P&G Targets Green Consumer
Procter and Gamble is launching a massive effort to market a new line of “greener” products to the US in this upcoming year. They are currently running a similar campaign in the UK that has been a success. Glenn Williams a P&G official had this to say about their new campaign:
We are targeting the mainstream consumer – rather than the ‘environmental’ consumer – who does not want to give up on the brands that they like, but wants to use them in a sustainable way.
The company plans to spend a total of $50 billion on developing and marking new sustainable products for this campaign.
I know what your already thinking, how could P&G possibly have products that are any more “green” than the current line of products they currently have? Well, the goal is to have products that must have less than 10% of an impact on the environment than the non-green versions.
This campaign seems like what so many other major companies are doing. Putting on the facade to make it it seem like they are putting lots of effort into making their products more green. Making their products slightly more environmentally friendly is not going to change anything but help their . Thinking about some of the products P&G carry, Charmin, Bounty and Pampers just to name a few. Not only are all these products are not made from recycled materials, but all from virgin paper that is causing the destruction of old forests that absorb tons of carbon dioxide every year.
It’s great to see companies want to make their products more environmentally friendly, but don’t do it just to make the claim that your product is green. It’s pretty evident just from their statement above that they only want to do enough to generate more sales from the average consumer. If P&G really wanted to make a difference, they would begin to make all their paper products with recycled materials and natural products that actually make a difference.
Adopt a Pet From Your Local Shelter
The first thing that many people do when they want to own a pet is to go to the local pet shop and shell out tons of money the animal and equipment. Instead of buying an animal from a pet store, why not visit your local animal shelters and find an animal in need of a loving home? Not only are so many overpopulated with animals, but you can get a wonderful pet at a fraction of the cost of what you would pay at pet stores.
Animal Shelter Facts
The state of America’s animal shelters is extremely sad. Millions and millions of animals enter into our shelters every year and approximately 9.6 million are euthanized yearly. That’s roughly 64% of all animals that enter in shelters who are euthanized, with cats at a much higher level. These statistics are really sad and reflective of the fact that people make rash decisions in purchasing pets. Lots of research should be done before owning a pet and there should be no surprises. Some of the major reasons that animals end up in shelters is because they are not prepared enough to own a pet, the cost is too high or they do now own property facilities for the animal. With a little research, all of that could have been avoided.
Benefits of Adopting
There are so many benefits to adopting pets from shelters than most people realize. Let’s get into the major reason why you should adopt a pet.
Rescue an animal
With so many overcrowded and high-kill rate shelters out there, this is your opportunity to rescue an animal that might have normally be euthanized. It’s your opportunity to take an animal that have been in horrible situations and bring them into a loving home. The more animals we adopt from shelters and the less we buy from breeders or pet stores, the few animals that need to be feed. This means that the other animals currently at the shelters have a better chance of being adopted and taken better care of.
Find the Pet Just For You
There are such a variety of pets that need to be adopted, that there is no reason you can’t find a pet that is perfect for you. I have heard so many great stories about friendly and caring animals that were adopted from shelters. Many of the animals may not the “cute” or tiny as so many people seem to want, but they will mostly like be a much better fit for you. Just because you buy a little puppy or kitten from the pet store, doesn’t guarantee anything about the pet’s personality. The workers at good shelters will also have a good understanding of the pet’s personality that will make it easy to find one for you.
Save Money
Adopting a pet should not be based off of money by any means as owning a pet can be expensive. One factor that could help make it easier to adopt is lower expensive of adopting a pet. I have heard of pets being adopted for free and many in the range of $50-$300. When you adopt a pet, the animal usually has all of it’s shots and has been spayed or neutered. That’s pretty affordable considering that some dogs and cats can cost in the thousands when buying through a breeder.
Make Sure Your Ready
One thing to b sure of before buying or adopting any animal is that you are completely ready for it. Dogs in particular can be as demanding as having a small child and the expenses associated with owning an animal can sometimes be high. It’s great to adopt an animal from a shelter, but by not being prepared and possibly abandoning the animal yet again and only contribute to the problem.
Share
Please share you experiences with adopting a pet.
EcoNation Environmentally Friendly Speaker Deal
I found a really good deal on a set of environmentally friendly speakers. The EcoNation portable speakers are made from 80% recycled materials and get this, are free through Froobi’s Deal of the Day. The only thing you pay is $4.95 shipping. Each speaker can fold up and make it easy to carry around. No batteries are required for these speakers and can plug into any portable electronic device. If you want these speakers, you got to get them by midnight tonight.
Newsweek’s Corporate Environmental Rankings
Newsweek announced it’s 2009 green rankings list comprised of environmental rankings for 500 of America’s largest corporations. Newsweek worked ith several major research firms who gather environmental data to assess each company. The goal of this effort was to determine the environmental impact that the largest corporations in America have.
The rankings are based on three parts:
- Environmental Impact Score: The major components of this score are greenhouse gas emissions, how much water they use, waste disposal and chemical emissions which is based off of companies reported data.
- Green Policies Score: This score is based off of the companies environmental policies and how successful those policies are.
- Reputation Score: Comprised from the Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), which all companies involved participated in.
It’s interesting to see where many of the companies we often associate with are rated. The top 3 include HP, Dell and Johnson and Johnson, while many utility companies and a few food companies including Conagra, Smuckers and Tyson foods.
There may be some debate over the actual score values as many of them are by no means an exact measures. The environmental impact score is based off of data given by each company as well as formulated data from publicly available data. Both the policies and reputation ratings can be subjective and difficult to actually measure.
Regardless of how accurate these scores are, it’s good to see Newsweek put together this ranking to get people aware of the environmental impact these major companies have. I thing that really stuck out to me in the rankings was the fact that there were so many energy companies at the bottom of that list. It makes sense, but it just shows that we must put more pressure on not just the energy companies, but all these major companies that use so much energy to begin using more renewable sources.
Save Energy Using Window Shades
Windows can be a major source of energy waste in our homes. One way that you can take advantage of your windows to lower your monthly electric bills is use window shades, blinds, shutters or drapes. No matter what time of year it is, shades can reduce your use of your heating/air conditioning.
Winter/Cold Climates
In colder climates, having shading for your windows can make all the difference. Here are some tips to follow in cold temperatures:
- During the day when the sun is up, keep those shades open to allow as much sunlight in. In particular, windows on the south side of your home bring in more sunlight during the winter. This will help bring the temperature up slightly in your home.
- When the sun goes down, closes the shades to prevent heat from leaving the home.
- Heavier and thermal insulated window drapes and blinds can make a major difference for windows that are not well insulated.
Summer/Warm Climate
Proper shading can also help just as much for your energy bills as in colder temperatures. Here are some tips to follow in warmer temperatures:
- During the hot days, close the shades to keep the hot sun out of your home. If your at work all day, it makes no difference that your home is dark besides helping your energy bills.
- Try using white window shades to reflect the sunlight’s heat from your home.
If you are purchasing new window treatments for your windows, make sure to contact a professional. Also, try to buy them with materials that are environmentally friendly including bamboo and organic fabrics.
BuyGreen.com Winner
I want to thank BuyGreen.com for providing the $50 gift certificate for this contest as well as everybody who participated. The winner of the contest is Cori Westphal and she would like to use the gift certificate to:
I’d like to try the Blooming Lotus Body Shampoo. Sounds really soothing and relaxing!
If you didn’t already get to, be sure to check out BuyGreen.com and take a look at the great variety of green products they carry. Be sure to also sign up for my RSS Feed or email subscription to get all of my latest posts and upcoming contests I will be holding.
Green and Natural Burials
Who ever said that when you leave this earth that you have to also leave everybody behind with a huge burden. Not only are traditional funerals extremely expensive, but also taxing on the environment. Many people are discovering green methods of burial that solve both of the major problems with traditional funerals.
Why so Expensive?
Until going through the loss of a loved one, many don’t realize just how expensive the entire funeral process can be. Every part of the “traditional” burial is expensive. Between the casket, plot, vault, headstone, flowers and so on, the price can sky rocket into the tens of thousands of dollars. All this for the passing of an individual, who mostly likely would never want to put a financial burden like this on any of their relatives.
Environmental Impact
Many of the aspects of burial are extremely detrimental to the environment and many people seem to approve of the continued behavior. This has a lot to do with the use of a vault. Many funeral homes require that you use a vault in order to bury a deceased individual there for the reason to keep caskets from moving and the ground to cave in. Family members approve of this practice because they want the remains of their loved ones preserved. I can understand that people have religious beliefs to have have burials, but why must their remains be preserved? It’s not like we dig them back up ever again and there’s no law enforcing this policy, just the funeral homes. Not only is that vault expensive to get, but all the materials to construct the vault need to be hauled to the funeral home, generating excessive greenhouse gases.
Many proponents of vaults say that they are in fact environmentally friendly since they prevent chemicals from leaching into the earth. That’s great, but these chemicals come from using dangerous chemicals to embalm people and non-biodegradable materials for caskets. So that means we have to create additional greenhouses gases to make a vault to protect the ground from chemicals we use on the deceased so that they can be preserved. So let me ask the same question over again, why must their remains be preserved? We need to get over our fascination with wanting to keep the around the remains of our deceased.
Green Funerals
It just doesn’t make sense to continue having such wasteful burials when there are options available that are much more green. Let’s get into a few of those options.
Natural Burial
This is the most natural form of burial in that it allow for natural decomposition and allow for restoration of landscapes. The burials are so much simpler than the “traditional” burials most people seem obligated to choose. Natural burials do not require caskets and completely preserve the lands. The great thing about this type of burial is that all the money is put towards maintaining the beautiful lands and not the all the expenses I listed above. That means you are spending a fraction of the cost while allowing our loved ones to not bear the huge cost of a burial. Most people would reject this type of burial simply because it does not allow them to visit the deceased. There was a tv show that talked about a burial in which you put a small GPS device with the corpse to allow you to find where the individual was buried.
Cremation
Many consider cremation the most environmentally friendly option. You’d be surprised to find out that it is nowhere as green as natural burials. Don’t get me wrong, cremations are far more eco-friendly than the “traditional” burials I mentioned above. The problem is that they may not always be cheaper and still generate tons of greenhouse gases. It makes sense since the remains of the deceased are being burned. It is recommended to use a newer cremation facility, since they often use less energy and burn less fossil fuels.
Semi-Traditional Burial
If you do decide to stick with a more “traditional” burial, you can still make it far more inexpensive as well as less harmful on the environment. There are many companies that sell biodegradable caskets that will allow the remains to naturally decompose into the ground. Since there is no law requiring funeral homes to have vaults, I would stick with ones that don’t require a vault. There are also not many places that require the use of embalming. Instead, it may be better to find funeral homes that have alternatives to embalming like refrigeration and dry ice.
Check out the Green Burial Council for more information on green burials along with funeral homes that are approved by the council.
