Congratulations to Bill & Tina Purdy, who welcomed Mary Sullivan (7 pounds, 2 oz; 20 inches) into the world on April 22.

con•sum•er (n.)
• One who, or that which, consumes
• A person or organization that uses a commodity or service
• An individual who purchases goods for personal use as distinguished from commercial use

Consumer is a word we use a lot in the branding industry, but is that really accurate? A National Geographic Special, Human Footprint, sheds some light on just how much we consume in a lifetime.
 

So how much of what we buy do we actually use? Not much. Our per capita trash disposal rate in 2006 was 4.6 pounds per person, per day, and more than half of that went directly to landfills, where trash is buried and unable to decompose naturally. Landfills release one-fourth of all methane, a gas that contributes to global warming and, despite careful engineering, landfills leak liquids into the groundwater.

The fact of the matter is that when you purchase something as a consumer, you are paying for a lot: the energy used to produce it, the cost to package it, the electricity to store it, the gas to haul it, the trash collection to rid of it (a 47 billion dollar per year business in America), and ultimately, the toll its disposal takes on the environment.

So in the spirit of earth week, take these tips on how to be a more efficient consumer:
• Recycle
• Buy less
• Buy local
• Pay attention to packaging
• Buy recycled products
• Donate used items

Stay tuned for Kristin’s post on Visualizing our Human Footprint.

Contributed by: Maghan Cook

Greenwash (grēn wŏsh)
Verb
To mislead consumers regarding the practice of your company or the environmental benefits of your product or service.

See any examples of this lately? Send them in.

By: Laurie Scott

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Astroturf, wasabi, the loaf of bread you left unattended for a month . . . it seems like everything is green these days. Environmentalism is here to stay, and organizations worldwide are taking strides to adopt eco-friendly policies.

Who says peer pressure is a bad thing?

1. PAPER: Nearly 40% of municipal waste is paper products, with offices alone going through an average of 10,000 sheets of copy paper per person each year.

• Let’s get the most out of paper before we chuck it
• Whenever possible, print/copy documents on both sides; if you’ve printed on one side, put the paper in a scrap bin for re-use
• Think before you print! And encourage others to do the same by adding this message to outgoing emails: P Please consider the environment before printing this email

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