Being Green – Celebrating Abundance

Hi Folks:

Friday once again, and time for this week’s ‘Being Green‘ post.  I usually decide on a weekly topic based on something I pick up during the week past, and for this week’s post I had a few ideas… all of which evaporated when I received a note from a fellow forum user this morning (thanks, D.!)  He pointed me to a Youtube video of William McDonough giving the opening keynote address for “Global Forum 2009: Business as an Agent of World Benefit“.  The video is a little over an hour and I haven’t listened to it all yet, but I will.  I really like the reference near the beginning of the talk to the green roof on the Ford plant instead of asphalt (‘ass fault’, as two words denoting blame).  I’ve been a fan of William McDonough and his work for a number of years now, both in the work of his architectural firm and from his founding partnership with MBDC, the people behind the ‘Cradle to Cradle’ certification.  In his opening for the TED talk he did in 2005 he lamented how a ‘rubber duck’ sold in the state of California needs to carry what amounts to a biohazard label.  There’s just no reason for that. Continue Reading →

Being Free…

Hi Folks:

Just a quick thought…

In his book “Illusions: The Adventures of a Relucant Messiah“, Richard Bach wrote:

“In order to live free and happily, you must sacrifice boredom. It is not always an easy sacrifice.”

It’s a very good book, BTW.  Anyway, it’s his quote and I’m not going to change it, but it seems to me that ‘boredom’ doesn’t always look like boredom.  Sometimes it comes dressed in different clothes, like adversity, pain, loss, poverty, illness, depression or loneliness…

So, rather than providing my answers to this question (although I probably have, somewhere in the ‘Mike’s Writings‘ section of our blog), I thought I’d ask you instead.  Do you want to live free and happily?  In order to do so, what must you sacrifice?  As Bashar would ask, “Are you willing to believe it’s that easy?” (not “Do you believe it’s that easy?” but “Are you willing to believe it’s that easy?“)

Those who guide me once said, “The only thing we’ve ever asked you to change is your perspective.

Love,
Mike.