Good, Better, and Best

<written in response to a comment on Marketing Messages asking about better solutions, thanks for the inspiration!>

As I was talking about in my last post, there are many ways to deal with being eco-friendly. Usually, there are a lot of eco-friendler solutions, but they all reach a different level of eco-friendliness. Take the example of fabric softener, which I was asked about in a comment on Marketing Messages. There are a lot of ways to go eco friendlier when it comes to fabric softener. One of the worst things you could do is always be buying small bottles with a lot of packaging and throwing the bottles away when you're done with them. Buying large bottles and recycling the containers is a good start, but how can we really start being better? 

When I think about eco-friendly alternatives, I like to think of a good, a better, and a best option. A good option is eco-friendlier than a typical option, a better option is even more eco-friendly, and the best option is the most eco-friendly solution I can possibly think of. Sometimes the best option has limits and restrictions, so I have to go for the better option. Thinking about fabric softener, lets look at an example:

Good: Buying refills in cardboard boxes and reusing the original container. That way, you're recycling the cardboard boxes and only using one plastic bottle.

Better: Dryer balls. These fairly small and bumpy rubber balls diminish the need for fabric softener altogether and also reduce your drying time. So all in all they use less water, less energy, no fabric softener, and over time they're cheaper! Shockingly, though, there's a better option...


Best: Don't use a tumble dryer! Use a washing line and take advantage of the outdoors! Hang your clothes outside until they're dry. Although sometimes unrealistic because of weather, time limitations, and countless other reasons, it is still the best option. It uses no energy, water, fabric softener, or money. 

Fabric softener is a perfect example for good, better, and best, because it shows a best alternative that can't always be used. Although that means we can't use the best option all the time, we can use the best option for the situation. My family recently switched to dryer balls because we saw the benefits and wanted to give them a try, and so far they're doing great! 

There are good, better, and best options to everything, we just need to find them. So next time you see something that is an even more eco-friendly alternative to what you have, think about it. Could there be something even better?

Marketing Messages

This week an article was brought to my attention about an alternative to bottled water. Boxed water. Boxed Water Is Better is a boxed water company that is trying to be kinder to the environment by making recyclable boxes for water rather than using plastic. These boxes are packed flat, therefore reducing the carbon footprint even more, and shipped to a filler. The filler then takes the flat packed boxes and prepares them to hold water and fills them with municipal filtered water which is sold at $1.50 per box.

Now at first I thought this sounded interesting, then I thought about it some more and realized that its a bit redundant. Don't get me wrong, its a wonderful, sustainable alternative to bottled water, but there are some other alternatives that are even more eco-friendly. What about a reusable water bottle? Just look at the price comparison:
Boxed water: $1.50 per box, multiple boxes needed!!!
Reusable Water Bottle: $10.00 (for a nice one) and you only need to pay once!!
So over time, a reusable bottle is cheaper. You can use it over and over. Your tap water is actually better for the earth than packaged water is anyway.

So the lesson here is that sometimes, even thought you're being told that there's an eco-friendly alternative, it might not be the best alternative. And I'm not trying to pick on this boxed water idea, I'm just using it as an example. Boxed water is my example, can you think of any others? Any ideas that are better, but not the best? Let me know!