It is April 22nd, and thus, time to celebrate Earth Day!
While we live in a world surrounding us with constant marketing filled with hot words like organic, biodynamic, and sustainable, we would like to take a moment to focus on the real, honest things that we have done as a company to make steps towards a better, cleaner world and environment.
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- We don’t own vineyards, and thus have a much smaller carbon footprint, and by sourcing, we move product other wineries would have just sitting around otherwise, potentially causing possible future construction and endless increases to carbon footprints from multiple contractors and companies that would need to get involved.
- All of our shipping components are green. Our packaging inserts are compostable (or recyclable if compost facilities do not exist) and our shipping boxes are recyclable (or if you have an upcoming move or organizational project, reusable).
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- Our office uses energy efficient motion sensing lighting when we have the lights on, and we work with natural lighting as much as possible (lights off) as we have a beautiful, big window overlooking the SOMA to Nob Hill expanse of San Francisco. While our window is north-facing, the southern facing façades of our neighboring buildings reflect the perfect amount of light to keep us going with the lights off from sunup to sundown.
- Our office uses energy efficient motion sensing lighting when we have the lights on, and we work with natural lighting as much as possible (lights off) as we have a beautiful, big window overlooking the SOMA to Nob Hill expanse of San Francisco. While our window is north-facing, the southern facing façades of our neighboring buildings reflect the perfect amount of light to keep us going with the lights off from sunup to sundown.
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- By being a digital brand we run a slimmer company, which in turn puts less cars on the road (of our 10 staff members, including Cam and Jess, less than half the office drives to and from work), and much of our staff cycles or runs to work as a concerted effort (it would just be easier to Über or Lyft, but not the best decision long-term).
- Our corks (barring shiners where we have no control over the corks, but the wine is so amazing that we cannot pass on the deal – and recorking becomes a carbon footprint nightmare) are plant based and compostable in areas where facilities exist or recyclable (where compost facilities do not exist). This is important as many companies nowadays bottle with synthetic corks that not only do not age the wine well (or at all), but are only recyclable or made in a facility that works with plastics, which could possibly be the biggest offender after fossil fuels in damaging the environment.
- We all work on laptops which use 80% less power than a desktop computer. It is that simple. That massive processor? If you aren’t working visual effects for Hollywood’s next blockbuster Memorial Day film release, you probably don’t need a desktop machine (actually, you don’t).
- And finally, all our bottles are made from glass, like every reputable winemaker globally. Sadly, not all wine companies do this today. Some have moved to cans, yes cans…it is a sad day for the industry, as others have moved to plastic so you can enjoy in places that don’t allow glass. Big mistakes. We could devote an entire post to the repercussions of these decisions and what they do for the environment, but we might save that for next year possibly – although, we aren’t here to call out others, so maybe not. Time will tell.
We strive everyday to find new ways to move forward as a company while saving on our footprint, as it is ingrained in our business model. We also understand we aren’t perfect. There is more we can do. Yourself as well! We can all share back and forth in an open space to question, justify, rethink, and change for the better. Nothing happens overnight, yet with open dialogue, great things can be accomplished. Please feel free to start the dialogue below through the Disqus comments to begin this process and help us and yourself become better. Happy Earth Day!
Cheers, to a better future while we are all stuck on this rock together!