The Grazing Mind

At Horizon Organic, we strongly believe that by choosing organic food and beverages, we’re making the best choices for our families and the planet. And it is for this reason that we’ve been a longtime supporter of The Organic Center, a leading research institute focused on the science and educational benefits of food and farming.

 The Center’s research into the nutritional and health benefits of choosing organic has helped provide many of us organic shoppers with the information we need to make informed decisions about the food we feed our families. At Horizon, we’re grateful for this work and its role in supporting and advancing the organic community.  

 As a newly appointed member of The Center’s Board of Trustees, I’m looking forward to working with this groundbreaking organization to help guide its mission to convene credible, evidence-based science on the health and environmental benefits of organic food and farming, and to communicate these benefits to the public.

 The Center’s work is incredibly important to continuing to grow the organic community and provide more organic choices to families. I’m proud to serve on The Center’s board and to support its commitment to organic research and education.

Water restoration and conservation are important initiatives for Silk and we’re excited about a new project we’re involved in. We’ve recently partnered with the National Geographic Society, Bonneville Environmental Foundation (BEF) and Participant Media as the first sponsor to support Change the Course—an ongoing effort to conserve freshwater and preserve the ecological health of the heavily dammed, diverted and overused Colorado River Basin. This campaign will empower individuals and communities to reduce their own freshwater footprint while making on-the-ground water restoration efforts.

Change the Course is challenging members of the public to learn about the vital issues of freshwater, calculate their own water footprints and take a simple pledge to conserve at changethecourse.us. For every pledge received, a Change the Course corporate sponsor, like Silk, will donate to the cause.  Each pledge will restore 1,000 gallons of water back into the Colorado River, working to make the river healthy again.

Silk is thrilled to support the Change the Course initiative, help restore the Colorado River Basin and positively impact a project in our own backyard. At Silk, we believe that we all need to do our part to use water more thoughtfully and productively to help keep our rivers and streams healthy.

Help us Change the Course and visit www.changethecourse.us to pledge to do your part and to learn more about this important waster restoration project. You can also check out this great video about the Change the Course project to learn how you can help restore the Colorado River by making simple and easy changes like taking two minutes off your shower, drinking tap water instead of bottled water and buying recycled.

As part of Silk’s ongoing commitment to educate consumers about what’s in their food, the entire plant-based beverage portfolio is enrolled in or verified by the Non-GMO Project. The Non-GMO Project provides independent verification that Silk’s products are made without GMOs, earning The Non-GMO Project Verified seal.

We recently launched a new, exciting product – Silk Iced Latte. At the time of launch, this product was enrolled in the Non-GMO Project program, and we are happy to report that it’s now officially verified. The Iced Latte packaging will be updated in June with the Non-GMO Project Verified logo, giving our consumers the opportunity to make informed choices about the foods and beverages they eat and drink.

The grass wasn’t the only thing that was green in the University of Colorado (CU) football stadium this season.  For the fifth year, WhiteWave was a sponsor of CU’s “Green Stampede,” a program aimed at making CU’s Folsom Field stadium a “zero waste” destination. This means that nearly all concessions packaging at home games are recyclable or compostable, and encouraging CU and visiting team fans to reduce, reuse, recycle and compost food and beverage containers, leftover snacks, game programs and more.

Folsom Field was the first major sports stadium in the nation to be converted to a completely zero waste facility.  Now, more than 30 zero waste stations inside the stadium make it simple for fans to recycle and compost. In fact, last season alone, over 42 TONS of recyclables and compostables were collected inside the stadium. Since the program’s inception in the 2008-2009 football season, the Ralphie’s Green Stampede program has resulted in the collection of more than 163 tons of recyclable and compostable material and Folsom Stadium’s total waste generation has dropped by roughly 21 percent.

Like CU, we at WhiteWave have a long history of supporting sustainability and renewable energy In fact, to date, our renewable energy purchases are the equivalent of taking nearly 90,000 cars off the road for one year or providing the electricity for almost 55,000 U.S. homes for one year.

At Horizon Organic, we were happy to see several of the benefits of organic milk highlighted in a recent Health.com article about the different types of milk available to consumers today.

Specifically, the article noted that, compared to its non-organic counterpart, organic milk can contain higher levels of omega-3 fatty acids, beta-carotene, vitamin E, and conjugated linoleic acid. The article also pointed out that organic milk comes from cows that eat feed grown without chemical fertilizers and pesticides.

While we certainly appreciated the article sharing many of the benefits of organic milk, we noticed that it didn’t mention the environmental benefits of organic farming, which, we believe, are worth talking about and celebrating.

Organic farming has many proven environmental advantages, and is a big reason why many of us choose to purchase organic food and beverages. Some of these benefits include farming without the use of pesticides, herbicides, chemical fertilizers and other pollutants, as well as encouraging sustainable farming practices that contribute to the health of the land. At Horizon Organic these farming practices were responsible for removing 20 million pounds of synthetic pesticides from the environment in 2011 alone.

What’s more, choosing organic milk means choosing to support a better environment for the dairy cows that produce it. Organic farmers nurture their animals with attentive daily care, clean living conditions and a wholesome organic diet including pasture grazing for at least a third of the year. Just like people, cows thrive in a low-stress environment, so organic farms also allow plenty of access to the outdoors for exercise.

If you’re interested in learning more about how we produce our Horizon Organic products, we encourage you to check out our website. And, the next time you’re standing in front of the dairy case and see Happy looking back at you on your favorite carton of Horizon Organic milk, you can feel good knowing that choosing organic means happy cows, happy people, and a happy planet.

Last year we updated you on the first phase of our effort to change the way our International Delight and Land O’ Lakes brands portion control (PC) cups are made, meaning a smaller carbon footprint and less waste.

We’re happy to announce that our Research & Development team recently completed the final stage of this project – reclaiming and reusing post-industrial scrap from the manufacturing process and using it to make additional portion control cups.  This reuse of scrap material further lightens our PC’s environmental footprint.

Completing this redesign is just one part of our ongoing commitment to sustainable packaging and is in keeping with our mission to become the Earth’s Favorite Food Company.  We’re always brainstorming other ways we can make our packaging more sustainable and hope to bring more updates to life in the future.

In the meantime, you can enjoy using an International Delight or Land O’ Lakes coffee creamer portion control cup knowing that your PC is now, well, PC. Pun intended.

Recently, WhiteWave was again the title sponsor of the Denver Metro Chamber of Commerce’s (DMCC) Green Business of the Year award.  Each year, the DMCC hosts an awards luncheon aimed at recognizing metro-area small businesses and the economic vitality of the region.

At WhiteWave, we’re especially glad to have the opportunity to recognize and applaud a local small business that is committed to environmental responsibility, an issue near and dear to our hearts.

This year’s winner was EnviroTech Services, Inc..  Congratulations!

We know we’ve got a long way to go, but we’re sure proud of what we’ve achieved so far…

Had an awesome time at the Naturally Boulder Autumn Awards and Pitch Slam Wednesday night.

The annual event brings together some of the Natural Food industry’s best and brightest to celebrate successes, and meet some of the new up and comers.

The Pitch Slam portion of the show was definitely the highlight of the evening, bringing natural products entrepreneurs on stage to pitch their business and ideas to a panel of industry experts. This year’s winner was Bamboobies; a great product that helps nursing mothers.

After the Pitch Slam we moved to the award portion of the night, where the very well deserved Company of the Year award went to Evol Foods. An amazing new local company, that makes a mighty tasty burrito (among other delicious things), with the help of “humanely and sustainably raised meats and proteins, hormone-free cheese, delicious fresh produce, and traditionally made tortillas.”

The award show also recognized Chef Ann Cooper for her work with Boulder School District to improve school lunches; and Hass Hassan who received the Lifetime Achievement award for his work in the natural food industry. Both awards were very well deserved.

Congrats to all the winners… can’t wait until next year.

I get the same elated feeling when I find five dollars in my pocket as I do when I open the refrigerator at dinnertime and find a homemade, pre-prepared meal already waiting for me. Leftovers and their trusty ally the microwave can relieve any distressed person needing to get food on the table quickly. I’m an advocate for using any leftovers—it is efficient and waste-free. But a recent New York Times article informed me that I am missing a further opportunity to take advantage of leftovers’ potential.

Stem-to-root cooking accepts all parts of fruits, vegetables, and legumes as edible, a no-waste philosophy on foods’ capabilities. Stems, leaves, cobs, rinds, seeds, peels, and scraps still contain valuable nutrients and flavors that can be incorporated in delicious and healthful recipes. Anything else, of course, is compostable.

Here at WhiteWave, we take a stand for leftovers’ efficiencies as well, both in our eating, living, and office habits. Through our partnership with Eco-Cycle, paper, cardboard, trash, food, and other waste produced at the office are all diverted to appropriate recycling or composting locations. Even liquid refuse in drains is pumped into liquid composters. In 2010, WhiteWave’s recycling and composting program diverted over 115,000 pounds of waste from landfills.

Another key cornerstone of WhiteWave’s green campaign for a zero-waste operation is reusability. That means using reusable mugs, water bottles, grocery bags, and dishes to cut out constantly trashing plastic bags and paper dishware. Even my zippy work station and desk chair are over 90% recyclable. (Hopefully that information doesn’t ignite any office pranks around here.)

Start a compost pile in your backyard, try a fennel and carrot frond salad, or switch out that plastic water bottle for a reusable one. Wise use of leftovers can cut costs, increase efficiencies, and make a little change in our environment.

How do you use leftovers?