Kick 2017 out with donation to fight for climate


Will you remember 2017 for the devastating floods? Monster hurricanes that ravaged Houston, Texas, South Florida and completely destroyed Puerto Rico?  Uncontrollable fires?  Blue algae poisoning fresh water sources in CNY and all over the USA?  One of the largest oil spills in North America, more than 200,000 gallons of crude oil spilled from Keystone pipeline?  One thing you won’t want to remember is that  2017 was “the” year you didn’t do ALL you could to fight climate change.
Climate change is the most dangerous social justice and geopolitical issue EVER in human history.
When food and water are most scarce, who will have it and who will not?
When severe weather destroys more communities, which ones will see the most suffering but least resilience or reinvestment?
Will Puerto Rico be the example of what will happen in poor communities all over the United States?
Please join the fight today, with a donation to Mainstream Green, because climate change is here, it is growing, and humans can no longer afford to ignore it.
Mainstream Green has posted a year end fundraiser on Facebook: Dana’s Not Another Hotter Year fundraiser for Mainstream Green, Inc.
Please donate there (or use the link or mailing address on this page) and then share it on your timeline, and ask other people to donate, also. Any amount will help. Facebook accepts donations and passes them along to us for free. Your donations are TAX DEDUCTIBLE (for the last time this year!) because Mainstream Green, Inc. is a 501C3 nonprofit corporation.

Really Bad Elf Perpetuates Plastic Pollution

The Planet Friendly Way to use your Keurig

This naughty elf is Unsustainable Scott!, and he perpetuates plastic pollution profusion!

What a gift it would be if this little elf would use a reusable coffee filter with loose ground coffee in his Keurig! Not only could he add the used coffee grounds to his compost pile, or mix it into soil around his evergreens or roses, but he could also save himself money by buying ground coffee or beans in bulk, AND prevent more plastic waste at the same time! (Especially if he used a PAPER or stainless steel straw, instead of a plastic one.)

Keurigs, which are basically little on-demand water heaters, are a very energy efficient way to heat water for single serving hot drinks, more efficient than teapots or saucepans.

It is super convenient and fast to put a tea bag or a powdered hot chocolate mix right in your mug, and then, using the empty holder that would hold one of the single serving cups,  tap the the “brew” button to get just the right amount of hot water you need to to fit the capacity of your mug.

A coffee filter like this one may be filled with loose ground coffee to make the perfect single serving size cuppa joe.

A Keurig type machine is the most energy efficient way to heat water for hot beverages including tea and hot chocolate.

No GUINNESS WORLD RECORDS™ title this time

Shoppers had a ball posing on the red carpet with the roomy new reusable shopping bags they received at Mainstream Green's Guinness World Records title attempt for #MostReusableShoppingBagsDistributedIn24Hours, Syracuse, NY
Shoppers had a ball posing on the red carpet with the roomy new reusable shopping bags they received at Mainstream Green's Guinness World Records title attempt for #MostReusableShoppingBagsDistributedIn24Hours, Nov. 24, 2017, Syracuse, NY
People had a great time at Mainstream Green's Guinness World Records Title attempt for Most Reusable Shopping Bags Distributed in 24 Hours
People had a great time at Mainstream Green's Guinness World Records Title attempt for Most Reusable Shopping Bags Distributed in 24 Hours

On Friday, Nov. 24, 2017, Mainstream Green, Inc., the environmental non-profit, led an attempt to set a first ever GUINNESS WORLD RECORDS™ title, Most reusable shopping bags distributed in 24 hours. The group needed to distribute 5001 bags to snag the title. They came up short.
     “Our volunteers put on a tremendous effort to achieve the first ever GUINNESS WORLD RECORDS™ title but we were short of the 5001 bags required by Guinness,” announced Dana Johnston, President of Mainstream Green, Inc. “However, in this process, we learned enough to think that a second attempt, at a different location, on another date, with a different algorithm will succeed.”
     This is the first time on Planet Earth that the title was attempted, as it was invented by Ms. Johnston, and then approved by the Guinness World Records officials.  However, the number set as a requirement by GWR to achieve the new title, 5001, is now under some scrutiny by Mainstream Green, Inc., as the group’s research subsequent to the event appears to show that the basis for that quantity is incorrect information. The Mainstream Green Board of Directors is reported to be planning to address that issue with GWR before the next title attempt.

 “We are very grateful to our volunteers and supporters, and we want to give an enormous thank you to all the dozens of people who helped us along the way,” said Dana Johnston.  

   “The event was a great success,” she added, saying, “People really knew they were part of something special, and were having a lot of fun with the whole Guinness thing, and posing on the red carpet for selfies. We received wonderful media coverage, along with good social media buzz, which clearly went a long way towards encouraging greater use of reusable shopping bags and raising awareness about the harmful effects of plastic bag pollution.

“What’s best about what we did with our Guinness World Records title attempt is, the value of this event doesn’t end with this one day, because some 1500 Central New Yorkers will now be walking into Trader Joes, Aldi, Costco,Wegmans and other stores with the shopping bags they got here today. Every time they take our bag into a store, scores of people will see our bags with the words ‘Guinness World Record’ and “Reusable Shopping Bag” and they’ll get the message again and again and again — for months!”

Mainstream Green’s volunteers learned some fascinating facts during the bag giveaway.

“We found out which colors of reusable shopping bags consumers prefer,” reported Gayle McCabe, a Mainstream Green volunteer.  “Almost all women and some men preferred very bright, vibrant colors to dark colors. And the most requested color was purple!”

Mainstream Green is asking the many Central New Yorkers who took an interest in this, to join them in a second attempt in 2018.

“We have calculated that this next attempt will need about 80 people to hand out the bags simultaneously in one location, for at least 4 hours each, over a period of up to 8 hours, to hit our number,”  Ms. Johnston declared. “We hope folks will want to volunteer to help make this happen and that they’ll use link to sign up!”   http://eepurl.com/dbJmzf

Finally! a Reusable Bag You’ll Want to Keep & Use!

Big, beautiful, strong and FREE! reusable shopping bags you'll want to keep with you. #mostreusableshoppingbagsdistributedin24hours

Big, beautiful, strong and FREE! reusable shopping bags you’ll want to keep with you. Pick one up on Fri. 11/24/17 in #SyracuseNY at #DestinyUSA. lower level behind Santa! Help #CNY & #MainstreamGreen win a GUINNESS WORLD RECORDS™ title! (Most reusable shopping bags distributed in 24 hours.)

They’re BIG!!! STRONG! BEAUTIFUL! &FREE!

It will be the first time ever on Planet Earth that this brand new GUINNESS WORLD RECORDS™ title will be attempted: Most reusable shopping bags distributed in 24 hours! We intend to give away at least 5100 bags. Stop by DestinyUSA. lower level behind Santa, on Friday, 11/24/17, from 9 am on, to pick yours up.
How To Get Your BIG, Strong, Beautiful & FREE Bag!
To receive a bag, people must be adults over 18 years of age. Only one bag will be given to each person, who must sign a form with a photo/video release on it. The form shows the number of the bag that person has received, the person’s name, address, and signature. The forms will be available to be completed at the event, or if people want to save time, they may download this pdf to fill out before coming to the mall. Everyone who receives a bag must have their picture taken, still or video or both, in our “green carpet” area, posing to show their bag numbers.
This GUINNESS WORLD RECORDS™ official attempt is sponsored by Mainstream Green, Inc., Covanta Onondaga, LP, the Onondaga County Block Litter program, Trader Joes, DestinyUSA, and Embassy Suites by Hilton Syracuse Destiny USA hotel. It is also made possible by the generosity of private donors. We are grateful for the support of the Onondaga County Legislature, and the monumental assistance of County Legislator Michael Plochocki.

Why people should stop using disposable plastic bags

720,000 plastic shopping bags are consumed in the US every minute.

Plastic bags blow around in the wind, catching on trees and shrubs, shredding into thousands of little pieces. These tiny pieces fall into lakes and streams, then flow into larger lakes, rivers and then finally the oceans.

Some plastic bags get sucked into water purification and sewage treatment plants, where they damage pumps and pollution fighting equipment.

Lots of plastic bags wind up in the bellies of wildlife, killing them. What’s worse is, plastic has so invaded our food chain and water supply that 93% of Americans have BPA, a plastic chemical, in their bloodstreams. It is estimated that by 2050, there will be more plastics than fish in the world’s oceans.

Reusable shopping bags are much better for the planet and all creatures on it.

#MostReusableShoppingBagsDistributedIn24Hours

Why reusable shopping bags are better than plastic ones.

Don’t Trash that Pumpkin! Cook or Compost It

Don't trash your pumpkin; cook or compost it
After Halloween, please eat or compost your pumpkin so it doesn’t create harmful methane gas in a landfill. Download FREE recipes for delicious pumpkin treats & snacks with this link: http://bit.ly/2z4O8GE .
Or drop off with kitchen/yard waste at a resource recovery facility near you.

JOSEPH BROWN ELECTED TO MAINSTREAM GREEN, INC. BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Joe Brown CEO Roth Industries joins Mainstream Green Inc. Board of Directors
Joe Brown, Pres. & CEO Roth Industries, joins Mainstream Green Inc. Board of Directors.

CAMILLUS, NY,  Sept. 17, 2017 – –  Mainstream Green, Inc., the two-year old environmental non-profit, is pleased to announce the election of Joseph Brown to its Board of Directors. Mr. Brown is the President & Chief Executive Officer of Roth Industries and Roth Global Plastics, a multinational family of companies with $250 million in sales, and locations in more than 40 countries.

Mainstream Green, which is currently preparing to set a Guinness World Record for the Most Reusable Shopping Bags Distributed in 24 Hours, develops outreach programs that demonstrate ways that people can save money or energy, cut waste, avoid pollution, protect resources, and shrink use of fossil fuels.

“Joe Brown is a highly respected international business leader,  with great ideas, so we are extremely excited to welcome him to Mainstream Green’s Board of Directors,” said Dana Johnston, the Chair of Mainstream Green’s  Board.

“We believe Joe’s strong experience, in energy and water related industries, combined with his tremendous talent for building relationships across borders and industries, will be extremely helpful to us in delivering our innovative, mass market oriented programs to spur greater stewardship of our planet through crowds of individual action.”

Mr. Brown commented: “I’m thrilled to have the privilege to serve such a unique organization as Mainstream Green. It’s exciting to be part of an important movement that not only improves our environment today, but sets the stage for continuous environmental activism for generations to come.”

A licensed engineer, Joe Brown graduated cum laude with a BSEE from State University of New York College at Buffalo. His MBA was earned at Syracuse University’s Martin J. Whitman School of Management. Prior to joining Roth North America nine years ago, Joe was VP of Sales & Marketing at FRALO Plastech Manufacturing. He had previously held the same title at American Granby, following a progression of positions over twelve years with O’Brien & Gere Manufacturing.

Mainstream Green is a 501 c-3 tax exempt charity. Upcoming projects include the Guinness World Record for Reusable Shopping Bags, and “Syracuse LED’s the Way,” a joint program with Philips Lighting,  that will outfit 100 low income Syracuse NY area households with LED light bulbs, to provide homeowners with 80 percent savings in their cost of electric lighting. Some of Mainstream Green’s other projects have been associated with the following hashtags:  #PlasticFreeFridays, a program that cuts use of consumer plastics by 14.4%, #12EarthDays a program that focuses public attention on the environment one day a month,  #TURNitOFF, a vehicle idling program that promotes saving 3.8 million gallons of fuel a day in the US.

The Roth companies manufacture and sell products that produce, distribute, manage and store energy, contain fluids or direct highway traffic. The company has1,100 employees worldwide and operates two locations in Central New York, one in Syracuse and the other in Watertown, NY.

-end-

Mainstream Green. Be The Crowd vs Climate Change
Be the Crowd vs Climate Change

Trader Joe’s pledges 1000 reusable shopping bags to help win Guinness World Records™ title!!

There are so many reasons to love Trader Joe’s but now there’s another one. They pledged 1000 of their gorgeous reusable shopping bags to help Mainstream Green’s effort to set a #GuinnessWorld Record! #Most reusable shopping bags distributed in 24 hours. Now we have a date (Fri.Nov. 24, 2017) a location (DestinyUSA, Syracuse, NY) and all we need are more bags and then LOTS of people! Read more here. In the mean time, Which of these bags do you love the most and promise to always bring with you whenever you shop anywhere??? Tweet us @MainstreamGrn or share your pics of #BestForeverBags #BFB ‘s with Mainstream Green Inc. on Instagram or Facebook!

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Want to help us make history?

Donate money TODAY so we can buy more BEAUTIFUL bags to give away as part of our #GuinnessWorldRecord Title challenge: #MostReusableBagsDistributedin24Hours


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Bonnaroo 2017: Festive & Sustainable!

A report by Jacinda Ballantyne 6/14/17

Jacinda Ballantyne, an “under thirty” electrical engineer, took a summer vacay at Tennessee music festival and lifestyle experience Bonnaroo (“where happy campers live, sleep, and play in blissful harmony like it’s permanent recess.”).  It was satisfying to her music loving and planet loving self.  She wrote the following, and gave us permission to publish it:

I just went to Bonnaroo music festival and want to share some of the ways they encouraged sustainability there. It was a great model of how to run a large event with thousands of people and still minimize waste!

1. Everywhere they had a trash bin there were also recycling and compost bins. Volunteers stood near the bins and informed people which bin they should use. (If I ever go back I think I’d like to be one of those volunteers!) And all the paper plates and cups were compostable!
2. They had water bottle refill stations scattered throughout the grounds to encourage people to join the “refill revolution” and refill their reusable bottles instead of buying plastic.
3. A discount was also offered on adult beverages if you purchased a “refill revolution” souvenir cup and used that every time you got another drink.
4. They gave each camper a blue recycling bag as well as a trash bag to use at the campsites.
5. There were solar powered charging stations for people to charge their phones since access to electricity was limited. (My phone died so many times but I found that the charging stations were a great way to make friends ?)

Overall I was very impressed with the effort they took to be green. I loved the saying on their signs: “recycle what you can, reduce what you can’t, and reuse what you’ve got.”