Ecological Intelligence

“We have to stop speaking about the Earth being in need of healing. The Earth doesn’t need healing. We do.”

These words, from South African physician and naturalist Ian McCallum, close Daniel Goleman’s new book Ecological Intelligence: how Knowing the Hidden Impacts of What We Buy can Change Everything. Goleman’s book is an ambitious work that goes beyond the usual cries that humans are screwing up the planet and discusses how we can use market forces to change that behavior.

Not that Goleman ignores the fact that humans are screwing up the planet. (Or rather, screwing up the planet for humanity, as with the opening quote.) He goes into great detail to show how those of us in the US continue to pollute the air, ground, water and our bodies, long after science has shown us to be doing great harm. The reason for this is threefold: 1) Industry doesn’t change its practices because it might not be profitable to do so; 2) Government doesn’t regulate change, because political elections are financed by Industry; and 3) Consumers don’t insist on changes because we aren’t aware of the harm we are doing.

To combat this, Goleman introduces the reader to the concept of “Radical Transparancy,” wherein a product’s devalue (i.e. the harm it can do) is as readily known as its value. Studies have shown that if consumers are aware of the social, environment and especially health impacts of a product, most will change their purchasing habits even if it means spending more to buy the better product.

To illustrate, Goleman tells the tale of trans fat, which under the label “shortening” was a staple of home and industrial food production for 100 years. However, when the Institute of Medicine and the Food and Drug Administration independently issued reports at the turn of the 21^st century detailing the health risks associated with trans fat, public concern reached heightened levels. When the FDA issued labeling requirements indicating the level of trans fat in foods, the agency in effect issued the death knell. Trans fat has been almost completely eliminated from foods in the US, because informed consumers do not want to buy products containing trans fats.

Not all stories are as cut-and-dried as that of trans fat. In some cases the risks are less immediate (global warming), or less personal (worker treatment), or less obvious (tainted water supplies).

To fully understand these risks, we need to understand more than simply how a product is made and how it is disposed of. We also need to understand what impacts result from the production of components, and of the subcomponents, and so forth. We also need to understand the impacts of shipping, packaging, and how the product is used. This is called “Life Cycle Analysis,” a cradle-to-grave study of a product’s impact.

One such study was made by the folks at Proctor & Gamble, who discovered that the greatest impact from its production of Tide laundry detergent was in the way the product was used. More specifically, the energy required to heat the laundry water was greater than the impacts incurred in manufacturing and transporting the product. This inspired P&G to develop a detergent that is just as effective using cold water.

Goleman treats the reader to several such anecdotes, and highlights several companies in addition to Proctor and Gamble (like Interface and (gulp!) Wal Mart) that have taken it upon themselves to improve the impacts of their businesses. Goleman also discusses the way that the US Government’s loose approval guidelines, the phenomenon of Unintended Consequences, and the corporate practice of “Greenwashing,” make it more difficult for the consumer to fully understand the impact of their purchasing practices. Thus the need for Radical Transparency.

Ecological Intelligence does a thorough job of describing the perils that face the unwitting consumer in the United States, and how industry and government work in tandem to obfuscate those perils. The reader comes away understanding that the threats to our health, the environment, and the people in third-world countries are real and avoidable. Where the book falls somewhat short is in offering solutions. This is because the Radical Transparency industry is in its infancy. The resources available to the consumer are not easily accessed at the point of sale (or, more importantly, in the aisle when the shopper is making a decision). Those that do exist still have large gaps in compiling the massive amounts of data on all products available for sale in the US.

This is an important book, and perhaps the first step in bringing the need for Radical Transparency into the collective consciousness. I believe that the population of this country is grossly unaware of the true impact of the way that we live. With the government beholden to industries that are unwilling to make risky changes that might impact the bottom line, the impetus for change must come from the grassroots. I believe that an educated population will generate the force required to shift the markets. We just need the information.

The following web sites are referenced in Goleman’s book. They have their shortfalls, but begin to provide the information that will help us change the way business is done in the US.

http://www.goodguide.com/ to find safe, healthy and green products.

http://www.cosmeticsdatabase.com/ for Skin Deep, the Cosmetics Safety Database.

The Termite

One of the great things about the organization that I work for is that I get to meet a lot of cool people who are doing a lot of cool things. One such cool thing was introduced by our Board member Ford Reiche, who is the CEO of Safe Handling, Inc., a transportation company in Auburn, Maine.

Ford recently became the proud owner of the Termite, a pickup truck that is powered through wood gasification technology. Ford bought the truck from a gentleman in Alabama who developed the technology through years of trial and error. Ford and his son George recently flew to Alabama and drove the Termite home - several hundred miles almost completely powered by scrap wood. What the Termite lacks in sophistication, she more than makes up for with innovation and efficiency - harmful emissions are lower than even hybrid vehicles.

Ford showed off his baby at a recent board meeting at the Samoset Resort in Rockland, Maine. The story of the technology, the guy who built this machine, and the misadventures encountered on the drive home, are best shared directly through his own blog. Here I will share a few photos that I took while he was showing off this baby the other day.

That's the engine in back - hay filter, heat exchanger and burn chamber. The termite gets about one mile per pound, or 40 miles per "tank" of scrap wood.

The rails are actually the radiator that cools the engine. The bright green paint is simply eye-catching.

Ford Reiche, looking every bit the mad scientist.

The gauges must be read through the rear view mirror. They are scaled differently as well.

Garden Update

Square Foot 0604
Originally uploaded by Roadduck99

It’s been about a month since I started this year’s garden, so I thought I would provide an update. It’s my first time trying the Square Foot Gardening method. The originator of this method, Mel Bartholomew, promises that SFG is a fairly low-maintenance method of growing vegetables, and so far I am finding that to be the case.

Of course there is the original work involved in assembling the boxes, mixing the soil and filling the boxes. In reality, accumulating the required materials takes as much time as assembling everything at home. If you want to do this on the ultra-cheap and find people who will give you scrap materials, it will probably take more time. But time is money, and I was willing to pay for convenience.

I also knew that I was going to want to put trellises on my boxes in order to grow tomatoes, beans and cucumbers vertically. Since it was going to be awhile before anything would be ready to climb, I didn’t let the lack of trellises keep me from planting.

In early May, I put in cold-tolerant plants: broccoli, onions, shallots, carrots and several varieties of lettuce. Unfortunately, we have a groundhog in the area who doesn’t understand boundaries, but who also happens to enjoy greens. The groundhog slowed the development of the lettuces and offed one of the two broccoli plants. This necessitated a deterrent. So when I put up the trellises, I also jerry-rigged some posts to hold up bird netting to keep the pests out. This was meant to be a temporary fix, but it seems to be doing well in keeping the rodents away, so I am taking my time with the upgrades.

Over Memorial Day weekend I put in a few other plants – two tomato plants, a pepper plant, basil and swiss chard. I also planted seeds to grow pest-deterring marigolds and zinnias. A week later I planted pole beans and cucumbers. I have also relocated some parsley that was in another garden bed and which also turned out to be on the groundhog’s menu.

Checking in today, things have really started to grow. The cukes finally popped out of the ground the other day, and so everything is off and running now. Free from groundhog nibbles, the lettuce is going strong, and the broccoli (including a seedling I purchased to replace the one that didn’t make it) is growing fast. The seeded items are all up and making their way. We’ve even harvested some lettuce leaves to put in our salads, though we don’t have enough yet to preclude our buying store-bought greens. And I have a couple squares still available for later plantings of lettuce or broccoli, or maybe something else altogether.

Mel promises very little weeding because we start with weed-free soil. That’s mostly true, though he maybe didn’t anticipate that my own compost might have some still-viable seeds in it, or that the maple tree in my back yard would be dumping dozens of seeds on the garden. The good news is that the weeds are easy to see and, since they aren’t embedded in the soil, easy to pull.

All in all, the first month with the new garden has been very gratifying. I look forward to sharing more results in the future.

You don't have a vote in the matter

Rush might support Sonia Sotomayor for the Supreme Court. This is big news, despite the fact that he's an entertainer and, therefore, his position doesn't matter.

Perhap's he's engaging in some reverse-psychology - if the Dems believe Sotomayor is cool with the far right, they might start to think that she's not a good choice after all.