16th June, 2009: Let the Sunshine In! Start the Summer with Solar Day!
“I’d put my money on the sun and solar energy
What a source of power!
I hope we don’t have to wait till oil and coal run out before we tackle that.”
We get it, Mr. Edison. We really get it! So much so, in fact, that sun worshipers will be celebrating the first annual SolarDay on June 21st - coinciding with the first day of summer and Father’s Day.
SolarDay is a yearly event dedicated to raising national awareness of the critical importance of solar energy “to provide a source of energy to reduce U.S. dependence on fossil fuels and foreign oil.” How do we begin to accomplish this? By promoting solar energy installations, policies and practices. And it’s catching on!
To start with, energy-conscious individuals and corporations across the nation are installing solar panels on their rooftops. At Bigelow Tea, we’re devoted to reducing energy usage to ensure that our beautiful planet is sustained for future generations. Our very own Bigelow Tea Corporate Headquarters and manufacturing plant in Fairfield, Connecticut has over 900 solar panels installed - enough to power 20 homes for an entire year! In tech terms, this means the panels generate 207,124 KWh of energy which, in pollution reduction terms, is equivalent to 691,200 car miles removed from the highways each year!
Bigelow Tea - Fairfield, CT
Bigelow Tea celebrates SustainabiliTEA every day because it’s the right thing to do. How can you do your part? For starters, conduct an energy audit of your home. See what you can eliminate or improve. You’ll contribute to sustaining the planet and your bottom line! Here’s to energy independence - Happy SolarDay!
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5th June, 2009: World Environment Day 2009: Sustaining Our Planet — Today!
Courtesy of Midwestaugustinians.org.
“…Take me to where I am supposed to be, to comprehend the things that I can’t see,
‘coz I need to move, I need to wake up, I need to change, I need to shake up…”
—Melissa Etheridge, “I Need to Wake Up”
“Your planet needs YOU! Unite to combat climate change” is the theme for World Environment Day 2009, established by the United Nations and commemorated yearly on June 5. It’s a global call for action, challenging each of us to take responsibility for nurturing this precious gift of ours — Planet Earth. World Environment Day (WED) is a wonderful forum to inspire and empower people to become actively engaged in sustainable and equitable development so that we may all enjoy a safer future. Mexico will host this year’s WED celebration, reflecting its expanding role in the ongoing effort to deal with the compelling challenges of climate change by participating in the carbon market and UNEP’s Billion Tree Campaign.
The entire Bigelow Tea team of energetic, eco-friendly men and women are committed to protecting and developing the environment. We take sustainability very seriously – it’s become a way of life. Our Sustainabili-TEA program is extensive - from green packaging (biodegradable/recyclable paper teabags) to solar panel installation (on the rooftops of our corporate headquarters/manufacturing plant) and to enrollment in the SmartWaySM program (for fuel-efficient transportation). Our philosophy is “Do the right thing and good things will follow.” We are ardent stewards of this place that we call Earth. What we do TODAY will impact future generations. Our collective efforts, big or small, will contribute to the sustainability of our planet – let’s do it!
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22nd May, 2009: Gardens Offer Many Gifts, Including Flowers, Vegetables and Tea!
Photo courtesy of the White House.
Spring is in the air — and popping out of the ground, with tulips and daffodils in abundance! Flowers are a beautiful gift from the garden — but they are not alone. Vegetable gardens are becoming increasingly popular, from rooftop gardens to the White House!
If you are planting a vegetable garden, don’t forget the tea! Even if you only have a balcony or sunny windowsill, you can grow your own herbs to use for tea. You’ll enjoy the fruits of your labor, and know you are supporting sustainability with your own “Victory Garden”. Bigelow Tea is, of course, committed to reducing the consumption of energy and raw materials; it’s all part of our Sustainabili-TEA program.
People around the world have been creating tea gardens for as long as they have been drinking tea. In our fast-paced modern lives, making time for growing herbs and savoring herbal infusions are a time-tested way to enjoy nature’s bounty. As a tea drinker, what could be better than adding a few fresh herbs from your garden to your tea?
Compliments of Brooklyn Botanical Garden.
And if you are looking for some tea gardening inspiration, perhaps a visit to our Charleston Tea Plantation is the ticket! Be it a rooftop, windowsill, or plantation, just be sure to enjoy all the gifts your garden has to offer this year — the ones you look at, the ones you eat, and the ones you drink!
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24th April, 2009: Making Sustainable Choices: Bigelow Tea Celebrates Everything Green — Arbor Day, and Every Day
Preserve our planet with material reduction.
Trees, glorious trees! We enjoy their beauty, appreciate their shade and plant them as living memorials for loved ones. They provide a safe habitat for wildlife, improve our air quality and moderate our climate. Trees sustain us – with antioxidants contained in their fruit, nuts and, yes, their tea leaves! There is nothing more serene than the sound of leaves rustling gently in the summer breeze. Trees keep us centered. And in return, we need to protect, respect and replenish them.
Arbor Day dates back to 1872, when Nebraska journalist and politician Julius Sterling Morton, who devoted his career to improving agricultural practices, believed the economy and environment would benefit from planting trees. He proposed a special day dedicated to planting trees and raising public awareness. His birthday, April 22, became the annual Arbor Day for the State of Nebraska. As the idea spread past the Nebraskan border, other states followed suit and, today, Arbor Day is celebrated nationwide.
We at Bigelow Tea are committed to following sustainable farming practices. In 2003, Bigelow Tea purchased the Charleston Tea Plantation, America’s only tea garden, to save it from real estate development. Our work at the Charleston Tea Garden is a labor of love: crops are healthy and pesticide-free and our plantation staff is an integral part of the Bigelow Tea family
Hard work and dedication means sustainable choices today for tomorrow. The “fruit” of our labor: American Classic® Tea.
At Bigelow Tea, we do not waste our resources. We’re almost 100% paperless and fully dedicated to recycling — in fact, 85% of our packaging is biodegradable or recyclable. Anything that can be recycled is recycled. Simply put, we practice Sustainabili-Tea — everyday.
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22nd April, 2009: Happy Earth Day! Bigelow Sustainabili-Tea Practices Help to Protect Our Planet
Photo courtesy of Wikipedia.com.
“Earth Day is the first holy day which transcends all national borders, yet preserves all geographical integrities, spans mountains and oceans and time belts, and yet brings people all over the world into one resonating accord…”
—Margaret Mead
In 1962, U.S. Senator Gaylord Nelson, made it his mission to raise political and social consciousness about environmental issues. After years of demonstrations and speeches in the turbulent 60’s, Earth Day arrived: April 22nd, 1970. Decades later, politicians and scientists are still working to raise our awareness of environmental issues, like Nobel Peace Prize Winner and former Vice President Al Gore, in his book, An Inconvenient Truth.
At Bigelow Tea, our respect for the environment is reflected in everything we say and do, which is why we established a Sustainabili-Tea program. As part of this program, we formed the Trash Hippies (named after the 60’s and 70’s green protesters), a team whose goal was to reduce (by 30%) the amount of trash going to landfill from the Boise Idaho facility. By saving, separating and categorizing all trash into recyclables and non-recyclables, we not only achieved our goal, but exceeded it by an additional 10% - recycling 57,700 lbs of product that would otherwise have gone to the landfill! We continue to recycle: white paper, material cores, brown paper and plastic bags — even utensils and plates in the lunch room! Going green has become a way of life for us.
In the sage words of famous anthropologist, Margaret Mead: “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful committed citizens can change the world.” We at Bigelow Tea are profoundly committed to sustaining the precious bounty that is our planet Earth. Why? Because it’s the right thing to do.
Posted by Heather at 5:00 am | Comment (1)
9th April, 2009: Bigelow Tea Celebrates World Health Day 2009
Photo courtesy of SEARO World Health Organization
“Everybody can be great…because anybody can serve. You don’t have to have a college degree to serve. You don’t have to make your subject and verb agree to serve. You only need a heart full of grace. A soul generated by love.”
—Martin Luther King, Jr.
Yes, it does take a village. As natural disasters tax our resources, we — the global community — must be prepared to respond to emergency situations quickly, safely and compassionately. That’s why this year’s World Health Day focus is: “Save Lives. Make hospitals safe in emergencies.” As public health arm for the United Nations, the World Health Organization passionately supports its goal to raise awareness of this global initiative. The goal is to ensure that healthcare facilities, services and personnel are trained and prepared to respond in emergencies and that communities around the world actively participate in this effort.
At Bigelow Tea, giving back to the community and contributing to worthy local and national causes is part of our corporate culture. At our core is the desire to make a difference, like forging alliances with tea gardens in Asia-Pacific regions with sustainable farming practices, who — like Bigelow Tea — treat workers and their families with dignity and respect. It’s by promoting environmental sustainability with a new selection of organic teas, and by utilizing biodegradable or recyclable tea packaging: Bigelow Tea is making a difference.
As citizens of the world, we face many challenges, natural and man-made. Still, there is great hope, and it doesn’t take much to put a smile on the face of a mother and her child. Just a little compassion and the willingness to help.
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25th March, 2009: Bigelow Tea: Sustainability Through Paper Recycling
Bigelow Tea is a third-generation company that has consistently focused on sustainability as a way to diminish our impact on the environment. Our plans revolve around total maximization of resources while still concentrating on providing a terrific product.
One of the facets of our plan involves large-scale optimization of paper goods. Nearly every piece of packaging, from the shipping carton to the tea bag itself, requires the use of paper. We saw this issue, and sought to get the most out of every piece of pulp we use. Our paper filter bag is made with paper from entirely sustainable tree systems that are closely monitored by government agencies to prevent abuse. The outer cases are completely recyclable and biodegradable, and can be reused 6 times. We even made sure that the suppliers of our cartons subscribed to certain strict government standards and used certain trees in producing the product that we then buy from them. This supplier recycles over 60,000 tons of paper annually.
All in all, 85% of our packaging is biodegradable and recyclable. This is important, especially when you consider that almost 1/3 of the waste generated [in] the U.S. is packaging, and that U.S. businesses now use about 21 million tons of paper every year. That’s about 175 pounds of paper for each American.
According to Wikipedia, it is estimated that by 2020 paper mills will produce almost 500,000,000 tons of paper and paperboard per year, so it is important that we remain diligent about our recycling policies and become an example for other companies to follow.
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6th March, 2009: Spring forward to that first Cup of Tea!
In 1784, Benjamin Franklin composed his “Essay on Daylight Saving,” proposing a law that would require Parisians to get up an hour earlier in the summer to put daylight to better use. He reasoned that they’d save a good deal of money on buying candles! Today Daylight Saving Time, or DST, still is meant to conserve energy by changing clocks by an hour to gain more waking sunlight hours in the spring and summer, and fewer in the winter. It begins on the second Sunday of March, which this year falls on March 8th.
So, early in the morning of March 8th at 2:00 a.m., clocks are set ahead one hour, which then becomes 3:00 a.m. local daylight time. Simple…it may be easier to remember to always “spring” forward one hour in March, and then “fall” back one hour in November. As a tool for reducing energy consumption, DST reportedly saves 10,000 barrels of oil each day in force, due to reduced power needs by businesses during daylight hours. So we “lose” an hour during the night — to a tea lover that is just “springing ahead” to that first hot cup of Bigelow Tea in the morning!
Standard time zones were instituted in the US by the powerful railroads in 1883 to help maintain train schedules, and DST was developed later during World War I, to help with war production costs. After modifications over the years, we now recognize DST in its current form, except for Arizona Hawaii, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and American Samoa, who do not observe DST. Even with the benefits, DST causes stress or consternation for some people and their busy schedules. All the more reason to enjoy an extra cup or two of calming Bigelow Tea.
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27th February, 2009: Bigelow Tea “smart fortwo” sweepstakes WINNER!
Bigelow Tea is excited to announce the winner of the exciting “smart fortwo” sweepstakes! Partnering with grocery and pharmacy retailer Jewel-Osco as well as Smart “fortwo”, this environmentally friendly sweepstakes grand prize was a new smart fortwo car. Consumers were automatically entered when they purchased Bigelow Tea with their Jewel-Osco Preferred Card, or by sending in an entry form from Jewel-Osco locations. We are happy to announce that Ms. Joyce Johnson of Inverness, IL is the Grand Prize winner, and is very excited to win the fun and environmentally aware smart fortwo. The sweepstakes dates were September through December 10th, 2008. Bigelow Tea thanks everyone who participated in the smart fortwo sweepstakes!
Ms. Joyce Johnson, Winner of the smartfortwo sweepstakes
Bigelow Tea teamed up with Jewel-Osco because of their mutual commitment to being green. While the health benefits of drinking Bigelow Tea are well known, the smart fortwo sweepstakes is a great way to demonstrate commitment to a healthy environment too. The smart fortwo is classified as an Ultra-Low Emission Vehicle (ULEV) due to its extremely low exhaust emissions. As with the ecological benefits of smart fortwo, Bigelow Tea takes part in environmentally responsible choices to help promote a sustainable future. As a good corporate citizen, Bigelow Tea remains committed to protecting the environment and strives to improve environmental responsiveness.
Ron Gondek is the Executive Vice President at C.A. Fortune, Bob Fischer Bigelow Tea Regional Sales Manager, Grand Prize Winner Ms. Joyce Johnson, Tracy Krogstie Marketing and Promotions Manager Jewel-Osco/SUPERVALU
Our society uses a great deal of energy in our daily commutes and in working and playing every day. There are several tactics that we can employ to save on energy costs while reducing our carbon emissions impact. Active recycling at home and in business, and use of fluorescent lights are a couple of great ways to address the challenge of reducing our carbon footprint. Here’s to a sustainable and smart future!
smartfortwo car grand prize
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28th January, 2009: Bigelow Tea Strives to “Do the Right Thing and Make a Difference”…through Sustainabili-TEA
We have spoken often about our efforts in environmental consciousness, commitment to the community, support of our employees and dedication to the highest quality product. The time has arrived to talk further (once a month) about sustainability, which is something that Bigelow Tea has always focused on throughout the past 60 plus years, as you can see in the Bigelow Tea Mission Statement.
In the words of Cindi Bigelow, President, “Why have a Sustainabili…TEA program? Why be ‘green’? Why put so much energy into protecting our planet? Because it is the right thing to do…”
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