Green 2.0 | Green Living for the Rest of Us.

We’re all about Green 2.0 – the next iteration of eco-responsibility.  It simplifies eco-friendliness by seamlessly integrating into your busy lifestyle without compromising style. And you don’t need to make activism a full-time job to know you’re making a difference. You can be Green 2.0 without changing who you are.

We see sooo many companies and campaigns that ask us to make drastic changes to our purchasing habits to accommodate a green agenda. Whether it be biking to work, buying only locally grow produce, unplugging your TV, washing your clothes by harnessing the power of the sun or our favorite, wearing hemp underwear. While we don’t knock the efficacy of these changes on ones’ carbon footprint, we think that every now and again someone like us needs to chime in and say “Hey!”.

The Wall Street Journal speculates that less than 10% of all reusable bags are actually reused. Remember that even if a reusable bag is made from recycled content that you still have to use it anywhere from 10-25 times before it is a real benefit. Why? To put it simply and generally, the amount of materials and production needed (recycled or not) increases with the mass of a product. Since a reusable bag is far bulkier and sturdier than a disposable bag, it takes 10-25 times more manufacturing input. Hence you need to use it 10-25 times before it becomes green’er than using disposable bags. Now remember that nagging 10% estimate from the WSJ? That means that just buying a reusable bag and putting it in the closet isn’t enough.

As the founder of Xoopii and Xoopii The Blog, I was motivated by the overwhelming monocular view on going green. I went to college and got a degree in environmental science. I spent over a decade of my professional career as a government regulator for clean water and environmental health. In that time I observed a lot of green companies, and aside from a scant few they always supplied drab and restrictive alternatives to green living. The focus was and still is primarily on reducing the manufacturing inputs of the consumable you buy. In other words more recycled content in your paper or buying only locally produced products, both of which cost the consumer more than their non-green alternatives but often times meant buying something green that was less aesthetically pleasing or versatile than our current product of choice.

Reality: the real impact on environmental change is us.

In the case of reusable bags, the more we use them, the more environmental benefit we will gain. I know, nothing earth shattering here. The problem is why don’t more companies focus more on making green products we want to use. A reusable bag for the market is about as sensible as buying a second car (a hybrid even) just to go to the market. So we took the amazing compactness and versatility of the reusable bag structure and made it more friendly. We put longer handles on the bag so it could be carried more like a tote. We added original, limited edition art from urban artists around the globe, and in the end we had  bag that people wanted to use everywhere. Work, school, market, department stores, restaurants, etc. Now the bag looks cool and is more re-usable. People take them everywhere and are proud to show them off as a form of their style and personality. Bonus, these trendy shopping bags get way more than 10-25 uses and in the end our fans end up using less disposable bags in the process.

It really is each of us that makes a difference. We hope that our products and our blog posts will take the compromise and politics out of going green. Let us worry about the stuff, you just have fun.

Check back often or subscribe to our feed. We will showcase new artists and cool events, show you how to be green 2.0 the Xoopii way and keep you up to date on all that is cool and green. Send us suggestions, we would love to hear from you.