Shameless plug #1
Take a moment out of your day and cast a vote for one of the sites that I run..
I need you to take 15 seconds to vote for Best Green Blogs so we can get our first award! It’s too close!
You can vote on this page: http://www.greenlogawards.com/nominees-2008/blogs/
Thanks!!!
Timothy
Sprouted @ April 21, 2008
Topics: Ramblings | No Comments »
The Lost Generation Speaks..
While it’s sometimes easy for young people to feel bitter about the current situation of the world, I’m always hopeful that people will try to think and move in a more positive direction. This ad from AARP is part of a contest for the organization trying to bridge generations and create dialogue by asking the question “Where do you see yourself at age 50?”. I personally think this video should have won first place rather than second place.
Sprouted @ April 13, 2008
Topics: Ramblings | No Comments »
Co working….
I’m totally digging the concept of co-working, where people get together weekly or monthly to share ideas and work on web projects together. Sharing ideas and asking for advice and feedback is a great thing especially if you tend to work the web by yourself as a growing number of people do. I know I get easily distracted at times when I’m tapping away at my home office, and having people around seems like a good idea if it helps to get your work done. Plus the very nature of the internet can be isolating at times when it’s just you and your code… Here’s a short video about how it all works…
Sprouted @ April 10, 2008
Topics: Ramblings | No Comments »
Three airlines down, how many more to go?
Well, it looks like the gas crunch has claimed another victim in the skies. Skybus Airlines, who touted $10 for many of their flights and was flying 74 flights out of 15 different US cities, is seeking bankruptcy protection and is shutting down operations effective today. Add this to the recent shutdown of Aloha and ATA, it makes me wonder who is next..
Skybus struggled to overcome the combination of rising jet fuel costs and a slowing economic environment. These two issues proved to be insurmountable for a new carrier.
We deeply regret the impact this decision will have on our employees and their families, customers, vendors, suppliers, airport officials and others in the cities in which we have operated. Our financial condition is such that our Board of Directors felt it had no choice but to cease operations.
Passengers holding reservations for Skybus flights scheduled to depart on or after Saturday, April 5, 2008 should contact their credit card companies to arrange to apply for a refund. More information for customers and others will be made available on the Skybus web site (www.skybus.com) as it becomes available.
All flights for Friday, April 4 will be completed. Passengers holding reservations on flights for Friday, April 4 should check in for their flight at a Skybus kiosk at the airport instead of the Skybus website.
That was a quick flight path from takeoff to an unplanned landing as the carrier started flying just last year with Columbus, Ohio as their HQ and hub of operations. I never had a chance to fly them, even when I lived in Columbus last year.=( I took the Megabus a few times, which is much slower and even cheaper, when you book tickets in advance..
The larger legacy carriers , some of which are coming out of bankruptcy protection and hard times since 2001 have recovered somewhat and a few have a bit of a cash cushion to help get them through the high prices. The cost of flying will continue to increase, with full flights and curtailed schedules to maximize fuel savings.
Gas prices are really making a dent in the cost of doing business, travel and generally just getting around anywhere. It doesn’t look they are headed anywhere but up for this coming summer, although some reports have mentioned that people are curtailing their driving habits a little more since prices cracked the three dollar mark. I would think that maybe four dollars might be the magic number to make a lot more people consider taking the bus, carpooling, hitchhiking, maybe even riding livestock to get where they need to go 
I am considering selling my own vehicle as I don’t really use it but for once or twice a month and when you live in the big city, there’s really no need to have a car. There’s a few car share companies here which make errands easy to accomplish.
Sprouted @ April 5, 2008
Topics: Ramblings | 1 Comment »
L.L. Bean is def. dumb….
Yo LL Bean!! (In my best green gansta rapper voice..) I get a letter in the mail from you today “confirming that I no longer want to receive their catalog since I signed up on the Catalog Choice website to be removed from receiving their catalog”.
Um, yes, the reason I don’t want to receive catalogs in the mail anymore is because it’s a waste of PAPER and resources, and I never bought anything from you in the first place. But LL Bean, why did you waste MORE PAPER and POSTAGE by sending me a letter to tell me this?? I already know what happens when I sign up for Catalog Choice website and I choose to remove myself from mailings from catalog companies. I get removed. No. Letter. Needed.
Sheesh…
In the green economy, redundancy happens at times, but it’s good to be aware of the need to look at the simple things like this. It’s amazing the amount of wasteful packaging and paper that gets sent in the mail and ends up on your doorstep..
I’ll give them credit for one thing. At least the letter was printed on recycled paper.. =)
Sprouted @ April 4, 2008
Topics: Ramblings | 2 Comments »
Change, a word you’ve heard before..
Change is a mantra bandied about a lot these days. In politics and advertising, the media has picked up on this meme as if it were something brand new and shiny without understanding what it really means. After many years of disastrous and draining leadership under the current political administration, people want to feel more hopeful about what the future holds. Change is slow to come without people pressing forward and making demands of themselves and the by changing the way they have lived for many years.
In the green and sustainable marketing movement, change is also slow to come. The past two years we have seen headlines, magazine covers and the media touting “Green Is the New Black”, as if taking care of the planet we live on has to be a lifestyle statement rather than a personal and moral imperative for our cultural survival. People are beginning to tire of all the green media overexposure as hype and BS. There are hard choices ahead of us as we need to face up to the realities of the way our culture consumes, spends, discards, and generally disregards the will of mother earth, who will end up having the last laugh in the end if we do not make some serious changes in our “lifestyle”.
Many “green products” are too costly for average people and even for the majority of green consumers. Even if you try to illustrate that the higher cost of a green product is due to a variety of things, such as manufacturing, higher labor costs due to good labor practices, sourcing of organic, natural and non toxic materials, and marketing, people are hesitant to buy. People are so used to living in a Wal-Mart society where cheap goods and cheap prices of a product are equated with the product being a good thing for the consumer, without realizing what those goods do to the economy, the labor markets, and the environment.
The question becomes: how do we start to make people think through making a purchase beforehand to understand the real cost of buying something? How do you make it both affordable and available to the mass market, which will then make it preferential to a product which is less green. Also, what about not buying anything at all, reducing need and demand rather than continuing a cycle of ‘consume and perish’ which has us in a headlock. Just some more things to think about.. =)
Sprouted @ April 4, 2008
Topics: Ramblings | No Comments »
Eating organic is still just a “craze”?
I noticed one particular headline today from the MSM in North Carolina which was discussing whether or not the downturn in the economy would affect sales of organic groceries. It got me thinking as to when it’s officially not a “craze” or a “trend” anymore; but it reaches a “tipping point” and becomes the norm to buy food without chemicals, preservatives and pesticides in them. What will it take to reach that tipping point?
Here’s a short blurb from the article:
For the past few years, one of the few certain trends for American grocers has been the growing popularity of organic food.
In just one decade, from 1997 to 2006, sales of organic food have grown by nearly 80 percent to $17.7 billion.
The boost has been driven by an ever-growing chunk of the population that considers organic food healthier, safer and better for the environment.
For now, those reasons are still spurring shoppers to move toward organics.
But with the economy slowing and household budgets tightening, the once-sure bet for stores may be more shaky.
17 billion dollars is alot of money, but merely a drop in the bucket compared to what people spend over a full year on groceries. I’m sure there are some sort of statistics out there as to the amount of money spent on local farmers markets, food co-ops and similar small scale localvore shopping venues. I tend to stick with the local farmers market (when it’s not snowing outside) for my organic produce and Trader Joes for my basic grocery shopping needs. If I feel like I want to splurge and I happen to be traveling, then sometimes Whole Foods comes in handy. I’ve already reached my tipping point…
Sprouted @ April 3, 2008
Topics: Ramblings | No Comments »
I’ll call this home…
With all the various projects and websites I’m involved in, I was looking for a way to tie them all together somehow in a simple manner, so Green Digit Media was born. A few years ago I did have the domain GreenDigit.com which expired before I could get the domain back. Doh!
So what’s my story? I have been involved in technology and the internet pursuits for a few years when I did marketing and web development for GLBT “adult” themed websites. For a while it was an interesting line of work, but after a while, it became apparent that the only thing anyone cared about was making money, mostly by doing things that trick web-surfers into buying website memberships. Plus to be honest, after seeing naked fleshy body parts all day, it made sex and the idea of sex not very appetizing.
In the late 90’s I was living in San Francisco and found out that I had become HIV positive. Well at that point, I thought my life was over to a certain extent. Little did I know that the miracles of modern medicine and HAART treatment would keep me alive to this day. When you are faced with physical challenges and face the idea of the possibility of death at an early age, you start thinking about alot of things.
What will I leave behind in this world? Besides a wooden or cardboard casket, I want, no, I need to make more of a difference in the everyday beyond the mundane existence of daily living. I’m well aware of the connections between all living things and that we are responsible for taking care of where we live. I’ve always been a bit of a geek, so I now sit in front of the computer each day processing information from bytes into bites. I am a bit of an green information junkie and my RSS reader is chock full of links and information that I pass on bits and pieces through some of my websites.
There are times when I’m working on my laptop computer and I stop to think whether simply typing words on a computer keyboard does any good for the environment; does it stop global warming, does it help people understand the real crises we are facing as we spin on our axis into the end of the oil age. I do believe that it all adds up after a time, if you are dedicated and honest and true to your purpose. There are times when it feels like it is more useful to log off the computer and get outside and do something hands-on; be with more people, dig into the earth, plant some seeds and bulbs, but having the technology is a means to the ends. It is useful as a tool for the communication of ideas to motivate people to make changes in their own lives.
Sprouted @ April 3, 2008
Topics: Ramblings | No Comments »
I’m moving things around…
Yes, this particular site is in transition at the moment. Not digging this template theme at all.. Need something nicer! Stay tuned..
Sprouted @ April 1, 2008
Topics: Uncategorized | No Comments »
