Blog #8

Today is Friday, May 2, 2008

Hello! We wanted to share some great CarrotSeed news with you all. CarrotSeed was just accepted, after a rigorous application process, as part of the Co-Op America Business Network, or CABN. CABN members must explain all that they do to ensure minimal impact on the environment and a positive impact in their community. For CarrotSeed, this includes promoting reusable bags and compostable service ware; giving back to our local schools with educational programs and to local charities like the Chesapeake Bay Foundation; reusing and recycling paper and packaging; ensuring that our suppliers are treating their workers and the earth well; and more.

If you are looking for other companies with committments like those CarrotSeed has made, check out CABN's Green Pages.

Have a great weekend!

Peace,
Jerry & Tara

Blog #7

Today is Earth Day, April 22, 2008

Happy Earth Day! Our apologies that we have been so long away from the blog. We are excited to announce that we are working on a revamp of our website and expect to have the new site up in the next few weeks. Please continue to check back as we continue our blog and upgrade the site.

So what can you do on Earth Day? Let us suggest thinking about a few categories of things to do:

Celebrate the Earth: Go out and enjoy yourself and this beautiful planet. Take a walk in the woods, along the beach, beside the river, or in the nearest park. Breathe in the air, admire the sky, appreciate the rain if it is falling. It's all good. It all brings us life. Celebrate and enjoy the gift of the earth!

Protect the Earth: Because the earth gives us our life, take an hour to help it, to protect it, to clean it up. Find a neighborhood stream clean up, or park clean up. Dedicate yourself to reducing, reusing and recycling. Switch your lightbulbs out to lower energy CFLs. Call your energy provider and ask to switch all or a portion of your energy supply to renewables. With 6 billion of us on the planet, we are the stewards of the planet. Let's be good ones.

Help the Inhabitants of the Earth: Choose your favorite inhabitant. It might be dolphins or tigers or polar bears or dogs or even people. All of us--humans and non-humans alike--need to thrive and Earth Day is a great time to remember that together we form a community--the community of living things sharing one planet. Help someone this week, whether they have four legs or two; fins, feet, or wings; feathers, scales or skin. You'll make a difference.

Thanks!

Jerry & Tara

Blog #6

Today Thursday February 21, 2008

Check out this week's cover story in the online New Yorker. In it, Michael Specter tells of efforts to create a universally accepted way of measuring the carbon footprint of any given product or activity. A complex affair. On NPR yesterday, he talked about the carbon footprint of a bottle of wine, explaining that if you reside on the East Coast (east of Columbus, OH, to be specific), it is greener to purchase French wine than Californian wine. The trip from France to the east coast of the US by boat, and then by truck to relatively nearby points is easier on the environment than the truck hauling from Napa to the east coast. Those of you west of Columbus--you should drink Californian. And, all you in Columbus--I guess you get the best of both worlds. Drink up and enjoy!

The point is, carbon footprint calculating is a complex affair that involves consideration not just of the distance that a product traveled but also how it traveled (sea, air, road or rail). It also should include the footprint involved in production--whether agricultural or manufacturing--and the footprint of the packaging. Often our intuition is the best guide, but not always. For example, an American who eats apples from New Zealand may be contributing less carbon than an American who eats a New York grown apple, according to Specter.

CarrotSeed is happy this week to begin introducing our line of compostable plasticware online. These plastics are made from renewable resources (corn, sugar, potatoes, etc) instead of from petroleum. And all compost within 90 days or biodegrade within a year. The carbon they release as they biodegrade is neutralized by the carbon the plants from which they come aborb as they grown. And, generally, the production of these compostable plastics is the same as or less energy-intense than the production of traditional plastics. We hope you will begin to adopt compostable plastics in your business, events, and family.

All the best for a peaceful and joy-filled week.

Jerry & Tara

Blog # 5

Today Thursday February 14, 2008

Happy Valentine's Day! May you enjoy fun times and romance with your loved ones today!

And, when it comes to saving the earth, what's love got to do with it, as Tina might ask?

When we love our spouse, it means we take care of him or her. When we love our children, it means we take care of them. If we love the earth, shouldn't we also take care of it to the best of our ability? Sure we should.

But do we love the earth? I'm a suburban dad of 3, soccer coach, minivan driver. Although I do hug trees, I don't fit the stereotypical tree hugger description. And, yeah I love the earth.

It's funny. I often hear people say that they love cars. That they love baseball. That they love a certain movie. But rarely, if ever, do I hear someone say I love the earth. Why is that? The earth is, afterall, so much more fundamentally important than cars, baseball, or the movies. It gives so much more to us.

And when we adults don't say it, our kids don't say it. They too fall in love with Rescue Heroes, Webkinz, princesses and football, but not with our home. Not with the earth.

So, say it. Today, on Valentine's Day, add one more love to your life. Your spouse or significant other won't get jealous. Go ahead say it. You love the earth.

I love the earth! I love its cool breezes and its warm summer sun. I love its soft snowfalls that make the world silent. I love its oceans and the fish that swim in them. I love its forests and the way they turn golden, orange, and red in October. I love its mountains and the way they inspire us to the heavens. I love its gentle rains and its giant downpours that can soak me to the bone and allow me and my kids to splash in puddles. I love its life--everywhere life! From majestic lions and bears and elephants to the simple cracking of pavement by green grass and moss that simply insist on life! I love the earth!

Have a great day!

Peace,

Jerry

Blog #4

Today Thursday February 7, 2008

Check out yesterday's Washington Post to read a fun essay by Jane Black at the Washington Post. She starts off with a problem that I have had as well. You bring your reusable bags to the grocery store and you get to the veggie section where you need to buy 10 potatoes. You sure as heck are not going to use a plastic bag to put them in so you put them all in your cart, they roll about, and when you get to check out you find the clerk to be highly annoyed by your bag-free behavior, as the potatoes roll about on the scale or tumble to the floor or as you call out, just after the weighing is done, "Wait! Here is one more."

So, what to do? A couple ideas I have heard:

Grab a plastic bag in the veggie section and then Reuse, Reuse, Reuse.

Try an old pair of pantyhose or stockings. Cut them to a manageable size and bring them to the store with you.

If you've got a few extra dollars, pick up some fishnet bags (CarrotSeed does not yet carry such bags). They are light so won't effect the scale much and see-through so the clerk can still tell what you have.

Practice your juggling! You can manage those potatoes, apples and peaches without any kind of bag--I just know it!

Thanks for helping the earth!

Peace,

Jerry & Tara

Blog #3

Today Thursday January 24, 2008

Whole Foods made some big news this week when they announced they are going to rid their stores of plastics bags. Congratulations, Whole Foods! We are glad to see you doing it. We hope your customers will all bring their reusable bags with them.

We want to kick off the new year with a shout out to all the great organizations that are beginning to take us to a zero waste world. That is, afterall, what CarrotSeed is about...getting rid of the waste by creating easy alternatives to wasteful products. So, here's a shout out to g diaper who have, at long last, found an easy alternative to the disposable diaper. It was comedian Paul Reiser who said something about the 3rd largest planet in our solar system being "Huggies", in a reference to the enormity of the diaper wastestream. Thanks, g diaper, for helping to shrink that planet a bit!

They are many more organizations making this transition happen. We'll feature them here in the coming weeks and months.

Peace,

Jerry & Tara

Blog #2

Today Friday December 14

Thanks to all of you who have visited our site in the first week of our online launch. We appreciate having you here and appreciate that you are reusing your shopping bags and even buying some reusable bags from CarrotSeed.

I wanted to throw out another great gift idea for the holiday season--and this one is absolutely packaging free. Give your friend or loved on in the DC metro area an hour long session with the EcoCoach, Anca Novacovici. In addition to being a good friend, Anca is a LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) Accredited Professional and is on the Board of the Green Building Institute. Anca can visit your home or office and help you to green up your lifestyle. A session with her is a great green gift at the holidays.

And, one other item for you to check out...this time from photographer Chris Jordan. Chris has taken photos to reflect the enormity of our solid waste challenge in this country--the problem created by our disposable society. Included in his images, about 2/3 of the way down this page, is an image reflecting the 60,000 plastic bags he says we use in this country every 5 seconds.

So, remember, REUSE THAT BAG! Thanks!

And, even though there are only 11 days until Christmas, please don't get stressed. Relax and enjoy the true meaning of the season.

Jerry & Tara

Welcome to the first edition of the CarrotSeed Blog! Great to have you here.
We'll update this page about once per week--so bookmark us and check in frequently.

Today is December 7, 2007.

In this first blog, we want to ask you to take the first step towards ending our world's fascination with single-use plastics. Take 5 minutes to look around the house for a decent bag that you can take to the store with you--when you grocery shop or when you shop for the upcoming holidays. We're sure you can find one. And, if you can't we encourage you to buy one right now from our online store - you can spend any where from $1.50 per bag to $21 per bag, depending on your desires!

Next, we ask you to spread the word. Let your friends and families know that you are not going to accept plastic bags or paper bags when you shop anymore. You'll bring your own, thank you very much! One way of spreading that good word is to make presents of reusable bags this holiday season. ChicoBags make great stocking stuffers. And, b.happy bags are a wonderful gift for your wife, mom, girlfriend or sister. They even have a bag named John made of recycled plastic bottles for the men out there.

Finally, we ask you to green your holiday in other ways--avoid buying presents with too much packaging; don't rip through the wrapping paper (even if your kids do) but save it for next year. Or, as an alternative to wrapping paper, try GreenWraps. They sell beautiful fabric giftbags that are reusable and eliminate paper waste!

Thanks for being part of the CarrotSeed community. Please drop us a note at jerry@carrotseed.net or tara@carrotseed.net. Hope to hear from you!