A little about me. Tracy
I would like to thank you for taking the time to open this page to read some of my thoughts and to learn more about the person behind GE, as I lovingly refer to it as. What we do here at Good Earth is based in chemistry (my love of molecules) and my love of the environment. I was trained to understand molecules and their impact on the environment. I love science, math and nature. Where these three intersect is where I am most happy.
We Are Earth. The Future Is In Our Hands.
At my core, I am a tree hugger - please hug a tree for me - and a hardcore dirt worshipper. As I reflect on how I got here. I truly feel founding Good Earth was written in the stars for me. Good Earth is all my hopes and dreams wrapped into one - an Earthcentric company focused on the providing the highest quality goods we can craft with the least amount of impact. Our products are created to be utilitarian and affordable. They are designed to be simple, to smell amazing and most all of work extremely well.
I have been advocating for the planet since I started the first recycling program at Lincoln High School in my hometown and earned the beloved nickname the Lorax. I once chained myself to a tree to save a family of Spotted Owls when I was much, much younger. I also worked for as a government scientist studying water quality on the Great Lakes for 15 years. During my tenure as a scientist, my love of molecules lead me to discover the Dead Zone of Green Bay.
In 2013, I decided to leave my career as a water quality scientist and purse my passion - Good Earth. I left with a vison of what the next chapter of my life would look like. I took a big leaf because my dream was always to work for myself, for the company I started way back in 1997 when I sold soap to my classmates in college and at the Manitowoc Farmer's Market. I have a master's degree in environmental science, so I what I say below is based on science and the reality we face as humans living on an ever-warming planet. I want Good Earth to be part of the solution not part of the problem. If there is a way to do better, I promise we will.
My LOVE for Mother Earth runs deep.
Plastics. Until the last few years, plastic were not an issue for us as a company. It was part of how we lived and did business. Now, for good reason, it has come to the forefront of my thoughts. People are shining a critical eye on plastics and their detriment to the environment. As of 2020, we are slowly moving towards using as much sustainable packaging as possible. I just purchased $7000 worth of paper tubing for our lotion bars. That is 4 times the cost of our old packaging. I hope our customers love them. It was a big investment for a small company like ours.
Soap. I used to wrap my soap in paper labels. Then people would touch the label and ruin the label with their fingerprints. I had no choice, but to change to a to a material that could withstand handling in a retail environment. Our new website allows you to buy unwrapped soap as a zero-waste option. Yay!!! What took me so long to do this? No clue...
Packaging. The bottles I originally used were aluminum. I went to plastic bottles because every time I ordered aluminum bottles they were dented (and they still are). Or worse out of stock. Due to Covid-19 our supply chain is in shambles. I can no longer source the bottles we used as I write this. Thus, we are going back to aluminum for certain products. They are more costly. Also, the energy expenditure to make aluminum is much higher than with plastic. Thus, the carbon footprint is fairly substantial. We can offset that through TerraPass, a company that offsets carbon emissions.
Statistics. On average it takes 450 years to break down plastic in landfill. Aluminum is 500 years. Glass will never break down. Aluminum is the most recycled substance in our waste stream. I feel good about using aluminum. We have also offered a refill option for our bug sprays, so another large piece of plastic is eliminated - the sprayer. In the next year, we will change over our garden balms and shea butters to aluminum containers also.
Shipping. The last thing I would like to speak to is Free Shipping. We are a small manufacture. Almost every day I hear the words free shipping. Thank You, Amazon. Nothing is really free though. The cost of shipping a product is added into the product cost or you get to pay a prime fee. We do offer free shipping on your orders over $75 and don’t charge you a fee or bake it into the cost. The average cost of shipping via the Postal Service is $9.50 a package, we charge $6. We also ship carbon neutral through UPS and offset our emissions for postal service packages. Not even Amazon does that. We switched to paper tape this year. A small thing, but all of our shipments are now 100% recyclable. Our peanuts can be dissolved in your kitchen sink or composted. The paper tape and the boxes we ship can be recycled, even the paper we use to print your invoice on is 100% recycled paper.
We are truly trying at Good Earth to do good by you and the environment. It is a complex world we live in. We are trying to navigate it the best we can and not be part of the problem. We love what we do and want nothing more than to be a company that you love too.
Thank you for helping me live out my dream. Without you and your loyalty, I would not be able to be live the life I love every day. Thank you for reading my ramblings… I will leave you with one of my favorite quotes.
“In the end, we will conserve only what we love; we will love only what we understand and we will understand only what we are taught.”
- Baba Dioum
XO ~Tracy
