2 GOING GREEN | Sunday, September 5, 2010 commercialappeal.

com

What’s in this issue ...

Change is coming
4 All around the city of Memphis
activists are seeing a shift in
attitudes toward sustainability.

The green path Bang for the buck

10 One writer’s foray into
13 A little goes a long way
the world of recycling for a greener household

Taking the temperature

14 Arkansas documentary filmmakers
try to gauge state’s view on climate

Main street to
16 First solar housing
project for Miss.
20 green street

Recipe for a
24 U.S. falling behind
in clean tech biz?
30 meatless Monday

WE WANT TO HEAR FROM YOU!

Going Green is a special online publication of
The Commercial Appeal. We welcome your comments and suggestions. Follow Going
Green on Twitter at www.twitter.com/GoGreenMemphis.
Editor: Kim Coleman, 529-5243, goinggreen@commercialappeal.com
Community Editor: Emily Adams Keplinger, keplinger@commercialappeal.com

On the cover: Illustration by Shane McDermott/The Commercial Appeal

The Commercial Appeal
The Green Page
Go Green Initiative
Associated Press
The term “go green” seems
commonplace today, but the genesis of its
mainstream appeal began when Jill Buck,
mother of three, started the Go Green
Initiative in 2002, according to a May 28
article by researcher Rebekah Richards of
Answerbag.com.
“Back in 2002, the term ‘go green’ was
researched exhaustively before I named
my nonprofit organization,” says Buck.
“Believe it or not, you could Google ‘go
green,’ and nothing came up. I looked in
every corner of marketing, advertising,
academic and nonprofit sectors to ensure
we had an original concept ... and we did.”
Since then, the Go Green Initiative has
become one of the top “green” sites in
the world, with over 9.6 million hits in
2009.
Participants in the program come from
36 countries around the globe, and
network with one another on numerous
social media platforms offered by the Go
Green Initiative. “My motto has always
been that it is not good enough to prepare
our children for the future; we must
prepare the future for our children,” says
Buck. “Fortunately, there are millions of
people worldwide who share this view,
and are getting involved with the Go
Green Initiative.”
About the Go Green Initiative
The Go Green Initiative is the world’s
fastest-growing fully comprehensive
environmental action plan for schools,
businesses, organizations and homes. By
promoting environmental stewardship on
campuses from preschools through
universities, the initiative works to involve
families, businesses and local
Sunday, September 5, 2010 | GOING GREEN 3
governments in the common goal of
protecting human health through
environmental stewardship.
Since its inception in July 2002, the Go
Green Initiative has been endorsed by the
National School Boards Association,
National Recycling Coalition, adopted by
nine state PTA boards, implemented in all
50 U.S. states, 36 countries and on five
continents.
The Go Green Initiative reports that it
has kept more than 10 million pounds of
recyclables out of the world’s landfills,
conserved 25.7 million gallons of water;
reduced greenhouse gas emissions by
more than 3,800 metric tons; conserved
34,500 barrels of oil; and saved over 67
billion BTUs of energy.
These accomplishments were achieved
voluntarily, with no mandates or
legislation.
There are currently over 2.2 million
students and teachers in registered Go
Green schools.
For more information, visit
GoGreenInitiative.org.
4 GOING GREEN | Sunday, September 5, 2010 commercialappeal.com

Brandon Dill/The Commercial Appeal files

Marco Granados swings into position a suspended section of bridge which will
become part of the new Memphis Greenline over Cypress Creek.

By Barbara Bradley
Walking a fine bradley@commercialappeal.com

green line
Roadmap in place for a
sustainable Memphis but
policy is still missing piece
MEMPHIS has taken hits
this year. It’s been called
“miserable,” by Forbes; ranked
near the bottom for quality of
life by portfolio.com, and
dubbed one of the worst cities
for cycling by Bicycling
Magazine. This is in addition to
perpetual low marks for having
The Commercial Appeal Sunday, September 5, 2010 | GOING GREEN 5

obese citizens.
Environmental activists agree we
deserve many of these criticisms, yet they
see new attitudes and progress toward a
healthier, more sustainable Memphis.
“What’s missing is city, county and
regional policy,” said Sarah Newstok,
program manager for Livable Memphis.
“We have a roadmap.” It’s Sustainable
Shelby, she said, a collection of wide-
ranging green strategies initiated by A
C Wharton with a lot of citizen input
when he was county mayor. “But
nothing has come out of it yet,” said
Newstok. “If someone were hired to
implement those policies, then we’d be
getting somewhere.”
“We’re way behind compared to our
peer cities in things like parks and
greenways,” said Keith Kirkland, former
director of the Wolf River Conservancy.
St. Louis, for example, has 77 miles of
bike lanes and is working on a 600-mile
regional web of parks and greenways.
Mike Maple/The Commercial Appeal
Memphis has about two miles of bike
lanes and about six miles of greenway Sarah Newstok, program director for
trails, he said. Livable Memphis, advocates for
Yet change is afoot. Construction change that supports the idea to “live
began this year on what has been called where you live,” which means to live,
Memphis’ most ambitious green project: shop and play in your own
the $28 million Wolf River Greenway, a neighborhood and not let it
22-mile nature corridor that will one deteriorate to go build something new.
day allow Memphians to walk, jog, bike
and skate on a 10-foot pathway all the everywhere, quality of life will improve,
way from the eastern border of diverse neighborhoods will be linked,
Memphis to Downtown. property values will rise and the image
Kirkland predicts we’ll have it in 10 of Memphis will move up with it.
years. “There’s too much excitement Memphis will get a taste of what a
about it and too much at stake if we’re greenway can do soon when the $2.4
going to be a successful city.” million Shelby Farms Greenline
When segments go down expect a officially opens with fanfare October 9
clamor from nearby neighborhoods to offering 6 1/2 miles of mostly paved trail
be connected, said Kirkland. Then we’ll from Tillman to Shelby Farms along the
have green corridors branching old CSX railroad.
6 GOING GREEN | Sunday, September 5, 2010 commercialappeal.com

Jim Weber/The Commercial Appeal files

To address the demand for bike lanes around the city of Memphis, Mayor A C
Wharton pledged that 55 miles of bike lanes would be added over the next two
years. In addition, the city hired a “bikeway/pedestrian coordinator,” a new
position intended to encourage alternative transportation.

“I think among the public there is a
growing consciousness for green
issues,” said Newstok, “ and it includes
recycling, pollution and litter. But it also
includes people’s willingness to stay
committed to where they live — the
opposite of urban sprawl.” To “live
where you live,” a local slogan of
Livable Memphis, means to live, shop
and play in your own neighborhood and
not let it deteriorate to go build
something new, she said.
In August, the city and county
approved the first major overhaul of
zoning regulations in more than two
decades. The new Unified Development
Code aims to encourage walkable
neighborhoods and reduce hallmarks of
urban sprawl; encourage the building of
more dense neighborhoods, which
planners say are more sustainable; make
it easier to establish farmers markets;
allow more widespread neighborhood
gardening; improve conditions for
cyclists and more.
There are other reasons for optimism.
In July Wharton announced that 55
miles of bike lanes would be added
The Commercial Appeal Sunday, September 5, 2010 | GOING GREEN 7

during the next 24 months,

and the city has recently hired
a “bikeway/pedestrian
coordinator,” a new position
intended to encourage
alternative transportation.
Also in July it was
announced that Memphis
Bioworks Foundation would
make Southwest Tennessee
Community College its
principal partner in a program
to train students for green
jobs including in alternative
energy such as solar and wind
power. The program will be
funded with $1.4 million of a Brandon Dill/The Commercial Appeal files
$2.9 million grant that Susan Pratcher helps her daughter Sarah, 4,
Bioworks received under the plant tomato seeds at the Midtown North
American Recovery and community garden on Heard Ave. Grow
Reinvestment Act. Memphis promotes hands-on education about
Less showy but just as sustainable, organic farming and the positive
important are the number of impact it can have on the local community.
grassroots groups that have
sprouted like mushrooms in the
last two or three years. They
include Clean Memphis, which
organizes community clean-
ups; Green Hope Foundation,
which provides entertainment
events for sick children in a
clean environment; Project
Green Fork, which encourages
green practices by restaurants;
and GrowMemphis,
administered by the Mid-South
Peace and Justice Center,
which has helped create urban
community gardens all over Brad Luttrell/The Commercial Appeal files
Memphis. Memphis Grizzly O.J. Mayo (left) grabs a bag of
Change is coming. In the leaves and hoists it onto a truck at a vacant lot
meantime, citizens can take on Vance Avenue as a part of Clean Memphis's
heart that at least one Annual Downtown Cleanup. Clean Memphis
Memphis institution has aims to clean the city one section at at time.
8 GOING GREEN | Sunday, September 5, 2010
Matthew Craig/The Commercial Appeal files
A decal is posted in the window of
Tsunami restaurant in Cooper Young
to show it has been certified by
Project Green Fork, a nonprofit
community initiative that assists
Memphis restaurants in reducing
waste, lowering overhead and
decreasing their impact.
received green accolades this year. In
April, The University of Memphis was
acknowledged as one of the country’s
most environmentally responsible
universities by The Princeton Review,
which included the U of M in its
“Guide to 286 Green Colleges.”
Among its achievements is the new
Living Learning Complex, a student
residence complex that opened August
26 . It is, according to the university,
the most sustainable public building in
Tennessee.
—Barbara Bradley, 529-2370.
commercialappeal.com
Talkin’ ’bout
my generation
Consumers at opposite ends of age
spectrum are strong advocates of green
living, moms in the middle are practical
Associated Press
WESTLAKE VILLAGE, Calif. —
When it comes to their approaches to
green living, the youngest and oldest
consumers are advocacy-oriented,
while Gen X and Gen Y moms are
more likely to take action and adopt
green habits for their households, ac-
cording to analysis compiled from J.D.
Power Tribe Intelligence(SM) Reports.
The report focuses on consumers in
five demographic groups: teens, early
careerists, Gen Y moms, Gen X moms
and boomers.
According to their findings, teens,
early careerists and boomers primarily
take an advocacy approach to living
green lifestyles through educating
themselves about environmental issues
and legislation and supporting causes.
However, they often stop short of
adopting green habits, but display fer-
vor in advocating for green policies.
While these groups have this ad-
vocacy approach in common, their mo-
tivations for taking the stance differ.
Teens and early careerists embrace the
green cause as a method of estab-
lishing their identities. Among
boomers, supporting green causes pro-
The Commercial Appeal Sunday, September 5, 2010 | GOING GREEN 9

vides an opportunity to share their

point of view and their experiences for
creating change.
“Boomers, early careerists and teens
are less focused on the everyday appli-
cation of green living due to their con-
cerns about convenience, cost and func-
tionality,” said Emily Cushman, manager
of consumer insights and strategy for the
Web Intelligence Division at J.D. Power
and Associates. “However, identifying
with and supporting green causes is vi-
tally important to their personal image.
In targeting these segments, brands need
to be mindful of how their product can
help bolster these advocate consumers.”
In contrast, Gen X and Gen Y Moms
take a functional approach to green liv-
ing by applying green behaviors within
their households. For Gen X Moms, Gen Y Moms take a do-it-yourself
being green is motivated by a desire to approach to being green: making their
be less wasteful and more frugal. In own cleaning products and baby food;
applying green behaviors such as gar- avoiding potentially toxic products;
dening, composting and recycling, they and supporting greener brands.
have found that living a green lifestyle
brings the benefit of saving money. toxic cleaning products and support
While buying products that are per- brands that provide greener alternatives.
ceived as green is not a primary goal for For many Gen Y Moms, being thrifty can
Gen X Moms, they are willing to do so be an added bonus to going green:
as long as the products fit within their “After every dinner, I’d stick the left-
budgets. Much of the sentiment ex- overs in my food processor, blend them
pressed by Gen X Moms concerns the up and spoon them into ice cube trays. I
balancing act they face: had homemade baby food ready to go!
“It’s hard to live this ‘green’ lifestyle It’s a totally rad way to avoid all the
sometimes when you don’t have a lot of preservatives added to most jar baby food
money coming in, but at the same time and use up leftovers at the same time.”
if I’m smart and look for coupons, it’s Green topics that are discussed online
not so hard.” most frequently by these demographic
Gen Y Moms take a do-it-yourself ap- segments follow similar divisions. For
proach to applying green behaviors by de- boomers, early careerists and teens, cli-
veloping their own cleaning products and mate change is the most commonly dis-
baby food in an effort to provide pure, cussed topic. For Gen X Moms and Gen
quality products for themselves and their Y Moms, recycling is the most frequently
families. They actively avoid potentially discussed green topic of conversation.
10 GOING GREEN | Sunday, September 5, 2010 commercialappeal.com

DOWN THE GREEN PATH

One person can make difference

Photos by Suzanne Thompson/Special to Going Green

Alex Thompson helps dispose of a week’s worth of recyclables at the recycling
center in Bartlett at 5890 Stage Road. The center is open 24 hours a day.
Assistance is available Monday through Saturday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.

By Suzanne Thompson I also reused plastic bags from the gro-

Special to Going Green
When I first started writing for Going
Green, I must confess, I wasn’t much of
a recycler.
I had always given clothes to Good-
will, and my daughter, Sarah, and I had a
history as thrift shop junkies, but I didn’t
really think that counted as recycling.
cery store, but let’s face it, when reused
as lining in a bathroom trash can the end
result is the same — the bag still winds
up in a landfill.
Since I began researching my articles
for Going Green, I have learned so
much, not just about global recycling ef-
forts, but also about what a difference
one person can make just by implement-
The Commercial Appeal
ing small changes in their lives.
The first change I made was to pur-
chase biodegradable detergent.
This was after I wrote an article about
the new Sun Chip compostable packag-
ing. There’s a big difference between
biodegradable and compostable, and
that’s when I learned what it was.
Compostable is better, and who cares
if the bags make more noise. Eating
chips is a noisy proposition, so if the
sound of the crinkly bag is bothersome,
you’re probably somewhere you
shouldn’t be munching on chips anyway.
One of the reasons I didn’t recycle, I
rationalized, was because I live in an
apartment and recycling is not picked up
from apartment complexes in the city.
This meant, of course, that recycling
would require extra effort on my part.
Another writer friend of mine, in back-
ing my lack of recycling said, “Oh, yes,
you have so much extra time on your
hands to run to the recycling center.”
My guilt assuaged, I still didn’t re-
cycle, with the added self-rationalization
that because I am a single parent, be-
tween writing and conducting a small
public relations consulting business, my
time was at a premium.
In the fall of 2009, I did a story about
the recycling efforts at the local Coca-
Cola bottling plant.
It was the tour of the facility that re-
ally motivated me to start recycling at
home.
I was astounded by how few things
went to waste in that massive facility.
With only one industrial waste bin, kept
under lock and key, I could not believe
how such a huge operation could reuse,
reduce or recycle virtually every bit of its
products that didn’t go into bottles for
sale.
Sunday, September 5, 2010 | GOING GREEN 11
Setting up a recycling center at home
is as easy as organizing a few bag or
containers in a discreet location.
Send us your story
If you’re trying to go green, we want
to hear your story so e-mail Going
Green at goinggreen@commercial
appeal.com, and let us know what’s
happening at your business, or home,
because we’re always looking for
stories that might inspire someone else
to start down the green path.
After the tour, we all shared lunch in
the conference room, and when I looked
around for a trash can for my paper
plate, there wasn’t one.
“We’ll handle it,” said Larry Krebs,
successfully easing my confusion.
Before I left, the kind Coke folks gave
me a large reusable tote bag which con-
tained, along with lots of informational
material, a smaller tote bag and several
T-shirts made from recycled plastic bot-
tles, which by the way were incredibly
soft.
My 17-year-old son, Alex, wears his
constantly.
After I unloaded the bags, they were
12 GOING GREEN | Sunday, September 5, 2010
stowed away in a corner, and I wrote the
article not thinking much about actually
using the bags.
After quoting so many different
sources about how much difference one
change can make, like say, not buying
bottled water, but using an aluminum
container instead, which keeps the water
much colder, I couldn’t with good con-
scious continue to spout facts about sav-
ing the planet when I wasn’t doing any-
thing beyond buying some gently worn
clothes, cleaning out my closets, and
reusing plastic grocery bags.
So, I set up a modest recycling center
in one corner of our apartment, where I
separate cans and plastics, glass bottles
and paper and cardboard — the three
things accepted by the nearby recycling
center in Bartlett.
I put Alex to work loading up our
weekly run to the recycling center, and I
was happily surprised that when we got
there, it was staffed with the people who
had everything out of the car in a matter
of minutes.
After doing this for a couple of
months, and with my “plastic bag,”
drawer stuffed to the brim, I decided to
try out the reusable tote bags. During a
recent trip to Target, I put my reusable
bags in the cart and started shopping.
The bags, which are bright red, have the
word “Please recycle, in huge letters
along the side of the bag.
I was practically a walking ad for re-
cycling, I thought, mentally patting my-
self on the back.
When I got to the check out, as the
cashier started to bag my items, I said,
“Oh, that’s OK, I can do it, I’ll use
these,” removing the bags from the cart.
This led to a brief discussion with the
cashier about recycling, him sharing that
commercialappeal.com
few people brought their own bags.
“I wish all my customers were like
you,” he said.
I beamed with pride.
I managed to fit almost everything I
had purchased — $75 worth of groceries
and other items — into the bags and
walked out with only one plastic bag.
I was surprised at how much the bags
held and how sturdy there were.
Since the 17-year-old has an uncanny
ability to disappear before I get home
from the store, I found an added bonus
of using the bags was that they held so
much — I managed to carry everything
inside in only one trip.
I won’t lie and say I take the bags
everywhere I go, but I find that leaving
them in the car reminds me to take them
in the store.
Or, when I don’t want them in the car,
adding “Take bags,” to the grocery list
helps me remember.
I realized, and I’m sure the same is
true of many of you, that it’s not that I
don’t want to use these nifty bags, but
I’m just not trained to do it. I grew up in
the 70s, before the first recycling bin hit
Tennessee.
So unlike people of younger genera-
tions, who are growing up learning the
importance of recycling, we neophytes
have to re-train ourselves to take our
bags with us and to to ask for paper
bags, even though many times they don’t
ask anymore which you prefer.
Naturally, I only purchase Coke prod-
ucts, though I’ve been trying to curtail
my Diet Coke habit and drink more wa-
ter, which I keep stored in a glass milk
jug in the fridge.
Suzanne Thompson is a freelance writer,
public relations consultant and working mom.
She is a regular contributor to Going Green.
The Commercial Appeal Sunday, September 5, 2010 | GOING GREEN 13

Measure your impact to get

biggest green bang for buck
Not all green behaviors are created
equally. Some make a huge difference in
your environmental impact, and others
do very little. Some cost a bajillion
dollars; others are nearly free. So how
does a “going greener”
decide what to do?
I use
lowimpactliving.com.
The website ranks green
behaviors on a 100-point
scale. One hundred points
is an average household,
DEANNA and 70 is a low-impact
CASWELL household. So, the
Practically
average household that
Green wants to be green is trying
to knock 30 points off its
score.
Now, unless you are going to stop
driving completely (20 points off),
match your yearly usages in green power
and carbon offsets (20 points off), or system. One flush for liquid, another for
buy enough solar panels to support your weightier matters. A dual-flusher can
energy usage 100 percent (14 points save 68 percent more water than a
off), here are the top three behaviors to conventional low-flow toilet. Cost: $35
knock a bunch of points off your score: per toilet.
10-15 points: Maximize your recycling. 7-9 points: Install low-flow shower
If you recycle sometimes, it’s 5 points off. heads and sink aerators. Sink aerators
If you recycle most of the time, it’s 10 ($3-$4) are easily found at any home
points. And if you recycle everything you improvement store. Good low-flow
could possibly recycle, it could be shower heads are a bit more difficult to
upwards of 15 points off. Cost: zero. find. Oxygenics is one I’ve seen. Cost:
10-13 points: Retrofit your toilets $30 per shower head.
with a piston-powered dual-flushing Just to give you perspective, here are a
14 GOING GREEN | Sunday, September 5, 2010
few really expensive choices that make
only a 1- to 1.5-point difference:
Replacing a conventional car with a
hybrid (if you drive 15,000 miles per
year).
Replacing your dishwasher (if you
do five loads per week) and refrigerator
with Energy Star appliances.
Replacing clothes washer and dryer
(seven loads per week) with Energy Star
models.
Installing an Energy Star air-
conditioning system.
Installing an Energy Star heater.
Not that I’m discouraging hybrids and
Energy Star appliances, but for those
who can’t afford those changes, there are
much less expensive ways to rack up
some 1- to 1.5-point differences:
Drive 1,000 fewer miles in your car.
Do two fewer loads a week in the
clothes washer.
Compost your vegetable waste.
Change all indoor bulbs in 1,000
square feet of your house to CFL bulbs.
Insulate your hot water heater and
pipes.
Reduce the hot water temperature
in your house.
Install a programmable thermostat.
Install a below-ground composter
for pet and food waste.
Dig a rain garden, a low-lying
flower bed near the downspout or
driveway that keeps runoff out of the
sewer system.
Fly 20 fewer hours this year.
Deanna Caswell is a local writer who blogs
at littlehouseinthesuburbs.com. Her first book,
“First Ballet,” was released in October by
Hyperion. Caswell and husband, Jeff, live in
Collierville. She practices eco-friendly living
and raises their three children, along with
pygmy goats and chickens.
commercialappeal.com
Filmmakers try
to gauge Ark.’s
view on climate
By Jordan Grummer
Southwest Times Record
FORT SMITH, Ark. — Three doc-
umentary filmmakers from Little Rock
are determined to find out how people
in the state feel about climate change.
The three environmentalists work
with a nonprofit environmental
group that is based in Little Rock,
Earth Cause Organization, and they
said they are trying to tell the true
story of how Arkansans feel about
the environment.
“Part of our motivation comes from
seeing polling numbers that show
many people don’t believe in climate
change in Arkansas,” said Rob Fisher
while working from Creekmore Park
in Fort Smith. “I think it’s really in-
accurate and a little bit jaded.”
The project is only in the begin-
ning phase — they say they plan to
work for more than a year — but
they believe they’ve discovered a
consensus: People in Arkansas have
experienced changes in the climate.
H.L. Moody said he has been sur-
prised with the older generations.
“I kind of expect younger people
to get it, but the older folks are the
main ones that, if you can pull the
politics away, and get them to talk
about what it was like when they
The Commercial Appeal
were a kid and what it’s like now, they
get it. They understand,” Moody said.
Separating the politics from the issues
is one of the group’s goals, and it’s the
main way they get people to open up.
“If you ask somebody a couple of ques-
tions about climate change or global
warming, they recoil,” Moody said. “If
you ask them a couple of questions about
the environment and lead with open-
ended questions, they immediately start
talking. That’s what we’re looking for. It
goes back to relating personal stories.”
“We try to stay away from the politics
and polarizing the issue because it’s not
about politics, and, unfortunately, some
people think it is,” Fisher said.
Claire LaFrance, 26, echoed those
sentiments.
“When we tell them we want to talk
about the environment, people think it’s
something they need to know a lot about.
They think they need to be scientists,
which isn’t the case at all,” LaFrance said.
The most interesting experience for
Fisher so far has been the related ex-
Sunday, September 5, 2010 | GOING GREEN 15
periences of different generations.
“There really is no distinction about
what people’s experience and knowl-
edge are,” Fisher said. “We’ve inter-
viewed 12-year-olds that have an inter-
esting story to tell, and we’ve
interviewed 95-year-olds that say
they’ve never seen anything like this.”
LaFrance said the project is impor-
tant to her because it’s a story that
hasn’t been told.
“The story about the changing en-
vironment around us is something that
maybe has been touched on at a global-
level, but not on a micro-level like cer-
tain communities in Arkansas,”
LaFrance said. “It’s when we get down
to that one-on-one storytelling level that
we can actually relate to each other.”
Moody said he is also dispelling cer-
tain beliefs about climate change.
“The most frustrating part about
global warming and climate change is
people think it’s going to be like a Kurt
Russell movie where it all happens in
one afternoon,” Moody said.
At its heart, this is an educational
work, Moody said. “It’s not at all po-
litical, and, really, we just want to show
that people really do get it here.”
It’s also about the story, and not
whether people agree or disagree with
global warming, Fisher said.
“At some point in history, it’s going to
be an interesting story to tell that
Arkansans actually feel this way,” Fisher
said. “I think what we’re wanting to do is
really get a true perspective on how
Arkansans feel. The point is getting an ac-
curate assessment of what people’s knowl-
edge is, and their opinion on this issue.”
The group plans to travel the four
corners of the state, but they are hitting
northwest Arkansas first.
16 GOING GREEN | Sunday, September 5, 2010 commercialappeal.com

Mississippi plans first sustainable

housing project in Jackson

Photo courtesy of Duvall Decker Architects P.A.

Sustainable housing units plus site and infrastructure improvements mark
Phase 1 of the new Jackson, Miss., North Midtown Neighborhood development.

Associated Press Neighborhood Master Plan. The Master

JACKSON, Miss. — The city of Jack-
son and the Jackson Housing Authority
broke ground on a multiphase project to
provide healthy housing opportunities
and contribute to neighborhood revi-
talization in May. The event marked the
beginning of Phase 1 of a development
planned as part of the North Midtown
Plan was completed last year by the
neighborhood residents, the North Mid-
town Community Development Corpo-
ration and the Jackson Housing Author-
ity.
The $3.49 million project is com-
prised of 16 new sustainable housing
units (eight duplexes), and includes ad-
ditional site and infrastructure improve-
The Commercial Appeal
ments. Funds for the project
were made available
through the U.S. Depart-
ment of Housing and Urban
Development and the Amer-
ican Recovery and Reinvest-
ment Act of 2009. The new
1,600-square-foot, one- and
two-story housing units be-
ing built in Phase 1 are sus-
tainable, liveable, secure
and economical.
The project planning, by
Duvall Decker Architects
P.A. with the Jackson Hous-
ing Authority, sought to in-
clude sustainability, energy
efficiency, durability and liv-
ability improvements while
remaining economical.
The project is expected to
create approximately 110
jobs during the 12 months
of construction.
“We’re very excited about
this new housing develop-
ment and its contribution to
Jackson. In addition to pro-
viding needed durable, sus-
tainable, affordable housing,
we’re pleased that the pro-
ject will also provide new
jobs in Jackson, “ said
Sheila Jackson, executive di-
rector of the Housing Au-
thority. “We’re also proud to
be building the first solar-
powered housing develop-
ment in the state.”
For more information
www.duvalldecker.com.
www.jacksonhousing.org.
Sunday, September 5, 2010 | GOING GREEN 17
Neighborhood
not new to green
Shasta Place, an enclave of eco-minded
residents, plans the ultra-green house
By Kate Ramsayer
The Bulletin
BEND, Ore. — On a cliff above Northwest
Shasta Place, overlooking the Deschutes River,
Tom Elliott and Barbara Scott are planning to
build a super-efficient green home. Their 3,000-
square-foot home is designed to use only water
collected on-site, get all its power from solar
panels and wind turbines, and be built only with
environmentally friendly materials.
But living green is not a new thing on Shasta
Place.
The street just south of downtown Bend has
drawn residents involved in the local conser-
vation community and those who like to live
simply in the bungalows on small lots originally
built for millworkers.
While several homeowners said they are in-
trigued by and supportive of what Elliott and
Scott are planning for their double lot at the top
of the street, many have found different ways to
shrink their environmental footprint for years.
“It’s an interesting little neighborhood, that’s for
sure,” said resident Brad Chalfant, executive di-
rector of the Deschutes Land Trust, which works
to preserve natural areas in Central Oregon. “Over
time, it’s kind of attracted an eclectic group of folks
that value those sort of old-style neighborhoods.”
Chalfant remembers going to a presentation
before NorthWest Crossing was developed, where
the speaker expounded on planned communities,
18 GOING GREEN | Sunday, September 5, 2010 commercialappeal.com

The Bulletin files

Barbara Scott hugs a ponderosa pine on the site of her new home in Bend, Ore.
To make way for the construction, the tree may have to be removed but the wood
would be milled from the tree into lumber that could be used for the new house.

small lots and walkable neighborhoods.

“I remember walking back home and
thinking, gee, that’s my neighborhood,
but it’s kind of an older, funkier ver-
sion,” he said.
Chalfant is able to walk or ride his bike
to work, but what drew him and his wife,
Brenda Johnson, to the neighborhood is
the chance to live simply, he said. That
way, he can do work that he finds mean-
ingful at the Deschutes Land Trust. Dean Guernsey /The Bulletin
“It’s not just about saving the Earth,
it’s about a simpler lifestyle and having Forest Ortiz, 18, of Madras, and Jamal
the options to do things you want to Hernandez, 16, of Redmond, right,
do,” Chalfant said. remove nails from lumber that will be
The couple are doing some renovation reused for a new home.
work, he said, and they are trying to use
the greenest materials and upgrade to statement,” he said. “But that’s not
efficient appliances. But sometimes, the what we’re trying to do.”
green options are just too expensive. Simplicity is the goal of his neighbors
“You can spend an obscene amount of as well.
money doing that sort of thing, and Maureen Sweeney and Peter Geiser,
that’s great if you’re trying to make a who helped found the Environmental
The Commercial Appeal Sunday, September 5, 2010 | GOING GREEN 19

Center in Bend, go by the motto, “Living grew vegetables in part to have organic
simply so others may live,” Sweeney said. food for her now-grown children, since
They have a small, 1,100-square-foot it wasn’t available in local stores.
home, and Sweeney started an organic “I think we’re headed in the right
vegetable garden as soon as she moved direction, as far as I’m concerned,”
into the house in 1976. The family also Williams said. “It’s just delightful to see
heats water with solar panels, and got rid it becoming more mainstream. It’s not
of a polluting, wood-burning furnace some weird hippie lifestyle.”
years ago. Williams hopes Elliott and Scott can
Across the street, Bonnie Lamb, who use their project as a way to show
works for the Oregon Department of people what can be done — even if it’s
Environmental Quality, planted a veg- beyond most families’ budgets.
etable garden in her “That’s quite the un-
front yard this year. “It’s not just about dertaking,” Williams
“I actually ripped out said. “And I’m hoping it
my front lawn because I saving the Earth, it’s will inspire people to
just hated the idea of about a simpler see what can be done.”
spending the water and Sweeney said the idea
energy on grass,” she lifestyle and having of building a house to
said. the options to do such strict environmen-
Now, she has raised tal standards seems like
beds with tomatoes, things you want to do.” a good thing, since it
potatoes, peas, greens could encourage others
and raspberries, and BRAD CHALFANT to try some of the small-
waters it with rainwater Resident and executive director of er efficiency projects.
collected in an old Deschutes Land Trust “Most people are not
garbage can. going to do what they’re
Lamb’s next-door doing, especially from
neighbors, Harl and Linda Williams, scratch,” Sweeney said. “But a lot of
have lived on Shasta since 1976 — people may do some of it.”
when it was still a dirt road, Linda There are different approaches to con-
Williams remembers. servation, Chalfant said, adding that it’s
They share one car, Williams said, not like there are right or wrong ways to
and her husband rides his bike to work. live in an environmentally friendly way.
“I do see other people just walking “In a society that really gets excited
and riding their bikes,” she said. by new technology, it’s fascinating to
She said she’s thrilled that people are watch what they’re trying to do there,”
starting to pay attention to living green he said. “But it’s also in a community
again — the couple started recycling in that values smaller, simpler, maybe not
college in the 1970s, and Williams remem- as expensive. You can buy the hybrid
bers saving up her tin cans to take to Port- Prius, or you can take a few less trips
land before Bend had a recycling center. and ride a bike occasionally, and prob-
She has been gardening organically ably have the same impact and do it a
for about three decades, she said, and lot more cheaply.”
20 GOING GREEN | Sunday, September 5, 2010
In Allston, Mass., a formerly paved area was converted to a walkway linking the
rest of the densely urban community to a park. Permeable paving stones
replace asphalt and help prevent runoff.
Main street to green street
By Renee Loth
The Boston Globe
The words “urban” and “forest”
would hardly seem to belong in the
same sentence, but urban forestry is a
growing field that recognizes the value
of trees to the physical and social life of
cities. Boston Mayor Tom Menino re-
cently dedicated a strip of reclaimed
parking lot in Allston, Mass., that has
been transformed into green space,
helping the environment and — though
he might not phrase it just this way —
contributing to a new urban aesthetic.
commercialappeal.com
This tiny bit of unpaved paradise —
like the Joni Mitchell song in reverse —
is on Everett Street in North Allston, a
residential neighborhood hemmed in on
all sides by industrial or institutional
encroachments. At only 2,500 square
feet, the lush little park will hardly re-
verse global warming. But with seven
new trees, a rain garden of native plants,
new water-permeable pavestones, and
several interpretative signs, it is an ideal
demonstration project for the benefits of
greenscaping in a heavily urban area.
The park is the fruit of a two-year
collaboration between environmentalists
The Commercial Appeal Sunday, September 5, 2010 | GOING GREEN 21

— especially those concerned with the the proposal, saying that the EPA itself
health of the nearby Charles River — should fund the project.
and community development activists The Allston experiment shows that
concerned about the livability of neigh- greenscaping not only reduces pollution
borhoods. but enhances the community by cre-
“The neighborhood is severed in a ating cool, peaceful, pedestrian-friendly
couple of places,” said Gustavo Quiroga buffers.
of the Allston-Brighton Community De- Curt Spalding, the EPA’s regional ad-
velopment Corporation. “We wanted to ministrator, emphasizes that the agency
create a green corridor to connect res- isn’t requiring every business to install
idents to the largest open space in our a costly wastewater treatment plant.
community, which is the Charles River.” “We are talking about restoring the nat-
The rain garden and permeable pave- ural environmental function of the
ment aren’t just attrac- land,” he said. Greening
tive, however: they pro- “We wanted to the so-called hardscape
vide a crucial filter for also replenishes natural
storm water runoff, pre- create a green groundwater and guards
venting it from flushing corridor to connect against flooding, a grow-
into the Charles. Think ing problem in many
of it as traffic calming residents to the communities.
for the rain. The runoff largest open space in Cost estimates to meet
contains phosphorus, the proposed require-
which comes from fertil- our community...” ments vary wildly, but
izers and car exhaust. It Robert Zimmerman, di-
collects on asphalt sur- GUSTAVO QUIROGA rector of the Charles Riv-
faces, washes off and Allston-Brighton Community er Watershed Associa-
Development Corp.
chokes the river with al- tion, said the Allston
gae, starving it of oxy- experience suggests that
gen and killing fish. The larger projects will yield
green space allows the water to filter to economies of scale. “I’m sure we could
slowly and safely into the ground. get it down to $5,000 an acre,” he said.
The project also positions the city to The Allston project did benefit from sev-
address proposed new EPA regulations eral grants.
that would eventually require phospho- Urban forestry is about more than
rus reductions near the Charles. Under just managing trees. The Allston ini-
the proposed regulations, businesses tiative involved several community
with more than 2 acres of impermeable meetings and opinion surveys to ed-
surface would have five years to reduce ucate the public and gather suggestions.
their phosphorus pollution by 65 per- Kate Bowditch, a hydrologist with the
cent. Towns would also have to come watershed association, says the green
up with phosphorus reduction plans on streets effort also connects into broader
municipal land. environmental issues. “It ties into peo-
Last week at a public hearing, local ple’s interest in climate change adap-
officials and business owners blasted tation,” she said.
22 GOING GREEN | Sunday, September 5, 2010 commercialappeal.com

Michael Bryant/The Philadelphia Inquirer

Katherine Gajewski, director of Philadelphia's Office of Sustainability, on the
roof of 1515 Market St., where the reflective white color saves money in energy
costs. White roofs and other programs contributed to the city winning the
Siemens Sustainable Community Award.

By Diane Mastrull

Philly garners The Philadelphia Inquirer

A year ago, Philadelphia launched a

national award sustainability plan aimed not only at

Greenworks initiative deemed a
success for sustainability efforts
improving environmental stewardship
and energy efficiency, but also at con-
verting the old industrial city into a
clean-technology hub.
The ambitious initiative known as
Greenworks Philadelphia picked up
what city officials are considering a
The Commercial Appeal
substantial credibility boost.
Philadelphia was named winner of the
third annual Siemens Sustainable Com-
munity Award in the large-community
category. The plan edged out sustain-
ability efforts by a more modern city —
Dallas — in a national contest orga-
nized by the U.S. Chamber of Com-
merce. The other finalist was Atlanta.
Green initiatives are more commonly
thought of as a West Coast passion, said
Katherine Gajewski, director of
Philadelphia’s Office of Sustainability.
“I would really like Philadelphia to
start to redefine this green thing a little
bit,” she said. “It’s not about just mak-
ing new stuff and building stuff; it’s also
about investing in your existing assets.”
As winner in the large-community
category, Philadelphia becomes host city
next year for the conference, attended
by 300 representatives of some of the
largest U.S. corporations.
“I’m hoping Mayor Nutter will show
people how Philadelphia has changed and
is embracing change,” said Stephen Jor-
dan, executive director of the Business
Civic Leadership Center, the corporate
citizenship affiliate of the U.S. Chamber.
The award is intended to highlight
successful public-private partnerships
and showcase national models for sus-
tainable development. Jordan said
Greenworks seemed to “have been de-
signed with award criteria in mind” in
that it calls for participation from a
range of companies as well as neighbor-
hoods, and demonstrates “real concern
with balancing the environmental inter-
est with economic and social interest.”
Greenworks’ plan calls for 15 measur-
able targets and more than 150 specific
steps identified to reach them by 2015.
It is a program that considers sus-
Sunday, September 5, 2010 | GOING GREEN 23
In the works
Some of the projects Philadelphia will
fund with federal energy-efficiency
grants and matching money.
Traffic lights: Provide 85,000
signals with LED lights. $6.1 million.
Bicycle parking: Install 2,600 bike
racks. $375,000.
Litter baskets: Install 260 solar
compacting baskets, and 115 on-street
recycling units. $973,000.
Loans: Offer to industrial sites for
building retrofits. $9.3 million.
Water treatment: Develop solar
pollution control. $1.3 million.
Source: City of Philadelphia
tainability through five lenses: energy,
environment, equity, economy and en-
gagement.
Goals include lowering city govern-
ment energy consumption 30 percent,
diverting 70 percent of solid waste from
landfills and providing park and recre-
ation resources within 10 minutes of 75
percent of residents.
Gajewski identified a few achieve-
ments, including the city’s having se-
cured $14.1 million in stimulus funds to
help finance several projects.
Last month, the city also was award-
ed a $25 million grant from the U.S.
Energy Department to fund residential
and commercial building retrofits.
Now, an economic recovery is needed
so that family-supporting green jobs can
be created, Gajewski said.
“Can we make Philadelphia the clean-
tech hub in the Northeast?” she asked.
“If we work hard enough, we think
there’s a real opportunity.”
24 GOING GREEN | Sunday, September 5, 2010 commercialappeal.com

Clean energy
China charges ahead, investors concerned U.S. falling behind

AFP/Getty Images
China’s rush to dominate clean energy is on display at the Shanghai Expo,
where one of six “sun valleys” looms near the red Chinese pavilion, at left. By
day, the giant funnel-shaped canopies direct natural light to the levels below.

By Kristi Heim nology powered by sun, wind and algae.

The Seattle Times
SHANGHAI — Inside China’s mas-
sive, $220 million pavilion at the Shang-
hai Expo, exhibits charting that nation’s
path toward modernization start with
the humble transistor radio and end
with electric cars and homegrown tech-
The largest Shanghai Expo in history
has drawn more than 30 million vis-
itors. It showcases the country’s am-
bitions to become not just factory to the
world but a global leader in technolo-
gies of the future — particularly green
energy.
For a visitor from the Pacific North-
The Commercial Appeal
west, it’s hard to escape
the parallels with the
Seattle World’s Fair of
1962, when American
ambitions pointed sky-
ward with the Space Nee-
dle, and Boeing helped
propel aerospace technol-
ogy to new heights.
The Shanghai Expo,
like the Seattle gathering
nearly 50 years earlier,
seems a watershed event,
in this case heralding a
leap in China’s imagina-
tion and a shift in global
economic power.
A Chinese consortium
is building a commercial
jet to rival the Boeing
737. Chinese car and bat-
tery maker BYD (“build
your dreams”) is launch-
ing an all-electric car this
year.
But nowhere is China’s
competitive push more
evident than in its rush
to dominate clean energy.
Environmental disas-
ters and China’s reputa-
tion as a prime polluter
have driven some of that
urgency. The country has
become the world’s
largest energy consumer
and its biggest carbon
emitter.
Now it’s investing bil-
lions of dollars in greener,
more efficient energy pro-
duction. Recent incen-
tives and policies encour-
aging alternative energy
Sunday, September 5, 2010 | GOING GREEN 25
Cash pours into green-energy industry
The amount invested in China’s renewable-energy
industry has skyrocketed in recent years. In 2009,
$34.6 billion was invested, compared with $18.6
millions in the United States. These figures include not
just government funding, but also private equity,
venture capital and other sources.
Sources: The Pew Environment Group, Pew Charitable Trusts
have helped Chinese com- because there has never
panies leapfrog over com- been much of a market in
petitors to lead the world the U.S.,” said Peter
in areas such as solar Brehm, vice president of
power. business development
As a result, much of and government relations
the manufacturing for at Infinia, a solar-power
photovoltaic cells and company in Kennewick,
panels has gone to China. Wash.
Politicians and in- Overall clean-technolo-
vestors are touting clean gy investments in China
tech as the growth op- reached $34 billion last
portunity of the future. year, more than any other
But they worry that country and almost double
American companies are the U.S. investment of $18
already falling behind. billion, according to the
“Many of these tech- Pew Environment Group.
nologies were invented in This year, China has at-
the U.S., but they have tracted more clean-tech fi-
since migrated overseas nancing than Europe and
26 GOING GREEN | Sunday, September 5, 2010 commercialappeal.com

Associated Press files

Workers hunch over solar cells as they help produce solar panels in a factory
run by Suntech Power in Wuxi, China. Government ministries subsidize half the
investment cost of solar-power systems connected to the public grid.

the U.S. combined, according to will be clean.

Bloomberg New Energy Finance. Financ-
ing for wind turbines, solar panels and
low-carbon technology in China rose 72
percent in the second quarter to $11.5
billion, compared with U.S. investment of
$4.9 billion.
The size of the market and a sweep-
ing array of incentives are acting as
magnets. Chinese utilities are required
to buy up all renewable energy gen-
erated in the country and sell to con-
sumers at discounted rates. It helps that
China’s energy sector is largely state-
owned. Government ministries subsi-
dize half of the investment cost for
solar-power systems.
That doesn’t mean China’s growth
“A lot of manufacturing is very dirty,”
said Christopher McNally, a fellow at
the East-West Center in Honolulu who
studies China’s system of state-managed
capitalism. “But the policy thrust is very
clear. And that is actually what we lack.
We don’t have a very clear policy of
where we’re going.”
Washington clean-tech companies are
staking their future on how well they
can both sell to China’s growing market
and maintain their own edge.
But that’s getting harder to do as the
U.S. lags in investments and policies
that foster development of clean-technol-
ogy products and build market demand
for them, many business leaders say.
The Commercial Appeal
“China has a problem with pollu-
tion,” said Robert Roche, the chairman
of the American Chamber of Com-
merce in Shanghai. “They’re address-
ing it from a national view. Our gov-
ernment hasn’t decided there’s a
problem yet.”
Recent Chinese actions include a
cap on carbon, aggressive fuel-efficien-
cy targets and a plan for $700 billion
in investments over the next 10 years,
said U.S. Rep. Jay Inslee, D-Wash.,
who met with Chinese environment
officials in July.
Without a bold U.S. strategy, money
will go elsewhere and domestic en-
terprises will lose out, he said.
“It’s pretty amazing, our lack of per-
formance relative to Chinese aggres-
siveness in trying to seize these jobs,”
he said.
John Evans, an Asia-based business
consultant, has been watching the
growth of China’s clean-technology in-
dustry and advising the Washington
state Department of Commerce and
local companies on strategy.
“China is going to be both a com-
petitor and an opportunity,” Evans
said. “When the Chinese decide
they’re really going to push forward
with something, they do it quickly and
put a lot of money into it.”
That means opportunities for U.S.
companies with cutting-edge technol-
ogy, such as software to manage smart
electricity grids, to sell into the Chi-
nese market, he said. But they may
eventually be competing with compa-
nies in China.
“China is putting in place incen-
tives, such as tax reductions for in-
vestment, to attract companies from
across the globe,” he said.
Sunday, September 5, 2010 | GOING GREEN 27
Portugal
makes leap
to renewable
energy
By Elisabeth Rosenthal
New York Times
LISBON, Portugal — Five years
ago, the leaders of this sun-scorched,
wind-swept nation made a bet: To re-
duce Portugal’s dependence on im-
ported fossil fuels, they embarked on
an array of ambitious renewable en-
ergy projects — primarily harnessing
the country’s wind and hydropower
but also its sunlight and ocean waves.
Today, Lisbon’s trendy bars, Porto’s
factories and the Algarve’s glamorous
resorts are powered substantially by
clean energy. Nearly 45 percent of the
electricity in Portugal’s grid will come
from renewable sources this year, up
from 17 percent just five years ago.
Land-based wind power — this year
deemed “potentially competitive” with
fossil fuels by the International Energy
Agency in Paris — has expanded sev-
enfold in that time. And Portugal ex-
pects in 2011 to become the first coun-
try to inaugurate a national network of
charging stations for electric cars.
“I’ve seen all the smiles — you
know: It’s a good dream. It can’t com-
pete. It’s too expensive,” Prime Min-
28 GOING GREEN | Sunday, September 5, 2010
Like some U.S. states, Portugal has for decades generated electricity from
hydropower plants on its raging rivers. But new programs now combine the
power of wind, sun and water.
ister Jose Socrates said. “The experi-
ence of Portugal shows that it is
possible to make these changes in a
very short time.”
The oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico
renewed questions about the risks and
unpredictable costs of America’s un-
remitting dependence on fossil fuels.
President Barack Obama has seized on
the opportunity to promote his goal of
having 20 percent to 25 percent of
America’s electricity produced from re-
newable sources by 2025.
While Portugal’s experience shows
that rapid progress is achievable, it also
highlights the price of such a transition.
Portuguese households have long paid
about twice what Americans pay for
commercialappeal.com
The New York Times files
electricity, and prices have risen 15 per-
cent in the past five years, probably
partly because of the renewable energy
program, the IEA says.
Although a 2009 report by the agency
called Portugal’s renewable energy tran-
sition a “remarkable success,” it added,
“It is not fully clear that their costs, both
financial and economic, as well as their
impact on final consumer energy prices,
are well understood and appreciated.”
Indeed, complaints about rising elec-
tricity rates are a mainstay of pensioners’
gossip here. Socrates, who after a land-
slide victory in 2005 pushed through the
major elements of the energy makeover
over the objections of the country’s fossil
fuel industry, survived only as the leader
The Commercial Appeal
of a weak coalition last year.
“You cannot imagine the pressure we
suffered that first year,” said Manuel
Pinho, Portugal’s minister of economy
and innovation from 2005 until last
year, who largely masterminded the
transition, adding “Politicians must take
tough decisions.”
Still, aggressive national policies to
accelerate renewable energy use are suc-
ceeding in Portugal and some other
countries, according to a recent report
by IHS Emerging Energy Research of
Cambridge, Mass., a leading energy con-
sulting firm. The United States, which
last year generated less than 5 percent of
its power from newer forms of renew-
able energy, will lag behind at 16 per-
cent (or just over 20 percent, including
hydroelectric power), according to IHS.
To force Portugal’s energy transition,
Socrates’ government restructured and
privatized former state energy utilities
to create a grid better suited to re-
newable power sources. To lure private
companies into Portugal’s new market,
the government gave them contracts
locking in a stable price for 15 years —
a subsidy that varied by technology and
was initially high but decreased with
each new contract round.
Compared with the United States, Eu-
ropean countries have powerful incen-
tives to pursue renewable energy: Many,
like Portugal, have little fossil fuel of their
own, and the European Union’s emissions
trading system discourages fossil fuel use
by requiring industry to essentially pay
for excessive carbon dioxide emissions.
Portugal was well poised to be a
guinea pig because it has large untapped
resources of wind and river power, the
two most cost-effective renewable
sources. Government officials say their
Sunday, September 5, 2010 | GOING GREEN 29
Redesigning the system
A nationwide supply of renewable power
requires a grid that can move electricity
from windy, sunny places to the cities.
As in many places in the United States
today, power companies owned
transmission lines and those companies
had little incentive to welcome new
sources of renewable energy. So
Portugal’s first step was the purchase of
all transmission lines.
Those lines were then used to create
the skeleton of what has been a
regulated and publicly traded company
that operates the national electricity and
natural gas networks.
Next, the government auctioned off
contracts to private companies to build
and operate wind and hydropower plants.
Such a drastic reorganization might be
extremely difficult in the United States,
where power companies have strong
political sway.
energy transformation required no in-
crease in taxes or public debt, precisely
because the new sources of electricity,
which require no fuel and produce no
emissions, replaced electricity previous-
ly produced by buying and burning im-
ported natural gas, coal and oil.
If the United States is to catch up to
countries like Portugal, energy experts
say, it must overcome obstacles like a
fragmented, outdated energy grid poor-
ly suited to renewable energy; a historic
reliance on plentiful and cheap supplies
of fossil fuels, especially coal; powerful
oil and coal industries that often oppose
incentives for renewable development;
and energy policy that is heavily in-
fluenced by individual states.
30 GOING GREEN | Sunday, September 5, 2010
MEATLESS MONDAY
Break out of the burger routine
By Peter Berley
SimpleS teps.org
Get inspired by the meat-trimming
steps of SimpleSteps’ CO2 Smackdown.
Step 1: List how often you eat red
meat and in what dishes. For steaks,
stuffed Portobello mushrooms are an op-
tion and fish can be another, but because
the carbon footprint of fish is much
higher than that of poultry you’ll get a
bigger CO2 reduction if you don’t make
fish your main source of protein.
Step 2: Investigate cookbooks and ex-
periment with recipes at home. Mark
Bittman, Deborah Madison, Mollie
Katzen and the Moosewood Collective
have all written classic cookbooks with
meatless dishes, but also turn to
Jacques Pepin, Julia Child, the “Joy of
Cooking” and others for suggestions on
cooking poultry to help break away
from the shake-and-bake routine.
In this tailgating season, it may be
hardest for you to forgo grilled steak
and beef burgers. Wendy Gordon con-
siders alternatives in “Local Bar-B-Q”
and in The New York Times Mark
Bittman provides literally “101 Fast
Recipes for Grilling” with many veg-
etable and fruit options.
Draw up your list and go shopping.
As with all cooking, if one experiment
falls flat for you or your family, try
another.
Step 3: When you eat out, exper-
iment in your choices and make se-
commercialappeal.com
Tempeh can be used as a meat
substitute in a variety of ways
including these kebabs with zucchini,
yellow squash and Chermoula
marinade. Chermoula features fresh
herbs like cilantro and mint, a citrus
tang from lemon juice and zest and an
array of ground spices.
lections with an eye towards seeing
what you might try at home. To be sure,
shy away from steakhouses — there’s
no point tempting fate — and take
whatever opportunities you can to try
new cuisines and broaden your palate.
Notakeout.com has a list of vegetar-
ian menus to try so you’ll never be
uninspired (look under “past menus”
and select “vegetarian”).
Here is a meatless recipe as adapted
from “Fresh Food Fast” by Peter Berley.
For better health and sustainable living
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The Commercial Appeal
Chermoula baked tempeh with vegetable couscous
1 pound carrots 1 bunch cilantro
1 medium red onion 1 bunch mint
1
/2 pound cremini or white 3 lemons
button mushrooms Dried currants
1
/2 pound asparagus 1 pound tempeh
1
/2 pound sugar snap peas Couscous
Black pepper
Prep
1. Peel and coarsely grate the carrots.
Peel and thinly slice the red onion.
2. Trim and thickly slice the mushrooms.
3. Trim and cut the asparagus into
1
/2-inch lengths.
4. Trim and remove the strings from
the sugar snap peas. Coarsely chop them.
5. Rinse and pat dry the cilantro. Pluck
1
/2 cup leaves.
6. Rinse and pat dry the mint. Pluck 1/2
cup leaves.
7. Squeeze enough lemons through
your fingers until you have just under 1/2
cup juice.
8. Measure out 1/3 cup juice into a
small bowl. In a separate medium-sized
bowl measure 2 tablespoons lemon juice.
9. Cut the tempeh into 1-inch squares.
Grind 2 teaspoons cumin seed and 1 tsp.
coriander seed in a spice mill or mortar
and pestle. Whisk them into the 1/3 cup
lemon juice, along with 2 teaspoons
paprika and 1/2 teaspoon (or to taste)
cayenne pepper.
10. Whisk in 1/2 cup olive oil and 1 1/4
cups of water.
Start cooking
1. Arrange the tempeh squares in a
single layer in a heavy skillet. Pour the
spice mixture over the tempeh and set
the skillet over high heat.
2. When the liquid boils reduce the
heat so it is simmering. Cover and
Sunday, September 5, 2010 | GOING GREEN 31
Cayenne pepper
Coriander seeds
Cumin seeds
Extra-virgin olive oil
Paprika
Sea salt
simmer until almost, but not all, of the
liquid is absorbed, about 15 minutes. If it
gets dry, add a little more water.
3. While the tempeh is cooking, make
the couscous. In a medium saucepan over
high heat, warm 2 tablespoons oil. Add
the onion and saute for 2 minutes. Add
the mushrooms and saute for 6 minutes.
4. While the mushrooms are cooking,
bring 1-1/4 cups water to a boil. After the
mushrooms have cooked for 6 minutes,
pour the boiling water over them.
5. Stir the asparagus and the peas into
the mushroom mixture and return it to a
simmer. Stir in the couscous and 2
teaspoons salt. Stir, cover and remove
from the heat. Let sit so the couscous
plumps for 5-6 minutes.
6. Check the tempeh to be sure there
is enough liquid in the pan.
7. While the couscous is plumping and
the tempeh is cooking, make the carrot
salad. Mince the mint and the cilantro
leaves and whisk them into the 2
tablespoons lemon juice, along with 1
tbsp. olive oil. Add the grated carrots
and the currants and toss well. Taste for
seasoning.
8. Check the tempeh. It should be hot,
plump and fragrant.
9. Uncover the couscous and fluff it
with a fork. Divide it among 4 plates. Top
each serving with an equal amount of
tempeh and serve, with the carrot salad
alongside.