A Green and Sustainable Bank? Inconceivable!

When you think of banking, is sustainability the first thing that comes to mind? Yeah, me neither. :)

Yet, there's a case study about a bank that purports to care about such things. Tridos Bank: More Green, Less Greed.

Let's look at what this post has to say about Tridos. And I quote:

Triodos Bank is one of the world’s leading sustainable banks. Although not as large as some of the mainstream banks yet, Triodos now has a balance sheet worth €4.3 Billion, and is one of the largest investors in renewable energy in Europe.

Sustainability is at the heart of the Bank’s mission, to make money work for positive social, environmental and cultural change. The Triodos business model is based on lending to, and investing only in organisations that benefit people, society, and the environment.

Wow! Can you imagine? You mean it's possible for even a bank to operate in a sustainable manner? Why that's ... inconceivable hard to believe! Ha ha ha ...

But wait! There's more.

The Triodos story also provides another interesting example of how sustainability and profitability are not mutually exclusive concepts, even in the world of financial services.  As well as driving towards, and influencing a more sustainable world, Triodos delivers consistent and growing returns.  The Bank generated a net profit of €17.3 million in 2011, up by nearly 50% on the previous year.

Triodos Bank truly walks-the-talk, integrating sustainability principles within its own operations. This includes carbon neutral banking, through energy reduction and efficiency measures, eco-efficiency buildings, allied to appropriate offsets. The Bank also has a good focus on sustainable resources.

Makes me want to recycle my Kindle right now! But then I'm screwing myself, right? Unless readers choose another device. What else could they choose? Well ... there's Kobo now, and it's awesome.

There's also Nook, iPad and other devices that aren't supporting a huge technology company that's trying to kill publishing and run the whole show.

Recycling Gizmos Sustainably

When your toys need an upgrade ...

As I've blogged previously, it's difficult to find effective ways to recycle one's electronic gizmos, without running the risk that they'll end up in a foreign country's landfill or abandoned scrap heap.

Thus, it's somewhat reassuring to read here that there's a company devoted to recycling electronic devices sustainably. Or, to be more accurate, breaking them down and selling the components for reuse by manufacturers.

Here's what the article says about the company's mission:

Electronics recyclers claim that they’re lawfully disposing of electronics after stripping them of their hazardous contaminants.  The ugly truth is that after charging exorbitant fees for collection, recyclers often send waste to countries like China and India, where rules are lax and dangerous materials are commonly dumped near farms or sources of drinking water, or burned after the electronics are mined for reusable microchips, copper, and silver.  Because circuit boards are fireproof, the workers who burn or smelt down electronics just end up carbonizing the circuit boards and creating more emissions, then filling up landfills with the residuals.  This isn’t exactly what most people have in mind when they think “green.”  

Enter Materials Conservation Company (MCC), an e-waste company that prefers to think of its mission as recovering materials rather than recycling end of life electronics.  Using a proprietary mechanical process, MCC safely reduces electronics to two new raw materials, rendering them into a metal concentrate or powder. The company then sells the metal to refiners, who employ an electrolytic system to make commodity grade metals, such as copper.  The end result is that electronic equipment - the toughest material to recycle - is 100% reutilized.  

Think of it as a reverse Amazon, but instead of ordering products and putting them into a cart, you put products you already have into a cart.  That cart comes in the form of collapsible reusable containers that are sent to businesses by MCC, then picked up from company loading docks within 48 hours after being prepared to ship to regional centers.  Recycling partners disassemble the electronics, the scrap is sold to scrap channels, then the circuit boards and wiring are sent back to MCC where the processing begins to extract the metals to be reused in other ways, and recycles the circuit boards into an epoxy resin for use in waterproofing.

Did I mention that the cost of this to businesses and consumers is $0?


Wow! From the looks of it, this company caters largely to businesses. If there were a way for consumers to send their old Kindles Hitler devices here, that would be soooo cool!

I don't think I'd buy an iPad, though. Or a smart phone. I'm fine with my stupid old phone, thank you! :)

My Office Cleaning Project, Part 3

Before

Okay. I posted this on Aug. 2. It's been less than two weeks, and I've already made substantial progress.

This is what I've managed to do, after devoting only five minutes per day (really!), plus an hour or so on the weekend, to the task.

After ... so far ...

Voila!

It's a start. Now, if I can fumble my way through organize all that shit, anyone can. :)

Words to Live By

Being "green" and "sustainable" is about more than lip service. One must go the distance and walk the walk.

This article called Green Branding: Why Closing the Gap Matters explains the details.

I'll quote some of the awesome parts of the article:


Sustainability is not just good business, it is smart business. Leading companies recognize this, but do they achieve the best possible results for both the planet and their brand?


Traditionally, environmental practices have been viewed as a way to increase profitability – to reduce material usage, for example, or improve energy efficiency. Mitigating risk has also pushed sustainability up on the corporate agenda. For global enterprises this could involve anticipating regulatory changes or ensuring the long-term viability of production facilities. More recently it has become clear that green thinking is central to driving innovation and can positively impact sales.


Brand owners, however, need to widen their horizons and look beyond straightforward business benefits. There are other potential benefits to the brand that often go ignored. Brands that do not adequately communicate their environmental achievements are failing to maximize their investment in sustainability.

There's a message in here for authors trying to build their brand platform.

Always do the right thing.



PS: Read here about an awesome Kickstarter project! :)

My Office Cleaning Project, Part 2

Yeah. That's really my desk. And that's why I'm doing this. Ha ha ha ... #iamfoolish

 As you can see, I have a TARDIS. It's a cookie jar I got for my birthday last year. I'm an ebook author, and my first novel hit the New York Times bestseller list last year. (There's a point to this story. Really!) About a month before my birthday, here's how I celebrated the second anniversary of my blog.

I look at that now and realize that I really was a fucking moron.

What have I been saying all along?

Nothing in this world comes unearned. So, it's time to clean out the clutter in my life.

Mack-nado damage!

And would you believe there's more shit beneath the shit you can see?

There's a metaphor buried in there somewhere, but I don't feel like finding it. Ha ha ha ... #iamfoolish

See? I'm full of shit. Ha ha ha ...

But I'm taking care of business. Five minutes a day (at least). With an hour or so on weekends.

And I'm actually finding gold buried under all that crap. Honest! I knew I was hanging onto it for a reason. :)



PS: Here's a cool thought for the day. You're welcome. :)