pump it up

mer•ry-go-round (mer-ee-goh-round) Pronunciation Key n.

1. A burning, hot, metal, piece of play equipment that flings you off it at speeds of 40 miles per hour after which you likely vomit. 
2. A pump used in Africa to provide clean water to rural villages.

I don’t know about you but the first definition is the one that first comes to my mind when I hear merry-go-round. But believe it or not the second definition is also correct.

Health begins with safe drinking water, but often clean water must be pumped with expensive equipment from boreholes, dug deep in the ground. PlayPumps, a South African company, has made an innovative product that both serves as play equipment for children and a source of clean water for their communities. As the merry-go-round spins the PlayPump pumps clean water from underground into a 2500 liter tank standing seven meters above ground. A simple tap at the base of the tank makes it easy for women and children to draw water.

people against dirty - lucky no. 7

Ok, so this blog is about the 'fight against dirty' ('dirty' being the umbrella for ugly, dangerous, earth-unfriendly, socially irresponsible products and practices). It's brought to you by the founders of 'people against dirty' - method products. And, while the topics we write about are 99% focused on individuals, companies and organizations leading the fight against dirty, occasionally we'll take the time to toot our own horn a bit too. I promise we'll keep it to a minimum.

Inc. Magazine just released its 2006 Inc. 500 List, a listing of the top 500 fastest growing, privately-held companies in America. method, a barely 6-year old company made #7! It bodes well for a small company that is in a generally staid, low-growth category - cleaning products.

Costco joins the club

For all of you Costco fanatics out there, there’s yet one more reason to love them. Costco recently rolled out new ‘green’ packaging which replaces some of its clamshell designed bulk packaging with more environmentally friendly Natralock™, a paperboard-based packaging technology.

Traditionally, plastic clamshells were the best solution for cheap packaging that deterred theft. But, due to consumer backlash on the difficulty and sometimes danger consumers faced trying to open clamshells, retailers have begun to rethink clamshells. The result – a paper-based, renewable technology that is not only safer to the environment, it’s also safer on your hands.

Natralock’s main component is paperboard but it does use an amorphous polyester (APET) “bubble” component, which is said to be more earth-friendly than the materials in traditional packaging. In comparison, traditional PVC clamshells offer limited recyclability. In fact many European and Asian countries discourage PVC packaging with taxes and other regulations restricting their use.

My applause to Costco (with newly healed hands) on taking the initiative to replace the ubiquitous clamshell with safer, greener technology.

taking green to a new height

Proving that money is not the only kind of green valued by bankers, Bank of America is building a state of the art tower in New York that is said to be the country’s greenest high-rise building. Reminiscent of one of those kryptonite crystals in the old superman movies, it’s estimated that this building, due for completion in 2008, will use 50% less energy and 50% less potable water than similar sized buildings and will create net zero carbon dioxide emissions.

Among the features of this 54 story, 2.1 million square foot tower:

• An air filtration system that will remove 95% of particulates, ozone and volatile organic compounds (VOCs)
• Air vented back into the city will be cleaner than that taken in, effectively making the tower into something akin to a gigantic air filter
• On site 5.1 megawatt, clean natural gas burning power plant to supply 70% of the building’s power

• Water efficient systems such as waterless urinals (we're scratching our heads on this one) and low-flow fixtures that will save an estimated 10.3 million gallons of water annually
• 100% rainwater re-usage

This will be among the first high-rise buildings to strive for U.S. Green Building Council’s Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design (LEED) “Platinum” designation. To get an idea of how rigorous a platinum designation is, of the approximately 550 buildings which have been LEEDS certified since 2000, only 20 have achieved platinum certification nationwide.

Hoorah for clean banking and design.

Click here for more information on the Bank of America Tower at One Bryant Park

cool carpeting

Aside from the potentially messy, albeit potentially fun, option of laying grass down, there are some great green ways to carpet your home or office. Each year, it’s estimated that 800 million square yards of carpeting are sent to the landfill. That’s enough to carpet the island of Molokai and then throw it all away.

Enter Interface Carpeting… at method we chose Interface not only because of its great styles, but also because they are a pioneer of corporate sustainability.

By choosing Interface, they claim to ‘retire’ more than 250,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide (CO2) annually.  This equates to 58,000 cars taken off the road a year and 28 million gallons of gas not consumed (source).

Among the other ways Interface operates to reduce its environmental footprint are projects in renewable energy, carbon sequestration, energy efficiency and reforestation.

These days, I walk a little prouder knowing with each footstep I take on our office carpets, it’s one less footprint on the environment.

Looking for more info on green carpeting?

(photo courtesy of Sharon Risedorph and Garcia + Francica Architecture/Design)