Nice Ride: a bike sharing program in Minneapolis

Nice Ride is a bike sharing program scheduled to roll out next summer in Minneapolis. 80 kiosks will be placed around the city; people will be able to rent bikes at one location and return them to another. The ability to use bikes in this manner encourages fewer people to drive, which greatly improves the sustainability and livability of urban life, as explained is this B Cycle video.

Bike sharing has been around since the 1990's. Copenhagen Denmark pioneered this concept (they had a system up and running when I was there in 2000) and Paris launched a similar system with over 10,000 bicycles in 2007. Other America cities, such as Denver, Portland, Washington DC, are also rolling out bike sharing programs.

Data Visualization: Stories for the Information Age - BusinessWeek

Data Visualization: Stories for the Information Age - BusinessWeek: "Ultimately, data visualization is more than complex software or the prettying up of spreadsheets. It's not innovation for the sake of innovation. It's about the most ancient of social rituals: storytelling. It's about telling the story locked in the data differently, more engagingly, in a way that draws us in, makes our eyes open a little wider and our jaw drop ever so slightly. And as we process it, it can sometimes change our perspective altogether."

Joshua Foss Thrives - Design Green - Blog on Interior Design

My business partner at Thrive Design Studio was recently featured by Penny Bonda on her blog.
Joshua Foss Thrives - Design Green - Blog on Interior Design

Save antibiotics for people, not poultry. - STLtoday.com

"Pop quiz: Most antibiotics in the United States are used for (a) healthy farm animals or (b) people with potentially life-threatening infections?

The answer, by a long shot, is healthy farm animals. Over the past 60 years, antibiotics have transformed once-deadly infections in humans — tuberculosis, pneumonia and typhoid — into treatable, mostly survivable illnesses. But some 70 percent of the antibiotics consumed in this country are used on healthy farm animals."

To read the full article go to Save antibiotics for people, not poultry. - STLtoday.com

Corporate Citizenship Study

This study on CSR show that people think people are more important than the planet.

Debate over using anti-microbials in livestock

From the San Francisco Chronicle

Debate over using anti-microbials in livestock:

"Calls for transparency...Consumers shouldn't need a degree in zoology to read labels,' said Charles Hansen, the executive director of the Truthful Labeling Coalition, an organization representing the natural chicken industry. The group spearheaded a successful lawsuit against Tyson Foods for advertising that its poultry was raised without antibiotics, despite the fact that the company was injecting its chickens with ionophores before they hatched."

Finnegans Featured in the Star Tribune

Minneapolis based Star Tribune finally ran an story on the social entrepreneur Jacquie Berglund Beer firm brews funds to help troubled teens. Her company Finnegans gives all its profits to social causes and is ran (with the exception of Jacquie) by volunteers and interns. I have a had the privilege to her speak a few times at Net Impact events and am delighted to see her getting some media coverage.

Op-Ed Columnist - Betraying the Planet - NYTimes.com

Thank you Krugman for explaining my contempt for the climate deniers

Op-Ed Columnist - Betraying the Planet - NYTimes.com

New Urbanism

At Thrive we are strong supporters of New Urbanism and here is a great video break'n it down.

The ripples of Twitter

The other day I was catching up on my Twitter feed and came across the following article from HarvardBiz.

Why Business Leaders Need to Get Over Al Gore - Andrew Winston:

The article starts off "I saw an interesting piece by Michael Graham Richard on treehugger titled, 'Let's Put This Meme to Rest: Global Warming ≠ Al Gore' (thanks to Will Sarni for tweeting it to me)."

Wow, just a few months ago I had lunch with Will Sarni where we breifly discussed Twitter. I gave him a few generic pointers and pat on the back.

The Great Ethanol Scam - BusinessWeek

The Great Ethanol Scam - BusinessWeek: "The Great Ethanol Scam
Not only is ethanol proving to be a dud as a fuel substitute but there is increasing evidence that it is destroying engines in large numbers"

Norway Thrives by Going Against the Tide - NYTimes.com

Socialist Noway sounds like an economic nirvana, but then again with $65 Billion in profits from oil you'd be in economic nirvana too.

Norway Thrives by Going Against the Tide - NYTimes.com

trendwatching.com's May 2009 Trend Briefing covering INNOVATION JUBILATION

Another trend forward article from the folks at trend watching

May 2009 Trend Briefing covering INNOVATION JUBILATION

Overweight People are creating a gigaton of extra CO2 emissions per year

Stay slim to save the planet | U.S. | Reuters: "They estimated that each fat person is responsible for about one tonne of carbon dioxide emissions a year more on average than each thin person, adding up to an extra one billion tonnes of CO2 a year in a population of one billion overweight people."

Billboard Tent - Offering custom and prefabricated tents in Huntington Beach California

Billboard Tent, custom and prefabricated tents from old vinyl billboards, another sustainable solution the mind that brought you 02 Treehouse.

Thrive Newsletter _ April 2009

The Boulder Office is mentioned in April 2009 publication of the Thrive Newsletter

Hulu - The Daily Show with Jon Stewart: Baracknophobia - Obey

Procrastination is so much better than actually doing your taxes.

Hulu - The Daily Show with Jon Stewart: Baracknophobia - Obey: "Republicans might be confusing tyranny with losing."

Is a Food Revolution Now in Season? - NYTimes.com

Is a Food Revolution Now in Season? - NYTimes.com: "“This has never been just about business,” said Gary Hirshberg, chief executive of Stonyfield Farm, the maker of organic yogurt. “We are here to change the world. We dreamt for decades of having this moment.”"

The Fuel Film: the most hopeful film of the year

Fuel: the most hopeful film of the year: "'Fuel' is a vital, superbly assembled documentary that presents an insightful overview of America's troubled relationship with oil and how alternative and sustainable energies can reduce our country's -- and the world's -- addictive dependence on fossil fuels."

Egg Module Partner Featured in Ugandan Press

Dorthy Tuma, the founder of Women's Center For Job Creation (an Egg Module partner) was featured in the Daily Monitor. Here are a few quotes from the article Her passion is to empower women financially:

"“The nice thing about doing projects in Uganda is that it doesn’t take a lot to transform someone’s life,” she said.

Ms Tuma hopes, 10 years from now, the business model that her centre has developed will be used all-over the country and even beyond the borders of Uganda.

“What we are trying to do now is figure out what kind of models work with rural development in rural communities and how we can increase economic empowerment amongst women and improve their standard of living,” she said."

Disney Unveils its Green Strategy : TreeHugger

Disney Unveils its Green Strategy : TreeHugger: "Disneyland may not be the greenest place on earth but within 3- to 5-years the company plans to minimize Mickey's footprint, cutting emissions in half, reducing electricity consumption by 10 percent, and halving the garbage at its parks and resorts by 2013. Long-term, the aim is net zero waste and emissions, states the Walt Disney Company’s first comprehensive environmental plan from its new corporate responsibility report. Perhaps shareholders at the recent annual meeting are buoyed by the financial impact that reducing energy costs may have on the bottom line."

Integrating Sustainability: my presentation at CU Leeds School

On March 10th 2009 I presented to a CU MBA class on integrating sustainability with corporate strategy. My multi-media presentation focused on the work I've done at Gold'n Plump.



Here is a video feed of my presentation. I take the stage at the 46 minute mark and run through my power point deck until 1:27 when the class takes a break. Things resume at 1:42 when I take a few questions and finally at 1:55 I walk through a case study with the professor.

During this presentation I took advantage of many different multi-media technologies including:

Google Docs with links to additional resources.

I also set up a projector to broadcast Twitter tweets. You can comment using the hash tag #gnpmba

Organic vs Local? Who Cares. Neither is Sustainable. : TreeHugger

Organic vs Local? Who Cares. Neither is Sustainable. : TreeHugger: "While dreams of our future food system may rely on the romantic image of local farmers, the reality is: this model can't do what we need it to do, that is, feed billions of people."

A 1,474-Megapixel Photo of Obama’s Inaugural Address

David Bergman created a 1,474-Megapixel Photo During President Obama’s Inaugural Address. It is amazing how much you can see the individual faces in the crowd. Its almost as is if I had superhero vision.

State of Green Business 2009 from GreenBiz.com

62 pages of green goodness from greenbiz.com
State of Green Business 2009

YouTube - Rights for Chickens | ZapRoot

YouTube - Rights for Chickens | ZapRoot: "Rights for Chickens"

Climate Change Legislative and Regulatory Trends to Watch in 2009

Climate Change Legislative and Regulatory Trends to Watch in 2009 · Environmental Leader: "President-elect Barak Obama recently reiterated his commitment for a federal cap-and-trade system to reduce emissions to 1990 levels by 2020, followed by an additional 80% by 2050, and has put together a team that is well-equipped to follow through on his promise. In 2009 companies should expect: (1) a U.S. mandatory GHG reporting proposal for all sectors of the economy; (2) to participate in a spirited debate on cap-and-trade policy with a moderate, but very real chance for successful passage; and (3) the U.S. to vigorously re-engage in international climate negotiations."

25 Stretch Goals for Management - Gary Hamel - HarvardBusiness.org

25 Stretch Goals for Management - Gary Hamel - HarvardBusiness.org
"In May 2008, a group of renowned scholars and business leaders gathered in Half Moon Bay, California, with a simple goal: to lay out an agenda for reinventing management in the 21st century.

The two-day event, organized by the Management Lab with support from McKinsey & Company, brought together veteran management experts such as CK Prahalad, Henry Mintzberg, and Peter Senge; distinguished social commentators including Kevin Kelly, James Surowiecki and Shoshana Zuboff; and a number of progressive CEOs, including Terri Kelly from WL Gore, Vineet Nayar from HCL Technologies, and John Mackey from Whole Foods."

LinkedIn: Barack Obama

Green Business is Jump Starting the World Economy

Future of Business: "This video from Linktv.org brings together news footage from around the world. It showcases how governments such as Turkey and Germany are investing in green technologies and products to help jump-start their economy while helping save the environment."

Op-Ed Contributors - The End of the Financial World as We Know It - NYTimes.com

Op-Ed Contributors - The End of the Financial World as We Know It - NYTimes.com: "The American International Group, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, General Electric and the municipal bond guarantors Ambac Financial and MBIA all had triple-A ratings. (G.E. still does!) Large investment banks like Lehman and Merrill Lynch all had solid investment grade ratings. It’s almost as if the higher the rating of a financial institution, the more likely it was to contribute to financial catastrophe. But of course all these big financial companies fueled the creation of the credit products that in turn fueled the revenues of Moody’s and Standard & Poor’s."

Only at Target: Excessive Packaging

A friend of mine received this Nikon Digital Camera for Christmas. The amount of packaging is simply irresponsible. The box is literally 6 times larger than it needs to be. Come on Target, even Wal-mart has a greener reputation.

Rypple - A little feedback goes a long way

Rypple is like a mash up between twitter and survey monkey. Simple short questions, immediate feedback. Super fun and productive.

Read more >> Options >>

Environmental Concerns and Retailers Reputations

A recent research report covered by both Environmental Leader and Treehugger shows that "Retailers Find Environmental Concerns Playing Larger Role In Reputation"

The chart shows UK based Marks and Spencer in a strong lead, followed by Home Depot. Note Wal-mart's rapid ascent from last place. Target comes in near the bottom of this select group, which is not surprising given the excessive packaging they use on some digital cameras.