A little update -Shaker Muasher DP3

As you now all know, I am in the process of switching from disposable water bottles to re-usable ones. I have ordered two different BPA free Nalgene bottles online, which I should receive next week. In the meantime, I will be using an old (and slightly large and annoying) plastic bottle that I have lying around. Over the past 2 weeks, I resumed my daily activities and normal habits, keeping track of how many disposable water bottles I consume. I totaled 3 large bottles and 35 small ones. That’s an average of 2.5 small bottles a day. Part of this study would include calculating how much energy, resources, and waste I would save by doing so, and what environmental impacts such a change would have if it were done on a larger scale. Moreover, in trying to completely eliminate my use of disposable water bottles (something I actually find very convenient) I will observe where, when and why am I most inconvenienced by doing so. Although I might already have a slight idea what the anser to this is, I assume that as everyday goes by, I might get frustrated with my Nalgene bottle for a different reason. Making these observations would help me get a better idea of how a design of a re-usable water bottle can make it more “desirable” (Step 1 IDEO).

Best Pizza Box Ever

Someone designed a perforated pizza box, that can be torn to form plates.  Then, the leftover box can be folded,  and a few more pieces ripped from the box, to form a half size pizza box to fit more snugly in the fridge.  Really cool idea, because it avoids the use of additional paper plates, and the cardboard is made from recycled cardboard.

http://www.asylum.com/2009/04/28/the-pizza-box-of-the-future-has-arrived/

Ben Duncan

Hey! Is this possible?

After we complete our PSP presentations,  it would be cool to get some stats on how much energy the entire class saved throughout the quarter. I would like to know how much change approx. 20 people can make when they decide to make minor adjustments in their life.

One napkin per meal–interesting observation

I was forced to actually use two napkins yesterday during lunch, and while chastising myself for failing so early at my DP3 project, I was struck by the curious idea that the only reason that I had ende dup using two napkins was because I tend to eat with my hands a lot.  Intially, I was worried that only using one napkin would not allow me sufficient paper to keep my face clean from stray food, which could be very embarassing (and pretty gross, too).  However, my biggest use for napkins seems to be wiping off my fingers after I’m done pawing through the food on my plate.

Now that I think about it, my finger-eating habit is not exatcly an example of good table manners.  That understood, I’m going to try to be neater with my food in the meals to come, in hope that then I’ll avoid the need for excess napkins.

It’s curious, though, that the underlying reason for my napkin wasting stems from a rude etiquette habit of mine.  I wonder how many of my other un-sustainable bad habits stem from a lack of conscientious, polite behavior?  I wonder how much more sustainable my life would be if I focused on being polite, clean, and courteous, rather than on being “green”…

finding the white space

Today the guest lecturer from Jump Associates mentioned finding the “white space.”  I spent last summer looking for that white space in sustainably, and I wanted to share my experiences.

First, let me start by stating my conflict of interests: I’m a student of sustainability, I hate advertisements, and I worked for an advertising research foundation.

In the world of sustainability the word “greenwashing” is a kind of swear word.  In the world of advertising it doesn’t really come up.  Advertisers don’t care or know enough about sustainability to  have “greenwashing” in their vocabulary.  So I could swear all I wanted.

For my summer internship in advertising my goal was to do something about greenwashing.  If  I could figure out how to communicate to consumers what was truly green, rather than just spray-painted green, I would consider my summer a success.

I knew nothing about advertising or marketing at first.  Here are the basics: 1. there are a lot of people in the world 2. they are all unique 3. they can be categorized 4. they can be exploited.

A short tangent here: have you ever noticed how there are a million kinds of pasta sauces in the grocery store?  traditional, chunky, 7-herb tomato, cheesy, mushroom, roasted garlic, sundried tomato and roasted basil, sweet italian sausage and cheese, six cheese…

There used to be only one kind of pasta sauce.  O-N-E.  Then there was a revolution.  Someone found this nice white space to smear with all kinds of unnecessary pasta sauces.  I worked with the man that orchestrated that revolution — let’s call him Howard.

Howard’s philosophy is this: rather than making one kind of pasta sauce that is okay for the majority of the population, why don’t you make a million pasta sauces that are awesome for each of their categories of the population?

To accomplish that you need to know what the categories are.  You figure out the categories by polling lots of people and doing a bunch of statistics.  I did this for the topic of sustainability rather than pasta sauce.

Sustainability, it turns out, is a lot like pickles.  There are three broad categories of pickle people in the U.S.: regular, zesty, and crunchy.  Sustainability has three categories too: Sierra Clubbers, Whole Foodies, and Walmarties.  I made up those names.  They’re not the best names, but you see what I’m getting at.  Each of those three categories has different preferences when it comes to pickles or sustainability.  I know what those preferences are now.  And I’m not telling.

So did I find the white space in sustainability?  Did I figure out how to communicate to consumers that by buying this product they would be so green that their tighty whities would be forever stained in chlorophyll?

I’m not telling until after I’ve planted that white space with the greenest plants I can find.