One of our top-selling stocking stuffers of 2009 was the Joe for the Road Reusable Cup. Pretty simple concept, really: It's not a paper cup, but rather it's a washable, dishwasher safe melamine cup with a flexible silicone lid, and it's an environmentally friendly alternative to those paper and plastic cups that traditionally hold the coffee concoctions that make life worth living (I'm partial to the venerable mocha myself, with an extra espresso shot during the Christmas season). We sold a bunch, and could have sold a bunch more. At first blush, it's easy to think "wow, now there's a gift that says I'm really thinking about you...you coffee-addicted litterbug, you." But not so - I think it was one of the truly inspired choices of the season, and I applaud all who bought it and continue to buy it. Sure, it's a small gesture - a reusable cup. Means I'll consume fewer paper and plastic cups, so less in the landfill. And fewer resources (particularly wood and oil) will be consumed to produce these cups. Potentially fewer carbon emissions as a result. Does that make me a hero? Maybe. Mohammed Nasheed, president of the Maldives, wrote a particularly disturbing article for The Economist in which he details his fears about climate change and the effect this will have on his island nation. They are already planning a very expensive sea wall to surround the entirety of their third most populous island to protect the population from a rise in sea level; there is even talk of buying land elsewhere in the world in case all of the islands are submerged. Reminds one of those science fiction movies where earth is destroyed and only a few colonists survive on Mars to keep humanity going. But the concerns of the Maldives are real and urgent, even in the face of less than a 1 degree Celsius increase in global temps. The debate over global warming rages, and I am only a humble retailer, but it seems to me that we can only benefit by taking steps to live in more environmentally responsible ways. Joe for the Road is a small step in that direction, but small steps inevitably lead to larger ones, and if everyone eschewed plastic and paper cups and chose a reusable cup instead, well...there may yet be beachfront property in the Maldives.
Thursday, January 14, 2010
Joe Saves the Maldives?
One of our top-selling stocking stuffers of 2009 was the Joe for the Road Reusable Cup. Pretty simple concept, really: It's not a paper cup, but rather it's a washable, dishwasher safe melamine cup with a flexible silicone lid, and it's an environmentally friendly alternative to those paper and plastic cups that traditionally hold the coffee concoctions that make life worth living (I'm partial to the venerable mocha myself, with an extra espresso shot during the Christmas season). We sold a bunch, and could have sold a bunch more. At first blush, it's easy to think "wow, now there's a gift that says I'm really thinking about you...you coffee-addicted litterbug, you." But not so - I think it was one of the truly inspired choices of the season, and I applaud all who bought it and continue to buy it. Sure, it's a small gesture - a reusable cup. Means I'll consume fewer paper and plastic cups, so less in the landfill. And fewer resources (particularly wood and oil) will be consumed to produce these cups. Potentially fewer carbon emissions as a result. Does that make me a hero? Maybe. Mohammed Nasheed, president of the Maldives, wrote a particularly disturbing article for The Economist in which he details his fears about climate change and the effect this will have on his island nation. They are already planning a very expensive sea wall to surround the entirety of their third most populous island to protect the population from a rise in sea level; there is even talk of buying land elsewhere in the world in case all of the islands are submerged. Reminds one of those science fiction movies where earth is destroyed and only a few colonists survive on Mars to keep humanity going. But the concerns of the Maldives are real and urgent, even in the face of less than a 1 degree Celsius increase in global temps. The debate over global warming rages, and I am only a humble retailer, but it seems to me that we can only benefit by taking steps to live in more environmentally responsible ways. Joe for the Road is a small step in that direction, but small steps inevitably lead to larger ones, and if everyone eschewed plastic and paper cups and chose a reusable cup instead, well...there may yet be beachfront property in the Maldives.