TreeHugger Picks: Do-Gooding Drinks
by Collin Dunn, Corvallis, OR, USA on 01.26.06
TreeHuggers are a thirsty crowd, as evidenced by our numerous posts about breweries and wineries and all the booze they crank out. The best of them not only produce thirst-quenching beers, sippable wines and the like, but also do good and give our planet a helping hand.
1) New Belgium Brewery is doing so much with alternative energy and waste management that they've been featured on these pages twice.
2) Even beer-brewing giant Coors is in the game, converting their brewing waste into fuel grade ethanol for distribution on the Colorado Front Range.
3) Canadian winery Stratus boasts the industries first LEED-certified building, complete with geothermal heating and cooling, recycled materials and composting of vegetal waste.
4) California vintners have gone solar after realizing the sun can do more than grow grapes, and it looks like everyone wants a piece of the sun-powered pie.
5) Finally, do something good for yourself and take the guesswork out of selecting good organic wines. They aren't all blue-ribbon beauties, so leave it to the pros and don't get fooled again.
Ciel at Bread and Butter Berlin Design Show: January 27-29
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"Dress an Eco-Celeb" Contest: Voting Time
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Check out Pittsburgh's East End Brewing: www.eastendbrewing.com/sustainability.htm
Not only does there beer rock, but much of the brewing equipment is recycled/reclaimed, hardly any of their waste is destined for a land fill, all of their packaging is recycled (they sell only kegs and growlers), and they offer local delivery by bicycle.
Cheers!
Every once and a while this site will post a product, like that tick-tac-toe board made from recycled aluminum or those pet keychain plants, that the readers react to negatively. The idea is that it is an unnecessary item to begin with and no matter how green it is made to be it should not be consumed. So why is alcohol not in this category? It seems excessive to take perfectly good food that could feed the starving masses and produce a poison that gives a person a bit of a buzz. I understand we all crave luxuries, but are there not more eco-friendly and healthy luxuries like marijuana? Sorry, but if the kiddies at home can read about how good one legal drug is, why not how much better an illegal drug is.
Truth, I appreciate your personal feelings on alcohol, but one person's wasteful luxuries are another person's simple pleasures. Pet key chain plants and LED bathtubs are new products that don't make an older or wasteful model more sustainable. Wine- and beer-making have produced centuries old cultures that many people around the world enjoy, and not necessarily to get a buzz. These successful global industries will continue to thrive; why not attempt to make them more sustainable, introducing new audiences to this concept, rather than writing them off as wasteful?
Don't forget the Leopold Brothers Brewpub in Ann Arbor, MI. It is run by two nephews of Aldo Leopold. They use organic ingredients and the pub is located in a renovated early 1900s factory.
http://www.leopoldbros.com/careers.htm
Hey guys, great to see all the good beer action. We at the Brooklyn Brewery are the first manufacturer in NYC to be 100% wind powered! It's a start!
Beer is arguably the first prepared food in the world and has been a part of our culture for many thousands of years. It is not going away so we might as well make it as responsibly as we can. If i could grow beer in the soil organically like pot, I would.
The difference I see is that people will buy and consume beer, if it's produced in a "green" way or not...unlike a tic-tac-toe board. Unless you're going to prohibit it, it's going to be with us, so how about doing it better?
I may be biased though.
Scott
www.EastEndBrewing.com
It's good to hear this for once in a while. We've allays have the option of a drug and alcohol rehab center but our planet doesn't. What could be more efficient in this world than saving the environment by drinking. Did I mentioned about the fun of it?