They’re Listening

January 11th, 2008

Let’s face it, you can’t turn on the T.V., surf the Web, read the newspaper or a magazine without some mention of people going more green in their daily lives. Maybe a mega-corporation is reducing carbon emissions. Or a celebrity has endorsed Acme Green Company as their favorite supplier of carbon neutral products. No matter the situation, people are paying attention.

Just over a week ago my wife came to me and asked about some very thick, steel pieces used for displaying products. They came from a store she was relocating, but weren’t needed anymore. And she said to me, “Well I didn’t want to throw them away because you’ve got me thinking about this recycling stuff.” I was thrilled to death to hear her say that. And just last week my sister called saying Oprah was having a special on going more “green”. But as we talked, I was a bit disgusted.

On the show and I believe on the site, they’re selling reusable bags for your shopping so you no longer throw tons of plastic bags into landfills. Which this idea is all well and good, but the bags they want to sell ore $9.00 a PIECE. Now don’t get me wrong, being more conscious of how we live in our world is important, but those prices are insane.

Consider this: My sister has two children and a husband. She probably visits the grocery store at least twice a month and can easily come home with 10-15 plastic bags that always end up in the trash.

She really wanted to start using reusable bags, but at $9.00 a piece and her needing 10-15 bags, she just wasn’t ready to spend the money.

That is until she walked into a large chain store to purchase groceries and saw reusable bags for $0.99 a piece. Now THAT is more like it in my opinion. Even lower income families could afford a half dozen of those bags and make a difference.

So yes, when you do talk about recycling, the environment and being more responsible, they’re listening. Have you got through to someone and they have changed their ways?

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A Better Cold

January 8th, 2008

During this time of year, it’s cold here in the Midwest and as I type this, there is at least 5″ of fresh snow on the ground outside. Even though it’s sunny, there is a nasty nip in the air from a stiff breeze that won’t go away for the day or even into tonight.

This time of year is also associated with the common cold of aching, sneezing, coughing and a few other ailments Robitussin mentions in their commercials.

And after mentioning all of that, I’m not even writing about either, but I felt an introduction to the title was needed.

What I’m actually talking about is the recent launch of the GreenChill Advanced Refrigeration Partnership by the U.S. EPA and ten large supermarkets and suppliers. Very few people realize the energy intensity — and thus climate footprint — of refigeration. I’ve even heard that Wal-Mart’s second biggest expense is energy usage, second only to employee wages.

Greenchill has set their sites on promoting better technologies, practices that protect the ozone and strategies to reduce greenhouse gases. According to the EPA, equipment improvement design and service could reduce refigerant emissions by one million metric tons of carbon per year, which is equal to taking 800,000 automobiles off the road a year.

Even Coke has figured out that if they replace all of their soft drink machines with higher efficient equipment, they could reduce the carbon output equal to 750,000 automobiles. They even had Pepsi, McDonalds, Unilever and other BIG companies — not to mention GreenPeace – form a partnership called Refrigerants Naturally.

So all in all, if industries get on the same page, a better cold could be in our future for the future.

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Sports & the environment

January 4th, 2008

How on earth could these two things have anything to do with one another, you might ask? Well in my opinion, no matter what we do, it all has some effect on the environment. Both negative and positive depending on the situation.

Over the past couple of weeks I’ve had plenty of time to relax and of course watch some of my favorite sporting events. From the NFL to my favorite NCAA basketball team, I watched the war of will, honor, integrity, talent and skill fight on to the finish. And as I did, I began to think about the environment.

I thought about the environment because I saw all of those people watching the events. Thousands upon thousands of people sitting there watching. Stadiums big enough to consume acres of land that would probably be better used for natural habitats like parks. A sea of cars, trucks & vans sprawled across even more acreage to accommodate all of those people who drove to see the event. And let’s not forget the amount of energy used to cook all of those hot dogs and burgers or the power they must consume to light up a stadium.

So what would happen if no more sporting events occurred? What kind of environmental impact would that have around the world? What kind of economic impact would it have? How many attendants, cooks, maintenance people and yes, athletes would be out of a job if we canceled sports entirely?

No matter what we do, we have an impact. That’s my point of this entire article. What other non-obvious connections to the environment can you think of that make an impact?

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Year In Review

December 28th, 2007

Hey, everyone else does a year in review so why not us?

Basically I just kind of want to recap what I’ve done, where I’ve been and where I’d like to be in the future.

This year I learned that I need to work more at selling. It’s not so much that I can’t sell, it’s that I don’t sell enough. I don’t get out there and work on finding more and more clients. I fall into that feast or famine category where I have work and don’t take the time to market and then when it gets slow I focus on marketing. About the time I get a plan going I get busy again and put marketing down at the bottom of the priority list. My goal is to make 2008 a better year in sales, profit and marketing.

Speaking of goals, I joined a small group of like-minded friends in helping each other achieve goals. We meet once a week via an IM chat room and list out 3 goals we hope to achieve for the upcoming week. At which time all other members are given an opportunity to suggest ideas, encourage and discuss any/all of said goals.

In honor of Kermit The Frog, I’ve learned it ain’t easy being green. I really started focusing on this element of my life both at home and at my business. And what I found was it’s not as simple as recycling a few cans or milk jugs. It encompasses more than just that – such as fuel consumption and efficiency. It’s how we heat or cool our businesses and homes. And so much more.

Quite honestly, winning is everything and this year we won two awards. The first one came at the beginning of the year when we won a Summit Creative award for our company logo. The second one came at the end of the year when we were honored at the Churubusco Chamber of Commerce banquet as business of the year. And we don’t look at the winning as something to gloat about, but as a business tool. It provides us with credibility as a creative company and one who is involved with other businesses and our community.

Everyone has had to deal with this at one time or another and whether it’s in the status as an employee or a business owner, you’re going to find those customers/clients who push your buttons. You’ll have those who get too busy to help you finish a project and then when they’re ready, they’ll ask for a date for completion. It’s not their fault, it’s just the way business works sometimes.

And finally I’ve come to a realization that being a business owner is fun. I can recall those long and boring nights at my 9-1-1 job, where watching paint dry was more entertaining. I can remember those nights when the officers did everything they could to push my buttons and push they did. I would sit in that room dreaming of owning my own business. Thoughts of being around ‘Busco during the day and having an actual lunch hour floated through my head like any good day dream should. And now those days seem long ago, but I’m right where I wished I would be. A business owner. It has it’s ups and downs, but it’s a lot better than saying “9-1-1″ and hearing “HolysonofamothermarykissmyrightnoworI’llshootthemintheface ((((garble))))” all day long.

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Who Are They Protecting Then?

December 21st, 2007

I was amazed this morning to find an RSS feed, a forwarded email and a newsletter informing me that the EPA has denied tighter emission goals. Are you serious!? The last time I checked, the EPA stood for Environmental Protection Agency and the last time I checked emissions from cars and industry affected the environment.

So what or who is the EPA protecting? Yet again I feel that a lobbyist or some fat gray-haired politician has their dirty little hands in this affair. It seems to me that the EPA administrator Stephen Johnson has been influenced by someone else in this decision. What other excuse could he or his organization have for ignoring these goals?

And as of right now (12/20/07 11:24EST) there is no mention of this outrageous decision by the EPA.

I hate the idea that politics gets in the way of improving our world and improving our future. But from now on I might have to refer to the EPA as Empowering Political Asses or Every Politician is an Ass. Because that’s whose stopping all of these proactive bills and what’s turning our country into the dirty little next door neighbor. You know the one who has junk cars, weeds and a horrible looking yard? That’s who we’re becoming people because our country and politicians refuse to think ahead about the future of our environment.

So I ask the EPA, who are you protecting then?

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