Ecopreneurist

You drink coffee. Tea. When it’s at home, it’s organic, and when you’re out, you do your best. In so many ways, you live a green lifestyle. And yet, there’s one sticky point: the cup.

You know about bringing your own mug, but it’s just so…clumsy. And it’s not the right size for the machines your barista uses, so they have to use a different cup when making it, defeating the purpose of you bringing a mug.

Yes, their cups are made from recycled paper, but they’re coated to make them waterproof, heat resistant, etc. Which means they aren’t getting recycled a second time. Compostable? Biodegradable? Possibly, but still, some materials had to be used to make that single use cup. Often more than twice the weight of the resulting cup. And for many, unless you have a professional grade facility at home, composting or biodegrading isn’t going to happen any time soon.

What to do? KeepCup has what may be just the thing:

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It’s summer in the Northern hemisphere, and for many, that means going on holiday to warm, tropical locales. And using air conditioning. Lots of it. In fact, in some tropical places, nearly 80% of energy use in a hotel room is for air conditioning. 1200 to 2000 watts on average.

Evening Breeze is an interesting solution: It’s a canopy bed that has adjustments for both temperature and humidity, and delivers it quietly, overhead, using only 400 watts. As it’s focused just on the place where coolness is desired, there’s no need to try and cool the whole room. Simple, brilliant. The resulting energy savings can mean 4MWh, $1000 and 2.5 tons of CO2 reduction annually.

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Here’s an idea that comes from outside the green business world, but has much to offer us and I think should be repeated all over.

In London, KiosKiosk is a simple, powerful, powerfully fun idea: Create an attractive temporary space for upcoming (but ready to sell) businesses to be at, in a high traffic area. At no cost.

Backed by the London Sustainable Development Commission, businesses just need to submit a brief form describing what they’d like to use the kiosk for, when, and why they are a good idea for the KiosKiosk and vice versa.

While the KiosKiosk is focused on creative/design/arts/music businesses, such an idea could, and should be replicated for green startups, many of which, like any small company, may not have the funds or credit history to get a full fledged, full time space. Since there is no rent to pay, this could also be used by companies to create, say, memorable experiences and activities out of the space, of lasting promotional value and social media worthy mentions, growing their online business, for example.

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That once-in-a-lifetime opportunity that both warms one’s heart and instills a swarm of nervous stomach butterflies came about for me last week:  giving a commencement address at my old high school, Glenbrook South in Glenview, Illinois. 

While it ranked an honor to receive the distinguished alum award, the five-minute speech proffering advice for the 2009 graduating class proved to be a unique challenge for me, requiring me to think about and process the “Lisa Kivirist” from 1985 when I graduated, when the only “green” I knew was the one in the padded paychecks I aspired to earn, to the green rolling hills of our Wisconsin farm and B&B today, Inn Serendipity and helping others launch green businesses through my book, ECOpreneuring.

Detours with a dose of serendipity quickly arose as the theme song for my last twenty years, a refrain that I wanted to leave with the graduating class.  Life may take unexpected turns, but remember, as I learned, to keep connected to the core values, your earth mission, figuring out ways to craft a life and livelihood based on your passions.

Here are some excerpts from my speech: Read the rest of this entry »

OPEN (Organization for Pakistani Entrepreneurs) Silicon Valley is holding their Forum ‘09 this Saturday, June 13th at the Computer History Museum in Mountain View, California. This year, the forum will include a Cleantech track that will bring business leaders, entrepreneurs, investors, and policy makers together to discuss different perspectives of clean and sustainable technologies for the future. If you are in the San Francisco Bay Area and want a new and interesting perspective on the subject, head out to Mountain View this Saturday.

Tickets are $55 in advance and $95 on-site, but OPEN was kind enough to offer Green Options readers a bargain discounted price of $40. The discounted tickets can only be purchased through this link: http://tinyurl.com/OPENforum-DISCOUNT.

Here is a brief overview of the Cleantech panel sessions:
Session I: Where’s the Green in Clean? Investment Opportunities, Valuations and the Funding Gap in Cleantech.
Session II: Innovations in Energy: Viable business propositions after Market Corrections.
Session III: The Stimulus Act: The Impact of Government Policy on Cleantech Start-ups and Investors.
Session IV: Workshop: Crafting your personal brand to transition into the Cleantech sector.

For more information on OPEN Silicon Valley Forum ‘09 Cleantech sessions, click here.
For a full schedule of events click here.

Unless you’ve been laid up in bed all this week, you’ve heard that Apple is releasing a new iPhone 3G-S with an amazing array of features But one you may not have heard of is a brilliant bridging between the iPhone and Zipcar.

These two are as they say peas in a pod, technology enhanced life(style) enhancements, for a demographic that I imagine likes that they get to both have what they want, when they want it, and do good by the planet at the same time.

Impressing your friends in the bargain is a fine dessert.

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A Green Printer interview with Carmen Spagnola, entrepreneur and owner of m.

1. What made you want to start m?
I started m because I was a frustrated consumer.  I decided that  if I want to have access to smarter, more beautifully designed, more  responsible products and amenities for my home and family, I was going
to have to create more demand.  Markets are a bit of a chicken-and-egg  relationship.  Many retailers will tell you that they only provide  what their customers want.  That is only part of my modus operandi.
I want to showcase the possibility of a better performing future, so  much of what I sell and promote is currently considered ahead of the market.  But how will the market know what it wants if we don’t inspire it to want more?
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In Februrary 2009 mokugift started to see traffic coming from Elle magazine France.  This piqued our interest and decided to find the article.  It turns out that Marion Cotillard mentioned mokugift as one of her favorite sites along with L’alliance pour la planete.  We aren’t very familiar with the entertainment world, so we had to look up this name.  We were pleasantly surprised to find out that Marion won the best actress Oscar in for her role in 2007’s La Vie En Rose (remake).

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The internet makes knowledge accessible, but at the end of the day it is about communications and connecting.  Global Green Links came to Mokugift, signed up to our corporate rewards program and became an affiliate in less time that it takes took us to figure out where to go for lunch.

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“Empower people in the US to realize that they have power to influence the global economy through their purchasing choices.” That isn’t some pie-in-the-sky wistful, unrealistic dream. That inspiring vision forms the Earth Mission, that driving force behind World of Good as they aim to transform how we shop by connecting us directly that individual who made our product, even if they are half-way around the globe.

Fostering an economy based on social and economic justice, World of Good, launched by co-founders Priya Haji and Siddharth Sanghvi — just after they graduated from University of California Berkeley Business School — features unique gifts and handcrafts from artisan communities around the world. By selling through an ever-expanding distribution network of retailers nationwide, they are building a whole new economy based on Fair Trade.

Ten percent of their profits get funneled to their sister non-profit organization, The World of Good Development Organization, which helps support artisan communities and works to strengthen international fair wage standards.

“Our aim is to make it easy to help customers make a good choice — not to buy more, but to buy differently,” explains Priya. “They can expect quality, convenience and style — yet the products can be made in a way that actually helps the people who make them. Right now, our products are women’s accessories and housewares. As World of Good grows, our aim is to make the choice for people-positive products easy to find in every category of daily life. We want every human-made product to be a tool of relationship and empowerment for the person who crafted it. Imagine every product not as a material thing but as a bridge of connection and transformation.” Read the rest of this entry »