simplerich

Earth-day is over so we can go back to our normal wasteful ways guilt free. I’m sure we all thought about replacing a light bulb with a Compact Flourescent that will last much longer and uses less electricity. That’s good. We thought about it.

It turns out that two of my pictures of a coal burning plant is being used in a news article about coal burning plants being used again in Italy. So that’s pretty cool. I assure you, in spite of Italy’s going to coal that doesn’t mean I hate the environment. Only recycled electrons will be used to display the digital image I took so feel free to click away.

Today I went to go shop the competition and realized that I was wearing one of my work shirts with our big ole corporate logo and name smeared across my heart. Well it’s almost 80 degrees Fahrenheit out there. A jacket would have been obvious. Looks like it’s time to go get a new polo at Gordmans! I swerved into the store, not braking because I wanted to conserve momentum and coast into a parking spot with a minimum of gas usage. That’s right people… I fancy myself an extreme hyper-miler. (Not really) . The shirt is in the picture above. It’s the ONLY item I bought and the lady handed me a bag with the shirt in it and a 19" receipt. I left the bag on the counter.

I’m a big user of those green re-usable cloth shopping bags like those at bagsontherun.com. I use them all the time at Hy-vee and carry one in my car for when I shop on the road. For single items in stores I don’t get a sack. I have two hands. I can carry things, so I pulled the shirt out of the bag and slid it across the counter to her. "I don’t need it. Thank you though."

Nineteen inches of receipt paper for one shirt. They’ve been to a branding seminar though, or someone has because they got their name on their at least twice in big print. Folks. There’s no reason for this sort of waste, and there’s GOT to be a way to address it. Remember in the 70s when we were all going to be paperless and overweight because computers and robots did all the work for us? Remember in the 80s when there was talk of a 35 hour work week? What happened? We’re using as much or more paper than ever. We know more than ever what we’re doing to ourselves and our environment and while it’s true we’re all too fat and sedentary we’re working more than ever before. C’mon! Why’s the fat part the only part that’s right? I want my hover car!!!

OK. The hover car thing, maybe over the top, unless it’s powered by a Mr. Fusion. But a nineteen inch long receipt is irresponsible of them. That thermal paper isn’t cheap. Seriously. So Instead of giving me a 4 inch receipt that would have had PLENTY of room for branding and to pimp their website for feedback they decided they needed to give me a scroll. Someone in the company isn’t being a good steward of their resources. They’re not taking care of the company funds by wasting paper, and they’re not taking care of the world… again… by wasting paper.

Earthday’s over finally, and I can get back to breathing in the smug as those around me who have them tour around in their Prius’ the two blocks to pick up their lattes and none of us really DO anything about things. Some of us are in positions where we can make decisions that impact things for real. If everybody who could make a little difference did it’d be one helluva difference. I’m looking at YOU Gordmans!

Tags: Earthday, Gordmans, Responsibility