Trees Don't Go To Hell When They Die

On the way to work this morning, I was struck with an idea. This often happens on my morning journey, despite my brain not having mopped away the cobwebs of sleep so early. Ideas are often jangled and disorganized. But, every once in a while, I'll get a good one; one I can build on and make into something more than just a flash of meandering electricity. And this one is one of those good ones.

This one is too good to keep to myself, and so I'm putting it out there in cyberspace. Setting it free, as it were, like a sparrow from a windowsill. Chances are, I might not get to making it a complete project and I want someone out there to take it and run with it. So, here it is in all its simplistic beauty.

If you're anything like me, you make a stop on the way to work for coffee (could be tea as well). Every morning I stop at the same coffee shop and order the same thing and give the same fake name to the cashier (thanks Shenry). Every morning, I walk away with a paper cup, a plastic lid and one of those brown cardboardy sleeves that goes over the cup so I don't burn my hand. Every morning, I feel the same guilt as I toss the whole package in the trash (sans coffee of course). The only bit of the ensemble that doesn't get stained or slobbered on is that sleeve thingy. Let's call it a "coffee condom", for the purposes of this blog.

It was while pondering these very facts that I had my idea. Why don't I just save the coffee condoms and take them back to the store at the end of each week? Sure, that's not a bad thought but, wait, it gets better... Okay then, maybe I should have some sort of incentive for bringing these things back, like a discount or points or something. After all, aren't I doing the shop a favor? Wouldn't that be 5 less coffee condoms a week that they'd have to spend their profits on? I might be someone who thinks about the environment, but how do we get everyone else to copy? And it gets even bigger...How about something like ~ "For every 5 coffee condoms collected, Coffe Company A will donate a buck or so to Charity B." It works like the pink Yoplait lids. For every so many turned in, Yoplait donates money to Breast Cancer charity. Yoplait increases their sales, Breast Cancer charity gets funding, consumer feels happy. It's win, win, win! It could work for coffee condoms too.

So, someone please take this idea and make it a reality. Since I don't currently have the resources to follow through, maybe someone out there will. For today, I'm going to write to Starbucks, etc. with my idea. Then, I'll work on researching ways to make something happen.

Sometimes, coffee does good things for my brain.