Yes, but why?

Hey there, fans of the environment and Jenn. Melissa here. I know, I know, here I am butting in just as Jenn gets back from her literary adventures, but I've been backburnering this review for weeks just because it's been a crazy month, and she's been asking, so here it is.

A couple of months ago, Jenn asked me to check out Guiding Light for your Mailbox, a product so tough to explain that the manufacturer, Sharpe Products, Inc., doesn't seem to be able to give it a blurb of less than 10 words. Their attempt: "The ultimate in night time home identification -- when seconds matter."

Actually, it's a mailbox "saddle" -- designed to sit on top of mailboxes -- with backlit house numbers, so emergency responders will immediately be able to ID your home from the mailbox, should the need arise.

"But what's the green angle?" you say? Well, the backlighting for the house numbers is solar powered. Four hours of sunlight charge three C-size rechargeable batteries to provide the illumination.

Does it work? I'm pretty sure you could see my house numbers from space, so yes, in that sense, it does work. There are some limitations. It only works for standard size, upside-down U shaped boxes that do not already have some sort of decorative housing on them (my box has a housing, so I was unable to fully screw the saddle down as intended -- fortunately we didn't have any gale force winds while I was testing it!).

Second, I live in a neighborhood where the post office has decreed that all mailboxes be on one side of the street, which means mine is paired with my across-the-street neighbor's. My box is on the "inside" as you drive down our street -- so emergency responders would have a great view of my box if they were stopped directly in front of it, but would have a hard time seeing it through my neighbor's box. I'm sure the company could find a workaround (like numbers for the front of the box), but....

One bigger question remains. Why? Why does this product need to exist? Adhesive reflective numbers that go on mailboxes or houses themselves have been around for ages, and they're plenty easy to see. And sure, it's solar powered, but why does the world need big plastic mailbox saddles, and all the chemicals inherent in their manufacturing process, not to mention the petroleum and carbon emissions from shipping them? And what happens to those saddles and batteries when they wear out?

Maybe there's something special about how Sharpe makes these that the company didn't bother to share in the packaging (ack, another environmental cost!), but even if there is, is it so necessary that it's worth all those considerations? I just can't see how. Just in case I'm missing something, I'll give Guiding Light for your Mailbox two leaves.

Subtract a half leaf, at least, if these are produced and shipped in your standard not-particularly-environmentally-friendly methods. My final thought for today (at least for GLR): Life cycle, life cycle, life cycle!

Earthworm Cleaning Products Series Odor Eliminator and Upholstery Cleaner

Good morning folks and thanks for joining us for the final installment of the Earthworm cleaning products series. Clean Earth Brands sent me two full boxes of their fine products to review and Leaf Rate. I have used all of the products sent to me to date and today I would like to discuss both the Odor Eliminator and Carpet and Upholstery Cleaners.

Before I go on I would like to remind everyone that this is the final installment of a long running series on Earthworm products and that out of the gate there were some fabulous benefits as well as an overall impressive factor to the products that did seem to work but sadly as I have used more of these items I have become less enthusiastic and more concerned for their effectiveness and truthfulness in marketing.

I shook up and sprayed the Carpet and Upholstery Cleaner on a small spot on Matt’s chair (that you can see just in front of the bottle in the picture above) and the Odor eliminator across our kitchen where we had cooked with onions the night before & they were still lingering. As instructed I let the Upholstery Cleaner sit for about seven minutes. I grabbed the suggested rag and began blotting. Nothing happened so I figured perhaps I didn’t leave it on long enough and re-sprayed, this time leaving it on for twelve minutes. This is the result of two applications:

As you can see there was literally no change at all to the spot. I tried it on a black spot on my carpet with similar results. Sadly the Odor Eliminator also gets my thumbs down as my kitchen still smelled like onions.

As I mentioned yesterday -- What most concerns me, is that every single product I have tested so far is comprised of the exact same ingredients, which leads me to wonder if it is the same product repackaged with a new name and sold as something different -- how could a mildew remover take a spot of dirt off my upholstery or smells out of the air?

Sorry Earthworm, although I truly send ♥love♥ out for your effort to make the planet a better place through lack of chemical composition, I smell Greenwashing here and I can not grant more than a Two Leaf Rating for these products, collectively.

It saddens me to end this series on a downer note but I truly believe that the consumer should be aware of what it is they are buying when they spend money on an alleged Earth friendly item.

Bic Ecolutions Wite-Out

Despite my best efforts to remain positive and offer killer high Leaf Rating reviews, there are times when a product simply bums me out, sadly Bic’s ecolutions Wite-Out was one of those products. I want to be very clear here -- the concept is good and I certainly applaud their efforts to attempt to do anything that is better for the planet -- but I do not believe this is the best way to go about marketing it.

As I had indicated the other day I was specifically shopping for a correction tape Wite-Out while grocery shopping. Because I am savvy with my cash I comparison shop even if the first package I pick up is green and has the word ‘eco’ on it. Part of this environment is my own so if I can spend a little less on these type of items then I will certainly do so.

There were two types of correction tape available, this ecolutions version by Bic and a generic Staples offering. The prices were within a couple pennies of each other and this one had a little bit more length so since it was also touted to be Green I tossed a couple in the cart and came home to dive into the research.

Some of the positives of this product include the fact that the cardboard packaging is made from 100% recycled fiber and that 51% of the plastic in the product is recycled. Sounds great right?

Sadly the plastic is pre-consumer which is to say that it existed somewhere in the factory already, likely as a cutoff from another product’s creation, and it was tossed back into the melting pot to be turned into this Wite-Out or other ecolutions products. As a Greenie I have a hard time calling this process recycling but rather lifecycling; as the scrap has never gotten into the hands of a consumer and come back around, these leftovers are simply able to bring life to a different product.

This product was definitely smaller than the Staples version which is nice that they designed to save on materials, but then Bic went and mucked that up by creating a separate protective cap. An extraneous piece not at all required for such an item.

Now I am not saying the product does not work, on the contrary the correction tape part of this item is possibly the best I have ever used, I am simply disappointed with the way these items are being marketed (there are about ten products in the line so far). Because of all of these factors I am saddened to grant only a Two Leaf Rating to the Bic ecolutions Wite-Out.

You are thinking in the right direction Bic but I highly encourage you to take a cue from your bioplastic shaver and start using that corn based material for these plastic office supplies then watch your Leaf Rating soar!
♥love♥

Paper Water Bottles

Yes you read that title correctly! A few days ago one of my favorite foodie bloggers Karen sent me a link for Paper Water Bottles. I was completely intrigued as I had never heard of or seen anything like this before and I dove into researching this bold concept to see if it was even viable because my initial reaction (as I am sure many of yours) was ‘how can paper hold water?’. What I discovered is that the 306 Paper Water Bottle by Brand Image is an innovative and feasible product, but it is one I seriously question the need for.


Brand Image is a marketing company and as such wants to ensure their literal image is seen by as many people as possible. Since this concept is seemingly so impossible it will likely receive a lot of press which ensures a vast public viewing. The thing with consumers these days, especially those who are eco-conscious, is that they are savvy and no matter how “cool” the concept is, if it is not a solid contribution to the planet, they ain’t buyin’. The 360 has pros and cons.

When compared to a plastic water bottle the life span of the 360 is much shorter. The bottle is lined with a sugar based polyester (PLA film) which is fully biodegradable but will also break down quickly meaning each bottle will likely only get one go round. Some experts say a plastic water bottle should not be used more than once, however it is actually possible to do so without a breakdown of fibers. Also as a plastic bottle has a screw on cap, the 360 has a snap off top which is said to reseal but if the paper (or other natural fibers such as bamboo, etc) begins to break down, the cap will not secure tight enough for transport.

Both a plastic bottle and the 360 can be recycled which is definitely a pro but unlike a plastic bottle which is only partially (if even) created from recycled materials, the 360 is created from 100% renewable resources.

Where the 360 has plastic beat is in both its total design and reasoning behind its creation. It comes in six pack or larger and every bit of the packaging for transport is the same material as the bottle itself which ensures full recycling capability. The reasoning behind its creation is to ensure that the 86% of plastic bottles thrown into landfills each year is transformed into a biodegradable material instead. I must admire the innovation there.

Overall I am back and forth on this concept where on the one hand it would be great to find a use for all the paper we toss each year but on the other I question why we can’t just make use of a travel mug or aluminum bottle. Due to its innovative concept and environmental consciousness I am granting the 360 a Two Leaf Rating.

Thanks for thinking in the right direction Brand Image!

Eco Movie Bio-Dome Gets Two Leaf Rating

As many of you know I also contribute to another environmental blog called The Organic Mechanic. My basic job description over at TOM (hey, there is TED why not TOM too right?) is to locate, interview and post anything related to artists working in an environmentally friendly way. I have been writing for them since June and it has been going pretty well but sometimes it is difficult to ensure a person responds to the questions sent to them. There is only so much email stalking I am willing to take part in. When the interview responses began to thin out I shifted gears to expand my horizons on the type of posting I was putting up there. The following review of Bio-Dome is a reprint of my original TOM post with only slight modifications for grammar and the title; I figured readers of GLR would like to check this out as well. Enjoy and if you do rent this movie, don’t say I didn’t warn you!



Released in 1996, Bio-Dome attempted to bring an eco-conscious attitude to the forefront of the burned out minds of teenage boys everywhere through use of crass humor and wild fantasy (such as the fact that not one but two attractive and intelligent women could actually be interested in the lead characters Bud and Doyle). If there was not an environmental back plot this flick would be classified, like many other movies starring Pauly Shore or Stephen Baldwin, as a “stoner” movie but because there is an effort to include a fantastic moral message, the bad acting and terrible script take a back seat in this review.

The plot is simple -- A couple of unattractive, lame guys with a generally cavalier attitude about the planet miraculously manage to date environmentally stringent and beautiful women then through a course of predictably moronic twists, somehow become locked inside, destroy and subsequently end up saving an entire, working eco-system.

Does this concept sound a bit far fetched? Remove the idiot character factor and that leaves us with a sealed, working eco-system. This notion is one that dates back to the early 1800’s when a British physician discovered that plants could grow under glass. It would be fair to assume that Nathaniel Ward would be proud to learn his findings were used as fodder for a comedy which is the basis for why this movie will get a positive review here.

Some concepts discussed in the movie are recycling, land clean up (litter is discussed several times) and an appreciation for Earth Day. The movie is not a motion picture epic but holds a slight bit of predictable humor while it promotes bettering the environment. That is a notion we should all support so I give this movie a Two Leaf Rating.