WITH THE WORLD YET AGAIN MIRED IN INESCAPABLE MISERY, CATASTROPHE AND DESPAIR*,

The World Cup’s “Green Goal” program began at the 2006 games in Germany with carbon-footprint-reducing offsets front and center, and has expanded with this year’s event, with commitments to doing more and doing it better, and showing last year’s lackluster climate talks in Copenhagen a thing or two when it comes to taking a united global stand against climate change. Time to make some noise with your vuvuzela—or considering its hornetlike buzz, perhaps not.

The Green Goal program includes offsetting teams’ emissions, more energy-efficient lighting and “green passports,” which I’ll explain in a moment. Over half the 32 teams participating are offsetting the carbon they generate from travel and hotel stays, Reuters reports. PUMA alone is paying for offsets of 18 teams, which wear the athletic company’s uniforms and gear. The Global Environmental Facility (GEF), meanwhile, is behind the smarter lighting initiative, providing energy-efficient lighting in the stadiums and solar street lighting of six host cities.

The green passport is a 32-page booklet encouraging tourism that respects the environment and helps boost the economic and social development of local communities, as well as discussing green goals, plans and accomplishments. The handy guide also includes a carbon footprint calculator and information about green accommodations, restaurants and activities.

But wait, there’s more. Nine teams, thanks to Nike, are wearing jerseys made from recycled plastic bottles. There’s also a new high-speed train, the Gautrain, now online in Johannesburg, providing fast and reliable mass transit—it opened just 3 days before matchplay began at the World Cup.

Okay, so we’re talking sport here, 90+ minutes per match of diversion that often encompasses a nationalistic bent, a rather simple game that’s played the world over (yes, in the good ol’ US of A, too, and on a professional level), but there are some very positive lessons to be learned concerning the efficacious greening of the World Cup, just as there are from the game’s healthy competition, camaraderie and level playing field—just watch a game, if you haven’t yet, and pick up on its effervescent spirit, shared passion, commitment and excellence, the striving for greatness that involves teamwork as much as individual ability, focus and performance. We’re all in this together! seems to be a rallying cry.

And with the games held for the first time in South Africa, and on the African continent, which has certainly had more than its fair share of misery, catastrophe and despair, it’s encouraging to see how smoothly this world-engaging spectacle has unfolded as it nears the end of its glorious first week. We may not have witnessed a simpatico vibe at the Bonn climate talks that ended as the World Cup commenced, but perhaps by the next major climate summit in Mexico at the end of the year there may be some inspired shouting of “GOOOOOOOOOOOOAL!”

—Allen

*I know, when truly isn’t it to one degree or another?

LIKE AN AWE-INSPIRING EXPO OR WORLD’S FAIR DEPICTING A BRIGHTER, SMARTER FUTURE

What else can you expect? Well, try immersion in a world already gone green in innumerable ways, and all on constant display and readily available for easy interaction, badinage and play. Not bad for $15, which gets you in both days and provides access to all speaker presentations and festival events (see the complete schedule for details). Seattle’s Green Festival will feature a Music, Arts & Culture Room, Community Action Pavilion, Green Living Pavilion, Fair Trade & Social Justice Pavilion, Local Food & Farming Pavilion, DIY Zone (featuring hands-on workshops), Green Kids’ Zone, Blue Corner (all things aquatic) and Exhibitor Marketplace. It’s a lot to take in, even spread across an entire weekend.

The not-to-miss Exhibitor Marketplace can be a bit overwhelming (there are more than 350 businesses spread throughout the exhibit hall), and my recommendation is to hit it early before it gets too crowded and difficult to maneuver in a timely manner. It’s a great opportunity to wander serendipitously and see the latest developments in green products and services, and to chat with the people either behind them or representing them. Talk about rapidly emerging markets in the new green economy—this is positive ground zero, where you’ll find everything from wind-energy-powered web host providers and sustainably grown herbs to electric bikes and green burials/home funerals (yep, you read that right, the ultimate in cradle-to-grave-and-back self-realization).

In addition to Lovins, the many speakers well worth seeing in Seattle include Amy Goodman, John Perkins, Thom Hartmann, David Korten and festival-cofounder Kevin Danaher. But this event—which also takes place at various dates in Washington, D.C., San Francisco and Chicago—is about much more than merely listening to an informed quorum of speakers: it’s about the strong vibe, getting sweaty-palmed, heartbeat-aflutter caught up in a momentum-gaining movement that transcends social, political, commercial and religious/ethical/philosophical boundaries, and becoming part of something that’s attempting to affect true positive change in an era sadly being defined by financial scandals and hardships, environmental degradation and disaster, political stalemate and savagery, across-the-board apathy and, well, let me stop there—the Green Festival is for, lest we forget, yeasayers not naysayers.

I hope you can make the Seattle event this weekend, but if not, Washington and San Francisco Green Festivals take place this fall. All aboard the brighter, smarter future that’s here and now.

—Allen

GOING GREEN HITS ITS STRIDE with the bright and buoyant, fast and fabulous Brooks Green Silence racing flats—”racing flats” are performance/competition running shoes for all you non-Runner’s-World-subscribing-I-live-to-trim-seconds-from-my-miles normal folks out there. These foot rockets go a long way (potentially literally) in proving that cradle-to-cradle eco-conscious design doesn’t have to compromise one iota to deliver a championship-calibre performance. Waterproof/breathable/ultra-lightweight hats off to Brooks for bringing these kicks to the finicky (read, I readily admit, elitist) marketplace of outdoor/sports-geek gear.

So what did Brooks do and how did the Green Silence perform when it came to race time? Let me share.

It all started several years ago when Brooks announced it was going to create a truly eco-friendly shoe, utilizing more eco-conscious design, manufacturing processes and sustainable materials; this may not be the full-blown, cross-the-board commitment of, say, a Patagonia (see Patagonia’s “Footprint Chronicles,” for example), but it’s a sizable DfE (Design for Environment) stride in the right direction. In 2008 Brooks launched the BioMoGo midsole, “the world’s first biodegradable running shoe midsole that breaks down 50 times faster than traditional midsoles in an enclosed, active landfill.” That same year Brooks also debuted a new shoe box made of fully biodegradable, 100-percent recycled paperboard. The Green Silence soon followed.

You can take a quick interactive tour of the Green Silence on the Brooks website, but here are the salient facts:

• Constructed with just 48 percent as many parts as comparable shoes
• More than 75 percent of the shoe’s materials are post-consumer recycled
• All dyes, colorants and adhesives are nontoxic, with VOCs lowered by 65 percent
• Midsoles, collar foams and sock liners are completely biodegradable

What you end up with is a lightweight racing flat—it weighs just 6.9 oz.—that features a minimal 8 mm offset, or drop, from heel to toe: you’re not running barefoot, by any stretch, but you’re low to the ground, and thanks to the compression-molded BioMoGo midsole, I found, well-cushioned. Just add human accelerant and you feel propelled forward by warm jets of eco-conscious good will!

Which gets me to my trial-by-fire race: the annual mid-May Pole Pedal Paddle relay race in Bend, Oregon. This crazy, fun, challenging event features six legs, starting with a downhill skier on Mt. Bachelor who slaps happy with a cross-country skier who fist bumps a bicyclist who quick taps a runner who passes speedy karma to a kayaker/canoer who finally lends spiritual propulsion to a sprinter who then crosses the finish line at the Les Schwab Ampitheater in Bend’s Old Mill District. Sound fun? It is. This year, the PPP’s 34th, had the most participants in its history, 3,005. The best time was posted by Marshall Greene of Bend at 1:44:27.

I was part of one of three teams from Journeys, a highly recommended wine bar and pub in Portland’s Multnomah Village neighborhood, and took part in both running legs. My Green Silence were anything but (and if that vibrant, asymmetrical gold and red color scheme doesn’t work for you, Brooks has more colors in the works), and easily got me under 6-minute miles on a course that included road, sidewalk, some trail, a few small climbs—and all at an average elevation of around 3,625 feet. The Green Silence fit comfortably, provided quite adequate support, created no race issues and had a springiness to them that made running a total pleasure—they totally kicked it. I also tried a little trail run with them, but unless you’re on smooth dirt only, I definitely wouldn’t recommend them in this capacity—nor would Brooks, I’m sure.

Way to go, Brooks, in setting a new standard in radical, challenging green stuff and truly embracing the DfE ethic. It may be “Silent steps to a Greener future,” but I want to make a lot of noise about it now. Looking forward to my next race in the Green Silence.

—Allen

FARMVILLE DOESN’T COUNT.

Shared Earth, on its homepage, puts it this way: “Land owners get to make more efficient use of their land. Gardeners and farmers get access to land. Our community is built on the premise that we can create a greener, more organic and efficient world one garden at a time.” The organization, free to join at this point, invites you to create either a garden or gardener profile, which then gets entered into a searchable listing. It’s kind of like an online dating service but for the gardening set—and you don’t even have to enter your astrological sign, favorite happy hour tipple or profess your undying love for Beverley Nichols, Wendell Berry, Barbara Kingsolver or Michael Pollan.

What you do enter is, if you’re a gardener, a headline and description about your gardening, what you can grow, your years of experience (neophytes out there, you can select “none”), how the work and compensation will play out, and if you can provide your own tools. If you have a garden, you enter a headline and description about your garden, its size (the pulldown menu here goes from less than 50 feet to 150 acres), if it’s ready to plant or needs some assistance, if you’re going to help and when gardeners can access your space. That’s all there is to it. You’re in the system, ready to connect and share some earth.

Shared Earth has partnered with the Sustainable Food Center in Austin, Texas, and the Coastal Conservation League in South Carolina, and is looking for additional partners and volunteers. It’s the brainchild of entrepreneur/venture capitalist Adam Dell who connected his land with a gardener online for his eureka!/voila! moment. As I write this, Shared Earth’s website proclaims, “28,079,280 square feet shared,” which to me is much better than “blankety-blank burgers served” any day of the week. There isn’t an imposing number of listings up yet, but they range in location from Brisbane and Nottingham to Little Rock and Onalaska (that’s in Washington state, BTW). And, please keep in mind, this Shared Earth thing is just getting started.

Farmville, Schmarmville—perhaps it’s time to get outside and try the real thing.

—Allen

YOU KNOW YOU’RE GETTING SOMEWHERE WHEN EVEN LOVABLE OL’ SPONGEBOB’S FULLY ABOARD.

#1 Spend some time off the grid.
You know, unplug, unbuckle and set yourself free … for a bit. The rat race/almighty hamster wheel will still be there when you get back, but perhaps you’ll have heard an inspirational songbird, meditated on world peace or the price of wheat, thought about family or friends you’ve been neglecting of late, imagined a cumulous the mighty prow of an ancient vessel or majestic whale’s tale, or walked a silent path on your lunch hour sans cell, iPod or other mechanical distraction. Feels good, doesn’t it?

#2 Start a great green book.
Okay, perhaps not one of your own devising, but one that will motivate and inspire and spur a dialogue with others. Here’re a couple candidates: Bill McKibben‘s got a new one, Eaarth (find out just what he’s got in mind with that extra “a”); James William Gibson‘s eco-fabulous book, A Reenchanted World, is just out in paperback; or revisit/discover a classic from Muir, Thoreau, Snyder, Carson, Leopold, Abbey, Berry, Han Shan, et al.

#3 Engage a stranger in a face-to-face conversation.
Forget—at least for a while—texting, online social media, e-mail and that ubiquitous cell, and say, HELLO, my name is ________. What do you think about _______? Pick a topic, any topic, but it’s Earth Day and its fortieth anniversary, so why not make it about our planet, ecology, the lives of plants and animals, what Eyjafjallajökull’s eruption, and resultant disruption, says about the world of today?

#4 Join a new environmental or socially responsible group and volunteer some time and/or money.
With the rampant economic upheavals that continue unabated (kind of like Eyjafjallajökull Clash of the Titansed-up to mega-Kraken proportions), even a soupçon of support can help. And there are a myriad of exceptional organizations out there fighting the good fight, locally, nationally, globally. Initiate your own web search or feel free to hit our Tilth Creative Collaborative list.

#5 Engage in some “Negawatt revolutionary” activity.
We’re not advocating some sort of apostasic militant anarchy here, but really just a simple rethink of the way you go about some of your everyday business: turning off lights when not in use, replacing traditional lightbulbs with CFLs, driving less, eating more that’s grown locally, etc. See our “The Negawatt Revolution Is Here and Now!” and “Energy Savings in Action” posts for lots more actionable details on creating these units of energy saved.

#6 Start planning your next holiday/vacation with eco-friendly considerations.
Try visiting a place like Glacier National Park rather than faraway Paris this summer. And if you can get there as fuel efficiently as possible, please do so. Glacier too far away? Check a regional gazetteer and visit somewhere closer to home.

#7 Plan your garden or start a garden for the first time.
What better way to get involved with the Earth than literally to get involved with earth! It’s still early to start planting, but never too early to start planning your new garden. What kind of veggies will thrive and where best in your plot of land (or community garden, if you lack the space yourself)? Ever try raised beds? What about an energy-efficient greenhouse DIY kit? If you’re in that new-to-gardening camp and hungry for tips, check out Oregonian scribe Kym Pokorny’s “Grow your own veggies: How to start an edible garden” story.

#8 Think “precycle” when it comes to what goes on your shopping list.
The less packaging the better, so keep that in mind when you’re getting ready to shop. I’m not advocating you go entirely bulk or buy everything in concentrate, but do you need a plastic bag for those three avocados (to, what, stop a border skirmish?)? a noncompostable container for those sprouts or to-go bagel and lox? pre-washed, already-chopped stir-fry veggies in a plastic container (c’mon, it’s not an insurmountable obstacle to buy the ingredients individually and prep them yourself)?

#9 Get directly involved with the Earth Day 2010 Campaign.
The Earth Day 2010 Action Center‘s the place to be. You can commit to Billion Acts of Green, RSVP to the Climate Rally at the National Mall in Washington, D.C., taking place April 25, learn about campus and environmental arts events and programs, plus plenty more. You can also connect via Facebook.

#10 Use at least one “alternative” mode of transportation—and make a habit of it.
Can you walk, jog or bike to work or where you need to get to at some point during the day or evening? Can you leave the car at home and take the bus, light rail or turn that client meeting into a teleconference with PDFs shared electronically rather than paper printouts? Can you imagine a world with less smog and less stressful congestion? See our Green Dynamind post on bike sharing, “Cycle to Work—It’s the Law!,” for more on progressive thinking when it comes to transportation.

#11 Make every day Earth Day!
Arguably the no-brainer edict of the century, I believe, and an obvious embodiment of the golden rule, but sometimes acknowledgement, leading to perspective, awareness and action, can be everything.

—Allen

CHANGE YOUR WORLD IN AN HOUR

Energy Trust of Oregon, an independent nonprofit organization “dedicated to helping Oregonians benefit from saving energy and tapping renewable resources,” works in association with Portland General Electric, Pacific Power, NW Natural and Cascade Natural Gas to help save more than $440 million in energy costs; this includes plenty of residential $$$/energy-saving assistance and guidance. The trust’s website is chockfull of useful information, and our “energy advisor,” who led the in-home review, pointed us toward the site numerous times for additional facts, figures and ways to continue the energy-saving dialogue.

Conservation Services Group (CSG) actually carries out the reviews for Energy Trust of Oregon as a “program management contractor.” The Massachusetts-headquartered group, which has been around since 1984 and has 20 offices and nearly 600 employees around the country, promotes energy efficiency, conservation and clean energy technologies, and works with utilities, public agencies, homeowners and local communities.

BACK TO THE WORLD-CHANGING WALKTHROUGH. Portland General Electric, our renewable-energy provider, first brought the Home Energy Review to our attention on their website. We then set it up with a simple phone call (1.866.368.7878; you can also schedule a visit via Energy Trust’s website). Our energy advisor showed up within the hour timeframe he had promised; it was NOT a case of “you need to take the entire morning or afternoon off to make sure you can accommodate us, thank you very much.” So far, so good. The advisor asked some general questions about our home, the age of the furnace, our priorities and concerns (we were looking to be as energy efficient as possible—he checked a box for that), and he quickly reviewed a few electric and gas bills (nothing appeared amiss or unusual).

Now it was time for the actual walkthrough, which included an inspection of the water heater (we dialed it down a bit more), furnace, attic insulation, crawlspace (and its appalling lack of insulation), windows and our “classic” cast-iron Schrader wood-burning stove (not very efficient and more a West Coast “showpiece,” we learned). We were given a handy one-page “recommended home energy improvements” worksheet, which included “opportunities to save” sections on weatherization, insulation, heating and cooling, water heating and appliances. The sheet also included action-plan priorities (in our case, “air sealing with leakage test; floor, attic, water insulation; fix attic hatch [the flimsy plastic hatch wasn't doing the job—what were we thinking!?]“) and “other opportunities,” which amounted to considering a more energy-efficient furnace and tankless gas water heater.

The advisor also installed a more water-saving showerhead, a number of CFL bulbs to augment those we already had in place and several water-faucet aerators—all at no cost.This was pretty nifty, and greatly appreciated. Additional leave-behind materials included an Energy Trust Cash Incentives booklet with information on potential Oregon and federal tax credits and cash-back programs (the information is updated on the website to reflect legislative change), an extensive contractors list organized by service (also updated and available online) and a well-laid-out and informative Energy Savings Guide for Your Home booklet. It took just an hour, which flew right by, and will certainly change our little world, saving us energy and money and helping protect the environment; the Energy Trust website makes this quite explicit: “Because of the energy saved and renewable power generated by Energy Trust customers since 2002, three million tons of carbon dioxide will not enter our atmosphere. That’s like removing more than one half-million cars from our roads every year.”

Not in Oregon and unable to take advantage of this great program? If you don’t have access to something comparable, contact your local utilities, government, community leaders and fellow homeowners and make some noise.

—Allen + Colleen

CYCLE TO WORK—IT’S THE LAW.

Bike-sharing programs, both public and private, have been around for quite a while (recall Amsterdam’s famous white bicycles in the 1960s) and currently have a lot more traction in Europe, but are starting to pick up momentum in North America. In the case of sprawling, congested Mexico City, notorious for its air pollution, the program is part of its 20+ year struggle to change its ways—eliminating leaded gasoline, establishing emission standards for cars, closing particularly bad coal-fired power plants, among other ventures. But is the city past the tipping point? Is this too little, too late? Time will tell, but at least it’s a move in the right direction, a sort of noblesse oblige, which at least goes beyond mere yeah, yeah, we’re working on that platitudinous blather.

A recent brandchannel piece commented on the marketing angle of such programs: “In an effort to modernize their brands and attract tourism dollars, many cities are adopting ‘green’ campaigns aimed at reducing pollution, promoting health, and demonstrating concern for the environment.” A reality check, sure, but it’s still a plus for the environment (refer back to our post on green marketing for a refresher).

NO SURPRISE, THEFT IS ONE OF THE MAJOR HURDLES bike-sharing programs run into. Using a reliable checkout system, along the lines of library books or Zip Cars, has been one way to eliminate this. Outright malicious destruction—ah, the humanity!—seems to be another fate (brandchannel reported how bicycles in Paris’ bike-sharing program, despite success, have turned up in the Seine, hanging from lampposts, abandoned with bent wheels, etc.). Accounting for attrition, then, needs to be built in to achieve success.

In the United States and Canada, bike-sharing programs include Washington, D.C.’s Smartbike DC, Montreal’s Bixi and UC Irvine’s ZotWheels. Numerous cities are actively looking into following suit, including super bike-friendly Portland, Oregon, where I reside (Portland tried bike sharing in the 1990s, but the program was scuttled after the usual culprits, theft and vandalism, drastically diminished the fleet).

The small Oregon coastal town of Waldport (population 2,050) has had a Green Bikes bike-sharing program in place for several years now, sponsored by the Seashore Family Literacy Center, which also hosts free volutneer-run bike repair workshops. We’re only talking about 30 bikes here, but hey, the program’s a success (albeit a bike or two has turned up in Portland, more than 100 miles away!) and continues to grow, and all in a sleepy little town perhaps best known for its nearby World War II conscientious objectors camp, Camp Angel, and the camp’s Fine Arts Group that “hosted” future San Francisco Renaissance luminaries William Everson, Glenn Coffield, Martin Ponch and Kermit Sheets (see this Oregon Encyclopedia entry to learn more).

We need more Plan Verdes in more cities, unquestionably. They represent another take on public transportation that gets people out of cars and into the outdoors (okay, okay, this may actually entail dodging stinky automobiles during rush hour, but I can dream!)—consider it a tenable form of socialized health “care.” But funding—that dreadful F word to so many’s ears—for such programs is a major hurdle, especially when times are tough and city budgets are already strapped or dipping dangerously into the red. I think this warrants a strong call for sizable corporate sponsorship—go ahead and slap those logos all over the bikes; don’t we already see and accept their ubiquity when it comes to professional sports and other public spectacles.

As Kristina Dell wrote in Time last summer, “Most people don’t want to use trains, buses or bikes unless they’re really convenient, but most cities aren’t willing to spend enough to make these services convenient until enough people start using them.” To break this crazy bind, then, the push has got to come from somewhere, be it grass- or netroots citizen organized or by politicians/city leaders with moxie and/or passion for biking. It’s at least reassuring that a number of cities are already in the feasibility/request for proposal/planning stage for bike-sharing programs—may they build consensus, catch fire and lead by example.

—Allen

CODA
(From “Look Ma, No Car! Pedaling Toward a Postcarbon Future” in the March/April 2010 issue of Sierra)
Of course, bicycle commuting isn’t for everyone. And most people—cyclists included—need buses and trains and, yes, cars to get around at least some of the time. But cyclists can be a catalyst in the green-transportation revolution; they fight passionately for safer infrastructure because their lives depend on it….

Here is a future we can choose to make: Towns and cities where the streets are full of cyclists pedaling to work and the sidewalks vibrant with pedestrians walking to cafes, movie theaters, and farmers’ markets. Healthier communities connected by rail lines and bus routes. A low-carbon transportation system that helps us avert a climate catastrophe.

I’VE GOT A “MARCH MADNESS” CONFESSION TO MAKE:

That said, and with scribble-scrabbled brackets flying madly about and determined bracketologists of all stripes filling out and updating their nope, nope, you’re wrong, this is the way it’s gonna be! brackets in sports bars, cafes, restaurants, waiting rooms, on public transportation, in the office, at home and abroad, what better time to consider ecologically sound printing, especially when it comes to such ephemeral, utilitarian uses.

Your best bet, of course, is to forego printing entirely and do it all electronically, on your computer or smart phone/handheld device—yep, there are numerous apps for that! (And I’m hoping Apple’s iPad, if and when widely adopted, can also help a great deal in this print-free, paper-saving realm—plus give journalism, and the quality writers who work in that realm, a boost. Go iPad, go!)

But if you opt for print, perhaps consider yourself strictly old school and want to have that physical piece—a bit tattered, torn and pilsner stained—one you can lord over friends and, well, hoopster frenemies, consider an environmentally friendly font that uses less ink. Case in point: the Ecofont. What the Ecofont lacks in creativity when it comes to its name it makes up for in its simple design: small holes in each letter, which don’t detract from readability; and it’s also sans serif, which means less whorls and curlicues that look nice but require more ink to adorn the page. The Ecofont typeface is open source and free to download and use. Free fonts, not all of them necessarily eco, are also available at ECO Fonts. It’s a little thing, unquestionably, but when applied in volume can make a big difference.

A couple of other tools to consider are PrintWhatYouLike, which helps you optimize a webpage for printing (so you don’t print all that extraneous junk, which can go on for pages!), and Greenprint, freeware which again helps optimize for printing but also works well with non-webpage sources. I also recommend you make smart paper choices; see our Green Dynamind post, “For (All) the Trees: The Forest Stewardship Council,” for more information.

And as for “ecological bracketology,” I’ve got Kansas winning it all this year, on the court and on my laptop + handheld device.

—Allen

I KIND OF LIKE TO THINK

eBay’s Earth Day-conscious Green Team, not one to miss such an opportunity, has launched a “Green Team Challenge” now through Earth Day, April 22—in case you missed it, this year is Earth Day’s fortieth anniversary. So yep, we’re talking consumerism, albeit “reduced,” the buying and selling of used, refurbished or vintage merchandise (as eBay puts it, “the greenest product is often the one that already exists”).

This is internet-enabled activity, certainly, to generate profit, but it also encompasses the idea of recycling, of consuming less of what’s new, making do with what’s already out there and that, in turn, gets us in a nice low-impact “spin cycle.” Thrift stores of all varieties do it, craigslist does it and the one I’m most behind, Freecycle, does it with its heart clearly in the right place. Corporate green teams have been growing in popularity the last few years (eBay’s started in 2007), and it’s certainly a huge green positive to see such (often) grassroots ventures continue to gain footholds, spark employee and community involvement, and expand company initiatives and enterprisewide practices.

eBay’s Green Team Challenge is to get their customers “to reuse what exists in the world, and we’ll do our part to make your impact come to life.” eBay has joined with Team Earth to protect three rainforests in the Congo, Brazil and Mexico, promising to protect an acre in each customer’s name who takes the challenge (plus, there’s an added pecuniary incentive and prize drawings). Information and slideshows for each of the rainforests are on the Green Team Challenge website to aid in voting. The challenge, in essence then, is an acknowledgement of self-agreendisement, of Yeah, I want to do the right thing and make use of what’s already out there, and I want others to know about it and get involved, too.

“Selling green makes sense,” the eBay Green Team site says—absolutely true!—and necessary now more than ever—in so many ways. It’s like going to the head of the class and shouting, “Let’s make every day Earth Day!”—and if only it were so simple to share this sentiment globally. But hitting eBay’s 90-million-plus active users, via the Green Team Challenge, certainly doesn’t hurt. Recycle that thought next time you’re in search of, say, vintage Hamm’s or Schlitz barware or a sturdy babystroller with low miles and a tiny footprint.

—Allen

THINGS GOTTA CHANGE

And I’m going to take Cleveland, and the “Cleveland Model,” as a new and enlightening nexus point, that is, its cooperative spirit, literal co-ops and bright green focus—and, hoop fans, I’m not talking LeBron James, Shaq, turn$tile revenues (green of another sort) and the concomitant full-glaze opiate common of professional sports. This is—drum roll, please—CHANGE TO BELIEVE IN! And I think we’re all ready for a true (a posse ad esse) annus mirabillis.

Opening of the Evergreen Cooperative Laundry.

WHAT CLEVELAND IS DOING, AND DOING QUITE WELL, is creating jobs, many of them green, generating wealth, spurring growth and enhancing community, through Evergreen Cooperatives, a Cleveland-area partnership between six city neighborhoods and “anchor institutions,” which include the city, the Cleveland Foundation, Case Western Reserve University, the Cleveland Clinic and University Hospitals. Businesses launched so far include Evergreen Cooperative Laundry, Ohio Cooperative Solar and (still in prelaunch) Green City Growers—all local, employee-owned and for-profit companies that utilize green best practices (such as LEED silver certification and a small carbon footprint at the laundry). And they’re doing this despite current economic conditions, and in a city not normally associated with growth (Cleveland’s population has halved since 1950 and the poverty rate stands at more than 30 percent).

This cooperative model has been inspired by the MONDRAGON Corporation in the Basque Country of northern Spain, which includes 256 independent companies (more than 100 of which are worker-owned cooperatives) and employs 100,000+ people. MONDRAGON’s governance (instituted by the principle of one worker, one vote) shares its overriding resources with the individual companies, assisting with planning, research, funding and more. While not impervious to the recent global economic downturn, the cooperative has seen a significant €1,324 million in investment—a clear, determined commitment to the future—with no market share or position lost in relation to its competition.

Evergreen Cooperatives, instead of “business as usual,” limits the spread between high and low salaries: no top-management employee earns more than five times any entry-level employee. The Evergreen Cooperative Development Fund, meanwhile, managed by ShoreBank Enterprise Cleveland, offers low-interest, long-term financing; it’s capitalized by $5 million in grants and expects to raise another $10-$12 million, which will ideally leverage up to $40 million in additional investment funds. The fund’s website adds:

In keeping with the wealth building goals of the Fund, the Fund also works to ensure the availability of “wrap around services” so that neighborhood residents may become effective employees and organizes the businesses to have an ownership structure that makes employees into employee-owners, who not only have the ability to earn a living wage, but also the chance to build wealth and assets as part-owners of the companies where they work.

Ohio Cooperative Solar—could the name be much greener?!—is currently installing solar panels on the roofs of the city’s largest nonprofit health, education and municipal buildings, working to meet Ohio’s mandate to generate 60 megawatts of solar energy by 2012 (2 megawatts are presently being generated). It’s also leading the way in Ohio’s weatherization program, ripping a noble page right from Van Jones‘ Green Collar Economy.

What about in-the-works Green City Growers (in a city that can certainly benefit from local, affordable produce)? This co-op will open a 230,000-square-foot hydroponic-food-production greenhouse, utilizing new-tech energy-efficient lighting, of course, and produce nearly a million pounds of basil and other herbs and 3 million heads of lettuce a year. In addition to job creation, this will certainly help supplant an over-reliance on fast food, common in urban “food deserts”—a very healthy benefit, indeed.

A newfangled, new-new-deal-wrangled commie plot to take down the greater system? Hardly. I’d rather subscribe to the theory as espoused in a recent story about the Cleveland model reported in The Nation (March 1, 2010):

The overall strategy is not only to go green but to design and position all the worker-owned co-ops as the greenest firms within their sectors. This is important in itself, but even more crucial is that the new green companies are aiming for a competitive advantage in getting the business of hospitals and other anchor institutions trying to shrink their carbon footprint. Far fewer green-collar jobs have been identified nationwide than had been hoped; and there is a danger that people are being trained and certified for work that doesn’t exist. The Evergreen strategy represents another approach—first build the green business and jobs and then recruit and train the workforce for these new positions (and give them an ownership stake to boot). (Emphasis added.)

Key here is seeing this model not only successful in Cleveland but rolled out across the country. Again, from The Nation:

What’s especially promising about the Cleveland model is that it could be applied in hard-hit industries and working-class communities around the nation. The model takes us beyond both traditional capitalism and traditional socialism. The key link is between national sectors of expanding public activity and procurement, on the one hand, and a new local economic entity, on the other, that “democratizes” ownership and is deeply anchored in the community. In the case of healthcare the link is also to a sector in which some implicit or explicit form of “national planning”—the movement toward universal healthcare—will all but certainly increase public influence and concern with how funds are used.

Change to believe in? Absolutely, albeit it’s certain to be filled with both trials and tribulations, which are part and parcel of any learning process and establishment of something new. This is a true grassroots movement, from the bottom up, influencing larger organizations and players and getting them aboard in supporting roles (those “anchor institutions,” as mentioned previously)—putting power in the hands of the individual and folding it into a galvanized collective, letting workers take legitimate pride in ownership, rather than shake in their boots fearing their jobs may soon vanish overseas to help actualize greater bottom-line profits.

People and the planet figure large in the Cleveland model’s bottom line, that is, the triple bottom line. So let’s get that remarkable year, that annus mirabillis, in gear. Consider this a different form of bipartisanship to believe in—a completely different animal—from Cleveland, with antecedents in the Basque region of Spain. And finally, that said, this doesn’t let state or federal government, not to mention banks, off the hook or free to escape culpability—funding channels, with actual cash flow, need to be encouraged, established and supported.*

—Allen

*See Robert Pollin’s excellent piece, “18 Million Jobs by 2012,” in the March 8, 2010, issue of The Nation for realizable ways to help generate additional funding for sustainable-job-building programs like Evergreen Cooperatives. Related calculation details can be found at UMass’s Political Economy Research Institute.