Are you interested in doing more to save the environment but worried about what the typical reusable bag says about your sense of fashion? I recently came across a company called bukabags. They’re based in Seattle, and they create fun, stylish, and reusable canvas bags. It’s a cool alternative to plastic bags and the reusable bags sold at supermarkets.
I recently spoke with Blair Holbrook, one of the founders of bukabags. Last year, Blair and his cousin Yuka started bukabags in order to do something about being green. They’re a pretty small company right now, but they have some great ideas in the pipeline. Also, since bukabags is relatively small, Blair and Yuka offer intimate service and are willing to work with their customers closely and directly to make sure customers are 100 percent satisfied with their products. They will even try to do what they can to handle special requests, and accept product returns if you’re unhappy.
Bukabags are made of 100% 10 ounce American cotton and made in the USA. The designs are professionally created, and bukabags even offers customers the ability to create custom designs when ordering 50 bags or more. Blair says they will be offering bags made out of recycled bottles and that they will be introducing community generated designs as well. Look for bukabags to also extend their product line into other categories.
As a special for Things That Make You Go Green readers, Blair is offering a 15% discount on all orders through April 20, 2007. Simply enter the code “ttmygg†during checkout for the discount. If you order multiple quantities, note the ordering system scales shipping costs directly, so contact bukabags directly and they’ll reduce the shipping costs appropriately. Blair is working to fix this so that shipping costs scale more reasonable in the ordering system. As a full disclosure, TTMYGG is not making any money off this in order to pass on the full savings to our readers.
Who says being green can’t be cool?
Not everyone is lucky enough to live close enough to his / her work to be able to walk, but if you do, (like me) you could still end up driving most of the time. Which, sadly to say, I do. Hey, it gets cold and rainy here in California too!
But recently I’ve decided to start walking to work more. Of course, it’s good for the environment. Even though I only live 1.3 miles away from work, it’s gas that I’m not burning. But it’s also great exercise. and According to this article on About.com,
A moderate level of physical activity, such as walking 30 minutes a day, lengthened life by 1.3 years and added 1.1 more years without cardiovascular disease, compared with those with low activity levels. Those who chose a high physical activity level gained 3.7 years of life and added 3.3 more years without cardiovascular disease.
If you’re considering walking to work more often, here are a few helpful tips:
- Keep a pair of shoes at work. That way you can wear comfortable running shoes on the way to work, and back.
- Measure the distance! Google Maps has a great tool (flip to the My Maps tab, and select “Distance Measurement Tool”) for measuring distances. That’s how I know that I live 1.3 miles from my house.
- Get a pedometer. It’s fun to track how much you walk in a day. You’re supposed to walk 10,000 steps a day – my round trip is about 6000 steps. Both JB and I have this one, by Omron:
I also have to say, though, that one of my favorite benefits of walking to work is that I just really enjoy it. I find that it’s nice to have some quiet time to think, listen to music, and get ready for the day – or decompress after a long day on the internets. Give it a shot!
I think I mentioned to you all awhile back that I’m planning a wedding. Which is quite possibly the worst. thing. to. ever. have. to. plan. There are way too many details for my feeble brain to handle and I’m getting completely overwhelmed with all of the options. Thank goodness for the internet though – how did people ever plan weddings pre-internet?! Also, three cheers for my wedding planner who is taking care of the bulk of the work for us.
Anyway, I have been looking around for wedding invitations. I cannot believe how freaking expensive these things are, but that’s another story. One of the things I’m wrestling with is how much paper is involved with a “traditional” wedding invitation. There’s the envelope, the invitation, the response card with its own envelope, reception cards… Oh, and perhaps another card for map(s), save the dates, matching thank you cards, etc. You get the drift. It’s a lot of paper!
One interesting option I’ve found is “plantable stationary.” I had never heard of it before until I started looking online for invitations. Apparently, you can order paper invitations which are embedded with seeds and can be planted into a pot of soil.
Botanical Paperworks is one such company that provides this type of stationary. Check out their site if you’re interested in learning more. Definitely a very unique idea!
You know you’ve turned a corner when you start bringing home empty water bottles so you can recycle them, because when you tried to throw them away earlier, you couldn’t find any recycling bins…
I can’t imagine that I would have done this even one year ago.
Green is the new black.
Hey, did you hear the news that in about two weeks, on March 29, 2008, millions of people around the globe will be turning off their lights for one hour at 8pm, to send a united message on the need for global warming action?
It all started in Sydney, Australia back in March 2007, where 2.2M people and 2100 Sydney businesses (including the historic Opera House and Harbour Bridge) shut the lights off for an hour. Cities around the world took notice, hence the global event which is happening at the end of this month.
If you’re interested in learning more, check out their website. You can sign up to take action, and receive some great tips. Don’t forget to tell your friends about this important event, or better yet, create a local event! The site has a great PDF link with some ideas on how you can make this happen in your own community.