First of all, I just want to thank all of you for your incredible support in the American Express Shine A Light program! EcoPlum made it to the judging round but we were not selected as one of the three finalists out of over 4,000 entries. One of the finalists, HappyBabyFood.com, is the brainchild of fellow Columbia Business School social entrepreneur Shazi Visram! Congratulations to the entire HappyBabyFood team!
Now, back to the newsletter. Are you all freezing yet? It was hot and humid two days ago and today I'm sporting a coat. It's that time of year, leaves are changing, kids are getting settled in school, and Halloween is just around the corner. This month, Amelia gives us some great tips on Greening your Halloween. Other interesting topics this month include Chryso's review of Eco-Friendly Cell Phones, and some guidance from the Environmental Working Group on the different kinds of plastics out there.
One more thing - we are SO excited about our new partnership with Netflix which now gives you access to see all those great environmental documentaries that have been coming out over the last few years. See our New Partners section below.
Wishing you all a very wonderful fall season. Thanks for your ongoing support.
Best,
Gia Machlin
President and CEO
Please feel free to forward this newsletter to your friends and family!
Holidays
are a time for excess, and we don't always put our best foot forward
when it comes to making celebrations eco-friendly. Even though
trick-or-treating may seem harmless, there is a lot of waste that goes
along with candy and costumes. Here are some strategies to lighten your
footprint this October.
1. Buy organic or fair trade, minimally packaged treats. As
parents, it's hard not to be nervous about letting your kids accept
homemade goods from strangers. If you throw a party, however, baking at
home is the greenest strategy - and you can personalize the faces on
those pumpkin shaped cookies. When buying candy, look for the fair trade label on chocolate. Tiny Endangered Species chocolates are a good choice, and Sunspire makes individually packaged chocolate covered fruit. Yummy Earth lollipops
are sure to be a hit, and they come in bulk, making your shopping
easier and less wasteful. Give your kids reusable bags to carry candy
in - you can even make a project out of decorating old canvas shopping
bags, or reuse worn pillowcases as candy sacks. Read More!
Eco-Friendly Phone
Once
considered a luxury, cell phones are a necessity these days. After all,
they are chock full of goodies-GPS, email, photo sharing, text
messaging-and you can call people on them, too!
It's no wonder that as many as 270 million people in the United States had cell phone contracts in 2008.
Cell phones are even encroaching on landline use. About 15 percent of
U.S. households no longer own a landline, according to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention. New cell phones promising bigger, better, and faster features get consumer tongues wagging,
and people are quick to upgrade, leaving their old phones behind.
Unfortunately, only 10 percent of cell phones get recycled, according
to the Environmental Protection Agency.
That means that the majority of cell phones, made of copper and
plastics, lay in landfills. The most eco-conscious thing to do is to
hold on to the phone you have, for as long as it works. When it's time
to upgrade, recycle your old phone instead of ditching it in the trash.Read More!
From EcoTipz:
How to Choose Plastics Carefully
Our homes
are filled with plastics, and most of us don't really know what they're
made of -- or whether they are safe. Making sense of plastics can be
confusing and time-consuming. (Can I recycle it? Can I microwave it?
Can I drink out of it?)
To simplify your choices, EWG researchers shared their top plastics advice Read More!
From The Orchard:
Potential Polychlorinated Biphenyl Exposure in Schools
In recent years, EPA has learned that caulk containing potentially harmful polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs)
was used in many buildings, including schools, in the 1950s through the
1970s. In general, schools and buildings built after 1978 do not
contain PCBs in caulk. On September 25, 2009, EPA announced new
guidance for school administrators and building managers with important
information about managing PCBs in caulk and tools to help minimize
possible exposure. Read More!
Meet our team members...this month...David!
David is a life long New Yorker who was born and raised in Queens, NY and
currently resides there with his wife and two sons who are 5 and 1. He likes to
highlight his HS education at Xavier HS in NYC because it taught him to dig
deeply into issues -not only to understand what was known but more importantly
what was not.
David received a BA in Computer Science and English from Fordham
at Lincoln Center and worked in the IT/financial services industry for
approximately 20 years. In 2006 he decided he wanted a career change so he
returned to his alma mater, Fordham, and entered its MBA program. His return to
school was paralleled by a growing public awareness of climate change and
environmental damage probably best epitomized by Al Gore's movie "An
Inconvenient Truth".Fordham not only introduced David to business concepts
such as internal rate of return and cash flow analysis, but it also introduced
sustainable development and the triple bottom line to him.
His introduction to sustainable development opened a
curiosity and a desire to learn more about the intersection of business with
many areas including energy, fair trade, the environment, social justice, local
food, etc. He intends to continue to examine some of these topics at his blog talkgreen2me.org. The awareness of these issues also had David reexamine his own
consumer habits and how they could change. David may be finishing his MBA soon
but understands his education has just begun.
From The Blog:
Top 10 Frustrating (and Funny) Experiences with Going Green
Thanks for all your input on experiences with going green. I selected the following Top 10 from your submissions:
#10 Rob Dorfman of San Francisco: Trying to take the bus to the
airport only to find out that the bus does not accept luggage! I'm not
kidding! See the "luggage restriction" on the samTrans schedule. MY
SUGGESTION: I got nothing.
#9 LuAnn Glowacz of Austin, Texas: Trying to resist the
temptation to "poison the house and yard" and cover my 3 year old with
full strength DEET and "fabulously toxic anti-itch creams" after a
summer of terrible bug bites. MY SUGGESTION: Try natural bug-repelling
oils such as lemon eucalyptus oil, rosemary oil and lavender oil.
#8 Jennifer Taggart, www.thesmartmama.com: Trying to make my own
dishwashing detergent only to end up with baked on spots on every dish
-
spots that were glued on like superglue and wouldn't come off despite
the most valiant of efforts with everything from scouring pads to Goo
Gone. She had to re-purpose those dishes for art projects. MY
SUGGESTION: I'm assuming you've tried this, but I have had pretty good
results with Seventh Generation Dishwashing Powder.
#7 Mary Talalay of Baltimore, MD: Buying a manual lawn
mower only to have my husband insist on following with "the
exceptionally loud and emission-spewing blower." Now she
mows when her husband isn't home and rakes and sweeps to keep that
blower out of action. MY SUGGESTION: Throw out the blower and tell your
husband to get a greener toy!
#6 Gloria Smith of Middletown, NY: Buying a bunch of reusable totes only to forget them every time I go shopping.
This is a very common frustration. MY SUGGESTION: I've got two: first,
keep all your canvas totes in one tote hanging on the front door or
sitting in your car. Make it part of your routine after unpacking the
groceries to fold up the bags and put them back on the front door or in
your car. Second, get a couple of ultra compact foldable shopping bags,
like the ChicoBag, and keep them
in your pocketbook, gym bag, purse or man-bag. I always have three in
my pocketbook, always fold them up and put them back after unpacking
and can't remember the last time I used a plastic bag.
#5 Judi Perkins, www.findtheperfectjob.com: Collecting
bottles and cans at a funeral reception for recycling afterwards when
"someone says to me 'OH! You want the nickels!' I'm like, 'Uh, no,
actually I just want to make sure they get recycled.' As if!
At a funeral reception? Even if I was that hard up for cash, I hope I'd
have better sense!" MY SUGGESTION: Keep up the good work Judi!
Like our blog? Want to know when we post something new? Subscribe to the Ecoplum Blog!
Due
to privacy and spam laws, we have kept the subscription lists for the
newsletter and the blog separate. To subscribe to the blog, please
follow these steps:
1) Go to www.ecoplum.com/blog. Enter your email in the box on the right side and press "subscribe." 2)
A window should open that requests for you to type the random text you
see in the box - type the text and press "complete subscription
request." 3) Check your inbox for an email from Feedburner Email Subscriptions and click on the link in the email.
That's it. You will receive an email notification every time there is a new post to the blog. Hope you enjoy it!
Some pictures from recent EcoPlum events:
September Green Drinks at Water Taxi Beach, South Street Seaport.
Get our monthly newsletter. We will keep you informed on new products, new retailers, new industry sources (for certification and labeling) and of course new articles and content.
Be able to rate and comment on articles, tips and videos, and products.
Receive EcoChipz rewards on purchases for qualified products.
Bookmark the EcoInfo page to see what's new every day in EcoTipz, EcoClipz, EcoContentz and The Orchard.
We will be sure to keep you posted on all the latest information and especially any kind of new regulation or policy that may require action on your part.
Ecoplum Pie Archives
Now the old Ecoplum Pie newsletters are archived and available to view. Check it out.
We are THRILLED to have partnered with NETFLIX to offer you these great educational movies!!
This month we recommend:
An Inconvenient Truth, FLOW: For Love of Water, Who Killed the Electric Car and The Future of Food. Click below to rent these titles. More recommendations every month!
Holidays
are a time for excess, and we don't always put our best foot forward
when it comes to making celebrations eco-friendly. Even though
trick-or-treating may seem harmless, there is a lot of waste that goes
along with candy and costumes. Here are some strategies to lighten your
footprint this October.
David is a life long New Yorker who was born and raised in Queens, NY and
currently resides there with his wife and two sons who are 5 and 1. He likes to
highlight his HS education at Xavier HS in NYC because it taught him to dig
deeply into issues -not only to understand what was known but more importantly
what was not. 
