KeepGreenGoing

On the topic of biking I thought I would draw attention to another company’s efforts to help others reduce their impact on the planet.  Clif Bar is championing their own call to action, 2-Mile Challenge.  Their Website is impressive, easy to use and has a lot of great information while some of it is quite shocking; for instance: America owns close to the most bicycles per capita, but is close to the bottom of the list when it comes to using them.  Ouch.  Check out their website here.  

Amidst other information Clif Bar will help you chart your own personal 2 mile radius, find the right bike for you (in addition to helping you trick it out), and ultimately allow you to sign up for the 2-Mile Challenge where you can get check-ups from the 2-Mile Team, and track your progress along with other 2-Milers. 

So what are you waiting for… Check it out and get going on YOUR 2 Mile Challenge.

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As we’ve mentioned before on KGG, the world faces a massive crisis. About one out of six of our fellow human beings on Earth does not have daily, immediate access to the most basic of necessities: safe drinking water.

Imagine if, instead of going to a tap in your kitchen, anytime you were thirsty, you had to hoist a heavy vessel onto your head and walk, up to two hours, to a well, where, after filling your vessel-now really heavy-you had to carry it up to two more hours back home. This is the dilemma facing hundreds of millions of women and children in Africa, Afghanistan, India and other parts of Asia, Central and South America each day. They live in communities where water is scarce or contaminated or both, and, 9 times out of 10, it is their responsibility to find a safe source, whatever the distance or terrain. They are among the 6,000 who die every 24 hours, because the need for safe drinking water outweighs adequate supply. But, with your help, they will see a way out of their cycle of poverty, disease and death.

Let us introduce you to Blue Planet Run.

As a fundraising platform, the Blue Planet Run Foundation creates epic endurance events that showcase human commitment, passion and stamina. These are all qualities absolutely essential for solving the drinking water crisis world wide through localized, community-based projects that we believe are most effective in tackling the problem.

These events and programs geared around them gain the attention, first, of the participants and then of the media and general public. We are able to use the spotlight to address the water crisis and spread our message: we can and must begin today to alleviate the catastrophic burden placed on over a billion people who, every day, must drink unsafe local water, or travel long distances on foot to search for safe water for themselves and their families.

These running programs created by the foundation are the Blue Planet Run, an epic international event to be held every two years, Blue Planet Run 24, an ongoing series of regional 24-hour trail running events. Both showcase the human spirit and push the limits of an individual’s comfort and endurance. The programs act as a platform to raise money for safe drinking water projects.

To find out specific information and facts about the water crisis and to learn more about Blue Planet Run, please visit www.blueplanetrun.org.

Your car guzzles gas money, pollutes and isn’t too great for the daily workout, so ditch it and ride a bike! In fact, turn your car title over to New Belgium Brewing at Tour de Fat celebrations this summer and receive a custom New Belgium commuter bike. The second annual Car-for-Bike Trade program will take place in all 2008 Tour de Fat stops. For volunteer car-swappers willing to forgo gas for pedal power and want to show friends and neighbors the benefits of living car-free, visit http://www.followyourfolly.com/pdf/biketrade.pdf.

Through the program, one volunteer in each Tour de Fat stop will commit to live car-free for one full year.  The dedicated individual will sign over their car title and receive a custom New Belgium commuter bike in exchange. The selected candidate will chronicle the trials and triumphs along their car-free journey.  The volunteer is chosen after submitting a video or essay describing their desire to live without a vehicle. 

As part of the Car-for-Bike Trade Program, each Tour de Fat stop will have a funeral for the departed car complete with a Mardi Gras-esque funeral procession.  This funeral will be followed, later in the day, by a celebration of the arrival of the Car-for-Bike volunteer’s custom commuter bike. 

Tour de Fat, New Belgium Brewing’s traveling celebration of all things bicycle, travels the country spreading the good word about the myriad benefits of cycling and celebrating mankind’s greatest invention… the bike. Over the last eight years, Tour de Fat has captured the imagination of thousands with record-setting parades, eye-popping entertainment, death-defying contests of bicycle skill and precision, and, of course, New Belgium beer. 

Tour de Fat 2008 will cycle through each of the following cities.

June 21:            Chicago, IL

July 19:             San Francisco, CA

July 26:            Truckee, CA

Aug. 2:             Seattle, WA

Aug. 16:           Portland, OR

Aug. 23:           Boise, ID

Sept. 6:            New Belgium Brewing (Ft. Collins, CO)

Sept. 13:           Denver, CO

Sept. 20:           Durango, CO

Oct. 11:            Tempe, AZ

Oct. 18:            Austin, TX

For more information and to see a video montage of previous Tour de Fat stops, please visit http://www.followyourfolly.com/folly_tour_de_fat.html .

As some of you know, my wife and I just moved to the great city of Denver, CO. As we settled in the other week, we made a wonderful discovery. We live three blocks from the local grocery store. Not only is this great news for our cars, but also for our legs.

When grocery shopping, we take our assortment of backpacks to put groceries in. Obviously, this cuts back on having to use plastic bags from the store. However great this method is, I wanted to do more. I felt the need to promote the plastic-bag-free lifestyle to others. That’s when I came across the simple organic shopping bags from BuyGreen.com. We’ve all seen them around. Nested by the checkout line accompanied by the latest hip buzz-words telling us to go green, get our eco-bag on and to show love for the branded reusable bag.

But why buy such a bag from Target, Wal-Mart or any other big box store when there are wonderful green companies online? The two bags we received from BuyGreen.com do more than just promote their business. The bags are made from a tree-free, 100% organic company called Ecolution (www.ecolution.com) from India. The bags are large enough to put a substantial amount of groceries in and contain a large BuyGreen logo on the side directing people to the Website.

The next time you’re considering buying the latest eco-bag from the checkout line, check out BuyGreen.com first. Support green companies that are running legit, sound businesses online and help them promote what they (and we) all stand for.

… and its not even St Patrick’s day.

It’s been said that if the entire state of Colorado was to undergo some sort of catastrophic natural disaster we would still have delicious beer coming from New Belgium Brewery. Anyone that has toured the famed brewery in Ft Collins, CO. knows that this statement, while maybe not entirely true, is pretty well grounded. New Belgium, the greenest of breweries (maybe companies altogether), has gone the extra mile when it comes to reducing their impact on the planet from brewing beer.

• They’ve installed a high efficiency brew kettle, Steinecker’s Merlin, which reduces the amount of energy needed to boil their potion that eventually becomes beer. The Merlin does this by heating the concoction quickly and uniquely in addition to trapping and reusing heat that would simply escape and be lost in a more common brew kettle.
• They take care of the basics in there buildings by using day lighting, sun tubes (think giant fiber optic tubes), and building with locally harvested wood that was already killed by pine beetles.
• New Belgium also treats their water in a way that yields the valuable by-product Methane. This methane is then used by the brewery to heat and power their operations; supplying up to 15% of the breweries energy needs.
• New Belgium was the first all wind powered brewery and the largest private consumer of wind-power electricity back in 1999 before any of us had even heard of a Prius. This decision was not made by an owner/hippy but by the employees who voted unanimously for the clean energy in spite of what it would mean for their profit sharing and paychecks.
• On that note New Belgium fosters an incredible culture of creativity and positive impact on the planet. Every employee gets a bike after a year of employment which I suppose comes in handy for the many bike-centric events that New Belgium hosts each year and with their involvement in Team Wonder Bike.
• They are advocates for the planet via 1% for the planet, Team Wonder Bike, and being an incredible example for others, businesses and public alike, to follow.
• Finally and perhaps my favorite piece of New Belgium greenery is their support of Solix, a company dedicated to developing algae as a viable source for bio diesel.

New Belgium is an incredible company that deserves to be recognized for their responsible business practices and contributions to the planet. But more than that I hope that we all realize that we make an investment in our planet and future with every dollar we spend. Think about what future you are investing in when you buy Miller, Budweiser, Dupont, Apple, Chevron, and 3M. Is this a future that you want; a planet that you’re proud to call home?

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Any working baristas out there? I know KGG contributor Alex has spent some time in the specialty coffee industry, and I’ve been working with a coffee company here in town for the last two-plus years.

You baristas know how idealistic we can be. At a certain point, serving coffee moves past the point of being “just a job” to a near-holy calling. For me, it came after attending my first cupping in the basement of our downtown cafe. I started to see not only how complex and interesting coffee can be, but how easily that fact goes unrecognized. Ours is a comparatively young industry, and our profession is one that has yet to gain the same level of prestige as, say, a sommelier or bar mixologist.

We’re a dedicated bunch, though, aren’t we? And I know many of you who have happily stuck it out in this business, continuing to build appreciation for the little brown bean we love, possess a unique spirit that manifests itself in other forms — a concern for the environment being one.

Matt Milletto at Barista Exchange, a coffee networking and info-swapping site, has made a few posts on the topic of a greener cafe. You can find them here and here.

Spent coffee grounds make up a huge portion of a cafe’s overall waste, which is a shame considering the wonders coffee grounds can do for a compost heap or garden. Starbucks has initiated a Grounds For Your Garden program where anyone who wishes to take away spent grounds packaged in a recycled bag from any one of their cafes need only ask. Say what you want about the ‘Bucks, but that’s a great move. I know in our cafe there’s at least one customer who comes in and takes away our spent grounds. We made the switch last year to unbleached paper filters which we use in our individual-servings brewbar. In addition to the environmental benefit of not purchasing bleached paper, the guy can also toss the unbleached filters filled with grounds right in with the compost.

Any thoughts? Most of all, I’m interested in any comments about the new breed of supposedly 100% biodegradable cups, the other huge source of waste a cafe churns out.

The good people at a company called Genepax say yes.  Their Water Energy System or WES is in line to be powering up cars in the future using a motor that operates on water by means of a basic yet superior fuel cell.  This technology has been around for sometime but it has been a challenge to make it useful on a scale that would have any strong impact on the environment. 

Best of luck Genepax.  Read all about it at here. 

Hey all - Sorry for the lack of articles. I just returned from our honeymoon. Give me a few days to edit some articles from Caleb and Alex and we’ll be posting again shortly.

Thanks for all the support and love.

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Hey all - KGG will be on a short break next week. I’m getting married this weekend and will then be on my honeymoon. Look for some more articles when I return.

Thanks for all the support and love.

Bryan

Some disheartening news from the frontlines of “clean coal” research:

“It’s a total mess.” Daniel M. Kammen, director of the Renewable and Appropriate Energy Laboratory at the University of California, Berkeley

“Coal’s had a tough year.” John LaVelle, general manager of gasification at General Electric

“A year ago, (it) was an aggressive target. A year has gone by, and now it’s a very aggressive target.” Steven R. Specker, president of the Electric Power Research Institute

Maybe it’s just me, but it seems like any effort to pump or dump or inject things back into the earth in order to clean up the earth is just more backwards thinking. Is it time to turn the car around yet?: