As a member of the local business community, we have been chatting with our neighbours here on Victoria’s Fabulous Fort Street, looking for ways to encourage our local community to continue honouring us with their business.  Times are tough for many local small family businesses due to increased competition from big business in the suburbs, big business on the internet, as well as increased taxation and a faltering economy.  Times are tough!

And yet small business is the main driver of our economy. For every $100 spent in a locally owned independent store (The Good Planet Company, for example!) $68 returns to the community through taxes, payroll and other expenditures.  If you spend that in a national chain, only $43 stays here.  Half of this country’s private sector labour force works for, and is dependent upon, small business.

So we put our heads together and came up with a low key campaign along our block of Fort Street, entitled “We Are The People In Your Neighbourhood”.  Thank you, Jim Henson and Sesame Street for loaning us your song, we hope there are no copyright infringement lawsuits pending.

What we’re saying is that your local downtown merchants rely on the community for support, and the favour is returned with a wide variety of  products and services, friendly service and conversation, taxes galore, charitable donations, wages and benefits, so many of the factors required for a functional, inviting and safe community.

As the world economy continues to spiral towards what could be major upheaval in the coming years, we hope that people will continue to embrace local, independent business as the lifeblood of their community.  The global economy, at least in it’s current form, may sputter and one day fall apart, but your local merchants are working hard to support the community, and, we hope, earn your support in return!

We are the people in your neighbourhood

Take a peek at our Earth Day E-News!   We have questions to ask your electoral candidates this week, news about our 1% for the Planet party, new products and discounts, even a dental hygiene story!

Please Click here for the April 2011 Good Planet Company newsletter!

(Or here for our E-News archive)

We have the best customers at The Good Planet Company!

And no, we’re not just saying that.  Our customers are educated, thoughtful and discerning members of the community. We always like to solicit your opinions on what’s right and wrong here at our store, but for those times when you might be feeling a bit shy to critique us face-to-face, we have created a short survey.

We encourage you to let it rip! Tell us if we have ever upset you, if you think we are selling the wrong products, creating the wrong atmosphere, being too chatty or not chatty enough.  Anything goes! If we shed a tear at what you have to say, we’ll try to hide it, but will do our best to make things right for you.  If you have anything nice to say, then we thank you for that too!

Your privacy is ensured, and if you decide to leave your email address at the end of the survey, it will not be added to our mailing list.

Here’s the link: Good Planet Survey.  It’s just ten questions, it shouldn’t take you more than five minutes, maybe ten minutes if you have lots to say.

Thank you from all of us for participating!

Memory foam mattresses are made of polyurethane foam, a petroleum based material that emits volatile organic compounds (VOCs) which can cause respiratory problems and skin irritation.  They also usually contain the flame retardant polybrominated diphenyl ether (PBDE) which has been banned in Europe but is still used in Canada.  This chemical can accumulate in fat tissue, blood and breast milk and has been linked to cancer and nervous-system disorders.

Here at The Good Planet Company, we have done our research!

Our mattresses originate from forests and fields, not chemical factories.

Our mattresses are made of the sap from organically grown rubber trees by a simple, chemical-free process. The sap is collected and baked into durable pure rubber mattress. No petrochemical additives are required, so the resulting mattress is VOC-free, durable yet supremely supportive and comfortable.
Our mattresses are wrapped in a thin layer of naturally fire-retarding wool (no PBDEs here!) and finished with a luxurious certified organic cotton ticking.
Our mattresses are crafted right here in Canada, and have a proven longevity of 20-35 years.  And at the end of their long life, they are biodegradable!

The best thing of all… comfort.

Some memory foam companies might have you believe that their memory foam mattresses will soothe your back condition. The opposite is true… once your body heat warms the foam, you sink right into it… not a recipe for comfort!  Natural rubber on the other hand responds to your body weight so when you lie on your side, there is more weight at your shoulders and hips so those points will sink into the mattress while your lumbar spine is still properly supported.  When your spine is aligned you will reach the deeper levels of sleep and your body can begin to heal itself.

See for yourself… come in to The Good Planet Company and try out our five in-store display mattresses. We think you’ll be impressed.

When it comes to product sourcing and selection, The Good Planet Company is held to a higher standard than the big-box stores, department stores and mega-malls, and for this we are grateful! As a small, independent, locally-owned company, The Good Planet Company’s policy is to be honest and up-front about our products, while offering the best, safest, most durable and most environmentally sound products on the market. We also enjoy sharing our purchasing philosophy with anyone who has questions about it.

With increasing concerns about peak oil, climate change, food security and our shaky economy, there are sound economic and environmental reasons for buying products manufactured close to home, and as an ethically-run, environmentally conscious business, it’s our duty to look after our environment as well as our people (customers, employees and suppliers).

Although more than 75% of our goods are sourced from Canadian suppliers, a significant percentage of these goods, and the raw materials used to create them, are actually manufactured outside of Canada by environmentally sensitive, ethically run, foreign businesses. We strive to ensure that our suppliers, whether domestic or foreign, are ISO complaint in standards 9000, 14000 and 26000.

We would love to offer 100% Canadian goods, but it’s a fact is that over recent generations, Canada has divested itself of the capacity to produce enough consumer goods for it’s growing population. Despite being the 10th largest economy on the planet, manufacturing accounts for just 13% of Canada’s GDP. (BC is even lower, at 12%). Even if we wanted to stock The Good Planet Company with exclusively locally sourced and manufactured goods, there would be huge gaps in the product range that our customers have come to expect from us. We continue to encourage local manufacturers to approach us with new and innovative products.

So, as a responsible retailer, we do the best we can for our customers. Our focus is upon finding the safest, most durable, most fairly traded, most earth-friendly goods at the best price. Some products like stainless steel containers can only be found in the far east. Other products like our beautiful fair trade woven baskets can only be found in Africa.

We share the concerns of some of our customers regarding Chinese-made goods in terms of China’s politics and human rights abuses, yet as a responsible company, we must look at the bigger picture. China has developed it’s industrial might at an incredible rate, yet in terms of labour law, it’s lagging about 50 years behind the western world. Do we turn our comparatively wealthy backs on the Chinese worker so that they bear the brunt of their government’s policies and the western world’s indignation? Or do we continue to encourage the ongoing development of their burgeoning union movements, environmental improvements and living standards? For the benefit of our fellow workers in this global community, we feel the answer is obvious.

Here at The Good Planet Company, we continue to act locally and think globally. Our local community is important to us, and we do all possible to sustain it, yet at the same time, we do not turn our backs on the plight of others. In addition to our Canadian-made goods, we will continue to market a selection of goods imported from the USA, India, China, Australia and other countries, so long as they are safe, well-made, and not available within our own shores.

There’s a distinct possibility that within the next generation, Peak Oil may turn international trade and the global economy into a thing of the past, and we could be forced to re-build and re-tool our domestic factories, become more self-sufficient, and lead less consumer-oriented lives. Many who consider themselves “conservers” are already partly prepared for such an eventuality. The Good Planet Company counts hundreds of such people as our valued customers. We applaud them for their insight, and thank them for their support of our company with their purchases of our quality, durable products.

We’re not perfect, but we do our best! We always appreciate our customer’s comments and will always strive to give a well-thought out answer to your questions. If you have any thoughts or insights regarding this policy or any other, please feel free to e-mail us at feedback@goodplanet.com

In addition, if you or anyone you know would like to work with us here at “The Planet” please check out the details on our website or on Craigslist.

Stainless Steel

Wow!  Record breaking temperatures in Victoria this week!  A heatwave right across Canada!

Here are three products in our stainless steel collection to help you keep your cool, save you money, and keep you both hydrated and healthy.

(By the way, did you stop by and take our Greater Victoria Water Watch Coalition taste test last week? Good old Victoria tap water beat out bottled by a wide margin!)

Shiri is holding two of the great variety of stainless steel water bottles to be found in-store at The Good Planet Company.  Alain is showing off our brand new stainless steel popsicle molds and Brianna is displaying the same kind of indestructible stainless steel ice cube tray that grandma used to use.

We also have a great range of stainless steel containers, lunch kits, straws, compost buckets and more to choose from on-line and in-store.

Why Is Stainless Steel So Eco Friendly?

What do these great Good Planet Company products have in common?  They’re made of 100% high grade stainless steel. Completely safe for you and your family to drink from (No BPA or phthalates, they last forever, but are completely recyclable if you get tired of them after 1oo0 years!

Why Is Stainless Steel So Eco Friendly?

Our customers frequently ask us exactly how does one “save the planet?” It’s so easy to become overwhelmed by the challenges we face from climate change, air and water pollution, habitat destruction and species losses. These issues, coupled with the baffling political processes in place to fix them, can make even the most optimistic of us wring our hands in frustration.

We think the best solution is to start out by saving ourselves, our families and our communities. Continue to reduce, reuse and recycle, to respect the cycle of nature, to live consciously, to act mindfully,  to support grassroots organizations and to live well with less.

People power is strong! Let your friends and neighbours know that a Green life is a good life. As Mother Theresa once said, “Do not wait for leaders. Do it alone, person to person”

Happy Earth Day! Enjoy!