IN BUSINESS WORLD

In Business, September-October, 2004, Vol. 26, No. 5, p. 4
EARNING A MASTERS IN ECOMANAGEMENT WITHOUT LEAVING THE JOB
Targeted for professionals who want to move into environmental leadership positions, the Duke University two-year degree program allows participants to stay on the job and learn from their desktops.

Core course topics include ecosystem science and management, resource economics, environmental policy and law, and program management. Electives on more specialized themes include environmental decision-making, land use policy as well as environmental information system management. Faculty from Duke's Nicholas School of the Environment and Earth Sciences teach the courses. Format allows participants to add depth to skills, while maintaining a commitment to job and family. For details, contact Sara Ashenburg, DEL director, at (919) 613-8082; or email del@env.duke.bdu; or Visit www.nicholas.duke.edu/del.

GOOD LESSONS ON STARTING, RUNNING YOUR OWN SMALL BUSINESS
For 27 years, Bernard Kamoroff and his Bell Springs Publishing Company in Willits, California have been offering great advice on starting your own business. His Small Time Operator has over 630,000 copies in print. Here are some samples of advice offered by Kamoroff:
“You don't have to make the Big Plunge, selling everything you own, and going into debt. More than two-thirds of all new businesses are started as part-time or weekend ventures, started by people still holding onto a job while they experiment with their new business. So, start slowly, try it out and learn as you go. You'll get there.”
“If you are good at something, you might consider teaching those skills to others, as a self-employed seminar leader or consultant. Be imaginative. Don't ignore your own resources.”
“Marketing can take many different approaches, finding what works for you. Many owners devote as much as half their working hours to marketing. Without marketing, no customers. Without customers, no business.”
There's a lot of very basic stuff in Small Time Operator, but basics are what much ecobusiness is all about. To find out more, Kamoroff can be contacted at Bell Springs, PO Box 1240, Willits, CA 95490; (707) 459-6372.

GREEN BUILDING CONCEPTS FLOURISH AT NYC BOTANICAL GARDEN
The first public garden in New York City grew on the deserted grounds of the 1939 World's Fair. When the fair ended, local residents adopted the abandoned site and incorporated it in 1946 as the public Queens Botanical Garden. This year, as part of a major renovation featuring solar and geothermal energy, constructed wetlands and recycled gray water, along with a green roof, the Gardens design won the Green Building Design Award. According to Anne Raver in The New York Times, the award placed it at the top of 50 entries from as far away as Australia, England, France and Sweden. John Krieger, director of the city's Office of Sustainable Design, called it a “crowning achievement” saying that it aggressively accomplished the goals of green design.
As an example of water reuse and conservation, gray water collected from sinks, dishwashers and showers will flow to constructed wetlands about 20 feet from the building, passing through layers of sediment and the roots of plants like pickerel seed, rushes and ferns, returning to a cistern below the building for use in the toilets.

TRANSFORMING INDUSTRY AND A LIFE, WITH BOOK AND ORGANIZATION
In his foreword for a new book, Greed to Green, Paul Hawken explains that author David Gottfried has written about the “mystery of change ... about timing, hard work, manufactured luck ... and about conviction.” Gottfried's amazing life story comes to life in the book - from a wide range of consulting to the specifics of founding (and being first staff president) of the U.S. Green Building Council. Subtitle for Greed to Green is “the transformation of an industry and a life.” Currently Gottfried is president of WorldBuild Technologies, Inc, which serves as a sustainable development consultant to organizations and projects. Copies of the book ($15.95 U.S.) are available via: www.GreedtoGreen.com or from WorldBuild, 2342 Shattuck Avenue, #411, Berkeley, CA 94704.

GREENING THE GREEN REVOLUTION
“Africa is hungry and Americans would like to help,” begins a column, “The Next Green Revolution,” in The New York Times (10/6/04) by Pedro Sanchez who directs the Tropical Agriculture Program of the Earth Institute at Columbia University. Unlike the Green Revolution of the 60s, he points out, an African Green Revolution doesn't have to be based on “technologies and practices that hurt the environment.” Land can be reclaimed through more environmentally sensitive techniques that replenish the soil with emphasis on the use of cover crops and organic-rich composts. Pest-tolerant crops would be planted which would reduce toxic chemical pesticides and rely more heavily on natural controls.
“Women do much of the farming in Africa today, growing 80 percent of the food there,” Sanchez explains. “If farming was easier, women would be freer to find work off the farm. more girls would be able to stay in school, and children would have better food to eat. History has shown that women's empowerment in turn leads to lower population growth. In addition, using locally grown foods in feeding programs for infants and children will generate additional demand, helping African agriculture to strengthen itself. ... Key investments on the order of $50 per person per year in tropical African villages would put the continent on the path to long-term sustainable development.”
Sanchez concludes his column with this message he saw at a Florida bait shop: “Give people a fish and they will eat for a day; teach people how to fish and they will eat for their lifetime and ... they will buy fishing equipment.”

RECYCLING COMES BACK TO NEW YORK CITY IN BIG WAY, CUTTING COSTS AND BOOSTING REUSE
Two years ago, Mayor Michael Bloomberg argued that New York City could save $40 million a year by “dumping materials into a landfill rather than recycling them.” New studies - including one by the city's own comptroller's office - show that those numbers were “significantly off.” Cost of paying haulers to bury material in landfills is now around $70 per ton. NYC last month signed a 20-year contract with the Hugo Neu Corporation to process and market recyclables.
A complete report in the October, 2004 BioCycle provides data and comments on the “paradigm shift to recovery” in NYC, and its nationwide impact. Kate Krebs - executive director of the National Recycling Coalition - writes that NY State is home to more than 4,250 recycling and reuse establishments, employing almost 44,000 persons with annual payrolls of over $1.3 billion. “Clearly, public and private investment in New York's recycling industry pays great dividends and makes excellent economic sense.”
According to John Neu - the CEO of Hugo Neu Corporation which will construct a $25 million materials recovery facility in Brooklyn, his company started recycling steel and metal in the 1960s. The new facility will attract other manufacturers who will use the recycled materials to make new products for consumers, industries and the City, he stresses. It will also save the city $20 million a year.
Adds Dan Knapp, whose company Urban Ore created an “Ecopark” in Berkeley, California, NYC could also create its own resource recovery park which would provide room for reuse and composting enterprises to operate alongside the anchor recycler. “Recovering food and other compostable materials, such as soiled paper and yard debris (Central Park must generate a lot), might be the next resource categories in the recovery line. A buyback function would greatly increase material moving into the site. The city could realize substantial income from niche operators' rental payments, from payroll taxes, etc.”
“The magic formula here is that as the market for recycling improves, the city wins and as Hugo Neu's performance improves, the company wins,” explains Robert Lange, waste prevention director in the City's Department of Sanitation. “This is the genius of a true public-private partnership.”
There are other major benefits resulting from the agreement for city residents. A total of 85 percent of the recyclable materials will be delivered to the facility via barge, and after processing, 75 percent will leave via barge reducing truck traffic on city streets and improving air quality. By relying on waterborne transport, the facility will reduce truck traffic by 55,000 vehicle miles per year.
Copies of the special report on the “New Recycling Era” in the October 2004 issue of BioCycle - which also includes a special section on renewable energy - can be obtained by sending a check for $5 payable to BioCycle, 419 State Ave., Emmaus, PA 18049.

ELECTRIC UTILITY LAUNCHES BIOMASS PROGRAM
Based in Rutland, Vermont, the Central Vermont Public Service (CVPS) Corporation surveyed its customers last year about their interest in different types of renewable energy. “Results indicated a significant interest in farm generation,” writes Dave Dunn, CVPS program manager for its Cow Power Tariff and Renewable Development Fund. Dairy farms using anaerobic digestion will be eligible for financial incentives. The first farm is expected to be operational next month, producing enough biogas from 1,500 head of cattle to fuel a 275 kW generator.

SMALL-SCALE ENERGY SAVING PROJECTS FUNDED
Ten small-scale projects from around the nation were awarded funds through the California Energy Commission to conduct research that will reduce costs of producing electricity, saving energy and improving the environment. Each project is eligible for a grant of up to $75,000 from the Energy Innovations Small Grant Program - serving small businesses, academic institutions, nonprofits and individuals who would not normally qualify for the larger Public Interest Energy Research (PIER) program. Started in 1999, the program is administered by the San Diego State University Foundation.

ARTISTS TRANSFORM TRASH INTO UNIQUE ECOPRODUCTS
The advertisement for Home & Planet in this issue describes how unique products that “meld style with environmental responsibility” are made from recycled glass, aluminum, etc. and displayed for sale at its Bethlehem, Pennsylvania store. A recent write-up in the area newspaper, The Morning Call, headlined the “Trash Transformers - the Dumpster Diver artists who lace their serious mission with inventive humor” and whose works are in an exhibit at Home & Planet. The exhibit, titled “Trash Transformation - Art Alchemy,” offers a high-style alternative for America's throw-away culture. “It is a vision that includes artistic craft, innovation and garbage,” writes reporter Marilyn Hazelton.
Founded nearly 25 years ago, the Dumpster Divers create sculpture, paintings, jewelry and much else at their Philadelphia area studios from industrial trash, discarded household appliances, used clothing, etc. Says cofounder Neil Benson, “We can't keep throwing things away, because there is no 'away'. What most people consider trash is simply a failure of imagination. We are helping our society think through a problem. Trash art is the thin edge of a wedge of social change.” And that thin edge is making a mighty impact where the art will be displayed through November 20, 2004. For more information, visit www.homeandplanet.com.
The art is for sale - including a suitcase made from discarded license plates and signs, and a life-sized horse made from scrap metal items including parts of pots, pans, scoops and faucets that sells for $24,000.There are also “jeweled cookie platters,” complete with doilies, for $25 each.

VINEYARDS ARE MAKING GOOD USE OF FOOD RESIDUALS COMPOST
“Using compost made from food residuals from San Francisco Bay Area restaurants, bakeries and residences has definitely revitalized our vineyards,” says Remi Cohen of Napa's Bouchaine Vineyards. “The 2003 vintage year will be the first time Bouchaine has an estate-bottled Pinot Noir and estate Chardonnay, and I attribute the quality to our composting program. We've seen noticeable improvement in our vines, enhanced water retention and increased microbial activity. And we've done this without using synthetic fertilizers because of the high quality of nutrients in the compost.”
Bouchaine is one of about 30 vineyards in Northern California that has been using Four Course compost made available through the collection programs of Golden Gate Disposal & Recycling Company and Sunset Scavenger Company; Jepson Prairie Organics (www.jepsonPrairieOrganics.com) receives the organic feedstocks at its Vacaville site and produces the finished compost. All three are subsidiaries of Norcal Waste Systems, based in San Francisco.
Adds Mark Houser, vineyard manager for Hoot Owl Creek and Alexander Valley Vineyards (as well as past president of the Sonoma County Grape Growers Association): “Microbial activity in the compost is high, and the roots are able to carry nutrients to the plants. All our young vines are happy and healthy, and they look terrific.”
Details of the food residuals collection and composting program will be given at the 21st Annual BioCycle West Coast Conference 2005 in San Francisco March 7, 8, 9, 2005. Visit www.biocycle.net.

Copyright 2007, The JG Press, Inc.