Cherry Republic Partners with Eco-Building Products

By Forest Mullins

Going Green in Leelanau County

“We are not just selling cherries anymore; we are trying to make a better world,” says Cherry Republic President Bob Sutherland, who has taken a cue from one of the country’s prominent environmental philanthropists and made an effort to “green up” his popular Glen Arbor business that sells all things cherry — from ice cream, to salsa, to clothing. True to form, Cherry Republic installed dual-flush toilets and a solar-thermal system this past May.

Sutherland is not alone as the green building movement gains traction in Michigan and beyond. And that’s a breath of fresh air. As recently as 2006, buildings accounted for 40 percent of the total energy consumed in the United States and 38 percent of our carbon dioxide emissions.

In our state, environmental improvements could serve two purposes. Michigan boasts the highest unemployment rate in the nation, and green jobs and technology could prove to be a savior. Grand Rapids, for instance, boasts 26 buildings that are LEED-certified (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) — making it per capita the top city in the country.

Leelanua's Green Businessman
Of course, you have heard of Bob Sutherland, the local boy who began by selling T-shirts out of the back of his car. Since those meager days, his business has grown to become the leading distributor of specialty cherry products worldwide. Meanwhile, Sutherland’s environmentally-conscious business practices have distinguished Cherry Republic among local businesses as a green pioneer. The company donates one percent of its sales to environmental nonprofits — an amount that has already topped half a million dollars. Sutherland cites Patagonia outdoor clothing company founder Yvonne Chouinard as the impetus for his environmental mission.

Chouinard “was a huge inspiration to me,” says Sutherland. The two met 11 years ago when Chouinard came to Traverse City to speak on behalf of the Michigan Land Use Institute, an environmental and land use advocacy organization. Sutherland took to heart Chouinard’s pleas to do more for the planet.

The three-year goal at Cherry Republic now is to reduce energy consumption by 40 percent by creating renewable energy and adopting energy conservation. “We’ve already gotten to 20 percent in our first year,” Sutherland adds with a smile.

The “green team” at Cherry Republic — staff members who focus on cutting energy consumption and educating fellow employees on ways to conserve energy at work and home — has teamed up with Eco-Building Products of Travers City to implement environmental improvements at the store in Glen Arbor. “We started with the basics, changing light bulbs, increasing the insulation, and installing thermostats,” Sutherland adds. The next step was to purchase construction materials from Eco-Building Products such as paints, clear finished, and adhesive that off gas very few, if any, Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs) that pollute indoor air. He installed three Caroma dual-flush toilets in employee and guest restrooms in the Glen Arbor location that will save 24,000 to 36,000 gallons of water this year. The most expensive investment was to install a commercial Solar-Thermal System on the roof of Cherry Republic's Cafe.

The Green Building Alliance
Cherry Republic and Eco-Building Products (EBP) are paving the way for other local businesses by spreading the word about green-building techniques. “We are very proud of our association, because we are helping them make a living so they can make more companies in our area greener too,” summarizes Sutherland.

“We were so inspired by Cherry Republic's commitment to have a positive impact on the environment, we thought that we needed to recognize the company for its efforts. “Barnes explains. “So we developed our own Environmentally Preferred Purchasing Program (EP3 for short) similar to President Bill Clinton's 1998 Executive Order, entitled Greening the Government through Waste Prevention, Recycling and Federal Acquisition.”

The Traverse City Firm’s Environmentally Preferred Partnership (EP3) is based upon a mutual commitment to have immediate positive impact on Mother Nature. (Go to Environmentally Preferable Purchasing Program for information.) All of EBP’s products and systems eliminate or reduce negative environmental impact as soon as they are installed. In exchange for purchasing and installing its eco-building products and systems, Eco-Building Products provides it's partners with valuable empirical data (often in the spreadsheet form) that measures environmental impact and financial Return on Investment (ROI).

This valuable data ensures that its partners are well-informed, calculated, well-balanced and sustainable. EBP provides its EP3 partners with volume discounts and “broad scope” discounts that encourage its partners to take action on several environmental fronts as long as it is economically sustainable. Cherry Republic has purchased products that promote good indoor-air quality, save water, off-set carbon dioxide (a greenhouse gas) by reducing Kilowatt-hours usage, and generating clean energy.

Water Efficiency and Free Hot Water
Glen Arbor does not have public restrooms, and will not have them until next spring. In the meantime, Cherry Republic has gone though four sets of toilets in six years and experienced the stress of high water usage on its septic field. If used correctly a Caroma dual-flush toilet has the ability to save 14,000 gallons of water each year in a commercial setting,” explains Jim Barnes.

Meanwhile, Eco-Building Products’ solar-thermal system heats water that can be used for washing Cherry Republic's cafe dishes, guests and employee hands. This represents over 200 gallons of water each day during the high-volume summer season. Unlike solar (photovoltaic) panels, which turn solar energy directly into electricity, solar-thermal systems harness the sun’s energy for thermal energy or heat.

Several concave vacuum-sealed glass tubes are visible on the roof of café. No matter where the sun is in the sky, these tubes direct light to copper pipes in the middle of the tube. “When the liquid heats up inside the copper pipe it turns to a gas and transfers its heat to a medium (either water or a water/glycol mix) in a closed-loop system that will then transfer the heat into a water storage tank in the utility room,” Barnes explains.

“It’s the most efficient, best payback, cleanest, and longest-lasting form of renewable energy. Everyone in Northern Michigan should have one,” encourages Sutherland. “A single-family home with a two-panel system will typically cost $8,000-$10,000 installed,” estimates Barnes.

Federal Tax Credit Inspires Solar Energy and Green Building
Besides earning a 30 percent tax credit on average, solar water heating can reduce carbon emissions by one ton per year if replacing natural gas, and three tons per year if replacing electric hot water heating. Cherry Republic has also begun buying wind power energy credits from a wind farm in McBain, Michigan, called Heritage Sustainable Energy.

“Our whole green initiative here has invigorated me as a business owner,” says Sutherland. “Creating a green team has inspired employees. They are more loyal and proud of what we are doing here.”

As founder of the Sierra Club Foundation David Brower put it, “There is no business to be done on a dead planet."

Originally Published by the Glen Arbor Sun
http://www.glenarborsun.com/

On the WEB:
The Cherry Republic all things Cherry!
Green Building Products at Eco-Building Products

Water Saving Dual Flush Toilets

Saving Water and Money One Flush at a Time

The Caroma Dual Flush Toilets offer tremendous amount of water savings, no maintenance and easy cleaning uncomparable to anything of its kind.

Caroma's Dual flush toilets offer the occupant an option of flushing a full or half flush. If utitized propoerly, this toilet will save roughly one thousand gallons of water per person each year compared to a standard 1.6 gallon flush toilet in a household. In a commercial setting, this toilet has been known to save as much as 21 times more water than the standard 1.6 gallon flush.

How much will you save with Dual Flush? Try out free spreadsheet on Google Documents: Dual Flush Cost Savings.

Caroma Toilet's Innovative Design
* Innovating Design for Easy Cleaning.
* Easy Remove Seats.
* Concealed trap for easy cleaning.

* Cleansing Wash-Down Flushing.
* Reduce or Eliminate Clogging

* Reduce or Eliminate Condensation (less cold water resupply)

* .8 and 1.6 Gallon Flush. .8 for 80 percent of your daily flushing.

Elegant, Low-Maintenance, Dual Flushing Toilet

Reduce (or eliminate) Clogging with your Caroma Toilet Caroma dual flush toilets have a four-inch trap, nearly double the size of traditional toilets. No more embarrassed guests, or plunger-induced incidents.

See our full range of Dual-Flush Toilets at Eco-building Products

Or call us at: (231) 932-9104

See all our Green Building Productss YouTube Videos and add us as a favorite!

http://www.youtube.com/user/GreenBuildingProduct

Northern Michigan Bio : Suz McLaughlin

Local Food and Suz McLaughlin

by Carol Navarro

“Eating is an agricultural act.”

These packages of granola from Suz McLaughlin’s Still Grinning Kitchen are packed with ingredients beyond what the taste buds can experience and what the eyes can see. These are of course what one would expect: organic ingredients from as many local producers as possible. But like any work of art or craft made with the labor of love, it comes with history, or in this case, Suz’s story.

The Northern Michigan residents, who enjoyed the 300 pounds of granola she made last season, might think of it as Benzie County’s own ethnic food. And when Jim Barnes approached her about developing a new flavor based on Northern Michigan products she took it all in the evolution stride that goes back to her "Diet for a Small Planet" days in Ann Arbor.

“I worked at the Wildflower Bakery Coop,” she says, “and we all contributed our own variety of recipes. We were very young and this is where the whole rethinking about our diet comes from. We learned from one another.”

For Suz, her special recipe was her granola. When she moved to East Lansing to go to college she introduced it to the food coop she worked for. It sold so well that it was hard for her to keep up with the demand. By the time she moved to Benzie County with her partner, Steve, in the early 1980s, it was well evolved into a labor of love for food, and a love for friends.

Health-Imbued Local Foods
“Years ago I had a friend who was very ill with cancer,” she says. “I would make him granola, making sure I was packing in as much nutrition as I could. It was the only thing he wanted to eat. It was also easy to carry to all the clinics and appointments he had to go to.”

This season, her granola includes only liquid sweeteners; honey and maple syrup. It’s easy to package, easy to mail, and it has a long shelf life. She refers to it as her weather sensitive granola because it gets sticky in hot weather.

In addition to her granola, there is a seemingly endless amount of culinary magic in her pies, cookies, tarts, spinach lasagna, soups, appetizers and veggie and fruit dips. Her products are all offered with her instinctive flair for the art of presentation, because her epicurean green gifts are packaged using whatever recycled materials or seasonal flora are available, nourishing the visual appetite as well.

Does she have a favorite dish?

“I have a flavor of the moment all the time. I think it comes from a lifetime of my mother telling me not to play with my food. So of course I have to. I never grew out of it.”

Alice Waters, Julia Childs and Michael Pollan are her guides.

Alice Waters inspires her to eat fresh and local. Waters also developed a social program which introduces urban public school students to the concept of food from seed to table. The original Edible Schoolyard is located at Martin Luther King Junior Middle School in Berkley, California. With a one-acre organic garden and a kitchen for the classroom, students learn to grow, harvest, and produce nutritious meals.

She loves Julia Childs for her unashamed awkwardness and having fun in the kitchen. She recalls watching a televised show where Julia dropped a whole prepared turkey on the floor. In front of the camera she let out her distinctive laugh while making fun of herself.

“I loved seeing an adult behave that way who didn’t care and made it work for her,” she says.

The Past and Future Challenges of Local Food and Agriculture
Julia also earned her admiration when, in her late 80s, she went to the inner-city schools of Boston and taught students how to bake bread.

In recent moments she says, “I’m all things Michael Pollan right now. He’s the one who has me excited about food.”

Pollan, author of Omnivore’s Dilemma and more recently, In Defense of Food: An Eater’s Manifesto, wrote an open letter to the next "Farmer in Chief", directed at presidential candidates John McCain and Barack Obama in October for the New York Times regarding today’s serious food issues. He reminded Suz of a fact she realized she knew very little about.

“In World War II ‘Victory Gardens’ were 40 percent of the nation’s food source,” she says. “I remember hearing from my grandparents that people got rid of their front lawns and grew gardens for food. It was a simple thing to do. If they didn’t need the food, they shared it with others.”

This is what she feels Americans haven’t been asked to do yet: to contribute. And yet, something like that is a very simple thing to do.

Local Food Regaining its Former Prominence
In times when many are feeling negative effects of hard economic times, she is excited about all the possibilities from developing a local food culture and economy.

“There is tangible evidence how local food products, entrepreneurs and artisans have actually strengthened the economy in many communities throughout the United States,” she says. “Locally, we have a lot to be excited about.”

She refers to the numerous farmers' markets, organic farmers, the new community garden, ‘Grow Benzie’ (now in the early stages), and Northern Michigan College’s Culinary Arts program.
“It’s a great program for local kids finding a skill that can take them anywhere in the world,” she says.

There is a resurgence of looking at farming she says. Agriculture is the original green job. Local is better. "It gets away from monoculture and it creates a cyclical community with the thinking, 'If I do well, then my neighbor does well,'" she says.

When she sees people visiting local farmers' markets, cradling the produce in their hands as they converse with the farmers who brought it and produced it, she is reminded of her one of her favorite food quotes by Wendell Berry: “Eating is an agricultural act.”


On The Web:
Link to Michael Pollan’s article:
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/12/magazine/12policy-t.html

MLUI's Taste the Local Difference Campaign
http://localdifference.org/

Two other links describing the value of agriculture, food, and art in changing a community’s economy and quality of life:

http://paducaharts.com/about_paducah.php

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/08/dining/08verm.html?_r=3&oref=slogin&oref=slogin

Traverse City Hosts 2008 Water Festival Dec. 12-14

“We, the people, must redeem the land, the mines, the plants, the rivers . . .”
Langston Hughes, American Poet

by Holly Wren Spaulding

As this article goes to print, the United Nations is celebrating the 60th Anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. As they do so, an award winning documentary film, FLOW, depicting the global threat to freshwater, is being screened to delegates highlighting the threat to our human right to water—a right so fundamental that without it, our realization of other human rights is moot.

Of interest to Michigan residents may be the fact that FLOW uses, as one of its’ cases, the story of a group of citizens who for years have been organizing for the protection of the Public Trust in this state. Their argument? They believe that the water in our lakes, streams, and aquifers belongs to all of us and should be protected for the enjoyment and benefit of the public for generations to come. This may seem obvious, or it may seem terribly subtle, but it happens to be a very timely debate with extremely high stakes.

There is a growing trend—both locally and globally—which pits the rights of citizens against those of global corporations whose first goal is to make profit on a finite and increasingly scarce resource. It has been said that the wars of the 21st century will be fought over water, and already there is evidence of water conflicts in many other parts of the world.

Along with climate change, population pressures, breakneck development, and pollution, we are also experiencing the explosion of lucrative water industry intent on controlling the source and delivery of water supplies.

With water on the minds of so many people, the Traverse City Water Festival is coming to town this weekend, having ridden the wave of years of organizing by other grassroots groups who have long sought to highlight the seriousness of the challenges before us.

Well-known Michigan musicians affiliated with Earthwork Music--May Erlewine, Seth Bernard, and Breathe Owl Breathe among them-- have lent their names and talents to the launch of this event. Equally significant are the numerous local volunteers of all ages who have been working to present workshops, concerts, and even a closing night feast.

The Water Festival will be a family-friendly celebration, marrying music and performing arts with opportunities for popular education. Those who are interested in deepening their commitment to stewardship and water advocacy can expect to find some direction and tools for taking those critical “next steps.”

“We want to celebrate this precious natural resource,” says Chris Treter, a founding member of the Chiapas Water Project. “But after we celebrate, we must also take action to care for our region’s water supply and to make sure that the 1/6 of the world’s population who do not have access to adequate drinking water will some day soon enjoy the right to water.” To this end he believes we need to dedicate ourselves to solutions and hard work. His organization has for several years garnered local support for the construction of low-tech community wells in impoverished areas of southeastern Mexico where his company, Higher Grounds, also sources some of its Fair Trade coffee beans.

As the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations has stated, “Water is a limited natural resource and a public good fundamental to human life. The human right to water is indispensable for leading a life in human dignity.”

The Water Festival welcomes young and old alike to Traverse City this weekend.

Eco-Building Products, Inc. is a proud underwriter of the 2008 Traverse City Water Festival.

The Traverse City Water Festival, Dec. 12-14. Programming including concerts, films, speakers, workshops, and children’s activities takes place from 6pm Friday until Sunday night. All events will be held at The City Opera House & Higher Grounds Trading Company (at The Village at Grand Traverse Commons). More info: http://www.thewaterfestival.org/

Flow (82 min, dir. Irena Salina, 2008) screens Dec. 21st, 2pm, The Bay Theater in Suttons Bay. Info: www.leelanau.com/thebay

Holly Wren Spaulding is a writer from the Leelanau Peninsula.