Tag: holiday

Selling Earth Day

  • Earth at twilight. A digital photograph taken in June 2001 from the International Space Station orbiting at an altitude of 211 nautical miles. (Photo courtesy of NASA)

The first Earth Day in 1970 often gets credit
for jumpstarting the modern environmental movement.
Lately, Earth Day’s meaning might be changing a bit.
A lot of companies are running Earth Day ads and
offering special Earth Day shopping events. Rebecca
Williams reports the idea is that we can buy our way
to a better world:

Transcript

The first Earth Day in 1970 often gets credit
for jumpstarting the modern environmental movement.
Lately, Earth Day’s meaning might be changing a bit.
A lot of companies are running Earth Day ads and
offering special Earth Day shopping events. Rebecca
Williams reports the idea is that we can buy our way
to a better world:

You can’t watch TV lately without tripping over ads around Earth Day.

(Commercial montage featuring WalMart-SunChips-Home Depot)

And at the grocery store:

Campbell’s soup is wearing an Earth Day label. Campbell’s says condensing
soup means smaller, lighter cans. So, that means less waste. Of course,
they’ve been doing that since 1897. Long before Earth Day and the
environmental movement.

Even Barbie’s excited about Earth Day. She’s got a limited edition line of
accessories. They’re made from scraps of fabric that would otherwise have
been thrown away. She’s so crafty.

Of course, there’s a reason why it’s raining Earth Day ads.

“Companies advertise in ways they think people will respond.”

Tom Lyon directs the Erb Institute for Global Sustainable Enterprise at
the University of Michigan.

“Five years ago they didn’t think they were getting a whole lot of mileage
out of advertising green. Now you could say green is the new black – every
company is moving in this direction.”

Lyon says the reality of climate change has been more widely accepted in the
past couple years. People are wondering what they can do about it. And
companies are trying to tap into that.

Joel Makower has been studying green marketing for 20 years. He’s the
executive editor of Greenbiz.com. He says Earth Day marketing ebbs and
flows over the years. But he hopes Earth Day never turns into a marketing
event on the scale of Christmas.

“I think most people recognize the very clear reality that we’re never going
to shop our way to environmental health and so to the extent that Earth Day
becomes an excuse to consume, then we’ll have sent all the wrong messages.”

But Makower says a lot of companies actually are making big changes in their
practices and they should talk about that. He says Earth Day advertising
makes sense if the company’s doing something to improve all year long.
Otherwise he says it might just be a stunt.

Others think Earth Day as a marketing opportunity is probably here to stay.

Adam Werbach is the Global CEO of Saatchi and Saatchi S. It’s a major ad
agency. He says companies see Earth Day as another holiday.

“The reason that works so well this year – Easter came very early and there
was a large gap between Easter and Memorial Day so Earth Day fit in really
well so that stores could get through their Easter merchandise and start
putting green merchandise on the shelves and then move into Memorial Day.”

Werbach thinks that’s actually not a bad thing. He’s had feet in both
worlds – as a former president of the Sierra Club. More recently he’s been
a consultant for Wal-Mart. He thinks consumers should be the ones driving
companies to improve their practices.

“Our hope is of course that people who have tried these new products will
return and buy them in the next month so that in the end you’re creating a
cycle of demand for green products on shelves so that they don’t go away and
be a one time occurrence.”

But at the same time, Adam Werbach is a little conflicted. He wishes Earth
Day could be the one day of the year we could take a break.

No branding. No ads. No buying. Just Earth.

Hey… that might make a nice commercial.

For the Environment Report, I’m Rebecca Williams.

Related Links

Holiday Story – Homemade Gifts Gone Wrong

The holiday season brings with it the stress of finding the
perfect gift. For most it means crowded parking lots, long lines and
hours at a mall, but Environment Report commentator Julia King
decided to avoid some of the mass production and commercialization
of Christmas this year. Instead, she got back to “Holiday Spirit”
by trying her hand at something a bit closer to home:

Transcript

The holiday season brings with it the stress of finding the perfect gift. For most
it means crowded
parking lots, long lines and hours at a mall, but Environment Report commentator
Julia King
decided to avoid some of the mass production and commercialization of Christmas this
year.
Instead, she got back to “Holiday Spirit” by trying her hand at something a bit
closer to home:


Now, I don’t like to brag, but can I just say that I MADE my holiday gifts this
year? Let me tell you
the story of my apple butter.


In the fall, when other people were walking through crunchy leaves and carving
pumpkins and
going on hayrides, I was riding my environmentally friendly bike to the local
farmer’s market
where I bought many pounds of chemical-free Indiana apples and put them in my
backpack and
then rode home with hard, yellow delicious apples digging into my spine and under my
shoulder
blades. I had to do this many times because my family kept eating the apples. Like
snacks, instead
of future gifts. So, I had to make a lot of bike rides with a lot of apples sticking
into my back.


Oh well, holiday spirit.


But I finally stockpile all the apples and the cider – oh yeah, the cider: I had to
drive to the
farmers’ market twice in the rain to get fresh, un-pasteurized cider. Okay, so then
I have
everything I need and I boil the cider until it reduces by half – which takes a
couple of hours, then
I peel the apples (which doesn’t take as long but gives me a cramp in my right hand
and makes me
wonder if I’m developing arthritis because I could be, you know; I’m not getting any
younger).
Then I dump the apples into the reduced cider and boil and then simmer and then stir
and then
boil and then simmer and then add secret, exotic spices (okay, cinnamon), and then
boil and stir
and simmer for about thirty-nine days, during which time I can’t leave the house
because the
stove is on, and fire safety requires that I stay. Finally, when all the moisture is
gone, it’s time to
put the apple butter into jars and “process” it, which is the worst part because if
you do it wrong
you could kill people. And that’s always especially sad at the holidays.


So, you have to wash and boil the jars, but NOT the lids with the rubber — because
if you do, you
could kill people. You have to keep everything warm, and then you have to pour the
apple butter
into the clean jars while it’s still boiling and then wipe the rim with a clean
towel so that it seals
right and you don’t kill people.


Then you have to boil it in the closed jars for about fifteen minutes and then when
it comes out it’s
supposed to make a sound as it cools and that should mean it’s safe.


And when it’s all done, you look around the kitchen and see dirty pots and pans and
globs of
brown stuff all over your stove and yards of apple peels and there, in the midst of
this chaos, sit
three little four-ounce jars of apple butter.


And then you go to the store the next day and see that it only costs a dollar-fifty!
And you curse
capitalism. And now on top of making your friends and family play Russian roulette
with
botulism, they have to sit through the story of how you made their apple butter.


Oh well, holiday spirit.


Julia King lives and writes in Goshen, Indiana. She
comes to us by way of the Environment Report.

States Graded on Sewage Spill Alerts

Environmental regulators in the 8-state Great Lakes region are getting mixed grades for their systems to notify the general public about potentially hazardous sewage spills. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Steve Carmody
reports:

Transcript

Environmental regulators in the 8-state Great Lakes region
are getting mixed grades for their systems to notify the general
public about potentially hazardous sewage spills. The Great Lakes
Radio Consortium’s Steve Carmody reports:


The Public Interest Research Group in Michigan reviewed each Great Lakes state’s system for reporting sewage spills, and graded its performance.


Study author Mike Shriberg says better public notification systems are needed, especially now, with many people planning boating holidays over the summer.


“Families heading to the beach this summer, families going out on their boats are actually being left in the dark about a major public health risk.”


Michigan topped the list, praised for its coordinated, quick public notification system, though also criticized for some reporting shortfalls.


At the bottom of the list, Ohio received a “D minus” for having no significant statewide system to report sewage spills.


For the GLRC I’m Steve Carmody.


HOST TAG: For more information on the PIRGIM report, go to their website
www.ProtectTheGreatLakes.org

Related Links

Tree Farmer Makes Season Merrier

  • Duke Wagatha drives down from northern Michigan each year to sell his Christmas trees. While in Ann Arbor, he and his crew live in this 1951 Vagabond trailer. (Photo by Mark Brush)

It’s that time of year again – parking lots across the country are filled with Christmas trees. Just about one out of every three people who celebrate Christmas buys a live tree. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Mark Brush spent some time with one tree grower in the height of tree-selling season:

Transcript

It’s that time of year again – parking lots across the country are filled with Christmas trees. Just about one out of every three people who celebrate Christmas buys a live tree. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Mark Brush spent some time with one tree grower in the height of tree-selling season:


(Sound of generator, saws, people chatting)


It’s a crisp afternoon at this Christmas tree lot. That generator you hear is powering the electric saws. The guys trim up the base of the tree so it’ll fit on a tree stand. Their hands are all blackened with sap and dirt from wrestling hundreds of trees off of the flat bed truck. They take the bundled trees, open them up, and stick them onto stands. They’ve created a makeshift forest in the middle of this strip mall parking lot. Customers wander through the forest searching for the perfect tree.


(sound of talking)


Duke Wagatha runs this tree lot in southeastern Michigan. He appears with his trees each year from his farm up north.


“We get here the weekend before Thanksgiving. Takes us probably about a week, or five days to set up. With the idea of opening the day after Thanksgiving. We like to let folks get one holiday out of the way and then we start on the next…”


He calls his business “Flat-Snoots Trees.” You couldn’t tell from looking at his face now, but he calls it “Flat-Snoots” to make light of a broken nose he suffered in high school.


Duke’s coveralls are all tarnished with pine needles and sap. And when he moves, you hear ringing from the bells on his hat. He moves between the trees in his parking lot forest telling his customers jokes and filling their heads with visions of Scotch Pine, Fraser Firs, and Blue Spruce.


Margaret Jahnke has been buying trees from Duke for more than six years.


“He just makes it really personable – and there was one year, it was really kind of warm and he had his Hawaiian shirt on and his straw hat, and he was out here partyin’ away! And I’m like, ‘Whoa!’ It’s fun to come… you know just to run in… you know to talk to him. And they’re really helpful!”


While they’re away from home, Duke and his crew live in a 1950’s vintage trailer. The trailer’s paint is faded, but Duke spruces it up for the holidays with wreaths and pine boughs. And when you step inside, the old lamps and rustic furniture make it seem as if you’ve stepped back in time.


(Sound of trailer door opening)


“Whooo! It feels better in here doesn’t it? I needed a good excuse to get in here.”


The trailer also doubles as his office. Customers pay for their trees in here, and on occasion, they’ll have a complimentary nip of what Duke calls his “bad Schnapps.” Duke is from Mesick, a small rural town in northern Michigan. Christmas tree farming is big business in Michigan. The state is second only to Oregon in the number of acres that are in Christmas tree production.


Duke calls himself a small-time grower. He’s a carpenter by trade, but his work tends to dry up in the long winter months.


“It’s not enough to make a living for me and my family year-round, but it’s a good extra source of income… and, uh… winters are tough up there, so if you make a little bit of extra money – winters are tough and expensive. Living in the country, you know, like anybody, you got propane bills and all that, and it’s a little colder up there, so to make a little bit of money going into winter is pretty nice.”


A lot of work went into growing the trees that are now on his lot. Each summer, workers plod through the rows and rows of trees, swinging razor sharp machetes. They trim each tree to give them that classic, symmetrical, Christmas tree shape. And after about ten years, the trees are ready for harvest. They’re cut, they’re run through a baling machine, and they’re loaded onto trucks and shipped down to the lots.


(sound of customers on lot)


Even though there’s a jovial atmosphere on the lot, there’s also a sense of urgency. After all, Duke only has a few weeks to sell trees that in many cases have taken more than ten years to grow. And while selling the trees is an important part of Duke’s income, he gets something else out of it. He enjoys making connections with the people who wander through his tree lot.


“Sometimes you get grumpy folks coming in, and it’s usually just because they’re overwhelmed with shopping… it’s cold out… they didn’t wear their long underwear or whatever… but we can usually get them turned around, you know, we have a little fun with them… like I say if we have to bring them to the trailer and have a shot of bad Schnapps with ’em, hey, that’s just fine too.”


It’s closing time at the tree lot. The workers are headed for a warmer space. Right now, Duke’s trailer is filled with his extended family and friends…


(sound of door opening)


“Come on in! This is Duke’s family… it’s warm in here, huh?”


Duke will continue to sell his trees right up until Christmas Eve. Then, he’ll drive home to spend a few days with his family before he comes back to tear the lot down.


“It’s kind of like the circus coming to town. You build up your tree lot, you almost build like, well, I wouldn’t say a village, but a little spot where there was nothing, just, you know, an asphalt parking lot. And when we leave, there’s nothing left – we sweep ‘er up and go – so it’s almost like a mirage… were those guys really here?”


(sound of laughter)


And so, they spring to their trucks and drive out of sight, knowing they’ve helped make the season merry night after night.


For the Great Lakes Radio Consortium, I’m Mark Brush.

Related Links

A Better Beer for St. Patty’s Day

This week, Irish – and those who wish to join them – will celebrate St. Patrick’s Day, in honor of the man who converted the Irish to Christianity. People will eat corned beef and cabbage, don shamrocks… and talk in fake Irish accents. Many of them will also drink green beer. But Great Lakes Radio Consortium commentator, Julia King, says the beer could be even greener:

Transcript

This week Irish – and those who wish to join them – will celebrate St. Patrick’s Day, in honor of
the man who converted the Irish to Christianity. People will eat corned beef and cabbage, don
shamrocks and talk in fake Irish accents. Many of them will also drink green beer. But Great
Lakes Radio Consortium commentator, Julia King, says the beer could be even greener:


In honor of St. Patrick’s Day, I’m going to make a personal disclosure… I like beer.


I first got the feeling this was somehow inappropriate when I was in my early twenties and I
stopped into a mini-mart to get something to drink. I put the bottles up on the counter and the
guy at the register said – exactly like this:


“You lika beera?”


He looked at me as if I had bought a whip and fishnet stockings instead of a six-pack. I blushed.


But you know, I’m grown up now and a lot less shy. So, now I’m going tell you that I not only
“lika beera”, I have a KEG in my house. That’s right, and I like it so much I think every serious
beer drinker within the sound of my voice ought to consider a keg.


Actually, I prefer to use the term “BEER-ON-TAP.” A “KEG” sounds like my husband and I
might be den-parents at a frat house. “BEER-ON-TAP” sounds like we have a lot of beer, but
we don’t drink it out of 32 oz plastic cups.


It goes without saying, but I’ll say it anyway: this is NOT an invitation to become a drunkard. In
a two-adult household, if each adult consumes one or two beers a day, the Journal of the American College of Cardiology says those adults are likely to live a little longer; and I say those adults might as well
have a keg. This is an invitation to be environmentally friendly. See how just about anything
can be made morally correct?


Of course, like any worthwhile home improvement, a keg startup requires an investment. Unless
you want to squeeze your groceries around a big vat of beer, you’ll need an extra refrigerator.
You’ll also need a carbon dioxide cylinder to keep the beer fresh for the next month or two (See?
it’s not for drinking all at once… restraint; moderation).


Once you’re set up, though, you’re likely to save money on the best micro-brews. At my house,
we save 40% off the bottled price. And in a year’s time we save the fuel for countless drives to
the liquor store and the energy required to recycle about 1,400 bottles.


So this St. Pattie’s Day, remember if you really want to drink green beer, consider a keg.

Christmas Tree Sellers Hoping for Better Season

Christmas tree sellers are in the height of their season right now. Truckloads of spruces, pines and firs are being delivered to stores and Christmas tree lots all across the region. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Lester Graham reports:

Transcript

Christmas tree sellers are in the height of their season right now. Truck loads of spruces, pines
and firs are being delivered to stores and Christmas tree lots all across the region. The Great
Lakes Radio Consortium’s Lester Graham reports:


Christmas tree growers are hoping sales are up this year. Last year they were down substantially.
Sales dropped from the year before by about five-and-a-half million trees. That’s because of two
things. Thanksgiving came late last year, making the buying season shorter. Then, the hustle and
bustle of the condensed holiday season caused some families to skip the tree altogether.


Andy Cole is a grower in Michigan and a spokesperson for the National Christmas Tree
Association. He says hopefully newer trends in trees will help sales this year. In recent years
instead of Scotch pines, people are leaning toward true fir trees such as the Frasier fir and the
Balsam fir.


COLE “Well, they’re a more open layered tree and they have a sturdy branch pattern that will take
the large ornaments that are so popular now.”


The National Christmas Tree Association expects one out of every four households will buy a
fresh tree this year. That amounts to 28 million trees purchased between Thanksgiving and
Christmas.


For the Great Lakes Radio Consortium, this is Lester Graham.

Related Links

Homemade Gifts Gone Wrong

Holiday season is in full swing. For most gift seekers that means crowded parking lots, long lines and hours at a mall, but Great Lakes Radio Consortium commentator, Julia King, decided to avoid some of the mass production and commercialization of Christmas this year. Instead, she’ll get back to the “Holiday Spirit” by trying her hand at something a bit closer to home:

Transcript

Holiday Season is in full swing. For most gift seekers that means crowded parking lots, long
lines and hours at a mall. But Great Lakes Radio Consortium commentator, Julia King, decided
to avoid some of the mass production and commercialization of Christmas this year. Instead,
she’ll get back to the “Holiday Spirit” by trying her hand at something a bit closer to home:


Now, I don’t like to brag, but can I just say that I MADE my holiday gifts this year? Let me tell
you the story of my apple butter.


In the fall, when other people were walking through crunchy leaves and carving pumpkins and
going on hayrides, I was riding my environmentally friendly bike to the local farmer’s market
where I bought many pounds of chemical-free Indiana apples and put them in my backpack and
then rode home with hard, yellow delicious apples digging into my spine and under my shoulder
blades. I had to do this many times because my family kept eating the apples. Like snacks,
instead of future gifts. So, I had to make a lot of bike rides with a lot of apples sticking into my
back.


Oh well, holiday spirit.


But I finally stockpile all the apples and the cider – oh yeah, the cider: I had to drive to the
farmers’ market twice in the rain to get fresh, un-pasteurized cider. Okay, so then I have
everything I need and I boil the cider until it reduces by half – which takes a couple of hours, then
I peel the apples (which doesn’t take as long but gives me a cramp in my right hand and makes
me wonder if I’m developing arthritis because I could be, you know; I’m not getting any
younger). Then I dump the apples into the reduced cider and boil and then simmer and then stir
and then boil and then simmer and then add secret, exotic spices (okay, cinnamon), and then boil
and stir and simmer for about thirty-nine days, during which time I can’t leave the house because
the stove is on, and fire safety requires that I stay. Finally, when all the moisture is gone, it’s time
to put the apple butter into jars and “process” it, which is the worst part because if you do it
wrong you could kill people. And that’s always especially sad at the holidays.


So, you have to wash and boil the jars, but NOT the lids with the rubber — because if you do, you
could kill people. You have to keep everything warm, and then you have to pour the apple butter
into the clean jars while it’s still boiling and then wipe the rim with a clean towel so that it seals
right and you don’t kill people.


Then you have to boil it in the closed jars for about fifteen minutes and then when it comes out
it’s supposed to make a sound as it cools and that should mean it’s safe.


And when it’s all done, you look around the kitchen and see dirty pots and pans and globs of
brown stuff all over your stove and yards of apple peels and there, in the midst of this chaos, sit
three little four-ounce jars of apple butter.


And then you go to the store the next day and see that it only costs a dollar-fifty! And you curse
capitalism. And now on top of making your friends and family play Russian roulette with
botulism, they have to sit through the story of how you made their apple butter.


Oh well, holiday spirit.


Julia King lives and writes in Goshen, Indiana. She comes to us by way of the Great Lakes Radio
Consortium.

Finding a Healthier Holiday Turkey

A turkey dinner with all the fixin’s is as much a part of the
holidays as Santa Claus and Christmas carols. Most people buy their
turkey in the frozen food section of the local supermarket. But a
growing
number are looking for a healthier alternative. They’re getting their
birds
right from the farm. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Karen Kelly
reports:

Commentary – The Spirit of Giving

The Christmas season is the busiest time of the year for retailers.
Caught up in the frenzy of holiday buying, Great Lakes Radio
Consortium commentator Suzanne Elston wonders if she’s lost the
spirit of giving:

Keeping the Holidays Simple

The holiday season is a time of giving. It’s also a time of rushing,
shopping, and waste. But the Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Lester
Graham reports that some people are trying to keep the holidays more
simple: