Stop Killing Our Children's Planet!

Are we contributing to global warming, polluting our atmosphere and poisoning our oceans?  What is the future for Man with melting icecaps, worsening winter storms, hotter summers, rising sea levels, and global population continuing to grow unabated?  What future will our children and grandchildren have?  Is there anything we can do?  Yes!  If we understand how these problems have been created, and start following simple things to do to begin changing how we live, we can Save Our Children’s Planet.

I've been asking these questions of myself, in the classroom and of my fellow professionals for years.  With a fair amount of reading and research, decided to write the book, "Stop Killing Our Children's Planet!" and just published it on Amazon.com - http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00TZ8U0ZI.

Your comments and feedback are always appreciated.  We need to start doing something, and doing it quickly, or our children and grandchildren will have very challenging lives.

India's Got (Incredible) Talent!

Design students from across India showed off their fashion collections during two amazing runway shows last night at the LaLit Hotel in Mumbai, India before an enthusiastic crowd of industry leaders, writers and fashion moguls.  Some collections featured fabrics made from recovered plastics and cassette tapes while others were handmade of natural fibers with deep textures, amazing hues and incredibly detailed handwork.

All this and more was sponsored by the School of Fashion Technology (Pune, India, www.softpune.com) and DyStar following a day-long, engaging and informative "Green Fashion Conference".  See www.cgreenfashion.com for a peek at some of the collections and the agenda.  More photos will be posted shortly.

Fashion, like beauty, is in the eye of the beholder.  Three collections, in particular, caught my attention.  An all-white collection of evening wear from dressy casual to stunning formal was one of the finest I've ever seen and would rival anything from the world's top designers.  This collection had the complete attention of the audience from the first model to the very last.  "Oh, wow!" was heard over and over again as each piece was presented.  We knew the collection must be good when the models themselves were smiling from ear-to-ear and applauding wildly as the designers came on stage to greet the audience.

Next was a Charlie Chaplin-inspired casual collection of skirts, shorts, pants, tops, vests and hats that engaged the entire audience.  The models were fitted with Chaplin mustaches and bowler hats, and strutted their stuff up and down the runway mimicking the famous Chaplin walk which was a captivating and amusing change-up from the usually stoic and stiff walk of the models.  Again, the applause was enthusiastic and genuine for this unique and fun collection.  Any young lady of 14-30 would love to add this line to her wardrobe.

The last collection that really caught my eye was a casual collection of earth toned, cotton woven fabrics in prints and embroidered dresses, pants, skirts and tops which featured a stunning emerald dress with a pleated front - unlike any other I've seen before.

All the collections were unique, very well done and exceeded our expectations but these three truly stood out.  The teams of designers were met with raucous applause from all in the audience.  In speaking with the judges (which included a former Miss India), they all agreed that these three collections had instant commercial appeal and should be immediately available in the stores.

I know all this because I was there.  I was honored to be invited as a keynote speaker for the conference  focusing my remarks on some of the future sustainability issues the apparel and textiles industry are likely to face in the near future, and in the next 30-40 years.

What truly impressed me was the commitment expressed by faculty and student presenters to the whole space of eco-friendly and sustainably produced apparel/fashion.  It could be argued that "fashion" is not "sustainable" but that rugged clothing might be.  Be that as it may, the issue is that these young ladies are trying to find a balance between the current commercial demand for fashionable clothing and the recognized need for a sustainable future.

Another presenter, Gerard de Nazelle, CEO of Polygenta (Mumbai) talked about how his company is using recycled water bottles (PET) and converting them into polyester yarn which is made into fabrics for the apparel and fashion sector.  While I'm not a big fan of plastic water bottles, he and his staff are clearly providing a needed and valuable service helping keep all those bottles out of our landfills and reusing them for a valuable purpose.  Congratulations to him for setting up a plant in India - from scratch - to make this product!

Among those of us in the dais, and during the ensuing discussions with fellow professionals, we agreed that industry leaders - the spinners, dyers, colorists, chemists and weavers - and at the management and product design level - need to work a little harder and think a little smarter about how we're going to clothe our current and future populations and do so in a sustainable manner.

I'm glad I was invited to participate.  I'll now have to plant a number of trees when I return home - in part to celebrate Arbor Day - but also to offset all the CO2 I generated traveling from the USA to India and back.

How Would You Change The World?

Imagine for a moment that you wake up one morning and laying on your bedside table is a Magic Wand, just like you've seen in the Harry Potter movies.  Beneath the Wand is a hand-written note:

"I'm leaving this Magic Wand for you to change the world in any way you choose.  You have demonstrated your passion for Sustainability and wanting to change the world to be a better place.  You've been given five (5) opportunities to do that with this Wand.  Be wise in your choices for these will be all you have."  You think to yourself, "This can't be.  Magic Wands only exist in the movies?  Or, do they?"

This probably won't happen to you or me, but if it did .... what would you do?  What five things would YOU do to change the world for the better?

I'm reminded of the quote from Margaret Mead:  "Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful citizens  can't change the world; indeed, it's the only thing that ever has."

Share your thoughts on how you'd change the world.

A Sustainablity Choice: Bottled Water or Tap Water?

For the better part of the last 20 years, I've traveled 140-220 night per year in the USA and to 65 other assorted countries.  (Yes, I've burned a lot of fuel and I've had a big carbon footprint.  I'm sorry - it went with the job.  More on that later.)  That amount of  travel gave me an elite status in several hotel chains and access to "welcome gifts" which included free bottles of water at the front desk, bottles of water next to my bed and in the bathroom or mini-bar, along with high fat cookies or pop corn.

We need to drink water to keep hydrated.  My doctor told me that if I feel thirsty, I'm getting dehydrated and need to drink more water.  Do I need bottled water?  Or, is the water from the tap OK to drink?

When we lived in Chicago, we'd occasionally buy large jugs of water for the kids' lacrosse and soccer games.  (Buying bottled waster was fashionable then and the locals decried the quality of our tap water.  I thought it was fine.)  I like to read labels.  The label on the five gallon jug read:  Source:  Chicago Municipal Water Supply.  What I almost bought was tap water that some enterprising group simply put into a generic water jug and sold for twice the (then) price of gasoline.  Tap water!  I passed on buying the water.  I had big Thermos coolers at home.  At the checkout, I couldn't help but notice that the chap next to me had the same water in his cart.  I asked him if he knew where the water in the jug came from.  He didn't.  I suggested he read the label.  When he did, his face turned red and he exclaimed:  "What?  I'm buying tap water?  This is a ripoff!"  He bought it anyway.  P.T. Barnum was right.  There's a sucker born every minute.

Bottled water has become a huge, worldwide business.  By some estimates, over 200,000,000,000 half-liter water bottles are sold every year.  (That's 200 BILLION)  So, how many is 200 billion?  If you put them end-to-end, that's enough to go from the Earth to the Moon and back - about 40 times.  Side-by-side, it's a two-lane road for cars - to the Moon and back.  And 80% of those empty bottles end up in the landfill.  

Do we really need to drink water from the Alps?  Or, Italy?  Or, Fiji?  Or, France?  Is Eau du Mineral important?  Do I need that water in a glass bottle with a fancy, color-painted label?  Glass is heavy.  Add in the weight of the water and I wonder what the carbon footprint is for schlepping water from across the seas to my home or restaurant table?  I don't buy that water.

New York City is famed for the quality of its tap water.  I really like it.  It's clean, crisp and tastes good.  And, it isn't chlorinated.  NYC has one of the most protected water sheds on the planet.  When I checked into a hotel two weeks ago in The Big Apple, I politely refused the two bottles of water the front desk clerk tried to give me.  And, I told her why I was refusing it. She still insisted I take the bottled water.  I still refused.  I refuse to contribute to an unsustainable practice of drinking bottled water.  If I'm in a location where drinking the water might make me sick, that's another matter.  But in most of the USA, I'm happy with tap water.

If your tap water doesn't taste good, or it isn't healthy, let's fix the problem with the municipal water system.  Instead of buying bottled water, you can buy a home water filter which will save you BIG money versus bottled water.  At $8.00 per gallon - or more, and twice the price of gasoline - bottled water is VERY expensive.

For your consideration ... you might want to call your local water company and ask what they're doing to improve the quality of your drinking water.  Ask your elected officials what they're doing.  Go to your City Council meeting.  If they're drinking bottled water, ask them - in public - why they're not drinking city tap water from a reusable glass and a water pitcher.  And, remind them that 80% of the bottles go into the community landfill.

I'll save the discussion on how much oil is used to make plastic water bottles for another blog.

The next time you're thirsty, think about your the choice you have: bottled water or tap water?

  

Sustainability Requires Change

Albert Einstein's famously said "Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results".  Many of us talk a lot about creating a sustainable planet, but we're not changing our behaviors very much.  Not really.  We continue to live our lives the same way we have for the last few decades, and continue to consume what we need and want like there are no consequences to our decisions.  If we're truly serious about creating a sustainable planet, we much change the way we live our lives.  Several examples:

• Two weeks ago, I attended a two-day CSR conference in New York City and bottles of water were positioned everywhere for the attendees.  Bottled water?  Why?  New York City has some of the cleanest, best tasting tap water on the planet.  Why not have old-fashioned reusable pitchers and washable glasses for people to drink out of?  Given that 80% of plastic water bottles end up in land fills, is drinking water out of a plastic bottle being socially responsible?  Is it sustainable?  I mentioned this to the conference organizer and watched his face transform into the look of:  "OMG!  We never thought of that!"

• Our youngest daughter attended a product safety and sustainability conference in Dongguan, China last week.  Same issue:  tables full of plastic water bottles.  She mentioned the disconnect to the meeting organizer and suggested "The hotel offers very good, clean, filtered water.  Why pay for imported bottled water?  Just ask the hotel to put out pitchers and glasses.  It's free for every meeting here.  Filtered tap water is much more sustainable."

I was an undergraduate psychology major and essentially modeled my graduate studies and career around individual and collective behavioral change.  Changing behavior requires a conscious effort to do so.  When we want to change, we're basically telling ourselves that whatever we're doing at the moment either isn't working or a new behavior is better for us in some way - such as losing weight, quitting smoking, not wearing our seat belt, engaging in unprotected sex - whatever the issue.  Change also requires a little time.  For example, quitting smoking is a 21-day event to get rid of the physical addiction to nicotine and get rid of the habit of pulling out a pack of cigarettes and lighting one when we feel a bit of stress.

How can we start changing our lives to help create a sustainable planet?

• Start drinking tap water.  If you don't like the taste, or if your water is known to be bad for you, contact your political leaders and demand that they fix the problem.  Mother Nature gave us clean water.  Man has polluted it and Man can clean it up.  In the mean time, buy a good water filter and filter your water.  
• Use the drinking fountain at work.  If you don't like the taste of the water at work, tell your boss and ask if it can be fixed.  In the mean time, take a reusable container to work with your own filtered water.
• Organize your shopping to minimize unnecessary trips.  If you live in the suburbs, like most of us in the USA and many other parts of the world do, think about how you can efficiently organize your daily or weekly trips to minimize the fuel you use.  And, can you double up with a friend or neighbor to do your errands together?  It's a great time to connect with friends and save energy.
• If you're driving and are stopped in traffic, like at a drive-up bank or pharmacy window for more than a minute, turn off the car's engine.  You're wasting gas letting it run.
• When you go to bed, turn down your thermostat and turn it down when you leave for work.  Most of us sleep better in cool environments.  The majority of Scandanavians put their infants outside in their strollers for their afternoon naps.  It's been proven the little ones sleep longer and better.  If no one is at home while you're at work, why heat the home and waste the energy?
• When you go to the store - any store - are you buying more than you need?  Need and want are two different subjects.  Rewarding ourselves occasionally is a good thing.  We all need a reward or something that makes us feel better - like having our favorite dessert. But having that dessert every day, or at every meal, will eventually bring unwanted consequences - extra weight.  Do you really need that new pair of jeans when you already have seven pair in the closet?  Think about your purchasing decisions before you buy something.  Make a list when you go to the store and only buy from that list.

If you have ideas on how we can change, individually or collectively, to make a more sustainable planet, please post your comments below.  I'd like to hear from you.

World Water Day is Today! Are You Supporting It?

Today is World Water Day as sponsored by the United Nations.  UN World Water Day

And, the UN has declared that 2013 to be International Year of Water Cooperation.

Given that 1% of the water on this planet is fit for human consumption, let's consider how we'll take care of the precious resource we have and share it with our fellow man.  Without potable water, we're all in deep doo-doo.  We can live for several days, or a week, without food.  But, we can't live for very long without water.  Nor can the animals and plants that we rely upon survive either.

As you turn on your tap today, drink your next drink and have your next meal, consider how you are helping to use only the water you need and protecting our water resources for future generations.

Sustainability and The Mediterranean Diet

Here's an interesting article which falls into the sustainability category:  feeding ourselves.  As this article also points out, by following a Mediterranean Diet, we can save money, eat more nutritious food and better maintain our weight.

It is well-known that fruits and vegetables require far fewer resources to grow than protein, and that we really don't need more than three or four ounces of protein per meal.  Some dietitians suggest having protein at one or two meals is sufficient for most adults.

Since Food is one of my top three favorite sports, you may see more food-related post from time to time.

http://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2013/03/study-mediterranean-diet-can-save-money/274213/

Enjoy!