Choose to Make a “Green” Choice!--Choose "Green Minded" Businesses

I have a few friends that I would call mentors, two of whom are Mr. Leroy Cox, CEO and Advisor of BioGreen Systems Inc., along with Mr. Ron Torel, recently appointed, President of BioGreen Systems Inc. Many times I’ve heard them say, (I’m paraphrasing here); “Set your goals and then surround yourself with those who are positive, supportive and have the same interests and goals as you have”. Teamwork is essential to achieving goals of any kind.

The choice whether or not to “Go Green” in our lives is a decision each one of us has personal control over. One area we may not have considered involves the companies that we do business with or purchase products from. Of course we cannot control others, but we can choose who to do or not do business with. We can help to make a difference far beyond our own personal corner of the world by choosing to do business with companies and corporations that are truly making an effort to make a “Green Difference”. In other words, create a group or “Team” of “Green Minded” businesses to work with. The way we, as consumers, spend our money sends a powerful message to Corporate America. With the economy in the situation it’s now in, that message can be louder and stronger than ever!

I was recently introduced to a printing company that is making a “Green Difference”. Bacchus Press is a Certified Green Printer in the San Francisco Bay Area and is a member of “Bay Area Green Business Program” and is also FSC (Forest Stewardship Council) Certified. If your company or project requires printing I encourage you to take a look at their website.

As we state on our website “2Day is the First Day of a Greener Future”. Each and every day we can learn more about “Going Green”, more ways to “Go Green” and more ways to implement our knowledge or put into practice what we have learned. In what we do, what we purchase and from whom we purchase it, makes a statement and an impact. Choose to make a “Green Choice”.

Paper, Plastic?---Neither!!!

Recently, I was introduced to a wonderful website Bags On the Run. This website really brings awareness to, both the individual consumer and businesses alike, the impact we all have on the environment, just by our use of plastic bags. I knew the importance of recycling the plastic bags our store purchases are placed in each time we shop. But, this website was quite an eye-opener, showing how many of these plastic bags, that we all have used, are not being recycled and are ending up in the environment and the damage that they are causing.

Here’s some information from Bags On the Run:

STATISTICS:

• The EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) estimates that plastic bags take between 500-1000 years to break down in landfills.
• Plastic bags result in killing huge numbers of birds, whales, seals, turtles and other animals every year.
• According to a Wall Street Journal article “A Guide to Going Green”…”The EPA says solid waste, per person has nearly doubled to 4.4 pounds a day from 2.7 pounds in the past 35 years—filling up landfill sites and wasting materials that could be reused to save natural resources and energy.” Reusing items like our Bags on the Run reusable bags is an effective way to reduce your day-to-day use of materials such as plastic or paper bags which end up in landfills.

I urge you to visit: http://www.bagsontherun.com/ and check out their reusable, economical, “green” bags. This is just one more step any one of us can take to help protect and preserve our environment. Be sure to take a good look at the startling statistics at: www.bagsontherun.com/environment_articles.php.

Our Passion for Traveling

One of our families’ passions is to go to one of the state parks or national forests in our area with our fifth-wheel camper, sit among the trees and just listen to the sounds of nature. With the cost of fuel as high as it is we tend to stay a lot closer to home these days, none the less it’s still a nice break to be able to get out and commune with nature. While doing this it really reinforces upon our family the responsibility we have to do everything in our power to protect our environment.

Staying closer to home does have its benefits, it saves fuel which is a good thing and we have less travel time which means we have more time to sit in the woods and enjoy nature.

When we travel we look for and utilize the recycling bins that are now in most recreational areas. If we don’t find a recycling drop off point in the park we happen to be in, we carry our recyclables with us to the nearest park or rest area that has these facilities.

It bothers us to see the garbage cans full of glass bottles, aluminum cans, plastic jugs and paper that could be easily dropped into the proper recycling bins. Many times this is in an area where the recycling bins are provided. Some people, depending on where they may live, might not be accustomed to the recycling programs that most urban areas have adopted. Unfortunately we have observed some who are just too lazy to put forth the effort.

Another area we would encourage everyone, who like us enjoy RVing, to consider is the types of products and chemicals we use in and around our RVs. Many household products contain chemicals which, even in very small quantities, can be detrimental to wildlife and/or foliage. If you’ve read some of our other posts I’m sure you’ve noticed that we’ve mentioned our family uses products from BioGreen Systems. BioGreen offers an extensive line of products that are Eco-Friendly and Non-Toxic. These products can be used safely around children and pets. We encourage everyone to use Eco-Friendly Non-Toxic products everywhere you may roam.

Camping in the woods also brings up the subject of bugs. Here in Minnesota that includes mosquitoes and ticks. One way to help combat these pesky insects is to use a product from BioGreen Systems called BioSol. Mixed with water and sprayed on the skin, or on the fur of your pet, makes a good insect repellent. Sprayed on the screens and around the door openings helps keep the insects away.

For more Eco-Friendly ideas please take the time to visit our "Green" Alternatives page at our website Going Green 2Day.

Is it a Case of “Greenwashing”... Revisited

This past June 16th I posted a short note called "Is it a Case of 'Greenwashing?" Last week my wife ran across this article she had saved from the Mankato Free Press. I thought it deserved posting.

Article from the Mankato Free Press, August 5, 2007 by staff writer Tim Krohn.

"Green-Washed" companies in it for Green-Back$ ---- Not Saving Earth


The rugged, yet sensitive trucker in the television ad is driving his big rig along a drab, sepia-toned desert highway. As the big, diesel 18­-wheeler heads down the road the sky behind the truck turns bright blue, the grass greens, butterflies and birds dart in the air. A pretty young woman walking through a field of now colorful wildflowers smiles coyly at the trucker.

I figured it must be an advertisement for air fresh­ener or maybe an organic lawn fertilizer. Turns out it's put out by some coalition of international ener­gy conglomerates. Their message isn't just that they're burning fossil fuels that spew out a bit less mercu­ry and carcinogens - they're appar­ently cleaning the landscape to its pristine state every time they fire up a coal plant or refine some more gasoline.

Big polluting corpora­tions trying to frame them­selves as environmentally friendly -"greenwashing" themselves - isn't anything new. It started around 1990 on the 20th anniversary of Earth Day as companies scrambled to cover their pitiful environmental records. Nothing like a slick ad campaign to detract from the Exxon Valdez oil slick.

Recently Ford touted its environ­mental commitment by focusing on its hybrid vehicles - even though those hybrids account for one-half of one percent of its fleet and Ford makes money mostly from its big fleet of F-150 trucks which had the worst-in-class fuel efficiency.

BP is even bolder. The gas com­pany's logo, a green and yellow sun­burst, resembles the sunflower logo of many green groups, and they have a slick ad campaign called "Beyond Petroleum." It's supposed to show their commitment to alter­native, renewable and low-polluting fuels. Never mind they're being sued for letting hundreds of thousands of gal­lons of crude oil spill onto the Alaskan tundra or that they face crit­icism around the world for human rights, pollution and safety viola­tions. BP sold solar panels that will save a half-million tons of carbon dioxide over their lifetime. Still, the compa­ny's fossil fuels emit some 1,300 mil­lion tons of carbon dioxide every year.

These days corporate America is refining the way it presents its green facade.

Wal-Mart is doing everything short of sending their "associates" to our homes to screw in the new ener­gy-saving compact fluorescent bulbs in its effort to help us be kind to the Earth.

Bank of America says it will spend $20 billion for sustainable projects.

IBM - known as Big Blue - has launched a Big Green campaign.

If this keeps up, I expect to see the CEO of Exxon holding hands with a Greenpeace volunteer singing "Kumbaya" on the banks of a sparkling clear river teeming with happy fish…Oh, wait, Greenpeace is already spoken for - by McDonald's! Not long ago that would seem far­fetched, but McDonald's has actually teamed up with Greenpeace to fight deforestation in South America.

I don't know about you, but I don't feel better knowing short-sighted, money-driven multinational cor­porations say they're going to take care of our environmental problems.
I still like real environmentalists. They're often unrealistic wing-nuts, but they live what they passionately believe in. Forget Ronald McDonald peddling recyclable Whopper cartons. Give me a guy in non-leather shoes and a banana-leaf shirt chaining himself to an old growth fir tree to stop the bulldozers.

There's some things we can't trust to the Fortune 500. The environ­ment's one of them.

Tim Krohn is a Free Press staff writer. He can be contacted at
(507)344-6383 or
tkrohn@mankatofreepress.com