Olympic Metals

Q: What do the Vancouver 2010 Olympic medals and the AusPen have in common?

A: The coveted Olympic medals and the world’s most responsible dry-erase marker are each made of recycled materials and divert waste from the landfill. While each AusPen starter kit diverts approximately 20 pounds of toxic waste from the landfill, the 615 Olympic medals were made with scrap circuit board, diverting 6.8 metric tonnes of waste from landfills.  Now that’s medal-worthy!

Random Acts of Kindness

Apparently this is Random Acts of Kindness week, from February 15 – 21, 2010. Doing kind acts is, of course, an inspiring message, and I take this message to heart: be spontaneous, take initiative, look beyond ourselves. This applies not only to our treatment of others, but also of the earth itself.

But I’m stuck on the word ‘random’. This is the ‘in’ word right now – even my 7 year old uses the word. Synonyms for random are: chance, accidental, haphazard, arbitrary, unsystematic, hit and miss. What are we saying? That kindness to others and the earth should be so dependent on our whims? When we feel like it? What’s wrong with being systematic, well-thought-out, organized and deliberate about kindness to others and to the earth?

Taking initiative to reduce waste of precious resources and eliminate toxins fall into the “acts of kindness” category…and the more deliberate, the better, I say.

Going back to the days of Curious George?

It’s not that refilling pens and markers with ink is new. Last night my children and I gathered around the classic Curious George story in which the loveable monkey knocked over a bottle of ink on an important envelope. This made no sense to my young children. (“What is that?”) They are being raised in an age when so much is disposable.

What is new about the AusPen refillable dry erase marker is that it represents a deliberate decision, borne out of an environmental conscience and resolve to tread lighter on the earth. I believe that the eco-friendly wave came much after the days of the Man with the Yellow Hat (…the one who took a monkey from Africa for a pet). It also helps that topping up the AusPen is clean, quick and easy, by just adding a few drops of ink inside the marker barrel. It’s definitely faster and more spill proof than ordering a latte at Starbucks.

WSSU Twin Valley School District Highlights AusPen

In a recent press release, our AusPen markers were featured as a preferred green product for schools concerned about indoor air quality. The WSSU Twin Valley School District in Vermont has organized workshops for its faculty and staff to learn about the impact of good indoor air quality on learning, and the importance of eco-friendly supplies that have a safer environmental and human health profile.

In the press release, Sieglinde Joyce, the co-coordinator of the WSSU School Health Team urged the participating schools to purchase the AusPen to 1) provide a healthier school building to learn in, and 2) support the ‘corporate mission of environmental responsibility’ of EcoSmart Products.

We’d like to thank the workshop organizers, as well as the countless users of AusPen who support our mission to help schools and businesses clear the air of toxins and tread lighter on the earth.

On Being Green

Kermit the Frog always said it wasn’t easy being green. But that was in the days before being green meant being at the forefront of new products, gadgets, practices and habits that were good for the earth. A new millennium Kermit the Frog would relish (note the color choice) his verdant state.

There are so many fun and interesting environmentally-friendly products on the market these days, it’s hard to stay current. Here are some of our favourite eco products for green living at work and play. We know Kermit would approve because he also liked to say, “Time is fun when you’re having flies.”

At work:

• Bamboo Briefcases and messenger bags made from 100% post-consumer recycled rubber
• The Rebinder, a 100% recycled (35%) post-consumer cardboard binder

At play:

• The Power Monkey Explorer Solar Charger which uses solar energy to recharge most electronic devices, like iPods, BlackBerry, digital cameras and cell phones.
• A water-powered clock through Bedol or at Chapters
• Wind-up walkie-talkies that allow you to leave the batteries behind
• 6-in-1 Solar Powered Robot Kit where you can make a dog, a boat, a moving plane, a car, a windmill and a desktop plane

Canary in the Coal Mine

David Suzuki posed the question whether bees could be the canary in the coal mine for the health of planet Earth. Since we at EcoSmart Products are interested in all things healthy for planet Earth, this expression caught our attention. Time for a history lesson.

Since early coal mines did not have great ventilation systems, miners would bring a caged canary into the shafts. Canaries had a unique sensitivity (unfortunately for them) to gas build-ups, especially carbon monoxide and methane. As long as the canary in a coal mine kept singing, the miners knew their air supply was safe. But look out when it stopped singing and then keeled over. This signalled an immediate evacuation for the miners.

It’s sad, of course, to think of birds being used as sentinels for an early warning sign of a larger problem. David Suzuki used the expression to suggest that we think systemically about why honeybee populations around the globe are declining at such an alarming rate.

But what if the ever-increasing incidence of childhood asthma is also a figurative canary in the coal mine? The percent of preschool-aged children with asthma is higher than in any other age group. Is this not a warning sign of larger problems, say, with the quality of our air, or changes in our ecology? Non-toxic school supplies in the classroom, such as the AusPen whiteboard markers, along with a diversity of efforts to improve indoor air quality, can only help to create healthier classrooms and clear the air.