Winning Green Friends And Influencing Others

I have a lot of green friends.  I have a lot of friends who are starting to go green.  I am finding that I am also influencing others with the information that I freely give away.

A while back I told you about my commitment to not use take a way containers from restaurants.  Well, last night I was at a networking mixer and ordered the 2-for-1 wings as I usually do at this event.  I ate my fill and pulled out my container to take the rest home with me.  A little while later, I see a friend pulling out her own re-usable container and filling it with her extra wings.  I couldn't believe it!  I did my little happy dance.

I talked with my friend later in the evening and she said that her family was taking up my challenge to reduce the amount of restaurant waste when they go out to eat.  We talked further and she was telling me about more little things they were doing to reduce their overall environmental impact.  Something she said really made me giggle a little and admittedly made me proud.  She said that when they accomplished some challenge I set or tip I had given, they would say "Christopher would be so proud" or if they had a question about something, "What would Christopher do?"

Is Your Business In the Green part 2

The health and well-being of employees and customers should be a top priority for business owners.  In todays business world, however, this is too often overlooked or ignored altogether.  Why?

Most business owners think this is strictly about providing insurance for all of their employees.  They couldn't be more wrong.  Insurance is like a band-aid on the real issue.  The real issue is providing a work environment that is healthy and safe for their workers and customers.  How many of your employees have Asthma or allergies?  Chances are, the majority of your employees have some form of allergy or Asthma.  How many of those employees call in sick, A LOT?  Now think about your customers.  That number goes up exponentially. If a customer or client enters a space that causes them to not feel well, they will leave it and never return.  In their subconscious mind, they are equating your office or retail space with feeling bad. 

Most of the issues these employees and customers face is caused by a chemical trigger.  That trigger could be the chemicals that were used to clean the floor, the chemicals that are being used to give the restrooms that "fresh" scent or even the chemicals that were used to clean the display area.  Does your office area or display area receive full sun in the morning or afternoon?  Is this time time of day when employees are more likely to go home because they are not feeling well?

Changing your cleaning products from chemical based cleaners to all-natural cleaners is fast, easy and will end up saving your company money.  There are some industrial cleaning supply companies out there who have been touting their "all-natural" cleaners, yet they are guilty of green washing.  If you look at the label on a bottle of cleaner and you cannot pronounce or immediately recognize the ingredients as being plants or fruits, then that product is not natural.  Finding truly all-natural products, in the past, has been the hard part of the process and requires a fair amount of work.  As always, I want to make this entire process easier for you.  The ingredients in our cleaning products are very clearly labeled and contain only ingredients that are plants and fruits.  They have been formulated to provide maximum cleaning power and yet leave no scent behind.

As a business owner you want to keep your best employees and customers coming back, yes?  By making this incredibly small change in the way your facility is managed, you are making a bold statement to your employees and customers that says, "We care about you, your families and the environment".  Wouldn't you like to be quoted in the papers saying that?  Businesses who have made this statement in the past have all been hugely successful.  When you tell people you truly care about them, they will choose you over the other guy.

Contact me today and I will show you how your business can become OnlyGreen Qualified.

Topher And The Blustery Day

Living in Arizona we do not often see the effects of climate change.  This year, however, we are seeing some crazy, crazy weather.  We have had days where the temperature only reached the upper 40's during the day and we've already had days that have hit the low 80's.  All this in only the past two months.

Today we are experiencing another day of strong winds which is making it near impossible to enjoy spending any time outside while the temperature is still warm enough.  Most of our winter has been pretty windy.  During one storm we found everything in our back yard (patio furniture, table and chairs, 7 burner grill, etc) thrown against the wall within seconds.  As a native, I can say with certainty that this is not what the weather was like growing up.

With this change in the climate, there comes new opportunities.  There's change blowing on the wind, as they say.  We still have an extreme number of days with full sun, so the application of solar energy production is still a no-brainer here.  However, with the massive increase of windy days, we can now look at wind energy as a viable option as well.

Imagine it; you have solar energy panels on your roof and it's reduced your electric bill to almost zero.  What's preventing you from reaching that zero dollar amount on your next bill?  What if you added a small wind-turbine?  There are new turbines on the market small enough to go in your back yard without being an eyesore.  We have the energy resources we need to take our city off the grid.  My question to you is; why aren't we taking advantage of it?

Understanding Nanoparticles

Over the past year, there has been a lot of discussion about the use of nanoparticles in skin care and cosmetics. Nanoparticles are particles that have a dimension that is 100 nanometers or less in size.

While they are very widely used through the Health and Beauty industry, much of the controversy surrounding them is due to the lack of knowledge regarding long term effects on a consumer’s body. The nano- sized particles have the ability to absorb into skin and blood stream much faster compared to regular ingredients.

“Nanoparticles are unbelievably tiny, man-made chemicals. They are so incredibly small that tens of thousands of them can fit on the point of a needle. Remember how we were taught that the atom is the smallest component of matter? Well, nanoparticles of various substances are made to be so small that they can be inserted into atoms. Once there, they may undergo a change in the way they normally function, and sometimes their toxicity can be enhanced with a potential for more severe action than normal chemicals.” (ewg.org).

Many lobbyist groups are now fighting to ensure that companies that use nano technology in their manufacturing will be forced to disclose that information on the labels of their products. Right now there is no distinguishing between products which contain an ingredient in a nano- size versus a full particle size.

At OnlyGreen, we have never used nanotechnology to create our products. Any minerals that we use, such as titanium dioxide or mica, are only used in full particle format.

Take That!

As many of you know, I am making a series of commitments this year to clean up my personal environment.  I only stop at my favorite coffee houses if I have my re-usable cups with me, etc.  I made a new commitment this month: to take a re-usable container with me if I go out to eat.  Some may think this is a little crazy and I'm perfectly okay with that.  When I go out to eat I enjoy the meal as I always do.  Only now, when I've finished, if there are any leftovers I wish to take home with me, I hand the waiter/waitress a re-usable container to place the leftovers in.

When I first made this commitment, I was sure I would be met with shocked stares and disbelief.  So far I have received only excited smiles, thanks from the restaurant staff (it saves the restaurant money so they can pay their staff more) and positive responses from other patrons.

I challenge every person who reads this blog to do this the next time you go out to eat.  Will you accept this challenge?

It's A Blizzard, Auntie Em!

Okay, so here's the deal:

The average temperature increases by a degree or two from all the garbage in the atmosphere.  This causes the ocean temperature to rise by a degree or two.  This warmer water causes the glaciers at the North Pole to melt just a little bit.  Then, because it's just a hair or two warmer than usual, those glaciers start to deteriorate.  Once this happens, they begin to break apart. Our natural solar reflector is now in pieces and floating away into much warmer water, where the pieces melt completely.  This causes the average temperature to rise a few more degrees.  More precipitation in the air means more severe storm activity.  See where I'm going with this yet?

Anyone who tries to deny that man has any effect on the environment only need take a look outside today.  This is what we've done.  We have no one to blame but ourselves.  Did we foresee this coming 100 years ago?  Nope.  Did we see it coming 50 years ago?  There were some wacky theories making the rounds at that time.  Did we see this coming 20 years ago?  You betcha!  Could we have prevented our Northern ice cap from melting?  We could have done a lot more to prevent it.  I don't know if we could have stopped it altogether, however I do know that we could have slowed it down considerably if we had only taken the initiative to do something about it.

This, ladies and gentlemen, is the result of Global Warming.  Ain't it fun?

Earth Hour Every Week

Ever since Earth Hour first started, I have been a huge proponent of the idea.  I love it!  It reminds me to step back from everything and take a breath.  We usually end up going waaaay past the alloted hour each year.  We light a few candles and enjoy spending quality time with the neighbors.

We decided we like the idea so much, why not do it once a month?  So we did.  Once a month we would unplug all the unnecessary devices/appliances in the house and read by candle light or have a drink and play a board game with the neighbors.  This became a habit after a few months.

After our second official Earth Hour we asked ourselves, why don't we try doing this once a week?  So we did. Each week we unplug and spend some quality time together.  There's no ringing, buzzing, beeping or "background noise".

What would happen if you and your family decided to do Earth Hour once a month instead of once a year?