At his carpet company, Ray Anderson has increased sales and doubled profits while turning the traditional "take / make / waste" industrial system on its head. In a gentle, understated way, he shares a powerful vision for sustainable commerce.
Notice the incredibly beneficial effect this company's "Mission Zero" business plan has had on goodwill and market share.
Highlighting the dominant role that business currently plays in plundering the earth's resources and stressing th… Continue
“A vision is a beacon that is quite clear to you once you see it; a goal is what you set when you can’t see the vision.”Thomas Leonard.
Chatting with people recently and listening to their stories and their aspirations, one trend I’ve noticed is a kind of restlessness about the perceived need to have a dream, to have something concrete and tangible to aim for, and the sadness amongst some of those who believe they don’t have a dream.
Whilst downshifting or aspiring to live more… Continue
It was during a family camping trip several years ago that the idea hit me that downshifting might be a positive and beneficial thing to do. I realised, when preparing for our holiday, that the questions I was repeatedly asking myself were: “What’s the absolute minimum we need to take with us?” “What can we live without?” “What can I definitely not live without?” And this was not preparation for some kind of endurance test but rather for a holiday - a time of relaxation, enjoyment, simple family… Continue
When I first take on a coaching client, one of the questions I ask them is “What do you want to lose?” This might be material possessions, as in having a major de-cluttering and recycling session. A little less obvious, but often just as important, are the other items that they might have on their list of things that no longer serve them, such as:
- a relationship
- a belief that they have about themselves
- an unhelpful habit
- a job they no longer enjoy
- a commitment
- a concern
And… Continue
Added by Sally Lever on June 19, 2009 at 4:22pm —
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There seems to be a kind of response to stress that says we need to work harder, force ourselves to give more, make it happen, cajole others into complying with our needs. I’ve noticed this urge in myself and travelled alongside clients as they’ve wrestled with this one.
Jess was starting a small business providing home-cooked pies for sale through local retailers. But things were not going well. She had advertised in the local press, approached retailers in person with her ideas and leafleted… Continue
Something extraordinary happened at the UN Earth Summit in Brazil in 1992. A young girl of 12 years of age addressed the forum on behalf of the environmental organisation she had formed with some friends at the age of 9. As you will see from the following video, she spoke eloquently and with clarity and conviction well beyond her years.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Sb6RmRMbBY
What has happened to Severn Suzuki since then? She has gon… Continue
“If we take an honest look within, we may notice a certain guardedness around our heart. For some people, this is a thick, impenetrable barricade. For others, it is a thinner, subtler protective shield or contraction that only emerges under threatening conditions. And nothing triggers this sense of threat so strongly as the suspicion that we are not truly loved or acceptable as we are.”John Welwood.
You might not have heard of John Welwood. He’s a psychotherapist who specialises… Continue
Added by Sally Lever on March 30, 2009 at 10:26am —
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One of the terms that is often used when considering how we cope collectively with the triple challenges of peak oil, climate change and economic meltdown is “resilience”. It seems we would benefit from cultivating this collectively at the levels of local community, at a national level and globally.
Whenever we attempt to establish resilience at a community level (any sort of community, whether this is your household, the town where you live, or the business where you work) we have a choice abo… Continue
Added by Sally Lever on February 23, 2009 at 3:09pm —
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I love trees and feel blessed to live in a house that is surrounded by them. Some are huge, majestic and noisy in wild, wintery weather. Some, like my recently planted crab apples, seem perilously fragile by comparison and very dependent on the wooden stakes that support them. It is autumn (fall) here in the UK and the native deciduous trees are quickly being stripped of their leaves by high winds and heavy rain, leaving their stretching forms silhouetted against the cool, grey skies.
Trees pla… Continue
Added by Sally Lever on December 2, 2008 at 8:43pm —
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What do you most need to know about how to downshift, simplify your life, quit the rat race, step off the treadmill? Let me know and I'll include the best in a new Downshifting Audio Guide that will be made available via my website in the next few weeks. Continue
Added by Sally Lever on October 5, 2008 at 7:00pm —
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First there was Earth and then there was Man. And Man reaped everything he could from our Earth but failed to "give back". And then there came a time of reckoning. And Man began to "give back"... Everything started to Change..... The World is changing. People are changing. And business has changed... Every business you find in our ethical directory is a giving business....giving back to Our Planet by working in the Spirit of Harmony with Earth. ...Every member on Pledging for Change is here because they believe in Giving Back in the Spirit of Harmony with Our Planet
Do all the good you can, By all the means you can, In all the ways you can, In all the places you can, At all the times you can, To all the people you can, As long as ever you can. -- John Wesley, "Letters of John Wesley"
Each time a man stands up for an ideal, or acts to improve the lot of others, or strikes out against injustice, he sends forth a tiny ripple of hope, and crossing each other from a million different centres of energy and daring, those ripples build a current that can sweep down the mightiest walls of oppression and resistance. -- Robert F. Kennedy
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