The Green Miles

I.

Seattle is place of extraordinary geographic beauty.  Woody hills pile up against swirling pools of Atlantic backwash, topped in the distance by the blurry outlines of the Cascades and Mount Ranier.  What was once a remote lumber village sprung up in the delights of the city's fruitful sea's, deep harbour and mild weather, and ever since then people, and their ideas, just keep coming and coming.

In the last blog I spoke about the wave of green trends that have been cultured in the city's limits, and it is without surprise that Seattle is home, too, to flourishing green development trends. 

One of those innovators is the GreenPod, a collection of sustainable, eco-friendly prefab houses, created by architect Ann Raab and her team of Port Townsend designers.

The houses, which strive to introduce low-impact housing with eco-friendly building concepts and interiors:  Raab insists that all the GreenPod building materials are recycleable, long-lasting and environmentally traceable; all of the fabrics and textiles in the interiors are natural, and none use chemicals or dyes.

"Our goal is not to just sell "green" homes but to do what we can to help sustain the earth, all life, educating others as we proceed with a more gentle way of life, " Raab explained.

The designs, themselves, are flashes of glass and metal melded into strong, abstract shapes, shown perched inside forests, on mountain cliffs, and even floating on ponds.  They are stunning and look far more expensive than their relatively moderate costs.  Clients can pick out all the interior materials, and they all have the option of coming with furniture.  For Raab,  the interior became the GreenPod's most important aspect.

"The inside [of a house] is often five-times more toxic than the outside.  It's the mold, it's the chemicals, the pesticides on your clothes, just pretty much a chemical soup," she said, "It's a process that we just thought, if we did it right once for people, then they had a taste for it and could see why it was so important, to be smaller to live with more sustainable materials, that they would be more sustainable for the earth."

But it wasn't just about building the houses with sustainable materials.  It was about making it an efficient and environmentally-conscientious process - one that the team decided was best done as a prefabricated process, meaning that the houses are build in a warehouse, shipped to the building site, and then erected, there.

"I think the idea of manufacturing the house makes sense. There's no waste of the materials, it isn't outside so the materials aren't getting wet.  It's very efficient -  anytime you manufacture something it's efficient, " she explained, "The pin foundation, it's very low impact because you're not digging up the soil, and there's a huge respect for the dirt, just the way it was. It's aerrated, there's a water table, so you're kind of respecting the existing proeprty the way it was."

For as much construction is going on in Seattle, however, not all builders are as conscientious of their process and waste.  Still, Raab hopes that her architectural trendsetting is only the start.

"I think this is the beginning of a wave. In many respects I feel this can't happen fast enough. We need to create more alternative energy technology and work toward more energy efficiency and less chemical dependency."

II.

We landed in Phoenix yesterday afternoon, and as I gazed out the window as we began our descent, I saw the famous sprawling city, well, doing it what it does best:  sprawling out into the wide white desert, below.

Phoenix, (which is actually a collection of small-towns-turned-suburbs like Tempe, Scottsdale - my friend here likes to call it "Snotsdale" -  Chandler and Surprise) like Colorado Springs, is a bastion of upper-middle-class white America.  Big, adorable adobe houses, with their shiny turquoise pools and shinier SUVs, bloom across the rocky sand, broken up only by highways and business high-rises.

Oh, yes.  And lots of Wal-Marts.

Anyway, everyone I talked to about going to Phoenix made some sort of heavy sigh, and said things like, "It's glorified suburbia", or "there are more Wal-Marts than people", or "it's utterly soulless".  These were not the most hopeful of comments, and it, of course, swayed my opinion on the city even before I witnessed first-hand it's slow spread.

But there's a reason I came to Phoenix, and it's because all those malls have a reason:  it's America's second fastest growing city, topped only by the Dallas off-shoot of Fort Worth. 

Its population grew 45% from 1990 to 2000, according to the US Census Bureau, compared to the US average of 15%, and in 2007 it's population topped 1.5 million - growing 43,000 from the year, before. 

The constant push of people into the area, of course, means that real estate and construction in Phoenix is a booming business.  In 2007, according to statistics from Arizona State Real Estate Studies, Phoenix constructed 12,828 new homes, worth more than 1.3 billion dollars in total.  Also in 2007, the city sold 5,145 new homes, worth an average of $300,580, each (compared to 2000, where Phoenix sold only 2,120 new homes and the average sold at half that, around $154,900).

What it means in reality, is that the city is becoming richer as it grows bigger and bigger, consuming more land and resources as they build their gorgeous adobe haciendas.  One statistic has Phoenix spreading into the desert at the rate of one acre an hour, and it is sucking up the water as it goes:  according to the 1999 US Census, Phoenix used 104 billion gallons of water - about 175 gallons per person, each day.

Ah, and then there's the Brown Cloud:  a sepia-coloured fog that rests in the valley thanks to carbon and nitrogen dioxide, and which traps the scorching heat even more.

This is all sounding very doom and gloom, and I don't mean it to be.  There, of course, are on-going concerted efforts that Phoenix and surrounding communities are making to lessen pollution and preserve the landscape - like the lightrail and the Brown Cloud Summit - but after learning about the GreenPods, and knowing there are more sustainable solutions out there, this very minute, it makes me wonder why Phoenix isn't taking this influx of people as an opportunity to take environmental development (is that an oxymoron?) by the reigns.

The people are still coming - at the rate of around 40,000 every year.  Perhaps there's still time.

Here we are, on the Pacific Northwest Coast.

Home to the progressive capitalist institutions of Starbucks, Microsoft, & Amazon, and contrastingly, the site of the infamous WTO protests of '99.  Yes, people in these parts - namely Vancouver, Seattle & Portland - have always been seen by the rest of North America as political and social motivators for change. 

Take Zines.  Or Emo!  And even the early roots of environmentalism and sustainability:  they all had either their founding or their upbringing in this little pocket of bays, islands and well-watered greenery, which it turns out, is more than just a pretty place.  The great rainy northwest is a bastion of green subculture, where biking the commute, grocery co-ops and dumpster-diving for second-hand goods have flourished, and it seems people around here work hard to be green and be heard, from online environmental bibles Grist and Worldchanging, to Portland's Green Building Program, to the Seattle commission that demanded the city, itself, adhere to the Kyoto treaty.

What's different about the northwest, it seems, is not the fact, perhaps, that these great things are happening, but that they're generally being driven from a very grassroots, citizens-brigade level.

I caught up with longstanding Vancouver environmental activism group Society for Promoting Environmental Conservation (better known as SPEC), who have been campaigning for environmental protection for 35 years in British Columbia.  Their successes include implementing a moratorium on off-shore drilling in the Vancouver area, stopping the development of nuclear power plants and advocating for laws that limit pesticide usage.

Executive Director Karen Wristen sees SPEC's successes as very citizen-driven, " All of SPEC's campaigns that have succeeded have done so because we formed appropriate alliances and/or motivated citizens to become involved as advocates for a cause," she said.

In fact, part of SPECs priorities includes "educating and empowering citizens" to take up the battle, themselves.

"This is the role of citizens in environmental protection:  speaking to their political leaders directly and forcefully about what they want to see happen, and going in to that meeting armed with the facts (that's our role--educating the citizenry)," she said.

However, Wristen thinks the most important part of environmental activism starts personally, "On an everyday level, citizens need to be leaders in reducing their own carbon footprints, because we have no effective political leadership on this issue in Canada.  At the moment."

Wristen also thinks that green-conscious travelers need to take up arms: "Stop flying.  If you've got time to travel, go by boat or train--your greenhouse gas footprint will be much smaller.  If you have to fly, do it only when your destination is 5 or more hours' distant--that way, you're not 'spending' so much carbon on takeoff and landing.  When you get there, walk, cycle, canoe take transit or ride a horse if the opportunity presents," she said.

She also suggests being careful of who you buy from, "Buy locally wherever you go--make an effort to support local economies rather than buying imported goods.  Take advantage of eco-tourism opportunities--by supporting these efforts, you probably help prevent lands and waters from being exploited for industrial purposes," she said.

On a whole, however, while Wristen says that the Canadian government is less-perceptive than her American-cousins at moving forward progressive environmental initiatives, SPECs focus of educating and empowering Canadian citizens remains hopeful, and it all remains activism from a very personal, grassroots level.

"Stay tuned," Wristen said, "because after all those educated, activated and empowered citizens get through voting, it may be a different story!"

Colorado Springs, Colorado, is a city of 372,437 people, nestled in the foothills of the Rockies, at the base of the majestic, 14,110 foot Pikes Peak.  It sits almost smack in the middle of the state of Colorado, and therefore almost directly middle of the US, itself. 

In many ways, it epitomises middle-American society.

Founded in 1871 as a military outpost by General William Palmer, Colorado Springs became a base for gold-rushers, then an artists' colony, and then a health sanctuary for tuberculosis patients.  It has always been a place of extremes, and no more so than now. 

Today, it is a military town - home to the US Air Force Academy, two separate Air Force bases, the Cold War mountain missile defense compound NORAD, and Fort Carson military base -  not to mention numerous defense contractors including Boeing and Lockheed Martin.  Coincidentally, it is also a very Evangelical Christian city - home to the religious right institutions of Focus on the Family, The Navigators, Young Life and the 11,000-plus member New Life Church. 

The arts and education also play a large role Colorado Springs, with 12 universities - including Colorado College, one of Colorado's oldest and first liberal arts universities - and renowned art institutions promoting more left-leaning city initiatives.

In person, the Springs is visually just as contrasting:  little Jesus-fish perch on rumbling SUVs, while university students zoom past on rickety old bikes and moms push buggies down the wide, smooth pavements. Here, beautiful stone buildings which used to be health sanitariums sit next to tall, granite high-rises and squat little chain-stores, all peppered along overly wide streets (wide enough to turn around a horse and carriage, is the common tale) with the mountains towering above. 

A city of contrasts it may be, but there is one thing that brings everyone together, and that's getting the heck outdoors.

Men's Fitness Magazine ranked Colorado Springs the US's Fittest City in 2008, and being here, it comes as little surprise.  Parks, trails and "open spaces" are literally everywhere, winding in and around the city, and out into the nearby mountains - and people are always on them. The city has 209 parks, and the park acreage per capita, according to the survey, is 142% higher than the US average.  

Residents here are 95% more likely than the average US citizen to go day-hiking, and nearly 5 times as many people here consider themselves mountain bikers, which is made even better thanks to its fabulous-ranking air quality. Locals don't even cower inside when the snows hit:  locals are 287% more likely to go snowboarding and 560% more likely to go snowshoeing than the average Joe.

Now, be your political or religious views what they may, but when it comes to green-living, in the most basic sense, Colorado Springs wins some major points.  People here might disagree about carbon-footprints, the vehicles they drive, and the environmental policies they want to see come into practice, but they can all agree on this:  that they live in a geographically and environmentally spectacular place, and they want to keep getting out to enjoy it.

And it's just so easy.

We spent an afternoon winding through Cheyenne Mountain State Park, hiking a gravel path and watched a tiny waterfall hurl through a mountain pass.  We watched dogs race around in canine bliss at the Cheyenne Meadows Dog Park (also known as a the Happiest Place on Earth.  Seriously: if you ever wanted to cheer up after a bad day at work, just visit a dog park).  We climbed Red Rock Canyon, a phenomenal donated "open space" with hiking and biking trails, and municipal climbing routes.  An hour's drive found us winding around, white-knuckled, the legendary high-cliffed rim of Phantom Canyon, surrounded by the bright gold of autumnal Aspens.  Inside city limits, we jogged Shooks Run, the 4-mile vein of parkland that bisects the city.

There's more we didn't get to:  the infamous vertical running track up Pikes Peak; the otherworldly spikes and precipices (known world-wide for climbing) at Garden of the Gods; or hitting balls into the rough at the Valley Hi Golf Course.  We're busily making a list for our return.

It's no wonder that Colorado Springs is America's fittest city, and while there are lots of reasons to debate about the city's various environmental and political policies - it's a controversial swing state in this heated election -  it seems like a great indicator of integrity that one of America's fastest growing cities is also one that is working hard to preserve and promote green space, not only for better living, but for better playing, too.

It's harvest season, and you'll have to forgive me, but I can't stop talking about food.

We were in Chicago this weekend, visiting our dear friends Myndi & Charlie, who moved there a few months ago, and who are already well-versed in the city's local food culture.  So, it was with great coincidence that we arrived just as nearby farms were at their fullest, and one of the city's biggest farmers markets was promoting a great campaign to eat local.

The Green City Market in Lincoln Park is more than an excuse for a Sunday afternoon out with the kids or dogs (although that's good too).  In the relatively small cluster of white-tented market stalls that line the edge of the park, overflowing with tufts of green lettuce, bright boxes of apples, and glowing jars of honey, they work to support small family farms and build appreciation for local, fresh, sustainably raised produce and products.  This summer, they even went a step further and challenged market-goers to two weeks of eating only those foods grown or produced in Illinois or it's bordering states.

They call it the being a 'Localvore', and it was clear that many of the market-goers wandering around with their own canvas shopping bags, chatting to the farmers at the stalls, had taken up the challenge.  The market also urged a number of Chicago chefs & eco-minded business owners to participate.  They suggested people seek out local butchers and shops, to read the back of every label, and if they wanted to venture out to dine, to do so at a restaurant that was also partaking in the challenge.

While eating from a farmers' market and popping down to the butcher doesn't sound difficult on the face, many participants found a busy city lifestyle and things like locally-made spices and condiments difficult to find.

Chicagoan Jen Khatchatrian, owner of EcoChic Organizer, a service that helps families green-up their home, said her two-week challenge was humbling.

"As a busy mom of two young children, I never took the time to check out where my food was made. I thought that if I was shopping at Whole Foods and buying organic, I was doing my best for my family. Now I realize that there is more to consider," she said.

She recommends keeping the pantry stocked with local staples and snacks. 

"Since I am not the best at planning meals beforehand and eat on the fly so to speak, it is handy to have local food ready at your fingertips. Our downfalls during the challenge have come from the grab and go situations and using existing products in our pantry or refrigerator that were either going bad or necessary for a specific recipe," she said.

Green City Market volunteer and food enthusiast Sara Gasbarra says the challenge has changed her food outlook.

 "I have made a conscious effort to try new sources of meat and look for local options for my pantry staples, but in general, I have always tried to buy only seasonal produce at the market, and when shopping at the store, look for items that have been farmed locally, " she said.

Still, she said that she couldn't give up some non-local items, "I decided after day one, that I wasn’t going to give up lemons, limes, olives, avocados and other items clearly not available and grown in the Midwest... I cook with these ingredients almost daily and that’s never going to change. "

Being a Localvore has been met with some difficult questions, like those from Kyle Louis, who wrote about his experience of the challenge in a community blog.

 "With so many options out there for how to buy and consume food, which ones are “right”?  For instance, is it better to buy organic apples from South America or conventional apples from Michigan?  If a large company can produce a product using resources more efficiently, is that product preferable to one produced by a small business which uses a greater amount of resources?" he said, " I know it’s all in where your priorities lie - whether environmental, health related, local economy based, etc."

While there really can not be a line drawn between many of these issues, it's clear that the slow food movement and local gastronomy is catching on and gaining ground with every-day consumers.

Sara Gasbarra has a balanced perspective, "For me, this Challenge is not so much about what I can't have or what I won’t allow myself to have (because its not “local”), but more about what I can have, or how I can make “local” substitutions here and there...I won’t worry about the lemons I use, but just take solace in the fact that 4 out 5 five isn’t bad for being a tried and true 'Localvore'…"

Erik Sather has trouble with his job title.  Butcher?  No, too harsh.  Cook?  Too casual.  He would prefer to be known at Clancey's Meat & Fish as "Meat Cutter and Good Food Tasting Maker".  However, as Sather zooms around the shop's tiny back room cutting meat, making it taste good, chatting to customers and devising new creations for chicken thighs, it seems that an all-encompassing job title is appropriate, if not just for the all-encompassing way that Clancey's seems to work. 

Owner Kristin Tombers has been making meat masterpieces in the Linden Hill's neighbourhood shop for five years, this October, and it's obvious the place has become a local institution.  The bell over the door keeps jingling as customers rush in for a pound of rump roast, a vat of frozen chicken stock, or a chunk of fine cheese, and Tombers and Sather know them all by name.

While Linden Hills is widely known as a community that supports local businesses (a successful Co-Op, Sebastian Joe's Ice Creamery, and a number of small boutiques are testament to that), Clancey's is sort-of the jewel on the crown.  Tombers has personally sought out all of the suppliers she works with, making sure all of them are non-commodity farmers or producers who have a hands-on approach.  She's waddled around with the geese that make her foi gras at nearby Au Bon Canard; she's inspected the cattle that become her renowned beef cuts at Hill and Vale Farms in Southern Minnesota - and it all comes from a deep love and knowledge of all things food-related.

She stresses that Clancey's is not solely about "organic" or "sustainable", but a more holistic approach to food production that revolves around the Slow Food Movement.

"I felt that people were mislead or confused by "all natural", "free-range", and "organic".  All I knew to do at the time was meet our farmers on their land, and see for myself how they worked. Then, I just kept talking to our customers about the real definitions of those terms.  We've been mostly about local and then, I guess could be called part of the slow food movement," she said.

"My drive with food is about moving away from big box, broadliners, and anything that doesn't have some artisanal aspect to it."

The Slow Food Movement, itself, is a philosophy based on the belief, according to Slow Food International,  "that the food we eat should taste good; that it should be produced in a clean way that does not harm the environment, animal welfare or our health; and that food producers should receive fair compensation for their work."

Unlike the "organic" or "sustainable" phenomenon, Slow Food supporters promote the kind of farm-to-table eating that leaves out government certifications, big grocery chains and distributors.  Their most important work, thought, according to Ron Huff, the leader and founder of Slow Food Minnesota, is education - knowing how food is made and where it comes from.

"I always suggest to customers that they read Michael Pollan, specifically 'Omnivore's Dilemma'.  I also think it's important to read ingredient labels!  And it never hurts to ask questions at restaurants about the provenance of items on menus," Tombers said.

She also suggests a more hands-on approach, "One of the first ways I learned true appreciation for food was gardening (my mom grew tomatoes in a community garden when we were kids and I've been at it for the last 15 years).  That's the sweetest place to start."

Huff's approach to Slow Food is simple, too:  "Go to the market," he said, "Go to the farm. Buy direct. Purchase fresh."

After five years in Linden Hills, it seems a combination of thorough knowledge and simplistic approach is what keep the people jingling through Clancey's door all day long, and Tombers seems satisfied, but still looking forward: "When we first opened, roughly 5 or more of 10 people would ask if we were organic and I would give my very lengthy answer.  Five years later, it's about 1 out of 10 people that ask.  The more common question now is, "is your stuff local?"  I love it!"

"We're lucky to be in a great location and opened at a time when people were starting to have better awareness of the mess our food system has become.  Timing and momentum have been on our side.  And beyond the farmed food itself, we've created a very cozy, friendly environment where we know people by name and invite them in to see what we do. "