This is not my... Week 2 - 07
19/01/07 - A quarter of a million!
16/01/07 - So - it's not just knickers anymore...
This Section; Background; The point
19/01/07 - A quarter of a million!
 |
I can't believe it...
|
That is how many plastic cups used each year by the company I am doing some work for.
It's a HUGE number.
Bigger than 1000! (Which is quite a big number.)
It's quite strange when you see dramatic facts and can relate to them. Often they are just vast numbers that are difficult to comprehend (with my limited mental capacity at least!) But I know that my small actions contributed to that massive amount.
Crazy days.
Wearewhatwedo brought out a their new book 9-5 a wee while ago to highlight just this point. Will track a copy down. There is some fun stuff on their site too if you fancy having a wee look.
Anyhow - lots to do. Starting with finding whoever is in charge of the Ocado radio adverts!
Man alive - I thought they couldn't get a worse jingle than 'I am the Ocado man... etc' (if you haven't heard it I can only congratulate you on your incredible good fortune) but they have decided to branch out into rap.... lord have mercy!!!
Have a great weekend though! xxx
 |
it was in a chart and everything...
|
According to Canon (and my 10 second search on 'wasted energy in offices') over Christmas business in the UK lost £8.66 million as printers, faxes et al were left on standby.
Maybe we can suggest to our bosses that if we turn everything off before going home at night we get to keep the savings as a bonus..!
That or we could convince them to get an big red ACME type lever which can be used to take out the power to the whole building (on films there is always a switch like that... the person who just so happens to be wearing night vision goggles invariably finds it just in the nick of time...)
Anyhow - if we turned the power off at, say, 6 it would also solve the low productivity/overwork issue for all those people who stay late.
It could be the climate saving, productivity enhancer lever...
Brilliant.
Will look into it...
x
 |
We are starting a 12 step programme at work....
|
in order to get people saving a bit of energy.
Well - we will be at least.
Once we make it up.
You will be pleased to note though that step 1 is complete.
Turning off PC monitors.
"In U.S. companies alone, more than $1 billion a year is wasted on electricity for computer monitors that are turned on when they shouldn't be."
I am still delighting all those who sit near me by helpfully switching theirs off if they leave them for more than a couple of minutes.
But this mission is going to be far further reaching with a full PR push and - I am hoping - can can dancers, fairy cakes and some WWF wrestling.
Just as soon as we have figured out the other 11 steps....
x
16/01/07 - So it's not just knickers anymore...
 |
No - M & S is leading the way for businesses trying to go green...
|
Which is a great start.
And means that if someone shows how - all we need to do is get all the other millions of businesses in the UK to do the same...
Oooh I love a good challenge.
But - help is always good.
So - if your boss / personal empire hasn't jumped on the environmental trail just yet then why not tip them the wink and give them a hand.
Some useful links are:
Green Office Supplies - Via 3
Communications - Futerra
Business Network - The Climate Group
Charity which provides practical help to encourage individuals to make changes at work - Global Action Plan
See - easy.
Just give them all a call and head to the big green (alright, alright emerald if you are being pedantic!) city at the end of the yellow brick road...
x
 |
Do you spit, sneeze or properly hoik the fleghm...?
|
Back to work today after the distress of getting a cold over the weekend. (Surely, surely my body could have held on just a little longer so I could have persuaded my boss to let me swap spreadsheets for hot chocolate drinking!)
Anyhow - who'd have thought this would have brought up another conundrum!
But - since it brought with it a runny nose - I have been using a lot of loo roll to capture the fantastically luminous green goo I have been emitting. (Nice)
I have recycled toilet paper so that is at least a help but I started to think about:
1) handkerchiefs - more environmentally friendly but I'd probably need about 6 per day and then would have to carry the gunk filled items round all day...
2) that thing where you hold one side of your nose then breathe out forcefully thus projecting anything in your nasal passage out like a speeding bullet - inbuilt fear that this would somehow go wrong and I would blow snot on myself/internally combust etc
3) hoiking up all the fleghm and then spitting it out - just feels so dirty...
I would like to point out that 2 & 3 I had been plotting to do in the comforts of my own bathroom (or if I happened to be alone in an isolated field...?) not on the street.
But they do make sense.
Why sniffle it out to then have to dispose of with the thing you have sniffled it into (and get a big red nose) when you can just spit it straight down the toilet?
Hmmm may have to think back to those childhood fleghm creating games and give it a go.
Will let you know how it goes!
And have a think about the hanky thing a wee bit more too.
Anyhow - have a nice week!!!
Susie x
This section will be a daily, well - Monday to Friday daily, editorial. (Have to keep some time aside to keep up the ritual wine drinking / dancing as if being chased by bees.)
I promise to make it my mission to investigate something each day on exciting forays to find new stuff, fun stuff, ethical stuff and anything involving break dancing men with extremely toned physiques.
Let me know if you think of something I should go and visit or if you have any great ideas or information. (Any dodgy suggestions will be politely declined... or not so politely, depending entirely on what they are!)
For today, though, please just have a look below to find out how this whole thing came about. I hope that you are having a lovely morning.
See you tomorrow,
Susie x
Background to This is not my...
 |
What is this site all about?
Well, as all good ventures do, it started in the pub with the ominous words "I know, why don't we...?" |
What was different, though, was that it still seemed like a good plan in the morning (and somewhat less injurious than trying out extreme ironing, the other suggestion...)
Anyway - once again we had been supping beers and putting the world to rights when someone mentioned the unmentionable, despite our disaffection with the state of the world, none of us was actually doing anything positive to change it.
Whether this was complacency or apathy, who knows - but we were definitely leaving it to others to make decisions and take action for us on issues about which we felt strongly.
We live in a free society, but often things seem to happen as a fait accompli. The war in Iraq, ID cards, the fact that we will eventually succumb to watching some of Big Brother no matter how hard we try...
And we just go along with it. But that is ok, right? I mean, we aren't exactly encouraging the abuse of others - are we?
Ok - so maybe my new top might have been made under less-than-perfect conditions and I suppose that means I am supporting those conditions, but - I have to buy something to wear, so what other choice do I have?
And that was the problem. What - and where - are the choices?
So we decided to investigate. Surely in this free society we have other options; we just need to know how to find them.
So we went online. There are some great directories already for ethical and/or environmentally friendly products, but for us these didn't go far enough. We were on a bit of a roll and decided that these products deserved more active promotion.
We wanted to make as many people as possible aware of the practical things they can do to live life in a better way.
So on this site we will provide information about easy, positive and ethical consumer choices. These are choices that won’t necessarily cost you more, either.
In our directories you will find environmentally friendly and ethical companies and products across the following categories:
Clothes
Energy
Food and Drink
Health and Beauty
Home and Garden
Office
Recycling
Restaurants
You will also find plenty more to lure you back to the site on a regular basis. So come back to have a wee look.
Plus we will be working on video's, events and curious antics to keep important issues in the public eye – and provide us with much entertainment and amusement at the same time.
Give us a shout if you want to get involved!
Anyhow - take a look. Explore… investigate… probe away.
We hope you like it; we hope you use it.
