It’s not often that I do a double-take when I’m shopping for routine household goods, but last week I was actually on my tiptoes with excitement over a new version of an old product. What had me so enthusiastic? If you can even believe it, it was plastic bags.

Having a small child in the home, we seem to use a lot of sandwich and snack bags these days. Nothing is quite as convenient for Cheerios, cheddar bunnies, carrot sticks, graham crackers, or even a handful of wipes as a Ziploc bag, and we go through plenty of these plastic disposables every month. I’ve been less than thrilled with using even this small amount of plastic, but it never occurred to me that the bags would or could become more environmentally friendly.

Enter my show-stopping product: The new eco-friendly Ziploc evolve sandwich and storage bags are made from a new resin that uses 25% less plastic than their regular bags, are manufactured using approximately 50% renewable wind energy and packaged in a 100% recycled box, with at least 35% postconsumer content. I read these stats over and over again in disbelief. Ziploc is a brand of SC Johnson, a company that has been working rather diligently to transform their brands into “green” products; frankly, until the evolve bags, I wasn’t really convinced they were serious. I suspected that most of their effort was re-marketing the same old thing with new words and label designs without actually making a change.

It’s difficult to deny the statistics behind the new product. Significantly less plastic, 100% recycled packaging, and what impressed me the most, clean renewable energy as a major power source in production. As a consumer, I truly appreciate the opportunity to put my money into a company that is making a positive change in how it brings products to market and in how that product makes an impact on our world through its lifecycle.

I’m going to keep trying to cut back on the bags and use more reusable plastic products; but SC Johnson has my gratitude for their new direction, and my support with a new loyalty to their brand when I do need some sandwich bags. I only hope they will retool their entire lineup to meet the same standards of this one product!

This may not be the product that gets your attention, but I’m sure something has. What companies have you made a conscience effort to support because they are willing to change? What are you willing to change in your work that will encourage new supporters for you?

photo credit: Marco Gomes

This is, depending on what your source is, Bike to Work Month, and we’re in the midst of Bike to Work Week, and again depending on your source, either today or tomorrow is Bike to Work Day.

Despite the confusion, there’s obviously a great deal of merit to the idea of getting a car off the road, lightening traffic congestion, and getting some exercise in the process. Even if you don’t normally drive, riding a bike can be a whole lot more fun than taking the bus or train.

(I work from home, but have been trying to ride my bike to do quick errands – like stopping by the post office or bank – more often this week.)

The great thing about riding a bike to work is that it can be an opportunity to enjoy your surroundings, notice details in your town you may not have noticed before, and probably even arrive to work more refreshed and energized than if you just sat in traffic getting frustrated at people who don’t know how to merge. (Uh, why don’t people know how to merge, anyway?)

Of course there are logistical difficulties for some people: their commute is simply too long for practical bike commuting, or they’re not physically able, or there are no safe routes, or they have no facilities for freshening up when they arrive at work. (Although if the latter reason is holding you back, it’s worth considering riding slowly enough to stay cool and/or freshening up using a moistened washcloth over the sink in your workplace’s bathroom.)

Struggling with other logistics? Quite a few sites have tips, like the ones in the Berkeley Daily Planet:

Forget the car roads and find the bike roads. Try the routes recommended on the bike map for your area.

Use transit as a back-up to your bike travels. If you get tired, hop on a bus or BART for part of the journey. If you can add a bicycle component to your commute, you will probably find yourself wanting to ride more and more over time.

I can attest, from previous experiences commuting by bike, that the route I drove in a car was not usually the best route for riding a bike, so that’s a good, not necessarily obvious tip. And certainly mixing biking and public transit makes the commute easier if it’s a particularly long trek (assuming there’s at least some public transit along the way).

Do you bike to work, even occasionally? What other tips can you suggest?

Building Out the Green Infrastructure [The EcoInnovator]

Today, the fundamental underpinnings of the First Industrial Revolution are no longer true. Energy is no longer free; it is expensive in absolute and real terms. The externalities of energy usage are no longer acceptable to the general population. [...] We believe we are at the dawn of the Second Industrial Revolution.

7 Principles of Admirable Business Ethics [The Perfect Life1]

5. Become Community Involved: Remain involved in community-related issues and activities, thereby demonstrating that your business is a responsible community contributor. In other words, stay involved.

Stress Management For The CEO [Forbes.com]

He runs marathons, which he says not only keep him physically fit but provide major stress relief. What really sets his mind at ease, though, is a bowl of chips and some good salsa and guacamole with friends.

The Value of Workplace Practical Jokes [HBR Editors' Blog - HarvardBusiness.org]

In these days of dark morale, I find that an occasional, gentle joke can be quite a bonding experience for colleagues.

photo credit: pfala

A quick glance at the business-oriented coverage of Earth Day would suggest that the theme of Earth Day 2009 is that a single day for this concept makes no sense anymore.

Grist, the sponsor of a “Screw Earth Day” campaign, asks if Earth Day still matters, and the answer is a resounding yes, but with a clarification:

I also would challenge that if done strategically, all the “green” stuff we do throughout the rest of the year should be good not just for the environment, but also for business and partnerships. And that right here, at this intersection—where environmental issues and business needs meet—is where green can establish real roots and begin to grow.

Newsweek, in part referencing the Grist campaign, asks if it’s time to retire Earth day:

What was originally intended as a sounding alarm has been reproduced each year in the exact same way. The problem is, it’s hard to be motivated by a screeching alarm when you’ve been hitting the snooze button for the last four decades.

Forbes, in asking how you make Earth Day good for your company, observes familiar sentiments:

It’s like dieting. We see friends, neighbors and celebrities go on crash diets all the time, and after the crash period is over, the weight always comes back. When it comes to our planet’s carbon diet, we can’t take the crash approach. We need to make the Earth Day sensibility part of our employees’ everyday lives by making it fun. After all, who ever stuck with a diet that made them miserable?

Clearly the environment would benefit from a widespread adoption of this “every day should be Earth Day” philosophy, but the real motivation for lasting change will usually come from the bottom line. What we could really use are good case studies where making environmentally sound investments resulted in a positive impact to profit, such as the Wal-Mart example in this FT.com piece on signs that corporate responsibility is surviving the recession:

Wal-Mart also has commercial reasons for its stance. The company has been encouraging companies to cut down on packaging. This enables it to fit more goods into each delivery truck, not only reducing its emissions, but also cutting the amount it spends on petrol. Its insistence that manufacturers produce concentrated laundry detergent has allowed it to save on both packaging and shelf space. Cost-cutting is vital to beating the downturn and if companies can boost their green credentials at the same time, why not?

What are some of the best examples you know of where integrated environmental practices leading to profit?

Image credit: adamsofen, via flickr

Can you be an environmental idealist in this tough economic climate and still be profitable? That’s the essence of the question posed over at the Greenbang corporate responsibility blog, where they discuss a decline in cleantech investmentments from 2007 to January 2009:

Although investment volume is only one metric to measure companies’ commitment to green, it does suggest that this commitment is at risk in such tough economic conditions. Are companies starting to relax green business policies because of pressures on the business bottom line and does it need to be a tug of war?

As we’re fond of observing, there are many simple and inexpensive ways for businesses to be dedicated to the environment, but actually investing in green technology or greener alternatives is a real sign of progress because it recognizes the long-term picture in which ecology is inextricable from economy. Although it seems natural for skittish businesses to pull back on what seem like short-term expenses due to uncertainty about the timeline of the recession, might that reactionary move be corrected in coming quarters with businesses digging into the current circumstances as  economic reality, as we come to the realization that investments must still be made for any progress to take place?

Since it’s Earth Day week, this may be easy to observe anecdotally: have you noticed a cooling off in enthusiasm for environmental stewardship from business this year? Or does it seem to be just as much a hot topic as ever?

via Do environment and business need to play tug of war? | Corporate Responsibility.

Mike Hansen, strategic planning manager in the Governor’s Office of Planning and Budget, says one of the more surprising effects of this workday change is [...] “increased productivity —  employees behind their desk more this year than the last two years, to the tune of 9 percent” less time off. Paid overtime is also down.

While it may not have been the benefit Utah was looking for, it’s a pretty good reminder that being open to options sometimes leads to unexpected wins.