Wednesday, December 16, 2009
Green Life: 12 gift ideas and a few more for stocking stuffers
With the holidays around the corner, many people are turning to green alternatives for gift options. I wanted to share this article from the Montreal Gazette that has provided some interesting eco friendly gift ideas.
MONTREAL – “On the first day of Christmas, my true love gave to me, an eco-friendly gift that really sucked.”
You don’t want your love to be singing that little ditty this Christmas, do you? Let’s face it, some so-called “green gifts” are really more for the giver than the recipient. Sure, you want your friends and family to know that you care about the planet. And I am all for reusing gift bags, avoiding battery-operated toys, making your own gifts and fashioning original holiday cards from last year’s haul. But who really wants phosphate-free dish soap for Christmas? And please, no compact fluorescent bulbs in my stocking this year.
Monday, December 14, 2009
Remanufactured Ink and Toner Cartridge Company Announces First Web Video in a Video Series About Electronic Waste and Environmentalism for Green Businesses
Brad Roderick, executive vice president of InkCycle, whose history as an environmentalist dates back to his childhood farming roots, is featured in the first video, speaking about his company (InkCycle) and family’s environmental goals. “The premise was that if you take really good care of the earth, it’s going to take really good care of you and future generations. That’s what instilled in me this concept of stewardship, or what we now call environmentalism.”
Click here to watch
Monday, December 7, 2009
Dirty Jobs TV series: E-waste Recycling
By Jared Cook:
Here is a clip I wanted to share from the television series Dirty Jobs with Mike Rowe. In this particular episode, host Mike Rowe learns about e-waste recycling.
click here to watch
Monday, November 30, 2009
Trash Turned to Treasure with Recycled and Reused Materials
By Brad Roderick, executive vice president
Here’s something I found interesting and wanted to share with our readers. There’s a man in Texas who takes recycling and reusing to another level. He takes supplies and other items that would end up in a landfill and uses them to build very creative and inexpensive homes for people who wouldn’t be able to afford one otherwise. Check it out for yourself!
Friday, November 27, 2009
Following The Trail Of Toxic E-Waste
I wanted to share this story that 60 minutes did in August about where electronic waste is ending up after being dumped here in the U.S.
(CBS) This story was first published on Nov. 9, 2008. It was updated on Aug. 27, 2009.
60 Minutes is going to take you to one of the most toxic places on Earth — a place that government officials and gangsters don’t want you to see. It’s a town in China where you can’t breathe the air or drink the water, a town where the blood of the children is laced with lead. It’s worth risking a visit because, as correspondent Scott Pelley first reported last November, much of the poison is coming out of the homes, schools and offices of America.
This is a story about recycling – about how your best intentions to be green can be channeled into an underground sewer that flows from the United States and into the wasteland.
Thursday, November 19, 2009
Consumer Green Awareness
I wanted to share this survey with my readers about the environmental considerations when purchasing devices.
Source: Ipsos Green Technology Study, October 2009; Base: US respondents owning/ using tech devices with internet access
The survey results show that the proportion of consumers who claim they investigated or considered the environmental aspects of their purchase remains low overall, with fewer than half saying they considered these issues in their most recent purchase. Consumers remain more inclined to consider the environmental impact when purchasing big ticket items, such as automobiles and large household appliances.
|
Environmental Considerations When Purchasing (% of Respondents Purchasing Category) |
||
|
Purchase Category |
Considered Environment |
Did Not Consider Environment |
|
Automobiles |
49% |
51% |
|
Large HH appliance |
48 |
52 |
|
Television |
36 |
64 |
|
Printer |
36 |
64 |
|
Computer |
34 |
66 |
|
Digital camera/camcorder |
30 |
70 |
|
Cellphone |
25 |
75 |
|
Small HH appliance |
26 |
74 |
|
MP3 player |
23 |
77 |
|
Game console |
20 |
80 |
|
Source: Ipsos Green Technology Study, October 2009 |
||
We use the term research in the broadest possible sense. We do not perform an audit, nor do we analyze the data for accuracy or reliability. Our intention is to inform you of the existence of research materials and so we present reports as they are presented to us. The only requirements we impose are that they are potentially useful and relevant to our readers and that they pass the rudimentary test of relying on acceptable industry standards. We explicitly do not take responsibility for the findings. Please be aware of this and check the source for yourself if you intend to rely on any of the data we present.
Thursday, November 5, 2009
How to make your company sustainable
This is a follow up from the article by Anna Clark about the benefits of companies going green from greeneconomypost.com.
There are many steps a company can take to sustainability such as; conserve energy and resources in the workplace, and in product manufacturing. Comply with all the necessary environmental regulations. Carbon emissions offset programs. Use of clean energy and natural resources are just a few.
Anna Clark, President of Earthpeople lists five stages companies can be classified under as sustainability advances in corporate culture:
Awareness: Company becomes aware that environmental concerns are permeating discourse, though sustainability as a value is absent from corporate culture.
Resistive: Company becomes aware of its own environmental impact of doing business, but demonstrates no commitment to environmental responsibility and possibly some reaction against it.
Legalistic: Company strictly focuses on compliance to minimum environmental regulations, with no commitment to raising standards for conservation or energy efficiency.
Reactive: Company recognizes strategic value of sustainability opportunities, but pursues only opportunities that do not create new risks.
Strategic: Company uses proactive approach to sustainability opportunities and evaluates the impact of sustainability initiatives on the long-term value of the enterprise.
Clark states that by simply adopting a pro-environment policy, your company can generate profits, provide positive social impact and reduce environmental impact. She states this as, the triple bottom line–“a paradigm that weighs a company’s social and environmental contributions along with its financials as a measure of success.”
The cost of going green should be looked at as an investment. A little bit of spending now will result in future financial gain for your company, while benefiting the environment. It is important to have an understanding of what you are spending and how it will be energy efficient.
There are many benefits your company can receive from this and the ROI of going can be exponential. This can lead the way to building relationships, increasing sales, company exposure, more qualified job candidates and a better future, all while benefiting the environment.
Tuesday, November 3, 2009
Going Green can be profitable for your business
This is from an article by Anna Clark, President of Earthpeople, on greeneconomypost.com about how companies can gain ROI by going green.
Going green is no longer just a benefit to the environment, but it also has become economically beneficial. By jumping on this trend your company can benefit in numerous ways. Being green or “sustainability” is still a fairly new concept in the business world and is something that can get your company the positive exposure that it maybe looking for. Many consumers look to help the environment by buying environmentally friendly products. There are also many highly qualified candidates looking to work with an environmentally conscious business. This also allows you to separate your company from your competitors.
Tuesday, October 20, 2009
RecycleBank offers financially rewards for your environmental stewardship and recycling efforts
I found the perfect solution for all those lazy ‘green’ people who feel recycling is too much like work. RecycleBank views environmental stewardship as a financially rewarding opportunity and allow members to record their recycling efforts and redeem them for points at more than 400 local and national companies such as Starbucks, CVS, and MillerCoors. And its as convenient as getting you daily newspaper! There is no sorting needed (single stream process) and no trip to the recycling plant (curbside drop off). Their system tries to offer a new dimension that motivates everyone to recycle, and they also give points for recycling e-waste!
Below is a really cool video I found, by RecycleBank, for everyone that shows how the single stream process actually works, and why it can save cities and families time and money from the normal recycling routine.
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zh4F3sZNLqA
Co-Founder and CEO Ron Gonen wants their vision to create a new economic model from this, called the Gconomy, Comparing it to the Industrial Revolution and the Energy Economy of the 20th century, the Gconomoy would correct the flaw in the development of modern economies that left our depleted the environment that sustains us.
This system saves municipal disposal fees, recycling companies earn more money from processing, corporations gain positive association and PR, and households receive a financial incentive to increase recycling. RecycleBank serves more than 285,000 households in over 90 municipalities. Go find if your household is eligible today at RecycleBank.com!
Friday, October 16, 2009
E-Waste Recycling Event Saturday! Tomorrow help divert waste and encourage ethical consumerism
The Kansas City Downtown Council is holding an electronic waste collection event Saturday at 3rd and Walnut in the River Market. Sorry I didn’t get this out sooner, since many of your probably have pkans already for tomorrow. But if your happen to be cleaning out your house and don’t know what to do with those old electronics that have been collecting dust and space in your basement/garage/attic/etc, it would be a good idea to head downtown to get rid of your toxic waste correctly and safely.
Some of the bigger items will cost you some money, but that’s what being an ethical consumer is about, right? Actually, California makes purchasers pay for e-waste recycling. Under its law, customers are charged between $8 and $25 above the price of TVs, computer monitors, laptop computers and portable DVD player that will pay for safe recycling.
Just like Kermit, It’s not easy being green…or cheap. But we will pay for it eventually if we don’t start taking ethical consumerism seriously.
Here is a map to get you there.
