About Barbara Mathieson
I was always taught to keep our earth clean. Just as I was taught to make my bed each day, brush my teeth and clean up after myself whether indoors or outdoors.
I started this blog in June 2007 because I was disgusted at the amount of litter I found. I wanted others to see what we were doing to our earth. When I was taught in Sunday School that God gave man dominion over the earth, I interpreted that as follows:
- We are to preserve the earth for generations who follow us.
- We are to care for and maintain its natural beauty.
- We are not to disturb the balance of nature.
- We take just what we need for survival from the earth.
- We protect wildlife and our fellow animals to prosper in their habitats.
Other than that, loving, respecting and accepting each other for our differences and giving back to the earth is the essence of my spiritual journey.
After a great career in print production in magazines and catalogs, I’ve been on a cool journey. I’ve sold promotional products (and still do). My husband and I operate a pet sitting business in zip code 37221. I have revved up my volunteering in the community, which is what I love to do. Contact me at barbara7821@comcast.net.
The Earth Is Not a Trash Can 
Michelle Cherry said,
Friday, May 9, 2008 @ 2:27 pm
hi there,
we are getting ready to launch our new eco product FLUSHADOO.
we are a flushable, water soluble, non plastic, eco friendly doggie doo bag.
we want to help keep plastic doggie pick up bags out of landfills, our oceans and help keep our earth clean.
we ae a california based company and we stronly believe in picking up after dog waste so it does not go into storm drains or bodies of water…but goes where “waste” is meant to go to be properly treated. we also do not want plastic usually used to pick up this waste to go into landfills and pollute our oceans.
that is why we have FLUSHADOO.
please visit us at http://www.FLUSHADOO.com. we will be ready for sales on june 1.
thank you,
michelle cherry
http://www.flushadoo.com
continuumwellness said,
Monday, May 19, 2008 @ 3:42 pm
Great blog. A topic that needs discussing.
Cheers,
Catherine
http://www.continuumwellness.org/blog
The Good Monster said,
Tuesday, May 20, 2008 @ 1:03 am
Wonderful blog! I’m enjoying my visit. Too many of us learn to look past the trash and don’t notice the litter around us anymore, including me! Good work.
Kathleen Feeney said,
Wednesday, May 21, 2008 @ 8:43 am
To Whom It May Concern:
I would like to announce that Arts Alliance America will be releasing the movie What Would Jesus Buy? on DVD May 27th. PlanetTrash offers a great deal of information on the current green movement and I think this movie would be an excellent fit on your website. I feel your readers and site visitors would be fascinated with it. Below is a link to the trailor for the film if you’d be interested in posting it on your site.
We’d also be interested in promoting this on your site with a DVD giveaway the week of the release (May 26th -30th). I can provide 5 copies of the DVD for the giveaway.
Below is a brief synopsis of the title:
What Would Jesus Buy? follows Reverend Billy and the Stop Shopping Choir as they go on a cross-country mission to save the Holidays from the Shopocalypse: the end of mankind from consumerism, over-consumption and the fires of eternal debt! The Shopcalypse is upon is…Who will be $aved?
Please let me know if you’re interested in posting this on your site and I can send you additional information and a press release.
Much appreciated,
Kathleen Feeney
Arts Alliance America
304 Hudson Street, 7th Floor
New York, NY 10013
http://www.artsallianceamerica.com
marie said,
Wednesday, May 28, 2008 @ 9:33 am
Hello,
Very interesting blog.
Marie
Kyle Jodice said,
Friday, June 6, 2008 @ 11:10 am
Hi,
LetsGoGreen.biz is an online company selling eco-friendly products to the homeowner. We have the products that let you “go green” at home. We have a full line of home water conservation items. Please let your members know about us. You can checkout our site at http://www.LetsGoGreen.biz A link would be great. I would also like to speak to you about our fundraising program. You send folks to our site, they purchase products and you receive 25% of the sale. Hands off with zero cost to you. A great way to promote green products while you raise money for your site or organization. Full details are on our site under Green Fundraising.
We want to encourage everyone to “go green”. If you don’t do fundraising we would like to offer your members a special discount on our products. At checkout, type the word FRIEND into the coupon box, hit apply and it will take 25% off of your order. Please pass this special discount word to your members. It cannot be combined with any other offer or in support of a fundraising group.
Go Green in 2008!
Kyle Jodice
Kyle.Jodice@LetsGoGreen.biz
http://www.LetsGoGreen.biz
Harry said,
Thursday, June 26, 2008 @ 8:57 am
i love what your doing
i’ve been all about being “green” my whole
life becuase i know its young people like me
that are the only hope for keeping our earth clean
people are just so ignorant and because of it we
have to live in filth
planettrash said,
Thursday, June 26, 2008 @ 1:53 pm
Thanks, Harry. We need more young people like you. In Tennessee, the majority of the intentional litterers are 18-34. Keep up the good work.
Alex said,
Wednesday, July 2, 2008 @ 2:14 pm
Hi!
My name is Alex. Our company, For Your Imagination, is featuring a new video series, The Real World Green. It’s a collection of tips that, being followed, will make your life style more environmentally friendly. We have checked out your site and think it is great! It would really help us if you posted a link or mention our show on your site. As a response, we would love to do the same thing for you. If you want to use one of our videos, let us know and we will provide you with the embed code.
Thank you!
http://realworldgreen.com/
Sincerely,
Alex
planettrash said,
Wednesday, July 2, 2008 @ 3:01 pm
Sure email me a code for a movie to post at barbara7821@comcast.net
E said,
Thursday, August 7, 2008 @ 2:49 am
Puffy Stuff is a new all-natural packing peanut. It has a high density for rugged durability, and won’t shrink in humid conditions. Puffy Stuff exceeds wheat starch, corn starch and polystyrene in laboratory tests. Upon direct contact with water, the loosefill degrades to inert proteins which are quickly consumed by soil bacteria. If not reused, PUFFY STUFF will compost in a landfill or you can even hose it down in your garden as fertilizer. PUFFY STUFF has a faint smell similar to popcorn. This, however will not transfer to your shipment. PUFFY STUFF actually absorbs odors! It is safe, durable, and cost effective.
I think this stuff will help to get rid of polystyrene packing peanuts .
Check them out… http://www.puffystuffga.com
Rob Wallace said,
Wednesday, August 27, 2008 @ 3:51 pm
LOVE LOVE LOVE the blog, Barbara. Always great commentary and interesting little “finds” along the highways and byways. Once you notice litter, you can’t look away.
When I came to KAB, I started taking the train about 40 minutes each way from home. To pass the time, I find myself looking out the windows and making a mental calculation of what I see on the ground – 40% plastic, 30% paper… Hey, there’s a new boxspring! And some old boat parts! Ewww…what the heck is THAT?!?!
It’s really sort of a sick fascination coupled with disgust. Glad someone else shares the disease 😉
Lisa said,
Monday, September 1, 2008 @ 2:27 pm
Hi Barbara~
Your blog is wonderful! Thank you for taking the time to be an activist and to write about it. I do think simple increased awareness is the key to big change.
I have a new green and alternative living networking site called AltGlobe.com and would love to see you contributing with us! You would be an amazing addition to the community. Please check us out and let me know what you think.
Best wishes~
Lisa
CdlesTmato@mac.com
http://www.altglobe.com
wasz said,
Saturday, September 20, 2008 @ 2:20 pm
I should show you photos of where I am right now (Izmir, Turkey). I have a recycling collection building up that I plan on gradually walking over, inconspicuously, to the IKEA around the corner to recycle there. RIDICULOUS.
I can’t believe we have it so well in America and still throw it away. I love your blog.
Shawn
http://wasz.wordpress.com
Ashley Howard said,
Sunday, September 21, 2008 @ 1:56 pm
Hi,
I found your website while searching for green sites, and thought that you might be interested in what our company, FoodServiceWarehouse.com, is doing to actively promote green practices in the restaurant industry.
FoodServiceWarehouse.com is a Greenwood Village, Colorado company that was started by a group of avid environmentalists. Our commitment to the environment can be seen from the environmentally conscious way that we run our own company and the programs we have developed to help the restaurant industry become more environmentally responsible.
As part of our services, we have created an industry leading certification program aimed at helping commercial kitchens cope with the costs and complexities of going green. The program features educational resources, rewards and the industry’s only free certification process, modeled after, and fulfilling credits for LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certification.
We invite you to visit our website http://www.foodservicewarehouse.com/going-green/c11836.aspx , and check out what we think is the most complete resource on the web for commercial kitchens looking to go green.
And to show our dedication in helping commercial kitchens slash energy costs, conserve water and reduce their environmental impact, we are giving away a green commercial kitchen worth up to $40,000 to one qualifying kitchen.
We are eager to spread the word about our tremendous Green Commercial Kitchen Giveaway. As an incentive for this, we are offering a $1,000 reward to whichever site refers the winning entry to us. If you are interested in this, all you need to do is place the link below on your blog by September 30, 2008, and reply to this e-mail to let us know it’s there. The link must still be in place on the the day that we notify the winner of the program, which will be on or about December 1st, 2008.
The html code for the link is shown below.* Graphic banners are available upon request.
I hope you find our Going Green Program to be a valuable resource for your readers and share our enthusiasm for helping the restaurant industry go green.
Sincerely,
Ashley Howard
Green Kitchen Consultant
Food Service Warehouse.com
5670 Greenwood Plaza Blvd. Suite 525
Greenwood Village, CO 80111
* Link Code
Green Commercial Kitchen Giveaway
Hudge said,
Wednesday, September 24, 2008 @ 5:22 am
Been listening to a book that talks about this: http://www.sustainableenterprises.com/Body/
Toby said,
Monday, October 13, 2008 @ 7:00 am
Hi Barbara
We’re running a charity video campaign on behalf of Green Voice
who are hoping to feature on sites like yours.
I’m enquiring if would you be interested in posting the film,
which is a call to sign a petition against excess packaging.
We have video options for sidebar and expandable clips
in traditional advertising spaces as well as blog posts.
Viewers would not leave your site when watching the film,
and the clip would be embedded in a compatible video format,
for which we have a small seeding budget to cover your costs.
We are looking at a live date very soon,
please see the clip here:
http://www.the7thchamber.com/blog.asp?ID=14097
or here
Please let me know if you’re interested in this opportunity,
and help spread the word about this campaign.
Many thanks and I look forward to hearing from you soon
best regards
Toby Young
Vivian Chen said,
Sunday, October 19, 2008 @ 10:29 pm
I flush my dog’s poops down the toilet with a flushable dog poop bag. Most eco-friendly way to get rid of poops.
The company is called Flush Doggy.
There are flushable dog poop bags. The best answer probably because dog poop can get treated just as your poop is. Throwing dog poops into the trash overcrowds our landfills and pollutes our water system.
FlushDoggy, is a fully biodegradable, flushable(water soluble) dog poop bag that is very eco-friendly. Dog poops are best to be flushed down the toilet and degrade naturally , just as our own poops. Stop destroying our earth and start educating the public, one poop at a time. Be a responsible owner and go green for our pets.
flushdoggy.com offers FREE SAMPLE TO TRY !
Peter said,
Tuesday, October 21, 2008 @ 9:58 am
2 Crane Lane
Temple Bar
Dublin 2
Republic of Ireland
Hi there! How is it going?
I’ve just popped in your blog and I loved it! I’m from http://www.edenbee.com , have you ever heard of us before? Well, to sum up we are a green social networking site for people who want to reduce their carbon footprint. It would be great to be associated with you. We’re trying to build a community and would be great to have you on board! Let me know if you are interested.
Please send us a mail at info@edenbee.com
Thank you
I look forward to hearing from you
Peter
Amy Judd said,
Tuesday, November 11, 2008 @ 1:57 am
Hi Barbara:
My Name is Amy Judd. I am the Manager of the Environment Channel at NowPublic.com. (www.nowpublic.com) (www.nowpublic.com/tag/Environment)
I have been reading your blog over the last couple of weeks and was wondering if you’d be interested in a new development we are rolling out at NowPublic.
In case you haven’t heard about us, NowPublic is the largest participatory news organization in the world. Every month we reach over 2 million people and our content comes from an army of regular people (citizen journalists if you will). Right now we have contributing reporters in more than 5,500 cities and 160 countries. The Guardian has named NowPublic.com one of the top five most useful news sites on the Web and Time Magazine named it one of the Top 50 Websites for 2007.
I really enjoy reading all the entries in your blog, and feel that I have learned a lot over the past few weeks, and was wondering if you’d be willing to curate an ‘Living Green’ page on NowPublic. You can of course link back to your blog and post from your blog, but I think it would be a really interesting page for our readers to learn from and we don’t have anything on the site like it right now. I am thinking it would be a way to educate our readers about recycling and waste and the effect it’s having on the environment – therefore ‘Living Green’.
Obviously you have tremendous knowledge about the environment and I would be interested in speaking with you about how we could co-ordinate our efforts and perhaps work together. The Environment is such a hot topic right now, but still is one that not nearly enough people take an interest in, and take seriously, and I want to change that. I’m sure you do too.
Please let me know if you have some time to chat or if this is something that interests you.
Best regards,
Amy Judd
NowPublic.com
Mark Kreuzwieser said,
Tuesday, December 23, 2008 @ 1:41 pm
Hi, just visiting your blog and thought you might be interested in this new anti-litter product. Thanks, Mark.
The CarbageSac ™, designed to provide a meaningful deterrent to the nationwide problem of highway litter, is now available from a start-up South Carolina “green company” — Do-GreenNow, llc headquartered here.
“The CarbageSac ™ has a unique design so that occupants of cars and trucks can hang it from the glove compartment or head-rest posts and easily dispose of the kind of litter that so often winds up on the floor — such as candy-wrappers, tissues and small cans,” said Bretton Griffin, who serves as president of the new firm. Griffin also hopes the CarbageSacs ™ will also become a regular addition to boats and other water craft.
Mike Novitski, the company’s Vice President for Marketing and original designer of the CarbageSac, noted that although the sack is a really simple concept, “just about everyone we’ve shown it to, says: ‘Wow, What a great idea!’ People have been using various kinds of paper and plastic bags in cars for trash in the past, but nothing quite like this. We are hopeful it will catch on big.”
Green Promotional Item
Novitski said one of the company’s first marketing initiatives will be to locate advertisers and sponsors who will want to promote their name on the product and distribute the CarbageSacs ™ as one of their environmental initiatives.
“What’s better for a large hotel operator, an automotive supplier or fast-food chain than having an attractive, nifty little sack continuously visible in a consumer’s car with their name and logo on it” said Novitski, pointing out that several colleges and universities have also shown an interest, including Stanford University in Palo Alto, CA, which is planning to pass out 1,000 of the CarbageSacs ™ at a women’s basketball game in January. He said Do-GreenNow has recently received its first shipment of half a million CarbageSacs and is preparing for distribution.
Product Promotes Clean Environment
“In addition to receiving initial interest from various universities, we’ve also been in contact with several chain stores and government agencies who are considering the sacks as ideal promotional tie-in items for a ‘Green America’ theme,” said Novitski. “We attended the “Keep America Beautiful” annual conference in Washington, DC earlier this month and got a very positive response. We are putting together proposals for more than two dozen states and municipalities.”
“The issue of litter in America is certainly significant,” said Ms. Griffin. “Government studies show that automobile drivers are the second biggest cause of litter. Fast-food waste and small pieces of paper (most often wrappers from candy, cigarettes, gum and the like) being tossed out of windows compose 62% of highway litter. Our simple CarbageSac ™ is the perfect solution to keeping car waste in an easy-storage pouch that is disposable.”
“It’s really nice when you can do something for yourself, like keeping your car clean while also doing something for the overall good of the environment,” said Ms. Griffin. “We are very excited that our CarbageSac can potentially become a major deterrent to reducing litter in America.
The CarbageSac ™ website is: http://www.CarbageSac.com as well as http://www.Do-GreenNow.com.
***
DO-GreenNow, llc — Formed in 2008 Do-GreenNow is a creative green-marketing company that originated quite spontaneously in the cab of a pick-up truck on the way to a recycling center. For more details on the company and its origins, visit the company website: http://www.Do-GreenNow.com. Novitski may be reached at 843-384-6535.
planettrash said,
Tuesday, December 23, 2008 @ 4:35 pm
Is the sac biodegradable? Or it is just more plastic to fill up a landfill?
Braden Kay said,
Wednesday, January 14, 2009 @ 2:02 pm
Thank you for covering Litter Free Inauguration!
We appreciate your support!
Best,
Braden
Paul said,
Friday, February 6, 2009 @ 3:23 am
Barbara, I would love to contact you about an interesting topic for your blog that I believe would benefit your readers immensely. I could not find a way to contact you. If you would be so kind, please email me at paul@thevaporcig.com and I will forward you the idea and resources.
Keep up the good work!
The Glove Guru said,
Tuesday, March 17, 2009 @ 6:52 pm
Hi Barbara,
I stumbled upon your Blog with great interest after seeing the glove post.
We have some interesting gloves (consumer & industrial) to let the eco-world learn about shortly.
Would you be interested to learn more?
Nice Blog! ^5
Regards, Joe
http://gloveguru.blogspot.com/
Mark Thien said,
Thursday, April 16, 2009 @ 6:46 am
Hi, Barbara,
I wanted to let you know of the continued campaign against trash at Percy Priest Lake, the fourth most visited lake in the country managed by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. This lake receives more than 6 million visitors each year, many of whom leave their battered trash behind. We’re talking tons of trash… unfortunately, literally hundreds of tons.
After discovering the problem in the fall of 2007, I told two friends, and they told two friends and so on 😉 and together we agreed to make a difference. Right out of the box, we created the largest water cleanup in Nashville history with 1,800 collective volunteer work hours and the participation of more than 700 volunteers. We’ve recovered 120 cubic yards of trash (think six rolloff construction site dumpsters) at a value approaching $100,000 in hard costs, and amassed more than 1.2 million media impressions with a tandem awareness campaign throughout Middle Tennessee.
The reason I’m writing is two-fold:
1) I know you briefly wrote about our first cleanup, so I hoped you might share the details about our second. Registration and other pertinent gruff is at http://www.cleanPercyPriest.org. If your readers are in the Nashville area on Saturday, May 2, I’d like to invite all to please join us for a memorable eco-service day.
2) The Nashville Clean Water Project is purely a voluntary pursuit. We continue to personally absorb significant hard costs to continue this campaign against trash. If any of the fine companies (flush doggy? flushadoo?) in your circle are looking for true eco-connections within the Nashville market, they can reach us through http://www.cleanPercyPriest.org. The exposure we can provide is “stupid huge” because the problem of lake-based trash draws the media.
Thank you for all you do Barbara. If there’s a chance to meetup for coffee, please do drop me a line.
Chris said,
Monday, June 1, 2009 @ 7:58 pm
Hey great post! I would like to touch base with you about your blog. Please contact me directly at chris@greenpress.com
Look forward to hearing from you.
Thanks,
Chris
Jackie said,
Friday, July 31, 2009 @ 11:28 am
Is this Russell Norton guy making his way across the country? I found his notice taped to my (and everyone is our sub-divisio) mailbox yesterday and I live in ARKANSAS…
Hala said,
Wednesday, November 11, 2009 @ 3:32 am
Love Letters to the Future is designed to raise awareness about climate change.
We are putting out a call for people to create messages for the future – as a 140 character text, image or video – and upload them to http://www.loveletterstothefuture.com.
A time capsule is being built to preserve the 100 most popular messages voted on by the public at the loveletters’ site. It will be sealed at a live event in Copenhagen, to be re-opened in 100 years, on December 13, 2109. – and it could include your message!
Help us spread the word! Our goal is to collect a critical mass of love letters and present them to the world during the UN Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen on December 13, 2009.
Anyone can be a part of this project! Create your love letter to the future – as a video, image or 140 character text – and upload it to: http://www.loveletterstothefuture.com
We have compiled promotional material (banners, widgets, RSS feeds, tweets, etc.) that you could use online. Please send us a blank email to pr@loveletterstothefuture.com to let us know that you are interested.
Thank you!
Jonah Mytro said,
Thursday, April 8, 2010 @ 3:53 pm
Q4 Marketing is managing the new member acquisition campaign for Green America Today and Id like to discuss working together to promote their affiliate program.
Please contact me to discuss.
Thanks
Jonah Mytro
Victoria Bell said,
Tuesday, April 20, 2010 @ 10:00 am
Hello,
I am Victoria Bell, an intern with Offset Alliance. We are a company encouraging conscience capitalism as well as green awareness through the use of our carbon calculator widgets. Our number one priority as a company is to help people recognize their impact on the environment and offer a means for them to reduce that impact through carbon offsets. We also want to support green business and industry by connecting those people to products and services that they know will reduce their consumer impacts.
All of this is packed into one small carbon calculator widget that is available for you to have on your blogs, websites, Facebook pages, Twitter pages, or any other public web server. This widget is available on an affiliate basis, much like the affiliate program of Google Ad Sense. This is not for us! By signing up to be an affiliate you get a percentage of the money paid by supporting green companies for leads generated through the widget calculator. This is their means of advertising their products or service. We wanted this program to be established because it is a reward for believing in what we are trying to accomplish with our widget. The green market we are trying to promote and the awareness we want to spread could not happen without people like you. If you are interested in investigating the widget, you can see it on the front page of our website at
http://www.offsetalliance.com. If you like it and would like to become an affiliate just follow the impromptu directions on our website, or call me at 404-720-0773 Ext 705.
I believe in this creative way of spreading awareness and providing people alternative products and services that are safer and friendlier to our Earth and to ourselves. I hope you feel the same too!
Sincerely,
Victoria Bell, Offset Alliance
1000mitzvahs said,
Tuesday, June 29, 2010 @ 12:14 pm
Just learned about RecycleBank this week and wrote about them on my blog too. Found your blog from a link. Sounds like we are both sharing similiar messages with the world. Great blog and hope to connect via internet soon.
Linda
Chris Holehouse said,
Sunday, October 24, 2010 @ 10:38 am
Hi Barbara,
First off, great site.
I’m the Environment editor at Before It’s News. Our site is a People Powered news platform with over 1,000,000 visits a month and growing fast.
We would be honored if we could republish your blog RSS feed in our Environment category. Our readers need to read what The Earth Is Not a Trash Can has to say.
Syndicating to Before It’s News is a terrific way spread the word and grow your audience. Many other organizations are using Before It’s News to do just that. We can have your feed up and running in 24 hours. I just need you to reply with your permission to do so. Please include the full name and email of the person who will be attached to the account, and let me know the name you want on the account (most people have their name or their blog name).
You can also have any text and/or links you wish appended to the end or prepended to the beginning of each of your posts on Before It’s News. Just email me the text and links that you want at the beginning and/or ending of each post. If you know html you can send me that. If not, just send me the text and a link to your site. It should be around 200 characters or less (not including links).
You can, if you like, create a custom feed for Before It’s News that includes multiple links back to your blog or web site. We only require that RSS feeds include full stories, not partial stories. We don’t censor or edit your work.
All the best,
Chris Holehouse
Editor, Before It’s News
http://www.beforeitsnews.com
chris.h@beforeitsnews.com
robert said,
Thursday, October 28, 2010 @ 6:51 am
So, you sound like a responsable person. You sound like someone who really cares about others and I’m sure you do. We need people like you to make us think about things we don’t think about. You actually seem to me, to be somewhat of a hypocrite. You said you had a great career in print production, magazines and catalogs, well didn’t all that writing kill some precious resourses? Granted paper is recylable and is biodegradable but the trees….. All those trees that died just so you could convey your thoughts to us. So it’s ok for you to do what you need to do to make a living, but others should not. Seems a little selfish…..no? How green is that?
Barbara Mathieson said,
Thursday, October 28, 2010 @ 7:29 am
Well said, Robert. I always had some guilt about grinding up all those trees for my income. I was very conservative in my paper usage. Now, I don’t subscribe to newspapers, and I am stopping my magazine subscriptions. I don’t buy books any more either.
Alex said,
Tuesday, July 19, 2011 @ 7:19 am
Hi Barbara,
I have recently become interested in your blog and I was wondering if you might find our product relevant.
We’re a green company that offers bottleless, filtration-enabled water coolers, that are healthier and cost effective alternatives to traditional office bottled water coolers. At Quench we are dedicated to ridding the world of bottled water. Feel free to check out our blog for more information: http://blog.quenchonline.com/
Let me know if you would like to get involved with our goal to go bottleless!
Thanks, looking forward to your response!
Alex
Quench USA
quenchusamarketing@gmail.com