May 16th, 2012 | simcha | No Comments »
Marketing is all about telling a story – and even more importantly – finding your story. No matter what your budget or your resources, what makes marketing work and what makes it effective is having the will, the imagination and creativity, and the ingenuity to figure out how to get your story in front of your audience. The video below does a tremendous job of maximizing all of the above qualities with a minimal budget.
In 2011 Newsweek ran a story and listed what they called “America’s Dying Cities.” The subtitle was “Cities With Bleak Futures Ahead.” Grand Rapids, Michigan was on this list and they were not at all happy about it. A local filmmaker named Rob Bliss raised $40,000 in a matter of days after reading the article, and turned out thousands of his fellow citizens to help him compile this amazing music video, that if nothing else, really makes you want to meet the folks of Grand Rapids, Michigan. From a marketing perspective, the townspeople of Grand Rapids set out to change the story – to create a different narrative, and what they came up with did just that (nearly 5 million views on youtube). See for yourself, and let this video be an inspiration to everyone who says, “I would do more marketing if I only had the budget”. It’s not about the money – it’s about finding your story and making it real! Enjoy. Read the rest of this entry »
May 11th, 2012 | simcha | No Comments »
As we move into gardening season it appears that one of the latest compost trends (and yes, there are trends in composting) is maximizing the use of your coffee grounds. It turns out they make excellent compost for your garden, and can even double as a great natural fertilizer for your yard.
Coffee grounds really are a nice addition to any composting effort. They are a great nitrogen source with a C/N ratio of 20:1. The concern with using coffee grounds in your compost has always been that coffee is considered a pretty acidic beverage and it would greatly disrupt the pH balance of your soil, creating a mix that is too acidic. The good news is that while roasted coffee is fairly acidic, it appears that almost all of the acid is water soluble and is extracted during brewing. Used grounds have essentially neutral pH, although the coffee beverage produced is rather acidic. Read the rest of this entry »
May 9th, 2012 | simcha | No Comments »
So yesterday was a voting day in many critical areas throughout the country, and a chance to focus on what’s really important during some pretty challenging times… right? Well, let’s take a look. North Carolina (my current home state) voted to ban gay marriage (which has already been illegal in the state for the past 16 years) while Colorado Republicans killed a measure to approve such civil unions. And, in a stunning development, Gov. Rick Snyder has signed into law bills that will allow Michigan residents to carry Tasers – if they already have a concealed-carry pistol license. This is the kind of stuff that’s deemed either important enough to vote on, or important enough to be taken up by our legislative process… OMG! Read the rest of this entry »
May 4th, 2012 | simcha | No Comments »
With tomorrow being Cinco de Mayo, it seems appropriate to highlight Mexico in today’s posting. Two weeks ago, on April 19th, the Mexican legislature passed one of the strongest national climate-change laws to date by any country. Mexico, which ranks 11th in the world for both the size of its economy and its level of carbon emissions, joins the United Kingdom as the only two countries in the world having legally binding emissions goals aimed at stemming the effects of climate change.
The bill passed in Mexico’s lower house with a vote of 128 for and 10 against, and was later passed unanimously by the Senate. The new law contains many sweeping provisions to mitigate climate change, including a mandate to reduce emissions of carbon dioxide by 30% below business-as-usual levels by 2020, and by 50% below 2000 levels by 2050. The law also stipulates that 35% of the country’s electricity should come from renewable sources by 2024, and requires mandatory emissions reporting by the country’s largest polluters. The act establishes a commission to oversee implementation, and encourages development of a carbon-trading scheme. Read the rest of this entry »
May 2nd, 2012 | simcha | 2 Comments »
In the upcoming Presidential election this fall and throughout the campaign season, we will hear plenty of debate and discussion from the candidates on the issue of jobs, the economy, and foreign policy. It is doubtful that we will hear much, if anything at all concerning the environment or climate change.
No issue is fundamentally more critical to Americans than climate change and the rapid increase of our global temperature. If the earth continues to warm at its current pace, many of the issues that seem important to us now, will be miniscule at best, if we can’t manage the carbon that is filling our atmosphere.
So, in lieu of the conversation gap about energy and the environment, here is a primer (with help from websites around the web) on what each candidate has said, written, posted on their website, or actually done regarding the environment and energy. In many cases I use their actual words to describe their positions. This is in no way an attempt to be partisan or to endorse one candidate over the other. It’s simply to provide you with information from each side about important issues that will likely not see much daylight during the campaign, but are very important issues to many of us and certainly to our industry. Read the rest of this entry »
April 27th, 2012 | simcha | No Comments »
Despite the fact that climate change, global warming, and the impact of carbon pollution are sorely missing from mainstream political agendas, the vast majority of Americans believe that climate change and excessive carbon emissions are indeed very real and of great concern.
A new national survey confirms strong public support for funding renewable energy research, regulating carbon pollution, and signing a global treaty to slash emissions. The study, conducted by the Yale Project on Climate Change Communication and the George Mason University Center for Climate Change Communication, found a remarkable 75% of Americans support “regulating carbon dioxide (the primary greenhouse gas) as a pollutant. Read the rest of this entry »
April 24th, 2012 | simcha | No Comments »
May 5th is Cinco de Mayo. In the world of produce, it is one of the biggest days for avocado sales, sometimes even exceeding sales during Super Bowl week. What I find interesting about this holiday is how few people actually know or understand what this holiday is really about. I don’t want to bore you with too much history (and it’s quite complex for that matter), but if we are going to celebrate a holiday, well . . . we should know what we’re celebrating! And, if you have already guessed Mexican Independence Day (as many do) you are incorrect. Read the rest of this entry »
April 20th, 2012 | simcha | No Comments »
With Earth Day just 2 days away, I wanted to remind everyone how critical it is that you not only celebrate this occasion in your stores and restaurants, but that your retail establishment stands strong as a powerful voice in your community for sustainable and viable lifestyle choices – whether it’s our food system, our energy supply, or how we move about our lives. Below are links to 2 articles I have written in the past that can help both with perspective and with actual data, helping you to understand just how important Earth Day (and actually making every day Earth Day) is to our world community. I encourage you to take a few minutes sometime this weekend to read (or re-read) them. Read the rest of this entry »
April 18th, 2012 | simcha | 1 Comment »
This Sunday is Earth Day, and while most of the attention in our industry is focused on how we celebrate and message the day to our customers, it’s also very worthwhile to contemplate how we spend the day personally, and what sort of activities we wish to engage in to acknowledge the day. In case you’ve been too busy to think along these lines, here are a few recommendations for how to celebrate Earth Day, keeping in mind that Earth Day is a perfect time to reflect about what you are doing to help protect the environment:
- Plant Trees: As the date also roughly coincides with U.S. Arbor Day, over time Earth Day has taken on the role of tree-planting. Planting trees helps to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, cleans pollution, secures soil in place to prevent erosion, and provides homes for a lot of biodiversity. If planting trees seems like too much of a project, plant some flowers or shrubs, or even throw down a few seeds of grass. Everything matters. Read the rest of this entry »
April 13th, 2012 | simcha | No Comments »
Below are some interesting factoids about garbage, courtesy of business degree.net. For a more visual and fun depiction of these facts see the infographic below that they created.
- The average American produces 10 times their bodyweight in trash each year – literally enough for them to bury themselves alive.
- In the U.S. alone 250 million tons of trash are produced each year. Read the rest of this entry »