You are currently browsing the YERTblog weblog archives for the day June 21, 2008.
- November 17, 2008: Cloth Diapering to the Max: We are going to try them all!
- November 15, 2008: How Facebook is changing the World one filter at a time...
- November 11, 2008: Oh Yes We Did... Now what do we do?
- October 31, 2008: Most Important Human Challenge Ever!
- October 21, 2008: Some words to keep the faith now we're NOT on the road...(borrowed from Not So Big Blog via no impact man...)
- October 20, 2008: YERT's New Media Tools
- October 16, 2008: YERT at Bioneers in Maine!
- October 12, 2008: Eco-Mothering, week 6
- September 28, 2008: YERT on "Living on Earth" Radio Show!
- September 17, 2008: It’s soap, not dope!
Archive for June 21, 2008
Day 320: Green Businesses And Basements
June 21, 2008 by Erika.
In this year on the road, YERT has come across many individuals planting seeds of green right from their living rooms, kitchens, and basements.
We met two such people in the Twin cities area in May. Jeannie Piekos was kind enough to host us for lunch at her home in M
inneapolis along with her family and two dogs. It was an appropriate place to meet, because that’s where her green business started. After years of washing out bags by hand, Jeanie asker her husband to design a device that could wash the bags in the dishwasher. The result: Bag-E-Wash.
Plastic zipper bags really are convenient— great for helping parents pack kids’ lunches, freezing leftovers, hauling food to/from a tailgate party—but they’re also incredibly wasteful when used only once. Bag-E-Wash helps maintain the convenient lifestyle we have grown accustomed to while also becoming more environmentally 
responsible. Just a few pieces of nylon snap together to hold, wash, and dry plastic zipper bags in the dishwasher. She recommends using the freezer bag variety because it is durable— lasting up to 50 washes— and,
like all zipper bag companies she’s researched, does not release toxins even after many uses.
Tony Kvale has a similar story. His board game, Head1Liners, looks like any other game on the shelf, but is made of recycled materials paper, soy-based ink, and recycled glass. He works from his St. Paul home with help from his 3-yr-old daughter, Greta, who receives free room and board for helping her daddy sort colored game pieces in their basement. 
While Tony’s wife, Brenda, made sidewalk chalk drawings outside with Greta, Ben, Mark and Tony played a round of Head1Liners, which is simple and easy to pick up. One player chooses a picture from a box and then all of the players must each make up a headline for the image. All the players vote (but not for their own!) and move according to the number of votes they received.
Wanna try? Kudos to whoever comes up with the best headline for this shot of Ben. (It’s a sneak peak of what is coming up in a future blog entry.)
Posted in Erika, Uncategorized | 3 Comments »