Cloe, Tyson, Ken and Patrick

Boise Co-op was recently honored with a visit by Driven to Sustain founders Tyson Jerry and Cloe Whittaker as they make their world record breaking journey for distance on alternative fuel in a van they’ve converted to run on waste vegetable oil (WVO). They stopped briefly at the store to refuel with vegetable oil, 80 gallons generously donated by Boise local Patrick Crow.*

Driven to Sustain is a non-profit project designed to educate environmental sustainability in schools and promote global environmental awareness in the media. As they travel, Tyson and Cloe are visiting as many sustainable initiatives as they can, learning about the very best practices in sustainable living. Meeting experts in climate change, education, the environment, sustainability, and the “green” movement, Tyson and Cloe are sharing what they learn with students in classrooms coast to coast. The van, nicknamed “The Green Machine” by some and “Veggie Van” by others, has taken Cloe and Tyson on their epic journey to visit every Province and State.  While Cloe and Tyson were in Boise, they were 82% of the way to the record- right now, they are on the way to NYC to break the current record and then will continue on to do a “Victory Lap” through Canada.

Follow them on their journey as they BREAK A GUINNESS WORLD RECORD FOR DISTANCE ON ALTERNATIVE FUEL! Visit their website at http://www.driventosustain.ca. You can also follow them on Twitter and Facebook as well for continuous updates of their journey and mission.

Want to help their cause? Your donations will help to provide environmental education in schools across North America and promote sustainable living in the media. The span of Tyson and Cloe’s success depends on the individuals, groups, and companies who support them. To donate, or for more information regarding donations, click here.

*Patrick will soon be selling his recycled veggie oil at Boise Co-op. Stay tuned for more details, but check out his website in the meantime to learn more about recyclable oil and purchase online: www.walkingjenergy.com

Patty loves reusable bags!

Be conscious of resources and waste!

Boise Co-op encourages everyone to shop consciously and use reusable bags. We now have reusable shopping bags from post-consumer recycled material for 99 cents available at the front of the store!

Be proactive in your consumer behavior! Thank you to all who commit to waste reduction!!!

The following article is sourced from www.reusablebags.com. I encourage all of you to visit the site and witness the constant and rapidly changing number of plastic bags consumed this year displayed at the top… at the time of my posting, it was at 7,990,796,668!

**Facts and figures regarding the true cost of plastic bags**

Want to know more about Ireland’s wildly successful PlasTax? How about numbers on consumption? Think paper bags are better than plastic bags?…Think again, and be in the know.

Top Facts – Consumption

# Each year, an estimated 500 billion to 1 trillion plastic bags are consumed worldwide. That comes out to over one million per minute. Billions end up as litter each year.

# According to the EPA, over 380 billion plastic bags, sacks and wraps are consumed in the U.S. each year.

# According to The Wall Street Journal, the U.S. goes through 100 billion plastic shopping bags annually. (Estimated cost to retailers is $4 billion)

# According to the industry publication Modern Plastics, Taiwan consumes 20 billion bags a year – 900 per person.

# According to Australia’s Department of Environment, Australians consume 6.9 billion plastic bags each year – 326 per person. An estimated 0.7% or 49,600,000 end up as litter each year.

Top Facts – Environmental Impact

# Hundreds of thousands of sea turtles, whales and other marine mammals die every year from eating discarded plastic bags mistaken for food.

# Plastic bags don’t biodegrade, they photodegrade – breaking down into smaller and smaller toxic bits contaminating soil and waterways and entering the food web when animals accidentally ingest.

# As part of Clean Up Australia Day, in one day nearly 500,000 plastic bags were collected.

# Windblown plastic bags are so prevalent in Africa that a cottage industry has sprung up harvesting bags and using them to weave hats, and even bags. According to the BBC, one group harvests 30,000 per month.

# According to David Barnes, a marine scientist with the British Antarctic Survey, plastic bags have gone “from being rare in the late 80s and early 90s to being almost everywhere from Spitsbergen 78 degrees North [latitude] to Falklands 51 degrees South [latitude].”

# Plastic bags are among the 12 items of debris most often found in coastal cleanups, according to the nonprofit Center for Marine Conservation.

Top Facts – Solutions

# In 2001, Ireland consumed 1.2 billion plastic bags, or 316 per person. An extremely successful plastic bag consumption tax, or PlasTax, introduced in 2002 reduced consumption by 90%. Approximately 18,000,000 liters of oil have been saved due to this reduced production. Governments around the world are considering implementing similar measures.

# July 2003, ReusableBags.com goes live, advancing the mainstream adoption of reusable shopping bags.

# Each high quality reusable shopping bag you use has the potential to eliminate hundreds, if not thousands, of plastic bags over its lifetime.

Ryan, Vachel and Patty, doin' their part

While Idaho Power already generates most of its electricity from renewable hydroelectric resources, the Green Power Program provides customers with an option to support additional “green” resources.

With the help of the Bonneville Environmental Foundation (BEF), Idaho Power taps into green energy supplies. BEF is an independent non-profit organization (not affiliated with the Bonneville Power Administration). The foundation is a broker to facilitate green energy transactions from Northwest resources that have been certified as Green-e compliant by the Center for Resource Solutions.

Electricity purchased through the Green Power Program is brought into the Northwest power supply grid from wherever the energy is produced. The grid acts like a power “pool” that combines all sources of electric energy, including green resources. Electricity brought to your home or business is drawn from this overall supply system.

While you’ll see no difference in how you receive your power, as a program participant you will be supporting the environment and increasing generation of renewable energy.

Go to www.idahopower.com/energycenter/greenpower for more information on their Green Energy Program.

To learn more about other Green Power options visit the links listed below.

www.greentagsusa.com – information about green tags, the environmental component of green energy.

www.b-e-f.org – the Bonneville Environmental Foundation, a regional non-profit promoting green power.

www.rnp.org – Renewables Northwest Project, an organization promoting green energy in the Northwest.

www.epa.gov/greenpower – the EPA’s Green Power Partnership program.

Green Power Friendly Companies at The Boise Co-op:

The Boise Co-op
Clif Bar
Silk
Lundberg
Alterra Coffee Roasters
Rodney Strong Vineyards
Domaine Carneros by Taittinger
New Belgium Brewing
Fetzer
Cayuse Vineyards
Choice Organic Teas
Earth Island
EcoFish
Ecoprint
Green Mountain Coffee Roasters
Kettle Foods
Mount Eden Vineyards
New Leaf Paper
Odwalla
Ridge Vineyards
St. Francis Winery
Traditional Medicinals

For information on Green Power Partnerships visit www.epa.gov/greenpower.

Look for the Green Power labels throughout The Boise Co-op to see which companies are joining in to help improve our environment.