I’ve been contacted by a few green businesses lately. While I haven’t directly experienced these businesses myself, they sound sincere enough that I’m willing to give them some exposure. Please leave your comments on any dealings with them.
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Maximum Impact Renovations
“My husband and I have just started a renovation business that specializes in environmentally-friendly kitchen and bath renos.
Our business is run out of our home, and we endeavor not only to installing eco-friendly products, but we also try as much as possible to use sustainable business practices. For example, my husband (a Red Seal Journeyman plumber) was appalled at how much garbage the construction industry (especially new home construction) contributes to landfills. In the past two years, he has committed to recycling or repurposing all packing materials (i.e., cardboard, plastics, wood) from his job sites. In fact, last year he built shelves in our garage, entirely out of wood that he diverted from the dump!
We have also committed to sourcing as much of our products from post-consumer recyled material as possible. It might cost more to print on recycled paper and purchase bamboo T-shirts, but we consider it a good investment in the environment. If you're interested in writing a blog entry about sustainable business practices, please feel free to give us a shout. We'd love to participate!
Josephine Lamy, www.maximpactrenos.ca
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Good Earth Coffeehouse and Bakery
Hi we just opened a family run cafe on the south side of Edmonton called Good Earth Coffeehouse and Bakery @ the market at Summerside.
With personal views that are in line with your organization with Sustainability, Environmental Responsibility, on the forefront of my opinions and actions making choice like using Bullfrog to Power my cafe, doing planters that are edible, using recycled wood furniture, and supporting local companies where possible such as Alberta Coffee Roasters and Beef Farmers.
I wanted to offer that if you ever wanted to display any materials on our bulletin board or need support to please feel free to contact us.
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LED Ligths Canada
HI, I wanted to introduce myself and my company to you. I stock and sell LED lighting in Edmonton. I spent years as a kitchen renovator and began using LED lights in my renos years ago when they were very hard to find. I have now moved full-time into promoting LED lighting and would like to be represented on your site. There is a link on the site you might be interested in called "The Total LED Kitchen". Harvey
Good Earth cafes are a series of franchises. I had used their excellent cafes when having meetings in Calgary when they were just the two cafes. I believe in the early years they roasted their own coffee and they had quite a bit of Fair Trade certified coffees. Now they seem to outsource the roasting and go the 'Direct Trade' route. Sure SOME of their coffee is Fair Trade, SOME of their coffee is shade grown certified, and it is unclear what percentage of their coffee is certified organic.
Starbucks has two coffees that are Fair Trade Certified and they are the largest purchaser of FTC coffees but that does not make them local community members.
Good Earth cafes are nice places with good food but a little upscale for my liking. The people that purchase a franchise have quite a bit of money to invest in an operation (I believe the franchise if about $450,000).
I just wanted to add a little to the certification comments made above. Many roasters who are environmentally and socially conscious are considering Direct Trade and Rainforest Alliance the next steps in Ethical Trade Coffee's.
Fair Trade has done a lot to ensure farmers where getting a fair price for the coffee and a competitive price was paid to all farmers. However fair trade did not address many issues such as child labor, salary paid to the workers, workers living conditions, ect. Which direct trade allows roasters to address. Add that fair trade has multiple middle men taking a cut where direct trade puts more dollars directly into the farmers hands. Some of the top brands you will recognize in Edmonton such as Fratello, Intelligentsia Coffee, and Transcend have all committed to this method of Ethical Trade. A good article on the difference can be found here http://wayofcoffee.com/index.php/2007/10/15/fair-trade-vs-direct-trade-p...
Rainforest Alliance is the other term I wanted to discuss briefly as Organic is the term in the forefront of many buyers minds. We are starting to see a new trend in sustainable agriculture. Once again the top coffee roasters in the province are showing a preference for this certification as it address the complete environmental impact of the farming process vs. just the chemical use. For example they ensure the rainforest are not clearcut, that the canopy of trees remains maintaining wildlife habitats for birds and other animals, that the waste is addressed properly, etc. all while helping improve efficiencies. You can visit http://www.rainforest-alliance.org/agriculture.cfm?id=main to get the full details on the certification.
In short Fair Trade and Organic labels have definitely done a lot to help ensure that we are more Environmentally and Socially conscious, however as they have been around for quite a few years now and with general public opinion starting to realize the importance of sustainability that new certifications are certain to arise to push the levels further and the current ones may even evolve as well.
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