some green-ish humor

from the Alternative Consumer, 10 threats to a greener America:

• Townhouse developments - vast tracts of middle-class housing in cookie cutter formations stretching as far the eye can see. Frightening.
• PlayStation, Sega and Nintendo - the annual transition to next-generation gaming platforms will create mountains of played-out Gameboys and Xboxes that will soon block out the sun while simultaneously creating a generation of adults with arthritically crippled and out-sized thumbs…
• Celebrity hypocricy - how many bodyguards can fit into one Escalade en route to that 11th Hour premiere?
• Shopping at Wal-Mart - can it really be good business for China to poison its best customers? Everything’s on sale everyday…including America.
• Congressional harassment - our elected representatives can’t be relied upon to focus on legislation when young pages, money toting lobbyists and gay men’s room entrapment schemes keep them from their work.
• Stephen Colbert - the sawed-off comic has befriended Bill O’Reilly, violated the Endangered Species Act by adopting a bald eagle, and denied the existence of both evolution and global warming thus contributing to the decline of Western Civilization as we now know it…
• Designer re-usable bags - the point is to replace the noxious and pervasive plastic bag, not gain entry into Lindsay Lohan’s next ‘I just busted out of re-hab and got a big movie deal’ after-party.
• Sustainability - the spelling and mis-spelling of this word will waste an estimated 137 million man-hours per year that could be otherwise used to save the global environment.
• Cats - kitty litter disposal is an odiferous and growing concern to many Americans.*
• Cell phones - I’ve got nothing here but I needed a 10th threat. Any ideas appreciated.

*(misrepresentation to enrage cat lovers and increase traffic to this site)

posting will hit a hiatus this weekend, as I head to Colorado to recharge.

Re-use rebuilding the city of New Orleans

one of my favorite blogs, Design for the Other 90% featured an effort in New Orleans to supplement spartan (and still inhabited) FEMA trailers with room additions, free standing rooms and other structures made from salvaged wood from Katrina's wreckage. the structures are quite attractive and further underscore the great things that are going on - the bright points - in a city that has been so devastated.

Jobs announces greener pastures - sort of - for Apple

I've been following the greening of Apple since Greenpeace launched its beautiful "Green My Apple" microsite. Steve Jobs just announced efforts to go greener and eliminate many of the most harmful chemicals within its products. That's the good news. The bad news is that Apple has yet to offer recycling of its products. The better news, however? That the industry and many of Apple's most vocal brand evangelists have demanded some changes from their beloved machine maker. This, as I said in my last post, is what we must continue - as consumers - to demand and then celebrate when brands take positive steps.

PSFK calls out Delta

I walk a fine line here at the Do Better Blog. I try to post only info of the purest of heart. We all know there's a ton of "greenwashing" going on with brands right now to be part of the cool, green, kids' table. Boo on that. I'm not suggesting a witch hunt, but I am suggesting we continue to feature and laud honestly good companies compared to companies who've tacked on a green initiative because their competitors just adopted a highway. So far from the point. Anyway, I love reading PSFK (and get a lot of my truly environmental info from this source - so put 'em on your RSS reader) and tonight saw an interesting post calling out Delta's "green" efforts.

First of all, I'm really happy. Why? Because PSFK did something that I am so darn excited to see in the mainstream: a feet-to-the-fire accountability check of companies' "green" efforts. Since forming Interwoven Threads, I've tried to do as much as I can to create a sustainable company. Am I 100 percent good yet? No. But I'm working toward it. And I like the dialogue and the pressure from consumers. I invite it. It's how this green thing will get some gas (and by gas, I mean...).


PSFK questions Delta's "green" in-flight amenity kit (photo credit psfk). You know, they were pretty harsh on Delta, but I'd have started out with even a harsher criticism: When you're an airline, burning god knows how much fuel, a corn-based toothbrush isn't going to offset your carbon footprint. Don't jerk me around with an in-flight kit. I'm going to criticize your marketing dept. Promote the trees you're planting to offset your footprint. Promote your partnership with the Breast Cancer Research Fund. Give me a sapling instead of a toothbrush to, if your website is correct, symbolize the tree you are planting on my your employees' behalf. That's good stuff and it's stuff I, as a consumer, get and can get behind.

What would make me happy (and I imagine Piers, too) would be an honest account of how to do better. Something like this, printed on the in-flight bag: "We're an airline. We burn lots of fuel. But you have to get to L.A. from New York and you need to do it fast. So, we exist to aid travel. To offset the environmental implications of our industry, we're doing X. You'll see that reflected in our in-flight service and our gate experience, where we're working toward a social consciousness we believe is critical to balance our impact on the environment we all seek to preserve."

One great thing that came from the giant Web 2.o movement was transparency. It started as an edict for web behavior and has trickled into all aspects of modern business communications. Nowhere is it more beneficial to a company and appreciated by a consumer than being transparent with your environmental and social efforts. None of us are perfect. Delta, your consumers know what you're putting into the air when they buckle their belts. So face it. Be who you are. Seems like you've got a lot of good offsets going for you, none of which have anything to do with a "green" toothbrush. How do you communicate those better? How do you change the bigger picture, not just the cute kit with some nice copywriting.

It's a good day, folks. We're challenging brands. We're debating authenticity. And that is what grows efforts.

Barefoot Wine, please

On the topic of companies doing better, Barefoot Wine is doing it. They've partnered with the Surfrider Foundation to identify 7 beaches to renew to a level fit for activity. The cleanups have taken place across the U.S. Their next cleanup is Sept. 1.

Have a beach you'd like to see revived? Vote here. They've also provided 10 things you can do to keep the ocean and beaches clean.

Austin City Limits Fest goes green

I've always wanted to attend the ACL fest - now, after reading the steps the fest took to greenify the experience and lessen the impact, I'm darn tempted to up and trek down next month. Always the cultural and musical bar-setter, ACL is continuing its role as a force. Kudos.

Remarkable.co.uk

Remarkable is a, well, remarkable product design company based in the UK that reuses old products to create new, very cool products. From pencils to mousepads, I'm diggin' and wishin' I could buy these in the States. Great, er, remarkable work. My favorite part is the call-out on the products of what they used to be.


via Josh Spear.

recycling: the last resort

we all know recycling is good. recycling less, however, is even better. recycling less means you're consuming and disposing of less. that should, really, be the goal. i am trying to re-organize my recycling practices to increase the convenience to toss and collect various things, past just the common plastic and glass, etc. so i hopped on over to treehugger today to get some info and noticed a great selection: How to Green Your Recycling. Whaaa? isn't my recycling pretty darn green?

the tips, though, highlight how we can take our recycling to the next level...and really, it has nothing to do with recycling. it's all about the other two of the three "R's": reducing and reusing the material you consume. when you think of it this way, in a more holistic way, recycling should be the last resort in your efforts to green up your life.

lately, i've been trying to take some small steps to increase my reuse. here are a few you can easily adopt, which have made the biggest difference in my amount of waste and recycling:

• Eat, drink with reusable dishes.
• Take my reusable coffee mug to the coffee shop instead of wasting a paper cup.
• Think twice before packing lunch or goods:
  
• the simple act of using a lunchbox instead of a plastic or paper sack can cut down
• travel with my running and biking gear quite a bit, and used to often throw shoes/laundry/etc. into (again) paper or plastic sacks
  
• wrap or pack gifts in recycled or reusable goods - decorated shoe boxes, funky product bags or wrapping made of magazine pages not only help increase re-use, but can be a pleasant and differentiating surprise for the recipient.

what are your recycling/reuse/reduce tips?

EcoSeek: The search engine for all things green

I learned about EcoSeek via Josh Spear and quickly became excited with this new search engine. It is a user-populated search engine featuring green goods. It's just getting up and going, and is accepting new picks and submissions to fill its system. Interwoven Threads can be found in the men's shirts and women's tops sub categories. In true user-generated fashion (no pun), EcoSeek features recommendations and ratings from consumers. Interwoven Threads has a couple nice notes attached - thanks!

Bookmark EcoSeek and keep checking back - or spend some time sharing your favorite green brands so others can discover.

Green jobs and do-better employment

I had a conversation with a friend last night on jobs, companies and marrying the two to an employee's ethics...much of what I covered in this post. Browsing TreeHugger this morning, I noticed their job board. Check it out if you're interested in a diverse selection of "green" jobs. Also, idealist.org is another great resource for volunteer and employment opportunities in the U.S. and abroad.

Employment always stumps me...we humans seek out friends with which we have commonalities. Significant others who share our passions and beliefs. Places of worship that speak to personal theology. Even brands that seem in line with our moral fiber. But many of us do not seek to continue those standards into the jobs we do. And maybe that's because of, simply, the word job. It's a means to an end. A necessary evil. A have to. But it doesn't have to be like that. And maybe, as the attention on green moves ahead and the public conversation on social awareness increases, so will (as I posted before) the demand for a better work experience.

The bottom line is we human folk do better doing what we enjoy. Moreover we do better doing something that resonates on a level higher than ego, salary, fame and status. It's never too late to seek such an opportunity. Start by volunteering. Or by exploring the little gut feelings you might frequently ignore. You never know...that dread of skydiving one day may result in a dream career.

Also from TreeHugger, some tips to green your workplace. Even if you don't love your 9-5, you could love the impact (or lack thereof) your office has on the environment. This would be a nice link to send your boss. Or your HR dept.

Shellhouse collapsible shelter

Read a blurb in the latest issue of Good Magazine on Shellhouse, an innovative effort to engage DIY-ers to create portable, foldable shelters for the homeless. First of all, these are beautifully-designed structures. Second, they are quite practical, as they fold up to be carried during the day. Shellhouse also has instructions to create (and donate) radio transmitters. I'm not 100 percent clear on the transmitters, but I'm still diggin' through the site.

Regardless, this is a wonderful project and I do hope it catches on. This issue of Good is all about design - more importantly, designing for a greater good. Shellhouse is a great example of a practical and simple design that can improve lives. For you DIY-types, might be a nice way to spend a Saturday afternoon...the materials are free and the product is fantastic.

Kudos.

Europe beatin' the pants off U.S. for Ethical Fasion

Andrew passed an article my way, via Marketing Daily, on the gap between European and American consumption of ethical fashion. Europe, is much farther along that our fair country when it comes to purchasing clothing (and goods) that adhere to a variety of socially-responsible standards. From organic material to fair trade certification, the popularity level is high.

The difference could be based on the U.S.'s lagging adoption of fair trade and a lack of oversight by a third party. Might be driven, also, by mindset. If you simply look at what TransFair has done to raising awareness in the food and beverage market in the U.S., it's clear that third-party endorsements not only provide additional brand recognition during purchase opportunities, but aid in raising the overall awareness level.

I do think that the article paints a more dire picture of Americans' awareness level for ethical clothing than is fair to build a soapbox upon. We're doing better. And as mainstream designers continue to incorporate fair trade products and practices into popular lines, the awareness will only grow. Additionally, American consumers are embracing the green/sustainable/ethical buzzwords and turning them into buying practices. We may be lagging behind Europe, but we're making progress. And that's encouraging.

Resources:
TransFair
Business for Social Responsibility