Sustainable Initiatives by Andrea Dean » going green hawaii

1-18-10: Kamuela Enos- Ma’o Organic Farms Growing Food & Entrepreneurs

admin — Mon, 18 Jan 2010 01:07:34 +0000

In this podcast I interview Kamu Enos, Education and Resource Specialist at Ma’o Organic Farms. Ma’o Farms is an organic farm that is not just growing food- they are also a social enterprise growing community leaders and entrepreneurs.

If you are an itunes user, you can subscribe to my podcast through itunes and receive automatic weekly updates. Or you can listen below:

12-21-09: Tom Baldwin on Abundant Farming with Permaculture at Uluwehi Farm

admin — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 08:38:31 +0000

In this podcast I interview Tom Baldwin. Tom and his wife Shannon Casey own Uluwehi Farm, a permaculture farm in North Kohala on the Big Island. Tom talks about what permaculture is and how it helps farms and homesteads to be more productive. Tom just got back from a trip to Australia where he sat at the feet of the permaculture master- Bill Mollison, the founder of the permaculture system. Tom will be sharing that new knowledge and his permaculture farm experience in January when he is co-teaching a Permaculture Design Certification course with Craig Elevitch and Nik Bertulis, the course starts Jan 5th.

If you are an itunes user, you can subscribe to my podcast through itunes and receive automatic weekly updates. Or you can listen below:

Day Two: Andrea & Mary’s Girls Business Retreat Week

admin — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 01:45:05 +0000

Day two was a major technical day. Mary and I both decided to consolidate our websites and blogs. I had www.coachandreadean.com and www.andreadean.com and decided just to focus all of my efforts on andreadean.com. We moved Mary’s wordpress site from akamaipromotionalstrategies.com to akamaipromotions.com. I have never moved a WordPress site from one domain to another, so that was a fun technical learning curve.

As for my site, I re-thought all of menu items and emailed the new menu and sidebar to Maya at Jelly Designs who does my custom design work. My website is a combination of a custom site and a WordPress site.

Whew! Late night…on the phone with the server hosting company for quite some time. We also got Mary’s new wireless skype headset working, which was an accomplishment.

Are you Ready for A Paperless Office?

admin — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 07:07:32 +0000

I must admit that I found the idea of a paperless office very attractive… but could not see how I could put it into practice. Due to a bizarre set of circumstances, I was not able to get any of my papers out of my house for the last two weeks. Suddenly- I was paperless and loving it! Now to get rid of the filing cabinet and banker boxes of papers in my closet. Hmmmm…. Following is a guest blog post by Lindsay Sydenham from efilecabinet.com. I have not used this system, but knowing what a pain (and un-green) it is to file and sort paper, I am intrigued.

Go Green by Investing in a Paperless Office by Lindsay Sydenham
It takes 24 trees to produce one ton of printing and office paper.
I must admit that I found the idea of a paperless office very attractive… but could not see how I could put it intro practice. Due to a bizarre set of circumstances, I was not able to get any of my papers out of my house for the last two weeks. Suddenly- I was paperless and loving it! Following is a guest blog post by Lindsay Sydenham from efilecabinet.com. I have not used this system, but knowing what a pain (and un-green)it is to file and sort paper, I am intrigued.

Every year 4 Million tons of copy paper is used.
The number of trees used to produce copy paper for companies each year is astounding. It’s obvious why going green is a growing concern in the United States. Being environmentally conscious is finally becoming a priority in the business world. Businesses all over the country are looking for opportunities to become environmentally conscious in their business practices. Eco-friendly initiatives are not only beneficial for the environment, but they can save companies a considerable amount of money. It’s like the saying, “Hit two birds with one stone!”

One of the major ways that companies are going green is by investing in a paperless office. Ditch the paper and move to a completely electronic system. Paper is thrown away in the garbage in the United States more than any other material. Most businesses keep their records and information in hardcopy form, not databases, thus contributing heavily to the destruction of the earth’s forests.
The solution? Go paperless! Both small businesses and large businesses can benefit from investing in a paperless office where everything is stored safely in a large database. A document management system is perfect for businesses because it can help them to reduce their carbon footprint by lowering paper consumption. It can also substantially decrease the expenses associated with paper processing since there is no longer a pressing need for printing supplies, storage space, and the paper itself.
If you own your own business or work for a business that you think could benefit from going paperless, take five minutes today to request a live demo and get walked through the process of going paperless. The live demo will provide you the opportunity to have all of your questions answered. You can also take a look at a paperless office ROI calculator to calculate how much money you could save your business by moving to a paperless system. The ROI calculator will take information about the cost of employees, paper and use in your office and will compare the overall cost to the cost of a paperless management system. You will be shocked at what you will find!

Sources:
Paper Waste Statistics
Paperless Office

Contest for a new word for the concept formerly known as Sustainability

admin — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 22:24:14 +0000

I attend a lot of green meetings and events, and at every single one, after sheepishly uttering the word sustainability, someone says:

“I hate using the word sustainability, we need a new word.” or “Sustainability is just so overused, we need a new word.” or “I am going to say sustainability, but really we need a new word.”

However-rarely does anyone offer a new and better word. So here we go!

If you have a better word for sustainability please let me know and I will post the list of new words on my blog! Then we can all vote on the best new word for the “concept formerly known as sustainability.”

For the record- I don’t think we need a new word. I think we need to actually start behaving in alignment with existing definitions. And here are the ones that work for me:

“Humanity has the ability to make development sustainable–to ensure that it meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.”- Brundtland Commission Report

“Sustainability consists of harmonizing the ecological, social, and economic aspects of human activity in such a way that economic growth is consistent with long-term ecological activity.”- Brian and Mary Nattrass, Consultants and Authors of The Natural Step for Business

In my work with businesses, I am using The Natural Step definition for sustainability:
In a sustainable society:
• Nature is not subject to systematically increasing concentrations of substances extracted from the earth’s crust. (Think of the rapidity with which we extract fossil fuel and the contribution to global warming.)
• Nature is not subject to systematically increasing concentrations of substances produced by society. (Think of synthetic substances, like dioxin or plastic, that our natural environmental systems have no way of processing.)
• Nature is not subject to systematically increasing degradation by physical means. (Think of clear cutting a forest, draining wetlands, blowing off a mountain top.)
• …and in that society people are not subject to conditions that systematically undermine their capacity to meet their needs. (Think of people displaced or living in war zones because of oil acquisition, people working in sweatshops, villages polluted with electronic waste.)

Can’t wait to hear what you guys come up with! If you are reading this on Facebook- please post your responses to my blog.

My Second Try at my First Music Video- Mama Gaia with Nelson Denman

admin — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 19:07:34 +0000

Well.. if you didn’t catch it the first time. Here is the brand new version!

I play the harmonium, an instrument for Indian devotional chanting. Nelson Denman and I found that it was a great addition to his original composition Mama Gaia. We sang this song to Mother Earth one blessed morning at Mahukona, Noth Kohala, Big Island. Music is such an important component to a well-rounded green life and business, don’t you think? I love how Nelson centers his music around eco themes.

06-01-2009: Michael Kramer on SRI on Socially Responsible Investing

admin — Fri, 05 Jun 2009 01:39:30 +0000

It’s official! I have just launched my new weekly podcast- Going Green with Andrea Dean, Stories of Green Business from Hawaii and Beyond!

Help me spread the good green word and get 100 new subscribers by the end of June!

In this podcast I interview Michael Kramer of Natural Investments LLC. Michael Kramer is a Managing Partner and Director of Social Research at Natural Investments. Natural Investments is Hawai`i’s only registered investment adviser which exclusively manages portfolios of socially and environmentally responsible investments.

Michael Kramer is based in Hawaii and Natural Investments also has offices in Colorado, Washington and California. Natural Investments LLC have been leaders in the field of Socially Responsible Investing or SRI for over 20 years, and wrote two of the leading books on the topic, Investing from the Heart and Investing With Your Values: Making Money and Making a Difference.

You can also listen or download here:

One of These Chickens is Not Like the Other

admin — Thu, 14 May 2009 22:02:43 +0000

I recently got some new Top Hat chickens. They are especially funny because of their cool feather hairdos. I thought I had all hens, but yesterday one of the chickens started sounding a lot like a rooster. Which one is it? I have not been able to identify the cock in the hen house as of yet.

Andrea & Green Power Girl- Trash Bash 2009

admin — Mon, 11 May 2009 21:36:57 +0000

Trash Bash host Andrea Dean welcomes Green Power Girl to bless the day by reading a poem by Alvita Soleil. The Trash Bash is an event in which people use recycled and founds objects to make haute couture.

Live Green Workshop

admin — Wed, 01 Apr 2009 22:02:12 +0000

I recently gave a presentation on green business strategy at the Live Green Workshop sponsored by the Hawaii Island Workforce & Economic Development Ohana, Hawaii County Workforce Investment Board, Hawaii Island Chamber, Japanese Chamber, Kanoelehua Industrial Area Association, and the Big Island Workplace Connection.

The subject of green business pulled in over 50 people interested in learning more about how to integrate social and environmental practices into business.

You can watch the video of my presentation below (parts 1 & 2).