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  • From: Greg <Greg@UrbanFarm.org>
  • To: permaculture <permaculture@lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [permaculture] Looking for products
  • Date: Mon, 11 Dec 2006 11:48:41 -0700

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
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Greg Peterson
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602/565-7045




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