Blog Posts

If you're a blogger by trade, you probably aren't in the market for a copywriter. However, blogs don't have to stand on their own, and you don't have to be a blogger to have one. Blogs can be a useful tool for a variety of business types, especially in the coaching or consulting arenas. Customers these days crave value. More importantly, they require confidence when making their purchasing decisions. Blogs give you an opportunity to gain consumers' trust by providing them with value (useful content) and evidence of your expertise.

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Save the Whales

Fun fact: When it comes to fighting global warming, whale poop is…well, the $#@!

See, ocean plant life generates 50% of our oxygen and absorbs 25% of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, acting like a “carbon sink” to offset our carbon emissions. And, like all plants, the ocean’s photosynthesizers need fertilizer.

Enter the whale poop.

Whales are a critical player in the ocean’s atmosphere-scrubbing system, both by contributing the fertilizer and by moving nutrients around to where phytoplankton and other carbon-gobbling life can get at them.

In fact, one study suggests that sperm whales sequester as much carbon as 694 acres of US forests each year. Another suggests that the swimming motion of 80 whales can absorb the equivalent carbon of 208 acres of US forests.

But (speaking of poop) we need to get ours together. More specifically, our plastic waste. Because it’s not just whales keeping the ocean’s ecosystem running, and it’s not just whales at risk. 100,000 marine mammals die every year as a result of plastic waste.

Some die from blockages in their airways and intestines from ingesting plastic, some from toxic chemicals like phthalates. The majority, however, die from entanglement and “ghost fishing”: They get tangled in discarded fishing gear and drown.

It doesn’t have to be this way. What if all that plastic–bags, straws, fishing gear, whatever–didn’t float around the ocean forever? What if it could break down completely and disappear without a trace?

It seems too good to be true, but it’s not.

I’m (REDACTED) from (REDACTED). I never pictured myself as any sort of eco-warrior–I’m just a cannabis farmer. But it’s because I’m a farmer that I can’t ignore the plastic crisis anymore. The agriculture industry generates 800 MILLION pounds of plastic waste every year.

So I decided to do something about it.

We invested 3 years and $250,000 to research and develop a viable alternative to plastic–one that can actually compete with plastic in both the consumer and industrial arenas.

We’ve come up with a bioplastic that’s not only as good as conventional plastic but BETTER. It’s stronger, softer, cleaner, and–most importantly–degrades anywhere. Unlike other bioplastics, ours doesn’t require special conditions or handling to break down. You can just toss that sucker in the trash–or even in your own backyard–and trust that it will disappear without a trace.

Like and follow to learn more about how we can eliminate over 30 million pounds of plastic waste within the next year alone!

Plastic Straws

“Ban plastic straws! Bring your own grocery bags!”

Be honest, folks. Who ISN’T sick of hearing this stuff? More importantly, who really believes it will actually solve our plastic problem?

Deep down, probably no one. But we all feel guilty anyway because we’re constantly bombarded with this narrative that it’s all up to us–OUR behaviors, OUR choices, OUR impact.

Big corporations want us to think that YOU are the problem and YOU have to change. And if the problem doesn’t go away? Well, you must not have wanted it bad enough. That’s a pretty convenient story for Corporate Chad.

But numbers don’t lie, and the truth is obvious no matter how hard Chad tries to sweep it under the rug:

What we can do as consumers will never, EVER match the impact of choices made by big corporations.

They know that. Which is exactly why they work so hard to keep public attention and the burden of change on what the CONSUMER is doing. Because if everyone is busy screaming about the freaking plastic straws, big corporations don’t have to change. They can just keep doing what they’ve been doing all along–dumping LITERAL TONS of plastic into our fields, rivers, and oceans.

Over 90% of global plastic waste comes from corporations, NOT consumers. 50% comes from just 20 companies. The math is devastatingly simple. Who can make the biggest, fastest impact here? (Spoiler: It ain’t you and your plastic straws.)

Yes, everyone needs to do their part. But it’s the industries, not the consumers, who make the biggest impact and so have the biggest responsibility to make a change.

We know this. And we ARE making a change. A big one.

At this point, you might be wondering “Who TF are you, anyway?”

Honestly? I’m a nobody. I’m just a small town farmer who couldn’t ignore the problem any longer.

(REDACTED) is a small player in the grand scheme of things, but that didn’t stop us. Underdogs have a funny habit of getting things done when it counts. When no one else is willing to do the hard thing, someone has to step up.

So we did.

We invested 3 years and $250,000 to research and develop a viable alternative to plastic–one that can actually compete with plastic in both the consumer and industrial arenas.

It’s no exaggeration to say that this product can change the world.

But it’s not like we did the impossible - anyone could have done what we did. No one else did simply because it doesn’t make good business sense. R&D is expensive, and there’s no way to recoup those costs without a heavy price tag on the end product. But not enough people will buy that product when plastic is so much cheaper.

But with your help, we compete in the free market and WIN by providing the public with a viable alternative that they can afford. We can develop and launch products that could one day completely end our reliance on plastic, AND we can do it at a price point that is actually accessible to consumers.

We can also keep the company 100% in our hands. This will allow us to stay true to our vision and prevent outside investment from taking the wheel. We never want profits to overtake our true mission–ending the devastating impact of plastics.

Contributors to this product aren’t throwing money at a guess or a band-aid. This product is REAL, and it represents a real solution to the plastic crisis.

So if you’re tired of watching helplessly as plastic piles up around our ears and clogs our rivers and oceans, click the link to learn more about the 454 Bags No Trace initiative and how you can help us put plastic in the PAST - where it belongs.

GameStop and Plastic Waste

To all the people whose feathers we ruffled by pointing out that banning plastic straws and bags won’t end the plastic crisis…we’re sorry! Genuinely. We know it’s a tough pill to swallow.

We also know it’s hard to keep reading (and keep thinking) while in the throes of righteous shock and indignation. So we just want to make one thing absolutely clear:

We DO believe that collective action makes a difference.

We know it can. We’ve seen it happen.

Remember how GameStop almost closed forever a few years back? Here’s a little recap:

Basically, a bunch of gamers saw hedge funds trying to short GameStop stock–i.e. tank the company and make money doing it. Our intrepid gamer heroes’ response?

“NOT TODAY, SATAN.”

They turned to social media, urging people to buy GameStop stock and thereby drive the price back up. People showed up in a BIG way, and GameStop stock value went through the roof. So all those corporate Chads betting that GameStop would die? They lost that bet–and their shirts–for the first time ever at the hands of the common people.

The moral of the story: If pointed in the right direction, a bunch of ants can bring down a giant.

Now, back to plastic waste.

We need to do something. We all know that. But ditching plastic straws and grocery bags isn’t going to cut it, and neither is consumer recycling. That’s not a moral judgment. It’s simple math.

Corporations contribute over 90% of global plastic waste. Consumers contribute less than 10%. Even if we somehow COMPLETELY eliminate consumers’ plastic use, we won’t even put a dent in the problem.

We don’t have time anymore to pick away at this problem little by little. We don’t have time to rely on “every little bit helps” (even though it does!)

What we need to do is replace plastic entirely, and we need to start IN THE INDUSTRIAL SECTOR.

Corporations don’t want to change. Change is expensive. Plastic is cheap. So we need to give them something cheaper than plastic. It’s that simple.

And guess what? We have that something. It’s here. We can replace MILLIONS of pounds of industrial plastic as soon as next year. In time, we could replace plastics everywhere.

We at (REDACTED) invested 3 years and 250 thousand of our own hard-earned dollars to research and develop a COMPLETELY biodegradable bioplastic that’s not only as good as conventional plastic but BETTER.

It’s cheaper (a no-brainer for Big Biz, Inc.)It’s stronger. Higher quality = less waste = better bottom line for business. Easy disposal, meaning no loss of time, money, or labor (the usual corporate objections to sustainability efforts)

Those are the things corporations care about, obviously. What we as thinking, feeling humans care about is this:

Our bioplastic degrades completely, without any need for special handling or conditions (unlike the “compostable” plastics you see in the grocery store). You can toss ours literally anywhere and it will disappear without a trace. No harm, no foul, no toxins.

No more trash mountain, no more floating islands of bottles and nets, no more microplastics buried in our blood and lungs and placentas–yes, you read that right. PLACENTAS.

Corporations don’t care about that stuff. At least, not enough to risk their precious profits. But we NEED them on board to make a real difference, so we need to beat them at their own game. That means we need to present them with a better, cheaper option than plastic. And we can do just that–with your help.

Remember GameStop. We CAN make a difference. We CAN prevail against incredible odds. And with your help, we CAN put plastic in the past where it belongs.

Watership Down

When people know you like to read, they often ask you what your favorite book is. And if you’re anything like me, you probably have no idea how to answer. It’s like trying to pick a favorite blood relative (which, let’s face it, might actually be easier).

But, gun to my head, I would have to pick Watership Down by Richard Adams. I’ve read it every year or so for the past twenty years, ever since I found it in my Easter basket as a little girl. Every year I fall in love all over again, and every year I try in vain to express that love to my disbelieving peers (and elders, and anyone who will listen).

The problem is that the most concise description immediately invites skepticism, if not outright ridicule. There’s just no way around it--it sounds totally lame. “It’s about rabbits.” Cue the hairy eyeball. From here it usually goes something like this:

“No, I mean, yes--it’s about rabbits. But it’s, like, an epic adventure about a bunch of rabbits who lose their home and have to find, you know, their promised land. And there’s this totally evil villain called General Woundwort who’s basically Hitler--actually, he’s more like Big Brother. Yeah, definitely Big Brother. So, anyway, the good rabbits have to go rescue some lady rabbits from General Woundwort and bring them back to the warren. Why? Oh, because they’re all boy rabbits and they need the lady rabbits to have babies. But--no--seriously, it’s not creepy. Ugh. You know what, fine. It’s about rabbits. Full stop.”

What people just can’t grasp without reading the book and what I can’t explain quickly enough (generally I lose people at “rabbits”) is this: Richard Adams makes rabbits cool. Swashbuckling. Totally epic. And he makes them real. The characters are dynamic and engaging with distinct personalities, absolutely relatable but not too human.

That in itself takes a great deal of skill. The fact that these characters are rabbits is never overlooked. Their mannerisms, their motivations, their understanding of the world, their relationships with each other--everything is informed by their animal nature. And yet we connect with them as we would with human characters driven by human needs. We feel the urgency of the rabbits’ need to find does (the aforementioned lady rabbits) to join their warren and the effort it takes for them to grasp abstract concepts, even those as simple--to us--as the number five. We feel, and we completely empathize. And we hate General Woundwort’s guts. Obviously.

As readers, we are completely immersed in these rabbits’ world. Adams created an entire culture for his rabbits, complete with language and folklore. The mythical rabbit prince, El-ahrairah, is easily comparable to our own folk heroes. Comparable, too, is the rabbits’ tendency to rely on their stories for guidance as well as comfort when times are hard or the future is uncertain. While the myths’ content is rabbit-like, their form and function are human. Throughout the book, Adams blurs the lines between human and animal, alien and familiar, to create a world that is both enchanting and completely believable.

I could go on for pages and pages about how Watership Down is a book not just about rabbits but about politics, philosophy, justice, society, ethics...the list goes on. But then I’d have to put it down for more than the half-hour it took to write this. And do I want to do that? Nope. So, please, do yourself (and me) a favor and go read the book. I promise, you won’t regret it.

In Defense of Bella Swan

Bella Swan gets a lot of flack for...well, everything. She’s been called insipid, pathetic, a victim, a feminist’s nightmare. In many circles, she has become a byword for “weak, useless person.” It’s true that Bella is often pushed around by the men in her life. But why do we blame Bella for being pushed around and blithely ignore the men who are doing the pushing? There is a lot to admire in Bella. She’s loving and kind hearted. She’s self-sacrificing. She’s tenacious. She’s brave. But people often overlook these traits and instead choose to focus on Bella’s supposed victimhood and slavish devotion to Edward.

Yes, Bella loves Edward and would do anything for him. But, lest we forget, he’s not the only one for whom Bella is willing to put her life on the line. One of Bella’s most defining character traits is her love for her family, and she shows that love time and time again throughout the books. Edward’s first major rescue occurs not because the villain has swept away an unresisting damsel in distress but because the damsel sought out and surrendered herself to the villain in order to save her mother’s life.

This isn’t the only time Bella steps up for the sake of her family. She chews out a bunch of werewolves on behalf of her best friend Jacob, whom she sees as a brother. She faces down the Vulturi to save her daughter, and she does everything in her power to keep her father safe from the dangerous world she inhabits. Edward is not the single, all-consuming interest in Bella’s life: He’s part of her family, and she acts accordingly.

When Edward leaves her, it shatters her world. Many see this as a sure sign that Bella lacks the fortitude we expect from Strong Female Characters. They call her weak, stupid, pathetic...but here’s the thing: We would--or, rather, should--never, ever talk that way about a real woman who suffers from depression, regardless of the cause. Furthermore, what happens to Bella in the book happens to both women and men in real life all the time. It’s nothing even close to unheard of for people to fall into a severe depression after losing a loved one, be it to death or divorce or a simple breakup.

I myself have suffered from heartbreak twice in my life, and both instances took their toll. The first time, I was just a little older than Bella. I dropped twenty pounds in less than two weeks, and I wasn’t heavy to begin with. The second time, I had ten years on Bella in terms of experience and emotional development, and it still took me over a year to really feel like myself again.

Does that make me useless or pathetic or a poor role model for young women? It does not, and Bella’s suffering doesn’t make her any of those things, either. Mocking fictional characters and judging them for their depression only reinforces the stigma that we’re trying so hard to fight against in the real world.

If Twilight is a bad love story, it’s not because Bella is an anti-feminist pod-person worming her way into the minds of impressionable teens. The really disturbing stuff lies squarely in the court of our sparkly hero himself, Edward, who is constantly undermining Bella’s agency as a character. He’s overbearing, he’s controlling, and he’s constantly telling Bella that she’s fragile and vulnerable and his to protect, even if it means making decisions for her.

Let’s take his abandonment of Bella, which is arguably his most egregious offense. He readily admits that he knew he would have to lie to her in order to make her accept that he was leaving. He knew exactly how strong her feelings were, and he dismissed them. Rather than treat her like an equal, rather than accept her love and respect her ability to make decisions for herself, he treats her like a child. He takes away her right to choose. And, later, he has the gall to chide Bella for so readily believing that he didn’t love her when he himself is constantly telling her, not only through his actions but to her face, that she’s not strong or capable. Is it any wonder, then, that she doesn’t feel worthy of his love?

It doesn’t stop there. Once he--grudgingly--accepts that Bella deserves to have him in her life if that’s what she wants, Edward loses no time in exerting his control over her, most notably in regard to her friendship with Jacob. Once again, Edward treats Bella like a child who needs to be protected rather than an equal partner in a romantic relationship. Which brings us to book four, in which Edward finds out Bella is pregnant and immediately begins making plans to abort the baby without consulting her. Once again, he completely ignores Bella’s right to make decisions about her body. What’s worse, he doesn’t even realize he’s doing it. It never occurs to him that Bella might have an opinion that doesn’t align with his.

It’s all pretty damning. But what people often forget, or ignore, is that Bella comes out on top every time. Let’s take stock, shall we? One: Edward abandons Bella because he has never taken her feelings seriously; he winds up back at her side after she flies halfway around the world to save him from the Vulturi, even while fully expecting him to leave her again. Two: Edward doesn’t like her friendship with Jacob and goes so far as to sabotage her vehicle in order to prevent them from seeing each other; Bella goes to see Jacob anyway. Three: Edward goes over Bella’s head to arrange an abortion; Bella takes the matter back into her own hands and has the baby. Bonus: In the process, Bella becomes an immortal, something which she has repeatedly told Edward that she wants and which Edward has just as repeatedly done his best to prevent.

The biggest problem with Twilight, in my mind, is that neither Edward nor Bella ever really acknowledges Edward’s lack of respect. As a result, it’s easy for readers to see Edward’s protectiveness as a romantic quirk instead of the huge, honking character flaw that it is. Though Bella fights back and doesn’t let Edward dominate her, she never holds him accountable for his attitude. This too is a flaw, and it’s not necessarily a bad thing--perfect characters are boring, unrealistic characters, after all. But we need to recognize flaws for what they are, and with flaws such as Edward’s and Bella’s, it’s important that the characters recognize them, too.

I’m sure much of this has been said before, but if it has, it bears repeating: Bella is not the problem, and Bella-bashing is just another instance of people--men and women both--blaming women for the things that are done to them by men. It happens all the time in the real world to real women, and it’s not okay. So let’s be a little bit more discerning and a lot more fair in how we discuss fictional characters. They’re not just words on the page; they’re reflections of ourselves.