slamboard

I made a post earlier on casting some doubt as to the benefits of the Sony recycling program that was announced widely in the press. Today I went to work researching the company that they are partnered with in this endeavor.

WM Recycle America has a corporate pledge that basically says they are not doing the bad stuff that I was accusing the industry as a whole of doing. Read their Pledge and see for yourself. The key point is their promise that ‘all electronics from residential and municipal sources are processed in the U.S.’

When you are a law firm consisting of partners with three very distinguished names, how do you decide on a url? The Arizona estate planning attorneysat Morris, Hall & Kinghorn must have left that decision up to mister Morris.

Besides getting down to the nitty gritty of planning estates for individuals, these guys also publish instructive and engaging books related to estate planning. Dan R. Morris recently teamed up with Amelia Pohl to pen the book A Will is Not Enough in Arizona. They carry out free information seminars related to estate and life care planning as well as trusts and wills. Elder Law is their specialty.

I did it to myself today. Anyone who cares to has already found their way from this blog to my irreverent, sometimes ludicrous personal blog. I have shielded my extended family from that side of me for the last couple of years. In the beginning, I just didn’t want my writing to be influenced by the recurring thought that my librarian aunt might be reading my blog.

I hope I can go on as per usual after letting my family know about my online writings. I do get to hide a little bit because I have the same first and last name as a somewhat celebrated playwright and comedian who lives in California. My mom does not have a computer.

Most of us don’t have a clinical diagnosis of seasonal affective disorder, but I think full spectrum lighting can benefit the health of most office dwellers.

Having the full spectrum of light from a lamp entering your retinas affects your brain chemistry the same as sitting out in the natural sunlight. A full spectrum desk lamp could make you more productive and happier, especially in the winter. I remember having a work shift in Canada where I was going to and from work in the dark at missing out on the whole 9 hours of sunlight.

ShopPremier.com is a huge online store that features the best quality in lighting solutions inside and outside.

Leaving a used item at a drop-off box that has the word recycling written on it is technically not recycling. I was shocked to find out just how much of the electronic waste generated by developed countries ends up being shipped to a poorer country where the components are dealt with in an irresponsible way by underpaid workers who toil in an unsafe environment.

This issue is not addressed in the press release that I have read today. I can only assume that Sony is no more responsible than most other large corporations with regard to this practice. If anybody can point me to some source stating where and how these Sony products are going to be recycled, I would be happy to comment on it.

Most people get on a self improvement kick of one kind or another on a regular basis. Personal goals might be related to wealth, health, relationships or any number of other things.

The self help industry is lucrative because people don’t typically decide to improve themselves, find the best resources, achieve a goal and then stop. The typical cycle is for a person to set an unrealistic goal, seek out resources that promise to help them achieve that goal, fail, and lay some of the blame on the resource. This blame is well deserved in many cases.

The Law of Attraction videos bypass the steps that are more like stumbling blocks for many people and if in 6 weeks you fail to see results, your money can be refunded with no questions asked.
If you enroll in the Law of Attraction course on or before August 30th, you will be eligable to receive a free upgrade to Gold membership status.

The key points of the law of attraction method involves recognizing and overcoming obstacles.

We rely on our VoIP service for some business communications. If Skype had been our chosen provider, we would have had a BAD day yesterday. Some Skype users are reporting 14 hours with no service.

I had just written a fairly positive sentence or two about customer satisfaction. I then went to Wikipedia and saw that Skype is under some heavy criticism by some people for unresponsive customer service and other issues. That is understandable for such a large service. My only complaint as a non-Skyper is that Joost didn’t work for me.

I want to present this press release to my readers. I hope it sparks some interest with regard to the Kyoto Accord. Much of the media focus in relation to carbon emissions focuses on political wrangling. In the end though, it is up to industries to find ways to practice what the politicians are preaching…

BRITISH GAS LAUNCHES GREENEST ENERGY TARIFF

9 August 2007: British Gas has announced it is launching two new green energy tariffs, Zero Carbon, which will be the greenest tariff available on the domestic market and Future Energy. British Gas has launched the tariffs, in response to the increasing demand for green energy products.

Householders signing up to the Zero Carbon tariff will:
• reduce their household energy carbon emissions to zero through Kyoto compliant offset schemes which will meet the new Defra requirements
• help fund a direct increase in investment in renewable energy generated in the UK
• contribute to the new British Gas green fund which will:
o invest in developing new renewable technologies such as wave power
o oversee a programme to help schools in the UK reduce their CO2 emissions

Gearóid Lane, Managing Director British Gas New Energy said,”Our new tariff responds to consumer demand for truly green energy solutions. It is essential that customers have confidence in green energy tariffs and that their credibility is not damaged by tariffs that claim to be green but in reality do not deliver any incremental environmental benefits. Green tariffs are moving from niche to mainstream products and we’re leading the industry by offering a tariff that will do more for the environment than any other product currently available.”

Under the government’s Renewables Obligation (RO), electricity suppliers in the UK are already required to produce an increasing percentage of their electricity through methods such as wind farms which, unlike traditional power plants, produce zero carbon emissions. For 2007/2008 this figure is set at 7.9%.

In a recent report, the National Consumer Council (NCC) raised concerns that some energy suppliers are packaging electricity which is produced under the RO scheme as “green”, yet it delivers no additional environmental benefits. The NCC called on energy suppliers to take steps beyond their legal requirements and offer green energy tariffs that provide genuine additional environmental benefits, in particular CO2 emissions reduction.

British Gas worked with Global Action Plan and The Climate Group’s “We’re in this Together” campaign to develop Zero Carbon which goes further than any other green tariff in meeting these requirements offering consumers the only zero carbon option on the market.

The tariff carries a premium of £84 per year, reflecting the higher cost of producing energy through lower carbon emission schemes.

Virginia Graham, Chair of Global Action Plan, said, “The British Gas Zero Carbon tariff delivers on all three of the essential requirements of a green tariff which are: additionality, transparency and verifiability. As such it is a very welcome new offering in the market. Consumers signing up to the tariff can be confident that they are getting 12 per cent more renewable energy than they would otherwise have got. The carbon emissions from their electricity and gas will also be offset with emissions reductions from projects accredited by the United Nations.”

Zero Carbon is one of the first initiatives launched through the ‘We’re in this Together’ campaign, which was launched in April 07 as an alliance of some of the UK’s biggest brands who are all working to help their customers reduce their impact on the climate.

Dr Steve Howard, CEO of The Climate Group and founder of ‘We’re in this Together’ said, “We’re committed to offering people ways to make a real impact on climate change through Together.com. We’ve worked with British Gas to ensure that Zero Carbon is a genuine step forward in delivering more environmental benefits than any other tariff currently available.”

British Gas’s second green energy tariff, Future Energy, offers an alternative green electricity tariff at a premium of just £20 per year. Customers signing up to this tariff will contribute to a green fund which will provide solar panels and other renewable energy technologies to UK schools. Money from the fund will also be invested in development of future renewable technologies and sources.

To sign up customers can call British Gas on 0845 604 0055 or visit www.britishgas.co.uk

The US embargo against Cuba is a unique situation. Generally speaking, embargoes tend to have the intended effect eventually. It really doesn’t seem like this particular strategy has worked. Realistically, the embargo against Cuba is not an international issue but a national one. Cuban Americans are a significant voting block in places like Florida that have time and again had national significance at election time.

Travelocity is not one of the businesses that has a permit to sell American travel services to Cuba. These permits are generally for visits related to academic, religious, humanitarian or journalistic purposes or family visits. The huge travel website is stating that it did not intend to break regulations, it was a mistake. The company carries out business Worldwide including Canada, which does a booming trade in Cuban vacation packages. Travelocity is paying its fine and learning an expensive lesson.

Numerous US Presidents have smoked Cuban cigars since the embargo was imposed in the early 60’s. I suspect some of them even inhaled.

Corporate blogs are just now becoming a standard tool for marketing and customer service. The medium has some distinct advantages and Wizetrade is effectively using the medium with its blog.

The new blog allows fans of Wizetrade to interact with Wizetrade employees and executives. They can keep abreast of exactly what is going on with Wizetrade. Readers can examine and share views on the securities market.

There are also entertaining and instructive videos on the blog. One video uses swing dancing as an object lesson related to Wall Street terminology. The presenter is attractive, thus making it exponentially more entertaining.

Wizetrade has George Bush as a speaker at their big event this year. That’s pretty impressive.