The Essentia Blog

Within the Walls of an Eco-Friendly Mattress Company

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Entries Tagged as 'Day-to-Day'

Pint of Sweat Anyone?

July 23rd, 2008 · No Comments

The average person sweats about 1 pint each night. That’s 365 pints/year. lol

I recently came across an old times article where the people over at Hastens and Magniflex used this fact as a selling tool. Just goes to show the importance of a breathable sleep surface.

Very few companies offer a truly cool sleep because it requires natural materials and fabrics….the expensive stuff. You tend not to find these natural materials in mattress made by big brands such as Sealy, Serta, King Koil, Stearns and Foster. They’re making absurd margins with cheaper materials, why would they change?

Natural, typically = breathable

Going with a specialty mattress brand is by far your best bet to getting the zzzzzz’s . ;-)

Tags: Day-to-Day

Worm Poop. What’s Not To Love?

July 22nd, 2008 · No Comments

Terracycle sells worm poop as fertilizer in recycled bottles. It performs better than chemical fertilizers and it’s cheaper! Pretty impressive stuff.

Check for it at your local Wal Mart or Home Depot.

Tags: Day-to-Day

Soy Memory Foam is Misleading

June 27th, 2008 · No Comments

soy memory foam

Ok, so you want the skinny on soy memory foam mattresses?

The Soy memory foam or Plant Based memory foam available is a maximum of 15% soy…the rest is the same old petroleum based foam. When i say 15, it’s generous. It’s usually only 2-10% soy.

- Is it healthier to sleep on? No
- Does it prevent the strong chemical odor? No
- Is it green? Depends on your standards

Soy in not included in the top layer of the mattresses….which is the actual memory foam portion of the mattress. The soy in added to the base foam. This is the industry’s way of going green. Lets put salad in our 3 patty hamburger and call it the Healthy Supreme Burger ;) . Big Mattress Co are like every other billion dollar industry. Smoke and Mirrors.

Ford developed a foam which replaces an impressive 40% of the standard petroleum-based polyol used in seating materials with a soy-derived material. Their new tv commercial boasts this soy-based Bio-Foam seat filler. More soy for everyone! Let’s start burning down the rainforest for soy fields. Oh yeah, we’ve been doing that for years now. Silly me.

Big $$$$$$$$ is also saved by going with soy because it reduces the amount of petroleum used in the foam.

Now if they’d used recycled bedding foam in the car seats, that would have impress me!

All this to say that soy memory foam or plant based foam available today is the same old chemical odor rich foam that’s hot to sleep in wrapped in a nice green bow :grin:

We have the only true natural memory foam.

Tags: Day-to-Day

IT Recycling

June 26th, 2008 · No Comments

old-crt.jpgInformation Technology is sinking a huge environmental footprint.

Here’s what you can do:
1) Check the manufacturer’s website before you buy; see if they take responsibility for their out-dated desk tops.
2) Look to local recycling centers.
- Type in “Computer Recycling YOUR CITY” in Google and there’s a great chance you’ll find one. They’ll dispose of it safely by neutralizing the lead, mercury and cadmium.

Data exchange uses about 1% of the energy output for the entire nation. Many companies are opting to replace the CRT (cathode ray tubes in the monitor) with LCD. The heat generated by high-speed drives raises cooling costs; while choosing a slower spin green hard drives for simple data storage lowers consumption significantly. HP even has a environmentally friendly computer. The Energy Star website will give you the latest tips for making your next IT purchase greener.

Tags: Day-to-Day

Mattress without Fire Retardants

June 23rd, 2008 · No Comments

Did you know all Essentia mattresses sold within Canada don’t contain fire retardants.

Fire retardants are in practically every mattress on the market. Some companies even use PDDE and boric acid in their FR’s which is kinda frightening. Leaching into your body like hand cream many chemicals used accumulate in your body.

Luckly Canada has not passed a law requiring us to use fire retardants. So all mattresses shipped within Canada do not contain fire retardants. However, for all mattresses shipped to the U.S. we use a Kevlar fire retardant which is probably the most expensive FR on the market but it’s as clean as it gets. It’s illegal to sell mattresses that don’t contain FR in the U.S. A doctors note stating you do not want FR is the only way for us to send FR free mattresses to the U.S.

Check out the recent article in the Montreal Gazette entitled “We’re in Chemical Overload“. More info on toxic fire retardants.

Tags: Day-to-Day

Fast Food Garbage Inside and Out

June 11th, 2008 · 1 Comment

tackout garbagePackaging, state officials say, accounts for about 1/3 of the 18 million tons of garbage generated in New York alone each year. The garbage generated by the fast food industry is both dangerous to peoples health and the environment.

Nutrition labels tell us that a Big Mac is 52% fat and 45% sodium, so we switch to the Chicken McGrill which weighs in at half the fat and sodium levels. The problem is that the container the Chicken is served in is no better than the Big Mac container.

Styrofoam containers, non-biodegradable plastic cutlery, straws and cup lids pile up in garbage dumps. What makes this abhorrent display of recklessness even worse is that utensils made from corn and potato starch are available for biodegradable take-out supplies.

Don’t count on restaurants making the change for you. Bring your own cutlery, re-usable mugs, sealable serving dishes. Yeah, it’s kinda weird but you’ll get used to it. If anything, the more people do it the more restaurants will have to change their ways because of all the inconvenience we’ll be causing them. ;-)

Can we expect an industry who profits by selling unhealthy food to humans to care what its by-products do to the environment?

Tags: Day-to-Day

Toronto Loves our Mattresses!

June 10th, 2008 · No Comments

TorontoPeople in Toronto are loving our natural memory foam mattresses.

Website traffic is increasing weekly and we’re finally getting almost as many Canadians as Americans buying our memory foam mattresses. They love the fact we’re Canadian and make everything in Canada. ;-)

Essentia Memory Foam Mattress
It’s clear Torontonians are telling their friends about our green mattresses by the calls we’ve been receiving. I’d like to thank everyone because getting the word out has been kinda daunting given all the big brand names on the market.

It’s nice to have a product that can generate word-of-mouth support. We’re doing our best to keep on top of things.

Other popular cities for us include:
- Mississauga
- Ottawa
- Brampton
- Oakville.

Shipping mattresses to Toronto is a breeze compared to California and BC…..Keep’em coming!

Tags: Day-to-Day

Genetically Modified Life is Irreversible

May 23rd, 2008 · No Comments

Genetic modified foods are the most frightening environmental catastrophes I’ve come to know. Most pollution is reversible but genetic pollution is truly dangerous because it is not. Monsanto, worlds largest manufacture of GMO seeds and the pesticides that follow, have a history of manufacturing products with devastating health consequences. Remember PCB’s, DDT, Agent Orange and Aspertame? These are not people we should be trusting with our food and the health of our planet.

Now welcome to the world of genetically modified fish

Greed is the sole reason for genetic engineering, don’t let anyone tell you otherwise. Do your best to choose non GMO foods and starts talking to your friends about this. These companies cannot compete against us as a whole.

More reason to choose organic ;-) …. it’s for the good of everyone.

Tags: Day-to-Day · Video

Buy 1 Acre of Rainforest for $15

May 21st, 2008 · No Comments

buy-an-acre.jpgHere’s your opportunity to buy 1 acre of rainforest for just $15.

The rainforest is being burned for soy and palm plantations as well as to raise cattle.

The rush for Biofuels is also fueling this destruction and according to Greenpeace “a handful of international corporations are ultimately responsible for the slashing and burning of Indonesia’s peatland forests for food, fuel and laundry detergent. Some of the best known brands in the world are literally cooking the climate.”

Approximately 1 acre per second, or 86,400 acres per day are lost through tropical deforestation which accounts which accounts for 20% of global carbon dioxide emissions.

Buy 1 acre of rainforest for just $15.

Tags: Day-to-Day

Official 1% For The Planet Members

May 20th, 2008 · No Comments

1-blue.jpgWe are now official 1% For The Planet members.

Members donate 1% of their sales to pre-approved environmental causes. Not sure who we’ll be donating too this year but i’ll certainly mention it in a future post. Many non-profits to choose from.

Many company who donate millions per year never even come close to their 1% so we’re very proud to be part of this.

If you own a company please consider joining 1% for the planet.

Tags: Day-to-Day