As Danny mentioned in his previous post, this Saturday is 350.org’s Climate Impacts Day all over the world! Here in Vermont, not only will people be taking part in this event, but they will also be celebrating Green Up Day. Annually, on the first Saturday in May, people from all corners of Vermont will flood into roadside ditches, lake shores and fields with a mission of picking up trash, planting trees and keeping the state beautiful! Here in Waitsfield, just outside our office doors, Hurricane Irene did quite a number on our community. All of us at 1% for the Planet we will be helping green up our community and then later in the day joining people from 350.org to “connect the dots between climate change and extreme weather.” We hope to see some of you there, or if you are from out of town, find an event in your area!
Continuing with this theme of connecting the dots, I challenge you to connect the dots between the following businesses around the world….
I’m sure that by now you have guessed that these are April’s 40 new 1% members! Welcome to our network, and I wish you all a very happy Green Up Day and hope you all find a way to get involved with cleaning up your local natural landscape!
Practicing sustainability within the workplace will always yield personal and private rewards, however, work can be even more rewarding when others notice your achievements and efforts as well.
One of the firm’s recent projects that stands out is their recent renovation to The Carriage House. This deteriorating barn got a new life with ASA’s green building techniques including recycled materials, geothermal heating/cooling as well as on site water reuse.
“Andrew Sidford Architects’ Carriage House Project has been profiled several times for its sustainable design, most recently in the North Shore Magazine. The project is indeed special – it reprogrammed (lets just say saved!) a decaying antique barn while employing innovative green building technologies,” says a spokesperson for the firm.
Photo Courtesy of Andrew M. Sidford Architects
Projects like this one as well as the long standing relationships Andrew Sidford Architects has with their 1% non-profit recipients are what make them such extraordinary members and such a vital part of the 1% network. Their continued support of 1% non-profits, Appalachian Mountain Club, Global Green Grants, Clean Air – Cool Planet, and Northeast Sustainable Energy Association (NESEA) are what we here, at 1%, love to see. Keep up the good work!
Hey 1% Members and Nonprofits! Looking for a way to get your name out there in a creative and sustainable way?
In today’s crowded business market & social media whirlwind, it can be very difficult for a new business to get their name out in a creative & noticeable way. Add to that the desire to do so in an earth-friendly and sustainable manner, the challenge doubles. Eco-minded business owners may feel their options are very limited..
But they are not. 1% is proud to welcome Green Peak Promotions to our family of members. Green Peak Promotions is a woman owned business (soon to be WBENC certified) that focuses on creative and sustainable promotional products. They offer clients a combination of extensive industry knowledge, trusted international manufacturing and supplier relationships, and exceptional branding creativity.
The goal at Green Peak is to have the most comprehensive selection of sustainable promotional items available domestically and to offer low minimum, quick production, custom manufacturing overseas. This allows them to offer sustainable products on a custom basis that aren’t available in the US. Their overseas partners assist to produce products made from a wide selection of recycled materials including PET, ABS plastic, polypropylene, zinc, silicone, polyester and PVC. To offset their carbon footprint on the earth they will also be working with TerraPass to offer 100% carbon balanced shipping.
They offer a wide array of promotional products, ranging from apparel to candy, recycled and biodegradable products, while promoting sustainability from order placement to shipment.
Welcome to Green Peak Promotions! We are so excited and happy to have you in our ever-expanding 1% network!
It’s Tuesday, which means it’s already time to start looking ahead toward the weekend and make sure you have something fun planned! So do you have any big plans this weekend? And, have you ever been whale watching? Whether you have or have not, I would definitely recommend going! There is nothing quite like seeing a massive creature swimming so close to you! Read on to learn more about a great donation opportunity taking place with one of our newest members this weekend in British Columbia.
We are pleased to welcome Eagle Wing Tours to the 1% community – as our first whale watch touring company! Brett Soberg and his business partner, Don Stewart, founded Eagle Wing Tours in 2005 and incorporated a deep respect for the marine environment. They believe that by educating the public about whales and the wonders of the Salish Sea, they are able to inspire people to consider more environmentally-responsible choices in their everyday lives.
Eagle Wing Tours goes to great lengths to minimize the environmental impact of every aspect of its operations. They are Canada’s first and only carbon neutral whale watching company, offsetting all greenhouse gas emissions. Their clean Volvo diesel engines meet the strictest international standards and provide the lowest emission rating of any whale watching company in Victoria. The unique scarab and catamaran design of their three vessels incorporate the latest marine technology to reduce engine noise, minimizing underwater sound, wake and shoreline erosion.
This weekend, to celebrate Earth Day, Eagle Wing will donate $25 from every adult whale watching tour between Friday and Sunday to The Land Conservancy’s campaign to protect Brooks Point Park on South Pender Island. These waters are frequented by the southern resident killer whales and must be protected!
Environmental stewardship is at the heart of everything they do at Eagle Wing and their customers take pride in knowing that their tourism dollars are leaving a positive impact on the whales and the entire marine environment. Eagle Wing will continue working with the Victoria Foundation to administer its 1% for the Planet pledge to support local non-profit groups dedicated to the pursuit of sustainability and the environment. We want to extend a warm welcome to Eagle Wing Tours and wish we could get out to BC this weekend for one of your tours!
According to conventional wisdom and Jose Canseco, recycling is really awesome. Ever heard of it? In essence it turns otherwise waste materials into valuable resources. If you’re reading this blog you’ve probably heard of recycling, but what about upcycling? According to new member company Hipcycle, upcycling is “…the process of converting waste materials or useless products into new materials or products of better quality or a higher environmental value.”
No one knows upcycling better than Hipcycle. Hipcycle’s mission is to provide a marketplace for upcycled products, where it’s easier for consumers to shop smarter and where manufacturers are empowered to find a new purpose for materials. They offer all kinds of upcycled products to consumers via its e-commerce site found here. In addtion to being “eco-friendly”, these goods are attractive, stylish, durable, and price-competitive with traditional alternatives, opening the upcycled marketplace up to the broadest potential market.
Hipcycle sees business as the most powerful driver of social and environmental change. Therefore, their involvement with 1% for the Planet was a natural organic extension of their mission, says Chief Hipcycler, Andrew Sell.
So, if you’re looking for something attractive, durable and envy making, look no further. Hipcycle has what you’re looking for!
Imagine a place where there are no roads, and instead people travel by water. A place where bears and wolves roam the land, while killer and humpback whales swim around the sea. This place, the Great Bear Rainforest, is home to communities whose cultures stretch back many millennia on this coast. This intact temperate rainforest is punctuated by mountains and fjords, and strewn with hundreds of islands along the western coast of British Columbia. Today, ecotourism is one of the leading elements of the emerging conservation economy in the Great Bear Rainforest and 1% member Maple Leaf Adventures has been leading the way since the early 1990s.
Tour companies in the region, like Maple Leaf Adventures, take small groups of guests for multi-day trips by boat among the fjords and islands. Bear viewing and whale watching with expert guides are key features, as is walking the rainforest and learning about the area’s natural and cultural history. This area is so rich with wildlife because of all the work conservation organizations do. Conservation focused businesses and scientists have a symbiotic relationship, because conserved areas allow ecotourism to bloom. At the same time, conservation groups benefit when coastal businesses can generate incomes without clear-cut logging, mining or otherwise destroying the Great Bear Rainforest.
One of the most instrumental organizations in this effort is 1% recipient Raincoast Conservation Foundation, which has made some substantial scientific discoveries regarding the Great Bear Rainforest. They have done research on the salmon-eating, ocean-swimming wolves of the area, the abundance of marine mammals in its waters, the discovery of hundreds of salmon spawning streams, and much more. Raincoast scientists are willing to meet Maple Leaf guests in the field and take time to discuss their research. Maple Leaf (and many of their guests) donate money to support the scientific, education, and policy work Raincoast does, along with its advocacy work.
Connections, like the one between Maple Leaf and Raincoast, are very important to this region because they help protect the land from potentially detrimental projects. There is a proposal to run massive oil tankers through the treacherous waters of the Great Bear Rainforest to “more easily” transport tar sands oil from northern Alberta to Asia. It is essential to the region that this does not happen because of the high likelihood of an oil spill that could be much worse than even the Exxon Valdez spill in 1989.
By signing up for a trip with Maple Leaf Adventures, you are helping Raincoast document what is at stake on this beautiful coast, educate the public, and evaluate and intervene in the process for this proposal! For every person who books selected* adventures from now until April 30th through 1% for the Planet, Maple Leaf will donate an additional $400 to Raincoast**! How can you say no to the possibility of seeing a bear in the Great Bear Rainforest or spectacular whales in Haida Gwaii?
Although I do not share an extreme interest in cycling with many of my co-workers at 1%, Cycle The Sierra sounds like a great event and even I would consider doing it! As you make your summer plans, you should consider taking part in 1% member event Cycle The Sierra from June 23rd to the 27th. It sounds like an awesome trip and surely should not be missed by all of you adventurers out there!
Cycle The Sierra is an annual cycling event that takes place in the Sierra Nevada Mountains of Northern California. This fully supported, five-day journey takes riders on a 300-mile loop through breathtaking country, beneath granite peaks, through evergreen forests and to alpine hot springs. The ride meanders through iconic locations like Lake Tahoe and the area where gold was discovered starting the California Gold Rush, over the 4th highest bridge in the US, and through numerous unique and historical communities along the way.
Each day cyclists will ride around 70 mountain miles for one of our non-profit partners like, 1% for the Planet, the League to Save Lake Tahoe, the American River Conservancy and SYRCL. At night, everyone will camp together under the stars. Camps will feature delicious food, live music, a beer and wine garden, massage therapists, bike mechanics and other cyclists letting loose on vacation from all over the United States. If you like truly beautiful mountain scenery, good food and live music, relaxing with a cold beer after a great ride, spending time with old friends and meeting new, Cycle The Sierra is an event you don’t want to miss! Space is limited, so visit their webpage to register today!
A friend recommended Yvon Choinard’s book Let My People Go Surfing sometime last year, prior to my employment at 1% for the Planet. He said the book aligned perfectly with my interest in environmentally/socially run companies, and that Yvon was a pretty enlightened guy. I’ll be honest, I still haven’t gotten to it… Maybe I have been too busy reading The Hunger Games, or maybe the surfing reference in the title turned me off (I’m a dry land cyclist!); excuses, excuses…
Luckily, two new member companies could see past the surfing reference and the pull of The Hunger Games… Allow me to cordially welcome the MNML Agency and Damang Media Group!
MNML Agency is a communications agency that specializes in the health, outdoor sports and nutrition sectors. The idea for the company was inspired by reading Let My People Go Surfing, what… awesome! According to co-founders, Roland-Phillippe Kretzschmar and Dennis Svard, the book inspired them on many levels. This ranged from how to manage their company to how to incorporate soft values such as branding and environmental values early in the company building process.
Though not directly inspired by Chouinard’s book, Damang Media understands and exemplifies its messages. The company helps other companies adopt technology solutions to improve sales processes and online marketing. They truly believe that technology plays an integral role in business growth, and help companies connect with people by approaching them through social media in fun and exciting ways. They say, “…by blurring the lines of work and play, [they] can work less and play more!” Partnering with 1% allowed them to make a true impact in the spaces they play and experience life to the fullest.
Obviously we here at 1% have taken the lessons conveyed in Let My People Go Surfing and lived life to the fullest. So we’re happy to have these two like-minded, generous companies working with us! …and now I’m going to finish the book!
Five years ago, Andrew and Elske Daigle made their first test batches of soda in their kitchen. Even back then, they knew that they would later join 1% for the Planet.
There are so many reasons to join 1%–marketing value, connection to Yvon (one of Andrew’s heroes), and amazing business/non-profit community—but that’s not what motivated Pop Culture. Instead, Andrew and Elske wanted their business to amplify their already strong connection with the natural world. While working with 1% for the Planet, they plan on focusing their energies on a few key environmental issues to start and allow it to grow organically: wolf reintroduction & protection, dam removal, and watershed restoration & conservation.
Andrew and Elske look forward to hearing about non-profits focused in these areas and are excited about being part of the 1% team!
Pop Culture’s founders lived on an organic farm in the Santa Ynez Valley of Santa Barbara County, California, when those first test batches were made. They hauled bushels of fruit back to the house and experimented with every rudimentary assortment of home brew equipment on the market. They wanted the sodas to taste like fresh fruit and didn’t want to cook the fruit in kettles. Fresh fruit is refreshing and cooked fruit is, well… cooked! And jam belongs on toast!
With that in mind, they developed their first beverage: a fresh pressed Strawberry soda unlike anything on the market and it unknowingly changed their lives. Since almost every other fruit juice based soda on the market is made with concentrates, they wanted to offer an alternative. Soda from concentrate does not have the same fresh flavor they were looking for, so ultimately they decided to make a commitment to use only fresh, certified organic and/or certified Non-GMO ingredients and packaged in glass bottles.
Their model has been very successful and their business is growing rapidly. Pop Culture has just launched a Kickstarter.com campaign to raise the capital it needs to meet the growing demand for its sodas.
Kickstarter is a crowdsourcing platform where individuals & businesses “Pledge” in exchange “Rewards” from Pop Culture. Check out their t-shirts, custom logo glasses, limited edition Pop Culture rock posters, and bulk discounts at below wholesale costs for your store or business; Pop Culture needs your support to ensure its campaign will be an enormous success!
Disadvantaged children in Sacred Valley, Peru participating in "Operation Genius" with the World Shamanic Yoga Institute.
The reasons businesses join 1% for the Planet are almost as diverse as the companies themselves, but Russ at World Shamanic Yoga Institute summed up his motivations particularly well:
The World Shamanic Yoga Institute is proud to be a member of 1% for the Planet. We have been working to foster health and well being at the individual, social and environmental levels for years and when we saw how well thought out the 1% program was, it was an “ah-ha!” moment.
We cannot possibly expect that government will take care of all the environmental issues our planet faces. Economic activity is a fact, and that economic activity MUST be tied to environmental programming if we are to hope for a tomorrow with healthy ecosystems for humanity and the other species on our planet.
1% helps make this a reality by channeling a percentage of gross economic activity back to well-conceived and vetted environmental programming. We look forward to doing our part by supporting organizations like Amazon Conservation Association.
We hope that in the future, 1% or more for the environment will be a standard and not an exception. We all share this beautiful planet. Let’s be intelligent citizens!
