Grand Rapids, Michigan – Green City on the Rise

Photo Credit: www.markbrace.com

I have firmly planted roots in Grand Rapids, the city where I was born, raised, and continue to live. Grand Rapids is a green city on the rise in many regards. Over the years I have witnessed immense growth and change happen right before my very own eyes. Out of all of the recent recognition, and top 10 lists that Grand Rapids has graced of late, there are particular accolades that truly summarize the overall progress that has been charted in the area – like The US Chamber of Commerce naming Grand Rapids the Most Sustainable Mid-Sized City in the country in 2010, and Fast Company naming Grand Rapids America's Greenest City in 2008. Through strong efforts put forth by the office of Mayor George Heartwell (George has just been named to the White House Climate Council), the local private sector, and the residents of Grand Rapids, a solid foundation upon which to build a more sustainable city of tomorrow has been well established. This 3 minute video is an enjoyable watch, and highlights some of the things that make GR so special.
 

Local Food

Grand Rapids has a burgeoning local food system. According to Local Harvest, an online resource with local food information for all 50 states, there are 21 CSAs in the Grand Rapids area. Notable CSAs in Grand Rapids include Trillium Haven Farm and Sandhill CSA. Trillium Haven Farm offers shares of beautiful, fresh and diverse produce June through October. Sandhill CSA grows offers shares of produce and pasture-raised meat. Sandhill also has a community calling - as stated on their website, 

"Sandhill CSA knows farming and food to be much more than subsistence. It is both vitality and restoration - sustainability enhanced through community involvement. Our vision of community building means shareholders not only make a farm profitable, but will enable Sandhill to provide professional community services to neighbors in need."  

Grand Rapids also has community gardens and greenhouses that are specifically geared to targeting the issue of food deserts, helping some of our neighborhoods that are most in need, I touch on work being done in this area by Our Kitchen Table a few paragraphs down. 

Farm-to-table restaurants? We certainly have our fair share here in GR. Two of my personal favorite joints, Bartertown and Cult Pizza source nearly all of their ingredients from local farms. Bartertown is also notable for their collective business structure and governance, from their website: 

"Bartertown Diner is a vegetarian, vegan, and raw, worker owned and operated diner. The goal of the restaurant is to promote fresh, local ingredients along with a positive, fair working environment." 

Oh, and those Trillium Haven Farm folks that were mentioned earlier – they helped form Trillium Haven restaurant, which now bears the name Terra GR. This farm-to-table restaurant has some serious foodie credentials. I will make one final mention (can you tell that I like to eat - an epicurean, let's say?) The Green Well Gastro Pub - In addition to having an amazing and ever-changing menu that uses ingredients sourced from local farmers, they are based in a LEED Certified building, and use solar panels in their energy mix. These restaurants are all committed to providing affordable options for fresh and local food. 

On top of all of this, Grand Rapids has a diverse and abundant history of both small and large-scale farmer’s markets, including the classic Fulton St. Farmer’s Market, and the brand new $30M, 130,000 ft² Downtown Market. It is safe to say that Grand Rapids is a mecca for sustainably-minded foodies - foodies who are determined to keep cookin' up change.

 

Local Economy 

The Grand Rapids Metro population just passed the 1 million mark this year, and spans across Kent, Ottawa, Barry, Montcalm and Wyoming counties. The Grand Rapids Metro area is a hub of advanced manufacturing, design, medicine, and entrepreneurship. Grand Rapids is home to pioneering companies and institutions like, Herman Miller, Steelcase, Haworth, Amway, Cascade Engineering, X-Rite (Pantone), Van Andel Institute (biomedical research), Spectrum Health, and Metro Health, and too many others to list here.

These large-scale institutions are largely founded, owned, and operated by Grand Rapids Metro natives, and contribute heavily to the local economy. A lot of infrastructure and sustainable development within the area is funded by them. But it is not just the “big guys” that make Grand Rapids tick, we have a thriving small business community. And with organizations like Local First, there are structures in place to support, develop, and sustain small business, and concentrate local cash circulation. Local First commissioned this study on the impacts of local business on West Michigan / Grand Rapids' economy.

Local Waste Management

Grand Rapids offers free single-stream recycling and the My GR City Points program to offer consumer incentives for recycling. Residents simply contact The City to request a cart for their home, and within a matter of days the cart is delivered to their front door – now the resident is able to start recycling, and earning points for free bus rides, and purchases from local businesses! Also, Kent County offers free e-cycling for its residents, and organizes community collection events. 

The company that I work for, Cascade Engineering, is 100% zero-waste-to-landfill. We have on-site composters, and multiple recycling stations throughout our entire campus for plastic, cardboard, paper, metal, foam, and organics / compostables. Other businesses like MadCap Coffee and Steelcase are looking at similar zero-waste-to-landfill initiatives. 
 

Advanced Building Codes

As far as LEED Certification goes, it is safe to say that Grand Rapids is an international leader. The Experience Grand Rapids website does a great job at detailing some of our LEED highlights:

• #1 in LEED-certified buildings per capita for mid-size U.S. cities (2010)
• #5 in LEED-certified buildings per capita for all U.S. cities (2010)
• World's highest LEED rating (Catalyst Partners/M Retail Solutions, 2012)
• World's 1st LEED Gold art museum (Grand Rapids Art Museum)
• World's 1st LEED-certified YMCA (Downtown YMCA)
• World's 1st LEED-certified transit station (Rapid Central Bus Station)
• World's 1st LEED-certified school (Goodwillie Environmental)
• World's 1st LEED-certified Habitat for Humanity Home
• World's 1st LEED-certified residence (St. Anthony of Padua rectory)
• World's 1st LEED-certified church (Keystone Community Church)
• World's 1st LEED-certified healthcare project (Lacks Cancer Center)
• World's 1st LEED Double Gold building (East Hills Center of the Universe)
• World's 1st LEED-certified municipal building (Water & Environmental Building)

Rockford Construction exemplifies the undeniable commitment to sustainability of the design and building community in Grand Rapids.

Education, Advocacy, and Networking Efforts

Grand Rapids is home to a great deal of world-class educational institutions like Kendall College of Art and Design (KCAD), Aquinas College, Calvin College, Grand Valley State University and Michigan State University College of Human Medicine. There are serious sustainability initiatives being spearheaded throughout these campuses. According to their website, “In fall of 2003, Aquinas College launched the nation's first undergraduate degree program in sustainable business.” KCAD has recently appointed a Chief Sustainability Officer, and has become a center for sustainability in the area. KCAD is helping to lead students toward top marks in national sustainability competitions. 

There is no shortage of advocacy for sustainability in Grand Rapids. West Michigan Environmental Action Council is headquartered here, and has been taking action for the past 45 years. The WMEAC Grand River clean-up is a huge deal every year, and this is only a sliver of what they do. Then there's the West Michigan Sustainable Business Forum, as they say, "WMSBF is here to build up our region by increasing the number of individuals and organizations in West Michigan committed to a Triple Bottom Line philosophy." 

As far as networking goes, there are a lot of opportunities in Grand Rapids, and many events are being conducted with a truly sustainable approach. TEDxGrandRapids is an exemplary sustainable networking event in that the entire experience was designed to be zero-waste. I had the pleasure of attending a TED event for the first time, after collaborating with Fred Keller on the visual presentation that accompanied his talk at the Civic Theater this past summer. 

Grand Rapids is full of sustainability professionals, and there are many exciting synergies, opportunities, and discoveries that grow out of events like TEDxGR attracting like-minded agents-for-betterment together all under one dynamic roof.

  

Alternative Transportation

“The Rapid” is the name of Grand Rapids’ public transit system. The Rapid has had a very successful history of servicing the community, and been making even further strides as of late, including a $40M allocation to implement the Silver Line - Bus Rapid Transit(BRT). The Silver Line will add another layer of efficiency to the already expansive reach of Rapid bus lines, providing a high-speed means of connecting high-traffic areas of the city into and out of downtown. It is also certainly worth mentioning that the Rapid Fleet uses hybrid buses. 

In addition to public transit additions, Grand Rapids as a whole is increasingly supporting recreational and commuter bicycling. Grand Rapids has recently been recognized by the League of American Bicyclists as a Bronze Bicycle-Friendly Community. All of this recognition stems from the addition of over 30 miles of bike lanes within the past three years, with plans to topple 100 within the next two! There are also multiple mountain biking trails through our beautiful deciduous woods – there has been a lot of excitement from co-workers and myself about this new trail. This excerpt from the Grand Rapids Business Journal speaks to the bright future of biking in GR: 

“The city of Grand Rapids is playing a critical part in creating a truly Bicycle Friendly America,” said Andy Clarke, LAB president. “We know Grand Rapids’ investment in bicycling will be returned many times over in the economic, health and environmental benefits that contribute to a thriving community.”

Grassroots Organizations

Our Kitchen Table is a stellar GR grassroots organization that helps people in low-income areas to grow and source healthy local food for themselves and their neighbors. OKT has also created neighborhood-specific farmers markets, where EBT foodstamp dollars can be used to purchase fresh and healthy produce. From OKT's website:

“We are a grass-roots, nonprofit organization serving the communities of greater Grand Rapids, Our Kitchen Table (OKT) seeks to promote social justice and serve as a vehicle that empowers our neighbors so that they can improve their health and environment, and the health and environment of their children, through information, community organizing and advocacy.”

It should be noted that major farmer’s markets within Grand Rapids city limits accept foodstamps, and moreover that Fulton Street Farmer’s Market actually matches foodstamp dollars 1:1 – what a wonderful thing to help people in need to eat healthily! 

I am proud of the many sustainable strides that Grand Rapids continues to make. This is a wonderful place to grow deep roots, a place with four seasons of natural beauty, and a place where I feel compelled to keep thinking for tomorrow.  

Global Garage Sale

I was having a conversation with my aunt the other day about The Circular Economy when she proposed a rather insightful hypothetical scenario. "Imagine that right now, there are no material resources left anywhere on Earth - that no minerals can be mined, no crude oil retrieved, and no trees can be cut down -- this is the kind of situation that will breed new ideas, because as they say, necessity is the mother of invention." I agree that Aunt Carolyn's "Necessity Thinking" does indeed engender rapid and expansive innovation. 

In fact, seconds after she mentioned the above scenario, I jumped in my seat, saying aloud, "that's it - if there were no more raw material resources on Earth, and all that we had to work with was preexisting product - we (consumers) could sell many/any of our things to processors and manufacturing companies on a online outlet - we could have a Global Garage Sale!" 

The name "Global Garage Sale" stuck with me - so much so that I was compelled to document the concept here on my blog, and even create a quick logo, as shown above. How does a Global Garage Sale happen you may ask? Here are some high-level nuggets: 

Global Garage Sale (GGS) establishes a kind of universal takeback program that allows consumers to "upload," or sell their goods on an online platform. On this GGS site they enter key product information that determines two things: Firstly, on the consumer side, the amount of money that will be paid out to the "uploaders". And secondly, the material streams to which the product will be entered on the "downloader" or industry side. Various processors and manufacturers "subscribe" to GGS, and have multiple high-value material streams to select from, for use in the manufacture of new products. GGS electric trucks are dispatched to collect all goods, and upon retrieval, "uploaders" are paid for their contribution. The fleet swiftly returns to GSS facilities around the Globe, where processing begins and bales of materials are created. Processors and manufacturers then purchase these bales of homogenous material. GGS can help everyone around the world benefit during the approaching transition to a circular economy.

Ripple Affect - The Hydraid BioSand Water Filter

“On July 28, 2010, through Resolution 64/292, the United Nations General Assembly explicitly recognized the human right to water and sanitation and acknowledged that clean drinking water and sanitation are essential to the realization of all human rights.” This excerpt taken from the headline of this UN website that proclaimed a ‘Water for Life’ International Decade of Action for 2005-2015. I find myself compelled to extend the “ripple affect” of social enterprises that align with the Global UN initiative to increase access to safe water. At the intersection of social enterprise and world water, exists the product that I am proud to focus on, the Hydraid BioSand Water
Filter.

 

The HydraidBioSand Water Filter helps bring safe water to over 550,000 people in  35 counties around the Globe – and counting. Hydriad is a product of Triple Quest, a Social Enterprise which is a joint effort between Cascade Engineering and The Windquest Group, a West Michigan-based private investment fund. Triple Quest was formed to provide essential needs products that are capable of helping people live healthier, more productive, and happier lives. This excerpt taken from the Hydraid website clarifies their intent:

“We believe in empowering people by addressing the fundamental issues that keep them from fully participating in society’s educational and economic opportunities. Our premier product the Hydraid® BioSand Water Filter addresses the essential need for safe, clean water. It is our belief that safe water is fundamental to a healthy society.”

It all began when a group of intrepid Rotarians and water expert Dr. Davind Manz created and patented a concrete water filter that was based on slow sand filtration, a technology that, over the course of many centuries, has proven to be highly effective. Because the original filter design called for the use of concrete, the logistics involved in transporting this rather heavy and unwieldy filter proved overwhelming when attempting to fulfill orders to many Global rural zones – places that are most desperately in need of solutions like Hydraid.

Not allowing the challenges before them to rest insurmountable, the Rotarians and Dr. Manz decided to contact Cascade Engineering, an engineering firm that operates with the dual pillars of sustainability and innovation. Cascade Engineering also has extensive experience in applying core competencies in plastics toward social and environmental good, so the Rotarians saw a natural fit. Cascade Engineering continually embodies the words of their Founder and CEO, Fred Keller. Fred has concisely the Cascade Engineering business approach as, “Starting with something good, and making it good business.” Upon this elegantly simple, and straightforward foundation rest the two pillars of the organization: sustainability and innovation. Indeed, Cascade Engineering has practiced sustainable business since 1973, during times before the word sustainability even existed. Cascade Engineering has been thinking for tomorrow since the beginning, with a concrete history of weighing social, environmental, and financial considerations. Cascade also has a legacy of taking on the “hard jobs” that have been turned down by other firms due to their complexity. This legacy of can-do attitudes and engineering expertise has led to global breakthroughs and engineering firsts. In these ways, Cascade Engineering can speak authentically of sage experience in the realms of sustainability and innovation. Well known in many Rotarian circles, all of these facts contributed to the selection of Cascade Engineering for the research and development of a plastic Hydraid BioSand Water filter. A thorough and high-profile product development phase involving key engineers and businesspeople from Dow, Windquest, and Cascade Engineering yielded the development of a plastic BioSand water filter, whose existence expands the reach of Dr. Manz’s original filter schematics.

 

The core audience of the Hydraid BioSand water Filter is “at-risk families” in developing countries around the world. Currently 55,00 filters are in use in over 35 countries around the Globe, and with an average per-filter use of 10 people, this equates to over a half a million lives being impacted. Here is a testimonial from one of Hydraid’s end-users:

“Yes, here I am in my home with my filter. I feel very proud for having it. It’s a whole story because the truth of the matter is that my children lives have changed. I want to tell you that is a life in which I don’t suffer of the diseases that I used to for long time getting medicines. At this time my filter here in this community of Gualciras, la Union Lempira, Department of Lempira has been a success. I feel very proud for all those who got it. I ask them from the deep of my heart to take good care of our filters because is the best of the best that we got here in our community. I feel proud of it."
 

This testimonial from the community of Gualciras is a clear indicator of the worldwide impact created by Hydriad. Hydraid is the technology of choice in reports from water researcher Dr. Mark Sobsey from the University of North Carolina. Dr. Sobsey’s reports are very important in that they indicated that Hydraid is the most sustainable technology in regards to “consistent, correct, and continuous usage.” This is good news for the most important stakeholders – the end users. This “consistent, correct, and continuous” usage indicates that Hydraid is well designed, and approachable to tens of thousands of people in need. In addition to the abundance of life-changing health benefits that grace those who are able to transition out of the use of turbid water for drinking, cooking, and bathing, the Hydraid has additional sustainable benefits that extend beyond providing access to safe water. Here is an excerpt from their website that explains some of the triple bottom line thinking that exists in their approach: 

“Environmentally, the Hydraid^® filter reduces carbon emissions by decreasing the need to treat water by boiling it and does not have any parts that need replacing and afterwards become trash. The filter lasts for over ten years and increases a family’s income by lowering their costs for medicine and buying prepared water. Less family sickness means more time for productive activities and school attendance for the children, which increase lifetime earnings. It’s a triple bottom line win-win-win.”

Lessons learned from compiling this review on the Hydraid BioSand Water Filter include practical applications of collaboration, innovation, and the power of “starting with something good, and making it good business,” as Fred Keller says. As a social enterprise, Triple Quest has done just that. Starting with the notion that people around the planet deserve access to safe water as a foundation to their overall success and happiness, collaborative action was taken, bringing key people from highly experienced firms together to start solving the problem of universal access to safe water. Hydraid inspires me to never lose touch with ideas that have the potential create as much good as possible, no matter how challenging the odds may seem.