A little Q&A

One of the things I wanted to do originally with the blog was to share some environmental factoids with everyone about the real impact of throwing everything away. We need to understand that the things (coffee cups are just the tip of the iceberg) that we use to make our lives "easier" on a daily basis are things that we only use for minutes a day but they are built to be around forever. That's not an exaggeration. The paper cup, the sleeve, lid, napkin, stir stick, sugar packet--it takes a lot of packaging to make one cup of coffee exist. That's not even mentioning the coffee processing itself, which I'll leave to another blogger. So I want to illustrate how easily we can all find this info. I am not working with anyone who has any more knowledge about recycling or green living than the average Joe. I only have access to the same information as everyone else.

So I Googled "How many disposable cups does the average American use per year" and "Recycling statistics." One site that kept coming up was Sustainability is Sexy. They have some good stuff on the subject, plus it looks like they have mugs for sale. Here is a sampling of some of their info:

• Typical paper coffee cups aren't made from recycled paper. Instead, most cups are manufactured using 100% bleached virgin paperboard. Why don't manufacturers use recycled paper? Firstly, FDA regulations are strict when it comes to allowing recycled paper pulp to be in direct contact with food and beverages. Secondly, recycled paper isn't strong enough to hold a liquid.
• According to the paper industry, Americans will consume an estimated 23 billion paper coffee cups in 2010. Rob Martin, the Vice President of Merchandising and Production for Tully's Coffee, estimated the 2006 use usage at 16 billion paper cups.
• Reusable mugs do more than just affect the environment positively--they also save both coffee houses and coffee drinkers money. A study done in 2000 found that Starbucks could save more than $1 million per year in packaging costs by implementing reusable cups.

I just copied some interesting bits from the site, but go check it out yourself. You don't need to donate money to anyone. You don't need to chain yourself to a tree in protest of deforestation. You just need to start with your own habits, so go get yourself a reusable coffee mug, or come find me, and I'll make sure you get one. 

A quick post before slipping into a coma....

OK, we literally just walked through the door from a nice little drive up from Palm Springs and my eyes are just barely open but I just had to comment on the newest developments.

As we were driving to the desert Monday morning, I get a text from a friend I hadn't seen in a while. She was asking me where I had been and also said "Nice '3-minuter' in the Examiner." This was my first notification that the interview was actually out Monday, as I hadn't gotten an exact answer on a date from the Examiner. Actually, since we just got back to S.F., I haven't even seen the paper version, just read it online. Very exciting stuff. Check it out.

I've had a lot of responses as a result of the interview and people are giving me a ton of good ideas and suggestions about how to make the blog and project better. Keep the enthusiasm coming, it helps me so much. Most of the questions and comments have been coming to my personal e-mail or phone (which is still cool) but I just want to encourage anyone with ideas about what you'd like to see on the blog or ideas for bettering the project to share those ideas, here, as comments on the blog. I want everyone to see the ideas and exchange thoughts and have it be interactive, if possible. One of the comments I'm hearing most often is that I need to blog more frequently. Totally legit. I'm gonna commit to upping my blogging to once a week at minimum and hopefully more.

More good news

Fantastic news! Even though I have not been quite the blogger I hoped to be, I have been giving mugs and talking about mugs and buying mugs, etc. So don't worry ( I know you've been worried) because heresyourmug is still alive and well. I have two exciting new developments to share with all of you. Ready?

First of all, I have an interview about this project coming out in the San Francisco Examiner. We're basically famous. It's a 3-minute interview but an interview nonetheless. Thanks to my amazing PR department (Karyne). A client at the salon asked if I had notified the Examiner about my blog and I said no, but it was a good idea. I told Karyne about this conversation, and as it turns out she knows someone at the Examiner. She sent out an e-mail and before I knew it, I was on the phone giving my first-ever interview about the mug project.  Im excited that now people who don't me personally or on Facebook might find out about the blog and it'll change their lives. That's what happens when you skim across an interview in the Examiner, right? It changes your life? That's what I thought. I don't know exactly what date it's coming out, but I will keep you all posted.

Second piece of amazing news is that Christine (my boss and the owner of Renaissance Salon) today asked me about my blog. We've been super busy at work lately, so although I have given her a mug, which she uses daily, we haven't had time to really talk about the project. Today, after hearing what the project is about and why I started it, she asked if I would accept a donation from her of $50 monthly. That's amazing! Now I can double my mug budget and get more sustainable solutions out there. The more people I talk to about this with, the better it gets.

Everyone's ideas and connections, no matter how big or small, are propelling this thing forward. This is exactly what I was hoping for with this project. My next task will be to set up a Paypal account, so people can donate through this blog. I'll get my PR person (Karyne) working on that right away.