Vuvuzelas are annoying AND bad for the environment

Not only is the vuvuzela annoying, it is also terrible for the environment. The thought of all those millions of plastic horns being thrown away in the trash on July 12th after the World Cup is frightening.  There is no need to pile already-full landfills with plastic trumpets. With the World Cup now over,  let's hope that people can at least try to recycle them.

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In the mean time, here are two eco-friendly alternatives:

Kelp Vuvuzela -Made from 100% pure dried kelp, these make the same sound as the traditional vuvuzela, and are hand painted and recyclable.
Vuvuzela app - Download this for your iPhone. It is equally as annoying as the real-thing and you won’t have to waste any plastic to use it!

The World Cup goes Organic

The English soccer team has a new "go healthy" campaign. The British soccer players are now eating less mashed potatoes and more organic and healthy food. High five!

The team's health coach prepared a food list for the games in South Africa and the shipment from England included:
- herbal tea
- organic dark chocolate
- seaweed sheets (for sushi, I imagine)
- apricots
- pine nuts
- extra virgin olive oil

They are buying their fresh fruits and vegetables locally in South Africa. I definitely support this movement towards more healthy and sustainable eating.

OVERALL RATING:  A

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It's not just the players who are going organic, their sponsors are too, or so they say... More World Cup products are being promoted as "organic and environmentally-friendly". Check out Nike's sport caps made of 10% organic cotton. That's right.... ten measly percent. Sorry Nike, but you don't just get to slap on an "eco-friendly" label because you've manufactured a product with a few strands of organic cotton!  That's like saying a McDonald's triple cheese burger is healthy because it has a piece of lettuce on it.

OVERALL RATING: C

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Nike has also started designing national team jackets out of, wait for it, recycled plastic bottles. The kits are made from discarded PET bottles that are collected from landfills in Taiwan and Japan. How do they do it? By melting the plastic, cutting fine shreds into yarn and then spinning the yarn into jackets. Each shirt is made from 8 recycled bottles, and Nike estimates that they've saved 13 million plastic bottles (or 29 soccer fields full). How's that for environmentally friendly?

OVERALL RATING: A++