Isn't it suppose to be "April showers bring May flowers"? Then what's with all this wet weather?....oh, it's almost April.
On days like today I find myself reading and writing more than usual. As I was going through my normal media intake routine, I found myself comparing different Green products and services and it got me to thinking about a VERY popular misconception in our particular field of service. A lot of people ask me if we charge more because we are a Green company. These are typically people who have never used our services or received a quote for service. After reviewing some of the "Green" products I found onlne, I came to a conclusion. Green is expensive.
After a short search of the "World Wide Web" it was easy to see that you can expect to pay between 25-65% more for a product In the name of ecology. I understand a desire to preserve the planet and I understand the need to do our parts as individuals and especially as corporations but I can not see paying $29.99 for a thermos made out of recycled happy meal toys. My biggest problem with this is the fact that a large portion of the time these Green products are actually worse for you and the environment than their $2.00 counterpart. Early in the year I blogged on plastics with traces of BPA in them (read earlier post). This material is used when recycling plastics and has been shown to cause a list of negative effects on the human body especially women and young children. As if that wasn't enough, more often than not the recycled material being used is not post-consumer. This means that the materials they are recycling have never been used. That's a problem for me. This not only offers no benefit to post consumer waste issue it ,in a way, encurages corporations to over product a cheap product and then donate it for a "Green initiative credit" resulting in a much more valuable tax credit. You can see how this slide of hand doesn't benefit anyone but the comoanies making a massive profit on your sympathy for a good cause.
I'm not saying that you shouldn't buy recycled products or that you shouldn't support companies that are genuinely trying to make a difference in their feild, what I'm saying is understand why you're doing something before you do it. Turn the box over before you buy that matching pair of recycled coffee mugs and see where the materials were sourced from 99% of the products will have it listed (at least a percentage of pre or post consumer materials used).
Now that I've gotten way off track from what I originally had planned I will just make a shameless GreenClean plug. We offer a superior service for a competitive price because we not only believe in giving back to our planet but we also believe in giving back to our community. The best way we know how to do that is through the services that we provide and local charities. We encourage you to give freely and live freely. Smile as often as possible and love like there is no tomorrow because tomorrow is not guaranteed.
Help us support the Arnald family by helping to send young Brady Arnold to China to receive stem cell treatments to help in his life long battle agains Optic Nerve Hyproplasia. Visit www.Bradysjourneyforsight.com for more information on Brady and how you can make a difference in his life.
Tuesday, March 29, 2011
Wednesday, March 9, 2011
Not in the food! Come on!?!?!
It's another rainy day here in sweet home Alabama and you know what that means. It's time to get educated. I don't know what it is about dark rainy days that make me want to read but they do...so I am. As I've been watching the stock market lately ,in hopes that our economy will come bouncing back one day soon, I've been spending more time reading the news. Today I came across an article that read "Cereal boxes cause cancer" and all I could think was "I'm doomed". Luckily I read a little further before running into the kitchen and disposing of all my Cinnamon toast crunch. Apparently this particular study found problems in European sold cereals. That got me to thinking about the foods I ,we, cram in our faces and we often don't even give it a second thought. But what if this happened in America? Guess what.
In this particular case study in Germany & Switzerland, scientist found levels of up to 100 times the agreed safe limit of petroleum oils found in several products sold in supermarkets. Mineral oil hydrocarbons to be exact have been found to potentially cause cancer if consumed. Experts agree that newspaper used to produce the recycled cardboard containers may be the cause of the contamination. The inks used to print the newspaper have been known to be toxic for years and information about them is available at the click of a button BUT old newspaper is cheap and plentiful.
Some companies like Britain's Jordan cereal have already stopped using recycled cardboard sourced from old newspaper but companies like Kellogg's are still lingering behind. This comes with no surprise as Kellogg's has just recently had to recall 28million children cereals due to contamination from packaging. This is insane! What's even more insane than that is while you're reading this you are starting to think about the cereal in your cabinet.....but what about your rice, pasta & grains? It's not just cereal, anything stored in cardboard covered in colorful images or plastic bags is susceptible to chemical leaching, this includes metal cans lined with polycarbonate plastics. It's kind of a scary thought.
Now, I'm not saying that you should stop eating food that's packaged in cardboard, plastic or metal because that would just about mean you would have to farm or starve. Though we encourage agriculture and a responsible diet we know there are more reasonable ways to eat healthily.
By buying locally grown fruits and vegetables as well as livestock you greatly reduce your risk of chemical leaching. Knowing who grows your food and where it comes from is a powerful feeling we ,as Americans, have learned to forget. If you don't have the time or the money required for a localist type lifestyle then at least get involved and send a letter to the companies that manufacture your food, ESPECIALLY when they show up in the news for bone head mistakes like chemical leaching. Let them know the public is aware. This goes for organic and non-organic foods alike. Organic doesn't mean it's exempt from human error, one of the largest producers of organic cereals (in England) found themselves victim in this cardboard caper. This just goes to show that just because the intentions were pure that the product isn't always perfect.
Clean is a life style just like Green. Though we can't help you make the decisions you need to make we can do our part to make sure you're making an informed decision.
Think before you eat.
In this particular case study in Germany & Switzerland, scientist found levels of up to 100 times the agreed safe limit of petroleum oils found in several products sold in supermarkets. Mineral oil hydrocarbons to be exact have been found to potentially cause cancer if consumed. Experts agree that newspaper used to produce the recycled cardboard containers may be the cause of the contamination. The inks used to print the newspaper have been known to be toxic for years and information about them is available at the click of a button BUT old newspaper is cheap and plentiful.
Some companies like Britain's Jordan cereal have already stopped using recycled cardboard sourced from old newspaper but companies like Kellogg's are still lingering behind. This comes with no surprise as Kellogg's has just recently had to recall 28million children cereals due to contamination from packaging. This is insane! What's even more insane than that is while you're reading this you are starting to think about the cereal in your cabinet.....but what about your rice, pasta & grains? It's not just cereal, anything stored in cardboard covered in colorful images or plastic bags is susceptible to chemical leaching, this includes metal cans lined with polycarbonate plastics. It's kind of a scary thought.
Now, I'm not saying that you should stop eating food that's packaged in cardboard, plastic or metal because that would just about mean you would have to farm or starve. Though we encourage agriculture and a responsible diet we know there are more reasonable ways to eat healthily.
By buying locally grown fruits and vegetables as well as livestock you greatly reduce your risk of chemical leaching. Knowing who grows your food and where it comes from is a powerful feeling we ,as Americans, have learned to forget. If you don't have the time or the money required for a localist type lifestyle then at least get involved and send a letter to the companies that manufacture your food, ESPECIALLY when they show up in the news for bone head mistakes like chemical leaching. Let them know the public is aware. This goes for organic and non-organic foods alike. Organic doesn't mean it's exempt from human error, one of the largest producers of organic cereals (in England) found themselves victim in this cardboard caper. This just goes to show that just because the intentions were pure that the product isn't always perfect.
Clean is a life style just like Green. Though we can't help you make the decisions you need to make we can do our part to make sure you're making an informed decision.
Think before you eat.
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