People everywhere but here in San Francisco are experiencing hot, sultry weather known as the Dog Days of Summer.  The Romans associated the heat of August with the star Sirius, the brightest star in the Canis Major (large dog) constellation.  Dog days then were believed to be an evil time when seas boiled and wine turned sour.  In more modern times, we associate the Dog Days with a lack of progress.It is hard to miss the general sense of stagnation.  The economy is stalling and environmental concerns have been pushed to the back burner.  My dad taught me that in times like these, focus on what you can do personally to make a little part of the world a better place. How about getting together with friends and family.  Here are some ideas about how to plan and enjoy eco-friendly events.

Planning and Packing
Send out electronic invitations using evite or facebook, or call and text your friends.  Buy locally-brewed beers, soda and wine.  Buy food from  your local farmers market.  If you’re going on a picnic, buy whole fruits and vegetables that don’t need containers for transporting. Raid your linen closet for old blankets and tablecloths and use baskets and reusable containers for packing up your supplies.

Decorations 
Buy local live plants and put them in repurposed gift bags (cutting down the tops).  Use natural wax candles because they emit 95% less soot and pollutants.  Make place cards by writing on large leaves or seashells.  Sharpen twigs to hold corn-on-the-cob.

Food and Drink
Serve water in pitchers (no water bottles).  Flavor the water with apples, cucumbers, or watermelons. Use real charcoal instead of briquettes, which are bound with lighter fluid.  Use 100% cotton lint from your dryer as a natural fire-starter.  Go vegetarian (or go half way) on the grill.

Set a NO PLASTIC Table
Look into using cutlery made from potato starch and soy oil, plates made from sugar cane fiber, cold beverage cups made from field grade corn, and other 100% compostable, biodegradable party products available at Green Event Shop.com.

I’m happy that two of my great passions have come together: Football and Ridding the World of PLASTIC!   The New York Times reported that many of the FIFA World Cup teams are donning jerseys made from plastic bottles rescued from landfills in Japan and Taiwan.   Nine teams, including the USA, Brazil and Portugal, are wearing Nike uniforms made in part from recycled plastic.  This reuse of petroleum products is part of a “Cradle-to-Cradle” sustainability strategy.  The New York Times reports that reuse of recycled plastic not only wins green points for the brand, but saves companies money because the raw material is cheaper.  Apparently, American consumers doubled their spending on sustainable products to an estimated $500 billion in 2008 alone.

Unfortunately, one of the worst types of plastic, PLASTIC BAGS, are not being recycled.  Despite 15 years of statewide efforts to recycle plastic bags in California, less than five  percent (<5%) are.  Save the Bay estimates that more than one million plastic bags end up in the San Francisco Bay every year, despite numerous local bans on plastic bags.  According to Jared Blumenfeld, former director of SF Environment:  “It costs $4,000 to process and recycle 1 ton of plastic bags, which can then be sold on the commodities market for $32.”

Clearly, only sustainable, earth friendly solutions that make economic sense will survive.  That’s how it should be.  We consumers need to do our part in the economic marketplace.  Not just by buying products made with recycled materials, but also by refusing to use products like plastic bags and other single use plastic products that are used for one moment and then escape into the landscape and oceans where they last and damage forever.

In a press conference on May 27, 2010 called to discuss the horrific BP oil disaster in the Gulf of Mexico, President Obama said: “I grew up in Hawaii where the ocean is sacred.”

I learned a little about honoring the sea as a source of life on New Years Eve, when my friend Eve invited me to Ocean Beach for a ceremony to pay homage to Yemanja, a goddess from the African Yoruba religion. She is the ocean, the essence of motherhood, and a protector of children. In Santeria, Yemaya is seen as the mother of all living things and the owner of all waters.

We, like millions of people around the world, threw offerings into the sea in hopes that she will grant our wishes for the coming year.  In San Francisco and in Rio de Janerio, we threw in flowers.  In Cuba and Haiti people throw in melons, molasses, fried fish and pork rinds.  What we did NOT throw into the ocean were oil or petroleum-based plastics.

But, that’s exactly what “we” are doing.  Our addiction to oil caused the awful Gulf of Mexico oil spill that now looks like it will keep spewing millions of gallons of petroleum into the sea until August.  The 1989 oil spill from the Exxon Valdez spilled “just” 11 million of its 53 million gallon cargo.  According to experts: “Massive cleanup efforts removed much of the visible crude oil within a year, but the slow release of the remaining oil has continued to affect populations of local marine plants and animals to this day.”  In the Gulf oil plume is a much, much bigger disaster than the Valdez spill.  The impact of exposing ocean life to toxins in the oil and to an unprecedented use of dispersing chemicals will last for years to come.

Each of us contributes to the slow death of our oceans not only by our demand for oil, but by our continuing use of petroleum-based plastics.  It is said that the oceans are downhill.  Rain and wind carry plastic litter to the rivers, bays and eventually the oceans.  Most of our waste today is made of petroleum-based plastic. According to the website GreatGarbagPatch.org, every bit of plastic that has ever been created still exists (except for a small amount that has been incinerated).  In the ocean, plastic waste accumulates in swirling seas of debris where plastic to sea life ratios are 6:1.

The oceans support life on earth.  We need to honor the oceans as sacred.  Ending the addiction to oil will be tough and takes effort by powers bigger than the individual.  Choosing not to use plastic products (and making absolutely sure that the inevitable plastic that we use does not escape as litter) is something that each of us can do, starting today.  Yemanja!

It’s one of my pet peeves.  Seeing stacks of phone books being delivered to apartments in San Francisco and nationwide, and then seeing those same books, unmoved and now rainsoaked a month later.  What a colossal waste!Most of us are connected online 24/7.  Growing numbers of us, especially younger people, don’t even have a land line.Why on earth are they still producing 540 million directories for U.S. households every year?  Now you can sign up to opt out and stop getting directories!   Check out:  YellowPagesGoesGreen.org    Here are a few of their facts:

• What is the average weight of the 540 million directories printed each year?  3.62 pounds
• How many directories are printed for every American man, woman and child? 1.79 books per person per year
• How many fully developed trees does it take to make a ton of paper?  24 trees
• How many gallons of oil are needed to produce a ton of paper? 380 gallons

Green Event Shop  is dedicated to reducing waste that flows into landfills, is shipped to foreign countries or spills out onto the landscape or our oceans. We recommend that you visit the Yellow Pages Goes Green site and opt out of receiving directories. And, if you are looking to “green” your next event, check out the 100% biodegradable, compostable supplies at Green Event Shop.com.

Somehow videos are more motivating than words.  Check these out and then change things…starting with your own household.    Great Pacific Garbage Patch  (by www.algalita.org)     Garbage Island (a more scientific explanation by vbs.tv)Starting today, use 100% biodegradable, compostable cups, plates and forks. Order here.    Starting today, not one more bottle of water.  Starting today, take Leonardo Dicaprio’s “No Plastic Bags Pledge.”  Join us, NOW!

Thank goodness for the great people at Project Kaisei! They set off this week on their first expedition to the North Pacific Gyre, an area within the Pacific Ocean four times as large as Japan and filled with an estimated 4,000,000 tons of plastic.

Where did the plastic come from? Us. Humans use an estimated 85 million plastic bottles every three minutes. Then there’s the plastic bags, styrofoam cups and every other sort of plastic goods that escape into our waterways, find their way into the ocean and collect in the Plastic Vortex in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. Plastic never degrades. It just accumulates and accumulates.

The 151-foot boat will set sail from San Francisco Bay to gather information about the nightmarish Plastic Vortex. Project Kaisei is ultimately determined to find ways to collect, process and recycle the plastic debris choking and killing the Pacific Ocean, all that lives there and all beings that depend on healthy oceans to survive (including us!).

In the first expedition, Project Kaisei will:

—Study and document the marine debris found in this area of the Pacific Ocean;
—Test catch methods for removing the debris;
—Conduct research on the chemical interactions of marine debris in the gyre and select fishes and wildlife related to persistent organic pollutants (POPs);
—Understand the needs required to undertake an eventual large scale clean-up of the waste material; and
—Test technologies for conversion into an economically viable by-product: diesel fuel.

If you go to www.projectkaisei.org you can sign up to receive emails tracking the research expedition. Get involved. Take the No Plastics Pledge. Support the clean up of the Plastic Vortex!

On June 9, the San Francisco Board of Supervisors approved a new law that requires every residence and business in the City to have three, separate color-coded bins for waste: blue for recycling; green for compost; and black for trash.

The ordinance takes effect this fall. Under the new law, households or businesses that fail to properly sort their refuse could face warnings and fines of $100-$500. The ordinance calls for garbage collectors to leave tags on containers when they spot incorrectly sorted material.

The City hopes that the new requirement will prove effective in cutting down on the 618,000 tons of organic waste that was deposited in landfills in 2007. Organic waste in a landfill is not exposed to oxygen. Anaerobic decomposition generates methane gas, which is 25 more potent in trapping heat than carbon dioxide leading to global warming. According to a 2008 report by the Institute for Local Self-Reliance, cutting organic waste sent to landfills would be like closing 21 percent of U.S. coal-fired power plants.

Perhaps the new law will help people better learn where to put their refuse. It’s not really that difficult. Green — food scraps, plant clippings, biodegradable food service products (like those available at Green Event Shop.com), milk cartons, etc. Blue — cans, bottles, cardboard and many plastic containers. Black — Styrofoam, plastic food service products, and other non-organic waste.

Green bin contents are reused locally to nourish local farms and gardens. Blue bin contents are mostly sent to foreign countries to be reused in lieu of raw materials. Black bin contents go to nearby landfills where they stay for hundreds and hundreds of years.

On Earth Day, I happened to be staying at the Venetian in Las Vegas (ironic, I know). Maintenance folks were changing out all the lights in the hallways with CFL light bulbs. (It’s a step, but there are so many more to go. For example, you could not find a place to recycle the prolific water bottles handed out at the pool.)

It occurred to me that this enthusiasm for changing out light bulbs is good, but are we creating an even bigger problem down the line. All these “good” CFL light bulbs save energy and reduce carbon emissions that come from producing energy. They also last a long time, but not forever. When they do go, remember, the bulbs contain mercury. You can’t throw them away. Take them to some place, like Home Depot, so they can be disposed properly.

According to Eco Village Green, there are nine other items that should never go into the landfill, including: lithium-ion batteries (rechargeable batteries); electronics equipment (like mobile phones, stereos, speakers, TV’s); car fluids; and paints.

Best Buy takes lithium-ion batteries and most electronics equipment. Cell phone dealers take mobile phones. As for car fluids and paints, you have to go to your local garbage company or local government.

All these things we all buy and use everyday. Then, there are things that we can avoid buying so they can’t escape into the waterways and oceans and linger there forever, like plastic bags, stryofoam cups, and plastic take out containers. When you need to use “disposables,” buy compostable, biodegradable alternatives.

The faithful among us have know for years about the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, a floating mess of plastic waste in the Pacific Ocean that is twice the size of Texas and as deep as 90 feet.  Now, others know about it because Oprah featured it on her Earth Day show.  To see a portion of the video, click here.

Oprah called the Pacific Ocean plastic garbage dump: “the most shocking thing I have seen.”

What made this giant island of plastic debris that kills wildlife and threatens the health of our oceans and planet? Plastic bottles, take out containers, cups, bags, packaging and other plastic products that blows from land into storm drains and waterways that get carried out to sea.

What is the answer?  Stop using plastic.  Use compostable cups, plates, utensils that will degrade quickly if they get washed away.  Made from plants, they will go back into nature.  To learn more about the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, click here. You can buy compostable, biodegradable tableware at Green Event Shop.com and Go Mega Green.com (for bulk orders).

In the last year, San Francisco’s garbage company has collected 105,000 tons of food scraps, compostable materials and yard trimming and turned the “waste” into 20,000 tons of compost for 10,000 acres, according to a recent article in the San Francisco Chronicle.

The source of the compost is organic waste contributed by 2,000 restaurants, 2,080 large apartment buildings and 50,000 single family homes that use their green bins. All of the compostable plates, cups and utensils sold by Green Event Shop and Go Mega Green webstores can be “disposed” in the green bins.

Composting in San Francisco succeeds on many levels. The compost is very high quality and sells like gold at $12 per cubic yard, or $480 per truckload. The compost company, Jepson Prairie Organics adjusts the compost recipe to fit particular local farm needs. The compost helps local farms grow fruits, vegetables and wine that come back into San Francisco’s farmers markets and top-end restaurants.

This successful, local composting loop helps reduce greenhouse gas emissions that contribute to global warming. By removing organic waste from the landfill, there is less methane gas released into the air (methane is 23 times more potent than carbon dioxide in causing global warming.) Compost enriches soil and good soil is the best tool for fighting global warming, because it’s the largest reservoir of Earth’s carbon.