Green Options

Checking out at Toys ‘R’ Us I was asked “Do you need any batteries?” Well, I thought that the answer was no because I was buying Battleship, the classic naval combat game. So I said, “No.” When I got home I realized I was wrong. I do need batteries.
It turns out that I picked up Electronic Battleship which requires 4 AA batteries. It’s pretty sweet looking so I took the batteries out of two of our Wii controllers and put them in the new game.

The battleship explosion sounds were cool so I kept it. I think my nephew will enjoy it but it seems weird that this classic I played with in the ‘70s should all of a sudden need batteries to make the sounds that my friends and I enjoyed making ourselves. What’s next? Will Fisher-Price Little People and Erector sets need batteries? (Actually, kind of, the little people school bus requires 3 AA batteries and the Erector front-end loader requires 2 AA).

Isn’t this exactly the sort of sappy, nostalgic rant that makes young people hate older people? Just thinking about it, I’m starting to hate myself. But why pick on kids products? What about stuff for other age groups? Like stuff I have? Are there new versions of established products that used to work without batteries and now require batteries?

I got an email this morning and it appears that it’s my lucky day, Not only have I won the UK lottery but a barrister in South Africa has a client with an enormous estate who has left me millions. This makes total sense to me being that the deceased gentleman had no living relatives, so it seems perfectly natural that I would be next in line to inherit his money. I also found out this morning that a company called FedEX Couriers has a package that they’ve been trying to deliver to me. I suspect that this box might also contain cash.

These things are funny and relatively easy to delete from my in-box but there’s still some sort of energy I have to exert to do so. A few spam emails are fine—but hundreds can seem exhausting, even though it’s more mentally exhausting than physically so. Still, even though I know it’s junk mail, I must have a vitamin deficiency because I actually read some of them and get my hopes up. I know it’s crazy but I seriously do get a little excited. My gullability is lessening somewhat having read dozens but I still fall for it for a split second. I know what you’re thinking: I am a chump. And I admit it—it’s pathetic! But then I think, who knows, maybe there is a package of cash waiting for me. It could happen. Couldn’t it?

I’m reading a book about wood. The title is “Wood,” by Harvey Green. It’s written a bit like the slightly more popular and accessible books by a different author titled “Salt” and “Cod” by Mark Kurlansky. But “Wood” is about our use of wood in home construction, furniture, machinery, packaging, religion—everything. In this book, the author makes many interesting observations, like the fact that although the saw was developed independently in many parts of the world and they are strikingly similar, some cultures designed saws to cut on the push stroke (Western) and others to cut on the pull stroke (Eastern). I think this is fascinating.

He also writes about a time in our past when almost everyone had some knowledge of working with wood because everyday activities like farming, cooking, cleaning traveling, required implements that needed to be made out of wood.

Now that I have read it, this seems so obvious. Back in Laura Ingalls’ time, you couldn’t just go to the store and buy everything you needed like we can today (alas, Mr. Oleson’s store was well stocked but not like what you can find at Wal-Mart). Still, what a cool common bond they all had. I feel a little envious of what seems like a really artistic skill, but then I think that this is sort of how computers are for us today. Almost everyone has to have some knowledge of a computer interface in order to help get our jobs done (supposedly) faster and more efficiently.

This is a guest post by Aaron Szymanski, President of Evo Design, an award-winning industrial design firm housed in a refurbished water treatment plant in Watertown, CT.

The good thing about the economy sucking cheese right now is that it’s given me some free time to catch up on my reading. I moderate a discussion forum called “The Green Room” and  while catching up on what people are sniping about I came across an interesting thread that included many questions.

The primary question being, What are we really supposed to do to be more green? My contribution to the group was that I believed people wanted to do the right thing but that it was truly unclear to them exactly what is better.

For example, after reading E the Environmental magazine’s recent issue, I felt ultimately that we should all be vegetarians. I’m not a die-hard meat lover but I’ve read enough credible writing that lead me to believe that it’s impossible for the earth to produce enough veggies to do this. Meanwhile, pondering the question, I still eat Slim Jims and summer sausage.

This morning I brushed my teeth with a recycled toothbrush. As I looked in the mirror, toothpaste frothing, the thought that it had all started with this simple piece of plastic was enough to make me stop for a second. And then I kept brushing.

Over a year ago, one of our designers in our firm brought in a Preserve toothbrush made by Recycline, along with a Stonyfield Farm yogurt cup that mentioned Recycline recycling all their plastic yogurt containers. The toothbrush was their first product—the foundation of all the Preserve products—it received placement in specialty stores, then eventually mass merchants and even a cameo role in a movie (Will Farrell brushes his teeth with it repeatedly in “Stranger than Fiction”).

We had been reviewing the products that we had made in the past and wanted to work with a company that reflected our own mission for sustainability. After all, we didn’t endure the looks from the natives when we turned a sewage treatment plant into our company headquarters for nothing (ah, but that’s another blog entry).

So, as the head of design, I did something and … I called them. I talked to someone on the other line, made a proposal to expand their product line and hung up.

Over the course of many phone calls and meetings, Recycline took us up on our offer to supply them with product design and refinement in exchange for a royalty on whatever went to market. A lot of firms our size have worked on royalties for years but this was our first try. And I’m happy to report that after less than a year, several of the products we developed with Recycline are available at Whole Foods including food storage containers, cutting boards and colanders. (For the whole story, check out Metropolis: Cooking with Leftovers)

It seems that everywhere I turn, all the design conferences somehow are focusing on green.

In March, I had the opportunity to attend the 2008 International Housewares Show at McCormick Place in Chicago. Every spring, the show takes up three of the four gigantic halls covering everything from small, local pot holder manufacturers to giant international appliance manufacturers, like Haier (China based “white goods” manufacturer with annual sales over 15 billion).

Most people I know go for the exhibition portion of the event, but there are also conferences. This year, one of the predominant themes was green. There was also a special section on the floor for green design and many of the speakers also had a presence in this area. (At the end of this I will post a list of those who presented.)

The exhibition area also had many manufacturers marketing a sustainable position. The claims ranged from using post consumer waste (as in the Sustain Mug by Aladdin) to using classic design forms that would inspire consumers to keep them forever.

If you go to the mass retailers today, it’s likely that you’re going to pay more for sustainably designed, developed, manufactured and shipped products. In some cases, like my Timberland boots, the products will be superior in all ways that matter and the sustainable attributes will be an added-value. But in most cases the product will either be harder to find, quicker to wear-out or less aesthetically pleasing than the less-sustainable competition.

It’s tempting to point out the many examples beyond my Timberlands, which are sustainable without the sacrifice or the bloated price tag. Sure, they exist but they are the minority–a miniscule struggling minority. If we all start to question why, we can shift every product manufactured towards a more sustainable approach. Every product.