A Bad Week for Solar

Well the last weeks has seen 2 interesting announcements for Solar Power. Ill give you the bad news first and then the good:

BP Solar to close manufacturing plant in Sydney

This was an announcement last week from BP Solar, which will mean the end of any commercially available solar modules manufactured in Australia. BP announced that its reason to close the plant is because it is competing with plants 20 times its size and cannot compete on pricing. This is sad news for the Solar industry as well as Australian local manufacturing. Todae has been selling BP Solar products for a few years now, and although we are not tied in exclusively to BP products, we have always supported and promoted them due to the fact that they are Australian made and therefore have lower embodied energy (as they don’t need to be shipped from overseas) than other solar modules. We also encouraged their sales because they are supporting the local industry and economy.

Although I agree with BP that it would be difficult to produce solar panels here for the same price as larger offshore factories, I cant say I agree with the decision to close the plant. As a reseller of these products, we know that there is a large demand for them, and have occasionally had to wait for certain products that are not in stock as demand has been too high. With growing demand for solar panels in general and a strengthening demand for local product (especially when our dollar is so volatile), I have no doubt there is still a lucrative market in Australia for locally manufactured modules. To me, this is a sad reflection of our manufacturing and purchasing mentality – to always err towards offshore products as they are cheaper to produce. I feel we really need to change this way of thinking (and behaving) if we want long term protection of our economy and our environment. All I can say is that I hope another Australian entity buys the plant and keeps producing solar modules locally – I know I would if I had the funds!

Danin

More information can be found here:

Sustainable November Nights - Food and Ethics

As part of our Sustainable November Nights http://www.todae.com.au/SustainableNovemberNights, I gave a talk on Food and Ethics at our Bondi Store. It was a great evening and many people asked for a copy of the presentation, so I though I would provide an overview for anyone who is interested. If you would like more detail please email me at thoughts@todae.com.au and I will send you all the relevant info. Enjoy,
Danin

Ethics and Food:

Overview:

• To create awareness to enable people to make informed choices
• Food is one of the largest things we consume – therefore scale of consumption has an enormous affect on a number of things. 3 Meals per day x 365 days = massive amount of consumption
• Food we eat is directly linked to people and planet. Our choices have an enormous impact on the way the world works, and it is our responsibility to understand the impacts on this.

Food and global sustainability

• Food miles
• Energy and Water intensive foods
• Chemicals and agriculture
• Biodiversity
• Packaging
• Waste

Food and Poverty

• Fair trade – overview
• Western Eating habits affects developing cultures
• World bank and IMF loans changing cultures and lifestyles
• Exploitation of resources

Animal rights

• Significance of animal products
• Factory farming
• Cruelty
• Unused product
• Organics

Food and Corporations:

• Who owns the food we eat
• How food gets to shelves
• Cost cutting and quality
• Detachment from real food.

Genetic modification

• What is GE?
• Affects on health
• Corporate control
• Risk of extinction of majority of the worlds crop strains
• Affects on local communities

Personal Health

• Nutrition
• Future generations
• Biodivertisy is removing strains that are beneficial for health.
• Chemicals in food
• Packaged and processed foods

Actions and ideas:

• Familiarise yourself with these ideas - educate
• Grow your own food
• Eat organic
• Farmers markets
• Buy locally
• Less meat
• make it a ritual
• Buy fresh with less packaging
• Take your own packaging
• Buy in season
• Understand who you are supporting
• Create a greater appreciation of food.

Exceptional Experiences - Part I

It has been a big year for Todae. We have experienced a lot of growth and a lot of interesting changes. We have worked hard at being the best and most innovative company in our field, and have had a lot of fun doing it.  Out of all the challenges we have faced, the most difficult and most exciting is how to provide an exceptional experience for customers and staff – not just once, but all the time. This is our goal.
We are trying to create something unique and different – not just by providing  great products and services, but by the experience you gain in interacting with us – whether you buy something or not.
If you have any thoughts or feedback on how we could be doing this better, I would love to hear them  at thoughts@todae.com.au

Until next time,

Danin

PS. This probably wont be the last time you hear my thoughts on this - so I have referred to it as Part I.

A Summary of The Plastic Diet:

Well now that the dust has settled and the 1 month of shedding plastic from my diet has ended, I thought it would be good to recap some of the highs and lows. Overall I am most pleased with my performance and am really glad I embraced the challenge. Ultimately, although it did require a certain discipline and diligence about how I consumed, I don’t think it was as challenging as I thought it was going to be. Following are some of the highlights:

Some of the Highs:

• The positive influence this diet had on so many people – from family and friends to complete strangers.
• Although I didn’t add it up – the amount of plastic waste I saved from landfill (and production) is very satisfying.
• Realising that a lot of people were curious about our discussions and interactions, and when I explained what I was doing and why, most people thanked me for bringing it to their attention as they have never thought of plastic from this perspective before.
• The little efforts some people made to support me – like my Mum going out of her way to buy bread in paper so when I came for dinner their was no plastic involved in the meal.
• All the really encouraging emails I received from people all around Australia.
• The Nuts Episode (read blog post on Sept 8th)
• Not drinking any pre-bottled drinks for a month. Although this may sound like quite a challenge in this day and age, fresh tap water and the odd beer on tap was most gratifying.

Some of the Lows:

Going

• to all the effort of explaining why I didn’t require a straw for the fresh juice I ordered only to find that it was served in a plastic cup because all the glass ones were dirty…
• Getting a craving for some junk food and having to go without.
• The Nuts Episode (read blog post on Sept 8th)
• Being ridiculed by certain people when explaining what I was doing. It’s not being ridiculed that disheartens me, it’s that there is such a vast ocean of difference between our perspectives.

So there you have it – definitely more positives than negatives, and no doubt an incredibly worthwhile experience.

Thank you for all the inspirational comments I received and for all those that made an extra effort to accommodate me.

I would encourage everyone to try it.

Danin

A Tale of Positivity

Amongst some of the challenges faced so far, comes a brief tale of positivity.

It takes place at a local café down the road from our offices, where I was having lunch with a colleague of mine (who also happens to double as my brother). We occasionally frequent this establishment, and ever since we have been going there have always made a special request to receive the dressing/sauce that accompanies the meals to be provided in one of their reusable containers, rather than the disposable plastic container that comes standard.

In all the times I have been there I have requested this every time – without really even thinking about it. But alas, today was different, and in true irony, I forgot to make my special request – right in the middle of this plastic diet. How silly of me you may be thinking. Well so was I. I did manage to realise this before the food had arrived, but for some strange reason I didn’t feel compelled to jump off my seat and run to the counter to save the day.

Instead I accepted a bet from my brother (with 2-1 odds in my favour) whether they would remember or not – I betting that they would remember. I calmly thought to myself “is this the best time to be placing faith on something like this? Do I risk breaking this diet after 18 days? Yet still, I felt I had no choice but to let this play its course without my intervention.

Well out comes the food being delivered by someone I had never seen before. I watched as the plates were revealed and to my delight my meal was just as I would have ordered. No plastic disposable containers. A feeling of clarity and strength – not that I had just won a bet, but that I had made my self heard and that the staff at this small and modest café noticed. What was even better is that none of the staff even mentioned it – like it wasn’t even a special request. As I left I thanked the staff for noticing, and I had the following reply radiate back to me from smiling lips: “Of course we would remember. We know you don’t like to throw plastic away”. And there I was thinking that I probably haven’t needed to ask this here for months – they now understand.

With this victory under my belt, my ideas surge forth about how to inspire them to change this for every customer . . .

What Contains Plastic:

Following the last 10 days of the diet, I have come across a host of everyday items that are secretly smuggling plastic directly into landfill. Here are some you may not have suspected:

• Sugar Sachets – Although these seem like they are paper, they are lined with plastic on the inside
• Cardboard Milk Container – Lined with wax on the inside
• Fruit – Avocados, mandarins, apples, oranges, etc. Most have a waterproof plastic sticker on them
• Vegetables – Many supermarket Vege’s contain either a plastic tag, an elastic, or plastic wrapping
• Glass Bottled Beverages – Juice, Beer, Soft drinks. They all have a plastic seal hiding in their lid
• Magazines and Books – Many have a glossy plastic celoglazed cover and a thick plastic adhesive visible in the binding
• Individually Wrapped Tea Bags - Although these seem like they are paper, they are also lined with plastic on the inside
• Paper Coffee Cups – Most are lined with wax on the inside

For most of the above items, the plastic component isn’t really necessary, or there is a suitable alternative solution: Do fruit and vegetables really need these stickers, and are individually wrapped sachets of sugar really providing us with the convenience we crave? I personally think that it is just as convenient and more gratifying pouring sugar out of one of those glass containers.
You may ask: Why spend all this effort writing about something so small and seemingly insignificant as a sachet of sugar? You wouldn’t be wrong in thinking that this is hardly going to solve our problem. What it is intended to do however, is kindle a paradigm shift in the way we think and act. Bringing awareness to ourselves and others about small things such as this, may just lead to the larger thinking we will need to make the significant changes.

The Plastic Diet Day 8 – Nuts

I would like to share a recent occurrence regarding Nuts. That’s right – Nuts.

I was most hungry this afternoon and in need of a savoury snack. Now I’m not sure if you have ever thought about it or not, but most savoury snacks you buy from stores are usually attached to a plastic exoskeleton. Alas, I was fortunate enough to be in the vicinity of a nut vendor that sells nuts in bulk. I walk up to the stall and wait patiently while the aroma of roast nuts tantalises my senses and makes me realise how hungry I actually am.

My turn comes and I politely request 2 bags of different types of nuts to be put into paper bags for me (as they usually put them in plastic sleeves). The person serving me apologises and says “we cannot do that, the paper bags are not for nuts.” I replied by saying that I was not able to use plastic because of an environmental experiment I was conducting (and gave an overview) and kindly asked if they wouldn’t mind making an exception this time. “Sorry sir, we are not allowed to do that!”

I couldn’t believe it. Here I was, a paying customer who had politely explained my predicament and asked for a small favour (a paper bag) and was told “No”. I started walking back to work – feelings of disappointment, frustration and hunger all very present. I quickly resolved to go back, but this time I would be armed with my own paper bags (which I managed to dig out from somewhere). I went back and asked if it was OK for them to use my paper bags. Another attendant (who was aware of the situation) thought about it for a few seconds and reluctantly returned a verdict of Yes. Fantastic – they have decided to allow me to buy their product as I have now brought my own paper bags. I explained the reasons behind all of this to the attendant who actually seemed quite interested. Everything was going splendidly, until armed with a plastic carry bag, he asked me “would you like a bag with that?” – “No Thanks” was my reply as I realised that the only joy I would be getting out of this encounter was the nuts.

So hopeful and excited was I that I had perhaps infiltrated their mote of nuts and dried fruit with a new perspective.

So hopeful was I to be furnishing my hunger with victory Nuts (I know that sound a bit strange) – Nuts victorious with a changed perspective, but unfortunately the only happy ending that this story has, is that I am one step closer to making a change next time round, and that the nuts were delicious...

Danin

The Plastic Diet – More Thoughts

I just wanted to provide further insight as to why I am doing this Plastic Diet. I am a big believer that as a society we take waste for granted. Its just too easy for us buy a bottle of water than to bring our own, to use free plastic bags and straws whenever they are thrown in our direction (see “One Cashier” post), and to not think twice about throwing away a perfectly good plastic container because it has been used.

So one of the real driving forces behind this is to create awareness that will hopefully lead to small dollops of change that over time will create lasting and growing change amongst consumers and businesses alike. I have come into contact with many people over the years who tell me they don’t use a straw anymore after talking to me about it – they don’t feel the desire to use them anymore once they realise that the benefit of the straw is not worth the actual cost of it. This cost being the indirect cost of energy, raw materials and waste. And so over time, Im sure these people have told others who have told others and the spreading of a new idea is slowly eating away at the perspective we were all brought up with – If it doesn’t have a dollar cost, it doesn’t really cost anything.

Please don’t get me wrong, Im definitely not perfect and don’t for a second claim to be. I run a retail business that sells many disposable plastic items, and definitely own a lifestyle that could hardly be called waste-free. Alas, my intent is to focus on the positive - the awareness and change that will hopefully come about from making these sacrifices. The world we live in is the way it is because we choose it to be this way. The biggest vote we make is how we spend our money. It’s small actions by many people that make big differences. If people stopped eating at a café because they served drinks in disposable plastic cups, the café would be forced to change. This is the change that Im hoping to eventually bring about.

So there is a little more of my thinking behind all this. You are welcome to email me at thoughts@todae.com.au if you have any thoughts on the matter.

Until next time,

Danin

The Plastic Diet

In light of all this thinking about waste and plastic, I have decided to try a little experiment to gauge how easy or difficult it is to live a relatively plastic free lifestyle.
Being Spring I thought it would be a good time to start this, so for the month of September, I will be embarking on “The Plastic Diet”. I have tried to make the rules as clear as possible for me to follow, although there are still quite a few grey areas that I will attempt to clarify during the experiment. Before I explain the rules though, here are some of the objectives of the exercise:

• To gain an understanding of my reliance on petroleum based products (predominantly plastics)
• To reduce the amount of non-biodegradable waste I am responsible for
• To provide an alternative perspective of “convenience” when it comes to the way we consume.
• To hopefully create awareness, and inspire you to think about this in the hope that you may make some small changes
• To understand how Todae could be better selecting and promoting the products we sell

As far as the rules of the exercise go, I have created a set of guidelines that I think should enable me to meet the objectives, although I have no doubt that issues will arise that I did not think of and I will have to add those to the rules as I go. Here is the list of initial guidelines:

• I cant purchase any products that contain any plastic
• I cant use or consume free products that contain any plastic (like straws or take away containers)
• I am able to use plastic products if I already own them
• I should be able to conduct this exercise without offending anyone (so if Im a dinner guest and provided with a straw, it would make no sense to refuse it)
• I am able to use food products wrapped in plastic that I already possess (such as peanut butter)
• I cant (and didn’t) stock up on products before the commencement of the diet
• Plastic in this exercise includes anything that is petroleum based such as wax or rubber
• Now the tricky one –Eating Out. This was a really difficult one to set some rules around, so I tried to keep it simple:
• Cant order products that come directly with Plastic (straws, plastic wrap, dips, etc)
• Cant eat out more than I would otherwise
• Try to order as much fresh produce as possible

So that’s it and the exercise is now underway. I’ll keep you posted on how its going…

Danin

The Best of Sydney

Hi everyone,

We are really pleased to announce that Todae has won the "Best Environmental Store/New Age Store" in the Best of Sydney

Awards 2008.

We would like to thank everyone who voted for us! It is really special to receive recognition for our efforts, especially when it is our wonderful customers who vote for us.

Again thanks everyone.

The Todae Team are really excited to have won this award.

:)

Thanks!

Landon

www.todae.com.au