Sports Drink Founder says the Secret is All in the Mix

Published October 9, 2009

By Mae Lee Sun
Regional Correspondent, TNAZ

Drs. Lou Lancero and Sal Tirrito
Credit: Mae Lee Sun

When two driven medical students met, they might have foreseen becoming well respected cardiologists. But even given their shared commitment to endurance sports like competitive cycling and triathlon, for Tucson-based physicians Sal Tirrito and Lou Lancero, it was unlikely that they could have foreseen the success of what together they would create, XOOD, a sports endurance drink. But once they started, their intense competitive spirits wanted to blow any other product out of the water.

“Being in the sport (of triathlon) I’ve tried all the endurance drink products out there. As physicians, Lou and I looked at the ingredients and said we could do better. It didn’t have to be artificially neon blue or orange. We wanted to make a product that was pure and not full of empty calories,” says Tirrito, who took the lead in developing XOOD.

According to Tirrito, manufacturers, attempting to keep their costs and resale prices down, add inexpensive and largely ineffective ingredients like artificial preservatives and emulsifying agents. Even when some so-called ‘natural’ ingredients are added like stevia, sourced from a South American herb and used as a sugar substitute for its sweetness, the nutritional value is up for question.

However, including certain kinds of proteins and carbohydrates and finding the right ratio of protein to carbs was what Tirrito was shooting for in his formulation of XOOD. While supplying nutrition, Tirrito sought to make a drink that would convert efficiently to useable energy. Like any good scientist, he conducted his own experiment, followed by a field test to establish the validity of his claims.

” I went shopping at GNC and bought all the raw ingredients of what I thought would benefit athletes the most in their performance — vitamins, minerals, herbs, flavors, carbs and specific kind of proteins. For six months I tested the basic formula out on my friends who were athletes and got feedback. I started asking myself what if it also had health benefits in addition to performance?” he recalled. Tirrito then took the rough product to a nutritional chemist to refine the mix that would become XOOD.

At the Asheville, NC, half marathon in September 2009, Marcus Hille, 36, placed 6th at 1:28. He credits XOOD for his kick performances.
Credit: Marcus Hille

In his first attempts at marketing the product, Tirrito met with resistance. Manufacturers suggested he add certain chemicals, preservatives, colors and artificial sweeteners. They didn’t seem to understand why he’d want to use ingredients that were more costly than what was common in more standard energy drinks.

Tirrito found success in refining the mix when Arthur Winegrad became involved. Winegrad is a chemist and vice-president for research and development with Arizona Nutritional Supplements in Chandler. Winegrad was able to deliver the ingredients and end product Tirrito had envisioned.

“I’ve worked in this field for 13 years and with a lot of sports drink clients,” says Winegrad. “Dr Tirrito’s formula was really different. He wanted the product to be easy on the stomach, water soluble and have a specific carb-to-protein ratio along with very specific amounts of electrolytes, vitamins, and minerals per serving. Anytime you have an all natural formula, you’re going to pay more. Right down to the flavors, there’s no synthetics in XOOD which is very different from what’s on the market,” says Winegrad. If synthetics were used, it would reduce the retail cost of XOOD by one half to two thirds.

The real role Winegrad says he played was helping Tirrito get the active ingredients and amounts right. There are no FDC colors or flavors. Instead, the three different flavors that XOOD comes in — Pomegranate, Mangosteen and Green Tea with Lemon — are actually sourced from those ingredients. The subtle, pink color of the powdered mix comes from beet root and not a synthetic dye. When the final product was ready, Tirrito launched it at sporting events like marathons and triathlons, which attracted athletes like 36-year-old Marcus Hille, at six-foot eight inches tall, a competitive distance runner from Sedona.

“It is important to me as an endurance athlete to know that what I am putting into my body is going to provide me with the energy I need to sustain the intensity I desire, and that it’s also good for me with no extra junk that may be harmful in the long term. I will often slam a Green Tea XOOD before hitting the road to give me an energy boost and Pomegranate is good for long runs of up to three hours or more,” says Hille.

In addition to sponsoring both pro and amateur athletes and launching a XOOD cycling and triathlon team, Tirrito and Lancero have headed back to the labs to work on yet another new product – a readymade drink in the XOOD line geared toward the health club market.

This Beer is Crafted! Old World Technology, New Tastes Brewing

Published September 3, 2009

Tech News Arizona

By Mae Lee Sun
TNAZ Regional Correspondent

Dennis Arnold of Barrio Brewing and Gentle Ben’s in Tucson is here “metering-in” beer through a stainless filter chamber.
Credit: Mae Lee Sun

Brew master Dennis Arnold is really a chemist seeking to clone his creations.

If a craft brewer doesn’t understand the intricacies of balancing ingredients, Arnold, co-owner of Tucson’s Barrio Brewing Co., said, “You’ve got nothing.”

“Every beer style has its parameters in a dozen different objective and subjective tastes, aromas and mouth-feel observations,” he said. “The beauty about any given beer style is that you will end up with thousands of different beers crafted even when every brewer is looking at the same definition of a given style.”

Skilled brewers recognize the variables and how to counteract combinations so one’s beer is as close to a clone as possible to the last batch, Arnold said.

“Not even Budweiser can brew the exact beer every time, so they as a practice, blend 10 different batches every time to homogenize the end product,” he explained.

Arnold said he has been blending and brewing various lambics, ales, lagers and stouts since he graduated from college in the early ‘80s and visited brewpubs in San Francisco.

The craft-beer “movement,” as he called it, was on the fringe and considered a tradition of the past, relegated to the basements of European homes and monasteries.

Beer connoisseurs, though, who felt the quality of beer suffered in mass production, started to go back to the basics by either investing in or opening their own breweries, according to the Brewers Association, based in Boulder, Colo.

Julie Herz, the association’s craft beer program director, said the American palate is changing and craft brew masters have the flexibility to experiment.

“Americans now want different style beers for different occasions and not just the standard lager for everything,” she said. “If you look at what’s going on with wines, chocolate and coffee, it’s the same thing, right?”

For example, Papago Brewing Co. in Scottsdale, which sells brews made for them by Oak Creek Brewing in Sedona and Sonora Brewing Co. in Scottsdale, sells “Coconut Joe” milk stout with desserts and Hawaiian-style pizza. Old World Brewery in Phoenix crafts its own Summer Saguaro Wheat Ale, which has fresh saguaro fruit pulp added, to pair with fish, Italian food, burgers and hot dogs.

During University of Arizona Wildcat’s basketball season, Barrio Brewing offers NCAALE, an English double-strong ale with a full-bodied malt flavor.

Stainless fermentation tanks at Old World Brewery in Phoenix.
Credit: Perry Parmely, Old World Brewery

Again, it’s all in the chemistry.

Is that sudsy, golden, slightly bitter taste of your favorite ale on tap from the malt? Is it the proportion of hops and measure of bitterness? Live cultures and morphing bacteria?

Considered an old-world technology, aging beer in used, wooden barrels is the newest development, Herz said, in the craft-brewing arena because of the fermentation process that takes place in wooden barrels.

The barrels are inoculated with wild bacteria to impart additional flavors that may already be present in the wood, like the rum or chardonnay previously stored in some.

“It’s taken awhile for beer quality to get to this level, but it’s a good example of the way in which the allied trade and suppliers have adjusted to smaller, craft brewers becoming players in what’s available in varieties of beer,” Herz said.

“We don’t have any beer under wood right now,” says Barrio’s Arnold. “Barrels make a great brew, and we’d been making one we really liked from bourbon casks. But as soon as casking got popular, barrel prices have gone way up, and the good ones are tough to get now,” he adds.

And as the quality of ingredients – the main three always yeast, barley and hops — has changed through more advanced farming techniques and the addition of spices and exotic flavors, so too has the available quantity of these.

Vermont, widely known for its rich, agricultural land, has the greatest number of breweries per capita and an article in the summer 2009 edition of Local Banquet magazine reported that many of the ingredients in those beers, like barley, hops, wheat, raspberries, pumpkin and honey are now being sourced within the state by encouraging local farms to become more sustainable.

The number of U.S. breweries is the highest it’s been in 100 years. Although 56 breweries closed throughout the country last year, another 122 opened. The microbrew sector in general has grown to approximately 1,500 breweries in the U.S., generating close to $6 billion a year.

There are approximately 30 craft breweries across Arizona.

In this state, breweries have suffered a bit by the global increase in pricing and shortage of hops and barley. Electric Brewing Company, a boutique brewery in Bisbee, closed after seven years of doing business.

“Survival depends on thinking globally and drinking locally,” Arnold said.

For more information on Arizona craft breweries, brewpubs and seasonal beers:
www.seasonalbeerandfood.org
www.beertown.org

Tri’ing Is Good For Tech & Business: pt 2

Published August 20, 2009

By Mae Lee Sun
TNAZ Regional Correspondent

Training Bible coach, Tom Manzi, of Tubac & New Jersey, conducts an open water swim clinic for Tucson TriGirls triathlon club, at Lake Patagonia.
Credit: Mae Lee Sun

Floyd Landis, (seated far left) and his cycling team, Team Ouch, visited TriSports.com earlier this year to market the team products the store carries.
Credit: Mae Lee Sun

Nutritional performance products like XOOD and Clif are continually tested in the field by competitive triathletes like Tom Manzi (smiling), sponsored by both companies.
Credit: Mae Lee Sun

Tri’ing Is Good For Tech & Business pt 1 of 2

Published August 11, 2009

By Mae Lee Sun
TNAZ Regional Correspondent

VP of Sales for G-technology, Ian Andes, cut his race time down at this year’s Vineman half Ironman event, by over an hour, crediting it to the ‘toys’ and tech he’s invested in.
Credit: LA Tri Club

Twenty thousand, give or take a few dollars over the past two years. That’s only the financial investment that’s come out of the pockets of Ian Andes, Vice President of Sales for G-Technology (a Hitachi company) in Los Angeles, California.

He drove to Tucson this past spring with his brother to spend some of that cash, which every few months or so, is par for the course. He’s even lost sleep and shed nearly 20 pounds over it. Luckily, he has a supportive spouse.

We’re not talking about plunging stocks. Andes, along with a million other people, are putting their money where their body is and competing in the growing sport of triathlon. The buzz has inspired a flurry of new retail businesses, personal coaching, performance technology and a multitude of products and nutritional supplements geared toward an expanding demographic.

When Andes first became interested in triathlon, he said he had no idea what it would cost, what the entry fees were. He did not have the disposable income he has now.

He was a competitive long distance swimmer throughout his teenage years and it was that competitive drive and a desire to get back in shape, now that he’s in his early 30’s, that led to his entry into the Los Angeles, Wildflower and Vineman triathlon competitions. Andes is currently training for the inaugural 2010 IronMan St-George in Utah.

“I had the swim trunks and the goggles, no bike, and running was my weakness,” Andes recalls.

“I ran in whatever I had at the time, which was a pair of Nikes,” he says about starting out. But soon, he was spending dollars to compete.

“I went to a triathlon event sponsored by the LA Tri Club and they had a cool tent with all this gear. I saw a cool bike and got excited,” Andes remembers.

What’s the motivation for Andes?

“On my deathbed, I want to say that I did and not that I ‘should’ have tried,” he says. And he’s seen older triathletes, who are ambitious and driven. They have the disposable income to support success in the form of clothing, gadgets, nutritional supplements and private coaching.

Tucson-based OB/GYN physician, Carol DeHasse, has “the right gear” for competing in triathlons across Arizona in the past year. “Technology matters,” she says.
Credit: Mae Lee Sun

After he started buying into the triathlon gear, Andes went from a six hour and forty minute half Ironman to a five hour seven minute full Ironman at Vineman this year.

According to Tim Yount, Sr. Vice President of marketing and communications for the USA Triathlon organization (USAT) in Colorado Springs, Colorado, the national sanctioning authority for the sport, estimated revenues triathlons generate in goods and services each year is currently more than $4 billion. Yount attributes much of that to the support of clubs like the one Andes belongs to, which promote competition in more ways than one.

Andes joined the Los Angeles Tri Club for $60 and has attended numerous clinics, trainings and presentations organized by them. Members get exposed to technology and brands that they might not otherwise know about, says Andes, as many clubs sell their own gear and have product sponsorship.

“The biggest demographic is actually Gen Y and Baby Boomers,” says Yount, who takes full advantage of the social and business networking opportunities. The culture, he asserts, is conducive to growth.

“Along with a community feel of triathlon and peers who work together on what to expect when they participate, there are numerous events giving more opportunities to compete,” says Yount. “Clubs also have a number of websites that have general training and racing information and club gear,” he adds.

Debbie Clagget, vice president and co-owner of TriSports, a superstore for triathlon equipment in South Tucson, sees a braod range of competitors at the retail and on-line store she owns with her business partner and husband, Seton.

According to Clagget’s estimates, the average age of TriSports customers is 41 years old but extends into the 80’s. The majority she says, are college graduates with a yearly income level of more than $130,000. Men make up 76%. while professions run the gamut from attorney to Olympic gold medalist and the stalwart weekend warrior.

“Our revenues have grown by over 400 percent over the last five years,” says Clagget.

“We have sponsored many different entities within the sport and believe in giving back to the sport that supports us,” she adds.

Over the last year, Clagett has provided sponsorships of individuals, teams, clubs and races. And she believes that triathlons have been growing in popularity during the current economy, because people are more aware of their health. “People have a desire to improve,” she says. “But the economy is spurring the growth with people dropping gym memberships in favor of using the free outdoors,” Clagett notes. “What better to do outside than swim, run and bike?” she adds.

Part II coming soon…Read more…link goes to Tech News AZ

Freedom is From the Tech-side Out

Published August 6, 2009

Women in orange make calls on some of the most notable C-Suites in world tech.

Craig Burbidge, Vice President of Microsoft Global Practices at Hitachi Consulting in Irvine, California has high praise for the Televerde methodology.

The Metamorphosis of Rebecca Morgan

“Set the bar of excellence high and incrementally raise it from there,” is Televerde CEO Jim Hooker’s motto regarding the program. In place since 1995, the bar he is talking about leads to freedom. This ‘workforce development initiative’ has proven that by getting inmates to think about the future through learning interpersonal skills, building self confidence and being mentored by professionals, their entire lives change.

Rebecca Morgan, 34, is one stellar example of how that is so. With shoulder length brownish-black hair, parted on the side and green eyes, wearing a pink sweater and brown pin striped slacks, no one would guess that such a charming, articulate woman once “did time” at Perryville. More than three years, she tells a visitor.

Rebecca could have walked into any corporate office unnoticed except perhaps for the tattoo on her upper right arm. Still, a band of colorful ink circling a bicep is no giveaway these days to a previous life behind bars. With an air of confidence and enthusiasm, she describes the journey that led from a bad choice that landed her in prison to a dream job inside the corporate headquarters of Televerde.

“I made some poor choices,” Morgan says. “But we don’t identify with our crimes anymore and we don’t ask or talk about others crimes who are employed here. It doesn’t serve any purpose and it’s not who we are,” she adds.

“I’ll only share that I did 3 ½ years at Perryville and was released in July 2005. I started with Televerde in 2003 while still in. When I got in, I’m thinking to myself, ‘You’ve done it now. Now what are you going to do.’ It was interesting because I didn’t come from the same background that a lot of the women in here do. I had a pretty stable home and good family. My father was in the military and we had good values. So when I went in (to prison), I was going in with the idea of taking full advantage of using the time to change,” she recalls.

“It was the first time in my life I can remember where my focus was entirely on me,” Morgan says.

Rebecca Morgan, human resources assistant for Televerde, and a success story for the company’s B2B programs.

Morgan attributes that focus to the way that prison time is structured. Typically, there aren’t many opportunities to do much with one’s time and all daily responsibilities like getting to work, paying bills, raising kids and other obligations are taken away – there is little left to worry about. For those who want to keep busy however, Morgan feels the door at Perryville, and in particular the Televerde program, is open if someone has the desire to walk through it.

“If we could figure out the difference between people who don’t use the time well,” says Morgan, “and those who do, and bottle it, there’d be a lot of change. But you have to be ready to change yourself. Some aren’t ready to do that yet but the ones who are, look at the reasons that got them into prison and are done with it. If they really get that they don’t belong there, they do well.”

As a former inmate and now a human resources assistant for Televerde, Morgan believes that the Televerde program inspires change not just because it’s a job. Jobs exist throughout the prison system that don’t lead to such positive transformation in one’s life. The women change she asserts because the pieces previously missing from their lives are put back into place: self esteem; feeling one can actually do something constructive with life; and experiencing some small success in business activity.

“These women never thought they could get on phone and talk to high-level execs, who don’t know by the way that they’re calling from in prison,” Morgan points out.

“Interacting with people who respect and listen to you is a very empowering feeling,” she adds. Many in the Televerde program don’t have much to begin with. “But they come to these jobs and put their heart and soul into it,” Morgan says.

Taking stacks of technical documentation, Televerde’s teams learn the material, and make calls in marketing campaigns that get results.

“It sure makes them feel they’ve achieved something,” says Morgan. “You want to keep that going and that is what Televerde does. So, by taking on more responsibility you feel like a person again,” Morgan concludes.

Apparently, working for Televerde is the most coveted job on the yard. There are four different call centers with 50 to 80 seats each. The day starts early, usually at six o’clock in the morning, to service clients based on the East coast. Other shifts may begin at eight and end at five in the afternoon to service the West coast. Morgan notes that most other jobs available at the prison pay between ten and fifty cents per hour while Televerde pays minimum wage. It adds up when thirty percent of wages earned is retained for spending money with the remainder going into a retention fund the inmate gets back when they are released.

If they’ve been incarcerated for any length of time, some see upwards of $20,000. A portion is also taken out as rent to the state which lessens taxpayer dollars to fund prisons. Restitution is also deducted. Money remaining is released directly to the women’s families which, Morgan notes, is “another way to empower because it offers support to your family when you’re not there.”

“Everyone wins,” she says.

Morgan has completed an associate’s degree and is pursuing the education necessary to become an HR manager. She dreams of moving to Denver should the Televerde prison program expand to other states. Yet she’s also been able to live the American dream of having just closed on a “tiny little house on a great big piece of dirt”, the place Morgan, her 10-year-old daughter, a dog, a cat and a frog, can call their own.

“Prison is the best thing that ever happened to me,” Morgan says.

Corporate Internships Pave the Way for San Miguel Students

Biz Tucson Magazine- Summer 2009

By Mae Lee Sun

To Jared Juan, doubt is “only a temporary state of mind.”  And it was the farthest thing from Juan’s mind when he and 23 other students graduated from San Miguel High School on May 23.

“The real world seems like a daunting place,” Juan said in his speedch to fellow classmates, family, friends and others gathered to celebrate San Miguel’s second graduating class.

But Juan said he and classmates “will definitely be ready for the corporate world upon graduation” from the colleges and universities where all 24 graduates will enroll this fall.

Juan attributed their readiness to San Miguel’s Corporate Internship Program- an innovative program that requires each San Miguel student to work one day a week at entry-level jobs in professional settings around Tucson.

The money each student earns is poured back into San Miguel, on Tucson’s south side, where it covers about half the cost of each student’s $8,500 annual tuition.  Donations cover 30 percent, and parents-most of them low-income, many of whon never graduated from high school-pay the remaining 10 percent.

San Miguel High School, started in 2004, is one of 22 private Catholic high schools in the nationwide Cristo Rey network.

Humberto Stevens of Commerce Bank of Arizona with Elizabeth Goettel, President of San Miguel High School

The Corporate Internship program is Cristo Rey’s cornerstone, providing students with entry-level jobs wtih lawyers, bankers, doctors, engineers, accountants and others.

Juan worked for four years at the Tucson Citizen and will enroll at Northern Arizona University this fall.

Classmate Margarita Quinones will go to Pima Community College for two years, then transfer to Arizona State University or The University of Arizona. She interned this last year with El Rio Community Health Centers, where she helped with filing, called patients to remind them of appointments, and mailed out physician referral slips.

Because of her experience with El Rio children’s clinic, Quinones wants to become a pediatrician or a children’s dentist.

All 37 of San Miguel’s seniors graduated last year, and went onto college.  The same is true of all 24 of this year’s seniors.  “You’re going to be the leaders of the community, once you graduate from the college of your choice,” honorary speaker Jim Click told the students.  Click also was an honorary speaker at last year’s graduation, San Miguel’s first.

He also is one of the community leaders credited with starting San Miguel High School, and he is one of its top donors.

“I thought, ‘My kids had the benefit of a private, college-prep high school-they both went to Salpointe- and I thought, why shouldn’t kids on the south side have the same advantage,” Click told BizTucson.

“We’re changing lives,” he said.  “I think it’s the best thing I’ve ever done since I’ve been in Tucson.”

Elizabeth Goettel, president of San Miguel High School for the past three years, calls the Corporate Internship Program “a very practical way to serve our population of students who typically could not access a private, college-prepatory education and on-the-job-training.”

During the school’s first two years, it was under-enrolled, Goettel said.  “The families in the neighborhood did no necessarily have the benefit of a secondary or college education themselves,” she said.  “A cultural shift had to happen.  The word had to get out into the community.  This year, we met and exceeded our enrollment goal.”

The school’s Corporate Internship Program draws support from 65 of the city’s business and education leaders, including Commerce Bank of Arizona, Carondelet Health Network, The University of Arizona, Jim Click Automotive Team, Pima Community College, Cox Communications and ABA Architects.

San Miguel is a win-win for students, businesses and ultimately the community, said Humberto Stevens, vice president of business development at Commerce Bank.  He also serves on the board at San Miguel High School and is president of the Hipsanic Alumni Association at the UA.

“It really helps the students learn the skills necessary to be part of a team and blossom into an adult,” Stevens said.

Carlos Ibarra, 17, just finished his junior year at San Miguel while working in the administrative offices at Commerce Bank of Arizona.

“I can do everything except handle money, because of my age,” Ibarra said.  “I’m learning more about the business world and myself.  I feel I can either go on to become a teller or even to owning a bank.  It’s also helping me to narrow the options-what I want and don’t want.”

BizTucson contributing writer Jane Erikson contributed to this story

BizFACTS

San Miguel High School

• A total of 243 students were enrolled this past school year.  The school expects an enrollment of 360 this fall.
• Enrollment is 85 percent Hispanic; 10 percent Native American; and 5 percent African-American, Anglo and Asian.
• The school has 18 teachers and 15 staff members.

To learn more about the Corporate Intership Program, contact program director Mark Neimeyer at (520) 294-6403, ext. 1429.

Tucson company leads bio-surveillance, disease tracking tech

Dr. Xiaohui Zhang, Chief Scientist for Scientific Technologies Credit: Mae Lee Sun

Toros season off to strong start – on and off field

By Mae Lee Sun, Inside Tucson Business
Published on Friday, June 12, 2009

Already a month into their new season, the Tucson Toros have exceeded expectations.

The independent league baseball team has split their first 10 home games with an average attendance of 4,000 fans and has sold their first player to a major league team.

Earlier this month, the Toros sold right-handed pitcher Andrew Romo to the San Francisco Giants.

Jay Zucker. Mae Lee Sun photo Advertisement

The Toros began their season in mid-May and will play home games at Hi Cortbett Field in Reid Park through Aug. 27. The team is due back in town Friday (June 19) for a three-game home stand against the Yuma Scorpians.

It was 1997, the final season for the Toros at Hi Corbett Field. The team had been a Triple-A minor league baseball franchise since 1969. The next year, after affiliating with Major League Baseball’s new Arizona Diamondbacks, Tucson’s minor league team became the Sidewinders and started playing at Tucson Electric Park. That ended last year, after owner and native Tucsonan, Jay Zucker, sold the team because it was an ‘underperforming’ market Pacific Coast League standards and new owners wanted to take it Reno.

Technically, though, when the Toros moved out of Hi Corbett, the team went to Fresno, Calif., where the team is now known as the Fresno Grizzlies, the Triple-A team for the San Francisco Giants. The Sidewinders were actually birthed from the Phoenix Firebirds, who had been the Giants’ minor league team.

Read more…link to Inside Tucson Business

New, greener Tucson Toros return to Hi Corbett field

By Mae Lee Sun, Inside Tucson Business
Published on Friday, May 08, 2009

Back in the day, Eric May, now director of stadium operations for the Tucson Toros, was amazed at how much trash was left behind after every baseball game. There were plastic bottles, aluminum cans, cardboard and cups that all got tossed into dumpsters and taken to the landfill to be buried. May, who has worked the baseball scene for the Toros, Tucson Sidewinders and the Arizona Diamondbacks, says he wants all that to change. He has made it both a personal and professional initiative to turn the Toros operations green.

“We are a throwaway society and I’ve been aware of this ever since I was a kid.  It always bothered me, so in my personal life I’ve made it a point to be conscious of what I’m doing to not create unnecessary trash.  So when I became facilities manager at Tucson Electric Park, which was prior to the Toros coming back, I tried to implement a recycling program. I tried for three years to no avail and was told it was too costly, took too much labor, too much time and there were too many perceived barriers to get a recycling program going.  The push for green wasn’t there like it is now. In coming over to the Toros operation this year, I decided it was that important that I was going to ram it through no matter what anyone else thought.  Because the timing was right, we’ve now got the City of Tucson and Tucson Clean and Beautiful on board,” he says.

Read more…link will go to Inside Tucson Business

First-ever business-to-business green event is Friday

By Mae Lee Sun, Inside Tucson Business
Published on Friday, April 17, 2009

The newly formed Green Media Alliance, a partnership of media related firms, will hold its first-ever business-to-business event, “How to Survive in Tough Times” Friday (April 24).

The half-day of events will feature a morning workshop, Green Marketing 101, followed by networking and exhibits and then a luncheon with the aim to bring businesses together to share solutions capitalizing on growing consumer trends demanding a green marketplace.

Jacquelyn Ottman, a Manhattan-based consultant to Fortune 500 companies, is the keynote speaker. She is responsible for the EPA’s Energy Star program that has become a familiar signpost on consumer appliances.The move to green can be a significant financial investment for a business, especially in these recessionary times, but when asked if she sees it paying off, Ottman says, business should be able to more than recoup their initial financial costs.

Read more…link will take you to Inside Tucson Business

Teahouses brew community, one pot at a time

Tucson Green Times

Published January 15, 2009

By Mae Lee Sun
Just before three-thirty on a Friday afternoon, in the middle of Tucson’s Sam Hughes neighborhood, Zhu Ping Hodge puts on a pot of boiling water in preparation for an open tea tasting that takes place at the same time every week.  She’s recently returned to her shop, Seven Cups Teahouse, from China after spending several months there researching and buying new and varietals selections of high grade organic teas.

Having opened Seven Cups only four years ago, she is pleased at how popular the place has become.  Like in China and other countries around the globe, the teahouse in Tucson attracts those who are looking for everything from a serene environment in which to contemplate and rest, or come seeking education on tea culture and a comfortable place forge meaningful relationships.

Simon Smith and friends Melissa Nagelspach, Lauren Woods, and Heather Wallace enjoy good conversation over a cup of tea at Seven Cups Teahouse in Tucson. Photo by Mae Lee Sun

“Ever since the emperors and high officials made it popular to drink tea in their palaces hundreds of years ago, the common people followed.  At first, drinking tea was ceremonial, a tradition to show respect for your ancestors. But it was during the Tang dynasty in the 1300s that families adopted it as a necessary part of daily life,” She says.

Read more »