Comments greenlagirl has made

virtual water trade

A related concern's the virtual water trade inherent in flower export / imports. Wenonah Hauter, executive director of Food and Water Watch, talks about this often -- i.e. how Lake Naivasha in Kenya's shrinking in addition to getting polluted.

http://greenlagirl.com/

value of certification and issues with the system

JMG -- I think you'd find what Dean Cycon of Dean's Bean's had to say about first leaving fair trade certification to later return to it interesting. Dean's a long-time fair trade activist and the owner of one the first fair trade coffee companies in the US. In any case, he raised the issue that you're talking about in a post I wrote:
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"More and more companies are coming up with their own version of fair trade, and not all of them are playing by the same rules," Dean said. Some of these companies, Dean noted, buy coffee beans from fair trade farms, then call their coffee fair trade without bothering to pay TransFair to get the official fair trade certification logo. "There's something inherently wrong with that," Dean said, since if it weren't for the certification system of which TransFair is a part, these fair trade farms couldn't even reap the benefits of fair trade.

"How can you take advantage of that system and not pay for it?" Noting that one critique of fair trade is that farm inspections are not done frequently or throughly enough, Dean said, "we can't have money to inspect farms if we're not paying the fee." By opting not to get the certification sticker from TransFair, these coffee companies are "helping drive the system down" via a sort of self-fulfilling critique.
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I did want to add, though, that some of the concerns you raised about organic certification applies also to Transfair USA, which does the FT product certifications in the US. I've written about some of them here; they're the reasons why some uber fair trade companies (Dean's Beans included) decided against fair trade certification at that time.

What's interesting about these serious fair trade companies though, is that the question they'll raise is rarely about the cost of certification (though complaints -- most unsubstantiated -- about Transfair's mismanagement of funds abound). The committed fair trade companies, when nixing their Transfair certification, tried to find other ways to certify their products and promote transparency. Cooperative Coffees, of which Dean's Bean's is a part, put its coffee contracts online for all to see, for ex.

In addition, I believe these companies went so far as to establish a fund to which they contributed a sum equivalent to the certification fees. That money  was then given to the coffee producers -- the point being that these companies always saw the value of certification (for transparency, consumer education / involvement, etc.) and were willing to pay for it, but simply had qualms about the certification system (in this case, Transfair) they had to work with.

http://greenlagirl.com/ http://latimes.com/emeraldcity

Not quite what I thought

Really? I went to Hollywood Goes Green, and thought it was mostly about corporate sponsorships. I wasn't the session with Paula Silva though -- That panel sounds like it was actually both interesting and relevant --On Big ideas come out of Hollywood Goes Green summit posted 1 year, 11 months ago 1 Response

eating out

Sustainable Table's Eat Well Guide's a good resource for locating non-factory farm meat. The database -- searchable via zip code --lists farmers' markets and stores as well as restaurants --On Umbra on sustainable meat posted 2 years, 3 months ago 32 Responses

Pro-rail is not anti-transit

While I do commend some of the work that the BRU has done, as a transit taker in LA, I have to say I'm often very frustrated and puzzled by the BRU's anti-rail stance.

Often, the BRU frames support for rail as a racist tactic that'll help the white and rich while ignoring the poor minority groups -- when there's no proof for this argument.

As it is now, the LA subway system doesn't even come close to what's generally considered the wealthier areas of greater LA (Beverly Hills, West LA, Santa Monica). Basically, the BRU vilifies non-transit takers on the westside for not already taking public transit -- then calls westsiders racist when they try to get more public transit in the area so they can actually use it.

Moreover, a big reason we need rail is that people don't live and work in the same place -- meaning that many of the poor people that the BRU purports to speak for are dependent on public transit to take them to and from the westside where they work.

At the moment, we have an award-winning bus system, with frequent buses on the major arteries going from the east to westside -- Wilshire, Santa Monica, Olympic, Pico -- all of which I use. Yet during rush hour, all of these buses are already at capacity -- even the 720, running every 3-7 minutes. And because these arterial streets all go through different cities -- including the notoriously transit-unfriendly Beverly Hills -- bus-only lanes are a tough, tough fight and slow in coming.

BRU people often say the money earmarked for subways should be used to push for more buses and bus-only lanes instead -- and vilifies the MTA for not pushing rail funds towards buses. This argument ignores the fact that, while rail costs more to build initially, it saves money on the long run through higher capacity and lower maintenance and personnel costs.

Lastly, the rail lines in LA can't simply be called "little used"; ridership's quite large for some of the lines, and growing (Metro's numbers are here). Plus, a ride on the subway, including the Expo line currently in construction, costs exactly the same as a ride on the bus. To argue that rail necessarily means a financial burden specifically affecting the poor is simply misleading.

http://greenlagirl.com/

Tom Philpott rocks

I was gonna rebut your arguments, but Tom Philpott, your colleague, already did it nicely.

http://greenlagirl.com/

David and J.S.

David -- I agree with you to a large extent. You might be interested in reading this article titled "Corporate Social Irresponsibility" from Democracy, if you haven't run across it already. Because I've seen an extremely confusing proliferation of "ethical" programs that consumers can't distinguish between, I'm thinking that focusing on laws and regulations may be our best bet.

The ability of companies to convince people they ARE "good guys" by doing 1 or 2 "nice" things derails effective action. Yes, we can argue that there is the occasional corp that actually cares about a better world -- but that's v. much the exception than the rule.

Which is to say to J.S. that -- while I think your Q to me's a bit nervy considering that you've clearly not investigated Starbucks beyond its press releases before touting it as a model of a morally excellent corp -- yes, I've done a helluva lot of research on Starbucks, including talking to Sue Mecklenberg, Cindy Hoots, Andy Fouche, many many baristas and store / district managers, etc. etc. And I've done enough research to know that while Starbucks has an excellent PR & marketing dept., it's hardly an ethical company overall. The effort to push Starbucks to treat all the people it deals with AS PEOPLE has been a near-decade-long struggle already.

And I say that while admitting that, compared to many other big publicly traded corps, Starbucks does better. Of course, that's not saying much.

Which makes me marvel again on how quick J.S. is to deride fair trade, organic, and local movements for not being perfect, while defending big corps cuz, well, they can't be expected to be perfect.

http://greenlagirl.com/

NYT gets in on the debate

Just a note to say that the NY Times has reported on the debate on this issue: "The Economist seems to be on more slippery ground when it concludes that neither organic nor locally grown food helps the environment."

The article quotes Parke Wilde's comment.

http://greenlagirl.com/

J.S. --

If the Economist routinely has such groundbreaking articles on enviro policy, it's rather odd that you chose this article to note your love for the mag,  no?

In any case -- Looking forward to reading some posts 'bout the Economist analyses that could really (and I hope realistically -- more realistically and effectively than the efforts of organic, fair trade, or local food movements) change things on the magnitude you describe --

http://greenlagirl.com/

But the environment --

Well, Arnie'd really reaised a helluva lot more money than Angelides, which I think helped him A LOT. That said, Phil ran a pretty sorry campaign :(

My point is that while Arnie's portrayed as a super-green Republican, he's really not that green. Yes, he managed to pass some big legislation in the few months before the election (which is important, but which I think almost any Dem governor woulda done too), but he also opposed Prop 87 -- which woulda made big oil pay for drilling in Cali -- among other important props. Plus, the guy owns 4 Hummers.

I guess I'm saying that I have real doubts about Arnie's green(washing) rep --

http://greenlagirl.com/

No, with caveats

I did a little research for ya -- It appears that Starbucks at least isn't DIRECTLY behind this project.

As to whether Starbucks could take a bigger responsibility to prevent deforestation in Sumatra: That's a bigger issue, and one that Starbucks carries at least some blame for --

http://greenlagirl.com/

About Jamais

Jamais left WorldChanging a while ago, but you can check out his new blog, Open the Future :)

http://greenlagirl.com/

Domestic Fair Trade principles

A link to the draft principles for domestic fair trade's at the OCA site.On Workers on organic farms are treated as poorly as their conventional counterparts posted 3 years, 3 months ago 6 Responses

But we had the money

But I was under the impression that Villaraigosa and others HAD succeeded in raising the $16 mil Horowitz had requested. According to the LAT:

"In an afternoon news conference, Villaraigosa said owner Ralph Horowitz turned down $16 million -- an offer that met the asking price. Talks broke down, the mayor said, in large part because Horowitz wanted the farmers evicted."

The article quotes Horowitz saying this:

"If the farmers got a donation and said, 'We got $50 million, would you sell it to us?' I would say no. Not a ... chance," Horowitz said. "It's not about the money."

I'm all for saving the farm, and for calling out our politicians when necessary. But I'm honestly not sure that what's happened can really be blamed on Villaraigosa. We can keep asking the guy to act from now on, but it seems a lil harsh to say he's been doin' lil to nothing --

http://greenlagirl.com/

Farm equipment

Can't farm equipment be run on biodiesel? I wonder if -- instead of pushing for more fossil fuels -- the agricultural sector could be convinced to push for more biodiesel friendly farm tech?

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Silverlake

You should totally be part of the green films panel --

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How much electricity do we have?

But what would happen to SoCal's electricity supply if all of us had plug-in hybrids? What I'm really hoping for are electric trains and buses in LA --

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No, it is not.

As an LA gal, I have my work cut out for me. But I'm also learning to rethink my expectations.

For ex: I've never had a steady bar/ brunch spot/ dinner spot -- mainly cuz I haven't had to. Why go to one place over and over agan, when you can try a new spot each week?

A few months ago, I decided I was gonna use my car less, hell or high water (for my social life). Interestingly, it's gotten easier for me -- Now my friends come to my area more often to (re)visit my fave restaurants in walking distance. It's their lil green deed for the day.

Of course, it helps to have nice friends who feel they're helping out a psychotically green friend that's suddenly gone anti-automobile... -

http://greenlagirl.com/

California

I'm still wondering why we in Cali have been long considered advanced in terms of green energy stuff, when we've also long been famous for our smoggy air --

Hoping things'll be different by 2020 --

http://greenlagirl.com/

Wait --

Wait -- What fear? Fear of Santa?

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solar

This solar thing is one that has had SERIOUS consumer backing all along -- but got derailed due to odd labor issues earlier this year.

As a Cali girl, I have to say I honestly have not met ANYONE against this. Which kinda goes to show not only how much influence a few individuals have in shaping CA policies, but also how much those of us with similar goals have been unable to work together thus far.

Honestly, I'm not sure what I should do, as an environmental activist who cares deeply about labor issues. The two should NOT be mutually exclusive. Yet the way things are set up right now in the golden state, I often feel we're battling against each other, instead of working together...

http://greenlagirl.blogspot.com/

personal consciousness comes before public policy

As someone who tried to take the bus to the museum today and found out it just wasn't possible, I agree that yes, efforts at reshaping public policy are important. That said, I think that A LOT can be done at the consumer level too.

Used to driving our cars, we Angelenos often forget about our nearby delis, cafes, and restaurants. Immersed in our brand-name cultures, many of us head directly to Kinkos without looking into our nearby, independently owned office service companies.

As a gal living in a city known -- and idolized (not in Grist, but in pop culture) -- for its still-considered-sexy car culture, I think many of us have gotten to driving everywhere. Our neighborhoods may not be as pedestrian-friendly as the East Village yet, but in the last year since I've made more of an effort, I've been happy to discover everything from a yummy French bakery to a small notary public office in walking distance from my apartment.

I guess I think that what you call "personal virtue" can make a huge difference -- not only in terms of a person's daily choices, but in terms of his or her awareness of the importance of shaping public policy. "Personal virtue" often leads to a direct engagement with public policy.

I think in our "democratic" society, many of us feel very alienated from the political processes that lead to changes in public policy. Changes at the personal level, I think, can allow a more direct and heartfelt engagement with what seem like big, intangible, governmental decisions we read about in the mass media.

http://greenlagirl.blogspot.com/