It’s nice to see that local luxury companies aren’t going out of their way to exploit a global crisis for profit.
I do have to give them credit though, the ad is particularly clever. I wonder how many African babies had to die for them to get the diamonds that are in thier store.
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Sometimes when I look at Denver’s horizon, which is rife with smog, I ask myself: “What the hell can I do?” And then I feel a bit helpless in this whole green and environmental movement and with my tiny, yet awesome, blog. I feel like nothing is getting done or that my actions are, in the scheme of things, meaningless. But then I remember the quote that’s on my mission page:
“Nobody made a greater mistake than he who did nothing because he could only do a little.”
-Edmund Burke
what he probably would have said if he was born today.
And then I don’t quite feel so helpless anymore. However, it does stir up some anger in me. It gets me thinking how many people out there do literally nothing for this very reason. I can understand not doing something out of ineptitude, fear, or sloth but not doing something because it’s not making a HUGE impact…dumbdie dumb dumb dumb.
There’s a law in banking/business (and basic common sense) that a very little number times a very big number equals, well, a REALLY big number. Point being, that a bunch of people deciding NOT to do a little thing results in ALOT of bad while the inverse is true if all those people decide to do their little thing. This is what keeps me typing, even if it’s another puppy post.
So here’s a very simple and easy call to action: Do one small thing TODAY to help make this world a little bit greener, friendlier, or awesomererer. Pick up a piece of trash on the street, open a door for a little old lady, or smile at someone who’s having a bad day. Keep those small deeds pumping and make a difference and be a part of that REALLY big number.
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I guess doors are too much to ask from Mr. Big Box Store.
I was headed over to the King Soopers (a grocery store chain in Colorado) last night with a major case of an Oreo attack. When I got there, I couldn’t believe my eyes: this grocery store has no doors! It just pumps AC all day with this gaping hole in the front of the store. According to my Oreo attack comrade and Colorado native Craig, they do the same thing in the winter and have heat pouring out of the store’s orifice, spewing hot air twenty-four hours a day seven days a week. They never close, and neither does this wasteful cavity. It’s kinda like Rush Limbaugh’s mouth.
Is it too much to ask to have freaking DOORS when the average heating bill is supposed to break $500 dollars this winter? They’re making it a crime in to do this in NYC:
The crazy thing is, that this is dealing with stores that have doors but opt to keep them open in the hot summer months to draw customers into their AC. King Soopers, however, didn’t even have doors in their blueprints. I can see that conversation in my head:
Architect: You know you really don’t need doors and it’ll save X dollars in door costs. Doors are getting very expensive, because the magic that makes them open automatically has to come from never never land which is, like, really far away.
King Sooper Person-in-charge: Wont that be an insulation problem?
Architect: Dude, I’m an architect.
King Sooper Person-in-charge: Sorry, you’re the expert. I’m sorry I ever doubted you. In that case, do we need walls?
I jest, of course, but I’m sure there was a conversation of the pros and cons to build this behemoth of a grocery store and some dude in some office weighed the lists of door pros and door cons and the pros lost. Unfreakin’ believable.
Enjoy your $120 a barrel oil King Soopers and enjoy one less customer.
(I did buy the Oreo’s though, they’re like crack.)
Is there any reasoning to NOT having doors? I’m sure this is and I would love to know what it is. Can anyone inform me?
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Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design or “LEED” certification sucks for two reasons:
1) It’s expensive.
The first platinum certified (platinum being the highest followed by gold and silver) carbon neutral building cost $4 million dollars.
First of all I have a problem with any organization that categorizes the quality of things like Master Card. That aside, $4M dollars is crazy.
LEED can add anywhere from 4-30% to the total cost of new construction. Many of these extra costs provide NO environmental benefit. These “soft” costs are basically greedy designers charging a premium for their “green” services and various administration and compliance fees.
you see right there? yup, that's where you're getting reamed.
2) All LEED points are created equal regardless of their environmental impact.
In a recent building, we received one point for spending an extra $1.3 million for a heat-recovery system that will save about $500,000 in energy costs per year. We also got one point for installing a $395 bicycle rack.
Whaaaaa??? Yes, I think that deserves three question marks. How the hell can a bike rack get the same amount of points as a 1.3 million dollar heat-recovery system. Answer: Because LEED sucks.
Although I’m glad there is a standard for what makes a building green, from what I’m reading about LEED it seems like the USGBC has a ways to go.
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Instead of just posting about green things, I figure I’d post about the most ungreen, unsustainable, unnecessary crap in America. Why just America? Because the Chinese government scares me.
and not in a good way.
Here’s a short history of bottled water in America over the past forty years. Some of the names have been omitted due to lack of research:
“Who would pay for something you could get for free?” -American Businessmen in the 70’s.
“OMG I can’t believe they’re buying it!” -American Businessmen in the 80’s.
***Some time passes***
“Wait, you’re telling me if we don’t spend money on carbonation, coloring, and high-fructose corn syrup and charge the same amount they’ll still buy it?” -Coke and Pepsi in the 90’s.
“Well, you’ll have to put it in a really cool bottle that says your water is uniquely crisp and refreshing.” -Marketing douche.
“And that’s it?” -Coke and Pepsi.
“That’s it.” -Marketing douche.
“And we’ll make, like, a million dollars?” -Coke and Pepsi.
“Our douche analysts say that the US market should allow for about $15 billion in annual sales by 2006.” -Marketing Douche.
“I’m buying a flying car.” -Coke and Pepsi.
I was at a really nice Italian restaurant a while back, waiting for my girlfriend to get back from the bathroom when a waiter came over to the table next to me and asked the young woman sitting there if she would like something to drink. ”Bottled water,” she replied. A minute or so went by and the waiter returned with a bottle of Fiji water inside a chilled silver container. ”Ewww, I HATE Fiji water do you have any Evian?”
“I’m sorry mam, I’ll get something else right away,” said the pity worthy waiter as I sat there in disbelief.
I then had a mini fantasy in my brain in which the waiter said ”I’m sorry bitch from Greenwich CT, are glacial waters that have been untouched by any living creature for hundreds of thousands of years not pure enough for you?”
this girl hates fiji water too. that's why she walks 5 miles to get the good stuff.
People like the Greenwich bitch have lost their perspective. Little do they know that a quarter of all bottled water is little more than hyped tap water. In a four year study covering over 103 brands sold in the US, the NRDC found that 1/3 of all the bottled water tested positive for E. coli, fecal coliform, or arsenic. Why did they find all this crap in bottled water? Because bottled water sold in the US isn’t held to the same safety standards as tap:
Even when bottled waters are covered by the FDA’s rules, they are subject to less rigorous testing and purity standards than those which apply to city tap water (see chart below). For example, bottled water is required to be tested less frequently than city tap water for bacteria and chemical contaminants. In addition, bottled water rules allow for some contamination by E. coli or fecal coliform (which indicate possible contamination with fecal matter), contrary to tap water rules, which prohibit any confirmed contamination with these bacteria. Similarly, there are no requirements for bottled water to be disinfected or tested for parasites such as cryptosporidium or giardia, unlike the rules for big city tap water systems that use surface water sources. This leaves open the possibility that some bottled water may present a health threat to people with weakened immune systems, such as the frail elderly, some infants, transplant or cancer patients, or people with HIV/AIDS.
Wow.
In part, I’m glad that bottled water contains bacteria’s shit. It’s a microscopic middle finger to all the gNoobs who contribute to the 60 million water bottles that are thrown out every day. But it’s not just the bottles themselves that create waste. It’s the thousands of miles some of them travel to get from places like Fiji, to LA (5,500 to be exact). And then the countless trucks used to ship these bottles to their respective vendors. And for what? Shit water? I think I’ll just walk the 10 feet to my kitchen sink.
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Instead of just posting about green things, I figure I’d post about the most ungreen, unsustainable, unnecessary crap in America. Why just America? Because the Chinese government scares me.
if only this filled the hole that is an actor's self-esteem
I have an idea, let’s get a bunch of rich people together in one big room so they can all masturbate to their respective “accomplishments.”
don't worry, there will be
There are award shows for music, black music, hispanic music, horse racing, poker players but acting award shows are the biggest crock of them all. We, as a country composed of supposedly civilized people, award people for PRETENDING to be other people. You know, now that I think of it, I used to go to an award show like that, it was called childhood. I got tons of undeserved praise and attention for pretending. Did I get an award? Yes, actually I did. My mom gave me several awards when I was particularly creative or imaginative.
where's this kids oscar? i guess they suck at pretending.
Movie star actors get awards too. It’s called a PAYCHECK. There’s no need to gather all of the big paycheck havers into one room and compare their pretending skills.
It’s not just the fact that these shows are complete jerkfests that makes me so hostile it’s the sheer abundance of them:
The Academy Awards alone generates about 400 million dollars for thepeople and the state of California. Everyone from caterers to limo drivers gets a piece of the action. Too bad the 400,000 people who die from lung cancer in California each year aren’t as interesting. If only they covered California hospitals with shiny diamonds…
two scoops of raisins are for chumps!
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Instead of just posting about green things, I figure I’d post about the most ungreen, unsustainable, unnecessary crap in America. Why just America? Because the Chinese government scares me.
If you have an idea for The Biggest Wastes Ever, post it below and take the credit!
hippy waste
Now you may be asking yourself “How can a bunch of hippies in the middle of the dessert doing drugs and running around naked be wasteful?” Well, I’ll be more than happy to tell you. Despite last year’s Burning Man being green themed, it was the most wasteful of all other Burning Man’s in the history of Burning Man. Why? Because it was also the biggest Burning Man ever and, Burning man being inherently wasteful, means the bigger it gets the more waste gets produced. Here’s the basic rundown:
To be fair, you don’t dump all your trash in the desert in a giant pile. Instead, you pile it into your car or trailer and then unload it at the nearest dump (about 50 miles away). My camp (just 10 people) resulted in about fifteen 13-gallon bags of trash. That’s 195 gallons of trash for only ten people! Now imagine 48,000 people consuming, burning, and driving:
i think i can see god crying
And all of these resources are consumed for what? ”Self-expression, self-reliance, and art as the center of community?” What a freaking joke. This is the most egocentric, hedonistic, flashy waste ever imaginable. Want to express yourself? Start a journal. Want self-reliance? Move out of your parents house. Want art to be the center of your community? Then make art that you don’t burn five days later.
Don’t get me wrong, I had an AMAZING time at Burning Man but towards the final days there I realized what Burning Man really was and still is: a self-involved waste. After seeing what a huge waste it all was, I did a little thought experiment that went a little something like this:
Including the cost of the ticket, travel, camp fees and supplies going to Burning Man can conservatively cost anywhere from $800-1500. Instead of using that money to throw a huge party what if 48,000 people got together each year and contributed their talents and $1,000.00 to help end world hunger or revolutionize energy consumption? The real rub is that if you ask 100 people at Burning Man if they care about the environment 99 of them would probably answer yes or give you a light show.
pointless
Yes, the most popular sport in America is also the biggest waste ever. I know this will piss off about half of America, but I could really care less. NASCAR sucks and that half of America sucks. Thirty-five to forty-three cars that get two to three mpg line up and race in a circle, WHOPEE! I’m sure there are some dudes out there that will say “Man, you have clearly never been to a race, you’ve never felt the speeeeeeed.”
this guy should cut back on the speed.
Guess what? I’ve been to a race before and I’ve felt the “speed.” But after lap 12314198019 the speed got boring and all I wanted to see was a fiery wreck of steel and rubber. Let’s be honest here, that’s what most of the people who watch NASCAR want to see. They don’t want to see cars drive in circles for hours, that’s boring. They want to witness a gut-wrenching pileup of flesh and metal. In that case why don’t we just cut to the chase and sponsor a real life MECHWARRIOR battle, the franchise could use a rejuvenating bump anyways.
pew pew
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I was at Home Depot yesterday getting some ant traps, a screw, and a toilet duck (don’t ask) and got this receipt (pictured above). Home Depot, may I ask you a question? Why is your receipt fourteen inches long? Do you have receipt envy? Did Lowes used to have a bigger receipt than you and you needed show them who’s boss?
I kid, of course but there must be some reasoning behind making such obscenely large transaction records for your customers. Let us go through this receipt section by section and see what is really necessary and what’s just a waste.
The Top
This portion of the receipt displays the:
All of this seems like pretty useful information and is fit into a space of about and inch and a half. Well done!
The Logo
In case we forgot that we purchased these items at Home Depot, and are unable to read the top line of the receipt that says “The Home Depot,” this lovely home improvement chain has decided to remind us yet again that we bought these goods at “The Home Depot.”
WASTE!
Items Purchased and Barcode
This section is really the whole point of getting a receipt in the first place. It shows us what we purchased, at what price, and even gives us a nifty barcode for quickly scanning the receipt for swift exchanges or returns. Totally needed and understandable.
Legalese, Return Info, and Ad
This section just tells us that Home Depot doesn’t have to sell to you if you’re being an ass. I guess there are that many people acting up inside The Home Depot that it’s necessary for them to let all their customers know that they can give us the boot if we start acting crazy. It also includes when their return policy expires, and that if you want something installed you should call them. Thank you Home Depot for letting me know when your return policy expires and no thank you I don’t need anything installed by your overpriced contractors.
Biggest Waste Ever
Bilingual Waste!
Here’s where things get a little frustrating. It’s cool and all that Home Depot wants to give away a $5,000 gift certificate every couple of months, but does their primary promotion have take up almost HALF of the receipt and come in two languages?
Let’s break down just how much waste this really is. According to Home Depot’s own Quarterly Earnings Release there were 318,000,000 transactions completed across all of their stores in first quarter ‘08. That’s approximately 1.2 billion transactions a year. The $5000 dollar gift card promotion portion of the receipt is approximately 8″X3″ or roughly 24 square inches of paper totaling in ~28.8 BILLION square inches of promotional waste.
That’s about 450,000 square miles which would cover about 300 Rhode Islands, 10 Ohios, or 3 Californias.
That’s a lot of paper.
It’s also needless. Considering the survey promotion is about half the receipt length, all Home Depot would have to do is put the promotion on the BACK of the receipt and presto %50 less receipt waste.
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