permaculture

[Greg <Greg@UrbanFarm.org>]

Kathyann,

I liken this conversation to the 'buy organic or buy local' 
conversation.  Is it better to buy organic and ship it 1000 miles or 
buy local and not organic?  To me both are good as they both bring 
consciousness to the issue.  So there is a balance that needs to be 
struck about how and what kind of products to bring to the market. 
We have begun compiling a list of requirements for the company that 
is marketing the product, so that the products that we do sell come 
from green companies and not greenwashing companies.

BTW - I did extensive testing on  the laundry ball a couple of years 
back and found it to be a failure of a product for me.

Which brings me to another point that the green products that are on 
the market need to be comparable to the mainstream products - 
otherwise they won't be accepted.

Greg

> Greg wrote:
> >  Hi all,
> >
> >  In launching our new website 30daystosustainability we are interested
> >  in marketing products that emulate to mainstream America just what it
> >  means to be sustainable.   So to that end do you or anyone that you
> >  know have products that speak sustainability?
> >
> >  As a caveat - any products that we sell need to be uniform and
> >  readily available.
> >  
> Thanks for raising this to discussion. I have been running into this
> frequently. The question, "What products can mainstream people purchase
> to develop a sustainable lifestyle?" certainly demonstrates the double
> edge sword of our goals. It would be nice to funnel money into "worthy"
> endeavors. But to set up cradle to grave product streams takes a leap on
> the consumers part that they will be happy with an old version of
> whatever they buy so it is okay to spend a bit more. And businesses have
> to go back to being geared up for continuing existence on repair parts
> after their initial sales. Very different from todays strategies.
> ex. One laundry ball set can eliminate a sector of laundry soap users
> but then those people have a set and are not a market again for 7-10
> years. People watching soap commercials  are trained to want brighter
> and fluffier clothes so can be resold many times. If they lose that
> vulnerability they are no longer "mainstream."
> Many of the new products hawked on treehugger or eco seem to instead
> sell a "clean" look to continued consumerism.
>
> Kathyann, who's in the midst of a discussion with some kids on how to
> balance "compostable" dinner plates and cornstarch tableware in a pile.
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--

The Urban Farm
Growing good food
Having fun gardening
Connecting with nature


Greg Peterson
http://www.urbanfarm.org
602/565-7045