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April 2009

Table of Contents

FTSLA News

EPA Greenhouse Gas Emissions Regulation

Waste Management Launches "Green Ops" Consumer Packaging Recycle Stations, Earth Day, 2009

Dr Vandana Shiva on the Future of Food

Couple Launches Business for Freight Distribution to Urban Core

Upcoming Events

Thanks to our Sponsors

Join Us for FTSLA Members Networking Meeting June 18, 2009 at the All Things Organic Conference

In this special two-hour session connect with your peers to discuss strategies for how to create and implement a successful sustainability plan. Discuss the key indicators used to drive improved organizational performance. Find out about the best practices in sustainability reporting, receive support for assessing your businesses environmental and social performance.

When: June 18, 2009 1:30pm-3:30pm
Where: All Things Organic Conference, McCormick Place Chicago
Contact: nwhite@organicgrown.com 541-852-0745

This meeting is open to FTSLA Members.

EPA Finds Greenhouse Gases Pose Threat to Public Healthe and Welfare, Signaling the First Step to Regulate U.S. Emissions

April 17, 2009--After a scientific review ordered by the U.S. Supreme Court, the Environmental Protection Agency issued a finding that carbon dioxide and five other greenhouse gases are a danger to public health and welfare. This action lays the groundwork for EPA to pursue regulation under the Clean Air Act to address the threat of climate change. Such regulation would have widespread economic impact, from requiring more fuel efficient vehicles to limiting carbon dioxide emissions from power plants and industrial sources, changing the way the nation uses energy.

This decision signals the climate change debate has shifted, no longer is the argument about whether the government will regulate emissions, it is now about what form that regulation will take. Legislation could be considered by the House before the August congressional recess.

Congress is considering imposing an economy-wide cap on greenhouse gas emissions along with giving industry the ability to trade emission allowances; a number of commentators are touting a carbon-tax as a preferable policy.

How will these changes affect business?
The cap-and-trade strategy is considered a more market-driven approach. Under this system the government sets an overall emissions cap while creating allowances that enable businesses to emit a set amount. The allowances can be traded, so companies that reduce their emissions can sell surplus allowances to those who would have to pay to comply. This approach has gained support from the Obama administration, with cap-and-trade provisions appearing in the latest federal budget proposal. Supporters of the cap-and-trade system, claim it 1) provides greater investor predictability by enabling businesses to estimate allowance prices needed for their operation, 2) offers greater environmental benefits by placing a fixed cap on emissions and 3) creates a "economic shock absorber" as carbon allowance prices can be adjusted to changing economic conditions.

Proponents of the carbon tax argue it offers a direct profit incentive for emission-reduction technology and encourages scaling back carbon pollution, rather than abstract market forces, traders and external regulatory agencies. Concerns remain about whether a carbon tax would actually reduce emissions or if companies would simply pay the tax to continue their same emissions levels. According to research by the Carbon Tax Center, a tax rate of $15 per ton of carbon dioxide coupled with incremental rate increases of $10 per ton each year would lower emissions to 25 percent below 2005 levels by 2022.

While policy makers debate the feasibility of both options, all indications are that soon congress will have to choose an greenhouse gas mitigation approach, as picking neither will no longer on the nation's agenda.

Waste Management Launches "Green Ops" Consumer Packaging Recycle Stations on Earth Day April 22, 2009

Greenopolis is a environmentally-focused web based social networking site, created to engage users on green issues so that they might learn, explore and participate in an open dialogue about the present and future of our environment.

Waste Management sponsored the creation of the website to encourage individuals, communities, non-profits and businesses to communicate about green practices, to give users a tool to share ideas and to encourage people to make positive, incremental changes in their daily lives.

The "Green Ops System" which launches this Earth Day April 22, 2009 is a material recovery system aimed at consumer packaging that brings together infrastructure, point-of-retail collection equipment and "customer rewards" to take recycling beyond curbside collection.

The system includes state-of-the-art reverse vending units that are placed in high traffic areas, such as, retails stores, public parks, community centers, schools and entertainment venues to make "recycling on the go" easy and convenient. Manufacturers will voluntarily place the new "Green Ops" logo on their packages to indicate that the package is approved for recycling at the new "eco-stations".

Dr. Vandana Shiva on the Future of Food: 3-Part Interview Series Available Online

Dr. Vandana Shiva recently completed a whirlwind speaking tour of organic and natural food conferences across the U.S. While at the Organicology Conference in Portland, Oregon she recorded an interview with "Cooking up a Story" about the future of food, that is "one of the most contentious, revolutionary, profound, and important discussions of any, we have had to date". The 3 interviews focus on the science of genetic engineering and the dangers it poses to the world's food supplies.

Dr. Shiva makes a case that with biotechnology we are risking not only the safety of food supply; we are also jeopardizing the ability of all of us to have a choice of the foods that we eat, and for our farmers to be able to freely use their own seeds and grow food in the manner that they choose. In developing countries like India, biotechnology introduces higher costs of production to the farmers, makes them highly dependent upon a small number of companies to purchase their seeds and required chemical inputs. Increasingly, farmers whose crops fail to produce anticipated yields are propelled into a cycle of debt that cause many to commit suicide. Food sovereignty of developing countries; ecological preservation of the biodiversity existing in nature; the ability of nations to feed their own people; the preservation of local culture entwined with past farming traditions; and the right of a people to have access to their own seeds, and to choose the traits they wish to propagate, these are all issues that require careful thought and discussion.

To View Dr Vandana Shiva: The Future of Food Part 1

Couple Launches Business for Freight Distribution to Urban Core by Bike

In Portland, Oregon a husband and wife team have launched a company called "B-Line" for biking heavy freight in an effort to replace delivery trucks. With over 55 cubic feet and a 600-pound capacity, the unique European electric-assist cargo trikes offer eco-friendly, efficient delivery to close-in and urban locations.

B-Line's business plan is to work with delivery companies that don't like to deliver small loads in the dense urban core where conventional tractor-trailers and box trucks often struggle with parking and slow moving traffic. B-Line hopes to offer an advantage by zooming at up to 11-miles per hour through the bike lanes and parking in the smallest of spaces.

Kathryn Racine-Jones: "This morning a huge semi came to our warehouse and dropped off say 1000 pounds of produce and then we ferry that out using our electric assist trikes into the urban core so they don't have to go down there and people walking around downtown don't have to deal with big trucks in the urban core. So we do that in a sustainable way." With it's launch, the company is targeting purveyors of fresh produce, coffee, baked goods, office supplies, apparel, dry cleaning, caterers, and florists to build its customer base.

Upcoming Events:

Sustainable Industries Economic Forum with Ray Anderson
May 7, 2009 San Francisco, CA

Business Alliance for Local Living Economies
May 21-23, 2009 Denver, CO

Organic Summit
June 3-5, 2009 Stevenson, WA

All Things Organic
June 16-19, 2009 Chicago, IL

LOHAS: Leaders Making Decisions Today for a Better Tomorrow
June 17-19, 2009 Boulder, CO

Natalie Reitman-White, Executive Director
541.852.0745 or info@ftsla.org