Sustainable is Good | Where design, lifestyle and packaging meet

PepsiCo to Buy One Billion Kilowatt-hours of Renewable Energy credits

PepsiCo will announce today that it will purchase 1 billion kilowatt-hours of renewable energy credits over the next year. 

The credits are equal to all the electricity used by PepsiCo's US facilities and are enough to power 90,000 American homes for one year.

The renewable energy will cost PepsiCo about $2 million dollars.  This amount signifies a significant investment and is huge for renewable energy.

PepsiCo's renewable energy purchase has catapulted it up the list of green energy users.  The US Environmental Protection Agency is releasing its quarterly list of the 25 greenest energy users today - and PepsiCo is now at the top.

USA Today reports the move is significant for renewable energy but also may be a solid marketing move.  95% of kids 13 to 18 recently surveyed by Weekly Reader magazine said they had heard of global warming.  One in four said they were very worried about it.

PepsiCo's renewable energy credit purchase doubles that of the previous leader Wells Fargo.

Are Women Stupid Overconsumers?

What a recent ad for a women's expo can show us about a culture of over consumption

BANNER AD FROM WOMEN'S EXPO

BY RIDER THOMPSON

Are women stupid overconsumers?  No. Of course not.  So why do companies and advertisers treat them as such? 

I couldn't help it, I was having lunch and i saw this advertisement for the Southern New England Woman's Expo.  The expo is going on today and is billed as, "The ultimate girls day out... plus all day shopping."  The ad and website feature pictures of women with multiple shopping bags big smiles and lots of fun.  Hey it even featured a guest lecture by Fox's Nanny 911.

It made me stop and think for a moment.  We're not going to make significant progress in this country as far as over consumption goes until consumers aren't conditioned differently.  Right now companies with products and advertisers trying to selling those products play up on all the human emotions to get people buy buy buy.  Like "girls day out" or the "new you."  They've successfully conditioned American consumers that these ideas and emotions are linked to shopping or the impulse to buy.

In talking about my observation with the women's expo with Kristen one of the contributors here she said these events are common.  In fact she referenced a similar one in the Midwest she'd recently encountered that was basically the same as the one today however there was a $125 entry charge.  Talk about adding insult to injury.

Kristen said if I thought the whole idea of the women's expo was bad wait until I see something she just saw.  She forwarded me an ad she ran into the other day on Myspace. 

If this isn't insane I don't know what is.  The ad shows a woman with multiple shopping bags after she'd just got "up to $10,000" though egg donation.  Without even getting into the moral issues the message here is rather troubling.  I don't know where we go from here when we have a company telling a woman to donate her eggs so she can shop. 

Back to my original point.  We can't even begin to make dents in issues related to sustainability and conservation of resources until we can address problems like this.

This is just one small example of a culture of over-consumption bred and fueled by companies.  What is even more troubling is these companies and their marketing people are smart, very smart.  They target middle class/lower middle class women and tell them the only way they can feel good about themselves is to shop.

Ten Green tidbits you probably missed this week

Ten Green tidbits you probably missed this week

1) Anya Hindmarch "I'm not a plastic bag" bags sold out in seconds from a UK supermarket chain promotion.  Shoppers lined up before stores opened and now the bags are going for $175 pounds on eBay.  They are a must have after fashion week.

2) prediction:  Al Gore will run for president and win

3) Wal-Mart Canada is coming out with its own green label - "For the Greener Good" like Eco-Options

4) Green baking soda whats wrong with Arm & Hammer? 

5) Boston could be next to ban plastic bags - watch a video on why we shouldn't use them here

6) Sweden to label climate-friendly food in 2008

7) Chevron shareholders reject bid for environmental review

8) Which fruits, vegetables should I buy organic?

9) Eco Sexy at greenormal

10) "Unplug it" continuing our eco-sexy theme

California Utility Company has Comprehensive CFL Plan

Southern California Edison plans to giveaway one million CFLs to low income customers and Educate them on the importance of recycling at end-of-life

Utility company Southern California Edison has an innovative plan to provide one million compact fluorescent light bulbs free of charge to low-income customers.  The plan doesn't stop there as they are also concerned about end-of-life issues with the CFLs.  So SoCal Edison is incorporating a largescale community outreach effort to recycle the bulbs into their plan to distribute them.

Inside Green Business notes numerous utility companies and others (Home Depot gave away one million CFLs on Sunday) have promoted the efficient CFLs as a way to reduce energy use and decrease greenhouse gas emissions, but few if any have been concerned about what happens after the bulbs are in consumers hands.

Environmentalists have suggested that CFL giveaways or promoting CFL usage should include information about how to properly recycle them.  There are concerns about mercury leaching from the bulbs if they end up in landfills. 

The SoCal Edison idea marks the first time a major company has devised a plan that covered both usage and disposal.

If the plan is implemented SoCal Edison estimates the average household savings would be up to $72 per year and it will yield 278 million kilowatt-hours in energy savings statewide, an amount equal to 155,400 tons of greenhouse gas reductions.

Inside Green Business reports SoCal Edison plans to partner with a wide range of faith-based organizations and community groups who will go door-to-door in low-income communities to distribute the CFLs as well as information on their use and proper disposal.  The company will also setup drop boxes or other collection facilities at those churches and community centers in an effort to address the concerns of mercury. 

Major US Retailers Gauge Consumers Interest in Environmental Products

Nation's Largest Retailer & Home Improvement Chain Testing how interested consumers really are in the environment

Some interesting developments out of last week.  It seems a bit of a who can test consumers eco-tendencies first contest has arisen. 

Two major US retailers are trying to gauge just how interested consumers are in the environment and whether that interest will translate into dollars.

Last week Home Depot announced it was expanding its Eco Options label program from its Canadian stores into the US.  Eco Options is a label to help consumers easily identify what Home Depot considers environmentally friendly products in its stores.

Shortly after Home Depot's announcement the largest US retailer Wal-Mart launched a national advertising campaign highlighting its environmentally friendly products. 

Wal-Mart's 30 second television ads on national broadcast and cable stations that will be aired on such programs as the "The Oprah Winfrey Show" and ABC's "Good Morning America", each feature a woman urging Wal-Mart shoppers to help the environment by buying low-energy light bulbs, organic cotton clothes or concentrated laundry detergent, which they say reduces packaging. (AP)

Print ads from the campaign appeared in Friday and Sunday editions of USA Today and The New York Times as well as other Sunday papers.

The environmentally friendly product ads are the first of their kind for Wal-Mart.

Home Depot concluded its Eco Options launch week by giving away 1 million CFL light bulbs at stores on Earth Day (April 22nd).  The company also unveiled its Eco Options website.

Scotts Miracle-Gro Sues TerraCycle

Small Organic Fertilizer company whose products are made from earthworm droppings is being sued by industry giant Scotts

COMPANY PACKAGES ITS PLANT FERTILIZER IN REUSED SODA BOTTLES

BY RIDER THOMPSON

TerraCycle a small New Jersey-based organic plant-food company is being sued by industry giant Scotts Miracle-Gro.

TerraCycle® plant and lawn fertilizers are based on a formula made from earthworm droppings and are packaged and sold in recycled soda bottles collected from all over the country.  The company boasts its entire product is made from waste. 

Scotts Miracle-Gro (who we mentioned recently for taking enviro babysteps in its industry) claims TerraCycle's packaging infringes on the "distinctive and famous trade dress" of Miracle-Gro®.

Boeing Fuel Cell Plane

Boeing plane powered by fuel cell and battery only

Boeing Illustration

Boeing will be testing the first manned plane powered only by a fuel cell and batteries soon in Spain.

The single-engine propeller plane has a wing span of 52.5 feet and will cruise at 62 mph using only its fuel cell for power.  Lightweight lithium-ion batteries will provide power during takeoff and when the plane climbs.

Boeing doesn't expect this technology to appear in commercial aviation any time soon but says it has lots of potential in other areas.

Francisco Escarti, managing director of Boeing's Research & Development in Madrid says the plane's technology could be used in small manned and unmanned planes in the future.

Fuel cells convert hydrogen and oxygen to electricity without combustion.  The bottom line is if planes like this one are used they will be much more environmentally friendly than anything currently flying.  The technology seems quite promising.

Earth Day 2007

Don't be an eco-poser

Earth Day is here.  When you make changes today to better the planet make sure they last longer than a day otherwise whats the point.  Earth day is about more than picking up some cans on the side of the road.

Don't be a one day eco-poser.  Make changes to better yourself and all of us.  Being green doesn't have to be hard.

Seen & Heard

Seen & Heard - A list of little green tidbits of news,quotes and links - April 20, 2007

Organic Grace "non-toxic options for healthy living"  - a small California green store with great items and some of the best prices around especially for natural & organic bedding

Target now offers close to 500 certified organic food options

56% of moms say pregnancy inspired a greener lifestyle...

Marriott hotels replaced 450,000 bulbs with CFLs last year and changed 400,000 shower heads to save hot water

From the CEO: "King County has not actually tested the product and agreed to remove that statement. The product has been flushed safely down Australian toilets for 15 years. We have passed our US flushability tests." - Jason Graham-Nye CEO gDiapers in response to earlier story.  See Jason's full message in the comments.

100 mile diet one of our favorite blogs - sew green reviews the book highlighting a one year experiment in eating local all within 100 miles of Vancouver

On Sunday April 22nd (Earth Day) Home Depot will give away 1 million CFL bulbs

When it comes to big name green fashion according to the WSJ "there is a lot of dabbling going on." Barneys New York has pledged to carry more eco lines and Eileen Fisher has introduced organic cottons. Nordstrom is carrying some organic pieces, including an attractive Tracy Reese jacket, while H&M has a few organic cottons. Giorgio Armani has been producing clothes in hemp and corn fiber.

Logging on the East Coast

Logging in New Brunswick Canada's Acadian Forest

PHOTOGRAPHS FROM LOGGING SITE IN NEW BRUNSWICK CANADA

BY RIDER THOMPSON

In June of 2005 I set out to document something I felt needed to be documented. Logging on the East Coast. For years and years groups have focused their efforts on reforming forestry plans and working towards responsible sustainable logging on the West Coast of both the United States and Canada. The work has been detailed and received a great amount of attention worldwide. The Eastern coasts of both the United States and Canada are dealing with many of the same issues and have been for years – though the challenges here have remained largely under the radar screen, void of the massive widespread attention from environmental groups, citizens and policy makers.

I decided to use my camera and begin photographing logging in New Brunswick Canada. Logging accounts for a large segment of the economy in New Brunswick. The province has a population of under 800,000 people and in terms of Canadian provinces it’s one of the smaller ones. Having family connections to the region going back decades – I do feel a special connection to the area and the people there. It’s a tough issue – in a province where fishing and logging are two of the primary industries and many people depend on these areas for their livelihood. The easy answer for many arm chair environmentalists is to say – stop the logging its gradually killing the Acadian forests and many if not all the species that live there. But what about the people who depend on the forest and make a living from logging? What about them?

CONTINUED