Category Archives: Green Business

HSU Grad Playing Key Role in Battle Against Styrofoam

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Can a startup headed by two twenty-somethings rid the Earth of styrofoam? It just may be happening.

Sue Van Hook, who earned Bachelor’s degrees in Botany and French and a Master’s degree in Biology from HSU,  has retired from teaching at prestigious Skidmore College and is now the Chief Mycologist at Ecovative Design, LLC. which employs about sixty people in Green Island, New York. Ian Frazier, in the May 20 edition of The New Yorker,  recounts in his article the six-year history of the company, which has attracted international attention by developing  an all-natural substitute for plastic made from tissue found in mushrooms.  It is suitable for containers and packaging now made from Styrofoam. “Ecovative’s eventual goal is to displace plastics all over the world.”

Ecovative’s founders, Gavin McIntyre and Eben Bayer, are graduates of Rensselaer Tech’s Inventors’ Studio and its Incubator program.  They were already talking about starting a company and had won a $20,000 prize for environmental entrepreneurship from Oxford when Van Hook read about them in a local paper and called them. Skidmore became a backer of the project along with Rensselaer and Van Hook’s students became part of the effort to find a suitable growing medium and technique to produce an “artificial plastic”.

The hazards of real plastic are pretty evident by this time. Landfills, beaches and highways   are littered with Styrofoam which once was used primarily for building insulation but now, unhappily, is everywhere. Much of the trash gyre in the Pacific Ocean is styrofoam, also called “foamed polystyrene”.  As Frazier notes, “Foamed polystyrene breaks down extremely slowly, in timespans no one is sure of, and a major chemical it breaks down to is styrene, listed as a carcinogen in the 2011 toxicology report issued by the National Institutes of Health.”  The toll on wildlife has been well-established.  Mayor Bloomberg has proposed a ban on the commercial use of Styrofoam containers in NYC.

The materials produced by Ecovative will biodegrade in about a month, with no carcinogens. I highly recommend the article, along with the rest of the May 20 “Innovators issue”, and I’m sorry I can’t reprint the whole thing for you, but it’s copyrighted. You can buy it online, visit the library or just buy a subscription.  I’ve been reading The New Yorker since I was a kid and it just keeps getting better.

So why don’t we have a county-wide ban on  Styrofoam?  Could your business find a way to succeed without foamed polystyrene? And wouldn’t Sue Van Hook have been a better choice as a graduation speaker than a phonied-up impersonator of Alexander von Humboldt, who never set foot in California?? What do you think?

“The Best of the North Coast”- really?

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Where's my room??

Where’s my room??

Everyone loves lists, and I’m sure the North Coast business community pays close attention to the Times-Standard’s annual “Best of the North Coast” supplement that was just  published.

I find the list fascinating but everyone wonders the same thing: do these choices really reflect public opinion or is this more like when you were running for prom king or queen in high school and you had to go around and get your friends to vote for you.  Do the winners really represent “the people’s choice” or do they merely reflect organized campaigns in which employees and friends are “reminded” to cast their ballots? The editor states that “We hand-counted thousands of votes”.  I wonder why, the next time they do this, couldn’t they publish the actual counts? Then we’d know if the Kabob Cafe won the title “Best Place for a Business Lunch” by a margin of 3 votes or 40.  That was one of the weirder choices, to me. I love their food but I can’t see having a business lunch there, not if you need privacy.

Their winner in the “Hotel” category was very strange.  They listed the Holiday Inn at 2223 4th Street in Eureka although that property has been a Clarion for at least twelve years and the pleasant ladies at the front desk informed me there are no plans to revert to Holiday Inn status. Even more bizarre, they included, as a winner, the construction site on Broadway and Wabash where a Holiday Inn IS under construction but I find it hard to believe that it garnered votes as anyone’s favorite place to stay, considering there’s no roof yet.  Still, when you’re “hand counting thousands of votes” I suppose a few anomalies slip in.

I was pleased to see that a few of my favorite establishments were recognized.  The AA does have the best steaks, Hole in the Wall does have the best sandwiches, C&C Market does do a remarkable job of catering and McCrea Nissan where I have received the best service in my experience was honored, although paired with Mid-City Motors where I received the worst.  They shouldn’t  have categories where there are only one or two providers. St. Joseph’s vs  Mad River?  Apples and oranges.

Anyway, thanks to the Times-Standard for the supplement, which I always save for incoming visitors. Next year, let’s see the actual counts.  Might be interesting. 

The Robots Are Coming- to a Redwood Coast Business near you

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I hadn’t intended to write about robots today but seeing both the North Coast Journal’s  story about St. Joseph’s labor issues including the “doc-on-a-stick” AND The Economist’s survey of “robotic telepresence” in the workplace on the same day got my attention.

Briefly, St. Joe’s has apparently introduced the use of the “doc-on-a-stick” (described by the NCJ as a “video screen on a pole that a nurse wheels into  the patient’s room, so a doctor from afar can videoconference in to consult with a patient with the nurse’s help.”)  Normally, such a major change in procedures would call for “impact and implementation” bargaining between the employer and the union. The article, by the always excellent Heidi Walters, examines points of contention between labor and management at St. Joe’s and although this is the first time I’ve heard of robots being at issue in local labor relations, you may be assured it won’t be the last.

The survey published by the Economist in the March 9th issue was eye-opening, to me at least. I didn’t realize how inexpensive “robotic telepresence” is becoming.  RoboDynamics of Santa Monica introduced its TILR model in 2008 at $10,000, followed it with a $3000 model in January and is working on a 2015 model that will cost less than $1000. Robots are being used to extend a manager’s sphere of influence by enabling monitoring and meetings that would not otherwise be practical. They can facilitate real estate deals by allowing inspections remotely. They can enhance security, and cheaply. Xaxxon Technologies in Vancouver is selling a patrol bot that is essentially a laptop on wheels which runs on Skype and is controlled by a smartphone. It costs $290. I want one.

Security , however, is a two-way street. A ‘bot on patrol may be transmitting images which call for a firewall or other controls. Another issue is the effect on humans in the workplace who feel (with good cause) that they are being spied on. Future developments will be driven to some extent by the need to humanize the ‘bots, perhaps by adding limbs. Several companies are now marketing small machines that can zip around a floor or tabletop, carrying your smartphone and avoiding collisions. It’s happening.

I strongly recommend you read the full article. I have no doubt that somewhere in Humboldt County an inventor is pursuing this technology and new uses for it. We do, indeed, live in interesting times. Are you considering the use of ‘bots for your business? Let us know.

 

 

New Year’s Wishes for Redwood Coast Business

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While clearing away the Christmas clutter,  let’s hope for better days to come. Here are my three wishes for the local business community.

1. No more empty storefronts! Even a year ago I could smugly drive through Henderson Center and think, “Well, at least there aren’t any empty businesses  HERE.” No longer.  Gone are Finnegan & Nason (what happened to them?) , Robert’s , although there’s a liquor sales notice in the window so maybe something is happening there, the old Dalianes site is empty again.And HC is bustling- with a serious parking problem- compared to downtown. Empty commercial sites, like  broken windows, are a sign of of an unhealthy community. The unoccupied Wendy’s, Plaza Design, and other empties on our main drag are a drag on our economy and certainly do not inspire confidence in anyone thinking of moving or investing  here.

2. Better and more transportation options! We can throw money at all the second-tier airlines in the country , like throwing spaghetti against the wall and hoping it sticks, but how many more times will we have our hearts broken and our money consumed for no result? It’s time to admit that the airport is not viable for people who need reliability . Who will start a shuttle service to SF/SFO? I’m betting they’ll do well. Sign me up.  While we’re at it, let’s wish for an exhaustive and credible study of the East-West rail option. I was a  part of the Humboldt Bay Working Group that is adocating for the study and I’m still all for a CREDIBLE study of this option.

3. I wish that the flowering of entrepreneurship in Humboldt County continues to flourish.  I hope that the rumored relocation of Mr. Arkley does not mean the end of the Economic  Fuel program.  The Link is sponsoring some exciting programs and there is an Inventors’ Group forming in Eureka. When times are tough, the tough get going. We have no other choice if we want to continue living in the best place on Earth.

So Happy New Year, everyone. I was only kidding about cleaning up after Christmas. I like to leave my Christmas lights up until Chinese New Year.

 

 

 

Plan It Green 2012- the Adaptation Conference

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You’ve probably seen these posters around town but may not have realized that there are folks right here in our community and elsewhere on the North Coast who are actively engaged in addressing the critical issues of climate change, the exhaustion of resources such as cheap oil,and the economic uncertainties in Europe, Asia and the Middle East,  all of which will affect our planet and the world in which our children will grow up.

These local activists will team with others from near (Mendocino) and far (there will be live webcasts with Bill McKibben, author of The End of Nature, and with Rob Hopkins, author of The Transition Handbook-from oil dependence to local resilience) to discuss their research and findings on the development of strategies and technologies that will build resiliency into our future.  In-person guests include Richard Heinberg, , leading national energy expert, Senior Fellow at the Post-Carbon Institute and the author of ten books including The End of Growth.

You can hear from these world-class experts and exchange ideas with many others at this year’s Plan It Green conference, the most ambitious yet. The symposiums and webcasts begin the evening of Thursday, July 19 and continue all the next day at Humboldt State. On Saturday the action moves to the Arcata Community Center, with the Annual Trade Show where over 40 exhibitors  are expected with information, goods and services related to home energy systems, building trades, transportation, food production and home furnishings and products PLUS the “Wheels of Change” auto mall featuring a variety of alternative-fuel, hybrid and electric vehicles.  The Saturday events are free and open to the public, the Conference has a TOP price of $49 which includes lunch and a 2GB thumb-drive containing the Community Resilient Toolkit, including a 120-page workbook and extensive digital resources.

There will be much more going on than we have space here so for more information and tickets visit the website   http://www.AdaptationConference.org                             This is important. Don’t miss it!

 

 

Is Calhoun’s the best barbecue sauce ever?

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Early days

 I am making no attempt whatsoever to be objective.  From the moment I discovered Calhoun’s (probably at Murphy’s) I have never purchased another brand. I’ve tried barbeque sauces all over the Carolinas and Florida, and in St. Louis, and even the mustard sauce peculiar to South Carolina, which most Californians can’t stand.

But my go-to sauce, which I always keep on hand, is Calhoun’s Original Southside Bar-B-Cue Sauce. It’s light and slightly spicy, not sticky-sweet like the Memphis style.  As Mike Ross, its creator, explains it, there is no real “Chicago Style” sauce; he had to invent it himself.

Talking to Mike Ross is a treat, especially if you love Chicago as I do. Mike grew up in what is now known as the “Historic Pullman District”. Historic it is, and you can sign up for tours which will guide you through the first model, planned industrial community in the United States, built by George Pullman as a place to produce the famous Pullman sleeping car. It was a company town, sort of like Scotia on steroids, and the scene of a violent strike in 1894.  Mike grew up grilling for family get-togethers (oh, those Chicago summer evenings!) and his sauce recipe had its beginnings there. The name “Calhoun’s” , incidentally, derives from the neighborhood’s Calhoun Street. 

Mike  worked as a correctional officer for 12 years before deciding that Chicago had become too small and a change was in order. He came to Arcata to visit his grandparents who had moved there earlier. Once he hit the tarmac and saw the green hills around, he never looked back.

Mike’s bottling machine

The business is clearly poised for expansion. Mike is travelling to Georgia to pick up a catering-size grill and smoker and looks forward to opening his own place.  Meanwhile, a distribution deal is pending with a partner in, of all places, Montreal, which has a long barbecue tradition of its own, especially with chicken.  He currently has seventeen outlets including Murphy’s Markets and Eureka Natural Foods but if the Canadian connection works out, watch for explosive growth. With all-natural ingredients, Calhoun’s may become the Redwood Coast’s next big export. Visit their website here. 

Have you tried Calhoun’s?  How do you think it stacks up next to Smokin’ Moses or whatever they use at Porter Street? Have you worked with the SBDC or AEDC? Let us hear from you!