The Eco-Safe Blog

hullo all

here is the link to our teaser…

http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=107063338723&ref=nf

Hope you like it!!

-Ravi

Howdy (that sounds so cool!)

Our good friends tell us that the survey is giving them some trouble. So here is a link which is working perfectly. Further, we are going to launch our advertisement(s) on the blog soon. Once we get an amazin feedback, we shall put them up elsewhere.

The new link is: http://www.surveygizmo.com/s/158669/are-we-eco-safe-yet

-Ravi

hello…again…

we got a lotta feedback regarding the last survey and yes we realized that it was a bit too long. So we decided to scrap a few crap (hey that rhymes!!) questions and make this survey a shorter one. the new link has been put up already. Do make sure that you take it, if you havent already. That folks is the long and the short of it. And my blog articles are becoming the biggest collection of bad jokes ever!

Cheers

-Ravi

Popular?

Hello everybody! You must have already guessed what this article is about. No? Look donw, not at the floor silly, at the image. See. An eco safe eco label google gives us our Facebook community as the number 1,2 and 3 hit! Awesome. So Google does work!

You must be wondering what I was doing googling (yes that is now a verb!) for our eco-label. Jobless? Well, a little yes. But the main reason was to ensure that our popularity is looking upwards and nowhere else. My personal target is to ensure that this blog touches at least 100,000 people and at least 1000 people take our survey. Statistics (yawn!) tell us that the more the number of respondents, the greater is the accuracy of your results.

The response so far has been amazing. We have hits from the United States, Germany, Canada, Malaysia, Singapore, Japan, the Middle East and (phew!) many many other countries. Where are the Eskimos?? Eh.. #^#@$#@

Wake up people. This is your planet. So go on (pause) spread the message. Be your planet’s saviour. Good luck!

search result

Dot Eco LLC is a company which is trying to apply & obtain the .ECO Top Level domain in the upcoming round of ICANN Negotiations. ICANN is the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers which controls the top level domain space. 

Most companies already have a .COM address  and most meaningful domain names are already taken up. Further, .COM has a commercial tag attached to it.

.ECO will serve the multiple purposes of

1) Providing companies with an ideal location to showcase their ecological efforts.

2) Open up a top level domain space, where companies can get meaningful domain names

3) Helps differentiate between ecological organizations and commerical organizations

Many large companies however feel compelled to register their trademarks in all top level domains and their legal departments are in turn opposed to the idea of opening up a new top level domain due to the additional expenses.

Please join us in showing Support for Dot Eco Domain over here.

- Deepak

Hello everybody. Thank you for the overwhelming response to the survey. We understand that it was long and for those of you who had abandoned it, Grr. By now you guys must be well aware of eco-safe and what we intend to achieve using this. So now it is your turn. Let us know what you feel and what more you would like to see/hear from us. There is a comment section where you could curse (hopefully not!) us or you could reach us at: ecosafe.sibm@gmail.com

For FaceBook users, we have created an open group at: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=125141520049&ref=mf

By the way, we will be posting our television advertisement soon, on the blog of course!

-Ravi

Please take the http://www.surveygizmo.com/s/158669/are-we-eco-safe-yet survey.

Your opinion is valued.

Thank you.

What could go wrong if you overlooked a simple conversion of Imperial units to metric units? A science student would probably flunk his exams, but the right people to answer this question are the brains behind the Mars Climate Orbiter, which failed a couple of years ago. This simple error caused a multi-million dollar project to blow up, just like that.

Mars Climate Orbiter

A similar phenomenon is faced by exporters in developing nations. Environmentally sensitive nations (read European nations) demand, and rightly so, an eco-label or at least a certification confirming that the imported product is ecologically friendly. Some garment and textile exporters in India are facing this issue. The lack of a reliable, popular and globally recognized eco-label is forcing these enterprises to get foreign certifications which cost upwards of Rs. 100,000.

With every passing day, enterprises are waking up to the reality of a market outside India. However a simple barrier like an eco-label could hamper such expansion plans. There is a way out – Eco-safe. What eco-safe hopes to achieve is to arm Indian exporters with a consistent globally recognized eco-label.

So, how is eco-safe going to do that? The answer is via harmonization of existing eco-labels worldwide. By developing a conversion mechanism between eco-safe and other international eco-labels, Indian exporters will be able to prove the quality of their products in any market. In the near future, the promoters of eco-safe hope to devise a conversion factor which would enable all eco-safe product consumers to easily determine the level of ecological acceptance of their product.

Looking at a ten year horizon, the promoters hope to see eco-safe as the international standard for products across the globe. A strong customer focus coupled with unshakable business ethos are the pillars around which the promoters of Eco-safe wish to build their brand. This idea seems to be a win-win for all, specially the exporters. A quick endorsement by the Indian industry will be the biggest boost for Eco-safe. But what happens if the government does not move quickly? Ever wondered what a monkey with a spanner could do in a Merc factory?

I manage to find wierd things entertaining. Like the book on Indian history I found recently. This guy, Muhammad Bin Tughluq cracked me up. One of the worst visionaries in history, he took some really dumb decisions. The problem was not with the intent, but the sheer lack of foresight. The current economic scenario is a fallout of a lack of foresight too, isnt it? A large number of enterprises have fallen because of decisions which were unsustainable.

Sustainable, now here is a word we need to reflect upon. Do we as citizens of the nation take sustainable decisions? The answer is a resounding no, or at least I do not think so. I know for a fact that despite all that brouhaha about the ecology and giving our future generations a clean earth, I do nothing in that regard. My only (possible) contribution might be the fact that this machine is ENERGY STAR compliant, and I purchased it, Ha!

Sad. It is disheartening to come to realize that you are as eco-sensitive as a caterpillar wearing a pair of Reeboks. Then again, how do I take eco-friendly decisions? Europe and a good part of the United States already have an answer – eco-labels. These labels give customers information about the (eco) acceptance levels of the product they intend to purchase.

What about India? How do Indian customers distinguish eco-friendly products from the rest? Well, there was “eco mark” – a noble initiative of the Government which never actually took off. So are we as Indian customers going to continue to base our decisions on cost? No – this seems to be the only answer in this article, strange. India now has eco-safe. No (again!) – this is not a water purifier, it is an eco-label (this is the part where your bulb glows and you hear a ting).

Eco-Safe Logo

Eco-safe is an all encompassing eco-label which aims to sensitize the customers about the products they purchase. It will soon be harmonized**  with international eco-labels to ensure that customers in India and abroad can take ecologically sensitive decisions with respect to other eco-labelled product.

Now that you are aware, be a good citizen and purge your sins with Eco-safe products. Then you can give the future generations a clean Earth and all that jazz!

Stay green.

**an equivalent conversion scheme with other international eco-labels in order to avoid duplication of eco-labelling efforts for export-oriented firms

The Eco-Mark scheme was unsuccessful in India for a variety of reasons

Improperly Directed Efforts

• Too much time was spent on developing product criteria across product categories and no efforts were spent on promoting the eco-label or creating awareness about eco-labelling

Lack of Marketing

• Indian consumers are not even aware about the concept of an eco-label or the existence of an eco-label in India
• In 1999 and 2000, the government tried to create awareness about Eco-Mark by publishing a bi-monthly magazine named “Wista Ecomark” but this did not create the desired awareness

Lack of Continued Political Support

• The scheme was instituted in 1991, under the regime of Maneka Gandhi (Minister of Environments and Forests) who was also an environmental activist. Her successor, Kamal Nath was also very supportive of the scheme, but after that, no political party has had a clear cut agenda for pushing the Eco-Mark scheme.

Environmental & Quality Criteria

• The Eco-Mark was unique amongst eco-labels in one aspect; along with environmental criteria, it also necessitated meeting quality criteria set by the BIS (Bureau of Indian Standards). This situation of having to meet a dual set of criteria led to more complexity in the evaluation process.

To further understand the reasons for Eco-marks failure in India, Please read this detailed report on the reasons behind Eco-Mark being unsuccessful in India.