3p Contributor: Audrey
Recent Articles
Campaign against Sustainable Forestry Initiative Escalates
ForestEthics versus SFI. The green industry is overwhelmed by trustmarks and certification organizatons. As a result, consumers don’t know whom to believe anymore. As it turns out SFI (Sustainable Forestry Initiative) is funded and managed primarily by large logging companies, whereas ForestEthics is an environmental nonprofit dedicated to protecting endangered forests. (And then there’s the Forest Stewardship Council – FSC – just to make things even more complicated, as highlighted in this NY Times article.)
Both ForestEthics and the Sierra club have filed complaints against SFI at both the Federal Trade Commission and the Internal Revenue Service. The organizations accused the certification program of lax standards and deceptive marketing intended to obscure responsible foresting standards. But this ongoing war came to a head at last week’s Greenbuild conference.
7-Eleven Wrapping Nature’s Naturally Wrapped Fruit
There are so many great things about bananas. In addition to being an important source of fiber, vitamin C, and potassium, they’re naturally wrapped, so companies that sell them don’t have to worry about packaging. That is, unless that company is 7-Eleven.
Last month, 7-Eleven tested a new plastic wrap to keep single bananas yellow and firm for five days (more than double the two-day shelf life for unwrapped bananas), according to an article from ABC news. This is no small matter, as the chain will sell more than 27 million bananas this year.
That means 27 million individual plastic wrappers that are entirely unnecessary. But the question is, who is the culprit here?
Give more, Useless
Believe me, USELESS, I get it. I get the point you’re trying to make. Your anti-consumerism, “Use less, give more” message is not a new one. However, following it with a list of products to purchase definitely is.
I understand that you mean to be somewhat ironic. And I get how handy it is that when you combine the words “use” and “less” into one word, you end up with “useless” (somehow I suspect that’s how this whole company came about – clever name first, company second).
And sure, your cleverly designed hoodies are made of organic cotton and your cute, logoed bottles are BPA free. And I appreciate that you donate 10% of your profits to fund water and sanitation projects in the developing world. You’re better than a lot of companies out there. BUT, you’re still selling products!
3rdSpaces Helps SF Venues with New Mandatory Waste Ordinance
With San Francisco’s mandatory waste ordinance in effect as of Wednesday, the city’s businesses and residences are now required by law to compost their food waste. This is a big shift for the city’s over 4000 restaurants, bars, and nightclubs that will now have to divert a huge section of their waste to their green bins. Luckily, there is one company uniquely poised to help San Francisco’s venues take on this challenge: 3rdSpaces.
3rdSpaces is the city’s first entertainment venue sustainability company. CEO (and my friend) Mike Zuckerman started 3rdSpaces a number of months ago. By working closely with the San Francisco Department of the Environment, 3rdSpaces provides a service to help local venues save money through sustainability. And this new waste ordinance couldn’t have been more well-timed for the firm’s big launch.
Southwest Announces New “Green Plane”
Truly sustainable planes with alternative fuel or higher efficiency may still be many, many miles away, but Southwest seems to be have introduced a quick layover with yesterday’s debut of their “Green Plane.”
The greening of the plane is based mostly on eco-friendly interior materials, from InterfaceFLOR carpeting to new lightweight, leather-like leather alternatives for their seats, to a more environmentally-friendly life vest pouch!
According to Reuters, all of the initiatives being tested on this Green Plane combine to a add up to a weight savings of almost five pounds per seat, thus saving fuel and reducing emissions. Southwest also announced that next month, they’re kicking off a more robust onboard recycling program that will allow the airline to capture more recyclable material and divert it from the waste stream.
Formula Companies Pushing Products in Third-World Countries
New innovations are being created constantly to make everyday activities more sustainable. And yet at the same time, baby formula companies are pushing products that make life’s most sustainable activity (in every meaning of the word) less sustainable.
In addition to the huge benefit that breastfeeding has on health (including significantly reducing infant mortality), breasts and human nipples are natural and entirely reusable, not to mention completely free! Think of all the resources saved. All the shipping and packaging of formula – totally unneeded. So why are breastfeeding rates dropping, especially in developing countries such as Vietnam where it’s needed most?
Fashionistas, Ad Execs and Environmentalists Descend on NYC
This time in September marks a convergence of three big New York City events: Fashion Week, Advertising Week and Climate Week NYC.
Three of today’s most influential industries that both support each other and battle each other for public attention. On one hand, consumerism is the opposite of sustainability. Though at the same time, phenomena such as eco-fashion and green advertising are bringing climate change more and more into the public eye.
Climate Week NYC is an event organized by such organizations as The Climate Group, the UN, Tck Tck Tck Campaign, and more. Fashion Week, however, was sponsored by… Mercedes Benz. I guess “eco” wasn’t really the theme this year. Advertising Week, however, has a different focus than years past.
Have a Branded Sweet & Solar Wedding
Share your special day with 19 other couples and an “all-natural, low-calorie sweetener.” In a somewhat misguided brand launch, SUN CRYSTALS® is sponsoring a solar-powered New York City wedding for 20 lucky couples.
How is marriage related to sweetener or to the environment? Because it’s the “first all-natural, low-calorie sweetener that marries stevia and sugar cane, two plants nourished by the sun.” Yeah, that’s a stretch.
The SUN CRYSTALS® Brand is a member of 1% For The Planet®, donating 1% of sales to the American Solar Energy Society (ASES). And from what it says, the product seems natural-ish. But branded weddings? How low have we stooped as a society? What’s next, sponsored births and funerals?
Plants Need CO2, Therefore It Doesn’t Cause Global Warming?
I’m sure the Internet has its fair share of wackos trying to prove that global warming is not human-made nor dangerous. But I’m going to focus on this one, because he’s just so adorable.
His reasoning: Plants Need Co2. Therefore, how could CO2 be a pollutant? In fact, he’s so emphatic about this that he named his organization just that: “Plants Need CO2”
The mission of this 501(c)(3) nonprofit? “To educate the public on the positive effects of additional atmospheric CO2 and help prevent the inadvertent negative impact to human, plant and animal life if we reduce CO2.”
Yes, we all learned in 3rd grade biology that plants breathe in CO2. This does not mean that it’s not a pollutant.
Surprise! Sigg Bottles Did Contain BPA After All.
A bottle full of BPA-laden tears. That’s what I’ve cried for you, Sigg. You have let me down. To think, you were my proud symbol of healthy environmentalism. You represented anti-plastic bottled water as I filled and refilled you every day at the tap. Now I am filled and refilled with shame for you and your company’s non-transparent ways.
I’m not so mad that your lining did in fact contain the reproductive health problem-causing BPA (the main reason consumers like me made an effort to avoid plastic in the first place), it’s that you lied. Perhaps the BPA in your lining does not leach into the liquid contained by your bottles, but your web of lies has leached into the consumer’s conscious. Good luck talking your way out of this one.
Is There Such a Thing As Green Pesticide? EcoSMART Says Yes
Finally, a pesticide that can rid your house of all those pesky children and animals. Oh no wait, scratch that. It’s SAFE for children and animals. That packaging had me confused.
EcoSMART claims to be the only 100% safe insecticide that is proven to work.
Their products are based on the essential oils from plants and trees that the flora themselves use as natural defenses against insects and pathogens. According to their site, “EcoSMART’s proprietary botanical oil blends attack attributes that are specific only to pests, they have no effect on people, pets or the environment.”
And, according to their site, all the active ingredients in EcoSMART are FDA approved. In fact, they’re often found in cake, soft drinks and lipstick. Yum.
In addition to touting their eco-friendly pesiticides, EcoSMART is also raising awareness about harmful chemical pesticides in schools and playgrounds. They promote federal school pesticide/pest management legislation to protect children from hazardous pesticides used in and around schools while selling their product. How convenient.
Everything about this brand, that has been in existence for “many years,” sounds great. So why have I not heard of it until now? I praise this company for drawing attention to the problem of toxic pesticides in schools and playgrounds. My big question now is, does it work? I just purchased a 14 oz. can of “Flying Insect Killer” from their website. So stay tuned…
Double the Pleasure: Recycle Your Old Sex Toys
Stop filling up your garbage can with cheaply made vibrators. No more broken dildos piling up in landfill. Now you can recycle your old sex toys!
Yes, that’s recycle, not reuse, which is where my mind initially jumped.
According to the Recycle my Sex Toy site: “Finally, there’s an environmentally friendly way to dispose of used or broken vibrators, dildos, plugs, or any other sex toy you may have. Our Sex Toy Recycling program offers you a way to recycle sex toys that you no longer want or use.”
Naturally Gorgeous? Sephora Has Their Own Definition
A recent trip to Sephora to replace my favorite (and highly toxic) lip gloss sparked a question: What is “natural” beauty? I would define it as something unchanged by human hands, as in a sunset, a wild flower, or a good-looking person with no make up. Sephora defines it as make up containing “natural” ingredients.
But here’s where we start getting into trouble. There is no official definition of “natural” when it comes to beauty products. Unlike Certified Organic, there’s no USDA when it comes to cosmetics. The government regulates what passes through our lips, but not what we put on them. This leaves the door open to companies like Sephora to create their own definition of what natural products are.
Pee in the Shower: Save the Rainforest.
SOS Mata Atlantica Foundation, a Brazilian non-profit organization, is currently running a TV campaign encouraging viewers to save the Atlantic rainforest by peeing in the shower. Their kid-oriented commercial shows recognizable silhouettes, from King Kong to what appears to be Gandhi (really?), reducing their water usage by, uh, making some “rain” of their own in unusual places.
What does urination location have to with saving rainforests? The group says that by avoiding one toilet flush each day, an average household can save up to 4,380 liters (1,157 gallons) of water annually. They don’t even mention the amount of toilet paper saved, or maybe they do, I don’t speak Portuguese.
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