Green Shift™ Internal News

September 10, 2008

We would like to thank everyone who reached out to us during this trying time and want to let you know how much we appreciate your patience and support. We understand that this is/was a matter that affects all of the businesses, institutions and individuals who are a part of the Green Shift™ program, and we hope that you understand and trust in us enough to get through this. We have full intention of continuing on our mission. We apologize for the turbulence we are experiencing, and have been going through. Over the next few weeks we will of course be monitoring the effects of the agreement that we have made, and trust that we will navigate a good route that will get us back on track.

September 9, 2008

Resolution of trademark dispute between Green Shift™ and the Liberal Party of Canada:

The Liberal Party of Canada and Green Shift™ have resolved the dispute over the Green Shift trademark. The Liberal Party of Canada will continue to use “Green Shift” under license from Green Shift Inc. Green Shift Inc. is not affiliated with the Liberal Party of Canada and the grant of this license does not constitute an endorsement by Green Shift™ of the Liberal Party of Canada.

July 2008
A Midsummer Afternoon’s Dream at Eigensinn Farm.

Green Shift™ is happy to endorse a fundraiser in support of the Canadian Chef’s Congress at Eigensinn Farm.

If you’ve ever wanted to visit the world-famous Eigensinn Farm, this is a fantastic opportunity to taste the farm’s offerings and sample food from some of Toronto’s top chefs alongside Michael Stadtlander. We’re happy to say that Eigensinn Farm is part of the Green Shift™ program, as are many of the fabulous restaurants involved.

A few names include Jamie Kennedy of Jamie Kennedy Wine Bar, Brad Long of Veritas, Mark Cutrara of Cowbell, Adam Colquhoun of Oyster Boy, and Fifth Town Artisan Cheese Co. Full details available on the flyer.

For more information or to purchase tickets, visit:

www.canadianchefscongress.com

June 23, 2008

Trademark Infringement – Our initial response

As many of you are aware, on June 18th we received a call from the Liberal Party of Canada notifying us that they were going to use our trademark in reference to their carbon tax plan. We strongly opposed and immediately notified them that we would take all measures necessary to protect our trademark. As such, we ended up in a lawsuit and several weeks of battling. Since we have come to an agreement (as noted above on the Sept 9th entry) we have removed the commentary that we had documented about this matter.

May 2007
Green Shift™ Biodegradable Cups in hundreds of progressive cafes and restaurants across Canada.

Spring/ Summer 2007 Green Shift™ - Events galore: Toronto Pride, Toronto Jazz Festival, Luminato, Flower Child Festival, Bike Week, Al Gore in town, Green Living, and numerous other events, all active participants in our big joint green goal. In total Green Shift™ has worked with at least 100 event planners to see that biodegradable bags, biodegradable cups, plates, takeout containers, straws and more are all the norm, and to ensure that events as a whole can be enjoyed without the major costs to the environment that they traditionally are.

Hope you can make it out to support these great events:

http://www.toronto.ca/cycling/bikeweek/index.htm
http://www.roseaweinberg.ca/media.htm
http://www.pridetoronto.com
http://www.luminato.com/english/list.php?eid=20161

April 2007
Green Shift™, working with Center Plate, does behind the scenes greening of the Green Living Show, and the Direct Energy Centre.

Almost all items, that were traditionally disposable challenges with serious environment implications, have experienced a Green Shift™ at at Toronto's Direct Energy Centre. Not just for the Green Living Show but for all events moving forward, Green Shift™ has ensured that everything from biodegradable plates, cups, straws, containers, stir stix and more are in use and being properly disposed of. While we did run into some unexpected challenges with incorrect labelling of recycling bins and unfortunately no compost bins at all when the first show was beginnning, but fortunately that was rectified quickly and now the entire Direct Energy Center has compost bins, well labelled, throughout. And not just biodegradables but as per Green Shift™s mandate, all items have been replaced with the most environmental options on the market, and any areas that are not there yet are on the way. Green Shift™ would like to thank Center Plate, the Catering Company inside of the Direct Energy Center in particular for showing strong commitment to this initiative right from the beginning, and for working with us to make this all a reality.

March 2007
Green Shift™ disputes an environmental claim from a company it has touted as a leader for years.

http://www.thestar.com/printArticle/192990

February 2007
Polystyrene – people are seeing the alternatives and a ban is looming

http://www.nowtoronto.com/issues/2007-02-08/news_feature.php

February 2007
Bogus O Waste Claim by Toronto Convention Center – 'Toronto convention a historic first: 3000 delegates, zero waste'

While we really try to focus on the good and leave the bad to bury themselves, we do get upset by false claims as it makes it much harder to ever achieve real success. In this case, it just seems we cannot help but say that this article holds very little truth. In reality, this event was barely any better than the standard from the last 10 years, and worse yet, there have been so many better that deserve the praise instead. . Ironically, our city mayor, David Miller, is quoted in this article congratulating the Center on their success. We can’t help but wonder – does he realize that those poly lined paper cups that they claimed to be recyclable at the Convention Centre are the very same issue that the government today suggested should be taxed for the non recyclability – what gives I wonder?? David did you even make it to the event? If you want more details, please call us.

November 2006
Green Shift™ introduces a New biodegradable material that cuts landfill load

http://www.cbc.ca/news/background/consumers/green-packaging.html

November 2006
Tragically Hip:

Who hasn't dreamed about going on tour with one's favourite rock'n'roll band? The interviews, the fans, the parties, oh to savour the gritty taste of life on the musical road! Never done it? Well, neither have we, but several of our products have, and are in fact out there right now!

The 'Hip are back on the road for a winter tour and this time we've helped them to Green Shift™ aspects of their bus tour, as well their backstage parties.

July 5, 2006
Biodegradable cups…no longer on the fringes.

The 2006 Fringe Festival was a great success from so many perspectives - not the least of which being that approximately 50,000 "disposable" cups were diverted from landfill through their responsible use of our biodegradable equivalent. McAuslan Beer really took the lead on this one and they deserve to be recognized here. Great theatre, McAuslan beer, and Green Shift™ biodegradables -a great team indeed!

June 23, 2006
Tragically Hip - A Part of the Green Shift™!

Two days of fantastic weather, a most fabulous venue at Old Fort York, and one of Canada's favorite bands with an absolutely outstanding performance - couldn't ask for anything more really but a proud announcement thanking Green Shift™ and the greenshifting they helped make a reality was sure a great addition! For this concert, all beer was served in biodegradable cups, all energy was derived from renewable resources, and there were booths on site promoting important environmental issues.

Green Shift™ founder Jennifer Wright was particularly excited to have received a personal call from lead singer, Gord Downie, as they are one of her favorite bands, and Jennifer spent many years analyzing CD packaging, and appreciating the Hip for being extremely progressive in words and action.

Green Shift™ was also happy for the opportunity to work with Toronto's Amsterdam brewery, who was very supportive and fundamental in bringing it all together.

For this event, 40 000 standard polystyrene cups were diverted from landfill and replaced with cups that are made from 100% renewable resources, 100 % petroleum free, and 100% biodegradable. There is a lot more to be done but this was a great example of some great shifting in the right direction.

For anyone and everyone ready go green, please contact us. Or... to directly sign up for energy from renewable resources, please contact BullFrog at bullfrogpower.com. To learn more about the great WaterKeepers please visit waterkeepers.ca.

June 19, 2006
GreenShifting on Vancouver Island with Phillips Brewery and the Victoria Folk Festival.

GreenShift was happy when Phillips called to greenshift their cups. As the first importer of the biodegradable cups in Canada, and holding values that Phillips aligns with, we were excited to help and also to find an extended affiliate in the Victoria Folk Festival, which kicks off June 30th. They will be one of the first recipients of Phillips biodegradable cups and in addition to supporting a great local microbrewery, the Victoria Folk Festival is showing multiple areas of support for GreenShift and as a result, will be keeping things clean and eco with full composting and recycling facilities and high end environmental products including Canadian-made recycled garbage bags, paper amenities and more. GreenShift is thrilled to be involved with such a great festival, and we look forward to further greening in the years to come.

June 10, 2006
CBC Newsworld highlights GreenShift on the French Channel.

July 27, 2005
GreenShift partners with Institute for the Blind to launch world's first biodegradable coffee cup.

A Toronto-based environmental consultant and supplier of green products has teamed up with a Memphis-based Center for the Blind, to produce the first truly biodegradable hot drinking cup.

Several years ago, Jennifer Wright, president of Toronto’s Green Shift™ approached Clovernook Center for the Blind and Visually Impaired to develop a biodegradable paper cup which could breakdown in landfill yet remain cool to the touch. In striving to source the most environmentally friendly cup possible, the alliance had a few obstacles to overcome.

“Coatings found on most cups are made from petroleum-based products, which don’t breakdown and contain toxic chemicals,” said Wright. “Without a coating, paper cups become soft and unusable after 20 minutes. We had to come up with a coating that would resist heat transferring to the hand, while breaking down safely in the environment. The results have been gratifying and my customers seem extremely happy.”

Coming in 9, 12, and 16-ounce sizes, the cups have already been sold to cafés and restaurants across the GTA and Canada.

Green Shift™ is the exclusive Canadian broker. Samples of the biodegradable hot drinking cup are available to the media.

June 8, 2005
First in Canada ’bio-plastic’ cups: A Green Shift™ for Steam Whistle Brewing

TORONTO - Canadian beer drinkers will soon be drinking their suds out of a cup that is 100% biodegradable, thanks to an initiative from Toronto’s Steam Whistle Brewing and cup supplier, Green Shift™. The new cups are a far cry from the standard in the disposable cup market, which are made from petroleum-based plastics, most commonly polystyrene. According to Jennifer Wright of Green Shift™, an environmental consulting firm and supplier of environmental alternatives, polystyrene is a serious environmental hazard because it does not break down, is very difficult to recycle and is made with benzene (a known carcinogen).

"This bio-plastic contains no petroleum, is made from 100 per cent renewable resources and takes about 48 days to break down in commercial compost," Wright said. "But even if many cups do end up in landfill, they will still break down and not be harming our environment."

The Good Beer Folks at Steam Whistle will be the first in Canada to embrace the sustainable cups on a large scale, an initiative Wright applauds for its support of small business and greater environmental preservation. The cups will be launched this summer onto patios, at outdoor events, and wherever disposable cups are required.

Steam Whistle has a history of ’green thinking’: the Brewery opted out of conventional heating/cooling systems, using instead Enwave’s direct steam and deep water-cooling systems in manufacturing and for the brewery’s climate control; the highly fuel-efficient smart car has been added to their service fleet; and the brewery’s heavy green glass bottle enjoys at least twice the number of re-uses as the industry standard brown bottle. Cam Heaps, President of Steam Whistle, plans to continue to ’Green Shift™’ and says, "This bio-degradable beer cup will have a great environmental benefit as breweries use thousands of cups each year for outdoor events."

Summer 2006
Green Weddings:

Ah, the elation of a late summer wedding. With the tremulous lilt of cicadas in the air, the vivacious blossom of flowering peonies, and the smouldering yet fragile love of two humans manifested in an ancient ceremony of togetherness, what could possibly be better?

Often, the most evident and unfortunate detritus of this otherwise magical day is the astounding amount of generated waste, especially in an outdoor affair. Destined for landfill (the waste that is, not the marriage), "til death do us part" takes on new meaning when much of it will linger for hundreds, if not thousands of years. However, this doesn't have to be the case. Green Shift™, through our Green Supply House, puts together custom packages to make sure that weddings can be harmonious on all levels (although we can't take responsibility for your uncle who may have had one too many…).

April 14, 2005
Local Environmental Company brings Green Solution to Consumer Beverage Market

Torontonians will increasingly find their beverage of choice poured into biodegradable cups, as a growing network of companies are supplying cups and other products made from sugarcane, corn or natural paper fibres with special certified, biodegradable coatings.

Many companies in Toronto, including Merchants of Green Coffee, Dark City and the new Cherry Bomb Café© on Roncesvalles Avenue have already been serving steaming hot coffee from the new cups. Between classes, students and faculty at Upper Canada College and patrons at Fressen and Ra Ra Raw - vegan restaurants on Queen Street and in Kensington Market, are quaffing down drinks out of clear cold cups that will biodegrade within 50 days in commercial compost, a little longer if in landfill.

It’s all part of a 'green shift' engineered by Green Shift™ - a Toronto-based environmental company founded by consultant Jennifer Wright. The cups are just one of a series of products being touted to shift society away from polystyrene and other problematic petroleum derived plastics that Wright calls a "toxic nightmare that should have been banned long ago."

"There are many reasons, including the fact that there is no record in history of the traditional cups ever breaking down in landfill and polystyrene being made with benzene, a known carcinogen," said Wright.

"Not to mention the dependency these traditional products have on the petroleum industry and non-renewable resources."

While Wright says that there is still some green shifting needed in areas involving agricultural feeds, the new cups are a revolutionary product representing a new era in plastics altogether. To top it off, those now supplying the new cups report that some are beating the prices of their toxic cousins.

Biodegradable hot and cold cups are available to media and distributors from Green Shift™.

Phone: (416) 925-9665
Jennifer@GreenShift.ca

Green Shift™ was founded in 2000 as a consulting agency offering advice and referrals. Green Shift™ is a 'Channel Your Profit' Company that works at various levels to help make it easy and cost effective for all business to be green. Located in Toronto, Green Shift™ operates throughout North America.

Spring 2006
Toronto Restaurants, Caterers and Cafes:

Food service waste in Toronto makes up a significant portion of our waste stream. Not only does it occupy an enormous space, but more importantly the materials used in so much of the packaging is toxic.

Many food service agencies in the GTA are working with Green Shift™ to lessen Toronto's contribution to landfill. By to choosing to use our biodegradable plates, cups, and cutlery, by stocking our 100% recycled paper products, they are significantly reducing their own ecological footprint. Please help us to support these green leaders so that the Green Shift™ can spread.

August 2004
"It's Easy Being Green"

Green Shift™ing the Gladstone Hotel Through Products & Services.

May 2003
Green Shift™ Partnered with Holiday Inn

Green Shift™ Partnered Holiday Inn Wins "Green" Award Among 2000 International Hotels.