All Your Green Blog

We always thought it would be great to sell a lot of Klean Kanteens and Enviro Products bottles. We worked hard to bring them online, get them on the site, advertise for them, and such. Well, it worked. You've helped make stainless steel water bottles our most popular product by orders of magnitude.

But there's a problem. The manufacturers of both of our lines of bottles are embarrassingly behind on getting them made! They were an unexpected hit with buyers this year, and they can't make them fast enough! We're told we'll get some items back in stock in the middle of April, others at the end of April. To think of the Earth Day promos we could have run for you... it brings a tear to my eye.

Well, even if the manufacturers haven't, we've learned our lesson. Although it will slow down how quickly we can add new products to the site, we're going to make an effort to stock larger quantities of our most popular items. That way, the next drought of water bottles doesn't result in a disruption in our fulfillment. Rest assured we are working round the clock to update the site (like the home page, which claims we have 15 Klean Kanteens, 6 of which are in stock as I'm writing this...), and get products in stock.

Although having a popular product is a good problem to have, we remain dedicated to providing fast shipping times and a wide selection of products. Even if we have to egg the Klean Kanteen offices tomorrow night.

Just a quick post about our beloved little Chicobags getting big press! NPR did a story on the ban of plastic shopping bags in San Francisco, and how other cities are considering similar measures. Naturally there is some resistance. Mainly, though, plastic bag manufacturers are pointing their fingers at paper bags saying "bu...but LOOK!"

Well, there's an easy compromise there! Get rid of paper bags too! Just switch entirely to Chicobags and other reusable shopping bags! Seems simple enough to me!

Check out the original article here! Yay Chicobags!

I can't believe no one had thought of this already. A radio station specifically for eco-conscious listeners. I mean, I thought of a retail outlet, but I wasn't the first to to think of that. We're just the best.

But this David Yates fellow is pretty clever. The site seems pretty young, but the community is growing quickly, he's getting a lot of valuable content up very, very quickly, and the enthusiasm is building! And all this with still two months left till the radio station launches. I tend to think that the station itself will become an auxiliary component, or maybe the hub, of a more active green web community. They have all the gimmicks and functionality that I hear folks like about social networks, but their contextual focus is far more interesting and important!

So, sign up soon for best pick of display names! I already got "Roy" and I'm most pleased with it. See you on the forums!

• Green Radio Homepage and Community

When you hear numbers like 0-60 in under 4 seconds. You first thought probably isn't "electric car". In fact until now cars that have that kind of performance have been super sports cars that get abysmal gas millage. Now you can have the fastest car on the block and also have the greenest car on the block. Thanks to Tesla Motors and their 2008 Tesla Roadster.

The Roadster is an all electric sports car that can hold its own with the big boys. In-fact I was looking at Performance Car News and looking at pricing and 0-60 speeds and the Tesla's 3.9 second for $98,950 beats out all but a few. Not bad for a car thats on the cutting edge of technology. Not to mention its a Zero Emissions vehicle.

How can an electric vehicle get such great performance you ask? I'll let Tesla fill you in on the details but it basically comes down to this, electric motors are way more efficient than gas motors. For a driver that mean more power, more consistently without shifting gears.

So when will this futuristic super car hit the market? It already has! Electric cars are no longer pipe dreams or supped up golf carts. They are here now. I can't wait until I see one of them in person.

We're happy to introduce a new product line in our Household category! Pure Fiber produces 100% Bamboo Towels, which tout incredible softness, excellent absorbency, and excellent durability. They tout natural anti-microbial properties, are hypo-allergenic, and odor-resistant. What's not to love?

In addition, bamboo is an excellent renewable resource. It is less susceptible to pests and disease, so it can be grown organically, with no pesticides. It can be grown as a single crop, or alternated to maintain nitrogen levels. Like hemp (another great cotton alternative), it is extremely fast growing, so it takes a relatively small amount of land to produce.

In addition, Pure Fiber's products are certified by SKAL and/or Oeko-Tex. SKAL EKO is an internationally respected certification of sustainable textiles, and certify that these products are made with the lowest practical ecological impact in a safe and fair working environment.

Due to the advantages of bamboo agriculture, production, and the softness of the final product, we're happy to be adding all eight colors Pure Fiber offers in their Natural Home Collection of towel sets. These organic towels are 60% more absorbent than cotton, and really comfy. Let us know what you think!

• Pure Fiber Home Page
• Bamboo Towels on AllYourGreen.com

As the name implies "Daylight Savings Time" was originally instituted to save energy. A department of transportation study in 1975 claimed that implementation of DST reduced energy demand by 1% in March and April. However the National Burro of Standards refuted that study only a year later. Regardless, most of the US switched to DST and we've even extended it to start earlier and end later.

One of the most recent states to switch over was Indiana in 2006. Indiana's switch provided University of California-Santa Barbara economics professor Matthew Kotchen and Ph.D. student Laura Grant, a chance to actually measure the effects of DST on energy usage.

They recorded energy usage for three years during the transition. Taking data from 7 million meter readings, and using counties that had already made the switch for a control group, they concluded that instead of saving money and electricity the residents of Indiana actually spent $8.6 million more on their electricity bills. That cost came from a 1-4% increase in power usage.

Finally my hate for Daylight Savings Time is vindicated! No longer is it only an annoying shift of time that takes me weeks to get used to, but it is also a waste of energy. I should note that this study was specific to Indiana and doesn't necessarily translate to whatever state you live in. However the 70s report that claimed energy savings, occurred before Central Air became as wildly used as it is today, and increased AC usage was specifically sited by the more recent study as a reason for increased energy usage due to DST.

My estimate is that life would be similar and greener if we switched back standard time and stopped messing with our clocks.

While we do everything we can to answer your questions and address your concerns, we've found a great new addition to our attempts to help as many people as possible. Get Satisfaction is a community-driven customer service site that we've grown very fond of as of late. What's a "community-driven customer service" thingy, you may wonder! It works a little like a wiki, in that anyone can contribute and everyone is equal. What this means in the realm of customer service is that you can ask or say anything about any product or service, and everyone can see it!

You'll find the widget displayed in the only slightly dramatize article image on various products like our Blowout Wallet.

Less reputable instutions than ourselves might be shamed into helping their customers, and bright, upstanding green companies have a great way to open discussions with their customers on any topic that enters their heads.

Now, I encourage you to comment in our blog, or email us, or anything you like. Good or bad, we won't take it personally, and will try our darndest to figure everything out to your satisfaction. But all of those avenues lack the community spirit and openness that Get Statisfaction is trying to foster. I rather like the idea of everyone's opinions of companies all being out in the open. There's no way for a big PR department to protect huge corporate interests in there!

It's customer service democracinated! Power to the people! Etc. Also, you can ask each other questions on our page, like "has anyone had a problem with this or that?" Your fellow customers are a wider knowledge base than just us. We try to know everything, but we've only used a dozen or so stainless steel bottles personally, for example, and an honest first person commentary by a colleague is going to be far more valuable.

We hope to see some of you there, and if you've got a bone to pick with us, you have one more way to let us know! If you just want to thank us, well, I guess that's okay too!

First, I saw that Tom's of Maine was acquired by Clorox. "Oh no!" I thought to myself. "There's no way a bleach company can maintain any semblance of eco-friendly sustainability!" I was worried that my company was carrying products from Tom's of Maine, and I'd be guilty by association! I'm still skeptical, but it seems that they might be moving in the right direction. Now, this isn't on moral grounds. They see a potential market, once just a niche, as natural and environmentally friendly products become more and more mainstream. There's money to be made, that's why they're doing it.

But to be frank, I'm not sure if I care why at all. The execution is all that really matters. If the purchase of Tom's of Maine was a part of a company-wide movement toward a greener future, I'd hold of on condemning them as greenwashers till they re-earn my distrust. What can I say, I'm an optimist.

In case you were wondering how I came to the capitalist conclusion of their motivation, they practically admit it. There's really nothing for them to be ashamed of. They're reacting to the demands of a more eco-conscious public, and I take that to be a very good sign.

But time will tell if this is a move in the right direction, or just more greenwashing. Here's my fingers crossed.

Greenwashing is a relatively new term. When I first heard it, I thought "oh my gosh, am I being dishonest in my attempts to cultivate a green brand?" I read blog posts by those I respect that said things like "the lesser of two evils doesn't count as green." Article after article was full of angst over what "green" meant, and who qualified. It dawned on me that the best environmental case is one with no people, so anything we did would be the "lesser of two evils."

Well, it turns out the term is both narrower than I originally thought, and filled with even more scorn. For a great example of companies who engage in "greenwashing", checkout this post on portfolio.com or this whole category on www.earthfirst.com. These are some of the largest single polluters in the country, and often the world. Companies like Ford and GM are constantly trying to "greenwash" their brand, claiming slight increases in fuel mileages to be vast, world-changing contributions to the environment. It's a whole different world than whether I drove to the grocery store or not, as I first feared.

Now, I do own a car, and I do use more electricity than I produce. I'm no angel, but at least I'm making real improvements in my environmental footprint, and I'm trying to empower others to do the same. These guys... well, they're not. You can see some of my previous posts for examples, in addition to the links in this post. I highly recommend www.earthfirst.com, by the way. They're hilarious, and a great daily resource for eco-rants and laughs.

Basically, greenwashing is something that you'll see a lot of, once you're aware of it. You'll see billboards, television commercials, and a lot of other expensive advertising campaigns by huge companies trying to change their public image. There are two ways to combat this dishonest strategy. First, don't give them more money than you absolutely have to (power companies, for example, take time to escape from entirely). The most powerful tool you have, however, is skepticism. If you don't buy what they're feeding you, they might actually have to do something to change their public image. In the meantime, I'll keep saving for a permanent solution to my longer-than-a-bike-ride transportation needs.

The city of Sacramento is considering using Plasma Gasification to dispose of their garbage. It's claimed that this high-tech incineration method will produce no toxic byproducts, and even produce more electricity than it consumes.

While this is possible, it entirely depends on the contents of the trash, but given generic residential waste, this claim might hold water. Considering their current solution is sending desiel-powered trash haulers up and over Donner Pass to the land fill daily, even breaking even on the electricity would be a vast improvement.

Basically, using lots of electricity and heat, trash is burned into its base components. The organic gases are burnable as fuel, and the metals and sandy materials are recyclable for other uses. Some of the concerns are the net energy usage (which could be very expensive if the waste is wet, or otherwise low in output energy), and buildup of chlorine gas. Modern facilities use high enough energy levels that the chlorine issue is almost entirely mitigated, however.

Three cheers for the world of tomorrow... today!

References:

• Sac Bee
• Wikipedia