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When one decides to consider “Going Green”, or looking at “Sustainable Practices”, it can become very confusing. There is so much information out there. But relax, there are some scientific frameworks that can help you to achieve your sustainability goals, while at the same time considering your short-term and long-term business or community objectives.

PBS aired an amazing program called The Botany of Desire. The program was created after the book by Michael Pollan, who just happens to be a hero of mine… I entered the sustainability field because of food sustainability. And food is how Michael Pollan tends to connect the world and sustainability in a very conscious and thoughtful manner.

Saul Griffith, a 2007 MacArthur Fellow, serial inventor and co-founder of WattzOn, refers to this as “heirloom design” a term he introduced during a talk at the February 2009 Greener Gadgets conference in New York. The best way to lower the quantity of energy required to manufacture and distribute consumer goods, he argues, is to make those products not only durable, but repairable and upgradable.

“Compostable products are being touted around the world as a sustainable packaging solution; but there are several factors to consider. These include the source of the raw materials, the energy consumed during manufacturing, and whether the products are actually captured for composting.”

“Some of the most successful restaurants in the city have aligned with a philanthropic cause or are touting organic and local ingredients in their menus,” says Darrin Johnson, New Leaf’s director of strategic initiatives. Soon his restaurant will unveil a branding campaign centered on the fact that the restaurant buys from local farmers.

Two recent college grads discover where America’s food comes from when they plant a single acre of corn and follow it from the seed to the dinner plate.

In the full article in Scientific American our food-chain is considered in a holistic way.  It doesn’t all come from Vons or the 7-Eleven, ok? I do love Scientific American.  I first read it in my denist’s office in Carlsbad Village.  Oh, I was so inspired to learn about quantum physics. I subsequently went to … Read More

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4cPW7WV6uRg&feature=related] San Diego County is predominanty an urban area which was built by importing water from hundreds of miles away into what is essentially a desert environment.  According to San Diego’s Changing Climate:  A Regional Wake-Up Call, it is not agriculture that is using the most water in our county. And although San Diego County … Read More