Posts Tagged ‘entrepreneur’

Wrap-n-Mat Gets a Thumbs Up! Wednesday, December 9th, 2009 For as long as my girls have been in school, I (on occasion they, too) pack their lunches.  Over the years, I have purchased diverse types of reusable containers and yes, I’ll admit, even used the Zip Lock baggies.   The first of my reusable purchases was this fabulous cube-like contraption from the Container Store called the Klip Lunch cube . I bought mine over 4 years ago, which only came in a clear color.  Now you can choose from a variety of colors and it touts that it is BPA free.  It is a bit bulky, so finding the right lunch box can be a challenge.  Also, with the worry regarding plastics, this may not be an option for you.   I have done some hands-on research and used a myriad of bags, containers and water bottles for my girls’ lunches.  Back in August of this year, I blogged about Zero-Trash Lunch Concepts  and was intrigued by the Wrap-n-Mat.  Wrap-n-Mat  is just what is says: a reusable place mat that doubles as a wrapper for your food.  Sometimes even the small reusable containers may be too cumbersome in your child’s lunch bag.  This money-saving, washable food wrapper is perfect for those multi-portioned lunches.   I contacted the company as I wanted to test out their wares.  Quickly, I was mailed one eco-designed wrapper, perfect for sandwiches and one dark green pouch  ideal for snacks such as pretzels, crackers, or an apple.  Both Wrap-n-Mats are lined with a clear plastic barrier to keep the cloth from getting soggy and  the site claims “that (the mats)clean up completely without any fabric weave or pores that can harvest bacteria.”  My girls were excited and began to squabble over who was getting what wrapper in their lunches.  Since my older daughter was an avid peanut butter-banana-and honey sandwich eater, she was the lucky winner of the larger sandwich wrapper.  It was easy to fold:  fold both sides in, then fold the bottom up and seal with the Velcro.  My younger daughter liked the idea of using pretzels for her Wrap-n-Mat Pouch since the website uses them in their demonstration.  The closing was not as easy.  According to the presentation on the site, the sides are to fold in forming a nice pouch, where no small snack pieces can escape.  Mine left small gaps at the bottom corners.  No matter how I tried to refold it, it wouldn’t close completely.  We opted to use it for an apple.  The Wrap-n-Mat Pouch can be used for smaller sandwiches or larger snacks, but for items such as oyster crackers or goldfish crackers, this may not be the best item to use. Clean up was easy!  The few crumbs (and crust) left in the Wrap-n-Mat were tossed (into your compost if you have!) and then with a wet cloth wiped clean.  Viola! My girls and I really love the Wrap-n-Mat.  Not only is it perfect for school lunches, but also for the beach, picnics or wherever you bring your lunch or snacks.  This dual purpose product (reusable food container–good for the earth and placemat—good to keep germ-free) is perfect.  What a safe feeling knowing your child’s lunch is not sitting directly on his/her desk or lunch table! For more information, visit Wrap-n-Mat Tags: BPA free, carbon footprint, change, changes, climate change, earth, earth day, earth promise, earthpromise, eco-friendly, energy, energy efficient, entrepreneur, environment, environmental, global warming, green, green changes, green claims, green company, green living, green practice, green practices, green tips, lunch, money-saving, placemat, renewable energy, reusable, sustainable, waste, waste-free, water bottles, zero-waste, zip lock Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »

Zero-Trash Lunch Concepts Monday, August 24th, 2009 When was the last time you had lunch with your child at school?  Not only is it a great way to spend some extra time together, but it gives you an opportunity to actually witness the abundance of  packing waste that is generated.  What are the kids’ sandwiches wrapped in? (Plastic baggies or tin foil, right?)  What about all those convenient, yet wasteful single-serve items like yogurt or pretzels?  How about all those paper napkins? There is information galore about waste-reducing lunch-packing strategies.  Educating yourself and your children on how to trim down trash is as important as providing a healthy lunch.  Here are some sites that I feel offer some great zero-waste ideas: • Waste Free Lunches  provides an easy to read chart to reduce lunch-packing waste. If you want your school/work to head in the garbage-free direction, leading families to this website may give people the jumpstart they need! • If your child cannot go without her Capri Sun or Honest Kids juice pouch, at least sign your school up to join the Terracycle brigade .  It’s a win-win situation.  You help Terracycle keep these pouches out of the landfill and the school makes money. • Laptop Lunches  is the famous eco-friendly lunch kit that pops up everywhere on the Google search.  Everyone praises their nifty fitting eco-containers.  A Bento-box set 2.0 comprises of  A Hard black outer shell containing 5 food containers, a set of utensils, and ”The Laptop Lunch User’s Guide.”  It is not cheap–$24.99 for this eco-bento-box lunch kit.  If you take into account all the money you’ll save on plastic baggies and juice boxes, it can be well worth it. • Wrap-n-mat  is just what is says: a reusable place mat that doubles as a wrapper for your food.  Sometimes even the small reusable containers may be too cumbersome in your child’s lunch bag.  This money-saving, washable food wrapper is perfect for those mulit-snack lunches. • For all you DIY-ers out there, I thought this was a clever idea from Family Fun: make your own cool, eco-friendly, reusable snack and sandwich containers from juice cartons and milk jugs! These waste reduction lunch concepts not only keep our landfills from overflowing, but educate children about the importance of environmental stewardship.   Here at Earth Promise, we’d love to hear about any zero-trash ideas you partake in. Tags: Capri Sun, carbon footprint, change, changes, climate change, earth, earth day, earth promise, earthpromise, eco-friendly, energy, energy efficient, entrepreneur, environment, environmental, global warming, green, green changes, green claims, green company, green living, green practice, green practices, green tips, Honest Kids, laptop lunches, lunch, renewable energy, reusable, sustainable, waste Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »

It Isn’t Easy Being Green Thursday, August 20th, 2009 An interesting article, entitled, Just tell the Truth, from Mediapost.com  explains how and why companies should be careful about how they label their products and services.   Greenwashing and providing false green claims are becoming widespread.   According the Wikipedia, Greenwashing is “The term generally used when significantly more money or time has been spent advertising being green (that is, operating with consideration for the environment), rather than spending resources on environmentally sound practices. This is often portrayed by changing the name or label of a product, to give the feeling of nature, for example putting an image of a forest on a bottle containing harmful chemicals.” Here’s a portion of Just Tell the Truth: “Green marketing claims describe, or assert, green attributes of companies’ products and services. Consider, for example, two food packages, one labeled “100% Organic” on one and “the other Eco-friendly.” Both make claims about the products, but they have different meanings and impacts: One has a specific legal definition; the other is so unspecific that many find it misleading. Buyers have varying affinities for green products, but the bottom line is that green claims appeal to a large and growing constituency that is often willing to pay price premiums for “greener” products.  Inaccurate or overstated green claims can also turn people off of green marketing even if a watchdog group isn’t pointing fingers. If consumers start tuning out green messages, significant market opportunities will be lost, both for individual companies overstating their green claims and green products in general.” Be sure to read this article in its entirely. Tags: carbon footprint, change, changes, climate change, earth, earth day, earth promise, earthpromise, eco-friendly, energy, energy efficient, entrepreneur, environment, environmental, exploration, global warming, green, green changes, green claims, green company, green interviews, green living, green practice, green practices, green tips, green wording, greenwashing, mediapost, renewable energy, sustainable Posted in Uncategorized | 1 Comment »

Celebrating Just Got A Little Bit Greener! Monday, June 1st, 2009 My friends and family often tell me I come up with great green ideas for my girls’ birthday parties and annual Thanksgiving feast.   I have either emailed the birthday invitations or printed them on recycled paper; I present plants for the kids to bring home in place of plastic bags filled with even more plastic useless plastic trinkets; the place-cards are hand-made by my girls; I rarely use paper products to dine with; and I even have recycling bins available for the guests to use.  To me, these are just simple, everyday common sense ideas.  Thanks for the pat on the back, everyone, but a real big thank you should go the mother and daughter team who wrote, Celebrate Green! Creating Eco-Savvy Holidays, Celebrations and Traditions for the Whole Family, published in October 2008. Co-authors, Lynn Colwell and Corey Colwell-Lipson, really have some eco-innovative party ideas.  “Celebrate Green! offers tips, strategies and ideas for creating celebrations with more meaning and less negative impact on people and the Earth. Whether planning a wedding, a Thanksgiving feast, an Easter egg hunt or any of dozens of other celebrations, this book is a font of creative, engaging activities and memory-builders for the entire family. From food, to decor, to gifts for people in every stage of life, you’ll be astonished by the easy, inexpensive and even free ways to make every occasion eco-friendly and fun.” Not only is this mom and daughter green team accomplished authors, but they do speaking and consulting engagements; they are guest bloggers on various sites (KIWI magazine, Green for Good, Best Eco Stuff, to name a few) and have their own user friendly website, Celebrate Green and blog.  Of course, the Celebrate Green site offers detailed information about their book, but Lynn and Corey also present a hefty listing of eco-savvy celebration ideas to choose from.  I happened to click on Family Reunion  to see what unique idea they recommended.  “The number of eco-friendly hotels and resorts is growing, but by far the best option if you wish to leave the smallest footprint for your gala family gathering, is likely to be camping in any U.S. national park, especially if you’re fortunate enough to have one close by the majority of participants.” Lynn and Corey, then,  provide a select list of environmenatly friendly locations for your reunions. The Celebrate Green blog offers snippets of green information from How to grow “living grass” for an Easter basket  to just keeping it’s visitors up to date on what’s going on in their lives.  At Earth Promise, we find the Celebrate Green blog an excellent green and environmentally friendly resource, so we’ve added it to our blogroll! Lynn and Corey show us how easy it can be to make small changes.  Their passion is real. Without being preachy, Lynn and Corey offer truly surprising ways to celebrate a little bit greener.  From the eco-neophyte to hard-core greenie, the Celebrate Green book and site are a true find.  After visiting Celebrate Green, come back to Earth Promise  to create more promises to take better care of the environment. Tags: birthdays, carbon footprint, celebrate green, celebrations, change, changes, climate change, Corey Colwell-Lipson, earth, earth day, earth promise, earthpromise, eco-friendly, energy, energy efficient, entrepreneur, environment, environmental, global warming, green, green changes, green interviews, green living, green practice, green practices, green tips, holidays, Lynn Colwell, paper products, parties Posted in Uncategorized | 2 Comments »

Yard Waste Is Green and Useful Thursday, May 28th, 2009 What do you do with your yard waste (i.e. grass, weeds, small branches, leaves and plant clippings)?  Do you compost?  Do you bag it for curbside pickup? Rentech, a Realto, California company will take your organic waste and put it to good use—productive renewable energy use.  Rentech plans to work with green waste hauling contractors to collect this woody green organic waste and manufacture it into a new fuel “which burns cleanly in engines that use diesel fuel.” There is also a partnership in Naperville, Illinois, between City of Naperville, Packer Engineering, Argonne National Laboratory and the College of DuPage that is working on collecting yard clippings to produce renewable energy.   A “green depot” will be set up to manufacture the organic waste into a useful renewable fuel.  Naperville City Councilman, Robert Fiesler explains, “At first, the depot would be used mostly to generate electricity to fuel plug-in hybrid vehicles or supplement the city’s municipal electric system.” For detailed information on these upcoming innovative projects, visit these sites: Rentech Inc. Earth 911 Chicago Tribune Contact your local waste collectors to see if you can implement a yard waste renewable energy program.  Now that would be a fantastic Earth Promise! Tags: Argonne national Laboratory, carbon footprint, change, changes, climate change, compost, conservation, cycle, cyclist, earth, earth day, earth promise, earthpromise, eco-friendly, energy, energy efficient, entrepreneur, environment, environmental, exploration, Fiesler, global warming, green, green changes, green depot, green interviews, green living, green practice, green practices, green tips, land conservation, Naperville, nature, nature conservancy, nature conservation, Packer Engineering, renewable energy, sustainable, yard waste Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »

The Environmental Journey is Underway Tuesday, May 26th, 2009 Nathan is on the road.  On May 10, 2009, Lancaster, Pennsylvania native, Nathan Winters hopped on his bike to unite his love of nature with his love of exploration hoping to draw attention to support the conservation of land and nature.   Belfast, Maine was his launching point and he’ll finish across the continent in Seattle. “I will be embarking on a 4,000 mile bike ride across America to raise support and awareness to the importance of land and nature conservation. My goal is to Raise $50,000 for the Nature Conservancy and educate my followers on the importance of living a more sustainable lifestyle.” In March, I stumbled across the Follow Nathan website and blogged about his adventurous eco-mission.  Earth Promise  was even lucky enough to interview Nathan before he embarked on his ride. Being an avid cyclist and eco-conscious person myself, I found Nathan’s idea nothing less than inspiring.  Now I keep up with his whereabouts via facebook  and twitter  .  Thanks to his main sponsor, Greenopolis it is simple and fun to live vicariously through Nathan.  Greenopolis explains, “We’ll be following Nathan every mile of his route, with a map to track his progress, daily blogs, photos and video reports of the people he meets and the places he visits along the way! He’ll be spotlighting recycling, reuse, conservation and all the ways everyday folks across North America are transforming waste to resources in their own unique ways.” Be sure to donate to keep Nathan’s environmental awareness ride going and to help support the Nature Conservancy. Tags: 21 in 21, bicycle, bike, bike ride, carbon footprint, change, changes, climate change, conservation, cycle, cyclist, donate, earth, earth day, earth promise, earthpromise, eco-friendly, energy, energy efficient, entrepreneur, environment, environmental, exploration, Follow Nathan, follownathan, global warming, green, green changes, green interviews, green living, green practice, green practices, green tips, interview, interviews, journey, land conservation, Nathan Winters, nature, nature conservancy, nature conservation, North America, preservation, ride across america, sustainable, trees Posted in Uncategorized | 1 Comment »

An Inspiring Green Dream Wednesday, March 18th, 2009 Go confidently in the direction of your dreams! Live the life you’ve imagined. As you simplify your life, the laws of the universe will be simpler.  Henry David Thoreau   American author, poet and naturalist, Henry David Thoreau, is best known for his book Walden, a reflection and fascination within his natural surroundings.  I have come in contact with a modern day Thoreau, 29-year-old Nathan Winters. Nathan Winters, avid traveler/explorer and nature devotee, from Lancaster, PA, has decided to live the life he has imagined.  As well as being an entrepreneur and product manager in the world of technology, his longtime goal and dream has been to travel across America.  Nathan has chosen to do it via bike .  He will unite his love of nature with his love of exploration hoping to draw attention to support the conservation of land and nature.  Nathan has developed the site, Follow Nathan where visitors can actually followhis progress on a map; be able to read about his journey via blog; and be able to read a Daily Green Tip. Nathan will conduct video interviews with locals along his sojourn. You will be able to follow his up to minute progress via Twitter, Facebook, Youtube. Although he has no concrete route, his vision is to begin in Maine and ride through to Washington state. Nathan’s agenda is clear: preserve nature.  Not only does he hope his ride will bring awareness to this important cause, donations can be made to help support his ride and provisions as well as money going towards “the organizations that are devoted to help preserve land and nature.” For every $10 in donations to FollowNathan.org, he will help plant 10 trees which helps protect the environment with the help of one of his partners, Trees For the Future.  Also, Nathan will plant 5 trees with every purchase of one of his cool products: messenger bags ,  coffee mugs and a variety of cool t-shirts for both men and women, (all adorned with the Follow Nathan logo). FollowNathan.org  is not only an impressive site, but an inspiring dream that he is making come true.  Pedal on, Nathan Winters!   Tags: bike, change, changes, conservation, earth, eco-friendly, entrepreneur, environment, exploration, Follow Nathan, green, green changes, green living, green practice, green practices, green tips, journey, Nathan Winters, nature, preservation, trees Posted in Uncategorized | 5 Comments »