New York: On the Street- Clear Sailing

Online on the New York Times website, Bill Cunningham discusses how New Yorkers got on their bicycles and took advantage of the opening of the roadway surrounding Grand Central Terminal. Click here for the audio slideshow.

junk mail please go away…

Green Dime will help you get rid of that annoying junk mail and save the resources it takes to make all of that unwanted print material.

check it out here.

Wiser Earth

Entrepreneur and environmentalist, Paul Hawken, and author of six books including The Next Economy (1983), Growing a Business (1987), The Ecology of Commerce (1993) and Blessed Unrest (2007) spoke with Barry Lopez, author of Artic Dreams (1986) and editor of Home Ground (2006), and Rebecca Solnit, author of Storming the Gates of Paradise: Landscapes for Politics (2007) about environmental and social justice last night.

It was a little heady but really good. My brain is still whirling to be honest. But I wanted to let you know about Wiser Earth, an online network, to connect people with thousands of organizations working for environmental and social justic. It was created by Paul Hawken's organization Natural Capital Institute . Check it out! And happy earth day, every day!

Less is MORE

So, I made my list yesterday and I've already accomplished mission #1. Move my limited money to a LOCAL bank. I now am a happy member at Albina Bank. And this afternoon I will be riding my bike to the postal annex to ship out an Effie Girlie Finerie order. That was #6 in my list. I hope you are enjoying these posts.

It's absolutely gorgeous in Portland today. I was so happy to see my tulips are blooming.
Have a great weekend everyone.
*a

Less is MORE + people are more important than things

Okay, maybe it's this early morning yoga that has me feeling more frustrated about our culture's consumerist, short-sighted ways than usual. After I got into a tizzy about all the things our government isn't doing to take care of us, the people, I decided to just focus on my part in this. I'm like many and don't make a lot of money but try to support local companies and organizations within my limited budget. But I need to do MORE with my limited resources and time. Or in some cases, do LESS, which is free!

I've come up with a short list to get me started.
1. Move my limited money to a LOCAL bank.
2. Never get a plastic bag… I'm loading my car up with used paper bags and canvas bags today!
3. Do my very best to not buy ANY unnecessary plastic. (This might be difficult since my favorite yogurt comes in a plastic container… and I need more tape… which sort of is plastic.)
4. Donate time to my local cooperative grocery store
5. Host simple dinners to share food and community with my friends
6. Ride my bike to the postal annex to ship out all Effie Girlie Finerie orders
7. Only buy cosmetics from trusted "safe" companies… most of them like to put fun additives like mercury and lead into them (http://www.safecosmetics.org/).

I've made this list as simple and as doable as possible and hope to add as I go. I will let you know every Friday how it's going. It will be called "Less is MORE, every week." I realize this isn't a huge step (some of you might be appalled that I drive a gas guzzling car and don't have solar panels on my roof) but I like many need to take it in manageable steps. After all, I grew up in a culture that taught me Benetton clothes really would make me cooler, that I should be embarrassed to drive an old rusting car that runs perfectly and that people who have big houses are really… just better.

The Story of Stuff video really gave me a swift kick to do more meaningful things with my time and money and use less and waste less. Check out the site, they have a blog with great updates that are informative and inspiring.

I'd love to hear your thoughts, ideas, plans. GO LESS!

Paul Hawken is coming to town

I'm a big fan of Paul Hawken and was very excited to hear he is coming to speak about his most recent book Blessed Unrest on Monday. I just got my copy from the library a few days ago so it looks like I need to read fast!

Kiva: microloans

I finally did it! I signed up and selected two groups to give my $50 to. I opted to return a blouse from Banana Republic (I know bad me for shopping there) and put the money to better use. It was fun and I highly recommend it! I do wish there was a way to help people in the United States too. I would really enjoy helping someone in my town of Portland, Oregon. People everywhere need a little help now and then and what a wonderful way to renew our sense of community and goodwill! Enjoy!

Green my Apple

I know I'm late on commenting on this brilliant campaign by Greenpeace but better late than never. I was very sad to find out the iMac I purchased in December has arsenic and mercury in it. Ugh! Apple is gradually answering the public's call to decrease hazardous materials in their products, decrease packaging and increase their use of recycled paper. I say they should increase the life span of their products too! I am very annoyed that I have to buy a whole new computer when all I need is a new motherboard. It would be nice if they could change their business model from selling more to selling less in terms of things that wear out and are thrown away in 3 (or less) years. Also, and sorry, just one more thing to say here, I really feel that they should be responsible for disposing of all of their products once a user is done with them. The cradle to cradle approach or Individual Producer Responsibility as Dell and Hewlett Packard (HP) call it, both support this principle. This principle would push the front end of product design and development to be more environmental and it would force them to look at the waste they create. This is something that is missing in the letter Steve Job wrote addressing the hazardous materials in their products and their process and goals for decreasing them. It's pretty broad. Click on the icon above to read more about the campaign. Let's help Apple be better and greener by voicing our opinions!

So inspiring it blew my mind!

Lately, I've been hearing about or reading about entrepreneurs who are creatively tackling some huge social economic issues by using good ol' capitalism. As with any tool, capitalism isn't the problem, it's the people who use it with disregard for their community or the environment that's the problem. Here are a few courageous people who are tackling some big problems in innovative ways, with a conscience.

1. RICHARD PULLEN, Development Technology Workshop, Phnom Penh, Cambodia
A company that looks at a product and designs it using local materials, local staff and local skills within developing countries. Some of their products include: collapsible walking cane; a braille writer that doesn't require electricity and "The Tempest", a large machine that clears vegetation for mine clean-up. They admit they are not experts in the areas of demining or creating braille equipment but believe that is an advantage.

Richard Pollen's company called Development Technology Workshop, or DTW is currently working in Cambodia. To read more go to Public Radio Marketplace or DTW Cambodia.

DTW is included in a new exhibit at the National Design Museum in New York: Design for the other 90%. It's about design with a social conscience, aimed at encouraging rural entrepreneurs in the Third World.


2. Sandra "Mama" Romero, owner of Mama's Hot Tamales Cafe in L. A. : Helping homeless become enterprising citizens through working Tamales carts.

She incorporates the excluded and is "putting to work economist Hernando de Soto's idea that marginalized workers outside the legal system are the SOLUTION instead of the problem." I read this facinating story in one of my new favorite magazines- Good. Read the full story.



3. Nobel Prize-winning economist Muhammad Yunus : Microcapitalism :
Companies would be judged for their social returns- lives improved or saved, instead of only judging them on their stock value.

BANGLADESH. Nobel Prize-winning economist Muhammad Yunus has a new idea. The pioneer of microcredit is launching a business model that he hopes will replace conventional capitalism and level the playing field between the developed and developing world. The approach, called “social business enterprise,” preserves the free market, but forces it to operate in tandem with social interests.

"An attempt to find out is underway in poverty-stricken Bangladesh, where Grameen Bank and the French dairy giant Danone have opened a new yogurt plant. The milk is supplied by farmers who have bought cows with Grameen Bank microloans. The vitamin-rich yogurt, meant to prevent malnutrition, is sold by salespeople who have taken out loans to purchase the yogurt." The full story can be found on Ode, my other new favorite magazine.

Please let me know if you have read or heard of like-minded people and entrepreneurs!