Earth Day At Clif Family
Blog Post By Kristin Kohl, Clif Family Office Manager
Clif Family strives to make the best business and operational decisions with our environmental impact in mind. With Earth Day this week, we want to share with you some of the efforts that Clif Family has taken to create a positive impact on the environment as a business and provide some easy tips for positive at home impact. When it comes to protecting our planet, every effort counts no matter how big or small.
Printing: We work with Greener Printer, a Bay Area based printer with a focus on sustainable printing methods. All of their paper is 100% post-consumer recycled fiber, with soy and vegetable-based ink, nontoxic processing fluids and recycled packaging.
In addition to what we print, all the paper products that we for our business are sourced from post-consumer recycled fiber, including our printer paper and our restroom supplies.
Electricity: All Clif Family properties are enrolled in the MCE’s Deep Green 100% Renewable Energy program. 50% of this energy comes from California wind power and 50% comes from California solar farms, allowing us to source 100% renewable energy to power our business. This is something you can do for your home as well. Visit www.mcecleanenergy.org to learn more.
Compostable Service Ware: Clif Family uses reusable or compostable plates, utensils, cups, glasses, napkins, and to-go containers. Everything you use during your visit or receive from us to take home, is chosen to have the most minimal impact on the environment.
Additionally, we divert approximately 12,000 pounds of food waste from landfills every year through our local composting program.
Farming: On the Clif Family Farm and in the vineyards, we use methods of reduced tillage, cover cropping, compost application, animal grazing, integrated pest management, wildlife integration and wildland conservation.
We also provide and encourage our employees to implement our ‘green’ efforts at home. Here are a few of the tips we’ve shared with our employees for creating a more positive impact at home:
First things first; you do not need to go out and buy every “green” product you can think of. As a matter of fact, step one should be do not buy anything. Instead, we should all be defaulting to the reduce, reuse, recycle saying.
REDUCE
Use reusable dishes at home and avoid buying single use paper and plastic. This will go a long way to reduce the amount of plastic and non-biodegradable materials in landfills. When situations require you to use single use items, try to opt for materials that will biodegrade over time when thrown away.
REUSE
Use reusable containers instead of plastic zipper bags. While the convenience is nice, they frequently end up in landfills and our oceans and never breakdown.
If you do find yourself with single-use plastic, find an additional use for it. Rinse out the empty container and fill it with water to water houseplants.
When your bath and hand towels need to be replaced, instead of throwing them away, cut them into smaller pieces and use them in place of paper towels in your kitchen.
Use decorative glass bottles and mason jars for flowers.
RECYCLE
So often we think we are being ‘green’ by putting all plastic, paper and metal in the recycling bin. Unfortunately, a lot of what households put in the recycling bin does not actually get recycled. If you can reduce what you buy, reuse and recycle the things you already have you will notice that you are putting less and less in the bin. Which should save time, money and the planet.