A Dark House And Dark Chocolate

We whiled away Earth Hour last night with a couple of candles, a nice bottle of organic wine and some exquisite dark chocolate.

The sweets were from the Denman Island Chocolate Company, one of our favorite little BC companies. They make certified organic chocolate (ours last night was an organic dark with toasted hazelnuts) and commit to annually donate 1% of their gross sales to conservation efforts.

You can check them out at www.denmanislandchocolate.com

Earth Hour: Turn Off The Lights

Just a reminder, as we blogged on the topic last week, tonight is “Earth Hour”. The idea is for everyone to turn off your lights for one hour to conserve energy and highlight the issue of climate change. This event, started in Australia in 2007, asks us all to shut off the lights tonight (Saturday) between 8 and 9 PM. 

EcoSmart Products is on board…so dig around for a few candles and join us and all the other participants.

Teachers Tell Us…

One of the great ways teachers are helping to provide “green” education to their students is by connecting their eco-friendly efforts with classroom discussion. From riding a bike instead of driving, to recycling, using less water, etc.

With the AusPen refillable markers, teachers often tell us what a great tool it is for opening up “green” conversation.

When teachers are refilling one of our eco-friendly markers, it’s a perfect time to highlight to the class an example of thinking and acting in an environmentally-responsible manner, and how an act as simple as using an eco-friendly marker has a big impact on the local environment.

We have countless stories from teachers who have used the AusPen markers as an in-class teaching tool to spotlight issues of recycling, sustainability and reducing toxicity - and the students and their parents appreciate the steps their educators and the school admin are making to be a part of the solution.

There are many ways that teachers can engage the students on a daily basis regarding “green” living.

If any teachers have special tips that they use to foster environmentally-responsible discussion in their classrooms, please send them to us at info@ecosmartworld.com. We’ll post some of the tips on the blog and we’ll also hold a draw for a free AusPen Starter Kit (the equivalent of 246 disposable markers) to give away to those who do send in tips. So not only will you be helping other teachers with your tips, but you could also win an AusPen Starter Kit.

Have a great weekend everyone.

Litterless Lunches

One way schools can make a significant impact on reducing their waste output is by working with parents to provide “litterless lunches”. The Recycling Council of Ontario estimates the average student’s lunch generates 30 kilograms of garbage a year.

Schools are now starting to take the garbage bins out of the lunchrooms, meaning whatever the kids take out of their bags, goes back into their bags. There are many ways to approach this and make the kids and parents aware of what they rbing to school in their lunch bags.

Something for all schools to think about.

University presidents sign Climate Change Statement of Action

Leaders of universities in British Columbia have signed a Climate Change Statement of Action committing their institutions to a leadership role in reducing greenhouse gas emissions. This could be an important step for these large provincial institutions if they provide the resources and focus needed to follow through on the commitment.

The statement of action commits each university to initiate a comprehensive plan to reduce greenhouse gases by creating a planning body that includes students, staff, researchers, administrators, etc. Within one year, each institution will have a complete inventory of greenhouse gas emissions on campus and within two years, targets will be set and strategies will be put in place to achieve the targets.

We here at EcoSmart Products applaud the action. In every university in BC we have loyal users of our AusPen eco-friendly markers and several are taking steps to make the markers more readily available for their staff.

SFU has been particularly focused on reducing their toxic waste by starting to switch from using the traditional PVC-disposable markers to the eco-friendly alternative AusPen markers.  

AusPen Special “Spring Break” Website Price

With Spring Break here for teachers across North America, EcoSmart Products is celebrating spring’s arrival by running a website special for our AusPen Starter Kits. The regular retail price is $69.95, but anyone who orders from us between March 22nd and March 30th and mentions our “Spring Break Special” will receive the Kit for $59.95.  You just need to email info@ecosmartworld.com and reference “Spring Break Special”.

Each Auspen Kit is the equivalent of 246 disposable whiteboard markers, so your cost works out to approximately 24 cents per pen…and you are helping to reduce waste to your local landfill, plus reduce classroom toxicity. The AusPen markers are recyclable, we don’t have Xylene in our ink and they’re made from recycled material.

Again, please email info@ecosmartworld.com and reference the “Spring Break Special” to get the discount.

Thanks

Take Part In Earth Hour

The 2nd annual “Earth Hour” takes place Saturday, March 29th and we encourage everyone to take part. It’s an event co-ordinated by the World Wildlife Fund that is focused on bringing together people from around the world to show their support for action on climate change.

Earth Hour asks participants to turn off their lights for an hour, between 8-9 PM on Saturday evening (Mar. 29). This started last year in Australia (where the AusPen markers were created ) and a little over 2 million homes and 2,100 businesses tunred out their lights. The result was the city’s energy consumption went down by 10.2 percent.

Many cities around Canada (and the world) have committed to taking part in Earth Hour this year. We here at EcoSmart Products will be participating and encouraging others to do so.

Please join in and help make a difference.

Water Bottles

We spent part of our day at a Spring Break/Easter event for kids and families. It was well attended and well rganized, but one thing just jumped out at me all day long: the amount of plastic water bottles that were being thrown away.

If you haven’t made the move to drinking water out of a reusable bottle, that could be the next little thing on your list to leading a greener life. 

Happy Easter!

Buying Locally

I noticed an announcement in our local paper today featuring a new “Farmer’s Market” that will be starting each weekend in our community. We’re already regular visitors to a local farmer’s market in our area, but it’s in the next town over, so this news was of particular interest to us.

In the description they’re saying vendors will be offering local organic products, locally made specialty items (cheese, honey, etc.). This is great. Buying locally has many benefits, from reducing the environmental impact due to the products traveling a small distance to get to the consumer, to supporting local farmers and small business owenrs, keeping this money in your local community, which increases revenue for thse local producers, making it more likely local farms and organic-focused companies will prosper.

I encourage you to seek out local products when you can..and applaud supermarkets (like one of ours) that are starting to put up signs that highlight “Grown Locally”, which is very helpful.

Crosscurrents Conference A Success

As mentioned in previous blog postings, we attended the Crosscurrents Conference at the Westin Bayshore in Vancouver BC on March 13 and 14. It was great to introduce the AusPen eco-friendly markers to many attendees and to speak with many teachers who were users of the markers, as well as meet many of the other exhibitors. The feedback was so overwhelmingly positive.

The organizers did a very good job, as did the Westin Bayshore.

Thanks to all those who came by our table, and all those who purchased AusPen kits, we appreciate it and so will your schools, organizations and communities.

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