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Food System
'I Want to Compost, but...'
Jun 3rd, 2014 | By Jen Wendeln
A recent study found that 67% of Americans would be willing to compost food waste if it was more convenient to do so. Since convenience means different things to different people, we thought we’d address a few common questions and issues that serve as barriers to composting at home. Hopefully some of these answers will help you find a solution that works for you.
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Food System
EcoScraps: Sowing Success from Wasted Food
Jun 1st, 2014 | By Gray Peckham
If you’ve been keeping up with Sustainable America, you know that we’re on a mission to divert food waste from landfills and repurpose it into sustainable, value-added products like compost. We’re happy to report that we’ve closed our first compost-related investment in an exciting young company that does just that: EcoScraps. The Utah-based business collects fruit and vegetable scraps from grocery stores and wholesale produce providers and turns it into nutrient-rich, organic garden products like compost, potting mix and natural fertilizer. The EcoScraps line is sold in some of the same stores that supply the scraps, creating a tidy, full-circle process.
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Food System
Can the EU Reduce Food Waste By Dumping “Best Before” Labels?
May 29th, 2014 | By Amy Leibrock
Confusion over food expiration date labels is leading to mountains of food being thrown out before it’s gone bad. A proposed change to the EU's “best before” label could save 15 million tons of food per year from being wasted. Will the U.S. be next?
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Eco Living
Reduce, Reuse. . .Bicycle
May 23rd, 2014 | By Cedric Rose
National Bike Month is coming to an end, and it’s likely inspired some new people around the country to add biking to their lifestyles. One of the first things they may have discovered is that cycling comes with its own array of accessories. Giving extra thought to your biking accessory choices can make your ride even greener and provide longer-lasting solutions. In some cases you might be able to up-cycle everyday throwaway items, putting durable, everyday materials to work on your bike, instead of building everlasting landfills.
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Eco Living
5 Ridiculously Easy Ways to Start Growing Food
May 22nd, 2014 | By Amy Leibrock
Has the food gardening bug hit you? If you’re not sowing seeds and tending tomatoes yet, your neighbors probably are. One in three American households is now growing food, a 17% increase from five years ago! If you want to join them but weren't blessed with green thumbs, we’ve rounded up five ways to ease into gardening.
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Transportation
Rethinking Algae: Beyond Biofuels
May 19th, 2014 | By Amy Leibrock
When we hear "algae," most of us think "biofuels," but Brad Bartilson, founder and CEO of Photon8, has a much broader vision of the future for this tiny organism – namely increasing the resiliency and sustainability of our food system.
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Innovation
XL Hybrids: Making Fleets More Fuel Efficient
May 16th, 2014 | By Amy Leibrock
Imagine that you run a company with a fleet of delivery vehicles that make lots of short trips all day long through crowded city streets. Along with the costs of labor to pay for all those drivers, fuel costs are one of the biggest expenses you face. If you could shave 20 percent off your fuel bill, you would probably say, “Where do I sign?”
We’ve found a company that can do just that: XL Hybrids.
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Eco Living
Sustainable America’s Inaugural Gala
May 14th, 2014 | By Amy Leibrock
Anyone who has ever worked at a start-up organization or owned a business knows that getting started is difficult. In Sustainable America's two short years of existence, we've worked hard to overcome major hurdles in order to cement our model for making an impact on sustainability. To celebrate our first two years, acknowledge the help we’ve received, and propel our growth into the future, we’re excited to bring together our friends and supporters for an Inaugural Gala on June 26.
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Eco Living
A Bike Is Your New Car
May 12th, 2014 | By Cedric Rose
May is National Bike Month, and with it comes a lot of great ideas about how to start biking to work. But if you’re one of those people who feels left out of the bike commuting movement — whether you live too far from work or you have to drop off a carload of kids in the morning — there are plenty of other opportunities to use a bike to replace some gas-powered trips. Here are a few tips on how to use a bike when you otherwise rely on an auto.
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