Go Green, even if you don’t want to
I was in a meeting recently where a few things really irked me. The so called ‘head of sustainability’ didn’t know the first thing about the environmental issues that plague us today. As I worked my way through the presentation, one thing was very clear….there are two types of companies. Ones that truly care about making environmental change and ones that want to look like they care about making change. This company was the latter….either that, or they were thrown into the ‘sustainability’ role and took the meeting with me out of duty. The real question here is, does it matter if you are one or the other?
Growing up in a very religious household, we were always taught that words from the bible will always result in good, as there is a higher power at work. As frustrating as it is and as much as it goes against my way of thinking and logic, I have to be honest with myself and admit that both scenarios are good. Whether a company moves towards change for honest reasons or for personal financial gain, the end result is worth the means, even if they are greedy or complacent. No matter how passionate you are about something, you can only hope to infect someone with it, not jam it down their unreceptive throats. But if they ‘go green’ just to win over more customers, its all good.
I guess the challenge for a company like Change Plastic for Good is that we really want companies to adopt this mentality that what we as a careless race are doing isn’t working. Then to understand what our company is offering and get fired up about how awesome it is. We have to accept technologies that actually work in alleviating pressures from human mess and implement them because it’s the right thing to do. Unfortunately doing the right thing always comes at a cost. But isn’t the reward worth it? Our planet is messed up. Don’t believe the agribusiness and oil lobbyists…global warming isn’t a hoax and man’s footprint is made with a heavy boot.
Watch this video… https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fYA-7A80shI
This YouTuber, El3ctric, is known for making near death videos, which I think is super ironic. He randomly comes out with this satellite image video of mans impact on our earth in just the last 32 years. It blows my mind that man can create and devastate so quickly. If you wanted proof that man has a definite impact on our planet, here it is. Deforestation for agricultural land for cattle is for real, and very disturbing at how quickly it moves. Look at what we have done to the Brazilian rainforest in the last 3 decades. Its depressing. Agriculture, specifically raising cattle, is the leading cause of climate change, not fossil fuels. Watching this video, I laughed at the comments where people complained that it wasn’t a ‘near death’ video. It sure looks like near death to me!
The point I’m getting at is that we are approaching a tipping point. Companies need to get involved because they make the heaviest impact. Elon Musk was quoted recently in Leo Dicaprio’s new documentary ‘Before the Flood’, saying that he alone cannot supply the planet with renewable energy. He needs other larger companies to adopt his technologies to drive this forward. (if you don’t know what I’m talking about, check out the last months blog). In the same way, our company is dedicated to bringing an end to plastic waste negatively impacting our planet.
We are in constant development of new materials to offer companies. We have an organic polymer that is added to plastic rubber and foam to render it biodegradable in landfill in a matter of years. We have a resin called Breakdown Earth that is designed for plastics that are not recyclable. This material is made from plant waste material like rice husk and coffee grinds. It cuts plastic usage and the portion that is still plastic is made with BDP to enhance natural breakdown in landfill. We are working on landfill biodegradable diapers, biodegradable styrofoam, Breakdown Ocean, an polymer for synthetic clothing that allows the microplastics created during washing to be consumed by ocean microbes…..and even cooler developments that I can’t talk about right now.
I’ll admit I am not a life long environmentalist. I went through a ‘save the whales’ phase and bitched while watching ‘Whale wars’. But I am as guilty as the next guy for tossing plastic in the trash when there isn’t a recycle bin right there. That is until I started this company and started researching environmental issues. There is a real serious problem that needs fixing. We are going to do our best to help.
