Green living -

How a Purple Elephant gives new life to computers

The purple elephant is on the taller one standing on the right

Although we try not to accumulate too much ‘stuff’, like most folks, things do tend to pile up around our house. “Waste not – want not” was something I heard many times growing up and I use that as my rationalization for not tossing items that may have good use left in them.

As a technologist, I manage to accumulate PC’s and parts, some as I’ve upgraded, some have never been put to use, and others as I add or replace technology. Summer in the south has most certainly arrived, but I’m still doing a little ‘spring cleaning’ and felt the need to thin out some of my computer inventory. I expanded my cleaning frenzy just a bit and rounded up some items from friends and business associates as well.

In case you did not know, tossing almost anything with electronic components in the regular trash, especially silicon chips, is not a good thing for our environment. We try very hard to be a green company at Anna’s Gourmet Goodies, and I like to help out and pay it forward whenever I get the opportunity. Fortunately, Raleigh has the perfect solution for recycling working computers and peripherals – The Purple Elephant Computer Factory.

The Purple Elephant takes donated PC’s and components, refurbishes them, and distributes them to kids of all ages – primarily those that are economically disadvantaged, at-risk, or from military families with members in active service.

Their mission:

“To bridge the educational and rehabilitative needs of children, and adults, by placing computer technology directly into the home.”

So, I packed up the car with several PC’s, a monitor and peripherals and dropped them off this past Friday morning. They have an impressive, well organized facility and a very friendly and helpful staff. Anna’s Gourmet Goodies has donated to their silent auction in the past and it was a pleasure to offer up something other than gourmet cookies to help out this organization.

Doing something for someone else that you will never meet and expecting nothing in return, is truly one of life’s greatest gifts. Being somewhat of a ‘geek’ at heart, it is particularly exciting for me to think that somewhere, some child will have an opportunity to step up into the computer world that they may not have had without an organization like The Purple Elephant. It may open their eyes and ultimately, open doors for them in the future.

Today is Father’s Day. I’m not totally sure what Debbie and Anna have planned, but I’m hoping that I’ll be able to get a nap in some time during the day. We’ll spend some time as a family, enjoy a nice meal, and perhaps open a card or gift. But I’m counting my trip to see the Purple Elephant on Friday as one of my Father’s Day gifts this year. Like many fathers, we spend a lot of time trying to teach our children that we should be grateful for what we have, always seek ways to be of service to others, give back, and pay it forward. In a small way, I got the chance to ‘walk the talk’ on Friday – to visit the Purple Elephant, and hopefully, make some kids happy. Seeing my own daughter smile is my best Father’s Day gift, and knowing that I may help bring a smile to some other children, well, that’s like a cookie stuffed with extra chocolate chips, pretty sweet.

The Purple Elephant Computer Factory
Learn how and where to your electronics

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How to save 86,000 barrels of oil

In my post about going green, I mentioned that we switched to dishwashing soap from Seventh Generation. It is plant based and contains no dyes or petro chemicals. Here is a statistic from their label:

“If every household in the U.S. Replaced just one 25 oz. bottle of petroleum based dishwashing liquid with our plant-derived product, we could save 86,000 barrels of oil a year. That’s enough to heat and cool 4,900 homes for a YEAR!”

I must admit that my wife buys most of our household products and I really don’t know what a bottle of dishwashing liquid costs. But even in these times, I’m happy to purchase this product and do what I can to save a little oil. We shop at Target, so it should be available in your area.

The price of oil has fallen recently (approaching 50%), and now OPEC is talking about cutting production to get the price back up again. My purchase of one bottle of soap may not give them cause for worry, but collectively, if we all start looking for ways to reduce our oil consumption, it can have an impact. So the next time you are out shopping, pick up a bottle. If enough of us do, it will make a difference.

And at the prices they’ve been charging us for oil recently, I’m not too concerned that our neighbors overseas will be standing in line at their local homeless shelter any time soon.

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A New Perspective on Going Green

I attended a seminar on October 1 titled “The Business of Living and Working Green”. It was put on by a local group called Chix in Business and hosted at McKinney, a world-class creative agency headquartered in Durham, NC. My friend, business associate, and former coach, Susan Maravetz is in charge of special events and Anna’s Gourmet Goodies was again happy to sponsor a door prize at this event. We have always incorporated elements of ‘green’ into our company and I must admit, I walked out of this seminar with a renewed interest in making sure that Anna’s Gourmet Goodies does everything we can to conduct business in a manner that demonstrates respect for the world in which we live.

There were three presentations on the agenda; Renee Jarvis, Office Services Manager at McKinney, Jane Norton of ReSourcing Solutions, and Greg Messer, founder of Palladium Homes along with Marsha Burger from the Green Building Council.

McKinney’s office is in the restored tobacco district in Durham and is absolutely one of the coolest offices I have ever visited. Their ‘green’ initiative runs throughout the company and touches many areas of the business. From the selection of their facility, to the products they consume, McKinney has been thoughtful in looking at how they conduct their business.

I think that many times when business people initially think about the word ‘green’, they may think first of increased costs. From Renee’s presentation and the other panelists comments, it was clear that being ‘green’ does not always mean higher costs and totally changing your business. It is really more about having an awareness of what you do, how it affects our environment and a willingness to look for ways to make better use of our resources. While some products may have a higher initial cost, savings and other benefits often offset the cost and are worth the investment.

As this movement enters the next phase of going beyond a fad or buzzword, I see it opening up a new opportunity to connect with businesses and customers. Tim Sanders has a new book, “Saving the World at Work”, and is coming to the Cary, NC on October 29 to speak on the topic of how to make a difference, not just a profit. If you think about it, wouldn’t it be more enjoyable to do business with people and companies that have a increased level of respect for the world around them? Absolutely.

So the green movement is not necessarily about spending lots of money or totally overhauling your business. It is about taking small steps to look at how you operate and what can be done to lessen the impact on our supply of natural resources. There are things that each of us can do, today, that collectively will make an impact.

Here is a list of ideas to help get you started (mostly from Renee’s presentation – thank you McKinney):

Start by doing research. Sit down with your favorite search engine and use the power of the Internet to educate yourself. (Google is my friend)
Make a list of things can do. Prioritize the list by what is most feasible right now and the cost to implement.
Talk to your suppliers. Find out what they are doing to lessen their impact on the environment. (Our vanilla supplier just switched to using 100% recycled cardboard for their shipping boxes!)
Have your home or office audited by a Member of the Green Building Council. Visit their website to find someone in your area who can make suggestions on how to improve the efficiency of your building.

Here’s a list of websites to visit:
www.ecoproducts.com
www.seventhgeneration.com (we use their plant based dish washing soap)
www.cellphonesforsoldiers.com
www.gaiam.com
www.usgbc.org
greensource.construction.com
www.ecologue.com

Here are a few simple things we do at Anna’s Gourmet Goodies:
1. Use biodegradable packing peanuts in all our boxes. Made from starch and completely biodegradable.
2. Switched to CFL lights in our production area.
3. Use gift boxes made from recycled materials.
4. Electronic billing and receipts – we don’t print packing slips or send out paper invoices.
5. Re-use paper. For all our internal notes, we use the back of paper for notepads whenever possible.
6. Our website is our catalog. We ask our vendors not to send us catalogs when we can easily find what we need on their website.

Hopefully this has given you an idea or two about things you can do to make a difference at home and at work. More ideas? Please leave your comments below!

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