Sometimes small successes make me very happy. After being an unhappy accomplice to the eco-debacle at this year’s AP Reading, I wanted to encourage places in my daily orbit to be more eco-friendly. So last month I emailed my credit union, asking (nicely) if they would consider replacing the styrofoam cups they used for their much-appreciated free coffee. I received a form-letter reply and wasn’t feeling very optimistic, and had almost forgotten about this when I went to the neighborhood branch Friday to deposit a check. Et voila, paper cups! The coffee area is right next to the customer service desk, where the desk-person heard me say, “Hey, cool, no more styrofoam!” She smiled and said, “Yes, we switched to paper cups at members’ requests.”I was so pleased, I brought the cup home so it could see itself on the blog. (And, yes, it’s paper that’s been bleached within an inch of its life, and there are better options, but I figure one step at a time.)
Moral of the story? The squeaky wheel gets the coffee.
Today’s mitzvah: Can you gently nudge a local business to be a bit more earth friendly?
4 comments:
This is actually completely unrelated, and perhaps I've missed an earlier posting about this... but I saw this article about the food bank near my family and thought of you. This is a great way to pass on the out-of-control zucchini! http://myhero.com/myhero/hero.asp?hero=Food_Needy_AP
I'm not sure my first comment went through... I'm away from home without your email address, but I saw this article about a local food bank up here and thought this was a great way to get rid of the extra zucchini... I always think of food banks as shelves of peanut butter and rice. http://myhero.com/myhero/hero.asp?hero=Food_Needy_AP
Sometimes when I'm completely out of ideas, they arrive like magic. Thank-you! Are you up there with WBK (World's Best Knitter)? Tell her I'm still wearing her mittens -- first pair I haven't lost in my life!
It never hurts to ask!
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