Fast Facts

Fast Facts

Worldwide some 2.7 million tons (2.4 million metric tons) of plastic are used to bottle water each year, according to Earth Policy Institute. (National Geographic).

The average wage paid to manufacturing workers in China is 20¢-25¢ an hour. (Center for Research on Multinational Corporations-- Amsterdam)

Workers at a jeans factory in Kenya, producing jeans for Wal-Mart, are discouraged from joining unions, despite Wal-Mart’s policy that allows workers to join unions. (Oxfam)

Workers at a factory in Saipan, a US territory, making Abercrombie clothes are paid around $3.00 an hour. (Conscious Consumer) Which is a lot compared to workers in a Gap factory who make 30¢ an hour.

Maybelline and Cover Girl are manufactured by Proctor and Gamble. Proctor and Gamble uses Huntingdon Life Sciences for their cosmetics testing. Huntingdon Life Sciences kills, on average, 500 animals a day.

McDonalds uses genetically modified potatoes for its French fries. McDonalds fries contain dairy and what ingredients, yet said in 2002 that their fries were dairy and gluten-free.

Bleach, if mixed with ammonia, releases toxic chloramine gas. Short-term exposure may cause mild asthmatic symptoms or more serious respiratory problems.

Nitrobenzene (in furniture and floor polishes) can cause skin discoloration, shallow breathing, vomiting, and death; associated with cancer and birth defects. A safer alternative would be to use cornstarch, which can be used to can be used to clean windows, polish furniture, shampoo carpets and rugs, and starch clothes.

According to the National Research Council, "no toxic information is available for more than 80% of the chemicals in everyday-use products. Less than 20% have been tested for acute effects and less than 10% have been tested for chronic, reproductive or mutagenic effects."

Union leaders who work at Coca-Cola bottling plants in Colombia have been killed because of their union membership.

According to local NGOs in Sierra Leone, some 1500 children work in diamond mines in slave-like conditions, working for around $0.50 a day.

If you buy this... THIS would be a Better Alternative

Electronic Companies

Top Five for Electronics top on electronics

1) UNICCO, Integrated Facilities Services- Respect Environment!!

-UNICCO Service Company provides facility maintenance, progressive management, and employee training and development.

www.unicco.com
http://www.webbuyersguide.com/bguide/company/companyDetails.asp?Id=4800&Category=371
http://www.buildings.com/articles/detail.asp?Article ID=950

For Quick Facts: 1) Green Clean Program to ensure that facilities reach LEED requirements
2) use certified chemicals, tools, processes, training, service, and support
3) helps companies provide guaranteed cleaning services
4) lighting systems designed top reduce manpower, electricity costs
5) 95% retention rate
6) #16 on Top 200 Employers
Http://www.unicco.com/downloads /news-events/unicco-in-print/2005-Green-Expectation.odf


XM Satellite Radio


1) provides direct satellite radio to over 4.5 million consumers in the US
2)

http://news.usti.net/home/news/cn/?/tw.space/2/wed/dg/Uus-xm.RPXY_GFG.html



Microsoft Corporation top on electronics

1) Worlds #1 software company
2) Gates Foundation on charities worldwide; Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation puts an emphasis on global health; has changes the way charities do business for the better (evaluation)
a. http://www.zefhemel.com/archives/2003/10/03/what-many-people-don-t-know-about-bill-gates
b. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/3913581.stm
3) Have implemented the “Katrina Safe” system
a. http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,1895,1855722,00.asp
4) Bad labor and human rights
a. For more than 10 years, Microsoft delayed their court-ordered 97$ million payoffs to their “permatemps”
b. Permatemps are temporary workers who weren’t given regular benefits that were given to the employees
c. http://www.corpwatch.org/article.php?id=12672



Comcast Cablevision worst on electronics (DirectTV is better alternative)


1) largest cable television company in the US (has 26.1 million subscribers); 53% rating on buyblue
a. one of the top union busting companies in the united states
i. http://www.buyblue.org/node/2267
2) bought AT&T cable in 2002
3) have been pushing for decertification elections
4) CWA (Communication Workers of America) have been rejected by Comcast, why 2000 employees have lost their voice over the past two years
a. Have fired those employees, spread lies, etc.

Beverages and Clothing

Where does your money go?

This is an interesting graphic I found that relates to where your money spent on that new shirt goes. So little goes to the worker. So that is the project tonight, to find a place that gives workers FAIR pay for what they do rather then $1 or even like 50 cents an hour for making these clothes that we pay so much money for. http://www.behindthelabel.org/specialreportsretaildollars.asp

Timberland

I thought that Timberland would have bad practices, but it sounds like, from this press release that they are going to be a leader in how the clothing/shoe industry should behave, telling consumers the environmental impact of what they buy.
TIMBERLAND ANNOUNCES INDUSTRY-LEADING PACKAGING INITIATIVE THAT PROVIDES NEW LEVELS OF TRANSPARENCY FOR CONSUMERS
01/26/06STRATHAM, NH, January 26, 2006 – The Timberland Company today announced a footwear packaging initiative that reduces Timberland’s environmental impact and provides consumers with new information to help guide them in the purchase process. The initiative, the first of its kind in the retail industry, will be seen in stores in 2006. Most notably, Timberland will place a “nutritional label” on each box that will educate consumers about the product they are purchasing, including where it was manufactured, how it was produced, and its effect on the environment.Highlights of the packaging initiative include:• The “nutritional label” that will inform consumers about Timberland’s environmental and community impact.• Footwear boxes made of 100 percent recycled post-consumer waste fiber.• Footwear boxes using no chemical glues and only soy-based inks to print labels.• Messaging inside the box that asks consumers “what kind of footprint will you leave” and provides a call to action for them after purchase.“As a company, Timberland wants to make it better and the new packaging will do just that,” said Jeffrey Swartz, Timberland’s President and Chief Executive Officer. “Our goal is to reduce our impact on the environment while engaging consumers to take action. This packaging and labeling initiative should make our industry more transparent and give consumers the information they need to make smart buying decisions.”The “nutritional label” has three sections: The “Manufactured” section gives the name and location of the factory where the product was made. The “Environmental Impact” section reports how much energy is needed to produce Timberland® footwear and how much of Timberland’s energy is generated from renewable resources such as the sun, wind or water. The “Community Impact” section details what percentage of factories are assessed by the company against Code of Conduct standards, the percentage of the workforce that are children and the total number of hours volunteered in the community by Timberland employees. In addition to increasing transparency with this initiative, Timberland is encouraging consumers to take action within their community. Examples of this call to action include: • Each Outdoor Performance shoe comes in a reusable “take-in, take-out” bio-degradable waste bag to be used on the trail. Children’s footwear includes tissue wrap that educates them about birds and animals in the woods. • Consumers can reuse and fill footwear boxes with donations, such as canned goods, first aid items or clothing, and send them to non-profit organizations as items are needed. Links on timberland.com will help consumers find local or national groups and then print shipping labels. “Every day, we challenge ourselves to think of ways to improve our products, the way we manufacture them and how we can become better members of our community,” said Swartz. “I believe this packaging and labeling initiative is another step in an industry-wide movement towards becoming more aware of what goes into the products we consume.” Timberland (NYSE: TBL) is a global leader in the design, engineering and marketing of premium-quality footwear, apparel and accessories for consumers who value the outdoors and their time in it. Timberland® products are sold worldwide through leading department and specialty stores as well as Timberland® retail stores. Timberland’s dedication to making quality products is matched by the company’s commitment to “doing well and doing good" -- forging powerful partnerships among employees, consumers and service partners to transform the communities in which they live and work.

E85

I found some stuff on E85, ethanol alcohol, the new alternative fuel that will most likely save the US from the impending oil crisis. I found an article in USA Today that states that there are already 5 million vehicles on the road that can run on corn-based ethanol alcohol. There is a list of vehicles on the GM website, that can use the fuel. Check it out and see if your car can take the fuel! However, there is a severe lack of fueling stations in the DC metro area, but that will change as popularity rises. Most ethanol fueling stations, it seems are in the midwest of the US, the corn-growing states, which makes sense. This also from the USA Today article "Ethanol yields roughly 26% more energy than it takes to produce it, according to a just-published study by the University of California at Berkeley. That's because corn grows using free sunlight and because farming has gotten very efficient. Gasoline provides only about 84% of the energy required to produce it, the study says. " According to this article, a switchover to E85 could ELIMINATE gasoline consumption in the US by 2050.

Kosher

RC Cola is Kosher. So are the rest of the Schweppes-Cadbury products from what I found. Cadbury, I already found to be fairly socially responsible with its production of chocolate when I was doing preliminary research. I have not found negative aspects to Cadbury-Schweppes yet. This could be a good alternative. They sell alternatives for all the TDR drinks from Coke... Rc Cola, Canada Dry gingerale, Dr. Pepper, 7-Up, IBC Root Beer, Motts Apple juice (and other apple products), Country Time lemonade, A&W Root Beer, Sunkist orange soda, Snapple, Welch's grape juice, just to name a few... the only thing I am not sure of is if they put out a bottled water...The Cadbury CO.

This has info about their social responsibility, rather than Coke's blatant defiance.
CLICK HERE for a complete list of beverages in the US made by Cadbury-Schweppes

fair trade in the news

an article from the Post about fair trade... it gives some ideas on fair trade alternative suppliers we can look into for the project. at the end of the article it has links to sites that are fair-trade oriented.
and this link is to a fair trade organization that the article mentions.

and CLICK HERE to learn about fair trade chocolate... from NPR...
and i think i am done for the night...

Starbucks and Fair Trade

CLICK HERE for the link to a site that has information about Starbucks and organic/Fair Trade coffee. In addition, it has information about other health issues related to organic vs non-organic foods and genetically modified foods. The site has links to organic products... lots of different categories.
CLICK HERE a little blurb about how Starbucks is trying to be more eco-friendly, according to the EPA, but we know how great the EPA is at its own job...

This is about how Nestle has decided to run a line of fair-trade coffee in the UK... why not in the US? However Oxfam "called on Nestle to "alter its business practices, lobbying strategies, and radically overhaul its business to ensure that all coffee farmers get a fair return for their efforts". " hmm... cautiously welcoming the move, according to the article. CLICK HERE to read the article

And also from the BBC, here's a bit about Fair Trade and WHY it is important.


Fair Trade links:
Fair Trade
Christian Aid
(this is a UK-based site that has lots of ideas of things to do on campus CLICK HERE
to raise awareness about fair trade and social justice issues. It also has a list of vocabulary related to issues of fair trade that is worth looking at in case anyone is confused. it can also be used as a good resource to make what we print and hand out understandable for people who don't know the issues surrounding fair trade. their pressureworks campaign is pretty neat, though geared toaward UK consumers it has a quiz thing about your buying habits/lifestyle and what atrocities you contribute to everyday by simply brushing your teeth and driving to work.)

Coke Media References

This is an article I found from Business Week about recent College Campuses campaigns against Coke. We are not the only ones against Coke. It also paints a picture of the controversy over Coke, the corporate enthusiasts against the college activists.
http://web.lexis-nexis.com/universe/document?_m=dde05d46ee4049e9acacd9f868ce5f2c&_docnum=4&wchp=dGLbVtb-zSkVA&_md5=fd3391dde489065d4b48b61af8b23e05

(if it doesn't work, sorry, and please email me... from blackboard)

This is another article from Business Week where reporters from Business Week went to Colombia to research what really happened.
http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/06_04/b3968079.htm
This is another article, from Uconn, about getting Coke off their campus. It also has information about human rights violations Coke has committed in Turkey and Indonesia, as well as environmental abuses in India.
http://web.lexis-nexis.com/universe/document?_m=dde05d46ee4049e9acacd9f868ce5f2c&_docnum=17&wchp=dGLbVtb-zSkVA&_md5=d933117397a39fbeabb4052de6c00fe0
This is an arcticle from BBC about how a Mexican shopkeeper won an appeal against Coke when Coke was going to stop selling Coke products to her store unless she stopped selling a rival soft-drink product from Peru. Yay for the Mexican lady who stood up for herself and not allowing Coke to have full monopoly in her store, though Coke has 70% of the soft-drink market in Mexico.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/4445086.stm
Here is a more in-depth article about Coke's environmental abuses in India, also from BBC. It is also a victory story, Coke closed a factory that had been depleting the landwater resources for the rest of the surrounding area. So even people in India are protesting Coke.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/4167606.stm
And this from an Atlanta paper about Emory's student newspaper running an anti-coke editorial, even though the univesity was founded by money from Coke stock.
http://web.lexis-nexis.com/universe/document?_m=dde05d46ee4049e9acacd9f868ce5f2c&_docnum=25&wchp=dGLbVtb-zSkVA&_md5=f8f0cf9b6cc2612850a8ea96313370f7

Eagle Ad

hey, i don't know if you all saw the ad for coke in the Eagle today. Since when does the Eagle run such huge ads blatantly supporting the company that has a monopoly on beverages on our campus? It is a lengthy ad on page 7, Feb 27 edition that basically is the company trying to get people like us who are speaking out against coke on our campus to shut up.
http://www.cokewatch.org/
this is a link to a group in DC that might be able to help us in finding an alternative to Coke on campus. though i don't know how reliable their information is because it looks like a campaign to market Pepsi instead, and we already know that Pepsi is not any more socially responsible than Coke is.
This site sort of addresses an issue that we may have to deal with on our campus, that was brought up in class. Coke, in addition to being Kosher, apparently supports Israel, politically. I think that is good, and many people on our campus, since it has a large Jewish population, would agree. I think we need to find a really good alternative to Coke, if possible, one that is Kosher, socially responsible, and environmentally friendly. (wait, we are dealing with soda, chemicals, and such... eco-friendly soda? i don't know... anyhow...) Anyhow, this is a link to another site of people boycotting Coke for purely political reasons. http://www.inminds.co.uk/boycott-coca-cola.html