NIMBY (Not in my Backyard) has a bad rap

NIMBY, or Not in My Backyard, is a pejorative term referring to the syndrome in which local residents oppose nuisance developments near their homes. Airports, wind turbines, landfills, prisons. We need them, but not around here, please.   

 At EcoSmart Products, we have a different take on the NIMBY situation. One of the real benefits of AusPen dry-erase markers is in keeping tons of toxic waste out of your own backyard, so to speak. The endless supplies of regular plastic markers thrown out in your school or business go right into your local landfill. There they stay, solid as ever, leaching chemical run-off. As an AusPen user, you can say, with pride, that you are a NIMBYist, that each AusPen kit saves over 15 pounds of non-biodegradable waste from your backyard.

 If you want to get technical, you could say you’re a NIABYist. Since AusPen markers are recyclable they end up Not in Anyone’s Backyard. You say NIMBY, I say NIABY. It’s one way to make a huge difference locally.

20% off Earth Day Special

Happy Earth Day! It’s our day to celebrate!

Order online to take advantage of AusPen’s 20% off Earth Day Special this Wednesday, Thursday and Friday! Just quote earth20 for the ‘coupon code’ to get the discount. Savings apply to all AusPen products.

 We thank our loyal AusPen users and invite everyone else who does not want to throw away one more toxic marker to experience the world’s greenest dry-erase marker. The earth thanks you, and we do too. Happy Earth Day.

Boomerang lunches, throw me a bone

Getting my child’s passport photo taken goes against all my training as a parent. Is this familiar to anyone: “Don’t smile. Try again. Be serious. Think of something sad. How would you feel if Bolt died?” Why make our children look like criminals in a mug shot to the eyes of international customs inspectors? (They’re already wild-eyed and looped on sugar on any trip long enough for a passport.) And then, a simple logical explanation gets me on board. Apparently, straight-faced photos work in a face-recognition application that is useful in Child Find programs. Well, ok, then.

I am reminded of this when I open my children’s lunchbox to half-eaten food and yogurt smeared into every fold and surface of the lunchbox. Did someone explain to me why my kids can’t throw out a banana peel or empty yogurt container at school? It’s not like they’re going to eat them at home. Does boomerang lunch mean I get slapped in the face with soggy lunchboxes at the end of the day?

I see now that the school is putting the onus on the parents to compost, send re-useable containers and stop sending food that keeps coming home, uneaten and squished. Even the most carefully laid environmental activities of a school warrant clear communication – not only on the purpose of an activity, but also on the goals and lessons learned. As for me, I’ve learned that even kindergarteners can clean their own lunchboxes.

For a helpful slide presentation on boomerang lunches, check out this one by Greensville School in Ontario.

The Pinky Swear Earth Day Challenge

If my young boys have pinky sworn to something, the deal is done and set in stone. To pinky swear is to enter into the most iron-clad agreement. “But you pinky swore!” is tantamount to “I’ll see you in court.”

Here’s the EcoSmart Earth Day 2010 Challenge: Pinky swear that you’ll change one bad habit that will have a positive impact on the environment. Of course, we think that ordering AusPen refillable whiteboard markers is a great commitment, having 1/100^th the environmental impact that traditional whiteboard markers have.

Post a comment to let us and others know what habit you’re breaking to go greener.

NASA’s Blue Marble Photos

A roughly translated African proverb goes: A fish is in water but does not know the importance of water. Before space technology, I guess you could say that we were like fish, unaware of our planet. From the first grainy images of earth in 1946, to the famous ‘Earthrise’ photo from the 1968 trip to the moon, to NASA’s most recent photos of the earth, it’s thanks to these proverbial fish out of water that we can forever see our planet as the one fragile home that it is.

NASA recently captured the best, most detailed and true-color image of our planet ever. After months of observations and compilations of images, NASA released the image on Flickr, where you can view other images and an animated spinning earth.

In honor of the upcoming Earth Day 2010, we are posting these images of our beautiful planet.

October 24 1946 was the first photo taken of our planet by a rocket-borne camera:

Apollo 8 went to the moon, but found Earth, in this “Earthrise” photo on Christmas Eve 1968:

The resolution and colors of this image, released in February 2010, are the best shots yet:

Happy Earth Day 2010 from EcoSmart Products!

Earth Day Anniversary, 2010

April 22 marks Earth Day’s 40^th anniversary. At EcoSmart Products we were talking about the nature of this day and the thinking it inspires. It’s a day that transcends national borders, yet finds expression in local communities. It calls for preservation of nature, yet urges us to use technology. It requires a united vision, yet depends on a diversity of actions. It is the complex challenge of our times, yet it draws on ancient wisdom and attitudes.

The Earth Day call to action reminds me of Einstein’s observation, one of my favourite quotations:

“The significant problems we face cannot be solved by the same level of thinking that created them.”

Good luck with any Earth Day activities you may be planning!

Spring cleaning is literally in the air

Spring is in the air… quite literally. It`s not just the pollen, mold and hay in the spring air that sets many of us on our weepy way, but it`s also the quiet contaminants from our spring cleaning products that are having a heyday.

 A study conducted by the Environmental Working Group in the U.S. has revealed that conventional cleaning supplies used in schools could be polluting classroom air with more than 450 distinct toxic contaminants, including chemical agents linked to asthma and cancer. For example, Comet Disinfectant Powder Cleanser, a product most of us have used, releases more than 100 air contaminants, including chloroform, benzene and formaldehyde.                                                                                                                                    

 What to do? Switching to AusPen non-toxic dry-erase markers is one significant way to eliminate indoor toxins. AusPen markers will help you bid farewell to xylene, the solvent found in conventional markers, which is a classified neurotoxin.

 Also, using cleaning products that are certified by Green Seal and EcoLogo can lead to 80 percent fewer contaminants into the air compared to non-certified cleaning products. Marauder, Glance NA, and Alpha HP have resulted in cumulative emissions that are only one-sixth of the total emissions from conventional cleaning products.

 These eco-friendly school and cleaning supplies are a breath of fresh air in more way than one.

Create a classroom landfill for Earth Day

Looking for a fun lesson plan to bring attention to Earth Day?  How about creating a simulated landfill in a bottle? Students of all grade levels will come to appreciate that waste does not just disappear once it’s thrown out, that landfill space is limited, and that materials decompose at different rates, or not at all!

 The lesson plan website, Hot Chalk, offers printable student and teacher pages, worksheets, and a step by step guide to creating your own classroom landfill. Students will observe the different rates of decomposition at 10 and 20 days – just in time for Earth Day. Plus, they’ll love the idea of turning your classroom into a dump!