I had a chance to meet with Simon Jackson
at EPIC and, although I am sure he would have not minded to give me an
interview, I saw a lot of people surrounding him and trying to get some
face time and thus I didn’t want to bother him. But of course, I asked
him to take a photograph with me. Who wouldn’t want to have his photo
taken with a conservation leader?
Simon Jackson speaking at Epic ‘08. Photo credit: Raul on Flickr.
I had a chance to ask him just one question and to observe his
behavior towards other people. I was very positively impressed that he
was so down-to-earth. A number of friends of him came by to say hi, and
he was actually very cordial and not even the slightest snobby. He was
actually talking to them about when they’d meet, or whether they’d do
lunch.
Considering how famous he is now, it’s kind of refreshing to see
that he is still so down-to-Earth. That’s also one of the top qualities
for any sustainability leader: Being able to just be the same person
you always were, regardless of how much success you have achieved.
Simon Jackson is actually that kind of person. When I asked him if he
really stuttered, he was very charming and upfront: “yes I did!”. WOW.
Simon - if you ever read this, I am glad that you have managed to
stay grounded and be down-to-Earth. Potential future sustainability
leaders can now look to you for advice and guidance. Well done! (and by
the way, if you want the photo I took of us, send me an e-mail I didn’t post it on to Flickr!)
While recently shopping for a bottle of wine in one of Vancouver’s
BC Liquor stores, I found out that they are implementing greening
measures. They gave me a free bag with my purchase (which I’ll include
in a further post, for sure), and the bag actually is designed in such
a way that your bottles can be safely carried away. The bag is of
course, recycled and can be reused many a time. Good for BC Liquor
Stores. And while we are on the topic…
I still have LOTS of material from my stint with the HappyFrog
FrogSquad and thus I want to put it out there while the echoes from
EPIC 2008, The Vancouver Sun Sustainable Living Expo are still
rippling. I had previously blogged about eco-vodka, which is not available yet in Canada. However, a booth at EPIC ‘08 was offering samples of this eco-vodka.
Vodka 360, an eco-friendly liquor … at last! Photo credit: Raul on Flickr.
360 Vodka is crafted from eco-awareness and corporate
responsibility. This ideology is then manifested throughout our greener
processes and greener products.[360 Vodka]
It is, undoubtedly, a bit surprising (but not VERY surprising) that
even the liquor industry is joining the organic wine industry in
working towards sustainability. However, I have to praise the makers of
Vodka 360, because I for one do enjoy a vodka tonic every so often, and
now I can feel a little less guilty knowing that there are eco-friendly
vodkas out there. It will take some time for it to come to Canada, but
in the mean time, if any of you readers happen to come across one of
those bottles… maybe you could get one for me, hehe Just kidding!
At the EPIC Expo at Canada Place, April 18-20, 2008, the Frogsquad visited dozens of businesses, orgs and presenters for conversations about all things green.
Inspired by my cool new recycled Fairware.ca notebook designed specifically for "big ideas," here are a few more thoughts from the EPIC show while i wrap up the cornucopia of content brewed up by the ace bloggers and podcasters of the Frogsquad.
Social Media Bigtime
Not sure if anyone keeps track of such things but i am not sure of any single news event which generated as much collaborative, social media coverage of an event in Vancouver.
The crew stepped up to make a huge positive impact for many emerging businesses and earnest organizations. Their hard work was a great way to kick off Earth Day (err ... maybe this should be "Earth Month") with comprehensive crowd coverage telling the stories the mainstream doesn't have time/space to print.
T-shirts - i have too many t-shirts and i can't stop!
Saw the crew from Me to We who hooked me up with a t-shirt at a previous show (at which we recorded a podcast - Sustainable T-Shirts Make a Statement). My shirt exclaims "Ask me how to change the world" and i wore it at SXSW in Austin, Texas with positive comfort and comments. BUT my sweetie has taken the soft, cool shirt over so i really need another.
So, I added a new t-shirt to my stash from Riorain (i recorded a podcast owner Mark (Earth Friendly Wear From Riorain-Podcast) who hooked me up with a bamboo t-shirt which i am wearing now - so silky smooth feels like pajamas.
Of course, the Frogsquadders were recognizable around the show with the brand new HTNaturals Ts - these ones are 85% bamboo and 15% organic cotton and fit great. I hope to hook up Jason the CEO and hemp fibre veteran for a podcast soon and become the alternative fibre t-shirt expert.
Speaking of shirts, i also saw some great button up shirts - both rugged long sleevers and sharp short sleevers - made by Australian Outback - great pricing too - i really meant to buy a couple for summertime lounging but just didn't get a chance.
Ceramic clothes washing nuggets
My sweetie came by the show for a bit and came away impressed by some magical clothes washing product made from ceramic balls - which i was supposed to go purchase before i left but didn't get around to it. If you can give me more info and/or where to get them, please leave a comment.
Solar powered lounging
Finally, a solar-powered lounge table for the wealthy green geek in your life. This device was super-design-y and clearly meant as a fancy new toy for the high rollers.
It's so sharp and spacey looking, the mainstream media will totally eat this up. In fact, Micheal Tippet of Now Public wrote a blurb about table made by Intelligent Forms who make (much thriftier) eco-cool lap-top pillows for your lap.
Thanks to Salt Spring Organic Coffee for making a table full of
bloggers smile on Saturday and kicking off the podcast series. Perhaps
a Salt Spring Island happyfrog field trip in the near future.
Cheers to John, Philip and Narcis from EPIC/Globe for the access and posting the Frogblog posts on the EPIC blog.
Finally, Shout-outs from the Booth ...
Various folks by the booth included: Ryan from Myorganicfamily (he's a blogger too), Fuzgo (a video-rich, neighborhood business search site), Maia from Fun Camps and many more. Did i forget to mention you? Sorry eh - please leave a comment.
Ross MacMillan, Owner and Designer of Gastown's Industrial Artifacts candidly explains his process of turning cast-off industrial materials into functional and stunning art. Happyfrog Field Reporter, Clifford Shim, reports live from the floor of EPIC 2008.
Happyfrog Field Reporter, Clifford Shim, catches up with Stacey Toews, co-founder of Level Ground Trading at EPIC 2008 to talk about Level Ground's remarkable initiatives in building a fairly traded and sustainable coffee company.
*Background EPIC announcements compromise the audio slightly during the interview - but Stacey is an engaging speaker...he is definitely worth watching!
I got to the EPIC Expo at Canada Place late last Sunday, but even in the scant 2 hours I was there, I got to see some neat, interesting things from the people at the show. Here are five things I spotted/learned during my rounds...
Non-earth-slaughtering swag is not (always) more expensive than mass produced generic stuff.
This I heard from local shop Fairware, specializing in sustainable swag. For organizations and conference watching their bottom line, I figured the cost would be the primary obstacle to offering quality takeways, but the lady assured me that no, the prices tend to be quite competitive - especially for things like bamboo shirts, which are becoming quite popular and in-demand, though she did concede that some specialty items might have a premium attached. The bike gears recycled into clocks and business card holders (pictured) were especially handsome. (More on Fairware at Happy Frog)
There are many ways to blog sustainably now too!
Have you ever had to chuck away a big box of dried out Bic pens? I hate that - and even though my conscience is somewhat assuaged by buying pen inserts for my reusable pen with its comfy grip, throwing away the used ink refills still twinges me with a bit of guilt. But fear not, for now we can be mighty and sustainable with our writing implements of choice: from the kind folks at Frogfile, makers of environmentally friendly office supplies, we now have pens with refillable cartridges and pencils made out of recycled newspaper.
For those of us blogging on electronics rather than sheets of reconstituted tree fibre, intelligentForms brings us comfy laptop "log" cushions. They are filled with natural buckwheat hulls, finished with either cotton or cotton-hemp blends and capped with unique "log-print" or fabric ends, and also keep the heat off your lap for a happy lappy. If you're feeling extra determined (especially in the pocketbook), they also have an outdoor solar panel charging station for both the laptop and your iPod. (And built-in speakers! Sustainable electrohouse!)
SUVs have the same amount of parts as other cars.
This I learned from the kind gentleman from the Vancouver Electric Car Club. SUVs, he said, use slightly more material, but are otherwise are almost identical in complexity to other cars. Boggles the mind, then, why they often cost one-and-a-half to two times as much! Maybe that money goes towards finding ways to sell it to people now that gasoline is so very expensive.
Milk cartons are recyclable! (...in Mission)
The gentleman from the Return-It Depot booth answered one of my long-standing questions: what to do with my soup/soy milk cartons (tne not-quite tetrapack, not-quite paper stuff)? Apparently, these cartons, as well as standard milk cartons, will be accepted at Return-It Depots. They are recyclable in some places - like Langley and Mission. Vancouver, sadly, isn't one of those place - and, he informed me, it probably never will be without some political pressure. My city councillor is definitely going to hear about this!
We are not as green as we like to think we are.
This one, admittedly, is not something new I learned from the Expo, but I did hear it from a couple of people here. The common sentiment was that Vancouverites talk a good deal about being environmentally friendly, but that we aren't as green in many of the more important ways - such as in our recycling infrastructure or our building standards. Hopefully with more shows like the EPIC Expo, we can see not only what we can do as individuals for ourselves, but also what we can more broadly in our neighbourhoods and communities, in concert with those around us, in moving towards sustainable living.
What better place to launch a new green business than the EPIC Sustainable Living Expo? Regula Appenzeller, owner of Hank&Cheef talks to happyfrog's Christy Stesky about her new line of modern handkerchiefs.
On Day one (Friday) of EPIC Expo, I watched an on-stage session of the Dragon's Den. In this live-show, the winner received a slot in the next season of the popular CBC TV programme.
Preceding the Dragon's, I enjoyed a portion of Dragon's Den host, Dianne Buckner's presentation in which she discussed the eco-ness of green and the money-ness of green.
Then she was joined by three other (somewhat dour faced) veteran business-people to listen to the line-up of pitch auditions. Their opinion is shared across the country and the winner receives funding and mentoring to execute their idea.
Despite the intimidating nature of the show, the Dragons are really quite nice people and paid careful attention to the participants. Rather than breathing fire breathing, these Dragons offered sage advice and probing questions to the entrepreneurial contestants who took timed turns pitching ideas for funding.
Ideas ranged from reclaiming materials from waste tires to eco-ice melter to right hand drive eco-vehicles imported from Japan to a board game. Certainly some of the presenters were a little off-kilter with their expectations but you have to admire them all for giving their pitch.
The seated panel took notes and really tried to get to the nut of each pitch in the compressed period of time which was further demonstrative of their acumen.
This isn't to say they played with kid-gloves on, indeed some presenters received a stern dose of reality - respectfully though.
Hopefully the candidates went away feeling enthused and educated about their big ideas rather than disgruntled or saddened by the Dragon's opinion.
Anyhow, the winner turned out to be the guy with the way to reuse anti-freeze somehow. I didn't hear his presentation (there were many) but I asked Dragon (and Globe CEO) John Weibe later and he explained the gist to me.
I snapped the winner fresh off the stage as he exclaimed, "No really, I WON!" into his mobile phone. So be sure to look for his smiling winner's face on next season's show and say, "Hey, that's the guy from EPIC!"
While setting up the happyfrog booth at EPIC, I met Maia who is launching a summer camp series which makes a difference. These FUN Camps are based on three main principals - collaboration, sustainability and leadership.
The day camps feature all sorts of practical knowledge and fun activities from field trips to guest speakers to volunteer opportunities.
Since summer will be here before you know it and the kids are likely eager for something different to do this year, I wanted to share the info here so you can start to make summer plans for the younglings.
The mainstream media is paynig attention to Maia's work too with a CTV Earth day article.
Here's what Maia Green says about the program:
This is the first camp of its kind and is a very exciting step in the direction of increasing environmental education. If the pilot project this summer is a success the plan will be to expand the program for the following year to reach out to more youth in different parts of the city and hopefully the province.
I don't know about you, but i really get happy and thankful when i see someone who's part of the solution and really taking actions to make the world better moving forward.
Here's more of the big picture of the event:
FUN Camps (Friends Uniting For Nature) - Environmental Leadership Summer Programs for Youth
FUN Camps is an environmental leadership summer camp program that is piloting this summer in the Vancouver area. It is a day camp for kids aged 11-15 that offers them fun, hands-on learning and experience in the area of sustainable living. This camp is endorsed by Taking IT Global, Check Your Head and the Sierra Club Education Program.
{snip}
These camps will run for 8 weeks over July and August, and will be affordable week-long day camps. There will be 20-25 participants per week, with two full time educators and a series of guest lecturers and workshop leaders, including members from the Sierra Club Education Program team.
The camp will focus on sustainable living, but will incorporate games, guest speakers, sports, art, drama, field trips and outdoor education. Some examples of activities are bike maintenance workshops, the creation of solar-powered cars, hiking, visits to local farms, paper-making crafts and herb garden planting.
There will also be one environmental or community enhancement project per week that the kids will be involved with. These projects will generally consist of half a day's work and will include such things as doing a beach clean up or volunteering at a local organic farm.
That sounds like fun for grown-ups too! Sound like a fit for a youth in your life? Well head over to FUN Camps for the full low-down.
The primary location at the Graduate Students’ Centre on UBC campus by the Museum of Anthropology and Pacific Spirit Park will inspire the kids too to be sure.
Jill Goodbrand and Steve Carmichael are the dynamic duo behind the Sapadilla Soap Co., an eco-friendly line of home cleaning products that is as easy on the senses as it is on the environment.
Now these guys have got it going on! Brady Dahmer and Lindsay Nahmiache are the masterminds behind Projecting Change, Vancouver's first Sustainable and Environmental Film Festival. How did we get away this long without one?
A non-profit venture, Projecting Change runs from May 8-11, 2008 at The Ridge Theatre in Vancouver. Each day is chock full of stimulating and entertaining films and speakers.
Row on row of brightly coloured bottles and cannisters lined see-through shelves. Waves of aromatic vapor wafted up from a glowing, burbling fountain. And in the middle of it all, white labcoated aromatherapist Arline Trividic was there to answer every question on the subject of natural body care you could possibly think up!
Did you know that there is an alternative to the big hulking plastic water bottle coolers that is not only better for your health, but is better for your wallet too?
Here's how it works: get entered to win a fully-loaded Corsa city bike from Norco by sharing your photo along with a 50 word caption describing the best part of your ride to work.
Green, witty and cool before green was cool was Shared Vision with eternally high octane energizers "Love on the Run" cover couple Ashley Tait and Matt Hill as well the Accidental Environmentalist.
While not to overlook the Vancouver Sun and Global TV for showing their über eco-support at EPIC, it was difficult not to gravitate toward the Beat 94.5's online contest to win the slick Aqua E-cycle Hemisphere. Fingers crossed I get my hands on that fancy one!
Granville Magazine
was popular with urban hipsters with their $50 restaurant sweepstakes
and combo free subscription. Canada Wide’s BC Home ("Hot accessories to
boost your summer decor!"), right next to the lovely ladies at the GM
booth caught my eye since I could not find the bag of organic
fertilizer that I had bought at last year’s EPIC expo. Alas, you can't
win them all.
Let's see Resource World Magazine, BC Business, CTV and more cool media get in on the green EPIC action next year.
Simon Jackson has been working hard since the age of 13 to help protect the last natural habitat of the Spirit Bear in British Columbia. Dave O caught some audio of a large portion of his talk at EPIC, and now you can listen in if you didn't get a chance to catch it at the expo.
Any eco-fan – hell, really, anyone these days – will tell you that plastic is bad for the earth.
Turns out, it’s also bad for our health. The
Canadian government has moved to ban BPA (Bisphenol A), a synthetic
chemical compound found in some hard, clear plastics and resins, such
as food and drink containers, electronics and the liners in many metal
cans. [CBC] Locally based drug store, London Drugs is taking any and all BPA products back. [release]
So what’s an ardent tree hugger to do? You’ve got to stay hydrated! Sigg Bottles,
those rugged aluminum bottles, are 100% BPA free, and are really, the
only healthy option! Their liner is a water-based, non-toxic polymer.
The bottles are made in Switzerland and last for years.
The only real objection you could raise, while trying to decide whether or not to get a Sigg is the cost.
Yes, for a water bottle, they’re expensive, coming in at about $30. But
imagine how many bottles you’re saving from the landfill! Even if
you’re recycling, the bottles are being “down-cycled”; converted to a
lower form of plastic, much of which goes unused. Manufacturing and
transporting bottled water (especially from places like France (ahem,
Evian) and Fiji (ahem, Fiji Water) unnecessarily burns approximately
1.5 million barrels of (expensive) fossil fuels annually. How much
sense does THAT make? In addition, Sigg donates 1% of all of their sales to environmental causes around the world.
You’re not only doing something good for you, you’re doing lots of good for the environment!
The world around you starts at skin level, and that affects what ends up being apart of you on the inside. Beauty In Motion tries to help educate as well as offer positive alternatives that are not only great for you but the environment as well. Dave O drops by their booth at EPIC to find out more.
Nothing sounds more Vancouver than combining sustainable and recycled fibers into clothing meant for an urban lifestyle. That's what Riorain is looking to do with their designs made out of bamboo and organic cotton. Dave O stops by their booth at EPIC to find out more.
In this
globalized world, I would like to know who doesn’t have to fly. Funny
how things go, in our collective efforts to be more sustainable, we
perhaps have ended up harming the environment even more by racking up
air-miles traveling the world from Paris to Tokyo to Geneva to Nairobi.
In the end, air travel ends up contributing more carbon to the
atmosphere than what we would have emitted had we tele-commuted our way
into these international environmental meetings.
However, what can we do if we ABSOLUTELY have to drive or fly? Enter carbon offsets. With carbon offsets, you’re not “buying your way into sustainability heaven“.
You are trying to offset (hence the term carbon offsets!) whatever
carbon you are unavoidably emitting instead of simply flying
recklessly.
Offsetters is a Vancouver-based
non-for-profit organization founded by Dr. Hadi Dowlatabadi and Dr.
James Tansey. How can we make sure that carbon offsets are actually
working? In their website, they answer your questions (the emphases are
mine)
Offsetters’ carbon offsets are investments in
projects that prevent greenhouse gases from being emitted into the
atmosphere. All of our projects are verified by qualified third parties
as being:
1. Real. Verifiers confirm that our projects take place as promised.
2. “Additional.”
Offsetters investments lead to real reductions in total greenhouse gas
emissions by enabling projects that would otherwise not take place.
3. Permanent. We avoid reforestation and other projects that only temporarily store carbon.
4. Socially beneficial. Offsetters projects bring social and local environmental benefits as well as climate gains [From Offsetters' Learn More webpage]
Of course, like any climate-change related measure, carbon offsets
have their critics and people who make fun of them. There’s for example
the spoof CheatNeutral.
However, if you really want to learn more about how you can offset your
carbon emissions, check Offsetters’ website. They also have another
really cool program, the Cool Air Pass program (to offset your car
emissions). Check their website for more information!
If you didn’t get a chance to come to EPIC, simply log on to HappyFrog.ca and look for the FrogBlog or its green businesses directory.
I didn’t post it on to Flickr!)
