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!
Wedding gifts: often redundant, sometimes essential, occasionally pulled out of the closet just before the person who gifted it to you comes by for dinner, and always, of course, a useful tool to impress the ladies — http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WDda4zG3zvE. But other times wedding gifts have an entirely different effect: Arjan and Rimjhim tell the story of how Nature’s Path’s latest granola series, Love Crunch, came out of an idea to have their wedding guests gift community service projects in place of material items. Love Crunch is now a product that gives back Bite4Bite so that for every bag you buy, Nature’s Path will donate the equivalent amount in cash or organic food to the food bank (up to $1 Million per year!).
This story was my introduction to one of our newest members, Nature’s Path, who has joined 1% for the Planet with their EnviroKidz Brand. I was completely taken aback (with delight and admiration, of course!) by the core values that began Nature’s Path and that remain as the solid foundation upon which the company thrives today. Nature’s Path is a remarkable example of a company looking at its triple bottom line and really living and breathing its everyday values. Founded by a family that grew up on an organic farm, they’re highly committed to organics and proper land stewardship. As founder, Arron Stephens, says, “Always leave the Earth better than you found it,” Nature’s Path truly goes the distance to provide a product that does good from the moment its ingredients are planted in the soil, to the point where kids eating it for breakfast are prompted by artwork on the cereal box to learn about the food cycle.
It was truly a pleasure to kick off this year’s Natural Product ExpoWest show with a luncheon hosted by Nature’s Path. Myself and colleague, Rebecca, had the pleasure of welcoming the Nature’s Path family into the 1% for the Planet network, hearing their history, plans for growth and engaging with the 1% network, and watching as a scholarship from the Rodale Institute to support young organic farmers was named in honor of Arron Stephens. Congratulations, Arron!
It’s the stories like that of Nature’s Path, and the diverse nature of our membership base that make this alliance so intriguing. It’s enormously encouraging to see the movement spreading virally, and during our happy hour co-hosted with Klean Kanteen it was a hoot to bring together such an eccentric crew — from ice cream makers (Three Twins & McConnell’s!), to lawyers (Lara Pearson and Wendel, Rosen, Black and Dean) or green retirement plan providers (SocialK), we had a solid 1% presence. In addition to current members, prospective members swung by to check in and other show attendees frequented our booth to learn about the business model and/or to find out how they could get one of the beautiful steel 1% pints! I want to graciously thank all of our members that attended the show! There’s nothing more invigorating than getting out and meeting the faces that stand behind the good work, and to speak with the people who are causing revolutionary change in the way we do business.
If you’re like me, after seeing the movies Titanic and Avatar you explored the depths of your heart. I asked myself questions like; would I have let go or would love have kept me hanging on that floating door? Would I have been able to see through the fact that the blue person I loved was really a human whose species was bent on destroying my natural habitat? To be honest, none of those questions have been answered yet, but phew, those are deep questions… And famous director, James Cameron, brought them all to life.
If you’ve been following the news recently, you might have seen that Mr. Cameron has funded the creation of an amazing new submersible. Like me when I watch one of his films, Mr. Cameron is hoping to delve into uncharted territory. Using his unique craft, Mr. Cameron plans to descend into the deepest part of the ocean, the Mariana Trench. There he hopes to document everything he sees, possibly finding new species, new environmental conditions and bragging rights for hanging out almost 7 miles below the surface.
Well, here at 1% for the planet we’ve got companies that do almost the same thing as Mr. Cameron every year. They give up their own resources to explore the depths of how far environmental giving can go. Take two new member companies, Controlling Group and KRG Co.,Ltd., for example.
KRG is a distributor of Joyearth, Co. (a maker of biodegradable products), optical lenses and lighting for LCD and semiconductor markets. The companies mission is to protect the earth from pollution, act for the happiness of all mankind, and to cooperate in recovery efforts from natural disasters.
German consulting company Controlling Group has found that environmental stewardship is necessary for the long-term success of their business. Based on the wonderful island of Reichenau in the Lake of Constance in southern Germany, Controlling Group is nestled in a beautiful part of the world – a perfect place for great consulting solutions to come to life!
All Controlling Group employees take clear advantage of their ideal location and are very outdoors oriented. They spend a good chunk of their time on or in the lake, sailing, surfing and paddling or playing in the nearby Alps. This made the decision to donate 1% of revenues easy! Thank you to KRG and Controlling Group for diving into the depths of environmental stewardship!
Since starting at 1% for the Planet, I have been introduced to hundreds of awesome non-profits and businesses. Each time I find one, I announce to the office how great they are, and we look through their websites, generally tempted to either donate or purchase something. Many non-profits seem to know that if you put a picture of a cute and fluffy animal on their “donation” page, it’ll work! Or if you have an attractively unique product, I’m likely to buy it. Anyway, when I was introduced to 1% member, Smock Paper, I knew I needed to get some cards!
Smock is a sustainable stationary company based in Syracuse, NY. They have come out with a new line of stationary, called the “Save the World” card series. These unique letterpress cards are made out of bamboo paper with 100% wind energy. The bamboo is grown without pesticides or fertilizers and is non-GMO, so it is a sustainable material to use in the paper making process. The first card is the series is the honey bee-inspired sunflower card, which is absolutely beautiful! I have already bought a set of six and used four of them! Anyway, back to business…
As a 1% Member, Smock donates 1% of sales annually to environmental initiatives but (lucky for us) they’ve added some beautiful cards to get their customers involved as well. Smock donates 100% of the proceeds from the “Save the World” series go straight to environmental initiatives. The money raised from the sunflower card goes straight to the Pesticide Action Network of North America (PANNA). PANNA is a 1% recipient who works to replace the use of hazardous pesticides with ecologically sound and socially just alternatives. They know how detrimental these chemicals are to many insect species and want to eliminate the use of them.
Honey bees are one of many species that are adversely affected by the use of pesticides. As a key indicator species, their health provides early warning signs for biologists regarding greater ecosystem health. These busy-bees play a crucial role in our global food system with 30% of our food supply depending on them. These important pollinators are in trouble, because many commonly used pesticides are toxic to them. One way we can help save the bees is to support PANNA in their movement to eliminate the use of these toxic pesticides! Another way is to grow certain plants (like sunflowers) that attract bees, so that their populations can grow in your region. Smock has done a great job to create a card that encompasses these ideas and best of all the funds raised go directly to PANNA. Check out their website to order a set of the sunflower cards that will support the reduction of pesticide use that is eliminating honey bees worldwide!
Ever dreamt of sipping a Ginger Zinger while practicing your Tenkara fly-fishing technique at your favorite fishing hole? I can safely say I haven’t, until now. Enter Ayu Drinks and Tenkara, new 1% for the Planet member companies.
Ayu Drinks is the first organic functional beverage based on Ayurveda, the traditional medical system of India. Developed by integrative medicine physician Akil Palanisamy M.D., Ayu incorporates Ayurvedic herbs and spices to help heal the body and mind.
While fueling my mind and body this morning, I was listening to NPR, part of my morning routine. Today’s Morning Edition featured a recent Penn State study that has evidence suggesting the benefits heavily spiced meals can have on the heart. Well, perhaps they should be studying how awesome Ayu Drinks are. Each of their drinks has at least 800mg of herbs per bottle, ensuring real therapeutic benefit.
Debatably more therapeutic than Ayu Drinks is successfully catching a trout from your local mountain stream using the traditional Japanese method of Tenkara fly-fishing. 1% member Tenkara aims to do just that, get people out on the water to experience the simplicity and effectiveness of Tenkara. Tenkara is the traditional Japanese method of fly-fishing, which uses only a rod, line and fly. Check out this video to see what it’s all about!
If you’re like me, you’ve now got the urge to pack your bag, leave the office, and have a therapeutic Tuesday afternoon. I assure you, if you indulge in Ayu Drinks and/or the art of Tenkara fly-fishing, you’ll have a great, relaxing time. Whelp, I’m off to enjoy this beautiful spring weather… Cya!
These are the guys who started Stewart Charley Ventures LLC a few years ago, after deciding to leave their jobs and do something they were truly passionate about. They wanted to invent unique kitchenware; they came up with the Salsabol, which I will explain momentarily! Tom is a designer who loves to surf and Michael is an economist and skier. The snow they slide on and the waves they surf all come from the same source – the ocean. They’ve joined 1% for the Planet so they can give to Oceana, a charity dedicated to helping preserve the world’s oceans. Since 2001, Oceana has protected over 1.2 million square miles of ocean and innumerable sea turtles, sharks, dolphins and other sea creatures. Tom and Michael are excited to support such a wonderful non-profit that is making a huge difference in protecting our natural water resources.
Their first major project is the Salsabol. This is a (genius) bowl that eliminates the opportunity for your salsa to fall onto the table as you scoop it up with a chip. We love it! This bowl will save you from washing tons of tablecloths, and also wasting your delicious salsa! We salute you, the inventors or Salsabol, for making sure that we never embarrass ourselves at the snack table again! Check out Uncommon Goods, where you can buy your very own Salsabowl today! According to Brodie: “I’m always that idiot licking salsa off my hands and shirt (and sometimes the tablecloth) at parties. This is what I need to get my social life back on track!” So thank you guys for making the social scene at 1% more comfortable for everyone!
Now, meet Katya and Natalie:
They are the founders of, Greyslater, a Chicago-based eco-boutique dedicated to supporting local artisans, small businesses, and manufacturers of made in the USA products. Founded in 2011, Greyslater features hand-picked, sustainably-made reusables that are as beautiful as they are functional. Katya and Natalie decided to let their 500th Facebook fan decide who would receive their first year’s donation. They chose the North Carolina Rail-Trails, which is a state-wide land trust that focuses on preserving rail corridors and creating rail-trails.
They sell a number of American-made water bottles, utensils, bags and soaps that we love and know that you guys will too! My personal favorite is the mason jar cozy, which allows for you to drink tea out of your favorite rustic cups without burning your hands. This is perfect for all of you (including my roommates) who believe that pint jars can be used for so much more than just canning fruits and vegetables! Check out the rest of their products which are all for sale online!
Welcome, and we are excited that both of these partnerships have become 1% members! I would personally like to thank you both for giving me birthday present ideas for my co-workers and roommates! Keep up the good work!
The South Yuba River Citizens League (SYRCL, pronounced “circle”), was formed in 1983 to oppose the construction of two dams on the river. Along with successfully halting the construction of the dam, 39 miles of the South Yuba has since been permanently protected. Although SYRCL started as just a small group of concerned citizens, it has evolved into a vibrant community organization. SYRCL’s mission is “to protect and restore the Yuba River and the Greater Yuba Watershed.” They do this to support the native fish that have lived in the river for many generations and also to make sure it remains a clean, recreational area for many years to come. SYRCL sponsors many events and programs annually, including one that we’re excited to highligh today: the Wild & Scenic Film Festival!
The Wild & Scenic Film Festival is the world’s largest environmental film festival. This year is the Festival’s tenth year in existence and will include over one hundred films! The festival kicks off every January in Nevada City, California where they show environmental films for three straight days. Last year, 1% for the Planet released [one percent] of the story at this festival, and it was a hit. Our video was well received, received the 2011 Award from EthicMark Certificate, showed at numerous Wild & Scenic Film Festivals around the country and was the reason for a large amount of new membership inquiries. Thank you Wild ‘n Scenic! If you’re wondering if your nonprofit is a fit for this festival, take note that these films encompass a wide range of environmental topics – adventure, conservation, wildlife, climate change, environmental justice, community activism and agriculture, just to name a few.
After the festival’s first year, SYRCL was so pleased with the turnout that they decided to take the show on the road and offer it in communities across the country. Throughout 2012, the festival will take place at over one hundred venues, including Antarctica! Eighty percent of the venues are hosted by community organizations that have applied for grants through Wild & Scenic, with help from Patagonia. The basic guidelines require that grant recipients use the festival as an outreach tool to increase membership. This allows for smaller communities to increase involvement and learn about a number of environmental issues without doing all of the organizing themselves. Wild & Scenic will supply the films, PR materials and planning guides, while the organizations just need to secure the venue and organize the local marketing.
(The previous video features The Edible Schoolyard Project, which is a 1% recipient!!) Check out the Wild & Scenic Film Festival’s calendar to see if any venues are nearby, or apply for a grant to host one! We’re thankful for all of the hard work that SYRCL and Wild & Scenic have done over the last decade and are proud to be part of the movement!
A good friend recently turned me on to a book by David Owen. While I’ve yet to read The Conundrum it’s next on my list, as soon as my boss Brittany lets me put down the Hunger Games.
Watching the promo video for Owen’s book got me thinking about tough, personal questions. I like to think I’m a fairly environmentally conscious person—I buy local, organic food when I can, ride my bike to the office more often than not and turn out the CFL’s whenever I leave a room.
Still, as Owen bluntly points out, there are glaring contradictions in the way I live. My passion for backcountry skiing and mountain biking has me driving Libby, my aging Volvo manwagon, around the northeast most weekends. I’ve forgotten my reusable shopping bags at home more times than I’d like to admit. In a week’s time I’m flying to Alaska in search of the snow that has eluded Vermont this winter.
Breaking news: it takes a lot of bike rides to the office to offset a flight to Alaska.
As much as I hate to admit it, Owen is right. Many of the innovations we think of as greening our lifestyles actually lead to increased resource use in the long run, as efficiency allows greater consumption. Damn, it’s depressing.
So how do we shake the funk?
The only answer, as I see it, is advocating for the kind of change that co-opts everyone as part of the solution, from the darkest green consumer to the most mainstream American. What better way to do just that than for businesses–who provide for almost all of our needs–to be the solution?
Companies that join 1% for the Planet are the leading edge of a paradigm shift. So pick up a copy of The Conundrum, and join me in welcoming the following businesses who have decided to be the solution:
