All Posts Tagged With: "green"

Today, I am feeling very grateful to be blessed with so many inspiring friends and colleagues. Artists have a unique, passionate way of seeing the world around them. They bring us unexpected and surprising creations that help us to wake up to the beauty and wonder that’s all around us. In honor of the upcoming Valentine’s Day holiday, this is my valentine to all of you.

My artist friend, Doug Retzler, is a force in the Baltimore arts scene. I always see him at street fairs and events, like the Baltimore Eco-Festival, doing amazing things that delight kids and adults alike. Whether it’s a community-constructed bamboo shelter or an Art Car for the American Visionary Arts Museum, Doug brings delight, vision, and a sense of fun to his work. In a recent email to me, he noted, “Luckily, I never let reality get in my way.”

Chris Armstrong is a client and a great photographer. She recently send me this image. Isn’t it stunning?

I loved working with Chris and her husband and partner, Jess, because they were so fearless and tireless in their quest to realize their dream. Renovating an old barn into a photography studio is one of the most romantic architectural briefs I can imagine. We used to give out projects like this in architecture school. They walked the talk in all ways possible — from salvaged materials, to solar-heating (and cooling- really!), to working with local Amish craftsmen, their studio truly is of its place. Treat yourself by spending some time with their portfolio. The engaging images of Amish country and of their many animals (including the Alpacas) are my personal favorites.

In the spirit of these artists’ passion and vision, here’s a Valentine’s Day thought for you, from “You(squared)” by Price Pritchett:

“Quantum leaps won’t happen if you’re living life with a lukewarm heart. Passion is a very important part of the process. It fires the soul and fills the spirit. . . .Passion also keeps you going when you’re hit with problems and uncertainty. But passion itself must be fueled, and you feed that flame with visions of a dream that is dramatic. The emotional intensity inside must burn hot enough to protect you against the chilling effects of doubt, uncertainty, criticism, and failure. Only deep desire can generate such heat.”

Here’s to a white-hot Valentine’s Day and to the power of your dreams.

A question I hear a lot from my clients is, what else can I be doing to go green? In addition to helping them to organize what they are already doing in a more systematic way, I always have suggestions of how to take it further. (For a first-hand experience of organizing your thoughts in a systematic way, tune into my special FR*EE call this Thursday, 11/12 at 4:00 p.m. EST, “How to Overcome Green Overload in Your Small Business: 5 Steps for Cutting Through the Clutter.” Follow this link for more info, and to register.)

So. . . .on the topic of taking green a little further. . . .You’re probably aware of studies that have been done on the links between eating animal protein and human health. But have you heard that commercial meat production is a major contributor to climate change? The UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization estimates the global meat industry generates 18% of the man-made greenhouse gas emissions that are accelerating climate change worldwide . . . far more than transportation.

Why not try going meatless one day a week? Since everything is interconnected, you’ll find that the benefits ripple through several other areas, including your health and your wallet. Read more at Meatless Monday, a great resource from the Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health.

On Friday, October 2, everyone on GOforChange’s email list will receive a link to a complimentary Special Report, "4 Success Secrets of Going Green." At GOforChange, we create leaders in the green movement by giving entrepreneurs and small business owners  the freedom and confidence that comes from learning a green mindset. Together, we cultivate their expertise to increase profitability, satisfaction and success by going green. Today, we reveal the first success secret of going green:

#1. Green is not a "bolt-on" solution.

In your desire to go green, it’s natural to go for things, rather than making systemic changes. As you look for solutions to your problems, shortcuts are very appealing.

That’s why there is an explosion of eco-products out there: green cleaners, hemp clothing, solar panels. These are all great choices, but you can’t just buy your way to green. First, there isn’t enough money in the world for that! Second (and better) if you take the time to develop a green consciousness, you will begin to see much more effective solutions right in front of you.

Green-minded people look for connections, cooperate rather than compete, see abundance instead of scarcity, choose partnership over control, and celebrate interdependence.

You will start to see the solutions that have been there all along. The more connected you feel – to yourself, your networks, your community, the earth – the more ideas will come to you, effortlessly.

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This is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to cultivating your green leadership. Be sure to join our mailing list, if you haven’t yet — it’s the box right under the daisy on the upper right. You will receive our beautifully-illustrated, chock-full of tips, "GO Green Guide" as a thank-you. AND you’ll receive that special link to the full "4 Secrets of Green" report.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EaOJrJ_oqFU[/youtube]

Today we have a guest review of "Hot, Flat, and Crowded," by Peter Van Buren of TerraLogos Energy Services . (Yes, they are re-branding! Expect the full roll-out of that in early September.)

First, the title bothered me. Plus, I am to the point where I am unable to take in any more information about how bad things are.

However, after the 12th good friend told me that I really should read this book, I checked it out from the library. They were right – it is excellent.

Friedman pulls no punches about what the future holds in store for us. But, he shows us the "quintessentially American opportunity" inherent in this crisis and encourages us to rise to the occasion.

I have pieced together some of my favorite excerpts on a downloadable PDF . They include utility company CEO’s extolling the business benefits of energy efficiency, and Green Hawks in the army explaining how to out-green Al Qaeda. My favorite, though, is the speech by a 12-year-old Canadian girl to world leaders at the 1992 Earth Summit in Rio. Her appeal is even more poignant and important today (page 6 of the excerpts).

She and I encourage you to Go Code Green !

(Editor’s note: if you live outside of Baltimore, MD, and you want to purchase the book, get it at Powell’s , the enormous independent bookstore in Portland, OR. In Baltimore, I encourage you to support one of our wonderful local stores — Breathe Books or The Ivy.)

I recently posed this question on several LinkedIn green groups and was surprised to get so many answers with a wide range of opinions. Most of them advocated systemic expressions of sustainability: green business, policy and regulation, economic incentives, standards, strategic planning, and simple common sense. A few mentioned awareness-building: education, marketing campaigns ("green is good"), and mission statements. The rest championed tools like directories, handbooks, and websites. One outlier suggested that sometimes the answer is just in a state of mind.

In the spirit of Ken Wilber and Integral , in one sense they are all right. Just not 100% right, to the exclusion of the others. I found it intriguing that the majority of them oriented towards systems, technologies, and policy, and only one touched on the metaphysical. Yet, consciousness of our innermost motivations, values, and beliefs is critical to the success of any greening initiative, whether personal or organizational.

As we make the transition from short-term, fear- and anxiety-based motivations to more long-term, optimistic and effective motivations, it’s important to bring greater consciousness to what’s behind our behaviors. Shining the light of awareness on how and whether our needs are being met can be transforming.

At GOforChange, we believe strongly that eco-friendly strategies are far better at meeting the full range of our needs than tired, wasteful consumerism. We are designing a process to help people bring that awareness to their own lives, called Your EcoBlueprint . One clear benefit is that it eliminates the mismatch between people’s "shoulds" and their actual behavior, giving them a fresh perspective on which green strategies actually work for them. Your EcoBlueprint is as unique as your fingerprint!

We invite you to give us your thoughts and feedback. What are the struggles or challenges you have with making green a priority? Is big-picture visioning a distraction from necessary action, or a helpful North Star? How are you negotiating the glut of information out there? We would love to hear stories of your ah-hah moments, successes, roadblocks, and your favorite awareness practices! Drop us a line through the contact page, or comment here.

B-more Productive was the title given to one of this year’s Urbanite projects . This particular project asked the question: what could a typical Baltimore homeowner or renter be doing to increase the use of small open space for the production of food and energy? I was fortunate enough to work with Catherine Pancake and Dru Schmidt-Perkins to help visualize this idea by taking an existing row-house and illustrating various opportunities of adding solar panels to the sides of a houses, cultivating edible weeds and taking up beekeeping. Watch a video interview with each Urbanite Project team and if this doesn’t make sparks fly, see a video about a 300-year-old 2-acre food garden in Vietnam. Both examples fully define sustainability and doing a lot with a little can absolutely be the gift that keeps giving.

In other news:

Cafe Hon just bought wind power and they did the math and figured they would save $11,000. on their utility bill in one year! Read more from WJZ.

There are two new green renovation companies in Baltimore; Shelter and Green Building Alternatives.

Article mentioning Transition Towns for DC. There is talk about bringing the idea to Baltimore. Check back soon for more info.

I’ve been thinking a lot lately about what motivates people to change, to – in the parlance – "go green." In our upcoming 4-part teleclass, "Your EcoBlueprint: Three Keys to Transforming Your Life and Work ," we will be exploring this in depth.

A compelling, inspired vision is the first step towards mapping out strategies that matter the most to us. Vision and a good map also help to sort through the mind-boggling amount of information, opinions, lists, and tools that have come along on the last few years. This class will provide a framework to craft a clear path for ourselves.

One important thing to keep in mind is that it’s not about being green or not-green. Our motivation comes from a much deeper place – the need to heal our separation, to reconnect in all ways – to ourselves, to our communities, to nature. Our sense of separation keeps us anxious, fearful, lonely.

When we seek to reconnect, we are butting up against centuries of worldview that humans are separate from, and superior to, nature. This notion has threaded through a great deal of recent human history, leading to domination, exploitation, and degradation. It has caused potentially irreversible damage to our planet’s climate, to ecosystems, to biodiversity. Ironically, it also keeps us from taking our place in the community of living things. Being awake to the havoc we have wreaked causes great suffering and guilt. It’s hard not to come away concluding that we are a bad species, in the words of Paul Stamets, that faces "the possibility of being rejected by the biosphere as a virulent organism." (Mycelium Running , p.1)

Yet, many of us have the intuition that a deeply satisfying life can heal our relationships with ourselves, our neighbors, and the planet. Continued