ecofrenzy: what’s good in green

Travelodge opened a hotel in Uxbridge, UK recently made entirely out of recycled shipping containers. Pretty innovative and advanced for a budget stay chain. They’re planning a second hotel of similar design. The design team in charge of this highlights that the style of modular building provides easy assembly and disassembly for festival and event housing. The shipping containers were outfitted with amenities in China before being shipped to England.

I was lucky enough to receive a tour of the Good Hotel (“intended to be the first hotel with a conscience” opening in San Francisco, which I may write more about later). It was there that I first encountered the SinkPositive, a remarakble water saving bathroom fixture – a sink that is placed on top of the toilet tank and allows consumers to use toilet flushing water twice: once to wash their hands and again to flush the toilet. The fixture goes for $109 – $119 plus S&H and replaces your traditional toilet’s tank lid. After every flush, the water that comes from the water supply line comes out of a faucet at the top of the toilet allowing you to wash your hands as it refills the toilet bowl. It looks sort of link a dentist’s sink. The SinkPositive is not meant to replace the bathroom sink, but will eliminate the need to use more water for handwashing post-bathroom visits. Basically SinkPositive creates a greywater system that is easy to install and use, inexpensive, and allows a household to operate without interruption.

Tom Szaky was a freshman at Princeton when he and some friends stumbled upon a killer fertilizer: worm poop. “We were trying to grow better pot and it turned out worm poop did the trick” Tom told me matter-of-factly at the start of our conversation. At the time they were just trying to improve their homegrown plants, but Tom knew this find had broader implications. And furthermore, he was inspired that their fertilizer was made from garbage. Rather than stick it out in college a full four years, Tom waved goodbye to campus life and said hello to the life of an eco-entrepreneur. His goal is to run the world’s most environmentally friendly company, TerraCycle. “I was not a huge environmentalist, I just wanted to use waste as an economic driver,” Tom said. In bringing this first product to market, they didn’t have the capital to invest in new packaging. Nor did he want to waste raw materials. So they reused 1 liter soda bottles to package the stuff, collecting them locally.

TerraCycle soon branched out into a myriad of waste based products: bags made from old Capri Sun pouches and old plastic bags, cleaners, lawn and garden products – packaged in reused bottles of course, office products such as juice pouch pencil cases and homework folders, eco-binders and so on. Each product is unique and requires a distinctive plan in order to collect the targeted typically unrecyclable trash. Tom uses an innovative brigade model to collect materials typically. One of Tom’s favorite projects involved a front cover ad in Newsweek in which TerraCycle requested people’s plastic bags. Quite niftily, the ad itself turned into an envelope into which people could place their plastic bags and mail them in. Tom received over 40,000 plastic bags from that one ad, which were used to make reusable bags. “It’s a win-win and a really fun product too.”

Every piece of news coverage for TerraCycle will not fail to mention the abundance of high profile partnerships Tom has created. TerraCycle goods can be found at major retailers such as Office Max, Whole Foods, Target, Home Depot, and Wal-Mart. It’s not surprisingly then that Tom’s favorite part of his job is creating just such big partnerships. “ I was grocery shopping this weekend and picked up a box of Capri Suns and saw that my logo was on the side of the package. That just gets me.”

The biggest surprise for Tom has been the realization of what you can do with waste. “Fundamentally there is almost no waste that cannot be upcycled and no product that cannot be made from upcycling. We can create a solution.” For those new to the term upcycle, Wikipedia defines it as “a component of sustainability in which the use of waste materials to provide new products. It is generally a reinvestment in the environment. This process allows for the reduction of waste and use of virgin materials.” Upcycling differs from recycling. Recycling often uses more energy than making something from virgin materials, Tom points out. This is never the case when upcycling.

While I love the idea of a product made from waste, I can’t help but wonder about hygiene and other related issues. I asked Tom if consumers or retailers had had any negative reactions and apparently not – “People are really into green products right now so they are much more receptive.”

Throughout our conversation and my pre-interview research, one issue was on my mind: greenwashing. I see Kraft partnering with TerraCycle (see press release) to invest in upcycling the loads of plastic packaging created when you make individual 6.75 ounce drink pouches as a way to allay Kraft’s guilt. I would hope that the partnership was a step in the direction of creating better packaging that can be more easily reused. Tom replied that they will collect 50 million juice pouches this year and while that is not enough, they can take it all. “We don’t see the issue of not being able to use the waste.” While he agreed that they should use more reusable stuff, Tom pointed out insightfully that “People aren’t great at recycling…It’s better to have lighter packaging get tossed away that is not recyclable. At the end of the day the argument is there environmentally to package juice in a pouch as it is lighter.” To Tom, greenwashing is when a company claims they have a 96% natural product when it’s just 96% water. Or when a company brags about using recyclable packaging, when it all is. Or when BP runs an ad which features “kids swimming near oil rigs with dolphins.” “But this Kraft thing is a serious step. If that is perceived as greenwashing then everything is. What these companies are doing should be encouraged.”

Before closing the conversation, I am always one to ask about profitability. TerraCycle is backed by a venture fund with most money invested in growth. Tom unfortunately could not speak to profits (other than “It is definitely profitable”), but he could share with me his sales, which have been growing exponentially. In 2004, TerraCycle had revenues of $70,000, up to $0.5M in 2005, $1.5M in 2006, $3.3M in 2007 and projected sales of $7.5M in 2008. That’s some garbage! As for the future, Tom imagines TerraCycle will double in size every year, something he thinks will be manageable. What’s next product wise? Look out for TerraCycle’s upcoming launch of a line of gift wrap and trimmings made entirely of waste.

[This piece also posted to the Just Means All Things Reconsidered blog today]

While I consider myself an avid environmentalist, I have never had a dream as blatantly featuring global warming as this one:

I’m at a house party in this exotically placed Northern California beach house, perched on the cliffs above the ocean. I’m trying to help clean up and I take the recycling bin outside after emptying it. Someone has poured orange juice in there so I want to rinse the thing out in the ocean to prevent stinky bin syndrome. I wander down to the cliffs above the water and the ocean level has risen. Instead of looking down at the waves crashing below me, the water is swirling and crashing on the sand at my feet. Some waves even hit the glass door of a neighbor’s house. I dip my toes in the water and lo and behold the water is gloriously warm. I hop in with my recycling bin and have a great time swimming in the warm, turbulent, deep sea water. How bizarre: I’m trying to recycle, ocean levels are rising, ocean temperatures are bath-like, and I’m making the best of it!

It is no secret that effective networking is one of the single most important aspects of successful job-hunting. I have spent the past five months building my network to both learn about the green realm and hunt down the perfect green job. I’ve always cringed at the word “networking,” as the term connotes forced conversations and social climbing. But I’m realizing networking can become your own authentic process, and I actually enjoy it. The day I realized I was doing something right I received 4 compelling job descriptions, which landed in my inbox from all corners of my network, from organizations I was interested in and excited about.

While I would prefer not to write about my own personal results in specific terms, I want to share some of the “best practices” (I am indeed a consultant at heart) for finding a job and building valuable connections in your field. These tips and tricks apply to all fields as far as I’m concerned, though they’re based on my experience in the world of green.

1. Keep track: I keep a spreadsheet with contact info for everyone in my career network with details of when we met, who referred me to them, whether I’ve reached out to them, what they do etc etc. I also keep separate lists of companies and organizations of interest, with my contact at each if I have one, and resources to use during the job search. This might be overkill, but it has been incredibly reassuring and helpful to have.
2. Keep up on your industry: Particularly if you are entering a new field, read, read read. Sign up for all relevant email alerts and newsletters so that you don’t miss a beat. You need to understand the dynamics of the field you are working in and this can help you figure out your place in it.
3. Develop expertise: More than just basic knowledge, become an expert in your specific area of interest. Potential employers always want to see that you really care about something and will be able to become just such an expert on their issues. This is a big reason why I started blogging – to ensure I was on top of happenings and researching topics of interest.
4. Attend events: Get in the loop on all relevant networking opportunities and go! In the SF sustainability scene, for example, EcoTuesday, Climatini, and Green Drinks are three valuable functions.
5. Practice proactive introductions: Take the lead and introduce yourself in any networking situation. Often you have to suck it up and risk feeling awkward in order to connect with someone at a company you admire. When introducing yourself, always open with a compliment or other statement of genuine appreciation acknowledging you know of their work and/or company. People are much more likely to open up to this sort of welcoming introduction.
6. Understand that anyone can be a great connection, regardless of title: A lower level professional can be just as (if not more) valuable a contact than the CEO. While it feels good to leave an event having spoken with the most important person in the room, other people in that room may turn out to be much more useful contacts down the road, contacts who will have time to help you out and share their wisdom.
7. Make business cards even if you are unemployed: It feels good to have something to hand out. And people will be more likely to remember you, not to mention reach out. I recommend VistaPrint for cheap (or free if you let them advertise) cards which you can design quickly online. Better yet, if you’re in the enviro-scene, make your own cards. When I met Jefferson McCarley, founder of V Restaurant, the “greenest restaurant in the world” soon to open in San Francisco, he handed me a business card hand written on recycled card stock. I found this to be tremendously charming and authentic.
8. Follow-up! Develop and practice post event etiquette: I write details of everyone I meet on their cards so I won’t forget who they are, what we talked about, etc. Then I enter their basic info into my nerdy spreadsheet. I try to send emails to as many as I can saying that it was great to meet, and including a reminder of what we discussed, in case they forgot already, and suggesting a follow-up meeting or conversation where appropriate, say if you have common interests or there is potential for collaboration on a project. At the least remind them what you are interested in and request they keep you in mind. I think its also nice to send something helpful, such as a link to an article you brought up in conversation, a useful website you recommended, or the contact info of a friend who would be useful.
9. Give introductions and resources: In a networking situation, we all have something or many things to offer. Know what those assets are. If you’ve been networking for a while, like I have, chances are this capital can be in the form of valuable introductions. It’s the golden rule. When I talk to someone I am hoping they will direct me to a job lead or informational resource. I try to do the same for them. Always be thinking, who or what do I know that aligns with this person’s interests and aspirations that I could put connect them with. And then be reliable about making email introductions. This is an easy favor that will come back to you. Resources, such as websites and blogs, can also be valuable to share. Make a list of your top favorite blogs or websites or job boards and share it. Or if you have another form of capital to share, do so.
10. Engage everyone you know: When looking for a job, I sent a mass email to a targeted group of friends and family stating what I was looking for and asking for ideas, referrals, company names, anything. This is how I found my current job. Better to email too many rather than too few people in this situation. You never know who will have leads. My sister, a teacher living on the east coast, provided me with connections that led directly to interviews with three different companies of interest in the Bay Area. Caution: Choose your favors wisely. If you blast your network with requests daily, this may not be as fruitful.
11. Ask for referrals and introductions: When meeting people for informational interviews or what have you, always ask for referrals to others who would be of help. Networking should be a never-ending game, where leads lead to more leads.
12. Express genuine interest – ask questions and do your research: When you are meeting with someone new, do research beforehand so you have an idea of what they do and can speak intelligently about their company. That said, ask genuinely interested and thoughtful questions, which can be helpful to prepare beforehand. People usually love to talk about their work and love when people are interested in hearing about it.
13. Invest in your resume, bio, and job desires: When being introduced to others, it is essential to have an updated resume on hand to share (clearly). More than that, a bio can be especially helpful when you are networking with people who do not have jobs to give you, but have friends who may have jobs to give you. It is a less formal way of sharing your background in advance of a meeting that does not signal “I want a job” but instead “I want you to know a little bit about me.” It is also helpful to have an email prepared describing what you are looking for, with a list of job titles and industries you are looking at, as well as sample target companies.
14. Get specific: Career counselors have recommended many a time creating a list of your top target companies and sending this into your network to see if anyone knows anyone at any of them.
15. Keep in touch with your network: This is perhaps the hardest, but most important tip. Keep your network fresh. You don’t need to spend all day emailing people individually, but keep your contacts in mind and share pertinent articles, websites, referrals and other information, as well as finding other creative ways to keep your relationships alive.

This cannot begin to be comprehensive. Are there other networking tips people have to share? If so, please leave a comment.

When I was little, we had a very thrifty neighbor. She was always passing bags of clothing from house to house for people to go through, take what they needed and leave their own unwanted clothing in. I loved the concept, but in reality there was never anything I quite wanted to wear in these catch-all garbage bags.

After I graduated from college I spent a month on a yoga ashram, Satchidananda Ashram (or Yogaville). In this yoga village, behind the modest library, was a store unlike any I’ve encountered. It was a place for guests, residents, and swamis alike to take a penny, leave a penny if you will, but applied to anything. So people would offload extra stuff, clothing they’d lost interest in, books they’d read, and other necessities and nick-nacks. Someone would organize the goods, and anyone could come at any time and take anything they needed. What a brilliant idea.

Third time is a charm. Tonight I took part in a much more refined, effective and classy version of clothing reuse. Suzanne Agasi is Founder and Director of Clothing Swap, which puts on fabulous and elegant clothing swaps in New York City and the Bay Area. The idea is that people can spice up their wardrobes while also reusing textiles that already exist, something I absolutely support.

“Be Good, Be Green, Be Glam:” How it works
Guests pay a cover fee of $30 ($20 pre-registered) and are treated to spa treatments, cocktails and food while Suzanne and her team rush around in the back sorting all the swap material. At a certain point the gates swing open and an energized mob of women (there are men’s swpas too) rush forth to crowd around the goods up for grabs and feverishly sift through for a few gems. People go home with anywhere from 1 article of swapped clothing to 2 bags filled with new duds. And it’s all free of course. Better still, the remaining pile of clothing that no one wanted goes to battered women’s shelters. To date, Agasi has hosted 150+ swaps over 13 years.

The swap I attended was an interesting mix of fashion forward females who will push past you to reach the jeans pile faster, and environmentalists excited for a wardrobe refresh, but as eager to get rid of things as to get new things, which is how I see myself. Whatever the mix, Agasi’s message about reuse is understated but clear. I would highly recommend attending a Clothing Swap, just be prepared to battle the crowds to get first dibs on the wares

Three problems, one solution:

1. Like many others, I know recyclables have value, but I don’t care to spend my time sorting through trash to sell the materials at a measly price, especially when even mixed scrap glass goes for only $2.25/ton with under 40k tons to sell.

2. Dumping trash into the landfill costs money, especially given the way we’ve gone filling them up combined with restrictions on new landfill construction. However, many of us don’t feel that cost in our pocketbooks because we don’t pay for waste removal ourselves and/or the amount we pay doesn’t vary with how much we throw out.

3. We know we should recycle whenever possible, but sometimes it’s not as convenient as discarding objects into the ubiquitous trash bin. We can be lazy.

These three problems weigh heavily upon our communities in the form of exorbitant disposal fees. Municipal solutions have usually consisted of equipping householders with blue bins with a tinge of education where possible. Except for a few overachieving jurisdictions who’ve pushed hard for high recycling rates, like San Francisco, which diverts 70% of waste from its landfills, current recycling efforts have been less successful than one would hope. Sadly, with the US average of 32.5% diversion (2006), we continue to toss astonishing amounts of recyclable materials into the landfill, losing out twice, once on the value of the materials and the second time on the cost of dumping them there. The solution has to involve consumer action.

Enter Ron Gonen and RecycleBank. During business school, Ron developed a plan that would solve all three problems at once: reward people for recycling with hundreds of dollars in reward value annually, using pounds of recyclables recycled per week as the key motivating metric.

How it works: recycle, record, reward
Starting in Philly in 2004, RecycleBank supplies residents with large wheeled carts armed with RFID tags, and retrofits the city’s garbage trucks with scanners and scales enabling waste collectors to weigh and scan each cart. The RFID tag on a cart marries it to the household’s address. The weight of the recyclables gets converted into RecycleBank Points which are wirelessly transmitted and uploaded to the home’s online RecycleBank account, where the family can track progress. For each pound of recyclables, residents get 2.5 RecycleBank points (10 points is equivalent to $1 in reward value). RecycleBank families recycle on average 80 lbs per month, yielding 200 points, or $20 in reward value per month. Not too bad for doing something we all should be doing anyways. And RecycleBank rewards are good at 450+ physical and online retailers both local and national (including Kraft, CVS, Bed Bath and Beyond, Stonyfield Farms, Rite Aid, Coca-Cola, and many local mom and pop shops). RecycleBank quantifies a household’s recycling in terms of trees and gallons of oil (from plastics) saved, which is an additional motivator and a great learning tool for children.

RecycleBank is a for-profit and makes money in one of three ways:
1) Splitting the savings from reduced landfill fees. For example, Wilmington, Delaware was paying $3M annually for disposal, which was reduced to $1.5M with RecycleBank’s help, and they split the difference. 2) The waste hauler pays RecycleBank per household.
3) Leveraging website traffic for marketing opportunities. Each community is different and RecycleBank develops a tailored partnership with each, based on needs, regulatory environments, and pre-existing trash hauling arrangements.

When I inquired about people putting heavy trash in their carts to win more points, I learned this has surprisingly not been a problem. If a cart is contaminated, trash collectors hit the “bowling ball” (imagine someone trying to pass a bowling ball as a recyclable) red button to report a problem. The household is warned and three strikes – they’re out of the program. Four years in, not a single person has been asked to leave the program.

Results: 0 to 60
RecycleBank has had phenomenal success so far. Growing from start up in 2004 to 133,000 households in 2008 with 1.5 million in the pipeline, RecycleBank is backed by solid venture capital funding for growth and expansion.

RecycleBank typically causes recycling rates to double. For example, in Cherry Hill, NJ, where recycling rates were already laudably high, residents in a pilot program raised recycling levels on average from 11 pounds per week per household to 26. Lisa Pomerantz, Director of CSR/Marketing and Communication at RecycleBank relayed one user’s remark: “We found the missing link of what’s going to keep people recycling.”

Good business sense
RecycleBank’s program makes good business sense, so their success is not surprising. Recyclebank:
1) Creates a win-win situation where residents, cities, local businesses, RecycleBank and the planet benefit from the business’ success (how’s that for triple bottom line for you!)
2) Uses the carrot, not the stick, to incentivize positive behavioral change, as Pomerantz pointed out
3) Tailors programs to communities, rather than using a one-size-fits-all approach
4) Often bases earnings on a city’s savings, resulting in a risk free program for municipalities
5) Proves you can do well by doing good in the business world
Future of the Bank: “Leave no home behind”

The future of RecycleBank is exciting. While concentrated in the North East, they have launched in the Mid-West and plan to expand across the country and the world. Pomerantz emphasized that they are “being really strategic about the roll out.” In addition to service area expansion, they are in discussion with some communities about starting to collect compost. They already have a cell phone collection and they hope to expand further into e-waste. Lastly, RecycleBank is building partnerships to include waste haulers, such as Allied Waste and material recovery facilities (MRFs) where recycling takes place. Growth in both services and service area is in the works.
Look out for an RFID chip coming soon to a cart near you!

The majority of us know we have a big fat problem on our hands, a climate crisis if you will. Many of us doubt that we will be able to dig ourselves out of this messy grave we’ve dug, however thankfully many of us are also all about trying. It seems to me there are two categories of global warming responses. High tech and low tech. Given our societal situation, the high tech solution is more likely to succeed whereas the low tech route makes much more intuitive sense. Living in San Francisco, I see the best of both sets of solutions.

High tech: High tech solutions to global warming are designed such that we can continue to live excessive lifestyles but emit fewer GHG’s. Examples include electric, hybrid, fuel cell and other low-carbon vehicles so that we can continue to eschew public transit and drive cars; photo-voltaic and other renewable energy technologies so that we can continue to use as much energy as we want on a daily basis; cloud-seeding to clear pollution instead of reducing pollution in the first place, and so on. (There are many many blogs only devoted to such things, so I’ll stop here). These solutions do not address the fact that our excessive lifestyles got us here in the first place and technology was often an enabler of our polluting ways. That said we have gotten used to a certain way of life and now people expect to live a that way. There may be no turning back and technology can help ease the outcome of our ways.

Low tech: On the opposite end of the spectrum are those people and techniques that address climate change by eliminating the sources of the problem altogether. This generally involves adopting practices long since given up by mainstream Americans.

Example 1) Eating homegrown or otherwise local food. A recent New York Times article picked up on a trend of outsourcing the gardening of one’s back yard to grow food for one’s family. (Interestingly, this trend has roots in my employer’s back yard with MyFarm, and you can see a small sliver of my face in the background of the above NYT article photo – probably the only time I will ever make the front page ). Local, organic, sustainable (however you define it) food is in, and there is a shift backwards to the days when we used to grow our own food, even if we may end up paying someone else to do so for us.

Example 2) Off the grid living. It has become increasingly popular to take your house off the grid, which means relying on renewable energy in one form or another. Interestingly this can sometimes be very high tech.

I don’t have a remarkable conclusion to this split in the green movement. But I do know that like all things, the workable solution to our environmental woes will come from a combination of high and low tech solutions. We are not about to go back to the farm en masse, however I think people can be nudged stepwise towards a less polluting lifestyle. And I doubt we’ll invent a silver bullet high tech solution, though our technologies will continue to make going green more fun and easy.

By no means am I as green as I can be in every aspect of my life. Convenience and lower prices will often derail my green intentions. But that does not keep me from being a massive eco-snob at times. This dawned on me today as I biked home from a visit to the Slow Foods Victory Garden in San Francisco’s Civic Center and was forced to battle for pavement with a massive double-tired, extended-cab, extra-wide shiny black truck. I don’t have as much control over my facial expressions as I sometimes wish I do and I was taken back to a moment not too long ago when I grimaced uncontrollably at the sight of one of my closest girlfriends being approached by a skeezy guy in a club. I didn’t mean for my face to reveal my repulsion, but the skeez himself saw me cringe and backed off! Whoops. Well, in a very similar manner, I made an involuntary expression of disgust as I passed this very large truck in pristine condition occupied by one lone man with no cargo. That’s when I realized I had done it several times on just one bike ride. I turn my nose at large carbon footprints!

While I thought I had invented this term on my own, a quick Google search taught me I am by no means alone in looking down upon poor environmental habits.

A February 2007 LA Times article, Confessions of an eco-snob, reveals a strikingly similar feeling:

At a gas station one afternoon, I felt perfectly comfortable leveling a death-ray glare at the soccer mom behind me. I hated her simply for her passenger-free, fuel-sucking Land Rover – which was certainly canceling out all my hybrid’s hard eco-work. As she nervously studied the interior of her designer purse to avoid eye contract with the clearly psychotic woman facing her (me), I felt no guilt in wishing an eco-karma death for her. (Choking on her own fumes would be ironic, but swallowed whole by polar bears worked too.)

Eco-snobbery has been acknowledged in Britain as well, as a February 2008 Telegraph article describes:

What was it, this frisson that passed between the young woman behind the counter at Pret A Manger and me? It wasn’t flirtation, exactly. It was more conspiratorial than that. A knowing look. A social judgment shared.

As she asked me if I wanted a plastic bag for my two items – a (wild) salmon sandwich and a banana – the man at the head of the queue next to mine was asked the same question by another assistant. He had a sandwich and an apple. The point is, I said no. He said yes. That was when the look was exchanged…

The eco-snobs are the worst. It is not enough they get to feel better about themselves for doing the right thing environmentally; they have to make someone else feel worse. Make them feel small, vulgar, immoral. I caught myself doing it in that queue the other day. And shame on me for that.

Yes, eco-snobbery can’t be a good thing. Why should I be scowling at fellow human beings? To some extent we all pay for our carbon footprint in the form of sky high gas prices and rising airline ticket costs among other things. But there must be a better way than condescension to encourage others to “consider the environment” before doing any number of things. For now I’m just going to do my best by trying not to scowl at SUV owners and leading by example where I can.

For more on this check out: Are you an eco-snob? 10 sure signs you’ve gone too green

Chris has an honorable, eco-friendly day job working for San Francisco’s recycling company, but in his spare time is when he makes a world of difference. An avid cyclist with easy access to San Francisco’s waste stream, Chris removes bicycles from the dump and refurbishes them in his backyard. He then sells his bikes on Craigslist out of a mini-store container near his office. He calls his business Salvation Cycles and he takes “pride in having redirected a thousand discarded bikes back into the flow of traffic.” You won’t find him on the web however, as he’s “a low tech garbagpreneur” without a web site. It all sounds so simple. And when you account for the 1,000 discarded bikes that Chris was put back in service, his impact is impressive. Back of the envelope calculations reveal that riders Chris’ work through Salvation Cycles conserves 24,768 gallons of gas per year (assuming commuters purchase the bikes, ride 6 miles per day round-trip, 3 days per week, 8 months per year, and they would have otherwise driven getting 25MPG for city driving). As Chris says “Not bad for one guy wrenching under a shade tree on weekends in his back yard.”

I want to see more people doing this sort of thing – it makes sense in every way. Chris is doing something he loves, making money on the side, diverting waste from the landfills, conserving raw materials from extraction and energy from the manufacturing of bicycles, contributing to a healthier lifestyle for his customers, and also taking cars off the street and reducing emissions!

Let me know if know of others doing similarly creative, innovative and sustainable work. This is exactly the type of resourceful entrepreneurial spirit I want to honor and encourage.