Platinum Rewards: Reducing Carbon Footprint Makes Bottom-Line Sense

By Sarah B. Hood

“Companies are reacting now,” says Christopher Castaldi, VP of sales for the warehouse consulting and system integration firm and MHI member DMW&H. “There are enough data points that say the majority of the country believes it’s not just the bottom line; they will pay a little more for a company that has consideration for the environment.”

He says he doesn’t believe Europe is leaving the U.S. entirely behind on this front. “The only LEED-platinum net-zero energy distribution center is in the United States, so now Europe’s coming to look at what we’re doing. And look at Tesla. We need to continue raising the bar,” he says.

The LEED-platinum distribution center that Castaldi refers to is a remarkable facility designed from the ground up by the outdoor recreation co-operative REI. Conceived through a charrette process by numerous expert collaborators versed in areas from architecture to material handling and sustainability, it is almost a textbook in sustainable supply chain design.

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Get outside: 30x30 Nature Challenge takes off, expands around country

By Thomas Content of the Journal Sentinel

What's the recipe to really get outside and appreciate what nature has to offer in our device-attached world? Unplugging from our phones and other gadgets.

Thanks to armbands and earbuds, our technology follows us as we walk or jog. We listen to e-books instead of birds, our favorite lyrics instead of rustling leaves. Or, as pedestrians, we catch ourselves crossing the street while texting.

It's just not that easy to unplug. Even leaders of the 30x30 Nature Challenge, which starts Wednesday, say so.

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Oconomowoc High School to host winter farmers market

By Donna Frake of the Journal Sentinel

A new home has been found for the 2016-17 season of the Oconomowoc winter farmers market. Organizers have announced that Oconomowoc High School will be the new location in the school’s cafeteria, adjacent to the field house.

The event was in search of a new site after a June fire destroyed Oconomowoc Landscape Supply and Garden Center, which had been the host of the market for the last six years.

“The Oconomowoc Chamber is a strong community partner, and we really wanted to find a way to accommodate the winter market after they lost their host site,” explained Kate Winckler, director of communications and marketing for the school district. “We put our heads together and figured out a way to make it work with no cost to the school district, so it’s a win-win.

"The market is all about offering local, healthy products, and it’s a great opportunity to educate students , as well as the public,  about making healthy choices when they shop for food. We’re looking forward to welcoming farmers market shoppers to Oconomowoc High School."

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Corporate wave to cut carbon continues under Trump

By Thomas Content of the Journal Sentinel

Businesses don't even bother using terms like global warming or climate change when they discuss the subject.

"They talk about carbon," said Tom Eggert, executive director of the Wisconsin Sustainable Business Council. "It's 'business speak' for climate change. They're measuring, as opposed to mulling or ignoring."

The change is more than just about semantics: It illustrates the thought process has moved from talk to action for businesses looking to cut their carbon footprint. The term carbon refers to something that can be quantified and reduced.

As a result, businesses aren't pausing their carbon reduction efforts following the election of Donald Trump, who as a candidate described global warming as a hoax and vowed to cancel the Paris Agreement, the global climate accord signed last year by 195 countries including the United States.

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$1.14 a gallon gas? That's the equivalent cost for electric vehicles

By Thomas Content of the Journal Sentinel

Finding gasoline for less than $1.50 a gallon is impossible. But drivers of electric vehicles are able to do just that.

A new statistic — the eGallon — will now be calculated monthly by the Department of Energy to gauge the price paid by electric vehicle drivers to go the same distance that a driver of a conventional car will travel, on average, using a gallon of gas.People who own electric vehicles may already know what they're paying to fill up, but the agency introduced the new "eGallon" metric to help consumers who are thinking about buying electric vehicles.

Based on the 2012 model year, the department's analysis concluded that consumers are paying $1.14 a gallon nationally to drive 28.2 miles, the average distance traveled by comparable 2012 non-electric small and medium-size cars.

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Leaf owner is charged up about going green

By Thomas Content of the Journal Sentinel

Oconomowoc - A small green marketing firm that strives to help other companies promote their sustainable work now has one of the first all-electric cars in the state.

Lisa Geason-Bauer founded Evolution Marketing in 2008 and has been active in a variety of green roles, from running the local winter farmers market to being active on green issues for an Oconomowoc city "lead by example" team. She's also a board member of the statewide Wisconsin Sustainable Business Council, a network of mostly large companies.

She's been on the waiting list for a Nissan Leaf for the firm for more than two years because she wanted a car that was as green as her business.

Geason-Bauer and her employee and husband, Mike, a graphic designer, make no secret that they're striving to be as green as they can in all that they do. They purchased carbon offsets for all the miles driven in their Chevrolet Malibu since 2008, and buy renewable energy from Oconomowoc Public Utilities to enable them to proclaim that the electricity they're charging their Leaf with is also green.

She was the first person in Wisconsin to order a Leaf and ended up getting the second Leaf to leave Boucher Nissan's lot, earlier this month.

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