Canned Sun – Sun Jar Product Review
So, what is a Sun Jar? Well, in a Jam Jars you can jam and in a Sun Jar, obviously, you can what else but sun. Canned sun for use at night. Like the rays of the sun that warm the earth and then, when the air cools down at night the earth slowly releases this heat stored. That is what, principally, the sun jar does with sun light. This could be one way of explaining it while trying to make people become even more curious.
Basically, the Sun Jar is a light that turns on when it gets dark. While this sounds simple enough is goes a lot further. The secret is that one, it is powered by solar energy stored in a rechargeable battery and because it has a light sensor built in it does not come on until it gets dark.
The idea is that the jar stores up sunshine in the form of solar photovoltaic energy and gives it you back in the evening. There’s a switch inside the lid which you press when you first open the jar and then it starts storing energy through the solar panel in the lid. As the sun sets it then emits a warm glow throughout the night. Well, for up to five hours on a full charge anyway. It’s a nice idea which works well. The orange light is very nice and soothing.
The Sun jar will turn off automatically if you turn on another light on and it is also waterproof so it could also be used in the garden, especially on summer evenings for a sit around the table outside, and such like.
While its various parts can indeed be recycled and it does not use mains electricity or drain lots of batteries, its environmental credentials, I still think, could be regarded as a little shaky. The unit came packaged in plastic and polystyrene as well.
Having mentioned above about the green credentials, we must also understand, I think, that it was never, actually, designed as, what could be called, a “green” gadget but was just a design concept to be something on the “funky” side, and, maybe the idea was to have it plonked on the windowsill for it to be a conversation piece.
However, it would not take much to improve its “green cred” by simply packaging it in (1) a plastic sleeve that is not actually made from oil (there are other options) and (2) by packaging it within the cardboard box cushioned in shredded newspaper (or even rice straw) or in the “egg carton” kind of packaging which can be composted, rather than having a Styrofoam bottom and hat. Maybe this could be considered and done.
I must say that I was very pleasantly surprised when the Sun Jar arrived to actually find that it is a REAL jar and not some sort of heavier gauge plastic/polycarbon that I had expected. It is a “copy” of a real canning jar as Mom would have used to can vegetables and whatever else in in days gone by. Those days are, more or less, gone by in this country, e.g. the UK, while in places such as the USA canning, in glass jar and tin can, is still very much practices, definitely outside the cities and bigger towns, but I digressed.
The Sun Jar is designed by Tobias Wong, and available from Suck UK.
Reviewed by Michael Smith (Veshengro) © April 2008
Coca-Cola Aims for 'Water Neutrality'
Business for Social Responsibility (BSR) released a report recently detailing the evolution of The Coca-Cola Co.'s water management strategy.
The report, "Drinking It In: The Evolution of a Global Water Stewardship Program at The Coca-Cola Company" follows the company's efforts to achieve "water neutrality" across its worldwide operations while facing challenges from global water quality, availability and access.
During the past five years, so it is said in the report, Coca Cola has begun developing a more holistic look at its water strategy because of three issues: it has acquired water brands; communities in India protested as regards to a Coca-Cola bottler there because of appropriation and pollution issues; and it began reporting water issues as a material risk to investors.
The company, Coca Cola, they say in the report, created a survey for its plants and bottlers to gather information on efficiency, compliance, watershed, supply reliability, supply economics and social and competitive contextual information.
By the year 2007, the Coca Cola developed an integrated water strategy focused on plant performance (water use efficiency, water quality and wastewater treatment), watershed protection, enabling access to clean drinking water and working to drive global awareness and action to address water challenges. Its system-wide goal is to return all water used in its operations back to nature. Its mantra: reduce, recycle and replenish.
For the year 2008 Coca Cola has set itself a goal of becoming the most efficient company in the world in terms of water use in the beverage industry. It plans to be fully aligned with global wastewater treatment and reuse standards by the end of 2010. It will support projects and investments that focus on rainwater collection, reforestation, protecting water sources and local access to them and the efficient agricultural use of water.
I am not sure as to whether one should laugh or cry here. This is nothing but GREENWASH of the highest order. One can but wonder how much Coca Cola did pay the so-called researchers who did this report. This about a company who uses tap water and “reverse osmosis” and then sells it at huge profits in cans and from a company whose operations in India have lowered the water table by meters and this lowering of the water tables and other issues are the cause of drought conditions in the area where they have operated.
Anyone believing in Coca Cola's green credentials must have just fallen off the turnip wagon or, alternatively, be the recipient of large substantial hand-outs from the company or its agents.
© Michael Smith (Veshengro), March 2008
Why use a bicycle for getting about?
Lots of people ride their bikes for lots of different reasons. Here are a few that might persuade you to do it too:
First of all it is good for your body as riding a bike offers many health benefits. Here are just a few:
Cycling
- increases the fitness of your heart
- increases your strength
- increases your balance and flexibility
- increases your endurance and stamina
- increases the calories that your body burns
Cycling can be done by people of all ages, from childhood up even through the adult years when achy joints don't allow for more stressful exercise like jogging. It is also a much better exercise than is jogging. I have yet to hear of someone who after having ridden his bike had a heart attack. However, I have encountered more than one case where joggers, returning to their cars after having gone for a run in a Park, suffered a major cardiac arrest. In a number of cases those were, though in their forties, fitness instructors for the military and the police.
Secondly it is good for your state of mind
Riding a bike is proven to be a stress releaser. Regardless of if you are riding purely for pleasure or for a specific purpose, such as going to the shops or to school or to work, you will arrive at your destination feeling relaxed, energized and happier about the world and yourself. Unless you have ridden in the traffic in London or New York, I am sure. Cycle road range is known too.
Plus, being out on your bike is just flat-out fun. The more time you spend on two wheels, the harder it is to really take yourself too seriously. The kid comes out again, Ye haw!
Thirdly it is good for your community
Being out on your bike is good for the people around you as well. You are able to go the places you want to go and yet you put one less car on the road.
You do not bring with you the noise that a car generates and are actually able to interaction with people as you move. One of the reason that I do recommend cycling also for the likes of police officers and park and countryside rangers.
From my bike I can wave to a neighbor, say hi to a kid, smell someone’s dinner cooking and be a warm and friendly human presence on the streets, and as a community officer approachable by those around me.
Also, and this is quite a significant fact: operating a bicycling does not harm the environment. There is no polluting exhaust released, no oil or gas consumed; the energy and materials used to make one automobile could be used to create a hundred bicycles.
Another factor if simply convenience
There is an undeniable convenience factor you’ll discover when riding a bike. You do not need to worry about parking spaces and whether you have to pay for them or not. Traffic jams also are irrelevant to you as a cyclist, as are congestion charges, as the one introduced in London.
Cars, certainly, I admit, make better time on longer trips but you will find that for many shorter trips, or trips through heavy traffic, that you can travel just as fast or even faster by bike than you can in the car. I have been there and done it. In fact, I must admit that I do not own a motor car or any other motor vehicle so I am biased, maybe, but I have whizzed past long line of cars again and again and have arrived at the destination much earlier than did they.
Another reason to bike is for your wallet
It costs at least between 30 and 40 pence per mile to operate a car, depending on the vehicle. This is based on expenses like gas, oil, maintenance, etc., that go up when you drive more. And with the current increase in the price of oil this cost is likely to rise even further over time. This figure does not include the other, more hidden, costs of vehicle ownership such as road tax, MOT and insurance; let's not even talk of depreciation of the vehicle itself. These factors make the actual per mile cost to operate a car much higher.
When you ride your bike, you are doing a lot of good things, many of which are for the benefit of others, the environment, etc. But in the end, the one who benefits the most is you, through better health, peace of mind, increased confidence and self-reliance.
So get that bike out and get cycling. You may not, on your own, save the world in the process, but you may just be having lots of fun trying!
© Michael Smith (Veshengro), March 2008
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M&S tops green issues marketers’ poll
UK marketers have overwhelmingly named Marks & Spencer as the UK’s greenest brand in Marketing Week’s latest investigation into the profession’s views on environmental commitment, carried out together with YouGov. The online survey was carried out between February 20 and 29.
By a huge margin, M&S is seen by marketers as the brand that has made most inroads on green issues in recent years.
The fact that M&S announced that it would levy a small charge for its plastic bags on February 28, might have given it a significant green publicity boost.
This undoubtedly contributed to its strong showing in our survey, although the findings appear to also reveal a residual belief in the retailer’s commitment to saving the environment. This may be carried over from the launch of its “Plan A, because there is no plan B” campaign last year. It may also bear witness to the retailer’s standing as a responsible high street operator.
Others did not perform as well and some that we might has expected to be leading lights, such as the Co-Op, for instance, did not do all that well in the overall showing. Then again, I think that the strength of the Co-Op lies in it ethical commitments, rather than, necessarily, in how green it may be. For the time being at least.
One striking theme of the survey is the strong performance of car brands.
Honda is regarded as the most environmentally responsible automaker, taking sixth place with 17 mentions in the list of those with the best green reputation.
But on the measure of those that have made the greatest inroads into green issues in recent years, Toyota takes fifth place and Honda comes sixth. Evidently the hybrid electric/fuel powered models launched by these Japanese brands have earned them the green esteem of marketers.
One of the most surprising aspects of this survey was the relatively weak performance of brands that could have been perceived as “deep green”. The Body Shop barely scrapes into the top ten on recent inroads it has made, just pipping the Co-operative brand, which makes much of its ethical credentials, to ninth position. As I have said already above, as regards to the Co-Op; its strength, presently, still lies in its ethnic credentials and I rather see deep ethical commitment with less green than green commitment without the ethical part.
Other fascinating insights gleaned from our research include the aversion of marketers to the idea that brands should pay a green tax. They believe it is the Government’s responsibility to take care of the costs associated with going green.
While the marketeers might claim this and believe this others, like those of us in the “green movement”, of whichever persuasion, I am sure, would go along with the government line here; namely that brands that do not do their bit for the environment – and on an ethical level, I would like to add – should le levied a tax in order to help green development and such elsewhere. A tax is what is needed as long, and only as long as it does not disappear into the coffers of the Treasury, like so many other funds raised via taxes, and ends up doing something else than what it is intended for.
What you mean “don't I trust the government?” Sure I do – NOT!
Meanwhile, it has emerged that the majority of companies do not have a green budget but still want to be seen as more green. A high number think they already have green credentials. But when examining their behaviour in detail, it emerges that many of them do little more than recycling. Few offset their carbon emissions or are carbon neutral.
But there is also considerable reticence on the part of marketers to make much of their brand’s environmental credentials. This is summed up by the comment of one marketer who says: “A green policy seems to be enough. On the one hand there is strong interest in showing you are aware and doing something about it, but on the other a high degree of cynicism over greenwash when a brand makes too much of their green credentials.”
One surprising finding is that it is senior people who are the main force pushing green issues rather than marketers lower down the scale. It might be expected that younger marketers would be more in tune with green issues. Maybe some feel they are not in a position to do much about it.
Marketers’ views on brands’ environmental credentials stand in contrast to those of the general public, who tend to mark deep green brands more highly. But our survey shows that companies which are perceived to be promoting responsible practices will garner the plaudits for their green activities.
Michael Smith (Veshengro), March 2008
Switch off your lights this Saturday
This Saturday, March 29, at 8pm local time, switch off your lights for one hour and help take action against climate change.
Your simple action, combined with that of millions of others globally, will deliver a powerful message to the citizens and leaders of the world about the need for action.
Created to take a stand against the greatest threat our planet has ever faced, Earth Hour uses the simple action of turning off the lights for one hour to deliver a powerful message about the need for action on global warming.
Join WWF in the global Earth Hour movement and get ready to show the rest of the world how committed you are to fight climate change.
Join millions of people, thousands of private business and hundreds of cities around the globe!
Anyone can get involved and millions are! From the President of Fiji to the residents of Santa Cruz in Bolivia, individuals around the world will be shutting the lights off in their homes and businesses.
Major participation is planned in more then 25 major cities, on six continents, including Chicago, Copenhagen, Manila, Tel Aviv, Bangkok, Dublin and Toronto while close to 400 more cities have signed up to support this event. Lights off at The Sydney Opera House, San Francisco's Golden Gate Bridge and Toronto's CN Tower will mean world-famous city skylines will disappear for an hour tomorrow while celebrities like Nelly Furtado host acoustic concerts for fans.
Find out more about what's happening in these cities or get your town or local community involved. Invite friends and family over for a "lights out dinner party" or drink a glass of wine by candlelight. If you've got kids, encourage them to play hide-and-seek or a murder mystery game in the dark!
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