Happy Monday! Hope everyone is doing wonderfully and hasn’t loaded up on way too much Halloween candy! So, today we dive into a pesty little topic. Luckily, in SC I haven’t has to deal with too many bugs like I did in FL with those palmetto bugs and sugar ants. Yuck! Not to say we don’t have any. I think Laurens County may be the fly capital of the world and fleas have been a HUGE issue this year! So what do you when you are trying to purge all these chemicals from your cleaning products and then you have to deal with getting rid of bugs??

EcoSMART is a safer alternative to ridding your home of bugs: (from the site)

EcoSMART Technologies, the world leader in safe pesticide solutions, is a venture-backed company with patented technology and a world-class management team. Our mission is to create the world’s safest, most effective pesticides based on natural ingredients. We have 15 years of scientific research and a wealth of patents behind us. We make the only 100% safe insecticide that is proven to work. We offer the only complete line of EPA exempt pesticides sold in the US.

I had the opportunity to try out the Safe Home Value Bundle and I am happy to say they make flies drop to the ground and repel fleas decently. When I was in Florida last weekend I also had the chance to use the repellent as the gnats came out and it was very effective.  We also had an issue with ticks at the beginning of the season, but after continuing to spray the dogs with the repellent when they went outside, I don’t recall seeing a tick for quite some time.

I must say the scents are very strong, however in comparison to the awful smell or pesticides these are strong scents of peppermint, rosemary, cinnamon, lemongrass and other fragrant oils.

So, if you have to go Rambo on the pesky critters that occasionally find their way into the house why not give it a shot without all the chemicals?

Meanwhile, how about a chance to try out some EcoSMART products? EcoSMART will give one lucky choice of one of the following bundles:

* Safe Home Bundle
* Safe Plant & Garden Value Bundle
* Safe Picnic Value Bundle
* Safe Personal Care Value Bundle
* Safe Lawn & Outdoor Value Bundle
* Safe Patio Value Bundle

Do as many of the below as you wish and leave a separate comment for each one:

• Comment here on which bundle you would love to try if you won – or something you learned from the site.
• Blog about this giveaway and link back to this post.
• Tweet this giveaway
• Stumble this giveaway
• Use other forms of social networking to spread the word about this giveaway.
• Tried an EcoSMART product before? Find the product on their site and write a review, let us know where to find it.
• Subscribe to my feed to stay up to date with the latest from Eco-Office Gals.
• Buy anything from EcoSMART and comment 5 times that you did! (I will confirm)

The deadline for entering is Wednesday 11/04/09 at 8pm EST at which time one winner will be randomly chosen.  Please don’t forget to leave a separate entry and any entries that show obvious laziness i.e. a simple “Thanks for the great giveaway” will not be published therefore not counted. It’s just not fair for the people that do know how to follow simple directions. US residents only. Thanks!

Post from: Eco-Office Gals

Flaunt It! Monday EcoSMART

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Dear EarthTalk: Apparently boxed wine (instead of bottled) is becoming all the rage for environmental reasons. What are the eco-benefits of boxed wine over bottled? — Justin J., Los Angeles, CA

With more and more wineries offering organic varieties to lower their eco-footprint, it’s no surprise that they’re looking at the environmental impacts of their packaging as well. The making of conventional glass bottles (and the corks that cap them) uses significant quantities of natural resources and generates considerable pollution. According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the process of manufacturing glass not only contributes its share of greenhouse gas emissions but also generates nitrogen oxides, sulfur dioxide and tiny particulates that can damage lung tissue when breathed in.

Beyond manufacturing, the transport of wine in glass bottles across the country and around the world also takes its environmental toll. According to wine writer Tyler Colman, upwards of 90 percent of American wine is produced on the West Coast, but then shipped to the East Coast where the majority of wine consumers live. Trucking all these heavy glass bottles generates a much larger carbon footprint, ounce-for-ounce than the transportation of much lighter boxed wine. Almost half the weight of an ordinary case of wine comes from the bottles; about 95 percent of the weight of a case of boxed wine is the wine itself.

“A standard wine bottle holds 750 milliliters of wine and generates about 5.2 pounds of carbon-dioxide emissions when it travels from a vineyard in California to a store in New York,” reports Colman, who blogs at DrVino.com. “A 3-liter box generates about half the emissions per 750 milliliters.”  He concludes that switching to wine in a box “for the 97 percent of wines that are made to be consumed within a year” would reduce greenhouse gas emissions by about two million tons, or the equivalent of removing 400,000 cars from the roads.

According to the Wine Group, the third largest wine company in the world by volume and a big advocate for switching away from glass bottles, there are other advantages to boxed wine (which typically includes a plastic bag within a cardboard box). The vacuum packaging of boxed wines allows the contents to stay fresh for up to six weeks in the fridge once the seal is broken and the first glass has been poured. The Wine Group has launched the “Better Wines Better World” website in an attempt to curry public favor for technologically advanced, environmentally friendly and economically practical boxed wines.

Still, despite the benefits, boxed wine may still be a tough pill to swallow for many wine connoisseurs still bent on tradition. “Even those traditionalists who are coming around to the idea that maybe screw caps are fine for some wines, balk at the idea of a cellar full of cardboard boxes,” says wine writer and vineyard owner Lee Asbell. “It is difficult to imagine how wine service at fine-dining establishments would handle such a change.” For now, boxed wine is still the domain of cheaper brands. But that could all change as more and more wine makers and drinkers take up the mantle of saving the Earth.

CONTACTS: Better Wines Better World, www.betterwinesbetterworld.com. DrVino, www.drvino.com.

SEND YOUR ENVIRONMENTAL QUESTIONS TO: EarthTalk^®, P.O. Box 5098, Westport, CT 06881; earthtalk@emagazine.com. Read past columns at: www.emagazine.com/earthtalk/archives.php. EarthTalk^® is now a book! Details and order information at: www.emagazine.com/earthtalkbook.

photo credit: Bota Box

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Eco-Benefits of Boxed Wine

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1. Go Organic: Not only does organic food taste better as it lacks the usual pesticides, but that also makes it better for the environment. Picking organic fruits and vegetables ensures that no pesticides or additives are used, and this means it’s healthier for you and for the environment.
2. Choose to Walk: If you have the option to walk to a chosen destination rather than jumping in the car, then try it out. This ensures that you get in some exercise which contributes to a healthy and natural lifestyle. In the process, you are also doing your part to eliminate dangerous emissions from your car. So walk it out!
3. Quit Smoking: Smoking isn’t just bad for you; it’s also bad for the environment. You are literally polluting the air when you exhale the harmful smoke from cigarettes. So if you quit smoking altogether, you are keeping the earth safer and ensuring that you are maintaining a better picture of health in the process.
4. Open Your Windows: If you’re at home or in the car, open your windows rather than running the air conditioning. This ensures that you get fresh air that keeps you feeling good. It also means that you are doing your part to conserve energy and going green as you do so. This is another instance of what is good for you is also good for the environment.
5. Use Green Skin Care Products: If you want to ensure that you maintain healthy and beautiful skin, buy organic or green products. These are tested appropriately, use natural ingredients, and are far better for your skin. They are also far better for the environment, so it’s a true win-win!
6. Only Clean with Green Products: Household cleaners can be one of the worst sources of pollutants in your very own environment. So rather than using the typical household cleaners that have a long list of potentially dangerous ingredients choose healthy and green alternatives. Go for natural options such as vinegar, or even those that have certain standards and ingredients in their creation.
7. Grow Your Own Garden: Who doesn’t love that taste of fresh produce? You can have it for yourself by growing your own produce. This ensures that you get healthy and natural fruits and vegetables, and gives back to the environment in the process. It’s easy to do and good for you and Mother Earth!

Going green is a lot easier than you might think, especially these days! If you want to take care of yourself and the environment at the same time, find effective ways such as these to do both. You’ll feel better and be taking care of the environment in the process.

M. Ward blogs about how to study to obtain an <a href=”http://onlinebsn.org/”>online BSN degree</a>.

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Guest Post: 7 Ways to Go Green and Improve Your Health

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Yesterday I was followed and asked for help by @ShockingBarak. I didn’t pay much attention at first until I was asked to RT. That’s when I went to their site and saw their mission. Now I know all of you remember the trip our auto mongrels took to our state capital to beg and plead for money to keep their doors open, right?  Driving their hybrid SUV’s big enough to sleep my whole family comfortably? How can we forget? Shocking Barak hasn’t forgotten either and decided to show people the way it could have been done!

Our plan is to retrace the route of the automotive CEOs who went to Washington DC asking for government loans. But instead of looking for aid, we’d like to present President Obama with a homegrown solution to the transportation crisis. Having worked with Brammo, we’re fans of what they’re doing. We want to spread the word and we want to have a little fun while we’re doing it. So join us as we surf from plug to plug in a quest to meet Obama, fueled by nothing more than electricity and the kindness of everyday Americans.

The Brammo Motorcycle they refer to is a light weight, mass produced, 100% electric motorcycle.  It produces no emissions, no noise pollution, is made from recycled parts and can be recycled. Read more…

So, in itself a very innovative idea right? So, what can you do to help? Are you in the path they are taking from Detroit, MI to Washington, DC? Can they swing by and charge up? Can they crash for the night and enjoy your company? Can you provide them with a homegrown or local meal or snack?

Oh yah, the biggie, they need us to reach out to President Obama. So, if you happen to know someone, that knows someone… or maybe we can all just make some noise!

If you are not on their trip route, like me, there are still ways you can help! Tweet or Facebook the trip and the mission! Show your support by blogging about it. Maybe even buy a few Carbon Credits to help offset the emissions to charge the vehicles? I’m just thinking off the top of my head early this Monday morning. I’m sure there are many ways you can help if you are close by or far away. That is why I am here to tell you about it! So get out there, and make this viral, or comment below with thoughts on how we can help, or tell us what you are going to do to help!

I have not been asked to post about this, I am not being paid to post about this, I just love the idea and want to share & support. I hope you will too!

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Flaunt It! Monday: Shocking Barak

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Dear EarthTalk: I recently saw a reference to “Enertia houses” that require little in the way of external sources for heating or cooling.  Do you have any information on this housing design?

– Alan Marshfield, via e-mail

Enertia is a brand name for homes designed and sold in kits by North Carolina-based Enertia Building Systems (EBS). The idea essentially marries the concepts of geothermal and passive solar heating/cooling into what amounts to a highly energy efficient hybrid system. Architectural inventor Michael Sykes coined the term “Enertia” in the 1980s to describe the innovative homes he was designing that would store solar and geothermal energy and make use of it for most if not all heating and cooling needs.

Under such a system, solid wood walls replace siding, framing, insulation and paneling, while an air flow channel—or “envelope”—runs around the building inside the walls, creating what Sykes terms a miniature biosphere. Inside the envelope, solar heated air circulates, pumping and boosting geothermal energy from beneath the house and storing it within the wood mass of the walls, where it is doled out gradually.

By harnessing the properties of thermal inertia—the ability of materials to store heat and give it off slowly—an “Enertia” house maintains a relatively fixed and comfortable temperature throughout the warmer day (when solar heat is collected and stored) and cooler night (when the wood walls give off heat to keep things toasty as the mercury dips).

The heart of the system is a south-facing sun space within the envelope that is dominated by windows and which therefore soaks up lots of solar energy, filling the house’s wood walls with thermal energy that in turn radiates into the primary living space. The entire house functions like an electric heat pump—moving warm and cool air around to accommodate the comfort needs of the occupants. It works even throughout the seasonal changes of the year—with minimal to no fossil fuels consumed or pollution generated.

In one Enertia house in North Carolina, the only power bill the owners typically pay is $35/month for electricity. They also have a back-up in-floor radiant heating system powered by natural gas for long cloudy stretches or unusually cold weather. Gas bills for heat typically total $150 for the year, meaning the owners’ total annual outlay for heating, cooling and electricity is less than $600—some $1,000 less than traditional homes in the same zip code are paying, according to data from the U.S. Department of Energy.

EBS markets several different designs for its Enertia houses, but all share the basic premise of primary interior living space heated and cooled by air channeled in from a south-facing “buffer zone” envelope and from below grade. Smaller houses in the line top out at about 2,000 square feet over two floors of living space, while larger ones encompass some 4,000 square feet of living space over three floors. Depending on the model, you could spend anywhere from $66,000 to $292,000 for a complete plan and building materials kit. The rest—including the selection and cost of the land and the labor to build the house—is up to you.

CONTACTS: Enertia Building Systems, www.enertia.com.

SEND YOUR ENVIRONMENTAL QUESTIONS TO: EarthTalk^®, P.O. Box 5098, Westport, CT 06881; earthtalk@emagazine.com. Read past columns at: www.emagazine.com/earthtalk/archives.php. EarthTalk^® is now a book! Details and order information at: www.emagazine.com/earthtalkbook.

Post from: Eco-Office Gals

EarthTalk: Enertia Homes

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However, myEARTH360 goes beyond simply supplying environmentally sound products, portions of each sale goes back to schools to support environmental education and awareness! Here are some great details from the site:

• Development of the I Count for My Earth Campaign, a school program that gets the green message out to kids in an interactive, fun way. Lynn personally developed the campaign before the business even existed and is just something I do because I think enviro-awareness has to start with the kids so they can become the champions at home.
• Schools can participate in the I Count campaign for free, Shop & Share is optional.
• Creating and selling signature I Count for My Earth water bottles at Lynn’s son’s suburban Chicago school.
• Encouraging consumers to ‘vote with your dollars’, by shopping her online store and its diverse array of no-sacrifices-necessary, low-impact products. From essentials (home, school and office supplies, pet care, etc.) to extras (tableware and fashion), everything you buy counts for the earth!
• Launch of myEARTH360 hosted green parties: attendees share ideas on how to buy more eco-responsibly while discovering amazing green products from the eco.practical to the eco.chic in an upbeat, communal atmosphere.
• Regular e-newsletters and blog updates covering important eco-related issues like indoor air pollution, the battle of bottled water and what you can do about them.

This is a great place to shop and know you are really making a difference! So, I got to try a few fun products from Lynn’s store including some beeswax candles and some Shaklee Basic H2 All-Purpose Cleaner.

The Beeswax candles were a first for me and I was excited to try some of these. I do enjoy candles and know how cruddy paraffin candles are. They were great and very slow burning in comparison to paraffin.

Lynn also included a bottle of Shaklee Basic H2 All-Purpose Cleaner from her Shaklee Get Clean Site. Shaklee is non-toxic, biodegradable and manufactured by a green company. The bottle came with a little bit of cleaner, which I just added water to the fill line. The cleaner was truly versatile and cleaned up everything nicely.  There were no strong odors, crazy colors, just clean!

I love the concept behind myEARTH360 and encourage you to visit them for your eco-friendly needs!

Meanwhile, how about a chance to try out some goodies from myEARTH360? Lynn will give one lucky a $25 Gift Certificate to use in her store ! Do as many of the below as you wish and leave a separate comment for each one:

• Visit myEARTH360 and comment here on which product you would love to try or something you learn from the site.
• Blog about this giveaway or the I count for my Earth Campaign and link back to this post.
• Follow @myEARTH360 on Twitter or become a Fan on Facebook and comment that you did.
• Tweet this giveaway
• Stumble this giveaway
• Use other forms of social networking to spread the word about this giveaway.
• Subscribe to my feed to stay up to date with the latest from Eco-Office Gals.
• Buy anything from myEARTH360 and comment 5 times that you did! (I will confirm)

The deadline for entering is Wednesday 10/07/09 at 8pm EST at which time one winner will be randomly chosen.  Please don’t forget to leave a separate entry and any entries that show obvious laziness i.e. a simple “Thanks for the great giveaway” will not be published therefore not counted. It’s just not fair for the people that do know how to follow simple directions. US residents only. Thanks!

Here are your random numbers:

4

Timestamp: 2009-10-09 18:10:45 UTC

Congrats Jessica!

Post from: Eco-Office Gals

Flaunt It! Monday: myEARTH360

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While a lot of pests and their takeovers of your home are seemingly out of your control as a homeowner, there are a variety of measures you can take to control pests on your own. Most boil down to common sense and good house keeping. Remember, an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. In order to avoid pest problems, don’t allow yourself to create an environment that is hospitable to them in the first place.

Keeping Things Tidy Goes a Long Way in Promoting Pest Control

Remember your mother always nagging you to clean up your room? Well, she had a good point! Most pests seek refuge in places that are warm and provides sustenance to support them and their offspring. Avoid clutter that can turn into nesting material and breeding grounds for rodents, insects and mites. Designated eating areas keep crumbs from accumulating around your house and inviting pests to roam free as if at a smorgasbord.

Roll-Up the Welcome Mat by Sealing Entrances

Most infestations occur because it is so simple to gain access to your home. An effective tip is to seal up small holes, cracks, and drafty areas. This will keep rodents, birds, and insects from seeking refuge in your home, especially during cooler months. Don’t forget to repair window screens to prevent mosquitoes and other insects from gaining easy access.

Every Pest Problem Has a Solution

Even with a conscientious effort on your part, you may occasionally have unwelcome guests. With a wealth of do-it-yourself products on the market, traps, sprays
and other remedies are available.Doing it yourself may save you a dime.
However, does exposing yourself, your love ones and your pets to harmful chemicals and products worth it. If in doubt, consult a professional pest control management company to prescribe a solution to oust any pesky critters that have made your home theirs.
This guest post was written By Karl the Bugman, EnviroCare Pest Solutions, Columbus Ohio  614-586-BUGS (2847). Please feel free to check http://www.MyEnviroCare.com for more answers to your bug questions.

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Guest Post: Non-Toxic Pest Control Tips

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“To help our customers achieve a superior night’s sleep, alleviate pain, and increase comfort through unique and exceptional sleep systems that aid overall health and well-being. With our commitment to excellence in service, quality, and attention to detail, we will serve our customer with the greatest care, with the intention of helping them sleep better and live better.”

I met Julia Rosien, Communications Director, in the Twitterverse many months ago and we had a brief exchange about doing a Flaunt It for Natura.  Time went on and I let Flaunt lapse as we all know.  So, when I decided to ramp it back up I contacted Julia to see if she would want to help me kick things off.  She was more then happy to have me check out a few of their products and sent them right over.

I got to try out the:

Organic Latex Pillow – “Luxuriously soft, organic cotton cover, lined with a plush layer of organic Natura Grow Wool™.”

Washable Duvet Mate – Conveniently compact and portable, the Duvet Mate features a lightweight duvet that folds easily and neatly into a throw pillow, eliminating the look of messy throws and blankets. Filled with a silky batt of Natura Wool™ and covered in soft, unbleached 100% cotton, the Duvet Mate also has a cozy foot pocket to protect feet from cold and drafts.

Aromatherapy Spray – Re•Groove•N8™ with the relaxing scents of green tea and aloe.  Spritz a room.  Spray your body.  Mist a pillow.  Then inhale its calming essence and feel your body immediately relax.

Let me be honest, as much as I appreciated their Green initiatives I was a little skeptical about the products. I mean there are a few options when it comes to pillows; firm, soft, feather etc. but was there going to be any difference between a $5 non-organic pillow and Natura’s Organic pillow, besides the materials it was made out of? My curiosity had the best of me.

So, let’s move to the first night. This is a true account peeps, no exaggeration.  I went to bed with my new pillow and blanket. I can’t even explain how cozy I was, but that wasn’t the kicker.  At some point after I fell asleep I woke up, it was still dark and I was alone in the room. My husband was gone? WTH?! I jumped up, looked around and had no idea what was going on… until I realized it was 6am!! Yes, I had slept so deep and comfortable I thought it had only been an hour at best. I never even changed positions. I had stayed curled up in the same position all night long!  My husband said he had kissed me good bye when he left and I didn’t budge. That is so not me! Not that I have trouble sleeping, but I don’t ever remember sleeping so soundly in my life.

The blanket is also so very cozy. I love the little foot pocket.  The foot pocket is actually what you fold the blanket into to make it a travel pillow. Now I have tried to show two people how the blanket is supposed to fold into itself, but it ends up very lumpy, so I have to work on that. That’s just my own malfunction nothing to do with the concept of the pillow, mind you. For now it’s just my awesome blanket with a foot pocket.

The spray, let’s stick with the theme… LOVE IT! It is a very nice, subtle scent and I go crazy spraying it everywhere!

Natura has got the secret to sleep for sure. Plus, they use organic materials, they’re chemical free, they even re-purpose leftover mattress material in the pillows! I love this company and would love to have every product in the line!

So, check this out… Natura is giving one of my readers TWO Organic Latex Pillow!  That’s a $224 Value!! Do as many of the below as you wish and leave a separate comment for each one:

• Visit Natura and comment here on which product you would love to try (Dream BIG there’s so much to choose from!)
• Blog about this giveaway and link back to this post.
• Follow @JuliaRosien, @naturaworld, or @ecoofficegals and comment that you did.
• Tweet this giveaway
• Stumble this giveaway
• Use other forms of social networking to spread the word about this giveaway.
• Subscribe to my feed to stay up to date with the latest from Eco-Office Gals.
• Buy anything from Natura and comment 5 times that you did! (I will confirm)

The deadline for entering is Wednesday 9/30/09 at 8pm EST at which time one winner will be randomly chosen.  Please don’t forget to leave a separate entry and any entries that show obvious laziness i.e. a simple “Thanks for the great giveaway” will not be published therefore not counted. It’s just not fair for the people that do know how to follow simple directions. US and Canadian residents only. Thanks!

Here are your random numbers:

311

Timestamp: 2009-10-01 01:40:16 UTC

R Hicks ENJOY!!!

Post from: Eco-Office Gals

Flaunt It! Monday – Natura

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GreenWorks NYC – Ally LaTourelle on Starting up a Green Business

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Some of you are at this moment red-faced with smoke coming out of your ears typing your response to this article on your made-from-refurbished-seaweed keyboard after reading just the title of my article. Before you hit send you need to know that I AM A GREEN MANUFACTURER MYSELF and you need to hear my take on things. For the rest of you with your fingers over your face leaving just enough space to allow one eyeball to take a gander, let’s all just be completely honest – it’s easy to hate goin’ green, and there are three very good reasons to do so:

1. Green Products Stink

I’m not the least bit opposed to saving the planet. As a matter of fact I’m ALL FOR IT (remember, I’m in the green product business myself). And when there is a green alternative for the non-green product I am shopping for I really want to give it a try. However, in my possession at this moment I have a box full of green pens (black ink, green manufacturing) that work about as well as a hammer and chisel, a 23-pack of green toilet paper (threw the 1^st roll away immediately after enduring a 1^st degree cardboard burn over a significant portion of my posterior during the maiden voyage), and a handful of corkscrew fluorescent light bulbs I promptly removed from my house when discovering that when watching TV in my living room I had enough lumens to perform gall bladder surgery.

BOTTOM LINE: See Jimmy Buffet’s Cheeseburger In Paradise VS a tofu burger. There are some great green products out there that are as good as if not better than their non-green counterparts, but the reality is that they are few and far between. Few Americans snub the thought of making environmentally friendly choices but until the majority of our green products are equivalent replacements, STOP SHOVING THEM DOWN THE COLLECTIVE THROAT OF THIS COUNTRY.

1. Green Products & Programs Are Outrageously Priced

Because I do manufacture an eco-friendly product I try my best to support other entrepreneurial individuals and companies doing the same. For example, I ship my product in small recyclable cardboard boxes so I’m thinking not only should I use a box that CAN be recycled (which I do), I should also use one that has ALREADY been made from recycled materials.

Great THEORY, eh? When the rubber meets the road the non-recycled cardboard is about 1/3^rd the cost of the recycled version. You do the math. Oh, and how about the recycling bin for my home? The local recycling company wants me to separate all of my stuff (no problem), wash it out (ok), put it in the plastic bin (got it), drag it to the curb on Tuesday morning (uh huh) and then PAY THEM to take it away, recycle it and sell it for a profit. I’m no rocket scientist but isn’t that double dipping?

BOTTOM LINE: Green products & programs won’t really become mainstream viable until they make sense financially for the CONSUMER. To those of you who gladly pay premiums for sub-par green products and programs under the heading of “it’s worth it for Mother Earth” I truly applaud your efforts (I do the same). However, if we want green to reach the SUV-driving suburbanites we’re going to have to meet them at a place near and dear to their hearts – their pocket books.

1. Goin’ Green is a Pain In The Butt

Why do we as a country embrace NetFlix, Google, and Fandango? Because they all take something we were used to doing the hard way and make it easier. Their reward, adoption by millions. Thus far, however, almost everything green requires us to go out of our way. I have to drive across town to the organic food store, load up my cans, bottles and newspapers that I’ve been collecting in a corner of my garage for 3 months and take them to the recycling center, search endlessly online for green toothpaste, mouthwash & dental floss – I could go on.

BOTTOM LINE: If we want the nation to go green with us we need to make it not just a good thing to do, but a CONVENIENT thing to do as well.

On of my favorite companies is Southwest Airlines. They have a GREAT PRODUCT, it’s PRICED BETTER THAN THEIR COMPETITORS, and they MAKE THE USER EXPERIENCE WONDERFUL. Contrast that to most of our green products that are 1. Inferior, 2. More Expensive and 3. Harder to Use or Acquire than the non-green version. Good Ole American economics says that one of those two models is a sustainable movement while the other is a fad that will eventually dry up and blow away. None of us want the momentum of today’s environmental consciousness to die. How do we avoid that? We become dedicated to creating green products and services that are superior, better priced and more convenient.

BOTTOM, BOTTOM LINE: Either we get green goin’ in the aforementioned direction or goin’ green is gonna be goin’ out of style.

About the Author: Andy Sperry is a Geologist by education, former Environmental Consultant, and the founder and owner of InkFlip.com, a supplier of discount remanufactured (refilled) printer ink cartridges. InkFlip.com offers recycled ink cartridges that meet or exceed OEM specifications, prices that are up to 70% less than big box retail stores and the convenience of their never-run-out program where empty cartridges are mailed from customers to InkFlip.com in a pre-paid box, refilled and returned to the customer immediately. http://www.InkFlip.com – BETTER, FASTER, CHEAPER.

Post from: Eco-Office Gals

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