Why We Do What We Do

Our family enjoys spending time outdoors. Camping is one of our favorite things to do when the opportunity presents itself. Working with BioGreen Systems Inc. provides us the ability to work from home and take care of our business, even while traveling. With our home based BioGreen business it gives us more free time to enjoy the hobby we love so much, traveling and camping. At the present time we are wintering in Arizona.

Our family has realized the importance of using "Green Products" in our home and while traveling in our RV. We realize this is only one step of many, but it's a step that everyone can take. Seeing and enjoying nature reinforces in us the need to take care of, and work to preserve our environment. With this in mind we have put together this website, Going Green 2Day.net, to introduce the BioGreen Systems Business Opportunity to everyone. Using safer, natural, non-toxic products only makes sense and is a logical starting point for a work from home business.

Bring Your Own Bag

Thanks to Matthew and Factory Direct Promos for their efforts in educating everyone about the alternatives to plastic throw away shopping bags.

BYOB stands for bring your own shopping bag! As we kick off the new year of 2010, it is crazy how much shopping we historically do here in America and world-wide and the trends are increasing. Whether it be frequent trips to the grocery store as we keep our kitchen's stocked for wonderful meals and tasty treats or those sometimes dreaded, yet skillful "6 bags on each arm" walks through the packed local mall, it all adds up to so much unnecessary waste. One of the most blatant examples of this waste is disposable shopping bags.

An estimated 100 billion plastic shopping bags are consumed each year in the USA, according to the Wall-Street Journal. Most plastic bags end up in landfills and the rest often end up in rivers, ponds, lakes, streams or in the sea, where animals can ingest or become entangled in them. Household waste, shopping bags included, increases by more than 25% on average in November and December. Considering how many shopping bags are consumed and wasted at this time of year, the time is now to spread the word about the positive benefits of eco-friendly reusable shopping bags to influence our families, friends and communities.

Adopting a BYOB strategy in our individual shopping habits is a simple way to do just that. If we can raise awareness at this time, the positive impact for the environment is incalculable for 2010 and well into the future. Several cities have already made gradual but significant progress in promoting the use of eco-friendly non woven reusable grocery bags in recent years. Motivating consumers with plastic and paper bag bans, discounts at the register for reusable bag usage and tax motivations are a few to speak of.

Right here in America, the San Jose City Council recently passed one of the nation’s strictest bans on plastic and paper shopping bags. This is a big victory for the Bay Area, which has one million plastic bags per year accumulating in and along the San Francisco Bay. San Jose becomes the latest bay area city to enact some type of ban on disposable shopping bags; others include San Francisco and Palo Alto. Tracy Seipel of the San Jose Mercury News reported that it was actually ONE man who really jump-started the ban, another great example of the power of one person. Here’s an excerpt:

While visiting his sister-in-law in Taipei, Kansen Chu, elected to San Jose city council in 2007, went grocery shopping and was surprised to get charged for plastic grocery bags. The next day, he brought his own cloth bags back to the store. "I guess the question," said Chu, "was, Why not San Jose?" He began a conversation with the city's environmental services staff, which later moved to council committee discussions.

Save the Bay’s 4th annual report on the most garbage-strewn sites in the region further demonstrates the need for bringing your own shopping bags. The 50-year-old environmental advocacy group focused on 10 specific bay-area sites where almost 15,000 plastic bags were retrieved in one day last year in their report. Here’s an excerpt of an article in the San Francisco Chronicle by Kelly Zito.

According to (Save the Bay's) research, Californians use about 19 billion plastic bags each year, 3.8 million in the Bay Area. The average use time for the bags - made using about 12 million barrels of oil each year in the United States - is about 12 minutes. In addition to the hundreds of years it can take for a plastic bag to decompose in a landfill, the bags also force downtime when fed into traditional recycling equipment. Typically, the bags get wound into conveyor belts or gears and must be cut out by hand.

Ten US cities have banned plastic bags so far, five within the past year. Even Mexico City enacted a ban on plastic shopping bags, which went into effect in August. The city of 20 million now faces the realities of effective enforcement, which is not easy when the Mexico City Chamber of Commerce estimates there are 35,000 vendors in Mexico City’s downtown area alone.

Bans on plastic bags aren't the only effective way to reduce harmful waste caused by disposable bags. PlasTaxes, which tax consumers at the register for using plastic bags when shopping, were first introduced by the Irish. John Roach of National Geographic reported last year on the worldwide momentum that’s been building since Ireland instituted a PlasTax in 2003. The Irish showed they could reduce plastic bag consumption by 90% or more. Momentum is growing across the world, particularly in America. From Washington, DC to Edmonds, WA to North Pole, AK, communities and governments are spurring an international trend to reduce the harmful environmental effects of disposable shopping bags. Even major retail stores like Target and CVS are taking action by enacting discounts at the register for customers who choose to BYOB or just carry-out their items without a bag.

For the naysayers, it’s convenient to ignore recent momentum in reducing disposable bag waste. But to some, the wide-spread adoption of eco-friendly reusable bags is inevitable. Look at the way smoking is becoming taboo in America. Indoor smoking bans have caught on like wild fire. In the same way, who is to say the use of disposable bags won’t become taboo at some point in the near future? The use of eco friendly reusable grocery bags is definitely gaining steam. Our individual choices to bring our reusable bags when shopping can go a lot farther than we think. That's what BYOB is all about, setting a proactive example for others to set a trend that will help our planet, its valuable finite resources and secure its animals' habitats.

Of course, plastic and paper bags should be recycled and it's important to remember most large retailers including Albertsons and Wal-Mart will recycle plastic bags for you. That being said, a BYOB shopping strategy can make your life so much easier because there is no longer a need to accumulate that cupboard full of plastic bags or figure out what and when to do something about it. Keeping a few reusable bags in your car or backpack is a good way to ensure you have them when needed. So give back to our planet by remembering to BYOB! Whether it be at a convenience store, the mall, or while grocery shopping, we can make a difference for the environment and help raise awareness one transaction at a time. Through the fight to eliminate disposable shopping bag waste, we are giving a gift to our Planet, the finest gift of all, sustainability and reusage.

The “Use It Once and Throw It Away” Mentality

Many a fortune has been made in this country on this “Use It Once and Throw It Away” way of thinking. Also many a landfill has been filled to overflowing with the same way of thinking. Because of this mentality, it’s my opinion that, We Americans have become some of the most wasteful people on the face of the Earth. If it’s not the right color, “Throw it Away”, if it’s last year’s model or style, “Throw it Away”, I just want a new one “Throw the Old One Away”.

To make a difference we need to “Reduce, Reuse, Recycle AND RETHINK” If we want to have part in saving our environment we need to do a hard “Rethink” of the way we do things. When shopping; do we purchase products intended to be reused, or to be discarded after one or two uses? Just one example of this in our “High Speed” hectic lifestyle is plastic “Silverware” or Styrofoam Plates and food containers. There’s an endless list of other examples and if we considered just a fraction of these we’d be here all week.

Another area we can consider is shopping. Do we use paper or plastic? There is a third and better choice; we should be using washable reusable cloth or recyclable vinyl bags. The devastating results caused by the use and improper disposal of the popular “T-Shirt” bag (the light plastic bag with “handles” most retailers use to put purchases in) are well documented. One site that really got my attention was "Bags on the Run" on their “Environment” page.

When shopping; do we give consideration to the amount of packaging a product has? Products that have more packaging than necessary waste resources in the manufacturing process and have more to discard after the purchase. Another thing to look at is the type of packaging, is it made of renewable recyclable materials or non-renewable non-recyclable materials. The first thing that comes to mind here for me is; are the packaging materials and/or product itself made from petroleum products? Is there a non-petroleum or natural alternative? Keeping in mind that less dependence on oil is a good thing. Think about purchasing economy size refills and refilling the dispensing containers. This will reduce the demand for plastic containers and the refills are usually a better bargain for your money, so in the process saving you $Green$.

Also when shopping do we make a lot of little trips to the store or do we make a list and make one well planned trip? The fuel savings alone could be 50% or more. Carpooling is another excellent way to make a difference. Do you know of elderly or infirm persons who would like a ride to the store? This would be helping them out and saving fuel at the same time.

Please give these thoughts some consideration. If you’re looking for “Non-Toxic, Environmentally Friendly, Truly Green Products” visit our website Going Green 2Day.

My Wife says I’m a “Packrat”

I hate to throw something away if it could possibly be used somewhere at a later date. One example of this is my hobby of refurbishing and repurposing older computers. My wife has at times compared our home to a computer graveyard, since there are computer parts in practically every room of our house. As technology advances the older parts get harder to acquire hence my tendency to hang on to parts.

I know many good reusable parts as well as complete computers are getting thrown away and are finding their way into landfills when they could easily be repurposed or recycled. This is hazardous to our environment because of the chemicals and heavy metals in the electronic parts, circuit boards and picture tubes.

A good example of this is computer monitors, the older picture tube type or CRT types have large amounts of lead in them. I personally know people who have bought a new computer and have put the old one in the garbage. Most of the time, when purchasing a new computer, you can reuse the monitor, keyboard and mouse you already have. This can help you save money when buying the new computer because you don’t have to purchase the monitor and other hardware, just the tower. In this case making the effort to “Go Green” can save you $Green$.

Viruses are another reason people buy a new computer. I’ve had computers given to me because they’ve gotten a virus in them and people figure they are no longer any good. Viruses damage the information you have on the computer they do not damage the hardware i.e. the tower or more specifically the hard drive. Worst case scenario you’ll lose your information and personal data. I realize and understand that this in itself can be disastrous, but the physical hard drive can be erased, reformatted and then reused. There’s no need to throw them away.

In our area there are “Thrift” or “Second Hand” stores that benefit the handicapped. If you’ve decided to upgrade your computer consider donating your old one. This keeps it out of landfills and benefits less fortunate persons in your area. Be sure to completely erase or “Secure Erase” your information before you donate it.

I don’t think there are many municipalities that do not have some sort of recycling program in place. Do a little research and make the effort to recycle, not only your computer parts, but all of your old electronics. This, along with recycling the standard things like, paper, glass, aluminum etc., can have a positive impact on our environment.

This is just one more way we can “Reduce, Reuse, Recycle” and all it takes is a little bit of “Rethinking”. What we use directly correlates with what we discard. We want to encourage everyone to keep this in mind when making choices about the products you use on a daily, weekly and monthly basis. Choose “Environmentally Friendly”, “Non-Toxic”, “Truly Green” products whenever possible.

Another way our family is making an effort to make a “Green Difference” is by the use of non-toxic, eco-friendly “Green Products” from BioGreen Systems Inc. Our choice of products, the products we use on a regular basis for cleaning, laundry and personal care, are products that are truly “Green”. This is one more way we all can have a share in protecting our environment. To learn more about this line of high quality “Green Products” visit us at Going Green 2Day.

Make “Going Green” a Goal That You Will Achieve

It seems that every time January rolls around we tend to reflect on the past year, what we did and what we didn’t do. We think of our accomplishments and often times we dwell on the things we didn’t achieve. It’s quite common, when we realize that the goals we had made for ourselves did not materialize as we had planned, we may feel that we’ve somehow failed.

Really what each of us needs to do, individually, is to learn to move towards our goals one step at a time. Don’t make promises to ourselves or others that we do not have the willingness or the ambition to reach. Achieving our goals, in every aspect of our life, takes a daily effort…focus on where you want to go and work towards that goal.

Many people will make their “New Year’s Resolution’s” but by the end of January they have forgotten about them or have let others convince them that they will not succeed. With the increased focus, during the past year, on “Going Green” many have conscientiously tried to set goals in their lives to be more “Green”. How have you done? Do you believe that the goals you have made in your everyday life, in regards to making “green choices”, will actually make a difference? What you believe and what you do determines what you get. Your actions are consistent with your beliefs, so if you truly believe in the importance of “Going Green” and that you can make a difference, what you do will show this.

As you, personally, set goals for what you want to achieve during this year, whether it be in your personal or professional life, I would like to encourage you to incorporate the many aspects of “Going Green” into your everyday life. There are many simple changes that we can each set as goals that will help us achieve the goal of “Going Green”. A goal, no matter how small or how large, of “Going Green” will not only benefit the environment, but will have a lasting effect on your health and the health of your family.

Check out our website GoingGreen2day.com to learn more about one area in your life, that you can make simple changes in, that will help you take one step toward the goal of “Going Green”.