Wednesday, October 3, 2007

Product Spotlight: Keen Bags

Keen, a shoe and outdoor company, has been in the eco-product business since 2003 when they launched their first earth friendly shoe.

This year they've released a new line of bags, made of recycled material and in an environmentally-friendly way. The bags contain recycled rubber and metal reclaimed from their shoe factory.
They have also included their packaging as an eco-friendly option, with it being 100% made from bio-degradable materials.




Visit www.keenfootwear.com for more info and locations.

Tuesday, October 2, 2007

Banned PETA Ads

Here are some fun TV ads that PETA created that are now banned from TV. I find them more funny than disturbing. I can understand why the first one is banned, but no idea for the last one...


What if you were killed for your fur? Doesn't seem like such a good idea now?


This one is just funny. Turkeys terrorizing a grocery store. I feel a movie in the making!


mmmm toilet water....drooool...



See more at petatv.com



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Monday, October 1, 2007

Product Spotlight: Eco Hot Cups



Most paper hot cups on the market today contain a plastic lining made from a petrochemical. This lining helps ensure the integrity of the cup against hot liquids such as coffee. In American alone, more than 14 billions cups of coffee are served annually in disposal cups with plastic linings. Hot cups that use petro-based plastic linings will not fully decompose, and are also dependant on a limited and costly resource, oil.
Ecoproducts.com brings you an eco-friendly alternative. The new ecotainer hot cups from International Paper are the only hot cups on the market with an inner lining using a plastic biopolymer derived from corn. Along with making a strong and dependable hot cup, plastic derived from corn is also renewable. These new pla hot cups are the perfect eco-friendly cup for they help reduce pollution, save energy and is also fully compostable.



These compostable hot cups are the perfect cups for greening your coffee shop. Compostable in a commercial composting environment, the Ecotainertm hot cup has an inner lining made from 100% corn whereas conventional paper hot cups have inner linings made from petroleum.

Also, the paper comes from trees that were harvested sustainably and the cups are Elemental chlorine-free. These cups perform the same or better than regular paper hot cups.


Get more info at www.ecoproducts.com

The Price of an Appliance You Don't Use

I've seen lots of ideas on how to conserve energy, which saves you money. Everything from buying water-saving nozzles to windows that redirect heat.
What I am going to hopefully explain in this post is how much energy you can waste by just having things plugged in. Those little red lights that show that the appliance is on do burn energy. The most common villans of energy wasting are anything with an external energy pack, anything that uses a remote, or anything that has a running clock(vcr). But just how much is wasted though?

Its believed that most modern appliances use about 15 to 30 watts while not in use, just by being plugged in. This adds up to an extra $10-30 used throughout the life of an appliance. That's PER APPLIANCE.
According to the Canadian Government, it averages out to be about 5-10% of your monthly hydro bill. So if your monthly bill is, lets say, $100, that means you could be wasting $10 each month on unused appliances. It adds to up a good 2 meals out on the town each year!




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Eco-Friendly Lamps Win at Top Drawer Autumn Awards

This past week at the Top Drawer Autumn Awards in England, top designers from all over the world showed their latest designs in food products, interior design and more. Among the awards was the one for Best Eco Product, going to lighting and homewares designer Ulrika Jarl, for her 'cell lights'.
The ceramic lamps give off a peach colored light. They are all created locally(in England), and use materials sourced locally and all waste bone china is reclaimed and reused. The lamps are supplied with energy-saving lightbulbs.
Although ceramic is not a material that is seen as environmental, Ulrika reports that the ceramic is only kiln fired once, and does not require a second firing for the glaze, which keeps the energy consumption to a minimum compared to most other types of ceramic.





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