Archive for the 'Sustainability' Category
Starting a compost pile in your backyard is a simple and effective way to lower your home’s impact on the planet. Not only does it significantly reduce the amount of waste going into landfills, but it provides an outstanding source of nutrient-rich soil, which might facilitate you growing your own hyper-local food. And if composting became the norm, it would also lessen the amount of carbon emitted into the atmosphere by garbage trucks and trash processing facilities. So let’s get started!
Building your own compost bin at home can be simple!
The first thing you’re going to need is a place to start piling up your compostable materials. This can either be on the bare earth, or on pavement. If you choose to have your compost pile on pavement, you’ll want to put a couple of inches of moist dirt on the bottom as a base layer for your compost pile – this helps to retain moisture, which is very important for the composting process (Source: Groundwater.org). Although not entirely necessary, many people choose to construct or buy a compost bin – something to keep the composting area tidy and prevent any animals from searching for food in your pile. This can be as big or as small as you’d like, depending on how much compostable material you will have available. It’s very easy to construct a compost bin out of materials like chicken wire, shipping pallets, cinder blocks – whatever you’ve got!
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July 18 2010 | Sustainability | No Comments »
In today’s steadily expanding ‘green’ market, there is a lot of confusion among ethical consumers about what exactly some of the labeling means – and with good reason. There is an incredible amount of new terminology coming to the marketplace. A good portion of the terminology has to do with the packaging materials, which are a major concern now that the amount of waste being dumped in the oceans and third world countries has become public knowledge. To help clarify things, we’d like to explain the difference between ‘compostable,’ ‘biodegradable,’ ‘degradable,’ and the standard of our own packaging material, ‘backyard compostable.’
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June 30 2010 | Green Business and Sustainability | 3 Comments »
Beginning on Earth Day 2010, Arbor Teas became the first tea company to deliver its full line of organic loose teas in 100% backyard compostable packaging! With the release of this next generation packaging, we at Arbor Teas advanced our environmental mission, continuing to lead the tea industry through our staunch commitment to sustainable business practices. For the first time ever, tea drinkers are now able to compost their tea leaves AND tea packaging together in their home composting system!
ABOUT OUR BACKYARD COMPOSTABLE TEA PACKAGING
Our exciting new packaging is composed of a cellulose film made from wood pulp sourced from sustainably-managed trees. Most compostable packaging available in today’s marketplace is only truly compostable in industrial settings optimized for rapid breakdown. By contrast, the films used for Arbor Teas’ new packaging can actually breakdown in a backyard compost setting.
Because of greater variation in moisture and temperature, backyard composting environments have historically been incapable of breaking down so-called “compostable” packaging materials (e.g. corn plastic cups and take-out containers and the like). However, the material chosen for Arbor Teas’ new packages requires a less optimized environment for biodegradation, representing a major advancement in low-impact packaging. continue reading »
April 22 2010 | Green Business and Products and Sustainability | 1 Comment »
Wondering what’s happening in the Fair Trade Certified tea estates that supply Arbor Teas with its exceptional organic teas? Here is an update on the Singampatti Oothu Estate which supplies Arbor Teas with an organic, Fair Trade Certified black tea that is full-bodied, smooth, and subtly sweet with light to medium astringency. It is one of our favorites!
The Oothu Singampatti Tea Estates cover the rolling hills of Tirunelveli in the Nilgiris district of southern India. The group of estates are surrounded by the tropical evergreen forests of the Kalakkad and Mundanthurai Tiger Reserve. Situated at the southern end of the Western Ghat mountain range, the Oothu Tea Garden is surrounded on all sides by rainforest that hosts a rich diversity of unique wildlife. Jungle corridors among the tea fields have been carefully preserved in order to maintain this rare natural ecosystem. A pioneer in sustainable tea production, Oothu was the first tea garden in India to adopt biodynamic principles and among the first in the country to become certified organic. Fair Trade Certified since 1995, Oothu Singampatti continues to make a significant social impact on the community
The Fair Trade price has enabled workers at Singampatti Group to establish various programs, including:
1) Education — The Oothu Singampatti Estates provide scholarships, focusing on deserving children and those from the most impoverished families within the organization.
2) Health — Health programs, implemented with Fair Trade revenue, contribute to primary care and also allow for specialized treatment that was previously unavailable to estate families. Additionally, life insurance now covers all workers and their families, and funeral expenses are provided.
“Fair Trade has reduced my burden by providing me the finances, which help me put my son in special care. I am thankful to the consumers who pay the extra premium, which reaches people like me and makes a difference.” — Sita, Oothu worker with a son diagnosed with cerebral palsy
December 30 2009 | Fair Trade and Sustainability | No Comments »
So Earth Day 2009 is nearly upon us, and that seems like a good enough reason to show off what we’re doing here at Arbor Teas to reduce our impact on the planet. We’re not usually ones for the “hard sell,” but this may be the one time of year that we’ll make an exception. The degree to which we’ve minimized our environmental “footprint” is a real source of pride for us here at Arbor Teas, and every once in a while we can’t help but brag. So, in case you were looking for a few more reasons for Arbor Teas to become your tea source (or if you just want to take comfort in knowing that your source for tea is doing everything it can think of to reduce it’s envirommental impact), here you go!
Reason #1 – Exclusively Organic Teas: We are deeply committed to organic agriculture, offering an entire catalog of organic teas and tisanes. Organic farming excludes the use of chemical fertilizers, pesticides and genetically modified organisms (GMOs), resulting in a variety of benefits to flora and fauna, air and water qulity, and our climate. Arbor Teas offers one of the largest catalogs of USDA certified organic teas available.
Reason #2 – Green Packaging: Our packaging is specially designed to minimize its “environmental footprint,” relying on parchment-lined paperboard and glassine-lined kraft paper instead of tin-plated steel. This shift reduced the carbon emissions associated with our packaging by over 80%!
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April 21 2009 | Green Business and Sustainability | 1 Comment »
With all of the attention that global warming has been given lately (for good reason), the carbon footprint of goods and services has come to dominate the conversation of reducing the environmental impact of what we buy, eat and use in our daily lives. Because of this, we often forget about other environmental criteria worth considering, like global water consumption. According to the recent publication “The World’s Water, 2008-2009″ (by Peter Gleick, et al, www.waterfootprint.org), it turns out that tea has a much smaller “water footprint” than coffee, requiring as little as one-fifth to one-tenth as much water!
This substantial difference is due in large part to the incredible thirst of the coffee tree in producing the cherries that coffee is made from, compared to the relatively water-efficient tea bush. In fact, among all agricultural products, coffee is responsible for the greatest amount of “virtual” movement of water across the globe (from growing areas to consumption areas) tied up in the form of coffee beans. So, save water… drink tea!!!
March 18 2009 | Sustainability | 2 Comments »
In case there are those of you out there who wonder why an online tea company like Arbor Teas is so zealous about our environmental performance (and our impact on global warming), a recent article in Fresh Cup Magazine (one of the primary journals of the tea and coffee industry) just connected all of the dots for you. While we at Arbor Teas believe that running our business in a sustainable fashion is just the “right thing to do,” the Fresh Cup article points to a more potentially self-serving motivation. Early evidence (such as that identified by the Nobel Prize-winning Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Changes, or the IPCC) suggests that the effects of global warming are likely to have very serious impacts on the world’s ability to keep growing great tea (not to mention a long list of other agricultural products). While it’s not as though tea production will come to a screeching halt tomorrow, this certainly isn’t good news.
Global Warming’s Impact on Tea-Growing Regions
There is a substantial and growing body of evidence supporting the fact that atmospheric temperatures are on the rise worldwide. Unfortunately, a majority of the available data is skewed toward developed nations. Since much of the world’s tea production takes place in the developing world, there is less scientific data to evaluate when considering global warming’s potential impacts. However, anecdotal evidence from growers suggests that the tea-growing world is experiencing the same climate trends as have been identified by scientists elsewhere.
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August 25 2008 | Sustainability | No Comments »
Buying your tea from Arbor Teas is only the first step to enjoying tea in an eco-friendly fashion! Here are a few suggestions to make your tea habit a positive experience for you and the planet:
- Compost your tea leaves. Even after they’ve been steeped several times, tea leaves continue to be rich in nutrients which, when composted, can be valuable additions to gardens and potted plants. Just save your used tea leaves in a small container on the kitchen counter, and periodically toss them into your backyard compost bin!
- Recycle you tea packaging. Our paperboard canisters are specially-designed to be completely recyclable – just punch out the top and bottom and flatten (if your community requires it) and toss it into the paper recycling bin!
- Heat only the amount of water you need. Water takes a tremendous amount of energy to bring to a boil, so be conservative when filling the kettle! By heating only the amount of water you plan to use, you can keep your energy consumption to a minimum.
- Try cold-brewing your iced tea. Most households in America have a refrigerator plugged in at all times, so why not take advantage of it? Next time you’re making some iced tea, consider leaving the stove off and cold-brewing it in the fridge! It’s going to be on anyway, right? Admittedly, cold-brewed tea has a slightly different flavor profile than normal, hot-brewed tea, but if you’re making lots and lots of iced tea each week, this could be a modest energy-saver. Just put an infuser of your favorite tea leaves in a pitcher of water in the fridge for 10 to 12 hours (basically overnight). Remove the leaves when you’ve reached the desired strength, and you’re ready to go!
Got another idea? Leave a comment on this post or e-mail it to us at Green-Up@ArborTeas.com!
June 29 2008 | Sustainability | No Comments »
As regular readers of SustainabiliTEA know, we recently returned from the World Tea Expo, where we were invited to address the subject of social and environmental responsibility in the tea industry. Before heading off to Las Vegas, our idea of a “successful” trip was this: sit in front of a room full of tea business owners/employees, describe our efforts to improve the social and environmental impact of our company, and maybe get some other people in the industry thinking along the same lines (or maybe even give them some tangible ways to take action). Well, the discussion during and after the session suggests that maybe this initial concept of “success” was achieved. There were many questions about green packaging, carbon offsets, organic certification and fair trade licensing, which, at least to us, hinted at a greater interest in (and awareness of) these issues. But the real “feel good moment” occurred a few hours later on the trade show floor.
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June 29 2008 | Green Business and Sustainability | 2 Comments »
As part of this year’s Earth Day activities in the City of Ann Arbor, His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama delivered a special Peter M. Wege Lecture on Sustainability. It was sponsored by the University of Michigan Office of the President and by the Center for Sustainable Systems in the School of Natural Resources and Environment. As an alumnus of the School of Natural Resources, I was very fortune in being able to get tickets for Aubrey and I to attend. His Holiness has long held views on the subject of the environment and has talked about it in the past. One prior address carried these statements:
“We are also being drawn together by the grave problems we face: overpopulation, dwindling natural resources, and an environmental crisis that threatens our air, water, and trees, along with the vast number of beautiful life forms that are the very foundation of existence on this small planet we share. I believe that to meet the challenge of our times, human beings will have to develop a greater sense of universal responsibility. Each of us must learn to work not just for his or her own self, family or nation, but for the benefit of all mankind. Universal responsibility is the real key to human survival. It is the best foundation for world peace, the equitable use of natural resources and, through concern for future generations, the proper care of the environment.”
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April 20 2008 | Miscellaneous and Sustainability | 1 Comment »