Going Green Memphis 4-25-10

8/8/2019 Going Green Memphis 4-25-10

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2 GOING GREEN | S u n d ay , April 2 5, 2010 co mm er ci a l a pp ea l.com

Start a community garden

Want to plant roots in a growingmovement? Here are Memphisresources for guerrilla gardeners

Pretty in green

The most fetching promdresses are eco-friendly

and sustainable

Best for baby

For clothing andbedding for youngster,

go for organic cotton

Feed your head on the Web

What a long strange trip its been withWhole Earth Catalog founder Stewart Brand

Eco-friendly sex is

more rewarding

Natural bakery

rises in E. Tenn.

WE WANT TO HEAR FROM YOU!Going Green is a special online publication ofThe Commercial Appeal. We welcome yourcomments and suggestions. Follow Going Greenon Twitter at www.twitter.com/GoGreenMemphis .

Ed i t o r : Roland Klose, 529-2776,goi n gg r e e n@co m m e rci a la pp ea l .com

Whats in this issue ...

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http://www.twitter.com/GoGreenMemphismailto:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]://www.twitter.com/GoGreenMemphis


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The Commercial Appeal S u n d ay , April 2 5, 2010 | GOING GREEN 3

The Green Page

Ev e n t s

Going Green Coffee Break gatherings: Learn more about living greenThursday mornings at the Memphis Botanic Garden. Jill and Keith Forrester, ownersof Whitton Farms and Trolley Stop Market, are this weeks guest presenters . The

sessions start at 8:45 a.m. Co-sponsored by the botanical garden and CA Media.

A 7-milesegment of theShelby FarmsGreenline isscheduled tobe completedin August. Thisis an unfinishedsection nearShelby Farms.

Alan SpearmanThe CommercialA p peal

Groups

Citizens to Preserve OvertonPa r k : Organized to preserve and defendthe Old Forest of Overton Park.overtonparkforever.org; (901) 278-2396.

Coalition for LivableC o m m u n i t i es : The organizationadvocates healthy, vibrant andeconomically sustainable communities.livablememphis.org or (901) 725-8390.

Greater Memphis Greenline:

Promotes the development of theGreenline and other unused railwayr i g h t s - o f-w ay and easements intohiking and biking trails.gr ea t e r m e m p h i sgr e e n li n e.or g .

Lichterman Nature Center: A 65-acre natural preserve in the city.m e m p h i s m u s e u m s .o r g / l i c h t e r m a n -overview or (901) 767-7322 ext. 100.

Mid-South Peace and JusticeCenter: Works with low-income

communities in Memphis to plan andplant community gardens, providingarea residents with access to freshproduce. midsouthpeace.org or (901)72 5 - 4 9 9 0.

Project Green Fork: A communityinitiative that helps Memphisrestaurant owners in reducing waste,lowering overhead and decreasing theirenvironmental impact.p r o j e c t g r e e n fo r k .o r g .

Sierra Club, Chickasaw Chapter:Promotes policies to protect theenvironment, organizes hikes andoutdoor recreation, and supports pro-environmental candidates.tennessee.sierraclub.org/chickasaw or(901) 324-7757.
http://overtonparkforever.org/http://livablememphis.org/http://greatermemphisgreenline.org/http://greatermemphisgreenline.org/http://greatermemphisgreenline.org/http://greatermemphisgreenline.org/http://greatermemphisgreenline.org/http://greatermemphisgreenline.org/http://memphismuseums.org/lichtermanoverviewhttp://memphismuseums.org/lichtermanoverviewhttp://midsouthpeace.org/http://projectgreenfork.org/http://tennessee.sierraclub.org/chickasawhttp://tennessee.sierraclub.org/chickasawhttp://projectgreenfork.org/http://midsouthpeace.org/http://memphismuseums.org/lichtermanoverviewhttp://greatermemphisgreenline.org/http://livablememphis.org/http://overtonparkforever.org/


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4 GOING GREEN | S u nd ay , April 2 5, 2010 co mm er cia l a pp ea l.co m

Mike Maple/The Commercial Appeal

Volunteers prepare the new Common Ground Community Garden at 276Lauderdale for spring planting. It was started by downtown churches.

By Christine Arpe Gang

Special to Going Green

Community gardens areproliferating locally and nationally.

They are great if you want to getinto vegetable gardening, but dontwant to do it alone. They alsoprovide opportunity to help otherswith the food you produce.

Groups that garden together havemore fun and reap the benefits ofsharing information and techniques,plants and even equipment.

While its impossible to findfigures on the exact number ofcommunity gardens in the U.S., themovement is seen as a major trendin gardening and urban living.

Its growing tremendously, s aidVicki Garrett, projects coordinatorwith the American CommunityGardening Association inColumbus, Ohio.

Well groundedCommunity gardenstake root in Memphis


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The Commercial Appeal S u nd ay , April 2 5, 2010 | GOING GREEN 5

AnthonyDiMarino, 19,of the St.Thomas MoreNew ma n

Center, aCatholicministry atOhio StateUniversity,helps withcultivation atCommonGround

CommunityGarden.

Mike MapleThe CommercialAp p eal

Several years ago, theACGA estimated therewere 18,000 communitygardens in the U.S. andCanada. Its clear thatnumber has grown.

Community gardens canbe as simple as neighborssharing space in a largebackyard or side yard.

Or, they can be moreinvolved, with help fromlocal organizations thatfocus on developing innercity gardens to providefood for those in need.

Want to jump on thebandwagon? Here aresome resources:

GrowMemphis, thecommunity gardeningproject of the Mid-SouthPeace and Justice Center,provides organizationaland technical assistanceto help communityga rd e n e rs .

Usually people contactus and I meet with themto see if their group fits inwith our mission, s aidJosephine Williams,program coordinator.

They must agree to useorganic growing methods

and to operate asdemocratically aspossible.

An application formasks them to identifytheir goals and outlinetheir plans to procure asite and get water to it.

Groups must first find

out who owns the vacantlot they want to usethrough the Shelby

County Assessors office.If it turns out the lot is

in the Shelby CountyLand Bank, thats a goodthing, Williams said.Typically they are happyto have the lots used forurban gardening.

Some owners will alsoallow groups to garden onvacant lots.

Properties previouslyused for housing arepreferable to those usedcommercially, in terms ofpossible soilcontamination, she said.

For example, the soil at

Common Ground, theurban garden shepherdedby St. Patrick Catholic

Church and RedeemerPresbyterian Church nearDowntown, was found tocontain lead.

But by building raisedbeds filled with newtopsoil, compost andleaves, the contaminationproblem wasc i rc u m ve n t e d .

Gardening in raisedbeds is preferable togardening on tilled upsoil, but its also moreexpensive, Williams said.

For vegetables to growwell, garden sites shouldget at least six hours of full


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6 GOING GREEN | Su n d ay , April 2 5, 2010 co mm er c ia l a pp ea l.co m

sun per day.Water access is also important.

Contact Memphis Light Gas & Waterto arrange to have a water meterinstalled at the property. Once that isdone, a plumber can install a spigot.

Some community gardeninggroups work out arrangements with anext door neighbor to use their waterwith compensation, Williams said.

GrowMemphis gardeners receivestarter plants in the spring.

And I help them find all kinds offree stuff, Williams said.

Each group is encouraged to pick alead gardener to attend monthly

m e e t i n gs .Williams can be reached at (651)

261-1200. The GrowMemphis Website is w w w. m i d s o u t h p e a c e . o rg/ Grow M e m p h i s / H o m e . h t m l .

The Memphis Urban GardeningProgram of Tennessee StateUniversity works primarily with low-income groups.

Extension Agent Cortney Hollowayprovides educational programmingand materials to prospective gardenersand also prepares garden soil annually.

He can be reached at 752-1207.Another good source of

information about starting acommunity garden is at the Web siteof the American CommunityGardening Association,

c o m m u n i t yga rd e n . o rgTo reach the Shelby CountyLand Bank, contact Mike Blackwell,real estate specialist, at 545-4900 orby e-mail atm i ke . b l a c kwel l @ s h el b yc o u n t y t n . gov.

Contact the Shelby CountyAssessor at assessor.shelby.tn.us/or at 379-7333.

Get your gardenstarted with

n a t u re s helpAvoid synthetic pesticides andfertilizers and go organic

By Diane DiCostanzo

and Wendy Gordon

SimpleS teps.org

It wasnt until winters end that thestore of food from Joan Gussows gardenfinally came up short.

I had to buy a carrot, says Gussow, aColumbia professor and author of ThisOrganic Life: Confessions of a SuburbanHomesteader (Chelsea Green, 2001).

There were still, however, potatoes,garlic and onions in cold storage, afreezer stuffed with beans, tomato sauceand roasted eggplants, plus all kinds ofberries. And this abundance wasproduced organically, without syntheticpesticides or fertilizers, on the banks ofthe Hudson River, just 20 miles or sonorth of New York City.

Unfortunately, thats not how

eve r yo n e s garden grows.In the United States alone, gardenersspend an estimated $1 billion per year onpesticides, inevitably self-defeating, aspests eventually develop resistance,writes Howard-Yana Shapiro inGardening for the Future of the Earth(Bantam, 2000). Worse, pesticides may belinked to the rise of certain cancers, such
http://communitygarden.%20org/http://communitygarden.%20org/http://simplesteps.org/http://simplesteps.org/http://communitygarden.%20org/


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Testing your soil alsoshows you how it might bedeficient. Before planting,you should condition yoursoil to provide the rightnutrition and structure,

says Fred Kirschenmann,North Dakota organicfarmer and DistinguishedFellow, Leopold Center for

S ust ainableAgriculture at IowaState University.Organic farmingand gardeningsystems recycle

their wastes backinto the earth andinvite earthwormsand otherorganisms soessential to healthysoil.

John Jeavons,author of How toGrow MoreVeget ables ( Te nSpeed Press, 1982),advises double -d i gg i n g the soil toa depth of 24 inches,to provide goodaeration and water

flow. Then mix in compostor organic fertilizer. After

planting, mulch toconserve moisture, reduceerosion and discourageweeds. Use straw, hay,grass clippings or, asGussow does, wood chipsscavenged from tree-service crews.

as non-Hodgkinslymphoma, according tothe U.S. EnvironmentalProtection Agency. Astudy published in 2000found that the children of

parents who use lawn andgarden pesticides haveseven times the risk ofdeveloping the disease.

H e re s how towork with nature,in Gussows words,rather than againstit .

1. Plan for yourlocaleContact the

nearest USDAextension office forfree advice aboutlocal climate andgrowing issues.

To conserve

water, organicgrowers oftenp ra c t i c exe r i s c a p i n g , choosing plantsthat require little orno watering otherthan what falls fromthe heavens for plantingin arid regions (for more

information, seexe r i s c a p e . o rg ) .

Shapiro encouragesgardeners to collectrainwater. Sunlight isanother necessaryinput . Survey your plot,looking for places that

kits and provide analysis(many do, for as little as$10).

If you want to test yoursoil yourself, you can buya test kit from GardensAlive. The test results cansteer you toward the rightplants, those that thrivein sandy, clay-laden orwhatever soil youve got.

get about six to eighthours of sun a day fo ryour vegetable patches.

2. Start with the soilMany gardeners have

their soil tested beforemaking planting choices.Ask your extension officeif they sell soil-collection
http://xeriscape.org/http://xeriscape.org/


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8 GOING GREEN | S u n day, April 2 5, 2010 co mm er c ia l a pp ea l.co m

3. Plant the rainbowEating the rainbow, or fruits and

vegetables of many different colors, writethe authors of True Food, a new bookfrom National Geographic, i m p rove syour health and, according to the USDA,

reduces your chances of cancer, heartdisease, diabetes, hypertension, and otherscourges of the modern industrializeddiet . So plant the rainbow and reap thebenefits of a many-colored harvest.

Its better to start your garden fromseeds, rather than seedlings, as anyonewho grew tomatoes in the summer of 2009learned. Or buy starter plants from a localgrower or nursery, preferably selectingmore than one variety of the samevegetable. As chef Dan Barberwrites inThe New York Times, after losing his 2009tomato crop to late blight, It is no betterto plant a tomato plant that traveled 2,000miles to your garden than to eat a tomatothat traveled 2,000 miles to your plate.

When you start a garden, Barberreminds us, you become part of an

agricultural network that binds you toother farmers and gardeners. As wegrow more of our own food, we need tounderstand that what we grow, and howwe grow it, affects everyone else.

Choose organic seeds as theyve notbeen treated with pesticides, non-genetically modified seeds and/or localva r i e t i e s as these have better regionaladaptation. Ecology Actions Bountiful

Gardens Web site offers an onlinecatalog for untreated, open-pollinated,non-genetically modified, certified andheirloom seeds.

4. Pest control withoutp es t i ci d es

When Gussows bean patch was

plagued by a beetle infestation, sheintroduced tiny wasps. The waspsbypassed the beans and ate the beetlelarvae, which never reappeared. Plantscan help, too: Daisies, for instance,attract the wasps that eat bean beetles.

Biopesticides range from red pepperand rosemary oil to diseases that attackspecific pests. Nell Newman (ofNew m a n s Own Organics) has set outsmall dishes of cheap beer sunken intothe ground to attract, then drown,s l u gs .

E PA s Web site offers moreinformation on biopesticides, and PlanetNatural is a good online source for

ordering them.For plant pests, Monsantos Roundup

herbicide is so heavily used thatRoundup -resistant weeds are croppingup. Predictably, organic growers areRoundup-resistant, too, preferring toreduce weed growth in nontoxic ways,including mulching, pulling immediatelyso seeds cant spread and eating suchvarieties as dandelion, purslane andlambs quarters in salads, when youngand tender.

5. Love the beesLearn to love bees, since they are not

pest insects. In fact, honeybees arecrucial to producing about one-third ofall the food we eat. The list of crops thatsimply wont grow without honeybees is

a long one: apples, cucumbers, broccoli,onions, pumpkins, carrots, avocados,almonds ... and it goes on.

Get your kids to help you make anesting block to put in your yard. Andplant some bee-attracting flowers andtrees in the yard as well.

For more tips, go tosimplesteps.org.
http://simplesteps.org/http://simplesteps.org/


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Get crafty, make your mark in the gardenBy Cathie Filian

Scripps Howard News Service

These handcraftedgarden markers are notyour ordinary garden-variety markers. They canbe customized to anyplant you may havegrowing in your garden.

I used twigs that Icollected from my local

park. If you dont haveaccess to good twigs, youcan usually purchase themat home-decor or gardenshops. To add descriptivewords, I used a wood-burning tool with a fine-point tip. You could alsouse a thin-pointpermanent marker to labelthem. I added extraembellishment bywrapping them withcopper wire and beads.Over time the copper willturn a beautiful green. Ilike to use glass beadsbecause they catch thelight and add a little

sparkle to your yard.Once your markers arefinished, all you need to dois stick them into your potsor garden beds. If you havea green thumb in the familyor among your friends, aset of custom gardenmarkers makes a great gift.

M AT E R I A L S

I N ST RU CT I O N S

Use a coping saw to cut branches in 1-foot lengths.Approximately 7 inches from the end of each branch,

using a utility knife, whittle layers from the branches.Continue whittling until there is a flat slant of planedwood exposed along 7 inches of each branch wideenough to fit lettering.

Write the name of the plant vertically on the exposedwood, leaving some space at the top and bottom fordecorative branding. Use the wood-burning tool and afine tip to burn the letters into the wood.

Let the wood-burning tool cool completely. Change

the tip to a decorative branding tip and reheat the tool.Brand the wood above and below the lettering.Wrap copper wire three times around the top of the

branches, above the lettering. Add a small loop at the endof the wire to prevent sharp ends. Add beads. Continuewrapping, being careful to place the wire between theletters, to keep the letters legible. Add more beads andwrap the wire three times at the bottom of the twig. Snipoff excess wire. Add a small loop to prevent sharp ends.

Handcraftedgarden

markers canbe customizedfor any plantin yourgarden.

Photo courtesyCathie Filian/SHNS

Twigs or branches, purchasedat a home-decor store or found

Coping sawUtility knifePe n c i lWood-burning tool

Wood-burning tip fine pointDecorative wood-branding

tips22 gauge copper wireBead sJewelry wire cutters


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Dear Earth Talk: Usingorganic crib sheets,mattresses and babyclothes is better for theenvironment, but do theymake any difference interms of the babys health?

Conventional babyclothing and bedding

conventional referring tothat made with cottongrown using syntheticpesticides and fertilizersand bleached and dyedwith yet more harshchemicals hasntseemed to present aproblem thus far forgenerations of babies.

But more awareness ofchemical sensitivities hasmany environmentalistsand public healthadvocates wondering ifthe clothes and beddingchildren are exposed tocould be impacting their

health negatively.Some 25 percent of the

wo rl d s pesticides and 10percent of insecticides goto cotton crops every year.In addition, petroleumscouring agents,softeners, brighteners,heavy metals, flame and

soil retardants, ammoniaand formaldehyde areused in the processing ofcotton once it is harvested.

Beyond theenvironmental impacts ofthis onslaught in thevicinity of productionfacilities, there is

EARTH TALK

Organic

cotton bestfor babysclothing

Co m sto ck


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By Morieka Johnson

Mother Nature Network

Dear Mother Nature: Im a senior this year,and being an environmentalist, Id like to wearan eco-friendly dress to prom. However,everything Ive found is extremely expensive,and Ive had limited luck with looking for goodvintage stores where I live. Any advice on whereI can find a nice dress thats sustainable?

A: You already noticed thatthe words eco -friendly andi n ex p e n s i ve dont exactlytravel in the same fashioncircles, especially when youthrow a formal event into themix. That point was painfully

obvious on Oscar night. Mostof the heavily tanned, tweezedand buffed starlets sauntereddown the red carpet in(hopefully borrowed) frillysilk, taffeta and lace gownsthat probably will never beworn again.

Be the belle of the ball

A green prom dresscan come in any color

Jupiter Images


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By Ced Kurtz

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Anyone coming of agein the 1960s, 70s or 80sremembers Whole EarthCatalogs and magazine,favorites of the back-to-the-earth, counterculture

movement .But what you may notremember was the role ofthe publications and theirfounder in the early daysof the personal computer.

Stewart Brand, whostarted the catalogs (theywere published in variousforms from 1968 to 1988),

had impressivecounterculture credentials.

In 1966, he campaignedto have NASA release therumored satellite photo ofthe entire Earth as seenfrom space. He thought itwould be a uniting image.In 1968, a NASAastronaut made the photoand it appeared on thecover of the first catalog.

Brand took part in earlyscientific studies of then-legal LSD and was one ofKen Keseys iconic MerryP ra n ks t e rs .

He also had an early

interest in computers andassisted DouglasEnglebart with his famouspresentation to the 1968Fall Joint ComputerConference in SanFrancisco that debutedmany revolutionarycomputer technologies,including the mouse.

Brand went on to teamup with Larry Brilliant tofound one of the seminaldial-up bulletin boardsand computer-basedcommunities, the WholeEarth Lectronic Link or

The Well.The Well became a

gathering place forcomputer types. C ra i g

Newmark started hisoriginal Craigslist on TheWell. And it was a majoronline meeting place forDeadheads.

The initial 1968 WholeEarth Catalog, betweenthe entries for beekeepingequipment, had an articleabout a personalcomputer. It was $5,000,the most expensive thingin the book.

In 1984, Brandpublished the WholeEarth Software Catalog1.0 and a magazine calledthe Whole Earth SoftwareReview, which lasted only

three issues. But thesoftware catalog wasupdated to 2.0 in 1985.

In 1989, the ElectronicWhole Earth Catalog waspublished on CD-ROMusing an early version ofhypertext linking language

Brand and his cohortsat Whole Earth convened

the first H a c ke r sC o n f e re n c e , which, aftera sputtering start, hasbecome an annual event.

Wrote John Markoff ofThe New York Times:There was a very bigLuddite component to

Feed your head on the Web

At wholeearth.com, all ofthe Whole Earth catalogscan be viewed free.

Whole Earth Catalog has gone digital
http://wholeearth.com/http://wholeearth.com/


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By Molly Klinefelter

M c C l a t ch y -Tr i b un e

We ve all heard of eco-friendly, but Stefanie IrisWeiss has just coined a new term: eco-sexual. In herbook, Eco-Sex: Go Green Between the Sheets andMake Your Love Life Sustainable (Ten SpeedPress, $14.99), Weiss discusses the dire importanceof going green even within your sex life.

One of the best reasons to become an eco-sexual is that, if you dont, in a few decades youmight not have time for sex. Youll be too busysearching for food or escaping from coastal

flooding, hurricanes, drought and general blight,she says.

A bit dramatic?Possibly. But shemay just be ontosomething if thismeans saving yoursex life. Weiss, whohas written ninebooks on greenliving and has

written for Elle UK and Marie Claire, reve a l sthe secrets to being eco-sexual in a smart,easygoing way.

Whether its avoiding toxic ingredients inpersonal care products, using green DIY beautyproducts or wearing green fabrics, Weiss tips willmake you look and feel sexier. She details organicfoods that are known for being aphrodisiacs, gives

recipes for sensual dishes and highlights some eco-friendly wines to go along with the meals. Weisseven discusses the environmental-unfriendliness ofromantic gifts such as flowers and diamonds, andgives green alternatives.

She covers virtually every element of sexualliving, from contraceptives to bedroom furniture.So if you want to merely dip your feet in the eco-sexual pool or dive in headfirst, the tips are endless.

counterculture back then,but Brand wanted nothingto do with it. ... He reallybelieved you could take thetools of the establishmentand use them for grass-roots

purposes.Stewart Brand and hiscatalogs live on, althoughmuch of what seemedradical now is mainstream.

Contacted by e-mailthrough the Long NowFoundation, Brand said hehad not changed his ideason the use of computers for

grass-roots purposes or onthe continuing influence ofthe counterculture oncomputers and the Internet.

After the Whole EarthCatalog and itsdescendants ceasedpublication, New WholeEarth LLC, headed byentrepreneur andphilanthropist Samuel B.Davis, acquired theintellectual property andphysical assets.

As it states on thewholeearth.com Web site,Although the catalogsheyday was during a specificand turbulent period of

American history, the ideasfound in it and in its relatedpublications continue toengage the brightest mindsof the 21st century andWhole Earth LLC believesthat those ideas should bepreserved as they wereoriginally disseminated.

Go green between the sheets
http://wholeearth.com/http://wholeearth.com/http://wholeearth.com/


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16 GOING GREEN | Su n day , April 2 5, 2010 co mm er c ia l a pp ea l.co m

By Chris Carroll

Chattanooga Times Free Press

DUNLAP, Tenn. Tucked away in a small cabinthat smells like a hungry persons paradise, Jamesand Heike Clark bake 1,200 loaves of organic breadevery week.

What youre going to get here is the way Godmade it, Clark said. Its the way it came off thetree, its the way it came out of the field. Simple.

Rising to the

c ha l len g e

Natural

bakeryfinds itsniche intowns of

SE Tenn.

Angela Lewis/Associated Press

Robert Blaser sets bread out to cool at Stone Cave Bakery in Dunlap,Tenn. Blaser works 30 hours a week in the bakery, plus two deliveryroutes. Top: Several varieties of bread sit on a bakers rack.


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Locating Clarks Bakeryat Stone Cave is not assimple, but these dayssome bread lovers find theloaves coming to them.

It all started on the side

of the road.Last summer, theClarks knew the economywas tanking. When manybusiness owners werepulling back, the Clarkshired Dan Miller, aDunlap retiree who Clarksaid knows how to sell.

Miller parked his car

next to a highway inDunlap. Calling himselfDan the Breadman, hesuccessfully peddled a fewdozen loaves of breadevery day.

Thinking of expansion,he devised several routesand began selling freshbread to schoolteachers,bank tellers and othergroups of workers acrossSequatchie and Tennesseeva l l e ys .

Miller quicklyaccumulated a coterie of

devoted customers inPikeville, Whitwell, SouthPittsburg, Jasper andD ay t o n .

But he said he wasalready collecting a good

little pension and SocialS ecurity, so he decidedto give his routes topeople in need.

Bob Blaser and LeroyDumas both needed ahand up after losing their

jobs, so Miller said hetaught them the business.He even thought of

nicknames for the two up-and-coming salesmen Baker Bob andDoughboy Dumas.

The routes were sosuccessful that the bakeryhad to add staff, too,Clark said. There werefive employees last yearbefore the routes started,and now there are 15.

One of them wasBlaser, a former truckdriver. He works 30 hoursa week inside the bakeryand keeps up two day-

long delivery routes.Blaser says hes grateful

to be working all thesenice little towns.

Meeting differentpeople and different

personalities are myfavorite parts, he said. Ican stay home and gohome every night. And Imlearning something thatsuseful being a baker.

Miller said hes glad hisbakery routes have beenso successful.

I wanted to do my tiny

little part in helping theeconomy and America,especially here inSoutheast Tennessee, hes aid.

Clark said each salesroute resulted in financialstrength when she leastexpected it.

We would haveprobably had to let peoplego or cut their hours, shesaid. It helped us toexpand at a time whennormally we would haves t r u gg l e d .

Just one thingDo you have a shower curtain and a liner? Most shower curtain liners are made

from PVC, polyvinyl chloride, which gives off harmful gases the second you hang itup in your bathroom. Instead, think like youre in a hotel and get a nylon showercurtain; its waterproof and machine-washable and not made from PVC. The bestpart? When it looks dingy, just unhook it and wash away. Good as new!


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18 GOING GREEN | S und ay , April 2 5, 2010 co mm er c ia l a pp ea l.co m

By Dana Hull

San Jose Mercury News

Steven Chus officialbiography, on theDepartment of EnergyWeb site, spells out thetall order that is his job asEnergy Secretary:

He is charged withhelping implementPresident Obamasambitious agenda toinvest in alternative andrenewable energy, end ouraddiction to foreign oil,address the global climatecrisis and create millions

of new jobs.Chu recently gave apublic talk at StanfordUniversity, where hetaught physics for severalyears, and later met with

journalists.Here is an edited

transcript of theconvers ation.

Q: Are you worriedthat the political will toenact a national policyor somehow tax or pricecarbon emissions isgone now? If you look atrecent polls, the number

ENERGY SECRETARY STEVEN CHU

Bo r n : St. Louis, Feb. 28, 1948Ed u c a t i o n : Bachelors degree in math and

physics from the University of Rochester; doctoratein physics from the University of California-Berkeley

Career: Physics professor at Stanford

University; co-winner of the Nobel Prize in physicsin 1997; professor of physics and molecular andcell biology at the University of California; directorof the U.S. Energy Departments LawrenceBerkeley National Laboratory; appointed secretaryof energy by President Barack Obama and sworninto office Jan. 21, 2009.

Energy secretary: Agriculturewill benefit from clean technology

Cliff Owen/Associated Press

Energy Secretary Steven Chu addresses the BlueRibbon Commission on America's Nuclear Future

meeting in Washington in March.


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of Americans who believe that globalwarming is real and man-made isdeclining. The political trends are notin your favor.

A: Americans were believing becauseof sound bites, and now theyre

disbelieving because of sound bites.One can honestly say that if we dontdo this, we will not be economicallycompetitive. Ten and 20 years fromnow, the price of oil will likely behigher this is not a stretch of thei m a g i n at i o n .

The debate forwhether smokingcauses lung cancer and

emphysema wasactually in the firstdecade amongscientists, but theymuddied the waters for21/2 more decades.

Climate change, on aglobal scale, is a muchbigger deal, and peopleare trying to muddy thewaters, particularlypeople who think theymight lose.Unfortunately, its easier to propagatefear than seeing a vision of prosperity.

Q: Are you surprised that morebusinesses arent stepping up andmoving in this direction?

A: (Many businesses) see theopportunity. The pushback comes frommore traditional businesses, like oil andgas, and energy-intensive businesses.

Take agriculture: Rural America canbenefit greatly from clean technology.They have land, so they can have windturbines. They can have carbon offsetsfrom planting trees. They can have

biofuel from biowaste. Now you havethree different income generators inrural America that could dwarf or atleast be comparable to the cash youdget from growing food crops.

But the thinking is: If you put a price

on carbon, that means the cost ofnatural gas might go up, the cost offertilizer might go up, the cost of dieselfuel might go up, Im worried aboutthat. To convince them of theopportunity that you can make a heck

of a lot more money istough.

Q: Would it be

helpful if theindustries that willbenefit were morevocal?

A: They should be asvocal as possible, butthey mostly shouldquietly convince theothers who might be

afraid that they mightlose, to say, No, youcould win! and by theway, if you do notdevelop a more energy-

efficient way of running your business eventually the old coal plants willhave to be replaced, and the price ofenergy will go up. Isnt it better to havea sustainable business model than to

keep saying, I dont want to do this?The world is changing, and the

United States is changing. Fighting arear-guard action ultimately will mean aslow death, or slow strangulation, and adecrease in competitiveness. Ratherthan do that, why not say, How do youactually win?

The world is changing,

and the United States

is changing. Fighting

a rear-guard action

ultimately will mean a

slow death, or slow

strangulation, and a

decrease in

c o m p e t i t i v en es s .

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Going Green Memphis 4-25-10