In Women We Trust

Get rid of the bottle and take back the filter

I'm inspired by Beth Terry's list of plastics that she has eliminated from her life. I don't know if I can do it, but I'm willing to give it a try. I'll start with the water issue and the two plastics that surround it, i.e. the bottle and the filter.

I don't think we need bottled water in places where we have tap water. I don't care if a bottle is made of petroleum based plastic or made of corn, it's still overkill for what we need in the average US town. Plus, only 10% of bottles, plastic or corn are recycled. Corn-made-plastic bottles may not be as harmful, but it 's still and that's what we need to cut back on first.

Let's say you do have questionable tap water. Brita makes a find product to give you gallons of great tasting water at a fraction of the cost of bottled water. In Europe, according to Beth, Brita has a program to take back the plastic filter. She's lobbying that they do the same thing in the U.S. If you think it's a great idea and are a buyer/user of the filters, then send your filter to takebackthefilter.org.

Heidi Sanborn: Pay now, or Pay later in a throw away world

I slid into the the Zero Waste conference last week, just in time to hear Heidi Sanborn talk about the Product Stewardship Council. She gave a terrific presentation on the growing problem and cost of household waste and who is responsible, the manufacturers who make the throw away stuff or the taxpayers who must manage the thrown-away stuff?

I couldn't take notes fast enough. The WHOLE presentation is on http://www.caproductstewardship.org/. If you scroll down, you'll see it at the bottom of the page where you can download the whole thing. It puts climate change pollution into a whole new light. Even if you don't think Global Warming is real, our massive waste problem sure is.

But that's just the beginning of the problem. The bigger problem is that WE pay for it on the front end as consumers AND the backend as taxpayers - and that system could bankrupt most communities.

Heidi believes that putting the burden of creating a safe and recyclable product on the manufacturer's shoulders is the answer. But if you were a manufacturer, where do you start and how do you do it and stay competitive with someone else who carried the same product line?

The more I know, the more I'm impressed with how the SMaRT Sustainable Product Standard works to solve pollution problems in air, water, earth and the atmosphere, BEFORE it hits the landfill.

Heidi, with 17 years in integrated waste management, has seen all the solutions come and go.  Check out her presentation. If you weren't motivated to buy less, or buy sustainably before, you will be after you see it. The section on pharmaceuticals is especially eye opening.   

 

Stephanie Barger is Zeroing in on Zero Waste

Meet Stephanie Barger, the Founder, Treasurer and Executive Director for Earth Resource. She's also a nonprofit Consultant and Mortgage banker. On June 26, you can add Event Planner as she and many other concerned business professionals are coming together at the Irvine Ford Plant to learn how to create a zero waste producing business.

That's no small feat. Imagine what you would look like if you had to carry ALL the waste you generate every day in a bag tied to your belt. How long could you function? Now imagine trying to eliminate that "bag" for a whole company.

City planners, big and small business, manufacturers and facility managers will all be there. It's open to the public. If you're in Orange Country next week, you may want to drop by.

June 26, 2008 - 8 am to 5:30 pm at the Ford Motor Company, 1 Premier Place, Irvine, CA 92618.

For more information or to register go here.

Adding their Best to Best Buy

In 2006, I interviewed Julie Gilbert of Best Buy. At that time they had 120,000 employees, today they top 140,000. Then, Julie was a Vice President of WOLF (Women's Leadership Forum) and Entrepreneurial Initiatives; now she's a Senior Vice President of Retail Training, Learning and Innovation, Winning With Women, and WOLF. On top of all that, she also has taken on Sustainability issues, turning Best Buy into a woman-friendly, earth-friendly corporation. My kind of woman.

According to a recent profile, "Through her leadership in WOLF, Best Buy increased female market share by more than $3.6 billion, increased the number of female job applicants by 37 percent, and reduced female employee turnover by 5.7 percent." Hummm.... Best Buy has 20,000 women employees, that means 1140 stayed at Best Buy because of the WOLF program. Cool.

Apparently Julie wants to do better than 5.7%. On Wednesday this week, she was in town (Anaheim, CA) with about 1000 other "blue-shirters" and WOLF Omegas (women who are not part of Best Buy). The Blue Shirts and the Omegas formed one, big brainstorm to continue exploring why employees and customers stayed with Best Buy and why others left.

Fortunately, the conference was only about 5 minutes from my place, so I was able to join Julie and other manager and Omega types for happy hour at the Hilton. Since this conference was all about making women happy, I took with me a request from Eco-Mom, Kimberly Pinkson. She wanted Best Buy to, Take back the e-waste [recycle] and show her what they are doing with it. "I don't want my old computer to end up over in Africa polluting the landscape for the kids over there," Kimberly told me.

Kimberly will be happy to know that Best Buy is working on the beginning of that wish list. According to Julie, they are doing a test in three stores located in Minneapolis, Baltimore and San Francisco. People can take any kind of e-waste to the store regardless of where they bought it. Currently at all Best Buy stores you can recycle print cartridges, batteries and cell phones. They are also greening up the buildings as well adding solar panels.

When it comes to the "show me" part. Kimberly isn't alone e-waste disposal, over at Envio Mom they addressed the same concern. Trust, but verify! No one wants to recycle only to find out that we messed up some other country's back yard. I have two old computers sitting under my desk for that very reason. I don't trust where they'll end up if I take them to a recycling center. That picture in the National Geographic of E-waste in third world countries is too vivid. I'll be the first one to champion Best Buy's program when they are able to show and tell the full story.

I also visited with Omega consumer, mom and small business owner Taiha Wagner. She was there, traveling with her incognito sister to answer questions from Best Buy employees. Taiha was encouraged by Best Buy not to hold back (she didn't) and wasn't given any advice on what to say before she came. (Taiha's the one with the white shirt)

So why would you love a company as an employee and customer?

Over on Best of Mother Earth, Karen Hanrahan explores why she stays with her company. It started with products that she could trust as a consumer of eco-safe cleaners. Years ago she had to switch to a chemical-free lifestyle as cleaning agents bothered her health. When she found products that allowed her a way to not only live safely, but also make a living she was hooked and never left. "They just fit who I am as a person," Karen told me. "I've always been told I'm a mother earth sort, and these products let me live that life."

The more I read blogs and pay attention to what women want, it always comes down the same thing, give them something they can believe in - oh, and prove it.

February is Clear Your Space and Mind Month

Collected, calm, centered... that's what struck me about Michelle when I met her at the Sundance Film Festival. How did she do it? She was off the charts cool in the middle of cameras flashing and everyone being a bit crazed, including myself.

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"When the student is ready the teacher will appear"

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In her packet (and on her site) were 9 Feng Shui Projects. Before you roll your eyes, go to her site and read the list. Maybe I was ready and master showed herself, whatever the reason, as I implement her clutter free ideas, I feel better. Try it. Let me know if it's also working for you.

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I could stop here, but I wanted you all to meet Michelle as well and learn how she arrived at this place.

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MARY: Were you always a neat freak or did Feng Shui transform you?

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MICHELLE: As a small girl, I lost my favorite Babar the Elephant book in a pile of toys as tall as me. Since then, I’ve been aware of how my environment can make my day a good or challenging one! Feng Shui has given me the language and tools to understand and use my environment to mindfully create a better day, and a better life. Feng Shui is the art and science of designing or adjusting an environment both indoors and outdoors for optimum comfort, balance, and use, given the purpose and occupants.

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MARY: Is it hard to keep it up?

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MICHELLE: As Goethe said, “Begin”! We all have days of clutter and chaos – including me, and those of us who look organized on the surface but have the junk drawer, the “keep it closed” closet or hidden mystery boxes in the garage. I find that it is harder to let things go, let papers pile up, laundry multiply and the junk drawer to spread to the whole cabinet than it is to finish each use by putting things back where they belong. This plan starts with having a place for each thing, something you can start NOW.

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How many of us keep buying rolls of tape because the last 10 rolls disappeared? Saving money from avoiding duplicates is just another bonus to being moderately organized. On a deeper level, Feng Shui is not just about being organized, but about keeping only that which you love or use. And, Feng Shui is about using your space wisely and comfortably and fitting your space to your needs and likes. This part is not hard to keep up at all, once you feel the difference between dreading your home and looking forward to being at home at the end of a long day.

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MARY: What's the biggest thing you've noticed that's changed in your life now that you apply the principles?

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MICHELLE: I have more clarity and peace in my daily life as I interact with others or think about what needs to be done. It is true – clutter in environment creates clutter in our minds…

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MARY: We talked about the LEED project when we met. Do you see Feng Shui and integration with LEED or no connection?

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MICHELLE: Feng Shui and LEED standards, as well as other “green” standards, are ‘naturally’ connected. Both LEED and Feng Shui teach us that our environment impacts our daily life and the lives of those people, neighborhoods, plants, and animals around us. Rather than home, work place, shops, and leisure as separate places, ideally these places collectively form our neighborhood.

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Place organization using LEED-ND standards is like space organization in a home with Feng Shui effort. And... Feng Shui can be used hand-in-hand with LEED-ND standards in designing neighborhoods. We need to see how everything in life is intertwined and affects everything else. We have a choice – the choice to make a better life for us, for others and for the future based on how we see and plan our different environments now. Both LEED and Feng Shui are about mindfulness in our environment, and how we can make the best choices for us and others.

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More information about Practical Feng Shui and about Newpark Hotel/the Newpark Development (LEED-ND is in process) are on Michelle's website:

www.practicalenvironments.com.

Study Reveals that Moms Recycle more than College Kids - go figure...

A new study shows that moms (housewives) deal with the trash more than college age kids. Are you as shocked as I am by the results? No? Even my 85-year-old Mother-in-law recycles all of her cans and bottles. I'm more shocked that we still need to conduct studies to prove what common sense tells everyone - women are the tipping point when it comes to rewiring the world. So.... if you want to create a tipping point for global action, focus on the women! That's what they do in micro-lending for the best return on investments - even women with the LEAST education take the most responsibility for following through.

Research was carried out from a sample of 525 university students and 154 housewives. The research, carried out at the University of Granada,  reveals that housewives are more willing to separate glass from other garbage than students.

The research was carried out in the Department of Social Psychology and Methodology of Behaviour Sciences at the University of Granada. It showed that the level of academic training is not related to the ecological awareness of people, despite the great proliferation of programs designed to educate and increase social awareness of the environment. Thus, according to research, housewives are more ecologically aware than university students, given they are more willing to recycle glass.

The good thing about this study is that is gives us one more thing to write about and quote. Like this conclusion: "In fact, housewives adopt environmentally friendly practices more often than students."

Humm... housewives who care for their kids, homes, schools, churches, town... DO MORE about environmental practices effecting all of the above than college kids who read about it. Who would have guessed that one? I wonder if they did a study comparing the purchasing practices of only mother's-with-children against the general population what they would learn? How about a mom vs. a single woman? How about a single woman against a single man - who would recycle more or make green(er) purchases?  How about housewives against house husbands? That may end up equal in effort, but there are so few house husbands, that the tipping point for global action wouldn't exist.

If you read Lipsticking, Learned on Women, Wonder Branding, Trendsight, Diva Marketing, Marketing to Women online, Interpret-her, La Marguerite, Funny Business, Mom's Rising, not to mention the thousands on BlogHer ... all these professionals could tell you the same thing - it's common sense, not science and not politics.

Here's my New Year's Resolution, it's the same one as last year's - band together ALL women on their very important job in 2008 - educate them on the issues, give them credit where credit is due and trust that their internal compass will guide them to take more action. Big projects like creating alternative fuels is important, but individual households and those who run them is where the real energy for global change will come from.

Change a Light Bulb. Boycott a Bottle

Did you party for the planet this weekend? Did you take the pledge? What will you do first to help save the planet?

By now, everyone knows that they can save a tremendous amount of electricity personally and globally by just changing their light bulbs to the curly ones. That's easy. Now comes the really hard part. Are we willing to put down the bottle of water? Switching out our light source is nothing compared to switching a mindset of convenience.

Nina Burokas, nicely gave me her copy of this month's Fast Company. In it is a wonderfully written article by Charles Fishman who melds marketing with economics with pure indulgence on our part. How did we go from water on tap to being tapped for $15 billion in bottling in fees?

"You can buy a half-liter Evian for $1.35 - 17 ounces of water imported from France... In San Francisco, the municipal water comes from inside Yosemite National Park. It's so good the EPA doesn't require San Francisco to filter it. If you bought and drank a bottle of Evain, you could refill that bottle once a day for 10 years, 5 months."

On top of this, he reported that it takes two gallons of water to wash and prepare some glass bottles. And over $1 billion of plastic bottles are thrown away each year rather than recycled. The Union of Concerned Scientists noted that "1.5 million gallons of oil - enough to run 100,000 cars for a whole year - are used to make plastic water bottles, while transporting these bottles burns thousands more..."

"What a waste" was never a more apt thing to say.

So how about it? You've swapped out your lights. Are you ready to put down the bottle?

"The Road Less Traveled" - Good for the Earth, Stunning for the Home

Can "earthy-friendly-only" items make it in this market? If you believe market focus groups it's a definite maybe - according to the reports, not enough people care - yet. That didn't stop Delilah Snell, the owner of The Road Less Traveled from trying. The business is thriving despite it's location in a former palm reader's store, next to a major highway turn off AND on a one-way street going in the wrong direction from drive by traffic.

Nina Burokas (a new BlogHer buddy) told me Delilah's store. Nina lives about 20 miles south of the store and I live within 1/2 mile  of it. I drive by the location 5 times a week, but didn't know it was there until word-of-mouth over lunch got me in the door.

Word of mouth works well for her. "What I hear most are 'My _________ told me that I would really like this place.' Or that they where told to check something out that I carry. After they arrive, most comment that they are surprised, informed and feel a sense of calm or just simply inspired/empowered with the information given."

I agree on the calming/inspiring atmosphere. It's akin to walking through an art gallery where you want to touch and experience everything. Check out that dishware from black Columbian clay. That's REAL BLACK clay, not a glaze. It feels amazing in your hands.

Because there is a lot to experience, she notes that many, "just try to 'digest' what is in here the first time... people are surprised and buy things that they didn't think where green, just because they didn't know.  And some others are just needing a store that actually carries eco-friendly items, they are not into buying on-line and enjoy the tangible shopping aspect.  some people just see my cards around town and are simply curious of what the store is, then they are hooked.  I'm here all the time and I have to say that very few never come back.

Delilah hand picks what goes in her store. "All the pieces are favorites!", she says, "They wouldn't be here if they weren't!  I really stand behind every item and I think that honesty and sincerity comes through... things are not just things to me and I really think that others believe the same.  We have kind of lost that notion of connectivity," she continued, "And oftentimes are to afraid to ask if this is really worth the purchase.  I am not afraid to say 'that doesn't look good' or 'if you don't know if you should buy it, then sleep on it' or 'this is a top seller/a great product', because that is the truth, not a pitch... I am not a salesperson... If I had to pick my top favorites, best of the best are: 

- Random Nicole tank tops and infant shirts:  I see how each one is created and how she puts love into each piece of clothing. Why?  Because she is my niece, who when finding out that I was opening a 'hippy store'  made a special line of organic cotton clothing to support me.  Yes, it is organic, but I can honestly say that the tops are CUTE! [and very well made]

-  La chamba pottery:  hand-built, non-toxic, and honestly beautiful casserole & cooking items.  I love the story & I love beauty in the useful.  Food is a worldwide theme of coming together, family, community,art, conversation, connection, memories... what better way to reinforce that than with what the food is made in - it is truly special."

She must be doing something right. Her store is bringing in customers who want to buy things, not just look. She's good at spreading the sustainable word. Tomorrow night the shop is hosting a OC Green Drinks. Delilah not only walks the walk, but serves the drinks.

Is bottled water worth $500 to a family of four?

The things you learn while reading other's posts. Andrea Learned was commenting on the difference between what kids in 1970 wanted and what they want in 2005, i.e. 1970/developing a meaningful philosophy of life vs. 2005/ 75% kids want to be well off financially. (she was quoting from a US Census report)

That was disheartening, but on the up side the same report also said that organic growers were on the rise. Perhaps today's kids want to be well off financially, but they'll do it through a better business outlet. Nothing wrong with that.

On the down side - the report also noted that "Americans drank 23.2 gallons of bottled water per capita in 2004. Consumption was only 2.7 gallons of bottled water in 1980. (Table 201) " No doubt that number has gone up since 2004.

As a 70s kid who grew up with a glass on the bathroom sink for everyone in the family of 6 to use, I found that startling. It's still hard for me to pay (again) for something that I already paid for via my city taxes and quarterly water bill. It sets off my "how stupid and lazy can I be" radar.

What's 23.2 gallons mean per family of four? A gallon = about 5.3 12 oz. bottles of water. At $1/bottle average that's $5/gallon X 23.2 = $123 per person X 4 = about $500 per family. DANG! Let's say it together.... how stupid and lazy can WE be?

On top of this, we are contributing to the waste stream. Not good. Sure we can recycle, but that adds one more thing to the To-Do list. This is a no-brainer... pay for plastic AND water AND recycling AND your time to recycle OR tap a cold one from the faucet?

I know there are all sorts of pro/con arguments. You have to decide if bottled water is really more "clean" than city water, but it's certainly more expensive. At $500 per family, is it really worth it? If I lived in a zone with contaminated water, yes it be, but I don't so I won't be buying the bottled stuff. 

A friend gave me glass beer goblets for Christmas. I try not to drink and blog, so during the week I keep one filled to the brim with tap water. Maybe it's the smug factor, or maybe it's the glass, but free water does taste better.