Hey there! Today I want to share with you a nice initiative that I’ve found in the catalan newspaper La Vanguardia (https://www.lavanguardia.com). As you all know, the excessive use of plastic in supermarkets is damaging our planet, so this article talks about a supermarket located in Barcelona that gives us the opportunity to avoid plastic while buying. I found it very interesting and I am really surprised because I’ve never heard about this initiative before, though it is located in my own city.

The supermarket was created by two best friends who wanted to make all their purchases without generating any waste. In Yes Future, they promote a consumption with zero waste and they offer organic food bought in an ecological way. They also decided that all their products would be free of chemicals, pesticides or additives that could damage health or the environment and would be sold in bulk. They offer food, household cleaning products, personal hygiene products and ecological utensils. The food is in containers or dispensers and the consumer can see clearly the product that is going to buy, without wrappings or brands that hide them.

In addition, they try to have a hard control of packaging throughout the distribution chain by asking their suppliers products in large formats and minimizing the shipment of plastics, whenever possible if the food safety regulations allow to. And if this is not possible, the containers are returned to be refilled again. Finally, conscious and faithful to their philosophy, the store is powered by energy from renewable sources only.

Find attached a video of the store, so you can make an idea of its structure and appearance. Yes Future, is located at Viladomat Street, 66 in Barcelona, so don’t forget to go there, if you ever visit the city!

Hey there! Today I want to share with you a nice initiative that I’ve found in the catalan newspaper ARA (https://www.ara.cat). This article talks about the mass consumerism on the last Friday of November, commonly known as Black Friday.

The rise of promotions during the last Friday of November has impacted so hard in Sweden, a developed country that have found a sustainable alternative to this crazy shopping day. Recycling clothes, reaproducing food or renting children’s clothes are some of the actions they’ve taken. Under the name of White Monday, Sweden have invented a campaign to give visibility to companies that contribute to the circular economy. This initiative was born last year, and this second edition has doubled the number of participants, up to sixty.

During the White Monday, consumers can get discounts on the products and services of the companies that participate on it, for example, there’s an application called Karma, through which you can buy leftover food from restaurants or supermarkets that is in good conditions, a good initiative that reduces food waste.

There are also other initiatives, like online stores for second hand items, clothing and furniture companies that are made from recycled materials, and others that offer shared services, such as Hyber, which allows you to rent children’s clothes and return it once the size is already too small.

Discounts can be obtained through the White Monday webpage and, in addition, the participants will promote the action through social networks, sharing some photos tagged with #WhiteMonday to become viral. They want to achieve a kind of Ice Bucket Challenge (the solidarity campaign with the ELA patients that were made Viral in 2014), to promote the circular economy. They want to show the world that there are other alternatives to the consumption of new products.

In the search for roads towards a more sustainable planet, proposals and initiatives that help to take care of the environment are emerging. To conclude, we are facing a difficult situation, in moments that require changes, imagination, initiative, courage and much effort. By carrying out the right actions, like this one, we will achieve a better world for next generations.

Hey there! I would like to start this first post with a really interesting initiative that I run into this week. It consists in nothing less than edible water! A natural alternative to reduce or avoid the use of plastic bottles that was launched by the company Skipping Rocks Lab. This disruptive product is known as Ooho.

Skipping Rocks Lab is an innovative sustainable packaging start-up which is based in London. They claim the use of natural materials extracted from plants and seaweed, to create packaging that has low environmental impact. Their slogan is one of the best in the market for the moment: “We make packaging disappear”.

The main goal of this product is to replace small water bottles, because plastic bottles are one of the most common items found in the sea. They take too much time to decompose, experts said about 700 years. This measure was made to protect the environment and to achieve a new way of packaging water. Ooho is started being used in sporting events like marathons where hydration is a must. In that kind of events is where they can reach more people and starting to be known. Moreover, they are working with some partners, such as Selfridges, Just Eat and Virgin Sport to make this revolutionary product a successful launch.

The Ooho team is developing a machine to produce them automatically. The machine will be able to produce 100 Oohos in 5 to 10 minutes, and will be operated locally by retailers to make Oohos fresh every day in-store.

Skipping Rocks Lab is part of the Climate KIC start-up acceleration program founded by the European Institute of Innovation & Technology (EIT) and the scientific team is based in Imperial College. Skipping Rocks Lab was awarded the 2014 Lexus Design Award, the 2014 World Technology Award (environment) held in association with Fortune and TIME, 2015 SEA Award and 2016 UK Energy Globe Award.

Hey there! I’m Berta, an exchange student from Barcelona. I’ll be on exchange at UBC during Term 2.

My home university is located near Barcelona and it’s called ESADE Business School.

Before coming to UBC I did an internship in a pharmaceutical company, it was there, where I realized my passion about marketing.

Hope you’ll enjoy my page! See you in class!