Where-oh-where is "Away" and why do we throw things there?

Here at Sustainability in Review, we think a lot about our "stuff".

Where do it come from? Do we know where every part comes from? When we are done with it, where does it go?



Ever since we are little kids, we are taught a common phrase: "throw it away." Are you done with eating your snack and still have the wrapper? Throw it away. Did your toy break and we cannot fix it? Throw it away.

Something we have to change is this concept that there is this easy place called "away" where we can get rid of things. Our garbage dumps are heaping mountains of stuff that got thrown away. Our oceans are teeming with waste the size of countries. We even have trash floating around in  space. Space! Trash in the final frontier!

Our world grows more interconnected everyday - both in the physical (more people, more stuff, more waste) and the non-physical (the global economy, the internet, social media). We must start acknowledging that our small seemingly meaningless actions can and do affect the large, complex system.

We think the best way to change from the perception that it is easy to "throw it away" to there is no "away" and we have to be conscious and intentional with how we treat the end of life of our stuff is education about the other options. Before you throw it away think about a couple things:



1. Is there another option?
Can it be recycled? Can it be composted? Best yet, can someone else use it? Even if the whole item cannot be recycle, composted, or reused, can part of it be composted, recycled or reused? What are your other options? Change your perception of what is possible. 
2. Can my trash become someone else's treasure?
Reuse is the best option. Keep it circular. Keep stuff useful. With vast networks of makers, artisans, and upcyclers growing because of the new interconnectedness of the field, can you share some or part of your stuff with people who can repurpose it into something truly different and useful again?



3. Do I need another one?
After you have rid yourself of old stuff, how quickly do you need to replace it? That $5 t-shirt that ripped almost immediately that you just got rid of - do you need another $5 low quality t-shirt that you know you will be throwing away again soon? If you do need another t-shirt, can you find one of higher quality that you will be able to keep longer?

Appreciating How Things Are Made

I have just spent the past two weeks in China watching how things are made on a scale that is almost incomprehensible.

Making things has been an intimate part of human existence, making shelter, tools - and now things you could never imagine.  Who knew we needed a Hello Kitty shaped laser pointer for kitties?  But we did and we make it.

Interestingly in the USA there is an attention being put on the Makers Movement, which draws attention to the craft of how things are made.  When we understand all the details of how to make something, we appreciate it at such a different level than we would if we just bought the finished product.

cut fabric ready to be assembled

More often than not in the USA and Canada, we buy a lot of finished products.  The time to make something from scratch is almost impossible if we look at everything we use in our homes.

Let’s take the shirt you are wearing right now.  If you were going to make your own shirt at your dining room table right now - what would you need?

There are a lot of pieces to a shirt. We need fabric, thread, buttons, and labels, maybe your shirt has a print on it, and maybe it has elastic.  And we need to think where did the material for all of those things come from too?  The plastic in your buttons, the yarn for that fabric - how did it get to be
the color it is?

So why spend time talking about all the details it takes to make something? 

When I watch that shirt in a factory getting made, from receiving the fabric, counting out each button, cutting the fabric, setting it up in the sewing machine, sewing it, adding a pocket, washing it, pressing and then packaging it.

I can’t look at the clothes in my closet the same again.  I saw each part of my shirt, the details and intricacies of each piece and the time it took to build them and the materials that they are made out of and all of a sudden the way I valued my shirt changed.

Seeing the amount of time and care it took, I should know all of this in order to pay the true value of the product.

And the detail of making something also needs to include what is happening on the social and environmental side.  Were those workers paid fairly? Were their working environments safe? Was the water that left the factory treated correctly? That is only to name a few. 

My take away when I am making a purchase - any purchase, from a fork to tissue paper – is ask the questions: “How was this made?”, “What is this made from?, “What could the social or environmental impact be for this product?”, and "how will I value this product?"

Most of the time I am not going to have the answer, but asking the question gets me thinking and talking.  Since everything we buy has an impact and we all have the ability to ask questions and when we learn the answers, we make better decisions.

This is important to making change.

Chemicals: Villains of the Natural World...or Not

Recently, something fascinating was brought to my attention by a speaker on biomimicry. Interested in what that means? Read on to learn more...

There is a common misconception. This misconception is that chemicals are man-made hazards that pollute and threaten an otherwise chemical-free natural world.

Chemical [kem-i-kuh l] (noun)
1. a substance produced by or used in a chemical process.
2. of or relating to, used in, or produced by chemistry

Chemistry? Remember chemistry class? The science class that tried to teach you about the structure and property of substances and the changes they go through. And the Periodic Table of the Elements! Everyone knows that. But most of those elements didn't seem so evil...Carbon, Oxygen...the building blocks of life are contained in that colorful table.

So maybe chemicals aren't pure evil. Certainly combinations of them can be harmful to the health of living things - but chemicals are the building blocks of everything - natural and not.

There is this perception that the word "chemical" is evil, yet nature offers some incredible natural chemical solutions to very real world problems. Seashells inspiring self-assembling in nanotechnology. Plants inspiring biodegradable plastics made from CO2. Peacocks and butterflies inspiring color with light instead of pigments.

If we are going to truly understand chemistry enough to make real change - we need to stop villainizing chemicals and look to understand them instead. Biologists are being invited to the design table. Taking inspiration from nature to design for a sustainable future.

"Learning about the natural world is one thing. Learning from the natural world, that's the switch. That's the profound switch." -Janine Beynus, Biomimicry
Learn more at biomimicry.net
http://biomimicry.net/inspiring/

The Super Coolest Thing Ever

Remember to step back and appreciate the grandeur of what you do.

Recently attending a conference by Textile Exchange in Portland, Oregon, I listened to an amazing Nike bigwig - Adam - talk about the merits of sustainability at Nike. But Adam also brought up a point that was too good to not share.

He told a story where he was on the plane. The guy next to him was reading an article in a magazine about Nike releasing garments made from recycled water bottles. Thrusting the magazine into Adam's face, his eager neighbor exclaimed, "Have you heard about this bro? Water bottles into clothing?? That is the super coolest thing ever!"

At this point, Nike had been working on textiles from recycled water bottles for several years. Adam had been integral in this process, dealing with the growing pains of whether 50% waste or 20% waste was enough of a hurdle - or if zero waste was the only acceptable option. Hours and years of struggles with this a topic inspired less than a "just do it" feeling in the pit of Adam's stomach.

A little put off by his seat-buddy's overzealous introduction and feeling unamused with the subject, Adam leaned forward to respond when words suddenly hit him a little deeper -

That is the super coolest thing ever.

He thought: We make clothing out of water bottles. Something that didn't exist not too long ago. We found a way to recycle something hard on the environment and creating waste in our world. We are making a difference.

"You know what?" Adam conceded happily, "you're right. That is the super coolest thing ever."

This simple anecdote reminded me of how often when we work so hard towards a goal, churning on the problems and obstacles standing in our way for too long, we lose sight of how amazing and important the work we are doing really is. When you are feeling frustrated by minimal progress, staunch opposition, or just being stuck - let's step back and give our journey a chance to speak for itself.

The work we do is important - it will take years, many people, and lots of energy to take the little steps that eventually carry us over the finish line. The work we do is not easy - but the struggle makes us stronger and teaches us lessons for a better future. And, who knows? The work we do, when shown to an outsider - say, an excited dude on a place - might just be the super coolest thing ever.

Find out more about Nike uniforms made from discarded water bottles: http://www.ecouterre.com/nike-outfits-world-cup-teams-in-jerseys-made-from-recycled-bottles/
http://www.ecouterre.com/watch-how-nike-recycles-plastic-water-bottles-into-football-jerseys-video/

By Design, Not by Default

For a long time, there has been a major assumption about Sustainability in business. Not always explicitly stated, but clearly communicated through actions taken by the majority of businesses: Sustainability should happen by default.

Whether through the power of intrinsically-motivated leadership or due to the nature of the industry, some companies just "get it". Outsiders assume these leading companies default to sustainable actions - seemingly at odds with stakeholder interests or other business goals. 

Other companies wait until their hands are forced, by bad press from negative consequences of unsustainable practices or other means. These companies ignore sustainable options until they are in the middle of controversy and must respond quickly, without preparation, and often under the scrutiny of the public eye. 

But as a whole, people are beginning to recognize that true sustainable business practice must happen by design and not be default. Those first companies succeed not because they stick to sustainability despite good business sense - it is because they have incorporated sustainability into the core of their business strategy. Sustainability is a lens through which we can view our business practices and make decisions not to the detriment of stakeholder value, but to enhance everything we do as value creators. 

The other kind of company may not have holistically implemented sustainability into its business strategy - but still is beginning to recognize the value of considering sustainability as a highly effective method of risk management, as a tool for capturing more customer value through marketing, as a longer term and truer financial valuation of the company not just in the snapshot of today but as it will exist ten years in the future. 

So, wherever you are of the spectrum of completely integrating Sustainability into your business strategy or just looking to explore how sustainability can enhance your business strategy, grab your drafting pencils and blueprint paper. As in building anything else, constructing Sustainability into your business strategy starts from the foundation. It is a material with which we use to build structure and strength into our businesses - not a coat of green paint we apply liberally to the outside whenever green is en vogue. Sustainability ensures we will succeed, sustain, and thrive well into the future. 

Hello 2015

Hello 2015!
As another year comes to a close, we may find ourselves looking back - but we also are looking ahead. While we have many exciting projects with current and future clients to look forward to, we also want to make a commitment to be more present. Both in our lives, but also here on our blog. So expect to see lots more of us. Please don't hesitate to write in if you have any ideas you'd like to see a blog about or even share as a guest blogger. In this new year, we can't wait to bring you new content, new perspectives, new stories - as we begin another adventure at Sustainability in Review.

An Industry comes together to help make the world a little better

We just got back from 4 days surrounded by some of the smartest minds in the field of Sustainability and the Textile Industry.
Nov 9 - 12 Textile Exchange held their annual conference in Portland OR.

I wanted to share some insights gleaned from the event for me.
In looking back even just 5 years ago the conversation was much more about convincing us that there is an environmental and social crisis in our world today and a dire need to start addressing these issues. Today that conversation is moving into mainstream media and conferences like this are focusing on solutions.
There was a lot of excitement to see ideas like Bio-based polyesters in the market and a desire to move away from food based sugars.  I was also inspired by the technologies around dying, water less, or reduced water use.
And there was a whole track of sessions on Chemistry.  One designer leaned over to me and said, "I had no idea when I went to fashion school I was going to need my Chemistry knowledge."

The industry is changing and in some ways too slow and in others quite quickly.  Overall the sentiment is a desire for figuring out solutions.

Inspiring few days!