5.13.2009

Day Twenty One

I was sitting at work today thinking that just about the only green thing I'd be rocking today is my head full of snot... when a representative from Office Depot came in and saved the day!

Despite the "No Solicitors" sign on our door, we get a lot of people who show up and try to sell us stuff. Luckily, I was the only one in the office when this dude popped in, so I was able to pull the old "I'm sorry, I'm not in charge of purchasing, I'm just filling in for the day. Can I take your card?" It's the politest brush-off I can think of :) Now, imagine my surprise when, instead of a card, he handed me a zip-locked bag. What, you ask, was in this bag?

Check it out!



Yep, that's a zebra pen and pencil set made from over 70% recycled materials. This pen/pencil set is made of discarded CDs, headlights, LCD screens, car battery cases, and shopping baskets. Pretty neat :) Not only do I have my "little something" for the world right there, but it also makes a nice segue into the topic I wanted to address today,

Green Consumerism

Once again, this is sparked by stumbling across something in my online travels, a fantastic GOOD article called "Don't Buy Green".

This article brings up some very relevant points about the relationship between "green" goods and consumerism. The most important things I took away from this article are:

Buying eco-friendly versions of things you already use/need/etc? great!
Buying extras "just because" they're green? wasteful. I replaced the light bulbs in my house with energy-efficient ones, but only as the conventional bulbs burned out over time. It's not "green" to toss a good bulb in the name of efficiency!

As a final note, this article is quite helpful in sorting out the good, the bad, and the false when it comes to carbon footprint offset programs.

Today, I:
Wrote phone messages with recycled shopping carts.
Gave up and took some Tylenol severe sinus stuff... I'm pretty much miserable today. Today's a wash in terms of "me" stuff, but everyone deserves an off day every now and then.

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3 comments:

  1. Haha, I bought some Zebra pencils today without even knowing they were special. I just got them because they looked kinda nice and were cheap.

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  2. I think only the ones that say "Jimnie" on the clip are the eco-ones, but I'm not really clear. I've always liked zebra pens, actually, so this is a nice little bonus!

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