prAna: Sustainable Clothing

Ever go snooping through your garbage? Not many people do, I mean why would you want to? It is kinda gross. But interesting things happen when you do. We did at prAna and guess what we found… a lot of things that didn’t need to be there.

If you start dissecting your trash and asking yourself – could this be recycled or could this be disposed of in a better way, you end up with a new way of looking at things once you are done with them.

To start we had to understand what options we had for disposing of items. We started first with recycling – most people are aware of recycling and may even practice it often. At prAna’s headquarters, our waste hauler does something called co-mingle recycling. That means that everything that can be recycled all goes into one bin. This makes it easier for people to set up recycling stations and to recycle. The co-mingle bin takes paper, metal, glass, and hard plastics. This ends up accounting for a lot of things.

When we looked further at our trash, there were still a lot of things that didn’t have to go to landfill.

Next step was to set up a compost. We have a home stacking compost bin out behind our office and then smaller bins in each of the kitchens to collect our compost. Compost can include any vegetable and fruit scraps, coffee grinds, tea bags, as well as things like lawn clippings. In fact we use some of our shredded paper to the compost to create better soil. So far we have produced some great dirt that we use around the property as well as employees can take it home for their gardens.

After recycling and compost we noticed that the things left over were the more difficult to recycle items, so we had to get creative. We did some research and found local recyclers who could take a lot of things that would have normally gone to landfill.

Now we have a whole recycling center in our warehouse where we recycle electronics, light bulbs, items for the Goodwill, Tyvek bags, soft plastic bags, batteries, cell phones, and bottles and cans that you get cash back for. We encourage employees to bring things in from home where they don’t have as many options to recycle things. Even our recycling center is recycled, it was built with an old counter top and fabric and the sign was some found wood.

The greatest success of our efforts has been the impact of our efforts not just of our office, but through all of our employees taking the knowledge of how to best dispose of anything and creating better practices in their personal lives.

Through these efforts prAna has been able to reduce our trash pick ups by half and are experimenting with reducing even more as I write this.

Responsibility for everything we use is an important behavior that we want to live every day. Want resources for where to recycling things near you? Check out Earth911.com enter in your zip code and what you want to recycle and they can help find a contact.

~Nicole Bassett, Director of Sustainability

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Last week prAna employees shared their Every Day is Earth Day stories. Motivated by positive inspiration we had to tell our stories. Everything we do makes a difference! We hope you get as inspired as we did…

Planting a new tree in our backyard with my girls.

I try to ride my motorcycle to work every day. My last tank of gas I got 55 mpg. I would like to start riding my bicycle to work again. I bring my lunch to work almost every day. My lunch rarely comes from a package and because of that, and other waste reduction, my wife and I are able to have no more than one small bag of trash per week. She takes her lunch to work as well. We do not have a compost pile at home but we put all of the things we could compost in our green waste so it does not end up in a landfill. We also recycle everything we can at home. We have not used a throw away grocery bag in more than 3 years and have been using the same reusable bags for as long. We even have reusable bags for our produce. I try to not take a plastic bag from any store and if I do I will reuse and then recycle it. I always sweep up the yard trimmings after I cut the grass so the trimmings do not end up in the storm drains and then the ocean. When I surf I do my best to pick up 3 pieces of trash from the beach. I try to use organic produce whenever possible. I also try to buy local produce and other goods when available and not cost prohibitive. My main purpose for being a vegetarian is to lower the impact on my body but I believe it also lowers the impact on the earth in many ways. That is a win win situation!

1. Trying to eat local – try to buy food from local producers 2. Trying to eat green – I have been eating more fruits and vegetables which is good for my health and the planet’s. 3. To reduce emissions from my vehicle, I have been trying to combine my errands into one run. 4. Have replaced many of my home products with EnergyStar – light bulbs, fan , heater, etc. to be more energy efficient. 5. At work, turn off the light above my desk when I am going to be away for extended periods of time. 6. Turn off the lights in empty rooms – both at work and home. 7. Turn off computer, calculator and other electronics at the end of the work day. 8. Reduced paper usage at work – stopped printing out Shipping/Retail batches and started saving them as pdfs in our system. Not only has this reduced paper usage, but it has also helped cut down on finding storage space for boxes of printouts. 9. Trying to convert as many of our customers as possible to accept emailed versions of invoices and statements to reduce paper usage and mail expense. 10. Use the other side of printouts for scratch paper and then recycle. 11. Recycle at home and at work. 12. Compost at work.

Recycle all plastic bags including grocery/newspaper Pick up after dog Throw ice from drinks on plants Use all paper at least twice, than recycle Take my reusable bags when shopping Take my used car oil to auto parts shop for proper disposal Use shower water to water plants Turn off overhead lights and monitors when not at desk Released lady bugs in garden

Turn off un-needed electric components, separate glass, aluminum, plastic and cardboard. Bring to work recycle batteries and grocery bags. Carpool with my wife to work.

Ride my bike to work and back

I re-use every container I can until it falls apart~ then I try to recycle it I shower quickly and try to use minimal water! I have taught my children to adopt an earth-friendly approach to life, and taught them to teach others the same~ pass it on! I turn off the lights! Unplug chargers! Conserve electricity wherever I can… I pick up litter in my own neighborhood so it won’t end up in the storm drains! When you make it your mindset, it becomes natural and easy.

1. try to take 2 minute showers 2. 2 18oz glass jars w/water in toilet tank 3. use non chemicals to house clean like vinegar 4. try to air dry clothes when time allows 5. make my own compost 6. bring non plastic bags to shop 7. use vending water machine to fill up reusable jars

We feel that Earth Day is about the community since we all share the earth- so we will be beautifying the area around prAna by picking up garbage. Also, we are going to put together boxes with fruit and herbs from our own gardens to share with fellow prAna peeps. We are going sans-lights for Earth Day in our office as well!

Just a few, in no particular order… most of these are fully integrated in my daily life and a take little effort. It’s just a way to live, that keeps evolving 1. PD department trash clean up on the streets around our office for earth day 2. Carpool to work 3. Collect rain water 4. Compost/ garden 5. I keep chickens in my backyard – for eggs 7. Support local CSA’s and farmers markets for Almost all of my fruits and vegetables 6. Make a point to purchase items with the least amount of packaging whenever possible & use re-usable bags & containers for storage

Pick up trash when I walk thru the warehouse Pick up trash when I walk on the beach If I’m out and have a plastic water bottle that I use and there is no recycling bin, I bring it home to recycle Don’t use a space heater…always keep a sweater and jacket available. Turn off my desk lights if I am away for any length of time Re-use file folders, cover old label with new one Reuse paper clips, rubber bands, binder clips, etc….never throw away Put leftovers in washable, sealable containers rather than disposable plastic bags Unplug power strips and electrical appliances that are not in use for an extended time Turn off automatic sprinklers in winter Turn off lights in rooms not occupied…do a lot at work, especially kitchens.

I will be attending a friend’s wedding! But I have arranged to carpool there with 4 of my friends to make sure I tread as lightly as possible on my way to a not-to-eco-friendly event

1. I recently traded in my beloved gas guzzling Land Rover for a Prius. 2. I involve my kids in being green by making sure they know what goes in compost, recyclables, or trash. 3. We started growing a veggie and herb garden.

We reclaim our sink, shower and washer water (just expanded our system), 5 areas use fake grass, succulents and drought tolerant plants are the vast majority of our landscaping, rainwater harvesting,low flow sprinkler heads, irrigation clocks closely monitored – our water bill is less than half of previous owners. solar hot water for the house, solar heated pool, very lean use of electricity, low flow pool pumps, energy star appliances and many energy efficient light bulbs,personal habits and incentives for kids to use less electricity, explored photovoltaic and because our use is so low it did not make sense to build a system at this time. we rarely use heat, just wear sweaters in the house and have down comforters, combine foods in cooking process to save energy. own and drive 2 hybrid vehicle, Prius gets 45 + mpg, constantly teaching and and sharing ideas with others how to save our natural resources in simple, fun ways, often do not drive anywhere on weekends. ( i bring all of our recyclables to prAna to recycle since we don’t have it in our neighborhood), we compost much of our yard waste and all of our raw food scraps, we grind up our own wood chips and mulch for the yard, we have used trees that we cut down for benches on the property, we buy local and unprocessed food, we have a 3 season garden with over 70 plantings, 26 fruit trees on the property that we share with friends and family. Use the back side of printed paper to print and right on – rarely virgin paper, don’t use napkins.

I bring my lunch in reusable containers, i recycle, i reuse my water bottle, turn the water off when i brush my teeth

Compost @ home. Don’t buy Meat products.Recycle when ever possible. We “like” on Facebook our favorite companies and ask them what they can do to recycle. We buy off Craigslist. We reuse & re-purpose furniture and clothes. We use cloth diapers. Take shorter showers. Turn off lights, electronics when ever not in use. We carpool on weekends Bring our lunches as much as possible. We buy local fruits and veggies. We buy only organic at home. We try and buy in bulk where we can. We enjoy the outdoors as much as possible…

I always turn off the water while brushing my teeth. I always bring in my dead batteries to recycle. I recycle cans and bottles at home.

Recycle as much as possible. Compost whenever possible. Pick up after my dog. Work from home whenever possible.

Joined a CSA, cut down on plastic use, carpool to work almost everyday, and I have a garden

My wife and I are landscaping our home with drought tolerant plants and not grass to keep our use of water to a minimum. We also collect rain water to water all of our plants.

Buy organic or sustainably made product whenever possible Use a stainless steel water bottle to reduce my use of plastic Recycle and Compost at home and work No AC or Central Heat at home, just good ol’ fashioned windows and blankets! Grow a small amount of food in my backyard Use cloth diapers (except for time at daycare which doesn’t allow them) Only wash clothes in cold water Hope to start biking into work, need a roadie bike first though Support local farmers, my family buys often from farmer’s markets Don’t shave often = saves water Pick up trash when I’m out walking/surfing/biking Participate in beach clean-ups

My family is very conscientious about recycling materials. We recycle all paper and plastics at home. We recycle cans in a program at my daughter’s school, called Cans for Critters. We reuse water bottles while using our water cooler system, and we remind each other regularly about not running water while brushing teeth. We are also members of Kids Korps at my daughter’s school, where we clean up trash in parks, beaches and volunteer with animal shelters regularly.

I teach my children the importance of recycling in hopes that they will do the same with their children(My Grandchildren). I am trying to lead by example and set the tone for their future. My son has to sort and recycle what we can at home, he also crushes the aluminum and we take it to a recycling center. He can easily take home $50.00 for his efforts. Not a bad pay-day for a 15 yr old. Granted it does take some time for our family to gather enough to recycle but the reward always seems worth the effort. My Daughter is also starting to recycle at age 5 by bringing her recyclables to her school. One Friday each month the recycled items are gathered by the students and by parent volunteers to be recycled. I was amazed to hear how much the school benefits from a recycling program such as this. The students receive a ticket which allows them to receive a bag of popcorn or popsicle at the end of the day. The kids love this reward and it teaches them a valuable lesson.

Carpool bring my lunch I conserve water when my shower is heating up, and water my garden with it i save rain water grow my own veggies/have chickens to lay eggs…and share w/ neighbors i recycle at home i eat from local/home grown restaurants

Recycle, Reduce, Reuse, Clean up trash when I see it lying around! I’m all about my Klean Kanteen and travel coffee cup

I compost at work and at home, have separate recycling pails with SIGNS on them so guests are encouraged to recycle, no longer purchase paper towels!, use an every day travel mug for my coffee, buy in bulk at Henry’s and recycle my bags, looking at purchasing a Prius…..

Recycle my goodies, use baby jars for singles salad dressing, use the cooled water from boiling veggies to water my plants

Bring in veggie/fruit waste for compost Reduce printing paper in department Only shower, instead of taking bath Bring in e-waste to be sorted and not dumped in with regular trash

Recycle at home walk or ride bike to do things in my neighborhood donate compost to dad’s organic garden carpool when I can.

Recycle at Home Turn off water while brushing teeth

I walk my local beach and pick up trash.

I am growing my own garden. I collect rain water to use for my garden. Recycle anything we can. We try and use as few paper towels as possible. All bills are paperless and we only use reusable bags.

Bring in my own lunch Use a reusable coffee mug Separate all recyclables at home Utilize a compost at home Practice water-saving methods to get my bill down to a minimum. Always turn off lights and appliances when not in use. I also practice minimalist-gardening techniques to ensure my yard is overgrown and producing as much oxygen as possible. This is also known as being lazy

No more plastic water bottles, only reusable Reusable Coffee Cup Turn water off while brushing teeth Bring my lunch Energy saving light bulbs in my house Recycle At home Compost at work Take old clothes to Good Will or give them to my house keeper My Gardener mulches my upper yard with the lawn clippings Bought a more fuel efficient car Put water saving filters on shower heads Use the energy saving setting on my dishwasher Fill the sink with water instead of letting it run while rinsing dishes

I’ve been exclusively using re-usable shopping bags for grocery shopping for about 5 years now and mostly use green household cleaning products. At work I eschew using disposable cups or water bottles.

I recycle at home and at work, I ride my bike when I can, I am a part of the prAna CSA, we have a garden at home, we enjoy the earth by running, hiking, surfing, biking, camping, and spreading the love to others!

I recycle everything I possibly can. More recyclables are picked up each week from my house than trash.

We are constantly trying to lower our impact by; 1. Buying organic whenever available 2. Recycling 3. Vermicomposting (worm bin) and we also got my farther-in-law to start and our neighbor and are working on my brother in law. The key from us has been to tell people how much the compost improves their plants! 4. Looking at purchasing a Nissan Leaf or the soon to be released Ford Focus EV (Chevy Volt = No) 5. We buy local and from Etsy whenever we can to stimulate small businesses 6. We are crappy farmers but try to grow as much as we can at home in containers and are part of the prAna CSA. We love to buy from resale shops, estate sales and garage sales. You can always find a bargain

Tell us what you do to make it Earth Day every day!

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One of the most enjoyable things in our day is answering letters from our young prAna supporters. In this case composting was the subject and we thought we would share our reply…

Dear Hanh,Thank you so much for your letter about our compost here at prAna. I am so glad your Mom told you about what we do here at our office. You had a lot of great questions that I would like to answer individually.

Hanh: I was wondering who mixes your compost?

There are a couple of people at the office who mix it.  I do it along with our warehouse manager.  We don’t mix it that often, so it is not a big chore.

Hanh: Do you know any tips on composting?

From our experience here at the office we have learned that it is important to balance out the “greens” with the “browns”.  As you may or may not know a good compost has a mix of greens which are things like leftovers of our fruits, vegetables, and coffee grounds and browns are things like dried leaves, sawdust, shredded paper for example.  It is the mix of these that allow proper decomposition and a well balanced soil.

Another important lesson we have learned is to keep our compost wet, it can dry out easily in the sun, and this helps with decomposition as well.

Hanh: Do you have a box or a garden to do your compost?

We actually have a bio-box from Smith and Hawken.  The city of Encinitas where I live actually helps subsidize the purchase of a composter, so we picked one up for the office.  Also because we don’t have a lot of ground space at our office the bio box works really well for us.  But the soil that is created from the compost can be used in a garden.

Hanh: Where do you find your worms?

Our compost sits directly on the ground, so worms are able to come up through the ground into the compost.  They quite like it because there are lots of yummy things for them to eat.  In addition a woman in our office who also has a compost brought in a bucket of worms to add to our worm population.

Hanh: Do you bring things for the compost?

The compost was originally created at prAna to help us with our goal of reducing the amount of waste we send the landfill, so it was for organic material from employees lunches, and coffee grounds from our coffee makers.  However we realized that we could use a lot of the paper that we shred to help add browns to the mix of our compost, so we use that too.  And many of our employees do bring in things from their homes if they have collected a bunch of compostable scraps that they don’t want to throw away and we encourage this.

I am so glad you like to compost.  I think it is great that your school has a compost and that you and your classmates are learning how to compost.  Composting is a great way to reduce waste that goes to landfills and to improve soil quality for gardens.

I want to invite you and your classmates some time to come to our office and see how our compost works.

Take care & come visit soon,

Nicole

Cross Posted from The Nature Conservancy

Thanks to Josh at Adventure Fit for turning us on to the rides which will be happening in Tucson, Berkeley, Seattle, Portland, Charlotte, Austin, Ft.Collins, Denver, Minneapolis, St.Louis, Des Moines, Chicago and Madison!

The Urban Assault Ride has evolved from a lifelong love affair for bikes and all things bike related. The 1st UAR was in Austin TX in June 2003. The idea was to combine all the cool things from bike races, adventure races, and music festivals into one crazy event. It has since grown to be one of the biggest cycling events in the country!

There are few problems the bike can’t solve. Bikes make you physically and mentally healthy, bikes reduce dependence on oil, bikes reduce traffic congestion, and bikes don’t pollute. They’re also a ton of fun to ride and that’s the part that we bring to you in the Urban Assault Ride. We’d like to see you use your bike more for transportation and the event is designed to show you how to get around town efficiently on your bike. As the old proverb states, “Give a man a fish and he’ll eat for a day. Teach a man to fish and he’ll eat for a lifetime.” In the UAR, you’ll teach yourself how great bikes are for getting around town…and that’s the best way to learn. After you experience the event, we hope you’ll be more inclined to grab your bike lock and not your car keys when you cruise down to the store to pick up a 6-pack of Fat Tire.

It’s also important to us to be considerate of the world we live in. These are some of the things that we’re doing to promote a sustainable bike-loving lifestyle:

• We ride our bikes as often as possible in business and personally. This means riding to meetings, to the grocery store, for many other errands, and of course just for fun. We’re even known to pedal a tandem solo when our companions are not up to pedaling. They just ring the bell when they want to go faster.
• We use biodiesel as much as possible to fuel the truck that drives the gear to your city. Biodiesel uses a renewable resource (vegetable oil) instead of petroleum. It also reduced harmful emissions.
• We use solar power to power start/finish venue. The folks at Mobile Solar Power made us a cargo trailer that carries an array of batteries that are charged by a solar panel on top of the trailer. As we drive to the events, the trailer charges along the way.
• We compost or recycle 95% of what is left behind after you leave. Our vendors must provide compostible or recyclable materials for all food and drink.
• Instead of plastic event bags, we provide reusable drawstring bags. In addition, we have minimal paper in our packets to save trees.
• We are very conscientious of the companies that we choose to work with. All of our sponsors use sustainable business practices and we’re proud of them! When you come to our event – be rest assured that a lot of thought has gone into the message, sponsors, and concept for the UAR. We think you’ll dig it.
• The folks working the event are primarily volunteers from non-profit organizations that promote bike advocacy and environmental sustainability. Proceeds from the UAR benefit local non-profits (usually 2-3 different groups for each event). Check them out when you have a chance – they’re doing some great things in your community.
• We hope you enjoy our event. It’s our pride and joy. If you’re ever in the Boulder CO area, look us up and we’ll go for a ride!

- the UAR Crew

Want to follow our adventures? Check out our BLOG

Cross Posted from TreeHugger

Image from Daily Mail

With all the best intentions, most of us don’t have the nerve to really change our life style dramatically. We do as much as we can within the limitations of our busy lives, but haven’t the true grit to go that extra mile. Here are 3 inspirational stories of young families that are taking things to the limit and loving it.

The first tale is about a family of 4 that decided to see if they could survive for a year without shopping at supermarkets. They grew their own vegetables in their back yard and bartered the extra food for essentials. Living in a smallish city, they were able to rent an acre of land to plant crops as well as keep animals.

They bought a share in a pig and a cow at local farms to add to the chickens that they were keeping. Then they were offered a few more acres and they bought a flock of sheep. They plan to invest in a small herd of Aberdeen Angus soon. They do a lot of swapping, for example eggs for homemade jams. The family says that they have no intention of returning to the supermarket. As well as enjoying the ethical and tasty benefits, they are saving £110 ( US$ 177) a week.

Image from Mailonline

Inspired by a t.v. show about the danger to wildlife from plastic rubbish, a family of three made a resolution to recycle as much as possible. They bought only products with Read the rest of this entry »

I had an interesting conversation with my mother-in-law about how we have gone from a generation who often canned/preserved, composted regularly and grew a significant portion of their own food to a generation who relies primarily on fast food, highly processed packaged food (if you can call it food) and pesticide filled single strains of fruits and veggies. It made me dig through a pile of books to find the Urban Homestead by Kelly Coyne and Erik Knutzen. I met Erik at Earth Day in Los Angeles and bought the book after Erik’s very interesting presentation. Since more people live in cities than in rural areas according to the United Nations report, Urban Homestead seems more and more relevant.

The Urban Homestead is the essential handbook for a fast-growing new movement: urbanites are becoming gardeners and farmers. Rejecting both end-times hand wringing and dewy-eyed faith that technology will save us from ourselves, urban homesteaders choose instead to act. By growing their own food and harnessing natural energy, they are planting seeds for the future of our cities. If you would like to harvest your own vegetables, raise city chickens, or convert to solar energy, this practical, hands-on book is full of step-by-step projects that will get you started homesteading immediately, whether you live in an apartment or a house. It is also a guidebook to the larger movement and will point you to the best books and Internet resources on self-sufficiency topics.

Projects include:

• How to grow food on a patio or balcony
• How to clean your house without toxins
• How to preserve food
• How to cook with solar energy
• How to divert your grey water to your garden
• How to choose the best homestead for you

Written by city dwellers for city dwellers, this illustrated, smartly designed, two-color instruction book proposes a paradigm shift that will improve our lives, our community, and our planet. Authors Kelly Coyne and Erik Knutzen happily farm in Los Angeles and run the urban homestead blog www.homegrownrevolution.org.

Hey, hey…another chance to play in the dirt! For those of us who are project prone, composting is a great way to nourish your garden and build something neato. It’s cheap and easy to learn, but there is a little bit of an art to it that comes with practice. No need to be intimidated, just remember that all organic material breaks down. Even if you toss all your food scraps and grass clippings into a hole in the ground, it will eventually turn into compost. However, there are ways to get faster results. Here’s a few suggestions…

When building (or buying) a compost bin, here are 4 things you should focus on:
1. Drainage
2. Air Flow
3. Insulation
4. Good mix of ingredients (ideal mix is 75% brown material and 25% green scraps. Green and brown doesn’t refer to the actual color of the stuff you are putting in the composter – it’s just shorthand for saying nitrogen rich or carbon rich.)

How quickly ingredients break down depends on 4 things:
1. Moisture
2. Oxygen Content
3. Temperature
4. Again, a good mix of ingredients

I’ve found this site to be a good source of info, check it out. http://compostinstructions.com/about/

Oh, and send us pics of your project!

Nama