cooking with carbon
FOOD ACTIVISTS FIGHT GLOBAL WARMING
New “cookbook” helps move businesses of all sizes away from defensive postures and toward an investment in solving the problem.

David Biddle

While governments around the world struggle to limit greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions — the main cause of global warming — informed, creative business executives have the opportunity to completely neutralize their company’s contribution to global warming today. The key, according to those who have already achieved their “zero emission” goals, is determining a company’s direct and indirect consumption of fossil fuels; developing appropriate conservation projects to limit that consumption; and then, finally, investing in special offsite carbon offset programs to reverse the impact of the remaining energy consumed. Offset projects include reforestation, renewable energy projects, landfill gas recovery, and land conservation, among other things.

This common sense strategy for fighting the human contribution to global warming is spelled out in a new “cookbook” promoted by the Chef’s Collaborative, a coalition of 1,500 chefs, growers, and suppliers around the country committed to what they call sustainable cuisine. The Carbon Cookbook: Recipes for Reversing Global Warming was originally created by Stonyfield Farm, a premium yogurt maker based in Londonderry, New Hampshire.

CARBON MITIGATION

The greenhouse effect is generally regarded as a naturally occurring process whereby a shield of water vapor, carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide help trap heat radiating from the earth. This shield allows the planet to maintain an average livable global temperature in the range of 60°F. Scientists now believe that since the beginning of the Industrial Revolution, atmospheric concentrations of these GHGs have increased considerably. In a nutshell, the growing scientific consensus is that this increase has been caused primarily by the human activity of burning fossil fuels, especially for the generation of electricity and transportation.

With this build-up of GHGs has also come mounting scientific evidence of increased mean global temperatures. Predictions are that, left unchecked, increased GHGs will lead to significant environmental changes, including: rising sea levels; shrinking glaciers and reduced snow cover; the spread of infectious diseases and heat-related deaths; and dramatic overall changes in the frequency and intensity of weather events such as drought, floods, hurricanes and tornadoes.

While this all sounds dire, and even sensationalized, it is simply the idea that there may possibly be a causal link between combustion and climate change that concerns policy makers and business leaders around the world. This is where the Carbon Cookbook comes in. There are five basic forms of GHGs: methane (CH4); nitrous oxide (N2O); chlorofluorocarbons (CHC 11 & CFC 12); hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs); and carbon dioxide (CO2). Of the five, CO2 is considered to have the most impact on global warming. Besides the CO2 given off by animals and taken in by plants in the photosynthesis process, CO2 is produced by burning fossil fuels such as coal, oil, and natural gas. It is also released in land clearing operations and deforestation. In essence, what happens is that the stored carbon in organic material (which makes up fossil fuels) is converted into CO2 and emitted during the combustion process.

There are two ways to mitigate CO2 emissions. The first is to reduce fossil fuel consumption through energy/resource conservation measures or switching to non-CO2 emitting fuels. The second way is through off-site projects that will either remove CO2 from the air (reforestation, increased agricultural production, etc.) or stop additional CO2 from being emitted in the first place. Off-site carbon offsets involve investments in special environmental projects that literally track carbon impacts over time. According to Stonyfield Farm: “Because CO2 circulates around the globe almost evenly, the CO2 released from propane combustion at [their facility in New Hampshire] can in a very real sense be offset by a renewable energy or forestry project anywhere in the world.”

Large corporations such as petroleum companies and utilities have been investing in these projects for more than a decade. Until recently though, small and intermediate businesses could not participate. But the Carbon Cookbook has changed all that.

WE EMIT BECAUSE WE EAT

Over the last several years, members of the Chef’s Collaborative have directly experienced the impact of sustained droughts, hurricanes, “hundred year” floods, and climate irregularities. These environmental disasters have an impact on the quality of produce and farm products used by restaurants everywhere as well as price. Chef’s Collaborative members directly understand the risks of global warming.

Yogurt maker Stonyfield Farm’s Carbon Cookbook provides a step-by-step account of how any small business can reverse global warming by offsetting CO2 emissions. The company got its start back in 1983 and has made a name for itself as a leader in environmental programming. Piloted by Samuel Kaymen, the company’s founder and an early national authority on organic farming, and Gary Hirshberg (once executive director of the New Alchemy Institute in Massachusetts), Stonyfield Farms has grown from a $35,000 business loan start-up into a $40 million company. Hirshberg is proud of the fact that it recently became the number four yogurt company in the nation, and he points out that Stonyfield products are only available in 25 percent of the market.

Stonyfield’s environmental programming includes: comprehensive solid waste minimization (saving $70,000 annually); energy conservation; a cow adoption program for customers (Have-a-Cow); use of yogurt lids for environmental education and advocacy; public opposition to bovine growth hormones; and donation of ten percent of profits to environmental programs.

The company’s carbon offset program, however, has truly moved it into the vanguard of environmental innovation in the business world. The Carbon Cookbook details its efforts. First, the company decreased carbon emissions through establishing a ten percent energy conservation rate and by recycling 70 percent of the solid waste generated at its facility. This reduced overall CO2 emissions by 15 percent.

Once Stonyfield had done its best to get its own house in order, it gathered data to establish what the Cookbook calls a “carbon footprint.” Using special CO2 emissions factors for New Hampshire utilities, Stonyfield was able to come up with an estimate of the annual pounds of CO2 for which it is responsible. The company has calculated that it generates 1,928 metric tons of CO2 through use of propane and electricity. This number is its carbon footprint.

After defining its carbon footprint, Stonyfield’s next step was to choose the means of offsetting as much of the 1,928 metric tons of CO2 as possible.

The company researched a number of projects around the world and finally settled on a partnership with Portland, Oregon-based climate change mitigation firm Trexler and Associates, Inc. (TAA). Choosing a company with climate change experience allowed Stonyfield to concentrate on outcomes rather than planning and analysis.

TAA has numerous large corporate and institutional clients — offering a menu of special carbon mitigation projects from which their clients may choose. “TAA can introduce you to the offset program of your choice,” quips Hirshberg.

Those listed in the cookbook include: international reforestation in Guatemala; solar rural electrification in Sri Lanka; international land conservation in Costa Rica; fuel switching in the Czech Republic; urban forestry in Salt Lake City, Utah; and methane recovery and utilization in Ohio. The cost for these projects ranges from five cents a ton for reforestation to $5 a ton for solar rural electrification and $10 a ton for urban forestry in Salt Lake City.

In essence, TAA’s service allows Stonyfield and other clients to choose different projects and to determine how much they wish to invest and how much they wish to contribute to offsetting their emissions. In Stonyfield’s case, it had set a goal to offset 100 percent of the CO2 emissions from its production facilities within five years. By the end of the first year, the partnership with TAA had allowed the company to totally achieve its mitigation goal by investing in a reforestation project in Oregon. Since then, Stonyfield has invested in a coal mine methane recovery project in Ohio and, most recently, a home building project in China constructing energy efficient straw bale housing that will reduce household coal use by 70-90 percent.

WHITE DOG CAFE

Stonyfield’s successes eventually led to publishing the Carbon Cookbook, and it is now working with the Chef’s Collaborative to expand carbon offset investments to member companies. The White Dog Cafe in Philadelphia is the first Chef’s Collaborative company to step up to the plate. Owner/chef Judy Wicks, a nationally recognized leader in socially responsible business who, among other things, is vice chair of the Social Ventures Network, has been at the forefront of Philadelphia’s environmentally responsible businesses for years. White Dog Cafe was one of the first major Philadelphia restaurants to launch a comprehensive recycling program. Wicks has also signed on with Pennsylvania Wind Energy to receive 44 percent of her restaurant’s electricity from a wind farm in northeastern Pennsylvania (see “Blowing Our Way To Renewable Power,” January/February 2000). This measure alone will allow the restaurant to reduce CO2 emissions by 25 percent.

Most recently, Wicks has worked with Stonyfield Farm and TAA to define the White Dog’s carbon footprint. She is now in the final stages of choosing a carbon offset project to mitigate her restaurant’s impact on global warming. “Last summer’s drought was catastrophic for the farmers of eastern Pennsylvania,” Wicks noted recently. “Driving through wasted fields of corn (followed months later by severe storms and flooding) made me realize we need to take action quickly.”

Analyzing the White Dog’s energy bills, Stonyfield Farm staff estimate that Wicks’ restaurant has a carbon footprint of roughly 382 tons of CO2 a year. Using a mid-range number of $5/ton from TAA’s menu of offset projects would mean that the White Dog Cafe needs to invest roughly $1,910 a year in projects to fully neutralize its impact on global warming.

MAKING THE RIGHT CONNECTIONS

Wicks’ creativity doesn’t stop here though. She has just returned from a February trip to Mexico where, completely unrelated to her concerns for CO2 mitigation, she is working with a small Zapatista community that grows organic coffee for her restaurant. The 800-family community is located on a mountain called Mut Vitz (meaning mountain of the birds). Wicks, along with an importer and Philadelphia-area coffee roaster, has provided financial support to this community for several years, helping them obtain organic certification and providing them with the opportunity for sales to “fair trade importers” as opposed to those she calls “coyotes.”

In an incidental conversation with the coffee cooperative’s manager, she discovered that the growers needed more trees in order to produce shade-grown coffee. They also wanted to line pastures with trees so that they could string fencing between them. Their thought was that these trees could be fruit trees like mango and avocado. In addition, they discussed the possibility of starting a seed nursery so that they could supply other communities with trees as well.

Wicks feels she has found her offset project. She will be able to further support the entrepreneurial efforts of this community by investing in tree planting and a nursery and will simultaneously allow the White Dog Cafe to achieve 100 percent of its CO2 mitigation goal.

The value of carbon offset programs is clear. The relatively small investments made by companies like Stonyfield Farm and White Dog Cafe are simple and direct approaches to responsible environmental business practices. The Carbon Cookbook provides a rational method for neutralizing a company ’s contributions to global warming. The key, obviously, is the credibility of the project and the scientific analysis performed by a partnering pollution offset leasing exchange firm. As the evidence for global warming continues to mount, common sense solutions like those offered in the Carbon Cookbook will go a long way toward moving businesses of all sizes away from defensive postures and toward an investment in solving the problem.

David Biddle (Dbiddle@aol.com) is research director with Philadelphia Self-Reliant and a contributing editor to In Business. For further information: Judy Wicks, White Dog Cafe, 3420 Sansom St., Philadelphia, PA 19104; (215) 386-9224; www.whitedog.com; Gary Hirshberg, Stonyfield Farm, 10 Burton Drive, Londonderry, NH 03053; (603) 437-4040; www.stonyfield.com (The Carbon Cookbook is available here.); Mark Trexler, Trexler & Assoc., 1131 SE River Forest Road, Portland, OR 97267; (503) 786-0559; www.climateservices.com; Social Venture Network, www.svn.org; EPA Greenhouse Gas Programs, www.epa.gov/climatewise; IPCC, www.ipcc.ch.