I am Not a Paper Cup vs. the ubiquitous To-Go Cup (Symbol of our Everyday Throwaway Culture).
By Waylon Lewis on Jul 22, 2008 inin blog, conscious consumerism, sustainability |
The gods must be crazy. Every morning, thousands of good upstanding Americans get coffee to-go, slurping as they walk/blackberry/talk/subway/bus/drive etc. Every afternoon, coffee addicts like myself do it again.
It’s not only eco, it’s Buddhist (you know, all that stuff about the ‘present moment’) to chill the eff out. Sit down, enjoy your cuppa joe for-here, and save some tree and all the gas and shipping that went into each cup’s journey: milled, shipped, made into a cup and printed upon and reshipped…not to mention the 99% unrecycled never biodegrading plastic lids. Or, if you want to offend hippie Buddhists and yet still have a clean conscience, you could buy this. Or, you could bring your own, as my friend Carrie does.
With thanks to Kelly Mikler of Sole Technology for the tip (Kelly was, in turn, inspired to mention the I Am Not A Paper Cup by Graham Hill of Treehugger’s rival eco-arch mug, the famous We Are Happy to Serve You).
- 812 views
Share on Facebook
Bookmark on del.icio.us
It’s been a while since I travelled, but I have one distinct memory of asking for coffee to go at a cafe in Italy, back when I was in high school. The Italian barista looked at me with mixed humor and disdain (and plentiful hand gestures) and asked, “Why don’t you want to sit here and drink your coffee? Where do have to go?” To this particular man, it was almost an insult that I didn’t want to sit down, relax and enjoy his fine coffee in-house.
Another thought about international to-go ware: In India, many chai stands serve their drinks in little clay cups. When customers finish, they simple discard the biodegradable cups onto a roadside compost heap. New cups are baked in the sun, requiring little manufacturing energy.
Heather | Jul 24, 2008 | Reply
I’m wondering when the carbon foot prints cross paths between the embodied energies between the two cups, paper and ceramic. Obviously each has embodied energies how may re-uses of the ceramic cup will it take to be ahead. Isn’t that what we stirve for? Becomeing ahead of something in our lives?
m6
m6 | Jul 24, 2008 | Reply