LOVE ANGELES

Best Buy Launches Excellent New Buy Back Program

Source: GOOD - As we have mentioned once or twice before, when you toss your old electronics in the trash they usually end up languishing in a landfill, and that's a problem because of the myriad toxic chemicals they contain.

But Best Buy, which already has an incredible recycling policy, is providing a new Buy Back Program that should help mitigate the e-waste problem. Starting this month, you can opt in to the Buy Back Program when you get a new TV, phone, laptop, or tablet. Any time within two years, you can bring your gadget back in and get a gift card worth as much as 50 percent of its original price. The electronics Best Buy gets back are refurbished and sold or recycled.

For a $1,300 laptop, for example, opting in to the Buy Back Program costs $70, but if you bring it back in two years later you'll get $260 back. It's a way of staying up to date, saving some money, and ensuring your old phone isn't leeching carcinogenic cadmium into the water table somewhere (at least not yet).

Richard Branson’s Son Wants To Be An Environmental Filmmaker

Source: Ecorazzi - Sam Branson may have a billionaire celebrity father, but he definitely does not fit the typical “entitled son/playboy” mold. By all accounts actually, he seems kind of normal — with a drive to make a name for himself and escape the shadow of his dad.

“I know there’s an automatic interest in me because of Dad, but what counts is what I do with it,” he tells the UK Daily Mail. “When I was a kid, being photographed at events, I felt like a fraud, thinking, ‘Why are they taking pictures of me? What have I done with my life?’ Now I know what I want to do.”

Much like his father, Sam is interested in making a difference for the planet. “I want to make documentaries about global issues like climate change in a young, funky and cool way so audiences can relate to them,” he says.
After three inspiring trips to the Arctic, Sam setup a production company in 2009 called Current Sponge — designed to “inspire people by delivering powerful messages via imaginative formats and concepts.”

“Going to the Arctic gave me self-belief and made me see the world in a new way,” he says. “I came back from that trip and believed I could do anything.”
While he’s only 25, it’s great to see someone with resources and passion out there looking to make a difference for the planet. In a way, he reminds me of David de Rothschild, another committed environmentalist with deep pockets and a desire to do good. The world could certainly use more of both.