Brian Pelletier joined the St. Louis Earth Day Board of Directors in January, 2012. Formerly a marketing professional of 20 years, Brian made a big change in 2008 and found his passion in chocolate. You may recognize Kakao Chocolate, of which Brian is owner and chief chocolatier, with stores on S. Jefferson and Manchester in Maplewood.  His all-natural handmade confections have received praise the “Best Chocolate in St. Louis” from The Riverfront Times and by the readers of Sauce Magazine. Recently, Brian was listed among a handful of “Tastemakers” by Feast Magazine.

Brian has a passion for local, sustainable businesses and how they engage with their community to everyone’s benefit. He also serves on the board of directors for the Retail Confectioners International Association, Discovering Options, and St. Louis Slow Food.

Below, Brian shares his thoughts about joining the St. Louis Earth Day family and what the future holds for sustainability efforts in St. Louis:

What attracts you to SLED?

Earth Day is an important day because it’s an opportunity to get people to focus on the importance of sustainability, recycling, small local businesses, health, environmental and other concerns in a way that will, ultimately, encourage them to be more aware of those things all year long. St. Louis Earth Day is a committed group of people who are working hard to achieve that goal.

Is there are particular program of SLED that you’re proud of?

I’m encouraged to see Recycling On The Go at so many St. Louis events, helping people understand the importance of recycling and of reducing landfill waste.

What are your goals for being a SLED board member?

A lot of people see only one small piece of the incredibly complex puzzle of sustainability. I want to help people understand how they can make better, informed decisions about things like shopping for a new car, deciding what to eat for dinner, and reducing their carbon footprint, among other things.

St. Louis Earth Day is pleased to announce our 2012 St. Louis Earth Day Festival Presenting Sponsor – Nature’s Own.

Nature’s Own is America’s best-selling soft variety bread brand* – and for good reason. Introduced in 1977, Nature’s Own offers a delicious selection of fresh breads and buns made from quality ingredients.

Known for its quality and innovation, Nature’s Own’s breads have no artificial preservatives, colors or flavors; no trans fats or cholesterol; are low in fat; and have varieties with whole grain, reduced carbohydrates, higher fiber, lower calories and omega-3. Nature’s Own does not use artificial preservatives, but utilizes natural preservatives such as vinegar and cultured wheat flour.

As the bakers of Nature’s Own put it, “[We are] proud to be available in St. Louis, and proud to be a sponsor of the 2012 St. Louis Earth Day Festival. Our commitment to nutritious, delicious and high quality baked goods makes us a perfect partner as we celebrate nature with the city of St. Louis on this exciting and important day. In fact, we have nature in our name!”

Flowers Foods Bakeries Group first introduced Nature’s Own, with no artificial preservatives, colors, or flavors, in 1977.  Since then, Nature’s Own has grown into a full line of more than 10 soft variety breads and buns with annual sales of $450 million. In the 1980s, Flowers introduced one of the first low-calorie breads on the market under the Nature’s Own brand. In 1999, Nature’s Own Sugar Free hit the market, one of the first commercially produced sugar-free breads available. In 2004, Flowers successfully introduced Nature’s Own Wheat ‘n Fiber, the first commercially produced bread with lower carbohydrates. For more information on Nature’s Own, visit www.naturesownbread.com.

Flowers Foods Bakeries Group, a super-regional baker of fresh breads, rolls, and snack cakes, is an operating unit of Flowers Foods (NYSE: FLO). Headquartered in Thomasville, Ga., Flowers Foods is one of the nation’s leading producers and marketers of packaged bakery foods for retail and food service industry customers with annual sales of more than $1.7 billion. Flowers operates 37 bakeries that produce a wide range of bakery products marketed throughout the Southeast, Southwest, and mid-Atlantic regions via an extensive direct-store-delivery network and nationwide through other delivery systems. Among the company’s top brands are Nature’s Own, Cobblestone Mill, Sunbeam, BlueBird, and Mrs. Freshley’s. For more information, visit www.flowersfoods.com.

*Based on unit sales numbers reported by syndicated IRI data for total U.S.

Many thanks to those who submitted designs to this year’s contest, and to everyone who voted!

Our Selection Committee is in the process of reviewing the most popular designs and will reveal the final 2012 St. Louis Earth Day Festival design by the end of February! Stay tuned!

percentage of votes received = 27 % (2nd place)

percentage of votes received = 16% (4th place)

percentage of votes received = 20% (3rd place)

percentage of votes received = 28% (1st place)
Sara Levin – www.slevin11.com

percentage of votes received = 9% (5th place)

2012 St. Louis Earth Day Symposium

Learn more about the Earth Day Symposium.

Eco-Logical:
Policy, planning and tools to support sustainable transportation,
land use and resource conservation

REGISTER ONLINE

The Earth Day Symposium provides a two-day training and networking program for local government staff, officials and the professional community relating to current challenges and opportunities. In 2012, we will shift from our traditional focus from water conservation and management to land use policy and planning–mark your calendar to join us:

April 5th
Symposium –  National guests and expert panelists present on key issues surrounding transportation, land use and resource conservation. View Program Agenda…
8 a.m. – 5 p.m. 

Networking Reception – Event participants are invited to join us for complimentary refreshments and an open bar at MOBOT.
5 p.m. – 6 p.m. 

April 6th
Technical Workshop – Expert speakers build on content from the previous day, delving deeper into the application of newly developed, regionally-specific databases, GIS technologies and tools for smart planning. View Program Agenda…
8 a.m. – 2 p.m.

Events are hosted at the Missouri Botanical Garden. Professional education credits are available.

Key Issues:

• Sharing best practices for ecologically sensitive approaches to infrastructure development
• Utilizing ecologically significant data in local and regional planning; and showcasing East-West Gateway’s new regional land-cover data
• Translating issues and practices into locally applicable solutions
• Watershed planning for improved water quality and ecologically-sound stormwater management

Early Bird registration is available through March 11th.

Registration ENDS on March 23rd.
Download/view the Save the Date card.
SPONSOR the 2012 Symposium.

Key sponsors: American Society of Civil Engineers, American Association of Landscape Architects, East-West Gateway Council of Governments, Missouri Botanical Garden, Missouri Department of Conservation, Missouri Department of Natural Resources, Metropolitan St. Louis Sewer District, Pro Expo, Ride Finders and others.

In partnership with St. Louis Green Jobs, we’re pleased to announce the newest feature of the St. Louis Earth Day Festival–an opportunities fair featuring regional employers and educators. The free fair will be held during the 2012 Festival, 11am-6pm, under the West Pavilion behind the Cafe Stage on the Muny Grounds.

Participating organizations and companies include the “green” side of the following industries: building/construction, design, manufacturing, agriculture, energy, waste/remediation and public administration (to name a few). Learn about what courses, degrees and certificates are offered at area colleges, universities and trade schools relating to sustainability and green jobs. A list of participating businesses, organizations and educators will be released in April.

Register online TODAY
Participate as an exhibitor at the Green Job Fair!

Read more about being a vendor/exhibitor at the St. Louis Earth Day Festival.

A special spring cleaning event for all of your hard-to-recycle household items.

Getting some new gizmos and gadgets this holiday season? Don’t throw away your old electronics and appliances – you can recycle them! In fact, there are lots of things you might consider throwing away that can be repurposed, reused or recycled!

Save your hard-to-recycle items for the 2012 Recycling Extravaganza, happening on Earth Day (April 22^nd) in conjunction with the St. Louis Earth Day Festival.

The Earth Day Recycling Extravaganza will be accepting your hard-to-recycle items from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. on the St. Louis Community College Forest Park campus parking lot, off Oakland Ave, on Sunday, April 22nd. Take this opportunity to make your personal space AND the environment a bit cleaner and a bit neater, while sending your idle items on a journey to find new purpose. In addition to helping the environment, your donated materials will also be supporting the programs of numerous non-profits, including St. Louis Earth Day. So, grab a pair of gloves, maybe a mask—and attack that attic!

Some people go to the drive-through to get fast food, but you’ll be driving through the collection event, dropping off recyclables. Please plan your experience by separating your donation by the organization/business that will be accepting your specific items. This will help keep up with the traffic flow of drop-offs through the STLCC parking lot.

After your car is purged of spring cleaning debris, leave it at STLCC and catch a ride to the Festival via a free shuttle service, provided by the St. Louis Lambert International Airport biodiesel bus and Super Park compressed natural gas (CNG) bus. The shuttle service will be available between 10:30am and 6:30pm and will leave every 15 minutes on the hour.

To view a list of participating organizations and businesses, and a comprehensive list of what items will be accepted at the collection event: CLICK HERE.

9am to 3pm, Sunday, April 22nd | St. Louis Community College, Forest Park campus

Green Dining Alliance Launched as Local Restaurant Certification Program

GDA Certifies First Restaurant: Schlafly Bottleworks

On December 1st, 2011, the Green Dining Alliance (GDA) launched a new certification program aimed at St. Louis restaurants. An initiative of St. Louis Earth Day, the Green Dining Alliance is committed to working with local restaurants to reduce their environmental impact and adopt sustainable initiatives. By considering all areas of operations, the program puts strong emphasis on reducing, recycling and composting restaurant waste, as well as sourcing sustainable food, to-go ware and cleaning supplies.

This week, Schlafly Bottleworks became the first member restaurant in the Green Dining Alliance, achieving a 4-star rating! Tom Flood, Schlafly’s Properties and Sustainability Manager shared, “We are thrilled to be the first restaurant certified by the new St. Louis Green Dining Alliance. The program is an exciting new development in the St. Louis restaurant scene. I think the survey and audit will prove to be indispensible tools for area businesses to use in their efforts to operate as sustainably as possible.”

Regardless of a restaurant’s current practices, local eateries interested in discovering how they can reduce their environmental impact are invited to participate – the first step is to complete a pre-certification survey. St. Louis Earth Day staff will work with owners, managers and employees to tailor a strategy that will meet both business and sustainability goals.

With the support of our sponsors, Blue Skies Recycling, CMS Solutions, Whole Foods and the Crawford Taylor Foundation, this program aims to connect restaurants and consumers to sustainable resource options, create an accessible database of sustainable dining locations, and personalize sustainability plans for each restaurant while educating restaurant staff and consumers.

For more information, or to start the GDA certification process, please visit www.GreenDiningAlliance.org.

DOWNLOAD this press release.

For some of us the thought of going shopping or the perceived obligation of gift-giving is overwhelming; but, we may still want to show our appreciation or share the festive spirit in some way. For the first time in print, we present the staff of St. Louis Earth Day’s Green Giving Guide.

Recently, we sat down with Cassandra, Bill, Jeanette and Mike to find out how they approach this consumer-heavy time of year.

Cassandra, Executive Director

Is there a favorite local store you like to shop at?
Home Eco & Verde Kids

Is there a favorite charity you like to donate?
Heifer International & the Kirksville Bike Co-op

Is there a favorite home-made gift you like to make?
Current favorite: Fabric flowers for hair decor.

Is there a favorite fair trade/organic/locally produced good you like to give?
Kakao Chocolate & Better Life cleaning supplies

What environmentally responsible gift would you like to receive this year?
Wool socks.

Bill, ROG Events Site Manager

Is there a favorite local store you like to shop at?
Frank & Helen’s Pizzeria

Is there a favorite charity you like to donate?
Cancer Research Institute

Is there a favorite home-made gift you like to make?
The gift of home efficiency knowledge.

Is there a favorite fair trade/organic/locally produced good you like to give?
Schlafly Beer

What environmentally responsible gift would you like to receive this year?
A sword made from recycled steel and forged by fair trade, local swordsmiths! (He’s serious.) 

Jeanette, Program Manager

Is there a favorite local store you like to shop at?
I can’t stay away from ArtMart, and there is something for everyone at the locally owned business.

Is there a favorite charity you like to donate?
88.1 KDHX & 90.7 KWMU (NPR)

Is there a favorite home-made gift you like to make?
Mix CDs… or tapes for the connoisseur.  

Is there a favorite fair trade/organic/locally produced good you like to give?
Locally produced, hand-made soap like Shenandoah Soaps.

What environmentally responsible gift would you like to receive this year?
A class at The Folk School of St. Louis. (For my parents: Advanced Ukulele, please.)

Mike, GDA Coordinator

Is there a favorite local store you like to shop at?
Local Harvest Grocery

Is there a favorite charity you like to donate?
Defenders of Wildlife

Is there a favorite home-made gift you like to make?
home brewed beer

Is there a favorite fair trade/organic/locally produced good you like to give?
Mudhouse Coffee

What environmentally responsible gift would you like to receive this year?
Vermiculture kit (composting worms and accessories).  

 Local Resources for Green Giving:

BUILD St. Louis : Find a listing of member businesses–all local.

St. Louis Earth Day Festival Vendors : Saw something you liked at the 2011 Festival?

St Louis Green : St. Louis green business listing.

St. Louis Originals : Promotes dining in local, independently-owned area restaurants.

GoodShop : Every time you shop online, start at GoodShop so that a percentage of your purchase will be donated to SLED. (Cool, huh?)

Since the St. Louis Earth Day Festival started as a grassroots, community-organized event, we want to keep that tradition strong by inviting the community to participate in the planning process for the 23rd Annual St. Louis Earth Day Festival.

The Earth Day Festival Planning Sessions are designed to bring Festival stakeholders together for networking, Q&A, idea sharing/generating, and action planning. Meetings are free and open to the public. Light food and beverages are provided compliments of our host, Schlafly.

Thursday, December 8, 2011 4:30-6:30pm
Tuesday, March 27, 2012 4:30-6:30pm –Posters will be available for distribution.

All sessions will take place in the Crown Room of Schlafly Bottleworks in Maplewood.
Please R.S.V.P. to info@stlouisearthday.org.

Get involved by joining one or more of the following committees:

• Logo Design Selection Committee
• Election Section Planning Committee: Help us develop programming that will engage attendees and provide information about environmental issues in the 2012 election.
• Recycling Extravaganza Planning Committee

…for the 2012 St. Louis Earth Day Festival.

Also, please join us for our post-Festival evaluation session and party!
Tuesday, May 1, 2012 4pm to 6pm – Schlafly Bottleworks, Maplewood (Crown Room)

St. Louis Earth Day is looking for a design concept to be the basis for our 2012 Festival logo!

Please keep in mind the following rules and regulations before submitting:

Email a valid file version (pdf, jpg, png, gif) of your design to submission@stlouisearthday.org. Include the subject line: “Logo Contest”.

Submission Deadline = February 5th, 2012 (11:59pm)

DESIGN GUIDELINES

• Submissions must be inspired by and incorporate the theme “Heroes for the Planet: Ordinary People, Extraordinary Actions”.
• Artists may submit multiple designs, but they must be submitted as separate entries.
• Contestants must be 18 years or older but those younger than 18 may have their design submitted by a teacher, parent or guardian.
• Winner of the contest must be able and willing to make changes to the design, as directed by St. Louis Earth Day staff.

DESIGN SPECIFICATIONS

• Submissions should contain no more than four (4) colors and be your original work using no stock clip art images. By submitting a design you are guaranteeing that you hold rights to everything in it, and that it does not contain any copyrighted material.
• Submissions must be submitted in PDF, jpg, or gif format only.
• Submissions may not exceed 5MB. We will ask the winner for a high resolution original file.

SUBMISSION AGREEMENT:

• St. Louis Earth Day reserves the right to make any adjustments deemed necessary to the winning design.
• St. Louis Earth Day will have all rights to the winning design. By submitting an entry, you agree that if your design wins, it can be used by St. Louis Earth Day on all Festival promotional materials, including the event t-shirt.
• All submissions must be emailed with the following information to be considered eligible: Full Name, Address, Email, Phone Number, Date of Birth.
• Winner of the logo design contest will receive a 2012 St. Louis Earth Day Festival t-shirt, a prize package with items donated by vendors of the Festival, and recognition on the St. Louis Earth Day website, facebook page, twitter and in the relevant marketing emails.
• By submitting and entering the contest, you are agreeing to all contest rules and are attesting to the originality of your design.

INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY

• Any submitted idea, documentation, photograph or design entered in this contest will remain the exclusive property of St. Louis Earth Day and Entrant agrees that St. Louis Earth Day shall have the perpetual, worldwide, irrevocable right to edit, publish and use these materials in any way and in any and all media now or hereafter known for trade, advertising, promotional and/or other purposes as St. Louis Earth Day may determine in its sole discretion without further consideration to Entrant or winner.
• The Entrant agrees to assign all rights, title and interest into the submission, including copyright, to St. Louis Earth Day and waives his/her legal rights in the submission.

AUTHORIZATION TO USE WINNER’S NAME

• By submitting a design and accepting the contest prize, the winning Entrant permits St. Louis Earth Day to make public and otherwise use the winner’s name, biographical information, city of residence, and submitted work without further compensation in any media now known or hereafter developed for promotional and/or publicity purposes, unless prohibited by law.

SELECTION – new for 2012

• Up to six finalists will be selected by committee for online voting, based on creativity, aesthetic and practical application.
• Popular vote will determine up to three top designs which will then be taken to committee for the final decision.
• Not only will the winning design be seen ALL OVER TOWN… on posters, on t-shirts, on the web, on postcards, etc. but the designer will receive a prize package filled with goodies from St. Louis Earth Day Festival vendors and exhibitors!

Email a valid file version of your design to submission@stlouisearthday.org. Include the subject line: “Logo Contest”.