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Paper Mate sent me a few of their new pens and mechanical pencils to try out in honor of Earth Day.  Now while I don’t think that compostable pens are the solution to the world’s problems – I guess I have to give credit to companies for trying to reduce waste and come up with solutions to our overflowing landfills.

The pens work just as well as the normal Paper Mate varieties, I’m a blue ink kind of guy.  They’re also very comfortable, but that comes at the expense of a non-compostable grip.  The ink hasn’t run out yet, but when it does, I’ll throw it in the bottom of my composter and see what happens.  It’s supposed to take a year to break down, but with the generous heat from my food waste-leaves-grass combo, maybe it’ll take less time.

Just don’t forget to break the pen down before composting.  There are many non-compostable parts that still need to be removed (see below).

$1.5 billion in new pens and mechanical pencils were sold in 2000.  That’s a lot of waste!  These new pens are surely just a drop in the bucket, but hey they might just catch on.  If you have a business which hands out or goes through a number of pens, this is a good way to reduce your waste and let your customers know that you care even about the little things.

I’d give Paper Mate an “E” for effort.  Now, about those other hundred million pens and pencils…

Read more on Paper Mate’s Green Efforts below the fold! Read more »

Gaea recently sent my family some samples of its extra-virgin olive oil to sample.  The premise of their operation is simple: grow great tasting olives, produce high quality olive oil, and offset their carbon emissions.

We’ve used the olive oil for a week or so, cooking with it (excellent flavor for meats and veggies) and using it in our recipes.  The verdict?  Delicious.  Whether you’re making a salad dressing, sauteing veggies or chicken – you can’t go wrong.

Gaea offers a variety of olive oils: Sitia-Crete, Kalamata, Organic, and several flavored versions.

There are also whole olives, tampenades, appetizers, roasted peppers, sundried tomatoes, grape leaves, and a line of sauces that I’d love to get my hands on.

Now, to the claim that Gaea is the “first extra virgin olive oil in the world to be certified carbon neutral”.  A google search turns up some smaller olive farms that have attempted to achieve similar carbon reductions and offsets.  I’m really not too worried who was the first to be certified, but I am interested in how Gaea achieves those claims:

Carbon or Greenhouse Gas offsetting is the funding of climate protection
projects by an individual or a company, such as GAEA, in order to
compensate for the carbon emissions it produces as a result from its
operations and/or products. GAEA calculated the amount of carbon
emissions produced per kg of olive oil and compensated it by funding
climate protection projects through the myclimate foundation.

Ok, so it’s through offsets, then.  Well what kind of offsets you ask?  Gaea provides the details in this brochure.

Let me get on my soapbox for a minute:  I am happy to see when companies are interested in reducing their environmental impact, though I wish that the website went into more detail about their carbon calculations.  I also wish that Gaea provided a description of the other methods that they are using to reduce their environmental impact.  Are they reducing fertilizers and pesticides?  Preventing soil erosion?  I have been and will continue to be skeptical about companies who pay for carbon offsets, do little to make real on-the-ground changes, and call their products climate neutral.  To be fair, I requested this information from the company and this is their response:

Gaea is leading the way in the international olive oil industry with their green ‘rev-oil-ution’ to reduce the environmental impact of their operations from cultivation to the shelves of the supermarket. Gaea is committed to preserving the Earth’s natural resources with our non-depletion policy on wild products, recycling policies, Integrated Crop Management and Organic Farming techniques. With a name that literally stands for ‘Mother Earth’, Gaea has been committed to environmental sustainability since its inception. Care and respect for the environment remains at the core of our company values.  This information can be found on the Gaea website at http://www.gaea.gr/1/gaeaStory2.html.

I’m not sure what “non-depletion policy on wild products” means, but it does sound like the company is attempting to minimize its environmental impact.  I do know that a more complete disclosure of their carbon emissions inventory and farming practices would go a long way for environmentally conscious consumers.

If you are in the market for some extra virgin olive oil, or Greek specialty products – Give Gaea a try!

Environmentally-conscious PC owners beware! There’s a fairly recent spyware virus out there that takes advantage of the green movement to promote an entirely different agenda.

Called “Eco Antivirus”, the app poses as green security software — offering to help conserve the energy your computer consumes while searching for malicious bugs. Unfortunately, the app is a malicious program itself that “bombards the screen with a series of fake security warnings, deceiving scans and aggressive marketing designed to persuade the user to visit the Eco AntiVirus website to purchase the malicious software.”

While those infected have reported it being something of a nightmare to remove the spyware, there are now legit apps to handle this wolf in sheep’s clothing.

Lesson here? Don’t download suspicious software without first doing a bit of googling to pull back the curtain on any BS green claims. Even software can greenwash.

With the holidays once more in full swing, we rounded up a few green gift lists from around the web to help anyone looking to make their shopping his year a little more eco-friendly. While we’re thankful that there are so many green products out there to purchase, we encourage a “buy less, give back” mentality for the holidays. Especially in the midst of a recession, there are so many wonderful charities and organizations in need of funding for worthy initiatives around the world. Thankfully, some of the sites on this list are in tune with that thinking and have provided some “giftless” options to help make a difference.

In no particular order, here are seven great gift lists to browse. Happy Holidays!

Treehugger: Have A Slow Holiday 2009 Guide

Ecorazzi: 2009 Green Gift Guide Extravaganza Craziness

Greenopia Christmas Gift Guide 2009: Ecofriendly Budget Gifts for Everyone!

Inhabitat Green Holiday Gift Guide

GreenUpgrader 2009 Green Gift Guide

Beautiful Things: Eco Chick’s Holiday Green Gift Guide, 2009

Ecofabulous Guide to the Holidays

It’s been several months now since I’ve had the opportunity to test out the iZip Enlightened hybrid-electric bicycle — and the enthusiasm present with my first impressions has certainly not waned.

As I mentioned earlier, living in Ithaca, NY means having to negotiate several steep inclines to get to work. Most bikers around here either find alternative windy roads that slowly make their way to the top — or walk their bike up the tougher sections. Either way, when you’re dressed to impress, sweating your balls off is one thing you want to try and avoid. This in mind, ever since hybrid-electric bikes hit the scene, I’ve been eying them as a means to avoid roundabouts and just hit these hills straight on. iZip offers a bunch of different bikes to handle such scenarios and I was fortunate enough to be given one to test drive.

If you’re not familiar with how hybrid-electric bikes function, here’s a bit of a recap from my first post:

The IZIP instead is an electric-assist — giving you some extra torque to help you up some tough inclines. To that end, you still have to pedal. The beauty of this system is that you can choose to have it on or off — or at different levels of assist. About to hit a hill and want some support? Simply press the “+” button on the left handlebar and watch the LCD indicator light a few bars higher. Want to back off? Hit the “-” button. It’s as simple as that — and believe me, you still get a workout.

In my rides to work, I generally kept the power button on high — which even on flat portions of the trip, never seem to interfere with normal pedaling. As soon as I hit those nasty inclines, however, I could hear the electric motor kick on and the exertion normally needed to huff and puff greatly reduced. The electric-assist can’t overcome huge inclines, however, — so on some of my trips, I avoided the monster hills and took side streets. This strategy seemed to favor the technology and the assist definitely got me to my destination much faster than normal — and with less sweat.

Read more »

Earlier this summer, I received a gorgeous eco-friendly vase from a Canadian company called VAAS design. Needless to say, the shape and style are not like your average glass design — which adds an interesting twist to your dinner table or bookshelf. The particular creation I received (each one is unique) is a medley of blues and green, with an organic shape that VAAS says echoes “wood, rocks and mineral formations”. From the website,

Using a unique process and combining the two most prolific waste products in our environment – newspaper and PET plastic – VAAS produces extraordinary sculptural forms that have a functional and decorative allure. Each original design elevates society’s throwaways, upcycling them into eco-effective works of art, that will be cherished by the most savvy green fashionistas and cultural creatives.

You can have a look at more of their unique designs — or place an order of your own here. For those flowers that are wild with color, you can now give them a proper pairing with these exotic — and eco-friendly — vases.

My wife was recently given the opportunity to try out the new Keds Green Label sneakers.  These Keds feature organic cotton, partially recycled materials, and nickel-free eyelets.  Here’s the full scoop from their website:

Friendly organic cotton uppers for a healthier environment

Recycled rubber to help reduce waste; We use 20% recycled rubber in our outsoles

Eye-catching colors made from non-toxic inks & dyes that help decrease the harmful impact to our atmosphere

Nickel free eyelets, ISO-9001 certified factory and recycled insoles

Shoe laces made from 100% recycled PET (water bottles)

The shoes arrived about two weeks ago, and they came right out of the (post-consumer recycled corrugated cardboard) box and onto her feet.  Since then, they’ve been on walks, working on the lawn, and veggie garden.  They look well worn already.  That is a seal of approval!  She says that the shoes are light and very comfortable.

Keds has been making shoes for over 93 years now.  It is excellent to see them offer a environmentally friendly alternative.

The lace up shoes come in white, black, green, and white.  The Meadow Moc shoes come in light blue or white.  All are available for $55.00 (as of July 23, 2009).  Until July 27th, enter the code “SAVETEN” at checkout for $10 off and free shipping!

They are available online, or look for them in a shoe store near you.

Shop for Green Label Keds here.

More often than not, it’s great to have some solid connections in the green world. Shea Gunther — one of the top green bloggers on the web and twitter — casually threw a question my way earlier this week: Would I like to try a pair of New Balance’s first ever green shoe for their “Eco-prefer Collection”. Would I?!

Less than 12 hours after I accepted, a shiny pair of New Balance 070s arrived on my doorstep. I tore open the box, admired the bold colors, and have pretty much been wearing them since. But first, let’s talk about what it is exactly that makes these shoes “green”.

Obviously, New Balance set out to completely re-think they way they design shoes in as environmentally-friendly a manner as possible. To that end, the 070 fits together like a kind of puzzle to reduce waste. The outsole features a rice husk fill that decreases the amount of rubber used in the production of the shoe. The insert, as well as all synthetics, are made from recycled materials. The upper materials use a combination of recycled polyester and natural materials. The upper is also designed so that everything has a symmetrical opposite. This was done to minimize waste as much as possible when cutting the material for the shoes.

It’s worth noting that water-based adhesives bond all the different sections together. To sum up, it’s a great start to a sort of green shoe revolution.

But how does it feel? A shoe can look great and be as green as dirt — but if it doesn’t get the job done, what good is it, right? I’m happy to report that the NB 070 more than lives up to the expectation of comfort and support. In the time since I’ve owned them, I’ve taken a four-mile hike and cruised through traffic pumping away on my bike to get to work. So far, so good — and I like to beat the hell out of my footwear. These things are solidly built. Believe me, unless you pointed out their green qualities, nobody would have a clue that you’re wearing anything other than some good-looking kicks.

Anyways, I’ll update if anything particularly interesting pops up regarding these shoes — but let me just end this review giving New Balance a solid thumbs up on their new eco collection. Now, how about extending this sustainable design to your other shoes?

Available for $79.99 here.

After discovering this recycled seatbelt hammock from TING, I’m convinced that there’s no limit to the clever reuse of discarded materials.

These gorgeous handwoven hammocks are made from reclaimed seatbelt webbing. They are water resistant, comfy, and most-definitely a conversation starter. Colors available include bright shades like hot pink, orange, camel, turquoise, chocolate or black. The company also makes a line of recycled pillow covers that look just as pretty. More details available here — but recycled art comes with a price: $585 for each hammock. Ouch.

In case you haven’t run across this before… There’s a company called TerraCycle that will take your old plastic bottles and jugs, juice boxes, cookie wrappers, cell phones, and other waste, and turn them into useful products. In fact, they claim that 100% of their products and materials come from trash. If you set up a “collection center,” they’ll even donate to the charity of your choice for every item  you send.

Products include fire starter bundles, lunch boxes, deer repellent, worm castings, rain barrels, binders, flower pots, and any number of other things. Their products are available at a wide array of “big  retailers.

Now, the downside is that they generally only accept certain brand name products (Oreo, Capri Sun, Frito Lay, Clif Bars, etc.) But going with the most widely sold brands probably makes a lot of sense, both in terms of materials availability and uniformity.

And really, anything that takes waste out of the waste stream is hard to complain about. I wonder if they could franchise to local communities…