When eggplant isn't eggplant

Michelle and I celebrated our 10th wedding anniversary last night. We went to an ordinary looking Japanese place with very good food. Michelle ordered; one of the dishes they brought was eggplant. Eggplant, baked with bonito (fish) flakes sprinkled on it.

It tasted like fish. It had the texture of fish. It was just like fish, and so little fish went into it.

Maybe the dish was developed in a poor rural culture, or when fish was scarce - I don't know.

Anyway, cool - making valuable stuff go further by sprinkling them into neutral or disregarded stuff. A pattern for the back of the brain.

When comfort comes home

I've been working on information architecture project for a company that refits homes with energy efficient windows, heating systems, insulation etc. They are a large company, headed in Europe, and one of the biggest in Western Canada. Their research shows that Canadians care most about home comfort, then value/efficiency. Smaller carbon footprint isn't really up there at all as a trigger to tighten up the home. More of a 'nice to have.'
I read this morning that according to the Egglog blog - a new fav -
"Actual green behavior in the marketplace has barely begun, but its potential is limitless. Only when economies of scale provide us with affordable, good looking, affordable, high performance, affordable, great tasting, affordable, stylish, and affordable, goods and services that are environmentally or socially aware, will this movement stick on any scale."
This is encouraging, sort of. It reminds me of Hugh MacLeod's gaping void cartoon. We want the best of both worlds.












Always difficult to generalize, but his could be a Canadian trait.

Keeping track of who's out front

Very good list by Treehugger, of best green brands. Includes a personal fav Dr. Bronner's Magic Soap.

"Magic Soap...."
The core of the brand promise, a little magic.
At the very least they have a refreshing sense of irony.

pretty succinct

"Although a few wayward companies have placed a green veneer on not so green operating practices, true green marketing means going much deeper and actually evolving your corporate culture, implementing sustainable business practices and giving back to the communities in which you work and live. Businesses should realize the economic and moral imperatives they face regarding green marketing in our current society; a society where green can lead to gold."
from the canadian marketing blog

Bonus link: How to avoid Green Myopia. Bookmarking this.

11th Hour

Tzeporah Berman, of Forest Ethics, has a small bit in this Hollywood movie. I know her and, well, admire her. She was working at Greenpeace when I was there in the 1990's; a few years later I bought the house she had on Bowen Island... heard her on CBC today. She's at the Hollywood premier of the movie, and it's impressive how well she works the message.
Helping people feel what they believe ( internal blog reference)
promo trailer -

Steward?

From a 1993 issue of Tricycle magazine, Christopher Titmuss makes a strong claim for putting to rest the myth of stewardship:

"We do not belong to a role, or a role belong to us, and it is arrogant to claim this [ stewardship]. .. The idea of stewardship is a patronizing view of life, a kindly form of global colonialism. The dissolution of any kind of special identity is vital."

Green is empty of form, of feeling, of thought, volition etc. Or so Titmuss' tune goes. great article...

Greens like me

This is not a post about Greens liking me. I wouldn't know.

A byproduct of good thinking is good thoughts.
A byproduct of good management is a well managed company.
A byproduct of environmental connectedness is environmentally sound choices.

Early adopter Greens like me are more involved in the left side of the sentence, which has more to do with the mentality that is needed... They don't care if Toyota sells a million Prius cars.

Maybe it's just that they aren't fond of concrete things. These Greens never loved cars, and one simple house is enough for them.

But how DO they make a difference in a nonconcrete but substantive way?