Let’s Make Portland Taxis Green
By Drew | November 2, 2008
Below is the text of a letter I have just written, to be sent to Portland Taxi, Radio Cab, and Broadway Cab tomorrow.
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As an occasional customer of your taxi service, and someone who has called many cabs for his friends after a night downtown, I urge you to consider turning your taxi fleet over to 100% fuel-efficient vehicles.
Portland is widely regarded as one of the nation’s most environmentally responsible cities, but our taxi fleets are quickly falling behind the standards set in New York City, Seattle, and San Francisco. New York City has in place a plan to require that all taxis get > 25 mpg by 2012. Seattle is currently considering a special cab-financing scheme that would enable cabbies to make the switch to hybrid vehicles. And San Francisco has a locally-based Green Cab company (http://www.sfgreencab.com/). Other cities around the country are sure to follow suit.
Some common arguments against the “green cab” switch include cost and durability. While it is true that an aged Crown Victoria can be had for $5,000 – 6,000 at a police auction, that cost does not reflect the very real costs to society and ecology in terms of air quality degradation, empowerment of foreign hostile dictators, and environmental destruction.
In addition, please consider the benefits of owning and driving hybrid taxis, which I believe outweigh the ‘hybrid premium’:
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Savings in fuel costs ($5,000 / year and up based on gas at $2.50 / gal)
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Reduction in lifetime maintenance cost (this was proven in Vancouver, B.C. where the Honda Prius was first tested as a cab and logged over 250,000 miles without major problems)
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Reduction in driver fatigue as a result of electronic power steering
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Willingness of riders to pay 1.5 -2x fare for a ride in an environmentally conscious cab
Please urge your owner-operators to make the switch, or if you purchase your own fleet, begin greening it today. We are at a turning point in history that will require great sacrifice from all of us. In your case, as a business owner, your immediate sacrifice is up-front capital costs, but your long-term return on that investment is a strategic competitive advantage that will last for decades.
Sincerely,
Drew Long
Feel free to write your own letter and send it to them at the following addresses:
Portland Taxi Company
12624 NE Halsey Street
Portland, OR 97230-1931
Radio Cab
1613 NW Kearney St
Portland, OR 97209
Broadway Cab Company
1734 NW 15th Ave
Portland, OR 97209
Topics: biodiesel, carbon, carbon dioxide, carbon dioxide emissions, consumption, efficiency, energy, flex fuel, green consuming, hybrid cars, sustainability | No Comments »
Buy Reclaimed: Make a Green Statement
By Drew | August 27, 2008
Ladies and gentlemen, meet the green wallet that got me out of a speeding ticket.
The wallet pictured below, a present to me from my eldest sister on the event of my quarter-century celebration, is made (almost) entirely out of green materials.
As far as I can tell, this little slice of post-carbon hipness — just big enough to a few packs of business cards — was made from a travel brochure advertising a Florence hotel.
It was a few months ago that I was returning from a friend’s birthday party in Salem (of all places) on I-5 North. It was about 4am. I was pulled over for doing 85 in a 65 zone, and while checking my license and registration, all the cop wanted to know was “Are you from Florence?”
My wallet was lying on the console underneath my emergency brake.
He didn’t write me a ticket that night, but that may have had to do with my bleary-eyed (yet totally sober) protestations of a need for sleep (I was really, really tired). Or maybe that particular Lake Oswego officer was just feeling particularly magnanimous that night. And to think, that particular bit of plastic would have ended up in a landfill, were it not for the good intentions (and impeccable design sense) of an elementary school teacher named Suzanne.
Suzanne Keolker, founder of Mugwump, has been making bags, purses, wallets, and other fashion accessories out of reclaimed materials for 8 years, and in that time her hip designs and eco-conscious product has grown beyond the borders of the Pacific Northwest, appearing in gift shops and boutiques in some likely places (Seattle) as well as some unlikely ones (Kentucky).
Because this blog profiles local, sustainable businesses, I had to track her down for the full scoop on her business, her products, and her process. Below is the result of me catching up with her one lazy afternoon at her Saturday Market stall.
1. How long have you been doing all this? 
I have made accessories out of reclaimed materials for about 8 years, and it’s evolved over time. The first bag I made was a tote bag out of a vinyl banner, which I found at Scrap. . . I found a vinyl banner, and I had a totebag from a second-hand store I liked, and I thought. . . why can’t I make this work? So I attempted it, I got out my old sewing machine I had from 1983, and I tried my hand at it.
2. What percent would you say is reclaimed in the average MugWump product?
Depending on which one it is, I can do almost 95%…minus the thread, but at least 60% on pretty much all products. My latest are these vinyl banner bags. This are big market bags. Now it’s all the rage to take your own bag, to grocery shopping or farmer’s market. So now, those are selling well.
3. All this would end up in landfills if it weren’t for what you’re doing with it.
I think more often than not it would, because there is a shelf life to some of these items at the second hand stores. That’s why when you go to Goodwill, green tags, 50% off this week, after that, the green tags go. . . .and it goes to the bins. And after the bins, where you buy by the pound, that’s the last stop for some of it.
4. You started this as a hobby. . . how passionate are you about the environmental aspect?
I’m very passionate about it, but also I just have so much fun with it. It’s kind of a bonus that it’s the right thing to do. And I started this on th, Ie side, when I was teaching elementary school, ’cause I was always a creative gal, and it wasn’t just the creativity of planning curriculum in grade school, there’s only so much — it’s 4th and 5th grade, we don’t really have time for art can design a bulletin board and put my flair in there, wohoo! I job shared teaching so it was a nice marriage between the two — starting this business and still teaching.
5. Are you doing this full time now?
Now, I’m doing it full time. I took a leave of absence just to test the water, just to see, and I enjoyed it so much, and I cold keep my head afloat, and so I continued with it. I’ll still substitute teach in my district, cause — why not — you can, and there’s no way I would let my teaching certificate lapse. It makes me so happy.
6. It makes other people happy too.
It really does, you should see the smiles on their faces. Delightful.
7. What would you say is your typical customer?
It changes all the time, there’s a variety. The young ones love it because it’s funky and cool and green and they feel good about it. But I can have an 18 year old in here love the Candyland game board back because it reminds her of her childhood. And it doesn’t matter if your 55 or 25, it reminds you of your childhood.
8. What’s the biggest thing you’ve noticed changed over the 8 years you’ve been doing it?
Because I got an industrial sewing machine, I was able to do the stuff that not a lot of people can do. And actually I don’t know anybody making bags out of hardback books. But what’s also changed is people’s response. A few years ago I was at a sale and I would have to explain my work quite a lot, cause there was a lot of puzzled looks on people’s faces. And now people get it, and I don’t have to explain it as much — the why or the how. And they’re tickled pick when they realize what materials I’ve used and they recognize it. It’s a sense of nostalgia for them and they love it.
[[Editor’s note: I failed to take a picture of it, but one of most eye-catching pieces was a bag made from the children’s book “Goodnight Moon” — a favorite of mine — and I loved it.]]
9. Describe a little bit of the process of your business:
It used to be hard to find materials. It was a really time consuming process, hunting gathering and designing. Now that’s the really easy part. It’s really enjoyable, to claim all this stuff that nobody wants. It’s still me, myself and I doing all this, although for some of the busy work I started hiring my nieces to help out, so they can work a little, and learn the value of the dollar.
10. What do you see as the future of all this?
I’d like to get it beyond Portland, beyond Seattle, and the I-5 corridor. . .I was worried for a while that this whole idea was just a phase, a fad if you will, or maybe just a Northwest phenomenon, and it isn’t. It’s all over and it’s gonna stay for a while, so I think I’m gonna be alright.
12. I think you’re well positioned.
Thank you, that’s a good way to put it. And maybe I’ll hire more than my nieces.
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To get yourself some of this fashionable and sturdy swag, check out the website, or Suzanne’s boutique, Splurge, on NE Freemont between 13th and 14th (which also features the work of other local Portland artisans, including jewelry, fashion and art). You could also drop by Saturday market and look for her booth (it’s usually near Skidmore fountain).
Topics: carbon, consumption, economics, freecycling, green consuming, sustainability | 1 Comment »
