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The Inner Truth Of Beauty
November 29th, 2009 | by tonianne | Category: sustainable living | No Comments »Get the Flash Player to see this player.
Grosse Pointe, MI- If it smells good, the price is right, the packaging is attractive and I will get 30% more for free – I’ll buy it! If a free sample is included – score. If a conditioner can make my hair shine and bounce as I walk to the subway – it’s mine. Honestly though, I never did care that much. With so many varieties of the same thing, each one fighting for my attention, I don’t get picky. Then I heard an interview with Monona Rossol, an industrial hygienist at Arts, Crafts & Theater Safety. She talked about the unrestricted language used on product labeling of our personal care products. Rossol explained that
The Human Capital
November 15th, 2009 | by mauro | Category: sustainable living | 4 Comments »and just had a baby girl. When he opened the door of his place in San Luis Obispo,
he was still the smiling and positive guy I’ve remembered. Butch has always been
the kind of guy that prized friendship among everything else, and had a quite
artistic sense and hand on guitars and anything wood-like. For the full lenght of his stay
in NY, he worked in a popular guitar shop in mid town Manhattan. As much as he
loved The City, Butch loved the place where he grew up, so he eventually went back
to it.Seven years later while he refined his craftman skills,he bougth a house and
started his own business.
I like Butch story because it makes me reflects on the definition of sustainaility by John Elkington,
(source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Triple_bottom_line)
“meet the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future
generations to meet their own needs”)
While this seems a very wide stroke on the concept of sustainability mentioned
above, one of the 3 pillars described refers to Human Capital
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_capital) as a tradeable and fungible reource.
In other words, people and jobs like Butch performs make the community richer
and more self-sustainable from external factor.
- he generates income for him and his family to be able to live a normal life and pay the property they’ve bought.
- he brings talent and income for the city
- he creates local business
- he performs a job with his hands that fewer people do
- he restore and reuse things. Nowadays we are encouraged to throw away stuff. In fact, we are discouraged to fix most of the stuff we buy.
When is the last time you took to repair your cell phone, or your tv? Last time I tried to repair my $500 tv they clearly told me “get a new one because fixing it is way more expensive”
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San Luis Obispo, CA – I haven’t seen Butch in seven years; since we lived together in the Hamilton Heights section of Manhattan. When I knew Butch in New York, he worked in a popular guitar shop in mid town Manhattan. He was a working musician, composer and writer. I had always admired Butch’s artistic sense and the skills he developed working with his hands.I valued his friendship and his approach to life.
As much as Butch loved New York, he eventually returned Continue reading »
Big Green Car Wash Machine
October 28th, 2009 | by tonianne | Category: sustainable living | 2 Comments »
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Fort Worth, TX- Mary Rogers, is a former social columnist and feature writer at the Dallas Star-Telegram. She is a seasoned journalist, author and entrepreneur. When newspapers including hers began to downsize, she turned her attention Continue reading »
A Town Brimming With Hope
October 19th, 2009 | by tonianne | Category: sustainable living | 3 Comments »
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Greensburg, KS – Our arrival in Greensburg began with a visit to Greensburg’s GreenTown office. Mauro stayed in the car to finish a conference call he began on our drive into town. I headed over to meet Ruth Ann Wedel, Office Coordinator for this non-profit organization. She was getting ready for Continue reading »
Don’t Trash It. Blue Bag It!
October 14th, 2009 | by mauro | Category: culture | 4 Comments »
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South Lake Tahoe, CA – We spend most of our lives buying stuff. When we don’t want it anymore or it becomes obsolete, we simply discard it. We are even encouraged to throw stuff away as fast as we can so that we can replace it with new stuff ! This is in line with the philosophy of our material economy and clearly explained in the Story of Stuff with Annie Leonard.
According to National Geographic EarthPulse on global trends, Americans lead the consumption of ”stuff” at an alarming ratio of 4.3 times what planet Earth can afford. Will this change