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[ Comments Off ]Posted on May 25, 2010 by admin in Clean & Green
Tuesday, May 25th, 2010Stop with all your hot air about the gulf oil spill. Sell your car and put all that wind to use more positively.
If you live in America, the next time you’re looking at depressing photos of the oily black sludge washing up on the coasts and in the wetlands of Louisiana, look for your reflection in the oil slick. It’s probably there. And after you ponder YOUR part in the latest tragedy, try visualizing this: instead of black oil spewing from the bottom of the ocean, picture rows of gracefully twirling white turbine blades supplying the same energy. I’m pretty excited that alternative energy is finally becoming a reality; Texas expects to derive 20% of their power from non-petrol sources by 2030 (and they’re WAY ahead of schedule) , Horns Rev off the coast of Denmark has been generating offshore windpower since 2002, there’s a plan for Cape Cod to generate 75% of the area’s power from wind by 2012, and as someone who currently lives in the Great Lakes area, it’s exciting to see that an offshore windpower project is being launched on Lake Erie. Especially since it’s such an amazing example of turning things around; at one point in time, Lake Erie was so filthy that it was joked that walking on it was safer than swimming in it. And wouldn’t it be awesome if the state best known for building gas-guzzlers became a haven for cutting-edge clean tech? After all, they say there’s over 300 Gigawatts waiting to be exploited here.
From Cocktail Conversation To Kenya Conservation
[ Comments Off ]Posted on May 18, 2010 by admin in Clean & Green
Tuesday, May 18th, 2010Lori Bergemann made the leap from food service to conservation work ten years ago. It’s probably time she started drawing a salary. Help make it happen as Amara Conservation begins its tenth year.
 This woman has run a non-profit for ten years without taking a salary. Let’s try to change that. |
The woman pictured at left – Lori Bergemann, of Amara Conservation – is an American who lives in Kenya devoting her life to educating rural Kenyans about how conservation of their wildlife and resources is one of the most powerful keys to a better future for themselves. That alone would be kind of interesting. But what’s even more interesting to me is that just ten years ago, she was a bartender at a fine dining restaurant in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Back then she had a dream – but no concise plan – for doing something to help animals. Today, she lives in Kenya, committing all of her time to the education and conservation work that is the core of what Amara does. Lori also happens to be an old friend of mine. We have definitely had our ups and downs. Like all humans, she has some personal flaws, and she’s quite a character in some ways, as am I. But she remains an inspiration to me. Not because I want to be like her, but because she’s proof of a belief that I hold dear, which is that ANY of us can do ANYTHING if we keep our heart open and work hard for it. All of which makes it kind of exciting for me that it’s been more than ten years since Lori served me a drink, and that now I find myself serving her, by supporting her dream in any way I can. Part of that means asking YOU to support what she does. I’ve been a supporter of Amara since its inception; I started my own business about two years before Lori launched Amara, and provided almost all of her original media services and “brand” in one way or another. Her organization has outlasted mine by a couple of years though, and I’m impressed (as I think YOU should be) that Amara still adheres to a steadfast belief in directing donated funds as directly as possible to projects they’re involved in. Their overhead is lower than any NGO that I’m aware of, and one reason for that borders on the absurd: Lori has not taken a salary in the entire ten years of Amara’s existence. If that sounds as crazy to you as it does to me, be a part of changing that. Who knows what she’ll pull off if she could earn a living from what she does. If you want to help, one of the simplest ways is to simply make a donation on their site. If you are anywhere near southeastern Michigan in the next couple of weeks though, consider getting out for one of the fundraising events that are kicking off their tenth year of operation. I’ll be at both, and would be delighted to see you there!
Upset About The Gulf Spill? Maybe You Should Kick Your Oil Habit
[ Comments Off ]Posted on May 12, 2010 by admin in Clean & Green
Wednesday, May 12th, 2010Blaming BP for the oil spill is like a Detroit crackhead blaming the Peruvian coca farmer for his financial problems.
 BP will get all the mud slung their way, but what about YOUR part in all this? |
When I see the devastation being caused by the recent gulf oil spill, I can’t help thinking about all the people driving around in their Volvos listening to NPR and shaking their fists in anger at British Petroleum. Which to me is a lot like the Hollywood celebrity strung out on cocaine blaming the Latin American coca farmer for all his problems. I’m certainly no corporate apologist, but when there are an estimated 210,000 gallons of oil being dumped into the ocean every day, who’s really to blame? The oil company that had the accident? Or the oil addicts that demand the insane quantity of oil that is being sucked from the ground daily so that they can drive to the store for a gallon of milk whenever they feel like it? If you own a car or do any of a million things that demand this mind blowing supply of crude oil, you can hardly deny your complicity in the tragedy occurring off the Louisiana coast right now. Do you feel like you can even begin to visualize how much oil we consume in America? It’s around 378 million gallons daily. That means the daily amount flowing into the gulf is about 5% of how much we consumed that day. I can’t decide which is more apalling, the amount flowing into the ocean, or the amount flowing into our gas tanks. To make these numbers real for you, we’ve found a couple of interesting visuals. Google engineer Paul Rademacher has created an easy-to-use tool that superimposes the spill over any city you specify. See the map image below; I entered Ann Arbor, MI, but as you can see, the spill would easily engulf the entire city of Chicago. To get a picture of ongoing global consumption, there’s a handy waterfall analogy. This guy did the math, and figured out that Jog Falls in India (see clip below) flows at nearly the same rate. Just imaging black sludge instead of frothy water and you’ll get a good feel for things. And lastly, this PBS News Hour page has a “Gulf Leak Meter” that displays the spill on real time (also embedded below). Read the rest of this entry »
Looking For A Good Investment? How About The Future?
[ Comments Off ]Posted on May 6, 2010 by admin in Clean & Green
Thursday, May 6th, 2010Tired of supporting the endangered Giant Vampire Squid? Consider a more practical investment like the future of wildlife and people on the planet, by supporting Amara Conservation.
Unless you’re already tapped out from all the money you’ve been donating to save the endangered Giant Vampire Squid, I have some investment advice for you. Rather than putting your money in the mouth of the ten tentacled monster that invests your hard-earned savings and then makes money by betting against a profitable outcome, why don’t you take just a small portion of that money and invest in something positive and important, like the future of wildlife and education. I mean, even Bill Gates is thinking green these days. You don’t have to be a billionaire like Bill to make a difference though; a little can go a long way. As I’ve mentioned before, I work with a small non-profit called Amara Conservation. Amara is entering its second decade of wildlife conservation and education work in Kenya, and will be kicking off a year of special events this month, beginning with a fundraising dinner at the Earle Restaurant in Ann Arbor Michigan on May 23rd, followed by a night of music at the Savoy Club in Ypsilanti, Michigan on the 29th, featuring the bands October Babies and 16 More Miles. Can’t make it to the events or short on funds? We’re also always looking for friends on Facebook or for volunteers with a broad variety of abilities, especially creative thinkers with video editing, graphics, copywriting, or web development skills. If you want to learn more about what Amara does, visit the web site. But I’ll tell you in a few words. Amara focuses on achievable, sustainable projects that are geared towards helping Kenyans understand the intrinsic and financial value of the wildlife of Kenya, so they hopefully can end up not only protecting the imperiled wildlife of eastern Africa, but actually profit from doing so. And what’s the big deal about Kenya wildlife in particular? Well, Kenya is home to two of the most regal creatures on Earth, lions and elephants, both used as powerful symbols for millenia by cultures from ancient Egypt and Rome to later, more powerful empires, like, you know, Disney. Think about it. Without the wildlife in Kenya, Dumbo and the Lion King would be impossible. I jest of course, but it’s certainly not a laughing matter. If you keep up on these things, you know these are perilous times for african wildlife. Elephant poaching has risen seven fold since 2007 because of changes in ivory trade regulation, and Kenya’s lion population could be completely gone within 10 years if the situation is mismanaged. To me, one of the most sensible things you could do if you want to invest in your future is to support a thrifty and focused organization like Amara.
Your Charitable Donations: Crisis Relief? Or Guilt Relief?
[ Comments Off ]Posted on April 30, 2010 by admin in Clean & Green
Friday, April 30th, 2010Sure, it feels good to give. But it feels even better to see results.
Are you the sort of person who occasionally makes charitable donations? If so, do you ask yourself where the money is really going, or just make the donation and operate with good faith about the idea that you’ve done something good? I personally like to do good when I can (which is less then I’d like!), but have a mildly cynical and pragmatic streak that makes me really question what good is occurring as a result of my donation. For that reason, I’ve always questioned the logic behind organizations like Sierra Club or Greenpeace sending me hefty, glossy-stock packages with pleas for support. Part of me instantly recoils and says “Why should I give you money? So you can send out more pricey direct mail pieces like this?” Although I’m no “expert” on non-profit organizations, I’ve learned a lot from working with one in particular called Amara Conservation. It’s a Kenya-based NGO that I got involved with in its inception stage. It was started by a good friend about a year after I had started a for profit venture doing new media work back in 2000. The reason I’ve stayed committed to doing what I can for Amara since then is because the organization had as one of its fundamental principles a commitment to maintaining low overhead, applying funds as directly as possible, and assessing the durability of any project they engaged in rather than just throwing money at problems or applying band-aid solutions. In the work I’ve done with other non-profits, I’ve often encountered two polar extremes that at first surprised me. On the one hand, a sort of mamby-pamby feel-good-about-yourself attitude that in my opinion produced little in the way of results. On the other extreme, massively-funded operations with heavy corporate sponsorship that seem to become all about brand and fund-raising rather than helping. I’ve often caught a lot of flak about my “cynical philanthropy”, which is why I was glad to run across the blog Blood and Milk, maintained by by Alanna Shaikh. She shares a lot of seemingly cynical but actually dead-on observations like how the work of NGO’s is impeded by a culture of “being nice”, why you shouldn’t even bother starting an NGO and if you choose to anyway, how to succeed. In my view, there’s nothing more ridiculous than a bunch of Americans living their relatively cushy lives and feeling good about themselves because they helped pay for a program that benefits no-one. If you ever have wondered where your donations are going, there are a few useful sites that track and rate non-profits. One of the best-organized I’ve found is Charity Navigator, which offers up extensive reporting on organizational efficiency and capacity, revenue and expenditures, even the salaries of the organizations principles. For general tips and guidelines, try the FTC’s Charity Checklist. And those references earlier to big NGO’s and how they raise funds? You might also look at whether or not the organization is a 501(c)(3) or 501(c)(4) non-profit. Organizations like Sierra Club and Greenpeace are categorized as 501(c)(4), which gives them much more freedom to lobby and engage in politics, among other things.