Posted on May 24th, 2013 by pauline
With Mountainfilm starting today in Telluride, I thought it would be the perfect time to share this post from Hal Clifford, the owner of Take One Creative- a 1% FTP member based in Boulder, CO. This story was originally posted on Mountainfilm’s blog and we thank them for sharing it with us! Have fun this weekend!
I stumbled across Mountainfilm in Telluride in the spring of 1998, a few weeks after I moved to Telluride, Colorado.
A door opened. For a few magical days I felt like an initiate to whom secrets and magic were being revealed. It became my favorite event of the year. Fifteen years later it still is.
I have often tried to explain Mountainfilm to Those Who Do Not Know. I tell them about the mechanics: the ice cream social, the growing number of screens, the fact that you’ll have a conversation with the photographer Aaron Huey or the artist Chris Jordan and it may change your life. But I am unable to convey the ineffable aspects, those things that are both the most evanescent and the most essential to Mountainfilm. They are the qualities that make the festival more than the sum of its parts. Trying to describe them is like trying to explain sex.
For the first few years I was a devoted attendee, living on PowerBars and Cowboy Coffee and too little sleep at that magical green-white moment in May when Telluride is slipping off winter. A decade ago joined the staff and tried to help, with debatable results. Somewhere in there I started to see the 1% for the Planet logo—maybe it was on the screen, or in the program, or on some gear in a local shop. It was just part of the ecosystem.
Then I moved East, had kids, missed a few years.
But the wheel turned. My business partner in Take One Creative, Jason Houston, hung a photography show here in 2009. He returned to Massachusetts with a distinct and recognizable look in his eyes and a similar inability to explain what he had partaken. We were working together at a magazine and so we started teaching ourselves to make videos there because nobody told us we couldn’t.
Our first video didn’t pass muster with the Mountainfilm selection committee (thank you, David, for saving us from ourselves). But for each of the last four years we’ve been able to premiere something on a Telluride screen. In doing so we are putting our creative work before the community we most admire. It feels like BASE jumping. Each time I do it I want to vomit. Then I want to do it again. The cash we give Mountainfilm through 1% is an offering, like the stone you place on a cairn at a mountain pass—just something for the next human to come through.
Last year at the biggest venue, The Palm, on the last morning, the film director Tom Shadyac preached – there’s no other way to describe it – to a packed house of 600. He began by summing up the afterglow we individually experience in the wake of Mountainfilm: We ask ourselves, in the best possible way, “What the hell just happened?”
I may not be able to answer that question, even for myself. But I know it’s important. It’s essential. And every year I can’t wait for it.
Other 1% FTP supporters of Mountainfilm include: Patagonia, Klean Kanteen, Outside, CLIF Bar, New Belgium Brewing, Felt Soul Media and Max Davis Company.
Tags: Colorado, Hal Clifford, Love Blue, Mountainfilm, Take One Creative, Telluride
Posted in Events, Members, Non-Profit Recipients
Posted on April 12th, 2013 by pauline
The following post was written by Paul DeCrette, owner of 1% for the Planet member BlueChannel. If you would like to share your giving story on our blog, please get in touch with Pauline.
My name is Paul DeCrette. Since 1998, I have run BlueChannel, a small web development and consulting firm. I enjoy my work, provide livable wages and good benefits to a few employees, and genuinely care about my clients. But I am not changing the world through programming or email support!
I moved the business to Colorado in 2000 to take advantage of our state’s beautiful and precious outdoor spaces. I wanted to spend time with my beautiful wife Nicole and raise my children in clean mountain air. When I took on Mick Jeanne – a long-time employee – as a co-owner a few years ago, we jointly acknowledged that the world is bigger than us and precious to us. We agreed to put some money where our environmental mouths are. After all, talk is cheap, but change is expensive! Good causes need financial support.
1% for the Planet is a good fit. It connects us with like-minded businesses and demands a simple, honest, and manageable annual giving goal – and one that changes as means change. “A portion of profits donated to charity,” or “10% of profits donated to this cause” is meaningless; any business owner knows profits can be manipulated by compensation and other accounting tricks. But when you donate a percentage of your gross sales as reported on your tax return, the number is concrete. For BlueChannel, this number, albeit small, was hard to swallow at first. It has since grown year over year, and now it is just built into our business model and lives. And while we would continue to give even if this was not true, the exposure we receive from our annual contributions has made this commitment financially worthwhile as well. Doing the right thing can pay.
Colorado Environmental Coalition has recently merged with Colorado Conservation Voters to become Conservation Colorado. Priorities include protecting public lands and wilderness areas – many of the same areas I have backpacked and skied. They also work to mitigate climate change and encourage pro-environmental legislation. Right now, they are active in trying to encourage rural Colorado utilities to increase their clean energy sources. Help the cause and take action to support SB 252 and related legislation today!
Republican, Democrat, or otherwise, you can’t do business on a dead planet. I encourage you to support an environmental cause, and if you need ideas, 1% for the Planet and Conservation Colorado are indeed worthy.
Tags: BlueChannel, Colorado, Conservation Colorado, donate, Paul DeCrette
Posted in News
Posted on May 30th, 2012 by pauline
As you might already know, 1% for the Planet’s network has a wide variety of participants from every part of the business and non-profit spectrum. The two new members I am featuring in this post are Lighthouse Conferencing and The Green Playroom. Read on to learn more about how you can responsibly and sustainably improve your business and your children’s lives!
Marc Gutman, the owner of Lighthouse Conferencing, is excited to announce that his company has recently become a member of 1% for the Planet. Lighthouse Conferencing delivers industry leading audio, web, and video services to businesses of all sizes. Lighthouse’s main goal is to make their clients look good while making sure they are having productive and effective meetings in a sustainable manner. If your business is looking for more sustainable conferencing support- make sure to check out Lighthouse’s services!
Lighthouse is excited to be the first conferencing company to make the 1% commitment! Since they are based in Colorado, it is almost a given that Marc and his employees love playing in the outdoors. They are thrilled to carry this energy into our network in the form of financial donations to our local non-profit partners and connections with other business members!
Another new member is The Green Playroom, an online shop committed to offering the best in high quality children’s furniture, room décor and kids toys for your children’s playroom. All of their products are sustainably produced, eco-friendly, and non-toxic. They realize the importance of having these products available, so that parents don’t have to worry about what they are surrounding their children with. The Green Playroom is excited to be part of this necessary cause and to actively participate in giving back to important environmental causes- and they are our first member based in North Dakota!
We are excited to have both of these new members in our network; please keep them in mind when thinking about how you can make your home and business life more sustainable!
Tags: Colorado, csr, Lighthouse Conferencing, new members, North Dakota, sustainability, The Green Playroom
Posted in Members
