other stuff that’s out there isn’t tested, isn’t researched independently, doesn’t have a lot of scientific data to back-up their claims, it’s one fad after another. This year it will be this, next year it will be that and by and large, the things that are time tested, and have research behind them, are the things that are consistent, safe, and effective.

Supplements are a common product between professional athletes and average consumers, what are your thoughts?

If you’re looking for an answer in a bottle, you’re looking in the wrong place.

The problem with supplements is that they’re not regulated by the FDA. So as a result they do not have to adhere to the high standard of purity as well as demonstration of true effectiveness. And as a result you get a lot of guys bringing in supplements that say it’s going to do this or it’s going to do that and it only has this in it or it only has that in it. Often times those items have materials in them that are actually banned by the league, although they may not be listed on the list of ingredients, and that is the problem you run into. I call it the Wild Wild West – anybody can put anything in a bottle, and put on a label that it only has this in it, but it’ll do that for you, and there is absolutely no oversight, no restrictions, no regulation, so quite honestly our philosophy as a team, and mine as a parent is that there is no shortcut. If you’re looking for an answer in a bottle, you’re looking in the wrong place. The old standards of hard work and eating healthy still are the tried and true techniques that work. Nothing in a bottle is going to take somebody who is a marginal NFL player and turn them into a good NFL player, unless there is something illegal in it like steroids. There is just no shortcut to it.

How do you address this topic with your athletes?
Number one we provide educational opportunities to the athletes a couple times a year. I will meet with all the players in a team meeting and review the latest research on certain items and just kind of give them a general warning. The league has set-up a hotline so athletes can do it either themselves or bring it to me, a particular item that they are considering taking and the hotline people will go ahead and research what is listed in the ingredients and determine if there is anything banned on it. The unfortunate thing about it is they always throw the caveat (because these things are not regulated), it’s called “buyer beware” and the athlete is responsible for what they put in their body, and that’s the one disadvantage to it.

Tell us about your methodology when you rush onto the field to treat a player.
You try to get them as comfortable as you can, and then come up with a game plan on determining what approach you’re going to take to getting them off the field, are you going to send them in for x-ray? MRI? Do we have to use a stretcher? or can we walk them off? Do we use the cart? All of this has to be determined in a relatively short period of time. When you’ve been doing it for a couple of years like I have, it’s not that difficult.

You have to make sure somebody’s taking care of getting the crowd away from you, so you can make good decisions and sometimes you do have to ask players around what they saw, because more often then not somebody else saw it or heard it. A player may say “I felt like I got kicked” and somebody else will say, “no he didn’t get kicked he was out in the open”. The more information you have when you get there the better, and then it’s a step-by-step process.

#1 preventing them from hurting themselves anymore
#2 evaluating what you are dealing with
#3 putting together a game plan on how you’re going to address it.

And then get them off the field and keep the game going.

How is the relationship between the athletic trainers and officials?
The officials are great. They will never, ever pressure or push the medical people to move a player before they are ready. It’s a good understanding that we have. And we don’t tell them - well I take it back - sometimes we do tell them what to call when it comes to penalties if they’re missing them...but they don’t interfere with us so we are good with that.

Concussions are a common injury associated with football, how do you determine the severity of the athlete’s condition?
They’re not as common as you would think, it is fewer than a dozen a year per team.

It is a very specific examination that we do on the field. The old days it was how many fingers do I have up and who are we playing and what’s the score – there is a lot more to it now. We are looking for finite, cognitive function in terms of reaction, emotion, memory recall, things of that nature.

Before we allow them to return we utilize a local neuropsychologist who has provided baseline evaluations of each player, (which is basically a brain function test) and we don’t allow them to return to the field until that player has returned to their baseline. We routinely wait 48 hours after the player has suffered the injury before we do a retest to see if in fact they have returned to their normal brain function. If they haven’t, then we hold them in terms of any practice activities until we retest them and see that in fact they have returned to their normal function level. If they have any lingering symptoms such as a headache, dizziness, nausea, insomnia, then we will not only limit their practice, but actually limit their physical activity, restricting them from engaging in even cardiovascular workouts, because we want to keep the blood pressure down. Studies have shown that if they have lingering symptoms and they’re exercising, they actually pro-long those symptoms. So it is a well thought out approach. The league did a good job last year of reminding the coaches, trainers, and physicians of the importance of never allowing competitive decisions to affect medical care, and I’m proud to say that here that’s never been a problem.

Football players are big guys with famously big appetites. What efforts are made to support healthy weight gains and loss?

Yeah, we do have some big guys, they do have big appetites. We have a dietician who is on retainer who is a consultant but will work with our players, those who either request, or those that we direct to the dietician. We are able the ensure guys that are gaining weight or are losing weight are doing it in a healthy, and safe, and appropriate manner. We will also look at players’ family history, if they have family members that have suffered from coronary heart disease, heart attack, high blood pressure, high cholesterol; we assess that in when we are assessing the athlete. So in addition to not only treating football related injuries or illnesses we also treat and manage the non-football issues.

Fluid intake, to manage muscle cramps, is an age-old debate in fitness, what formula do you prescribe to your athletes? Strictly water, or sport drinks, or a combination of both?
We do an educational session at the start of training camp, talking about heat illnesses, and we include muscle cramps, heat exhaustion, and heat stroke. Most muscle cramps are related to dehydration although not all of them are. So sometimes it is a misnomer to tell people that all you need to do is to drink more fluids because that is not always correct, and also it’s not just a matter that you’re drinking it’s a matter of what you’re drinking.

The important thing is not just the fluid but what you have in it. Gatorade is the name brand that the league has endorsed and it’s endorsed for a number of reasons. One of which, their products are backed-up by science, it’s not just a beverage company that went into sports; it’s a sports company that went into beverages. Specifically designed for athletes and in our particular environment. We do know that in addition to fluids they also need sodium and potassium. I can remember when I was in high school, they were just at that time getting away from giving athletes salt tablets before they’d go out on the practice field, and the theory was that again it’d help prevent cramps, well actually they had part of it right, the sodium was true, they did need that, but they also discouraged water intake, which they needed as well. Gatorade corrected the concept, and we call it “it makes water work better”, yes it has a significant amount of water in it, but it also has potassium in it, and it also has sodium in it, and it also has sugars in it. If it’s not palatable, they won’t drink it. So we again, subscribe to using a significant amount of the sports beverage drinks, Gatorade in particular, water as well.

But again, there’s immediately an assumption if they guy’s cramping it’s because he’s not drinking enough. Often times there are other nutritional deficits that need to be addressed, or it can be a case where an athlete is taking a supplement that pre-disposes them to muscle cramping, and through education, we’re able to get them out of that cycle of putting themselves in a bad spot.

Throughout your initial injury evaluation and basic rehabilitation of athletes, and how your athletes follow your instructions, is there anything (a product or service) that would make it easier for everyone involved?

The easiest thing would be for people to get out of their head thinking that there’s a better mouse-trap, a better machine, or a better exercise, or a better drug, or a better whatever, to think that’s going to somehow shortcut biology – because it’s not there.

Everyone is looking for a short-cut or a magic elixir, or some super new machine that will cut your rehab time in half, accelerate your recovery – let me dispel all of that crap, because that’s what it is. The bottom line is, the body will heal if you let it. The most important thing that we do is to optimize the conditions for the body to heal itself. If we do that, the body will heal as fast as it is going to and no amount of medicine, exercise, different kind of electrical stimulation treatment, or other voodoo is going to change that. It’s not a glamorous thing to tell players, but it’s reality. Hopefully over time we’re able to educate these guys to understanding that there’s no magic, there’s no shortcut. It’s interesting to hear players say “Man, what are we doing using ice? Ice has been used for years, why do we still use it?” It’s real simple. It’s called, it works. The body hasn’t changed. The body’s reaction to hot, the body’s reaction to cold, it’s a physiological response that is consistent, it works, and that’s why we do it. And again, unfortunately it doesn’t have all the bells and whistles, it’s not glamorous, and it’s not fancy, and it’s not chic, if you will – but it’s effective.

The most important thing that we do is to optimize the conditions for the body to heal itself.

How do you address the fact that there is no shortcut to recovery?
The ideal thing is word of mouth. You get a couple of name athletes, veterans that have been around, that will take the younger guys under their wings. And that will help in some instances, but it’s a never-ending battle. There’s one manufacturer of a modality that actually called me and told me that what I needed to do was to get this machine, and put it on David Pollack’s neck while he was in a halo, and it would cut his rehab and recovery time in half. I mean it’s nonsense, the kid had a broken neck. Everybody’s looking for a quick fix, and part of it’s our environment we live in, look at what’s on television, look at what’s on the radio, look what’s in the magazines. It’s “take this pill, and you’ll lose all the weight you want, and you’ll look like this…Use this machine…Do this exercise…Take this supplement…and you can heal things in half the time.” That’s what they’re told, and ultimately that’s what they’re sold, and when you’ve got guys that have significant amounts of disposable income, I tell the players when they bring in some of the things that they bought I say you know what I’ll make you a deal, you give it back, and I’ll give you my machine for half the price, and it’ll be a shoe box wrapped up with foil with some wires coming out of it which will do just as much as what you bought. It’s a never-ending thing that we just continue to have to educate as best we can.

How does the NFL support the physical fitness and emotional wellness of players transitioning to life after professional football?
The league does not get enough credit for the programs that they offer for the athletes. Not only in terms of how to deal with life while they’re a professional athlete but also how to transition for when they are no longer a professional athlete, by encouraging them if they haven’t gotten their degree to get their degree, to provide internship opportunities during the off seasons- during the time they do have an off-season, to begin to think about what they want to be when they grow up – is kinda as I put it.

So it’s more of a league initiative than a team initiative?
Correct. Each team now has a player development coordinator, where one of their roles is to help the players deal with issues that come up, to help facilitate the managing of the educational opportunities, and they’re mandatory now – they didn’t use to be mandatory for the players to go through. We ourselves last season hired a psychological consultant to assist us as well. The idea is to have a well thought-out, well-rounded, multidisciplinary approach to help the athletes both on and off the field.

The idea is to have a well thought-out, well-rounded, multidisciplinary approach to help the athletes both on and off the field.

What can younger athletes (in all sports) do to make themselves more
 injury-free?

If you tell most coaches that the player needs rest – rest is a dirty four-letter word in some peoples’ minds. The way I see it, rest can also mean “Resume Exercise below the Soreness Threshold – r.e.s.t.”

Understand that any time that you are involved in a physical activity there’s risk of injury. It happens. Obviously eating properly is a benefit, proper conditioning, proper warm-up, proper cool-down, all of those sorts of things are appropriate. I think in some ways we’ve almost gone from one extreme to the other, and I don’t say the club here, I say society in general, in that I think in many instances, whether people want to believe it or not, there’s the risk and there’s some evidence of episodes of over-conditioning / over-training, that are actually making players, or anybody, more pre-disposed to suffering injury. The body can only endure so much. When you’re off-season gets shorter and shorter and shorter, the physical demands get greater and greater and greater. I think there has to be an awareness that there has to be a proper balance of ensuring that athletes have the opportunity to fully recover from the rigors of a season, before they start training for the rigors of the coming season. And that’s something that we are continually looking at, the strength and conditioning coaches continually are reviewing what they did last year, what they did the year before, looking at injury patterns with us in the medical staff and seeing if there are things that we can and need to do to perhaps offset the mind-set of more is better. More is better to a point. But there is such thing as too much. If you tell most coaches that the player needs rest – rest is a dirty four-letter word in some peoples’ minds. The way I see it, rest can also mean “Resume Exercise below the Soreness Threshold – r.e.s.t.” Which means, rest doesn’t need to mean that they’re laying on a couch watching T.V. and playing video games, it can often times mean that you simply just back down contact, or you don’t have as much running, you don’t have as much pounding.

The body can only endure so much.

It’s hard because so many of them have the mind-set, “I need to do more, more, more – I need to work harder, harder, harder” – I disagree, I think you need to work smarter, smarter, smarter. There’s a balancing act that you have to take into account. As I see it now, the way things have evolved it used to be that training camp was to get players into shape to play, that’s not true anymore. If you don’t come into shape in training camp – you’re gone. I think there is a tendency to over-train, and when you get to training camp if you have over-trained; you’re going to struggle getting through training camp. Not because you didn’t do enough, but because you did too much.

More is better to a point. But there is such thing as too much.

And finally, on a lighter note, if you added up all the rolls of tape you have applied to athletes, how 
many times would it circle the earth?
We use on average an excess of 50 miles of tape a season –that includes training camp and mini-camps. That’s a lot.

+ Cincinnati Eco-Garden

We spoke with Luke Ebner of the Over the Rhine Eco-Garden, in Cincinnati, OH, about running a small community oriented non-profit. The OTR Eco-Garden is a non profit that pays local teenagers to work on an urban farm. The teenagers learn how to plan, plant, harvest, and market their produce.

What is the Eco Garden?

The Eco-Garden was started under “Impact Over the Rhine” in 1998, with Eric Powlowski as the director. “Impact Over the Rhine” was an environmentally conscious non-profit in downtown Cincinnati. It consisted of a recycle crew, an art group, and the Eco-Garden. The Eco-Garden is a small organic farm in the middle of Over the Rhine. The farm is an urban youth market-garden, and is similar to programs in other cities. The idea is to train kids to plan, plant, harvest, and market organic fruits and vegetables.

How do you find the kids?

Under “Impact Over the Rhine” we had a good location at Findlay Market and we found a lot of kids through word of mouth. Now we operate under Memorial Incorporated and we visit schools, like the Rothenberg School, to recruit kids. We also put up fliers to find kids in places where they hang out. After we find the kids, we teach them the whole process of farming. We are at Findlay market during the growing season, from May-November.

How many kids and gardens?

Right now, we only use the garden in Over the Rhine. The kids are paid $6 an hour, as a stipend, so no taxes are taken out. Right now the kids work five hours a week, because we are saving our funds for the summer when they will work ten hours a week. In the middle of the summer we sometimes have more kids working even more hours. Our program would like to involve the opportunity for sponsoring a kid. Anyone who sponsors a kid would get a weekly share of produce.

Other than Memorial Inc., who else support you in the community?

Our main partner is the Civic Garden Center. They support us with adult volunteers and seeds. Right now we have to truck water to the Eco-Garden. The Civic Garden Center recently received a grant that will help us get a water source into our garden. Turner Farms is also one of our biggest supporters.

How has the Eco-Garden affected the local community?

Many of our kids get to take home vegetables, and a lot of the kids retain the knowledge about farming. They are very proud to be at the Findlay market stand doing consumer education about why people should buy local food.

One of the main things that we teach the kids is that their job is not only a paycheck, it is a skill. In the great depression, Victory Gardens kept people from starving, and as we enter times where food is becoming more and more expensive because of gas, they are going to have an option to know how to survive.

We also try to teach the kids that the food that they are getting (from the garden) is superior. We teach them about genetically modified foods and pesticides. We teach them that most food that they buy from the store is basically nutrient dead, because it has often been almost two weeks since it was picked. The nutrient levels go down the longer food is shipped. When we are selling food at Findlay market, we harvest it the day before.

In the great depression, Victory Gardens kept people from starving, and as we enter times where food is becoming more and more expensive because of gas, they are going to have an option to know how to survive.

What are some of the frustrations you have?

A frustration to me is lack of city support. Last year we had a meeting with the health commissioner. He was interested in our program. We wrote a grant proposal for youth funding and for another an adult supervisor; so I can focus on producing the food and get more help with managing the kids. We never heard back from them. We want the city to give us more support: sponsor us, brag about us, and maybe even expand our space.

My other frustration is that they are doing development around the garden, and the developers want a part of the garden for their own uses. I don’t want to stop development around the garden, but I would like to work with the developers. Maybe, they could convince their tenants to sponsor a kid. They could sponsor a kid for 15 dollars a week.

Great! Let's check out the Garden!

+ PartnerUp's Steve Nielsen

Sharing a common goal or interest is an essential element to communities. Struggling to grow his own small business, Steve Nielsen created PartnerUp to help fellow entrepreneurs network and communicate. We talked to Steve to learn more about how to get the most out of our social and professional networks.

Please tell our readers a little bit more about PartnerUp and how it works.

PartnerUp is the first online social network that focuses solely on bringing together and helping small business owners and entrepreneurs. We help entrepreneurs and small businesses find the co-founders, executives and board members they need to help make their business ventures a success. We help our members network with other entrepreneurs and small-business owners and find commercial real estate and small-business friendly service providers. And we also allow our members to ask for and offer up advice.

What inspired you to create this site?

I had an idea for a radio-frequency identification (RFID) company a few years ago. All I needed was to find the right electrical engineer to design and engineer the product. After I spent months exhausting my search for this person, I decided to scrap the whole idea. Some time later I found the man I had been looking for, but by that time it was too late. Then it occurred to me, "There has to be a better way for entrepreneurs to find the right business partners and co-founders." That is where the idea for PartnerUp came from.

The Greener Grass is studying communities. Have you seen shifts in how people collaborate and form relationships online?

Yes, dramatically. I think that the biggest shift has been from offline to online, and it's only going to continue to shift more and more toward online as time goes on. Offline networking doesn't allow you access to the people that you really need. Even if you are at a general networking event with more than 500 people, the chances of the exact right people being there and you stumbling across them are slim. This type of networking is non-targeted and requires a great deal of effort. The advantage of online, however, is that you can network with exactly the people you need, minus the clutter. So more and more people are opting for online networking because of its efficiency. The same principles apply to collaboration. There is a lot of noise and clutter with offline collaboration. Online collaboration allows you to focus in only the areas that you are concerned with.

What are the most important aspects to managing your social networking? Are there differences between managing a virtual group of people as opposed to a physical one?

Making yourself available to your members is first and foremost. You must be available to provide relevant advice to these people. You also must be available to be a facilitator and a gatekeeper for members of your network. Beyond that you also have to be willing to seek advice from people who have the experience you are looking for. You then, in turn, need to be willing to return the favor and offer advice of your own when asked for it.

Focus on quality over quantity. You don't have to network with everyone and his brother. If you do, you're going to end up with a ton of mediocre contacts that will become difficult to manage. Instead focus on those who have relevant experience to you.

There are huge differences between managing a virtual group versus a physical group. When your group is online, the effort you put into it is less, but the payoff is substantially higher because the effort is concentrated on the areas that are important to you. When your group is online, you can cut right to the chase.

Can you share any specific examples of partnerships created through PartnerUp?

Andy Wilson, a San Francisco entrepreneur and longtime Web developer, had an idea for a travel Web site but had no selling or marketing experience. He spent nine months searching for a partner to compensate for the skills he lacked. Then he heard about PartnerUp and posted on the site. A few weeks later he found the exact right person for the job. Today, they're developing a new web 2.0 travel site.

What advice would you give to someone trying to get the most out of their own social network?

Focus on quality over quantity. You don't have to network with everyone and his brother. If you do, you're going to end up with a ton of mediocre contacts that will become difficult to manage. Instead focus on those who have relevant experience to you. When you find those people, then you can take the time to foster those relationships.

Thanks, Steve.
To learn more, visit PartnerUp.

+ A Conversation with Nau's Ian Yolles and Bob Speltz

If you're interested in design or sustainability, Nau is probably at the top of your list of companies to admire. Since launching in 2007, they've challenged conventional business ideas with the goal to be both financially successful and socially responsible. How has their brand created such a clear vision and strong following? We spoke with Bob Speltz, Director of Community Partnership, and Ian Yolles, VP of Brand Communications, to learn more about Nau's success.

Beauty, performance, and sustainability are at the heart of Nau products. Why is it important to embrace all three of these elements?

Ian: One of the things that we’re very interested in at Nau is challenging conventional paradigms regarding how we think and behave in the world. The idea of beauty, performance, and sustainability as an integrated triumverate is a great example of that because historically the traditional view has been that if you set out to design a product combining those three attributes, you will end up with a compromised product. In other words, the conventional paradigm and assumption has been that those three ingredients from a design point of view are somehow mutually exclusive. Last week, I engaged students at the Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising in Los Angeles. I began by asking a leading question, meaning a question with a pretty predictable answer. I asked, “When you think of green apparel, what images comes to mind?” They said things like Birkenstock, boring, colorless, hemp, scratchy. There is this traditional image in people’s minds that these three ideas cannot be blended together in a single product. Our view was that although that may have been historically true, it was no longer true. Given the evolution of technology and the appropriate amount of creativity and innovation, we could design products that blended all three of these ingredients. In fact, it was something we believed consumers would be interested in.

Is it important for businesses to be environmentally and socially responsible? How can they do that while still benefiting their bottom line?

Ian: It’s vitally important. Part our collective assertion is that not only does sustainability need to be at the forefront of our thinking, but in fact businesses have a much broader responsibility to the community than pursuit of profit. We feel strongly about that, and it’s reflected in all the decisions we’ve made, not only in terms of how we design our products but also how we’ve designed the entire company.

Our customers are confronted with questions. What kind of social change do they believe in? At point of purchase, they have to make a decision about a set of issues and an organization that they want Nau to support with 5% of that purchase.

What does authenticity mean to Nau? Your writing isn't afraid to admit imperfection- is it as simple as that, or is there more to it?

Ian: I think that’s part of it. Where and how you begin sets a certain trajectory and establishes a tone for everything that’s going to follow. I’m not advocating that there’s only one right place to begin, but what’s interesting is that in our case we chose to begin with a question – “who are we?” If you think about an authentic person, they have a sense of who they are, and their behavior in the world is congruent with that. That’s what authenticity is all about: congruency. People who think about the world of branding go straight to the externalities, things like the look of the logo and advertising. But authenticity is built from the inside out. Transparency is a part of it too. It adds to the authenticity to be able to say, “Here’s who we are, we’re not perfect.” There’s no such thing as perfection when it comes to a person or a brand. We also want to be as transparent as we can, particularly given the nature of the digital world where stories are told and can be spread quickly. There is also a persistence of memory in the digital world. Those forces mean that how you behave as a person and as a company is much more important than it used to be. It’s also clear that this path of sustainability we’re trying to pursue is an aspirational path. The decisions we have to make are inherently complex, there’s lots of ambiguity and a lot of tradeoffs. The world isn’t black and white in terms of these decisions. That’s why we launched the section of our website called “grey matters.” It purposely explores this very grey world. We’re trying to be as transparent as we can with the nature of the decisions we’ve made, why we’ve made them, recognizing that there have been a variety of tradeoffs along the way.

One of the things I really liked on the Nau site is the "grey matters" section. People seem to be realizing that these issues are extremely nuanced, not cut-and-dried. How have consumers responded to Nau's frank, honest discussion of these issues?

Ian: People find it incredibly refreshing that we are being not only transparent but educational. Grey Matters has helped educate our community and our customers on many of the issues that we face in trying to pursue a more sustainable way of doing business. It’s also invited further dialogue and conversation with our customers about some of the issues they’ve faced and the decisions we’ve made.

People find it incredibly refreshing that we are being not only transparent but educational.

The Greener Grass is studying communities. Tell us about your community partnerships and how they’re different from traditional philanthropy.

Bob: From the very beginning, we started with some challenging ideas about partnership. I would characterize our relationships as very dynamic. Coming from a background in traditional corporate philanthropy, for many companies, philanthropy can be reduced to cutting checks to dozens of organizations over the course of the year, and then moving on to other organizations and other issues. We wanted to blow that model up and think about it very differently. Instead of a short term focus, we take a long term approach. We work with partners for at least two years, ideally much longer. We believe to realize the benefit of partnerships, we need to come together to understand each other’s needs. Typically, corporations place heavy restrictions on the money that they invest in their partners, allowing them to spend those dollars on very narrowly focused needs. For real social change to happen, we need to lift those restrictions, trust our partners, and believe in them enough that they’ll invest those monies in the ways that best benefit the organization. We hear from our partners that these unrestricted dollars are the hardest to raise for them, so it’s a very powerful form of partnership. We also engage in modern day digital storytelling. When a customer comes into our website or one of our stores, there’s tremendous opportunity for interaction. Our customers are confronted with questions. What kind of social change do they believe in? What issues are out there affecting their community or the planet? At point of purchase, they have to make a decision about a set of issues and an organization that they want Nau to support with 5% of that purchase. It’s disruptive and intentional, but also very exciting. This exposes our partners to thousands of people, whether its online or in the store. We think that storytelling is powerful.

One part of your website, The Collective, shares stories that represent the Nau community. What were the challenges of this project, and how will you know when it’s successful?

Ian: At the core of what we’re doing is this idea of positive change, and it’s reflected in everything we do. We’re interested in creating venues for dialogue and conversation, particularly around the subject of positive change. One way we did this was by launching our business through our blog, The Thought Kitchen. We thought it would be interesting to launch through the blog because it was a venue to host conversations. That led to the idea of The Collective, a place to host stories about positive change seen through the eyes of artists, athletes, and activists. Some of it is content we create, but we’ve also invited our community to send us content that they’ve created. If it fits within our editorial direction we’ll include it in the section. We’re also using those stories as the foundational content for monthly events in our stores. We have the ability to track how many people are watching our content, but there’s a qualitative dimension in terms of engagement around ideas and stories that reflect the depth of what we’re doing and enable a certain depth of quality in terms of customer engagement.

More traditional business owners might be surprised to know that Nau balances profitability with philanthropy. Why are social and environmental concerns just as important as your bottom line?

Within Nau, there are all kinds of compelling examples where this antiquated paradigm of “either or” has been replaced with the notion of “and."

Ian: It comes back to the conventional notion that you can’t balance the two. There is the orthodox notion that if you want to be profitable, you can’t pursue issues pertaining to sustainability because they will eat into your profit. The first thing is shifting one’s thinking. We’ve had the opportunity to design an entire company from the ground up. What’s unique in our case is that this process of design has been deeply informed by our commitment to sustainability, and the assertion that companies have a broader responsibility to our community than the singular pursuit of profit at the expense of everything else. What happens if you’re going through this design process with these ideas at the center of your consciousness? The kind of questions you ask shifts, and the nature of your inquiry and engagement changes. The way you think begins to change, which leads to different behaviors. In the end, it’s all about the way you think. Even the philanthropic part of our model is different. Five percent of sales is completely unprecedented by orders of magnitude. It’s way beyond the established benchmark of corporate philanthropy. So how can we be profitable and give away 5% of every sale? It is genuine philanthropy but it’s also about storytelling. Not only are we telling the stories of our nonprofit partners, they’re telling the story of our Partners for Change program. Their ability to tell the story of our partnership is a foundational part of our marketing effort, versus spending a bunch of money on advertising, which, in the end, we think is not nearly as credible and authentic as having our nonprofit partners talk about the meaning of their relationship with us. We also think there is a growing group of customers who want to not only buy products and services that meet all the traditional parts of their value equation, but want to do business with companies whose values and character reflect their own. Our view is that over time our practices will generate deeper customer loyalty and help differentiate ourselves from our competitive set. Within Nau, there are all kinds of compelling examples where this antiquated paradigm of “either or” has been replaced with the notion of “and.” These things can be synergistic and complementary.


Corporate social responsibility seems to come naturally for Nau. What advice do you have for businesses that want to do a better job?

Ian: When we set out to initiate this process of design, these ideas were baked into who we are. They were baked into our early DNA. It’s a different challenge for an existing business to begin to go down this path. Out observation is that exploration has to begin with a deep cultural shift. Prior to thinking about the externalities of business, you have to examine how you think and who you are. I would begin by asking, “To what extent are these issues important to us? To what extent do we feel these issues need to become a part of who we are, and ultimately affect how we do business?”

We tend to define our success more broadly than traditional companies, but if we’re not successful from the standpoint of traditional business metrics, then our credibility and sphere of influence will be confined and limited.

Nau is a big hit with socially conscious consumers, but compared to the corporate giants of the apparel industry, still a relatively small company. How big can and should Nau become? Does Nau need to become a giant to achieve the company's goals?

Ian: We believe that our ability to have a constructive impact on the world and in the business community will be somewhat commensurate with our success. We tend to define our success more broadly than traditional companies, but if we’re not successful from the standpoint of traditional business metrics, then our credibility and sphere of influence will be confined and limited. We definitely aspire to be an extremely successful company based on all the traditional metrics of business success, because that will enhance our sphere of influence in the business community. Ultimately, our success will be dependent on the reaction by the community to our business. At the end of the day, customers will decide how they feel about us. But even as a small fledgling little business that’s just been launched, we’ve been surprised at the way in which people have looked to us for thought leadership. We wanted to be a positive catalyst within the business community. We’ve been invited to speak at many of the top business schools in the country – Harvard, Columbia, Kellogg. We’ve been invited to meet with companies like Procter & Gamble and Pepsi, some of the largest companies in America. We take a certain degree of pride in how we’ve evolved the business to date, but we realize we have a long way to go before we can say we’re a commercially viable sustainable enterprise.

Nau's products and practices are already remarkably progressive and far ahead of what anybody else is doing, but I'm sure you have even bigger plans. What can we expect from Nau in the future?

Ian: We’re on the cusp of opening a series of new stores, in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Portland, Seattle, and Boston. We need to generate a broader community and a broader group of customers. We need to open more retail stores and continue to refine our point of view on our product. For us right now, it’s really about extending and deepening what we’ve started.

Thanks to Bob and Ian for sharing these great insights.
Check out the Nau site and their new spring line.

+ An Interview with Twitter's Biz Stone

Twitter is one of the most active communities online today. The New York Times calls it "one of the fastest growing phenomena on the Internet," and it was voted "best of the web" by SXSW. At The Greener Grass, we're excited about Twitter because it feels like a brand new type of community and new way of communicating. We spoke with co-founder Biz Stone to learn a little bit more.For those that aren't familiar with Twitter, tell our readers what it is and how people are using it.

Twitter is a communication utility which works by asking one simple question: What are you doing? Folks respond to this question and their answers are transmitted instantly to the people who are "following" them. Our technology is such that the service works over mobile texting, instant message, or the web.

Because Twitter does not demand that anyone "catch up" or "dig out" it can become more complimentary to people's lives and therefore less of a burden.

The Greener Grass is studying communities. What do you find interesting or unique to the Twitter community?

Twitter is unique because it takes place in real time. People are connecting, communicating, and self-organizing instantly during shared events such as conferences and emergencies. Twitter enables real-time group communication no matter where you are.

Should we redefine "privacy" based on new technologies like Twitter?

We don't have to sit down and redefine privacy - the concept evolves along with societal changes. As more people use technology to socialize in an open manner, individuals learn new ways to take advantage as well as new methods of self editing.

There is a lot of competition and a lot of copycats in the social networking world. How do you compete and stay the leader in microblogging?

We strive to keep things simple while focusing on strength and reliability. Our goal is to build a reliable communication utility for the world. This goal keeps us challenged.

We've written a little about the bad habits people have picked up through their wireless devices. Do you think Twitter offers a positive alternative to these other forms of communication?

Twitter is different because it is rhetorical. People can stay as connected as they like or ignore the updates of their friends - we even offer settings which turn the service off for periods of time. Because Twitter does not demand that anyone "catch up" or "dig out" it can become more complimentary to people's lives and therefore less of a burden.

Thanks, Biz.

+ Lynn Landes and Zero Waste (part 2)

What actions are new / currently being done to help solve this problem

I really don’t know that anything’s being done much. I was deep into this subject 5 years ago and to my knowledge nothing much has changed since then. We’re producing more plastic than ever before, were wrapping everything in plastic including fruits and vegetables. While some countries are banning plastic bags and I think San Francisco has put a ban on a certain type of plastic bag…. For the most part our country has walked away from this issue, ‘ they’ve got their head in a landfill or something’ So really I don’t see much happening along these lines. Now of course instead of plastic being produced here were just getting it from overseas in our toys from china and its no better that it is made there instead of here.

I don’t really see a serious effort to reduce and recycle.

What can we do as consumers to help solve these issues?

I think it’s very, very important-- and I do this myself personally, to stop buying things that are not necessary. I do not buy soaps or detergents. I wash my clothes with apple cider vinegar, I wash with a combination of apple cider vinegar, oat flour and peppermint tea—I do different things but I do not use soaps or detergents because I feel that they cause more problems than they solve. Also, I’m more into making my own clothes.

So the first thing is-- don’t buy things you don’t need. And particularly think about what it took to get that product to you. For instance I don’t wear metal jewelry anymore because I’m thinking to myself ‘do I really want to support mining diamonds or gold or anything like that destroying the environment to adorn myself.

I don’t wear makeup because I think to myself: well, would I want to live next door to the factory that made this? Would I want to smell everything that was going on, do I want to have this transported so I can slap it on my face? So I choose to a large degree not to buy a lot of things that I used to buy, I just cut it out of my purchasing. What I do though when I go to the yarn store I buy local or I buy yarn that has not been dyed. What I am trying to do is learn basic skills all over again and it is tough. There is a lot of people can knot but hey often buy yarn that is synthetic, pre-dyed ect…and I try not to do that. I am trying to think through everything I do.

When I go to purchase my food, I used to go to Whole Foods all the time but I don’t do that anymore because I noticed Whole Foods was getting a lot of their vegetables from overseas. I’m thinking this is crazy. So what I tend to do is Ill eat in my time zone, so I don’t eat bananas I don’t eat oranges or that kind of thing. But Ill eat other things with acid or vitamin C in them. When I shop I tend to go to a market in Philadelphia that is staffed by volunteers and all the food is ‘local’ within 100 miles. I grow my own herbs and that sort of thing. So I try over time to do more and more stuff on my own, relearn skills that basically have been lost. I try to buy locally and buy organically.

So if you have a company that wants to do stuff, then the thing is to keep it local. I refuse to buy from any of the big box stores—whatever I do I try to do it locally.

+ Interview: Intermodal Shipping & Maersk Line - Part III

Refrigerators, Ports, and the Overall Picture

This is third and final part of our look at the energy issues that the world’s largest container shipping company, MaerskLine, deals with, through the insight of Lee Kindberg, Environmental Director for Maersk’s North American Operations. You can check out parts one and two at
http://www.thegreenergrass.org/2008/01/interview-intermodal-shipping-maersk.html and
http://www.thegreenergrass.org/2008/01/interview-intermodal-shipping-maersk_17.html

Refrigeration

I like oranges, and noticed a few years back that a lot of oranges at my local supermarkets were from South Africa and Australia. You mentioned that refrigeration is important to Intermodal shipping; can you tell me more about that?

“You can fit a lot of oranges in a container! A fair number of the containers on board any one of those ships might contain produce such as say grapes from Chile, and those have to be kept at a very constant temperature, so they’re shipped in refrigerated containers which we call reefers. [A name also applied to ice-filled rail cars a hundred years ago]. Those containers have monitors on them and are kept on very tight control, because a very small change in temperature can result in moldy fruit, or damage to electronics. Electronics are often shipped in temperature controlled containers; you wouldn’t want them to get very hot in the middle of the summer for example, and the sealed containers are more humidity controlled.

Refrigerated containers use about 30% more energy than a standard container if you look at the total carbon footprint. When we take them off the ship and put them on the ground or on a [truck or rail] chassis, we actually plug them in. When we’re ready to put them on a truck or train, we mount a small diesel generator “genset” on them that runs the refrigeration unit.”

Food and transportation is an interesting topic I’ll be looking into more, because I like oranges, bananas, sushi, and other food items we don’t harvest anywhere near Cincinnati. A New York Times article suggests that given the relative efficiency of transporting food by container ships and rail, non-locally grown produce can actually be as “green” or even “greener” than locally grown. Check it out at: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/09/business/yourmoney/09feed.html

A Better Refrigerator!

At your website, I read a little about the QUEST program Maersk initiated along with the Dutch government to cut the energy demands of these refrigerated containers, what else can you say about that?

“The QUEST (Quality and Energy Efficiency in Storage and Transport) program was developed as a way to control the temperature of the goods instead of the air inside the container. By coming up with these finer controls we’re able to greatly reduce the energy required to operate those units. I believe last year we put several thousand new units into service with that type of controls. QUEST is a new approach based on thinking about what are you trying to achieve. It’s about trying to keep the cargo at a constant temperature instead of keeping the air at a constant temperature. There are also some improvements in the mechanisms and the insulation, so multiple parts make up the large total improvement.”

When fully implemented in 2008, the program is projected to reduce CO2 emissions by 325,000 tons per year. Again, I found that the economies of scale that Maersk operates at gives them the resources to make some significant advances in energy efficiency that might have applications elsewhere. Perhaps the local supermarket or your own refrigerator could benefit from the same technology.


Carbon Footprint Calculator

Our discussion about refrigeration reminded me that total carbon footprint and energy efficiency is complex, involving many factors, since most goods must travel by multiple modes to get to your home or business. I read that Maersk has deployed a Carbon Footprint Calculator service they provide for clients. Can I get some more information or a test case from this program?

“We have our new carbon-check calculator that allows us to help our customers calculate their total carbon footprint for transportation. It uses published data for air, truck, and rail, and our specific data for our ships. It allows us to calculate and compare two routes, or go all the way from the loading dock in China all the way to your local retail outlet. It allows you to optimize the route to take for each step, and can look at how each piece contributes to the total. We just rolled it out so it’s still proprietary, but the EPA in its SmartWay program has tools you can use to do land transportation calculations. Also the Clean Cargo Working Group of BSR has developed transportation calculators for both ocean freight and intermodal shipping.” (You can check that out at: http://www.epa.gov/smartway/ and http://www.bsr.org)


Efficiency & Safety Go Together

You’ve noted a couple of times how intermodal shipping has reduced the manpower needed, how efficient everything’s become compared to the old days when there might be hundreds of people on the docks loading and unloading cargo. It seems like there’s something else you wanted to say about that:

“Containerization has been part of what’s made that possible, but that also means fewer people who might get injured doing some of these very difficult cargo handling jobs. So we’ve worked to improve both safety and efficiency. In our new Port terminal in Virginia, we have a computer controlled storage area no people are needed in, which is a big safety plus.”

Dr. Kindberg was talking about the innovative Maersk operation that addresses these dual goals of safety and energy efficiency, the newly commissioned APM Intermodal terminal at Portsmouth, Virginia. APM Terminals is another Maersk division that operates over 50 intermodal terminals around the world. If you’re interested you can learn more at http://www.apmterminals.com/. APMT Virginia takes advantage of a number safety, pollution reduction, and energy-saving technologies, including hybrid lift cranes that store energy when lowering containers to re-use when lifting them.

A World of Energy Issues

I’ve learned what an integrated company Maersk is, having the ships, containers, terminals, and a technical division that helps design everything. Because everything is so vertically integrated, does that make it easier to choose the right options, because the right thing to do is probably the thing that makes the whole system more efficient?

“Maersk companies also include total logistics management, trucking, warehousing, shipyards, and a company that builds containers. It is a highly integrated company. While these are different divisions, we try to think about the whole transportation chain. Sometimes the biggest improvements are not in one particular little area, but those that work best across the whole chain, whether you’re talking safety, the environment, or efficiency. You have to look at the total transportation chain.”

It sounds like overall you have quite a wide ranging job. You’re covering both the local air quality situation, and global efficiency & CO2 issues, and everything in between. That’s a lot of responsibility!

“Well, it’s very interesting to say the least. And it’s gratifying when we can make a difference, like what we’re doing with our fuel switch on the West Coast, and what we’re doing to improve energy efficiency on the ships and refrigerated containers.”


Thanks to Dr. Kindberg, I have much better feel for the energy and environmental issues around shipping those oranges or computers, and about some unique efficiency improvements Maersk Line has helped develop that should help reduce the impact of global trade.

+ Interview: Intermodal Shipping & Maersk Line - Part II

Making the Ships Cleaner & More Efficient

This is part two of our look at the energy issues that the world’s largest container shipping company, MaerskLine, deals with, through the insight of Lee Kindberg, Environmental Director for Maersk’s North American Operations. You can check out part I at http://www.thegreenergrass.org/2008/01/interview-intermodal-shipping-maersk.html

Leading in Energy Efficiency

Now that I know a little more about the system, can you tell me more about where it’s evolving in the future?

“We’re seeing some bigger ships, but we’re also seeing ships designed from the keel up to be more energy efficient and environmentally responsible. This does mean lower air emissions. For example, we’re now building waste heat recovery systems into our ships. These systems provide up to 10% efficiency improvement in engine fuel economy and greenhouse gas emissions.

There are many other issues that we look at, in addition to energy efficiency, in terms of environmental design. For example, another environmental issue for ships is the hull coatings that prevent growth and build-up on the vessel hull. Those growths create drag which reduces energy efficiency and hurts ship performance. Unfortunately the old ones were toxic to other marine organisms. We’ve replaced the old type with a less toxic version, and are now transitioning to new silicone-based hull coatings that are non-toxic.”


Maersk appears to be a leader in advanced energy-efficiency technology in shipping. Can you tell me if Maersk a significant driver in making these advances happen through research and development?

“We have a group in Copenhagen called the Technical Organisation who are ship architects and engineers. We also work very closely with the ship yards, engine manufacturers and other suppliers around the world. As you can imagine, we’re fairly big customers of theirs. For the waste heat recovery system, we actually worked with four different suppliers and their research arms to optimize four different components of the equipment and the control system. In order to optimize the energy output from the total system, they actually had to make part of it less efficient to maximize the overall waste heat recovery. Bringing those four suppliers together to optimize energy efficiency was a pretty big step forward, and that system is now being built into a lot of our ships.”


This seems like a great investment in that not only are you making more profit – its good business sense, but it’s also better for the environment. Can you do that all the time?

“We can’t do that every time, because sometimes they’re not cost effective. But in many cases when we make investments that improve energy efficiency, we also improve the bottom line, so those are sustainable projects because they pay for themselves. They make business sense and they make good environmental sense. You know EPA’s definition of sustainability includes both economics and environmental impact.”

Clearing the West Coast Air

What about projects that might not pay for themselves?

“Not every project proposed makes good business sense; they still have to pass financial hurdle rates. But in some cases we actually do things that we know cost us more money. Today is actually an interesting day to be doing this interview, because at 6 o’clock, the Carsten Maersk will pull into Tacoma. When she gets to dock, she’ll switch to clean fuel in the auxiliary engines used for the entire time she’s tied up. At all four major ports where we have regularly scheduled vessel calls on the west coast, we will be burning clean fuel while we’re at dock. At the California ports we’ve also been doing it in the main engines and the auxiliaries while steaming in. It’s quite an expensive program. It absolutely does not pay for itself, but we believe it’s the right thing to do. We’re doing it to get experience burning these cleaner fuels, so we better understand what that does for all of the emissions factors, and also for operational concerns and maintenance.”

CO2 emissions are all over the news right now, but if you live in a port city, you’re much more concerned about what’s called criteria pollutants. These are the oxides of sulfur (SO2) that create acid rain and might have health effects, oxides of nitrogen (NOX) that are part of developing photochemical smog, and particulate matter, soot and fine particles that are not good to breathe. Those things are created by diesel engines whether they’re in ships, trains, or trucks, and whether they’re ours or your personal vehicle. But our volumes are bigger, so they’re a long term interest and concern to us.

The fact that we’re all so focused now on CO2 doesn’t take away from dealing with these criteria pollutants. We cannot lose focus on these because of air quality in port cities. We have to keep this in perspective; we can’t do CO2 instead of criteria pollutants. And it’s a very important issue when you deal with power plants. The criteria pollutants have been a concern and we’ve been trying to reduce them for 30 years. There are still regions of the country that don’t meet the national air quality standards; some of it’s from natural sources and some of it’s from the activities of man.”

What’s the difference between clean fuel and regular fuel?

“The typical bunker fuel they use when they’re out on the ocean has a maximum of 4- 4 ½ % sulfur, with an average of 2 ½ % sulfur. For people on landside, it’s similar to a No. 6 residual fuel oil used long ago to run boilers. It’s basically the leftovers from the refining business. It’s very cost effective, and these are huge diesel engines. The main engines on our biggest ships run 80,000 to 100,000 horsepower. Our S-class ships use the 80,000 hp engines, and are 1,200 feet long, as long as the aircraft carrier USS Eisenhower. These are very large ships, and by the way, we run them with about 20 people.

The fuels that we switched to in our four West Cost ports are 0.2% maximum sulfur, and it’s been averaging just under 0.1%, so that’s a 95% reduction in emissions of sulfur oxides. It also reduces particulate matter or soot, by about 87%. That makes it a much cleaner fuel, but it’s also approximately double the price.”

With the double price, I suppose it’s not likely that all operations would switch to clean fuel:

”There have been different proposals for how to reduce air emissions in port cities, many of which do have air quality concerns. Fuel suppliers tell us there are capacity issues about how much low sulfur fuel is available in the world. Capacity constraints also raise cost issues. There are two different proposals for improving air quality internationally; one is to require all vessels to use a somewhat lower sulfur fuel. For example, some of the sulfur control areas such as the Black Sea, have a maximum of 1 ½ % sulfur.

The World Shipping Council, Maersk Line, and a number of others including the US EPA, support a different approach – focus our resources on using really clean fuel in the air sheds where people live and breathe, to provide a much greater improvement in those areas. The fuel switches we make really do that. You’ve probably heard that Oakland and Los Angeles have significant air quality considerations. We switch to clean fuel 24 nautical miles out in both the main and auxiliary engines. I’d like to note that we’re the only company switching in the mains.

While the ships are at dock, the main engines are shut down, but you do continue to run the auxiliary engines. At dock, in addition to running the controls and radios, you’ve got a much larger ongoing energy load for refrigerated containers. A fair number of the containers on board any one of those ships might contain, say, grapes from Chile. Those have to be kept at a very constant temperature, so they’re shipped in refrigerated containers which we call reefers.”

Refrigeration turns out to be a big factor in intermodal shipping, and we’ll touch on some unique energy improvements that MaerskLine has helped implement in the last and final installment.

+ Park + Vine... Where Being Green Is Easy

The Greener Grass recently sat down with Dan Korman, the owner of Park + Vine. Named for it's location on the corner of Central Parkway and Vine Streets in Cincinnati, OH, it is "a green general store where being green is easy" as the website declares - and where it also boasts a Walk Score of 97 out of 100.


The Greener Grass: Let's get some background first... where did you get the inspiration for the store?

Dan Korman: I got the inspiration from going to a farmer's market in Chicago called Green City Market, a sustainable market, so I became friends with a lot of the vendors there who are a combination of farmers, bakers and soap makers, and I just got a lot of inspiration from what they were doing as entrepreneurs and on a mission to make a product that was not only good for people, but also good for the environment. And then I saw three of them go from being vendors at the market to having their own storefront which gave me great inspiration.

"I'm a big proponent of shopping local - three times more money goes back into the community if you shop at a locally owned store versus a chain."

TGG: And it's so unique for Cincy - that's why I got excited about it. So, you've been open for seven months... How's business?

DK: Business is great actually - December was our best month in terms of retail... we started off strong in June, fell off a little in July and every month thereafter it's gone up, and we're essentially breaking even. There seemed to be a lot of pre-opening press exposure, and then the area started opening up, but because of the make up of the store we were able to ride it on our own, and not just the things happening around us.

TGG: That's great, and it seems like 'green living' has permeated the public consciousness now. Have you ever had anyone come into the store that hasn't understood its premise?

DK: No, most people who come here know about the store before they come in - well, word of mouth is the number one way people hear about it, and then whenever we're in the Enquirer or City Beat we typically get a nice little rush. Sometimes we'll get somebody who is like "What is this place?" - which is exciting! But what is also exciting is when we get people who are not from here who come specifically to this store from another area.

TGG: On your website and your blog you talk about local things that are happening in your neighborhood of Over the Rhine. How is 'being local' connected to 'being green' and saving energy?

DK: I was just asked something along those lines - what's most important to the business? Is it that you have products that are made out of recycled materials, is it that it's locally made, etc.? - it's really a combination of all of those things. We look for as much stuff as we can that is made locally and then bringing in stuff that fits the store's mission, and maybe that will provide inspiration for somebody to make it locally, like the furniture that we are sitting in right now. (Chairs and side table made from bike parts). Which captures a lot of people's imaginations. I'm a big proponent of shopping local - three times more money goes back into the community if you shop at a locally owned store versus a chain.

TGG: I think there's a lot of people that don't know that...

DK: It's statistally proven... I'm sure you've seen the Buycincy.com blog - and with the whole Cincinnati Unchained event we've aligned ourselves with and hopefully next year there will be even more momentum and businesses participating in it, raising awareness. It's funny because I've found that it's more of a struggle with my own family forgetting that one of their own family members owns a business and supporting that before going somewhere else...

TGG: Awareness and education seems still to be a really big issue when it comes to how to 'live green'...

DK: And without being too heavy-handed message as well, because we don't want that to be the case with this store, we want to keep things upbeat and offer a positive message. In addition to being a retail store, we have an education outreach arm as well - we're planning a workshop on composting and lead paints and somebody has pitched the idea of eco-feminism.

TGG: How are someways that the store itself is energy efficient?

DK: First off, we're in an existing building, so we're using something that was already here; I think it was built in the 1880's, and when we painted it we used non-toxic paint, Low-VOC paint. We use compact fluorescent lighting, and we had our HVAC system upgraded to where it complies with L.E.E.D. requirements. We're pretty sure we have the prerequisites in place for L.E.E.D., we just haven't pursued it. The refrigerator up front and the coffee maker that we have are Energy Star rated and a lot of the displays that we use in the store are re-used from other stores that no longer exist or things we found at antique stores. And we encourage people to ride their bikes or walk to the store... Starting February 1st officially, anyone who bikes or walks to the store gets 10% off.


TGG: That's awesome. So of the items in Park + Vine, what are some of the biggest energy savers for people?

DK: Well, water bottles are big. Instead of buying water bottles over and over again, you just use one and the same thing with reusable bags, we sell tons of reusable bags. We don't sell a ton of compact fluorescent bulbs, but we do have them in the store, and then we have the Smart Strip as well.

TGG: That's interesting, because I think the first two things that you mentioned would surprise most people as energy savers, but recently China just banned giving away free plastic bags at retail citing that they are "a huge waste of energy..."

DK: That's amazing... I'm going to put that on our blog.

"I just got a lot of inspiration from what they were doing as entrepreneurs and on a mission to make a product that was not only good for people, but also good for the environment."

TGG: You mentioned having more solar powered items - and it seems like solar products is kind of a maze when looking. I know you sell bags from Voltaic Systems for charging up small electronics. Are there many companies doing that for personal items?

DK: We're looking at a company called Silicon Solar which has a whole array of consumer friendly products that they make, and we were looking at solar powered holiday lights for the season, which makes sense for the outdoor, but didn't get to it in time, but we just went with the LED holiday lights. We are still going ahead with the batteries and battery chargers because of several requests. And that's what the store is - a direct response to what customers want. Doesn't it seem like the store has changed since you've first come in?

TGG: Yeah, it definitely has, and that's an interesting point. There's so many new 'green' items coming out that it seems there has to be a back and forth between who knows what's best and why...

DK: It goes both ways here. Our biggest competition is online, and what we've learned is that we need to let people know as much as possible about what we have, because we'll have people come into the store and say something like "Oh I didn't realize you had these Klean Kanteen bottles?!" because there is a certain amount of brand loyalty to certain products and people are used to buying them online. So they'll say, "Had I known I would have got them from you because the price is the same, and you don't have to pay for shipping."

TGG: So what's the greener grass for Park + Vine; what's in store for the future?

DK: Do more education outreach, and get even more involved in the neighborhood and the city in terms of Green initiatives because there is a lot going on in Cincinnati - it's amazing.

TGG: What are you most excited about?

DK: There's an initiative to make Over the Rhine a L.E.E.D. certified neighborhood as a whole... that's big. We're obviously excited about any bike initiatives along the river, glad that the city didn't cut the bike program and of course the street car... it would definitely affect us and be good for the overall city. And then we're bringing in compost bins and recycling containers, and more solar powered stuff, batteries and battery chargers. In the future, I'd love to get more into home improvement, building materials as well. We obviously only have so much space here... maybe build a L.E.E.D. certified building next door... who knows?

+ Interview with the CSIRO in Australia

We are very pleased to have interviewed Dr. John Wright, Director of the Energy Transformed Flagship program at the Commonwealth Science and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO), Australia's national science agency.

TGG: Could you share a few of the changes that are happening or that are predicted for Australia as a result of global warming and why the Energy Transformed Flagship’s work is so important?
JW: Australia is a very dry continent and CSIRO climate modeling is indicating that we will be significantly impacted by global warming. We have done considerable regional climate change modeling and this information is available. The work of the Energy Transformed Flagship is targeted directly in developing technologies and systems that will assist Australia to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions. This is important to show the world that Australia is assuming a responsible role in a global problem and also assist in reducing commercial risk for Australia given that we are the largest exporter of coal in the world and a significant supplier of gas and energy intensive products such as aluminum and alumina.

TGG: Australia was the latest country to sign the Kyoto Protocol – has that impacted the work of the Energy Transformed Flagship program?
JW: Australia is late in coming to the table. We do not expect a major impact on the work of the Flagship although we are exploring the potential of various Clean Development Mechanism opportunities that were closed to us.

TGG: Of the many projects within the Energy Transformed Flagship, which do you see as the most ambitious/aspiring in the long term? Most critical in the short term (~10+ yrs)?
JW: Probably our development of solar thermal technology. Now that Australia has a long term greenhouse gas emissions reduction target of 60% by 2050 (over 200 levels) and a renewable energy target of 20% by 2020 and some of the best solar isolation areas in the world, this is an exciting area to be researching. Most critical in the shorter term is to pilot, demonstrate and install commercial carbon capture and sequestration technology for both existing and future fossil fuel power plants (both coal and gas).

TGG: Climate change seems to be something that is hard to quantify for many people. How do you plan on measuring the success of your programs, and in turn, communicating that to the public as something they can use?
JW: At the end of 2006, the Flagship released a report, "The Heat is On". This was the outcome of an energy futures forum that explored a range of energy scenarios for Australia out to 2050. The forum consisted of government, industry, environmental and public interest groups (20 in all). Look here for a copy of the report and more details. This analysis provide a range of energy trajectories that we now use to track the progress of the Flagship - at least the major Flagship activities that will assist us to achieve the progressive targets of the scenarios. We have just commenced a similar Future Fuels Forum that will track where out future transport fuels will come from. This report will be released mid 2008. Activities such as these provide a robust reporting mechanism to our stakeholders, including the public.

TGG: Making clean energy is critical, but with an ever increasing mobile world, energy storage is just as important. What is wrong with most conventional batteries today, and what makes the UltraBattery better?
JW: Conventional batteries, based on reversible chemical reactions are still not as robust as they need to be under the harsh mobile operating conditions - the best are expensive and still do not have long enough lives. The UltraBattery, being a combination of an advanced lead acid battery and a supercapacitor in the same page has the twin advantage of being cheaper than other types and also, due to the power handling capability of the supercapacitor - ie the physical charge storage characteristics, can smooth out the power flow to and from the battery for long life, well beyond that of other battery types.

TGG: Tell me about CSIRO’s work regarding supercapicitors, what they are, and how they might transform the way we use mobile electric devices.
JW: Supercapacitors have great power handling characteristics, but poor storage capacity. That is why the combination of a lead acid battery with its high storage capacity with a supercapacitor is so good - we get the best of both. For small applications, supercapacitors are also a good power device. Our initial work was taken over a few years ago and further developed by CapXX for use in communications devices.

+ John Robbins, Energy Consultant and Solar Home Designer

John Robbins is as an energy consultant and solar home designer in the Ohio, Kentucky, Indiana (OKI) area, and is a frequent presenter to groups and organizations, as well as individuals and students. Having been to one of his presentations a couple of years ago, I knew John more or less lives the Energy topic we’ve been looking into, so I was pleased that he agreed to let me interview him for The Greener Grass. First a little background to what John does:

“I help homeowners and small companies lower their energy use or cost, pollution demands too, using custom-fit combinations of conventional and alternative energies plus very efficient "passive high-performance" building envelopes and efficient energy use within. I audit and analyze heating, cooling and electrical loads in homes and offices, whether they use conventional or alternative energies, whether they are my designs or designed by others. I examine and fine-tune electrical loads in prep for converting to solar power, as I also did with my own office which has run on solar electricity and batteries since November 2001."

John has the been residential chairperson for the S.W. Ohio Chapter of the Association of Energy Engineers (AEE), is an AEE "Certified Energy Manager", has been awarded the 1998 Ohio Governors Award for Excellence and Energy Efficiency in the Education Category, to name a few of his credentials. You can learn more (a lot more!) about John and energy efficient power and building at his website, http://home.insightbb.com/~johnfrobbins.

Priorities and Values
I started out by asking John to elaborate on a topic we discussed briefly when I first contacted him: Your comments about what people look for when buying a home, and energy efficiency not being high on the list compared to square footage, location, number of bedrooms, etc., seemed very significant. Do you have any thoughts about how people's priorities might be changed?

“Right now there's no recognized "personal energy using ethic" which might assist people in understanding how much energy they SHOULD use. This is a cultural problem, not unlike weight. I can recall when it was seen as appropriate for wives and mothers to feed their husbands and kids until they were overweight, since that showed they were well-fed (back when wives and mothers were more typically given that responsibility). Maybe this was fallout from the Depression or other less fortunate days when people didn't have enough to eat, so were overly thin. But it seldom makes sense in today's well-to-do economics in this nation that most overweight or obese people should need to eat more to recover from underfeeding.

Indeed, there's a general recognition nowadays about what's overweight and obese, how much of this/that nutrition one should eat, what one should weigh. So much of all this is part of the "American Way", to want and strive for "more", whether that's more money, more stuff, bigger and/or more luxurious housing, hot tubs or cars, or just more energy use. In many upscale neighborhoods, there are actually regulations on minimum house size, instead of maximum size or energy efficiency.

It's my perspective that this fundamental was central to Donella Meadows' THE LIMITS TO GROWTH and BEYOND THE LIMITS, which introduced sustainability in terms mostly related to physical flows, not just spiritual or political intents.

People especially in our cities and suburbs are surrounded by a mostly mechanized environment, their house, their vehicles, the buildings the work in, so they don’t have an understanding of resource flows like people in rural areas. There was a girl on my street when I lived in White Oak that told me that there were horses at the end of the street, but they were cows! She didn’t know the difference between a horse and a cow!

I heard once that the people in northwest Hamilton County did the most recycling. Why? Because they can see or smell the Rumpke Landfill [where the county garbage goes to]. So they have a higher interest and motivation regarding that issue. If they had a power plant in their backyard, they might be more cognizant of their energy usage and committed to lowering it.

I am not saying that a wealthier person, for one, cannot strive for more stuff or more power use. I just think many of us will never be wealthy enough to avoid trimming our usage and demands when nonrenewable supplies begin to get too tight to sustain normal rising demands at reasonably low prices. A wealthier person or anyone else who uses more energy than average might begin to understand and learn to want to trim their usage too. I think the more conventional energy one uses, the more responsibility one has to lower it, regardless of how. There are many ways.”

Energy Literacy
I've heard and read that most people are energy illiterate, and maybe there aren't enough energy education programs. What do you think about making this topic part of the core curriculum in high school?

"Energy and environment math and science problems could and should be introduced far earlier, like in 3rd grade. I'd love to write energy "story problems" for elementary school math books. We need problems that get kids thinking very early about energy issues, like so many light bulbs being on x-number of hours using y-amount of kilowatts and z-amount of kilowatt-hours, resulting in so many pounds of C02. I’ve often made this suggestion to teachers. The longer we wait to introduce especially numbers-related understandings like this, the more abstract these matters can be later, especially when people are adults when first learning about it.”

Power Plant-Sized Energy Reductions
You mentioned that just saving energy wasn't enough until it could take entire power plants off-line, or prevent powerplants from being built. With that in mind, is it possible that the alternative energy community should focus on very large projects? (office buildings, factories, etc.)?

“Many small reductions add up into larger volumes. We often hear about trying to cut power plant pollution via energy efficiency (EE), renewable energy (RE) and Demand Side Management (DSM). But since EPA pollution regs typically prevent ramping down power plant output (since pollution per output goes up dramatically as units are ramped down or idled), it's important to think about these implementations in volumes more similar to that of the power plants which we'd most like to shut-down or prevent from getting built. If we don’t implement enough EE, RE and DSM to shut down, turn off or avoid building new conventional powerplants, we’re not usually implementing enough to reduce any large amount of pollution.”

More Incentives Needed For Energy Efficiency
I read that one of the most affordable ways to implement solar would be to roll it into a new home mortgage. Do you think there's enough education or incentives for this? How about a new home carbon tax?

"Most EE and RE are not assigned appraised value in mortgage appraisals, at least around this area of our nation. EnergyStar allows a slightly lower interest rate, like 1/4% lower, but this is quite different from increasing value itself. If somebody has triple pane lowE windows with sunscreens, for instance, they should be appraised as worth more than double pane windows. After all, they do cost more. But a typical appraisal assigns no extra value. Similarly, there is no valuation for solar panels, whether they work or not. No extra valuation for a wall which has double or triple the R-value either. This is all clearly wrong and must be changed.

Ohio has fairly generous subsidies for grid-tied solar-electric power; I think it’s 35%. But the paybacks are still usually 30-40 years for most homeowners, even with the subsidies. Should anyone start their home or small business energy reductions program by installing solar-electric? No! Usually it’s better to start with lots of insulation, air-tightening and efficiency, then looking at solar heating and daylighting, orienting houses and structures better for “passive solar”, instead of just to the street, and so forth. In any logical approach, solar electric is the last energy-reducing strategy to implement.

In Ohio, there are no subsidies for RE expenditures less than $10,000. Yet there’s a heck of a lot of stuff anyone can and should do to reduce conventional energy consumption before spending $10,000 on the most expensive energy supply solutions. Programs maybe incentivize the highest-cost solutions because sellers of low-cost insulation and caulk didn’t have as much money to lobby the statehouse as sellers of expensive solar hardware. And there’s been a rather huge buyout of the solar industry by the oil industry, which has plenty of money!

Going back to my opinion that ‘the more conventional energy one uses, the more responsibility one has to lower it,’ imagine if our culture began to understand and accept limits on energy demand and use. A wealthier person might just prefer to get or have more, but do it with heavier applications of more expensive renewable, recycled and high-tech solutions that can’t be easily afforded by the rest of us. This is somewhat reverse of normal trends today, where the wealthiest consumers often pay the lowest average prices for their nonrenewable resources.

In Ohio, people who use the most power get extremely beneficial electricity rates. People who get charged the highest amount per kilowatt-hour are most often the people who use the least. I don’t think the average person knows this. But it certainly isn’t like that in some other geographic regions like California and Seattle, where electric rates go up the more you use. These changes will likely eventually come to Cincinnati.

I also support carbon taxes. When those come to be, electricity users in the Midwest will get hit with the highest taxes because of our burning so much coal to produce electricity and because of our being so inefficient. This is why I support incentives to reduce power usage, not just incentives to install certain kinds of RE hardware."

The Most Fascinating Development ?
As a final question, I asked John about what's a new development or RE method that has you excited right now?

“New developments are happening everyday. Just read yesterday about a new lower-cost solar panel, (which you can't buy right now of course, just like many other developments we read about). However, since solar panels and other similarly high-cost high-tech stuff (i.e. hybrid vehicles) are less affordable to most consumers, I am most fascinated by stuff EVERYBODY can do. I'm a "small-d" democrat and egalitarian.

Most of the ways we can reduce our energy consumption and demand for pollution are far less expensive than solar. Lots of ways are free, like turning off stuff when we’re done with it, like carpooling, like moving one’s desk closer to a day-lit window. Some are lower-cost, like choosing a smaller higher-mpg car for commuting instead of a more expensive larger vehicle. Like choosing a smaller house or office instead of a larger one. There are many energy-reducing solutions which are even lower-cost than what we’re doing or buying now! Getting our usage down in less costly ways lowers our eventual costs to convert to RE power too. Less power needs result in less expense for power supply, whether it’s conventional or renewable!”

+ Honesty is the best policy: An Interview with Lucy Postins of Honest Kitchen

Last but certainly not least we bring you our final interview on pet wellness. This interview crosses into the energy realm but you'll just have to read it to find out more.

The Honest Kitchen is the most innovative pet food companies I know of. Their product offerings are unique to every major brand of pet food. The healthy, dehydrated raw food is fresh, mostly organic and is guaranteed 100% human grade (but as they state, “it is intended for your dog to eat, not you!”) Their success speaks for itself with the company growing an average of 100% each year since its inception. Lucy was kind enough to tell us more about it. Thanks Lucy!



TGG: Please give us the history of the Honest Kitchen.
We were founded in 2002. I originally worked as a nutritionist for another company for about five years. When I got my first dog I became interested in the raw food diet. I began making raw food for him. I started researching ways to try to make it more simple and convenient and less messy to prepare. The idea just spun off from that. It originally was going to be a little local cottage industry and it snowballed from there.

TGG: Tell me how a raw diet can benefit my pet.
A raw food diet is just a much more natural way to feed a pet. It is really the way nature intended them to eat. They weren’t designed to eat cooked and highly processed food. Modern pet food processing methods like canning and extrusion are really under high heat and pressure and it just obliterates a lot of the natural nutrition, things like vitamins and enzymes and phytonutrients (TGG adds: phytochemicals in fruits and vegetables can significantly reduce the risk of cancer, probably due to polyphenol antioxidant and anti-inflammatory effects) that are present in the raw foods. So, then a lot of synthetic vitamins and chemical compounds and flavoring then have to be added. It then ends up just being pretty far from what nature really set out with. The idea behind a more natural diet, something that is minimally processed, something that is frozen, raw, or fresh, or dehydrated, a lot of the natural nutrition remains intact. The animal can enjoy better health. It is all about being proactive about the nutrition rather than feeding bad food and then later having to spend money on vet bills later.

TGG: How does the dehydration process work? How do you maintain the nutritional benefits of the food?
It is a pretty slow, moderate temperature process, (TGG adds: just above 120 F for meats and about 104 F for fruits and veggies). It is basically like a gigantic sort of oven. It is under a very moderate, gentle process. Warm temperatures as opposed to extreme heat. It just removes only the water from the food and nothing else. It in order to feed our foods you have to add the water back before serving. So, it just basically turns it back into fresh food. (TGG adds: that also makes the foods easier to prepare and store and very light-weight to ship.)

TGG: What are some common food allergies for pets and what can we as owners do to ensure our pets aren’t suffering?
The most common food allergies are actually to grains. A lot of pet foods contain an overload of grain and those aren’t really natural for cats or dogs. Very often we see chronic GI upset, ear infections, and itchy skin, and chewing at the feet. Those are very common signs of a food allergy, most typically to grain. Occasionally animals will test positive for being allergic to certain meats, and other ingredients can show up. Typically though, grains seem to be the most common one. If you combine that will a diet that has a lot of chemical preservatives and artificial flavorings and colors which over time deplete their immune system. That can make them more pre-disposed or prone to food intolerances and allergies.

TGG: What is the difference between food allergies and food intolerances?
An allergy is an immediate, really severe reaction to something. It would be like a rash, or hives. A food intolerance is a more low grade reaction that crops up over time. Things like the GI upsets and the ear infections. Which might not happen instantaneously but if they eating something that they can’t really tolerate than the body does react eventually.

TGG: Tell us more about the differences between human-grade food vs. pet grade food.
Those two words are technical terms that relate to the quality of the ingredients and of the finished product. We actually became embroiled earlier this year in a lawsuit with the Ohio Department of Agriculture because we have a statement on our packaging which labels our pet foods as human food grade We have approval from the FDA to say this. They reviewed our manufacturing processes and affidavit from every one of our suppliers and determined that we could legally state that our foods as human food grade. Which means fit for a human to eat. We do not market our pet foods for humans. It just simply relates to the quality of the raw ingredients. In contrast to that there is feed grade which is only fit for animals and could not be fed to a human being.
Ohio objected to our labels, they stated that pet food that is labeled as human grade would be confusing to consumers and they wouldn’t be able to figure out if the product is for humans or animals.
Not too long ago, the judge ruled and overruled that decision in our favor.
TGG: The thing is that I have been finding out through my research is that while it is called “food” or pet food that it really isn’t food at all but rather just lots of by-products, and really just junk. (I will also add that you don’t have to dig deep to find this out.)
Yes, there are some really horrendous things that they put into pet food in this country, a lot of by-products, something called 4-D meats which means dead, dying, disabled or diseased meat. It is like cattle who passed away in the field and didn’t make it to the slaughterhouse or animals that have died from cancer, road-kill or other disgusting things. There was an issue the FDA investigated a few years ago in which it was determined by veterinarians in the US that it was becoming more difficult to euthanize cats and dogs when it came time to end their lives. They were becoming somewhat resistant to the Pentobarbital which is used in the euthanasia process. The link was made between this problem and the existence of Pentobarbital in a lot of pet foods. It was suspected that pet food contained euthanized cats and dogs from pounds and stuff as a protein source. Since some pets were eating food with it they were actually creating a resistance to it.
Those types of things are really shocking for people to find out. The claims are really not to be believed. These companies have tremendous marketing dollars and campaigns to lead you to believe that they have your pets best interest in mind, when really they don’t.
TGG: We were talking about that the other day, that it is more common in other countries that your pet would eat your leftovers and that a lot of those pets are actually healthier.
Yes, even in this country people used to do that. I think A lot of these companies have really brainwashed people into thinking that you should never feed table scraps or homemade food to your animal because you’ll throw off the nutritional balance. It is really nonsense. There is no reason to assume that someone’s cat or dog is so primitive that they couldn’t tolerate a mix of different ingredients throughout the week. There is no reason why they should eat the equivalent of Cheerios everyday of their life. We really encourage people to mix in different things into their food. Things like plain yogurt or cottage cheese, canned fish, or other veggies and things they might eat themselves.
TGG: You know contrary to what we are taught about feeding our dogs, I have actually found that my own dog enjoys quite a lot of fruits and vegetables. I know there are certain ones to avoid like grapes, chocolate, etc.
Yeah, dogs do enjoy that, and people can incorporate certain foods like from their hope gardens. Pets can really benefit from things like parsley, and calendular. Then you can elimate the need for additivies.

You have made a commitment to be a more eco-friendly company. Please tell us more about that.
We have had a long-standing commitment to the environment to try to introduce organic ingredients wherever we can and use well crafted herbs and to buy local when possible. We also just made the upgrade to our product packaging, we have transitioned from a bag which was not easily recyclable in most areas to a 100% recycled post-consumer box which is completely recyclable and is printed with soy based inks. It is either recyclable or biodegradable after use. Inside is a food grade bag which is not printed and obviously it is needed to keep the food fresh and safe from contaminants. That is 100% recycling after us e also. It is an increased cost in terms of dollars that we are absorbing as a company and we are not passing it along to customers. We feel it is really important to put our money where our mouth is as far as the environment is concerned. It is really on the top of the list for a lot of people and they like to purchase products from companies that are really committed to the environment.
TGG: We have noticed that as well. The companies that have maintained their authenticity and transparency all along are now reaping the benefits.
Yes, we have always tried to be very open about what we are doing. We like to involve our customers in product development projects. We have a work/food program where we have people who are trainers, breeders, agility trainers, who have an active role in our product development. As we get our products in development we like to get our customers involved in home trails where we give samples away for customers to feed to their own cats and dogs, in the comfort of their own home. We can then eliminate laboratory tests that we do not agree with. I think people like to be involved in the decision making process.

TGG: What is next for Honest Kitchen?
We will be introducing another cookie just in time for the holiday. It will be a blueberry and buffalo flavored cookie. That will be available in the next couple of weeks. We will probably start work on a new cat food early on in 2008 and another canine diet will be hitting the selves next year.

This contains some great information, please check it out:
The Honest Kitchen blog

More links about nutrition:
Phytochemicals
Toxins in pet food
Do you know what you are feeding your pet?
Pet food recall

+ Surf for the planet part 2: Project BLUE's Vipe Desai

Like we talked about in our earlier interview with Mike Gass from Reef, surfers are at the leading edge of the movement to save our planet's oceans. Surfers are a pretty laid back bunch for the most part, but when it comes to protecting the oceans, they don't pull any punches. One of the most exciting new initiatives is Project BLUE- Vipe Desai, the brains behind the operation, was kind enough to talk to us about it. Read on to find out what Project BLUE is all about, and how you can contribute, whether you're a surfer or not.

First of all, tell us a little about Project BLUE for people that aren't familiar with it. What are some of the key issues facing our planet's oceans?
Project BLUE is a fundraising initiative that is supported by Billabong, DAKINE, Electric, Nixon, O'Neill and Reef. But unlike other fundraising initiatives we're leveraging popular surf branded products to help channel funds to support the Surfrider Foundation. Both, consumers and retailers will play an equal part with the manufacturer in making a contribution with the purchase of a project BLUE signature product. We just launched the effort in the US this past June and already its been embraced with support from retailers and consumers.


The two key issues facing coastlines is water quality and coastal development. Poor water quality along coasts all of over the world is a result of untreated "urban runoff" or drainage from agricultural operations that flows untreated to the ocean.

Coastal development has and will continue to impact our coastlines as more and more structures are built along our coasts in turn effecting erosion, water quality and natural nourishment of the sand. We've been seeing the effects of improper shoreline development for a number of years yet developers continue to plan irresponsibly.

As soon as its in our face we're trying to get our head around solutions and things we can take action on. That's why we are clear in our statement that we're not a charity but a plan of action. Enough talking, lets get to work and make the changes we want to see.

We're talking about energy right now on The Greener Grass. How does humanity's growing energy consumption affect our oceans?
Energy is a big contributor of the environmental issues we're facing in the world today. Everything we make has to be heated or cooled and we still have to ship it and further transport it to its final destination. The research behind Global Warming has established that we're a society that's reliant on fossil fuels (coal, oil, natural gas, gasoline) and that polluting and non-sustainable practices will have serious long-term repercussions that include rising sea levels, acidification of the oceans, stronger and more frequent storms for our planet. These changes will have the most impact along our coasts.


I really liked the Project BLUE tagline: "It's not a charity, it's a plan of action." Can you explain exactly what that means? Why is it so important that people understand it's not just another charity?
Charity is mature subject matter. Until we are directly facing a crisis, environmental, health, etc, we're oblivious to it. As soon as its in our face we're trying to get our head around solutions and things we can take action on. That's why we are clear in our statement that we're not a charity but a plan of action. Enough talking, lets get to work and make the changes we want to see.


Coming from the world of action sports, you know how important authenticity is to our generation. How can sustainability initiatives show that they're the real deal?
First, you have to find a common concern and/or interest. Project BLUE is the real deal in that it is geared towards surfers, surf shops, and surf related manufacturers. All 3 groups have a direct interest in the health of our oceans. By partnering with core brands, surf shops and surfers, we share a common concern and interest in the health of our oceans and the products that make up the project BLUE collection will play host to supporting coastal environmental initiatives.

Surfers have been involved in ocean-rescue projects for a while now, going to back to the Surfrider Foundation back in the 80s, with widespread industry support. What makes surfers so willing to get involved?
Surfers are a unique group of global citizens. We may be from different countries and have different views at times but put us in the water and we'll trade waves and build upon that stoke we get from surfing. Over the years I've seen the surfers tackle environmental and humanitarian issues head on. When it comes to the ocean, we're so connected that its a natural feeling to want to get involved and do something.

We are working with the best brands in the industry and they include Billabong, DAKINE, Electric, Nixon, O'Neill and Reef. When this initiative was coming together I made a list of the "dream team". The fact that everyone on my dream team said yes at the first meeting was a sign that we were onto something really big.

One of the really cool things about Project BLUE is that it lets people make a difference by buying gear that's already a part of their lifestyle- you're not asking them to make any sacrifices. How can environmental initiatives make a difference without scaring people off by asking them to give up their lifestyle?
Totally. We're not asking people to consume more. More importantly we're asking them to upgrade their already planned purchase to a project BLUE product. This is a low-friction ask. Not everyone wants to do a beach clean up but this is an easy and permission based way to introduce consumers to environmental issues plaguing our coasts and then open a dialogue with them to get involved with Surfrider Foundation at their local level. I think we can all do something that will have a positive impact on our oceans and we cant ask people to do a million things. We have to give them options on how to plug in and participate on the path to a better future. If everyone just did a few things and did them very well then we'll see some changes quickly.

Can you tell us some of the partners that Project BLUE is working with? How do you choose partners, and what have you learned from working with them so far?
We are working with the best brands in the industry and they include Billabong, DAKINE, Electric, Nixon, O'Neill and Reef. When this initiative was coming together I made a list of the "dream team". The fact that everyone on my dream team said yes at the first meeting was a sign that we were onto something really big.

Our partners and their staff have been amazing to work with and have invested so much time and energy into this initiative. It truly has been a team effort.

What's next for Project BLUE? How can people get involved?
Well first off, project BLUE has exceeded all of my expectations in the first year. Our partners met or exceed their first year projections by up to 400%! Right now we're focused on managing our growth and expansion strategy to keep up with consumer interest and retail support. We're also going to
focus on ramping up our efforts globally with our partners.

We did a soft launch with Australia in September and now we need to leverage the energy and excitement that we're experiencing down there. The retailers are welcoming the initiative and the real clincher is that consumers are emailing us daily as to when will products be available in their part of the world.

Check out the Project BLUE website

+ Surf for the planet: An interview with Reef's Mike Gass

Reef is one of the world's most long-lived, authentic, and beloved surf brands, with deep roots in the action sports culture for decades. What's really exciting to see is that they're not resting on their laurels, but continuing to progress and push the industry in new directions. Their latest initiative is Reef Redemption, led by Mike Gass, who was kind enough to tell us all about it.

First of all, can you just tell us a little bit about Reef Redemption? What kind of reaction has the project gotten, both from consumers and the industry?
Reef Redemption is a three-phase approach to being a more socially responsible Reef.

1. Reef Redemption Product Series
A product line consisting of sandals, shoes and men’s apparel for SP2008 and expanding to include other product lines for SP09. These products are made with what we believe to be sustainable, recycled or organic products where possible. With this series we aim to build more environmentally friendly product that does not sacrifice any of the famous Reef style, comfort, fit or quality. 1% of the sales of these products goes into the Reef Redemption Fund.

2. Culture of Giving
Reef has always been supportive of organizations that are fighting to preserve our waves and beaches and the communities based around them. With our culture of giving we have a financial contribution piece with the reef Redemption Fund and a volunteer piece through the Reef Redemption Committee.
-Reef Redemption Fund- monies used by Reef to partner with non-profit organizations working to preserve waves and beaches. Also supports humanitarian organizations working around the globe. We partnered with
-Reef Redemption Committee-
More than half of the employees are regularly volunteering to participate in beach clean ups and are looking for ways to give back to the community.

3. In-House Effort
- This is the part where we try to be more responsible in our workplace by reduction in energy and material use. There is a lot of low hanging fruit in this area and we have begun by adding sensor switches to lighting, using less carpeting, maximizing the natural light in the building, incorporating recycled barn board into the building. We are recycling our irrigation water and working on the process of getting our building L.E.E.D. certified. We have also eliminated the use of paper cups in the kitchen. There are a lot of little things that surprisingly add up to a lot when all is said and done. We are by no means perfect, but we are taking a look at ourselves and making a concerted effort to raise our game.

The response has been really positive so far. The tradeshows went great and the product sold in very well. Spring 2008 is the first season so we will see shortly how the customers react to the product. We have gotten a lot of positive feedback regarding the three facets and the fact that Reef Redemption represents so much more than just an ecologically minded product extension.

Now that there is a proliferation of ecologically minded product offerings we have seen the supply side really expand. I think the relationships should get easier to create as the competition spurs the market.

On the Reef Redemption website, it says that "More than half of the company has volunteered to be a part of this initiative of evaluating Reef’s day-to-day business activities." Can you tell me more about what that involves? Where do you see that program going from here?
We have set out to break our workplace into teams that will help us evaluate our footprint and look for ways to reduce our energy and material use. This coming year we have engaged the help of a sustainability group to aid us in this process. 2008 is going to be a busy year as we examine all of our systems and set our goals for the future. I hope that the team concept will allow each group to feel some ownership of the Reef Redemption initiative. It needs to be built from the ground up and not directed from the top down.

You've clearly put a lot of effort into finding materials that are innovative, cool, and yet also sustainable. What was the process like for selecting those materials? As demand grows for these products, do you see scaling up those sourcing relationships being a challenge?
It is a difficult process that is slowly getting easier as the green marketplace expands. A couple years ago it was a different story as there was not a lot to choose from. Now that there is a proliferation of ecologically minded product offerings we have seen the supply side really expand. I think the relationships should get easier to create as the competition spurs the market.


With the product safety scares in pet food and toys recently, it seems like consumers are becoming more and more concerned with product sourcing. How will affect consumers and the products they buy in the future? Will people be willing to pay a premium for sourcing?
It is really hard to predict just how much of an impact all the current scares will have. It does seem to me that the companies are angling toward being more transparent with their entire processes and with that I think there will be more people looking for the equivalent of fair trade product etc. in the future. It remains to be seen if the average consumer will pay a premium for sourcing. There are always the concerned citizens who will look for what they believe is the best product from an environmental standpoint and they will pay the premium. Look at the success of Patagonia. Right now, it seems companies are working to educate the consumers hoping to create an informed base who will demand this type of product from certified sources.

It is really important to us that we communicate the truth to our customers. We have said from the outset that we are using what we believe are the best materials or processes that we can for this series. If we learn that there is a better material or that something we are doing is not as good as we once believed, we will change the product or process.

Sustainability is approaching critical mass, and it seems like everybody is launching some sort of sustainability initiative. One of the biggest challenges for consumers is to sort through all the bogus initiatives and find the ones that are real. How can authentic companies help consumers find out the truth? What role does authenticity play in Reef Redemption?
It is really important to us that we communicate the truth to our customers. We have said from the outset that we are using what we believe are the best materials or processes that we can for this series. If we learn that there is a better material or that something we are doing is not as good as we once believed, we will change the product or process. We try to educate the consumers as to why we have chosen certain materials etc. through our web site and catalogs. I do think the customer should dig a bit to try and find the real deal and make their decisions based on what they can find out. That being said, it is certainly the responsibility of these companies to be honest with their potential customers. It seems that currently the industry is fairly unregulated so companies need to be honorable in the way they conduct their business.

Having the right public face can be crucial to a program like this, and it looks like you've got your bases covered there with your Team Ambassadors. How did you get huge names like Rob Machado and Ben Bourgeois involved? How important is it to have them on board?
The great part about this is that these guys are fired up on the program and the movement in general. We are not telling them that they need to pretend to be environmentally conscious; instead they are coming to us and are asking for these materials to be used, as they want their name to be associated with them.

One of the things that I really liked about the Reef Redemption product statement is that you made it clear that you're not asking consumers to make any sacrifices. No matter what, the products are still going to fit great, look cool, and perform well it seems like that's a common thread in the new generation of sustainability products. Can you talk a little more about that?
Early on we said that it would be paramount that our Reef Redemption Product Series not stick out like a green thumb. We believe that we can and must keep all the same attributes of the product that have defined Reef for the past 20 plus years. Sometimes it is a challenge to create product that does not look too hippy, but with the rapid expansion of the marketplace we are seeing many more material options that will make that mission a bit easier for everyone.

That's it for me. Is there anything you'd like to add or mention? Thanks again for your time, and good luck!
Just want to thank you for the opportunity to share our program with you and your readers. Pray for Surf.

+ Interview with Chris Jordan

The very talented photographer/artist/environmental activist Chris Jordan graciously took some time out of his busy schedule to speak with us today. His amazing photographic pieces visualize the statistics of contemporary American culture. His images depict things like the number of shipping containers that go through American ports every day (75 000) or the number of disposable batteries produced by Energizer every 15 min (170 000).

TGG: How did you get started with your Running the Numbers series?

Chris: Running the Numbers was an outgrowth of a previous project I did called Intolerable Beauty. What I did with Intolerable Beauty was basically straight photography. I would go out with a large format film camera and look for huge piles of detritus of our mass culture. As I got to the end of my Intolerable Beauty series I was looking for where to go next with it and I realized that the straight photographic process that I was using had some limitations that I wanted to try to overcome. The whole idea behind my intolerable Beauty series was to try and depict the scale of our mass culture, our consumerism. I realized that I really wasn’t depicting scale. I was taking these scary photographs and I was trying to depict the scale but the actual scale was something that was invisible because there was no way that you could go and take pictures of all of the cars we discard in a day or all the cell phones that we discard every day or all the oil that we burn every day. So it occurred to me to try to make these digital composite images that depict the actual quantities rather than just showing some random amount of garbage and hoping that that would have enough of an effect.

TGG: What kind of feedback have you gotten on this series?

Chris: It's just been astonishing what has happened. The public response to my Running the Numbers series has been amazing. I just can’t even believe what has happened to me in the last year and a half since I released this series. I've gotten tens of thousands of emails from all over the world and my work has been featured on hundreds and hundreds of blogs and in magazines. It has just received this truly amazing public response. What I really attribute it to is not so much that I am some brilliant artist, because there is lots of amazing work being done out there that isn't receiving this kind of attention, but I think what it is reflective of a craving on the part of our culture for just a more sensible way of being. For me, the metaphor that I carry in my mind is that American culture, or consumer culture else ware in the world, is like a giant frat party. It's 4am and everyone has been drinking bad alcohol for the whole night and we are all laying around in pools of our own vomit. There is just this deep voice that we can all hear, way down there that says – OK, it's time to do something different. We are messing our own selves up as well as the resources of our planet.

TGG: Consumerism and consumption is a pretty hot topics right now, what do you think makes your work so effective at making a statement?

Chris: I don't know how well I accomplish it, but one thing that I think is really important is to be self reflective. I try to make my work not judgmental. When I talk about my work, I do it in a way that isn’t finger pointing at anybody because it doesn't take much self reflection on my own part to realize that I'm in no position to be a preacher. If I just look around my studio I have all kinds of nice stuff and I fly around the country on jets to give talks about global warming. There is a tremendous amount of irony in my own life that if I think about that, I’m in no position at all to point the finger at anybody and say somebody is being bad by consuming. That is one aspect that is really important to me

Another aspect is that I think it is really important, is to honor the complexity of these issues. I remember years ago I did some environmental activism work around nuclear power plants. I was one of those people back in collage that chained myself to fences and that kind of stuff. I realized that I had a very one dimensional view of it back then. I wasn't thinking of the irony. That I'm against nuclear power but I'm also against the kind of pollution that comes from the alternatives and I'm also a guy who uses a lot of electricity myself. When you start looking at issues like that, they are so complex. I think that is an aspect of the environmental movement and generally about political activism that needs to be brought up to date. That is a part of my work that is important to me also.

TGG: As a designer, I really appreciate the visualization aspect of your work. A number doesn’t always mean something to someone but to see it blow out into an image that represents what that number means is really effective.

Chris: That's kind of the underlying idea behind my Running the Numbers series. It's to take these statistics about our mass culture and translate them from the unfeeling cold, clinical language of data that we can’t feel. Numbers pass in and out of our minds every day. We read all these statistics about the number of unwanted dogs and cats that are euthanized every day or the number of people that are dying around the world, they are just these giant numbers. It could be a number like 200 million or 200 billion, it really doesn’t matter. It's just some giant number that we don't have the ability to comprehend. What I try to do is to take those numbers and to translate the number from a dry unfeeling statistic into a visual that carries a feeling with it.

TGG: The Greener Grass is focusing on Energy. Your recent piece, entitled Energizer, is particularly relevant to some of the things we are discussing. How did you choose Energizer batteries as one of your subjects?

Chris: I got an email from a guy who said, have you ever thought of doing a piece about about recycling batteries. I had actually just gone over to the University of Washington and got a whole stack of all different kinds of household batteries. I was about to do a piece on household batteries in general and this guy wrote me an email. He had written to Energizer to see if they had a program to recycle household batteries. They wrote him back and said, since their batteries don't contain mercury any more, they didn’t think it was necessary to recycle them. Then he wrote Energizer back again and asked how many batteries aren’t being recycled and they sent him the annual report showing the numbers. When he sent me the numbers, I just thought, well how much metal is that? I did the math and it was just astonished to discover how many batteries that one company produces. I haven't heard from energizer. I keep expecting to get a letter from their legal department. The thing I would say to them is – I’m not going after Energizer specifically. They are no worse then Duracell or Sony or Panasonic, or any of the other companies that make batteries. Those companies produce them and we consume them in just the same quantities. That was just an example.

TGG: You have done the hard work of raising this awareness. Do you have an messages or advice for us who are product designers? What we can do to start fixing the problem? How can we start carrying that awareness into a solution?

Chris: Wow - that's an amazing question. I do have a thought, but it might be kind of a different thought than you might expect. I think that this revolution can only happen inside the heart of each of us. What I mean by that is, if there is a person out there who is a product designer, and they are doing work where they are participating in the creation of products that are environmentally bad, then that person, every day that they go to work, there is this little bit of a bad feeling that they have in their heart from the work that they are doing. I know that, because I was a corporate lawyer for many years and I did that exact kind of work. The work that was directly contrary to the idea of being a passionate and connected human. I had that feeling every single day. I got a nice pay check out of it, I thought that was worth it. I'm only realizing now, later in my life, that the amount of money that I was making and the material benefits that I was getting in my life was far outweighed by the eternal sickness that I was experiencing from doing something that I didn’t believe in. If I was talking to a huge group of people who are product designers, I would say, make the decision internally to just be a person who lives by your principals. If that means you have to go work at a different company or if that means you have to go in and chew out your boss and say - I demand that we change our practices - then if you do those things, it will be difficult and scary and emotionally hard and there will be anxiety involved but you will experience a new sense of well being that will totally change your life. That is how the green revolution is happening. All these people are saying - I am going to be the person who lives by my principals. I just want to see what it's like to be a vegetarian because I know that eating meat is one of the most environmentally destructive things that we can do, and so on. Every single time someone makes one of those little decisions the whole world heals a little bit.

For more information about Chris Jordan and his work, visit his website at www.chrisjordan.com.

+ Cereal Box Makeover - A conversation with Kellogg's Kris Charles

A few weeks ago, we posted about a new Kellogg's program called Nutrition at a Glance. We were lucky enough to speak with Kris Charles, spokesperson for Kellogg's, who told us more about the program and how the brand continues to stay focused on health and wellness.

What inspired Kellogg’s to initiate the Nutrition at a Glance program? What problems were your consumers having that led to this new labeling solution?

Kellogg was founded on the principles of health and wellness more than 100 years ago. We have a long history of putting helpful information on pack, and this is a natural step as we continue to build on that foundation. Research showed that time-pressed consumers want quicker, easier ways to make informed nutrition choices. The Nutrition at a Glance panel empowers consumers to make individual choices by showing them how a food fits into their daily diets.



Kellogg’s pioneered a similar labeling program in Europe. What did you learn there that helped you implement this program in the US?

Although it’s a seemingly obvious takeaway, we learned that awareness drives the acceptance of this type of program. We surveyed 500 adults in Europe a year after launching the program there, and we learned that consumers have high recognition and understanding of the Nutrition at a Glance program. In fact, 80 percent of European consumers said that they are aware of the labeling; 84 percent find them easy to understand and 82 percent would like to see it on even more product packaging.

Because health and wellness is so trendy right now, a lot of “healthy” products are just gimmicks, leading to skepticism among consumers. How do you ensure that shoppers take this innovation seriously?

The Nutrition at a Glance program is an education tool for consumers, not a marketing campaign or “gimmick” as you say. With so much confusion about nutrition in the marketplace, it is appropriate for manufacturers like Kellogg to provide the facts to help consumers make more informed choices about the foods they eat. Since we are sincerely trying to help educate them rather than tell them what to do, we expect that consumers will take this effort seriously.

You’re encouraging others in your industry to join in your efforts. What progress have you made there? How will this system be carried over consistently to other brands?

While we’re not able to speak for the whole industry, industry-wide progress has certainly been made. We’ve discussed this approach with other companies at ongoing industry forums, shared learnings from other markets where we’ve launched the Nutrition at a Glance program, and are encouraging their use as a standardized labeling method. In fact, General Mills announced that they would adopt the same front-of-pack labeling approach this past July.

We’ve seen that in the U.K., where currently more than 50 companies have adopted the Nutrition at a Glance tool. And top retailer Tesco is now using them on all of its packaging. Hopefully, we’ll see similar levels of adoption in the U.S. We will continue to work with others in the industry to bring forth information to help consumers make better informed choices about what they eat.

Since we are sincerely trying to help educate them rather than tell them what to do, we expect that consumers will take this effort seriously.

The Nutrition at a Glance program is a step in the right direction to giving consumers key information about their diets. What are Kellogg’s long term goals in terms of nutrition?

The Kellogg Company was founded more than 100 years ago with a foundation in health and nutrition. In fact, our founder, W.K. Kellogg said “We are a company of dedicated people making quality products for a healthier world.”

To that end, in June 2007, we announced that Kellogg is changing the products we market to children under 12 and how we market those products. We established an internal Global Nutrient Criteria standard (Nutrient Criteria) based on a broad review of scientific reports. Kellogg will apply the Nutrient Criteria to all products marketed to children around the world. Those products that don’t meet the criteria will either be reformulated to meet the Nutrient Criteria or they will not be marketed to children under 12 by the end of 2008. (Kellogg currently does not advertise to children under 6.)

The Kellogg Global Nutrient Criteria will also guide targeted future innovation and product development. Over time, the company will work toward providing consumers even more product choices with enhanced nutritional value.

As a company, we believe the notion of balance _ or “calories in, calories out” _ must remain the central tenet of any long-term solution to global obesity and weight management. We have a long-standing commitment to helping consumers successfully manage both sides of that equation.

To learn more, visit the Nutrition at a Glance website.

+ Eat Your (Fruits and) Vegetables: An interview with the Produce for Better Health Foundation

My mom always knew what she was talking about. Ninety percent of Americans don't eat as many fruits and veggies as they should, and the Produce for Better Health Foundation is working hard to change that. The Greener Grass got a chance to talk with Jill Le Brasseur to learn more about how they're working to help Americans lead healthier lives.

Produce for Better Health is the “go-to” resource and promoter of fruits and vegetables. For people that aren’t familiar with PBH, give me some background on your organization.

Produce for Better Health Foundation was incorporated in 1991 to help take the 5-A-Day program to a national level. The 5-A-Day program started at the state level in California through the Department of Health, and it was transferred to the National Cancer Institute to be taken nationally. PBH acted as a connection between the National Cancer Institute and the fruit and vegetable industry. That was our core for quite some time. Coinciding with the development of the new Fruits & Veggies – More Matters initiative, our main federal partner right now is Center for Disease Control and Prevention. We work with the fruit and vegetable industry to spread the word that more matters. We do this through supermarket retailers, educational materials and public relations.

The Greener Grass aims to understand trends in health and wellness. What changes have seen between now and when the PBH was founded in 1991?

The big change is the new health initiative that we started, Fruits & Veggies – More Matters. It was developed in response to the increased recommendations for fruits and vegetables in the 2005 Dietary Guidelines for Americans, which recommends different amounts of produce consumption based on a person’s age, sex, and activity level. The Dietary Guidelines for Americans have been published jointly every 5 years since 1980 by the Department of Health and Human Services and the Department of Agriculture. Those guidelines provide authoritative advice for people 2 years of age and up on good dietary habits and how they can promote health and reduce the risk of major chronic diseases. So, Fruits & Veggies – More Matters was the next step from 5-A-Day because it wasn’t enough to say everyone needs 5 servings, the amounts varied based on a person’s age, sex, and activity level.

Its difficult to say that any one particular fruit or vegetable helps with any one disease, but it’s the totality of fruits and vegetables in the diet that is helpful in the prevention of many diseases.

So it was a transition towards a broader recommendation? Was 5-A-Day too rigid of a guideline?

That was part of it. Our new website speaks directly to the consumer. This is something that’s new for us. We want to help people achieve their goal of increasing the amount of fruits and vegetables their families are eating everyday. We want to provide tips and recipes featuring produce to make it easy for them to add more fruits and vegetables at every eating occasion.

Most Americans don’t get enough produce in their diets. What are the major factors that have lead to this problem?

We think convenience is the driving factor. More women are working outside the home; children are busier than ever. In our research, when mom works outside the home, the family eats fewer fruits and vegetables – the time just isn’t there. Our most recent research suggests that moms need innovative ideas on how to get their family to eat more fruits and vegetables. That was part of the inspiration for launching the new website. Also, a lot of people don’t realize that its more than just fresh produce – all forms of fruits and vegetables count. We can get more of them into people’s diets when they realize it can be as easy and convenient as microwaving some frozen vegetables or warming up some canned vegetables. It doesn’t always have to be fresh to “count.”

There aren’t many things more convenient than an apple or a banana, they come in their own packaging and are ready to eat. Yet somehow we’re drawn to granola bars or cupcakes.

That’s true, but I think a lot of people see the “self-packaged” fruits as either a breakfast item or just a snack. We give people tips and ways to use fruits and vegetables on our website that may not have occurred to them before. One thing we’re really excited about is the upcoming debut of our video center. We plan to use the video to provide consumers with education on fruits and veggies they may not have purchased before. They will demonstrate how to check for ripeness, proper storage, preparation, and more. You’re not going to buy a fruit or vegetable you haven’t tried before if you have no idea what to do with it. Our video center is going to give people the education they need to try these things.

Please tell our readers a little about your National Action Plan, which calls for a new approach to promoting produce. What were the failures or limitations of past approaches?

The National Action Plan was developed not long after the 2005 Dietary Guidelines were introduced. Its an outline of all the things we think need to be in place for there to be an increase in the consumption of fruits and vegetables in the U.S. The Plan isn’t really a new approach, its just a more comprehensive one. Research that we conducted indicated that the 5-A-Day program did a wonderful job of letting people know that they need to be eating more fruits and vegetables. Where it fell short was in getting people to actually eat the additional produce. We’re hoping with Fruits & Veggies – More Matters to go directly to the consumer, offer tips, recipes, advice, answer questions, and try to make fruits and vegetables more accessible and achieving the goal of increasing consumption easier for people, particularly moms and families.

Self-efficacy is a big predictor of one’s ability to eat their daily recommended amount of produce. Can you describe this concept a little more and tell us how this plays into your action plan?

Sure. Self-efficacy is the confidence in one’s ability to eat fruits and vegetables in a variety of settings. We want to help moms achieve their goal of increasing the amount of produce their families are eating by providing them with tips and recipes designed to make adding those additional fruits and vegetables easier for them. That includes fresh, frozen, dried, and canned fruits and vegetables, as well as 100% juice. Every time mom adds just one more fruit or vegetable to her family’s meals, we’re moving the needle on fruit and vegetable consumption. We want to give the consumer the confidence they need to deal with any kind of fruit or vegetable they come across and to instill that fun aspect. Have a little fun, try something new.


Packaged foods use graphic design and big ad budgets to get consumers’ attention. What are the challenges with promoting fresh produce?

Obviously, the lack of packaging materials makes finding a place to display the logo and product information an issue. That’s one reason we provide a retail tool kit to markets. It contains pre-designed marketing materials, Fruit & Veggies – More Matters messages to be displayed near the fresh produce. We provide copy and visuals to the members of PBH. We have radio spots that can be tweaked and personalized to each market. We have roll bags with our logo to carry forward the message. These are all things they can display near the fresh produce, because there isn’t a nice box to print big yellow letters on for an apple or a banana. But its not just fresh, we want to remind everyone that all forms count – fresh, canned, frozen, dried, and 100% juice – so you’ll find our message all over the supermarket.

Restaurants don’t serve as much produce as compared to meals that we prepare for ourselves. What actions are you taking to help them improve their menus?

We have a wonderful program called Produce First! American Menus Initiative. It’s a collaboration between PBH and the Culinary Institute of America. Produce First! joins the food service industry’s finest marketers and chefs with the produce industries most innovative fruit and vegetable suppliers at the CIA’s facilities in California. The focus for Produce First is on increasing produce menu offerings, to provide restaurant guests with the flavors that they crave and the healthy options that they really deserve.

Sometimes when I go to a restaurant, the option to get a fruit cup with my sandwich isn’t always celebrated the same way that the French fries are.

Yeah, first of all it’s cold, and a lot of times you’ll want something warm. But a lot of restaurants are stepping up to the plate and offering more healthy options. You’ll see the option to substitute salads or apple slices for French fries. Most restaurants now are offering a vegetable of the day that can be substituted for a starch like potatoes, rice, or noodles. These things really help health conscious diners get the vegetables that they would be serving themselves at home.

One problem that we’re seeing is that people don’t know how to filter all of the health information they are receiving. With so many options available to them, what advice do you have for people trying eat healthier?

The most basic advice I can offer is that all of the legitimate recommendations out there say we should be eating more fruits and vegetables. Its really difficult to say that any one particular fruit or vegetable helps with the prevention or treatment of one particular disease, but the inclusion of fruits and vegetables in total in the diet is linked to the prevention of many diseases. This is not only because of the vitamins, minerals, and phytochemicals that fruits and vegetables provide, but it’s also because of what they don’t have in them – no saturated fat, no cholesterol, and no sodium. When people eat more fruits and vegetables, they also have a natural tendency to eat less of other less nutritious foods.

So it’s as much about replacing the bad stuff that we eat as it is getting the benefits of fruits and veggies.

Right, and we have a lot of tips for that on our website. The first example that comes to mind is mashed avocado – use it in place of higher fat spreads like mayonnaise or sour cream on a sandwich or in a dip.

Thanks for talking with us, Jill. Is there anything else you’d like to add?

When the 5-a-day program and the PBH started back in 1991, there was strong scientific evidence between fruits and vegetables and cancer prevention. Since that time, the role of fruits and vegetables in prevention has gotten stronger, helping to prevent quite a number of diseases. Its difficult to say that any one particular fruit or vegetable helps with any one disease, but it’s the totality of fruits and vegetables in the diet that is helpful in the prevention of many diseases. Today, we know that more than 90% of adults and children do not consume the amount of fruits and vegetables recommended to them. Just eating more, just making a start at what the guidelines recommend for you is a step in the right direction for good health.

For more information on Produce for Better Health Foundation, visit these links:
http://www.pbhfoundation.org/
http://www.fruitsandveggiesmorematters.org/

+ West Paw Design: Care for your pet, care for your planet

Today we are speaking with the President of West Paw Design, Spencer Williams. West Paw Design manufactures the highest quality dog and cat toys and bedding, all at their facility in Bozeman, Montana. Thanks to Spencer for taking the time to tell us about West Paw Design- to learn more about this truly innovative company, read on...

Hi Spencer, thanks for speaking with us. First, can you tell us more about the history of West Paw Design?
West Paw Design is a high quality pet products manufacturer. We are based in Bozeman, Montana. We make about 99% of all of our products in the factory where I work at Bozeman. It is a really innovative company in that we can do a lot of things; we have really great business processes that allow us to get to market with quickly with new products and to get them directly into our independent dealers hands. We also have very great manufacturing processes which allow us to make a great quality product that serves a wide range of needs for dogs and cats. We manufacture them right here so we can watch the quality and the safety of the product. We know how it is being made and we can also market it very, very well from this location. It is a company that does what manufactures used to do which is design, make, and sell their own goods.


Button, a Brittany, tries out her new West Paw toys

Tell me more about what it is like working at West Paw and how wellness manifests itself at West Paw Design- the more holistic idea of wellness, energy efficiency of the warehouse, to employee wellness, and the actual products you design and manufacture.
What we created when we built this building in 2001 was a variety of things. We needed a larger space to manufacture but also really wanted to have a space that all employees, regardless of their position would feel comfortable working in and enjoy their days. We created an environment here that is very conducive to great work quality and allows people to also enjoy their own personal space. Essentially what we created was a building that is very energy efficient, as well as being very brightly lit, has a lot of natural light coming into it, throughout the factory as well as in the offices. What we used in the construction was a tilt up concrete panel wall system. They are walls that are about a foot thick, they have concrete on both sides of a insulated foam, insulation piece that goes inside the walls. These walls were assembled in about four and a half days onsite for our whole factory which is over 15,000 square feet. It allows us to have a space that is very well temperature controlled both in summer and winter. It allows for a lot of light coming though, with the big windows that we placed high up on the walls. In the offices we did the same thing with letting a lot of natural light in.

The building is surrounded by a lot of great green space, trees, and even the break room exits out onto a large patio where we all can just enjoy summer barbeques, lunch, or just hang out in the sun and take a break from work. We wanted that space to speak to everyone’s workday that it doesn’t have to be the old grind. We want people to come here and enjoy their day.

As far as wellness that we do, we have all sorts of ideas that we think are important. We have implemented here. All of our water is filtered, we drink great quality water from every facet in this building so that people can have access to healthy water. We have snacks, a great break room, great employee benefits, one of which we pay for. All of our employees to do prescribed exercises or stretches every hour. We put on a random bit of music for one min over the loud speakers throughout the company and people do stretches that are prescribed for their particular work. There is some real positive energy that is standing up and listening to a new tune, and doing some really great stretches. We don’t want people to over excerpt themselves, we don’t want people to burnout. As a result, we have employees here that have been here for more than a decade and that is just unusual in manufacturing today. We have gotten some great kudos for being innovative with the way to have fun and keep people safe.

How would the products you sell help promote health and wellness in pets?
When you think of pets, one of things we find is that they are very closely linked in peoples minds to children. Some people who do not have children and they have elected their pets to be their children. There is this very close mentality there. What we find is that people desire to buy products for their pets that promote wellness, that promote safety and fun, play and comfort. Those are all things that we look for in our products. When we design products we use the highest quality raw materials and that is a big buzz word today. People are wondering about these products that are being made today for children and for pets and what is the quality of the raw materials that are being used. We as the manufacturer can attest to the quality because we source them directly. That really can allow us the confidence to be able to tell the consumer that our products are made with the upmost quality, for the safety of your pet. We don’t want your pet to ingest something that may be toxic in their bodies. Likewise, in the design of the products we make them very, very durable both from the shapes that we make but also the craftsmanship quality and the handwork that goes into all of our sewn products. It is really unmatched in the industry. That allows the product to hold together much better, which makes a safer toy for dogs to play with. Cats too, they ingest a lot of catnip when they are playing with toys, or maybe sprinkled on their scratching posts. We usually only certified organic catnip and we always have. This isn’t a new trend for us, we were using certified organic catnip back in 1996. This is a foundation at West Paw.

Tell me more about Zogoflex. What is it?
Zogoflex is our proprietary material. It is a plastic that feels very soft like rubber. It is a material that we developed to do many, many, things. We wanted a product to be guaranteed it was so durable. That didn’t exist on the market. We wanted to come into the market and say that any dog could chew on this and it would last, if it didn’t, we would stand behind it with a 100% guarantee. We have done that very successfully. Our returns on this product are o.6%. We also designed this product to float in water, to bounce on the ground, to be very soft on the dogs mouth, to have all of these properties as well as to have more human based properties if you will. The material is FDA compliant. It is very safe. Secondly, it is a recyclable material. Of course dogs don’t think about recycling but their owners should. We do have the capability of taking all of these products, and we can make brand new parts out of them, 100% recycling of old material. This is an innovation that we brought to the pet industry. We thought why have a product that is creating a lot of waste. With Zogoflex we engineered it to reduce waste. We also engineered it so that we can make this product in Montana. Rather than importing the product from around the world, and having long lead times. That is difficult for a lean manufacturer like West Paw Design. We wanted to have something that was immediately available to us so that we can control the process and likewise we are not shipping the raw goods and finished product around the world and expending a lot more energy than is necessary.

West Paw Zogoflex toys

How to you test these toys?
Well, we have a pet loving crowd at West Paw Design. As you can imagine, we have a lot of great testers here. People are very passionate about their pets at West Paw. We have a lot of friends who share those common interests. We do all of our testing here because we want to be sure that if we can stand behind a product and if we are all pet lovers we can attest to the quality and safety of the product. There are very few testing labs for animals. In my view I’d much rather test with a dog that is happy and loved than one that is in a research type of environment.

I would assume then that you can bring your pet(s) to work?
Yes one can. We do find that it is like bringing a kid to a candy store. So, we don’t see as many pets in the office as one might think. All the toys around are a bit tempting for them.

How have the recent recalls both the children’s toys and pet foods affected your business? How do you think it will affect the pet care industry?
It definitely has been a boom to our business. We have always been making high quality US made products. When people starting wondering about imported products and their quality, we saw more and more products being purchased from us. In the summer there was some news about a large pet chains and the concern that some of their toys may have heavy metals in them such as lead. There was a great concern about safety there. Needless to say, more and more people seem to seek us out everyday. In fact, this past October represented the largest month on record for our company. We are very confident that what we are doing well is that we are providing high quality and safe products to consumers around the world. We have done that from the beginning. We are really excited that we can do more and that offer these products. The more people that have our products for out pets the safer their pets are.

To learn more about West Paw Design please visit them on the web.

+ Handcrafted Organic Dog Biscuits: In conversation with President of Robbie Dawg Inc., Lisa Fortunato

Robbie Dawg Inc. was founded in 2003 in Brooklyn, New York. They handcraft their dog biscuits and cat treats using only high quality, organic, human grade ingredients. Robbie Dawg was founded out of love and concern for Lisa's Tibetan Spaniels, Robbie & Lulu. Lisa has created a truly unique company. She is also the author of The Everything Cooking for Dogs Book. Thank you Lisa, for speaking with us.

First of All, tell me a little bit about Robbie Dawg. How did you come to be doing what you are doing now?
Sure. My background is actually Graphic Design, Marketing, Fundraising, Special Events, and things like that. In 2003, I was the director of annual giving for a private school in Brooklyn. It was because of my background, and the fact that I hadn’t had a dog since I was a kid, that I wanted to throw a party for my dog Robbie, who was turning a year old.

I went looking for some type of goodie bags for the party and I couldn’t find anything that I liked. I said to myself, “Well okay, I like to bake, I can certainly make some biscuits.” I looked for recipes and couldn’t find anything that I liked so I created my own recipes. All of the dogs loved it, all of the owners were telling me how much their dogs loved it. There was a good buzz about the biscuits.
The following week, I was laid off from my job. I had worked there for three years and I was angry and upset. I said to myself, “I’ll never work for anyone again.” I made a list of ten different jobs I could do to be independent. The timing was such that I said, “I’m gonna make dog biscuits.” I knew after the party for Robbie, that I could have done just that but I wouldn’t have been motivated enough at that time.

I was lucky because I had a good severance and that allowed me the time to create recipes and the develop a business plan. I started baking in December of 2003 out of my apartment. I live in Brooklyn, NY and have less than a 60 sq. foot kitchen. All through 2004 I baked out of my apartment. Eventually, it became insane. I have a little more space than the average New Yorker, but between the flour, the boxes, the bags, and the orders and everything else it got to be too much. At that point it was either we needed to get a contract baker or become a manufacturer.

My Husband, I credit him with two very important things; one, he was the one that said we should go organic and we started organic from the beginning. Two, he said I think you should stay in control of the product and become a manufacturer. So, we refinanced the mortgage on our apartment and then found the space where we bake now. We have been in that space for three years now. We renovated the space, put everything in from new floors, to air conditioning, to ovens, the whole gamut. We have doubled our sales each year. Right now we sell to about 700 stores and 45 states. We just keep on growing each year.

So, tell me a little bit more about your line of dog biscuits & cat treats.
Since our inception, everything has been organic. In all of 2004 and 2005 we did everything by hand, and we were using organic oat flour and organic wheat flour. In that time, I ended up getting another dog, Lulu. She has a really sensitive digestive system. She is allergic to wheat. We had a lot of people, and this is before the big recall, say to us, “ my dog is allergic to wheat, oh my dog has an upset stomach.” As a result we decided to do everything wheat, corn, and soy free. The flour that we use is organic brown rice flour, we use organic baby oats, and we use organic oat flour. That is our base. Then we also use organic cheeses from Wisconsin, grass-fed beef from Colorado, organic unsalted peanut butter from upstate New York, we use chicken that is hormone and antibiotic free, we use bacon from Applegate Farms which is nitrites and nitrate free. All of the ingredients we use are human grade, they are of the highest quality. I guarantee that some people don’t even eat the high quality bacon we use. We also never add salt or sugar. We are really staunch about not doing what is the trend right now which is to make biscuits look like bakery treats, which are sugary, iced treats, with sprinkles and things like that. It really makes me crazy. Dogs are so much smaller than us. You wouldn’t give a two year old an iced doughnut with sprinkles because they would be bouncing off the walls. Why would you give something like that to your dog? Dogs, just like us do not need all of that added salt and sugar. Another thing that also makes us unique is that we do not use wheat gluten, we don’t use any preservatives, flavors, additives, dyes, colors, or anything artificial. Compared to other small companies, we are one of the few that actually uses animal proteins. We use chicken, we use beef, we use bacon. Dogs are carnivores and they do enjoy that. A lot of other companies just make biscuits that are peanut butter or apple, etc. They don’t have that meat flavor or the meat that dogs are looking for. That is another value that makes us stand apart.

Give me some more detail on why you choose to go organic.
As a family, the more I researched, the more and more our family was eating organic foods. I recently wrote a cookbook, which contains recipes from biscotti, to biscuits, to main meals. They asked me to do a whole section on nutrition. I certainly don’t claim to be a nutritionist or anything like that but I did a lot of research. The more and more I read about what they do to products, what they do to animals, what they do to the environment and everything else it is really bad. When you check out what dogs are going through; how many dogs do you know that have cancer, have diabetes, are overweight, or have other major health issues. I believe, it really stems from what they eat. They aren’t making the choice, the human is making the choice for them. Whether you are buying something because it is on sale, or whether you are buying it because you are not reading the ingredients, or whatever your making that choice for your pet.

When I was spending time researching that information and looking at the entire food cycle of the dog food industry, it has really changed in the last 50 years and there is more and more stuff in dog food. I think that is really having an adverse affect on our dogs health these days. In fact, my father-in-law called this morning. He had taken his dog to the vet and he has Colitis and he also has a tumor. He is having trouble going to the bathroom. He is only eight years old. The bottom line is that animals, just like people, every factor, from diet, to smoking, etc. can impact their health.
We choose to go organic because we wanted to provide something that if you had the time you would make for yourself. We provide something that is pure, simple, and of good quality. You are getting a great product.

After the big pet food recall, how did that chance things for your business? How do you think that will change the future of how people select food for their pets?
In an ironic twist of fate it has actually been really beneficial for us. Sales have gone up tremendously. In October we exhibited at an industry pet show. It was one of our best shows ever. I think that Is because everyone is much more aware of ingredients, not only in pet food but in their own food. I think what is happening is that larger companies are realizing that this is what we have to do. Most of the big lines are owned by even bigger corporations, that have like 20 different divisions. I think the awareness is only going to be beneficial. When I go to the grocery store myself, I walk down the isle and I’m like “Oh gosh, they are going organic.” For example, a “big food company” that makes Chicken Broth, which was typically made with MSG and other artificial ingredients is now making organic Beef Broth. I think that is great. I think the pressure is such now that people want that choice. For example, yesterday I was at Costco and I saw that they had a lot more choices in the organic section. When I was checking out I said to the cashier, “Oh I see that you have a lot more choices in the organic section. Do you find that more people are buying organic?” She said, “Yes! The more items we bring in, the more we sell.”

Where do you look for inspiration? Are there people, books, or websites that you find especially inspiring?
I definitely try to stay aware of many different trends. I follow the gourmet food market, I follow trends in packaging, I follow trends in flavor combinations. I try to stay aware of trends from small to large companies. I like to read about what other companies are doing. I keep a close eye on a few to see what they are doing; how they are progressing, how they are changing, and what they are trying to do. I am also a member of the Organic Trade Association (OTA) so I like to follow what is going on in the organic lines, what they are doing, what is available, etc.

Beyond that, I look into the areas of ingredients and things like that. I try to stay on top of all those different trends. I even watch a program called Unwrapped on the Food Network. It is a great show, they focus on a different type of food each episode and they show small and large companies. It really inspires me. It makes me think about how our company can grow. Like us, some of these companies started in a small kitchen too.

It is really the entrepreneur that creates change that affects everyone. It is the small companies, not the big ones. That is our mission as well.

I read on your website that you give back to non-profit animal rescues. Tell me more about that.
One of the rescues we frequently give to is Bideawee which is located in New York, they have 3 locations, two on Long Island and one in New York City. When I was a kid I grew up on Long Island my high school was across the street from Bideawee. I would go there everyday after school. Finally in ninth grade my Mom gave me her approval and I was able to get my dog Maxie from Bideawee. Once we started baking here in our facility, I knew I wanted to do something. Every month we donate over 30 pounds of biscuits to Bideawee. We have done that every month from the start. After they found out about my cookbook, they asked me to write a column for them, for their website. It is everything from a recipe to a helpful hint. I was actually asked by another company called Wrapped In Kindness. They sell treat totes & various other items to help families that cannot afford major surgery for their pets. We also support a lot of local organizations.

Tell me how I can order the biscuits.

You can order them online or you can look up the stores on our website, in your zipcode, that carry our products.
www.robbiedawg.com

More about the organizations Robbie Dawg supports:
www.bideawee.org
www.wrappedinkindness.com

To read Lisa’s column:
http://www.bideawee.org/programs_&_services/learning_centers/robbie_dawg.php

+ Drink better, live better: An interview with VeeV founder Courtney Reum

We're very excited to share this interview with Courtney Reum, co-founder of VeeV. VeeV is the world's first açaí spirit, but it's more than an innovative beverage. What's so compelling about VeeV is the fact that the company is built on authenticity, honesty, and a foundation of values that are incredibly rare, even in comparison to other sustainable products. I feel like I asked Courtney some pretty tough questions, questions that most other companies would have dodged or given me a canned answer to, but Courtney never did. Not only is that refreshing, but as consumers become increasingly demanding of so-called sustainable companies, I think it will give Veev a long-term, sustainable competitive advantage that will lead them to success. Please do yourself a favor and check out what he has to say. Visit the VeeV site for more information.


Can you tell us the VeeV story in a nutshell?
I started this company with my younger brother Carter. We're both original Chicagoans, and moved out to New York when we were 17 and 18 to go to Columbia. I'm two years older, so I'm 28, he's 26. After college, we kind of always knew we wanted to do our own thing, but when you're right out of college, you don't have any skillset, any contacts, or any money, so it's probably not the best time to jump right in. I decided I was going to take the finance route, so I went to Goldman Sachs, where I was doing investment banking, and my brother followed.

After about five years of doing that, four years in New York and one year in Sydney, I had always focused on the consumer products space. I worked on the Procter & Gamble/Gillette merger, and more notably worked on a bunch of startups. I did the first Vitamin Water deal where a little private equity shop in San Francisco put in $20 million and took out $600 million, I did the IPO for Under Armour, then in spring of 2005 worked on the Allied Domecq/Pernod Ricard merger, which was a $12 billion deal. In the context of that, doing the due diligence, I looked at the space and said "Wow, a Bacardi or Diageo would never do something as innovative as Veev for a variety of reasons."

They're very slow to market, it takes a lot of money for them to give a new product a chance, and they're very risk averse. There's a liability to it, because if you're Bacardi, you can just launch Bacardi Super Melon Gold and you don't have to take the chance of launching something like VeeV. Now, it probably won't be a home run, but it will probably be a double or a triple, so they usually just stick with brand extension or line extensions.

On the flip side of that, as a consumer living in New York, I was usually drinking Red Bull and vodkas because I was tired from work all the time. I was just really bored with the things I was drinking. So the combination of those things made me think it would be great to come up with something different that, as our motto suggests, was a better way to drink.

So we just started out on that idea of a better way to drink, without any real proposition or any particular ingredients in mind. The first step was to backsolve and figure out which ingredients would fulfill that proposition. The first one that came to mind was açaí, the Brazilian fruit. My brother and I discovered açaí on a surfing trip in 2003 and really loved it, and when did a little research, we said "Wow, this is the next big thing." You see that it has all the attributes of pomegranate, but it's much healthier and has a better backstory from Brazil. We saw that it was about to explode, so that became our keystone ingredient.


So what are some of the properties of Açaí that make it that perfect keystone ingredient?
Açaí is filled with antioxidants- 57% more than pomegranate. It's also generally touted as the most well-rounded fruit or vegetable on the planet. Whereas if you eat an orange, you get a ton of vitamin C but very little else. If you eat açaí, you get very real amounts of protein, fiber, essential fatty acids, and antioxidants. They call it the Amazon Viagra, "nature's vitality" in the Amazon, and it's incredibly healthy.

It only grows in the Amazon rainforest, and if all that wasn't enough, Oprah just named it her number one superfood. So that's what got us started with açaí. We really liked it because it has a healthier taste profile- very exotic, like a dark berry with a hint of chocolate, but it also has a taste that's just familiar enough yet just exotic enough that it's a little different.

Obviously sustainability is a core part of the VeeV brand. Can you tell us more about that?
I don't profess to be a member of the green movement for 20 years, because I'm only 28, but our parents always raised us to be conscious and aware. They instilled us with the idea that what affects one of us affects all of us. There was that element where I asked if the alcohol business was really what I wanted to do. If so, I wanted to make it a little more meaningful, a little differentiated, and nobody in alcohol space was doing anything remotely green or eco-friendly. We're really trying to be the first, be the pioneers. I'm sure- hopefully- people will start copying us if we have any success. If Bacardi and these other companies start mimicking VeeV, that's good for everybody and the planet. Our motto is "Better your life, your conscience, and your cocktail."

On the green front, our biggest initiative is that we donate $1 for every bottle we sell, right off our top line, back to the rainforest where açaí comes from, to help offset our carbon footprint and help provide sustainable, organic açaí through a farming project that we co-fund with Sambazon, who is the main purveyor of non-alcoholic açaí juice. If you saw our press kit, all our materials are on recycled paper printed with soy ink. Everybody in the company either drives a hybrid or is carbon-neutral. Our distillery is the only one in America that gets at least 25% of their power through wind generation, and their distillation uses about 200% less energy than a traditional hot still. The last thing is that VeeV is the only alcohol brand that's a member of Business for Social Responsibility, and several other leading green organizations like Co-Op America and Social Ventures Network.

VeeV launched in May of last year in Los Angeles, a couple months after that in San Diego, about two months ago in San Francisco, and actually as we speak, in Miami.

My understanding is that acai production is limited to Brazil. With that in mind, can you talk about your long-term sourcing strategy?
Açaí is only available from the rainforest in Brazil. That's the only place it grows. If you ask people in Brazil, they think China's going to start growing it, but it's unlikely that will actually happen. There's a bee that's key to the fertilization and pollination process that they don't think the Chinese will be able to mimic, so it's only from the rainforest. In some ways that adds to the mysticism, allure, and exoticism of the berry.

There's been this trade off between high-end and green: is this going to be luxurious, or is it going to be green? The two have been mutually exclusive for a long time, and people are just starting to find ways to use green to add to the brand rather than make it a detraction.

In terms of sourcing, currently less than 1% of all the açaí that's out there is currently utilized. So there's a ton of wild, unharvested açaí, so there's no issues with sourcing or anything to worry about as far as cutting down trees or anything. In fact, the açaí boom has been really good for the rainforest. As we all know, the Amazon rainforest became deforested because it was planted with soy and other agribusiness, but the way açaí is harvested is sustainable. You kind of cut these little branches at the top of the tree, you don't actually cut down the tree or do anything else to harm the surrounding flora or fauna.

One of the really remarkable things about VeeV is that aside from having really innovative, functional ingredients, it's all wrapped in a great brand. Is "glamorous green" important to VeeV?
It's really important. As you pointed out, that's been the shortcoming of a lot of green products. There's been this trade of between high-end and green: is this going to be luxurious, or is it going to be green? The two have been mutually exclusive for a long time, and people are just starting to find ways to use green to add to the brand rather than make it a detraction.

There's a fashion designer named Linda Loudermilk that we do a lot of stuff with, and she coined the phrase "luxury eco." She's the first designer in her space to have very high end clothes that are also very eco-friendly. I'd put us in the same category. Our brand is very appealing and high-end, but we're able to capture both the high-end and green markets without asking people to make a sacrifice or tradeoff.

Corporate social responsibility is getting a lot of press right now. How does CSR play out for VeeV in comparison to mainstream products? Do you see CSR as a competitive advantage for VeeV?
Yes, I definitely see it as a competitive advantage. With all due respect to what anybody is doing, because even small things are great if they help further the cause, when I see brands that I know are not making money say "A portion of the proceeds go to charity," I'm a little skeptical. What does that really mean? First of all, if they're not making any money, so 100% of zero is still zero. Second, "charity" is kind of a nebulous thing, and maybe I'm a cynic, but unfortunately there's a lot of charities out there that don't use their money wisely. So our mission was to make it a really real, digestible story.

We wanted to make it ring true and hit home, because consumers are very astute. People are going to wise up to claims like "a portion of proceeds," whereas ours is very tangible and specific, and nobody can really question where it's actually going.

There's companies out there like 1 Percent For The Planet or Patagonia that are donating 1% of their sales. We're donating $1 dollar for every bottle, which is a heck of a lot more than 1% of our sales. A bottle goes for $34.99, and that's the end price, not the price we sell it for.

We wanted to make it a very real amount, so nobody could accuse us of not being green or not living up to what we say we're doing. To have this go back to the rainforest where açaí comes from, and for it to help offset our carbon footprint and provide sustainable açaí, that's a much tighter, more tangible and real story. We wanted to make it ring true and hit home, because consumers are very astute. People are going to wise up to claims like "a portion of proceeds," whereas ours is very tangible and specific, and nobody can really question where it's actually going.

Consumers used to give companies an "A for effort." If you did anything, they gave you a pat on the back. But now they're asking a lot more questions.
For sure. From our side, we do a lot of events, so we get lots of calls from people that ask use to sponsor their "green event." And even just six months ago, we probably would have said that if you're doing any kind of green event, we probably want to be a part of it, but now we have to ask what you're really doing. Just having recycled napkins isn't enough, you know?

On the other hand, I do applaud anybody for taking the first step and doing something. It's just that using recycled napkins doesn't constitute a green event, and I can't sponsor everything, but it's certainly better than nothing.

One of the challenges for niche, lifestyle brands like VeeV is "crossing the chasm": making that transition to a mainstream product without losing the credibility of the core consumers that got them there in the first place. Do you see that as an issue for VeeV in the future?
Well, it's hard for me to say because we haven't crossed that chasm yet. But if you look at our press, the events we've attached ourselves to, the celebrities we've been mentioned with- like we were just in People for doing Matthew McConahaughey's birthday- it's been people like Drew Barrymore, Adrian Grenier, or Leonardo DiCaprio. We're not selling our soul just to get someone to hold a bottle, it's people that know VeeV, they're often very green conscious. I don't know the answer to your question, but I hope that by doing it the right way, we're aligning ourselves with the right people and making it more authentic and it will resonate with consumers as it becomes a more mainstream product.

The unfortunate reality is that the green product space is full of myths, hype, and snake oil. How can consumers sort through all of it?
At the end of the day, it's got to come down to consumers being more educated and having a more discerning eye. There will always be people claiming things, that's just the nature of industry.

All we can do is be very honest about what we are and what we aren't. If someone asks me if this is healthy alcohol, I don't know about that. It's still alcohol, and over the course of time, it will do more harm to you than good. But is it healthier? Is there a little bit of nutrition? Are there better quality ingredients, meaning 100% natural or organic, thus making it a better option? Absolutely, and I would never advertise it as anything other than that.

I would put it in the same category as red wine. A couple glasses in moderation can be good. We're providing people with a better option.

We are what we are, and we aren't what we aren't, and being honest about it is the only way to do it. People will see that our product is authentic, and even if we have shortcomings, we're offering a better option. Whether it's the product, or as a company, are we perfect? No, but we're absolutely not fake, and that's the human side of it.

I'm really impressed with your honesty. It seems like you're doing everything you can to make VeeV 100% authentic and transparent. Is that a key part of your brand?
Yeah, it really is. For example, any celebrity you see with VeeV, if you ask them, I guarantee they know what VeeV is.

The worst thing you can do in general as a marketer is mislead the consumer. As soon as you cheat them, or make them feel like they were duped, you'll never get them back. That's the last thing we want to do. We are what we are, and we aren't what we aren't, and being honest about it is the only way to do it. People will see that our product is authentic, and even if we have shortcomings, we're offering a better option. Whether it's the product, or as a company, are we perfect? No, but we're absolutely not fake, and that's the human side of it.

Will the competition adapt to these new consumer expectations, or are they always going to be stuck where they're at?
I hope so, at some point. But having dealt with them, and it sounds like you have too, there's just so many layers of the onion to peel back. You can get me on the phone like this and I'm going to be honest with you, but if you go to Procter & Gamble and ask them about the trans-fatty acids in Pringles, you're going to have a tough time getting someone on the phone that's going to really level with you. Half of it is that you can't even get the person on the phone to speak to them.

So I don't know if they'll ever get there, but the only way it will work is if consumers demand it. If consumers demand authenticity and real answers, then I think someone's going to have to step up to the plate and talk to you about Pringles or Twinkies or whatever.

It seems like these big, public companies just don't have it in their DNA to be as responsive as consumers are asking them to be.
That's the advantage of being a small company, we can be nimble and change course. We haven't drastically changed course, but you're always navigating the waters and adjusting a little bit. It's not always an advantage to be small, but being nimble and quick to react is what we bank on.

So what's next for VeeV?
I'll tell you what's not next. There's currently no new products in development, because I think VeeV is already unique enough. It's already challenging enough to get the word out about VeeV in the right way that we don't want to confuse the market. At least in the next 12 months, there's no plans for any new products.

Our launch strategy is to deepen before we broaden, and we're looking to expand our presence in the markets we're in. For example, in Los Angeles, we're in all of the tastemaker and influencer spots, but we're not everywhere, so that will start to trickle down into other markets. We're expanding into Miami this month into the end of the year. Looking into 2008, we'll be expanding into Chicago and Vegas, and New York will definitely be on the docket shortly thereafter, and a number of other areas like Colorado and Arizona.

VeeV has worked because we've expanded fairly aggressively to expand into four cities in six months, but we haven't tried to overdo our presence in any of those. We've just gone after our demographic, the right demographic- the people that set trends. It makes it a lot more digestible to go for that market and hope it trickles down. We just don't have the budget of bigger companies, so we have to do it smarter rather than just with more dollars.

+ Wellness in the Workplace: An Interview FRCH's Sarah Phillips

FRCH Design Worldwide is an international architecture, interior and graphic design firm serving some of the world’s most recognized brands in the retail and hospitality markets. Recently they’ve instituted FRCH Fit, a wellness program designed to help their 275 employees be physically, mentally, and emotionally healthy. We’re excited to talk with Sarah Phillips to learn more about the program.

First of all, tell us a little about FRCH Fit and what inspired you to start the program.
Corporate wellness programs are very popular. Of course, being in HR, we see insurance costs going up and employee absenteeism on the rise. So we started a wellness program to try and combat all of these things. And Its definitely about keeping the employees healthy, but not just physically healthy. We plan to offer a new initiative each quarter focusing on a different type of wellness. Our first two will focus on physical fitness and nutrition, but we also want to spend some time working on emotional wellness and stress management, financial stability and planning, and community involvement. We want a well-rounded approach. We like the name FRCH Fit because we can tailor the name to what type of fitness we’re looking at for a quarter – Financially Fit, Emotionally Fit, etc.

What’s the reaction been so far?
Since our kickoff on October 19th, the reaction has been really good. I’ve seen people wearing the pedometers we gave out and everyone seems interested. Many people have told me, “We needed this” or “I’m glad to see this.” We had a lot more people interested in being on the committee than we could take on.

One of the big challenges with wellness programs is that they can be hard to measure. How will you know when the program is successful?
Hopefully we can see our insurance costs go down and less sick days used. We also hope to offer individual health assessments, blood testing, cholesterol tests, etc. These types of results FRCH would not see, they’re just for the individual. Hopefully they can use their results to keep an eye on their personal goals or identify potential problems.

Are there any risks or drawbacks to having a wellness program?
We plan to keep our initiatives manageable and encourage small steps to change, so we don’t anticipate any risks. For example, our first initiative was to get everyone thinking about physical fitness, so we gave every employee a water bottle and pedometer, and our literature included some walking routes downtown. Just walking around at lunchtime could help get your blood pumping and clear your mind. But I’d advise anyone with serious health issues or conditions to see their physician with any concerns about starting a workout program.

This pedometer is a nice piece of product design. Its just a detail, but its important for a creative company to have a nice looking product for it’s employees.
We definitely took that into account. Everyone here is so creative and so visual that we knew if it didn’t look nice it would be ignored. Branding is one of the services our firm provides, so we knew how important it was to create and identity around the wellness committee. It needed to have a sharp look and I think it turned out nicely.

Why do you think the trend in health and wellness is so prevalent now?
Some of it still comes back to the bottom line and reducing costs and absenteeism. But we also want to keep people happy and provide people with resources to encourage a healthy lifestyle. Nowadays people get so busy and are always multitasking, and as a firm we want to make things easier for them. A lot of people may want to stay healthy but don’t know how or don’t feel they have the time. Cooking a healthy dinner after work is a daunting task for some, but if we provide “quick & easy” recipes it might be more manageable. Maybe you don’t have time to schedule an appointment for a flu shot, so we brought a nurse in to do them on-site. Again, just some manageable tools and tips to help point people in the right direction.

So would you say that you see it as your responsibility to help?
I think so, that’s fair to say. We think it’s a smart business decision.

How do you show people that this program isn’t just lip service to a current trend?
I think we have to continue to find resources and new information to share. Just introducing one idea and leaving it alone won’t give the program success. We plan to get a site up on our intranet that can keep people involved with a lot of revolving content – different recipes, neat links, and other resources. We definitely don’t want to just throw these pedometers at everyone and not bring it up again for a couple months until our next initiative. We don’t want to throw it in anyone’s face but we want to try and keep information available to them. We’ve also encouraged the employees to email our committee with any ideas or feedback, so hopefully that will help keep people engaged and interested.

Do you have any advice for our readers who are interested in creating their own wellness program?
There are a ton of great resources and tools online that help you come up with ideas and get started. If you don’t have a lot of money to spend, you can get creative. With Wellness Programs becoming a trend, you can find free or inexpensive offerings. Local gyms will be happy to partner with you to offer discounted rates to your employees. Most restaurants have healthy menu options, you could research the local lunch spots and come up with suggestions on what to order. Organize an exercise group to walk or bike after work. And you can’t do it alone! We have a great committee that works on this, with a representative from each of our studios and departments. That helps us spread our message and brings a lot of different ideas to the table.

Thanks for talking with us, Sarah. It was great to learn about FRCH Fit and how you’re helping your employees lead healthier lives.
Thank you.

+ Vertically integrated beverage innovation: An interview with Amelia Bay

The world of beverages moves faster than most, and few parts of beverage move faster than tea. Fueling much of the category's growth is the furious pace of innovation, in terms of ingredients, sourcing, extraction, packaging, and just about any other dimension you care to measure. Amelia Bay, a vertically integrated extraction company, has been at the forefront of this growth, and AB's Jason Crandall was kind enough to tell us about it. Be sure to check out the Amelia Bay site for more details. Thanks to Jason for his time and attention.

First of all, can you just give us some background on Amelia Bay?
We are an extraction company. We extract all kinds of botanical products, mostly in tea. We've been doing this for about 10 years now, and as the market's changed, we've changed too. Now, we're almost more of an engineering firm than anything else, catering to the beverage industry, whereby we bring in all sorts of agricultural products like tea, coffee, pomegranates, mate, you name it. We extract these products right here, concentrate them and formulate these materials into finished beverage products. So, a customer could come to us and say "I want to launch this tea or tea/juice blend," and we would source all the leaf tea from different parts of the world, we would source the juice or fruit, bring them in and do all the extraction work here, process all the components and polyphenols in the components, then put them back together into a super concentrated extract that ships in a drum to the bottler where water, sugar, and whatever else is added to bring it to a ready to drink state, then it goes in bottles and onto the shelves.

What products are out right now that you've worked on?
Unfortunately, we have non-disclosure agreements with all our customers. But, they're big companies- a lot of the major brands you see on the shelf right now.

One of the unique things about Amelia Bay is your vertical integration. Can you tell us exactly what that means?
What that means is that we have nobody we buy from except for tea plantations in Indonesia, Argentina, China, Africa, etcetera. We're certified organic as well as fair trade, and what that means is that we buy organic products, bring them in, process them, extract them, formulate them, and ship it to the bottler.

In the past, if you wanted to formulate a beverage, you'd go to a flavor house that buys different flavors, and they all buy from one another, and you'd have five different companies in the middle. Where with us, there's nobody in the middle. We buy from the growers, do all the processing, and ship to the bottler.

That sounds really powerful, because it enables you to have strict control over the entire "chain of custody" for the whole product.
It absolutely does, which is why we have non-disclosure agreements. A lot of people ship in their own ingredients, we don't even source them. They have a specific tea or fruit from a specific plantation that they want to do. They ship it into us, and we do all the extraction work. All these formulas are owned by our company, but they're unique to a specific customer, and we can't copy that for anyone else.

We're focusing on health & wellness trends in both beverage and society in general. What trends are you seeing right now?
People are interested in what they're putting in their bodies. They're interested in reading labels, in reading about polyphenols, in functional foods that provide a health benefit, and I think you're going to see that continue to grow. Now whether that's just tea, I don't know. Tea will continue to grow, tea juice blends will continue to grow, mate, any of these things that were previously considered nutritional supplements, you'll see more of them in the beverage and food industry. I don't think that will backslide. The selection is going to grow and change, I don't think people are going to go back to ordering a Coke. Their days are sort of numbered. But you see major players like Coke and Pepsi launching more functional products. It's a big change in the industry.

Is there a lot of hocus pocus? Yeah, there is. But there's a lot of legitimate companies out there making a lot of legitimate products. The energy drinks launched it in the 90s, like Red Bull. Why drink something else when you can drink a Red Bull that will energize you and do all this other stuff? It's grown and evolved from there into all sorts of market segments, like Whole Foods.

You mentioned all the hocus-pocus out there. How can people sort through all the information and get through the hocus-pocus and snake oil?
Unfortunately, you have to do your homework. Anything that's a functional beverage, for example, our customers aren't allowed to put any health claims on the label. That's the ruling by the FDA. You can say that such-and-such is in the product, but you can't say what such-and-such does. So in a way it's good, and in a way it's bad.

For someone that's interested in learning about what they're putting in their body, the information is out there. It's on the internet. You can learn about all these things, but you've got to take the time to learn about it. And none of it's under the ruling of the FDA, they're not governing what you can and can't eat, so you have to do the homework.

Food safety and other sourcing issues have been in a news a lot lately. Has that affected your business at all?
Of course it's affected us, like anybody else. China is a huge supplier of tea, and we've had to pretty much quit buying from China. It's not that we've ever had any problem, but just to avoid any problems, don't buy from China. Buy from Japan. Buy from Africa. They all sell green tea. It's more expensive, so it's raised our costs, and that gets passed onto the consumer, although not a great deal. But we quit buying from China, because it's not worth the hassle of having someone come to us and say that such-and-such is in our tea.

Are consumers willing to pay that price premium?
Sure. All these companies, toy companies for example, they're not making toys in China because it's a better way to do it, they're doing it because it's less expensive. You're going to see costs rise in all kinds of products that were formerly sourced in China, because it's a massive industrial country with cheap labor. If you lose that supplier, costs are going to go up across the board, not just in food.

So is the customer going to be willing to pay the higher price? I don't see where they'll have much choice. The more heat that gets put on China, the more toys that get recalled, the more dog food that gets recalled, these are all costs that are incurred, and they have to go somewhere. It's just Econ 101.

Yeah, it seems like people are beginning to realize that there's no free lunch, that if they want higher-quality materials, there's going to be a cost.
The customers that we've added in the last year are choosing to use raw materials that cost probably four or five times the raw materials we've used in the past. Which is really interesting to me, because the housing market has crapped out, the stock market is kind of "eh." There's a lot of uncertainty, but people are putting massive amounts of money into their products- and it's not just tea or food ingredients, it's also the packaging- the bottles, the labels, the type of packaging they're using, it's outrageously expensive compared to what they were using a few years ago which was just like your basic bottle of Coke. They're quadrupuling their costs, but there must be people buying it. Go to Whole Foods. It costs five times more to shop there compared to any other grocery chain, and that comes from reputation and quality of product.

Tea has been growing really fast over the past decade or so. Can it continue to grow like this forever, or will it plateau soon?
Right now, tea is continuing to grow. We've shipped more tea this month than we ever have in the history of the company. Will it continue? I don't know. We're always looking at doing new products, and we've changed a lot in the last year. We're not just tea, we've gotten into lots of functional beverage products to satisfy the growing demand. Like I said, I don't think people are going to switch from functional products back to drinking Coke or Pepsi, but will it continue to be just tea? Of course not. People will find new products. Like stevia. Are you familiar with that?

It's a sweetener, right?
Well, you're not supposed to call it a sweetener. But it's a long time sweetener that been used forever, but there's laws that say we're not supposed to use it in products because of the sugar lobby in this company. There's laws against using the word "sweet" next to "stevia."

Wow, really?
Oh yeah. That's why you never see any products with it. But stevia alone is getting a lot of attention. There's just all kinds of things, not just tea. Look at what's happening with pomegranates, with acai, mate... Is it going to plateau? Will people get sick of hearing about these things that are so hot right now? Yeah, I think they will. But is the core idea of functional foods and beverages going to go away? No.

Health is going to be at the forefront of food forever. It's not going to change. People want to live longer and be healthier. It's going to grow and change as new products get developed. The process we use for stripping polyphenols out of agricultural products is an amazing process that wasn't around a few years ago. The technology is going to grow, too. It's not going to just be that new foods are found, it's going to be the technology to get the nutrients from those foods. It's all growing.

The last question I had is, what separates good tea from great tea?
It depends what the consumer wants. The tea that we provide is not the biggest selling tea in the country. The biggest sellers would be Nestea, which if you ask me is more of a tea drink than a real tea, but they sell more of it than anyone else. That's junk, you might as well be drinking a Coke.

So the concept of what good tea is or what great tea is continues to change. Great tea, in the eyes of a tea taster or a taste buyer would be more like the high end stuff from India and Indonesia that mostly goes to the European market. Most of the great teas don't come to the United States. But that's through the eyes of a connoissuer.

Great tea in the southeast, which we provide a ton of, is your standard sweetened black tea with sugar, and that's great in the southeast. So, it means different things to different people.

+ Healthy Living Delivered: An interview with Door to Door Organics

Door to Door Organics delivers fresh organic produce and groceries to customers in Colorado, Michigan, Pennsylvania and the Ohio River Valley. With a core emphasis on operating a zero waste, socially conscious business model, Door to Door supports organic agriculture and the people who keep it real. TGG interviewed Isaac Foust of Door to Door Organics.

How did you be come involved in Door to Door Organics?
I met Door to Door Organics in Colorado. They were looking for a source for organic coffee for their customers. My father-in-law is a coffee importer, working with growers in Chiapas, Mexico. Door to Door found that their customers really enjoyed the coffee, so they went ahead and carried it. Through that relationship I became a Door to Door customer and began to order boxes from them. When I learned that they are a zero waste company and had environmental and socially conscious intentions I became really interested. Upon talking with them further, I ended up managing their warehouse for a while. As the relationship grew I was offered the opportunity to open a Door to Door Organics hub wherever I wanted to.

Door to Door is an organic produce delivery service that delivers to people's homes and offices. We also deliver to schools, hospitals and drop-off locations as well. Our goal is to be a little more directed to making a change for the greener good. Our focus is to build a model of a company that is being as responsible as it can be. For example, we are going to try to make all of our own biodiesel fuel from recyclable oil from local restaurants. Currently we are sourcing our biodiesel from JatroDiesel, an Ohio based equipment manufacturer and biodiesel producer.

With the increasing cost of energy and climate concerns, home delivery presents challenges. How do you address issues of making your service cost effective and being socially responsible?
We can make our business cost effective by keeping our overhead low and the focus of our business very specific. We are providing organic produce. I have a warehouse and delivery vehicles so my overhead stays low as compared to a grocery store. I do not have to have a staff of employees and stay open everyday, all day long. I have lower operating costs than a grocery store.The website we use is really nice. It puts everything together for my customers in a way that is very understandable.

As far as being socially responsible, my goal is in three years to have my warehouse 100% off the grid. Right now what we are doing is running our vehicles on biodiesel. We also have a zero waste model. We compost and recycle at every opportunity in our operation.

What are your plans to "get off the grid"?
We intend to build a green building for our Ohio River Valley operation. I have been given a really big boost in confidence from the models that I have looked at. If we can be as successful here as our business in Colorado and Michigan, then I am certain we can achieve this goal.

Speaking of locations, from your website I see that you serve many different areas. How does Door to Door make that work?
There are main hubs. The Philadelphia hub is the original Door to Door and serves most of our east coast customers directly. The Door to Door in Colorado is the second one. We now have an Ann Arbor, Michigan hub and the Ohio River Valley hub just starting in Cincinnati. Basically we deliver within a three hour radius of a hub.

You really have a lot of passion for this project. What is driving that?
In my personal habits and consumption I became more interested in organics and whole foods the more I learned about them and experienced the difference of organic foods. A great example is oranges and especially strawberries. They just taste so much better. There is more and more research that confirms the higher nutritional benefit There is a perception that organic foods are more expensive than conventionally produced foods but I don't think that is always necessarily the case. Local farmers are often more than "organic" and they don't always buy into the official government "Organic" stamp. We talk to local farmers and understand what they are doing and share that with our customers. Our goal is as much local sources as possible. The goal is to know our farmers. Responsibility does not have to fall by the wayside in order to have a successful business. We have a very open door policy that helps the customers understand the value we provide. For me, I am really interested in more than just delivering produce. I am interested in building customer relationships.

Learn more about Door to Door Organics and biodiesel.

+ Interview with WheyUP founder Erik Rothchild

It's no secret that beverage is an extremely competitive category, with incredibly fast-paced innovation and product development cycles. We think of it as a little crystal ball: if it's big in beverage, you can bet it will be big in other categories in the next year or two. And if there's any one trend or theme that's dominant in beverage, it's health and wellness. From functional energy drinks to organic teas and fair trade coffee, beverage is at the forefront.

One of the coolest products we've seen is WheyUP, an innovative protein energy drink with a light, juice-like consistency. Erik Rothchild, founder and owner of WheyUP, was kind enough to spend some time talking to us. Be sure to check out the WheyUP website for more information. We really appreciate Erik's time, and wish him the best with WheyUP.

First of all, tell us a little bit about where WheyUP came from, where we can get it, and all that.
WheyUP is a non-carbonated, sugar-free, energy drink that has 20 grams of whey protein in it. It's the first of it's kind that combines the benefits of two. I launched it in Phoenix, and it's been in a retailer called Hi Health that has 53 locations in Phoenix. It's become one of the fastest selling drinks in their 35-year history, it's really taken off. I'm testing it this month in the top 200 GNCs in the country. I've been in there for about four weeks, and every week the sales keep increasing. If the tests continue to go well, they'll increase the number of stores with WheyUP, and they have 3500 stores in the US. I also sell online through my website, as well as Bodybuilding.com, which is one of the biggest supplement resellers in the world. I also just finished a distribution deal with someone in Canada, and I'm in the process of doing a deal in Australia. So I'm starting to get some global attention.

"I originally intended it to be just a pre-workout drink, but it's turning into something with mass appeal. It's turned into a great diet drink, because it's like getting up in the morning and having a cup of coffee with a scoop of protein in it."

The way I came up with it was just in my kitchen. I'm an amateur boxer, and I'd train in the morning, and read in Muscle & Fitness magazine that they'd recommend 20 grams of protein before and after you work out. So I wanted to have protein for my workout at 5:30 AM. I'd take a blender, a sugar free energy drink, some strawberries for taste, and put a scoop of whey protein powder in there. For six months or so, I just blended up my own combination of a protein energy drink. Going into the stores, like GNC, I couldn't find anything like that, so I just figured I'd do it myself. A lot of people have asked me why nobody else did it first, and all I can say is, "I don't know!"

I originally intended it to be just a pre-workout drink, but it's turning into something with mass appeal. It's turned into a great diet drink, because it's like getting up in the morning and having a cup of coffee with a scoop of protein in it. It has 20 grams of protein, 1 gram of carbs, 90 calories, no fat, it's sugar-free, and in one shot you get protein and energy. So I'm hearing that a lot of people will have one for breakfast, and it takes them all the way to lunch.

What's the reaction been like so far to WheyUP?
The neat thing about it is that it's taken off in a very grassroots way. A lot of people have found out about me like you did, through the web or whatever, and they'll call me up and get on board. Right now I've got a few Olympic athletes that I'm endorsing, I've got a Paralympic athlete on the Mountain Dew tour that I'm sponsoring. He rides his wheelchair on the skateboard ramp on these events, and I've been sending him about 25 cases for every event up in the athlete's tent. He says the skaters are just freaking out over it, because all they're getting at these events is Mountain Dew and Pepsi, and these guys are athletes- they want something with protein in it.

I've got little pockets of MMA and UFC fighters that are drinking WheyUP. I've got a camp down in Athens, Georgia, called The Hardcore Gym, where Forrest Griffin came from. I've been talking to Adam Singer, he's a huge fan of WheyUP, and I think WheyUP is going to sponsor the Hardcore Gym.

Oh cool, they're good guys.
Yeah! When I first talked to Adam, I asked him what he thought of the drink. He said "Let me tell you how much I like it. I'm in the car right now drinking one, and I've got four empty ones on the floor of the car." I said, "Man, you are a fan- but you've gotta clean up your car!"

It seems like consumers have become more aware of protein in the last couple of years, and they're integrating it into their diets more than ever. What are your thoughts on that?
The one thing I definitely want to stress is that I'm by no means a scientist or a dietician. I'm just truly a guy who read stuff and was the first to put this combination together. But, I'll tell you that being in this industry for 16 or 17 months since I came up with this concept, I really believe that protein is the next "it" ingredient. You've got Accelerade, which is basically Gatorade with protein, you've got Special K's K20, a protein water, there's a protein soda. As you mentioned, more and more people are realizing the overall health benefits of whey protein.

For example, I have a lot of seniors here in Phoenix that are hooked on WheyUP because their doctors are recommending to their elderly patients that they consume more protein.

Yeah, it's good for offsetting osteoporosis.
It's good for that, and it helps maintain the deteriorating muscle mass that everyone goes through as they get older.

One of the unique things about WheyUP is its light consistency, as opposed to the shake-like consistency that you usually see in protein drinks. How has that played out for you?
Well, my original concept for WheyUP was in a 16 oz. can, because that's what all the other energy drinks are in. I was thinking it would fit in well at a convenience store or whatever, and I actually brought the first version out in like that. But like you said, and I didn't realize this at the time, once people who were familiar with protein drinks see the word "whey" on a can, they thought it was a thick shake because they couldn't see inside of it. So that's why I switched to a plastic bottle, so you can see the consistency right away.

Why did you choose whey protein, as opposed to rice, soy, casein, or any of the other proteins?
Whey is the most popular form of protein in the fitness industry. If you go into any GNC or health food store, the majority of what they sell is whey protein. The reason being, especially for a pre-workout drink, is that whey is the form that your body absorbs the most quickly. So it's ideal for a pre-workout drink, but if you were going to have protein before you went to bed, you'd want casein protein, because it absorbs the slowest.

Are you interested in developing other products with different kinds of protein or ingredients?
Yeah, sure. I'd like to do a powder form of WheyUP, so you can just mix it with water on your own, I'd like to do a natural version, an "extreme" version that has creatine for the ultimate pre-workout drink. Some people, maybe 1 in 20, don't like caffiene, so maybe I'll do a version with another stimulant.

"Protein is going to be found in a lot more mainstream drinks. [Y]ou're going to start seeing protein added to not just drinks, but all kinds of products."

The energy part of WheyUP is from B vitamins, right?
Yes, B-12, B-6, taurine, and some other things.

So pretty much the standard energy drink combo?
Right. But it's interesting, I'd like to do some research on this, because I hear it a lot, people who drink WheyUP say they don't get the same crash that they do from other energy drinks. There's two things that could explain that: First, it's not loaded with sugar like a lot of them are. Also, there's the protein, so you're body's digesting something.

In a lot of ways, beverage leads the rest of the food world in health & wellness trends. What are the big trends you see right now?
Well, to be honest, I don't know if I'm the best person to answer that question, because this is just something I came across myself by creating it in my kitchen. As far as someone who has 20 years of experience in the beverage industry, I don't. But I'll go back to what I said earlier: Protein is going to be found in a lot more mainstream drinks. Fortunately, I was first to market with this combination. But you're going to start seeing protein added to not just drinks, but all kinds of products.

WheyUP seems to primarily target a hardcore fitness enthusiast right now. What are the challenges there?
Well, I don't know that I'd say hardcore, but I definitely am targeting a core fitness enthusiast. But I'm finding that that ranges from 50 year old guys in the gym 3 days a week to bodybuilders that live by their supplements and workout schedule, to runners, bikers, skaters, a really wide spectrum of people in the fitness industry.

One of the toughest parts of working with enthusiast markets is getting into mainstream distribution channels without losing the credibility of the ethusiasts. Is that something you're concerned about?
I do see that as a challenge. I've thought about that, because I've had interest from Sam's, Wal-Mart, Target, and places like that which are very mainstream. But I'm starting to see more and more products like Muscle Milk, Lean Body, protein powders, bars, and things like that sold at Sam's Club. Those fitness people are shopping at Sam's, and I think it's the retailers that are reacting to consumer needs and the fitness lifestyle that people are adopting. The retailers are carrying more and more of those products, so I don't know that it's a negative for me to advertise in Muscle & Fitness but have that bodybuilder be able to buy WheyUP at Circle K when he goes to pump gas. It's becoming more and more acceptable for these fitness enthusiasts to find their products at mainstream retail.

+ Home Healthcare - Better Than Hospiltalization or Nursing Home Care?

With the rising costs of healthcare, some patients and their families try to deal with a person's injury or illness at home rather than using fulltime hospital or nursing home care. Below is an interview with Jay Saylor who is a Home Health Nurse and Nursing Clinical Instructor. She gives her views not only on the future of home care but also what she would like to see changed about the home care nursing profession.

What is your current job title?
Home Health Nurse and Nursing Clinical instructor

What is your educational background?
Associate degree in nursing 1975
Associate degree in arts Psychology 1980
BSN 1993

Please describe the requirements of your job.
Assessment and evaluation of patients in home setting, wound care, specialized treatments, IV therapy, medication therapy, routine Cardio-pulmonary assessment, Gastro intestinal assessment, Genitourinary assessment, Foley catheter care/change, patient teaching as needed, family teaching as indicated.
Clinical instructor for Practical Nurse students at Arbors Nursing Facility, instructor for Registered Nurse students at Children’s Hospital in Cincinnati.

What do you like best and least about your job?
Best is the flexible schedule and wide range of patient’s, students and facilities.
Worst part is being on call after seeing patients all day and having to go back out or being expected to see more patients than you have mental energy to see.

What would you like to see changed about your job?
I would like to see Nurses be as kind and compassionate to each other as they propose we should be to patients, especially those in charge positions. I would also like to see the financial compensation for nurses to be at least equal to someone entering another profession with comparable education and responsibility.

What factors determine if a person will be cared for at home versus in a nursing home or other care facility?
The decision for home care is based on the person’s ability to safely assume responsibility for portions of their care or family who can do this, and the availability of proper equipment/supplies for the home. Nursing, Physical Therapy, Occupational Therapy, Home Health Aids (for personal care assistance) and Social Workers are included in the range of services for the home patient. Companies specializing in health care supplies and equipment are also part of the care team.
One major determining factor is how the doctor of the patient feels about home care. Some doctors do not like the home care concept and are reluctant to allow care in the home, often at odds with the patient’s and family’s preference.
In general, all health care is controlled to a great extent by insurance companies. There are a few companies who do not allow or cover home health. The bulk of patients are Medicare and Medicaid insured.

What do you think the future of home health care will look like?
As health care has became more technical, costs have risen and insurance coverages have been reduced or rechanneled. I expect to see continued growth in the home health trend as it is proven more cost effective than hospitalization and for most patients, is more conducive to returning to wellness. I also expect to see continued growth in hospice services in the home setting as part of the home care team.

+ Breaking through the myths: An interview with fitness and nutrition expert Alan Aragon

We're very happy to present this interview with Alan Aragon, Men's Health writer, personal trainer, author, and all-around fitness guru. What makes Alan so remarkable isn't that he's so full of facts, because there are plenty of people toiling away in a lab that are full of facts. What makes him so valuable is that he's able to present this technical, scientific information in a way that's not only digestible to a general audience, but entertaining. We really appreciate his time, and suggest that you check out his website, and read his new book, Girth Control.

I was initially exposed to your work through Men's Health, but tell us a little about who you are and what you do.
I have been in the fitness industry, starting off as a personal trainer, since 1990. I've been in private practice with nutrition for about seven to ten years, depending on whether you count working with clients in the rec room of your apartment building, and I currently have a private nutritional counseling practice in Thousand Oaks, California. I also have distance clients pretty much all over the world: Japan, Australia, New Jersey, all over. When I'm not doing that, I'm writing for Men's Health, and when I'm not doing that, I'm writing a research review project that I'm going to launch in December. That will force me to stay abreast of all the research as well as offer it to the public.
The primary audience I work with are generally healthy people all the way up to amateur and professional athletes, so I cover a range of healthy to the elite fitness crowd.

Also, I wrote a book that was released in February of this year called Girth Control. It's what I wish somebody wrote when I was beginning to get interested in nutrition as it applies to fitness and exercise. It's kind of a fitness and body re-composition book- not so much about "This is how you perform better in a marathon or at baseball," but "This is how you lose fat or gain muscle. Here's all the research on proteins, fats, here's the information on all the supplements, the popular diets and their pros, cons and applications." I dedicated the whole first section of the book to gaining knowledge, and how to interpret information that you come across. How do you gain a level of expertise in the world of fitness and nutrition? How do you decipher the good information from the crap, how do you critically evaluate research? That's the foundation of the book, and what makes it unique. I teach people how to critically analyze the info out there, then I dive into it. It's available on my website.

Yeah, and that's one of the things that really challenging for people: the body of research isn't static, there's always something new coming out that could contradict what you heard before. How can people sort through all of that without being an expert?
That's a huge question. You have to ask yourself a few questions: Is this primary research that you're reading, or is it secondary information? In other words, is this straight from the investigators as it was published on a study index in Medline, or is it more of a journalistic/editorial interpretation of it? Or worse, is it just somebody's hearsay or gossip-based opinion? You have to make that judgement.
If it's a secondary interpretation, you can't really take it at face value. The only thing you can accept at face value is primary research from the investigators who did the study. Then it becomes a matter of assessing the strengths and weaknesses of the study.

Unlike other subjects, everyone seems to think they're an armchair nutritionist that will chime in with their two cents. What makes people think they're entitled to assume that role?
The field of nutritional advice is really unique, because everybody eats. Whether you're a nutritionist or not, you eat. Because of that, people feel entitled to give their opinion in a way that they don't on, say, law or engineering.

And beyond that, people have emotional and psychological attachments to their own habits. In my opinion, it's human nature to project that on others, especially if you're doing it in an altruistic sense where you say, "Well, I'll tell this person what worked for me, and we'll take it from there."

The other factor there is that it's kind of glamorous to be a fitness or nutrition expert, because then you're valuable and you get some attention. Everybody has eating issues, so if you can be known as the guy that knows a lot, there's some sort of a natural social being fulfilled there.

You made the distinction between what works for athletic performance and what works for body recomposition. Can you look at what works for athletes and extrapolate that into something that works for a general population?
The simple answer to that is, yes, if there's some sort of understanding that there will be a learning curve, and a gradual curve of progression. People get into trouble when they just adopt the competitive athlete's regimen right off the bat without any sort of gradual introduction. People do just tear the pages out of the magazine and say "This is what Dorian Yates, Ronnie Coleman, Forrest Griffin, Wanderlei [Silva] does, so that's what I'm gonna do," and that's where they run into problems.

Athletes are maybe doing the nutrition thing, at best, 50% correct if they're well read. The danger zones are that athletes typically don't get enough bone-building nutrition, and some athletes that are vegetarian lack iron, zinc, B-12, things like that. But athletes that are not well-read in the nutrition realm, they really don't do it right. A lot of athletes get to where they're at in spite of what they do, not because of what they do.

"Worrying about how much fat you burn during exercise is just as silly as worrying about how much muscle you build during exercise. Exercise is a stimulus for adaptations afterwards, it's not a time to make the changes while you're doing it."

You also have to take into account the genetic component, and the athlete's ability to withstand a protocol rather than thrive on the optimal one. There's a lot to consider. I'm not going to say that most athletes don't know what they're doing, because they have a better natural instinct and are in better touch with their bodies that most people, but you have to keep in mind that maybe 50% of all athletes are really setting themselves up for failure in the long term because of improper nutrition.

Is information overload an issue for athletes too?
I don't think so. Athletes are often very obsessive about what they do, so if they take an intense interest in the nutrition side of things, they'll either read up or hire someone like me to coach them through it. It ends up integrating into their program pretty nicely, but athletes who have just randomly chosen a protocol, things will start to show their ugly face in the long term. And that's a problem in at least half the athletic population.

On that note, one of the things you wrote that I really enjoyed was your "Myths Under The Microscope" piece on low-intensity cardio. Can you tell us about that, and what it means?
This is the basic idea: People have mistakenly come up with this idea of the "fat burning zone," where if you train with any more intensity than a low to moderate pace, you're tapping into other bodily fuel sources other than your stored body fat. And while that's true, to a certain degree, the fat that's burned during exercise is really an insignificant part of losing fat over a period of weeks or months.

The majority of fat that you lose comes in between your workouts. So, your workouts should be looked at as triggers for what happens in the other 22 or 23 hours in the day. The objective of using bodyfat for fuel isn't really conducive to increasing cardiovascular or muscular fitness. When you increase your ability to exercise productively, then everything else falls into place.

You can also think about it this way: Worrying about how much fat you burn during exercise is just as silly as worrying about how much muscle you build during exercise. Exercise is a stimulus for adaptations afterwards, it's not a time to make the changes while you're doing it. That's a completely misguided objective.

Everyone wants to look like a sprinter, and sprinters never train in that low zone, and they never train fasted. That's something to think about. Nobody wants to look like a marathoner, but the common dogma is to train like one. There are other variables, but I think that illustration is solid.

"People need to scapegoat certain foods just like they need to glorify the magic bullets."

One of the other things I liked a lot was your article in Men's Health "Five Food Rules To Break." How do myths like this get started, and why do they persist so long?
People need to scapegoat certain foods just like they need to glorify the magic bullets. Like dietary fat is easy to point the finger at, because it's fat- and people want to avoid fat. Human nature is to simplify things as much as possible, but like you said, things aren't always simple.

Like with dietary fat, you can indeed try to go as low fat as possible. Avoid bacon, avoid ground meat, avoid dark meat, cream, sauces, dressings, and so on, but then you run into problems too. For example, if you don't take in enough fat, you won't be able to produce a normal level of testosterone. If you never take in the healthy fats- avocado, fish oil, nuts- then you're not protecting yourself against cardiovascular disease.

But back to the question, these myths come up because, first of all, people try to oversimplify information that's inherently complex. That's why I have a career, because I have enough nerve to sift through all this information, and get to the truth.

The second reason is that people want to blame stuff. Carbs are the devil, fat used to be the devil. It's only a matter of time before people point the finger at something else. There will be a cyclical finger-pointing between carbs and fat from here until eternity.

Well you pointed out in your article, even protein gets a bad rap- people think it's bad for your kidneys.
Actually, you're totally right. Protein gets the stamp of, "You're going to get osteoporosis and your kidneys are going to fail." That's a myth that's perpetuated by the conservative, clinical community. The fact of the matter is, if you don't get enough protein, your bones will suffer. Getting enough protein is just as getting enough calcium. There's synergy between protein and calcium intake that's the best possible thing for bones. It's complex: people ask "protein or calcium," when the answer is that both acting together synergistically is optimum for bone health.

Why do they persist? I have this theory that the better your physique, the dumber you are. I'm kidding, because I know lots of smart guys with great physiques, but people just listen to folks with great physiques. We're visual animals. We put all our stock in the guy with the six pack and the veins. People haven't been taught to question everything, that it doesn't matter how awesome looking the guy that's telling you this stuff is. They go through the path of least resistance.

As a culture, or even a species, we love tradition. We love the status quo. We just take things at face value. It's kind of cynical way to look at human thoughts, but it's my guess as to why myths persist.
The other reason they persist is that people can succeed on a lot of suboptimal things, nutritionally speaking. The myths don't have an immediate way of revealing themselves as false, because people can scrape along and tolerate suboptimal protocols. They don't reveal themselves on an immediate, acute, catastrophic basis like the world of medicine. There aren't a whole lot of medical myths out there in comparison to food, because there's a lot of leeway.

Living in the valley, anti-aging clinics are something you've probably come across. What do you see as the future of hormone replacement therapy.
With proper physician care, and with a regular, frequent, diligent monitoring of key indicators- cardiovascular health, especially- conservative dosed hormone replacement is not dangerous. It really does improve a lot of the general health indexes of people who are basically getting beat up by age. So, there is science to that, and there is a certain degree of health benefit to be gained from sustaining optimal levels of hormones- testosterone in particular.

I think it will boil down to a philosophical decision of whether you want to go au natural and not put the Rogaine on your head, so to speak, or whether you want to let nature take its course. I really don't know what the level of mainstream interest is in the hormone replacement therapy thing. I would imagine that a lot of the more affluent populations in Southern California, for example, would be more prone to trying it. I just don't see a mass of people pouring into the clinics, although I haven't looked at the statistics as far as that industry's growth rate. I can only throw my opinion out that people aren't generally open to the idea of messing with themselves hormonally.

For women, though, the whole HRT thing is almost a given: Menopause happens, it's estrogen replacement therapy time. With men, it's not really a socially acceptable thing to say that when your testosterone drops, it's time to get your injections. A lot of that is because male hormones are totally abused by certain populations to the point that there's this unshakable taboo, and it tends to overshadow the safe practices of HRT that do exist, and do improve people's health, performance, body composition, outlook on life, and everything like that.

Well that's about all I have. Is there anything you wanted to add?
I just want to say that anything is learnable. The ability to examine the strengths and weaknesses of research is completely learnable. You read the intermittent fasting thing I wrote, right?

Yeah.
Well, there was this internet community that really latched onto this one study that showed that one meal a day gave better body composition results than three meals a day. But when you look closely at the method they used to measure the results, they used a consumer scale that you might have.

"Scientific research is not bias-free. It's not free of financial interests. It's not free of study design flaws, and it's not perfect. But it's the best tool that we have for getting closer to understanding the way the body works, the way that nature works."

Like the ones you get at Wal-Mart for $20?
Yes. It's called "bio-electrical impedance," and it's just notorious for being inaccurate. Especially when you're looking at a group of subjects where there will be major body water and hydration measurements doing on. So people should be more skeptical. Skepticism of fitness and health information is your best weapon. Be motivated to investigate.

Scientific research is not bias-free. It's not free of financial interests. It's not free of study design flaws, and it's not perfect. But it's the best tool that we have for getting closer to understanding the way the body works, the way that nature works. You can bash science all day long- that this study was funded by the dairy council- but science beats the hell out of hearsay or personal anecdote.

+ Designing For The Elderly: An interview with Modern Plastic Editor Matthew Defosse

Interesting article from Modern Plastics Designing for the elderly: Targeting the wallet of the voice of experience.

"How to design for this burgeoning group of consumers? Well, don’t, at least not specifically, recommends Davin Stowell, CEO of product design firm Smart Design (New York). He says designers should not limit themselves to products specifically marketed to the aged or elderly, except for extreme products. “We’re becoming a more youthful society,” he notes, not in terms of average age but with reference to how people perceive themselves."

Check out the full article here.

From the editor of Modern Plastics, Matthew Defosse:
What value did your publication see in the topic of elderly care to pursue the article?
Our readers are plastics processors—the people who buy plastic pellets and turn these into various parts, including automotive parts, medical goods, packaging, building and construction applications, and much more. We strive to offer our readers knowledge they can use to more efficiently run their operations, and also highlight potential future markets of interest.

Please describe your readership, and why you think they would find value in this article.
As the population ages in many countries, plastics processors, like any other manufacturing group, need to stay abreast of the special desires of an aging population, and design products that can attract the elderly consumer. That was the impetus for our decision to add ‘designing for the elderly’ to our editorial calendar.

Tell me more about your publication: history, content generation, and staff experience.
Modern Plastics is the leading source of industry information for the global plastics processing community, with 63,000+ readers in more than 120 countries. The magazine has been published continuously since 1925. We generate 90% or more of our content ourselves with a staff of five fulltime editors and a number of freelancers.

So there is a new trend in product development to design products that are all-age inclusive, instead of segmenting products into age groups. What examples do you have of dual-age designs?

+ Retirement Centers Focus on Health and Wellness

In relation to Irene Saylor’s independent living apartment, we looked into alternative lifestyles for the elderly. Tawyna Hensley from the Lodge Retirement Community in Cincinnati, Ohio describes the health and wellness programs available to her residents.

Please tell me about your staff and their experience in the Health and Wellness field.
We have numerous years of experience in our facility as we have physicians, therapists, nurses and activity coordinators.

What are the current Lodge programs addressing Health and Wellness for residents?
Walking Club, Exercise Class, Bowling, Volleyball, Alzheimer Support Group, Harmonica Group for Parkinson’s Disease residents, Blood Pressure Checks, Medical Lab, Association of the Blind

What are the resident's reactions to Health and Wellness programs? Are they open to health suggestions or are they content with their current practices?
There are many who participate in one or more of these programs to keep them healthy longer or to regain some loss. They are open to suggestions.

Has The Lodge staff recognized emerging attitudes or trends that will change your Health and Wellness programs for the future? If so, what? and when will they start?
Exercise Partners

So the future is in partnerships - an age old approach. People want what is within their comfort zone, but in the context of a new experience. How can the design community focus on this idea as we innovate for the future of elderly care?

+ Everbody Eats! - Part 2 - Best Practices

Continuing the discussion on local, organic and sustainable food, the following is our interview with local food grower Bob Klouman of K&R Garden Fresh Produce.

TGG: Please give us some background on yourself and K&R Fresh Produce.

Bob: K&R Fresh Produce is a 47 acre former tobacco farm that was not very well managed. The previous owners used regular, conventional tillage. They did not plant cover crops. The soil was depleted.

My background is a college educated agronomist – studying crops and soil. I try to base my actions on the best knowledge available. I’ve gotten back to doing the fundamental things I learned as a boy in my gardens. I went to no-till for most crops, the eggplants and peppers. No-till improves production. I will rototill for lettuces and greens, but space those rows out, let the space between “go natural”. I broadcast seeds and thin things out as they grow and that helps keep down the weeds.

Some organic products, even though they are natural products, are chemicals and have pesticides. In a way they are being miss-used because the “organic” label implies that there are no chemicals or pesticides.

You have to base your trust that the person growing the foods is being truthful.
Once a grower gets certified organic the grower can do anything and still claim the crops are “organic”.
I have had certified organic farmers buy my crops and sell them as organic as part of their share boxes for their CSA – Community Supported Agriculture programs. That is not how that is supposed to work.
I have not sprayed anything at all this year, but I cannot claim that my crops are organic.
For example, I will use Round Up if needed to save a crop but I will not use a tractor. Tractor tilling damages the earthworm population.

A healthy earthworm population will move more soil in a year that a tractor does tilling the same field.

TGG: How do you tell the value story?

Bob: Local quality is superior, freshness is unsurpassed. Sometimes my crops are less than 5 hours out of the field, which you cannot get any other way.
The food is more nutritious. The nutrition might not be tasted but it is there.
The customers are getting the freshest food possible

We are trying to replace what people get for 9-10 months of the year in the grocery store and it’s hard to capture that business in 2 months. We cannot expect them to drop all of their shopping habits.

The way foods are labeled can be confusing. Take tomatoes for example. The tomatoes are picked green with the slightest bit of pink star on the bottom are considered vine ripened. The sugars in those tomatoes have not even begun to develop. The tomatoes are gassed to bring out the color, but they have very little flavor. People are used to the way those tomatoes taste. It is hard for me as a grower to tell people that my tomatoes are worth more because they taste better, when they look the same as what is in the store.

TGG: What are some of the challenges facing local, organic and sustainable food to become more mainstream for consumers?

Bob: A lot of things in the "New Organic" revolution are fine and dandy but we are probably going to try and do things that are not sustainable.

If everyone did what I am doing, traveling 85 -90 miles to the farmers market, in my mind, is not sustainable. Ideally, a local economy should really be a 25 mile radius.

Cheap energy, specifically oil, has accelerated population and growth. When that finite energy source is gone, we will be forced back into a local economy.
Cheap oil and below cost energy has a high hidden cost. The true cost is not only the financial, monetary cost, but the cost to the environment, the cost to our health.

Cheap energy has led to everything being out of balance.
Every time you flip on a light switch there are consequences to that act.
Every act, even eating, is an ecological act.

What you choose to eat has consequences.

TGG: Speaking of energy, what is driving your efforts?

Bob: I question the motivation of businesses that do not look ahead long term. We need to look beyond 5 years to solve the big problems.

I try and do what I can to minimize my footprint on this planet, and leave this farm better than it was when I started.

I’m motivated by doing what is right, to make best practices.

Some books that Bob suggested for reference on sustainability:

Wendell Berry “Unsettling of America”

Lester Brown “Outgrowing the Earth”

LesterBrown “Plan B” Feeding People, Restoring Earth

Richard Heinberg “The Party’s Over: Oil War and the Fate of Industrial Societies”

Richard Heinberg “Power Down - Options and Actions for a Post-Carbon World”

James Kunstler “The Long Emergency”

also on the web:

http://www.worldwatch.org/

+ Everybody Eats! An interview with Earth Source Produce

Consumer demand for local, organic and sustainable foods is growing. Concerns about food safety, environmental sustainability and nutrition are driving more people to become informed and empowered when making food purchasing decisions. The increasing popularity of food centric media reflects the trend for authenticity and the desire for the cultural and familial reconnection that is enabled by preparing and sharing good food.

To gain some insight we spoke with some local growers at Findley Market in Cincinnati.

Matt Tomaszewski is the force behind Earth Source Produce in Batavia, Ohio

TGG: As an introduction, can you give us some background on what you do, what Earth Source is about?

Matt: Earth Source produce is currently a small scale vegetable farm less than 1 acre that is
chemical free, no synthetic herbicides or synthetic pesticides and fertilizers.
It’s a one man operation that goes from seed to market.I do not need to grow a hundred acres of one crop; I can have many different things on a small amount of land. Having diversity in the landscape is always a good thing

Farmers markets are the main point of sale, direct to the consumer, and a few restaurants.
I also work as a sub-teaching assistant, primarily for special needs children 3 to 9 years old.

Local production allows people access to fresh food and enjoys its nutrition value at its highest.
Buying local allows consumers to have a one to one relationship with person growing the food.
The consumer knows where the food is from and how it is produced. People are beginning to understand that it is not sustainable to ship food great distances.

TGG: How do you tell the value story for organic, local and sustainable agriculture?

Matt: Food is too cheap, and we have become accustomed to inexpensive food.
People do not understand the hidden of agriculture. The land being used for large scale agriculture is being depleted of its nutrients; it has been bombarded with pesticides, herbicides and petroleum-based fertilizers. The farmer workers are being paid substandard wages, living in very poor conditions.

I try to practice what I consider fair trade farming. We all know about Fair Trade coffee or chocolate, but I try to bring it back to where I am at. I explain to folks that I think my prices are fair; this is what I am doing to try to make a living. I look at what the high end stores are charging, what the regular grocery stores charge and think about what I am putting into it

Also, buying local encourage people to eat seasonally, which is something most consumers have gotten away from.

It’s a challenge for consumers to eat locally. You may be able to buy raspberries in January for $2.00 a pint. The cost you are paying is not the true cost.

TGG: What is the feasibility local, organic and sustainable agriculture to be done on are larger scale? What would it take for this to become the mainstream?

Matt: First, it would take more farmers to produce local food. It is a supply and demand business. If the demand hits, the supply is not there. We need to have people trained as farmers, out there learning to produce food

We need to secure land for farming because right now the really good prime agriculture land is being developed for housing.

There are quite a few steps but we are kind of on the way.

Education of the consumers is very important. I explain why different foods are not always available, because of the time of the season. I feel that informing my customers is part of my job as a farmer.
Agriculture as a job is not brain dead work. You really have to be thinking. It requires knowledge and timing.

People need to slow down and consider what they eat, how to eat, prepare and eat meals together.

TGG: How did get to this point. What is you drive, your reward that comes from this work?

Matt: I got into this because I love working outdoors. It is something that I feel is a challenge.
Producing food is great. It’s just a good feeling to be able to pull something fro the earth, take it to market and have people enjoy it. People come back and tell me that they enjoyed it, that they even had a spiritual experience eating it.

Fresh food is full of life, it has true flavor, true taste.

I started out as an apprentice in 1999 at a vegetable farm in New York State and it has been building ever since. I have had many different experiences that have given me a broad range of ideas for what could be a sustainable farm. I am currently working on a business plan to put it all one place. It is always evolving for me. Every season is different.

I’m trying to do my part. I know I can’t save the world but I’m try to do what I can with what I have and what time I have. I know it will all come back around.

Everybody eats. I know the market is there.

+ Interview: Irene Saylor-Pros/Cons of Independent Living

Irene Saylor is an 88 year old woman who has lived in the same independent living apartment building for 25 years. Below are her comments.

Why did you choose the place where you live now?
It was the best place at the time I moved 25 years ago.

How is the amount you pay for rent determined?
Each resident pays 35% of their income.

What are the requirements to live in your apartment building?
You have to be at least 60 years old or have some type of handicap or disability.

Have there been many changes or improvements to the building or your apartment since you have lived there?
No.

What would you like to see changed?
The management needs to hire a fulltime cleaning person. It would be nice to have a shower instead of a bathtub. It would be easier for me.

What do you like most about where you live?
I like the people that live in the building with me.

Are activities important to you?
Not at my age.

What type of security is offered in your building?
If a person visits they have to buzz my apartment and then I let them in by pushing a button. Also, if there were an emergency in my apartment there are 2 emergency ropes to pull that will notify the apartment manager and life squad.

If you had to move to a nursing home what would be most important to you?
The care I receive and that my family/friends could visit me.

Would you prefer a smaller or larger nursing home?
A smaller place because I think I would get better care.

+ Interview: Kare Backstrom – Future of Elderly Care

Kare Backstrom is Vice President for Schiff, Kreidler-Shell Insurance Company in Cincinnati, Ohio. He has worked for the company for 16 years. Schiff, Kriedler-Shell offers personal insurance, business insurance & risk management, benefits & financial services and surety bonds. (http://www.sksins.com/)

What do you think the future of elderly care will look like?
With the aging of our population, it will obviously change. The tremendous cost for each State will also add budget constrains. Since it’s generally cheaper, home health care and assisted living care will likely grow substantially.


What do you think are the most important factors that determine elderly care selection?
It depends on the type of care you’re looking at. With assisted living, what other services and activities are available or provided. In more of a nursing home situation, the training of the staff is important to ensure each person is cared for properly.

What is the biggest challenge facing elderly care in the future?
Cost and staffing. Very few people can afford the care, especially at home. Finding quality workers will also be challenging, and how to compensate them properly.

There seems to be a trend toward changing the culture in nursing homes. Have you heard of the Eden Alternative or Green House Replication Initiative and do you think it is a successful alternative to current nursing homes?
No I have not heard of the alternative. But I’m skeptical of the Green House Initiative, and that the proper care can be administered in such small facilities. For some more “active” residents, offering a variety of things to do will be challenging at the same time as other residents are deteriorating medically (and physically) thus requiring a totally different type of care and attention.

Do you think that a state funded long term in-home care program would be a more cost effective plan than for states to pay for nursing home care?
Not sure. To care for tens of thousands of people at home would be challenging from a medical standpoint. It would also limit the amount of “activities” offered to them. I have toured assisted living facilities and nursing homes where activities ranged from in-house ice cream stores to art and craft areas, to live entertainment/musicians to visiting beauty salon workers.

What effect does long term care have on the insurance industry?
It provides an opportunity to sell an insurance product to a very narrow segment of the population. The vast majority of people can not afford to buy any type of coverage, as they are financially unprepared to face retirement. Another obstacle is pre-existing medical conditions, since we’re talking about selling a medically underwritten product to older individuals. Since the states/federal government will be faced with an ever increasing cost burden, a tax deduction for purchasing LTC insurance is also needed.

+ Health Care, Healthy World

The following interview was conducted with Mary Donovan, a Charge Nurse in Women's Services at Presbyterian/St. Luke's Medical Center in Denver, Colorado. When Mary is not hard at work she can be found cooking up some tasty (organic) meals or enjoying the great outdoors in the lovely mountains of Colorado. Mary is proud to be an eco-sensitive citizen & drives a Jetta fueled by Biodiesel, particpates in a local organic produce co-op, & is always looking for new ways to lighten her eco footprint.

1) What is your educational background? How did you come to be doing what you do now?

My educational background is an associate degree and a bachelors degree in nursing, I became a nurse because as a child my sister and I were kind-of sickly kids and it was always the nurses that made me feel better. I admired nurses for their caring and compassion.

2) What are your additional interests?
My additional interests include: dogs, camping, hiking, skiing, running, cooking, and anything outdoor.

3) Tell me more about what a typical workday would entail for you?
A typical workday is never "typical" at a hospital but the tasks always remain the same. We usually receive report on our patients the start of every shift and then within the next few hours of the shift we go room to room introducing ourselves and checking on the status of
your patients. But more often than not a day starts with a person needing something right away like pain medication or help to the bathroom or a stat blood draw. But once the "task" items are out of the way you can focus on other needs of the patients like psychosocial issues, education, etc. But, like I mentioned earlier no day is the same and it is because every patient and patient need are completely different.

4) Which products do you use on a daily basis that make your job easier? Which do you have to use but do not find user friendly?
The products that make our job easier are things like pre-filled syringes, automatic vital sign machines, things that require little nursing time and therefore allow us to spend more time with patients. The non user friendly items are without a doubt or computer charting systems/charting. The health care system is in dire need for a charting program that is user friendly and allows more time to be spent with patients. Charting and computer time sucks sooooo much time away from the patients yet it has to be done because of the litigious side of our society.

5) Where do you look for inspiration? Are there any organizations, people, books or websites that you find especially inspiring?
Pertaining to work, I look for inspiration from my patients, my
co-workers, my husband, my friends, my family. Outside of work I am
look to eco-groovy, green companies-the National Green Pages, organic
food and clothing stores, anything that is green. I also find
inspiration in music, in particular Michael Franti and Spearhead.

6) Which hospitals you have worked at have a program
in place for recycling medical waste?

I don't know of any hospital that recycles medical waste. I know
some hospitals recently started recycling paper and that is huge for a
hospital. In general hospitals are extremely eco-toxic and not green
at all!


7) What types of cleaners and disinfectants are you
using at home? Which are used at the hospital?

I use only green products at home, non-polluting, biodegradable soap,
laundry soap, shampoo, conditioner, etc, etc. Hospitals use the
opposite-harsh chemicals, bleach for the sheets and linens, hand
sanitizer that is filled with pesticides, disposable this and that,
toxic floor cleaners, etc. It is NOT at ALL a green or non-toxic
environment. It scares me sometimes to think of what I am exposed to.
More importantly the hospital is supposed to be a healing place and
the amount of bad things one is exposed to is appalling.