Clean Energy for America

We were excited to learn this week that the House of Representatives passed the American Clean Energy And Security Act. This act proposes to create clean energy jobs, achieve energy independence, reduce global warming pollution and transition to a clean energy economy.

If you would like to find out more about whats in the bill, go to: http://www.opencongress.org/bill/111-h2454/show . There is a lot of good stuff in this act and some real incentives to encourage the reduction of carbon emissions and waste', and to invest in energy efficiency and renewable energy.

Although this act was passed, it only passed by 7 votes out of the 434 votes. We at Go Green Mug sent letters to our congressmen encouraging them to enact strong environmental laws and we know that our letters and thousands like them are needed to ensure our elected officials don't let us down.

The vote now will pass on to the Senate. Once again the vote may hang in the balance. We can influence our Senators decisions by sending them letters and letting them know that we support these proposals and that it will help make the country, energy independent and the planet more habitable. If you want to write letters to your Senator, the easiest way to do it is through an online petition site such as the Care2 Petition Site. On sites such as this and others, you don't need to come up with the words to write, you can put your name an a well written letter that will be emailed in your name. Easy but effective.

For now we will celebrate this passage of strong environmentally friendly act and look forward to this proposal becoming law in the very near future.

Have a great week and reduce your waste.

Earth Day Events and Photos

Today we come to the end of 2 weeks of fun environmental activities that we took part in for Earth Day celebrations. We have put together an assortment of some of the photographs from the events we attended.

We hope you had the chance to do your bit in the last two weeks. Of course you know that these last two weeks should not be the end of your environmental activities. Please join us in the coming weeks for more activities. We will post them in advance on this blog. We will be celebrating earth and the environment every day, so please join us when you can or tell us about what you are doing and how we can join you.

Go Green Mug have decided to extend our Earth Day discount of 20% off, until the end of April. So if you do not use a travel mug at coffee shops to cut down on your paper and polystyrene cup waste, then go to http://www.gogreenmug.com and personalize a travel mug with names and quotes and anything else you want. Add a photograph too. Use the coupon code: svplntmg at checkout to get your 20% off.

OK, we promised some photographs, so here they are:

On Saturday 18 April, we had a fantastic day in Southern California and took to the beach in Huntington Beach for a bit of surfing and sun. Unfortunately we have no pics from the day, but we got to enjoy the ocean and even lend a hand in a beach cleanup.

On Sunday April 19 we were at the Earth Day Celebrations at the Rainbow Disposal Center (on Nichols St.) in Huntington Beach and at The Lab and The Camp (the anti-mall) in Costa Mesa (on Bristol). We had the chance to see some neat environmental products and enjoy bites from locally grown organic food stores. Below is a pic of some wall art at The Lab.

On Friday 24 April we helped at a beach clean up at Big Corona beach in Corona Del Mar. Once again finding lots of small plastic pieces, cigarette butts and polystyrene all over the beach.
Saturday 25 April we took to the trails in Laguna Canyon and enjoyed another great day in Southern California. The trails seemed to be busier than usual as many bikers and hikers celebrated Earth Day this weekend.

Finally on Sunday 26 April (today) we were at the Muth Interpretive Center in the Newport Beach back bay to enjoy an Earth Day celebration complete with tarantulas, large iguanas and birds of prey. Here is Dennis helping out at the Surfrider Foundation exhibit.

Have a great week and reduce your waste.

The Problem With Clean Coal

We know that you voted for Earth on Saturday 28 March and turned off your lights. We enjoyed the hour playing cards by candle light and of course we happily survived, although there may be some candle wax on the cards.

Earth Hour was a great opportunity to show our concern over global warming and to get those billion votes that they are hoping to take to the Global Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen 2009. Remember though that during that hour we also did not need much electricity in our homes or workplaces and therefore we were able to burn less fossil fuel and reduce our CO2 emissions.

Assuming the Earth Hour goal was reached and 1 billion people around the world turned off their lights for the full hour we can estimate that about 450 million pounds of carbon dioxide were kept out of the atmosphere, which is the equivalent of taking 350 million cars off the road for that hour. This is more than the total number of registered cars in the USA.

As we thought about these savings, we started talking about clean coal. We have heard a lot about it, particularly from the energy companies. They suggest that clean coal is as viable a solution to global warming as any other natural environmental energy such as solar and wind.

After doing some research here are 7 facts about clean coal.

1. We all know that coal is a fossil fuel that is used mostly by energy and electric companies in power plants and is burnt to create steam, which turns turbines and thereby creates electricity. Burning coal releases CO2 (carbon dioxide) into our atmosphere. You can see it pouring out of a power plant smoke stack.


2. One aspect of clean coal technology is to literally wash the coal with liquid prior to burning. This removes the unwanted impurities. Wet scrubbers are also used to remove sulfur dioxide (a major cause of acid rain) by spraying the coal with limestone and water.


3. Clean coal technologies also use low nitrogen oxide burners and gassification which convert the coal into a gas to burn. This is said to reduce the amount of coal burnt.


4. Any method used to clean coal will still result in CO2 emissions which will then need to be stored.


5. Carbon Dioxide capture and storage is the technology that proponents of clean coal seem to be most enthusiastic about. They suggest that CO2 emissions can be captured and kept out of the atmosphere . The captured CO2 needs to be collected in secure containers. The CO2 is then stored in 2 possible ways. Either under the ground by injecting the CO2 into depleted oil or gas fields and seams, or injecting liquid CO2 into the ocean 500 to 3000 meters deep.


6. Storage methods (underground or ocean) must be able to contain the CO2 until peak emissions subside. This will take hundreds of years.


7. The environmental effects of all the forms of storage are largely unknown. By injecting CO2 into the earth we may cause changes in the soil and pressure under the earth, and by injecting liquid CO2 into our Oceans we could damage marine life. Any form of storage will need to be carefully prepared and monitored.

Now that we have some facts, we are not convinced. With clean coal technology, we are taking the coal burning, CO2 emissions, problem and shoving it under the bed so that we can ignore it. Global warming is not "somebody elses problem" . We need to step up now and change the way we create and use energy. Drop the idea of clean coal technology and rather spend that research money on solar and wind power technology. Forget about capturing and storing CO2 and fund research into battery technology to store the natural energy sources that we have available.

Of course, you know that you can do your part too. Reduce your waste, Recycle whatever you can and Reuse as much as you can.

We still have a long way to go. I met with a friend to catch up on Thursday, at a local coffee shop. The coffee shop was full, with a line out the door, as it usually is, but unfortunately I was the only customer using my own mug. Everyone else was using a paper cup and all of them had plastic lids. There is an easy solution to this waste. If you do not have a mug then get one at http://www.gogreenmug.com/ and always remember to bring it with you to coffee shops.

Have a great week and reduce your waste.

Storing Solar, Wind and Wave Power

We have been hearing about the benefits and potential revolution that will come about when we commit to using Solar, Wind, Wave and other sustainable natural energies. We have heard how we will be able to give up on our fossil fuel habit, reduce our carbon emissions and hopefully slow down or reverse the effects of global warming.

We, of course, are big supporters of these sustainable energy sources and are excitedly anticipating some big changes now that President Obama has made environmental sources of energy an integral part of the 2009 Economic Stimulus Package and his federal budget. For now, although we know of a few homes and companies that use solar energy or wind turbines for power, we are not quite in a position that all of us can swear off those fossil fuels.

The problem is storage. Electricity cannot be stored, it can only be transformed into a different type of energy. Solar, wind, and other natural environmentally generated sources of energy are not consistent. The Sun does not always shine all day and never at night, the wind does not blow at a high enough speed all day or night either. This would mean that we may encounter electricity fluctuations as the sun goes behind a cloud or the wind dies down. Therefore, this type of energy needs to be stored before it is transformed into electricity that must be delivered. Fossil fuels such as coal and oil have that storage advantage. The coal or oil can be kept in its natural state before being burned to create the electricity.

There are a few costly ways in which Solar, Wind and other such energies can be stored - large batteries, fuel cells and heat storage. Batteries are familiar to all of us. We all know that the larger the battery, the more power it can store but this also makes it more expensive. In fact, battery technology really has not advanced much since it was invented, mostly because fossil fuels became much cheaper to use. Electric cars in particular have struggled because the cost of the battery is high and it takes a long time to charge and delivers limited mileage. This makes it almost impossible for the electric car to compete against a gas engine that can offer longer mileage and be filled up in minutes.

The other methods of energy storage may work out a lot better. Heat storage makes a lot of sense for Solar energy. The sun can heat a pipe full of water and create steam which is then much easier to store before it is converted into electricity.

President Obama's plans give encouragement to all forms of energy storage. He has even budgeted specifically for scientific research into battery technology. Once specific technologies become essential and funded, we have seen how quickly they can develop. Media (movies, photographs..) storage has encouraged hard drive manufacturers' to quickly increase hard disk storage space and retrieval speeds. Every year, larger and larger storage disks are built, while the size of the drive and the costs remain the same, or in some cases decrease.

Energy storage has also become an essential technology as we try to move away from using fossil fuels, and therefore we hope to see the same exponential technological developments and cost effectiveness here that we have seen in other technological fields.

Next weekend (Saturday) the Go Green Mug team http://www.gogreenmug.com/ and friends will be competing in the 2ND Annual Rockwater event hosted by Surfrider Newport Beach. The event is planned to raise awareness of the water shed. The water shed is the path water takes from our streets and gutters to the ocean outlet. Anything we throw out on the streets will therefore end up in the ocean. We will talk more about the Rockwater race in next week's blog. But if you want to come out and support us we will be running, walking, biking, and skateboarding from the Riverside/Orange county county line to the the Santa Ana river mouth at the border of Huntington Beach and Newport Beach.

We have not reported on any of our coffee shop visits for a few weeks now, because we think you may be bored hearing about our adventures. So why don't you let us know about your coffee shop visit and what discount they gave you for bringing in a mug. We will send a free GoGreenMug T-shirt for the best message, with a photograph, that we receive. We will publish the photograph and details in the next blog. Send your message to support@gogreenmug.com.

Have a great week and remember to reduce your waste and use your reusable mug.

Buying an environmentally clean car

The economic meltdown is causing serious difficulties for most Americans. With our investments and retirement accounts decked out in a very un-festive red, most of us cut back on our spending and reign in our shopping sprees and regular restaurant visits. Of course we could never give up a regular latte, it is the only way to start and end the work day.

According to many knowledgeable sources though, now is the time to invest. Warren Buffet (investing guru of Berkshire Hathaway) is buying shares, home prices are depressed and interest rates are low and car dealerships have great deals.

Maybe now is the right time for us to get a new fuel efficient car. Fuel efficiency is not the only criteria for a cleaner vehicle though, but for most of us finding out what is important and how a car rates environmentally is difficult.

A new law took effect on January 1st 2009 in which all new vehicles manufactured after the 01/01/2009 and sold in California must display an Environmental Performance label. This label shows 2 scores from 1-10. A smog score and a global warming score. The higher the score the cleaner the vehicle.

The Global Warming score is calculated on the greenhouse gas emissions, based on a CO2 equivalent grams per mile. The Smog score calculates the pollutant elements from the vehicle which include non-methane organic gases and nitrogen oxides. These scores are also calculated relative to other vehicles within the same model year. So think of these scores as a sliding scale test.

Battery Electric cars of course get the best scores as well as requiring zero fuel and score 10 for both the smog and global warming. The average new car sold in California has a score of 5 for both. You can get more information on the Environmental Performance label at http://www.driveclean.ca.gov/ep_label.php

California Governor, Arnold Schwarzenegger has been a strong advocate of raising emissions and fuel efficiency standards in California for some time and now President Obama has backed California's strict policies. California wants automakers to build cars that can get an average of 40 miles per gallon by 2020, while federal requirements are asking for 35 miles per gallon.

So there are a few ways we can evaluate the environmental effect of the new car we want to buy. We will look out for the Environmental Performance label and will aim to get a car with great smog and global warming scores. We will look at fuel economy and try to match or beat California's 2020 efficiency standard of 40 mpg. Finally we will make sure we have a cup holder for a GoGreenMug.

Speaking of mugs, remember to let us know about the coffee shops you visit and the discounts they offer you for bringing in your own mug. If you have not done so already also sign up to our cause on Facebook http://apps.facebook.com/causes/196342?m=fa5edc14&recruiter_id=35111682 so that we can build a community and put some pressure on the large chain coffee shops to offer better incentives for using a reusable mug.

Protecting our coastlines - the Marine Life Protection Act and what you can do

At GoGreenMug.com, we're committed to minimizing negative effects on the environment, by promoting the reduction of waste we, as a society, generate.

We wanted to use this week's blog to remind you all of some simple actions you can take to reduce your waste. Some of these things will not only be helpful to the environment, but may also save you some money:

• Reduce paper waste by paying your bills online and signing up for e-statements. You'll be less likely to make a late payment, save yourself and the billing company a few envelopes, and save yourself some postage (which is scheduled to increase May 11, 2009).
  
• Bring reusable containers to restaurants to carry your leftovers home. Your containers are most likely much sturdier than what the restaurants give you; plus, theirs are almost always made of styrofoam.


• Bring your own bags to the supermarkets. We are seeing lots of people starting to adopt this action, and the markets are definitely taking notice. Some places such as Target reduce your bill by five cents for every bag you save them; other markets like Trader Joe's enter you into a weekly raffle. So gather up some old bags (or buy some), and throw a few into your car so you'll always have them on hand when you're out shopping.


• Remember - your GoGreenMug can be used for any kind of beverage, including water or soda. No need to waste single-use cups at the office for water/coffee, and some restaurants let you fill up your mug at their soda fountain instead of using their throwaway cups.
  

In addition to minimizing negative effects on the environment, there are some simple steps you can take to promote positive change. The Marine Life Protection Act (MLPA) of California was passed in 1999 (yes, this was a while ago, but it is scheduled to be fully implemented by late 2010-2011). This law is intended to provide various levels of protection to specific areas along the coastal waters, by controlling what types of activities are allowed. By strategically placing these safe-havens (Marine Protected Areas - MPA's), marine life can prosper and may flow from one MPA to another. For more information on the MLPA, please visit http://www.dfg.ca.gov/mlpa/

If you feel any particular areas along the California coast would benefit by being designated an MPA, please complete a survey the Surfrider Foundation has published at: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=jweijd4I8d5vtscSSwjSHw_3d_3d

Last week, we visited the Portfolio Coffeehouse in Long Beach, CA. It's a fairly large shop, with lots of seating areas, including comfy couches, and plenty of places to plug a laptop into. This shop offers ten cents off for customers who bring in their own mugs (the discount only applies to coffee orders though). The baristas said they make an effort to recycle as much as they can, are conscious of the types of material used in their disposable utensils, and offer ceramic mugs to customers intending to enjoy their beverage in the coffeehouse.

Thank you for your efforts to reduce the waste, and have a great week!

What is in the 2009 Economic Stimulus Package for the Environment

Congress voted on President Obama's American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 last week.

Because of President Obama's commitment to the environment, that he expressed during his presidential campaign and has reiterated since he became president, we hoped that this new economic stimulus package would include incentives for Americans to reduce their waste, improve energy efficiency and make use of renewable energy.

At GoGreenMug we have added our voice to the call for green incentives in the stimulus package. We have signed petitions at National Wildlife Federation and Surfrider as well as adding our photo to CALPIRG's appeal to Congress to remember Global Warming in the stimulus package (see last weeks blog).


So just what is in the Economic Stimulus Package for the environment? We reviewed the bill, passed in the Senate on February 10, to get an idea of what to expect. You can see a copy of it at http://www.opencongress.org/bill/111-h1/text .

Here are some of the environmental highlights:

• Incentives for residential and commercial buildings to meet or exceed specified energy conservation standards. - $14 billion
• Grants for the manufacture of advanced battery systems and vehicle batteries that are produced in the United States, including lithium ion batteries and hybrid electrical systems. - $2 billion.
• Energy-Efficient Federal Motor Vehicle Fleet Procurement, acquiring federal motor vehicles with higher fuel economy $300 million.
• Investment in electricity delivery and energy reliability (a smart grid) to enable the use of renewable forms of energy - $4.5 billion
• Improve power line capacity and reliability- $6.5 billion.
• Projects that demonstrate carbon capture from industrial sources - $1.5 billion.
• Conservation and renewable resources programs - $15 billion.
• Grants for the operation of the National Park System and public land- $3 billion.
• Public Transportation - Investment to add train routes and bus lines - $8.4 billion.
• Defense nuclear waste environmental cleanup and conservation and renewable resource programs - $6.4 billion
• Tax credits for renewable energy development, home efficiency upgrades and the creation of renewable energy and conservation bonds - About $20 billion.

Considering the total for the stimulus package is likely to be around $789 billion, the approximately $80 billion set aside for environmental policies seems a substantial investment (about 10%). Is it enough to head off the possibly devastating challenge of global warming and destruction and change the way Americans live and do business. It is very important that environmental issues are addressed and that incentives are created for Americans to reduce waste and conserve our environment.

Most of us though will never get to see a stimulus investment check even if more money were made available, however we can continue to reduce our waste and energy consumption without this incentive. We can also continue to appeal to President Obama and congress to offer forceful incentives for the industries that need a prod, such as the oil companies, motor vehicle manufacturers and carbon dioxide belching manufacturing companies.

This week we have a pic from some regular Starbucks customers at their local coffee shop in Orange County. Sarah and Tamarra holding their GoGreenMugs with Raoul and Starbucks barrista, Ari. They commented that they love their personalized GoGreenMugs and their Starbucks sometimes offers more than the company policy 10 cents discount when they bring in their own mug. Thanks for the pic guys.
You too can get your pic on our blog. Take your GoGreenMug into your local coffee shop and ask for a discount. Let us know what discount you got and what you like about your local coffee shop and include a pic if you want. You can leave a comment or email us at support@gogreenmug.com .

Sign up to follow us on this blog as we try to make a difference by getting involved with environmental causes and promoting the use of mugs in place of paper or polystyrene cups through our website GoGreenMug.

College Activism

I (Dudley) was studying at the University of Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, South Africa in the early 1990's. Mandela had been released and the first democratic elections for all of South Africa's citizens was yet to take place. This was a time of serious political turmoil in South Africa and as liberal students, many of us attended rallies and protests, excited to be part of history.

Many people will also remember or have read about the political activism of the 1960's in America. Civil rights, ban the bomb, free love. Much of this activism took place on college campuses with enlightened students and academics leading the way.

We believe that reducing waste is a cause and a political one. Without government support it will be very difficult to make the changes we need to reduce waste and thereby stabilize our environment. Last week in a discussion on his environmental policies, President Obama said "Year after year, decade after decade, we've chosen delay over decisive action. Rigid ideology has overruled sound science. Special interests have overshadowed common sense. Rhetoric has not led to the hard work needed to achieve results. Our leaders raise their voices each time there is a spike in gas prices, only to grow quiet when the price falls at the pump."

If we do not put pressure on our political leaders they may continue to delay to take action.

Once again enlightened student activists will likely take the lead in this important cause. This week we attended a presentation on Global Warming at the University of California, Irvine (UCI). Members of CALPIRG (California Student Public Interest Research Group) organized posters and speakers. They discussed their plans for on campus environmental programs. These included a bike share program, where students will be able to check out bikes on campus; a Metro use program that will lay out bus routes on the OC and LA Metro to numerous student hangouts, including clubs and restaurants; a recycling program and a community activity program. Members of CALPIRG were also taking photographs of students and visitors with a sign reminding President Obama and Congress to include environmental causes and effective actions that will reduce global warming in the $850 billion bailout plan.

We also met and spoke with Christine Dubois Royal from CALPIRG and Dr. Lori Greene from the School of Physical Sciences at the University of California. Dr. Greene introduced us to a new program at the School of Physical Sciences with a focus on improving efficiency and storage of Solar Energy.

We were pleased to meet up with these enthusiastic activists at UCI and are looking forward to finding out more about their programs.

As you know our cause is to reduce the waste in Coffee Shops by using a reusable mug.

Dennis went to Kelly's Coffee & Fudge, in Buena Park, CA. They did not offer a discount for bringing in his mug. The owner said he doesn't see more than 2-3 people/month bringing their own mug in, and he wasn't even aware of his own franchise's move to become greener by switching the type of cups they use. In fact he did not realize that a sign outside promoted the new greener cups. The owner then used a paper cup to make the drink, then poured it into the mug; he explained he had to do this because the cup had lines showing him how much of each ingredient to put in. This location does not seem very interested in making much of an effort to help the environment (or even to save themselves some money on disposable cups).

Unfortunately this is an all too familiar experience at coffee shops. You do have the right to choose though. Ask the barrista to make your drink without using the paper cup for measurements. If he refuses, then get your money back and go to another coffee shop that will use your mug. Remember our purpose is to reduce the waste of coffee cups, so walking away will make the coffee shop owner think twice about their environmental policy.

Remember to take your reusable travel mug into all the coffee shops you visit and ask them for a discount. Let us know where you went and the discount offered. If you can get a pic then please send it to us at support@gogreenmug.com and we will post it in next weeks blog. Alternatively just comment on the blog and tell us about your visit.

Join our cause on Facebook at http://apps.facebook.com/causes/196342?m=fa5edc14&recruiter_id=35111682 or on the Starbucks V2V at http://www.v2v.net/actions/go-green-mug

Follow us on this blog as we try to make a difference by getting involved with environmental causes and promoting the use of mugs in place of paper or polystyrene cups through our website GoGreenMug. Go to http://www.gogreenmug.com/ and you can get free shipping and 15% off with the coupon code: luvday until Valentines Day February 14th, for your personalized re-usable travel mug. We now also sell gift certificates, so you can gift your friends and family a mug and help them reduce waste.

Deforestation and Coffee Cups

How many trees are cut down every year to create single use disposable coffee cups?


According to Sustainability Is Sexy more than 6.5 million trees were cut down in 2006 to create the 16 billion paper cups thrown away. Coffee shop paper cups are not made from recycled paper because of FDA regulation and the fact that recycled paper is not strong enough to hold the liquid and prevent hot coffee leaks and spills. Therefore most paper cups are made from 100% virgin paperwood.


Deforestation is the process by which trees in a forest are cut down. The reasons for deforestation are numerous, including logging (to make paper products), increasing farmland, mining and population expansion. This deforestion creates wastelands and deserts, but in our opinion there is a far more environmentally important result.

Trees are like Carbon Dioxide sponges. They remove carbon from the atmosphere during the process of photosynthesis and release small amounts of Oxygen back into the atmosphere. Only an actively growing tree can perform this function. The Carbon absorbed by the trees is also compacted into the soil where after millions of years it creates the fossil fuels we use abundantly today. Cutting down trees, exposes this soil and allows this carbon stored in the soil to be realeased back into the atmosphere.


Therefore by chopping down trees we remove the planets natural Carbon Dioxide filter and also release more carbon into the atmosphere from the soil. And as we all know increased carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is a major cause of our global warming environmental problem.



To add to this increased carbon dioxide from deforestation, the creation and then disposable of all these coffee cups, creates even more carbon dioxide. Creating the paper requires large machines that belch out carbon dioxide and burning of non -recycleable used coffee cups also increases carbon emmissions.

Of course planting trees is an excellent way to reduce some of the damage caused by deforestation, but we must also commit to reducing our waste and to reusing our own personal coffee mugs.

With all this in mind I took my Go Green Mug to Seattles Best coffee shop in the Borders bookshop in the District in Tustin, CA. Seattles Best offered me a 10 cent discount for using my reusable mug and as I intended to read a magazine at the shop I was pleased that once again the barrista filled up my 16 oz. mug and I only paid for a small 12 oz.

Remember to take your reusable travel mug into all the coffee shops you visit and ask them for a discount. Let us know where you went and the discount offered. If you can get a pic then please send it to us at support@gogreenmug.com and we will post it in next weeks blog. Alternatively just comment on the blog and tell us about your visit.

Also if you have not done it already join our cause on Facebook at http://apps.facebook.com/causes/196342?m=fa5edc14&recruiter_id=35111682 or on the Starbucks V2V at http://www.v2v.net/actions/go-green-mug

Follow us on this blog as we try to make a difference by getting involved with environmental causes and promoting the use of mugs in place of paper or polystyrene cups through our website GoGreenMug. Go to http://www.gogreenmug.com/ and you can get free shipping and a 15% discount with the coupon code: luvday until Valentines Day February 14th for your personalized re-usable travel mug. We now also sell gift certificates, so you can gift your friends and family a mug and help them reduce waste.

Beach CleanUps

Congratulations President Obama! Since he became president on Tuesday, he has got off to a flying start. Although he spoke about his energy and environmental policies briefly in his inaugural address, this has obviously not been part of his initial actions because of the deep economic recession.

However we have noted that his team have made modifications to http://www.whitehouse.gov/ where you can find his new environmental policies, in which he continues to commit to a greener future.

At GoGreenMug we too have really just got started. Last week we started 2 action campaigns. Thank you to all who have joined our causes at http://apps.facebook.com/causes/196342 on Facebook and at http://www.v2v.net/actions/go-green-mug . Remember to use a reusable mug whenever you visit a coffee shop, ask for a discount and let us know about it as a comment or by sending us an email at support@gogreenmug.com .

This week we also took up Obama's call to public action and took part in 2 beach clean ups in Huntington Beach. The first was organized by the Bolsa Chica Land Trust working with the City of Huntington Beach, CA on Martin Luther King Jr. Day and saw a large turnout. Many of the larger pieces of trash picked up that day were polystyrene and paper cups from coffee shops, as well as many pieces of plastic from the plastic lids supplied at coffee shops.

The second beach cleanup we did was with Surfrider Foundation Newport Beach chapter http://surfridernb.com/ This event takes place on the 4th Saturday of every month, so please join us if you are in the area. Once again there was lots of evidence of polystyrene coffee cups and plastic lids. The 3 photographs shown above left are great examples of how obvious it is that many coffee cups end up on our beaches. Although some of them are simply left on the beach, most of this difficult to recycle waste is washed down to our beaches via the watershed. The watershed is the drainage area into a river and in much of the USA this watershed picks up waste from our streets as it drains to the river which then drains to the ocean. The best way to reduce this waste on our beaches is to reuse, reduce and recycle everything we can.
In these pics you can see some of the trash that was collected. Plastic and polystyrene photodegrade and thereby creates smaller and smaller pieces as it breaks down. Eventually these small pieces enter the food chain of smaller birds, fish and animals, causing them harm.

These 3 bag fulls were collected by 3 of us in an hour of clean up.

This week Jane also took her mug to Tropicana Bakery as part of our Facebook cause. Here are Jane's comments and picture: "Today I visited Tropicana

Bakery and Cuban Cafe in Downey, California. I learned that they do not offer a discount for bringing in your own mug. However, they seemed very receptive to the idea and it sounds like they have already made efforts to become greener in the new year by switching from using Styrofoam to paper cups. I have been to this bakery often. Their food and coffee are some of the best in Southern California and the place is always packed. It would be great if they encouraged their customers to bring in their own mugs and helped to reduce the waste."

We hope Tropicana Bakery and Cuban Cafe follow up on their attempts to reduce waste and we wish them luck.

Please let us know about any of the places you visit.

As we are asking coffee shops to show their commitment by giving larger discounts we have decided to show our commitment at GoGreenMug.com too by offering free shipping on all orders through February 14th to encourage everyone to get their own personalized mugs to take into coffee shop.

Follow us on this blog as we try to make a difference by getting involved with environmental causes and promoting the use of mugs in place of paper or polystyrene cups through our website GoGreenMug. Go to http://www.gogreenmug.com/ and use the new year coupon code: ny1501ggm to get 15% off your personalized re-usable travel mug through January 2009. We now also sell gift certificates, so you can gift your friends and family a mug and help them reduce waste.

Obama Style Community Action

On Tuesday 20 January, 2009 Barrack Obama will become the new President of the USA. In regard to the government's environmental policy we believe that his presidency will benefit and promote environmental causes. If you are interested in finding out more about President Obama's Environmental and Energy plan then go to http://my.barackobama.com/page/content/newenergy .

We are particularly pleased that his plan includes a goal to reduce carbon emissions by 80% by 2050, to make federal buildings more energy efficient and to set high standards for clean air and water. President Obama's plans, definitely align with our goals at Go Green Mug. We therefore hope and expect that he will follow through on his plans with little delay after his inauguration.

President Obama's election campaign was also a great example of community action. He managed to raise an estimated $650 million. Most of which came from small donations. He also managed with his grass roots efforts to get many first time voters registered and voting.

Community action also made a difference in the Save Trestles campaign. More than 3000 people showed up at each of the public hearings, to protest the proposed Toll Road through the San Mateo Creek and San Onofre State Park. As we reported in our first blog, the Federal Government recently agreed with the California Coastal Commission in declaring the Toll Road illegal. Community action once again won out.

With these community victories in mind, we believe that it is through community action that we can get closer to one of our goals. If you have followed this blog regularly, you will know that we report on some of our coffee shop visits. We let you know what coffee shops were visited that week and what discount was offered. Our primary goal at Go Green Mug is to reduce the waste in whatever way we can. As coffee and tea drinkers we see a focused goal of reducing the number of paper cups being thrown out at coffee shops, by encouraging people to bring their own mug into the shop.

Coffee shops have their role to play too. If they offer large discounts to customers bringing in their own mugs then they will incentivize more customers to bring in their own mugs. We all benefit - less waste, larger discounts, and for the coffee shop lower expenses for all their cups and plastic lids as well as a reputation for wanting to reduce the waste.

We have created a community action on Facebook at http://apps.facebook.com/causes/196342?recruiter_id=35111682 as well as at http://www.v2v.net/actions/go-green-mug on the Starbucks V2V. Please sign up to participate in these actions and we can encourage Starbucks and other large coffee chains to increase their standard 10 cent discount. As part of this action take your own mug into a coffee shop and ask for a discount and then report the experience and the discount to us either as a comment, on this blog or via email at support@gogreenmug.com . Please add a photograph if you would like and we will post the best one each week on this blog. We will keep a list of all the coffee shops and their discounts and in this way encourage the coffee shops to do more to reduce waste for all of us who are committed to bringing in our own mugs every time we visit a coffee shop.

This week we visited Peet's Coffee shop in the Bella Terra center in Huntington Beach. They also offered a standard 10cent discount, which is just more than a 3% discount on the price of the drinks. Our picture this week is from Melanie, she was at Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf, who offered the standard 10 cent discount. Not really a great commitment to reducing waste from either of these 2 large coffee shop chains.

Follow us on this blog as we try to make a difference by getting involved with environmental causes and promoting the use of mugs in place of paper or polystyrene cups through our website GoGreenMug. Go to http://www.gogreenmug.com/ and use the new year coupon code: ny1501ggm to get 15% off your personalized re-usable travel mug through January 2009. We now also sell gift certificates, so you can gift your friends and family a mug and help them reduce waste.

Easy Environmental Activism

We started this blog to motivate us to get out and make a difference in whatever way we can and so that we could be held accountable for our environmental actions.
As we are only 11 days into 2009 , we do not have a long list of environmental action accomplishments to talk about this year, but we hope to achieve many more during the year.
Here are some of the things we have done so far. We hope that you read this list and realize that you can do many of the same actions with little effort. Here is our list:
We have begun writing this blog and telling you about some of the causes we believe in and actions we are taking, so that we hold ourselves accountable for our actions.
We take our GoGreenMug.com travel mugs every time we visit a coffee shop. We never use a paper cup, plastic lid or cardboard cup holder offered at any coffee shop.
We have signed the Surfrider Foundation's "Rise Above Plastics Pledge". You can sign this too at http://actionnetwork.org/campaign/rap_pledge
We have signed the Facebook causes petition "Our Coasts are at Risk" which will be sent to President Obama to ask him and the congress to protect our coasts from offshore drilling. If you have a Facebook account you can sign this petition at http://apps.facebook.com/causes/petitions/23?m=2b9e3807&recruiter_id=35111682
We have committed to doing at least one beach cleanup every month in 2009. Beach cleanups are easy to find and get involved with as they are organized by numerous environmental organizations. If you want to get out there and join in a beach cleanup then check out: http://www.beachcleanup.org/ or http://www.blueoceansociety.org/cleanup.htm or http://www.healthebay.org/volunteer/htbcleanup/default.asp or of course Surfrider Foundation whose different chapters do beach cleanups at beaches all over the world.


This week Dennis and Dudley visited the coffee shop/bakery 85 degrees C in the Diamond Jubilee center in Irvine. We were informed that they had some really different and exciting teas to try. This was an excellent tip and we tried some of their specialities, which we highly recommend as well as their baked goods.
Although the teas were great, we were very disappointed to find another coffee shop that did not offer a discount for bringing in our own mugs. We would not use the excuse of no discount to leave our mugs at home and get our drinks in a paper cup. We still enjoy the satisfaction of knowing we did not add to the waste.
There seem to be a number of coffee shops that do not incentivize their customers to reduce waste. We hope that we can influence their decision by telling you about them and creating a list from all around the US and Canada. Please tell us about any coffee shops you visit and what, if any discount they offered. Write comments on this blog or send us an email at support@gogreenmug.com and attach a photo for us to post. If we can create a large enough list and following, we think we will be able to encourage more coffee shops to offer better discounts for anyone helping to reduce the waste!
Follow us on this blog as we try to make a difference by getting involved with environmental causes and promoting the use of mugs in place of paper or polystyrene cups through our website GoGreenMug. Go to http://www.gogreenmug.com/ and use the new year coupon code: ny1501ggm to get 15% off your personalized re-usable travel mug through January 2009. We now also sell gift certificates, so you can gift your friends and family a mug and help them reduce waste.

Greening the new year

Welcome to the Go Green Mug Blog in 2009. As we launched in the middle of December 2008, this year is truly a fresh start for us. Follow us on this blog as we try to make a difference by getting involved with environmental causes and promoting the use of mugs in place of paper or polysteyrene cups through our website GoGreenMug. So go to http://www.gogreenmug.com/ and use the new year coupon code: ny1501ggm to get 15% off your personalized re-usable travel mug through January 2009.

In the last 2 weeks I have spoken to many friends and family and told them about our project Go Green Mug and our efforts to get Americans to re-use mugs and get involved with helping to reduce waste. Most of these people were very excited and wanted to do all they could, such as taking their mugs whenever they go to a coffee shop or helping at local beach clean-ups. However one friend suggested it really was not worth it. As long as people in places like China and India need to continue to grow and develop their economies they will continue to increase their waste, so is re-using a mug at a coffee shop in the USA really going to make a difference?

Reducing waste certainly does seem like an impossible problem, but lets look at some statistics. According to the US Enviromental Protection Agency - U.S. residents, businesses, and institutions produced more than 254 million tons of solid waste in 2007, which is approximately 4.6 pounds of waste per person per day. Re-using and Recycling reduces the emission of many greenhouse gases and water pollutants, saves energy, supplies valuable raw materials to industry, creates jobs, stimulates the development of greener technologies, conserves resources for our children's future, and reduces the need for new landfills and combustors. Recycling helps reduce greenhouse gas emissions that affect global climate. In 2007, the national recycling rate was 33.4 percent (85 million tons recycled) and this is expected to be higher in 2008.

33.4% is therefore only 1/3 of what we can do to re-use and recycle. Which leaves us lots of room to do something! There are also numerous other ways to reduce waste that cause carbon dioxide emmisions, deforestation or pollution of our beaches and oceans. As Americans we should be doing as much as we can ourselves. We can start by changing our habits - reduce our consumption where we can, re-use all items that we can and recycle everything that is possible to recycle. Our friends around the world are all aware of the global waste problem, even as they strive to achieve economic success. Our success in reducing waste will encourage them to do the same. If we do our best we can promote our actions and encourage other people to do whatever they can to reduce their waste.

So as 2009 begins, we should all resolve to ace that recycling statistic. Attempt to re-use or recycle 100% of all your waste products!
You can also try a number of other steps to help reduce waste:

1. Donate to an environmental charity of your choice.
2. Volunteer at one of the many active environmental organizations. Activities may include beach cleanups, teaching at schools and going to public hearings.
3. Reuse your plastic or paper bags at the grocery stores (or even better use a reusable canvas bag).
4. Turn off the lights and unplug electrical devices when you no longer need them.
5. Change all your light bulbs to Compact Fluorescent light bulbs. This will save you money in the long run by reducing your electricity bill.
6. Pay your bills online and sign up for electronic statements so that paper bills and envelopes do not need to be sent out.
7. Drive less! - Take public transportation, carpool, bike or walk.
8. Recycle everything you can and re-use everything else.
9. Buy from coffee houses that patronize sustainable coffee bean growth farms.
10. Buy a GoGreenMug for yourself and one for each of your coffee and tea drinking friends.
    

Check out the US EPA's What you Can Do site for more suggestions and details.
Lastly as promised we will continue to list some of the coffee shops that we visited and let you know what discounts they offer when you bring your own re-usable mug. As the GoGreenMug team are all in Southern California, please help us to evaluate more coffee shops by taking your mug in and asking for a discount. Then send us a comment or an email at support@gogreenmug.com to let us know where you went and the discount you were offered and attach a photograph of yourself and your mug and we will post it on this blog.

This week we visited Gloria Jean's in the Westminister mall. The barrista said the owner had recently restricted discounts for bringing in your own mug. In the end though he filled up my 16 oz mug (regular) and charged me for a small (12 0z). Well that sort of counts as a discount. I always ask for small and usually get charged for small, even though the mug itself holds a medium sized drink.

Coffee Shop Discounts

At GoGreenMug we are committed to reducing the waste by encouraging the use of reusable travel mugs. When visiting a coffee shop bring your travel mug with you and ask the barrista to fill your mug instead of the paper or styrofoam cups offered. In this way we can reduce the contribution of coffee cups to our already large waste and pollution problem. Visit http://www.gogreenmug.com/ to get your own personalized travel mug. Use coupon code: ff2510ggm until January 1, 2009 to get a 20% discount.

In the latest "Making Waves" magazine (a Surfrider Foundation newsletter), I read about the Junk Raft, and was reminded of the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. This relatively stationary area of the Pacific Ocean, which is kept in place by strong ocean currents called the North pacific Gyre, contains an estimated 100 million tons of waste material collected mostly from land based sources, such as polystyrene drinking cups and plastic lids.
As the plastic flotsam degrades in the sun, into smaller and smaller pieces, it becomes small enough to enter the food chain of the bird and aquatic species in this region. In samples taken from the gyre in 2001, the mass of plastic exceeded that of zooplankton (the dominant animal life in the area) by a factor of seven. Many of these plastic pieces end up in the stomachs of marine birds and animals, sometimes causing infection to these animals.
There is an obvious need to reduce this waste but what are our local coffee shops doing to help encourage us to bring in reusable mugs? Many of them give a discount. We have found this discount to vary depending on where you go for your daily cup. We have therefore decided to add a feature to this blog to let you know what discounts are available for customers with reusable mugs at specific coffee shops and what we think of this discount.
This week we visited a few coffee shops: The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf in Irvine, CA @ Main and Harvard offered us a 10 cent discount (did not seem to matter what drink it was.) The Starbucks in the Target center in the Westminister Mall, Westminister, CA also offered a 10 cents discount for regular coffee, but seemed to suggest a discretionary discount policy depending on your drink order. Mag's Donuts and Bakery on the corner of Culver and Michelson in Irvine, CA offered us a 5 cent discount, although admittedly their coffee is a lot cheaper than Starbucks or Coffee Bean.
We believe that a 10 cent discount (particularly on a more expensive drink) is not really going to encourage customers to remember to bring in their own mug each day. If these coffee shops are really interested in helping to reduce the waste and not simply in saving money on coffee cups, we believe the discounts need to be more enticing.
Let us know what you think - take your reusable travel mug into your coffee shop, order your favorite drink and ask the barrista what discount they will give you for bringing in your own mug. Enjoy your drink , get a photo or two of yourself and your mug inside or outside the coffee shop and then send us your comments and a photo (either comment to this blog or email support@gogreenmug.com). We will then post a list of coffee shops and the discounts they offer as well as the best photograph each week.
We can all help reduce the waste and hopefully reduce the impact on the Great Pacific Garbage Patch!
Until next time- Reduce the Waste!

One Mug at a Time

Welcome to the first edition of the GoGreenMug Blog.
We will use this first entry to introduce ourselves and our website, GoGreenMug.com to you and let you know what we are all about. In future blogs we will write about ways that we can all help to reduce our waste on this planet and keep you informed on all that we are doing. We will also let you know about any promotions at our store. Go to http://www.gogreenmug.com and use coupon code: ff2510ggm to get 20% off until January 1,2009.
GoGreenMug.com was started by a group of friends in Southern California. As regular coffee and tea drinkers, we started to think about where those cups go after just one use. We learned that every year, Americans throw away billions of cups (25 billion Styrofoam cups and 18 billion paper cups). If every one of these cups include a plastic lid, that's 43 billion plastic lids added to our landfills.
To help reduce the waste, we started to bring our own mugs when visiting our local coffee shops. We soon realized that we could broaden our impact and started GoGreenMug.com.
Besides saving our landfills, bringing your own mug can also save your wallet. Many coffee shops will give you a small discount for bringing in your own mug. For us regulars, this can really add up. GoGreenMug.com is developed and managed by Sadaka LLC. Sadaka is the Swahili word for charity and at the core of our business philosophy. GoGreenMug.com gives a percentage of its profits to charities and causes that are also working hard to take care of our planet. Some of these organizations include The Sierra Club, National Wildlife Federation, The Nature Conservatory, Clear the Air, Save the Whales, and Surfrider Foundation. Sadaka’s co-founders are all active participants in environmental causes, donating to and volunteering at some of these organizations. Please visit their websites to learn more about how they are helping and what you can do to help. If you have any suggestions for other environmental organizations that you think we should give to, please email us at support@gogreenmug.com

Here is a photo of two of our founders - Dennis Ho (at right) and Dudley Tabakin at the Save Trestles hearing in San Diego in September 2008, with our our still current president in 2D. To find out more about the Save Trestles campaign check out the Surfrider Foundation website.

Until next time - Reduce the waste!

Update 12/18/2008: The Department of Commerce announced today that it would uphold the California Coastal Commission's decision! The egregious project to build a toll road through San Onofre State Beach is officially illegal under state and Federal law! In a release issued from the Department of Commerce, they "determined that there is at least one reasonable alternative to the project and that the project is not necessary in the interest of national security.
Well done Surfrider and the other active enviromental groups involved and we are thrilled that we were part of this victory!