And thank you, C+C Music Factory.

‘Sustainable,’ ‘circular economy,’ and ‘environmentally conscious’ are definitely practically de rigueur among entrepreneurs these days and we are totally on the same page. In fact, we’ve been composting for years. But are products et al that people call sustainable, truly sustainable – or eco friendly. There are just a few points/examples of things that make you go hmmm that we’d like to share as a sort of nudge to you, and/or to provoke something of a head-scratching moment. Pay attention: science can sometimes be something of a shifting target:

 

Paper bags were once discouraged, as trees were being sacrificed and they do photosynthesize carbon dioxide and covert it to oxygen, so important environmental consideration: the trees stay. Plastic bags became the order of the day. Now it seems that oceans are being compromised by plastic, so some retailers have reverted back to paper bags or encourage people to bring their own bags. But note to self: E. coli Infections Spike(d) After Plastic Bag Ban in California. In NYC, stores will still provide you with bags – for five cents each and again, they’re plastic. There’s a problem looking for a solution.

Water Bottles. We are certainly not going to be one of those people who contributes to landfill or plastic in the ocean if we can help it, so we are a proponent – and owner – of reusable water bottles. The question is: as in the case of reusable shopping bags, are they healthy? Or safe? How often do you clean yours? Here’s an informative Look Under the Cap you may want to check out and fyi, “Thousands of moisture-loving bacteria may be crawling on your favorite refillable drinking container.” “In fact,” says copperh2o, “reusable water bottles that have not been washed for a week have been found to host gram-negative rods and gram-positive cocci. When the water you are drinking is highly contaminated by these bacteria, it can cause diarrhea, urinary tract infection, and sepsis, among other infections and illnesses.” Think about people out for a run or long bike ride who may need to stop to refill their bottles. Would a portable, all-natural neutralizer be a solution, perchance?  Or a revolutionary new material for the bottle itself?

Same holds true for face masks, btw, re health and safety issues. Which is why doctors discard theirs for a fresh one, generally every 20 minutes. How often do you clean yours? UV light will do it, which is also produced by the sun, which is why we don’t quite understand the science behind the need to wear a mask while out in the sun…of course, that would be different column. Not going there. But would you like to know What’s that growing on your face mask?, if you don’t believe it might be a matter of some concern? There’s a reason why doctors discard theirs for a fresh one every twenty minutes.

Shopping totes, water bottles and masks are all fairly ubiquitous, to name just a few. And all are rife with white space, especially in a climate where sustainability is a prime consideration, among both consumers and investors. And think simple and universal: something renewable – which, in this case, also means repeatable – and preferably subscription-enabled. Case in point: Dollar Shave Club, who reinvented…how we look at razors. For starters. Billion dollar exit. With an item that has been around forever, and who’d have thought?

Certainly not investors. Huh???, many an investor wondered initially.

One entrepreneur’s white noise is another’s white space. And those are the places where you can usually find yourself starting with ‘huh’ and getting to ‘a-HA!’

When it comes to true sustainability, it’s also important to think holistically. Consider: wind energy may be considered clean but disposing of the blades presents a huge environmental problem. As for the push to electric cars and ‘clean energy,’ as Forbes reported in The Dirty Secrets Of ‘Clean’ Electric Vehicles,“A recent United Nations report warns that the raw materials used in electric car batteries are highly concentrated in a small number of countries where environmental and labour regulations are weak or non-existent… These artisanal mines have been found to be dangerous and employ child labour.” As the Institute for Energy Research pointed out in The Environmental Impact of Lithium Batteries, “lithium, cobalt and other critical metals are needed to produce these technologies. Mining, processing, and disposing of these metals can contaminate the drinking water, land and environment.”

Speaking of which…

We are a fan of eggs – preferably ones produced by cage-free, grain fed chickens – although they are more expensive than the conveyor belt variety, and while being free range and grain fed is better for the chickens, too, and more humane, we do sometimes think twice before purchasing the former. It’s not to do with the price: it’s that the cage-free and/or organic eggs tend to come in plastic cartons, while conveyor-belt eggs always come in the cheap, bio-degradable cardboard cartons. We do understand the economics, but it is also somewhat hypocritical, all things considered.

 

White noise and white space. A lot to examine and consider and you can’t always wait for someone else to think – or act – holistically and truly sustainably, from what we’ve seen so far. At the end of the day, it seems, to get that job done, it may well be that there ain’t nobody here but us chickens. Onward and forward.