On this day, which would have been Michelle's 27th birthday, it is with great joy that we find this newsletter filled with articles by Michelle's Earth Foundation's co-founders. Wherever Michelle's friends Rachele, Ian, Alison, Georgeanne, Tommy and Yasmine have journeyed, they have carried Michelle's spirit in their hearts. In these articles, we find their underlying concern with sustainable living and care for our earth as a whole. A special thanks to each and every one of you for sharing these important aspects of your lives today.

We want to extend a special thanks to those who've created and supported tributes and memorials to Michelle on Facebook Groups, Facebook Causes,  MichelleGardenerQuinn.com, and the MEF site.

Rachele

"Hey hey, ho ho, mercury has got to go!" It was a rallying cry heard across America last year,and one I think Michelle would be particularly proud to hear. For the past year and a half, I have worked for the Sierra Club, America's largest and oldest grassroots environmental organization. While many Americans associate the Sierra Club with our bearded founder John Muir, nature calendars and hiking trips, the organization has come a long way in its 119 year history. Today, the Sierra Club boasts more than 1.4 million members and supporters, chapters in all 50 states, D.C. and Puerto Rico, programs to engage youth in environmental stewardship, an award-winning magazine, a college campus arm and more!

The Sierra Club's top strategic priority is preparing and defending our families, communities, ecosystems and planet from global climate change. To this end, I've worked a great deal on the Sierra Club's "Climate Recovery Partnership" effort, especially the "Beyond Coal" campaign which is dedicated to ending America's dependence on one of the worst climate-change culprits and dirtiest fossil fuels: coal!

Virginia Clean Energy Rally Photo Courtesy: Sierra Club

Currently, the U.S. burns coal to produce approximately half of our electricity, despite the availability of clean, homegrown and inexpensive alternative energy sources like solar, wind and geothermal. Our coal-burning power plants are spewing billions of tons of carbon dioxide pollution into the atmosphere, aggravating climate change. The process of mining, transporting, and burning coal also has serious health and environmental consequences. Coal mining endangers the safety and health of mine workers, and the technique called "mountaintop removal mining" has destroyed hundreds of Appalachian mountains with explosives, and dumped the waste into valleys, streams, and communities below.  The scene at the power plants is even worse: huge smokestacks emit tons of mercury (a neurotoxin known to cause birth defects), sulfur dioxide, lead, and other dangerous pollutants into the air.  Every year, particulate matter air pollution from coal-fired power plants kills an estimated 13,000 Americans prematurely, according to the American Lung Association, and is responsible for $100 billion in health costs, according to the Clean Air Task Force. Furthermore, Big Coal companies often dump toxic waste, known as coal ash, into poorly-regulated ponds and piles, allowing poisons like mercury, arsenic and lead to seep into groundwater.

The Sierra Club's Beyond Coal campaign is determined to stop dirty coal from making people sick, destroying our environment, and worsening climate change. We are also advancing clean energy solutions, like our new rooftop solar program in California.   

The transition to clean energy is already happening, but the quicker we replace dirty coal, the better! On the heels of a major victory when the Obama Administration finalized the first-ever federal limits for Mercury and Air Toxics pollution from coal, last December, I encourage everyone to join the Sierra Club and the Beyond Coal effort! Find out more at beyondcoal.org or take the fun quiz at coalinyourlife.org.

Onwards to a clean, healthy energy future!

Tommy

Following the success of similar programs in Seattle and San Francisco, Portland has adopted a curbside food composting program for all of its single family homes and residences with four units or less as of October 31st of last year.  There is also an option for food waste producing businesses such as restaurants and grocery stores to participate. A pilot program is in the works for apartment buildings with more than four units to  bring the effort to a wider community in the future.

The city already had in place a successful program for yard waste composting, which allowed residents to put yard debris into large green bins for curbside collection.  Under the new program residents are now able to add food waste, food-soiled paper products, and even greasy pizza boxes to the same bins.  This will dramatically reduce the amount of waste entering landfills each year in addition to reducing the city's environmental impact and financial burden for waste disposal.

It is generally estimated that food waste (including food-soiled paper) comprises about one third of all landfill-bound garbage.  Programs like the one Portland has now adopted can keep food waste from being, well, wasted when it could be composted and reused as fertilizer, thereby adding necessary nutrients in the soil.  It is also less expensive to compost food waste than it is to dispose of it in landfills, as it can be transformed into a valuable commodity and then resold to offset costs of collection.  Additionally, the environmental impact of composting is far less than that of landfill disposal, which is a major source of greenhouse gas emissions that contribute to global climate change and harmful runoff that can contaminate groundwater and surrounding ecosystems.

While it seems that this is will be a win-win scenario, it is still too early to gauge the actual success of the program.  The overall willingness of Portland's residents to separate their food waste and get it into the green bins for collection will of course be the deciding factor.  However, one incentive for residents to take part in the program has been the reduction in trash collection to every other week, while the green compost bins will be collected weekly.  This change in services has also helped to alleviate concerns regarding sanitation issues (rodents, mold, etc. from food sitting around), as well as to reduce the overall cost of implementing the program.  Refuse removal costs for residents have not increased since last October, and it is expected that they will not rise in the future, which will also contribute to the program's success.  In addition the city has provided residents with smaller "kitchen bins" that are convenient for transporting food waste from the kitchen to the curb.  They are also small enough to frequently be emptied, thereby eliminating one barrier to participation.

As a Portland resident, I am thrilled that this program has finally been adopted! It is a step in the right direction for Portland both financially and environmentally, and I hope the program will be further expanded in years to come.

Ian

Nationwide, food lovers and connoisseurs have begun to embrace local food as an integral aspect of the fine dining experience. While this trend has received a lot of attention in most cities  known for fine cuisine, there is a notable lack of local food integration in the city of New Orleans. Tourists frequent New Orleanian restaurants in search of gulf shrimp and regionally harvested oysters, but these staples are increasingly being imported from far away coasts since the BP oil spill in 2010.

Justin Devilliers, executive chef at La Petite Grocery, is aiming to change the way fine dining is approached in New Orleans and has hired me to help him do it. I have designed and maintain a garden located a block away from the restaurant on a small lot attached to St. Stephens Catholic Church.The garden is completely organic, utilizing composting and vermicomposting for the bulk of its fertilization needs. Kitchen scraps from the restaurant as well as yard waste are used to process nutrients for the soil.Eventually the garden will use rain runoff from the church to provide the bulk of the plant's watering needs.While not huge, this garden can provide La Petite Grocery with about 20% of its weekly produce needs.

Farmer Ian's Compost for La Petite Grocery Garden

Worm Farm

Justin aims to locally source the produce my garden cannot provide in the near future, and I have been tasked with connecting to nearby farmers to make La Petite Grocery a true locavore destination.

I believe urban farming on a commercial scale is often overlooked and considered a non-viable ideological alternative to agri-business, or even to small scale farms outside the city. Alternatives are often talked about but rarely put into practice.

By building a fully functional and commercially viable garden in the midst of New Orleans, a block away from where the food from the garden is used, we are changing the way local food and the ability to grow it is perceived. We are planting a new idea of what an urban geography can look like and how space can be used as a realistic alternative to the empty lots and urban blight that plague New Orleans and, increasingly, other cities in the United States.

Worm Fertilizer

Organic Garden

When I tell out-of-town friends or relatives that I live in downtown Washington, D.C., I am invariably met with the same response: "How do you stand the traffic?!"  They imagine that in a city, getting anywhere means spending hours navigating a car through clogged, congested roads.  That does sound frustrating-but, as I always try to convince them, it couldn't be farther from my experience.   

The fact is, living in a city means freedom from traffic, and a variety of available transportation options for getting to the office every morning.  For me, most days, it means riding my bike to work.  It's not only an environmentally responsible way to travel; as I've learned, there are plenty of other reasons to love commuting on a bicycle.

First, it's fast.  It's about 3 miles from my front door to my desk.  When I walk, it takes about 45 minutes.  Riding the metro, about 30.  On a bike, just 15.   Riding a bike to work cuts my commute in half, giving me 15 extra minutes in the morning to spend however I want (read: sleeping).

Second, it's free!  Cycling eliminates the cost of commuting almost entirely.  Driving means paying for gas, parking, and the unavoidable parking ticket every now and then.  Even traveling on the metro adds up, with round trip fares totaling at least $4 per day for even the shortest distances.  On a bicycle, your only cost is occasional maintenance.  

Finally, it's an excellent way to wake up.  Ride 15 minutes and you won't show up at your destination feeling like a zombie.  

Of course, if you haven't been on a bike in a while, the idea of riding on the road can be daunting.  Luckily, there are lots of ways to ease yourself back in to cycling.  The Capital Bikeshare program has become extremely popular in the D.C. metro area, allowing you to give bike commuting a try without committing to buying a bicycle.  Just remember to bring your own helmet.

Also, due in part to the prevalence of such bike sharing programs, many cities-DC included-are becoming more bike friendly and improving their infrastructures to accommodate more cyclists safely.  I'm able to use a bike lane almost the entire way to work-a luxury I wouldn't have had just a few years ago.  Although these aren't available everywhere, organizations like the Washington Area Bicyclist Association (WABA) have plenty of resources online to help you map out the safest route for navigating busy urban streets. They also provide you with information on your rights as a cyclist, and on getting involved in efforts to improve cycling safety and accessibility in your community.

So, even if your last bike had training wheels and streamers on the handlebars, consider making 2012 the year to get out of the car and back on the road.  

Michelle and Yasmine

A new EPA website reveals the U.S.'s biggest carbon dioxide, methane, and other greenhouse gas emitters. Such information can be found at  www.epa.gov/climatechange/emissions/co2.html. The data shows Macon, Georgia is home to the nation's largest single-point source of greenhouse gases at the Scherer power plant which is comprised of four huge coal-burning facilities that release 23 million metric tons of carbon dioxide annually. Another large emitter is in Petaluma, California where a local landfill annually produces 133,000 metric tons of methane gas, which contribute to both smog and global warming. EPA is required by law to collect and distribute this data to the public. However, these large emitters account for only half of all emissions in the U.S. The other half comes mostly from tailpipes, chimney flues, planes and countless other operations burning fossil fuel from coast to coast.

*From Richard Harris's NPR interview

Please share your comments, questions or ideas by email at [email protected].

Thanks for all you do in Michelle's name.