Dare me to dress like a BRITA filter and walk across SF?
This could be me at this Sunday’s SF Bay to Breakers because, you know, I have a Barbie Doll body and a giant BRITA filter cartridge in my living room. It could be me if I can get at least one volunteer to walk the 12K (7.65 miles) with me, hold my water bottle, and pass out flyers to the cheering crowds. I’d love to have a whole team of people walking with us and wearing signs that say “www.takebackthefilter.org.” But it will only take one confirmed volunteer to get me to actually do it.
Why can’t Terrible Person walk with me? Why, because he is running the Bay to Breakers, attempting to break his personal awesome record time of 56 minutes last year. Michael trained. Beth did not. Michael will be finished in under an hour. Beth will be sweating in a cardboard costume for over two, probably. But there’s karaoke at The Mint afterwards. And if that’s not incentive enough, I just don’t know what is!
Don’t everyone offer at once!
Have you all signed the petition? We’ve got over 4,200 signatures at this point, and people have been mailing us used filter cartridges from all over the country. Organic Consumers Association wrote a great blurb about the campaign in their latest newsletter (PDF) and another well-known environmental organization is preparing to send a letter to Clorox.
For more updates on the campaign, please check out our news section: http://www.takebackthefilter.org/search/label/news, where you can find out more about the call we got from Clorox shortly after the campaign began.
So can I get a volunteer?
BANANA UPDATE: It’s looking like Sunny is probably going to be the winner of the contest to find out the reason for the sticky plastic on the stems of organic bananas. She found a link that says the plastic is there to prevent black mold. Regular bananas are dipped in a fungicide which kills mold, but organic bananas are not. Hence, the plastic. Before I declare her the official winner, though, I’d like some confirmation. So I sent an email to Dole tonight to find out about the plastic on their bananas. We’ll see if they confirm what she found out.
(I know a lot of people have said it’s so checkers can tell the difference between organic and non, but that just doesn’t sound right to me. The organic bananas all have stickers on them that say they’re organic.)
Okay, gotta get back to working on my costume!
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Hi Juli and other blog readers,
Spencer here, founder of Rent-a-Green Box ( formerly called earth friendly moving)…. My big issue with moving the cardboard way is pretty simple, why are we cutting down our trees, to make a cardboard box that we are going to use once, maybe twice to just toss it into the landfill. My idea, is to use our plastic post consumer trash to make a plastic box called the recopack that we rent in three sizes on a weekly basis.
Please check us out on the web and drop us a note. We are expanding nation wide over the next three years, so please don’t hesitate to contact us to see if we are operating in your area!
Sincerely Green,
Spencer Brown
Interesting blog, I applaud you!
Hi Beth,
I wonder if you have come across this CA company:
They have a pretty awesome business model. Recycle plastic into moving boxes, rent them inexpensively including drop off/pick up service, and save cardboard, tape and bubble wrap from the landfill. I called them to see if they have any NYC affiliates yet for my move at the end of July– they won’t get here until August, unfortunately– and ended up speaking to business founder Spencer Brown. He was very friendly, and happy to talk to me, and has a .pdf of earth friendly moving tips to share with me even though he can’t help me out with moving boxes.
Juli in NYC
Hi Beth-
I could potentially be persuaded… But I want a costume too! What are you making yours out of? How long has it taken you to construct?
I think it’s a great and fun way to spread the word!
I would love to do it but I live in Colorado. Good luck!
beth, you’re so awesome. if i lived anywhere near you, i would, in fact, sweat it out with you. we could be two sweaty oversized filters. i’ll be in beautiful austin instead, readying myself for the Muddy Buddy race on Sunday. i wish you luck!
–sandra
I asked trade joes’ employee Chris WTF about the plast ic on organic bananas- He siad he was sure it had nothing to do with identifying them as organic since there where stickers on them and that the fungicde answer seemed obviuos to him
I too wish I could help but a bit far from seattle! Take some pics for us of you in your brita costume! Put a leash and harness on soots and arya and take them with you!
can we runz race? we runz verrrrryfast across living room & couch & stuf. but maybee we getz distracted bai birdz in golden gate park.
I have Flight Simulator. I could fly to SF and circle overhead as you walked, so would a airborne virtual volunteer work? How about my dropping thousands of flyers over SF? Of course they would be virtual flyers but
Uh oh, here come the orderlies to take me back to my room…
On the bananas…since people often separate bunches to buy fewer, I doubt the tape being a marker for organics, unless it has a use before the point of retail sales.
I’d volunteer too…if I lived near by.
I would SO volunteer.. but somehow, spending the money and carbon and gas and such to get to California just doesn’t seem like a good idea from Colorado… Good luck! I hope someone in town volunteers!