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Paying attention to hydration while exercising in cold climates is just as important as in hot climates. We all know that the hotter it is, the more you perspire and the more you need to drink. High rates of energy expenditure in winter activities such as snowboarding, ice skating, and skiing and the use of heavy clothing can likewise cause significant fluid loss through sweat. So remember to consume fluids before, during and after these activities. Being high above sea level can affect hydration. Have you ever noticed how hard and frequently you breathe when you are in higher elevation? With every breath you exhale, you are losing fluid. High altitudes also tend to have low humidity, which increases losses through the skin. And research suggests that people tend to drink less at high altitudes, probably due to a decreased sensation of thirst. So the next time you are staying at a higher elevation, remember to drink plenty of fluids. Don’t forget air travel. The air inside airplanes during flight tends to have very low humidity –only about 15%. Low humidity increases dehydrating water losses through the skin, which in turn drives up your need to drink. So the next time you are on a long flight, remember to drink plenty of fluids. For tips on staying hydrated, see our Hydration Checklist.
As the morning sun’s first rays begin to warm up the villages surrounding Agra, India, a few cases of
In one of the prior posts this week, I mentioned that 40% of my household carbon footprint is from driving and flying. And I’ve commented sufficiently on those this week. Yesterday, I explained that I had ordered produce from a Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) program. And that’s a good segue into a discussion of food and diet which, incidentally, makes up 30% (the second highest category) of our household carbon footprint. Please allow me to reference an article from The Guardian on this subject that still resonates almost five years later: UN says eat less meat to curb global warming Dr. Pachauri, Chair of the IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) had been interviewed by The Guardian, and they reported that “people should have one meat-free day a week if they want to make a personal and effective sacrifice that would help tackle climate change.” I think the main reason this has stayed with me is that Dr. Pachauri addressed a group of executives from our bottling partners later that same month (September 2008) just before we announced our WWF Climate Savers partnership (October 2008). I am in a very privileged position to be able to seek counsel directly from the leader of the preeminent scientific body on this subject. I admitted in my very first post this week that I very routinely eat meat. I also mentioned that I made a conscious decision to have a veggie burger wrap on Monday for lunch. Then on Wednesday, I had a vegetarian lunch by “accident” – after dealing with some urgent e-mails, by the time I joined the lunch ceremony at our Supplier Sustainability Summit, all they had left was vegetarian plates. Good thing someone was looking out for me so I didn’t “default” to my normal diet. Last night, my family got to participate in this exercise with me. I made two types of meatless burgers (some black bean burgers and some soy patties). I’ve now become curious about whether there’s a significant difference in greenhouse gas emissions from cooking on a grill (LP gas) compared to on the stove – because our pipeline natural gas supplier has been introducing recycled landfill gas recently, and I doubt that’s the case with the LP tank on my grill. Maybe I’m over-thinking this. I grilled! And we paired those “burgers” with some of the produce I picked up from the CSA program: fresh tomatoes, a simple cucumber salad, some baked sweet potato fries and fresh strawberries and blueberries. How was it? I’d say the black bean burgers were more to my liking than the soy patties. One of my sons liked the soy better (None of them were “fooled” by the way). And we proved yet again that “Things Go Better With Coke” like our old ad campaign used to say. I can’t help but wonder whether the stuff from local, smaller farms necessarily has lower carbon footprint. Perhaps some of you will offer comments below on that.Bryan Jacob is Climate Protection Director at The
Telecommuting is not exactly new for me. I’ve been working from home one day per week for the last two years. (And for the last month, I’ve worked from home more often than I’ve been in my office due to my wife’s shoulder surgery.) But yesterday it felt like good redemption for my epic failures from the day before.The key to successful telecommuting for me has been planning ahead and clustering all of my calls, videoconferences, etc. onto a single day each week. But there are obviously many occasions where face-to-face meetings are critical. Today is another of those occasions for me. Some of our most significant supplier partners are in town for a Supplier Sustainability Summit. I am leading a breakout session on Carbon and Water Efficient Operations. So I did need to come into downtown again today. And I’m pleased to report that I managed to commute into town without using a personal car at all. A colleague of mine, Carlos Pacheco, joined me for the commute which involved first bicycling to the closest MARTA bus terminal and from there via bus to the MARTA rail station. The good news is that the Georgia World Congress Center (where the Supplier Sustainability Summit is being hosted) has its own MARTA stop. I only had to change trains once to reach the destination. Weather permitting, I’ll be reversing the process on the way home this evening. I’ve spent a lot of time in this week’s blog focusing on my commute. That’s because it is indeed one of the most significant contributions to my personal (and my household) carbon footprint. There are various carbon footprint calculator tools out there, but one I’ve used is from the Nature Conservancy: http://www.nature.org/greenliving/carboncalculator/index.htm From that assessment, driving and flying combine to represent 40% of my household carbon footprint – the largest single contribution. And I offset emissions from my flights. We have a program within the Company called Red Tag which recognizes exceptional performance. Employees accrue Red Tag points which can be redeemed for various products or services. One of the offerings in that catalog is carbon offsets offered through www.carbonfund.org. So at the end of last year, I cashed in 168 points to offset the 12 trips I took during 2012. Of course that doesn’t contribute to Active, Healthy Living the way my bike journey did. I’ll probably have more to say about that tomorrow – if I’m not too sore to get out of bed.Bryan Jacob is Climate Protection Director at The
Bryan began a carbon diet yesterday and will be blogging about his experiences all week. I don’t even play golf, but I think I should call a mulligan. I know that doesn’t follow official PGA rules, but work with me here. mul·li·gan (ml-gn): NOUN: A golf shot not tallied against the score, granted in informal play after a poor shot especially from the tee. Day 1 was complicated. A good friend and colleague of mine, Ben Jordan, who runs our Supplier Sustainability Program, also teaches a Green Business course at Emory University, which is based in the East side of Atlanta. I had agreed to serve as a guest lecturer last night. I joined two other panelists and we had a lively discussion on topics ranging from hydraulic fracturing to U.N. climate policy – you had to be there to appreciate it. The key learning for me is that low-carbon commutes require advance planning. Getting to/from Emory proved more challenging than I anticipated. I should have planned earlier; but on Sunday night, when I started figuring out how I was going to get there, I found myself both unfamiliar with the MARTA bus routes (Atlanta’s public transit system) around Emory and reluctant to add additional bus transfers to get from Emory to the MARTA train station. After all, the class wasn’t scheduled to end until 9 p.m. and I wasn’t sure how long it would take to get home with the multi-segment commute since I live about 20 miles North of the city. Then I had almost figured out how I could pick up a Zipcar near one of the rail stations to use to/from Emory and still be able to use public transport for most of the journey. That plan collapsed when I realized my Zipcar account had expired. Net, net, I ended up driving both to my office and to Emory for the class. And, full-disclosure, I even had to drive my wife’s car (an SUV sized to transport our full family) instead of my smaller, fuel-efficient Sonata Hybrid. Please let me explain. My wife had shoulder surgery four weeks ago. She’s out of the brace and undergoing physical therapy. And she’s perfectly capable of driving (with her left arm) – but she hasn’t rebuilt enough strength in her right arm to turn the key to start her car. My hybrid has push button start, so I needed to leave it home for her. Not only was I unable to adapt to public transport. My emissions were around 50% higher than “usual” because of these unique circumstances. Life seems to be getting in the way of my plans. Just to salvage a shred of credibility from Day 1, I will report that I had a conscious pause in our cafeteria and chose the Veggie Burger wrap for lunch. I haven’t compared the carbon footprint of that variety to the fried chicken variety I probably would have chosen otherwise, but I am confident it was lower. That lunch choice is certainly not going to prevent “dangerous anthropogenic interference with the climate system” – especially if I can’t find better commute options. But the point of this exercise is to make conscious choices. And I guess the “guilt” that I’m feeling from some of yesterday’s choices may be a step in the right direction. By the way, I should note that today is already starting better. I walked my youngest son (and our dog) to the bus stop this morning. It’s only a quarter mile (400 meters) but it is rather routine for me to drive him up there (school is too far away to walk to it or we would have). And I am working from home today with no commute at all. I’ll report on this and my other activities today in tomorrow’s post, but things are already looking up.Bryan Jacob is Climate Protection Director at The
will.i.am is #winning these days. The music producer dropped the hit single “Scream and Shout” with Britney Spears late last year, snagged a coveted track on Jay-Z’s Great Gatsby soundtrack, and created a forward-thinking new lifestyle brand in EKOCYCLE which turns recycled plastic bottles into everything from Beats headphones to MCM bags. Our editor Sian-Pierre sat down with will.i.am on EKOCYCLE day, just before the Clippers beat the Lakers at the Staples Center, to talk Jay-Z (they “text” about Great Gatsby), Louis Armstrong (his new song “Bang Bang” sounds like Louis A.), his new album #willpower (Miley Cyrus is on it), and his #NBAEKOCYCLE team up (it’s dope). Watch the exclusive Swagger videos below for more: On EKOCYCLE’s Team Up with The NBA, And MCM On Working With Jay-Z And Miley Cyrus This was originally posted on Sian-Pierre Regis' blog, Swagger New York. This content was created as a partnership with EKOCYCLE.More will.i.am and EKOCYCLE stories: