Succulents Make a Great Green Corporate Gift

Not far from our home in West Marin, on a windy mesa just above the Pacific Ocean, is a world renowned botanical garden specializing in succulents.

The strange and beautiful plant forms we encountered while touring this magical 14-acre site last year inspired us to begin sourcing sustainably produced succulents as corporate gifts. We offer several types of small, pesticide-free succulents grown here in Northern California.

Succulents are a wonderful green promotion and a sensible alternative to cut floral designs. They are beautiful, drought tolerant, flourish with minimal care, and can be sustainably resourced.

Succulents have the ability to store water in their stems, leaves, or roots, or a combination of the above. They can be giant trees or tiny two-leaved miniatures. They come in an endless array of shapes, textures, colors and forms. Therefore, they are of great interest to collectors who appreciate their often other-worldy appearance.

More than many other plants, succulents are threatened by man's encroachment on habitat. So they are especially worthy of cultivation as either house plants or garden plants. We have a nice collection of potted succulents on our roof deck at eco imprints, and many mature specimens around our home in Marin. They take far less maintenance than their non-succulent counterparts, and they produce some amazing, long-lasting blooms — especially this time of year.

Even if you have a not-so-green thumb, you’ll do well with these hearty beauties!

Recycled Promotional Bird Feeder Kit

Here's a simple, inexpensive promotional giveaway that not only helps sustain wild bird populations but also promotes the concept of reusing plastic materials that might otherwise end up in the landfill.

The Eco Imprints wild bird feeder kit transforms any used 2-liter plastic soda bottle into a custom-branded dining perch for fine feathered friends. Simply fill the bottle with seed, twist on your imprinted feeder dish, insert handle ends, and hang it where you want to attract birds. We can do a one-color logo or message imprint opposite the perch. These custom kits are made in the USA, and cost only a few bucks each. Feed birds and reuse at the same time. Splendid sustainable swag!

Find it here.

Organic Cotton Vs. Conventional Cotton

People often ask us why we recommend organic cotton apparel at our promotional product firm, eco imprints. After all, a conventional cotton shirt looks pretty much the same as an organic cotton shirt. And they're typically cheaper than organic.

Looks can be deceiving.

The processes used to grow conventional cotton are quite destructive to the environment. Conventionally grown cotton consumes 25% of the insecticides and more than 10% of the pesticides used in the WORLD today! Conventional farming devours roughly 150 grams of pesticides and fertilizers to produce enough cotton for a SINGLE T-shirt.

Here's a look at cultivation practices that clearly differentiate conventional and organic cotton farming:

SEEDS:
Conventional cotton seeds are typically treated with fungicides or insecticides. Organic cotton uses untreated seeds.

WEEDS:
Conventional cotton farmers apply herbicides to inhibit weeds. Organic cotton farmers physically remove weeds with hand-hoeing and cultivation, rather than through chemical destruction.

PESTS:
Conventional cotton uses insecticides and pesticides heavily. The 9 most common pesticides are highly toxic; five are probable carcinogens. And aerial spraying is frequently used, with potential drift onto workers, communities and wildlife. Organic Cotton farming maintains a balance between pests and other natural predators through healthy soil. It also uses "good" bugs, biological and cultural practices to control pests.

Using certified organic cotton for your corporate apparel programs shows a commitment to social and environmental responsibility. Organic garments come from chemical and pesticide-free environments that protect our planet and the health of all creatures that live on it. That comfy organic cotton T-shirt is helping preserve our air, water and land.

Cakevertising by Amnesty International

Thanks to our friends at TrendHunter Magazine for turning us on to this tasteful and poignant ad campaign celebrating the 60th anniversary of the Human Rights Organization, Amnesty International. The series features a cool new promotional concept: "Cakevertising".

Amnesty and its agency, DDB Budapest, created ads featuring a series of cakes with symbolic photographic images of people in danger. On each cake, a slice is being removed from the rest of the cake, visually separating a person from an unacceptable, unsafe situation.

The tagline reads, “You can do more than celebrate. 60 years of the universal declaration of human rights.”

Not all Cakevertising is so serious. Cakes and cookies with detailed logos and photos can be a fun and tasty way to get your message across. We have a great source here in San Francisco that makes beautifully detailed edible swag for product launches, anniversaries, and special events. They may not last a long time, but people enjoy them, remember them, and they're one giveaway that won't end up in a landfill.

Why We Love Recycled Cardboard Products

We offer a lot of practical recycled cardboard and paper products through our promotional marketing firm, eco imprints. They don't blink, or buzz, or glow in the dark but everyone has a use for these items and they're good to associate with any responsible brand.

Here's a few reasons why recycled cardboard and paper products can make a real difference for the environment:

•Paper and cardboard account for 41% of all municipal solid waste.

•Recycling 1 Ton of Cardboard saves 682 Gallons of oil

•Recycling 1 Ton of Cardboard saves 7,000 Gallons of water

•Recycling 1 Ton of Cardboard saves 3.3 cubic yards of landfill space

•Recycling 1 Ton of Cardboard save about 17 trees

•Recycled cardboard requires 645 less energy than make cardboard from virgin wood pulp

How You Eco

I wanted to turn you on to How You Eco. It’s one of our favorite new websites covering the green movement – and they featured an interview about me founding eco imprints in today’s edition.

How You Eco is a community of innovative green-minded folks and a great resource for new ideas and more sustainable approaches to work, home, and play. It launched just a few months ago, but is growing virally and could soon become the Facebook of green social media. Check it out.

Free Foldable Furniture

We have a current fascination with furniture made out of cardboard.

We're designing our own booth for an upcoming green conference and of course we want it to be as sustainable as possible. Among other things, we plan to create some DIY modular cardboard shelving units. These pieces should not only look cool — but they need to be sturdy enough to hold some weighty sustainable swag product samples.

As part of our research we discovered the wonderful work of Nicola Enrico Staubli. This contemporary Swiss architect has designed a line of furniture based on folding cardboard. His work is very inspiring, and we believe there could be some relevant applications in green meetings, events, promotions and outreach.

What we find most interesting and endearing about Staubli's approach is that he is not selling the furniture; in fact he is not actually selling anything. His free designs are meant to be constructed by the masses (yes, that means YOU).

Printable templates are downloadable from his Foldschool website. He has several sweet designs for kids pieces. Staubli says the thinking behind foldschool is "To restore design to one of its original missions: to provide a product at an affordable price through a smart manufacturing process." Presumably, by smart manufacturing in this case he means elbow grease. Bravo!