I was walking around Indigo the other day and came across an interesting product: the Ecocube by Feel Green.

The Ecocube is a planter that contains seed and fertilizer. There’s a huge variety of fruits and plants to grow – all you have to do is add water and let it grow. Upon first glance, I thought this was just a regular planter. I’ve seen plenty of these around; users add water into the planter, and when the seed starts to sprout, we transfer the plant over to a pot.

However, the Ecocube is different. Looking at the instructions below, we can find that you can bury the entire Ecocube in the pot, and it would slowly decompose and turn into fertilizer for the plant.

I don’t plant a lot (I just have a mini cactus that doesn’t need much attention!), and don’t normally buy these products. But the Ecocube totally grabbed my attention. Not only does this innovation limit down on the waste by having a decomposable exterior, but the box also provides benefits to the plant by being a fertilizer.

I just had one concern – reliability. Wanting to learn more about this product, I visited the Feel Green website. They also carry the Ecocan, which features the same innovation as the Ecocube. However, all the company vouches for is that the product “will slowly decompose and turn into valuable fertilizer for the plant”.

What does this mean? Personally, I could have benefitted from more information about the research done into this innovation. By not having any more details about how the Ecocube and Ecocan decompose, I automatically become more skeptical about the validity of this product.

For any of you who have green thumbs, check out the Ecocube and Ecocan! What do you think about this product? What about the lack of information provided about the research and development?

The term “sustainability” means different things to each of us. Before I took this course, I wasn’t exposed to many facets of sustainability. I had always tied in sustainability with going green, such as reducing the use of plastics, composting food waste, and decreasing energy use. However, as we engage in more class discussions and through course readings, I am slowly coming to the realization that sustainability is a broad term that stands for many things.

I acknowledge that there is no universally-agreed definition of sustainability. However, if you were to ask me to define this term, it means to create and manage resources that not only satisfy our present needs, but also don’t compromising our future abilities to meet such needs.

I think it’s interesting how the term sustainability can stand for so many things. Everyone has a different take on what it means, and with the ever-changing lifestyles and needs today, I can foresee more and more variations of what sustainability can mean to people.

What does sustainability mean to you? Has your definition changed since you took this course?

Today in class, we watched an advertisement from the Innocent Drinks Chain of Good campaign.

I had mixed signals watching this video.

On Innocent Drinks’ side, this advertisement shows how purchasing their smoothies creates a “Chain of Good”. Mark bought a smoothie that not only is good for his health, but also helps support people in underdeveloped countries. It creates an image where the company is being socially responsible, as 10% of their profits go towards charities.

At first glance, this seems like a wonderful campaign. If consumers were to consider purchasing an Innocent Drinks product or one of their competitors, this 10% donation may be a factor that affects their purchasing decision.

However, on a second thought, there were several thoughts that went through my mind:

1. 10% Profits and Their Use
   How is 10% of profits? If the profit margin of an Innocent Drinks smoothie is low, I can only wonder how much actually gets donated to the Innocent Foundation. Adding on to that, does donating money to the Innocent Foundation really make the biggest impact? Depending on the cause Innocent Drinks (or any business) is supporting, the money they raise can always go to a well-established organization that could maximize every donated dollar.
2. Unclear Advertising
   The advertisement showed that through Mark’s purchase of one smoothie, he was able to help Janet and Otai get a cow. As I mentioned in Point 1 – how much does 10% of Innocent Drinks’ profit amount to? As a consumer, I would have appreciated a clearer model of how many sales have to be made for the beneficiary to get a cow (or any other resource they need). If Innocent Drinks had explained that the profits from 500 smoothie sales would help purchase a cow, I would have been less-reluctant to critique this advertisement.

Regardless, researching more about Innocent Smoothies has made me hungry for smoothies, so the next time I see a drink from Innocent Smoothies at the grocery store, I’d definitely give it a try!