They bought a car with another girl (the rock star of the group), and were planning to head way north to work on a farm for a little bit. They invited me to go, so I left my suitcase with a friend in San Francisco and hit the road with them. The following few weeks were beyond amazing… so many serendipities. My favorite was running into one of the winemakers I worked with everyday for 2 months in Argentina earlier this year in a small grocery store parking lot in Napa, and I just so happened to have a bottle of the organic wine we worked on in my backpack. Our car turned into a sustainable circus. We worked on the farm we set out for, did a little harvest work at a winery, but mainly stayed on the road visiting sustainable farms all around northern Cali. We touched Humboldt, Mendocino, Sonoma, Napa, and Marin.

A couple of our favorites were Filigreen Farm in Anderson Valley, where Chris Tebbutt has built an amazing mixed biodynamic agriculture setup of vines and fruit orchards, it was incredible. He also had huge solar arrays setup that produce 100% of the farm’s energy… a true thinking farm. We also visited Paul Dolan at his biodynamic Dark Horse Farming Ranch in Ukiah, which was powerful. He has an “energy center” with his flow form, preparations, and a stunning “bug strip” of crazy flowers and vegetation that generates the biodiversity and balance in his vineyard. On our way south, we made a stop at Solar City somewhere on 101 south of Ukiah, which is a sustainable building/living community. We slept in a teepee and talked about what it takes to build sustainable communities.

Somewhere along the way we got tipped off about the Bioneers conference down in San Rafael so we trekked down there and crashed the conference for the weekend. I talked to Rebecca of the Biodynamics Association about heading up their booth for a day in exchange for a free pass, and she graciously accepted my offer. We got to see some amazing speakers and share even more amazing ideas, and I was able to pitch biodynamics all day Sunday at the trade show.

We just kept going, drinking, laughing, breathing, seeing how these amazing farms are changing the environment, all while staying break even along the way. We went crazy and then sane and then crazy again. It was a ride. Now, I’m back in San Francisco to soak in what this place is all about, and make some magical elixirs along the way…

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1. We would be keeping the bears happy…  I mean seriously.. look at this fellow.  He’s enjoying a little splash in the water without a care in the world.   If we don’t make an effort to save the environment, this is going to be a grumpy bear without any place to go other than your back yard.
    
   
   
2. Prevent extinction – I’m constantly reading about how animals are going extinct.  This isn’t animal gone from the zoo, this is animal species GONE FOREVER!!   If you do a search at iucnredlist.org, you will see that in 2008, they listed 590 species as critically endangered, many with population trends continuing to decrease, and 8 species that were no longer in existance in the wild.  This article about the Monk Seal Extinction discusses the proof that humans are the cause of many of these extinctions.
    
   
3. Keep the planet from melting - The proof keeps stacking up that the planet is warming.  Regardless of whether this is part of a natural cycle or not, the truth is that it is most definitely happening, and that we do contribute in some part.  If we all take some action to reduce our carbon footprint, and it makes the smallest difference.. won’t that mean something?
    
   
4. Save the Rainforest – Deforestation is a huge problem.. Apparently, such a large percentage of the world is in need of food, that we continue to bulldoze the Rainforest to make cow pastures and corn fields… apparently noone pays attention to the fact that we grow all of this corn… TO FEED THE COWS.. maybe we should all just eat corn?   I found this pic which also explains it well..
    
   
5. Make Al Gore happy – Just look at this guy..  do you want his face to get stuck like that?   Well, then do something about it.  The only way he’s going to be happy is if he knows everyone is trying to do something to help our environment.

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His team includes:

Lisa Jackson, Administrator of the EPA: former commissioner of the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection

Nancy Sutley, Chairman of White House Council on Environmental Quality: former energy advisor to California governor, Gray Davis

Carol M. Browner, Assistant to the President for Energy and Climate Change: former EPA administrator under Bill Clinton

Ken Salazar, Secretary of the Interior: Colorado Senator

Tom Vilsack, Secretary of Agriculture: former Iowa Governor

The carbon tax is favored obviously because it lends predictability to energy prices, whereas the cap-and-trade system tends to be more volatile and discourages investment in carbon-free technologies (clean coal, energy efficiency, renewable energy).

The way cap-and trade works is the government sets a cap or limit on the amount of pollution that can be emitted. Companies are then issued a set number of emission allowances/permits, with which they trade amongst each other based on the amount of pollution they need to emit for operations. This system obviously rewards the seller for limiting emissions and punishes the buyer for needing to emit more. If the monitoring and enforcement of this system is sound and the ‘cap’ limit and initial allocation of allowances is determined using an appropriate process such as grandfathering provision based on historical emissions, then the cap-and-trade system can actually be more effective than a carbon tax by creating a marketplace of competition to solve the issue. However, the stipulations and costs to enforce this system may be too great, not to mention the potential corruption the system tends to encourage.

The carbon tax might be the simplest, most straightforward way to address emissions. The tax revenues would not only offset other taxes, be used to fund environmental projects, and give incentives for clean tech investment, but could also be allocated to start paying off the insane amount of debt that the US has racked up this year trying to prevent our economic collapse!

Whatever course of action we take, I’ve got faith Obama, Chu, and gang will figure it out.

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We’ve been following the organic movement across the world, as consumers begin to understand the level of toxins, chemicals, pesticieds, preservatives, etc.. that are injected, grown, sprayed, or bred into the things we eat and drink.  In an effort to encourage  you to more closely scrutinize those items that you put in your body, we present “The Mouth Revolution” by Free Range Studios.. the same group that brought us, “The Story of Stuff”

Mouth Revolution hones in on the fact that we need to be more considerate of what we put into our bodies, and need to promote a culture of health within our communities.  By being more conscious of those items that are harmful.. The “Mouthifesto” or “Declaration of Indegestion” is a great starting point for understanding those items you should always avoid.  

In all of its humor, we really respect the team at Free Range Studios for their creative efforts in raising awareness about these major issues that we must all face in order to better our race.  We share a similar passion for connective todays fast paced lifestyles with an understanding of our responsibilities to the planet.  

In case you missed it last time, you can read our post on “The Story of Stuff” here.

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Red Wine is a perfect libation for festivals – primarily because it doesn’t need to be kept cold; it doesn’t lose its fizz and if you’re drinking wine locally produced its dirt cheap and super-good. Within minutes of popping the cork however I’d managed to spill the Rioja on my new pants and was questioning the merits of wine in a situation where a shower is hard to find… when suddenly, with a splash of from my water bottle – the wine was gone. Brilliant! Wine proof pants – what more could a young millennial wine-lover at a music festival wish for? I reckon marketing the pants specifically as wine-proof and selling it at Bonnaroo could be a good gig.

Festivals have become huge in the UK – and I guess the States is now picking up. Winemakers have a huge opportunity to sponsor music festivals – because the combination of music, nature, art and alcohol are what festivals are all about. Festivals have re-invented themselves since the days of Woodstock and are a perfect platform for not only entertaining people, but many organisations use them to spread awareness and raise money.

The Green Man Festival coming up next week is one of the most prominent indie festivals – where, much like the Big Chill – and both less commercially than Glastonbury, it promotes organic food, green living, sustainability etc. There’s a huge oppotunity in this concept and I’d really like to see some of the Oregon wineries putting on some music festivals and promoting their wines together with bands from Washington State and around. Many vineyards have acres of land and there’s plenty scope to host festivals on the vineyard grounds themselves. Once millennials cotton onto the benefits of wine and the contribution of viticulturalists to the environment and to local communities – it’ll certainly be the final push needed.

Now that I’ve found a pair of wine-proof pants; and have finally sprung for a decent festival tent whilst having fallen in love with festivals on the first night of Benicassim in a monent of sitting with my wife and two close friends, Will and Anin, drinking Rioja as a pre-game at the campsite with Sigur Ros about to play… I think it’ll be hard to go back to taking normal holidays.

Hopefully next year the Grapethinking team can bring some of the fabulous Tastevine collection to Bonnaroo and some of the other festivals in the US, and one day to the UK – we’ll provide a tent, picnic blankets and a selection of some of the best and most affordable wines from around the world… we’ll leave the music to the musicians though. Don’t forget to bring wine-proof pants…

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The crux of the problem lies in what Robert Reich in his book Supercapitalism labels ‘socialised capitalism’: which is ultimately a form of capitalism that allows the rich to get rich with no obligation to share their wealth; and then when the rich go bust (ala Bear Stearns) then socialism kicks in and everyone shares in the losses. The essence of the open-source industry is akin to the blogosphere in that it is a platform upon which ideas are shared with no restriction. Ultimately, wine shares much in common with this ideology in that its wealth is often shared out along the supply chain more evenly than in say, the motor-industry where practically everyone from the production line workers to the environment gets a raw deal.

The Ford-style capitalism brought to the wine industry by Ernest and Julio Gallo will always be a factor – but ultimately the winosphere is clearing the way, and the likes of Mondavi are having to step aside for the multiple Capozzi’s, Tastevine’s and other niche wines and wine companies which are emerging as a result of the netroots. And of course, it certainly helps our case that Obama style wine democrats will soon be in power as opposed to the No-bama-chanting beer swilling McCain luddites.

I saw an advertisement which caught my eye the other day for Banrock Station – which is now pushing the phrase ‘saving the world one glass at a time’ and has a wine glass with a stem that has been photo-shopped to be the stem of a rose. Last year at the London International Wine and Spirits fair I got talking to the folks from Banrock Station and they all broke down to me how their vineyards support local water supplies, preserve the local wildlife, enrich the local community, cultivate a diverse eco-system on their sites and practice sustainable farming tactics. Essentially, farmers have the land and the earth at their best interests and are oftentimes at the forefront of organisations fighting to protect nature and the earth. It is comforting to know that if it is to be inevitable that if the world will run out of fossil fuels and everything comes to a grinding halt as big brands do destroy the world and we are sent into a pre-modern state of existence: at least seeds, water, soil and sunshine cost us nothing… and even though our computers may have powered down and our iPods may no longer work – we’ll still be able to sit down for a bottle of wine at the end of the day.”

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Renewable energies, recyclable supply chains, organic growing methods, and healthy lifestyles are the wave of the future. We won’t just be driving hydrogen powered cars and have our electricity generated from photovoltaic solar panels and off-shore wind farms. Every aspect of human nature is going to change… our habits, our routines, and even our thought processes… systematic instead of linear. Waste management and recyclables will be integrated into every imaginable human system to promote efficiency and productivity, foods will be organic and healthy lifestyles will be promoted, and most importantly, our planet will be cherished instead of cut down, polluted, and destroyed.

And what’s a better place to help start this movement than wineries? They’re some of the most beautiful and aesthetically pleasing locations in the world (just look at the rise in wine tourism) and they create a product that is doctor recommended as good for your health, with red wine having the magical anti-aging component Resveratrol. Check out an old post about this: The Human Elixir

Aside from just being a Green evangelist, (although this revolution will absolutely make the world a healthier, happier, and wealthier place), green technologies and green marketing is something that wineries should certainly partake in. Not only will investment in green energy sources and eco-friendly farming methods make your winery more profitable and your product that much more natural and tasty, but having the ability to market yourselves as a Green winery will make you more attractive to your consumers.

When Al Gore released his movie “An Inconvenient Truth” last year, the trend tipped, making it more than a movement for treehugging hippies and Greenpeace activists. It’s now a movement that everybody is starting to get behind (other than Exxon and other special interested oil companies) all because of the overwhelmingly positive potential of its impact on our world. We’re hopefully about to enter another Golden Age of human civilization and wineries can help lead the way. It makes sense.

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As Friedman points out quite regularly, we are inescapably connected to the rest of the world, no matter what we may think. As soon as a company starts a website or begins exporting, they’ve gone global. One thing that Friedmans’ ‘electronic herd’ is beginning to flock to is sustainable resources in every shape and form. The wine industry has been a little slow on this, and I must commend pioneers like Fetzer, who have announced the first solar-powered vineyard. My first prize however goes to my own countrymen, who have long championed bio-diversity on a grand scale with an ever increasing membership through their Biodiversity and Wine Initiative.

As eco-consciousness and eco-tourism begin to flourish, it would be a welcome change to see the market reward the producers who have gone done so much to adapt their farming methods to modern standards so as to promote the future of our planet. It’s just a pity that most of them haven’t found a better way to communicate their message to the public, and to create awareness. The time will come when eco-wines wont just be a novelty, and such practices compulsory. However its up to us as the consumers to lead the charge.

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