Mountain Rose Herbs Wins Co-Op America's People's Choice Award for 2008 Green Business of the Year

Company Committed to Clean Transportation, Fair Trade, Zero Waste, 100 Percent Organic; Over 6,000 Ballots Submitted By Consumers Across the United States.

(CSRwire) WASHINGTON, D.C. and SAN FRANCISCO, CA. - November 12, 2008 - Eugene, OR-based Mountain Rose Herbs is being named today as the People's Choice for Green Business of the Year from Co-op America. The award will be made formally this Friday at the San Francisco Green Festival(TM).

Since 1987,

Mountain Rose Herbs has focused on delivering exceptional quality certified organic products with a strict emphasis on sustainable agriculture. Mountain Rose Herbs, which employs 60 people, produces only about 80 gallons of waste each month, the equivalent of an average four-person household. They are working toward a goal of zero waste. Additionally, the company is working to protect our environment, support the local economy, and move America towards more sustainable transportation in this country by having their commercial fleet of trucks runs on 100 percent locally produced biodiesel, made from waste vegetable oil, one of the cleanest modes of transportation available.

Thousands of consumers nationwide took part in a Co-op America online questionnaire to select their favorite green businesses. Based on 6,277 ballots submitted by consumers across the U.S., the top-10 finalists for the most popular environmentally-friendly business were: AlterEco, San Francisco, CA.; Babyworks, Portland, OR.; Frontier Natural Products, Norway, IA.; GAIAM, Boulder, Co.; Kate's Caring Gifts, Fremont, CA.; Mountains of the Moon, Chicago, IL.; Mountain Rose Herbs, Eugene, OR.; Pizza Fusion, Fort Lauderdale, FL.; We Add Up, Mentor, OR.; and West Paw Design; Bozeman, MT.

"We were thrilled by the tremendous interest of environmentally and socially conscious consumers across the country in voting for their favorite green businesses," said Co-op America Corporate Responsibility Programs Director Todd Larsen. "We're pleased to announce that green consumers awarded the prize this year to Mountain Rose Herbs, which is focused on maintaining eco-friendly practices not only in their production but also in their shipping and office operations. Their green and sustainable practices are truly a model for other companies."

Mountain Rose Herbs Operations Manager and Director of Quality Control Shawn Donnille said: "The environmental ideals and practices incorporated by this company are an accurate reflection of the principles that all of us adopt in our personal lives. None of this would be possible without the enthusiasm and commitment exercised by each employee, and we could not do it without them."

Mountain Rose is committed to being 100 percent organic, and has been since 2001, when they decreed that no conventionally grown materials would enter their warehouse again. They are also committed to their sourcing, which means providing quality green products to their customers, as well as protecting workers all along the supply chain. They are also one of the only companies in the US to carry Fair Trade Certified(TM) herbs, which guarantee that workers at the beginning of the supply chain receive a living wage and work under fair conditions. They also offer other Fair Trade items in their product line.

Mountain Rose Herbs uses 100-percent post-consumer recycled paper in their catalog, post-consumer recycled packaging for shipping orders, and uses office supplies, including paper clips and push-pins that are made with recycled content. They also power their building on 100-percent renewable energy, use energy-efficient computers, and only use green, natural, and biodegradable cleaning products inside their facility.


ABOUT CO-OP AMERICA

Co-op America is the leading green economy organization. Founded in 1982, Co-op America provides the economic strategies, organizing power and practical tools for businesses and individuals to solve today's social and environmental problems. Co-op America's green economy programs encourage corporate responsibility, tackle climate change, build fair trading systems, advance healthy, local communities, and provide green purchasing and investing information for families and businesses.

To receive Co-op America's popular publications, including Real Money and the National Green Pages, participate in Co-op America's Green Business Conferences or Green Festivals, or to get its free e-newsletter, providing the latest green news, green discounts and opportunities to take action for a green economy, visit http://www.coopamerica.org, email info@coopamerica.org, or call at 800-58-GREEN.



--> For more information please contact:
Ailis Aaron Wolf(703) 276-3265

For more CSR news and information from this organization:
Corporate Social Responsibility Profile for Co-op America


Visit Mountain Rose Herbs

Experts Say Eat Local for Health, Planet and Wallet

Today is Blog Action Day. This is my contribution.

Experts Say Eat Local for Health, Planet and Wallet

The food on your table may travel up to 3,000 miles from where it was produced. Why you should care and what 'local-vores' and other local-food advocates are doing about it.

:: By Jeb Tilly

“The farm is like a connection to the things I loved when I was little,” says working mom Shenna Fitzgerald of Denver. “I grew up with big gardens, and my mom owned a health food store and made all our bread and yogurt.”

Those memories were an influence that led Fitzgerald to buy a share in a cow at Ebert Family Farms in nearby Byers, Colo., when she adopted her son in fall 2006. Her share entitles her five gallons of milk a month for $32 a month, plus the option of buying organic local meat, cream, yogurt, cheese, produce and eggs.

“There’s so much to buy from local farms,” Fitzgerald adds. “This food isn’t trucked, shipped and boxed. There’s less energy and less junk going into my food. It’s a lot healthier for me and my son.”

Local-food advocates believe it's also healthier for the planet — and an essential part of the solution to many of the environmental, social, health and economic crises we face today.


A Five-Country Meal Takes a Lot of Petroleum

Advocates of the growing “local-vore” movement believe that individuals, communities and regions that relocalize by producing their own essentials will find stability when supply chains fail or prices rise. They point to dwindling fossil fuel resources and rising levels of carbon dioxide as factors that are altering the distribution systems crucial to our transportation-dependent economy. There’s also evidence they’ll be healthier, more vibrant communities.

Ecological economists argue that mainstream economic thinking often ignores the fundamental interconnectedness of economy and environment. Nowhere is this disconnect closer to home than with food.

“Right now the caloric input to our food system is extremely high compared to the calories we get out of it,” says Jason Bradford, founder of California–based Willits Economic Localization Project (WELL), one of the first groups in the United States to undertake a community-wide relocalization effort in preparation for coming energy shortages.

The typical American meal contains ingredients from at least five countries outside the United States, according to Tim Lang, Professor of Food Policy at London’s Thames Valley University. Even items produced within our borders are frequent flyers (or drivers) by the time they reach our plates. One study of “food miles” conducted by researchers at Iowa State University found that conventionally grown produce in that state travels 1,494 miles on average to make it from farm to plate. Other studies put that figure at more like 2,500 or even 3,000 miles.

The neoclassical economics of that journey clearly make sense to the people producing, shipping and selling food, but the ecological economics don’t. For example, the energy cost of shipping one ton of strawberries by truck from Oxnard, Calif., to Belcourt, N.D., a distance of 1,900 miles, is roughly 1.6 billion calories. That ton of strawberries holds only 327,600 calories, yielding an Energy Returned on Energy Invested (EROEI) ratio of about 1:5000.

“That’s a pretty accurate picture of our economy’s metabolism,” Bradford says. “Shipping things great distances, eating out of season and extensive processing ramp up the energy we expend on food.” Heavy reliance on fossil fuels means most industrialized agriculture requires more energy to grow, harvest, process and distribute than is contained in the food itself.

While some may argue that conventional mass food production encourages progress because the majority of society — fed by the farming minority — is free to advance in other areas, this system is unsustainable without cheap oil. In addition, by severing the connection between people and the land that feeds them, factory farming contributes to environmental apathy and other environmental problems.

By contrast, the Iowa State University study reported that local produce in Iowa traveled an average of approximately 56 miles from field to market — an EROEI more in keeping with what eco-economists like to see.

Eat Local, Build Wealth In Your Community

Ecological economics isn’t the only way to justify localized food production. Michael Shuman, author of "The Small-Mart Revolution" says localizing food production has real dollar value as well, and it’s attainable.

“Modest steps toward relocalization can lead to enormous wealth at the local level,” Shuman says. “A lot of communities choose to import things they could produce for themselves. Most could replace the majority of their imports with local substitutes,” he explains.

By doing so they put more of each food dollar in local farmers’ pockets, keeping money local and energizing hometown economies. Shuman cites a study by Stewart Smith at the University of Maine, which shows that 40 percent of every food dollar went to farmers in 1900, while today farmers get only 7 percent of each dollar. The rest goes to storage, packaging, marketing and shipping.

Best of all, local food will become increasingly cost-effective. “Huge shifts in agriculture in the next 15 to 20 years will create incredible opportunities for small-scale food production,” Shuman adds. As the cost of distribution rises, local alternatives will become more competitive.

That shift is already well underway. Growth of Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) farms in the past decade has made eating local easier than ever. The burgeoning local-vore movement, whose members are committed to eating only food grown within 100 miles of their communities, is steadily gaining mainstream acceptance.

Farmer’s markets are proliferating too. According to "The Way We Eat " by Peter Singer and Jim Mason, in 2004 there were more than 3,700 farmers’ markets in the United States — more than double the number in 1994. And nearly 600 of those were started between 2002 and 2004, as compared to 274 new markets added from 2000 to 2002. More than 19,000 farmers told the USDA in a survey that they sold their products only at farmers’ markets.

Fitzgerald says it’s a welcome change. “It’s such a cool concept to ride your bike to work and see a cow and think, ‘that’s where my milk is coming from’,” Fitzgerald says. “I want my son to understand that you don’t always just get ingredients from the store and put them in the oven. Sometimes you dig in the dirt, you start from the beginning. It’s a value that was given to me, and I’d like to pass it on.”

(End of Article)

This is an article from GAIAM Community.

Gaiam.com is a health-conscious, environmentally responsible lifestyle company whose goal is to bring LOHAS to the mainstream. The Lifestyles of Health and Sustainability (LOHAS) concept is centered on the idea that our own health and happiness is connected to the health of our planet. Taking a holistic approach to our content and product selection, we encourage wholesome lifestyle choices with healthy, green products for your home and body.

PS: Should you feel inclined to shop there I advice you to join My Power Mall first. Gaiam.com is one of 10000+ stores in this mall. When you shop from there, you will get great rebates on your shopping.

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