Tag Archives: environment

One Car

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I’ve wanted to blog about this for over a year now and finally thought about it on the way to work today.  It has nothing to do with our business, just a random blog post about owning one car. 

Lindsay and I have been living with one car since we moved downtown from Sherwood Park in April of 2008.  We actually had the Toyota Paseo as our second vehicle when living in Sherwood Park in the condo basement for 5 months before selling it for what we paid for.  I was quite hesitant to sell that car because going from two vehicles down to one vehicle was what I thought going backwards in life and that we would loose some freedom to be able to come and go as we pleased.

It wasn’t to long before I found out that was not the case.  Living downtown sure makes it easy to getweirdvehicle around and to be honest we made it work.  I didn’t need public transportation, I was able to walk to work.  So for myself I was being a good green person by reducing my carbon footprint.  I also think that had something to do with our decision to go to one vehicle.  That and the price of parking downtown is ridiculous so that wasn’t going to happen!

Where does that leave us now?  Well we are not living downtown and yes we still have one vehicle.  One vehicle that as of the end of this month will be 100% paid off!  OH YEAH.  :)   But yeah we are living north of downtown and it’s a bit harder to get around but since Lindsay is free from her day time job (I’ll just say that to please everyone :) ) she drives me to and from work.  I guess it’s really not that much harder, it really is just making changes in your life and scheduling, scheduling, scheduling.  You really need to communicate with your spouse in order for that to work.

I’m curious how it’s going to work when we have kids next year, at this time I cannot see it changing a whole lot but then again I’m not a parent yet, so we will see next year.  Maybe I can get one of those segways or other weird single person transport vehicles.

Well that’s all I have to say about that, just a random post about reducing some carbon footprint.

Environmental Stewardship

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I’ve been wanting to write this entry for awhile and after our new order that came in last week I finally got around to thinking about it and actually writing it.

What I find awesome about the company we contract with, Amway Global, is the fact they have a high standard for the impact they have on the environment.  The packaging materials we get are all recyclable and biodegradable.  How cool is that?

I work in IT and every day receive a ton of packaging from companies like Dell, IBM, etc.. and NONE of them have any consideration for the environment.  I don’t even think the cardboard boxes are recyclable.  I could be wrong, however I know the packaging inside the box is not especially the foam.

Amway Global has a few things that really stand out:

  1. The cardboard is made from post consume products and is recyclable.
  2. The packing peanuts as you’ll see in the video below are made from cornstarch and can be washed down the drain, eaten, or thrown out where they will dissolve and won’t hurt the environment or landfills
  3. The air bags that stop the product from moving around or being damanged is bio-degradable as you’ll see in the picture. I’ve never seen this with any other company to date.  It may be out there but I’ve not seen it yet. 
  4. They are one of 2 companies that have won the United Nations Environmental Protection Award for their cleaning products that have been green and save for the environment for over 50 years.  This award is typically given to countries not companies.  Goodyear is the other company for recycling tires.

I don’t know about you but as an avid outdoor enthusiast I’m pretty big on the impact we have on our environment and I’d much rather partner with a company that takes this type of commitment and seriousness to heart.  Depending on your values, what kind of company are you supporting? 

Bio-Degradable Packing Peanuts