Greenr - Accelerate the Change!

From: Ben de Vries <bendevries1968@gmail.com>
Subject: Your invitation to a work party

Date: Wednesday, January 7, 2009, 11:50 AM

This is the invitation:

WORK PARTY!

March 2010

Tropical location, from Florida ~$300 round trip, passport required. If enough people get on the same plane a group rate is possible.

We will be doing work on a permaculture site in the caribbean. Probable work includes building dams, water management features, shade features, and given time, garden expansions. The rainy season should just be over, so there is a good possibility of crops to take in (and eat). Seafood is readily available locally.

What’s in it for me?:

1. a tropical work vacation in the caribbean (lose the winter blahs!)

2. food & accomodations (mostly vegetarian)

3. field experience

4. a letter of reference, if desired

5. your work becomes credit for future stays at an ecovillage site YOU HELPED BUILD

6. a community and workspace WE create

Many places actually CHARGE for this sort of experience, calling it a ‘retreat’ or some such. I don’t feel this is fair, as I want to include young people who don’t have much money to spare. What concerns me is motivation- if you have it, that’s what I want to see. I am against ‘exclusive’ events, and want to include those with motivation but not huge bank accounts. Work or money- but I don’t feel comfortable asking for both. I have been short-ended on occasion because I didn’t have enough money and I am not going to do that to anybody.

In all likelyhood, there will be very interesting people with much knowledge to share with you. Some possibilities for future projects might be encountered from other participants. I can’t make promises- there is no certainty, only opportunity.

The way I see it, with nearly 15 months to plan, save $100 a month in a cookie jar and by next march you will have PLENTY to make sure you have a good time. Locally it is also a good place to get SCUBA certification, and some of the best reef diving in the western hemisphere I am told. I understand it is also the location of the dolphin communication project workshop in may, although we are not affiliated. If you save more, you can extend your stay and explore the surrounding area, etc.

I certainly hope in a years time to see the best and brightest at my door. There will be much to do, and much we can create together. We can coordinate planning as we have plenty of time.

DO respond quickly if you are interested, as I want to gauge how much accomodation space I will need to build. (at least by august 1 this year please).

If you are putting together a crew, please collect resumes or a short essay from each participant for me.

I think people who have worked on previous projects with me have been pretty happy about it. I am quite sure one or two will show up for this one.

–
Ben de Vries
Certified Permaculture Designer

No Comments »

Every day…another doom and gloom report…you could be forgiven for thinking the problems facing humanity are insurmountable. What gives me hope is that so many smart folks from the hi-tech field are moving into the sustainability. Folks like old acquaintance Doug Kaye:

Check out Dougs Social Innovation Podcasting Channel, an initiative with the Center for Social Innovation at the Stanford Graduate School of Business.

“Social Innovation Conversations’ mission is to expand the reach of important and valuable knowledge to people who otherwise wouldn’t have access to it by recording and sharing the spoken words of thought leaders in all sectors and disciplines and offering listeners a multi-stakeholder perspective on the world grand challenges and social issues.”

Join now - its free!

No Comments »

CNet interviews San Francisco mayor, Gavin Newsom:

“I get a little nervous when I show up at these conferences and everyone’s jumping all over me to give me their plans and talk in global terms. The ‘what’ is never measured, the ‘how-to’ is never measured. Everyone’s got a plan. Who cares about these damn plans? What are you doing and how did you get there? How did you really roll back your (carbon dioxide) emissions?

….A big study came out about (carbon emissions of raising) cattle and meat. At all these environmental events they’re all eating meat and drinking bottled water… Continued at Cnet.

Go Gavin!

No Comments »

Adam Werbach is a true leader in the green movement and today he announced another big deal - the launch of Saatchi & Saatchi S.

After years in the environmental movement he founded Act Now to help commercial enterprises green up their act. Now they’re taking the product and process innovation, grassroots workforce engagement, marketing developed by Act Now and syndicating it across the S&S network of offices - across the planet.

Saatchi & Saatchi are the people who launched the Prius so they know how to build consumer movements. SaatchiS will work with their clients to make them sustainable from the inside out.

Saatchi & Saatchi S

What if a billion of us around the world decided it was time for something new and took small steps together to change the things we buy and the way we live?
What could a billion people accomplish?
To help answer that question we’ve formed Saatchi & Saatchi S. Our mission is to build a global movement of happy people living on a healthy planet.
We create sustainable visions for companies around the world and help them grow by embracing a grassroots approach to sustainability. Imagine your business becoming more profitable while helping your employees and your customers make the world a better place.
Now’s the time for you to do your part to unite those billion people. It’s time to take that step.

PS. They’re hiring!

No Comments »

One of the hottest event tickets of the year is the annual TED Conference held in Monterey. From its roots in technology, entertainment and design, the content has expanded to include science, business, the arts and the global issues facing our world. Over four days, 50 speakers each take an 18-minute slot, and there are many shorter pieces of content, including music, performance and comedy. There are no breakout groups. Everyone shares the same experience - and you can share some of it via nearly 200 videos, from which I’ve selected the following as most relevant to Greenr’s mission to “Accelerate the Change!”:

Janine Benyus: 12 sustainable design ideas from nature

William McDonough: The wisdom of designing Cradle to Cradle

Amory Lovins: We must win the oil end game

Larry Brilliant: The case for informed optimism & TEDTalks: Larry Brilliant

William Kamkwamba on building a windmill

John Doerr: Seeking salvation and profit in greentech

Jeff Bezos: After the gold rush, there’s innovation ahead

Craig Venter: A voyage of DNA, genes and the sea

Majora Carter: Greening the Ghetto

Enjoy!

1 Comment »

In an extended Industry Week interview Interface, Inc. founder and chairman Ray Anderson calls for “…a vast, ethically driven, re-design of the industrial system, triggered by an equally vast mind-shift.”

Interface is one of the leading commercial exponents of the emerging science of biomimicry.

Take a few minutes to watch Anderson’s interview in The Corporation, and check out his profile at “The Purpose Prize” and Wikipedia. This man might just be the greenest CEO in the US.

No Comments »