As we like to remind you, Greener Thinking is a dual meaning, to save the environment while making money. Nike has finally taken this to heart and created a new “Environmentally Friendly” shoe. 

This shoe was made from scraps of other shoes, recycled rubber bits and a more environmentally friendly rubber sole. There is rumor that Nike will save millions of dollars while using this new design process. One problem I can see is that it does not look like this savings are going to be passed down to the consumer. The new line of shoes costs about $230. I don’t know about you but my theory is that if you can buy five tanks of gas at today’s prices for the price of a pair of shoes, you should go for what can get you the most miles. I know, I know, I like jogging too but there are really good shoes that are about a third of the price of these new shoes.

Hopefully this new idea of manufacturing with leftovers instead of throwing them in the garbage catches on. In the long run this will help shoe manufacturers make more money and also help people like you and me purchase some quality shoes without loosing our entire wallet. 

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Nike
PSFK
Wall Street Journal

You may remember that I wrote an article last June (Want to make some Green?) about some “Green” investments I suggested looking into. Well, I thought it was about time to do some research to see how things have gone since I wrote the article. The dire conditions of the economy over this time period are well documented, but I found there were some bright spots. I found that, despite little movement or losses in many of the categories, the solar energy industry did exceptional over this time. With many of the stocks doubling or even tripling over the past eight months (or even more if you sold at the right time), this was by far the best area to invest in that I covered in the article. I have to admit that I am surprised by the poor showing of the Ethanol and Fuel Cell categories of stocks. Although, their poor performances may have more to do with the overall state of the nation’s economy as well as that of the American car companies than it does with those specific industries. I believe that, even though some of these companies have not performed that well over the past few months, as time continues the potential to make money off these stocks will rise. I suspect that many more small alternative energy companies will spring up and most will be weeded out due to so much competition, but some will grow and grow to become large energy companies of the future. The demand for the products is here, now we just need one of these companies to come up with the right technology to produce something everyone is waiting for. 

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Want to make some Green? Part 1