Stop Junk Mail. Be Eco Friendly. Do Good. The GreenDimes Blog

GARDENS & GOLF COURSES

In a country built on symbolism, the great American manicured lawn has been synonymous with white picket fences, picture perfect mansion houses, a handsome parked car in the driveway and more often than not, a dog named Roger.

A quick history of the lawn:

1888 – less than a dozen golfers in the US
1975 – 14 million Americans played on 11,000 golf courses across the country
1984 – the US used more synthetic chemical fertilizer than India applied to their food crops
1964 – estimated the amount Americans invested in the American law was almost the same as in foreign military assistance
1989 – more than 500 million people made a living from garden lawn maintence and turf grass was a $25 billion industry

In fact, last year Donald Trump requested to build a new $2bn resort in Scotland along unspoilt coastline on Menie Estate, 15 miles north of Aberdeen, with a pair of 18-hole courses, a luxurious 450-bedroom hotel, 950 vacation homes, 36 golf villas and 500 upscale homes. Cronies in the oil and hotelier industries, as well as business leaders, feverishly supported his case, highlighting it as a driving force for future prosperity in the rural north-east of Scotland after oil runs out.  Proud of his Scottish roots, Trump was convinced his endeavours would do much to complete environmental prosperity  primarly because of the scale of his investment, but local fishermen such as Michael Forbes, an example of how village life is threatened as a result of macro economic development was against Trump's ambush on natural territory.

Seven species of endangered birds listed on the conservation Red List live here – environmentalists, including The Scottish Wildlife Trust, argue that if the golf course had been built, 125-mile sandy beach, among the Top 5 sand dunes in the UK, would have been destroyed.  Another major concern was the excessive use of pesticides and fertilizers to maintain the stretches of golf land.  To relief, Trump's request was rejected and the 'Go away Trump' sign has been taken down.

Back on garden grass, award-winning directors Isaac Brown and Eric Flagg’s documentary Gimme Green goes on a journey across Washington, New York Maryland, Arizona, California and Florida to uncover a comical perspective on the gravity the average American places on the lawn. Watch the trailer here

It appears the American dream has stifled our reasonings to not only involve getting bigger fridges and flat screen TVs, but an increased application of the worse kind - 'keeping up with the Jones'.  It's the showbusiness game of maintaining one's image to the neighbourhood and ultimately society that the household is doing well, the breadwinner can afford the pesticide payments and beautiful housewives in expensive shoes can walk across the lawn.  Trump thought he was helping his Scottish neighbours by providing hundreds of jobs, but it was not such a selfless act, no?

The game of Marketing & PR started a long time ago - in the home.

THE GAME OF SWAP

Exchanging ‘stuff’ is one of the most traditional engagements that man has involved himself with; the English traded spices and tea with the Indians, the Kula tribe of the Trobriand Islands gave shell necklaces to admired and respected folk in their tribes, young American boys abandoned tired baseball cards for cooler players and in some households – even wives! We get bored of what we have, choose something with more meaning, require more value or simply want to replace a possession because it is no longer needed.

Ebay caught onto this basic instinct but produced a marketplace where these ideas translated into the application of each seller to name their price and make money – afterall, this is the modern age and everything seems to have a price.  Yet access was given to an individual to decide how much value they placed on an item, rendering a primary example of how the digital arena is empowering individuals to be the purveyors of their own consumption exchange. 

Whatsmineisyours began as a reaction to the disposable fashion world existing today where consumers are continuously giving up items they have short relationships with.  Kick-started by fashionista, Judy Berger, her site still offers the buy-and-sell function, but goes one step further - you uncover clothes and furniture at a similar value and rather than dump it, swap it.  Donating a Marc Jacobs handbag to a woman in India is ridiculous and you’re only going to go out to spend more - this way you can fulfill the greedy shopper in you but recycle the goods.

Takes the idea of fair trade into another dynamic, don't you think?

38 billion plastic bottles in the bin

The crusades of celebrities to stay on trend was mocked at its most ridiculous when we saw the shift of Paris Hilton clutching the prettiness of a Fiji plastic bottle of water, and later boycotting any establishments who served the stuff, because well, Britney, Linsdey and the rest of the gang were trying it on for size.  In America, tap water is given out free at every diner, cafe and restaurant.  In Britain, on asking, you are snubbed, much the way a cat looks at a dog. 

This wave is hitting restaurant owners like Richard O’Rourke at Gastor’s food hall in England who has said he has not sold a single plastic bottle since opening over 6 months ago.  They invested in a £5000 ($10,000)  system to filter tap water into glass bottles producing fresh and preservative free water.  Having saved up to 17, 686 half litre plastic bottles, a ton and a half of carbon emissions from transportation and 1,474 packaging containers, bottles are served in glass bottles featuring the Gastor logo and been received extremely well by the public.

Cindy Crawford has just involved herself in a collaboration with PUR  Water Filtration Systems for a similar endeavour by designing a reusable water bottle for the company which could allow us to eliminate up to 3,200 plastic water bottles each year.

"Environmental issues are on the top of everyone's mind, including my own," says Cindy. "As a mom, I'm particularly concerned because I want my kids to grow up in a healthier environment. I filter my tap water with PUR.  It's a really simple yet impactful way to reduce the amount of unnecessary plastic my family uses while also ensuring that we always have access to clean, great-tasting drinking water."

According to Fast Company, more than up to 38 billion plastic water bottles are discarded every year.  Cindy’s efforts with PUR to design the limited-edition water bottles which sport the phrase ‘Thirsty for Change’ is a clear reaction against such numbers

All proceeds for the campaign will go to Procter & Gamble’s Children’s Safe Drinking Water Program which helps to reduce water related disease in many developing countries.

Read more about water filtration from Thirsty for Change

SHRED IT TO THE EARTH

In the worlds of corporate corruption where suited men hide under cherry wood desks whilst shredding evidence of their thievery and greed, there lies a large gap in the market for selling on said shredded paper.  Mulch and shredded junk mail have similar properties – they are both made up of bits of trees.

Therefore in gazillions of the offices which clutter our business centers, there exist infinite opportunities to not just recycle reams of used paper, but to shred them and turn them into compost for gardens. Most ink is soy based for economic reasons, resting no risk for toxic poisonings when planting edible seeds in the compost - that being said, better to test this new way of creating compost for plants and flowers only.  Glossy magazines are entirely off the option list as they are not only unshreddable but can contain traces of contaminated inks.

More tips on making compost
How to really make compost

RAISE THE ROOF

As urban cities grow towards the sky, at times ambushing community property in favor of cookie cutter condominiums and show-off corporate structures, a new trend of the garden variety is sweeping across cities in the US – Green roofs.  They are appearing on million square spaces in places like Whole Foods, Vancouver International Airport and W hotels.

CNN Money has revealed that green roofs are growing at up to 125 % a year.  Companies such as G-Sky have recognized the gap in the market and are promoting themselves as the expert vendors to provide this innovative service.  Buildings have not just roof terraces but the four walls which surround them, allowing for increased available space to cover with plants such as sedum and prairie grass.  Added advantages include lower heating and air conditioning costs for the buildings thus not only releasing CO2 into the environment but keeping change in corporate pockets,at times only way they ever consider environmental practices.

Read Sidra Durst’s full article here

LEAN, GREEN, GETTING HEALTHY SCHEME

Breaking bread at a table full of strangers will have you cruising home with a new set of phone numbers for brunch get-togethers in the coming weeks. 

Yet with Winter having lost the battle to Spring’s bountiful arrival, there is chatter about getting healthy and losing inches on the hips you’ve found happened from persistent hibernating.

The Daily Green has outlined a 30 day guide to improving the ‘Greeness’ in your diet and they kick-start the daunting prospect for the unruly who are hesitant to partake with (DRUM ROLL PLEASE) – pouring a glass of organic wine.  The key to changing your dietary habits is not just cutting out the sugars and fats but improving the quality of your intake of various foods.  They request you to rejoice in this new stage of organic eating by sipping on wine that was grown without pesticides, using grapes grown on an organic farm and to embrace the foods which are sustainable for the planet and for your body.

Other steps listed include purging your pantry of bad foods, buying the best olive oil to cook with, facing the fact that artificial sweeteners are bad and renting ‘Fast Food Nation’ as a reminder of the effects of lazy eating.

View the full guide here

OOOH BLOODY MARVELOUS

In a world of T-shirts made of unnatural fibres and toxic chemicals to the environment is a collection right here at TONIC produced on opposing standards with mystical designs by our lady, Luella Bartley.

Having returned home to London after a design sabbatical of 6 years showing at New York Fashion Week, she takes on her rightfully revered place back home as, what American Vogue has termed, ‘a star….a poster child for London cool’. 

She has been hailed to emulate the styles of Biba and Mary Quant fashions, with her young, quirky style winning the hearts of Lily Allen, Kelly Osbourne, Kate Moss – only but modern Britain’s most fascinating and spirited individuals today. 

Grasping the romanticism of English country-sides, horses and war iconography, Luella has maintained traditional influences, even calling her first collection, ‘Daddy I Want a Pony.  Still she entwines the punk and rebellious elements attributed to other sub-cultural movements of rock n’ roll Britain by seamlessly fusing bold colour, plaid and tuxedo elements throughout her years of design.

In the land of rain, wellie boots and cucumber sandwiches, Luella injects heritage with contemporary emblems.  For TONIC, she has pioneered our first collaboration project by designing four T-shirts called
Stag, Sun, Scary Douglas, and Robin.

Buy them here at Tonic and contribute to a cause of your choice.

THE FUTURE IS IN MY BAG

New York's OPEN SPACE gallery asked 125 artists from around the world to customise tote bags, as an artistic pledge to show their concern for the thousands of plastic bags wasted every day - 90% of the proceeds will go to Hudson River Sloop Clearwater, an organization dedicated to education for the environment.  This project marks the first of their future annual benefits for the planet. View the full range here

IN THE VEIN OF BEING GREEN

Magazines are spurting out green issues in fast trend, but Vanity Fair is in it’s 3rd year running for its annual issue dedicated to all things Green, with Madonna gracing their cover.

Notably, the article on William McDonough, a man of architecture who instrumental to current sustainability and clean-technology movements is one of the most promising discussions.  His view is, ‘If we understand that design leads to the manifestation of human intention, and if what we make with our hands is to be sacred and honor the earth that gives us life.' McDonough said there needs to exist a day ‘when the things we make must not only rise from the ground but return to it, soil to soil, water to water, so everything that is received from the earth can be freely given back without causing harm to any living system.  This is ecology.  This is good design.  It is of this we must now speak.’

His stance is that products should be manufactured according to how they can be recycled, to feed the earth’s ‘biological metabolism’ as he calls it.  We should be creating products that can be converted back into the earth’s nutrients, calling for a new industrial revolution to begin.  As he calls it, ‘we need 400 kinds of French cheese, not French plastic’.

ALSO IN THE ISSUE:

Charles Clover’s discussion with influential chefs on how endangered fish are reaching some restaurant menus

Fish considered what-not-to-eat:

1.    Bluefin Tuna, Yellowfish Tuna, and Bigeye Tuna – listed by the International Union for Conservatoion of Nature (I.U.C.N) as critically endangered
2.    Chilean Sea Bass
3.    Black Grouper
4.    Beluga caviar
5.    Red Snapper
6.    Skate
7.    Maine Wolffish
8.    Peruvian seabass
9.    Georges Bank cod (cod from Alaska is OK)
10.    Pompano
11.    New Zealand orange roughy
12.    Baby swordfish (also known as ‘pups’)
13.    Monkfish
14.    Halibut
15.    Shellfish depending on whether they are farmed or wild

Their list of Environmental DVDs and Books

Alan Weisman's fastforward discussion on what the world will look like due to accelerated environmental damage - focusing on Las Vegas, Cairo and Nunavut, Canada

NEW YORK HEARTS TREES

Last week the sun was soaring high above the clouds in New York City, the week of Earth Day.  Our CEO, Pankaj, was in town for a series of interviews.  Here you can see him standing in front of the shop window of the NBC Experience Store in Rockafeller Center where GreenDimes had set up a kiosk for people to sign up to our service.  A portion of the store's proceeds will be donated to MillionTreesNYC, a program set up by Mayor Bloomberg with a plan to plant 1 million trees by 2017.

In fact, THIS IS THE MONTH! Besides MillionTressNYC starting a movement with set goals to increase tree planting in the city with the determined stance that New Yorkers are the active go-getters to make this happen, they have also called for people to start planting as much as they can this month.    An ode to Earth Day and the shift into springtime, they are calling on people to either let them know about streets which need attention or joining planting groups in local neighborhoods.

NBC Universal also hosted a Green is Universal initiative where up to 150 NBCU volunteers planted trees in East Harlem, New York City, an area with a low population of trees and children with a high asmtha rate.

Cast members from Lipstick Jungle, The Real Housewives of New York City, Saturday Night Live and Bette Midler, were also getting the spades and buckets out for the MillionTreesNYC project. 

In addition to  their partnerships with MillionTreesNYC, recycling bins were set up around the TODAY studio where people could drop off their unwanted electronics - cell phones, old laptops, cameras, Blackberries, etc.  This was a partnership of NBC Universal with Environmental Media Association, HP and Staples in a project called Green Screens, an act that also took place around 76 Staple branches throughout the NYC boroughs and Long Island but occurred prior to Earth Day Week.  The donated cellphones were transferred into an art installation by Kevin O'Callaghan and his students at the School of Visual Arts, on exhibition throughout the week.