
REI (Recreational Equipment Inc.), the Seattle based outdoor gear co-op with 3.5 million member/customers has just released their Stewardship Report for 2007. And it makes for fascinating reading.
But you'll need to set aside a little time. For this is a remarkably detailed audit of the co-operative’s attempt to measure their impact on community, environment and people. Like Patagonia’s
Footprint Chronicles this report shows it warts and all. The charts clearly indicate both the obstacles successfully hurdled and those stumbled at. They candidly detail the challenges faced and their commitment going forward. We take a squiz at a few of these aspects after the fold, or you can download a 1.3MB
PDF brochure with the highlights....
TreeHugger: You actually were not yet mayor when the tornado struck, so what were the first things that went through your mind as an ordinary citizen after the disaster?
Bob Dixson: Well just get stuff cleaned up. Concentrate on your own property and helping your neighbors and just get cleaned up and go from there. We didn’t really get an idea of what we had until we got stuff moved away, with just piles of debris all over.
TH: And what did you believe were the most pressing issues facing Greensburg the day before the tornado?
BD: I think over the years our most valuable resource that we’ve exported is our youth. They’ve been heading elsewhere to find employment. So the question has been, “How do we encourage and get businesses to come and offer employment to our younger generation and keep them in the county and town?”
...

On a four-hour hike, Janu (pictured left), a native friend of
Eugenio’s, uses his machete to chip off a few pieces of what look like ordinary tree bark. He hands me a sliver. Janu is way too cute to be the poisoning type and since I’m on a
once-in-a-lifetime press trip in the Brazilian Amazon—I’m in an adventurous mood. I pop a piece into my mouth. It’s bitter and it tastes like tree. But when he says mosquito and “medicino” in the same sentence, I realize I’m chewing on something extraordinary, the source of malaria antibiotics. Just when I think Janu’s grand tour can’t get any wilder, we run into a snake—a huge, yellow snake.
I would later thank my lucky stars for Janu—who prevented us from ending up in Boa’s belly—and
Projeto Saude e Alegria, who helps native folk and forest experts like Janu continue to thrive in their home, the Amazon. Until arriving in the jungle, I had always focused on helping save the forest’s
threatened critters, never its
human inhabitants. I realized that by not taking the natives into account, I hadn’t been viewing the protection of the Amazon as one huge holistic process. I started to wonder where else this incomplete outlook had crept up in my other efforts to live sustainably......

Today is a very sad day. For Nau
announced they are winding up. The Portland, Oregon based outdoor lifestyle apparel company has been unable to secure the necessary venture capital to continue operations as a start-up business.
Having got off the phone today with Ian Yolles, one of the original founders, I doubt very much there has been a dry eye in the Nau house. Obviously as the capital investment market lost its courage in the face of current uncertain financial times in the US, things became, as Ian put it “tenser and tenser.” But he had nothing but praise for the staff of Nau who have shown, “an amazing commitment and spirit right up to the end. There has been this strong sense of hopefulness....” He pauses, then continues, the emotion palpable even down the phone, “... that something good would happen.”...
Photo courtesty G. Almqvist at Havet.nu
Lots of Swedes grew grapes through the last 300 years - inside their "orangerie" or glassed-in greenhouses. But now grape-growing has come out of the glass closet on the Swedish Baltic islands of Öland and Gotland as well as a dozen other Swedish locations, helped by warmer summers and longer growing seasons.
The fruit of the changing Scandinavian climate is being made into local organic wine at Öland's
Wannborga farm, which now constitutes part of the Northernmost wine region of the world. Wannborga is making reds, whites, brandies and also distilling an award-winning white-lightning grappa called
DruvDigestiv. And though the different wines can be sampled at the farm, Sweden's strict liquor monopoly makes it impossible to buy any bottles to take home. Yet while a Baltic wine region may sound great, warming temperatures also constitute a dire threat to the former thriving Baltic cod and salmon fisheries. Warmer water and lack of dissolved oxygen are problems but now there's another possible problem: an ugly Black Sea fish called Goby....

A project of the Ithaca-based Tropical Forestry Initiative aims to restore a tropical rain forest ecosystem that had been clear-cut over 50 years ago in Costa-Rica. In 1993, they started working on worn-out pasture land. "For 50 years the soil had been compacted under countless hooves, and its nutrients washed away. When it rained, Leopold said, the red soil appeared to bleed from the hillsides."
The group planted local species of trees, collecting seeds directly from nearby native flora. Finding those seeds wasn't always easy, and they had to work with the locals: "When a farmer reported a tree producing seeds, Leopold and his wife would ride out on horses to collect the seeds before hungry monkeys beat them to it." But their efforts are bearing fruits and and recent studies show that 100s of species are now present, and some fast-growing species of trees are even averaging 2 meters a year. It might take many more decades for a full restoration, but this is showing that it can be done, and that's something.
::Restoration Of A Tropical Rain Forest Ecosystem Successful On Small-scale. See also
::Costa Rica Leads Latin America in Certified Sustainable Tourism Industry,
::Costa Rica Plants 5 Million Trees to Combat Climate Change...

When I called Principal Randy Fulton and asked for an interview he was as busy as any Principal might be on any given school day; particularly if they were in the process of planning the new high school to be built to LEED platinum standards and the President was scheduled to visit in just a few short days to give the commencement address at graduation not so long after the entire town had been swept away by a huge tornado.
But he closed the door and sat down for a few moments to give me his insights into the process of rebuilding Greensburg High School, the effect it’s had on his students, and the simple truth about how he copes with the enormous task of rebuilding not only his own life but that of the school as well.
TreeHugger: Where did the desire to rebuild Greensburg High School in a green fashion come from?
Randy Fulton: Well, once the disaster happened one of the things the governor of Kansas has really stressed is building back in an environmentally sustainable manner, and I think that’s where that came from. And the leaders and commissioners and administrators, all of us got together and said “Let’s do this right. Let’s build back a town that is green and takes care of the environment.”
...

Way back when TreeHugger was a babe in the woods we posted on
Walden, who at the time made roto-moulded kayaks from recycled plastic. They alas closed their doors, and we found
Hydra, who made a portion of their craft with recycled content. But the overall Walden idea was kept alive by
Earth Friendly Kayaks. Recently the whole concept was reinvigorated by Necky Kayaks of Washington state, USA.
They make several lengths of their Manitou kayaks from 100% recycled post industrial HDPE. Interestingly they’re claiming the recycled plastic is stronger than standard materials. As well as embracing the recycle ethic, Necky also donate 1% of gross sales to the
Waterkeeper Alliance, who champion clean watershed program.
...

“The caravan and camping Industry in New South Wales realises that Australia has some big challenges ahead in order to reduce our eco-footprint. For this reason, environmental programs such as the Gumnut Awards have been developed to get the touring industry to proactively drive environmental sustainability.”
The program, self described above, was developed back in 2002, modelled closely on the success of the
David Bellamy Conservation Awards in the UK. Since that time the Caravan and Camping Industry Association of NSW (CCIA) have apparently managed to get by-in from 47% of their member holiday and residential parks....

He’s a high school student from the town of Greensburg Kansas, and his enthusiasm for the green movement and the amazing things it’s doing for his town after the devastation caused by the tornado that leveled it are an inspiring look at the future of green in America.
After spending close to an hour speaking with him by phone I realized precisely why the rebuilding of Greensburg can become an uplifting model for us all. I trust you’ll enjoy his insight and enthusiasm as much as I did.
TreeHugger: What do you believe made the people of Greensburg decide to rebuild the town in a green fashion?
Taylor Schmidt: Well after at least 96% of the town was destroyed there has obviously been a massive need for rebuilding, and the town has come together as a big family, really, and it’s been one joint effort to rebuild the town better than it was and more sustainable and green than it was. So we’ve really been learning a lot about what we need to do to keep our town from dying again. And we’ve been learning about building and going green and implementing a lot of green into our rebuilding efforts.
...

When the students and staff in the Go Green Club at Putnam Valley Middle School held a community meeting back at the beginning of the school year to help educate other students and staff about the importance of composting and recycling there’s a very good chance they didn’t know how far their efforts to green the school would take them…...
Spiegel Online published a series of pictures titled "Desertec: Strom aus der Wüste" (translation: Desertech: Electricity from the desert). It includes this image of how much land would be needed to power the world, Europe or Germany with solar-thermal power. The idea is similar to a post we did a year ago:
How Much Land to Power The Whole World with Solar?
The red square on the left is for the whole world, in the middle for Europe-25, and on the right for Germany. Below you can see pictures of the kind of technology they're talking about. It's a bit similar to
Ausra's solar-thermal power system, but with curved mirrors. We're mentioning Ausra here, because they claim they're able to produce electricity from solar even at night (by storing some of the heat)....

Earlier this month, Keen announced the winners of their
STAND sustainability awareness contest. Prizes totaling $150,000 USD were awarded to three winners and fifteen runners up.
The three respective winners in their categories of Stand Up, Stand Out and Stand For were: a) Spencer Brown’s
Rent a Green Box makes rentable reusable moving crates out of recycled plastic waste; b)Leslie Freeman’s Wild Science Explorers takes under privileged high school students on river trips complete with science education and Leave No Trace training; and Brian Bell, and the team at the University of Minnesota chapter of
Engineers Without Borders, who are working in Haiti to develop ways to recycle HDPE water transport sachets into durable footwear for kids. ...

If you’ve ever wished you could play outside all day, running through forests and playing in the mud until the sun went down you just may be fascinated to learn that there are kindergarten schools in Germany that now eschew classrooms in favor of the forest floor, and head outside to learn all day, come rain or shine....

The next time Tom Hanks finds himself marooned as a
castaway on a tropical island maybe his companion will be a green basketball, instead of a white volleyball.
The Wilson ‘Rebound’ has a surface comprising 40% recycled rubber. 70 such basketballs are said to be equal to taking one car tyre out of landfill. "Think Globally, Hoop Locally" is the accompanying catch phrase. We’re not sure why a product as robust as a basketball requires packaging in a box. But at least Wilson have opted to to make it from nearly 80% recycled cardboard. Though they are ambiguous as to whether that is pre or post consumer content.
::Wilson, via tip from Amy K....

When artist and environmental activist Jennifer Marsh realized there were over 200,000 abandoned gas stations marring the landscape across America she realized there was something simple she could do to make a statement; recycle one into art, and ask students the world over to help.
The idea being they just might make a statement simple enough to be understood by all.
...

After
Beijing's Cat Death Camps, here come the Seal version in Arkhangelsk, Russia.
Seal hunting is
controversial, and there's a lot of propaganda coming from both sides. One says that there's nothing special with it, it's traditional and profitable, no big deal. The other claims it's particularly cruel, citing independent studies that show that almost 80% of sealers don't check if the seal is dead before skinning it, and that half of them get skinned alive. But regardless of where the truth lies, we think most people would minimally agree that the unnecessary suffering of sentient mammals with nervous systems similar to ours is
bad, and that people who purchase products made from seals should know what their money buys so they can make an informed choice. Below are more photos from the Russian seal camp....

Never did I think I’d find myself nestled in the heart of the Brazilian Amazon, sitting cross-legged in a jungle bungalow with local hero—Dr. Eugenio Netto. Eugenio is a medical doctor and the founder of
Projeto Saude e Alegria, or, The Health and Happiness Project, a Brazilian NGO that has been working to restore health and social equality for at-risk indigenous Amazonian communities since 1987.
As we sip Caipirinhas under the soft glow of kerosene lamps, it’s easy to let my thoughts drift and lead me to believe I’m on a glamorous Amazonian expedition. But all it takes is a firm and passionate reminder from Eugenio to remember that I’m not there on vacation, but there on a press trip because they’ve asked me and other journalists to capture Projeto Saude e Alegria’s important efforts to save the Amazon and garner international buzz and support for their traveling exhibit,
Amazonia Brasil–which seeks to educate children and the world about the rainforest. This night, like most other nights with Eugenio and my fellow American journalists, is spent talking intensely about the forest, its threats, and its often too foreign relationship with non-Amazonians. ...

Seventeen grassroots environmental organizations across North America are receiving funds from a $450,000 pool of grants allocated by the Conservation Alliance.
The Alliance is 130 member outdoor industry companies who make a yearly contribution to grant fund. Since its founding in 1989, by industry leaders
REI,
Patagonia,
The North Face, and Kelty, the Conservation Alliance has supported environmental organisations to the tune of $6.5 million. This financial assistance has helped protect more than 35 million acres of land, stop or remove 26 dams, and preserve access to thousands of miles of rivers and several climbing areas. ...
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