Interesting chair by Scott Garcia that serves as a reminder of the origin of the chair.
Awareness of the origin and the future of a product may enable more thought in purchases ? More thoughtful
purchases ?
Posts Tagged ‘business’
Vote with your money
Thursday, July 29th, 2010I want to introduce you to the wall. The wall holds up a raging dam of human potential. It’s held together with money – the money the same people spend. Change how you spend money and the wall collapses, and the world changes. Drastically. Forever.
If you think that soda is bad for people (which it sure as hell is), never, ever, ever, buy soda. That’s a vote in the ballot box. Same goes for meat, alcohol and other plagues on humanity. Want more organic food? Bite the bullet and buy organic. That’s a vote for the organic industry and more power to them.
Every dollar in your pocket is a vote. Don’t forget it. Every single one is counted. It’s a failsafe system. It’s perfect democracy.
Green(er) fast food
Tuesday, July 20th, 2010
A Japanese Subway sandwich shop has started growing hydroponic lettuce right in the middle of the store ! Not only is this hyper-local lettuce healthy, it’s a great visual centerpiece for the space.
The Japanese are very inventive when it comes to being space efficient . This is an eco-idea that many hotels , restaurants, canteens , communities across the world can adopt. It is understandably impossible to grow all ingredients locally . But , every bit counts.
(via Inhabitat )
Stylishly green hotel
Thursday, July 15th, 2010
An Indonesian businessman contributes to environmental wellness on a bike connected to a generator inside the “100 percent green” Crowne Plaza Hotel in Copenhagen. The energy produced by pedaling guests is stocked in a battery before being injected into the hotel’s power supply.
The Crowne Plaza’s concrete and steel tower is covered in some 1,500 solar panels that produce 170,000 kilowatt-hours of electricity, which is enough to power 55 households. In the basement of the 86-meter (232-feet) skyscraper there is a geothermal well which covers the hotel’s heating and air conditioning needs, slashing its energy bill by about 90 percent.
And in each of the 366 rooms, personal care accessories are biodegradable, taps are equipped with water-saving devices and all light bulbs are low-energy.
But that doesn’t mean the Intercontinental chain’s first “all-eco” hotel has clients roughing it.
“Everything was thought out with technologies respectful of the environment, without sacrificing quality, comfort, and the feeling of being at a four-star hotel,” spokeswoman Toemmergaard insists.
Wall coverings, carpeting, and even the feet on the design furniture are made from recycled materials and are guaranteed not to contain chemical products, while the computers have power-saving screens.
And the guests who redeem their electricity-production vouchers dine on organic food, and the high-tech kitchen grinds all its garbage and sends it to a local biogass central to be transformed into fuel.
Brilliant idea . It would taken the hotel meticulous effort to plan , create and source all the materials. The end result is an eco-hotel that’s an inspiring example to all businesses to think non-linearly and holistically about sustainability.
The eco-paradise wasn’t an easy sell to the slightly sceptical Intercontinental chain, Toemmergaard concedes.
“Often, when people think environmentally friendly, they think of smaller organic products that are less appealing than traditional offerings,” she says, adding that there had been a real fight “to convince the chain we had made the right choice.”
In the end, the franchises’s owners agreed to carry the project through because they believed Copenhagen needed a hotel that reflected its green ambitions, Toemmergaard says.
The bicycle-filled capital, which is “one of the world’s showcases for the environment and quality of life, which wants to become the first emission-free capital in 2025, should have a hotel that fits that image,” she says.
The carbon-dioxide neutral hotel cost some 125 million euros (156 million dollars) to build and is about five percent more expensive to run than a normal hotel, but the owners expect to make up the difference.
“In five or six years we will have a return on our investment that shows that it pays to make an effort for the environment,” Toemmergaard says.
( via physorg.com )
Make air travel eco friendlier
Sunday, June 13th, 2010
The search for industries which use huge amounts of plastic yields a few answers 35,000 feet above sea level . Airlines !
Airlines are notorious users of single-use plastic and paper – cups , food containers , cutlery , tissues . Practices established decades / years ago continue unquestioned . Some years ago a security scare caused airlines to switch from metal cutlery to plastic cutlery (which is frankly pointless . Metal cutlery posed no security risk ). Some airlines pack the blankets in plastic . To use the blanket the plastic has to be ripped apart . Needless to say this trashed piece of plastic will be immortalized somewhere on the planet.
The usage of plastic has reached new heights with an airline packing the in-flight catalogue and entertainment guide in a plastic cover that needs to be ripped apart to read the magazines. Entirely pointless and wasteful.
Here are somethings airlines can IMMEDIATELY do -
- switch to metal cutlery
- switch to ceramic or paper cups and dishes
- ditch packing the blankets , magazines in plastic
- encourage passengers to carry a reusable bottle in which the steward can fill water from a jug or at least hand out a bottle per passenger and keep refilling their bottles instead of getting a plastic glass every time someone asks for water.
- shift to bio degradable alternatives to plastic
- ask passengers for ideas on how to be more environ friendly , share information with passengers on their initiatives so far
The plastic generated chokes our planet . Food heated in plastic containers poses health risks . This gets multiplied for frequent travellers.
The next time you take a flight pl take a few mins to fill out the feedback form to the airline asking them to move to zero/minimal plastic (listing some solutions as mentioned above). Since airlines are not making the shift of their own accord we can and should use our voice as the customers to ask them to be eco friendly.
Your feedback counts . Pl choose to make a difference.
Eco Biz @ Japan
Saturday, June 12th, 2010
Japanese carry a lot of stuff . Most folks carry between 1-3 bags . Women on an average carry 1-2 bags (some 3 ) . Men carry at least 1 bag.
This is a country where bags are sold extensively . All kinds of bags – leather , cloth , nylon , polyester , faux leather . Yet , in my visits to retail stores I seldom see customers declining the retailer’s plastic bag and taking the product purchased in their own reusable bag . There must be folks who do so . I’ve not witnessed it yet whether in a dept store , convenience store , people buying lunch boxes from stalls or any retail format for that matter.
The Japanese are geniuses at making products that fold up into a compact size . The customers can easily carry a folding bag in one of their bags and use it to carry items purchased . Thereby reducing plastic ( Japan is a HUGE consumer of plastic . More on that in another post ).
Japan has a very high literacy rate + bags are easily available in retail . It’s puzzling why using a reusable bag for purchases is not a widespread if not default behavior .
Until few years ago Japanese men wore suits to work . No exceptions . I suspect that the Wachowski brothers got their inspiration to dress the agents of Matrix in suits after a few rides in the Tokyo metro . Until Cool Biz came along it was unthinkable that a Japanese corporate male employee could turn up at work in any other attire . Cool Biz was almost like legalizing wearing just a shirt and trousers to work. Possibly Japan needs an initiative similar to Cool Biz to make it acceptable / necessary / cool/eco friendly to take a reusable bag to stores and use it to carry products.
They can call it Eco Biz.
How not to send a mailer
Friday, May 7th, 2010
Got this mailer yesterday from a credit card company . The envelope paper was thick and sturdy enough for it to survive a round-the-world trip . It was however covered in a plastic bag and stapled .The plastic would be discarded by the recipient. The mailer was sent by courier . Which means it got collected , transported and delivered in fairly safe condition.
Mailer in plastic bag x several thousand mailers = sheer , avoidable , pointless waste
And this equation pertains to one marketing initiative of one company . When extended to various companies and industries the resulting number would be mind boggling .
If you are a marketer or your company sends such mailers – pl STOP . There are more effective , intelligent , earth friendly ways to reach out to your customers and prospects.
If you receive such mailers from companies – pl take a few mins to send an email asking them to stop using plastic pointlessly like this.
I’ll sign off now…to send an email to the credit card company.
