You and Your Laptop Can Be a Multi-National Corporation: 7 Ways Location Independence Can Make You Cash Money

The incredible cocktail that Skype and the Four Hour Work Week has created, and the resulting proliferation of location independent professionals and entrepreneurs has been a total game changer for many. For me, it’s meant the chance to travel the world while I grow a business. A dream come true. 5 years ago I didn’t know this sort of thing was possible, and in many ways it wasn’t. There weren’t the Cody’s of the world showing how it can be done, internet connections in developing countries sucked… I mean SkypeOut was launched in 2006!

A lot of people think blowing off to Thailand to run your consulting business is faddish. A flash in the pan. More of the same.

Bullshit.

Because the costs to re-location and globalization are trending, at a very fast pace, towards zero, businesses and entrepreneurs will more and more focus on optimizing their location. It’s a question I’ve started to ask myself more often as the years go by: am I in the right place? (How deliciously existential!)

I’m assuming most of us are are all sold on the incredible personal advantages of living a location independent lifestyle, but what about the incredible business advantages? Multi-nationals have been taking advantage of offshoring for decades, and now you can do it, by yourself, with your laptop. Here are some key ways being location independent can help your business.

1. An extra 40K in personal income. WHAT?! (For US citizens) Did you know that if you can keep your pretty buns outside of the USA for all but 30 days in a calendar year (and establish some sort of permanent residence overseas recognized by the IRS) you don’t have to pay taxes on your first $91,500 of earned income? Hot damn that’s HUGE! Saving money is easier than making money, and this is a huge opportunity to save a bunch. [Cody: remember we're not lawyers or tax professionals here, so start with this article from the IRS and consult a professional.]
2. Personal sustainability. If you are on this site and you’ve got an itch to explore the world—to do something exciting—but instead you decide to “pay your dues” and start a business that doesn’t consider your passions, you won’t be getting your best, most enthused, most productive self on a daily basis. Despite what people say about automation and processes, you are more than likely the most critical element in your business. Get yourself excited and passionate about your lifestyle, and I believe you’ll see it on the bottom line.
3. Set up corporations in tax-friendly countries. Tax rates in countries like the Philippines are much lower than in the west. Why not run your operation from overseas? Even if your main entity is in your home country, you can use your foreign corps to increase your spending and reduce your tax load. (If you are interested in the nuts and bolts of how this works, subscribe to my blog, I’ll be showing how I do this in the coming months). This is the type of financial landscaping that was previously only realistic for rich dudes and big corps, now you can implement it in your business.
4. All your travel is 35% cheaper. YEP, that’s right world traveler. If you are traveling on your business, every single line item is up to 35% cheaper (depending on your tax rate). That’s because you are spending money before it’s taxed by your government. That’s balla!
5. Insource your talent. Universally, travel is one of people’s biggest desires. Tap in to that by offering intelligent people a seat next to you on that train. If you are living a remarkable lifestyle, and running an interesting business, people are happy to be compensated with experiences rather than cash. This can help you scale your business faster, and I promise you’ll have tons of fun in the process. Check out my Tropical MBA internships to see how this can work.
6. Outsource your talent. You are probably well aware of how outsourcing to places like China and the Philippines can help your business by keeping your labor costs much lower as you scale. Why not go meet those people? Make them a part of your business and life. It’s fun, and you’ll learn a ton and be exposed to opportunities you can’t predict.
7. Cash Runway. Got an idea? Got a buddy? Got some programmers? Ready to make that start-up happen? If you are sharp, you can survive for 6 months in Southeast Asia on $5,000 bucks in relative luxury. To an entrepreneur, runway is freedom. It’s the chance to be creative, work hard without distraction, and build something great.

I’m out of reasons… those of you doing this overseas, what other advantages have you come across? I’m taking notes!

Read the original article on Thrilling Heroics here: 7 Ways Location Independence Can Make You Cash Money

Visit UnleashingIdeas.org to learn more and view the video below for more about Global Entrepreneurship Week.

For local Sacramento readers, Ricardo Robles of Capsity Offices has been working overtime to bring Entrepreneurship Week activities to the Sacramento area for the first time:

“Be a part of an international celebration of entrepreneurship as it rolls through Sacramento Nov. 17 -23. The future of Sacramento’s young, green, mobile, diverse, motivated, musical and artistic business leadership will discuss the strategies, challenges and opportunities they face every day. With Global Entrepreneurship Week we will seek to acquire the knowledge, skills, networks and values needed to grow innovative, sustainable enterprises that have a positive impact on our lives and the lives of those around us.

For the first time Sacramento will join over 77 countries in an initiative to Inspire, Connect, Mentor and Engage millions of young minded individuals for a better future. Global Sponsors and Partners that have joined in the efforts of Global Entrepreneurship Week include: Kauffmann Foundation, Ernst & Young, IBM, NYSE Euro next, and more. Please see the flyer for further information.”

For readers around the world, be sure to visit the international GEW website to see what’s going on in your corner of the globe. For my fellow Sacramentans, here is a brief list of some of the events that Ricardo and the local entrepreneur community have set up here in town:

Monday, Nov 17
Living the Entrepreneur Lifestyle
@ Sac State University Union

Tuesday, Nov 18
Sustainability in Entrepreneurialism
@ Green Sacramento, 1931 H St.

Wednesday, Nov 19
Bikeramento Bixer
@ The Park Ultra Lounge

Thursday, Nov 20
Women Entrepreneurs Focus on Mind, Body and Spirit
@ KVIE, 2595 Capitol Oaks Dr.

Friday, Nov 21
No Fear, No Box, Let’s Go!
@ The Guild Theatre, 2828 35th Street

Saturday, Nov 22
Music and Entrepreneurship
@ Harlow’s, 2708 J St.

Sunday, Nov 23
Making a Living as an Artist
@ Kristel Durand Photography Gallery, 500 N St.

More info at gew.sactivist.com

Read the original article on Thrilling Heroics here: Global Entrepreneurship Week: Unleashing Ideas Around the World Nov. 17–23

Despite the fact that the discussion can be a depressing one, and the options can at times seen hopeless, it remains that climate change is a huge, looming threat for human society, and it will have a huge influence especially on those of us who will still be around in 30 to 50 years. A lot of my peers are passionate about green living and sustainability, and that’s encouraging, because the choices we make with our daily lives, and more importantly the advances we make in science and industry in our lifetimes will have a large influence on whether our planet will sustain human life for the next several hundred years.

I’m not here to argue how much human behavior has impacted global warming—that’s a moot point if you ask me. In my opinion, yes, climate change—to some extent—is inevitable, even without the impact of human society. But the fact still remains that we must either learn to deal with global warming one way or another, or our species may not be able to survive on this changing planet. Regardless of who’s fault it is, our generation has an opportunity to make some big changes. And the difference between failure and success could be several million human lifetimes. I’d rather see our generation preserve the Earth as a hospitable place for our children and grandchildren.

Wired’s latest cover story asks environmentalists, and all the rest of us, to rethink what the green movement means. The writers propose ten controversial “solutions” that run counterintuitive to traditional environmental agendas, citing that “winning the war on global warming requires slaughtering some of environmentalism’s sacred cows.” Here they are: Wired’s ten unconventional remedies for global warming. Click through to learn more.

Wired’s 10 Green Heresies

1. Urban Living Is Kinder to the Planet Than the Suburban Lifestyle
2. Air-Conditioning Actually Emits Less C02 Than Heating
3. Conventional Agriculture Can Be Easier on the Planet than Organics
4. Harvest Old-Growth Forests That Can Actually Contribute to Global Warming
5. Coal-Coughing Industrial Giant China Actually Leads the Way in Alternative-Energy Technology
6. Bio-Engineered Crops Could Put a Real Dent in Greenhouse Gas Emissions
7. Carbon Credits Were a Great Idea, But a Carbon Tax Would Work Better
8. Face It. Nuclear is the Most Sustainable Source of Industrial-Scale Energy
9. No-Brainer: Test-Drive a Used Car Instead of That New Hybrid
10. Climate Change Is Inevitable. Get Used to It

The Wired blog is attracting a lot of discussion—most of it negative. I can sympathize with those who place a great deal of value on conventional environmentalist tenets like conservation and energy efficiency, but I think it’s important to recognize that only a very small percentage of the population is ready to embrace the “less is more” mentality. As the article states, “We must accept that the world’s fastest-growing economies won’t forgo a higher standard of living in the name of climate science.” All across the world, as societies become more affluent, they become more materialistic and they consume more resources and energy. Changing that intrinsic human behavior will prove to be a much more difficult challenge than adapting to it. It’s time to find solutions that can work in our business-centric, materialistic world. That’s the real world.

What do you guys think? Am I off my rocker for embracing used cars and nukes? Do you think Generation Y stands a chance of turning the world sustainable? How do you hope to contribute? Or do you still think all this global warming stuff is bunk?

[source: Wired.com]

Read the original article on Thrilling Heroics here: 10 Controversial Climate Change Fixes to Spark Discussion—From Wired.com

You describe yourself as a Corporate Sustainability Strategist and a Social Enterprise Creation and Ideation consultant, which sounds very interesting! So, in layman’s terms, what do you do?

Well, as this field barely existed when I started my career 12 years ago and is still in the process of formation — I’ve done a lot of things to get to where I am today. Currently, I operate as an independent consultant providing business and non-profit development services (marketing/communications, fundraising/sales, multi-stakeholder partnerships, and strategy) to corporate social responsibility (CSR) ventures and social enterprises. I really enjoy laying the groundwork, connecting people, integrating ideas and data, and publicizing to get these ventures launched and/or scaled. And I most enjoy it when I can draw upon my experience in information technology/technology innovation, the environment, and small business and entrepreneurial development.

What does “business sustainability” mean to you?

Figuring out how to avoid the risks and take advantage of the opportunities presented to a business while still balancing economic, environmental (and human health!), and social considerations. All too often businesses focus on taking advantage of economic opportunities and only pursuing a risk management approach in terms of environmental and social considerations. This is probably not the best long-term strategy (but then how many businesses think long-term?). On the flip side, I think there is real value to be created when businesses start to think creatively about how to turn environmental and social challenges into a business opportunity.

When I say “social enterprise” in this context, I mean that the enterprise is “mission driven” — the founders have a passion for addressing a societal or environmental problem with a particular approach, service, or product. And then they just form the most appropriate vehicle around that solution (non-profit, for-profit, etc.) to accomplish the mission. Money is still important, but secondary to the mission. Especially in the case of the non-profit structure, they are often just seeking enough money to keep themselves self-financed.

Your most recent position was consulting for Envirofit International. Walk us through what a typical project like this looks like.

Envirofit is a growing clean tech non-profit in need of “expansion stage” funding. I developed a fundraising strategy and kickstarted it building relationships with government agencies, international development organizations and banks, social venture capital firms and foundations, as well as pursuing additional opportunities such as competitions, strategic partnerships, and low-cost publicity. Developing a fundraising strategy is a lot like developing a sales and marketing plan — you identify your prospects and determine your approach with each group. It’s just that non-profit fundraising is probably a lot more regimented than private sector sales and marketing; there are certain prescribed formats for letters and proposals.

You’ve worked in non-profit, government, and private business. Describe what that experience has been like, and how you got to be where you are now.

I never realized how unusual that was until I lived outside of Washington, D.C. as a professional. I formed my career in Washington, where it’s very commonplace for people to be “multi-sectoral.” It’s my sense that, at least within the space of CSR and social enterprise, the lines between these groups are increasingly becoming blurred. It was already clear to me 12 years ago when I started my career that there is no “us against them,” and the wave of the future was multi-stakeholder partnerships. Unfortunately, despite the popularity of such partnerships, they are often not as successful as they can be without mutual understanding. I think that my background enables me to provide this unique perspective.

What got you interested in sustainable development and sustainable growth?

I think it was a combination of things: many summers trips to Alaska during my high school years — was there the summer before and the summer after Exxon Valdez; saw the dried up Midwest from a plane during the summer drought of 1988. My father also worked for a large energy company, so growing up I was very aware of where my power came from — I was taught to conserve energy at a young age. Many people in my family, too, have been Peace Corps volunteers, so at a young age I was exposed to their stories about life in developing countries. I latched onto environmental issues and became a vegetarian somewhere around the age of 15…and it all evolved from there.

Do you feel like you make a positive impact with your career?

I think just about every career can be seen to have a positive impact, and some of us are more driven by impact than other motivators. I am definitely strongly driven by impact, and I do think that my career makes a positive impact at least in the short term. I cannot predict the impacts that I’ll have in the long-term. The impact that I value has changed over the years. I think it’s easy to get caught up in pursuing impact that is of national or international significance. However, all too often, such impacts lack a human connection. You may begin to wonder who did you really help. Because of this, I now gravitate toward opportunities where I can have a large impact on a small group of people or on one enterprise. Not that one way is better than the other, but you have to know what really gives you satisfaction.

When the job gets tough, what keeps you going?

I don’t know if I even think about work being “tough.” If there’s a problem that needs to be solved, it’s all I can think about to get to the bottom of it and move on. Work needs to be viewed in perspective: Think how lucky we are to even be given the opportunity of having work that also brings us great personal satisfaction. My parents and grandparents certainly did not have this. So, what on Earth do I have to complain about?

What do you recommend to students who want to get into your line of work?

I’m not quite sure if I know what “my line of work” is! I personally think it’s important to be a multi-sectoral professional and to be able to think “integratively” and creatively about business opportunities — to be able to flip an environmental challenge into a business opportunity by tapping into the resources of government agency X. But I’m not sure if a multi-sectoral career path is possible for all people, and I’m not sure if creativity is teachable.

International experience is always valuable even if you don’t intend to work internationally because it will test and change your ways of thinking about the world if you allow it to. An MBA degree helps to open doors, and these days is in demand by government, non-profit, and the private sector alike.

There are also many ways to have an impact — you don’t have to be a CSR or social enterprise professional. You can be a marketing manager who works for a green products company. You can make a bundle of money on Wall Street and then start your own foundation. There are many paths, and it’s not my place to value one over the other.

Karen, again, thank you so much for your willingness to share your incredible professional experience in corporate social responsibility and sustainability with us. For consulting inquiries, you can contact Karen at karen@jihiconsulting.com.

Read the original article on Thrilling Heroics here: An Interview with Karen Seeh, Corporate Sustainability Strategist

Veganism and Sustainability continued

In part one I discussed the frightening ways that livestock production destroys our planet. To understand the full situation I suggest reading part one.

Many people are under the false impression that eating fish is not harmful to the environment. For starters, entire coral reefs are blown with dynamite to scare the fish into nets. It is no wonder that we are losing massive amounts of coral reefs to fishing at an alarming rate. Similarly to the way livestock are raised on land, fish farms pump the feed full of chemicals that often spill into open waterways from the submerged cages. According to the Toronto Vegetarian Association, “Disease pathogens spread easily among the high densities of fish, and concentrated fecal wastes and drugs can contaminate adjacent waters.” All of these individual issues amount to one massive problem; Entire ecosystems are being compromised, and sustaining these practices guarantees that our generation will be the last to enjoy such sea life.

Every hour, 3 plant and animal species are becoming extinct. According to the U.N. we are currently enduring the worst phase of extinctions since the dinosaurs. The primary cause? Human activities such as population expansion and farming. U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said in a statement, “Biodiversity is being lost at an unprecedented rate.” A global study published in the international journal Nature determined that industrial farming has caused 90% of all large fishes to disappear in the past 50 years. Shrimp boats, which drag nets on the bottom of oceans, are also to blame for the useless killing of many sea creatures. For every 1 pound of shrimp, 10 pounds of other marine life are collected. The U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization have found that 190 breeds of farm animals have become extinct in the last 15 years. The statistics are frightening and never-ending. We are literally destroying what remains of diversity on our planet.

So what can we do? The largest contribution you can make to reverse this situation is to go vegan. If you are already vegan, congrats, you’ve been doing the planet well and not even known it. A vegan saves 3,000 pounds of CO2 a year. In fact, veganism saves more CO2 than a hybrid car ever could. The environmental impact of soybean protein to that of meat protein is 4.4 to 100, to the disadvantage of meat. Fish require 14 times the energy input to vegetables per unit of protein. If the thought of giving up meat, fish, eggs, or dairy is thoroughly terrifying, think about cutting back. Try skipping meat one day a week and see if you can work up to 3 or 4 days per week. Cut down on the amount of these products you eat and buy local. In the end, any steps you can take toward consuming less of these resource-dependent and wasteful foods, is a step in the right direction. Our future generations, not to mention the animals, will thank you.

Special thanks to Jaime for sharing her thoughts and her research with us. Be sure to visit her at the Vegan Bug if this hits your sweet spot! Thanks sis!

References:

“Meat Production’s Environmental Toll” – Toronto Vegetarian Association
State of World Fisheries and Aquaculture (SOFIA) reports 1996 – 2006
“Greatest Wave of Extinctions Since the Disappearance of the Dinosaurs” – An Animal Friendly Life.com
“Eat Lesss Meat, Fish and Dairy for the Planet” – 21st Century Girl
“Don’t Have A Cow: About 20 percent of farm-animal breeds are endangered, says FAO” – Grist.org
“Paint it Green” – Wall Street Journal Online
“Quantification of the Environmental Impact of Different Dietary Protein Choices” – American Journal of Clinical Nutrition

Read the original article on Thrilling Heroics here: Veganism and Sustainability, Part II

David Anderson is a young guy who wanted to make a difference, so he founded the company Green Options upon graduating from the University of California at San Diego! (And funny enough – he’s our second David Anderson interviewed here at Thrilling Heroics!) Green Options’ online media portal, GreenOptions.com, serves as your home on the web for “Greening the Good Life,” which sorts through the information overload to bring you the best quality green news and tips for green living. David studied political science, sociology, biology and law in school, and now focuses on sustainability issues and renewable energy policy. He lives in Berkeley, California. [Photo credit to David...he described it as exhibiting "a little wackiness" =) ]

David took the time to chat with me about founding his company, working with people around the globe, about fossil fuels, and solar power, and he had some fantastic thoughts to share, drawing from his experiences.

You attended UC San Diego. Tell me about your education and how you got involved in sustainability. What made you go green?

I was interested in all kinds of things when I entered UCSD, but I defaulted to political science. I always had an amateur interest in renewable energy, but the chance to connect it to policy during an internship in Washington DC really drove me to immerse myself in the green movement. At the same time, the ineffectiveness of the non-profit I worked at (despite the best efforts of many very talented people) convinced me that I had to look to market solutions — the business world — to really be effective at creating change.

That’s a pretty interesting insight. So when and where did the idea for Green Options come about? What was REConn?

After I graduated, I still didn’t know how to fulfill my desire to help bring the green movement mainstream. In the meantime, I took a job as a technical writer at a firm that aggregated RFPs [Request for Proposal] for architecture and engineering firms. Immediately, I thought “why isn’t there anything like this for renewable energy?” A few weeks later, I quit and began planning “The Renewable Energy Connection” (REConn), which turned into Green Options. Although our first 6 months has focused on our green media portal, GreenOptions.com, this summer we’ll be launching the tools that are based on that original concept.

How did you connect with your primary team and get Green Options off the ground? Were there much in the way of startup costs, dealing with VCs, etc?

I was lucky through persistence. As a recent graduate, I had very few business contacts to lean on for advice. I ended up starting a blog that examined the nexus of energy and environmental issues (citizengreen.com, which I have now passed on to one of our interns), through which I met Shea Gunther, a fellow blogger and self-styled eco-entrepreneur, and Jeff-McIntire-Strasburg of Sustainablog. Shea had the entrepreneurial experience to help me get funding and get the company off the ground, while Jeff (also an English professor and southern gentleman) made a perfect editor for the media portal we were building. We found an angel investor almost immediately, so I never went through the VC rigmarole.

Did you have any previous entrepreneurial experience before starting Green Options?

Nope. For why, see above. But I’d always been interested to find out how the corporate world works… and this is one way to find out!

What sets Green Options apart from other green media centers like TreeHugger.com?

Jeff was (until very very recently) actually a writer at Treehugger. Truthfully, there’s a lot of overlap. Treehugger has been the leading multi-author blog in the green blogosphere since shortly after its launch, and our content has to date been focused on building a base of readers who already hold green values. The difference is that there is a large majority of people that don’t consider themselves tree-huggers, and would be unlikely to visit a site with that name, even though they might be open to a lot of the same information. Over the next few months, Green Options will be focusing on breaking down the barriers that keep people from opening up to this kind of information.

What are some of the challenges you’ve had to overcome in running a company with consultants that report to you from all over the country?

You said it. The simple fact that there’s no easy way to poke your head over the cubicle wall to ask a quick question does cut down on the efficient flow of information to some extent. As we’ve grown in terms of staff, we’ve increasingly adopted specialized collaboration tools that attempt to replicate a shared physical workspace. When it was just 3 of us, most of those tools weren’t necessary. They are now.

I know you’ve done a lot of research specifically on energy. What are a few major steps you think we need to take with that infrastructure?

Thank you for asking this! We’re going to face a huge challenge in the coming years. At some point, the question of “what’s next” after centralized coal electricity production and a gas-based transportation infrastructure is going to demand an answer (probably through some shock to the system), but the more we can do now to create the solutions we’re going to need, the more prepared we’ll be when pop quiz day comes. Even though our electric grid is an antiquated patchwork in desperate need of shoring up, it currently looks like the best bet we have to decouple energy consumption and generation from specific fuels. Unless some breakthrough algae or cellulosic ethanol technology provides some amazing bounty, biofuels are never going to provide a full answer to the oil problem. Electric and plugin hybrid vehicles look like the most efficient investment on a macro scale when combined with massive deployment of grid-connected, distributed renewables and major investment in the national electric grid. To me, that is the only ‘new energy economy’ scenario that solves the distribution problem inherent to renewable resources without relying on some amazing storage technology that hasn’t been perfected yet. For example, although hydrogen will undoubtedly play a role, California could replace its “hydrogen highway” pipe dream — ahem, initiative — with thousands of cheap electric 10-minute charging stations fueled by on-site renewables and backed up by natural gas, with a much greater immediate effect.

What are the best green business and energy conferences that you’ve attended?

Without a doubt, GreenFest. I attended the one in SF last fall solo, vowing to be back with a booth someday, and sure enough, the GreenOptions.com booth was bustling at GreenFest Chicago this April. I’m also very interested by the seminars put on by various groups to explain the complexities of the California Solar Initiative to solar installers, but maybe that’s just the solar geek in me.

Do you have any words of advice for college students who, similarly to you, are interested in starting up their own green companies when they graduate?

Stay away! Just kidding. The one piece of advice I can give unequivocally is this: only work with people smarter than yourself. Also, find out what it is about yourself that adds value to others’ activities, and offer it freely.

Great advice, David! Thanks for taking the time to share with us about your startup. I look forward to seeing you guys develop the service provider side of GO in the coming months.

Read the original article on Thrilling Heroics here: An Interview with David Anderson, Founder and CEO of Green Options

Veganism and Sustainability

I’ve been sitting here on the floor of my new house for the past hour or so thinking about this article I’ve been planning to write for some time now, and it crossed my mind; why did both my brother and I end up so interested and involved in sustainability? Sure, I may have learned it from him (or perhaps vice versa) but more likely than that, I believe we learned it from our parents. As kids, our father was a bit fanatical about recycling, making me rummage through my garbage for paper before taking it out to the dumpster. He would hunt me down while I was doing the dishes to tell me to shut the water off during those in-between moments when loading the dishwasher. At one point, the entire family ganged up on me when I went through a let’s-leave-every-light-in-the-house-on stage. Looking back, I can’t help but be surprised that no one ever even mentioned the one most sustainable act a person can undertake: cutting down on meat.

Meat is the single most resource intensive food on the planet. Our land, water, ozone, habitat, and air are all suffering horrifying effects from meat and animal production. To then consider the innumerable number of species and breeds dying out every year makes one wonder why this penchant for meat has become so socially acceptable. Here are a few numbers to think about:

• Fish must travel hundreds, if not thousands of miles while frozen or refrigerated, of which 38% is shipped internationally.
• Meat production requires about 11.5 times as much land, 15.2 times as much water, 13 times more fossil fuels, and 6 times as many biocides as soy production. As far as soy is concerned, meat uses roughly twice the resources for production.
• When we compare meat to pasta, studies have found that meat uses 20 times the amount of land and produces 3 times the amount of greenhouse gas emissions. Also, it created 17 times the amount of common water pollution and 5 times the toxic water pollution.
• 12,000 gallons of water can produce 1 pound of beef or 200 pounds of potatoes.
• A meat-based diet requires 7 times more land then a plant-based diet.

Which bad habit produces more greenhouse gas emissions, livestock production or transportation? Yep, livestock production. In fact, according to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization it produces 18% more emissions than transport. This isn’t just CO2 either. Of all human-related nitrous oxide output (which is nearly 300 times as potent as CO2), 65% is derived from our production of livestock. The specific product that leads to many, though not all, of these emissions is manure, which then contributes significantly to acid rain.

Perhaps the most basic of all sustainability issues is simply having land to live on. Nearly every growing city in the U.S. has started building upwards because there just seems to be no more room to move outward. Consider that roughly one-third of the Earth’s land is dedicated to livestock. But it still isn’t enough for the meat industry. One of the leading factors in worldwide deforestation is the clearing of forests to open new grazing pastures. An example of this can be seen in Latin America. In the Amazon, 70% of former forests are now grazing lands. Ironically 20% of pastures have been deemed degraded due to compaction, erosion, and overgrazing. This ridiculous cycle of deforestation, degradation, and more deforestation will undoubtedly leave the Earth covered in completely useless land sooner than many people would like to admit.

Now I have a frightening proposition for you. Imagine 120 pounds of wet manure. Not only is this fetid and virulent animal waste, but it is loaded with chemicals, fertilizers, pesticides, hormones, and antibiotics. Now picture this 120 pounds of shit being dumped into the river next door. Disgusting? Disturbing? Unfortunately, that is only one day’s worth of waste from one dairy cow. Multiply that by the thousands of animals in livestock plants every day. Unlike human waste, animal waste does not get treated before being dumped. Sometimes animal waste is dumped into mile-long holes dug into the ground, where it seeps into the land and eventually into the water, but many times it misses the earth altogether and is dumped directly into streams or rivers. Swimming in half of Arkansas’ streams has been prohibited because of the livestock pollution caused by Tyson Foods, just one example of the utterly unsustainable practices of the meat industry concerning our waterways.

By now the negative effects and nearly permanent damage we have done to our planet via livestock production and processing should be clear. But this is not all. The damage of the seafood industry and concerns about species extinction will be discussed in part two. More importantly, ways to stop this cycle, and even reverse it will be proposed. In the meantime, look at what you are eating on a daily basis, consider what the consequences are, and think about the positive impact you could be a part of.

To be continued. Check back for Part II of this article on Friday, and remember to check out Jaime’s great new site the Vegan Bug!

References:

State of World Fisheries and Aquaculture (SOFIA) reports 1996 – 2006
“Soy You Want to Be a Vegetarian?” – Grist.org
TreeHugger’s Green Guides: How to Green Your Meals
“Meat Production’s Environmental Toll” – Toronto Vegetarian Association
“Livestock a Major Threat to Environment” – UN Food and Agriculture Organization Newsroom
“Eat Lesss Meat, Fish and Dairy for the Planet” – 21st Century Girl
“Free-Range at Last, Free-Range at Last” by Robert F. Kennedy – Grist.org

Read the original article on Thrilling Heroics here: Veganism and Sustainability, Part I

I was thinking about what’s most important to me yesterday–what I’m most passionate about–”why do I spend so much time researching and writing about this stuff?” I thought to myself. I don’t get paid to write this blog. I’ve made about 54 cents, whereas it costs me about $90/year to keep ThrillingHeroics.com running.

Why do I do it, then? I spent my Earth Day describing to my dad how some of my generation feels like it’s inheriting this huge problem from those who came before us. Al Gore’s movie opened a lot of eyes to global warming this past year (including mine), and the damage it could potentially do to our world. And my personal life goal is to have a hand in changing the world for the better!

Now some people are still skeptical—my father for instance says that he has lived through far too many environmental panics that didn’t turn out the way scientists and environmentalists said they would. But I’m not interested in conjecturing or worrying about who’s to blame—that’s all a waste of time, and talk like that is designed to mislead you from the real challenges at hand. And yeah, we might avert the problem altogether…if we’re really lucky (in my opinion). My concerns don’t depend on the verity of global warming so much though—my issue is with the simple fact that our species is expanding very rapidly—exponentially—developing nations are fast becoming as industrialized and affluent as the United States, and we are burning through natural resources like there’s no tomorrow.

Well, there IS a tomorrow. At least, I want to ensure there is a tomorrow. These things only replenish so fast.

So my concern is more with the long-term sustainability of our society. I’m looking at consumption and growth trends. I want to have kids one day—but I don’t want them to be born into a post-apocalyptic industrial wasteland, and I don’t want them to starve because China takes all our resources, for instance. The problem is a simple problem of economics.

I’m an environmentalist at heart—because my dad used to take me camping and hiking and all that jazz every summer. I enjoy the “outdoors.” Now I approach my environmentalism from a business standpoint—because sustainability really poses a challenge to business and economic growth! Most companies look one year into the future to try to improve upon their past performance, but they need to look further into the future if they want to sustain over the long haul.

I’m not trying to scare you with doom and gloom. I’m trying to seek out individuals who are making a DIFFERENCE! Proactive people who are creating innovative solutions to these environmental and social problems—to hold them up as an example for future leaders…the best of my generation who will need to tackle things like poverty, hunger, the availability of clean water, natural resources, land to build our cities on, and so forth.

I think the best way to solve as many problems efficiently is to reduce the amount of work involved in the things we already know how to do well. That means using fewer resources and reusing what we can, increasing our energy efficiency, decreasing the distance we have to move food and raw materials, and so on.

There are a lot of people on this planet. And so far, it’s the only home we have. So I ask everybody to think critically about your use of energy and resources. Try to live more sustainably. Think about replenishable power sources. Buy local food, or grow your own. Do it for your kids, and your grandkids, and so on.

Also, if the blogosphere were coming to an end I’d have to ask you to look for me in print! Yup, that’s right–look for the THRILLING heroics book! One day…I’d like to publish the stories of dozens of cutting edge social entrepreneurs and “ecopreneurs” as I like to call them. People who are doing well for themselves AND doing good for the planet/for society at the same time. It’s not impossible…

Thanks to Nia for tagging me for this meme on her Leave America blog. Nia also has a neat blog where she looks at sustainable living in Portugal, among other things. If you want to participate in the Blog Apocalypse meme—Urban Monk will give $500 to charity!! Anyone who wants to participate is welcome—just link to my post here, and link to this page that tells you all about the Blog Apocalypse.

I’ll tag Adam, Ryan, James Van, James Britton, Steve, Patrick, Robyn, and Ron.

Read the original article on Thrilling Heroics here: The Last Thrill

The Sacramento City Council met last Tuesday to discuss a plan to reduce GHG emissions. When asked to share about what impact the City’s Sustainability Master Plan might have, Councilmember Kevin McCarty (District 6) replied, “Sacramentans increasingly recognize that global climate change is a problem that needs to be addressed at all levels of government. We need to take proactive steps, from things like maintaining green fleets, building energy-efficient buildings, and streamlining the permit process for residential solar roof installation.”

The Master Plan that was presented, called Creating a Sustainable City, defines a sustainable process as one that “can be carried out over and over again without negative environmental effects or high costs.” Began in 2005, the Plan serves as a policy framework for a number of issues like energy independence, flood protection, air quality, LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certification and sustainable building practices, and more. The Sacramento Municipal Utility District (SMUD), who recently teamed with Lennar Homes to make integrated solar PV a standard feature on their new housing development, also presented an invitation to partner with the City of Sacramento to help it become a leader in solar power development.

Please click here to download the Sustainability Master Plan, which includes a report to the mayor, the recommendations of the team, the Master Plan, PowerPoint presentation of Creating a Sustainable City plan, and SMUD’s PowerPoint presentation. The City Council will revisit the Master Plan in summer 2007 to evaluate feasibility and budget analysis and lay out the first steps of implementing sustainable changes.

The City of Sacramento is also working hard to attract green business. In her State of the City address on March 30, Mayor Heather Fargo stated that Seattle-based developer Dick Fischer of Fischer Properties now plans to transform Sacramento’s old Army depot into an ethanol production plant.

Read the original article on Thrilling Heroics here: Creating a Sustainable City

Environmental studies departments in universities have been a harbor for green thinking and environmentalism for some time, but now students are able to earn an MBA in business sustainability! Jeff McIntire-Strasburg reports on the latest university course in sustainability at the MIT Sloan School of Management, citing that about 54% of MBA programs now require at least one course in sustainability or corporate social responsibility.

The Financial Times reports on the Sloan School’s new Sustainability Laboratory course:

Richard Locke, who helped design the class, says it is meant to inspire students to think about how these real-world challenges could be recast for future competitive business opportunities. “The idea is to change the discourse away from the notion that [these issues pose] limits and constraints on growth, and move it toward thinking about how they could be viewed as real opportunities for new businesses and rethinking existing business models,” he says.

-The Climate’s Changing at Business Schools [TreeHugger.com]

Read the original article on Thrilling Heroics here: An Education in Green Business

Well, there are a few communities that are working hard to create drastically innovative living centers that change land use and transportation needs for the better. These “eco-cities” are something I’ve been meaning to share for some time—there’s one in development right here in California’s Bay Area! Califia is a proposed economically- and ecologically-sustainable community in the works for the next ten to fifteen years which will support a population of 10,000 in the San Francisco metro area. In conjunction with a worldwide network of similar development projects, the Green Century Institute is leading what it calls “network-facilitated community development”–through online wikis and forums, as well as offline salons and community design summits–with leading urban design advisors Paolo Soleri and Jon Jerde.

“…We envision Califia as a leading edge eco-development joining next generation green architectural design principles and information systems into integral human living environments for the 21st century. Key to the design will be the innovative social meshwork underlying it, which will be implemented in a flexible mixed-use project combining traditional and cohousing-style residential development–a full suite of community, commercial, and social spaces to maximize human potential and group interactions.”

For a look at some similar development projects, take a look at Arizona’s Arcosanti and Auroville in Southern India. For more on Califia, here’s the Green Century Institute’s proposed plan.

Read the original article on Thrilling Heroics here: Drastic Evolutions in Sustainable Development