Buy, By, Bye

In this holiday season, I am once again struck by the influence of consumerism and its effects on the environment.

First, Sandra sent me a link to the Story of Stuff - great little video from Free Range Studios - it is 20 minutes of pure gold explaining how consumerism is at the heart of the environmental crises. How we have been "re-trained" to buy, buy, buy. How events like Christmas have been turned into the Consumer Super Bowl to drive the economy resulting in havoc to environment and us. Watch it. Show it to your kids. Share it with your entire family and with your friends.

Second, so Sandra decides that this year, this holiday season, we will not be giving gifts, at least not the type driven by a consumer society bent on destruction, poison and disposability. This season we are giving gifts on your behalf to non-profits that stop this destructive cycle. I told a colleague about Sandra's plan. She told me, "Yeah, I tried that one year and I was left with nothing but un-happy kids and was made out to be the Grinch..." Sure, I can see how this happens, but there has to be a better way to stop the consumerism and still be able to give. So beyond the donations to non-profits, we are re-gifting - recycling old gifts - recycling things that we like and turning them "new" again. No, you won't be getting my torn, old shirts as a present. But that DVD of Season One of "Weeds" that you haven't seen yet, well I've seen it and it is new to you. So enjoy. It will come wrapped in newspaper.

Third, the greatest gift I can give now, is my time, time being fully present with my family and loved ones. So that's where I'm off to now...

Oh the Places You Will Go

I was recently asked in an email introduction, "How did you go from enterprise software in the US to saving rainforests and creating eco-developments in Mexico?" The short answer, accidentally, OK, if you want to know the real answer, it is my wife's fault. I blame it all on her. When did it start, well most of that story is on the website of Rainforest2Reef, read Our Story. But even that was an evolution the culmination in genetic mutation came when you realize that conservation can only truly happen with less and less consumerism.

I just saw a funny bit by George Carlin about the 10 Commandments. In it reduces the list of 10 to just 2 or 3. When he gets to "thou shall not covet" he basically says, if we stop that, we stop the entire economic engine. Way to go George.

So back to the transformation to Accidental Environmentalist, its actually a fairly easy path. When I look back at all the crap I used to do, like hawk movies for HBO or mobility software, when ever you were dealing with a really shitty situation, you always had to remind yourself, "hey, this isn't brain surgery, I'm just hawking movies...", but when you are working on saving the planet, now that has a different ring to it all together. Sure if feels good to say it. Sure you feel real guilty when you go out and buy something new (that you really didn't need), sure you feel like it is an uphill battle against swarm of mongrels, but in the end, the people that are on your side and the rewards from small wins are simply "priceless". I see more and more people slowly make the move from the dark side to join forces with us, this is the mother of all battles and we will prevail.

Now this might sound religious to you. No, I'm no zealot. Being "converted" is more about learning, about becoming aware of what is happening, knowing what you eat, knowing what you consume, understanding the sources and contents of all you consume. In the end, it all goes back to consumerism, knowledge, common sense and following your gut. Take Food - How difficult is it to understand that if pesticides kill bugs, they can kill you too (maybe more slowly, but still hasten your death). Step one, buy organic. Then you make the next leap, buy local. The same happens in other areas of your life, like transportation, entertainment, medicine/healthcare, your home, your vacations, your life...step one, then the next leap and the next.

The great thing about us human beings, we adapt. Oh the places we will go, come join me for all the beer you can drink and lets talk about it some more...

Death to Zealots

Had lunch with Rob Caughlan today. What a force of nature. His inspirations: his mom, JFK (what can you do for your country) and Jacques Cousteau (don't be a follower of someone like me, go do your own thing). I invited him to join the board of R2R, I hope he joins us. We spoke of turtles and surfing, over population and John Doerr, the new Pambo and PLC.org , Amazing Grace and Blessed Unrest. What a wise man with such great stories. Part of his message, be an environmentalist, or find your cause, but what ever you do, have fun. That he does. He is also working on a documentary about Pete McCloskey. He needs about $25K to finish the project, wanna donate to make this happen, drop me a line.

GreenBuild Chicago 2007

GreenBuild was way too big, too many people, with diminishing marginal returns. Highlights: while Clinton was the keynote, the show was stolen by the chairman of United Technologies who admitted to his company being responsible for 5% of current carbon emissions. Like any addict the first step is to admit responsibility, next comes the 12 steps to recovery. Having the chairman of a Fortune 50 (47th in 2006) admit culpability and begin to outline solutions was remarkable. The next highlight was Joe van VanBellegham of Three Point Properties. It was truly inspirational to hear a developer of that size outline a complete and almost regenerative vision of development. After the weeks events, I had time to stop by dad's grave site and leave a stone for each member of the family.

4 Convenient Moments

Here is another great video on Global Warming and what you can do to stop it. This video is like watching "An Inconvenient Truth" in Spanish in 4 minutes. Can't beat that! Unless, someone can find it in English.

Ayuda a Calderón

This video by Greenpeace in Mexico criticises the government of President Calderon for his policies related to tree planting projects. They claim that close to 50% of trees planted the first year die making the program less than 50% effective and funds highly wasteful. Their recommendation is to work with local Ejidos to fund them to plant trees and manage forests. See the video completed for http://www.rainforest2reef.org/ by Rana Lee TV, Guardians of the Selva Maya. This video shows a community program we support to do exactly what Greenpeace recommends.

The moral of the story: Environmental programs, like so many other projects, need local sponsors and local partners who have a vested interest in the success of the endeavor.

Guardians of the Selva Maya

This video about the Tree Planting Project is part of the community development activities of Rainforest2Reef. It was screened recently at the Toas Film Festival.

Carbon Ranching?

IN an op-ed piece in the NY Times, Sat, June 16th, Willam Powerss and Gelnn Hurowitz write about the need for "Carbon Ranching" and the economic value of land conservation. In their words:

"Its survival is the fruit of one of the first experiments in carbon ranching: allowing polluters to make up for their greenhouse gas emissions by paying third world countries like Madagascar to preserve their tropical forests.

Programs like this represent the world’s best hope to save vanishing tropical forests and avert global climate catastrophe.

Reversing tropical deforestation could be surprisingly cheap and easy because it can be driven by simple economics. Right now, it’s worth more to a logging company or a peasant to convert the rainforest to stumps or soybeans than it is to leave that rainforest intact. One hectare (about 2.5 acres) of forest cleared and converted to ranchland or crops produces a piece of land worth, on average, $200 to $500. But that’s nothing compared to the value of preserving the rainforest as a sponge for carbon dioxide.

On European markets, the right to emit one ton of carbon dioxide trades today at more than $20. With each hectare of intact rainforest storing around 500 tons of carbon dioxide, that means that each hectare has a value of $10,000 as carbon dioxide storage, far more than the value of even the most productive tea or soy plantation.

As a recent World Bank report put it, “Farmers are destroying a $10,000 asset to create one worth $200.” To the farmer or agribusiness corporation, of course, that makes perfect sense, because that $10,000 is all theoretical. It can’t put food on the table or deliver dividends to shareholders."

Amen brothers.

LOHAS 11

LOHAS is an acronym for Lifestyles of Health and Sustainability. Read more about it on the LOHAS website. To me, it represents our target audience for much of what we are doing now including Playa Viva, Casa Viva, Calakmul, Rainforests2Reefs and more. I call them the "Whole Foods Shopping, Prius Driving, Yoga Class taking" consumers. The conference reinforced my belief that this group shops based on their values first.

Two big highlights from this conference:

1. TerraCycle - You got to love these guys. Their product is Garbage (Worm Pop and Worm Tea used as organic plant food. Their packaging is garbage (recycled plastic bottles). They develop a recycling program with schools and other organizations to raise money by recycling bottles for them. We hope to work with TerraCycle to develop a recycling program in Mexico. Mexico has a huge problem due to the cultural habit of burning trash. Now that PET Plastic bottles are part of the trash (rather than traditional all organics), the burning of PET releases poisonous and cancer causing dioxins into the air and ground water supply.


2. LivingHomes - We visited with Steve Glenn - founder and user of LivingHomes. His house is the model and it is a model. It is a prefab green home, so green that he achieved Platinum LEED Certification. Steve has thought of everything, from xeriscape roof garden, solar radian heat, denatured alcohol fume free fireplace, undersink composter and my favorite system of all is his computer system for tracking energy usage in real time. I thought watching and working the MPG meter in my Prius was a challenge befitting the Accidental Environmentalist, try monitoring and optimizing all the electrical use in your home. It woudl be nice to create pre-fab, modern green beach home project...maybe we can convince Steve to join us on our next project.

This was my first LOHAS conference, it was VERY LA (sitting in on Mariel Hemingway pitching her new book was just one example). Looking forward to this event moving back to Colorado next year.

SVN 20th Anniversay

So I joined SVN, Social Venture Network, a few months ago and attended my fist SVN member gathering, which happened to be its 20th anniversary. This was one of the best decisions of my life and one of the best events I've ever attended. What made it so great. First the people, the quality of people and the work they are doing. Second, the inspiration, just when you thought you were doing everything right, these folks show you what it really means to "do it right". So you want examples of what I mean by this, I can give you two:

1) Judy Wicks and White Dog Cafe - Not only is Judy a pioneer but she keeps on innovating. It was not enough to be organic, she had to be local, and then when she was local, she provided those resources to her competition to help the local community farmers. Her commitment is to the health of the community.

2) Bernie Glassman - and then their is Bernie - he truly is a Zen Master. But his commitment to socially responsible ventures is in one word, "inspiring". Here is just a slice of his story, more on his website:

Greyston Bakery. Founded in 1982 in the southwest corner of Yonkers, a poor neighborhood beset by high unemployment, violence and drugs, the bakery began to hire people that conventional businesses had deemed “unemployable.” It trained its employees in bakery crafts and soon they were producing some of New York's most expensive, high-end cakes and tarts sold in the city's fanciest eateries. In 1990 it began to produce brownies for Ben & Jerry's Ice Cream and its revenues shot up dramatically. Since its humble founding, the bakery grew into a successful $6 million business with more than 75 employees. Its hiring remains to this very day "First come, first served," and much of its profits are recycled into seed money for its sister not-for-profits, thus making the entire network more sustainable and financially independent.




I am looking forward to more of SVN.


More on SVN to come.

Johnny Appleseed - Permaculture Near and Far

Back at it, no excuses. I spent the morning with Farmer Mike getting supplies to fill the newly constructed planters at my son, Ilan's, school - organic planting soil, herbs, veggies, some flowers, etc.

We first met Michael Yoken at Camp Tawonga during the Peacemaker Camp. Mike was tending the organic garden at the camp, and while I headed to the pool with Ariela, our daughter, Ilan would take off on his own for the secret garden to work with Mike to pick vegetables, make veggie pizzas in their brick oven and just get his hands dirty.

So after camp, we invited Mike to join us for dinner. He also gave us a consultation on how to make our garden grow better. Like every other resident of this area, we have a "mow and blow" gardener, but that gardener really doesn't garden, they just trim and clean. So Mike was the perfect addition to the gardening team - enriching the soil, planting edible garden and teaching us all something new. Since then, our winter ground cover is in full green bloom as fave beans, common vetch and barley grow strong and add needed nitrogen to the soil. We added volcanic rock to the garden to lower the pH and added mulch to keep the roses warm over the winter. Last week, Mike returned from Israel and came by to help plant a small herb garden. So when Ilan's school sent out an email asking for financial help on the filling the new garden beds that were constructed, I figured it was time to call in Farmer Mike. That was the morning.

This afternoon I got a call from Bill Wolf. Bill was introduced to me by my old college friend Gregory Kats. Bill was telling me about a project he is working on outside of Charlotte, NC - Kanawha. Of particular interest was the work they are doing in setting up Organic Farm on this 340 acre development. Part of the plan was to put in an organic agriculture teaching program and provide consulting to new residents in planting edible landscape. I could only think of our friend Gabriel who lived in Charlotte and is originally from Mexico. Gabe had set up a small landscaping business on the side hiring hard working Mexicans to provide mow and blow services around Charlotte. These same Mexicans probably came from small villages in Mexico where they spent their days helping their parents working on farm. These farm boys would end up crossing the border to become industrious "mow and blow" specialists. And then Bill Wolf would set up a school at Kanawha to teach these same guys to be farmers again.

What are the economies of scale of turning everyone's mow and blow lawns into edible gardens? What are the economies of scale of putting solar power on all of their roofs? Is this a step towards reversing the progress of the industrial revolution? Or a step towards the next revolution?

Tomorrow, we actually work with Ilan's 16 or so classmates to create an organic, edible garden. These poor kids, do they know that they might be part of a revolution?