Thoughts Into 2009

Hi,

As 2009 slowly gathers momentum (I cannot believe we are almost at February) at Todae's HQ the Todae Team have been talking about where this year will take us, we are facing new challenges. There are many questions that we have and there has been a lot of discussion around the office:

- What is Obama really going to do for the environment?

- Are we going to see even more severe natural disasters this year?

- What one product can reduce an individuals footprint the most?

- Can humans live sustainably with the planet?

So we thought we would open a forum to any questions, concerns or statements about this year. Feel free to ask anything and to contribute anything.

Hopefully we can answer your questions or just have an interesting discussion.

Thanks,

Landon

Todae Eco Store

Comments

[Dave]

I like your question about what product can reduce your footprint the most - what would that be and then where can I get it :)

[Todae Team]

Hi Dave,

Thanks for the question. It definitely is a difficult one to answer - and unfortunately there is no easy answer because every person's footprint is different so there cannot be a unique product across the board that would make the biggest impact to your footprint. For example:

You can have a vegetarian who drives to work everyday or a meat-eater who rides a bike to work everyday. For each of these people there are different solutions to reducing their respective footprints.

But to answer the question I would say the biggest 'thing' that can help to reduce one's footprint is - AWARENESS. By this I mean, be aware of the environmental consequences of your everyday actions. This is just basically having a think about your life/actions and where you can reduce your impact. This may sound difficult - I can hear people saying "I do not want to analyse everything I do" but there is a simple way to do this, just to start off. Here is a few ideas:

Sit for 10 minutes and think about the big emitters in your life: Energy, Waste, Transport - think about what part of each of these three things adds to your footprint, and then you can think of easy solutions to reduce this, like:
- Energy: Switch to greenpower, get an energy meter to measure your appliances to see which appliances cost the most to run and then make sure you try to reduce the use of those appliances, switch your lights off when not in a room.
- Waste: Purchase more fresh food than packaged, purchase items with recyclable packaging (or recycled packaging), use a compost bin (like the Bokashi), take your own containers for take-outs and carry round a re-usable bottle (e.g. Sigg bottles) with you instead of buying bottled drinks.
- Transport: If you drive everyday, choose 1 day to start off to take public transport or organise a car pool, for short trips walk, catch a bus or ride. Shop locally rather than driving far.

These examples are small changes that will make a big difference. You can then take this mentality into the rest of your life. So in conclusion, I would say awareness about your actions would be the best way to reduce your footprint as if you don't know the consequences then how can you know how to reduce your footprint?

I hope this helps.

Landon