Monday, October 11, 2010

Poll: how often do you use yellow pages?

I noticed that there is a big stack of Yellow Pages books outside of my building and it reminded me that the YP are still relevant [?], with the majority of people using 'smart' phones, any information that is located in the yellow pages can easily be obtained from most smart phones. The White Pages book which contain people's phone numbers can also be accessed via Internet (if there isn't an ap for that). Having said that:

Do you use the Yellow Pages?
Do you think these books should be eliminated (at least for big cities)?
Do you know how much does it cost to produce YP book? or where the money comes from?

Please answer these questions (living in US). I know that at least for my building they are ignored and eventually thrown away.

Saturday, October 2, 2010

Wanna See What Artantica Looks Like? Google's Street View Ban Was There!


too awsome

In case you were not sure whether you should go or not on your next vacation.

Full story: http://www.popsci.com/technology/article/2010-09/google-street-view-expands-antarctica-now-all-seven-continents

Zara's Environmental Policy Statement

I am a very loyal customer of Zara because their style fits my fancy. Besides, is affordable. I just got winter boots today!
 This past week, I had to find an environmental policy statement of a company and critique it. I did not use Zara's statement but I want to share it for my future reference and perhaps because it will be useful in the future (in case the company is involved in a scandal). Note their animal welfare paragraph as well as how they use transportation.
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Our Mission Statement


Environmental policy

Through Zara’s business model, we aim to contribute to the sustainable development of society and that of the environment with which we interacts. The company's commitment to the environment is included in Inditex Group’s Corporate Responsibility Statement, published on our website: www.inditex.com.

The following are some of the objectives and actions included in the framework of the group's environmental commitment and have a direct impact on our shops and customers:

At the store

- We save energy.

- The eco-friendly shop.

- We produce less waste, and recycle.

- Our commitment extends to all our staff.

- An environmentally aware team.

We save energy. The eco-friendly store.

We are implementing an eco-friendly management model in our shops in order to reduce energy consumption by 20%, introducing sustainability and efficiency criteria. This management model sets out measures to be applied to all processes, including the design of the shop itself, the lighting, heating and cooling systems and the possibility of recycling furniture and decoration.

We produce less waste and recycle. Recycling hangers and alarms, which are picked up from our shops and processed into other plastic elements, is an example of our waste management policy. Millions of hangers and alarms are processed each year and both the cardboard and plastic used for packaging are also recycled.

- Our commitment extends to all our staff. Increased awareness among our team members.

We hold In-company awareness campaigns and specific multimedia-based training programmes to educate our staff in sustainable practices, such as limiting energy consumption, using sustainable transport and modifying behaviour patterns.

With the product

- We use ecological fabrics.

- Organic cotton.

- We manufacture PVC-free footwear.

We use ecological fabrics. Organic cotton.

Zara supports organic farming and makes some of its garments out of organic cotton (100% cotton, completely free of pesticides, chemicals and bleach). They have specific labels and are easy to spot in our shops.

We produce PVC-free footwear. No petroleum derivatives or non-biodegradable materials are used in the production of our footwear (PVC free).

In transport

- We use biodiesel fuel.

Zara's fleet of lorries, which transport more than 200 million items of clothing a year, use 5% biodiesel fuel. This allows us to reduce our CO2 emissions by 500 tons.

Animal welfare policy

All products of animal origin sold in our shops, including fur and leather, come exclusively from animals raised on food farms and under no circumstances