Story of Stuff Video– A fast paced, fact filled expose on the hidden environmental and social costs of current systems of production and consumption Annie Leonar, author and host of The Story of Stuff, is currently the Director of The Story of Stuff Project. Prior to this, most recently, Annie coordinated the Funders Workgroup for Sustainable Production and Consumption, a funder collaborative seeking to address the hidden environmental and social impacts of current systems of making, using and throwing away all the stuff of daily life.

You can stop junk mail from coming to your home or office. More than reducing your hassle from having to weed through what is pertinent or not, stopping junk mail can:

• Save Energy: Did you know that a single day’s supply of junk mail require the same energy needed to heat 250,000 homes?
• Save Resources: 100 million trees are cut down in order to produce one year’s worth of junk mail.
• Eliminate Waste: Junk mail comprises 5.8 million tons of our waste.

Stop junk mail at it’s the source. Contact the sender and ask to be removed from their mailing list.

The following organizations can help you with your effort:

Catalog Choice: www.catalogchoice.org

Direct Marketing Association: www.dmachoice.org

Credit Offers: www.optoutprescreen.com

What is FSC Certification?

The FSC is an independent, non-governmental, not for profit organization established to promote the responsible management of the world’s forests. The certification that the FSC offers provides a nev level of responsibility for offset printers — the printers of your business cards, letterhead, stationary, brochures, and other communications materials.

Here is a brief list of the Principles and Critreria that the FSC requires for certification:

• Prohibit conversion of forests or any other natural habitat
• Respect of international workers rights
• Prohibition of use of hazardous chemicals
• Respect of Human Rights with particular attention to indigenous peoples
• No corruption – follow all applicable laws
• Identification and appropriate management of areas that need special protection (e.g. cultural or sacred sites, habitat of endangered animals or plants)

Make sure your next print project is done with a green offset printer — one that has FSC certification!

An alternative to Styrofoam packaing peanuts are those made from cornstarch. Cornstarch packing peanuts are lightweight, durable, clean, static free, health-safe, cost competitive and best of all, compostable!

On May 12, 2008, the USPS postal rates will increase.

The new first class postage rates are:

Standard envelope: 42 cents (42¢).

Postcard: 27 cents (27¢).

More information at http://www.usps.com/prices/

Have you ever noticed that the mugs you donate to charity first are the mugs with a company logo on them? And if you ever visit the local thrift store, you’ll see that the shelves are lined with white mugs with corporate artwork on them.

By giving out corporate gifts or promotional items that are both practical and beautiful, you are reducing waste by ensuring that these items are VALUED. Here’s how:

1. Choose high quality artwork – meaning artwork that would be considered fine art and not clip art or logo art. Consider finding an artist with a style that matches the message you want to send with the gift or promotional piece. Commission some art from that artist. Or find some artwork that has already been created and license that artwork.
2. Make the artwork central. The artwork should be primary and your logo and company information secondary. For example, on the coffee mug, let the artwork wrap all the way around the side and place your logo, web site address or company information on the handle or very tiny aside the base of the handle.

Leanne Moore, student of the Art Institute of Charlotte, interviews Rebecca St. Martin on various aspects of “green” design.

L: Do you have a direct interest in “organic” materials? If so, what started it?

R: Yes. My value in preserving our environment started it. I grew up with the activities of recycling, reusing and composting, so these values have filtered into my business.

L: Do you notice any difference between “organic” materials and regular materials? If so, what are they?

R: Cost. Organic materials can be up to twice the cost of non-organic materials. Some organic / natural products can’t easily be printed on. (Many of the handcrafted papers, etc.)

L: Do you prefer regular materials or “organic” materials?

R: In practicality, my preference usually depends upon the application. In spirit, I prefer organic. As good old Mick sings, “You can’t always get what you want.”

L: Does the final result look better on regular materials or “organic” materials?

R: I can’t tell the difference by looking at the final product.

L: How do you go about gaining “organic” materials?

R: Research, research, research. My suppliers are confidential, I’m afraid. this is a competitive advantage my business has over others offering similar solutions.

L: What are “organic” materials (ink, paper, etc…) made of?

R: Percentage or [nearly] complete use of recycled paper, post-consumer products, soy, elephant dung, wheat, corn, cotton, hemp, rice, bamboo, banana, seaweed — lots of things! I suspect that any kind of plant material can easily be made into paper. Heck — anything you can stick in a blender with a little adhesive could be made into paper. (I’d recommend drying out the material before you pulp it [for handmade paper], though.)

L: Speaking in the long-term, what can be a positive of using “organic” materials? A negative?

R: Positive: Less impact on the environment. Also, as more people use organic materials, industry prices for such materials will reduce.
Negative: It could put lumberjacks and the old, traditional mills out of business and make a lot of people unemployed. But maybe that’s not really a negative….

L: Speaking in the short-term, what can be a positive of using “organic” materials? A negative?

R: Positive: There is a growing emphasis on using organic materials. Conscientious consumers are beginning to demand it, which in turn, creates supply.
Negative: Being completely strict about using organic materials — it’s more difficult to find clients willing to pay for the extra expense. If I weren’t flexible, I could go out of business. (Keep in mind that most business people operate with conservative values.) The majority of businesses look at the bottom line. Next in line are the businesses looking for a good value (quality + cost). And finally, the business extremists, who are the ones I care deeply for because their lives are very hard, are the least in number and are the ones who live with unwavering social and environmental conscientiousness. They will save up to pay for the “right thing.”

L: What are the environmental benefits of “organic” materials?

R: Some can be composted and they won’t pollute the soil.
Less waste in landfills.
Can be recycled.
You can lick them and won’t get sick. (Just kidding).

L: What are the social benefits of “organic” materials?

R: Liberals will like you and invite you to parties.

L: What are the political benefits of “organic” materials?

R: If you use them in your campaign, you might not get elected (expense) or may get elected (values).

L: What types of customers use your services?

R: Cultural Creatives, Women, Independent business people

L: What projects would work best with “organic” materials?

R: Usually, it’s not the composition of the materials but the texture, look etc that we’re trying to achieve.

L: What percentage of the recycled paper is truly recycled?

R: Can be up to 100%. Check each package to see the amount of recycled content.

L: What’s the process of making the recycled paper and soy inks?

R: This is beyond my expertise. As a novice, however, when I make my own paper, I put the paper I’m recycling into a blender with water. Then I filter it by pouring it through a mesh screen (very similar to what’s on a screen door) . I want the pulp to lay out as thinly as possible across the screen. Then, I press it down across the screen with a sponge to juice out the excess water. (This is the most time-consuming part.) I might let it sit out and dry a little. Then, I iron it flat.

Paper made from elephant [dung] is boiled before filtering to eliminate bacteria and smell. The elephant does most of the pulping through the digestive process. Isn’t that a clever use of nature?

L: What is the biodegradable time line?

R: Depends upon the material and what kind of environment it’s in. For example, one compostable plastic I use degrades better in dry, hot, direct-sunlight vs. in the compost bin, where it’s humid and dark. My understanding is that it’s somewhere between 2 weeks to several months given the optimal conditions. So, the dependencies are:

• Moisture
• Animals / insects / microorganisms available to help break the material down
• Light exposure
• Heat exposure
• Other surrounding materials — need the right balance of brown (dead leaves, dead grass, unnourished soil — carbon rich) and green materials (leaves, fruits, kitchen scraps, egg shells, coffee grounds, tea bags — nitrogen rich).
• Exposure to air

Small business owners sometimes think that they should have to go to their printer to obtain quality marketing communications materials. Not so! With a high-resolution color inkjet printer and a great design, you can easily print your own materials as you need them.

Offset printing and digital printing both require a minimum quantity to get the best value for your dollar. When your quantities are limited or you don’t need the medium very often, you can choose to print when you need it. Also, changes incur little or no cost to you should you move to a new office or fax number.

Consider letterhead, for example. If you already have a professional logo, creating clever, quality letterhead can be accomplished for only a few hundred dollars of design time. With the right selection of paper and the resulting Word template, you can write your letters right onto the letterhead file and save them to your computer.

Moreover, the information contained on your letterhead can be easily changed with a print-on-demand solution. Say you change your office number. You can make this change yourself right in the document rather than having to incur more professional design fees — and going to print again.

Print on demand can work for most marketing communications media you send to your printer:

• Letterhead
• Postcards
• Invitations
• Business Cards
• Address Labels
• Shipping Labels
• CD Labels
• Brochures
• Sales Sheets / One-Sheets
• Booklets

Not all projects work well, however. Packaging, folders, manuals with lots of pages, and books are better brought to your offset printer. Also, when you need 200 units (pages, cards, sheets of labels, etc) or more, an offset or digital solution will save you the extra work involved in printing, hole punching, collating, stapling, and other assembly and preparation.

Contact us if you are interested in a low-quantity, print-on-demand solution for your business or independent practice.