LGBG Spotlight: Green Farming Role Models

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The core of our mission in all aspects of this farm and farming is to preserve the ways of the past while honoring mother nature.

So reads the mission statement of Stoney Mountain Farm in Burlington, North Carolina, an organization that strives to perhaps revolutionize farming by simply reverting to older, less technologically advanced methods.  As opposed to many green farming technologies and developments to keep up with the changing world, the methodical approach of Stoney Mountain is to simply revert back to times when greater forces than technology – like nature – had control.

The farm allows old Mother Nature to take control of much that governs activity on its grounds.  The fields and pastures are not intensively plowed or even mowed.  The animals are not fed any hormones or medications.  They only worm as needed, and plant a variety of herbal remedies around their grounds, which the animals are naturally drawn to when they instinctively need it.

These methods prove extremely important not only to the environment, but to Stoney Mountain’s main revenue stream.  The farm specializes in 100% all natural wool products for consumers, offering a wide variety of felting kits, wool dryer balls and kits, and even eco-friendly wool cat toys.  Also, what is extremely unique is Stoney Mountain’s ability to produce and provide roving, batts, and yarns of over 20 natural colors.

All of this, we believe, and all that Stoney Mountain Farm stands for, is great in all its simplistic glory.  Few words can sum up our reasoning for loving Stoney Mountain more than its own words:

Through these practices, we believe we offer beautiful venues for our guests and the best quality products with healthy, happy livestock

LGBG Spotlight: Green America, “Come Together”

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For those of you who aren’t familiar with the Green America organization, as I’d imagine the majority of people are not, it is the feature of this week’s spotlight.  Green America: Come Together.

That is the organization’s tagline, and that is indeed what they strive for.  Basically, GA is a not-for-profit membership group that constantly aims to harness economic power, through the strength of consumers, investors, businesses, and the marketplace, in order to create a socially just and environmentally sustainable society. This mission may sound like it’s full of huge ideas, and it is!  All of which, however, make perfect sense and seem extremely attainable, given the organization’s current vision for the future:

We work for a world where all people have enough, where all communities are healthy and safe, and where the bounty of the Earth is preserved for all the generations to come.

What is extra interesting about GA is its focus on economic variables in order to reach the roots of many social and environmental issues.  They take action against abusive business practices, whether obvious or not, and try to change them to more socially just and environmentally responsible ways.

In fact, GA does virtually all it can to help businesses convert to eco-friendly practices.  The organization offers and issues its Green America’s Green Business Certification, which allows not only recognition to individuals and businesses, but resources as well.  The group has a massive network of environmentally friendly firms along all areas of the conventional value chain of the business world, from producers to retailers, from marketing to financing.

Green America Green Business Certification

For more information on exactly what criteria potential members of Green America’s Green Business Certification program must meet, visit the organization’s site and learn more!

Green Information Technology (IT)

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Every business in today’s world, big and small alike, is practically forced to partake in some form of information technology services in order to remain relevant and survive.  I have used some form of IT services, I have worked in related fields, and I know many people who work in IT services, some of whom I call dear friends.  What I did not know, however, was that there were ways in which these services can be delivered as eco-friendly.  Did you?

Companies like SHI International – headquartered in Somerset, NJ, with branches across Canada, the United Kingdom, France, and Hong Kong – are working hard to provide their green IT services to corporate customers, without harming the environment or their customers’ budgets.  SHI works alongside its customers, going so far as to ensure that, within appropriate territories, their customers’ sites operate under adequate conditions to be eligible for incentives from willing utility providers.

SHI even goes so far as to operate in an eco-friendly manner.  Within all their restrooms, a visitor will find green soaps and recycled paper products.  The company attempts to reuse all shipping materials, provided they can withstand the trip.  Timers operate facility lighting across their plants.  These small steps are very admirable among businesses and are too often overlooked, even with today’s understanding of their significance.  Bravo.

Green Office Furniture: Could the Idea Catch On?

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I recently came across an innovative work desk setup that helps to harness its own energy, effectually producing and using its own recycled energy in a self-sustaining cycle.  (Although the setup does not yet produce enough energy to completely power its many electronic vices, the idea is that it will one day be completely self-sustainable, and therefore, completely unplugged from any power source other than itself.)  The desk design, appropriately called “Unplugged,” was designed by Eddi Törnberg, and is meant to generate all the energy it needs from everyday office activities of the person sitting behind it.

The desk setup has outstanding features, such as the ability to harness power from the heat energy transferred from the user’s computer to the desk top, and even from the user’s back to the back of his or her chair.  The floor mat or rug that is also part of the design has been constructed with technology that allows it to harness energy from the pressures applied to its surface, from walking over it or sitting upon it.

While the idea is still far from mass development or even complete sustainability as an independent workspace, it carries with it a tremendous amount of integrity as an engineering feat.  I recommend you look a bit further into this truly intriguing design.  It may very well be the precedent necessary to slowly reconstruct the future as we come to imagine and realize it.  These green, eco-friendly designs can come to change the world someday, and it could happen in fewer more beneficial areas than within the workplace.

‘Til Death Do Us Green: A Quick Look at Bio-Cremation

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As I sat down to peruse the Web for bits of educational reading on Sunday evening, I came across one article announcing the death of an awarded inventor, credited for the creation of an eco-friendly crematorium.  I had never heard of an environmentally friendly way of cremating people after death, so naturally, I became quite intrigued.

Upon some research, I found that many were concerned about cremation as a means of final disposition, since it historically involves the burning of high quantities of fossil fuels harmful to the environment.  It makes sense, I thought.  But that’s the nature of the business, right? Cremation involves burning; how can that be changed?

As it turns out, I was wrong.  Fairly recently, an alternative called Bio-Cremation has been gaining in popularity.  Basically, cremation as a process does not have to involve flames, only heat.  Bio-Cremation offers an eco-friendly alternative to conventional methods, as it involves only a stainless steel chamber, water, a natural decomposition agent called Potassium Hydroxide (KOH), and heat.

 

This chamber turns the decomposition process, affectionately referred to in the business as “B2B: body to bones,” to a simple 2-3 hour ordeal.  It is much more energy efficient and does a much better job than older cremation methods.

After reading about all cremation processes, new and old, I have to say that I may very well be leaning towards cremation as a final disposition, instead of burial.  But regardless of what I choose down the road, one thing is for certain – the environmentally conscious method of Bio-Cremation stands out as a clear winner in comparison to conventional methods.  Just something to think about. 

How About TVs?

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Dishwashers and refrigerators, washers and dryers… no big deal when it comes to finding environmentally friendly, certified products, right?  Not quite.  How about smaller electronics?  How about TVs? 

Just recently I was shopping around for a 50-55″ television set, and I was sure I would be able to pick out a great quality, great priced TV.  I was extremely surprised at how, even at larger sizes, televisions which are certified as “eco-friendly” are virtually impossible to come by.  I visited several brick and mortar stores and countless websites, and was surprised that there really aren’t any certified green TVs.  Yet.

I was able to stumble across an article, which I have to assume is somewhat breaking news, about South Korea’s major appliance manufacturers’ recent achievements in green certification.  Samsung and LG brand giants both have been able to produce Smart, 3D TV units that have actually been dubbed, by several European organizations, as having energy efficiency and low carbon emissions. 

Well, bravo!  Although it seems only a small step in a long line of strides to come, it is positive progress nonetheless.  Soon, I hope, it becomes industry standard to produce TV sets that are certified as eco-friendly on a worldwide scale.  (That will at least make my shopping selection a tad bit easier!)