Aaron Perry

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  • Episode 83 – Ryan Lewis, CEO, EarthHero – Shop Like You Give a SH*T!
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Stewardship & Sustainability Series
Episode 83 - Ryan Lewis, CEO, EarthHero - Shop Like You Give a SH*T!
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[Shop Like You Give a Sh*t!!!] Ryan Lewis, CEO of EarthHero, discusses the many opportunities we have in our day to day lives to purchase products better for us and better for the Earth. With multiple categories, including: zero waste, sustainable essentials, personal care, pet supplies, children’s toys, baby & toddler, new mom, apparel, fashion, jewelry, cosmetics, home accessories, and even electronics, EarthHero is a one-stop-shop with over 7,500 sustainable, fair trade, organic, and regenerative products! (Use the code: YONEARTH for a full 10% discount on your purchase, and partial proceeds are donated to support Y on Earth’s work!). EarthHero is a certified B-Corporation, a member of 1% for the Planet, and part of the Carbon Free ecosystem. Get some products today, boost your social/sustainable “cred”, and be a part of the “silent activism” and “show and tell” movements.

Ryan Lewis is a thought-leader and innovator in the conscious commerce movement. As founder & CEO of the sustainable e-commerce platform EarthHero, Ryan is committed to creating a more harmonious planet that works for all, by adding awareness to our everyday purchasing decisions. He shares a contagious vision of optimism, fun, inclusion, authenticity, and a helpful, down-to-earth spirit in his work and leadership.

EarthHero is a curated online marketplace that uses its strict 5-stage sourcing methodology to ensure only the most sustainable products are selected. This includes vetting the materials and ingredients of each product, how the labor component of each brand is treated, product and shipping packaging, all philanthropic activities, and of course how each product helps people live a more sustainable lifestyle.

Ryan combines his two decades of e-commerce experience with his passion for sustainability to deliver awareness, education, and conscious purchasing solutions to consumers, that benefit the planet and society as a whole, with a big goal: “To make sustainable shopping so easy, everyone does it!”

RESOURCES:WEBSITE: www.earthhero.comFACEBOOK: www.facebook.com/shopearthheroINSTAGRAM: www.instagram.com/shopearthhero/10% DISCOUNT CODE: YONEARTH

Transcript

(Automatically generated transcript for search engine optimization and reference purposes – grammatical and spelling errors may exist.)

Welcome to the Y Honors Community Podcast. I’m your host, Aaron Perry. And today, we’re

visiting with Ryan Lewis, the founder and CEO of Earth Hero. Hey, Ryan. How you doing?

Great. How you doing? I’m doing great. No complaints. Love it.

Right. Yeah. Excellent. Really good to have this opportunity to visit with you and to share

with our audience what you’re up to here at Earth Hero. You’ve got a lot of good things cooking.

Yeah. Well, I love sharing, so thanks for coming by.

Pleasure. And for those of you who are checking out the video, you can see that between Ryan and me

here are several of their sustainability and health wellness products. And we’ll give a little

tour of that in a bit. But let me tell you first that Ryan Lewis is a thought leader and innovator

in the conscious commerce movement. As founder and CEO of the Sustainable Equal Commerce

Platform Earth Hero, Ryan is committed to creating a more harmonious planet that works for all

by adding awareness to our everyday purchasing decisions. Earth Hero is a curated online marketplace

that uses its strict five-stage sourcing methodology to ensure only the most sustainable products

are selected. This includes vetting the materials and ingredients of each product,

how the labor component of each brand is treated, product and shipping packaging,

all philanthropic activities, and of course, how each product helps people live a more sustainable

lifestyle. Ryan combines his two decades of e-commerce experience with his passion for sustainability

to deliver awareness, education and conscious purchasing solutions to consumers that benefit the

planet and society as a whole. So this is right up our alley at the YonEarth community. And I’m

really excited that we’ll be able to share a bit about the affiliate relationship we’ve

established with the YonEarth community and folks. You can get special discounts using the

code YonEarth when you purchase products at Earth Hero. Just to get that right out of the way,

we’ll mention it more than once, but earthhero.com is where you go to find all of this amazing

stuff for your day-to-day sustainability needs. So let me just dive right in here, Ryan, and ask you,

you know, here we are in the headquarters of the office and things have been going gangbusters,

I understand, since COVID hit. So I want to ask a two-part question. Number one is,

what prompted you to create Earth Hero? And number two is, now that it’s September 2020 at the time

of this recording, what are your thoughts about how e-commerce and sales patterns have changed

this year in particular given the context of a global pandemic? Yeah. Well, I started Earth Hero.

I mean, the short answer is because I wanted to place like this for myself and my family to shop.

And, you know, after doing some research about, you know, where to find sustainable products,

you know, holistically sustainable, not just solving, you know, one particular, you know,

part of the environment, you know, environmental sustainability. But like you said, you know,

we’re looking at a wide variety, you know, a big umbrella about in terms of what sustainability

means. And there was amazing products out there, but it was really confusing in terms of where to

find them, who to trust, what really matters, you know, is too expensive. All this stuff led to sort

of, I think, indecision for a lot of people because it’s just too much work in our culture these days.

Everyone’s living a very busy life. And I’ve gotten used to really convenient shopping. So

the concept of sort of bringing all these products together under one platform seemed like an

interesting experiment. And actually, in terms of the business model itself, it was very similar

to what I had done in my previous company. So, you know, a lot of ways that gave me some

visibility and confidence around a lot of that aspect of the business. And just, you know, put a

lot of the effort into, is there enough products out there, you know, and this was back in 2015,

you know, as I was like, I getting on that concept, is there enough products out there to be a go-to

platform and think that it was going to work if we had, you know, a lot of what you’re looking for

or some what you’re looking for, but really, you know, we’re going to go to shop. And that’s,

and we can talk more about that, but that’s sort of, you know, we’re just getting started relative

to what the vision ends for Ethereum. But, you know, we’re, you know, in our fourth year now, and

it’s really just a matter of sourcing and bringing in enough products for people to, you know,

comfortably and conveniently shop for what they need and find it. You know, in terms of how e-commerce

has changed, you know, it’s a great question. I think there was a surge in e-commerce, you know,

a decade or more ago, and there’s, it sort of had become normalized. It was growing, you know,

a little bit, but the massive surge in the e-commerce certainly has, you know,

slowed since its initial surge. And I mean, clearly, once COVID hit and every, you know, a lot

of retailers, Brick and Mort had to, you know, shut down. People needed to buy stuff still. So,

we certainly felt that, you know, there’s a big question is to once this passes, will people

revert that to the way they, you know, normally pre-COVID were shopping or is this sort of the new

normal? You know, and I think it’s feeling so bad because, you know, we’re, you know, I would

consider us a local business even though we’re e-commerce, you know, we’re part of the Boulder

community and we certainly love to find local suppliers and, you know, really promote,

and I personally, you know, promote that, you know, shop local support your local community.

e-commerce can be a little bit of a threat to that. So, I don’t, you know,

there’s a mixed feelings about, you know, working in commerce model, it certainly

is to be able to support people in this time and, you know, reliably have the products they

need and shift on the same day, you know, so they, you know, it’s like a little piece of comfort

and certainty and it’s crazy on certain time. But on the other hand, you know, I want to see

my brothers and sisters, you know, that have local brick and more businesses thrive once again as

well. So, you know, we’re always looking for ways to, you know, help support some of that movement as

well. Yeah, it’s so interesting thinking about the sustainability of local regional national and

even international or global supply chains and footprints and business models. And one of the

things I’m really excited about that you guys are doing is digging deep into the social and

environmental impacts. And of course, Earth Hero is be certified. You guys are a part of the

1% for the planet network. And these are some of the behaviors and, you know, credentials,

really that can be shared with consumers to provide them with greater confidence that the impacts

that are resulting from shopping at Earth Hero are positive in a number of different ways and

a number of different communities and sectors. And yeah, it’s wild, right? Because virtually every

local business these days has some sort of digital footprint. And many of the local retailers

brick and mortar retailers are also selling products online, right? I’m thinking of a friend’s

apothecary alpine botanicals up in Netherlands. And I always love going in there and I’m happy to

know they’re selling some of their products to folks online right now. So yeah, it’s my perspective

is that, you know, after having been in the local movement for 10 or more years, that there’s a

whole lot of good we can be doing with these sort of non-local or hybridized business models.

But fundamentally paying attention to the impacts is so important. Yeah. Yeah, I love helping,

you know, anyone that, you know, tracks me down in terms of, you know, how can I get online?

You know, how can I take my business and, you know, be accessible online? And it’s so much easier

than it used to be. I mean, it really is possible to do a quick pivot, you know, with, you know,

some of the platforms out there and, and, and I love to see that, that, that sort of, you know,

open mindedness to be able to pivot, you know, in this environment. So I do see a lot of that,

and I think it’s great. And just going back to, you know, be core up in 1%. You know, when we,

when I started the business, it was, there was really three things that,

three nonprofit partners that came to mind that would be sort of the backbone to, like you say,

communicate to customers. This is the kind of business we are, but also inspire us to do even more

than we could come up with on our own and hold us accountable. I mean, there’s just a reality that,

as you could go and get busy and things start humming, like, are we donating enough this year?

Well, now we contractually, you know, we have to give our money away as we grow. I mean, that’s,

that’s the whole beauty of 1% is, as we scale and grow, we do more good. It’s baked into the model,

it’s baked into the growth. You know, be core, I think that’s sort of becoming, maybe has already

become sort of the stamp of approval for people that want to live these kind of, you know, this kind of

lifestyle, you know, being, you know, conscious consumer or, you know, someone that, you know,

shops with a client in mind, you know, cares about this. If they see that, that decorbed logo,

and if you don’t know about it yet, you’re certainly well, they’re, they’re growing quickly,

but that’s sort of like, from an organizational standpoint, makes us do all the, you know,

the right things. And again, like, just taking the assessment in that, it’s like, wow, I didn’t even,

like, I thought about this, this, this, and that, but this whole section, like, I haven’t even thought

about it yet, right? You know, um, very comprehensive test. And then the third one is, um, where,

we partnered with carbon fund.org, and they allow us to be completely carbon neutral. So all of our

inbound shipments from vendors and all of our outbound shipments and customers are completely offset,

you know, through purchasing carbon credits and replanting, you know, trees and, um, you know,

they have a lot of tactics to do that, but, uh, we report on our operations. They tell us, you know,

how that works. And, uh, until drones are, you know, widely available, we still have to ship stuff,

and, you know, through, um, through the mail and through EPS and all that. So, I think between those

three, um, and we, we, we partner with many more, but that, that’s sort of like, an operational

standpoint. Those are kind of, um, the trifecta of nonprofits that we partner with, uh, um,

you know, it’d be the best stewards we can. Yeah, that’s, that’s really wonderful to hear. And,

you know, I’m, I’m a big fan of the, uh, the B-Corp certification. And I took a business through

that process about 10 years ago, I want to say, in, in your right, it is a robust, uh, and rigorous,

model. And to come out the other side with ranking that allows one to claim the certification for

the company, uh, mean something. It’s, it’s substantial. And, uh, they’re not only looking at supply

chain impacts and sourcing. They’re also looking at governance and how employees and team members

are, uh, treated and all, you know, soup to nuts, really, the entire ecosystem that you’re, uh,

creating and growing and stewarding right as an executive leader. Yeah. And, uh, yeah, it’s

cool to hear that you guys made that choice. Yeah. Well, it was making a choice. And then, like

you said, there was doing the work. Yeah. Right. It took us, uh, it personally took me, I don’t

mean, if I had to count the hours, it would be a lot, you know, yeah, 30 anyways. What I recall.

Yeah. It was, it was intense enough. You know, you’re just starting out. It’s hard to, you know,

focus, uh, so hard on something like that when you’re like, wow, we really need customers because,

you know, we got to keep going here. Yeah. Uh, you know, we, you know, and this, by the way,

it was a, uh, you know, sort of, we’re not venture backed or, you know, this, this was a good

strapped, you know, labor of love. And, you know, so in the, in the very beginning, um, you know,

that was just a full-on fresh, you know, it was kind of the thing off the ground. And, yeah.

And I, you know, I just called it an experiment. I don’t know. This is going to, I don’t know where

this is going to go. You know, it’s just an idea. Yeah. Well, I love in particular interviewing

entrepreneurs. And, you know, we, we interview all kinds of different folks, author, scientist,

youth activist, all sorts of folks, indigenous leaders. And, uh, entrepreneurs in particular have a,

a special, I would say, uh, skill set and perspective might even say it’s a bit of a disease

in a way. But, uh, what, you know, it’s a bit masochistic sometimes, but, or sadistic. I always get

those two confused, but, uh, I’m curious, uh, just getting a glimpse behind the scenes from the

perspective of entrepreneurship. How long did it take from, you know, your first sale to be

being able to take a little bit of a breath. And, and you’re not there yet. Yeah. I have, kid. I

will say, you know, I’m, you know, we’re, I’m pretty transparent guy. You know, I always have been,

you know, it took us, you know, we’re just starting our fourth year. You know, we’re sort of

just getting to the point where we’re stabilizing, you know, and, um, it’s always been a fine line

because we could have slowed the investments. You know, we’ve got 14 people on the team, you know,

we started the year with a, um, you know, we’re estimating, we might hit 30 by the end of next

year. So we’re sort of at this inflection point. So the question becomes, you know, what’s more

important, you know, profitability or investing into the business. So we can continue to feel broke

and support and execute in a way that, you know, customers love. You know, we want to be world class

and everything we touch. And that, that’s, there’s, there’s a, there’s a give and take there, you know.

So, um, that being said, you know, we’re not in a position to not, quote unquote, care about

profits, you know, and just, just, I mean, you know, won’t put anyone, uh, but there’s certainly

other entrepreneurs or businesses that, um, you know, have that, that luxury. So, you know, for

me personally, and I do have a business partner now that I’ve worked with at my last company that’s

coming, um, and he’s been fantastic. You know, he’s, he’s more of a not only operation side and

just really helping us scale up and keep things together in that area. But, uh, it’s, it’s,

it’s a threading of the needle, you know, at the moment is, is going well, but I mean, it’s just,

it’s still, you know, we’re just, I still think of us as a startup, right? I still feel like,

you know, we’re, we’re going through the startup thrash. Yeah.

Up to your point, it’s not quite as, or to your question, it’s not, it’s a different energy

than it was like in year one, you know, because it’s, it’s nice to have the validation from

customers, that, you know, not only what it wants, but they come back in order to get it.

I think that’s a beautiful thing. And, uh, so yeah, the energy now is like, how do we,

where do we go for, how do we go from here, where do we go from here, what do we want to do,

what kind of products do we want to bring in, what do people need to hear from us?

You know, it’s, it’s, um, it’s, it’s a little more fluid than it was, you know, in the beginning.

Yeah, imagine it is. So I’m, uh, I’m so curious. We’ve got a number of your products here to share

with folks. And, um, I’m wondering, uh, what are the categories broadly speaking and how many

skews do you guys have roughly? I mean, you don’t have to give a precise answer, but just ballpark,

and skews for those of you who don’t know our, the individual, uh, discrete products, right?

Yeah. Um, we launched in August of 2017 with just a couple hundred products. And most of those

products at the time were in, we call it zero waste, um, sustainable essentials. Uh, there’s,

you know, some other terms out there, but basically these are products that, um, allow you to

do the things you need to do in life without creating waste, and are very minimal waste.

Another way to think of it is, you know, anything you would use one time throw away, um,

we solved reusable turns. So, you know, straws, water bottles, food storage, um, plastic bags,

you know, laundry detergent, all that stuff, the byproducts can be waste. You know, even if you

can recycle it, we don’t, like, even better is, you know, it’s, it’s composable or it’s just very

little, you know, material to the packaging, um, you know, really getting surgical with the footprint

of what that product is, how it’s designed, and it’s end of life. So, we got our start there, but,

um, kind of quickly started expanding into our, our second biggest category is personal care.

So, really anything that you would find in your bathroom, you know, shampoo, conditioner, soap,

solutions, um, shading, creams, and blades, and, uh, yeah, all that stuff, um, again, it’s

lading in plastic traditionally. Right. So, it’s created this awesome opportunity, uh, for

other entrepreneurs who create products, uh, that sort of, you know, alleviate it, and, uh,

like the classic toothpaste tube, right? Like, what do you do about that? Well, we have a company

that, uh, called Davids. It’s not here, but it came, you know, they figured out it’s a, it’s a,

it’s an L2, same form factor, but at the end of life, you put it in your curbside recycle.

Make what? It makes sense, right? Yeah. Um, we also have, uh, you know, a

toothpaste that comes in these like glass jars that, you know, you know, you don’t, again,

it takes care of the tube. So, when you’re done, it’s glass, you can recycle it. Uh, so,

there’s a lot of that stuff going on in personal care, just sort of re-engineering

form factors and, um, in, in packaging. Yeah. So, uh, in, in, in the book, WhYonEarth, uh, that I

wrote and published back in 2017, there’s a chapter called Make that’s focused on, uh,

manufactured, uh, goods and many of the opportunities that are emerging and accelerating right now

around, um, alternative materials and so on. And one of the things I’ve always, uh, been very excited

about at least going back many years now is, um, fungus and mycelial-based packaging materials

and even things like, uh, leather alternatives that are coming out of that world. And I’m just

curious, I got to ask if, are you seeing any of that yet that’s fitting with your model?

In like, what would be an example of that? So, there, there are some, uh, packaging materials

that are made out of mycelia, um, that are totally compostable as a result. So, so,

so for pack, I’ve seen that, I don’t think that, that technology that, that, um,

you know, I’ve seen a lot, there, you know, there’s nuts, there’s mushrooms, there’s, you know,

all this, like, natural material, you know, banana leaves, um, yeah. I feel like it hasn’t really

bubbled up to, you know, reach mass market production. Yeah. But that’s coming. Yeah. You know,

there’s a lot of interest in that. And, you know, it’s a total game-changer. And if you can,

if you can truly come up with a plastic alternative, right, that’s a banana leaf, or, you know,

come up with your mushroom, like, uh, all right. So, you notice, like, it’s like, you can’t

Kia started experimenting with, like, molding certain products into this mushroom bed. So,

it protects the products for shipping. Right. But then when you, you know, your seed is zero waste,

you’re literally just compost everything that you’re, you know, is in the furniture. So,

very cool stuff. Um, I think there’s a lot of movement. But, you know, and if, if, if anyone

listening has, you know, can, says I’m wrong, and there’s just, yeah, you call these guys, like,

please let me know, because I’m super interested in all that stuff. Yeah, I get so excited,

thinking that the, uh, day is not too far off at this point where, um, we can still enjoy a lot of

the conveniences and, you know, sort of lifestyle enhancements of various products, and most of what

we’re buying and consuming ends up in our compost pile. And meanwhile, most people in the culture

are composting, right, that that’s another trend that, uh, you know, a few generations back was

common, and we sort of dropped the ball, uh, here in the 20th or really 21st centuries. Yeah,

probably. The composting is most people, like the vast majority of people don’t have access

unless you, you know, you’re, you’re getting into them backyard composting, right? But if you live

on the 57th floor of an apartment complex, so, you know, there’s ways to do it, but you

get back to the convenience factor, like, you know, uh, you know, I guess my perspective on all of this is

we want to make that sustainable swap or that movement, you know, that journey to the next level

no work. Yeah. You know, in some cases, it’s actually safe, you know, making that swap save you

money and time, but I mean, it becomes even, you know, you’re, you’re giving yourself a convenience,

you know, like for, I just, you know, these guys, this is relatively a bit of a brand true earth,

these are dry, these are, um, this is a laundry detergent, just kind of the sheets, you know,

would you want to pick it up with the store or the big jugs of plastic, you know, and it’s more,

you know, it’s more expensive, it takes a lot of room, it’s heavier, it creates waste,

you know, this just comes in a little tiny cardboard sleeve that you can recycle. It’s amazing.

And it works and there’s, you know, there’s a lot of stuff like that, that, you know, people think

it’s more expensive and more, and more inconvenient. Right. It’s not. That used to maybe be

true, but there’s competition now and an innovation that’s trying to like figure out how to really

reach the mass market, and I think to come up with some cool stuff. That’s really exciting. Well,

hey, would you show us a few of the products you got here? Yeah. It’s really fun to check this out.

And this is again, such a small assortment, but, um, and just to kind of briefly move through

categories, you know, pet supplies, children’s toys, baby clothes and supplies. We have, you know,

from diapers, new mom stuff, you know, for after these born, we’ve got, you know, a peril,

even some fashion, jewelry, a lot of, a lot of home accessories and stuff like your kitchen.

We talked about personal care and zero waste. So the idea, again, being that we’ve got about

7,000, 7,500 individual skews right now. Okay, great. But from a, in terms of where we’re going,

you know, that’s just a fraction of where we’re going. It’s not that we want to bring stuff just

because, you know, this is a perfect example. Um, this is a, you know, maybe you remember this

a bath mat or, uh, your baby to put the bath up, so baby doesn’t fly around. Um, my kids are in high

school now, so I do remember having one of these, you know, and the traditional ones are like loaded with

just crap, you know, chemicals and toxins and all that. It’s just natural over a mat. Um, you know,

it’s not a very sexy product, but so we’re trying to find those, just every day sort of practical

needs as well. Um, this is, it’s funny because I’m a child of the 80s and I never thought Fanny

packs would come back. They’re back. I’m not ready to wear them yet, but apparently everyone

else is, uh, this is one of our more trending products, photopoxy, maybe recognize the brand, um,

create outdoor brand. These are just remnants, um, you know, reuse material. They just sewn together.

Uh, so it’s, you know, create, they actually diverts waste. Right. Uh, that’s cool. You know,

we didn’t talk about cosmetics, but that’s another area that, um, you know, we’re getting more into,

this is a brand’s elite, uh, and they, all their packaging comes in glass and bamboo,

where, again, this industry is sort of plastic-related, um, and their ingredients and their product

just great as well. Um, it’s kind of staying in the personal care theme shampoo and conditions,

one of those, uh, products that typically comes in a big plastic jug and, you know, that, how that

goes, um, plain products came up with a concept. This is, um, a fully recyclable, uh, can. And, uh,

it comes with, you can order a pump the first time and then, um, we send you a return label. When

you’re done with it, they, you ship it back to them, pre-paid, they refill it. Right. And, you know,

clean it, refill it. So it’s not even like, you know, you can recycle it, but they,

they’ll actually pay for you to use it. That’s kind of nuts. So very,

well, very cool thing. What was that, Brad? Out plain products. PLA. PLA, I, and, okay, okay, cool.

Products. Um, food hoggers are an interesting one. They, uh, so maybe, maybe the other,

maybe you’ve, uh, experienced the hand of the Happy Navicado. That’s sure.

So these will just don’t go on your avocado. Yeah. And keep it green for, you know,

an extra one to three A’s to hang on where you live. Yeah. Uh, and maybe longer. So,

they also make lots of circular ones for, you know, cucumbers. And, and it will appear,

you know, happy fruits and vegetables fresh longer. Yeah. Oh, sorry.

Cut down on food waste. Exactly. Food waste, by the way, just quick, uh, side stat for folks.

If food waste were a country in terms of greenhouse gas footprint, it would be the third, uh,

most emitting country. So food waste accounts for, uh, more greenhouse gas emissions,

than any other country out there other than the United States and China. Right. So it’s,

it’s significant. Yeah. And especially in this country. Right. Right. Um, so, yeah, that’s,

so we’re a big proponent of that. And, you know, these are one solution. The, uh,

the avocado huggers and food hudders. But we also sell, um, veggie bag. I’ll have that here,

but it’s a, it’s a, it’s a bag that you can, uh, veggies it and it’s just the, uh, the,

the properties of the bag help keep the produce fresh for longer. Most, uh, kind of cool concepts.

Great. Um, this is a dog least made from an old climber. Right. Pretty cool. Uh, yeah, bamboo

toothbrushes. I mean, this is good. Like we sell, you know, this is just why you use a plastic

toothbrush? Right. When bamboo toothbrushes do just as much good. And they don’t cost anymore.

You know, just a, you know, easy swap, um, you sell dishwasher and laundry pods, you know,

the big brands make this, but the ingredients, um, and the packaging, as you can tell, just cardboard

box and the ingredients are nice and clean and it does a great job. Hand sanitizer. Uh-huh,

popular item right now, huh? Actually, we did, we did sell one skew of hand sanitizer, uh,

that I barely knew about, um, until COVID hit. And we obviously slowed out about, you know,

15 seconds. Yeah, forever. It was, uh, but it’s cool because, um, this is an example.

So solar dynamics, uh, made this before COVID, they were, we, the only thing that we bought from

them were dead sheets and towels. And they said, hey, if we make hand sanitizers or in glass,

and like really high quality product, would you guys buy it? And I said, that sounds great. We’ll take

it. So the manufacturer lists, um, just right, you know, innovative, uh, and it’s, you’re going

to have to try this. It’s the best hand sanitizer on the market, I’m telling you. It’s okay. It’s

almost fun to put on. Cool. Shampoo bars, conditioner bars. Um, this stuff’s amazing. I personally

used this guy and it’s, uh, take it out here. Um, it’s, you know, it’s just a piece of cardboard

in terms of the, the product and, or the product packaging. And the bar itself lasted me

six months. Now, I have short hair. I’m just glad I still have hair. But I’m not haircut since February.

So, it grows. And you look at it so good. I had long hair back to my 20s, man. And I tell you what,

it’s kind of fun not cutting it for a little while. Yeah. So, I mean, you’ve got to be better

than I do. Again, a little piece of paper and a hot brush and plastic. And there you go. Just a little.

So, what do you rub it on your head or on your hand? You can do it on your head. I mean,

for me, I would just do this. I mean, swipes and you’re good. And it’s, it’s heads up just like every

shampoo. It’s just a great product. Um, as far as face mask. Yeah. Obviously a hot topic right now.

Lots of them. This is called epoxy, you know, accordion style. You know, made, um,

made, made with, um, recycled material. And with a good message. This is, do you feel it? Yeah,

I like that. Um, we got this, these organic hot ones, you know, um, more than your loop style,

the seam in the middle. Kind of keep it off your face. We’ve got more organic hot. And these guys

are super accessible. Like, we sell these for $4.95. Right. And they’re, they’re a high quality mask.

It’s great. A little insert if you want to put a filter in there. Got little kids masks.

Pink and blue, you know, it doesn’t find some other colors. This is a hemp mask.

Again, with a place to put, you know, a filter if you want. And it’s got the more

tie-around style. Wow. Can you ever get a black mask? Um, and, you know, we also have the

gators that you can pull up from function that are made from recycled water bottles.

So, you know, try to, just, you know, we got big gallon hand sanitizer too. We’re just trying

to, again, just provide access for people that need this stuff without sacrificing, you know,

clean ingredients and materials. Right. Just going to remind our audience too that, uh,

you can go to earthhero.com and try out these products and use the code YOnEarth

to get a discount on that 10% discount on that order. And, uh, yeah, you’ve got so many fun

products here. I mean, it’s, I’m imagining what your home must look like. It would be, uh,

funded two or three of your kitchen and stuff. Yeah, you know, you know, well, you know, these are,

I’m wearing, uh, salua shoes. We sell these as well. Um, and just, I don’t know if this is in the

frame, but like these, these are, these are lifted up higher. Yeah, these are made out of recycled

water bottles, um, on the outer, you know, we’re kind of on shoelaces. It’s got a cork, yeah,

insole. And then the highest percentage of recycled, um, foam that they can manage and so how

to get quality shoes. It’s a good looking shoe, too. Yeah, thank you. I love their style and

kicks, right? Yeah, exactly. Uh, yeah. And, you know, I could spend all day, but, you know,

music’s not only talking about, but, um, how it’s hardly, you know, these a lot of recycled,

electronics and you can do. And, uh, cool. It’s just, again, for a product like that, it’s,

so those are headphones we’re looking at right there. Yeah. It may not be all that visible,

but I’ll, I’ll try to show it to the camera. Um, pretty cool, huh? Yeah, and there’s, you know,

we get ear buds. They make, uh, you can probably hear, but we also have, uh,

composable foam cases, huh? On the phone on me, but it’s off from Pila case. Uh, and even we’re

selling like iPhone cords and stuff made from recycled materials. Everything, you know, just

really cool. That’s from nimble. So, yeah, it’s like a whole electronics category. Really,

you know, you know, it’s, uh, you know, a lot of laptop cases and it’s, it’s a hard category,

because there’s a lot of, you know, bad stuff. Yeah, typically isn’t in that product, but

we are, you know, we should have seen more come online to give an edge of that, for sure.

Yeah, I mean, this is kind of a specialty kind of thing, but,

you know, in terms of making your own cleaners, yeah, this is pretty cool. So, it’s got, um,

tile wood, bathroom, glass, kitchen cleaner, and then you fill up each of the ingredients to

where it tells you to. So, it takes the guesswork out of measuring and you just basically follow the

direction. Well, these are right there. Get like four or five of these bottles. Oh, cool. And then

you can make your own cleaners flat. That is really cool. Oh my gosh. So a lot of innovation,

stature bag, um, these guys really crushed it. They make all sorts of sizes and colors for food

storage. It’s a, it’s a block kind of experience, without using the, you know, the brand,

that’s kind of what it is. Yeah. Um, the difference is you can boil, bake, dishwasher, microwave, freeze,

this is like utilitarian. You can go, oh my gosh, this thing would, you know, it’s, it’s 100%

in a food grade silicone. It’ll last forever. And it just takes a lot of that unnecessary leftover

packaging, you know, or if you want to measure any chicken, fake barbecue it, it sort of moves

that like one time you sit block. Yeah, that’s excellent. I’m even thinking for some of the hikers

and backpackers out there that would be a pretty cool way to carry some food. So, man, yeah, we’re

always looking for like life. That’s exactly, I just said that like, like, like, like real lifestyle

solutions. Yeah. Like, I’m going camping. If I, what, what waste would be naturally created,

how can we go find products that salt that? Right. So, it’s kind of the assure, that’s what

we’re really cool on. Yeah. And, you know, debris, diverse, kill, I mean, so we do sell one time

use divers that are compostable. Uh-huh. It gets a little tricky with, you know, human waste and all

that. But, um, but even inputs to the diapers are dramatically healthier than your typical big

brand diaper. And then those for the, and then there’s the brave, um, these have gotten the whole

concept of reusable diapers, you know, has gotten, I think it’s come pretty far along. Absolutely.

But, you know, we, they, we sell, you know, these the inners and then they make these really cute,

like, you know, stylized outers, you know, some fun with it. Yeah. My kids had that kind of thing

back in the day when they were little so much fun. Yeah. You know, you got to, you got to start

having fun with having their young. Yeah. Absolutely. And this is our number one seller. I’m so excited

about this. The vampire utensil set. Yeah. You know, I think it’s a trigger for people because you

get those, you know, people read now and you get the one-time news class safe all the time, right?

And it’s just great to try. So keep this in your car at your office, um, you know, in purse,

and it’s got, you know, four-night spoons, some chopsticks. I love it. The chopsticks in there.

It’s part of, you know, lovely every day. I know this is a her helped to popularize these and get the word out.

So you guys already did know what to tell them about you guys and what you’re doing here.

Be great. And you know, we help people co-brand all the time as well.

Cool. Yeah.

Oh, that’d be fun. We can do a little like promotional thing here.

So I don’t know if it’s that interesting.

Yeah. And super affordable.

Huh.

Oh, by the way, tell us about this.

Because when I first walked in the office, this caught my eyes.

Like, oh, we got a film right here.

Yeah, it’s funny. That line got spued out.

We did this like animation.

We’re trying to come up with like a really fun way to describe what Earth here is.

Yeah.

For like Facebook and Instagram.

And it needed like a closing line.

You know?

And we were just coming up.

It was just like terrible ideas last of the other, right?

And we just splurred it out.

Just shot like a give a shit.

No.

And stuff.

So is that your official tagline?

Yeah.

You know, it’s funny.

I’m back of this shirt.

It’s sustainability made simple.

Yeah.

We like to play with choices, make changes.

But shot like a give a shit is sort of trending.

You know?

We’re seeing, you know, how much it catches on.

You know, we have a more conservative, you know, older crowd as well that want to offend

by anything.

Yeah.

I know.

I think it’s going to be a bit hilarious.

It reminds me of, we might play with this actually when we announced this podcast episode.

We might weave that into some of the materials.

But when I was writing whYonEarth, there was a chapter.

There is a chapter on waste, human waste, the notion of waste, composing all this.

And initially I was calling that chapter shit.

And one of my dear friends and mentors who’s older came along and saw that and he said,

I don’t like it.

And I thought to myself, yeah, there’s probably a lot of folks who wouldn’t respond so favorably

to that.

So I ended up changing it.

But what’s kind of fun these days with digital marketing at least is we can sort of segment

right and speak in different vernacular to different audiences.

But I particularly do like that expression.

I think it’s great.

Yeah.

Well, thank you.

Yeah, so far so good.

We’ve had a couple of customers give us some other feedback, but you know, and you know

this, if you try to be everything to everyone, it can be, that doesn’t work out so well either

or so.

I think this movement needs a little bit of fun.

Sure.

I think there’s been a lot of doom and gloom, kind of promotion historically.

So I mean, that’s another thing that we try to do is provide light, you know, fun, inclusion,

optimism, kind of create a positive energy around what’s really a really challenging situation.

I like it.

That’s really important.

Let me just take a minute to give a set of shout outs to some of our sponsors and supporters.

And I want to remind our audience.

This is the YonEarth Community podcast.

I’m Aaron Perry, your host.

And today we’re visiting with Ryan Lewis, the founder and CEO of EarthHero.

And you can go to earthhero.com to get these products and become one of the returning customers

to EarthHero and help these guys with their great mission and to get products for your lifestyle.

As well, you can find EarthHero on Facebook as well at shop EarthHero and shop EarthHero

is also their Instagram.

We’ll put that in the show notes as well, but just so you guys can plug in with some social media.

And our sponsors who are making this podcast series possible in this episode possible include

EarthCost Productions, the Lidge Family Foundation, Alpine Botanicals, Purium, EarthHero,

Vera Herbles, Growing Spaces, Soil Works, Earthwater Press, 1% for the planet,

Dr. Bronners and Waylay Waters.

And of course a big shout out to all of y’all who have joined our monthly giving program.

And you can join the monthly giving program at any level at YHDR.org and at certain levels

you’ll get shipments sent to you of the Waylay Waters CBD Hemp infused aroma therapy,

soaking salts for your own self-care as a thank you.

So a huge thanks and shout out to all of the organizations and people making this possible.

And you know a big part of the fun we get to have with YHDR is connecting with organizations

like you guys with all the good you’re doing, helping to amplify that a bit out there.

And it’s a great joy to just see all that you got going on here.

And I love the clothing and hats up here are hopefully in frame as well.

And the notion of having some fun too, right?

It’s like we can create a joy-filled sustainable regenerative stewardship oriented culture

to help heal so many of the challenges that we’re facing.

It’s not to say it’s not hard work and it’s not to say it’s not going to take some time.

But it seems also that striking those tones of hope and optimism actually help lead us in the direction we want to go.

And that for me as a parent, as a writer and as an activist with the YHDR community

that seems to be one of the most important things we can choose as leaders in our varying capacities.

Yeah well you know first of all thank you for you know everything you’re doing.

Of course it’s you know it’s it’s people like yourselves you know doing the work that getting these messages out.

But you know it’s not only appreciated but it’s really needed to break through the noise.

That you know and get people access to you know all these brands and concepts that you’re talking about.

So thank you and yeah I think you know one of the I think one of the challenges with the movement you know

historically for me is that you know there’s a lot of anger and for the right reasons.

It’s so well-intended but it’s hard to lead though.

It’s hard to bring people into the movement you know I think initially when you know a lot of these problems are being discovered.

You know I think there was sort of that you know we’ve got to get this urgent message out you know it all costs.

But I think at this point you know we’re in 2020 people know those problems.

I don’t think that that’s not the issue anymore.

And people are concerned you know politics aside I think most people at this point understand that we need to make some changes.

So the question you know I start asking myself is like what’s the like what do people need to hear and how do they need to hear at this point.

And yeah I think I think that it is one of the things that the movement needs is just because it’s serious work doesn’t need to need.

Does it mean that we need to be very you know straight and serious and angry.

We can laugh and smile while we solve the problems too.

Yeah absolutely.

You know and that’s our goal is to help others do that as well.

Yeah that’s so important.

Often tell folks you know we’re collaborating in terms and so on partners.

Hey if we’re not having fun it’s quite possible we’re not doing it right.

And you know the joy thing the more I’ve been at this kind of work the more deeply I believe that focusing on joy on love and those kinds of energies and emotions is actually really important.

And you know in the business world that’s been sort of anathema with some exceptions here in there like Yvonne Chinard from Patagonia for example a great leader.

But you know by and large that’s kind of oh a weakness or you know pathology even it might be regarded but as our culture is evolving and as our economy is evolving.

And as we as consumers are becoming much more informed about our impacts in our whole world in our communities in our own families in our own lives and bodies.

It actually seems that those fundamentals of joy and love and service and stewardship are essential.

And I love that you’ve created a business with that kind of foundation and I can just feel it when I walked in here and just being with these products it just feels really good and it makes me want to shop here right.

Well I appreciate that and yes you know it’s it’s working itself to stay on that track because we’re operating in a world that’s not necessarily collectively in that track.

So I feel like the moment we let our guard down or you know you’re not being we’re not being conscientious of all that.

It’s you know naturally pulled into the you know sort of the main swath and you know especially this year.

You know there’s so much fear and anger and again I think a lot of it is really well intended and bounded but like trying to understand our role within that and how to counterbalance the like just you know we don’t need to you know jump into you know the chaos necessarily but at the same time how do we help people including ourselves through it.

Yeah with you know without that that loud noise it seems to be coming from everywhere even though we support so much of it so it’s a you know it’s a real it’s a real interesting challenge when it comes to tone and authenticity and really you know making sure that the way we’re speaking to our community is well received and helpful.

That’s really great so I want to ask you know one father to another how has fatherhood parented how has having children your boys are high school age how is that influenced your your work here at the company.

I mean from a classic perspective like I want to leave the world in a better place than it is right now certainly.

It’s motivated because I know that you know that they one day walk is you know it just it’s so I guess it’s cliche but for a reason like there’s there’s logic to it.

So I think you know it would be remiss to not mention that but I also think especially with my kids now in high school like they’re starting to think about how they’re going to participate in the world.

And you know I’m proud to get us in a way to for them to go to witness what I’m attempting to do yes I’m very transparent with them in the sense of starting anything is hard.

This was certainly no exception and that from you know a father son or a family dynamic like there’s times where I’ve got a lot of my mind she’s not sure or on a baseball game and there’s like 30 minutes of downtime in between games I’m on a computer you know I’m like they’re seeing that side of it too.

But I think especially how they’re getting older like they’re starting to ask really interesting questions and that was really like one of my goals in starting earth here was because I came from a more traditional business.

There’s restaurants supplies yeah great team you know it’s great business but I wanted to your you know to your point like I wanted you know a more congruent experience for myself so my you know my family could see that you know I think it makes me a better father has been because I’m passionately involved in what I’m doing.

I wanted to make sure that if I’m going to spend so much time away from my kids you know work that it was worth it you know and that I really was passionate about it and aligned with it so in a lot of ways the kids are like an accountability thing like if it was just myself I probably still you know I don’t know just be totally an experience but they were definitely a part of you know the vision.

It’s really beautiful I love the underlying what you’re expressing I’m hearing integrity and I think there’s a real gift in modeling for our kids the young adults that they are taking some of the risks yeah we don’t know we don’t know how it’s all going to turn out right.

It can be really messy but it also shows them that we have grit we have a lot of skills we have resources to draw on and I do believe as a parent that’s one of the biggest gifts we can give to our kids actually is demonstrating that and to lean into the adventure of it all right because sometimes maybe leaning in the other direction of.

Safety and security might be compelling but heck at the end of the day how much of their of that is there really anyway right in all of this so yeah to be able to just lean into the adventure of it all and pull on those resources we have inside and for me it makes me think of my my grandparents and you know ancestors and elders and in a way there’s this lineage of.

Passing that kind of information on through the generations.

Yeah I think you’re exactly right I mean I hear my parents talk about their parents and now I’m talking about that to Mike you know there’s like four or five six generations of storytelling and you know again at the end of the day it really does feel almost like a sense of responsibility you know like if I opt out of call in.

Then that’s when teaching them you know something like that.

I got a red dot dot.

Is that your own if I opt out of all in.

I do yeah I wish I could say that I planned that for about an hour or seventy four.

But I mean I think that’s it’s true and you know you said it’s not just something you’re telling them like it’s an experience or they’re watching.

Yeah you know I yeah so I and that experience I think can be challenging maybe a three young but like really young because it’s just you know they don’t really understand it.

But I think you know I mean it’s great like my kids take in or you know I guess it was last year you know it was the business marketing class.

And like I was just what you learned and what they teach you.

Yeah.

I got a music career I didn’t learn that stuff.

But but yeah it is cool I think I’m hoping I mean the goal in all this is to enjoy myself a long way but at the end of the line I’m hoping that that attitude is also means no regrets.

It’s a terrible I want a way but you know it wasn’t for lack of the effort.

Absolutely absolutely beautiful and I wouldn’t we decide on a warehouse tour or.

Yeah I’m happy to jump back there I mean products I live in front.

Yeah it’d be fun just to give a little behind the scenes what I’ll do is I’ll get behind the camera and operate from there and you can just kind of give us a tour.

It’s cool to walk through back there and before we jump over there I want to make sure that.

We’ve hit on everything that we want to hit on and I guess I’m noticing in my notes here that conscious consumerism is one of the points that we wanted to discuss.

And I know we’ve been talking about that sort of implicitly all along but could you just encapsulate what that means and why that’s important at Earth Hero.

Yeah that’s one of my favorite perspectives on all this because it goes beyond sustainability in my mind.

You know I don’t know what the official definition of conscious consumerism is but the way I perceive it is before you make any purchase before you swipe your credit card insert your credit card.

You’re just you’re thinking about how is this going to impact the plan? How’s it going to impact the health of the planet?

You know dealt with my family here conscious of what’s happening.

I always tell people you know if you just ask that one question like how is this purchase going to impact the planet?

You’re all sorts of things will start to change for you because you can’t unlearn that and even if you all know the answer I don’t know.

Well then the next step is the curious right start thinking about it. It doesn’t mean you know your white knuckle you know late night all night or try to like bring yourself up to speed.

We just start getting curious you know asking questions as you shop when you’re on you know it would bring more online chat you know Google some stuff you know you read a blog why is plastic bad you know it’s amazing.

People know plastic is bad but a lot of people don’t know why right and once you just start to you know put these reference points in your brain they start to connect really quickly and I think that once you become once that becomes normal

it’s like there’s no effort it just becomes part of the way you operate you start to be conscious about everything a lot of things in life.

You know you start that will you’ll start to live a little more conscious in just life you know that goes beyond sustainability that’s been you know my experience has been the experience is a lot of that people told me that they’ve experienced and you know if you at the end of the day

at the end of the day I think it just makes it makes one more present grounded and thoughtful person because just of that one question you know.

So yeah I think it’s important it’s a good place to start because I think you know there’ll be natural next steps and questions that arise you know from that journey and it is a journey.

And everyone that you know some people do amazing and there’s people that put all their trash for a whole year in a glass little tiny basin jar right.

There’s other people that you know there’s a million different ways to help and I think comparing ourselves to superheroes doesn’t really matter it’s irrelevant it’s like what matters is just take the next step in your personal life.

If you’re just recycling maybe looking to compost if you’re still using you know one time use plastic bags maybe start with buying an alternative for that.

In fact one of the best places to start is looking at anything you use one time throw away and start thinking about sourcing alternative.

And once you get through that process because there’s a lot if you haven’t been doing much you’ll naturally be ready for things like reusable you know refillable shampoos and climb your dog lesions right.

And here’s the cool thing it’s just more fun I mean there’s just these products have a great story you know when you’re having you know when you’re having beers next you know barbecue or you’re you know on a hike or a park you pull out your stuff like.

People are always asking me about like what is that you know what have you done it like you know it’s just kind of fun yeah it’s a little bit of social you know social credit.

Cool I love it social credit so yeah the idea is like you can boost your show and tell game too right and.

I’ve heard silent activism I like it yeah like you just you know you start using these products and people you’ll naturally support because I didn’t say anything.

That’s a lot of fun I can tell you’re a marketer because you have some really great one lighters there’s a lot of not great ones.

This is really great well what is the big I love that term be a great being Harry audacious call what is the big vision for zero.

We want to essentially sure a product expert every corner of your life so you can depend on us when you need or want to make a purchase that we take again you know you don’t have to worry about figuring out how to make a good choice because we’ve done that work for you.

So in order to achieve that I don’t know how many more products we need but we’re going to be busy for a while you know it’s it’s really that simple we want we want I mean you know our mission is to make sustainable so shopping I’m just pointing to our.

To be sustainable shopping so easy everyone does it so if everyone on the planet is thinking and dropping this way we’ve achieved our mission that’s probably not going to happen in my lifetime but I’m going to continue to try.

Maybe I will I hope so you know I mean I think there’s incredible energy right now really and I have to separate fact that you know certain communities like we’re a boulder this is a very sustainable in line to community other communities aren’t maybe as much but I also have seen I’m seeing a lot of changes to just in the three four years I’ve been doing this so

I believe the human race is capable of amazing things when you know real threat is you know is there I’m hoping that you know all the things happening the world don’t get even more intense I mean these you know these natural disasters and these just the stuff happening in the world

is sort of becoming normal it’s kind of scary you know I think there is a lot of people waking up and into this every day so I hope you’re right I really do yeah maybe so I’d be that would be a nice way to check out right and absolutely mission accomplished yes so yeah we’re um you know while you know we are super stoked to have as much on available today yeah

yeah and we really I mean we’ve got tonight’s momentum we upload and add you know three or five brands a week you know when we’re really in stride so there’s always new stuff coming up you know it’s not like we’re this is some far off thing it’s happening in real time and but you know from that perspective we’re just getting started yeah so much so much more to go yeah it’s fun it’s a really great challenge

excellent well I loved it uh that we can watch uh Earth Hero grow and participate and know that whenever we’re spending money with you guys it’s uh going to support great uh companies and suppliers that you’ve vetted and these other uh aspects of your foundation of sustainability so I just I absolutely love it and want to encourage you all to check out Earth Hero um Earth Hero dot com

and uh should we tour the warehouse that sounds good cool so let me uh ground the camera and uh we’ll uh walk around off we get off we get off we get off

voila so um this is our warehouse we don’t stock everything in this facility we do leverage our brand partners to um also help with some of the

disortment so there’s um yeah there’s uh you know our kind of our best sellers and you know it’s a good representation what we have but the same times definitely not everything so we can kind of zigzag through it actually starting here and we’re talking about how some Marley um you know audio we’ve got a lot of headphones your your buds um air pod pro and air pod cases that are compostable and these were the uh compostable phone cases I’ve talked to them about telling about um by

killer case cool you even have a turntable up there that’s great yeah bamboo table old-school um you know as mentioned in kitchen supplies a lot of bamboo you know cutting boards and um you know utensils and that type of thing yeah

I mean one of my favorite stories chopped values you guys make uh cutting boards and icon stands and posters and all sorts of full stuff

that’s like the flops sticks and it just has a nice beautiful look wow that’s really something um it’s a great story

how do you how do you how can people look to earth euro as a guide or resource as the industries continue to evolve new products come online new sectors

is there imagine there’s a significant education component yeah we um we have a lot of logs you know yeah a lot of articles a lot of content

uh you know like you said there’s a whole section of that and we try to do it you know via social and email and just

if you’re once you’re part of our ecosystem you know we’re we’re constantly putting new information out there so yeah

that’s a big you know as you as you mentioned that’s a big goal of ours yeah that’s really cool um

so yeah we got a glass these are you know glass straws um this is some of that technology we’re talking about

chargers yeah um phone cables uh some electronic stuff made from recycled content i apologize for our viewers

that the light back in here is a little dark little mixed but um what about you all this you know

you’re all familiar with hydroflask clean canteen lots of food storage um everyday produce bags

shopping bags more bamboo utensils um you know bees wrap this is great yep bees have some of that

kind of wrap sandwiches are fun leftovers lots of um these are stainless steel food storage

just so fun legs um compartmentalized pieces it’s our practice station that is our packing area that

is after hour so it’s nice and tight yep yep um you know i was talking about uh david earlier this is

the toothpaste that comes in the uh there we go you got like a metal tube you know so

jump uh cool great pool there uh stasher lots of colors and we’re talking about these guys

um behind me this is sunscreens personal care uh we have tons of late the bamboo uh

cosmetics earth harvester a lot of glass packaging for um skin care and that type of thing

here’s more this is actually how to pull a concept from seed this was a spin-off from laurel

um and an implore an employee at laurel said i want to go do my own thing like actually you

should do it under laurel and it’s compostable um packaging that’s cool for things like

shampoo’s and lotions and that’s all wow uh you know somebody a simple sloth that comes in

the zero waste recyclable package so it takes the plastic away yep um very common more personal care

uh more food wrap even coffee filters you know just totally reusable you don’t tease the ones

and throw them away yep over here we have uh more kitchen supplies this is one of our most popular

items uh where it’s a dishwasher and then instead of throwing it away and getting

new one you just have to take this one piece off and you can buy the replacement

yeah oh that’s so great this this is like Christmas for the uh sustainability folks right

yeah it’s going through here is there’s a lot of fun already getting ready for that oh yeah

this when i walked in before you got here i asked are you guys uh getting excited for the holidays

yet and in one of your teams said i don’t even want to think about it yet we’re not there quite yet

yes well we’ll get there but he’s right or she’s right um we even started selling some more um books

uh uh you know it’s easy being green story stuff actually yep and inspiration for me

yep yep this so yeah i talk about the story of stuff and whYonEarth actually

really it’s interesting oh that book was a huge factor um in how any letter articulates

you know exactly what happens when we consume yeah as you know so yeah very very great

one that wants a deeper dive yep and then hygiene uh you know lots of uh we’re actually getting

all terms in that category supplies i didn’t school supplies you know things like

air push pins um sticky notes notebook stuff that you need but it’s made the right way yep

um you know more kitchen stuff just soap dispenser soap dishes you know soap sponges or sponges and

rags and um this is a great product it’s concealed just soap block instead of again plastic liquid soap

you know you can just you know kind of put this on your counter and get that dish soap the

dish brush i was telling you about just a few swipes and it suds up really easily wow and get

sure to that plastic packaging and these things last forever so it’s just really that’s fabulous

economical as well i’m already thinking of some things we can uh switch over to at the uh

wine earth headquarters to show people when they stop by i love that you know we’re talking about

floss this is another example of this tiny little uh you know again most floss comes in plastic

this comes in a little glass vial aluminum top and then you can buy just the refills

and it literally only in here is split school and you know just it works that is really great

you know throughout every day yeah simple need um we can swing around here we’ve got uh

candles you know candles are notorious they got some you know bad ingredients

yeah plastic these are glass cool uh a lot of these are really popular to you safety

razors so uh instead of the big plastic razors uh okay one razor and then

you get like ten blades it coming this little tiny box wow they’re super cheap and you can

actually venture in this blade bank a little slot there and the company will you send it back

to company in their your cyclone and make new blades at it oh no kidding oh it’s circular

yep a lot of dogs applause you know dog toys um i bring my dog the off she loves this aisle

i heard it’s a dog friendly office yeah well two dogs friendly sometimes but uh it’s all

it’s all good and good fun um kid stuff actually a lot of kid stuff uh you have backpacks and

um you know teeters and all sorts of stuff and by the way some manufacturers do send

this stuff in this plastic yeah because they they either have to or you know to protect the

product um and transit we recycle all this stuff um locally at this at charm the center

for harder cycle materials yeah we we make sure that none of it goes to waste

let down you know some some eco dough for kids crayons all good ingredients cool you know these are

these are just uh great um plates and compartmentalized balls for kids so the food doesn’t go flying

across the room yeah pacifiers you know natural rubber um the more toys green toys uh all this

stuff is made from 100% recycled milk jugs and in plastic so you know it’s plastic it’s

100% recycled plastic so it’s a great way to kind of reuse without there yeah we even have a

a jangus set uh no way and that stuff so that’s fun and i think jangus is a little stressful

diapers we talked about even jewelry uh again this is a lot you know recycled upcycled stuff

very cool yoga mats or yoga uh uh mat pads yeah um or mat doing that uh covers lots of backpacks

tons of backpacks wow how powerful from you could boxy but also you know more standard school

backpacks um a carol from tentry and united by blue are kind of two brands that we really like

to support say that again united by blue tentry tentry school because every time

you buy something they give you a little chip that gives you like certified like 10 trees are planted

uh huh for every article of clothing you buy uh cool organizing that’s great and they’re

traceable on everything so super cool um yeah uh this is all kind of a parallel we do a lot of

women’s um sports bras and uh and in compressive impression leggings you know yeah at

leisurewear okay um and then this uh final line you’re got laundry powders um you know another

author he’s actually come so you get the first time you order you get the you know the big

aluminum can and then you you can just buy the refills yep wow that’s great so you know

it’s really easy and then this house pretty dark but you have more dog leashes and uh more

parallel it’s really specialty yeah if you if you pull things over to this side we can see but

right now this whole left side is pretty pretty dark in the uh camera and we can that’s great

though yeah there’s just some more socks and um we have composed of all

this is like you know if you’re a picnic or you have a big event yep um

it’s old dogs or one time you use plates but uh you know they are composed of all so yeah

some people need that access sometimes so absolutely so yeah that’s the uh what do they call

that the nickel tour that’s right that’s a wonderful thank you actually looking to uh expand here as

you can tell we don’t really have much more space uh uh as soon as we do we’ll be able to bring

in even more stuff so excellent yeah well listen uh let’s jump into a little more light Ryan and then

we’ll um sign off and it’s been so great to visit with you and to to get the tour behind the

scenes here all these wonderful products well it’s great to be able to share with you so

thanks for coming by you bet thank you and uh before we sign off here is is there anything else

you’d like to share with the audience i just uh thank you for your interest in what we’re doing

and uh if you have you know any feedback for us you know we’d love to hear uh you know

from anyone that that wants to share that um i really appreciate you know everyone’s uh

effort they put into you know helping move the needle forward it it really is one step at a time

um i just encourage you not to get stuck in the i’m not it’s so much that i don’t even know where

to start so i’m not going to even try like it’s you know one action will lead to the next one

to the next one in a year two years ten years down the road you will be shocked at how um fun

simple this this really is so you know whether you’re buying stuff on earth hero dot com or

you know locally or you know other online sites i just encourage you to get curious get interested

participate and again any feedback for us uh we would love to hear it just reach out to us through

various um social channels um our VR website and thank you for all the support

right on this great thanks Ryan appreciate it yeah my pleasure the YonEarth community stewardship

and sustainability podcast series is hosted by Aaron William Perry author, thought leader

and executive consultant the podcast and video recordings are made possible by the generous

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