Fossil Fuels: What & How

We use biologically-based fossil fuels to power most of our locomotive machineries. Fossil fuels are naturally made from the anaerobic decomposition of dead animals.  In fact, the ones we use today are typically millions of years old (some fossils exceeding 650 million)!  When animals and plants decompose, they release carbon into the atmosphere at an incredibly slow rate. However, when fossil fuels are burned in order to make fuel energy, the carbon from the decomposing organisms are released at a much higher rate. So, the amount of carbon that should have been released over the span of tens of millions of years is ultimately released in the span of a few hundred years. This extreme release of carbon as carbon dioxide (CO2) and other greenhouse gasses drives the greenhouse effect responsible for climate change. While it would be difficult to regress back to environmentally “healthy” shipping options such as horse and buggy, it is important, as a consumer, to know your different shipping options and their individual impact on our fragile environment.

Up in the Air

Airplane rides are not just for that family vacation anymore. Tons of cargo is being shipped world-wide everyday with the help of these mechanical birds. Unfortunately, planes require a lot of fuel to keep them up in the air. Plane fuel consumption depends on the size and weight of the aircraft as well the altitude and duration of the flight. When you consider all these factors, a plane that flies internationally, such as the Boeing 747, may burn approximately one gallon of fuel every second.  These fuels used to power the plane are responsible for the plane’s CO2 emissions. Researchers now believe that in 2025, aviation CO2 emission could reach 1.5 billion tons!* While planes are very helpful in facilitating world-wide commerce and trade, shipping a gift by plane for your Aunt Susan two states over may not be the most eco-friendly option.

Choo Choo’s and CO2’s

Depending on where you live, you may not see a train very often. However, these railroad bound locomotives are still actively used in the movement of cargo and goods. Train fuel consumption is based on the train’s maximum speed and stopping patterns. A higher speed is directly related to more fuel usage. Also, a greater number of stops a train has along the way are also directly related to more fuel usage. This is because there is a greater input of fuel to get the initial motion of the train. Train transportation is considered to be one of the more efficient ways of shipping. On average, a train emits only .1 kg of CO2 per ton mile compared to the .81 kg of CO2 per ton mile of air cargo emissions.**

Trucking along the USA

Even though most trucks use diesel, they are not exempt from the growing number of harmful CO2 emissions into our environment. Vehicle transportation in general constituted about 27% of the United States total greenhouse gas emissions in 2005.*** Between 1990 and 2003, CO2 emissions increased by 20%, despite the many automotive improvements to increase fuel efficiency and decrease CO2 emissions.**** However, trucks emit less CO2 than cars per pound of vehicle mass. Trucks are also considered a better shipping alternative to airplanes emitting fewer CO2 per ton mile.

The Educated Consumer

As climate change becomes more and more evident, it is up to us to take an active role in decreasing CO2 emissions and eliminating our individual carbon footprints. With this important role in mind, Arbor Teas offers the Earth Friendlier Parcel Post Shipping option. Parcel Post shipping through UPS is a ground shipping option that eliminates air travel (making it a greener option) and is available in the lower 48 states. While this shipping option may delay the arrival of your order of delicious organic tea by about a week, this shipping option greatly reduces shipping fuel consumption and CO2 emissions. With Earth Friendlier Parcel Post Shipping, you can sip your tea in confidence knowing that you selected a greener option in its delivery.

* “Airline Emissions: Even Worse Than You Think”, Wired, http://www.wired.com/autopia/2008/05/airline-emissio/
** “Transport and the Environment”, Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transport_and_the_environment#Rail
*** “Truck: Environmental Effects”, Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Truck#Environmental_effects
**** “Truck: Environmental Effects”, Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Truck#Environmental_effects

Carpool and Minimize/Consolidate Trips

So you’ve decided to go to the mall – a popular activity this time of year! More than likely, your friends and neighbors need to do a little shopping too, so why not team up and carpool? They may even have gift ideas that you hadn’t considered. But if you already know what you’re going to buy, be sure to plan your route to minimize unnecessary, gas-wasting travel.

Bring Your Own Bag

This is also pretty familiar to many, and applies just as much to holiday shopping as grocery shopping. Reusable bags and totes are all the rage these days, because they cut down on waste from plastic shopping bags. There’s also something kind of satisfying about walking into a store with empty bags, and walking out with bags bursting at their seams!

Reusable Gift Bags

Gift bags are a better alternative to wrapping paper because they can be reused again and again with minimal waste. They also allow you to easily ‘wrap’ multiple gifts at the same time, thereby reducing the total quantity of wrapping material that you use! If you have to purchase new bags, try to buy gift bags made from recycled materials.

Tree-less Gift Wrapping

If you haven’t been saving your wrapping paper for re-use (save bows and ribbons too, they can be used several times at the very least), then you may find yourself buying wrapping paper. But just because you’re buying wrapping paper doesn’t mean that you can’t get eco-friendly or tree-less papers! There are a bundle of companies that produce wrapping paper from 100% post-consumer content and even a few that make wrapping paper out of unexpected things, like banana peels.  Also, consider other less conventional wrappings, like newspapers (if those even still exist in your community!), and cloth or other colorful textiles.

Scrutinize Your Online Shopping

This may be a surprise coming from an online retailer, but a recent UK report suggested that buying online may not be reducing your carbon footprint, but rather, increasing it! Here’s the idea: unless you’re ordering a bunch of stuff from the same place, all those different packages need to be trucked and/or flown to a bunch of different places before they head to your doorstep. And if you need to return something and have it re-shipped to you, then you’ve basically just tripled your carbon emissions! But fear not: Arbor Teas carbon-offsets our entire business operation, including all product shipping through the entire supply chain (from origin to us, and us to the customer). Read more about how we’ve made our entire operation the greenest possible.

Additionally, if you’ve decided to order online, consult with your friends about combining orders! If it all comes in one box, it lowers the amount of fossil fuel emissions and packaging waste used in shipping.

We hope you’ve found these tips helpful. Now you should be ready to take the holiday shopping season by storm! Think of anything we’ve missed? Leave your idea in a comment below! We’d love you to add your two cents to make this the best, most complete compilation of green shopping strategies it can be.

What Does Carbon Have To Do With Cold Brewing Tea?

Actually, there is even more you can do to reduce your CO2 emissions when it comes to tea-making. We covered a variety of “green brewing” techniques in a previous post.  These are certainly great ways to reduce your carbon footprint, but there is yet another easy and practical alternative to the regular brewing process: cold-brewing! As its name suggests, this technique involves making your favorite tea with cold water, slashing energy consumption by eliminating the water-heating process.

Of course, there are pros and cons to brewing tea this way. Cold-brewing will produce a lighter-bodied tea with less astringency and bitterness, as this method draws out a fewer tannic compounds, which is great for a mellow, even sweet, iced tea. Cold-brewing is also more time efficient, since you can make a pitcher of tea and store it in the refrigerator for a few days without having to brew a batch every day.  On the flip-side, it is also suggested that cold-brewing will draw out as little as half of the caffeine and half the beneficial antioxidants derived by hot-brewing, but our “research” can’t speak to that. Some suggest that splashing the tea leaves with a little bit of hot water “opens up the leaves”, helping release stronger flavor, more caffeine and higher antioxidant levels.

How To Cold Brew Tea

All you need to cold-brew tea is some good-quality loose leaf tea, a quart-size glass jar with a lid (if you don’t have a fancy cold brew tea pitcher), and cold water.  Any black, green, oolong or white tea will brew well. Herbal teas are generally not recommended, since they don’t usually undergo heat processing and may therefore harbor impurities and bacteria that are killed through standard hot-brewing.

Here are the simple steps for cold-brewing the perfect batch:

• Measure four to eight teaspoons of loose tea and give them a quick rinse (to remove dust and impurities, etc).
• Put the tea into the jar and fill to the top with cold water.
• Cover and refrigerate for at least 6 to 8 hours.
• Strain the tea leaves before storing or drinking to minimize bitterness.

You may want to experiment with the ratio of tea leaves to water and the length of steeping, depending on how strong you like your tea. You can also play around with the flavor of the tea by adding cut fruit or mint to it while it’s steeping. Cold-brewed tea is naturally sweeter, but you can sweeten it further with simple syrup, honey or agave nectar. Adding lemon or other citrus juice to the tea can also help sustain the tea’s antioxidants.

By cold-brewing your tea, you not only get easy, delicious iced tea, you also get peace of mind knowing that you took a small step in the right direction toward lowering your carbon emissions! Give it a try, and leave a comment telling us about your cold-brewing experience!

If you’re reading this blog, chances are you’re an environmentally-conscious tea drinker like us. While we’ve made big strides towards comprehensive sustainability (by sticking with organic tea, carbon-offsetting our business activities, using backyard-compostable packaging, etc.), buying your tea from an eco-friendly company such as ours is only part of the equation – the tea still needs to be brewed! Because we live in a world with limited freshwater resources and a dependence on fossil fuels for energy, we need to do all we can to minimize waste in our daily rituals – including tea drinking! With that in mind, we’d like to offer five quick (but hard-core) tips to help out:

1. Measure Then Fill. Start the process by filling your kettle with the water you intend to use for brewing, pouring in only the amount of water required to fill your teapot. This way, you’re not wasting any water, and you’re not expending any more energy than necessary to bring the water to the right temperature. If you don’t think you’ll drink a whole pot, then fill the amount of cups you intend on drinking with water and pour those into your kettle instead.
2. Local Water = Smaller Footprint. We often recommend using natural spring water when brewing your tea for better flavor (or at least dechlorinated tap water). Keep in mind that some areas have local spring water available – so use it! The less distance your spring water has to travel to reach you, the less carbon is emitted to the atmosphere in the process.
3. Refillable Containers Save. If you use spring water or filtered water bought in plastic containers, bring them back to the store to be refilled! This reduces packaging material necessary to transport the water, and typically saves you some cash, too! Many grocery stores and co-ops have machines available to do this (if your’s doesn’t, go find one that does, or ask management to consider adding this option).
4. Stick With Gas If Possible. Generally-speaking, it’s more climate-friendly to use a gas stove than an electric stove or AC-powered (plug-in) kettle. Use a gas stove if you still have one!  Gas burns cleaner than coal (which is used to power the vast majority of residential electricity in the United States). Natural gas is definitely not a perfect solution for all of our energy needs, but until technology and renewable energy markets develop further, it’s still better than coal. Of course, if you’re powering your home or office with solar energy, then an electric range is A-OK!
5. For Electric Stove Users. If you drink your tea with a meal, use the same burner you cooked with to heat your kettle while the burner is still hot! This takes advantage of the residual heat left in the burner, reducing the energy necessary to heat your water. Also, if you plan on re-steeping your tea with left over water boiled for the first infusion, turn the power to the stove off in between infusions, but leave the kettle on top of the stove to absorb the leftover heat.

We’d love to hear your perspective on how to make the tea brewing process more sustainable. Creative ways to make less waste, use less energy or somehow give back to the planet are always welcome! Leave us a comment with your own ideas!

• Drought in China leaving low-lying plants covered in dust, blocking crucial sunshine;
• Intense rainfall contributing to erosion of slopes and loss of plantings in India;
• Unprecedented frost in Rwanda, causing loss of 70% of leaves;
• Erratic rainfall in Kenya, with drought occurring twice as frequently;
• Higher temperatures in China contributing to increased pest populations.

NASA has noted that the effects of La Nina (the counterpart to El Nino that causes some cooling effects) will probably muddle the data for the rest of the year, bringing the year-long average close to the record setting temperatures of 2005. If 2010 were not a year affected by La Nina, NASA scientists believe that it would undoubtedly be the hottest year on their records. But even with the cooling effects of La Nina, 2010 will at least parallel the temperature anomaly of 2005.

NASA scientists suspect that continued global warming is to blame for this year’s incredible heat – they don’t believe it to be a chance occurrence. Additionally, NASA warns that “global warming has an effect on the probability and intensity of extreme [weather] events,” such as hurricanes, tidal waves, and droughts.

Although the peak temperature anomalies affected Eurasia, the Eastern United states (including Michigan, Arbor Teas’ home state) was also unusually warm – and we’ve definitely noticed! As disturbed by this troubling trend as ever, we’re doing our part at Arbor Teas to combat global warming: we continue to carbon offset our entire operation with the help of CarbonFund.org, while also participating in DTE Energy’s GreenCurrents program to promote the generation of energy from renewable resources.  Read more about our dedication to mitigating global climate change and promoting the health of the environment.

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!

The next thing you’ll need is stuff to compost! This includes tea, fruit and vegetable scraps, coffee grounds, breads and cereals, twigs and leaves, and even newspaper scraps. And of course, now you can even compost Arbor Teas’ new packaging material right in your own backyard!  You’ll want to mix up the materials as much as possible to make it easier for the organisms responsible for decomposition to get everything they need to grow and decompose your organic material. If you’re having trouble getting the process started, try adding a few shovels-worth of soil or a small amount of commercial fertilizer to the mix. Most soil already contains living organisms that will decompose organic material, and a half-cup of fertilizer per 10 inches of compost material will help them have enough high-nitrogen material to grow rapidly (source: USDA). If you live in a place that is very dry or very moist, you might want to cover your pile to lock-in or keep out moisture – a happy medium of humidity is best when it comes to composting. And make sure that you turn your compost pile regularly – this helps provide the microorganisms with oxygen that catalyzes the process.

There are a few things you should avoid putting in your backyard compost pile. These include meat scraps (which will attract many wild animals), diseased plants (which could taint your soil), and weed plants (which could rapidly take over your pile).

This method of backyard composting should take a few months to produce usable soil, with some slight variance depending on the temperature and what materials you’re composting (for instance, Arbor Teas’ backyard compostable packaging will take 4 to 6 months to breakdown completely). This soil will be great for use in a garden, or as mulch to place around trees to help keep the ground moist. No matter how you choose to use it, you can be confident that you disposed of your organic materials responsibly!

According to the American Society for Testing & Materials (ASTM), compostable plastic has to be ‘capable of undergoing biological decomposition (..) such that the plastic is not visually distinguishable and breaks down to carbon dioxide, water, inorganic compounds, and biomass, (…) and leaves no toxic residue.’ Additionally, it needs to break down at about the same rate as paper.How is this different from biodegradability? For a plastic to be biodegradable, it merely needs to degrade due to the functioning of some living microorganism. But biodegradability standards do not address the amount of time the material takes to degrade, nor if it leaves a toxic residue. Unfortunately, most biodegradable waste (such as plastic cups made from corn starch), are buried in landfills too deep for the bacteria responsible for biodegrading to survive – there’s just not enough oxygen. And when there isn’t enough oxygen present, many of these biodegradable plastic release methane (a potent greenhouse gas) while degrading. Even worse, many of them can leave behind toxic residues such as heavy metals – which are harmful to plants, animals, and humans (Source: GreenLivingTips).

An even weaker environmental standard would be degradable plastics. For a plastic to be ‘degradable’, it simply needs to be able to be broken down through chemical reactions in a man-made environment. Usually these plastics are oil-based; a byproduct of gasoline production.

Arbor Teas’ new packaging rises above all three of these standards – the next-generation material we use is backyard compostable. In addition to all of the requirements for compostability set forth by the ASTM (as described above), backyard compostable materials need to degrade relatively quickly in a natural environment. Many products labeled as ‘compostable’ only break down under industrial conditions – usually large metal containers with computer-controlled aeration, humidity, and oxygen levels that provide optimal conditions for microorganisms to break down the material (Spellman 79). But backyard compostable materials, like those implemented by Arbor Teas, can break down in a natural environment – like a compost pile behind your house – turning into viable, usable soil that is free of any toxic residues.

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.

The film is certified to both the European (EN13432) and American (ASTM D6400) standards for compostable packaging, and has been submitted to an additional independent test protocol (Miti Test ISO14851) confirming its biodegradation at ambient temperatures and in aqueous environments, relevant for home composting in bins or compost heaps.

MORE TEA, LESS PACKAGING!
Not only are our new packages compostable, they’re also lighter than their predecessors. In all, our latest shift in packaging materials reduced the weight of Arbor Teas’ packaging by over 60%! This translates to a meaningful reduction in the carbon footprint of Arbor Teas operations. And, in response to customer requests, the new packaging accommodates more tea than ever before. On average, Arbor Teas packages contain 27% more tea than they did previously. The result: MORE TEA, LESS PACKAGING!
Individually, these may seem like small improvements. But taken together, they add up to the greenest option for tea lovers anywhere!

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

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%!

Reason #3 – Green Printing:  We take a green approach to printing, which means we keep our printing minimal, use post-consumer recycled paper, and use low VOC soy- and/or water-based inks whenever possible.  It’s unlikely that you’ll ever see a printed catalog published by Arbor Teas.

Reason #4 – Reuse/Recycling of Materials:  We aggressively recycle our solid waste, reusing office supplies and packaging materials wherever possible. These efforts have been recognized through our partnership with the Washtenaw County Waste Knot Program.

Reason #5 – Reclamation of Materials:  In addition to recycling boxes for shipping our orders, we reclaim packing materials (peanuts, paper, bubble wrap, etc.) from local businesses and the local Materials Recovery Facility. Don’t be surprised if your order shows up packed in a hodgepodge of packing materials that have been given a second life!

Reason #6 – Green Energy:  By participating in DTE Energy’s GreenCurrents program, we promote the generation of energy from renewable sources, preventing approximately 10,000 pounds of carbon from being released into the atmosphere each year.

Reason #7 – Bicycling Hauling:  In an effort to further reduce our carbon emissions, all of our outbound packages are delivered to the post office (or other shipping carrier) by Dave Askins and his bicycle-powered hauling company, HD Hauling. 

Reason #8 – Earth-Friendly Shipping:  Although all of our shipping (both to and from our facility) has been carbon offset through CarbonFund.org (see below), our customers can elect to have their orders shipped via USPS Parcel Post, which doesn’t rely on air transportation (except to Alaska and Hawaii). Air transit generates far greater greenhouse gas emissions than ground transportation.

Reason #9 – Carbon Offset:  For those carbon emissions that we just can’t avoid (yet), we’ve teamed-up with CarbonFund.org to offset them by promoting the development of green energy, energy efficiency and reforestation. 

Reason #10 – Tips for Green Living:  To help our customers keep the environmental impact minimal once their tea arrives at their door, we do our best to provide helpful, relevant tips and information for earth-friendly tea enjoyment!

We hope you’ll consider making Arbor Teas your Earth-friendly source for organic loose leaf teas!