The Eco-Friendly Pizza Box

I was reading Scholars & Rogues and was impressed with the innovation in pizza boxes. ECO Incorporated seems to be pretty ambitious in their attempt to change the way people get their pizza. Converting the bottom of the box into a take-home storage container is brilliant. How many times you been left with 1-2 extra slices after everyone is full? I’m interested to see if this concept makes it to market.

Cell Phone, I Hardly Knew Ye

If you’ve been thinking about getting the rumored iPhone coming out this summer, or getting a slick new Blackberry, then you need to stop and consider what will happen to your current phone.  In the US, wireless carriers often subsidize the cost of a phone when a customer signs a new contract. Having signed a few contracts in the past decade, I’m guilty of getting a new phone for the most trendy gimmicks offered by carriers. Who hasn’t been sold on a cool color alone?

The US currently has about 153 million cellar phone subscribers. Only 10% of all broken or inactive cell phones are recycled each year. Do the math. The rest end up in landfills or incinerators.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is actually launching the National Cell Phone Recycling Week on April 6-12, 2009. The EPA’s pitch is simple. By recycling phones the raw materials can be re-used and save on the electric costs of manufacturing new materials, such as copper, plastic, and glass. By recycling, I’m helping save enough power to keep 2,035 households powered-up for the entire year. read more

The Captain Planet Movie that Never Happened

Children of the 90’s know about ecology. The push for more science-aware programming such as Beakman’s World and Bill Nye the Science Guy brought the sciences alive for the 5-12 crowd. One of the biggest series of the earlier part of the decade was Captain Planet and the Planeteers.

Captain Planet was the brainchild of cable-mogul Ted Turner. The show aired globally on various affiliates and on TBS and Cartoon Network in the US. It combined action and adventure with a strong ecological message. I’m not sure if it was the lame puns or the green mullet, but the show has left its impression on pop culture. Love or hate it, Captain Planet brought concepts such as recycling and ecological ethics to the mainstream.

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