Clouds in my coffee...

Do you have a few hours to shop for your groceries this week?

That's what it might feel like you are going to need if you are picking out two of our favorite vices: coffee and chocolate. Wow!! Have you seen the ever-growing aisle of chocolate bars in the stores lately: Newman's Own, Endangered Species brand chocolate, Lindt, some organic, some fair trade, some none of the above. There is even a brand: "Climate Change Chocolate" (which I do not recommend FYI) The same goes for coffee.

Meanwhile coffee and chocolate market watchers report low wages, child labor, deforestation, and pesticide use. Not exactly what you had in mind to enjoy with you nice cup a joe or chocolate treat, right? Here's my best effort at BWB discernment.

Chocolate:
Fact: all of our chocolate comes from abroad. I guess that why I bought "Climate Change Chocolate" curious about how I can buy chocolate with consideration of 1- its ecological impact (I LOVE the stuff) 2- its treatment of farmers. It turns out the only climate-friendly thing about this brand is that it offers green tips on the wrapper and offsets its carbon emissions.

Coffee:
Fact: Hawaii is the only state in the US that grows/farms coffee. So bottom line, you cannot get "local" coffee. You CAN get coffee that has been ROASTED here in Virginia, though. Shenandoah Joe's has a roaster in Lexington and you can buy that, along with Righteous Bean, which is roasted in Ruckersville, VA at most stores. I like Righteous Bean because it's fair trade and organic (but to be perfectly honest I don't drink anything but decaf and not that often- if you know me, you know I'm naturally caffeinated). In talking with Joe at the Whole Foods coffee counter, we both agreed that it's probably best to stay away from Sumatra or Indonesian varieties until they come on board with certification. At Whole Foods they sell Allegro brand coffees and the locally roasted brands in big bins - scoop it into a compostable bag and then grind it with their machine. Tres convenient.

SOLUTIONS:
Upon investigation Organic vs Fair Trade has its set of complexities. Reviews of organic farms have not always come up smelling of rosy labor practices and fair wages. Of course we don't want child or slave labor in order to have our chocolate or our coffee.

So I would urge you to purchase both with the Fair Trade certification label.

Need further convincing: this from Grist.org: "It's estimated that fair-trade chocolate represents less than 1 percent of the world's roughly $60 billion chocolate market. But the more people like you who buy it, the better things will get for cocoa farmers, we hope. So keep on looking for Fair Trade Certified or Fair Trade Federation labels."

Hope that helps!
BWB

Greening your home office...

This article appears in this month's issue of Abode magazine. Check it out in the stands or at www.c-ville.com Resolve to turn your home office a shade greener this year with Better World Betty‘s help. The obvious green choices (installing CFLs or LEDs (expensive, but a write-off) or lowering and raising the thermostat) will cut energy costs, but what else?

Closing the office loop.

40% of municipal waste is still paper, so recycle and purchase only 100% post-consumer recycled content paper (available from Kinko‘s or Bailey‘s Printing if you outsource printing).

Why pay top dollar for new items when you can use UVA’s ROSE (recycled office supply exchange), Freecycle, or Craigs List, like Charlottesville resident Louisa Wimberger recently did for her home office. Recycling envelops, using a return address stamp instead of labels, and double-sided printing save green as well.

Did you know laptops use 50-90% less energy than desktops? Sleep mode (found in the power options or power management control panel) is a must. But don’t use screensavers; they gobble the monitor’s full power. Eric Gilchrist, head of Charlottesville Design Center’s SPARK! energy-saving program, suggests a power strip to shut everything down at the end of the day. This eliminates any phantom energy use (the small amount of energy used when things are plugged in).

Beyond your office, become an advocate, “Bug the companies you work with to offer greener products,” says Wimberger. And if you’re a true green office, include a conservation plug: “Think twice before printing this” or “Go green…read from the screen!”

Last thing: don’t forget to save old office items for local schools or charities. Your old ink-jet cartridges actually earn money for schools.

Check out www.greenoffice.com for more green office ideas.

Best,
BWB

Eliminate the Losers in Your Home!

CHRONICLE OF MY HOME ENERGY PLAN FOR THE YEAR:
January: Sealing the Cracks and Purchasing Window Coverings

Before your husband takes offense at the title of this blog, tell him to hear you out! You're not talking about him, but about the most common "losers" of energy in your home brought to you from yours truly. Because my personal plan for this year, with Betty's help, is to increase the energy efficiency in our home and to elimate the losers! This is the first in a series of blogs, which will appear in the first week of each month in '09 regarding home energy use. Hints, thoughts, strategies for solutions. Of course, the first place to start, Betty's events page because CCDC and Spark! have some great Energy Saving ideas and programs going on, especially this month.

Here is a nice breakdown of Home Energy Use, from my latest Mother Earth Mag:

44% heating and cooling
33% lighting/cooking appliances/plug ins
14% water heating
9% fridge

Step one in this process for me:

Eliminate the things I CANNOT fix, change what I can, hire out what I can't, and have the wisdom to know the difference (I think I read that somewhere :-).

*Windows: Here we need a stop gap measure because, as you may know already, windows are probably the most expensive thing to replace in your home, especially the ones I want (certified wood, low-e, etc). Our windows are TERRIBLE - not the windows themselves but the surrounding frames. There are gaps. Air is flowing. Not good. So this will have to be done piecemeal.

*Big-Ass (sorry about my language) Fridge: Two years ago My husband and I replaced our two small fridges (turns out nearly 20% of Americans have two fridges), for one big-ass (excuse my language), energy-star rating one. The only thing to do there is to keep it at 40 degrees and push it away from the wall once or twice a year to get rid of the dust bunnies, making sure it runs as efficiently as possible.

*Lighting: We've already replaced all lights with CFL bulbs. On the whole I am happy with them; however I have had TWO burn out within a year (so I have to cart those to McIntire Recycling on account of the trace amount of mercury in them). I hope that is not a trend

*Old appliances: Unfortunately we inherited a very inefficient washer/dryer here, so we are due. I will focus on that in March. In the meantime, I use Nellie's dryer balls in winter, planning a nifty clothesline production in our screened in porch for April, let rugs and sweater air dry on counters and banisters. We have NO plugged in appliances on the kitchen counter, thereby eliminating "phantom loads:" the small amount of energy drawn from appliances that remain plugged in. Cell phone users: don't leave your charger plugged into the wall, Betty humbly pleaded.

*Owning a home that is bigger than we need: Though we are four people and three pets, and my husband requires elbow room (he came from a family of 15 kids in a four-bedroom home - but that's a whole nother blog/website), we could do with a smaller home, but it would be futile to try to sell in this market. So will do what we can to our current home, given the current recession, and save money and help reduce our emissions while we're at it (besides, it's excellent blog fodder).

*Water heating: I have insulated my water heater. Also I wash ALL clothes on the cold water setting. I have two young boys (equal grass stained knees) and I can get clothes clean, no worries. (Make sure your water heater is set no higher than 120 degrees). Limit showers to 3-5 minutes. But if you want to take a big step this year, consider a solar hot water heater, which would elminiate 2.5 tons of CO2 emissions per year AND pay for itself (quoting National Geographic's True Green book guide here) within 5 years. I will be opting NOT to do that this year, instead prioritzing the big energy loser in our home: windows will top the list.

*Which brings me to heating and cooling. A hurdle for us on this our living room has a high ceiling. That's an energy drain. Short of building a mid-air loft, which would be fun for my sons (they could hang a rope and Indiana Jones there way to a more energy efficient living space), it's staying.

Currently, we keep the thermostat at 60-62 degrees. Needless to say, we wear sweaters. [note: I put off getting a programmable thermostat because I hear conflicting reports about moving around the thermostat. Unless you are moving it 10 degrees, you don't need one. Hmmm. It would still be nice to have automatic temperature change capability. The city offers a rebate for this up to $100.00 (check the green city page of the Charlottesville website)].

But the other thing you can do to help with heating and cooling is to SEAL YOUR HOME of all cracks and leaks. Sounds like a good start to me, so this week...

JANUARY'S STEP
Feeling all empowered, I headed to the local hardware store (Martin's on Preston is my favorite) and bought V-seal for the doors and Rope Caulk for the windows as an excellent stop gap for window leaks. I haven't gone Bob Vila on them yet, but I can't wait to this weekend! (I'll take some pictures for you). The word on the green street is that you can use this handy dandy stuff on your windows to seal cracks (sealing the envelop of your home is tres important!) and it WON'T dry up and harden, so that I can then remove it in the spring and fall (and some summer evenings) to open my windows to cool and even REUSE it next winter.

Another 14% savings can be gained from installing blinds/lined drapes, so after hemming and hawing for years, I happily ordered some lined, natural woven blinds from Smith+Noble made from sustainable materials (bamboos, reeds, and grasses) and some organic cotton drapes from the same company. (Sadly I could not find any local vendors selling eco-friendly window covering solutions)

Good luck eliminating the losers in your home!
Best, BWB

A New Year

So I more than survived last year's no buying pledge* - I really found lots of lessons and joy in it. A few of the lessons, which may inspire you and yours:

*It's ok to fail - you still learn.
*The need for occasional retail therapy can be examined and quelled by a cup of tea with a friend or a sweet find at Glad Rags or Natalie Dressed.
*Having young children brings a natural expansion to your lives, which does include an occasional transformer or object of heart-felt desire: like a shiny, new guitar and that's O.K.
*Peace, freedom, contentment within life seem more accessible on a daily basis without the barrage of catalogs, advertisements, magazine covers (knowing that I wasn't going to buy something was very freeing)
*It's nearly impossible to visit a place and NOT want to bring back an object, a memento to celebrate and remind you of that place. (Attachment vs Non-attachment is a centuries old challenge of the human condition)
*Sometimes perfection is the enemy of good. (Which is why Betty is BETTER World Betty and NOT PERFECT World Pollyanna)
*There is tremendous value when you set an intention and a framework (a time period) and then try and see what happens.
*It's true that I really don't need that (insert desired, trendy, overpriced item here) after all!

Many of my friends and family have asked, "Now what? Are you going to go on a big spending spree?" The temptation is there of course, but the answer is "No." But I'm not going to continue the pledge. At least for now. I trust that my lessons and mindfulness will carry into the New Year. This year my focus will be Energy Efficiency in my home. Stay tuned for the upcoming chronicle of my strategies, costs, thought process as I navigate this next step.

Welcome to the New Year,
BWB













Finishing.
November: cool new calendar book at Quest bookshop
December: new art book for Dad

Our Greener Christmas

My dreams of a green Christmas came true!

So I had to share some of the delightful gifts I received from the Betty Lou's in my life (my mom and mother-in-law) this morning.

Above, you can see my mom (aka Betty Lou) made a corkboard out of wine bottle corks she saved throughout the year. This corkboard can be used for posting notes, pictures, artwork, or even used a giant hotpad. The funny part: I made her the same thing! Us Bettys think alike.

You also see that my mother-in-law sewed crazy-cool crayon packs for my two boys and the 30+ other grandkids! The crayons may not be soy-based, but aren't they beautiful?! They'll be perfect for taking on trips and to restaurants. Mom friends, beware. Craft project.

My mom also gave our family a set of reusable organic cotton napkins and ironed on all our names! So cute. Second-hand shoppers, step off. I'm going to be collecting napkins all year long for this great idea next year.

Most of you know this Christmas was especially challenging for me with my no-new-purchase buying pledge. So here's the scoop. I caved slightly, but managed with less than a handful of purchases which included a microphone for my musical son and Star Wars lego pack for hours and hours of fun building space ships.

Overall, I feel this Christmas was a grand success on many levels.

1. No electronics or batteries were given or received!
2. The kids made their gifts
3. We used things from around the house for wrapping and for giving (old picture frames from the attic for example)
4. I saved tons of paper by foregoing Christmas cards this year (Sorry everyone!)
5. It was a measured, mindful Christmas, rather than consumptive and overdone.
6. We recycled nearly all the packaging/paper wrapping for a virtual zero-waste affair!

I'm ready to turn our VA farm tree into mulch and get on with a brand new year!! Are you?

Best,
BWB

[Personal note on wine: I don't have it in me to eliminate this yummy, beautiful, nuanced, art in a bottle called wine, so make mine Virginia wine or I buy organic, "eco-frinedly" varieties, though I am skeptical as to how they get that classification. And as for the cork, the staff at Marketstreet Wineshop espoused the use of cork as opposed to rubber and twist caps, siting cork as a renewable resource.]

p.s. (Betty had to leave the kitchen temporarily as she attended to family duties that required immediate attention so blogs have and will be sporadic :-))

On the sixth day...

Why not invest in a brighter future this holiday by choosing to purchase holdings in a socially responsible investment fund!

I know we all want to retire at age fifty so we are still young enough to hike and play the banjo and paint and/or just eat bon-bons on the beach if we want.
But that doesn't mean you have to put all your money in big, bad corporations with the carbon footprint of Shaquille O'Neil!

Introducing, socially responsible investing.

Socially Responsible Investing is a broad-based approach to investing which encourages corporate responsiblity as it relates to a variety of societal concerns: from employee/employer relations, environmental concerns, to animal testing even weapons/defense spending. Check out www.socialinvest.org for more information! Or ask your current financial investor which are the hot new green growth funds or alternative energy funds, ensuring a lighter environmental bang for your buck, so to speak. If you are looking for someone, Ryan Miracle at Krull and Company is ready and willing to help (tell him Betty sent you).

Good luck,
BWB

On the Fifth Day... Shop Preston Plaza

Feel not the pull of cheap, red and white, big box Target this season! Instead go to the one stop shop, Preston Plaza, for all your local, green holiday gift needs.

Integral Yoga
Buy a gift certificate or great local produce for tonight's meal
Shenandoah Joe Coffee
Before the shopping begins, you must partake of their iced chai soy latte and buy a gift certificate so your friend can enjoy later on
Twice is Nice
My prize wardrobe possession which I donned at Live Arts Afterglow Party: a ten dollar sequined blue camo top found here. Fabulous. See what you can find. (Your purchase will also help JABA.
Blue Ridge Eco Shop
The funkiest wreath in town is here - made by a local artist from recycled cardboard. If you already have a wreath, check out the cool Christmas tree. Today we bought nice Plant-A-Seed Holiday cards for my son's teachers. You know your honey needs a new wallet made out of rubber tires!
Breadworks
I love this local bread company with a strong community vision. Pick up a loaf for some weekend French bread or a gift certificate or some baked goods for your favorite secretary.
Mona Lisa Pasta
Terre Sisson's delicious homemade pasta with marinara sauce. What could be more local? (hmmm - does he get his tomatoes from Red Hill? Betty should know...later on that)

Best,
BWB