Archive for 'Green Gardening'

Small Business Owners, This is our time baby! by Jerry Hart

My gut says, that the companies born in this recession will be the stuff of legend by the end of the decade.  Here’s 5 trends for small business I see coming at us like a storm on doppler radar.

5. Mastering (note: the word “mastering”, not just tapping into) social media is one of the hottest of all online trends.

I thought “Sex” was the most searched term online in 2009. NOT! Facebook” in fact was the most searched term in 2009. (Source: Experian Hitwise)

Big business has discovered what many small businesses already know: Facebook is a great place to advertise.

Hop on the social media train, Jane, because it’s headed out of the station at light speed.

farmers-market4. Going Local in a green farmers market sort of way: Consumers are increasingly looking for a local angle when looking where to spend their hard-earned dollar.

Example: The explosion of farmers markets across the country. According to Entrepreneur, “there are almost 5,000 farmers markets across the country, the result of more than 5% annual growth for the past five years.”

Additionally, with people staying closer to home right now and with the green ethos growing, home is where the heart (and dollar) is.

3. Sharing vs. Shared Experiences: We are all not watching or experiencing the same thing nearly as much.

For the small business person, it is vital to realize that 1) people look for, and increasingly expect, the personal, and 2) small, localized, immediate user-created media are where the eyeballs are headed.

2. Mobile marketing is exploding. Whether it is creating the Next Big App, offering customers a real-time mobile coupon, or creating a text marketing campaign, in 2010 there will be mobile options galore for small business.

It is a new world indeed.

20101. The Start-Up Economy:

The outlook is both brighter and calmer. It is calmer because things are slowly getting back to, if not normal, at least something recognizable. And it is brighter because out of the rubble, a new, vital, innovative start-up economy is being born.

We have entered the era of small business. Whereas GM president Charles Wilson once said “What’s good for the country is good for GM, and vice versa,” it can now safely be said that what is good for small business is good for the country. Consider these statistics.

Small businesses now

• Number almost 30 million
• Employ more than half of all workers
• Constitute 99.7% of all employers
• Constitute 97% of all exporters
• Create the majority of business innovations
(Source: U.S. Small Business Administration Office of Advocacy, 2009)

With 10% unemployment for as far as the eye can see, with the unemployed running out of benefits, and with benefits not what they once were for the employed, start-ups of all shapes and sizes are taking root: One person shops, green home-based businesses, part-time ventures, online enterprises, high tech companies – you name it. These are the folks who, with their creative energy, drive, ingenuity, and hard work will be leading us out of this anything but great recession.

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Agritourism, a style of vacation that begs for easy ways to be GREEN by Jerry Hart

natural resources waterWater is as much a natural resource as the energy used to heat it.  For example, showers use far less water and energy resources than baths. Shorter showers reduce water use even more and will lower water and heating bills. A pretty cheap low-flow shower head helps and the water and energy savings can quickly pay back the investment. Having a faucet aerator on each faucet conserves heat and water too, while keeping water pressure high. Oh and of course you could always invite that special person in your life to get in the shower with you. That can generate fun as well as savings.

How romantic is an Agritourism getaway and shower for two? I’ll let you know. 
agritourismThere’s been a growing trend in recent years for what is termed agritourism, a style of vacation that typically takes place on a farm, ranch or vineyard and offers guests a local, communal experience. Fresh, seasonal food is usually the main draw at a tourist farm, where guests are looking for an authentic country life experience without the traditional tourist trappings. But some take it even a step further and actually work — planting crops, harvesting food, feeding animals, cooking — in exchange for lodging and food. Personally, we’ve been flirting with the idea of taking a working vacation on an organic farm and of course showering together soon after. What about you? (no that’s not me in the picture). I need to agritourism myself first, then I’ll get back to you.

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E-conscious.net podcast hosted by Jerry Hart

At econscious, we’re all about making an impact on the market, not on the planet. Our company is serving a growing demand for organic and sustainable apparel and accessories that are durable, comfortable, and great looking.
We offer you the variety and exceptional service you expect from a business-to-business enterprise, with the innovation and personality of a consumer brand.

Our founders have decades of experience in internationally-successful clothing companies, and are among the pioneers of organic apparel.  This knowledge has enabled us to create the finest quality products using carefully sourced organic and sustainable fibers. Econscious.net has established a market-based approach to sustainable manufacturing, working closely with our supply chain, treating workers fairly, and eliminating the use of pesticides, synthetic fertilizers and other harmful chemicals

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Obama’s will not eat from their own White House garden? Say what? by Jerry Hart

garden2New homes are full of questions and possibilities. What color to paint the walls? How to arrange the furniture? What to plant in the garden? The Obama family must have asked a lot of those same questions when they moved into the White House. However, the first lady’s dreams of growing an organic vegetable garden have been dragged down by a previous resident that refuses to leave: sludge.

Michelle Obama’s “organic” garden has been besieged by icky goo in the ground. As a result, the veggies aren’t quite what the first lady had in mind. According to Daily Finance, the National Park Service tested the soil in the vegetable patch and found “highly elevated levels of lead” due to sewage used as fertilizer.

So the question is: Who to blame? While dumping sewage into the ground sounds like a crime worthy of Mr. Burns burnsfrom “The Simpsons,” the actual perpetrators were none other than the Clintons. Yep, back when Bill and Hillary were living it up in the White House, their gardening team used “sewage sludge for fertilizer.” The fiends!

Sounds gross, but it’s actually fairly common. However, it does mean that the highly touted “organic garden” will never “attain organic status.” The certification process doesn’t allow “the use of sludge as a fertilizer substitute.” And there’s another problem: If Malia and Sasha weren’t into eating their veggies before, it’s going to be that much harder to get ‘em to eat ‘em now.

More from Yahoo
Sludge in the Garden
by Mike Krumboltz

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Justin Timberlake swings both ways on his new eco-friendly golf course by Jerry Hart

timberlakeWhy he bought it? It’s a story about a family that just wanted to save a golf course and do right by the environment.

Awww…sweet capatilistic green golf course story. Aren’t we moved? We’ll lets watch the video and see if we feel it’s authentic.

Is the course authentically being certified? Hmmmmm…I think this is a little off - there is no such thing as a LEED Platinum golf course. The clubhouse can be certified LEED. The golf Course can be certified by Audubon International.

I love golf and would gladly spend money elsewhere if I knew they had grey water spraying the greens and fairways.

One report says U.S. courses each use on average 300,000 gallons a day.

Electric carts is what we want, not those stinky loud muffler gagging carts that should be outlawed. Heck, the last one I rented for 9 holes almost sent me into a hole for the rest of my life! The alignment was so bad that I nearly pulled a George of the Jungle, slammed into a tree and was this close to ending it all like Sonny Bono without the snow.

Wait, lets start suing golf courses that behave unconciously and tell Judge Judy that we’re aware and see?….we’ll all win. No, that feels like the karma police could pull me over and cite me the green riot.

Hey, have you heard of the Golf & the Environment Initiative – has allowed the game to claim that it’s cleaning up its act. I’m impressed hearing for 5 years this movement has inspired and thrwarted awareness.

But don’t take my word for any of this stuff. Read what these guys have to say – unfortunately they are all guys — and make up your own mind.Then log into our Golf Digest Forums and join the conversation.

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