2 GOING GREEN | Sunday, March 28, 2010 commercialappeal.

com

What’s in this issue ...

Cleaning and greening
4 Janet Boscarino organizes teams of
volunteers to conduct community
cleanups throughout Memphis

Picking up the U.S. Did you BYOB?

7 Volunteers cross the
8 The “bring your own
nation, cleaning up trash bag” movement appears
and pushing alternatives to be growing quickly

Banning grocery store bags

9 City bans plastic bags and requires paper
bags to be made of recycled materials

‘Green’ Easter
16 CSA farms are a
win-win situation
17 baskets frugal fun

On the cover
Illustration by Shane McDermott/The Commercial Appeal

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: Roland Klose, 529-2776,
goinggreen@commercialappeal.com
The Commercial Appeal
The Green Page
Green news
There are
more than 50 job
boards on the Web
devoted to “green”
jobs. The Green
Job Spider attempts
to aggregate those
boards. Find it at
greenjobspider.com.
Ice cream brand
Haagen-Dazs is
promoting honeybees
with a national
campaign to overturn
urban bans on beekeeping.
For more information, go to
helpthehoneybees.com.
Seventh graders from Diane
Lowry’s music class at Henry School
Going Green events
Just in time for Earth Day,
spring planting and all things green,
Going Green — the environmental
digital edition of The Commercial
Appeal — and Memphis Botanic
Garden are partnering to bring
Felder Rushing to Memphis on April
21.
Rushing will talk about using
green practices in the garden at 7
p.m. at the botanic garden. The
informal session, aimed at novice
and veteran gardeners, is titled: “It
ain’t easy going green, ’cept in the
garden.”
Admission is $3 for MBG
members, $5 for nonmembers.
Proceeds will go to the care and
preservation of the more than 150
species of trees that make up
Sunday, March 28, 2010 | GOING GREEN 3
in Paris, Tenn.,
have been
performing their
song, “Trash on
the Ground,” a
variation on the
strange Internet
rap sensation
“Pants on the
Ground.”
Goodwill and
Levi’s recently
launched an initiative
to divert billions of
pounds of unwanted
clothing from landfills.
Levi’s jeans now feature a “Care Tag
for Our Planet” that encourages
owners to donate old jeans to
Goodwill when no longer needed.
Memphis Botanic Garden’s Certified
Level IV Arboretum.
For information, call 529-2372.
For reservations, call 636-4111.
Learn more about living green
with a new morning series of
informational gatherings at Memphis
Botanic Garden. The free Thursday
sessions are presented by Memphis
Botanic Garden and CA Media,
publishers of The Commercial
Appeal, commercialappeal.com and
goinggreen.commercialappeal.com.
The Going Green Coffee Scene
informal get-togethers will be held
from 8:45-9:45 a.m. on April 22,
April 29, May 6 and May 13.
To submit items for
The Green Page, e-mail
goinggreen@commercialappeal.com.
4 GOING GREEN | Sunday, March 28, 2010 commercialappeal.com

Stan Carroll/The Commercial Appeal files

Janet Boscarino, founder of Clean Memphis.

Cleaning and greening

By Suzanne Thompson Clean who is one of the organization’s
Special to Going Green
Memphis four board members. As far as
the staff, Boscarino is it. She
From tree planting events brings handles everything at Clean
to coordinating community volunteers Memphis, which she calls a
cleanup projects, Janet together community organizing, grass-
Boscarino, director of Clean roots facilitator.
Memphis, is ready to get the “The main goal is to engage
ball rolling. citizens, businesses, churches and
Boscarino co-founded Clean schools to take a larger role in
Memphis, a nonprofit organization, in cleaning and greening their
August 2008, along with Mark Lovell, environments,” she said.
The Commercial Appeal Sunday, March 28, 2010 | GOING GREEN 5

“You may not be able to reduce crime or bring jobs to the

city, but whether you are 5 or 65, you can help clean up
in your neighborhood.”
JANET BOSCARINO
founder of Clean Memphis

To accomplish this, not only from a litter Cargill, Coca-Cola

Clean Memphis divided standpoint, but because Bottling Co.,
the city into 31 zones, it’s an issue ClearChannel Outdoor,
with additional zones environmentally.” ParkIt Here and PepsiCo
outside the city limits. Clean Memphis, along are among the corporate
“The idea was to create with its corporate and partners.
this cohesive group of community partners, Larry Krebs, manager
businesses, churches, holds environmental fairs of corporate responsibility
schools and and cleanups periodically. and sustainability for
neighborhoods to do at Some of the community Coca-Cola, said it was a
least quarterly cleanup partners include Memphis Wolf River cleanup
events, work on recycling, City Beautiful, The Wolf project that first drew his
just anything and River Conservancy and interest in sponsoring
everything to improve the Storm Water Division Clean Memphis.
their communities,” of Memphis Light, Gas “Water being such an
Boscarino said. and Water Division. integral part of our
The “greening up,”
refers not only to
beautification projects
such as tree planting but
also to educating
community members
about storm water issues,
raising awareness about
recycling and helping
schools start recycling
programs.
“All the trash and
leaves and debris that go
into storm water drains
go into creeks and
streams, and end up in
the Wolf River,” Boscarino said Clean Memphis organizes a
Boscarino said. “That’s community cleanup somewhere in the Memphis
an issue in and of itself, area on most Saturdays.
6 GOING GREEN | Sunday, March 28, 2010
Memphis
Grizzlies star
O.J. Mayo
hoists a bag
of leaves onto
a truck during
a Downtown
cleanup
sponsored by
Clean
Memphis and
the Grizzlies
Academy last
November.
Brad Luttrell/
The Commercial
Appeal files
product, that’s a huge focus of ours, just as
a company in general. Water conservancy
and anything related to that is something
that we are very interested in,” he said.
In the six months since Coca-Cola
started partnering with Clean Memphis,
it has sponsored five or six events,
Krebs said, which equates to about 400
volunteer hours of work.
Clean Memphis works with students,
to try to get them involved in cleanup
projects organized around their schools
and to promote good stewardship.
The group has worked with about 15
Memphis City Schools, including
Central and Frayser high schools and
Cypress Middle School.
To mark this year’s Earth Day
observance, environmental fairs will be
held at two middle schools — at Airways
Middle on April 21 and at Cypress
Middle on April 22.
Clean Memphis also helps coordinate
volunteer cleanups with students from
private schools.
commercialappeal.com
“We keep up with volunteer service
hours, so a lot of kids who are involved
in clubs need those,” Boscarino said.
Clean Memphis works with college
students, too. One of the zones, known
as the LOC Collaborative, is in the
LeMoyne-Owen College area and its
members meet monthly to discuss
concerns including litter, code issues
and crime. Clean Memphis helps them
organize ongoing cleanup events.
Boscarino said it’s important to Clean
Memphis that the groups remain organic
— made up of people who live or work
in the communities in which the groups
operate.
“It means more to them and will be
more sustainable that way,” she said.
“We help neighborhoods come together,
but we don’t want to run the show for
them. We want to help them, guide
them, get them organized, expand their
volunteer base, educate them, but at the
end of the day, we want them to be able
to do what needs to be done.”
The Commercial Appeal Sunday, March 28, 2010 | GOING GREEN 7

Clean Memphis
provides supplies for
the cleanup events.
Pick Up America aims
Volunteers only have to
bring good attitude and
willingness to work.
to inspire, change habits
Boscarino said the
events usually are lots By Molly Klinefelter Klein, Pick Up America’s
of fun, because McClatchy-Tribune community outreach
corporate sponsors coordinator.
provide food and Since the green “We live in a culture of
refreshments, movement exploded onto convenience where
sometimes even music. the scene, people have things are purchased and
“We really try to increasingly started to do quickly thrown away and
make it fun,” she said. little eco-friendly things resources are going fast.
Upcoming events every day. But one group As young people, we see
include the Getwell is breaking the mold and that a major change has
Corridor Cleanup dedicating a year and a to be made soon.”
hosted by SRVS on half of their lives to being Pick Up America’s
April 10 and the Rhodes all green, all the time. founders, a group of
College-Hollywood Last week, this group recent college grads who
Chelsea Partnership began trekking across dubbed themselves the
Cleanup on April 17. America on foot, picking “Pick Up Artists,” started
There is a cleanup up trash along the way. their walk in Assateague
scheduled for most Pick Up America is “a Island, Md., and are
Saturdays, Boscarino local, regional and making their way across
said. For a list of the nationwide initiative 13 states. They expect to
events, visit the committed to reducing complete the walk in
organization’s Web site, plastic waste in our August 2011 in San
cleanmemphis.org. communities and Francisco.
People of all ages in waterways,” according to Although the founding
all parts of town can the group’s Web site. team is small, supporters
find something to do The goal of the effort is are encouraged to join the
with Clean Memphis. to make a lasting impact walk at any point in the
“You may not be able on America, as well as to journey. In addition to just
to reduce crime or bring encourage alternatives to walking and picking up
jobs to the city, but the throwaway mentality. trash, supporters can help
whether you are 5 or 65, “The mission of Pick by coordinating
you can help clean up in Up America is to inspire volunteers and events,
your neighborhood, and Americans to reduce documenting the journey
it gives everyone a their consumption and and providing the team
venue to do something waste habits so trash with a place to stay.
good for the city,” doesn’t accumulate in the For information, go to
Boscarino said. first place,” said Kelly pickupamerica.wordpress.com.
8 GOING GREEN | Sunday, March 28, 2010 commercialappeal.com

BYOB, please
Forget ‘paper or plastic?’ Bring your own bag
The “paper or plastic”
question once commonly
heard at checkout stands
around the world is rapidly
being replaced with “Did
you BYOB (Bring Your
Own Bag)?”
As with many other
trends in the U.S., San
Francisco started the bag-
ban movement. Its ban on
plastic shopping bags,
which went into effect in
April 2007, has translated
into 5 million fewer plastic
bags being used every
month.
Bangladesh outlawed the
petroleum-based products
in 2002, with cities and
countries from China to
Zanzibar soon following
suit.
Our nation’s capital set an
example for the rest of the
country in January when
local officials began levying
a 5-cent surcharge on plastic
and paper bags at stores that
sell food or alcohol.
Last June — despite
intense push-back from
plastic-bag manufacturers
— the United Nations
jumped into the fray and
The Commercial Appeal Sunday, March 28, 2010 | GOING GREEN 9

called for a global ban on

single-use plastic bags,
the second most common
form of litter after
In San Jose, bag ban
cigarette butts.
The movement is seen
as a way to protect the
targets paper, plastic
environment, curb global
warming and reform a
Grocery bag law is nation’s toughest
disposable-minded
society. The ubiquitous By Tracy Seipel The ban, which must
bags are blamed for San Jose Mercury News still go through an
choking birds and fish, environmental impact
floating into trees, The trailblazer behind study that will require the
rooftops and streets, and the country’s toughest council’s final signoff next
sticking around years ban on grocery bags is a year, won’t go into effect
longer than paper. soft-spoken former until 2011, allowing time
About 100,000 restaurateur who’s made for additional outreach to
whales, seals, turtles and few waves during his businesses and
other marine animals are time on the city council consumers. It would bar
killed by plastic bags of San Jose, Calif. retailers from giving
each year worldwide, What began with an customers single-use
according to Planet Ark, epiphany when a grocer plastic bags and would
an international in Taiwan charged allow paper bags made
environmental group. Kansen Chu for a plastic with 40 percent recycled
The Chinese call them bag has turned into an materials, but only for a
“white pollution” and unlikely crusade that fee. Restaurants and
they’re known derisively resulted in a council vote nonprofit organizations
in South Africa as the to ban not only plastic could continue to use
“national flower.” but also most paper bags. paper or plastic bags.
As a result of all this Councilman Chu, 57, Chu’s interest in the
hue and cry, the BYOB wasn’t looking to become environment isn’t a
(Bring Your Own Bag) the local hero in an passing fancy. In June, the
movement is growing by environmental battle that council agreed to adopt
leaps and bounds. RUBs, has stymied greener cities his proposal to establish
or reusable bags made such as Seattle, whose green building standards
from cloth or recycled voters overturned a fee on on all new buildings.
materials, have turned plastic and paper bags. “We all have a
into a major industry. But, as John responsibility to make
Many stores now take 5 Stufflebean, director of our planet a better place
cents off customers’ bills San Jose’s Environmental for our children and
for each RUB they pack. Services Department, grandchildren,” he said.
Excerpted from said, “He was the spark Chu said the idea of a
couponsherpa.com that got things started.” ban on plastic shopping
10 GOING GREEN | Sunday, March 28, 2010 commercialappeal.com

“We all have a responsibility to make our planet a better

place for our children and grandchildren.”
KANSEN CHU
San Jose, Calif., city councilman who spearheaded the city’s ban on grocery bags

bags took shape soon after he was elected to the council in June
2007. While visiting his sister-in-law in Taipei, Chu went
grocery shopping and was surprised to get charged for
plastic grocery bags. The next day, he brought his own
cloth bags back to the store.
“I guess the question,” said Chu, “was, ‘Why
not San Jose?’ ” He began a conversation with
the city’s environmental services staff, which
later moved to council committee
discussions.
“My first impression was
that he was tilting at
windmills,” said Councilman
Sam Liccardo, who later
joined Chu as a
supporter in the effort.
“But as I thought about
the issue more and
more, I realized Kansen
was on to something,
particularly after we had an
opportunity to hear from people in the
garbage and recycling industry who confirmed
that these bags are creating enormous cost burdens on ratepayers, in
addition to all the environmental problems.”

Chu said his idea met with some
initial resistance from the Santa
Clara County Recycling and Waste
Reduction Commission, which
serves as the principal advisory body
to city and town councils and the
county Board of Supervisors on
waste planning issues.
“We knew that the plastic bag
industry was suing Oakland, and
cities were very concerned about the
legal issues,” he said. “That’s when
we started pushing for banning
paper as well as plastic, because
paper bags aren’t environmentally
friendly either.”
The Commercial Appeal
Cigarette butts pose
an environmental risk
By Sandy Bauers
The Philadelphia Inquirer
New research suggests
cigarette butts aren’t just
nasty; they could qualify
as toxic hazardous waste.
The research is part of
the Cigarette Butt
Pollution Project funded
by the California Tobacco
Related Disease Research
Program of the University
of California.
Here’s a summary of
findings, which were
presented at the annual
meeting of the American
Public Health Association
last fall in Philadelphia.
When cigarette butts
are allowed to soak in
both fresh and salt water
(at a concentration of one
butt per liter), half of the
fish exposed to the
contaminated water die,
according to Richard
Gersberg, professor of
Public Health at San
Diego State University.
Further research is
planned to identify the
organic and inorganic
chemicals in cigarette
Sunday, March 28, 2010 | GOING GREEN
butts that are lethal to
fish and may be identified
in natural environments.
The tobacco industry
fears an alliance among
environmental and
tobacco control groups
that would demand that
the industry take
responsibility for
discarded cigarette butts,
according to Elizabeth
Smith, associate adjunct
professor at University of
California, San Francisco.
To avoid responsibility,
tobacco companies have
developed numerous anti-
litter efforts, according to
industry documents Smith
studied. The companies’
research found that
smokers litter cigarette
11
butts for complex reasons,
including disgust at the
butts and guilt about their
addiction, and industry
programs have had little
success at changing
smokers’ littering
behavior.
Richard Barnes of the
UCSF Center for Tobacco
Control Research and
Education described
regulatory policies that
may help reduce cigarette
butt waste. These include
levying litter fees on
tobacco products,
strengthening the
enforcement of existing
penalties for illegal
disposal of cigarette butts
and possibly bringing
lawsuits against the
industry to recover costs to
communities of cigarette
butt blight and cleanups.
An economic study
based on a litter audit in
San Francisco found the
annual cost to dispose of
cigarette butts was more
than $6 million. Dr. John
Schneider of Oxford
Outcomes said this
justified the imposition by
the City Council of a litter
fee of 20 cents per pack of
cigarettes sold in San
Francisco.
For more information,
go to cigwaste.org.
Sandy Bauers blogs at
go.philly.com/greenspace.
12 GOING GREEN | Sunday, March 28, 2010 commercialappeal.com

Lee Reich, author of “Weedless Gardening,” says vegetables are easy to

grow and can save you money — but it helps if your garden is pretty.

Baby steps
10 tips By Lee Reich
The Associated Press
for a
successful How about going to a place where you can relax, enjoy
some sun and get a little exercise and gourmet food? A
first place even your kids could find interesting? This “spa”
need not cost much; in fact, it will save you money.
vegetable It’s a home vegetable garden, and don’t be intimidated if
garden you’ve never planted one before. Vegetables are easy to
grow, especially if you follow these 10 steps for first-timers:
The Commercial Appeal
1. Choose a location in full sun, which
means six or more hours per day of direct
sun in summer. Producing succulent
vegetables takes the sun’s energy —
especially for fruiting vegetables such as
cucumbers and tomatoes. If you don’t
have this much sunlight, either get out your
pruning saw or grow only leafy vegetables.
2. Your site needs soil that is well-
drained. Roots have to breathe, which
they cannot do if water sits in or on the
soil for too long after rains. If grass or
most weeds grow well, the soil is probably
well drained. To be more quantitative, dig
a hole, fill it with water and measure with
a ruler how fast the level drops. Slower
than 1 inch per hour is too slow. Choose
another site or build raised beds.
3. Grow your garden as close as
possible to your door — no farther than
your wife can throw the kitchen sink, goes
the old adage, said when kitchen sinks
were cast iron. The closer to your door,
preferably your kitchen door, the more
frequently you’ll enjoy and work in the
garden.
4. Start small. Too much garden may
begin to feel like work. You can raise
plenty of vegetables in even a 10-by-10-
foot plot of land. Increase the size of your
garden commensurate with your
enthusiasm and experience.
5. Fence your garden. A fence,
besides keeping out rabbits and other
hungry animals, helps define your garden
visually. Poultry netting is inexpensive
and effective. To keep animals from
burrowing under your fence, bend the
bottom foot of fencing to the outside of
the garden to lie right on top of the
Sunday, March 28, 2010 | GOING GREEN 13
ground. Unless deer are a threat — in
which case you need a fence at least 5
feet high — a 2- or 3-foot-high fence
should be adequate.
6. Make your garden pretty. Wooden
pickets can obscure and dress up a
poultry netting fence. An arbor, with
climbing beans or grapes, can dress up
your garden gate. Soften the fence line
with an outside border planting of shrubs,
perhaps something decorative and edible
such as red currants or blueberries.
Beauty will also draw you into your garden.
7. Planning your garden in four
dimensions is a way to harvest more
from limited space. Rather than single,
widely spaced rows, plant in wide (3-4 feet)
beds (a second dimension). Rather than
keeping everything at ground level, let your
vegetables — those that can — grow up (a
third dimension). Pole beans and tomatoes
can be trained up bamboo or metal poles,
and peas and cucumbers can be trained up
fences — even that fence that encloses
your garden. For the fourth dimension —
time — use transplants for tomatoes,
peppers, eggplants and cucumbers, and
plant shorter-season vegetables to follow
those that finish early or start late, such as
lettuce following early bush beans.
8. Pay attention to fertilizing and
watering. Spread a balanced organic
fertilizer over the ground in late winter at
the rate suggested on the container. Or, if
existing vegetation is growing well, use
soybean meal at 2 pounds per 100 square
feet. Or apply an inch depth of compost. Set
out a straight-sided can to measure water,
and turn on the sprinkler once a week so
the combination of rain and sprinkling
equal an inch depth of water in that can.
14 GOING GREEN | Sunday, March 28, 2010
9. Weed regularly and
frequently. Weeds are
much easier to kill — and
haven’t had time to spread
many seeds — when they
are small.
10. Grow vegetables
that you like to eat, and
choose the best-tasting
varieties.
So get a tiller or shovel,
and dig up your new
garden area, or use the
newer method of
smothering existing
vegetation beneath a few
layers of newspaper
topped with compost or
other mulch, then plant
immediately.
For future successes,
thoroughly clean up old
plants when they’re
finished or at the end of the
season, and move plants
around the garden so they
don’t grow in the same spot
for a couple of years.
Finally, read about
gardening. I suggest
“Vegetable Gardening:
From Planting to Picking
— The Complete Guide to
Creating a Bountiful
Garden,” by Fern Marshall
Bradley and Jane Courtier
(Readers Digest, 2006);
“The Vegetable Gardener’s
Bible,” by Edward C. Smith
(Storey, 2000); and my
own “Weedless Gardening”
(Workman, 2001).
commercialappeal.com
Gardening books help
you grow a little greener
By Deb Wandell
San Francisco Chronicle
With the arrival of
spring, thoughts turn to
the garden. Here are
four new books that will
help you grow a little
greener:
“The New Low-
Maintenance Garden”
by Valerie Easton
(Timber Press; $19.95). readers that low
We’re gardening in a maintenance doesn’t
new millennium, with mean boring or
challenges such as something created by
limited space, dwindling “people who tend to
natural resources and park trucks on their
less free time, yet most lawn.” It’s all about
of us do it the way our thoughtful design and
grandparents did, says editing, smart plant
Easton. choices that include
A garden columnist both ornamentals and
for The Seattle Times, edibles, and working
she weeded and watered with nature’s rhythms.
her own intensely Jacqueline M. Koch’s
planted quarter-acre for photos accompany
years, before realizing Easton’s profiles of
that all the work left her innovative gardens and
little time for their creators.
enjoyment. Easton’s “One Magic Square:
solution: Go the low- The Easy Organic Way
maintenance route with to Grow Your Own Food
a minimum of lawn and on a 3-Foot Square” by
plants that need pruning Lolo Houbein (The
and dividing, spraying Experiment; $18.95).
or staking. She assures Despite the lack of
The Commercial Appeal Sunday, March 28, 2010 | GOING GREEN 15

diversity in the world’s food soil rehab to tackling pest

crops, there is one place we control (including the “bigger
can encourage biodiversity on crunchier pests”) to
a small scale: the yard. landscaping with edibles.
Houbein takes that literally. Plant recommendations are
Starting with a 3-by-3-foot followed by Spiegelman’s
plot, she says, allows those of Universal Botanical Whaaa-
us who are new to food Whaa Rating, which rates
gardening to decide how far plants on their botanical merit
we want to go. A 1-yard plot and level of whining, from
requires minimal effort while most low-maintenance and
still being productive and fun best-performing (1) to the
to tend. Houbein starts from neediest (10). Bonus: a 20-
the ground up, with minute iPod set for weeding.
information on how to prepare “Succulent Container
soil, compost, mulch, start Gardens: Design Eye-Catching
and save seeds, and rotate Displays with 350 Easy-Care
crops. Plants” by Debra Lee Baldwin
“Talking Dirt: The Dirt (Timber Press; $29.95).
Diva’s Down-to-Earth Guide Sculptural, easy to care for and
to Organic Gardening” by forgiving, succulents are the
Annie Spiegelman (Penguin; darlings of drought-tolerant
$15). A California master landscaping. In this richly
gardener and columnist for the photographed book, Baldwin
Pacific Sun in Marin County, shows how to use these plants
Spiegelman gets down to to maximum effect indoors
organic-gardening basics in a and out by combining shapes,
fun, breezy style that appeals textures and colors. The
to beginners and seasoned chapter on pairing succulents
gardeners. She covers with containers will show you
everything from how to how to elevate a plant to a work
decode snooty plant names to of art.

Just one thing

Do you have a whole collection of unwanted CDs or DVDs gathering dust
around the house? Recycle a big collection into a functional dumbbell. Buy a 12-
inch threaded rod from the hardware store and four nuts that will fit snugly on the
rod. Attach two nuts on each end of the rod and twist until they are about 3 inches
in. Thread 25 CDs on each side of the rod and then secure with another nut. Use
the 5-pound dumbbell when doing crunches — it’s soft enough to rest on your
stomach during a sit-up to add just enough resistance to your workout routine.
16 GOING GREEN | Sunday, March 28, 2010 commercialappeal.com

Foodies and farmers win with CSA

By Jennifer Biggs
biggs@commercialappeal.com
A CSA — community supported
agriculture — is a thoughtful way to
support your local farmers and ensure
that you and your family get the best
your farmer has to offer through the
season.
The way it works is you buy a season’s
worth of produce early in the year. This
gives the farmer money to get crops in
the ground, hire help or whatever else is
needed to get your food off to a good
start, without having to borrow from the
bank and pay interest on a loan. It keeps
costs down.
There are several farms in the area
that offer a CSA. Prices vary a bit, as
does the produce.

LOCAL CSA FARMS

DELTA SOL FARM,
PROCTOR, ARK.
Cost: $550 for 23 weeks; shares
of $200, $250 and $300
available to use at booths with 10
percent discount at redemption.
Pick up: Bagged shares at a
private residence in West
Memphis, Ark. (members will be
given the address); per-item
shares at the Memphis Farmers
Market, Central Station at S.
Front and G.E. Patterson, and
Memphis Botanic Garden
Farmers Market, 750 Cherry
Road, on Wednesday afternoon.
Contact: Brandon Pugh, 288-
8478, deltasolfarm.com.
DOWNING HOLLOW
FARM, OLIVE HILL,
TENN.
Cost: Whole shares, $540 for 18
weeks (spring and summer);
$270 for fall (nine weeks) or
$810 for both seasons.
Pick up: Saturday mornings at
the Cooper Young Community
Farmers Market (opening May 1)
in the parking lot of First
Congregational Church, 1000 S.
Cooper; Wednesday afternoons
at the Memphis Botanic Garden
Farmers Market.
Contact: Lori Greene, (731) 925-
6083, downinghollowfarm.com.
MAMMAW MELTON’S
HEIRLOOM GARDENS,
WHITEVILLE, TENN.
Cost: Full share, $30 per week;
half, $20; quarter, $12. Pay for
26 weeks in advance and get
one week free, or pay monthly
with a $40 deposit.
Pick up: Tuesdays at the
Collierville Farmers Market, 167
Washington, or Thursdays at the
Jackson (Tenn.) Farmers Market.
Contact: Susan Melton-Piper,
378-8214, mammawmeltons
heirloomgardens.com.
WINDERMERE FARMS
AND APIARY,
MEMPHIS
Cost: $250, $250 and $300 per-
item shares available; 10 percent
discount given to CSA members
at redemption at markets or on
you-pick at the farm.
Pick up: Saturday mornings at
the planned Germantown
Farmers Market and Wednesday
afternoons at the Memphis
Botanic Garden Farmers Market.
Pick at the farm at 3060
Woodhills Dr.
Contact: Ken and Freida Lansing,
386-2035, winfarms.com.
WHITTON FARMS,
WHITTON, ARK.
Cost: Full share, $780 for 27
weeks or $520 for a half share
(you pay for 26 and one week is
free).
Pick up: Any day by pre-
arranged schedule at the Trolley
Stop Market, soon to open at
704 Madison, or at the Memphis
Farmers Market on Saturday
mornings or at the Memphis
Botanic Garden Farmers Market
on Wednesday afternoons.
Contact: Keith or Jill Forrester,
(870) 815-9519,
whittonfarms.com.
The Commercial Appeal Sunday, March 28, 2010 | GOING GREEN 17

Home-grown baskets enhance the Easter table

Story and photo by This Easter
Emily Adams Keplinger basket
keplinger@commercialappeal.com features
Wheat
“Cute and clever” were my first Berry grass
thoughts when I saw the home-grown and
Easter baskets of East Memphian Cindy flowers
Powell. But then “GREEN” was what placed in
stayed on my mind as I realized the water
economical and environmentally friendly picks.
aspects of these seasonal projects.
For less than $5 per basket, you, too,
can have these “green Easter baskets” GREEN EASTER BASKETS
decorating your holiday table. That is, if Materials Cost
you are into recycling items that you are basket $0
likely to have around your home. from your own collection
The night before you want to assemble
your basket, soak the Wheat Berry grass plastic basket liner $0.79
seeds overnight in warm (not hot) water. from Home Depot
Then start with a basket, any size or styrofoam packing “peanuts” $0
shape will do, and fill it halfway full with from your own stash
Styrofoam packing peanuts. Wheat Berry Grass seeds $0.50
Next top the peanuts with a layer of
potting soil. Tamp it down by hand and from Whole Foods (in the bulk
sprinkle a layer of prepped Wheat Berry items section)
grass seeds over the top of the soil. No plant mister $1
need to work them into the soil, just make from The Dollar Store
an even layer on top. Lay a wet paper water picks $1.27
towel over the surface of the seeds and 12-pack from Hobby Lobby
wait. That’s it. Wait, but only for about a
week and a half, keeping the paper towel fresh cut flowers $0
moist and in place. Once the grass seeds or per 10-stem bundle $1.66
begin to sprout, remove the paper towel at Whole Foods
and move the basket to a sunny site, like a
window with a southern exposure. If you recycle items that you have on
Once your basket has greened up, you hand, like a basket, packing peanuts,
can decorate it with fresh flowers by potting soil and cut flowers from your
cutting single stems and placing them in own yard, you can make this project for
water picks. Use the picks to anchor your about $5. Your final cost will be
blossoms, then add Easter candies of your determined by the items (candies) you
choice. choose to place in your Easter basket.
18 GOING GREEN | Sunday, March 28, 2010
Sara Lee’s claims on Eco-Grain
wheat products raise ire of critics
By Barry Shlachter
McClatchy Newspapers
Sara Lee’s EarthGrains
brand has launched an
“environmentally
friendly” line of bread
with a marketing blitz
that describes itself as a
“plot to save the earth,
one field at a time.”
But not everyone
buys Sara Lee’s
green credentials.
It’s triggered a
furor by critics who
cite a claim by Sara
Lee on its Web site —
since deleted — that
some wheat in its
new EarthGrains
Eco-Grain bread is
more sustainably grown
than organic wheat. It also
alleged that organic
farming “destroyed
undeveloped land.”
While the nation’s
second-biggest baker is
busy clarifying its
position, an organic
watchdog group named
the Cornucopia Institute
blasted Sara Lee for
“advertising malpractice”
and “greenwashing” —
commercialappeal.com
using questionable management that were
environmental claims to “quickly corrected,” Harris
promote products. said.
Climate Counts, another Sara Lee has launched a
watchdog group that fights TV, radio, print and
global warming, says Sara Internet ad campaign,
Lee ties for last among 11 harnessing Facebook and
major food manufacturers Twitter, to promote a
rated on green practices. “movement” where
That’s despite some shoppers help the planet
with every purchase
of a loaf made with
“Eco-Grain” wheat,
its promotional
materials say.
Sara Lee also
acknowledges that
the packaging for its
“environmentally
friendly” bread
cannot be recycled by
most curbside pickup
improvements after paying
programs. The company
a record $5.25 million
calls it an industrywide
settlement in 2003 because
dilemma despite efforts to
57 of its 67 EarthGrains
find a green alternative to
plants leaked ozone-
plastic bags, which must
depleting chemicals.
be taken to special
Jon Harris, a Sara Lee
receptacles. Even then,
spokesman, said his
less than 5 percent are
company has vastly
estimated to be recycled.
changed since 2003, with
Eco-Grain is a Sara Lee-
numerous green initiatives
trademarked name it gave
around the world. Sara Lee
to wheat grown in Idaho
acquired EarthGrains in
using precision
2001, inheriting problems
agriculture. This approach
from its previous
The Commercial Appeal
includes satellite imagery and
computer-guided application
of fertilizer, herbicide and
pesticide, aiming to avoid
potentially harmful over-
spraying while boosting
yields. It’s a hard white spring
wheat sold by Horizon
Milling, a Cargill affiliate, that
can lighten and provide
texture to typical whole wheat
flours.
Idaho farmer Matt
Mickelson says his fertilizer
use has dropped 15 percent
through precision growing,
Sara Lee reported.
But Cargill said Mickelson
and the four other Eco-Grain
producers do not use no-till
planting, the one precision
technique that some soil
experts say is superior to
organic farming in terms of
preventing soil erosion and
runoff.
“The cynic in me says this
is just a marketing gimmick,
because about 20 percent of
all (commodity) crops are
now precision-farm grown,”
said Steve Ford, a precision
grower in Alabama who also
teaches economics at the
University of the South-
Sewanee. Several crop system
experts say Ford’s estimate is
reasonable.
“It’s our first small step,
and we know that more can
be done, which is why we’re
looking to expand the
program,” said Sara Matheu,
a Sara Lee spokeswoman.
Sunday, March 28, 2010 | GOING GREEN 19
‘Dummies’ book offers
primer on green jobs
By Siel Ju
Mother Nature Network
What exactly does it mean to have a green
career? That’s one of the first questions tackled
in “Green Careers for Dummies,” a book for
would-be participants in the new green
economy.
Instead of simply jumping into how much
money you could make in this growing job
market, “Green Careers for Dummies” begins by
explaining the nebulous definition of green jobs
and careers — since, after all, almost any career
can be made greener than it is now.
Written by Carol McClelland, “Green Careers
for Dummies” encourages readers to take a more
whole-person approach to the job search. In
contrast to “The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Green
Careers” — which mostly focuses on providing a
big list of jobs, their descriptions and expected
salaries — “Green Careers for Dummies” is low
on salary figures but heavy on eco-minded
reflection, encouraging readers to reason out why
they want a green career and what exactly they’re
seeking in a job.
Its sections are organized by motivating desires,
like “managing natural resources” or “rebuilding
the infrastructure” or “shaping the green
economy.” Each section includes a general
description, an overview of the industry’s current
status, anticipated future trends and sample jobs
— as well as lists of relevant industry associations
and Web links for further exploration.
“Green Careers for Dummies” is available in
bookstores for $19.99.
Visit the Mother Nature Network at mnn.com.
20 GOING GREEN | Sunday, March 28, 2010 commercialappeal.com

EARTH TALK

Trading oil for coal isn’t the answer

Dear Earth Talk: Won’t electric cars and plug-in
hybrids increase our reliance on coal as a power
source — and is that really any better than petroleum?
It’s true that the advent
of electric cars is not
necessarily a boon for the
environment if it means
simply trading our
reliance on one fossil fuel
— oil, from which
gasoline is distilled — for
an even dirtier one: coal,
which is burned to create
electricity.
The mining of coal is an
ugly and environmentally
destructive process. And,
according to the U.S.
Environmental Protection
Agency, burning the
substance in power plants
sends some 48 tons of
mercury — a known
neurotoxin — into
Americans’ air and water
every year. Furthermore,
coal burning contributes
some 40 percent of total
U.S. carbon dioxide
emissions. The National
Academy of Sciences
estimates that coal mining
and burning cause a
whopping $62 billion
worth of environmental
damage every year in the
U.S. alone, not to mention
its profound impact on
our health.
Upwards of half of all
the electricity in the U.S.
is derived from coal, while
the figure is estimated to
be around 70 percent in
China. Several countries
in Europe are also
stockpiling coal and
building more power
plants to burn it in the
face of an ever-increasing
thirst for cheap and
abundant electricity.
On top of this trend,
dozens of electric and
plug-in hybrid cars are in
the works from the world’s
carmakers. Unless we
start to source significant
amounts of electricity
from renewables such as
solar and wind, coal-fired
plants will not only
continue but may actually
increase their discharges
of mercury, carbon
dioxide and other toxins.
Some analysts expect
that existing electricity
capacity in the U.S. may
be enough to power
America’s electric cars in
the near future, but don’t
rule out the possibility of
new coal plants (or new
nuclear power plants)
coming on line to fill the
gap if we don’t make haste
in developing alternate
sources for generating
electrical energy.
And while proponents
of energy efficiency
believe we can go a long
way by making our electric
grids “smarter” through
the use of monitoring
technologies that can dole
out power when it is most
plentiful and cheap, others
doubt that existing
capacity will be able to
handle the load placed on
even an intelligent “smart
grid” distribution
network.
Environmentalists and
many policymakers
maintain that the only
viable, long-term solution
is to spur on the
development of renewable
energy sources.
Send questions to Earth
Talk at P.O. Box 5098,
Westport, CT 06881 or e-mail
earthtalk@emagazine.com.