I am going to do a little challenge with myself.  I want to list some companies that I believe are green.  After that, I will research these companies to see what they do, if anything, to be green.  It will be interesting to see if what I believe is actually true.  I will not select companies in this exercise that I know make green products because that would be obvious.

Here is my list:  Lexus (automakers), Sun Chips, Renold’s (aluminum foil), Shape (magazine), Starbucks, and DELL.

Ok, I must admit some of these companies were brands that I selected by glancing around the room, but that will make it fun to learn something new.

1.  I heard something about Lexus going green but I don’t remember what it was.  What I learned from their website is that they reuse scraps from cushions and liners as sound insulation.  They reduce water and energy usage and have a zero landfill waste status.  They reduce, reuse or recycle 98 percent of all manufacturing leftovers.  They even plan reduce their energy consumption even more by 18% in 2011 when compared to 2001.

2. SunChips: what I understand about this company is that they are making their packaging compostable and that they run on wind energy.  I was correct in the compostable wrappers guess.  Also, 33% of every 10 1/2 oz bag of chips is made with renewable, plant based materials.  In 2010, on Earth Day,  they are set to release their first fully compostable bag, that will decompose in 14 weeks. They also helped rebuild Greensburg Kansas that was once destroyed by a tornado in a green way.  Solar power is one main source of energy in the production of SunChips.  That is a big step to a healthier planet.

3.   Reynold’s:  I seen a commercial advertising a recycled Reynold’s product.  It looks like their foil is 100% recycled aluminum and even the paperboard is 100% recycled.  After doing some more browsing on their site I found a Greening Your Kitchen tab including tips on going green from Sara Snow.  My only suggestion is that they should make these links easier to find instead of having to dig around.

4.  Shape: I am a subscriber to this magazine so I appreciate all of the green tips throughout.  Instead of finding information online, I actually dug out my new copy and read their statement at the beginning.  They state that they are the top user of recycled content for any North American women’s lifestyle magazine.  They average 305,000 pounds of post consumer waste is used and that saves 17,723 trees.

5.  Starbucks: I know that Starbucks sells fair trade coffee but I was wondering if they did more than that.  Their website is actually pretty cool.  They have videos and ways to interact with the site.  They support the local community, they encourage the use of ceramic or reusable mugs, they use LED energy efficient lighting, recycled materials, and building materials and they also allow you to take home used coffee grounds for your soil.

6.  Dell: Dell offers free computer recycling to worldwide customers; they recovered 100 million pounds in 2007 alone.  You can also donate your computer to underprivileged children and adults.  This is awesome; on their site they track how much CO2 they avoided, which is updated every other second.  So far they are at 41,202,094 tons.    During the year 2009 they completed 88 energy efficiency tasks from changing their light bulbs, temperature adjustments and upgrading their HVAC systems.

This is quite an interesting bit of information and I am glad I completed this exercise.  Learning what companies are doing to go green will help us select which changes we want to make.   Since this is part of Ben’s challenge, he will in the end select which company we will trade in our traditional purchases with a more green selection.   Are you purchasing from companies specifically because they are green over their non-green competitor?  Please leave us a comment below.

1. Reuse what you can as your own wrapping paper.
2. Shred it and use this paper as packing material
3. Add wrapping paper to your compost.
4. Use it for various crafts.
5. Turn the white side out and use it for mail wrapping
6. Make your own Christmas ornaments using Christmas paper
7. Make your own artsy fartsy paper
8. Ask the local pet shelter or pet store if they can use the shredded paper for animal bedding
9. Shred it and use this as Easter Basket hay
10. Make your own items using this paper.
11. Use for Card Making
12. Use the decorative paper for scrapbooking if you have any scrap bookers in your family
13. Recycling…. But check your City to see if they take this as recycling.  I am not sure if my city takes this paper and am currently checking on that.  I HOPE they do because I know I am going to have a TON of paper from recycling all of the paper of our families.

Let us know your ideas in the comment area below.

Now is the time of year we as families start to decorate the Christmas tree.  This is the true beginning of the

Christmas Tree

 Christmas season in my book.  But do you go out and buy a real tree every year that may cost a pretty penny if you add it up, or do you put up the fake Christmas tree every year?  It may seem by that last statement that it would make sense to buy a fake tree because of cost.  However, based on my research, fake trees may be worse for the environment.

What are fake trees made of?  Fake trees are made primarily of polyvinyl chloride aka PVC.  PVC is claimed to be one of the most environmentally offensive forms of non-renewable, petroleum-derived plastic.  Another thing that I have never heard before today is that there is a potential for lead poisoning; enough so, that California required a Proposition 65 warning label.  Richard Maas, the director of the Environmental Studies, tested a small sample of artificial trees, about one-fourth of which contained high levels of lead.  Fake trees also contain a fireproof chemical, that when burned, can create a toxic mix of hydrogen chloride gas and dioxin.  Also, about 85% of fake trees are actually manufactured in China.  That also contributes quite a bunch of CO2 emissions to pollute our atmosphere.  Last disadvantage is that there is no real way to keep your cats out of them and having to reassemble them every day.

So this must mean that real trees are the way to go, right?  Well, not necessarily.  Real trees also pose health risks because for 8 years before these trees are harvested they use pesticides to keep the bugs away.  They also have to be trucked in from somewhere.  Unless you go out and cut down a locally grown tree, you are contributing to CO2 pollution.  Also, if the city doesn’t have a recycling program, these trees add to the already overwhelmed landfills and also contribute to polluting of ground water. 

There are a couple of options that haven’t been mentioned yet.  The best way to enjoy a Christmas tree is to buy a live tree with its roots intact from a local grower, and then replant it in your yard once the holiday has passed.  Another, simpler option would be is to purchase a real organic tree.  However, I am not sure this will be an option for many communities. 

I think that either option may be the more environmentally friendly based on the variables in your life.  For us, I think that the negatives outweigh the positives for the fake tree.  I will probably choose to purchase a live tree every year, because it makes the home smell so good, the cats don’t climb real trees, and our city does recycle and compost real trees.  Let us know in the comments area below whether you have a real or fake tree and why.

A few weeks ago my green task was to reduce junk mail.  Part of what I resolved to complete was to remove myself from the mailing list for phone books.  Of the 100 million tons of junk mail created every year, I wonder how much of that is phone books.  Well, I thought my phone book receiving days were over.  Yet… yesterday… sitting on my front porch was a Yellowbook phone book.  STOP SENDING ME PHONE BOOKS!

It was a little discouraging to see that on my stoop shortly after resolving not to receive them any longer.  Possibly I am being a bit anxious since I just put myself on the list a few weeks ago, so possibly that was the last phone book.  They were actually really awesome and sent me an email fairly quickly.  Heather from Yellowbook told me, “I have added you to our Opt Out List. In the future, we will not deliver the Yellowbook to your address but we will send out a postcard once every two years to confirm that you still reside at the same address and that you still wish to remain off of our distribution list. “I really do appreciate the try Heather and I am sure you are a very nice person, but STOP SENDING ME PHONE BOOKS!

There is a positive side to having another phone book though.   The Yellowbook phone book came in an awesome Yellowbook bag.  Even before I was trying to be green, I would re-use any plastic bags we did manage to collect and I would pick up my dog’s poop with it.   I am sure there is a better way to do that, but that is a future story.  So, the Yellowbook bag got the doo doo treatment.  I do have quite a few bags saved up though, so please do not spend your resources getting it to me and please STOP SENDING ME PHONE BOOKS!

Finally, I really do appreciate the quick service you provided and I am hoping that being removed from the list just has been a timing problem, but if not… please… with cherries on top… STOP SENDING ME PHONE BOOKS!