I find myself in conversations about climate change rather often, though maybe surprising to you I don't start many of them. People think that since my company is an environmental steward and preaching sustainability that I'm a good sounding board for whatever news or rumor they've heard recently. I welcome the conversation, but I find myself having to do much of my research just so I can make sure people don't tell a whole group a half-truth and because I'm there and I don't object that must mean it's right. when really I just don't know enough about the subject to venture an opinion.
So, I have to look into these claims and try to become an expert because I'm expected to be an expert. I wonder how many actual accidental experts there are....I say actual because I'm still not an expert on much of anything except my own opinion. but here are a couple of counter-points you and me can make to people who love to grab onto sensationalism:
Ok, so it's been debated for a long time and everyone has an opinion. But as of July 2007 you can confidently say there is NOT ONE SINGLE NATIONAL OR INTERNATIONAL SCIENTIFIC BODY THAT DISPUTES MAN'S CONTRIBUTION TO CLIMATE CHANGE. Not just that the climate is changing. Many people will admit this and still deny humans have anything to do with it. But no credible scientists will deny it. Humans are causing the earth to heat up. Hands down. Cite Wikipedia to fully arm yourself for this statement:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Climate_change
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Attribution_of_recent_climate_change
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Global_warming
And the best one:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scientific_consensus_on_climate_change
Direct quote if you're too busy to go find it:
With the July 2007 release of the revised statement by the American Association of Petroleum Geologists, no remaining scientific body of national or international standing is known to reject the basic findings of human influence on recent climate.[47]
Ok, now on to some junk science. Is the Hummer better for the environment from cradle to cradle than the Prius? While this one is harder to definitively debunk because the original science behind it is kept partially secret, there are fatal flaws in even the publicly conceded methodology. I like this article's stance for it's honest look at the issue, but the answer is no, it's not:
http://www.thecarconnection.com/article/1010861_prius-versus-hummer-exploding-the-myth>
One huge problem with the original claim, that you can cite, is that they say it's based on the total lifetime of the vehicle and they make assumptions about what that lifetime is. Instead of comparing them with similar lifetimes, they claim that a prius will only drive 109,000 miles in its lifetime compared to 200,000 for a normal car and amazingly almost 400,000 miles for a Hummer. Why they assume a hummer will be driven twice as far as a normal car is beyond me. In fact, it's totally ridiculous and their explanation for their claim is that the current hybrid models will soon be "obsolete" because of better models and that means current hybrids will not be driven for as long. using a comparable lifetime mileage, the cradle to cradle cost of the hybrid comes in far, far below SUVs and Hummers. It also looks like they make an assumption on gas prices and since the study looks like it was done in 2006...well, you can figure that one out.
So, if you get dragged into this argument, ask about the assumed lifetimes of the vehicles? The person will have no idea what you're talking about and you can kindly inform them that the study is flawed and point them to this blog or the study above.
Other flaws:
People will for some reason claim the batteries are toxic and not recyclable. Here's word from Green Car Journal and Toyota:
Battery toxicity is a concern, although today's hybrids use NiMH batteries, not the environmentally problematic rechargeable nickel cadmium. "Nickel metal hydride batteries are benign. They can be fully recycled," says Ron Cogan, editor of the Green Car Journal. Toyota and Honda say that they will recycle dead batteries and that disposal will pose no toxic hazards. Toyota puts a phone number on each battery, and they pay a $200 "bounty" for each battery to help ensure that it will be properly recycled.
There's no definitive word on replacement costs because they are almost never replaced. According to Toyota, since the Prius first went on sale in 2000, they have not replaced a single battery for wear and tear.
<http://www.hybridcars.com/faq.html>
Another supporting article, slightly more biased:
http://www.slate.com/id/2186786/
You can google 'hummer better for the environment than prius' to find more.
Sunday, June 15, 2008
Monday, June 02, 2008
Greenling in the New York Times June 5th
Check out this article highlighting Greenling and several other Organic delivery services:
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/05/fashion/05cyber.html?scp=1&sq=greenling&st=nyt
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/05/fashion/05cyber.html?scp=1&sq=greenling&st=nyt
Wednesday, May 28, 2008
Can lactose intolerant people drink raw milk?
I read an article in Acres USA about the battle in California for the raw milk farmers. There's a rule pending requiring all milk producers to have less than 10 ppm coliform in their milk, which is near impossible for raw milk farmers not to mention they wouldn't want to get it that low. Some coliform is beneficial. Anyway, in the article they claim that there's a study out there showing kids who suffer from lactose intolerance can drink raw milk with no effects. Does anyone know about this study or where to find it? It would be very interesting to find some science behind this claim.
Thursday, May 22, 2008
Change we can stomach - repost
Article by Dan Barber published on May 11, 2008 - I really like this one ---
COOKING, like farming, for all its down-home community spirit, is essentially a solitary craft. But lately it’s feeling more like a lonely burden. Finding guilt-free food for our menus — food that’s clean, green and humane — is about as easy as securing a housing loan. And we’re suddenly paying more — 75 percent more in the last six years — to stock our pantries. Around the world, from Cairo to Port-au-Prince, increases in food prices have governments facing riots born of shortages and hunger. It’s enough to make you want to toss in the toque.
But here’s the good news: if you’re a chef, or an eater who cares about where your food comes from (and there are a lot of you out there), we can have a hand in making food for the future downright delicious.
Farming has the potential to go through the greatest upheaval since the Green Revolution, bringing harvests that are more healthful, sustainable and, yes, even more flavorful. The change is being pushed along by market forces that influence how our farmers farm.
Until now, food production has been controlled by Big Agriculture, with its macho fixation on “average tonnage” and “record harvests.” But there’s a cost to its breadbasket-to-the-world bragging rights. Like those big Industrial Age factories that once billowed black smoke, American agriculture is mired in a mind-set that relies on capital, chemistry and machines. Food production is dependent on oil, in the form of fertilizers and pesticides, in the distances produce travels from farm to plate and in the energy it takes to process it.
For decades, environmentalists and small farmers have claimed that this is several kinds of madness. But industrial agriculture has simply responded that if we’re feeding more people more cheaply using less land, how terrible can our food system be?
Now that argument no longer holds true. With the price of oil at more than $120 a barrel (up from less than $30 for most of the last 50 years), small and midsize nonpolluting farms, the ones growing the healthiest and best-tasting food, are gaining a competitive advantage. They aren’t as reliant on oil, because they use fewer large machines and less pesticide and fertilizer.
In fact, small farms are the most productive on earth. A four-acre farm in the United States nets, on average, $1,400 per acre; a 1,364-acre farm nets $39 an acre. Big farms have long compensated for the disequilibrium with sheer quantity. But their economies of scale come from mass distribution, and with diesel fuel costing more than $4 per gallon in many locations, it’s no longer efficient to transport food 1,500 miles from where it’s grown.
The high cost of oil alone will not be enough to reform American agriculture, however. As long as agricultural companies exploit the poor and extract labor from them at slave wages, and as long as they aren’t required to pay the price for the pollution they so brazenly produce, their system will stay afloat. If financially pinched Americans opt for the cheapest (and the least healthful) foods rather than cook their own, the food industry will continue to reach for the lowest common denominator.
But it is possible to nudge the revolution along — for instance, by changing how we measure the value of food. If we stop calculating the cost per quantity and begin considering the cost per nutrient value, the demand for higher-quality food would rise.
Organic fruits and vegetables contain 40 percent more nutrients than their chemical-fed counterparts. And animals raised on pasture provide us with meat and dairy products containing more beta carotene and at least three times as much C.L.A. (conjugated linoleic acid, shown in animal studies to reduce the risk of cancer) than those raised on grain.
Where good nutrition goes, flavor tends to follow. Chefs are the first to admit that an impossibly sweet, flavor-filled carrot has nothing to do with our work. It has to do with growing the right seed in healthy, nutrient-rich soil.
Increasingly we can see the wisdom of diversified farming operations, where there are built-in relationships among plants and animals. A dairy farm can provide manure for a neighboring potato farm, for example, which can in turn offer potato scraps as extra feed for the herd. When crops and livestock are judiciously mixed, agriculture wisely mimics nature.
To encourage small, diversified farms is not to make a nostalgic bid to revert to the agrarian ways of our ancestors. It is to look toward the future, leapfrogging past the age of heavy machinery and pollution, to farms that take advantage of the sun’s free energy and use the waste of one species as food for another.
Chefs can help move our food system into the future by continuing to demand the most flavorful food. Our support of the local food movement is an important example of this approach, but it’s not enough. As demand for fresh, local food rises, we cannot continue to rely entirely on farmers’ markets. Asking every farmer to plant, harvest, drive his pickup truck to a market and sell his goods there is like asking me to cook, take reservations, serve and wash the dishes.
We now need to support a system of well-coordinated regional farm networks, each suited to the food it can best grow. Farmers organized into marketing networks that can promote their common brands (like the Organic Valley Family of Farms in the Midwest) can ease the economic and ecological burden of food production and transportation. They can also distribute their products to new markets, including poor communities that have relied mainly on food from convenience stores.
Similar networks could also operate in the countries that are now experiencing food shortages. For years, the United States has flooded the world with food exports, displacing small farmers and disrupting domestic markets. As escalating food prices threaten an additional 100 million people with hunger, a new concept of humanitarian aid is required. Local farming efforts focused on conserving natural resources and biodiversity are essential to improving food security in developing countries, as a report just published by the International Assessment of Agriculture Science and Technology for Development has concluded. We must build on these tenets, providing financial and technical assistance to small farmers across the world.
But regional systems will work only if there is enough small-scale farming going on to make them viable. With a less energy-intensive food system in place, we will need more muscle power devoted to food production, and more people on the farm. (The need is especially urgent when you consider that the average age of today’s American farmer is over 55.) In order to move gracefully into a post-industrial agriculture economy, we also need to rethink how we educate the people who will grow our food. Land-grant universities and agricultural schools, dependent on financing from agribusiness, focus on maximum extraction from the land — take more, sell more, waste more.
Leave our agricultural future to chefs and anyone who takes food and cooking seriously. We never bought into the “bigger is better” mantra, not because it left us too dependent on oil, but because it never produced anything really good to eat. Truly great cooking — not faddish 1.5-pound rib-eye steaks with butter sauce, but food that has evolved from the world’s thriving peasant cuisines — is based on the correspondence of good farming to a healthy environment and good nutrition. It’s never been any other way, and we should be grateful. The future belongs to the gourmet.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/11/opinion/11barber.html?pagewanted=2&_r=1&sq=change%20we%20can%20stomach&st=nyt&scp=1
COOKING, like farming, for all its down-home community spirit, is essentially a solitary craft. But lately it’s feeling more like a lonely burden. Finding guilt-free food for our menus — food that’s clean, green and humane — is about as easy as securing a housing loan. And we’re suddenly paying more — 75 percent more in the last six years — to stock our pantries. Around the world, from Cairo to Port-au-Prince, increases in food prices have governments facing riots born of shortages and hunger. It’s enough to make you want to toss in the toque.
But here’s the good news: if you’re a chef, or an eater who cares about where your food comes from (and there are a lot of you out there), we can have a hand in making food for the future downright delicious.
Farming has the potential to go through the greatest upheaval since the Green Revolution, bringing harvests that are more healthful, sustainable and, yes, even more flavorful. The change is being pushed along by market forces that influence how our farmers farm.
Until now, food production has been controlled by Big Agriculture, with its macho fixation on “average tonnage” and “record harvests.” But there’s a cost to its breadbasket-to-the-world bragging rights. Like those big Industrial Age factories that once billowed black smoke, American agriculture is mired in a mind-set that relies on capital, chemistry and machines. Food production is dependent on oil, in the form of fertilizers and pesticides, in the distances produce travels from farm to plate and in the energy it takes to process it.
For decades, environmentalists and small farmers have claimed that this is several kinds of madness. But industrial agriculture has simply responded that if we’re feeding more people more cheaply using less land, how terrible can our food system be?
Now that argument no longer holds true. With the price of oil at more than $120 a barrel (up from less than $30 for most of the last 50 years), small and midsize nonpolluting farms, the ones growing the healthiest and best-tasting food, are gaining a competitive advantage. They aren’t as reliant on oil, because they use fewer large machines and less pesticide and fertilizer.
In fact, small farms are the most productive on earth. A four-acre farm in the United States nets, on average, $1,400 per acre; a 1,364-acre farm nets $39 an acre. Big farms have long compensated for the disequilibrium with sheer quantity. But their economies of scale come from mass distribution, and with diesel fuel costing more than $4 per gallon in many locations, it’s no longer efficient to transport food 1,500 miles from where it’s grown.
The high cost of oil alone will not be enough to reform American agriculture, however. As long as agricultural companies exploit the poor and extract labor from them at slave wages, and as long as they aren’t required to pay the price for the pollution they so brazenly produce, their system will stay afloat. If financially pinched Americans opt for the cheapest (and the least healthful) foods rather than cook their own, the food industry will continue to reach for the lowest common denominator.
But it is possible to nudge the revolution along — for instance, by changing how we measure the value of food. If we stop calculating the cost per quantity and begin considering the cost per nutrient value, the demand for higher-quality food would rise.
Organic fruits and vegetables contain 40 percent more nutrients than their chemical-fed counterparts. And animals raised on pasture provide us with meat and dairy products containing more beta carotene and at least three times as much C.L.A. (conjugated linoleic acid, shown in animal studies to reduce the risk of cancer) than those raised on grain.
Where good nutrition goes, flavor tends to follow. Chefs are the first to admit that an impossibly sweet, flavor-filled carrot has nothing to do with our work. It has to do with growing the right seed in healthy, nutrient-rich soil.
Increasingly we can see the wisdom of diversified farming operations, where there are built-in relationships among plants and animals. A dairy farm can provide manure for a neighboring potato farm, for example, which can in turn offer potato scraps as extra feed for the herd. When crops and livestock are judiciously mixed, agriculture wisely mimics nature.
To encourage small, diversified farms is not to make a nostalgic bid to revert to the agrarian ways of our ancestors. It is to look toward the future, leapfrogging past the age of heavy machinery and pollution, to farms that take advantage of the sun’s free energy and use the waste of one species as food for another.
Chefs can help move our food system into the future by continuing to demand the most flavorful food. Our support of the local food movement is an important example of this approach, but it’s not enough. As demand for fresh, local food rises, we cannot continue to rely entirely on farmers’ markets. Asking every farmer to plant, harvest, drive his pickup truck to a market and sell his goods there is like asking me to cook, take reservations, serve and wash the dishes.
We now need to support a system of well-coordinated regional farm networks, each suited to the food it can best grow. Farmers organized into marketing networks that can promote their common brands (like the Organic Valley Family of Farms in the Midwest) can ease the economic and ecological burden of food production and transportation. They can also distribute their products to new markets, including poor communities that have relied mainly on food from convenience stores.
Similar networks could also operate in the countries that are now experiencing food shortages. For years, the United States has flooded the world with food exports, displacing small farmers and disrupting domestic markets. As escalating food prices threaten an additional 100 million people with hunger, a new concept of humanitarian aid is required. Local farming efforts focused on conserving natural resources and biodiversity are essential to improving food security in developing countries, as a report just published by the International Assessment of Agriculture Science and Technology for Development has concluded. We must build on these tenets, providing financial and technical assistance to small farmers across the world.
But regional systems will work only if there is enough small-scale farming going on to make them viable. With a less energy-intensive food system in place, we will need more muscle power devoted to food production, and more people on the farm. (The need is especially urgent when you consider that the average age of today’s American farmer is over 55.) In order to move gracefully into a post-industrial agriculture economy, we also need to rethink how we educate the people who will grow our food. Land-grant universities and agricultural schools, dependent on financing from agribusiness, focus on maximum extraction from the land — take more, sell more, waste more.
Leave our agricultural future to chefs and anyone who takes food and cooking seriously. We never bought into the “bigger is better” mantra, not because it left us too dependent on oil, but because it never produced anything really good to eat. Truly great cooking — not faddish 1.5-pound rib-eye steaks with butter sauce, but food that has evolved from the world’s thriving peasant cuisines — is based on the correspondence of good farming to a healthy environment and good nutrition. It’s never been any other way, and we should be grateful. The future belongs to the gourmet.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/11/opinion/11barber.html?pagewanted=2&_r=1&sq=change%20we%20can%20stomach&st=nyt&scp=1
Wednesday, May 21, 2008
Zen and the art of Entrepreneurship
Article Written for Bootstrap Austin
Everyone has a different idea about what Entrepreneurship is and everyone has different motivations for their desire to be an entrepreneur. As an entrepreneur I get a lot of people who approach me to talk about their ideas and the business they want to start. Each one of them, from what I can tell, seems to have different reasons driving them. Some people just seem to be looking for more fulfillment. Unfortunately, I don't think everyone can find the answers they're looking for in starting a business.
What do people seek in entrepreneurship? Why do they want to do their own thing? Many will tell you it's because people want to be their own boss, be in control. But what does that mean? What if you have a great boss? How many people that are being managed well in a position suited to their strengths want to start their own thing? Will they find ways to believe they could do it better? Are some people just never satisfied. Or because they've never experienced a satisfying job with a good team do they think that entrepreneurship must be the way to make them happy? On many levels, wanting to be your own boss and be in control is a really bad reason to start a company.
Starting your own company, especially bootstrapping one, is on a fundamental level creating your own future. Manifesting your own destiny. And yet it's not always the best way to create the future you actually want. It's just a different future and can be just as dissatisfying as a corporate job. If you're not happy where you are there are a thousand ways to change where you are without starting your own company. So how do you know starting your own thing is the way to go?
You first need to take a deep look at what would make you happy. For me, it's about doing something that you love in a company that is aligned with your core values. Money should not matter. The desire for material things in me seems to be more a result of our inundation with marketing messages convincing us we want more stuff than a desire for happiness. The desire for money is a hard one to overcome and is a constant battle. I believe it necessary to remove this from the picture, though, if you are to truly evaluate this objectively and find the most fulfilling path.
I believe the best reason to start your own company is because of all the opportunities in front of you it is the best available option to combine your core values, strengths, and resources into an activity that helps you manifest the first two. This is very ambiguous, intentionally, because it's such fundamental topic. I believe one should put a lot of thought into what makes them happy before considering starting a business. I would highly recommend figuring out your core values and strengths and taking roll of your resources. With these critical tools, all you need to do is look for intersections of your values and strengths with your resources and you've got your best option for a happy, fulfilling career. This may or may not involve starting a company and it may require some creativity. Let's look at an example...me:
Many of my core values are now very evident in what I'm doing. My company, Greenling, is trying to help people and the environment. There is a list of our core values plastered on just about every wall in our facility and many of those are my personal values as well. My strengths are in spurring people and things to action, in developing ideas, in pondering the future and what it may hold for me and my company, in working hard to achieve goals, and in helping people focus on what's important (I discovered these through a tool listed below). I think these are fairly well-suited to entrepreneurship.
Many of my core values are rooted in helping the planet. I care very much about Sustainability and improving our environment. My other core values include hard work and dedication, integrity, loyalty, building and respecting lasting relationships. I developed my core values several years ago and when I got married, my wife and I developed our core values as a team and Greenling developed its core values a couple of years ago. It seems cliché or something that is so simple you don't need to pay it attention, but I believe it's incredibly important to vocalize and write these things down. They can make every other decision in your life a little easier by check your options against your values.
My resources were slim when we started, but I had some good friends with additional resources, connections and experience in the local Sustainability scene. You don't need a lot of resources to start a company. You just need to know how to leverage them. If you need resources you don't have, partner with people who do have them. And I think it's just plain easier to start a company in an area where you DO have some resources than to strike out on your own into the blue. And with how hard it is to start a successful business anyway, every advantage helps.
There are many tools for helping you develop your core values. One great one for developing them within a team is Mastering the Rockefeller Habits by Verne Harnish.
For finding your strengths there are a couple of really good tools. Strengths Finder & the MRE framework.
Finding your resources just requires, well, resourcefulness. Who do you know? Who do they know? Make a list of family and friends and what they do for work (or personally). Talk to them. Do they like what they do? Are they well-connected in their industry? What do they have influence over? Are they the purchaser for things in their industry? Who do they use to help them do what they do?
With all of these things, you have some great tools for evaluating a new venture. Whether you're starting from scratch or you have this great idea and just need to evaluate if you really want to do it or not, these are the building blocks.
It's no coincidence that when you think about this process, it leads much more easily to a bootstrap model of business than the other two (cookie-cutter business and VC-funded business). If you're starting with something that makes you happy it is most likely not going to be just copying someone else exactly. We all have our own ideas of how to run a business. If you're just reading a manual and following instructions, how likely are you to be following your happiest path? The VC path can seem glamorous and sexy, but remember my point about being motivated by money. As has been demonstrated by Dell, Microsoft, Southwest, there is not a business on the planet that absolutely cannot be bootstrapped. So why would you take VC money? Because it seems to make everything easier. But all money does is put a magnifying glass on everything. If you don't start out of the gates with every detail of your business figured out, you could end up with some huge problems.
Innovation comes from constraints, they say. And not the constraint of someone telling you what to do. So many things were really important, but I couldn't do them all. So I had to pick the most important ones to do first. How do you discern which are most important? Constraints help, however painful they are.
I believe the only way for you to freely manifest your values and strengths in a start-up is through a bootstrap model. Figure out what you love and demo, sell, build. Bootstrapping forced me to look deeper at my business and make sure I was doing the right thing at the right time.
Mason Arnold - Greenling Organic Delivery
Everyone has a different idea about what Entrepreneurship is and everyone has different motivations for their desire to be an entrepreneur. As an entrepreneur I get a lot of people who approach me to talk about their ideas and the business they want to start. Each one of them, from what I can tell, seems to have different reasons driving them. Some people just seem to be looking for more fulfillment. Unfortunately, I don't think everyone can find the answers they're looking for in starting a business.
What do people seek in entrepreneurship? Why do they want to do their own thing? Many will tell you it's because people want to be their own boss, be in control. But what does that mean? What if you have a great boss? How many people that are being managed well in a position suited to their strengths want to start their own thing? Will they find ways to believe they could do it better? Are some people just never satisfied. Or because they've never experienced a satisfying job with a good team do they think that entrepreneurship must be the way to make them happy? On many levels, wanting to be your own boss and be in control is a really bad reason to start a company.
Starting your own company, especially bootstrapping one, is on a fundamental level creating your own future. Manifesting your own destiny. And yet it's not always the best way to create the future you actually want. It's just a different future and can be just as dissatisfying as a corporate job. If you're not happy where you are there are a thousand ways to change where you are without starting your own company. So how do you know starting your own thing is the way to go?
You first need to take a deep look at what would make you happy. For me, it's about doing something that you love in a company that is aligned with your core values. Money should not matter. The desire for material things in me seems to be more a result of our inundation with marketing messages convincing us we want more stuff than a desire for happiness. The desire for money is a hard one to overcome and is a constant battle. I believe it necessary to remove this from the picture, though, if you are to truly evaluate this objectively and find the most fulfilling path.
I believe the best reason to start your own company is because of all the opportunities in front of you it is the best available option to combine your core values, strengths, and resources into an activity that helps you manifest the first two. This is very ambiguous, intentionally, because it's such fundamental topic. I believe one should put a lot of thought into what makes them happy before considering starting a business. I would highly recommend figuring out your core values and strengths and taking roll of your resources. With these critical tools, all you need to do is look for intersections of your values and strengths with your resources and you've got your best option for a happy, fulfilling career. This may or may not involve starting a company and it may require some creativity. Let's look at an example...me:
Many of my core values are now very evident in what I'm doing. My company, Greenling, is trying to help people and the environment. There is a list of our core values plastered on just about every wall in our facility and many of those are my personal values as well. My strengths are in spurring people and things to action, in developing ideas, in pondering the future and what it may hold for me and my company, in working hard to achieve goals, and in helping people focus on what's important (I discovered these through a tool listed below). I think these are fairly well-suited to entrepreneurship.
Many of my core values are rooted in helping the planet. I care very much about Sustainability and improving our environment. My other core values include hard work and dedication, integrity, loyalty, building and respecting lasting relationships. I developed my core values several years ago and when I got married, my wife and I developed our core values as a team and Greenling developed its core values a couple of years ago. It seems cliché or something that is so simple you don't need to pay it attention, but I believe it's incredibly important to vocalize and write these things down. They can make every other decision in your life a little easier by check your options against your values.
My resources were slim when we started, but I had some good friends with additional resources, connections and experience in the local Sustainability scene. You don't need a lot of resources to start a company. You just need to know how to leverage them. If you need resources you don't have, partner with people who do have them. And I think it's just plain easier to start a company in an area where you DO have some resources than to strike out on your own into the blue. And with how hard it is to start a successful business anyway, every advantage helps.
There are many tools for helping you develop your core values. One great one for developing them within a team is Mastering the Rockefeller Habits by Verne Harnish.
For finding your strengths there are a couple of really good tools. Strengths Finder & the MRE framework.
Finding your resources just requires, well, resourcefulness. Who do you know? Who do they know? Make a list of family and friends and what they do for work (or personally). Talk to them. Do they like what they do? Are they well-connected in their industry? What do they have influence over? Are they the purchaser for things in their industry? Who do they use to help them do what they do?
With all of these things, you have some great tools for evaluating a new venture. Whether you're starting from scratch or you have this great idea and just need to evaluate if you really want to do it or not, these are the building blocks.
It's no coincidence that when you think about this process, it leads much more easily to a bootstrap model of business than the other two (cookie-cutter business and VC-funded business). If you're starting with something that makes you happy it is most likely not going to be just copying someone else exactly. We all have our own ideas of how to run a business. If you're just reading a manual and following instructions, how likely are you to be following your happiest path? The VC path can seem glamorous and sexy, but remember my point about being motivated by money. As has been demonstrated by Dell, Microsoft, Southwest, there is not a business on the planet that absolutely cannot be bootstrapped. So why would you take VC money? Because it seems to make everything easier. But all money does is put a magnifying glass on everything. If you don't start out of the gates with every detail of your business figured out, you could end up with some huge problems.
Innovation comes from constraints, they say. And not the constraint of someone telling you what to do. So many things were really important, but I couldn't do them all. So I had to pick the most important ones to do first. How do you discern which are most important? Constraints help, however painful they are.
I believe the only way for you to freely manifest your values and strengths in a start-up is through a bootstrap model. Figure out what you love and demo, sell, build. Bootstrapping forced me to look deeper at my business and make sure I was doing the right thing at the right time.
Mason Arnold - Greenling Organic Delivery
Tuesday, May 20, 2008
Gas used in delivery
So, we occasionally get people who say they don't think a delivery service is very environmentally friendly. Our trucks driving around all day they think is very polluting.
These people have just not thought all the way through the comparison. Polluting compared to what? What we compare it to is each of our customers driving to the grocery store, in particular a natural food grocery store. This comparison leaves out some other neat facts about Greenling, but let's start there. On average in Austin people live 3 miles from a grocery store. This includes all grocery stores. I would say that on average people live 4-5 miles from a Whole Foods/Central Market/Sun Harvest/Wheatsville Coop, if not more. That's 8-10 miles round trip to go to the store.
Greenling trucks leave the warehouse with 60-80 baskets of food in them and drive about 100 miles to deliver all of them. That's 1.25-1.66 miles per delivery. Taking an average of 70 customers, driving to and from the grocery store themselves, that's 560-700 miles total, compared to our 100. So, just looking at the "last mile", or grocery-store-to-the-table, we get your food there with up to 86% less fuel. Amazing! 86% less energy just in the last leg of the food's trip. It's a straight comparison because our vans, completely packed with boxes and with a refrigeration unit blasting STILL get gas mileage as good as the average CAR! over 20 MPG. And I'm guessing there's more than average SUV and truck drivers in Austin, which get worse gas mileage. We get this kind of mileage because we use the most fuel efficient delivery vehicles available in the US, if you were wondering...it's not common for a delivery company to say that. They were 30% more expensive than the competition, but we're fairing the rising gas prices much better than our competition because of that choice AND to us it was an investment in the planet. It goes beyond the bottom-line...though we keep an eye on that too.
Now, considering we buy more than half of our food locally, that takes about another 1000 miles off the average product's food-mile total. Did you know that often when you buy a locally produced product from the grocery store it is actually shipped from a local producer to a national distributor as far away as Colorado, California, or all the way to the East Coast and then shipped back to your grocery store?! I find it rather disgusting. And it's true. Or, it's produced on the East Coast and shipped to the West Coast for distribution before it's shipped back here to the grocery stores. It's a horrible symptom of scaling distribution up and using mega distribution centers instead of regional ones. Squeeze out some extra profit...or at least with cheap gas it squeezes out extra profit. With fuel prices climbing, regional distribution centers are becoming more competitive with the mega ones.
These people have just not thought all the way through the comparison. Polluting compared to what? What we compare it to is each of our customers driving to the grocery store, in particular a natural food grocery store. This comparison leaves out some other neat facts about Greenling, but let's start there. On average in Austin people live 3 miles from a grocery store. This includes all grocery stores. I would say that on average people live 4-5 miles from a Whole Foods/Central Market/Sun Harvest/Wheatsville Coop, if not more. That's 8-10 miles round trip to go to the store.
Greenling trucks leave the warehouse with 60-80 baskets of food in them and drive about 100 miles to deliver all of them. That's 1.25-1.66 miles per delivery. Taking an average of 70 customers, driving to and from the grocery store themselves, that's 560-700 miles total, compared to our 100. So, just looking at the "last mile", or grocery-store-to-the-table, we get your food there with up to 86% less fuel. Amazing! 86% less energy just in the last leg of the food's trip. It's a straight comparison because our vans, completely packed with boxes and with a refrigeration unit blasting STILL get gas mileage as good as the average CAR! over 20 MPG. And I'm guessing there's more than average SUV and truck drivers in Austin, which get worse gas mileage. We get this kind of mileage because we use the most fuel efficient delivery vehicles available in the US, if you were wondering...it's not common for a delivery company to say that. They were 30% more expensive than the competition, but we're fairing the rising gas prices much better than our competition because of that choice AND to us it was an investment in the planet. It goes beyond the bottom-line...though we keep an eye on that too.
Now, considering we buy more than half of our food locally, that takes about another 1000 miles off the average product's food-mile total. Did you know that often when you buy a locally produced product from the grocery store it is actually shipped from a local producer to a national distributor as far away as Colorado, California, or all the way to the East Coast and then shipped back to your grocery store?! I find it rather disgusting. And it's true. Or, it's produced on the East Coast and shipped to the West Coast for distribution before it's shipped back here to the grocery stores. It's a horrible symptom of scaling distribution up and using mega distribution centers instead of regional ones. Squeeze out some extra profit...or at least with cheap gas it squeezes out extra profit. With fuel prices climbing, regional distribution centers are becoming more competitive with the mega ones.
Saturday, May 03, 2008
Organic Trade Association annual conference
this is my 4th year to go and every year I am impressed with the growth. I guess 50% growth each year that I have gone. some really great products are hitting the market and the companies really have some good marketing behind them. And that's good considering the competition the industry has from conventional food and how small the organic market still is compared to conventional food.
One worrisome tone of the conference was the impending supply shortage. There are just not enough organic farmers in the US and there are not enough people converting to organics. On one hand it's hard to believe, considering the incredible opportunities there are. But on the other hand it just seems like a cultural shift as America evolves into a more highly-skilled labor force. It certainly takes skill to grow organically, but not the same type of skill it takes to create nano-machines.
so, this supply shortage will mean rising prices in a slumping economy....not the best combination. some people are going to be turned away by the prices. Lots of people, I think. My only hope is that their opinion of Organics is not tarnished by the prices and when the supply crunch is abated they will return as consumers.
I got to catch up with some of the veterans of the industry. Karen wilcox, who has ushered the OTA into a new era with clout in DC, will be leaving. She did some really hard work and won some much needed concessions in the Farm Bill. Can you believe that right now Organic farmers have to pay a premium for farm insurance? Even though their practices are healthier for the land and they are shown to be more resistant to drought, disease, and pests? Incredible. Also, when Organic farmers do make an insurance claim, they are only reimbursed at the conventional price for the product, not the Organic price. Thanks to Karen, both of these will change. Also, she was able to secure more funding for Organic research.
Lynn Clarkson seems to be getting more involved in politics and less in business. That's good because he seems to really understand what it takes to pitch the Organic message to all sorts of people.
and best of all....one of my favorite little snacks - sour gummi worms - is now available organically. And they're made with fruit puree instead of what seems like plastic. They're awesome.
The conference really invigorated me to keep fighting the good fight. I also attended a Sustainability meeting where industry leaders were addressing how they could not only produce Organic goodness, but do it sustainably. It was great to see this issue being tackled.
and, on the way home, I was on the same plane as Margaret Wittenberg, an incredible industry veteran who has done wonderful things for Whole Foods and who is apparently starting to branch out on her own with a couple of books she's publishing. I hope she let's me buy her coffee or lunch sometime so I can hear more of her story.
One worrisome tone of the conference was the impending supply shortage. There are just not enough organic farmers in the US and there are not enough people converting to organics. On one hand it's hard to believe, considering the incredible opportunities there are. But on the other hand it just seems like a cultural shift as America evolves into a more highly-skilled labor force. It certainly takes skill to grow organically, but not the same type of skill it takes to create nano-machines.
so, this supply shortage will mean rising prices in a slumping economy....not the best combination. some people are going to be turned away by the prices. Lots of people, I think. My only hope is that their opinion of Organics is not tarnished by the prices and when the supply crunch is abated they will return as consumers.
I got to catch up with some of the veterans of the industry. Karen wilcox, who has ushered the OTA into a new era with clout in DC, will be leaving. She did some really hard work and won some much needed concessions in the Farm Bill. Can you believe that right now Organic farmers have to pay a premium for farm insurance? Even though their practices are healthier for the land and they are shown to be more resistant to drought, disease, and pests? Incredible. Also, when Organic farmers do make an insurance claim, they are only reimbursed at the conventional price for the product, not the Organic price. Thanks to Karen, both of these will change. Also, she was able to secure more funding for Organic research.
Lynn Clarkson seems to be getting more involved in politics and less in business. That's good because he seems to really understand what it takes to pitch the Organic message to all sorts of people.
and best of all....one of my favorite little snacks - sour gummi worms - is now available organically. And they're made with fruit puree instead of what seems like plastic. They're awesome.
The conference really invigorated me to keep fighting the good fight. I also attended a Sustainability meeting where industry leaders were addressing how they could not only produce Organic goodness, but do it sustainably. It was great to see this issue being tackled.
and, on the way home, I was on the same plane as Margaret Wittenberg, an incredible industry veteran who has done wonderful things for Whole Foods and who is apparently starting to branch out on her own with a couple of books she's publishing. I hope she let's me buy her coffee or lunch sometime so I can hear more of her story.
Tuesday, April 15, 2008
My first vacation in 3 years
Mylie and I will go on a belated honeymoon. We eloped in Vegas over a weekend, so didn't have an immediate honeymoon planned. We're going to San Miguel de Allende in the mountains of Mexico. I'll be gone from April 18th-25th, but then the next day we fly out to the annual OTA (Organic Trade Association) conference in Chicago until the 29th.
The OTA show is really awesome and I highly suggest anyone who would like to get up to date on what's going on in Organics attend it. They have speaker panels with some incredible market research that you would normally have to pay thousands of dollars for. They gather all of the industry's biggest and brightest. It's really fun to see the dedication that still exists to the Organic principles even in the large companies. Nobody can make everyone happy, but the OTA is fighting hard to promote the Organic agenda at the national level.
The OTA show is really awesome and I highly suggest anyone who would like to get up to date on what's going on in Organics attend it. They have speaker panels with some incredible market research that you would normally have to pay thousands of dollars for. They gather all of the industry's biggest and brightest. It's really fun to see the dedication that still exists to the Organic principles even in the large companies. Nobody can make everyone happy, but the OTA is fighting hard to promote the Organic agenda at the national level.
Thursday, March 27, 2008
Greenling Wins Another Award (#8)!!
The Austin Business Journal gave out awards this year titled "Going Green Awards" and highlight companies that are leading the way in working towards sustainability. Greenling won in the 'Small Business' category! This is a very exciting award and is exactly what we want to be recognized for. We not only deliver healthy, local, and Organic foods that support the local community and help heal the environment...that's a mouthful...WE ALSO strive to be sustainable in everything we do as a business. In our operations. This can be much more expensive financially than focusing on profit, but focusing on profit can be much more expensive to our planet so we make the sacrifice. Thanks to the judges at Austin Business Journal and to all of our supporters!
Wednesday, March 19, 2008
The only constant is change
I became very depressed last week when Brooke, our Vegetable Vixen, came into my office and told me she was moving back to Lubbock. It broke my heart. We love her so much here. She said it has been the best job she's ever had, but Zac (We call him Daniel), her husband, was not enjoying his job and all of their family was back in Lubbock and a few other reasons that just led them to believe it was best. It took me a couple of days to forgive her and I choose to believe she will come back some day.
So the whole week I was depressed until I received a note from a vendor that we had been trying to work into our offering, Dishalicious. Elizabeth Winslow said she was interested in combining resources with Greenling and joining the team. We had a great lunch at Austin Java on Sunday to talk about the position and the two companies. I'm so excited to have her coming on board. I think she's going to help take Greenling to the next level and help us help our customers use their newfound freshness and organic goodies. So, a sad day leads to the beginning of a new era.
So the whole week I was depressed until I received a note from a vendor that we had been trying to work into our offering, Dishalicious. Elizabeth Winslow said she was interested in combining resources with Greenling and joining the team. We had a great lunch at Austin Java on Sunday to talk about the position and the two companies. I'm so excited to have her coming on board. I think she's going to help take Greenling to the next level and help us help our customers use their newfound freshness and organic goodies. So, a sad day leads to the beginning of a new era.
Sunday, March 09, 2008
Go Dance
Some of you may already know that my wife owns the largest dance studio in town. They do all partner dancing, so country, salsa, ballroom, etc. They have been caught in the middle of the whole Urban Wal-Mart battle at Northcross Mall because that is where her studio is located. Long story short is that she had to move out of her old space and into a new space on the other side of the mall so they could demolish her current space.
Well, this weekend she finally moved in and it is amazing! What a cool space. She will be having a Grand Opening party on the 22nd of this month so if you feel like dropping by please do.
Me, I'm a little sore from helping her move furniture, etc., but not nearly as sore and tired as she is. She's running on pure adrenaline right now as she tries to get settled in the new space. Since permitting problems with the city have delayed her move several times she couldn't risk closing the studio every weekend thinking this one would be the one so when they finally moved this weekend, she had a full schedule and didn't even get 1 day to settle in. They had to run classes while moving. What a feat!
So, go check out the new Go Dance in Northcross Mall sometime and take some lessons.
Well, this weekend she finally moved in and it is amazing! What a cool space. She will be having a Grand Opening party on the 22nd of this month so if you feel like dropping by please do.
Me, I'm a little sore from helping her move furniture, etc., but not nearly as sore and tired as she is. She's running on pure adrenaline right now as she tries to get settled in the new space. Since permitting problems with the city have delayed her move several times she couldn't risk closing the studio every weekend thinking this one would be the one so when they finally moved this weekend, she had a full schedule and didn't even get 1 day to settle in. They had to run classes while moving. What a feat!
So, go check out the new Go Dance in Northcross Mall sometime and take some lessons.
Thursday, March 06, 2008
Grain Crisis!
This is going to be a pretty big challenge for the Organic industry and may chase away some people. Grain prices have exploded and are driving prices significantly higher and driving some bakers and producers out of the business. The farmers are going to make a killing, which is always nice, but we may see prices of organic grains and breads jump 100%-150% in the next 6-12 months if nothing is done. Here's an article about it:
Fallout Expected From Super High Grain Prices
The explosion of record high prices on the conventional has pushed the organic sector even higher and the fallout is already happening—organic bakers are pulling out.
“The whole thing is chaos,” said Bob Quinn, who runs the Kamut Association, which is based in Big Sandy MT. “It is so extremely out of control, I don’t know how it is going to play out.” Farmers under contract to plant organic Kamut, a high protein hard red spring wheat, will plant 60,000 acres in Montana and Canada this year.
In trading at the Minneapolis Grain Exchange, hard red spring wheat closed at a record $24 a bushel Feb. 27. The asking price for organic hard spring wheat has now soared to between $30 and $36 a bushel.
“Prices like that are sustainable,” said Travis Sitter, a buyer for Hesco in Watertown, SD. He said some organic cattle and dairy farmers can no longer afford the high price of organic soybean and corn meal, and are switching back to conventional. Bakers are already up in arms and planning a March 12 “Crisis” March on Washington, DC where they will meet congressmen and USDA officials.
“Commodity prices for every item we use are out of control and rising faster than we could ever hope to catch them,” said Michael Kalupa, president of the Retail Bakers of America. “If there is not some type of relief, many businesses will fail.” Ben Volk with Dakota Organic Prairie Flour in Harvey, ND said two east coast bakeries that were buying organic flour switched back to conventional.
What worries Ron Schlecht, a buyer for SK Foods International in Fargo, ND, is that expanded spring planting of hard red spring wheat will prevent farmers from growing other crops such as edible beans. “I don’t know if we can get any flax,” he said. He said one wheat processor told him he did not have conventional grain seed for his customers. Schlect and others said that most organic farmers have set aside enough organic seed for this year’s planting. They all expect more acreage to be planted both in the US and Canada.
Lynn Clarkson, who heads Clarkson Grain in Cerro Gordo, IL, blames the burst in commodity prices on ethanol. He said that subsidies totaling 40% on corn and processing have thrown everything else off. “Land values are going up and the biggest hedge funds are dumping funds into the commodities market,” Clarkson said.
quoted from : http://obn.hotlineprinting.com/obnbreaking.html
Fallout Expected From Super High Grain Prices
The explosion of record high prices on the conventional has pushed the organic sector even higher and the fallout is already happening—organic bakers are pulling out.
“The whole thing is chaos,” said Bob Quinn, who runs the Kamut Association, which is based in Big Sandy MT. “It is so extremely out of control, I don’t know how it is going to play out.” Farmers under contract to plant organic Kamut, a high protein hard red spring wheat, will plant 60,000 acres in Montana and Canada this year.
In trading at the Minneapolis Grain Exchange, hard red spring wheat closed at a record $24 a bushel Feb. 27. The asking price for organic hard spring wheat has now soared to between $30 and $36 a bushel.
“Prices like that are sustainable,” said Travis Sitter, a buyer for Hesco in Watertown, SD. He said some organic cattle and dairy farmers can no longer afford the high price of organic soybean and corn meal, and are switching back to conventional. Bakers are already up in arms and planning a March 12 “Crisis” March on Washington, DC where they will meet congressmen and USDA officials.
“Commodity prices for every item we use are out of control and rising faster than we could ever hope to catch them,” said Michael Kalupa, president of the Retail Bakers of America. “If there is not some type of relief, many businesses will fail.” Ben Volk with Dakota Organic Prairie Flour in Harvey, ND said two east coast bakeries that were buying organic flour switched back to conventional.
What worries Ron Schlecht, a buyer for SK Foods International in Fargo, ND, is that expanded spring planting of hard red spring wheat will prevent farmers from growing other crops such as edible beans. “I don’t know if we can get any flax,” he said. He said one wheat processor told him he did not have conventional grain seed for his customers. Schlect and others said that most organic farmers have set aside enough organic seed for this year’s planting. They all expect more acreage to be planted both in the US and Canada.
Lynn Clarkson, who heads Clarkson Grain in Cerro Gordo, IL, blames the burst in commodity prices on ethanol. He said that subsidies totaling 40% on corn and processing have thrown everything else off. “Land values are going up and the biggest hedge funds are dumping funds into the commodities market,” Clarkson said.
quoted from : http://obn.hotlineprinting.com/obnbreaking.html
Thursday, February 28, 2008
Degree on experience
Someone called my cell phone (thought they couldn't do that) asking if I was interested in obtaining a degree based on my life experience. I was so excited, of course I'm interested! Who wouldn't be?
So she asks me to tell me a little about my background and I interrupt her. I already know what degree I want - "that's great" she said, "what field are you interested in?" "Well, I think I'm an expert in Chocolate Chip cookies and would like a degree in them."
"Sir, you can't get a degree in cookies."
"Why not? Hear me out. I'm very much a connoisseur and could tell you more about the subtle differences between cookie recipes than most people around. I've eaten them my entire life and in most cases can tell you if they"Sir, we can't give you a degree in cookies. goodbye."
Rather rude, I would say. Especially since I think it's a valid request. If I don't qualify for one in cookies, I was also thinking of obtaining one in Hair Shampooing. I've been doing that a long time, too. While I'm not nearly as interested in it as Chocolate Chip cookies, just my long years of experience with it should earn me a degree. Oh well. Maybe next time.
So she asks me to tell me a little about my background and I interrupt her. I already know what degree I want - "that's great" she said, "what field are you interested in?" "Well, I think I'm an expert in Chocolate Chip cookies and would like a degree in them."
"Sir, you can't get a degree in cookies."
"Why not? Hear me out. I'm very much a connoisseur and could tell you more about the subtle differences between cookie recipes than most people around. I've eaten them my entire life and in most cases can tell you if they
Rather rude, I would say. Especially since I think it's a valid request. If I don't qualify for one in cookies, I was also thinking of obtaining one in Hair Shampooing. I've been doing that a long time, too. While I'm not nearly as interested in it as Chocolate Chip cookies, just my long years of experience with it should earn me a degree. Oh well. Maybe next time.
Saturday, February 16, 2008
I was quoted in an article I didn't even know about...
Not a bad article either....kinda glad a few people are listening:
See the Article Here
I had to post the cached page to get around the subscription vice...let me know if it doesn't work for you.
We just started carrying this amazing pork. I have tried the sausage, cutlets, and bacon so far and they are all awesome!
Also, our Brix meters are on their way. Brix testing is a way to help determine the quality of fresh produce in terms of mineral content. Even if something is grown organically, that doesn't mean there are minerals in the soil...which are needed for minerals to be present in the plants and vegetables. Odds are much better - most organic farmers take care of their soil and replenish minerals, but here at Greenling we looked for more conclusive evidence. The Brix testers help us make sure that everything we deliver is the best possible quality.
See the Article Here
I had to post the cached page to get around the subscription vice...let me know if it doesn't work for you.
We just started carrying this amazing pork. I have tried the sausage, cutlets, and bacon so far and they are all awesome!
Also, our Brix meters are on their way. Brix testing is a way to help determine the quality of fresh produce in terms of mineral content. Even if something is grown organically, that doesn't mean there are minerals in the soil...which are needed for minerals to be present in the plants and vegetables. Odds are much better - most organic farmers take care of their soil and replenish minerals, but here at Greenling we looked for more conclusive evidence. The Brix testers help us make sure that everything we deliver is the best possible quality.
Monday, February 11, 2008
Home Delivery more sustainable
Great article from WorldChanging, a resource on sustainability:
http://www.worldchanging.com/archives/007820.html
http://www.worldchanging.com/archives/007820.html
Wednesday, January 30, 2008
More Articles
Article about a peer-reviewed study on kids and pesticide levels in their saliva and urine. Kids who ate conventional foods had unhealthy levels of pesticides in both, kids who ate organic foods had none. Obvious for most of us, but there are a lot of people who are still on the fence about the benefits of Organics. please read if you have any doubt:
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/349263_pesticide30.html
Great article on the link between antibiotic resistant bacteria and Honey Bee colony collapse disorder:
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/16/magazine/16wwln-lede-t.html?pagewanted=2&_r=1&ref=magazine%3E
Here's a great article about Greenling from Tribeza magazine:
http://www.tribeza.com/?q=pd/articledetail&nid=2320
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/349263_pesticide30.html
Great article on the link between antibiotic resistant bacteria and Honey Bee colony collapse disorder:
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/16/magazine/16wwln-lede-t.html?pagewanted=2&_r=1&ref=magazine%3E
Here's a great article about Greenling from Tribeza magazine:
http://www.tribeza.com/?q=pd/articledetail&nid=2320
Monday, December 31, 2007
Simple way to help clean Texas' air
www.smokingvehicle.org , or 1-800-453-SMOG
TCEQ website where you can report vehicles that are not functioning properly and are smoking either from the engine or tailpipe.
All they really do is send a letter to the vehicle owner asking them to fix it, but often that's all that's needed. A little peer pressure.
TCEQ website where you can report vehicles that are not functioning properly and are smoking either from the engine or tailpipe.
All they really do is send a letter to the vehicle owner asking them to fix it, but often that's all that's needed. A little peer pressure.
Friday, December 14, 2007
Senate Passes Farm Bill
Some good news for Organics. This is not real support for the industry, but considering some of the roadblocks we've been facing, it's a huge win and a small step towards equality for organics in the USDA:
---
Legislative Update
Senate today passes its version of the Farm Bill
In a major milestone, the U.S. Senate today approved its version of the Farm Bill in a 79 to 14 vote. Included are funding and direction for key organic priorities, including a sense that organic research be funded at a level commensurate with organic agriculture's share of teh market. Some of the other provisions allot funds for organic data collection and certification cost share; would bar the U.S. Department of Agriculture from charging a premium surcharge on organic crop insurance; and would add organic production as an eligible activity in the Environmental Quality Incentives Program. The Senate version and the version approved this summer by the U.S. House of Representatives must go to conference to settle any differences before a final bill is voted on by Congress.
-----
I hear not much headway has been made on eliminating govt. farm subsidies for corn and other commodities, but at least they're making concessions for Organics.
---
Legislative Update
In a major milestone, the U.S. Senate today approved its version of the Farm Bill in a 79 to 14 vote. Included are funding and direction for key organic priorities, including a sense that organic research be funded at a level commensurate with organic agriculture's share of teh market. Some of the other provisions allot funds for organic data collection and certification cost share; would bar the U.S. Department of Agriculture from charging a premium surcharge on organic crop insurance; and would add organic production as an eligible activity in the Environmental Quality Incentives Program. The Senate version and the version approved this summer by the U.S. House of Representatives must go to conference to settle any differences before a final bill is voted on by Congress.
-----
I hear not much headway has been made on eliminating govt. farm subsidies for corn and other commodities, but at least they're making concessions for Organics.
Tuesday, December 11, 2007
Cool Links
Here's a site that uses actual driving data from its members to arrive at average MPG estimates for hybrid cars:
http://www.greenhybrid.com/
Very interesting stuff. I also saw some calculations a guy did on the break-even point for buying the prius over a corolla. He thinks a corolla can achieve 35mpg without hybrid technology and compared the base sticker price with that of the hybrid ($15.5k for corolla and $21k for prius). He assumes 45mpg for the prius and $3/gallon gas. Here's his formula: (x/35-x/45) = (21000-15500)/3. This resulted in around a 280,000 mile pay-off for buying the hybrid not taking into consideration differences in maintenance.
Doesn't seem to be compelling, but buying a hybrid is just so cool.
http://www.greenhybrid.com/
Very interesting stuff. I also saw some calculations a guy did on the break-even point for buying the prius over a corolla. He thinks a corolla can achieve 35mpg without hybrid technology and compared the base sticker price with that of the hybrid ($15.5k for corolla and $21k for prius). He assumes 45mpg for the prius and $3/gallon gas. Here's his formula: (x/35-x/45) = (21000-15500)/3. This resulted in around a 280,000 mile pay-off for buying the hybrid not taking into consideration differences in maintenance.
Doesn't seem to be compelling, but buying a hybrid is just so cool.
Thursday, December 06, 2007
More Proof
I can't wait for organic pudding so I can start saying "The proof is in the pudding". What does that mean anyways?
Here's some more proof for ya that organics is more nutritious:
http://green.msn.com/articles/article.aspx?aid=295>1=10725
It might be the same study as the EU one....honestly, I wanted to post it, but don't have time right now to read the whole thing.
Here's some more proof for ya that organics is more nutritious:
http://green.msn.com/articles/article.aspx?aid=295>1=10725
It might be the same study as the EU one....honestly, I wanted to post it, but don't have time right now to read the whole thing.
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