Start Good Blog

The documentary The Corporation, with its discussions of ways corporations end up hurting society, aided in my move towards becoming more socially and environmentally aware.  In it was a man I remember fondly and came across in the New York Times recently, Ray Anderson, CEO of Interface, a carpet tile company.  He spoke from the heart about discovering how destructive his company was to the environment and how he has steered his company to sustainability with a pledge to be completely sustainable by 2020.  With $1.1 billion in annual sales or 38% of global market share, this is no small feat and is almost an experiment in our time of if the green of the environment and the green of profits can coexist.  There have been a lot of gains by big business moving towards being more socially and environmentally friendly, however being completely sustainable, meaning having no net impact on the environment in every aspect, is far from what they are trying to achieve.  So far Interface has been successful with their green approach, so much so that it spawned a consulting branch to help other companies switch to sustainable practices.To this end, Ray Anderson is onto something much bigger than growing the profits of his own company, he is showing corporate America what is possible with sustainability.  Being green is quickly becoming the popular method to help a company, not just be good but also, do better business.  Over time there has many methods that has changed business, everything from the Henry Ford’s assembly line to Japan’s quality philosophy.  I see sustainable business as the next marker in history for business.  A trend that makes sense economically and just so happens does the world some good.

Bringing this down a level, how can you make your office a little more green?  Although the focus is usually on making your home green, it makes just as much sense to carry that into the workplace.  If you can save your boss some money through making a green choice, then not only did you save the business some cash, but you just made yourself look better too.  So follow Ray’s lead by going green at home and at the office and encourage companies you interact with, either professionally or as a consumer, to follow the (green) leader too.  Even if someone does not care about the environment, they usually do care about the bottom line and so use that to your advantage… in a good way.

People have all kinds of excuses for living an unhealthy life style, but those excuses do not hold up as well when you put them in perspective of doing harm not only to yourself, but to others. Being good to others is a good way to be good to yourself simultaneously. Although being good to others is often thought of as a charitable, totally altruistic thing, it reaps benefits for the actor as much as the receiver. Ever give someone a gift unexpectedly? Open a door for someone who had their hands full? Even small actions get you a heartfelt thanks and brings a smile to your own face. If that is not enough, there are some things anyone can do in their everyday actions that give more tangible and larger rewards to you and others.

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Greening my life pretty much has consumed much of my personal growth goals the past year or so. Mostly it all comprises constantly refining my life bit by bit, becoming less wasteful and more resourceful with each step. Last year I made shelves out of some DVD cases I was going to toss, I started using CD spindle covers to hold random cables that my gadgets need and I have made good on a promise not to buy any new clothes. Despite my continual efforts to audit my own waste, some obvious things never crossed my mind until I learned about them and some of the things I was doing, actually were not doing any good! With this in mind here is my list of the top 5 things I never realized until I really tried to go green.

1. Cutting Shower Water: I knew that short showers were the best showers, but I never thought of soaping up without wasting water until reading about “Navy Showers” at Tree Hugger. Now I stick to a quick spray, shutting the water off and then soaping up. Not only are my showers faster, but I am saving a lot of water by not leaving the shower running. The TreeHugger articles says:
   

   [A] typical shower takes as much as 230 L (60 US gallons) of water, while taking a navy shower can use as little 11 L (3 US gallons); one person can save 56,000 L (15,000 US gallons) per year!

   It is a bit tough to give up enjoying a constant flow of hot water but my green angel on my shoulder tells me I am doing the right thing and that feels great.

2. Disposable containers: I see people with coffee cups everyday and it makes me cringe. Read the rest of this entry »
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Hopefully by now, people know that CFL bulbs, the twisty ones, are great for the environment. It typically is the first green step that people take if they are trying to save energy and become more friendly to the planet. However, in almost every case where you need to replace or upgrade something, you can be green. For example, right now I have a big and loud desktop computer. It is so loud that I don’t want to use it and instead use my laptop since it is quiet and saves electricity. On the flip side though, I love watching movies using a computer and browsing the internet from a large TV screen is nice every now and then, so I would love to use my desktop as a multimedia unit. However because of the noise factor it is not the best thing to have running when I am watching a movie.

With this in mind I have looked into upgrading the case and power supply to eliminate noisy fans. So what does this have to do with being green?

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The World is Flat by Thomas Friedman has been the book to define the current American society in which the realities of globalization, terrorism and the slow fall of the US have arisen. Packed with insight, realism and fragile hopefulness, it has given a name, problem and solution to the things the US faces as a nation.

Because of the power behind his words and impeccable instinct, I am excited about his new direction: Green. This New York Times piece of his has been making rounds and hints at things to come from Friedman. It is long and has a lot of information, but all of it is important and he writes in a manner that I believe everyone can enjoy and appreciate. Bookmark this, because we will be reading this in the future, either in happiness or sadness at the accuracy of Friedman’s vision.

Tip: Don’t want to register? Use BugMeNot.com

Via EcoGeek

I did an article at EcoGeek about Sun Microsystems and Dave Douglas, their resident VP of eco-responsibility said:

[T]his is just good business. “Energy responsibility is about to become a society-wide business imperative,” he says. “All my projects have measurable business benefit. You might say the ‘eco’ in my title is for economics as well as ecology.”

Sustainable business really is Good business.

Read it here (CNN Money)

Continuing my journey to become a force of change, I attended Step It Up 2007 and it was a great success. News coverage of the event estimated over 1,300 people showed up for the march from Occidental Park to Myrtle Edwards Park. The purpose of the event was to get congress to cut carbon emissions by 80% by 2050. This number is commonly lauded as the amount needed for us to stabilize where we are now with the climate crisis and seen as a reachable goal with less than 2% reductions every year needed.

The numbers can be debated but consensus on the problem of climate change has become nearly unanimous and that could be seen by the support for the rally last Saturday. I met up with fellow UW students in Red Square, and after taking a group photo, we all bussed down to Occidental Park to meet up with the main Seattle cause. Reaching our stop, we walked down to the park, passing rows and rows of Seattle PD and their motorcycles, awaiting to escort us. From afar, I saw a large crowd already there and the energy already was palpable. The view comforted me, with a large cross section of Seattle all coming together to march for the planet. It reminded me of Green Drinks, feeling not so much at home, as at ease and proud of the people I live near.

Music, along with signs, filled the air, building up the level of excitement as the time to begin the walk neared. Eventually, volunteers gathered around and started directing us to the march. A row of children led the procession, carrying a sign with our cry, “Step It Up Congress, Cut Carbon 80% by 2050.” The march was lively, despite Seattle rain, with various chants and cheers keeping the beat of the cause as we walked along against the piers on Elliot. A few people on the sidelines held signs and shouted support; a special toddler held a sign reading “I hope I can snowboard when I grow up.”

A group at Myrtles Edwards Park welcomed us warmly with an audience of applause on our arrival to the solutions fair. A brave person stood in the cold water, dressed as a polar bear and reminding us of what might happen in the future (bringing many smiles too though). Various organizations set up tents and tables with information on their green contributions and educating park goers on their activities. Electric and biodiesel transportation populated the fair, and it was nice to see up close the kinds of alternative transportation being made. Everything from the vegetable oil powered trucks to 100 mpg cars were on display. Other green organizations, from The Sightline Institute to Patagonia to Grist participated in the event also.

CFLs, the twisty lightbulbs of choice today, were handed out and a photo captured a group of us holding them up proudly under the now shining sun. The weather clearing up after the long march, a reward for those that made the trek. Afterwards, I left for home, unfortunately missing out on the speakers lined up for the rally, including Ron Sims, Jay Inslee, and Greg Nickels, among others. The important thing is that the local government is supporting the event though.

Overall, I felt that the day was successful, not just for me, but for the green movement in general. Hopefully events like these will propel the importance of our planet forward and help build the momentum needed to get people and the government to change. At this point though, I am already excited to see what is next.

See more reports of the Seattle event.

Energy and enthusiasm sum up Green Drinks. I have never felt so good about the people around me. It is a bit odd, but I really have not talked to anyone passionate about the environment face to face other than with a professor I had almost 2 years ago. Joining EcoGeek opened up a new world to me and was a huge boon to my green motivation. This did the same but was on a different level. Being around green conscious Seattle-ites just felt right.

Although I still went through my (unfortunately) regular shyness phase, I had a lot of great conversations with some very interesting people. I met a woman who started an organization called DenCity Research to provide green housing to Iraq veterans. The idea came up from an epiphany she had that many Iraq vets come back with a passion for reducing dependence on foreign oil and also many return homeless. I also met a college student promoting Kale as a food (Eat Your Kale) via T-Shirts, a green architect, a software engineer that was looking to move from corporate to green and a chocolatier.

Ahh chocolate. Autumn, the woman I spoke with, really wanted me to blog on EcoGeek about the company she works for but I have yet to think of a way to make it fit with our audience, but hopefully a small shoutout at my humble startup will suffice for now. The company, Theo Chocolate, is the only organic and fair trade chocolate producer in the United States. Impressive, huh? There has been a lot of controversy about cacao beans, the fruit seeds that are the source of chocolate, since often they are harvested with child (slave) labor. Anyway, they sell all across the US and online also. She mentioned that they give many tours, with free samples, so I think I’m going to schedule an excursion with some friends to check it out.

Well, Start Good Mission: Green Drinks went well. I hope it only gets better!

Photo Credit: Gillo via Flickr

My journey towards starting good starts with this blog, but also in my community. This weekend I am going to join Step It Up, as mentioned below and then today I am going to my first Green Drinks. Green Drinks is a casual, group of people that meet once every month to connect with other people in the green industry. The website describes it much better than I can, especially without having gone!

Green Drinks International

Every month people who work in the environmental field meet up for a beer at informal sessions known as Green Drinks.

We have a lively mixture of people from NGOs, academia, government and business. Come along and you’ll be made welcome. Just say, “are you green?” and we will look after you and introduce you to whoever is there.It’s a great way of catching up with people you know and also for making new contacts. Everyone invites someone else along, so there’s always a different crowd, making Green Drinks an organic, self-organising network.

These events are very simple and unstructured, but many people have found employment, made friends, developed new ideas, done deals and had moments of serendipity. It’s a force for the good and we’d like to help it spread to other cities. Contact your local node to get the latest info about coming along.

You can also email edwin [at] greendrinks [dot] org if you want some tips on how to set up Green Drinks in your City.

The one in Seattle is at 6:00PM at 5th and Madison, a new building that was created with sustainability and efficiency in mind. I’m a bit warry because I’m timid around strangers but it should be a good experience regardless.

With Step It Up, I hope I can gain some insight on the pulse of Seattle and climate change this week. Also, I think it will be interesting as I am using Facebook as a tool to get people to go to Step It Up this weekend, we’ll see how successful I am with it. My results will be posted here after the event, along with a review and critique of Greendrinks and a critique of myself!

Inside the Monkeysphere
An interesting look into how we, as humans, think and view the world and others. The site uses monkeys to make learning about the limitations of human understanding a little more fun. Although it is “fun”, the implications of what is being said is enormous. Unfortunately, we are predisposed to being closed-minded and it takes conscious effort to not succumb to that.

Timebucks
Timebucks is a unique business that hopes to capitalize on people’s skills and services they need by providing a way to trade services. Using “time-bucks” as funds, people earn “time-bucks” by either purchasing them or by providing services to others. “Time-bucks” can also be bought for $1 a unit, with a standardized pricing of 15 “time-bucks” for all services. So why is this good? Because the motivation is to help others, instead of profit from them. Think social capital instead of monetary capital. Also the “time-bucks” can be donated to non-profit organizations and a small amount is used to keep themselves sustained.

Step It Up
April 14th is going to be a big day for climate change as many prepare to rally in various communities. The message this year is “Step it up, Congress! Cut Carbon 80% by 2050!” The site helps individuals to organize and plan their own events and has sign-ups for others to join in. I expect a pretty big showing this year across the country since the build-up over climate change has been rising dramatically, especially with Al Gore’s An Inconvenient Truth getting so much media coverage.