familyman

Global Warming, or just more of the same old stuff?

rapidpop — Sat, 05 Jan 2008 04:01:51 +0000

I’ve been wondering a lot about the environment lately. I’ve read a lot about global warming, shifts in weather trends and environmental catastrophes (natural and man-made). I’m concerned about my environmental impact as well as that of my company. I do what I can to help; our city just started a curb-side recycling program in December of 07 and I make sure as much recyclable stuff as possible gets sorted. Before that, I took what was practical to the recycling bin at my office. But I’ve also been thinking about the much larger picture a lot as well.

Man-kind has made a huge mess of the oceans. We’ve made a huge mess of any land mass on which we have existed. Nature seems to be crumbling under the weight of all the crap we put on top of it. Yet… I can’t help but wonder… in the MUCH larger picture, if it makes a difference. Global warming, supposedly, is a fact… a DETECTABLE fact. Yet, how long have we really been tracking this stuff? Man-kind’s ability to register and interpret atmospheric data is a very recent development… in the grand scheme of things.

Think about it; the Earth is BILLIONS of years old. Man has existed for a minute fraction of that time. If you were to take the entire lifetime of the planet and map it out, the existence of Man would be so small that it could be ignored when making any calculations based on Earth’s lifespan. Scientists take relatively small chunks of data and ignore them as inconsequential all the time. They develop entire theories while ignoring data more significant than Man’s affect on Earth would be.

Which makes me wonder about so many other things. What if global warming is just a stage in Earth’s life? What if Earth is a teenager and we are simply seeing an awkward stage? What if Man has nothing to do with these obvious climate changes? Are we trying to stop a process that would have eventually occurred naturally anyway? Something killed the dinosaurs. Was it caused by their blatant disregard for where they stored their waste or how much plant life they consumed

We allow hunters to thin the herds of certain wildlife every year for the BENEFIT of those herds and the area in which they live. We (man-kind) have seen the ravaging effects that certain species can have on a habitat when all they do is what comes naturally to them. Does that mean those actions have an affect on the entire global system? Maybe?

Suppose Man never existed. Would the world go through a cycle where it would be over run by white tail deer that ate every plant in sight and mated until the population was so great they all starved to death? Would whales have become so populous that they squeezed other animals out of their habitats and caused massive changes in the ocean’s delicate cycles? Man kind has had a huge affect on how those animals eventually affected their environments.

So does that mean that we are the cause for global warming? Or does it mean that we are simply seeing a natural progression and are trying to stop it before it wipes us out? I’m not a scientist. I’m probably not all that smart (even though I hope I’m at least modestly intelligent). But it seems like the Earth is too big and set in her ways for us to change it much or make an impact for very long. I mean… BILLIONS of years… how do you compete with that? Methane has had an amazing impact on the life of this planet. Nitrogen and carbon have had amazing impact; but they have been here the whole time.

How many serious environmental/atmospheric changes has this planet been through? How many will it go through in the future? It just seems like this global warming thing is not something we can stop. Sure we could clean up our act (literally) and stave it off for a few thousand years. But if Earth wants to heat up and kill us off, she’s going to.

cool software

rapidpop — Thu, 01 Nov 2007 18:02:58 +0000

It’s entering beta currently, but check out all the cool shtuff it can (or will be able to) do.

An Open Letter to Universal Studios (and others)

rapidpop — Mon, 22 Oct 2007 20:03:23 +0000

I have become increasingly aware of Man’s impact on our planet, as I think most of us have. But what are we actually doing? I recycle. We have, as a company (with the help of the employees), started an initiative to recycle the majority of our recyclable waste. Aluminum cans, plastics, and paper are all separated into their own containers for easy pickup by their respective recycling programs. As a packaging design company, we have always used a great deal of paper and corrugated cardboards and consequently produce a great deal of waste. (A “great deal” as far as we are concerned, but nothing on the scale of long-run manufacturers.) Since day one, the company has had a deal with the local AARP to pick up our waste paper materials for their recycling program. It’s a good deal for both parties: we don’t have to pay for a special pick up and they get more materials to recycle and earn money for their organization. We have recently also purchased a new printer that allows us to print directly to the packaging substrates; (1) reducing the amount of materials used in the process: (2) allowing the final production pieces to be completely recyclable.

So after we each get done cleaning our own houses, so to speak, what else can we do? We can go to city council meetings (and participate in Federal initiatives) and make sure our town is participating in programs and making sure all their process meet certain standards. Simply by speaking up or asking questions, an individual can make another individual think, that individual affects others and eventually a difference is made.*

What more can be done? Think of the things you buy every day. How much material is wasted by packaging all that air in a bag of chips? How many trees were killed to make those AT&T cell phone bills? How much smaller can that box of dried noodles be if the noodles were straight instead of curly? Why is that 2-pack of DVDs wrapped in plastic twice? You get the idea, right?

Have you ever written a company about one of their products? I have. I have NEVER written a letter to a company about their product and been ignored. Companies (most of them anyway) take their consumers’ opinions into account HEAVILY on a daily basis. They have complicated charts and graphs and 3d prospective models and all kinds of garbage telling them what their customers think of their products. So why not contribute directly to that data?

I encourage everyone to think about the things they buy, the stories they read and the moves made by the companies that make the stuff they use. For example; I get newsletters about sustainability and environmental issues and one of them contained a short piece about a test that Universal Studios has begun in their Canadian markets. As I read the story, it occurred to me: Why is this a test? There is no reason Universal can’t just MAKE the change happen everywhere. All they have to do is pull the trigger and it’s done. Bang! …and their packaging is a new format across the board and they are making a much smaller environmental footprint immediately.

What I ask you to do is write the companies that gladly take your money and tell them that you can take your money somewhere else if they don’t step up. The letter below is a short message I sent to Universal (using their website) to let them know that I think an across-the-board change is the way to go. If you think the same way, copy/paste (and modify to your liking) the text below and send it to them as well. Be nice… ALWAYS… and express to these corporations that the planet is important to you and it should be important to them. Besides, who will buy their DVDs if we are all dead from pollution or drowned by polar ice water?

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I just read a short article about your testing of a new eco-friendly packaging effort in Canada for the Evan Almighty and Surf’s Up DVD releases. I applaud the effort and encourage you to do more of that sort of thing as a corporation.

My only problem/concern is: why test it? Why not just DO IT… ACROSS THE BOARD? If the consumer wants to buy your product, they will. Put it in a sleeve that provides enough protection during shipping and merchandising, and deal with the retailers to reduce pilfering.

Similar efforts have been made in software packaging (although much more could be done) and sales have never suffered as a result (see Halo 3 sales). I just can’t see the logic of “testing” an eco-friendly initiative. People who want your product will buy it. People who might be “on the fence” could possibly be swayed to purchase if they see a REAL effort to reduce environmental impact.

Again, I applaud your efforts and sincerely hope that you make the environment a top priority across your entire product line. I can’t wait to see more of your product on the shelves of retailers… taking up MUCH less space.

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* While all the links provided are very “marketing centric” you could easily replace “product” or “service” with “the environment” and understand the power that simply talking about the environment can have.

Blame wasteful greedy corporations…

rapidpop — Mon, 22 Oct 2007 17:49:16 +0000

Taken from this month’s GDUSA Newsletter and posted here because I can’t find the article on their website.

Don’t Blame Canada

Toronto, Ontario: Universal Studios is market testing an eco-friendly DVD packaging design with the Canadian distribution of Evan Almighty. Instead of the traditional plastic packaging, a slim cardboard sleeve is being used house the DVD for the Genesis-inspired Steve Carrell vehicle. Soy inks, waterless printing and green paper are also part of the project. “This is a Canadian exclusive,” Universal VP for Marketing Richard Bicknell told Sun Media. “This is not happening anywhere else in the world. But, obviously, the Americans are aware and very interested to see how this performs. They’re really excited for us, and they’re rooting for us, and they want to get to a place where they can do this, too.” Bicknell added: “This is something we’re committed to: environmentally friendly packaging.” www.universalstudioscanada.com

Get rid of TV, get your life back…

rapidpop — Wed, 11 Apr 2007 18:43:14 +0000

http://www.thesimpledollar.com/2007/04/09/ten-financial-reasons-to-turn-off-your-television-and-ten-things-to-replace-it-with/

This article makes some great points about using your free time wisely, whether you are a TV watcher or not. A lot of Americans would do well to do these things.

Dear Cox Communications,

rapidpop — Sat, 17 Feb 2007 23:10:29 +0000

Please STOP sending me digital telephone offers in the mail. I must get 5 or 6 offers a month. I AM NOT INTERESTED in telephone service for my home!!! What does in-home phone service offer me that I don’t have with my cell phone? You might as well be trying to sell me an outhouse! Home phone service is outdated and out-moded, no matter what digital bells and whistles you might stick on it. I AM ABSOLUTELY NOT INTERESTED IN HOME PHONE SERVICE AND DO NOT WANT ANY MORE ADS OR OFFERS FOR IT. If I did not already have service with Cox (digital cable and high-speed internet), receiving these offers would not be an issue; I would simply trash them. But I have an account with Cox and I need to make sure that any mail from your company is not pertinent to that account. Repeated, unsolicited attempts to sell an unwanted service to me is harassment on the grounds that as a responsible person and an account-holder with your company, I have to read the mail you send me.

Thanks,

Joe Customer

What could it be?

rapidpop — Wed, 24 Jan 2007 03:41:41 +0000

What could a packaging design/prototype/short-run production place be talking about when they say “Something big… is coming… to Northwest Arkansas”? It sounds like some sort of machine running in the background… I wonder…

www.rapidpop.com

Good stuff…. kinda

rapidpop — Thu, 11 Jan 2007 04:05:36 +0000

Well, Apple did it. They changed the world. They have managed to make all phone designers before them look like total morons with strange non-human appendages and alien thought processes. This piece of hardware:

and the accompanying software make sense, which is how they bested their once-peers. They are now in a class of their own in all of humanity’s eyes, not just Mac “fanboys” or Apple zealots.

The only problem I have… Cingular. The price is even OK with me. That’s what I would pay for a decent “smartphone” for work use. I have had Cingular “service” before and I now refer to it as “service” not service. I paid for service, but I got “service”. Those little floatie-comma things, the quotes, they make a big difference. If I can find enough local folks to tell me they are happy with the Cingular of today and they can convince me that it is different than the Cingular of four years ago, I might consider a switch. I have until June before the iPhone comes out, so maybe I can find enough advocates for Cingular by then to switch… because it’s one serious piece of geek sweetness.

At any rate, you have to give one up for the folks at Apple for their precise calculation of what a human beings needs in a telecommunications device.

“Industrial design amounts to the shaping of everyday life.” Raymond Loewy

“Any activity becomes creative when the doer cares about doing it right or better.” John Updike

“Imagination is more important than knowledge.” Albert Einstein