Tucson Green Times – July 2010

Think of greenhouse gas emissions and fossil fuel combustion probably comes to mind immediately. The burning of fossils fuels is naturally a major player in creating a higher carbon footprint, but so is soil.

Members of Tucson Organic Gardeners, Rich Johnson (kneeling in front), Victor Gutierrez (standing on the left) and Liz Marascio apply a fresh layer of rich compost to their community garden. PHOTO by James Patrick

Soil is the Earth’s carbon sequestering modus operandi. More than twice as much carbon is stored in the Earth’s soil as is stored in live vegetation or in the atmosphere. However, urbanization, conventional agriculture, open pit mining and other poor land use practices are degrading the soil, reducing the amount of stored carbon and resulting in more carbon entering the atmosphere.

These destructive land practices are responsible for nearly one-third of the increase in CO2 emissions over the past 150 years. The drastic increase of chemicals, synthetic fertilizers and excessive tilling in place of compost, manure and crop rotation have contributed to a 50 percent reduction of organic carbon in agricultural soils over the past 20 years.

Three national nonprofits – GrassRoots Recycling Network, BioCycle and EcoCycle – are working to change this through spearheading the Cool 2012 Campaign.

Cool 2012 is a “national initiative to inspire and educate state and local jurisdictions on the importance of getting compostable organics out of the landfill” by 2012. Education, public policy suggestions and presentation materials are the cornerstones of the campaign.

Organic (carbon-based) materials make up two-thirds of landfill waste. You may be wondering, “What’s the problem if those items are going to break down anyway?” When deposited in a landfill, those biodegradable materials – paper, food scraps, yard trimmings – produce methane, a greenhouse gas and major contributor to global warming.

Methane is much more potent than CO2. Studies show that over a 20-year period every ton of methane traps as much heat as 72 tons of CO2, and landfills are one of the top sources of methane.

The Cool 2012 Campaign aims to eliminate this source of methane by ending the practice of landfilling organic materials and composting them instead. The campaign’s website states: “Methane reductions could have an immediate beneficial effect on our climate, much faster than comparable reductions to CO2.”

Just because something is biodegradable or labeled “compostable” doesn’t guarantee that its going to break down in a beneficial way. Tossing that corn-based compostable fork in the trash doesn’t do a whole lot of good if it’s being sent to a landfill. The absence of oxygen in today’s landfills creates anaerobic (no oxygen) conditions, which is the culprit of the production of methane in landfills. Composting, the actively managed process of the decomposition of organic materials, is the solution to reducing landfill-induced methane gas production.

While we don’t yet have a municipal composting program like Seattle, San Francisco and other forward-thinking cities, Tucson is environmentally conscious so we can keep our fingers crossed that one day we each might have a third plastic bin to roll to the curb for compostables along with recyclables and trash. In the meantime, many local individuals and organizations have taken the initiative to encourage composting.

The Tucson Organic Gardeners (TOG) is one example. In addition to classes and extensive information on their website, TOG hosts the compost demonstration at the Tucson Botanical Gardens. There you can see various types of composting in action and TOG volunteers are available to answer questions.

Composting can be a little intimidating at first, especially in the desert. But as TOG President Rich Johnson says, “One of the best things about composting is that you can’t do it totally wrong. Nature will claim everything in time. The benefit to doing it with a composting bin and with a little bit of education is that you can do it much quicker.”

TOG also has found a clever way to combine recycling with affordable composting. Along with other volunteers, Johnson collects old City of Tucson plastic trash toters and converts them into “BioBins.” Virtually indestructible, these composting bins give new life to something that would have ended up in the landfill. Sales of the BioBins to the public benefit TOG programs.

Once you’ve acquired your compost bin, it’s time to fill it – and Sunflower Farmer’s Market can help in that department. Store manager Desi May pioneered the Green Waste Program, which offers compostable material to the public free of charge.

“Our landfills are precious space and a precious commodity. We don’t want to fill them up with something that could be easily repurposed to put nutrients back in the soil,” says May.

Grocery store produce departments generate a significant amount of “trim,” fruit and veggie scraps on a daily basis. May doesn’t want to see that going into a landfill so she initiated the Green Waste Program. Still in a pilot phase, the program is offered at the First Avenue location. Every day at 2:00 p.m. Sunflower Market’s staff roll out a plastic bin full of the day’s trim and make it free for anyone who can put it to good use.

May is working to get the word out about the program and encourages residents to make use of the free green waste. “It’s not yet as grand as I had hoped but it’s still making a difference and that’s what it’s all about,” she says. “One step at a time, one day at a time, one push at a time, one reusable grocery bag, one trip not made in a car, right?”

Right indeed.

Author: Gretel Hakanson is a local freelance writer.

Tucson Green Times – July 2010

Two different streams of consciousness are combining to produce a new wave of thrift store shoppers here in Tucson and across the country.

Thrift stores have always served the poor; today there are far more people experiencing financial need than at any other time in the past decade. Simultaneously, the growing ‘green’ sector, a demographic that cuts across every economic level, is re-evaluating consumption habits. Few activities accomplish the “reuse/reduce/recycle motto as well as thrift store shopping.

Giselle Ruiz shops for a purse at a Goodwill store in Tucson. PHOTO by Karen R. Smith.

Any thrift store purchase is an act of post-consumer recycling. An item of clothing or furniture that’s no longer needed would normally end up in the landfill; eco-conscious folks donate such things to thrift stores instead. Many are the retail outpost of charitable organizations, hospitals and foundations: donations to these stores are tax deductible.

In some organizations, the donated items create job opportunities for the population served, whether in the store itself (sales and stock person positions) or behind the scenes (washing donated clothing, testing appliances, etc.). Donating at these establishments truly represents an investment in our community at the grassroots level. And do consider donation as an alternative to disposal, even for items past their prime: many organizations use unwearable textiles to make stuffing for mattresses and toys. Even a shirt riddled with holes can have a productive new life.

Shopping at a charitable organization’s thrift store helps keep local programs and services running. Many are facing reductions in federal, state and municipal funding as well as diminishing private bequests.

Savers thrift stores pioneered the retail thrift store/charity partner concept more than 50 years ago. The organization calls their complete process ‘The Savers Cycle’. Nationally, Savers forms alliances with local charities in each store’s community, so that donors and shoppers help fund organizations in their own neighborhood at both ends of each transaction. In 2009, Savers paid more than $117 million to their nonprofit partners. In addition, unsold donated items are sent to areas of need around the globe through philanthropic and retail channels. This stream of used goods has helped establish retail market places in developing nations. Value Village is part of Savers, so a purchase at any of the local outlets of either one helps programs here in Tucson. Big Brothers Big Sisters of Tucson are Savers’ charity alliance partner. Visit Savers at 290 W. Fort Lowell or 5845 E. Broadway for a large selection of men’s, women’s and children’s clothing; the new Value Village store at 2700 N. Stone Avenue is a terrific source for home furnishings and small appliances.

There are 166 independent Goodwill Industries branches throughout the US. These locally governed enterprises receive funding from their retail stores, which is used to provide job training and other services to Tucsonans in need. There are more than a dozen Goodwill stores in the greater Tucson area; visit the website (www.goodwill.org/get-involved/shop) to find the one nearest you. Goodwill also offers a variety of outsource contractor services to local business, government and industry. These services employ many individuals enrolled in Goodwill’s job programs. They run the gamut from packaging and assembly to document shredding. “More than 155,000 people obtained employment in 2009 through their participation in Goodwill programs,” said Carol Taylor, Goodwill Tucson’s Marketing Director.

Here in Tucson, Goodwill operates two Job Connection Centers (one at the First Avenue store, the other at Midvale). Anyone can visit the Center and receive help with their resume, and can view job postings on the Center’s computers. The organization’s Ready to Earn program trains would-be job applicants in basic computer skills, business phone manners, and internet use. After graduation, these workers go on to call center jobs paying from $8-$12 hour. Goodwill also offers GED classes here in Tucson, and at the Silverlake location, a sheltered workforce of physically and developmentally disabled adults work on contracted projects ranging from box assembly to scanning in books for sale on Amazon.com. “People who might have needed public assistance are earning their own living instead – happily self-supporting. It’s truly a wonderful program,” Taylor explained.

The Salvation Army might be best known for its Christmas funding efforts. Bell ringers around town draw attention to a red kettle waiting for contributions. Few are familiar with the broad range of humanitarian services the organization provides year round. These include disaster relief, prisoner rehabilitation and drug and alcohol rehabilitation programs. William and Catherine Booth founded the now-international organization in 1865; it still operates on the 11 articles of faith established at that time by the two Christian evangelists. Retail store sales help fund all Salvation Army programs, both in our local community and around the world.

There are more than a dozen other thrift stores in Tucson that benefit local charities and community organizations. Each has a particular ‘flavor’, perhaps because the donor demographic varies widely. Space limits how many we can describe here, so be sure to check the Yellow Pages for others in your neighborhood.

Tucson’s best selection of used books is at St. Mary’s Auxiliary Thrift Shop (1543 W. St. Mary’s Road). That’s because lots of hospital patients donate the books received during their stay. Members of the hospital’s Auxiliary volunteer their time to staff all positions at this store.

Volunteers are also the core work force at the Assistance League of Tucson’s Thrift Store (1307 N. Alvernon Way). Classic clothing, gently used furniture and housewares are the bulk of the offerings. Sales help fund the League’s programs for disadvantaged people of all ages here in Tucson.

The Casa de los Ninos thrift store (1302 E. Prince Road) is the first place to look for used furniture and housewares. Volunteers and paid staff work together to keep this large store humming. Sales help fund advocacy work on behalf of children in crisis.

Miracle Center Thrift Store funds a shelter for abused women and their children here in Tucson. The store (5527 E. Pima) has a good selection of bric-a-brac, clothing and decorative accessories, all of it artfully presented thanks to dedicated volunteers.

Besides the good feelings of making a more sustainable choice, fashion-wise, thrift store shopping is the ultimate treasure hunt, which can be a motivation all by itself! This week’s finds included a ladies’ Armani shirt, men’s Cole Haan shoes and Petit Bateau sunsuits for toddlers. A teen search garnered 7 For All Mankind jeans, two House of Dereon dresses, a Nike SB hoodie and Doc Marten shoes. Home goods ranged from a Krupp coffee maker to a 1960s Henredon nightstand. Antique and vintage finds included a 1950s KitchenAid mixer, a 1920s dining room set and a hair brooch from the 1870s. Never would have found this assortment at affordable prices anywhere else!

Author: Karen Smith is a local freelance writer.

Tucson Green Times – July 2010

Does the phrase “green consumer” sound like an oxymoron?

It is possible to have a sustainable consumer lifestyle by finding a happy middle ground between dumpster-diving and mindless consumption.

Green consumers can learn to resist impulsive shopping and, instead, carefully determine which items they really need – then find the most responsible manufacturer and vendor to purchase from. The goal is to decrease the amount of energy used to create and ship products, eliminate waste from one-use, throwaway products and excess packaging, as well as support local businesses before national chains.

It can sometimes be difficult to evaluate a purchase based on the label and product information alone. Thankfully, there are many online resources including websites, e-newsletters and Twitter feeds, that can keep us up-to-date on which products are safe and sustainable and where to find local Tucson or Arizona vendors.

To get started on your way to making greener purchases, check out this list of resources:

Find Local Businesses

Local First Arizona – www.localfirstaz.com/ Local First Arizona is a non-profit organization dedicated to strengthening local communities and economies by supporting locally-owned businesses. Its website (www.localfirstaz.com) is a great place to educate yourself about the benefits of shopping at local businesses. The site features a directory of statewide and local businesses, and there’s also a separate directory for Tucson. Businesses are divided into helpful categories like Home and Garden, Apparel and Footwear, Food and Dining, and more. Check out the Green and Eco-Friendly category for shops that are both locally owned and offer environmentally-friendly products or services. Some businesses (denoted by a blue check-mark on the site) offer a special deal when customers mention Local First Arizona.

Stay Informed on Product Recalls

Government Recalls – www.recalls.gov To stay informed about product recalls and safety visit www.recalls.gov, where you can sign up for e-mail updates based on specific areas of interest. This umbrella site includes safety and recall information about consumer products, motor vehicles, boats, food, medicine, cosmetics and environmental products. Some of the agencies included are the CPSC (Consumer Products Safety Commission), FDA (Food and Drug Administration), USDA (US Department of Agriculture) and EPA (Environmental Protection Agency). Many of these government organizations also have Twitter feeds you can access using the URLs shown below, or by signing up for Twitter and following the feeds in one place using your Twitter account.

For each of the twitter handles below simply type www.twitter.com/ and add the extension after the backslash:

USDAgov; FDAWomen; FDArecalls; FDA_Drug_Info; USDAFoodSafety, CPSC_Recalls; OnSafety.

Give and Receive Used Items

FreeCycle – www.freecycle.org Freecycle is a volunteer-run global network of websites giving members the ability to offer or request free items within local communities. The Freecycle mission is to grow a gifting movement to reduce waste and encourage a sense of community. The site is similar to Craigslist.org, except all items are free, there is no bartering, and local groups are managed by volunteer moderators. Freecycle.org is a great way to recycle household items which may be discarded prematurely due to a move or spring cleaning. The goal is to prevent perfectly functional goods from winding up in the landfill, and foster a sense of charity among people. To view or add posts, you’ll need to become a member. Posts are searchable and users contact each other through freecycle.org to arrange pick-up of an item. A survey of recent offers in the Tucson group included a coffee maker, 25” TV, clothing and a humidifier.

Eat Local and Healthy Foods

Sustainable Tucson – www.sustainabletucson.org Sustainable Tucson is a non-profit organization promoting a more resilient, sustainable community through research, awareness and engagement. The website is a great resource for Tucsonans who wish to buy more local, sustainable food products. Sustainabletucson.org/affinity/food is a good starting place to find the organizations of your choice, including local farmer’s markets, CSAs (Community Supported Agriculture), and Food Co-ops.

Non-GMO Shopping Guide – www.nongmoshoppingugide.com When you do need to shop in a regular super market you can use two downloadable pocket guides available online to avoid purchasing Genetically Modified (GMO) foods and produce covered with dangerous pesticides.

Food News - www.foodnews.org For the Shopper’s Guide to Pesticides, visit the www.foodnews.org, where you’ll see an option to download the guide.

Play it Safe With Kid’s Toys

Healthy Stuff – www.healthystuff.org Some of the scariest product recalls involve children’s toys. For example, the recent McDonald’s recall of 12 million Shrek-themed collectible glasses due to high levels of cadmium found in the paint. To avoid toxic toys for your young family members and friends, visit healthystuff.org/departments/toys and find a complete database of children’s products with ratings of low, medium, and high toxicity. Product listings also contain detailed information on the amounts of lead, chlorine, cadmium, arsenic, mercury or bromine present.

Moms Rising – www.momsrising.org For parents on the go, momrising.org has an ingenious text-messaging system where you can text the name or manufacturer of a toy and receive an instant text message reply indicating whether the toy has a low, medium or high level of harmful chemicals. Visit www.momsrising.org/NoToxicToys for more instructions and information.

Detox your Home

Good Guide – www.goodguide.com It’s tough to shop for household cleaning products and building supplies that are truly green. Some companies greenwash their packaging with imagery and claims that make the product seem environmentally friendly even when it’s not. For a reality-check on products, visit www.goodguide.com and see a product’s safety rated from 1 (worst) to 10 (best). Search by brand name or product name, or click on a category, like “laundry” to view a list of the safest and most harmful products in that category.

Earth Easy - www.eartheasy.com Another solution is to make your own household cleaners using basic and affordable ingredients. Visit eartheasy.com/ live_nontoxic_solutions.htm for a comprehensive guide to creating homemade substitutions for common cleaning agents.

Eco Haus - www.ecohaus.com If you are making improvements to your home and need to source green building supplies, paints, finishes and other materials look no further than www.ecohaus.com for environmentally-friendly and non-toxic flooring, heating and cooling products, paints, sealants and other supplies.

Become a Wiser Consumer

Greener Choices – www.greenerchoices.org Greenerchoices.org is Consumer Reports’ portal for green consumers. The site contains factual information on products billed as environmentally friendly. For example, find out if your skincare product is actually “all natural,” or see which portable cell phone chargers save the most energy. There is a free e-mail newsletter signup on the site and useful tools like an appliance energy efficiency calculator tool.

The Daily Green – www.thedailygreen.com and Grist -  www.grist.org Two more sources for staying abreast of green consumer trends are www.thedailygreen.com and www.grist.org. These sites deconstruct green product developments and news stories to let you know which products and services are truly green. Both sites feature tips and advice for making greener purchases and lifestyle changes.

Author: Britt Brouse lives in Tucson and writes about sustainability and marketing.

Tucson Green Times – July 2010

Often, the first thing people hear upon waking is the sound of birds welcoming the sun. But they might not realize how important trees can be in generating that variety of bird songs.

Creating habitat by planting trees can increase species diversity as well as the number of individual birds.

“If you promote native plants, you create more of a habitat for (native) birds,” says Matt Brooks, an outreach specialist for Tucson Audubon Society. Basically, most birds need trees to hold their nests. “There’s an absence in nesting correlation with trees if they aren’t around.”

The importance of trees as bird habitat has inspired Tucson Audubon Society members to plant trees, shrubs and flowers in the city, especially around sources of water. For example, they created several sites near the Santa Cruz River, where they also do research on how landscaping affects bird populations.

“It’s really hard to associate individual birds with certain trees,” sys Kendall Kroesen, the society’s restoration program manager. Also, trees and shrubs can function differently, providing different benefits. Kroesen recommends a mix of both to create diversity at a site.

Doves, for example, tend to nest high in trees, while roadrunners and quails nest on the ground, under shrubs. Some birds, such as the white-winged dove, use trees to forage food, especially during the summer when there are a lot of fruits and insects. Taller trees, such as eucalyptus and pines, can attract owls and raptors, including red-tailed hawks.

Kroesen said vegetation is also important for providing shade and protection for some species. Like others, he recommends planting native trees.

“Many of our native desert birds are well adapted to our thorny native desert trees – velvet mesquite, two species of palo verde, ironwood, certain acacias – and less well adapted to non-native trees that are often used in landscaping,” he added in a follow-up email.

“Size and width are important as well,” says Kroesen, referring to the canopy. “We recommend landscapes in which plantings are denser and overlap each other.”

For instance, when trees overlap, they tend to provide more shade and keep the shrubs and ground cooler.

Like the Tucson Audubon Society, Trees for Tucson has programs to promote wildlife habitat. Supported by funding from the Tucson Electric Power Company, the urban forestry program at Trees for Tucson promotes native tree planting to improve shading of homes and businesses in order to reduce energy costs.

“The program has been running for 20 years and really tries to get the community involved in native tree planting,” says Doug Koppinger of Trees for Tucson.

Trees for Tucson offers a wide variety of native trees, such as mesquite and palo verde, which can be ordered for $8 each. Homeowners who are TEP customers can purchase up to four trees each, depending on the year of their home. Because reducing cooling costs is the goal, trees must be planted where they create shade – on the east, west or south side of homes.

Trees for Tucson recommends planting a variety of trees, shrubs and groundcover to attract birds and the insects they eat. The group recommends against planting palm trees because they attract non-native birds such as pigeons.

Kroesen pointed out that landscaping can begin at home, but may have wildlife benefits that extend well beyond it if the trees provides a connection between other nearby habitat areas. A lack of plants means a lack of habitat. Kroesen says he has seen some homes that contain a bunch of gravel and one small cactus in their front yard.

“Those types of landscapes really bother us,” said Kroesen. “It tends to heat up a lot and doesn’t have very much protection for wildlife.”

Author: Jessica Canchola is a journalism student at the University of Arizona.

RESOURCES

• Trees for Tucson: www.ci.tucson.az.us/tcb/tft/
• Tucson Audubon Society: www.tucsonaudubon.org
• Tucson Electric Power Company: www.tucsonelectric.com
• Backyard Birds of Tucson: www.tolweb.org/treehouses

By Pamela Portwood

Tucson Green Times – July 2010

Fabrics are everywhere in your home – upholstery, window coverings, sheets and towels, not to mention the clothes in your closet. Chances are good that most of those fabrics are not healthy for you or the environment, and it’s not just a question of buying “natural” fabrics.

The best example is cotton, which has a reputation for being a healthy product because it’s natural instead of synthetic. Standard cotton is anything but healthy for people or the environment. Cotton production uses 25 percent of the insecticides and 11 percent of the pesticides used worldwide.

Sleeping under permanent press or standard cotton sheets – even the famed Egyptian cotton ones – means that you are breathing formaldehyde, a carcinogen, every night. Formaldehyde is used as a finish for all sheets, except organic cotton and flannel sheets. Multiple washings will not remove formaldehyde because it persists for years. You don’t have to make your bed, but do change your sheets.

Hemp, bamboo and linen (which is made from flax) are natural fabrics that typically are grown with fewer pesticides than cotton. Some growers use more pesticides than are needed to grow these plants, so the best way to know what you’re getting is to buy certified organic products or to get a fabric that has an eco-label.

Unfortunately, there isn’t one eco-label or green standard for fabrics or textiles, as they’re called in the industry. The best certifications are the Global Organic Textile Standard (GOTS) and Oeko-Tex, which measure the levels of toxins in textiles. Greenguard certifies the level of indoor pollutants emitted by fabrics.

The World Bank estimates that almost 20 percent of global industrial water pollution comes from treating and dyeing textiles. One T-shirt made from conventional cotton can use over 700 gallons of water and a third of a pound of chemicals to produce.

AZO colorants, antimony, arsenic and heavy metals are some of the chemicals that cause health problems, including cancer, and that are used in standard textile dying. Buying textiles that use “low-impact” dyes and have been certified is the best way to avoid these toxins. Also, avoid toxic fire retardants that contain polybrominated diphenyl ether (PBDE).

Recycling is a big movement in eco-friendly fabric production. Recycled fabrics typically are polyesters made from recycled water and soda bottles as well as from pre- and post-consumer polyester fabrics. Some of them use low-impact dyes. Some carry a MBDC Cradle to Cradle certification, which is a four-level system that assesses toxins, material reuse, corporate social responsibility, and energy and water use.

Despite the health and environmental issues with textiles, there are now many beautiful, green fabrics in materials, weights and patterns that can meet any textile need. Organic cottons are available in everything from a heavy weight for upholstery to brightly colored lightweight fabrics for curtains in kids’ rooms.

Interesting textiles made of rapidly renewable materials like nettles, soy and corn also are available. One virtue of natural fabrics is that they take less energy to produce than petroleum-based textiles.

I’ll let you in on an interior designer’s trick. If the sofa you’ve fallen in love with doesn’t have green fabric alternatives, ask the seller if you can provide your own upholstery fabric. Not every store or manufacturer will use COM (customer’s own material), but you won’t know until you ask.

Author: Pamela Portwood, Allied Member ASID, LEED AP ID+C, is the interior design principal for Greener Lives, LLC, a local interior design firm that specializes in healthy and eco-friendly interiors.

Tucson Green Times – July 2010

Steve Apter, a resident of Tucson for the last 27 years, lives in a cozy house nestled in a tranquil Foothills neighborhood. The home blends in well with others nearby that are fixed with stucco exterior so familiar in the Southwest. Apter’s house does not appear to have any special features – except it is equipped with a gray water system.

He walks over to his washing machine and pulled it back from the wall. “The piping on back of the machine leads to a drip line that I use for my plants,” he says. The pipe drains into his back yard garden, where he grows strawberries and carrots, and waters a Hoptree.

Reusing water in homes from sinks, bathtubs, and showers for irrigation – known as gray water – can help conserve that resource. That’s something the state of Arizona recognized in 2007, when it began to implement tax breaks for people who construct gray water systems.

Apter received a $1,000 tax break in 2008 for having the system installed in his home. This goes back to the Gray Water Conservation Tax Credit law passed in 2005 in Arizona, which states that an Arizona resident can receive 25 percent of the cost, not to exceed $1,000, toward installing a gray water system.

On the surface, using gray water seems like a great idea that could appeal to people throughout the United States. But of course, there are legalities that come with implementing a gray water system in homes.

“I really enjoyed getting that tax break in 2008, but there are a few rules that I had to follow in order to stay within the limits of the law with my gray water system,” says Apter. “You have to make sure that you are not using ‘black water’ on your vegetables in the garden. You don’t want gray water to be ‘sick water.’”

By black water, he means water that has a high content of chemical or food particles that are not suitable for human consumption. Black water typically refers to water from toilets and kitchen sinks that can make people sick if it is consumed.

The complexities of the systems that people choose to implement can vary greatly. Some people choose simply to “bootleg” a system by collecting drops of water that come from a leaking sink. Others may choose to go with a far more complex system, like Apter’s, that involves different piping and requires plumbing skills to install.

Within homes, there is a possibility of a person having a dual gray water system which has piping that leads to irrigation or the sewer system.

Not all plants respond well to gray water, however.

“Acid-loving plants tend to have a hard time with gray water, and certain plants which are native to dry areas have a hard time handling any irrigation in the dry season,” says Charles Graf, author of gray water guidelines in Tucson. “Also, some cultivated plants have problems with soggy conditions.“

Still, many plants do fine with this recycled water. “As long as I am doing my part to help conserve, I am happy,” says Apter. “Maybe when more people learn about gray water systems, they will be happy to conserve too.”

Author: Jack Akinlosotu is student at the University of Arizona.

RESOURCES

City of Tucson’s guide to using grey water: www.ci.tucson.az.us/water/greywater.htm

Water Conservation Alliance of Southern Arizona (CASA): www.watercasa.org/graywaterharvesting.php#lose

Water Harvesting Guidelines in Tucson: www.dot.ci.tucson.az.us/stormwater/

downloads/2006WaterHarvesting.pdf

A nod of recognition to local commercial businesses leading he way in green building.

David E. Shambach, Architect, Inc. announces the new veterinary facilities for Central Animal Hospital, 4020 East Speedway Blvd., have received a Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) GOLD certification through the U.S. Green Building Council.

This LEED certification is one of the first awarded to a veterinary hospital in the United States. The building received 47 points out of 69 possible. The new facilities are the result of a major renovation of a 1980s-era auto parts store that was converted to a modern, state-of-the-art, energy- and water-efficient veterinary hospital. The project incorporates natural daylight, a high-efficiency heating- and air-conditioning system, automatic ambiance controls, solar energy generation and water harvesting designed to reduce energy consumption by 42 percent and water consumption by 30 percent. The indoor environment of the facility was designed and constructed to be healthier and less toxic for both humans and animals alike.

Central Animal Hospital is owned and operated by Michael Samuels, DVM and Judy Miller, DVM and was designed by the Tucson architecture firm, David E. Shambach, Architect, Inc., 1202 E. Broadway Blvd. in Tucson.

The Green Valley Fire District has the first LEED Silver certified fire station in the Green Valley and Sahuarita area. The District held a grand opening and public open house in April 2010 to show the station’s efficient features.

The new 14,000 square foot station, located at 250 N. La Canada Drive in Green Valley, replaces an older, smaller station and will allow the District to better serve residents and to prepare for future growth in the District. The building is certified with the U.S. Green Building Council’s Leadership in Environmental and Energy Design (LEED) program. Some of the station’s efficient features include a unique building block designed to raise the insulation factor, solar heated water, additional windows to allow natural lighting and many other features, all of which will significantly reduce energy costs. Built by Lang Wyatt Construction, the station was designed by Welman Sperides Mickelberg Architects to be a part of the community’s critical infrastructure and accommodate long-term future growth.

The District also maximized efficiency and reduced taxpayer costs by designing and building the station in conjunction with another new station (Station 155 in the Quail Creek area). By simultaneously building two stations, the District reduced administrative and overhead costs in the design, engineering and construction phases.

“The new station is a win-win for the community because of the cost savings, preparation for expedient response times and reduced impact on the environment.” said Fire Chief Simon Davis.

Send new LEED certified commercial announcements to: editor @ tucsongreentimes.com.

Tucson Green Times – July 2010

The choice of eating organic in America is frequently associated with a kind of “food elitism.” But some people need to rely on good information and reliable food sources. In some families, organic is a nutrition preference that may ensure a healthier life for a developing fetus or moderate the behavioral impact of someone with autism.

At farmers markets in Southern Arizona, the “organic” question often yields an answer that is not a simple “yes” or “no.”

“Each customer has a different idea of what organic is – is it local, eco-conscious, healthy?” says Adam Valdivia, a partner in the local Sleeping Frog Farms which supplies fresh produce to Tucson area customers through farmers markets, restaurants and the Food Conspiracy Co-op.

“We’re not certified organic, but we do use organic methods,” continues Valdivia. “For example, we use only OMRI listed products.”

OMRI (Organic Materials Review Institute) is a national nonprofit organization that determines which products are allowed for use in organic growing, production and processing. Only OMRI-listed or approved botanical and non-toxic chemical products may be used in operations that are certified organic under the USDA National Organic Program. (www.omri.org).

Valdivia notes that, for many customers, “local” is an important factor when it comes to buying produce, though he acknowledges that organic certification might add “another layer of security” for people who don’t know the farmer they’re buying from. “We have an open door policy,” he says. “We encourage people to ‘come see for yourself’ [how we grow].”

And apparently the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) – currently the “guardian” of the National Organic Program – shares that philosophy. The agency introduced a new policy for their programs last September, called “Know Your Farmer, Know Your Food.”

Many food-conscious people have taken the time to learn about the American food supply and have become educated about the pros and cons of eating certain foods –organic, natural and traditionally processed.

Over the last two decades, the word “organic” has become an important label. Ten years ago, USDA began enforcing standards of the National Organic Program (NOP), created by Congress in 1990. It took 12 years of drafts and public hearings to develop the federal regulations now used to oversee national organic food production, labeling and interstate commerce under this voluntary program. “Organic” is now defined in U.S. law, which also limits who can and cannot use the word in describing their food products.

The green and white USDA Organic label is on many foods, both domestic and imported. For consumers, that label means the food is free of most synthetic chemicals like fertilizer, pesticides, antibiotics or food additives.

Certified organic food also is free of genetically modified organisms (GMOs), and has not been treated with radiation or come into contact with sewage sludge. Organic standards also require that farmland has been free of synthetic chemicals for three or more years prior to certification.

In the U.S., federal legislation defines three levels of organics:

• 100% Organic: Products made entirely with certified organic ingredients and methods – this category may also display the USDA organic seal.
• Organic: Products with at least 95% organic ingredients – this category may also display the USDA organic seal.
• Made with organic ingredients: Products containing a minimum of 70% organic ingredients. In addition, these products may also display the logo of the certification body that approved them. Products made with less than 70% organic ingredients cannot advertise this information to consumers and can only mention this fact in the product’s ingredient statement.

Once harvested, the handling of organically grown products must be segregated from other foods not grown organically during transport, storage and display – a requirement intended to prevent contamination by pesticides or other elements of non-organic production in nearby fruits, vegetables or other raw products. This requirement is less of a concern when buying direct from the farmer, unless the farmer also “resells” products from other local food producers not using organic farming principles.

The small farmers typically found at local farmers markets have to deal with a more practical conundrum. Can they afford to be “certified organic”? The answer for many is no.

Organic certification under the USDA program can be an expensive process for a small business person who might generate a modest gross income each year selling products directly to customers. The process to get USDA organic certification, or to maintain necessary records after becoming certified, is also time-consuming – not a chore that fits easily into the routines or contingencies of a farmer for whom long days are the norm.

Some small farmers who are not certified organic are confident in their own natural and organic growing methods, and may suggest they are “beyond organic,” though there is no definition for the term.

Even “natural” – a common label for all types of food – actually means little; there is no common definition for most natural food products or methods. The single exception is meat and poultry, where the USDA’s Food Safety Inspection Service requires that the finished products be minimally processed and free of artificial colors, flavors, sweeteners and preservatives. Unlike certified organic requirements (which maintain standards for soil and growing methods as well as limiting synthetic inputs to food), there is no “natural” standard for the process of growing the “natural” meat or poultry product.

There are numerous organically certified operations in Southern Arizona, such as Willcox, Arizona’s English Family Farms or Briggs & Eggers orchards, or former hydroponic operator Sunizona, which converted to vegan/organic production and received USDA organic certification in early 2010.

For the dedicated organic consumer in search of a local Certified Organic producer, the USDA does not yet maintain an integrated list of organically certified producers. Instead, they provide a list of their certifying agents (consultant organizations who actually do the review and oversight of applicants), with a link to each agent’s list of certified producers.

To locate a certified organic producer, watch for the organic label in conventional and natural food stores. Or check USDA’s online Agricultural Marketing Service (www.ams.usda.gov) for the 2008 List of Certified Operations. A recent check of the QAI (Quality Assurance International) list yielded 21 certified organic producers of crops in the state of Arizona. To find other organic producers, check the lists of other certifying agents on the same web site.

Or get to know your farmer.

Author: Judith Mattson is an experienced home cook and freelance writer with a lifelong passion for “all things food.”  A resident of Tucson, her previous career focused on regulatory affairs within the healthcare industry.

Organic Factoids

• A report prepared by the Economic Research Service of the USDA, notes that the U.S. had under a million acres of certified organic farmland when Congress passed the Organic Foods Production Act of 1990. By the time USDA implemented national organic standards in 2002, certified organic farmland had doubled, and doubled again between 2002 and 2005. Organic livestock sectors have grown even faster. The Organic Trade Association reports that organic food sales have increased from $3.6 billion in 1997 to $24.6 billion in 2008.
• The Organic Trade Association (www.ota.com), formed in 1985, represents large organic growers and processors in the United States and Canada. On the other side of the table, the grassroots-based Organic Consumers Association (www.organicconsumers.org), formed in 1998 and shares public oversight of the National Organic Program among other issues related to food sustainability.

Federal Regulations for National Organic Program (7CFR205.2) limits the term, as follows:

• Organic. A labeling term that refers to an agricultural product produced in accordance with the Act and the regulations in this part.
• Organic production. A production system that is managed in accordance with the Act and regulations in this part to respond to site-specific conditions by integrating cultural, biological, and mechanical practices that foster cycling of resources, promote ecological balance, and conserve biodiversity.

Tucson Green Times – June 2010

The Arizona Research Institute for Solar Energy (AzRise) got its start in January 2007 at a governor’s meeting which concluded the state needed to fund more research on alternative energy. Taking this cue, in August 2007 the University of Arizona decided solar energy was important enough to fund research.

The combination of rising energy prices, the need to reduce carbon dioxide emissions, and the call for energy security in the national interest, all came together to create a critical need to expand our use of clean, renewable energy such as solar.

So UA created AzRise as a mechanism to fund research and partnerships in solar energy with the goal of driving innovative solar energy solutions. It began with faculty submitted proposals for funding, and went from there. After receiving state funding, the University added a “TRIF” (Technology Research Initiative Fund) provided by the University of Arizona Board of Regents. AzRise is led by co-directors Joseph H. Simmons and Ardeth M. Barnhart.

So what is the function of AzRise? Barnhart says the organization “represents a way for the outside world to connect with researchers at the University to create programs with a partner on the outside like a business or organization,” in the field of solar energy.

“We directly sponsor and direct programs,” says Barnhart. “One such program is a current solar desalinization program. We also conduct seminars and programs for outreach and work with students. We are also beginning to do work in other areas, including wind and biofuels.”

Outreach and Education

One example of AzRISE’s outreach programs was the recent conference in April 2010. Titled “The Role of Energy Efficiency In A Robust Economy,” two leading experts in national energy policy were featured speakers. John Laitner, Director of Economic and Social Analysis for the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy (ACEEE), and Jeff Schlegl, Southwest Energy Efficiency Project (SWEEP), spoke before an audience of nearly 100 at the University of Arizona, highlighting the economic potential of energy efficiency.

Barnhart opened the seminar, noting, “There is an emerging body of evidence which compels a significantly greater attention to the critical role of energy efficiency and renewable energy investments in maintaining a more productive and more prosperous economy.”

Jeff Schlegel, who heads SWEEP, echoed Barnhart. SWEEP is the primary advocate supporting the Energy Efficiency Standard in Arizona, requiring 20 perent energy savings by 2020. This standard was adopted in Arizona earlier this year by the Arizona Corporation Commission (ACC). Schlegel stressed that Arizona is within reach of attaining this standard, and “could reduce customers’ energy bills between 10-50 percent, create 12,000 new jobs for the state by 2025, and would keep the energy economy in Arizona.”

Research and Development

Current research at AzRise is focused on photovoltaic research and specific “seed” projects.

In photovoltaics, AzRise focuses on improving conversion efficiency, reducing cost and increasing module reliability while reducing environmental impact. These three components are critical to the development of an industry that promises to revolutionize the world of energy generation. AzRISE research has focused on processing method and material design working closely with economic analysis, while their policy program has focused on developing manufacturing clusters and developing policy that will fuel demand and reduce cost through increased manufacturing volume. The photovoltaic industry measures progress in angstroms, nanometers and microvolts, and AzRise has worked in partnership with other organizations to develop the basic science and measurement systems that allow for improvements in every area, from junction design (the actual photovoltaic circuit), through the materials used to make the cells, the materials for wiring between the cells, and the sunlight absorption efficiency of the materials.

AzRise also studies the production methods, looking for ways to improve the processing systems, the materials design and the production methods, as well as manufacturing systems and marketing.

From initial design, through manufacturing, sales, installation, and ultimate recycling, AzRise is a major contributor to the cutting edge of photovoltaic design, with the ultimate goal of aiding the spread and implementation of solar energy as a viable energy system, locally, nationally, and worldwide.

Solar Car Prototype

As just one of its projects, AzRise has been working with the U of A team to develop an urban solar car prototype. The vehicle is an urban concept car that runs on a hybrid solar/battery fuel system. Matt Gindlesparger, AzRISE advisor for the student team said, “The team was very successful in improving the results on the race track each day.  They started by posting fuel efficiency equivalency of 700 miles per gallon and increased that to a best of more than 3,149 miles per gallon.”

The car competed in the Shell Eco-marathon, which took place on March 26 through March 28 in Houston, Texas, finishing tenth out of 24.

Partnerships At Azrise

AzRise has created partnerships with a host of companies, organizations, and government entities to promote research and development of solar energy. Some of these partnerships include utilities such as Arizona Public Service (APS), Tucson Electric Power Company (TEP), PAG (The Pima Association of Governments), Solon America Corporation, Sunpower International, Inc. , PV Recycling, LLC , National Semi Conductor Corp., Global Solar Energy Inc. General Plasma Inc. and many others. The goal of these partnerships is to support the development of cutting-edge research to overcome the critical technical obstacles in the utilization of solar energy and stimulate solar energy development, creating a bridge to bring these results into the world.

Looking out over the next few years, Ardeth says “our goals are to really build on the research programs to increase funding for renewable energy at the University of Arizona., to stimulate students to get active with renewable energy through graduate and undergraduate courses in renewable energy and to get solar energy and storage demonstration sites throughout the state of Arizona.”

Author: Geoffrey Baker is a local freelance writer.

WHO TO CONTACT

www.azrise.org

AzRISE is located at the Arizona Materials Laboratory

4715 E. Fort Lowell Road

520.322.2970

By Susan Feathers

Tucson Green Times – June 2010

Part of learning how to live on Earth involves coming to terms with intractable problems. These appear to be immoveable, permanent features of “the world.” Poverty is one of these and environmental degradation is another.

The idea that we cannot grow without destroying our most important resources is one disempowering idea that keeps creating environmental disasters and economic hardship.

Ideas that disenable people persist where discernment has vanished. “People of the forward stampede” is a term coined by E.F. Schumacher, British economist and international development leader, to describe cultures that support economic growth without regard for people and nature. Schumacher demonstrated that scale in business is critical to remaining within ecological and human relation patterns that promote health, wealth, and renewal (Small is Beautiful, Economics as if People Mattered, 1973).

Schumacher demonstrated that a business with more than 500 employees is less efficient than smaller corporations. Respect for the value of human ingenuity is an example of factors he considered in his economic analyses.

Wendell Berry, a Kentucky farmer and influential ecologist and writer, offers these characteristics of agricultural practices that not only sustain but actively promote healthy communities. They transfer well to other areas of our current economy. From The Gift of Good Land, 1982 – see what you think:

“A bad solution is bad because it acts destructively upon the larger patterns in which it is contained. It acts destructively upon those patterns most likely, because it is formed in ignorance or disregard of them … a good solution is good because it is in harmony with the larger patterns.”

Good solutions:

• Accept given limits
• Accept the limits of discipline (i.e. agricultural problems are solved by agriculture not technology)
• Improve the balances, symmetries, or harmonies within a pattern
• Solve more than one problem
• Will satisfy a whole range of criteria
• Embody a clear distinction between the biological and the mechanical
• Have wide margins
• Answer the question, “how much is enough?”
• Should be cheap and should not enrich one person by the distress or impoverishment of another
• Exist in proof
• Imitate the structure of natural systems
• Are good for all parts of a system
• Preserve the integrity and pattern that contains it
• Are in harmony with good character, cultural value, and moral law.

Many readers may find the list restrictive, especially since we have raised technological innovation to a level of worship in the United States. However, after weeks of watching British Petroleum throw mud, golf balls and old tires at a broken oil pipe, we as a people have cause to reconsider that notion.

Frances Moore Lappé published a small book last year that is a useful guide for our times – a way out of perpetuating ecological disasters and a guide to a new yet prosperous way to live and do business. Liberation Ecology (2010) examines six disempowering ideas that keep us from achieving the balance we seek with nature and ourselves. Go to Small Planet Institute online (smallplanet.org) to find this and a trove of other gems like it by one of this generation’s greatest thinkers and humanitarians.

Get a grip on a new time with the freshness of a child exploring the world for the first time.

Author: Susan Feathers is a freelance writer and educational consultant. Her essays have appeared in newspapers, journals and blogs.

Tuson Green Times – June 2010

Taking the bus instead of driving saves fuel and money, reduces your carbon footprint and cuts down on traffic congestion. SunTran’s fleet uses 100 percent Compressed Natural Gas (which produces less emissions than petrol), Biodiesel fuel or hybrid technology. The buses are also equipped with bike racks, so cyclists can bike one way to a destination and catch the bus home, or cut down on travel time to and from the bus stop.

This summer, get together with friends and family and plan a day trip or weekend outing in Tucson by bus instead of your car. Here are a few ideas to get you started on a fun day – but first, take a look at the SunTran system map (www.suntran.com) to find out which routes are convenient to you.

Discover Nature in Tohono Chul Park

Getting There: Take the #16 Bus 12th Avenue / Oracle Road. This bus line is accessible via the Ronstadt Transit Center and the Roy Laos Transit Center. Get off at the intersection of Ina and ‪N. Paseo Del Norte‬ Road, just west of the Oracle Road and Ina Road intersection.

Tohono Chul Park is one of Tucson’s treasures. Award-winning Tohono has been named one of the World’s Great Botanical Gardens by Travel + Leisure and listed by National Geographic Traveler as one of the top 22 Secret Gardens in the U.S. and Canada. Nestled on nearly 50 acres in the northwest corridor, the untouched desert landscape is teeming with native plants and critters, and the botanical garden offers serene walking trails with daily tours and nature education for all ages, including free birding lectures on Saturdays throughout June. Eat breakfast or brunch in the Tohono Chul Tea Room’s lovely courtyard against panoramic views of the Catalina mountains, and use your meal receipt to receive two-for-one admission to the park grounds. Cool off in one of the park’s two indoor gallery spaces, and browse local and southwestern themed art exhibits. For more information visit www.tohonochulpark.org.

Find Coolness in the Lost Barrio

Getting There: Take the # 6Bus S. Park Avenue / N. 1st Avenue or the #2 Bus Cherrybell / S. Country Club. Both bus lines are accessible via the Ronstadt and Roy Laos Transit centers. On the #2 get off at Broadway and Euclid on the east side of the highway. On the #6 Bus get off at Park and 18th Street on the west side of the highway, or at Euclid and 12th Street on the east side of the highway.

The Lost Barrio, just a half-mile south of downtown Tucson, is more hidden than lost, and is a great area to escape the summer heat and discover plenty of quaint shops, markets, artist studios and eateries. A three-block neighborhood of renovated red brick warehouses offers cool spaces to explore. Some highlights on Park Avenue, just south of Broadway, include Tooley’s Cafe, a homestyle breakfast and lunch spot; Eclectic Flea, a vibrant thrift store in an old adobe home; Colonial Frontiers, importer of rare furniture and accessories from around the world; and Eastern Living, featuring 19th Century Chinese antiques and textiles.

At Roma imports, on Vine Street South of 16th, you can shop for imported cheeses, meats and other Italian specialties or grab a delicious sandwich. Crossing over to the west side of Aviation Highway, there’s more food shopping available at the 17th Street Market, which carries organic foods alongside gifts and home goods, as well as a music store. And, before catching the bus back home, stop by the Barrio Brewing Company for beer freshly brewed on-site, pub fare and a view from the outdoor deck of the freight-trains passing by (perfect for kids).

Romp in Reid Park

Take the #17 bus Country Club / 29th Street, the #15 bus Campbell Avenue, the #1 bus Glenn / Swan or the #7 bus 22nd Street. The #1 and #7 buses are available at the Ronstadt Transit Center and the #15 bus is available at the Tohono Tadai Transit Center. For all bus routes, get off at the intersection of Country Club and 22nd Street.

Pack a picnic basket or portable grill and spend some quality family time under the shady trees and Ramadas in Reid park. The verdant 131-acre site features playing fields, bike trails, a dog park, duck pond with a trickling stream and fountain, a rose garden and a miniature train ride the kids will love. Reid Park Zoo is tucked in the center of the park and houses some impressive animals in cage-free habitats. Enjoy a refreshing ice cream cone from one of the many truck vendors in the park, or in the Zoo’s cafe before hopping on the bus to head home. For more information visit http://cms3.tucsonaz.gov/parksandrec/

Hike Tumamoc Hill

Take #3 Bus 6th Street / Wilmot, available via the Ronstadt Transit Center. Get off at the intersection of Silverbell and Anklam near St. Mary’s Hospital.

During the summer season, early morning and dusk are the two most comfortable – and beautiful – times to enjoy Tucson outdoors. Take a hike up Tumamoc Hill, which is three miles round trip up a paved walkway scaling a 700-foot hill in the heart of Tucson. Many of the hill’s ancient wonders as well as abundant plant and animal life, are visible from the walkway. The climb becomes very steep at times, so it can be a rigorous exercise. From the top you can see Sentinel Peak, all of downtown and the surrounding mountain ranges. When the sun sets behind the Tucson Mountains, the view is fantastic – take a flashlight if you plan a sunset hike. Tumamoc Hill currently houses the University of Arizona’s Desert Laboratory, founded by the Carnegie Institute in 1903 to better understand how plants adapt to arid desert environments. The hill has much historical significance as it was once home to the ancient Hohokam and is a celebrated archaeological site, featuring terraced hillsides, walls, petroglyphs and small circular pit structures, some dating back to 300 B.C. The trail is open to hikers on weekdays before 7:30 a.m. and after 5:30 p.m. and all day on the weekends.

Author: Britt Brouse is a local freelance writer.

WHY TAKE THE BUS?

It’s Environmentally Friendly

According to the American Public Transportation Association (APTA):

- For every passenger mile traveled, public transportation is twice as fuel efficient as private automobiles.

- Public Transportation is estimated to reduce CO2 emissions by 37 million metric tons annually

- Public Transportation saves the U.S. the equivalent of 4.2 billion gallons of gasoline annually – more than 11 million gallons of gasoline per day.

It’s Wallet Friendly

- Regular SunTran fare is $1.25 and children under five ride for free. There are economy fare options for seniors, low income and disabled passengers.

- The average household spends .18 cents per dollar on transportation, and 94 percent of this goes to buying, maintaining and operating cars.

- Households that use public transportation save an average of $6,251 every year.

It’s Safe

-The National Safety Council estimates that riding the bus is 170 times safer than traveling by car.

Tucson Green Times – June 2010

The facts are alarming: bottled water drinkers are now in the majority in the U.S. and, according to a National Resources Defense Council study, bottled is not necessarily healthier than tap. Actually, nearly 40 percent of bottled waters are just tap water sporting a pretty label.

Americans consumed 31.2 billion liters of the stuff in 2006. (One liter equals about 33 fluid ounces.) The International Bottled Water Association says each of us drinks about 29 gallons annually.

The environmental impacts are staggering. Scientists estimate that three tons of carbon dioxide are produced by each ton of polyethylene terephthalate (PET) since it is produced from fossil fuels, meaning water bottles add 2.5 million tons of CO2 emissions to the atmosphere each year, while just making (not transporting) those bottles uses roughly 17 million barrels of oil annually.

Home treatment is a better way to go.

What’s in your water? Whether you’re part of a municipal water system or have a private well, the quality of the incoming water will determine the options for home treatment.

For a complete water analysis, have tests run by an independent laboratory. Find a certified lab by contacting the Pima County Health Department (520) 243-7770 or via the agency’s website, www.pimahealth.org. There also are on-line testing services. These send containers and you take samples, then ship them off for analysis. The largest Internet testing service is www.uldrinkwell.com, an offshoot of Underwriters Laboratories. There are many others. Use one certified either by the Environmental Protection Agency (www.epa.gov/safewater/labs) or by Arizona’s Department of Health Services (www.azdhs.gov/lab/license/env.htm).

The Options

Test results in hand, you’ll know precisely what’s in your water. If it’s municipal water, likely all is well in terms of contaminants, yet the taste or odor may be unpleasant. Well water users often find high levels of naturally occurring contaminants (notably arsenic) or dangerous organics (e.coli and/or oocytes) that need prompt remediation. Whatever the diagnosis, remember, no water problem is incurable.

Charcoal Filters. Available as easy-to-install faucet filters and in pitcher form, carbon effectively removes odor and some common contaminants. These are very popular alternatives for removal of the chlorine/chloramines taste common to municipal waters. Charcoal filters are inexpensive and easy to install. Follow the manufacturers’ guidelines for filter replacement as contaminants gather steadily in the unit over time. Some devices have color-changing filter lifespan indicators.

Distillation. These units boil water so contaminants drop out as steam rises. The steam condenses upon cooling and becomes particulate-free drinking water. Although some prefer its mineral-free taste, most bottled water buyers choose a level of minerals between 30-100 parts per million (ppm); distilled water usually has between 0-10 ppm. Residential countertop distillers can be either freestanding or plumbed directly into the home’s water supply.

UltraViolet Disinfection. Well water may contain dangerous mold or fungi spores, viruses or bacteria. Ultra violet light destroys these organisms by penetrating the cell wall and deactivating the DNA. The UV bulb, which sits in a quartz sleeve, will need annual replacement. Home units are available as either whole-house decontaminators or point-of-use devices (placed only at the drinking and cooking faucets). The contaminants in the water and the home’s maximum flow rate will determine if a UV product is right for your house. Seek the advice of a water treatment professional.

Softening. Besides the high calcium/magnesium salts in our water, there also are iron and copper particles contributing to its taste. These minerals are all insoluble, so they build up in pipes and appliances and around the top of your swimming pool as a hard white scale. They also prevent soaps from lathering.

If your tap water is hard but of good quality, a standard home water softener will create drinking water with a lower mineral content. In fact, if you let the water treatment technician know which brand of bottled water you prefer, they can calibrate your softener to produce the same ppm to give you the same taste.

Softeners consist of a timer or use gauge and tanks filled with zeolite minerals or ion exchange resins. Calcium and magnesium adhere to those substances, leaving the water. To clean the resin so it can do that again, salt is introduced. The sodium ions swap places with the minerals on the resin; the minerals go down the drain. Besides soft water’s taste and having real lather when you shampoo, your home’s plumbing system and appliances will enjoy a longer lifespan.

Reverse Osmosis. Residential reverse osmosis (RO) units use a series of cartridges to purify incoming tap water via nano or ultra filtration. Typically, the RO unit is under the sink and plumbed to a separate faucet, or to the refrigerator’s ice maker and water dispenser. They diffuse water through a semi-permeable membrane with microscopic pores; the vast majority of contaminants cannot pass through and are thereby separated from the water. Three-, four- and five- stage units are available; some also contain a UV sterilizer. Consult a water treatment professional for advice.

Bulk water. If bottled water use is one end of the spectrum and home water treatment is the other, water stores are a sustainable middle ground between the two. Most, but not all, use a multi-stage treatment process combining ion exchange, granulated activated carbon, reverse osmosis, secondary carbon filtration, ultra-filtration and ozonation.

Mark Hansen, owner of Water Street Station in Tucson, Ariz. explains the idea of his “drive thru” water business. “The individual liter bottles are obviously not an economical way to buy water or use resources, perhaps more so when people began buying them in quantity,” he says. His customers can pull right up and get purified water-to-go in large economical 100 percent re-useable five-gallon polycarbonate (not PET) bottles. Once home, they can decant into re-useable portable bottles, pitchers and the like, or use a cooler base or spigot directly from the bottles. Hanson uses a multi-stage treatment process in his water combining ion exchange, granulated activated carbon, reverse osmosis, secondary carbon filtration, ultra-filtration and ozonation.

Freestanding Water Dispensers. There are residential versions of the water machines commonly found outside of supermarkets. They utilize a variety of technologies to provide contaminant-free, good tasting water. Softening, RO, carbon, UV and ozonation may all be within an attractive freestanding unit that can be directly plumbed. Research production capabilities (gallons per hour or per day) and other features such as ice dispensers, ice water or boiling water for beverages. In fact, there are even water machines that create water out of thin air – air with sufficient humidity, that is. Sophisticated condensers pull water out of the air, purify it and dispense it.

A water treatment professional can offer specific advice. Be sure they are a member of the Water Quality Association (WQA), a national trade organization committed to providing the best quality water through expanding technology and continuing education; member dealers will use only certified equipment.

Whichever option you select, you’ll be joining a growing number of people opting for sustainable water treatment. Reduced landfill use, less reliance on oil by-products and a smaller carbon footprint are some of the larger benefits. As a rule of thumb, the larger the system and the more steps it has, the more expensive it will be, but the return-on-investment is rapid in light of the true cost of bottled water, both personally and planet-wide.

Author: Karen R. Smith is a local freelance writer.

First place winners in the Homeowner Category are David and Barbara Wrench, whose residential botanic garden approach has resulted in a beautiful, functional setting with enhanced views and good use of water harvesting. The diversity of unusual and low water use plants provides interest at every turn.

Second Place in the Homeowner category was awarded to Phil and Bev Waystack, whose landscape creates a comfortable setting using drought-tolerant plants. In keeping with the spirit of Xeriscape, the plants chosen can survive on rainwater alone.

The Judges’ Award for “Public Interpretation of Xeriscape” went to homeowners Andrew Wedel and Adam Ussishkin for their efforts to educate the community using their seasonally changing garden to set the stage for communication of the principles of Xeriscape. Their innovative water-harvesting system is pure genius.

First Place in the professionally designed residential category went to Shelly Ann Abbott of Landscape Design West, LLC for the Fosdick residence. Hardscape design and plant selections make a strong statement in this xeric wildlife garden that was converted from an aging high-water-use landscape.

In the Public Works category, First Place was awarded to the City of Tucson Department of Transportation for the Prudence Road median strip, which is a fine example of landscaping without supplemental irrigation. With resources shrinking, this kind of approach to landscaping is truly prudent.

Westland Resources claimed the judge’s special award for “Exemplary Community Cooperation and Education” for the Davidson Education Garden at Davidson Elementary School, TUSD. Many people came together to make this enhancement to the school and the neighborhood, and Westland Resources led the way, from master plan to implementation. TUSD and Tucson Parks and Recreation now maintain the gardens, with Westland Resources providing input when necessary.

The prestigious J.D. Di Meglio “Artistry in Landscaping” award was given to homeowner Sheilah Jaramillo for her imaginative, yet comfortable garden area tied together with sculptures made of adobe.

Manzo Elementary School, TUSD, received the coveted “Community Xeriscape Leadership” award for the Manzo Sonoran Desert Biome.  Over the years, Manzo Elementary has led community workshops in rainwater harvesting and native habitat creation, and currently implements water conservation and native plant curriculum at every grade level.

By Patti Podgornik

Tucson Green Times – June 2010

In one of my earliest columns I wrote about my personal balance sheet for sustainable living. I try to balance my daily activities so if I have something to do that isn’t very sustainable I can find some way to balance it out with sustainable activities. I still have days where I can make it work and sometimes even create a bit of “extra credit” for sustainable living. I also have days when I’m not going to balance out, no way, no how. Those days are emotionally challenging.

To help me become more socially sustainable and feel more personally balanced, I’ve revised my process by adding four new categories to my balance sheet: risk taking, raising the bar, respect and social issues.

Risk Taking. I challenge myself to take greaer risks in my beliefs, and to speak up, speak louder and with a balanced, centered voice from the place in my heart that holds my wisdom. I’ve come to realize that if I don’t take these risks, the price others pay is too high for my consciousness to live with.

Raising the Bar. I realize I have a responsibility to set and meet higher standards. Imagine a world where people take responsibility for mistakes, everyone learns from those mistakes, and creatively and wisely fixes them. Imagine a world where people don’t fear other people out of ignorance, mistrust or misinformation. We’re all responsible for raising the bar and participate in creating a healthy, sustainable world.

Respect. It’s vitally important to respect where I am from moment to moment and not judge myself or be harsh with what I do or don’t do. As long as I’m creative, challenging myself and being true to who I am, then that’s a good thing.

Additionally, I need to respect where others are from moment to moment, too. I have no idea what someone else’s situation is, where their heart is, what their life experiences are. I have the right to expect the bar to be set high, but I also have the responsibility to reach out my hand to meet others where they are with kindness, compassion, tolerance and a willingness to learn about someone else and share myself with them so we can understand our diverse world that is rooted in one planet.

Social Issues. By social issues I mean things like education, tolerance, sharing, compassion, partnership, respectful and meaningful dialogue, respect for self and others, a caring economy, the world, to name a few issues. Some argue that we need to separate social issues out from such things as politics and governing. We ARE social beings. We can’t separate social issues from anything else because everything and everyone is interconnected. That’s how it works. I now pay closer attention to these issues and make sure they show up in my thoughts, feelings, actions and on my sustainable balance sheet. If you have compassion for anyone or anything, then you have the capacity and responsibility to create a better world. And that’s an important part of creating sustainability.

This journey will ebb and flow. We need to learn how to ride the waves that challenge us and catch the waves that support us. Creative problem solving combined with compassion and the willingness to take the risks that matter will help us all grow and learn. Eventually we will all find ways to truly see our fears, let them go and open our hearts to one another to create wise dialogue that knows no boundaries of illusion, color, ethnicity, or gender, but rather sees the truth, the beauty, and the soul of all life. This is a wave that can help create a healthy, sustainable world.

Author: Patti Podgornik studies nature, partnership, ancient wisdoms, being green and living a simpler, more sustainable life.

Tucson Green Times – June 2010

Not only is the City of Tucson’s Reid Park Zoo home to 500 exotic animals, it is also home to a rather rare and exotic building. Located near the southwest corner of the zoo grounds, the Lee H. Brown Family Conservation Learning Center is one of only six LEED Platinum buildings in the state and was the first for any zoo or aquarium.

Developed by the U.S. Green Building Council, LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) is a building rating system that measures energy savings, water efficiency, CO2 emissions, indoor environmental quality, and stewardship of resources and materials. LEED is a points-based system and there are four levels of certification: Certified, Silver, Gold and Platinum. In most cases, reaching enough points to achieve a Platinum certification is an extremely challenging task.

Vivian VanPeenen, curator of education, was part of the building project team. “We are a conservation organization and having a LEED Platinum building was an opportunity, particularly because it’s an education building, to set an example not just to our community but to ourselves that we can really make conservation a priority,” she says.

Certified in 2008, the 10,000-square-foot facility is used for exhibit space, classrooms and offices. The building is a lesson in sustainable architecture. Graphics around the space talk about how it was built and how it is a responsible type of construction. The current ground floor exhibit focuses on sustainability and green design as compared to animal adaptations.

VanPeenen says the exhibit displays are loose interpretations but teach about both animals and green building. She refers to dragons as an example: “We have bearded dragons at the zoo and they will warm up on dark colored rocks during the day and cool off on light colored rocks,” she says. “We use that to talk about roof color and how – in Tucson – having a light roof helps reflect heat just like the bearded dragons.”

Perhaps the most obvious green feature are the roof-top solar panels donated by TEP. Because of building orientation, insulation and a design that maximizes daylight, the building uses 75 percent less energy compared to a building of typical quality construction of the same size. Forty-eight percent of the electricity used is generated by the grid-tied solar panels. The remaining power is purchased using green energy credits from TEP. Thanks to fundraising done by the zoo’s teen volunteers, VanPeenen says, “We prepaid with green credits, so we won’t be using any non-green power for the first five years.”

Susan Basford, the zoo administrator says, “We think of ourselves as a conservation organization and, as such, we wanted to put our money where our mouth is. We said, ‘Let’s walk the talk. Let’s be as conservation-minded as we possibly can with this building.’ We made a commitment to each other and to the architecture team that we would do everything we possibly could to ensure that we got the Platinum certification.”

Water conservation was very important to the project team. Aside from water used in washing machine, every drop of water is either perused or reused.

The butterfly-shaped roof captures all of the rainwater and delivers it to a giant cistern in front of the building. Along with two smaller cisterns, the building can store up 2,800 gallons at a time and any overflow feeds into the flamingo pond. Reclaimed water from the existing system in the park is used to flush toilets and hose down sidewalks. A graywater system captures water from hand washing sinks and water fountains and recharges the groundwater system. The parking lot was constructed with pervious concrete so any water that falls on it is also returned to the groundwater supply. The building uses only about half the amount of potable water of what a comparable building without the water conservation features would use.

The selection of building materials is also a component of the LEED rating system. Twenty-four percent of the building materials contain recycled content, seven percent were salvaged and 38 percent were locally sourced within a 500-mile radius.

“We harvested as many things locally as we could,” says VanPeenen. “Where the building stands now used to be a thick lush bamboo area. We cut that bamboo down, dried it, left it on the site for the year that the building was being constructed and ended up stringing it together to form the fences that are on site today.”

Just this year, the zoo’s café – Taste of the Wild – was remodeled with sustainability in mind as well. Owned and operated by an outside vendor, the Zoofari Market was converted from an outdoor walk-up window to an indoor dining hall with an expanded menu.

General Manager Jason Stover, says, “As a company, we have a new green mission in which we’re trying to perform our business in a more green fashion. When we started this project, we decided that it was going to be a starting point for us and play around with green features and, from this point on, when we do renovations in other zoos we can take this and build upon it.”

Recycled concrete and countertops, nontoxic plaster, rapidly renewable bamboo and recycled art are a few of the green features that were used in the café renovation. All of the café’s cutlery, plates and bowls are corn-based and compostable.

Infrastructure is certainly important, but the animals are the main attraction at the zoo and conservation of species is also a crucial component.

Reid Park Zoo is a member of the American Zoo and Aquarium Association (AZA). AZA members must meet rigorous professional standards for animal welfare, veterinary care, wildlife conservation, scientific research, education, expert staffing and safety.

According to Basford, out of about 1,500 zoos in the U.S. only 210 are accredited. She says accreditation “holds us to very high standards, not only to husbandry but to exhibitry, customer service, education and conservation.” Visiting AZA-accredited zoos is a good way to confirm the zoo’s commitment to great animal care and a conservation ethic.

The Species Survival Plan (SSP) is one of the programs in which all AZA-accredited zoos participate, including Reid Park Zoo. SSPs allow zoos and aquariums to work together to do what’s best for an entire species, and can determine which animals are good breeding matches, even if those animals are at different zoos. SSP can also restrict breeding if the captive population gets too large, or encourage breeding if the population gets too small.

“It really means that you agree you are going to work with your colleagues to do what’s best for the viability of that population throughout the country in terms of captive animals,” says Basford.

Reid Park Zoo is home to many SSP animals, such as the giant anteater and the warty pig. VanPeenen says conservation is not always the first reason why people visit the zoo. They come to spend time outside with their family in a safe environment to appreciate the animals, but she says the zoo shares the conservation message with zoo visitors, “so they can continue to improve their own actions to positively impact wildlife. The only way that people will conserve animals and care about them is if they’re exposed to them.”

School’s out, it’s a great time to visit the zoo and there are lots of summer events planned. Summer Safari Nights with activities and music for both children and adults takes place every Friday evening through July 9 and a Father’s Day barbeque is scheduled for June 20. On the weekends all summer long, zoo members are invited to enjoy the zoo before it opens to public non-members and while the zoo keepers are preparing for the day.

Author: Gretel Hakanson is a local freelance writer.

Tucson Green Times – May 2010

I have known the man in the black fedora for 20 years, but I only just met him. When he called me to confirm our meeting, he sounded like an old friend – his voice and phrasing already familiar to me from years of watching his commercials and buying his recycled wares: “Hi, this is Bob, from Bookmans.”

Later, at his mid-town offices, the owner of one of the state’s most unlikely and enduring business enterprises sits in a leafy, permacultured backyard that used to be a parking lot. Flanked by a silver cylinder that catches rare rainwater, he wears that hat that made him famous and a matching black sport jacket. Is it a uniform, or the gear of a secret super hero? Or is it the armor of some counter-culture capitalist knight, worn to fend off the contradictions, ambivalence and disappointments that tend to blow back on those who  bet it all on Tucson, and Arizona?

Bob Oldfather made his big bet in 1976 when, at 25, he returned to his hometown from Colorado, gave up his plans to be an engineer, and founded Bookmans Entertainment Exchange in Tucson. More than 30 years later, his used-entertainment superstores, which eventually spread north from Tucson to Mesa and Phoenix and Flagstaff, have managed to side-step and survive, intact and thriving, the much publicized death of the locally owned bookstore industry. And he has done it all while holding firm to a philosophy that represented – until quite recently – an underground stream of American culture.

“We were green before green was cool,” he says, his calm and confident voice nearly overwhelmed by the chirping and flapping of the birds enjoying the trickling water and the tall, mature trees. “When I first started, used was not very cool; in fact, at Christmastime our business would tank, because people wouldn’t give used presents.”
By the 1980s a couple of things had changed, however. Oldfather found beauty, and women started dressing thrift-store chic. Oldfather credits Madonna’s early trashy-layers look with making used cool, and the trend trickled down to books and music.

It helped that shopping at Bookmans soon became a far cry from crawling around the average dusty and cramped paperback exchange.

“We really were the first to make used stores beautiful, stores that were equivalent in presentation to new stores,” he says. “We now are doing very well for two reasons. We are an inexpensive, relatively, entertainment value; secondly, our logo – ‘good for your pocket, good for the planet’ – well, people are into that now.”

Oldfather is the definition of the early adopter. Way back in the 1990s the few local owners of GM’s first electric car, the EV1, could boost up at a recharging station at Bookmans on Grant Rd. Now he’s installed a new generation charger at the same store, as that electric car revolution we’ve heard far-off rumblings of for so long appears to be getting closer.

In a workshop off of his patio, he shows me several rebuilt, shiny-wood electric cars from the 1930s that look like go-carts for rich boys.  A couple of guys who work for Bookmans also help him restore these forgotten artifacts of the American auto industry. He wants to open an electric car museum in Tucson someday, he says, as if it’s the most natural and sane idea ever considered.

“It’s all coming back again, and I could be in the position of saying, ah, screw this, it didn’t work the last time. But I don’t believe that,” he says. “Look at recycling: it didn’t make financial sense for many years; in fact, on some things it still doesn’t. But you’ve got to fake it until you make it.”

Put another way, somebody’s got to make the first move. Used to doing just that, Oldfather, at 59, is hot onto something new – another simple but potentially revolutionary idea that infected him last summer, sleepless in Alaska, his wife snoozing beside him. He shook her awake: Tucson is going to be The Solar City, he told her. “Get used to hearing that phrase,” he says, “because I’m going to push it relentlessly until it comes true.”

“I’m from the hippie era, and I do believe that when you visualize something, that’s when it happens,” he says.

But in nearly the same breath he launches into a very unhippie-like defense of money and business as social motivators.

“Who are the motivators of society now? Where is the financial horsepower? It’s really not government anymore,” he says. “Government’s more of a lagging indicator, especially with poll-driven government – they go which way the polls are going, they follow. Churches and schools don’t have the money and power that they once did. Really, all the power and the money is in business. If business doesn’t do it, who the hell is going to? Who the hell has the money? Who has the ear of the public? Business has an opportunity, for good or ill, to steer culture.”

And he wants to use however much of that power he has, not to mention his considerable environmental street cred, to create a world renowned solar industry and solar lifestyle in Tucson, a place where solar water heaters should have long ago become a “religion,” he says.

But I’ve heard all this before. We’ve heard it all for years. Tucson is going to be the Silicon Desert. Tucson is going to be the Transportation Hub of the Southwest. Tucson is going to be ….  There’s a reason they call it TooStoned.

Sure Tucson has a “certain malaise,” Oldfather admits.

“Tucson is kind of a funny place,” he says. “When I was kid, people came here to die. And it remains a place that people come to after they leave somewhere else: ‘I’m freezing tail up here in Minnesota, Tucson looks warm.’”

This has historically created a kind of local identity crisis, leaving the city without a strong image of who we are, he says.

“Who the hell are we? As soon as I say San Francisco, you understand the architecture, you know about the culture, you understand a ton about San Francisco, because they as a city have a very concrete idea of who they are,” he says. “Even Phoenix, which is not my choice of a place to live, decided they were going to be the L.A. of the desert, and they’ve done a very good job of it.”
Oldfather’s plan is to cure the Old Pueblo of this identity crisis. And his first move is to talk about it. All the time. To anyone who will listen.

“Right now we try to get any business we can to come here,” he says. “I say focus: if you are involved in solar in any way – manufacturing, assembly, repair, design – come to Tucson. Whether you make solar panels or solar watches, we want you here because we are the Solar City, and we are going to make it the best we possibly can for you. We have all the sun you could possibly need.”
Oldfather envisions a day when a sign will greet arriving passengers at the Tucson airport: “Welcome to Tucson: the Solar City.” There will be logos on police cars. There will be T-shirts. Tucson will be branded by the sun.

“This will be the epicenter of solar for this country, for the whole world. Why let Germany do it; why let Nevada; why let Texas?” he says. “Let’s just start an experiment. Let’s just append ‘The Solar City’ onto Tucson every time we say it. We can make a decision to work toward that, kind of like how Silicon Valley decided what it was going to be – they didn’t have to ask the government’s permission; they started a groundswell.”

Oldfather’s hoped-for groundswell doesn’t have a lot of momentum yet, he says, but he’s committed to pushing the idea as hard as he can. He says that right now he’s decided that “I’m just going to keep talking about it.”

“I love talking, there’s no doubt about that, and people tend to listen to me for whatever reason. So wherever I go, I’ll talk about it,” he says. “If we don’t do it, somebody else will.”

Author: Tim Hull is a local freelance writer and author of the Moon Handbook, “Arizona.”

MAKE A SUNSHINE CALL

Help Oldfather’s dream become a reality – throw in with Bob and call him at XXX-XXXX or email:

Tucson Green Times – May 2010

Today, while freelancers need little more than a laptop and Internet connection, a new trend offers a cross between home, work and a WiFi-equipped coffee shop.

Tim Bowen of Creative Slice, self-employed website designer and entrepreneur, found his perfect work solution - he now shares space at the highly sustainable retro yet modernized Spoke6. Photo by James Patrick.

Coworking is a new way of working that offers nomadic and home-bound freelancers the benefits a shared office environment.

According to the U.S. Census, there were to close to 22 million businesses in the U.S. without paid employees as of 2007. Anecdotal evidence suggests the number of self-employed people is increasing in Tucson as well. Local web developer, Tim Bowen recognized this trend and launched Spoke6, the first local coworking space.

Since starting his web development business, Creative Slice, seven years ago, Bowen says, “I’ve always wanted to work with other people and other designers specifically. Before starting my business, I worked for a large design firm. I loved the atmosphere there, working with other people and the creative energy.”
Located at 6th Avenue and 6th Street in the heart of the Warehouse Arts District, Spoke6 is housed in the historic Old Firestone building. With a distinctive curve of steel sash windows along its face, the building has been listed since 1999 on the National Register of Historic Places. The interior has been modernized into loft-like spaces with concrete floors, large windows and exposed brick walls and can comfortably accommodate about 15 people at a time. It’s a perfect setting for designers, consultants, writers, artists and others looking for a creative environment.

“The shared aspect of it is hugely sustainable,” says Bowen.  “It’s way more efficient than everyone having their own space because the heating, cooling and Internet usage are all shared. We incorporate sustainable practices in the office as well: the bulbs have been replaced with CFLs and LEDs, we participate in TEP’s Green Watts program, we use a Kill A Watt meter and have indoor bicycle storage.”

Other amenities include a conference room, showers, locker room, off-street parking, laser printer, coffee, tea and mail box service.

Lex Vilanova, a web developer and designer, uses Spoke6 as his primary place of work. “Culturally, we know that sustainability is ‘co-‘ everything. But the real value of coworking is not so much a logical connection. It’s the subtle synergy that can happen when two people are simply working and sharing a creative space,” he says. “Coworking, to me, is co-collaborating, co-creating, co-experimenting.”

Originally developed by a programmer in San Francisco in 2005, coworking offers a solution to the isolation that many freelancers experience while working at home, and allows them to escape the distractions of home or a café.

“I feel like I do better work here because there’s a better energy about it,” says Bowen. “Having other people around, I feel more accountable. Maybe my work is a little bit slower working here because of the distractions but it’s definitely better because of the collaboration.”

Lance Willett, a remote employee for the company behind WordPress, uses the space once a week. “I love the atmosphere, it gives me a nice mental break from my home office,” he says. “I also love the conversation and collaboration with the other folks there. We share ideas, tips and tricks, talk about what we’re working on, and discuss the latest trends in our industry.”

Spoke6 hosts events and rents the space for meetings and special events. Bowen also has been experimenting with a community-oriented idea dubbed “labs.” Local businesses can schedule a brainstorming session with the freelancers at the space.  In exchange for participating, freelancers receive a free day in the space and businesses receive a modest-priced consulting session with several experts.

“Businesses can make use of this collaborative space in energy,” says Vilanova. They can come here, collaborate with a variety of talents and leave with fresh ideas, a list of priorities and a strategy.”

Prices for coworking at Spoke6 vary from $20 per day to $300 per month for key-holding membership that includes unlimited access.

Another alternative officing option is offered by Intelligent Office. The national franchise has two locations in the Tucson area. As opposed to the collaboration and fostering of creativity at Spoke6, Intelligent Office offers a professional office environment complete with full-time receptionists for a fraction of the cost of starting and running an office on your own. Over 100 service items are offered from an à la cart menu.

Jason Watson, executive coordinator for Intelligent Office, says, “We’re a regular office. We have everything that you would find in a high-end attorney’s office. For example, we have receptionists, individual offices, conference rooms, Internet service, copier machines, printers, scanners, fax machines, furniture, janitorial service, electricity, and everything is 100 percent included.”

Between the Tucson and Oro Valley locations, Intelligent Office serves about 150 clients ranging from plumbers, landscapers, car washes, mortgage brokers, realtors, insurance agents, attorneys and financial advisors.

“Between our two offices, we have approximately 9,000 square feet, with a couple hundred people calling those their offices. Our footprint is very small,” says Watson. “There’s very little excess and very little waste. We operate on such a tight margin that our entire operation is built on efficiency and resourcefulness rather than wastefulness. We’re not here to make a huge profit off of any one client, we’re here to make a very small profit off of a lot of clients.”

Pricing is completely customized depending on the services selected to meet the unique needs of each client. Watson says his average client spends about $450 per month and that includes two full time receptionists and office space by the hour.

“A lot of my clients work from home. Why should they drive to an office? Their carbon footprint is tremendously smaller because there are smarter ways to work than the old brick and mortar,” says Watson. “People expect to see brick and mortar and we provide that, but instead of providing it for 15 people who are here all the time, we provide it for 200 people or more.”

New ways of working and doing business are gaining popularity with Tucson’s green-minded professionals. Whether it’s a collaborative, creative space for freelancers or a full-service, formal office environment, these trends demonstrate the values of the sustainability movement – conserving resources, working smarter, collaboration and working together.

Author: Gretel Hakanson is a local freelance writer.

WHO TO CONTACT

Tim Bowen – Spoke6
439 North 6th Ave., Tucson, Ariz.
(520) 261-2676
www.spoke6.com

Jason Watson – Intelligent Office
5151 E. Broadway, Suite 1600, Tucson, Ariz.
1846 E. Innovation Park Dr., Oro Valley, Ariz.
(866) 512-5413
www.intelligentoffice.com

Tucson Green Times – May 2010

Students celebrated Earth Day at Kino School planting their summer gardens.

This summer’s crops will include corn, squash, beans, loofahs, watermelon, tomatoes, carrots, strawberries, chives, parsley, herbs, kohlrabi. okra, sunflowers, and zinnias.

Kino recently was awarded a Youth Garden Grant from the National Gardening Association, providing a $500 gift certificate to Home Depot.  Part of this grant was used to buy the seeds for their summer garden, as well as child-sized tools and work gloves.

Kino’s gardens are part of its Living Laboratory, an outdoor “classroom” that includes a water harvesting system, a large greenhouse with wheelchair accessible beds, terraced gardens, goats, and chickens. Students compost and care  for the animals and the gardens on a daily basis. On special occasions, like planting days, the whole school turns out to work together.

Each home room in this private, progressive school on Tucson’s northwest side is responsible for part of the garden. Since home rooms include students from five-year-olds through high school seniors, each one has someone to do the heavy lifting or read the instructions as well as someone who is happy to get muddy.

“When students work together in the garden they learn so much more than the more obvious lessons about horticulture, animal husbandry, biology, and chemistry,’ says Mary Jane Cera, the school principal.

“Students acquire a real awareness of the cycles of life and environmental interdependency; they learn first hand what it means to live in a desert. What may be most important, they experience the  satisfaction of hard work, the importance fulfilling responsibilities, and the fun of working together.”

At the end of the day Sarah Hart, age 6, said, “I love this day! I got to plant things!”

Author: Ann Davis is a teacher at Kino School, and also maintains the school library.

Tucson Green Times, May 2010

Central Animal Hospital Receives LEED Gold Certification

Central Animal Hospital, 4020 E. Speedway, has received a Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) GOLD certification, earning 47 out of 69 possible points. Their new facilities are the result of a major renovation of a 1980s-era auto parts store that was converted to a modern state-of-the-art energy and water-efficient veterinary hospital and designed to reduce energy consumption by 42 percent and water consumption by 30 percent. The indoor environment of the facility is expected to be healthier and less toxic for humans and animals. Owned and operated by Michael Samuels, DVM and Judy Miller, DVM, Central Animal Hospital was designed by Tucson architecture firm David E. Shambach, Architect, Inc.

Westin La Paloma Goes Green, Gets Certified

The Westin La Paloma has received Green Certified accreditation through the Arizona Hotel & Lodging Association’s (AzHLA) Green Lodging Program.

To be awarded the Green Certified distinction, applicants must meet a minimum of qualifications set by AzHLA. The Westin exceeded such guidelines and also has started an Employee Ride Share Program, a recycling program for front office and back of house operations, using environmentally responsible cleaning products and using reclaimed water to irrigate the golf course.

In an effort to further motivate environmental renewal at the resort, the Westin has introduced a new program, Make A Green Choice, to save energy, water and labor. Guests will have the opportunity to save money and earn Starpoints by declining housekeeping services during their stay. The Westin La Paloma, part of Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide Inc., currently employs more than 400 people.

Local Businesses: Send your updates for this section to editor@tucsongreentimes.com

Tucson Green Times – May 2010

In a majority of American households car ownership is a priority. Folks enjoy having access to a car and being able to drive it whenever and wherever they want.

But sometimes the costs and burdens of car ownership, including insurance, gas, parking, maintenance and environmental concerns, can outweigh the convenience.

While our culture tells us that owning and driving a single occupant vehicle is normal, think about how many hours each day your car sits idle in the driveway at home or in the parking lot at work.

What if there were fewer cars on the road, less traffic, less costs for drivers and each car was being used more efficiently? This utopia can actually become a reality if car sharing programs, which are popular with a subset of environmentally concerned individuals, become a part of our mainstream culture.

Car shares are membership-based car rental programs, which offer a fleet of conveniently located cars, that members can reserve and access by the hour or by the day. These programs offer a viable alternative to car ownership at a low cost and can decrease the community’s fuel consumption and greenhouse gas emissions.

Carsharing also decreases the number of vehicles on the road, due to members tselling their cars or delaying additional car purchases and instead relying on the car share, walking, biking and public transportation to get around. Members also tend to become more aware of their car usage and take less trips via automobile in general after joining a car share. According to the study “North American Car Sharing,” every shared used vehicle on the road has the potential to remove up to 20 additional cars from the transportation network.

There are for profit car sharing models, such as ZipCar, and outfits run by leading car rental agencies like U-haul’s U Car Share, and there are also localized non-profits, such as City Car Share (in the Bay Area) and PhillyCarShare. Spride Share and RelayRides, are two peer-to-peer car share models, that allow car owners to rent out their vehicles to other members, and are slated to launch later this year in the U.S.

A majority of car sharing programs currently operate in densely populated, urban areas, and most of the members are already environmentally conscious and don’t own a car to begin with. But as car sharing programs become more streamlined and affordable they have the potential to develop attract mainstream users who want to live more sustainably in less densely populated suburban areas.

In fact, there’s a car sharing program right here in Tucson. Through a partnership with the Department of Parking and Transportation at The University of Arizona, Connect by Hertz offers car share membership to U of A students, employees and Tucson residents. The program began in August of 2009 and boasts almost 500 members.

Most car share programs, work in much the same way as Connect by Hertz does, with varying membership requirements, costs and insurance coverage. In Tucson, Connect by Hertz maintains a fleet of hybrid and high mpg vehicles parked near the university of Arizona.

It’s free to sign up for the Connect by Hertz program until August 2010 because the company waives all membership and applications fees during the first year of the program. After August, there will be a $50 dollar annual membership charge and a $25 dollar application fee.

All you need to sign up is a valid U.S. driver’s license and a debit or credit card. Once approved, members receive a card in the mail (for unlocking the vehicles) and can make reservations online or over the phone.

Cars can be reserved weeks, days or hours in advance and rental rates vary by the type of vehicle selected but range between $6.80 and $9.00 dollars per hour. Included in the hourly rental price are gas (there’s a gas card located in each vehicle) and liability insurance, making the car share a pretty affordable option compared to private ownership and traditional car rental. There is also a GPS navigation system in each car, 24/7 roadside assistance and a liberal cap of 180 free miles per trip.

David Heineking, director of the Parking and Transportation Department for the Univeristy of Arizona, says that the local program is the most successful of all of Hertz’s University-based car shares and that the department is in talks with Hertz to increase the number of vehicles in the fleet for next year, potentially adding Smart Cars and Electric vehicles to the mix.

The best way to find out more about car sharing and support it’s growth here in Tucson, is to become a member yourself. “It is free to anyone until August of 2010 to sign up, so there’s no membership fee at all. You should try it,” Heineking says. If more local residents sign up, there’s more potential for Connect by Hertz to increase the program’s reach within the community by adding additional vehicles and rental locations.

If Tucson residents support car sharing, and show there’s a demand in the community for alternative transportation, we may even see competition from a second for profit or non profit car share organization, which will help local drivers get the best prices.

To join or find out more visit www.connectbyhertz.com and select The Univeristy of Arizona.

Membership is free to U of A students, faculty and staff and Tucson residents until August of 2010 using the codes below:

U of A students: 1858747

U of A faculty or staff: 1858748

Tucson residents: 1858749

Author: Britt Brouse is a local freelance writer.In a majority of American households car ownership is a priority. Folks enjoy having access to a car and being able to drive it whenever and wherever they want. But sometimes the costs and burdens of car ownership, including insurance, gas, parking, maintenance and environmental concerns, can outweigh the convenience. While our culture tells us that owning and driving a single occupant vehicle is normal, think about how many hours each day your car sits idle in the driveway at home or in the parking lot at work.What if there were fewer cars on the road, less traffic, less costs for drivers and each car was being used more efficiently? This utopia can actually become a reality if car sharing programs, which are popular with a subset of environmentally concerned individuals, become a part of our mainstream culture. Car shares are membership-based car rental programs, which offer a fleet of conveniently located cars, that members can reserve and access by the hour or by the day. These programs offer a viable alternative to car ownership at a low cost and can decrease the community’s fuel consumption and greenhouse gas emissions. Carsharing also decreases the number of vehicles on the road, due to members tselling their cars or delaying additional car purchases and instead relying on the car share, walking, biking and public transportation to get around. Members also tend to become more aware of their car usage and take less trips via automobile in general after joining a car share. According to the study “North American Car Sharing,” every shared used vehicle on the road has the potential to remove up to 20 additional cars from the transportation network.There are for profit car sharing models, such as ZipCar, and outfits run by leading car rental agencies like U-haul’s U Car Share, and there are also localized non-profits, such as City Car Share (in the Bay Area) and PhillyCarShare. Spride Share and RelayRides, are two peer-to-peer car share models, that allow car owners to rent out their vehicles to other members, and are slated to launch later this year in the U.S.A majority of car sharing programs currently operate in densely populated, urban areas, and most of the members are already environmentally conscious  and don’t own a car to begin with. But as car sharing programs become more streamlined and affordable they have the potential to develop attract mainstream users who want to live more sustainably in less densely populated suburban areas. In fact, there’s a car sharing program right here in Tucson. Through a partnership with the Department of Parking and Transportation at The University of Arizona, Connect by Hertz offers car share membership to U of A students, employees and Tucson residents. The program began in August of 2009 and boasts almost 500 members.  Most car share programs, work in much the same way as Connect by Hertz does, with varying membership requirements, costs and insurance coverage. In Tucson, Connect by Hertz maintains a fleet of hybrid and high mpg vehicles parked near the university of Arizona. It’s free to sign up for the Connect by Hertz program until August 2010 because the company waives all membership and applications fees during the first year of the program. After August, there will be a $50 dollar annual membership charge and a $25 dollar application fee. All you need to sign up is a valid U.S. driver’s license and a debit or credit card. Once approved, members receive a card in the mail (for unlocking the vehicles) and can make reservations online or over the phone.Cars can be reserved weeks, days or hours in advance and rental rates vary by the type of vehicle selected but range between $6.80 and $9.00 dollars per hour.  Included in the hourly rental price are gas (there’s a gas card located in each vehicle) and liability insurance, making the car share a pretty affordable option compared to private ownership and traditional car rental. There is also a GPS navigation system in each car, 24/7 roadside assistance and a liberal cap of 180 free miles per trip.David Heineking, director of the Parking and Transportation Department for the Univeristy of Arizona, says that the local program is the most successful of all of Hertz’s University-based car shares and that the department is in talks with Hertz to increase the number of vehicles in the fleet for next year, potentially adding Smart Cars and Electric vehicles to the mix.The best way to find out more about car sharing and support it’s growth here in Tucson, is to become a member yourself. “It is free to anyone until August of 2010 to sign up, so there’s no membership fee at all. You should try it,”  Heineking says. If more local residents sign up, there’s more potential for Connect by Hertz to increase the program’s reach within the community by adding additional vehicles and rental locations.
If Tucson residents support car sharing, and show there’s a demand in the community for alternative transportation, we may even see competition from a second for profit or non profit car share organization, which will help local drivers get the best prices.To join or find out more visit www.connectbyhertz.com and select The Univeristy of Arizona.Membership is free to U of A students, faculty and staff and Tucson residents until August of 2010 using the codes below:U of A students: 1858747U of A faculty or staff: 1858748Tucson residents: 1858749
Author: Britt Brouse is a local freelance writer.