The Spark
Earth Take 2 was forged from the frustration many of us have experienced while trying to find information or products on the web.  We keep hearing from friends and colleagues about how the new “green” sites are mostly a vast jungle of irrelevant information, with a few bad products, tied up in a net of endless blogs that would make you crazy with frustration within five minutes!

I was looking into wind power generators and was finding some of the same issues in that arena, but the frustration was not as bad as with searches for some general green items.  As in the wind sector, so many great improvements have come to market in the last few years that it is difficult to keep up with the latest products.  We all want to have the most current information on these items, in order to make the best purchasing decision.

I remember 10 years back, when I was in the store fixture manufacturing business and a salesman brought us a can of orange cleaner to clean up contact cement (used to glue plastic laminate to wood.)  We would use a harsh solvent such as lacquer thinner or acetone to do this, so we naturally laughed at him as he led us into the shop to prove his claims about this new product. 

Well, we had two men—each with a board covered with equal amounts of glue—and armed them with the competing solutions.  The man with the solvent squirted the board and pooled up the solvent, splashing all over the floor and began rubbing feverishly.  The other (the salesman) quietly sprayed the orange cleaner on the board and proceeded to strike up a conversation with the group.  I said, “You’re not going to win by talking to us.”  He replied that he would, because the cleaner was doing the work, not him. He continued talking, as the other man squirted the board and floor again.

The salesman said, “Excuse me,” turned around and with one fell swoop cleared 95% of the glue off the board, sprayed it again and wiped the rest right off.  He then took a clean rag and polished it up.  It looked fantastic and it smelled even better…the other guy was about 70% through the cleanup process!

I bought several pallets and had a company meeting to make sure everyone knew this was the direction in which we were going…and so started my “green quest.”  In many instances, the green alternative has become cheaper recently, not to mention having a favorable impact on the environment.

The Fire
Seeing the great products that are out there that aren’t getting exposure, or are getting lost in vast websites of confusion, set me on a mission to create a more efficient, comprehensive site.  My criteria demanded that it had to be clear to navigate and fast to obtain the information the user is seeking.  I also want to bring you competing products that level the playing field and provide a means for you to evaluate various items in order to find the perfect fit for your needs.  We have split the site into natural groupings that will have some of the latest products, information and services related to that sector.  Older information will be available in the archives, which you can search from the top of every page.  We will not keep an endless supply of old information that smothers your browsing experience.

As we move forward, we will be doing product reviews and comparisons and bringing you the best of the best.  If you want to suggest a product or give your review of a product, you can do so here. Comments

I welcome you to the site and hope you choose to “Live Life Better.”

Regards,

John Van Schaik

Editor-in-Chief, Earth Take 2