December 2009
IN THIS ISSUE
- Holiday Greetings from our founder, Karen
- A bright idea for your home
- Reduce the hail of unwanted mail
- Get Connected: Blog / Facebook
- Promotion: Wrap-sack®
- Upcoming events
- Quick facts
- Word of the month
- Missed an Issue?
- Visit us online at www.olivineproducts.com
FEATURE ARTICLE
Holiday Greetings from our founder, Karen
This is a wonderful and busy time of year, filled with baking, gift-giving, and family visits. I hope everyone has a chance to savor and enjoy the winter holiday season.
I want to spread the holiday cheer by taking the time to thank all the Olivine® customers, fans, and supporters out there. It was a pleasure getting to know many of you at Green Gatherings® and other events. Thank you for purchasing our products as well as taking time out of your demanding schedules to learn more about what you can do every day to live more lightly on the planet.
Wishing you happiness, and a year filled with good health, peace, and joy.
FEATURE ARTICLE
A bright idea for your home
If you decorate your home with strings of holiday lights, consider switching to light-emitting diode lights this holiday season. Light emitting diodes, or LEDs, are small light sources that are illuminated by the movement of electrons through a semiconductor material.
LEDs are exceptionally energy efficient, many using up to 90% less energy than an incandescent bulb to produce the same amount of light. They come in many colors and most major retailers carry LED lights.
Did you know Energy Star qualified LED lights:
- Can last up to 10 times longer than traditional incandescent strands.
- Are cool to the touch, reducing the risk of fire.
- Do not have moving parts, filaments or glass, so they are much more durable and shock-resistant than other light strings.
- Are available in a variety of colors, shapes and lengths.
- Come with a three-year warranty, meaning fewer light string replacements.
- Are independently tested to meet strict lifetime and electrical requirements.
Switching to LEDs is good for your pocketbook, too. According to EnergySavers.gov, a string of 280 LED lights will cost $0.56 to power for the entire holiday season. A comparable string of incandescent lights would cost over $6.
Source: www.energystar.gov
FEATURE ARTICLE
Reduce the hail of unwanted mail
From Thanksgiving to New Year’s Day, household waste increases by more than 25%. Here is an action you can take to keep the cheer and cut the waste: stop the overflow of unwanted mail pouring into your mailbox every day.
Catalogs: www.CatalogChoice.org. Identify the catalogs that you want to receive and those that you would like to decline. Catalog Choice contacts the catalog provider for you, asking that you be removed from that mailing list.
Direct Marketing mail: www.dmachoice.org. This website is an online tool developed by the Direct Marketing Association that allows you to chose what companies you want to contact you. It’s easy to do, and you’ll be reaching some of the biggest direct marketers in the country.
Credit card offers: www.optoutprescreen.com or call 1-888-5-OPTOUT (567-8688). This service allows you to opt out for five years or permanently. No matter what you pick, the same service makes it easy for you to opt back in at any time. Either process will ask for your social security number, full name, address, and telephone number.
Phone books: www.yellowpagesoptout.com. Simply enter your zip code to find the phone book publishers in your area that are participating in opt out requests. You will need to inform each phone book publisher that you would like delivery stopped. Opt outs take 60 days to process.
Source: MN Pollution Control Agency
QUICK FACT
Wrapping paper cannot be recycled because it contains too many unrecyclable materials, such as foil or fuzzy textures. Avoid tossing holiday wrapping by using alternatives that are recyclable or reusable, such as old maps, sheet music, or reusable gift bags.
GET CONNECTED
We have an active blog and we invite you to visit and comment on it. Discover people’s personal stories and perspectives on a variety of everyday green living topics.
PROMOTION
50% off Wrap-sacks®
You can save trees and reduce the $5 billion dollars worth of gift wrap that is sent to the landfill each year with this colorful, timesaving, and reusable alternative to disposal gift wrap. The Wrapsack® gift bag is made of 100% cotton and biodegradable dyes. Now re-gifting is a plus, as each bag features a unique code, part of a special online “Track-a-Sack” system, which follows each bag’s journey as it is gifted from one person to another. We think the Wrapsack® becomes part of the gift itself!
UPCOMING EVENTS
Come visit Olivine™ at these upcoming events
December 10, Kicking the Carbon Habit, Princeton Public Library 7:30-9 P.M.
December 18, Breakfast Seminar on The Impact of Sustainability on Marketing, Farleigh Dickson University, 7:30-9:30 A.M.
January 2-17 Princeton Environmental Film Festival. Click here for full schedule.
January 6, Green Building Panel, sponsored by Olivine®, Princeton Public Library, 7-9 P.M.
January 11, Green Gathering® at GreenFaith headquarters, 10 A.M., New Brunswick
January 28, Gotham Green Luncheon, Olivine presentation on “The Business Case for Green,” 12:30-2 P.M., Friars Club, New York City
January 29, Olivine® Lunch and Learn Series, 12-1 P.M., New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection, Trenton
WORD OF THE MONTH
Planned obsolescence, also known as “design for the dump.”
Refers to designing and producing products in order for them to be used up within a specific time period. Products may be designed for obsolescence either through function, like a paper coffee cup or a machine with breakable parts, or through “desirability,” like a piece of clothing made for this year’s fashion and then replaced by something totally different next year.
Source: The Story of Stuff
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