OceanWise recently came across my mind when I ate at Hapa Umi, and noticed that many of the food items on their menu has a little ocean-wise sign next to it. As an avid seafood eater, I was determined to find out more about the effects of eating sustainable seafood as opposed to eating carelessly.
The 3 main sustainability issues in terms of marine life are overfishing, bycatching and producing habitat damage. The increasing rates of seafood consumption globally, endangered species being caught unintentionally and being throw back into the water but not surviving, and damaging natural habitats of marine life are the main concerns for OceanWise. OceanWise is a program dedicated to educating and empowering consumers regarding sustianble seafood, and was founded in none other than our local Vancouver Acquarium. Fortunately, there are ways to combat these issues such as certain fishing techniques like trolling, hook and line, pot and traps to diminish bycatching and trolling, hook and line and bottom longlining techniques for avoid habitat damage. Scallops, mussels, clams and oysters are seafood that can be sustainably farmed to help preserve the natural ecosystem or over-catching seafood; closed system farms and careful acqua-culture are other alternatives to overfishing.
OceanWise’s partners range from restaurants, markets, suppliers, culinary schools, universities and even entertainment arenas.
I was pleasantly surprised to discover some of the following partners:
Restaurants: Blue Water Cafe, The Boathouse Restaurant, Cactus Club, Chambar, Chop, CinCin, Coast, Earls (all locations in Canada), Ed
ible Canada, Fleuri, Joe Fortes, Joey, Miku, Mr. Pickwicks, Noodle Box, Oru, West, Stone Grill ….
Markets: Choices Market, IGA, Thrifty Foods …
Caterers: Grouse Mountain, University Gold Club, Rogers Arena …
Most importantly, UBC Food Services (ranging from on-campus dining to residence cafeterias), since 2008 has implemented the Ocean Wise program whereby they only serve sustainably caught wild Pacific salmon and is constantly searching for more sustainable seafood options. UBC Robson Square as well as SFU, BCIT, UT just to name a few universities are also advocates of OceanWise. I’m delighted to see so many places where I normally eat at are supporters of consuming sustainable seafood, which brings us back to the notion that knowledge among sustainable consumers is important. I had no idea that I was being (relatively more) sustainable just by choosing these alternatives as opposed to other restaurants who do not abide by OceanWise yet. Perhaps more marketing is needed to educate consumers about this program. I can see several news articles or some pages in magazines to encourage seafood-lovers to find out more about their impact on the environment every time they eat seafood. Hopefully, this will lead to consumers to choose seafood restaurants with OceanWise in mind, leading to more companies joining the program.
One fact that I noticed right away was the lack of non-Western partners on the OceanWise partner list. As frequent consumers of seafood I was surprised to see few Japanese, Korean, or other meditaranean restaurants on the list. I was also surprised to learn that large companies like Save-on-foods or The Real Canadian Superstore missing from the OceanWise list. I guess ideally, we would like to see most (if not all) places participating in this sustainable program, but I’m delighted with the progress OceanWise has made so far, and I now have a different view whenever I see the little oceanwise sign on menus.
To find out if your favorite restaurants are currently partners with OceanWise and more, check out: http://www.oceanwise.ca/
“The World’s First Reusable Trackable Card” — Original but redundant
Slingshot cards claims to be an eco-friendly card that’s also fun to gift and receive. How it works is the card remains message-free but the sender prints off an a greeting off of slingshot’s website and attaches it through the paper insert. The card has a unique chip that allows you to track the card’s location when you enter a code into slingshot’s website. Without much marketing at all (except for a facebook group, a youtube video and its website), I wonder how this product has survived or if it ever will in the future. Its target market is most likely the eco-friendly crowd, with equally eco-friendly friends who would be willing to continue sending on these cards. However, I see so many ways how this card is absolutely redundant and contradictory to its company objectives.
1) Any type of greeting card at all is a waste of money and a toll on the environment. E-cards are the most effective way of eliminating this problem and no other paper-based solution will beat that! Despite being able to use this card for an “infinite” number of times, this card is still being printed using paper materials.
2) Users cannot write on the card itself so they need to print out another piece of paper for their message. Senders need to go online to print out sheets of paper to insert into the card! Why don’t buyers just save themselves the money and write their message on this slip of paper and give it to their friend.
3) You need responsible, eco-friendly people to be recipients and senders of the card. You also need people who are extreme advocates / passionate about being green! If in the hands of people who dont care about sustainability, or who care but not enough, the card will most likely not be re-sent, and will have no difference in effect as any other greeting card in the market.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YuvAS76g4k8&feature=player_embedded#!
Overall, I think Slingshot was never a good idea to begin with, and the company should probably focus on creating a completely new product that’s green.
One of my greatest guilty pleasures is catching up on celebrity gossip. Despite knowing that most of the stories are fabricated by magazines and the idea of wanting to know the details of a complete stranger’s life is absurd, I must admit that sites like justjared and popsugar are bookmarked on my computer. I never thought my daily escape would lead me to any useful information about sustainability, but it just so happens that going “eco-friendly” is a popular trend among Hollywood’s big names. I came across a post about Jessica Alba’s new venture into business via her eco-friendly, baby-friendly company catered to mothers and decided to find out more about it.
Simply named The Honest Company, it works as a monthly subscription fee that cusotmers pay online and eco-friendly, decently-priced, visually-appealing baby or household products are shipped directly to people’s homes. The company is co-founded by Christopher Gavigan, the former CEO of Health Child Healthy World and Jessica Alba, who was inspired by the birth of her two children to search out the safest and greenest products to use.
Currently, they “ource natural, organic, sustainbly harvested, renewable, pure raw materials” for products, use reduced toxics, reduced petroleum based plastic, and 100% recycled/renewed materials in their products/packaging and delivery. In terms of business operations, they ensure electricity used at their factories are 100% renewable power, providing incentivces for eco-friendly transportation, choosing ground shipping whenever possible, and reducing their carbon footprint throughout the entire product life cycle. They seem to be well on their way to reaching their company goals which are to
- “redce the ubiquitous presence of toxic chemicals in our our natural environment (air, soil, oceans, etc), man-made environments (homes, schools, offices) and our personal environments (industrial pollution inside our own bodies);
- Protect natural resources by minimizing waste and maximizing use/re-use;
- Support peace, security, and social justice; and,
- Promote diversity and productivity through all facets of life – from cultural to ecological.”
Wthin the green purchase perception matrix, The Honest Company’s products will fall into the why not? purchases. Baby and household products are a necessity, and Honest’s products are moderately priced. Despite a low level of compliance (its convienent, pretty and there isn’t a huge sacrifice needed to use these eco-friendly products instead, the company is still relatively new for now, and consumers have no way knowing if all of Honest’s claims are true. With a growign degree of confidence, I can see these products easily becoming win-win purchases.
Overall, I think this company is headed in the right direction in terms of its sustainable marketing and seems useful and helpful to new mothers everywhere. Despite what I personally think are not-so-great acting performances on screen by Ms. Alba, I admire her take in sustainability and I hope she will use her celebrity-platform to promote going green even more.
To find out more check out: http://www.honest.com/
As one of the largest multinational corporations in the world, with other 300 brands, Proctor & Gamble certainly has the ability to invest in sustainable products. People around the world perhaps use their products more than once a day, so they claim to take big steps toward running a sustainable business. In fact, their home website has a huge direct link that guides you right to their sustainability efforts, showing how invested they are in their projects. In addition to offering annual reports, they conduct life cycle analysis on their products to focus on reducing environmental impact on areas needed most, and claim to be sustainable in all aspects of the supply chain in the production and use of the products. Their social responsibilities include their Live, Learn and Thrive program that provides clean water, medicine and schooling for people in Africa.
Their sustainability efforts are quite extensive and very inspiring. Perhaps P&G uses sustainability as a positioning strategy less often than they should considering the great amounts of investment they make. However, I think they are headed in the right direction. With long term sustainability goals such as “powering [their] plants with 100% renewable energy, using 100% renewable/recycled material for all products and packaging, having zero consumer and manufacturing waste go to landfills, and designing products that delight consumers while maximizing our conservation of resources”, and if they are consistent in meeting their short term goals (which they claim to have made for 2012 and 2020), they will set a great example for other companies, big or small.
Find out more at P&G’s website : http://www.pg.com/en_US/sustainability/index.shtml
