I went to Starbucks this morning for an Americano, and I asked for my prepaid card balance. They printed it out instead of telling me. I looked, it was $14+/- I crumpled it up, and I threw it out.
How “shared planet” is that? Mr./Ms. Barista, could you please just say, “$14.xx”? I’ll say, “Thanks”. We’ll be done.
http://www.starbucks.com/sharedplanet/ourResponsibility.aspx
My opinion? Starbucks is a little too “forest”, and not enough “trees”.
I enjoy cooking. I cook all the time. I get hungry, I need to eat, and it’s fun. I get a sense of accomplishment from it because I’ve made something. I’m not a patient man; I’ve never had time to make plastic model airplanes or anything like that. But cooking? It’s quick and easy and results are obvious and edible.
Last night was pretty cool because apparently for all my cooking life I’ve been adding oil to the pan too soon. But, I found this video online and I tried it out. It’s the “mercury ball water test”.
It works. And it works well. Extremely well. Last night I made chicken chow mein after making sure the pan was hot enough. Not only did my meal taste awesome, but nothing stuck. I mean nothing. Usually when I make stir fry, the soy sauce that I add at the end gets stuck to the pan and it’s a pain to clean and annoying. But last night? Even the soy sauce balled up. It flavoured the food and didn’t dirty the pan. I must be a simple kind a guy with simple thrills, but I thought this was really cool.
So if you’ve read this far you’re probably thinking, “Tom, seriously. You’re talking about a hot pan here!!” Well, it was awesome!!!!
How does this relate to recycling? Well, I thought of that. For Christmas, consider making your friends, family or loved ones a nice yummy meal!!!!
See? Easy. The “mercury ball water test” is good for the environment!
It’s a question Metro Vancouver is asking this year as part of their Zero Waste campaign and the answer is…… ALL OF IT!
http://www.metrovancouver.org/services/solidwaste/zerowaste/Pages/holidaycampaign.aspx
That’s right ladies and gentlemen. All of it. Unless you’re planning on giving away an original Picasso or something like that. Eventually the screen will get scratched, the controller will break, it a tire will pop, you’ll hate Rogers, whatever. It’s all destined to be toast!
But, while I can’t stop the inevitable – wouldn’t even dare try. What I can do is suggest something semi helpful.
If you go to Craigslist Vancouver and click on For Sale, you can search based on price. From here you can select if you need an image or not and then you can browse. Scroll away people, scroll away…
Selling or buying used things is awesome. Why? Because everything we (Fresh Start) haul away has “negative value”. It cost $X new, and now you’re willing to pay $Y to have it removed. It’s now worth a negative $ amount. Everything we own moves along this price continuum but we can delay the inevitable and put a little extra cash in our pockets by selling it on Craigslist (I personally HIGHLY recommend 
you do this with your evil hide-a-beds).
Some person needs money. You need a gift. You’d like to try and be a little less impactful on the environment. Well, I’m shopping on Craigslist this year. It’s going to fun! Come and join me!!!!! Tell me if you got anything cool for your friends and family AND your $$$ will go farther. You’ll probably get them something really cool! Plus there’s a section called “Barter“. Maybe you could even trade something you don’t want for some neato gift. Aren’t the holidays cool?
Reported today on BBC’s Website “Poor Women ‘Bear Climate Burden’”.
Complete link to story here: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/8365808.stm
My blackberry has died before my contract is up. I told my cousin about this (he’s a lawyer but that’s not why I told him – I told him because he was on my couch and we were playing video games when the phone died) . He was pretty excited to hear about this because in BC there is a statute that says goods should last a “reasonable” period of time, regardless of what the warranty is. Here, I’ll prove it:
Implied conditions as to quality or fitness
18 Subject to this and any other Act, there is no implied warranty or condition as to the quality or fitness for any particular purpose of goods supplied under a contract of sale or lease, except as follows:
(a) if the buyer or lessee, expressly or by implication, makes known to the seller or lessor the particular purpose for which the goods are required, so as to show that the buyer or lessee relies on the seller’s or lessor’s skill or judgment, and the goods are of a description that it is in the course of the seller’s or lessor’s business to supply, whether the seller or lessor is the manufacturer or not, there is an implied condition that the goods are reasonably fit for that purpose; except that in the case of a contract for the sale or lease of a specified article under its patent or other trade name, there is no implied condition as to its fitness for any particular purpose;
(b) if goods are bought by description from a seller or lessor who deals in goods of that description, whether the seller or lessor is the manufacturer or not, there is an implied condition that the goods are of merchantable quality; but if the buyer or lessee has examined the goods there is no implied condition as regards defects that the examination ought to have revealed;
(c) there is an implied condition that the goods will be durable for a reasonable period of time having regard to the use to which they would normally be put and to all the surrounding circumstances of the sale or lease;
(d) an implied warranty or condition as to quality or fitness for a particular purpose may be annexed by the usage of trade;
(e) an express warranty or condition does not negative a warranty or condition implied by this Act unless inconsistent with it.
What this piece of law above says to me is that if your are sold a phone with a contract attached lasting three years, you should be able to expect that phone to last 3 years.
What actually happens is that RIM sells Rogers a phone and says, “Only a chump would expect that to last longer than 1 year, we’ll include a 1 year manufactures warranty”. Rogers says, “Thanks RIM, we’ll take it from here”. Rogers sells me that phone for 3 years knowing that it will break sometime after the 1 year period is up but technology being so exciting and handheld GPSs being all that they are, they expect me to throw caution to the wind. Which I suppose I did, and people continue to do this all the time. Rogers (or any cell phone company) say, ok customer, you’ve locked in with us for $150 for 36 months ($5400) but we know your phone will break after 1 year – if your phone makes it to 2 years, we’ll allow you a “free” upgrade. If it doesn’t make it to 2 years, for every month remaining we’ll charge you $10 to break that part of the contract.
I ended up speaking to many people there, but the 3rd+ guy I spoke to, Zavn, also told me that Rogers had nothing to do with the hardware and wouldn’t be reasoned with. Even when I explained to him that if Nike sells me a pair of running shoes, and if for some reason those shoes are defective, I don’t go back to the originial factory in Indonesia and demand a refund, I go back to the Nike store. In much the same way I paid Rogers for the phone (regardless of who made it because I didn’t personally pay RIM for the phone) they should be responsible. Especially if they want me to complete my 3 year contract.
So here we stand.
Me on one side, and Rogers on the other. I’m weighing my options. They did offer me a “free” phone to renew for another 3 years (which as discussed is really not particularly free, it’s an additional $5400 bringing the total to $10,800 for 6 years of cellular use), but I said that only a fool repeats the same behaviour expecting different outcomes.
Some advice to avoid this? Don’t buy a phone with a contract that extends beyond the manufacturers warranty. Rogers will make you pay the retail price for a replacement to get you to the end of the contract; if you would like another “free” phone, you will have to sign on for another 3 years. It was unclear to me when that 3 years would start. From the day you sign up, or beginning at the end of the present contract. Weather it’s at the start of the contract or the middle of the contract you will end up paying retail for the phone. At least do it knowingly.
Do you know anyone that’s put their finger in a mouse trap? Twice??
Frankly I’ve had a terrible time coming up with ideas for the blog lately, but I’m in luck. I don’t think I could write a better article than this one on the environmental/moral costs of carving pumpkins.
http://whitehorsesonthebay.blogspot.com/2009/10/i-dont-mean-to-sound-all-anti-pumpkin.html
An exceptionally good read, and admittedly, something I hadn’t paid a whole lot of attention to.
Thanks Charllote! (and her daughter too!!)
Just recovering from a bit of minor surgery so that’s why the blog hasn’t been updated in a little while. I was presented with this link recently and I thought I would post it just to prove I still exist.
It’s in response to my request to find a way to reuse fabric in this city because I know the owners of Bring Your Own Bag (http://www.bringyourownbag.ca/). They came to me asking if there was a way they could make their “green” bags greener. I said, “What about turning waste fabric into new product”.
Here’s the link:
So, Starbucks has created “Via” which is their new instant coffee. It’s supposed to taste exactly like fresh brewed coffee. I haven’t tried it yet, so I can’t comment on the taste, but I will say that I’m not certain it fits in line with Starbucks’ effort to reduce waste. To me, it seems like more packaging and a system based nearly entirely around “single use” packaging. They’re selling it in 3 use packages and 12 use packages.
http://starbucks.tekgroup.com/article_display.cfm?article_id=270
The even have a picture of a paper cup on the box, and not a reuseable mug. People say all the time that they’re immune to advertising, well… why am I writing about “Via” then? If you want people to start using travel mugs, and ceramic mugs, why is there a paper mug on the package?
I simply don’t see how “Via” is in line with their stated goals to recycle. They say that they want to have the “option” to recycle in 100% of the stores where they manage the waste management solution. “http://www.starbucks.com/sharedplanet/environmentalInternal.aspx?story=recycling“
Well, I’d like to go on record as saying I don’t think that’s good enough. I see lots of under utilized blue (recycling) boxes as I go about my day, and lots of garbage in recycling bins, and lots of recycling in garbage bins. How about an overall waste reduction by X percent, and an overall increase in recycling by X %? And by “waste reduction” I don’t mean necessarily moving the kg of waste generation from 1 column over to another column marked “recycling”, I mean an actual reduction in waste generated and an actual, tangible increase in materials recycled.
To me, while this product may or may not taste like fresh brewed, it runs counter to a larger issue, a declared goal of Starbucks, to have a better, happier planet.
That’s my 2 cents.
I want to hear yours. Please, seriously. I think there’s a larger issue to discuss here.
It’s not cold YET! But it will get that way, and it will get wet and it will happen soon. I’d like to introduce you to Spud Patrol. I heard about them last year through CBC’s morning feature, “Bright Lights”.
Here’s a quote from their main page:
A little effort on our part goes a long way. Each month on Saturday nearest the full moon a group of us go to downtown eastside Vancouver, Nanaimo, & Victoria to distribute home-baked potatoes. We go rain or shine. In fact, it is easy to think that this is someone else’s problem and to stay in the comfort of our homes, but we encourage you to put love and compassion into practice by DIRECTLY helping those less fortunate than yourself – you’ll be glad you did!
Take a look at their website, and give them a visit. You’ll be glad you did!
