Kamigo Marketing - Earth

Summer Solstice 2010

Mon, 21 Jun 2010 07:05:00 -0400

Today is the longest day of the year for those of us who live in the Northern Hemisphere. As business owners we can spend that extra time and sunlight on our business in our place of work or we can get outside to celebrate the day and our lives. My humble advice...get outside. Enjoy. Thanks for reading

Learn More, Learn Differently

Wed, 02 Jun 2010 07:57:00 -0400

"Listen to all the teachers in the woods. Watch the trees, the animals and all living things, you'll learn more from them than from books." -Joe Coyhis, Stockbridge-Munsee Image by Cheryl A. Smith P.S. - I will be sharing more about this quote in upcoming entries, on Twitter & on Facebook. Thanks for reading

The Roadways of Our Towns

Tue, 05 May 2009 15:29:00 -0400

As the weather warmed this spring it lifted the blanket of white exposing the litter that lies along the roadways of our towns. Plastic, aluminum, paper, cardboard, glass and cigarette butts and more blossomed fading my view as I travel around town. According to the Keep America Beautiful organization "Americans generate over 251 million tons of trash" each year. Well, that's a lot of dumpsters. Some of the waste gets recycled but most ends up in landfills and incinerators and an undetermined amount along our country's roadways. The Conservation Commission in the town I live in adopted a two-mile stretch of roadway that they maintain several times a year. I asked one member of the Commission recently what seemed to be the largest amount of litter they picked up this spring, "beer cans and fast food wrappers and containers, but we can't pick up all the cigarette butts so they are not included in our assessment." According to Keep America Beautiful, a volunteer-based community action and education organization, there are 7 primary sources of litter but for the sake of space I'll list 5 that I think closely relate to small towns: 1. Motorists without ashtrays or litter bags in their vehicle. 2. Dumpsters that are improperly covered. 3. Construction sites without proper dumpsters. 4. Trucks with uncovered loads. 5. Household trash scattered before and during collection. By taking a few simple measures on these sources of litter we as a Americans can improve our views even more as we travel along the roadways of our towns. Now, here are two things for you to do.... Tell me what marketing message(s) works in this blog entry? Go to the Keep America Beautiful website and tell me what message you find that makes you want to take action. Thanks for reading

Simplifying the Confusion of Green Labels

Mon, 20 Apr 2009 16:58:00 -0400

Are you confused with all the different "green" labels? I am. As a LOHAS business trying to decide which label best fits can be difficult. Questions come up: Which one is most recognized by my audience? Are some better than others? Do my customers demand that I be certified? As many of you know two years ago I wrote the Sunrise Shift which was a guide to help business owners become sustainable. Also, I have been on the journey of reducing my ecological footprint using Jim Merkel's book Radical Simplicity as my guide. Therefore, I often question whether I really need a label for my business from some certification organization. For those of you who may be wondering the same thing there is a website, Ecolabeling.org to help you decide and narrow down all the labels out there. I hope you find it useful. Remember everyday is Earth Day so have an especially great one this Wednesday. Thanks for reading

Interesting Few Days

Fri, 20 Mar 2009 14:54:00 -0400

It has been an interesting few days for me. I met Dafna Michaelson who is on one interesting journey. Read it here.

Check out Tapped

Thu, 19 Feb 2009 14:17:00 -0400

In the last few years I have learned a tremendous amount about the water mining industry. The video Tapped is a must see. I recommend everyone eliminate bottled water in their lives. There are many ways to filter your tap water. And there are safe alternatives to the plastic bottles, check out Real Green Goods for options.

How Could It Be?

Wed, 14 Jan 2009 14:54:00 -0400

Here is something totally earthbased... I heard the news and wondered how could it be? For years, decades, we have stood strong atop this hill for all to see. We have looked over and down the valley and seen the many changes, oh the tales we could tell but, no, we keep them to ourselves-at least for those unwise to the life of a tree. For here, today, we stand in a broken mess and while many will drive past and state "the ice did them in" it did not. It was you, and you, and yes even you, those of you who flew past with eyes forward and not a glance in our direction as we proudly displayed our beauty, our colors and our strength. We have noticed those of you who take a gander at our delight and for you we thank, we bless. But now, the sign below shows the fate of our future fore we have lost faith in the two-legged who speak in tongue. We do not understand you but you do speak loudly, deafening in some cases, in your actions and your body language. Those who do not see us we ask to look beyond yourselves and to us for all we stand for, the years and decades of our history. Our hearts, our branches reach out to as many as we can, but we have grown weary of what we see, we have tried and preserved for years, wishing, hoping and in our own way praying that more of you would see us for the bliss we give to you. Our hearts and souls have weakened and we find ourselves victims of the two-leggeds who look upon us not with eyes of beauty but with eyes of greed, lust and power. So, we have discussed this in our way and decided that we don't want to become the victim of the torturous chainsaws and dozers. We want to go...in our own way. And so it is. And now many who had not seen us before see us now. Yes, we are broken and not so majestic. We wish, hope and pray that, perhaps, you will make a change. You will look upon others like us more frequently with more vision and be aware. And stop that blank stare. Image by Cheryl A. Smith taken December 2008

Hanging Out Day - April 19th

Wed, 16 Apr 2008 12:38:00 -0400

A low-cost way to keep your carbon footprint low (and save on your electric bill) is to switch from an electric dryer to a simple clothesline. To find out more about this go the New Hampshire's own Project Laundry List and learn how you can save a ton of carbon dioxide from clogging up the atmosphere.

Nature Affects Business

Wed, 05 Mar 2008 18:22:00 -0400

The book Golden Wings and Hairy Toes by Todd McLeish is about 14 of New England's most rare and endangered flora and fauna. Todd followed biologists who are monitoring, researching and protecting these species and gives first-hand accounts on the North Atlantic Right Whale, Ringed Boghaunter, Bicknell's Thrush, Northern Red-Bellied Cooter, Sandplain Gerardia, Indiana Bat, Atlantic Salmon, American Burying Beetle, Golden-Winged Warbler, Karner Blue, Canada Lynx, Shortnose Sturgeon, Jesup's Milk-Vetch, and Roseate Tern. Each chapter tells the story of one of the 14 flora and fauna, allowing the reader to really connect with the –"critters"- while understanding the complexity of the whole ecosystem's role in their survival or peril. Some of the "why" these critters are rare is due to: 1. Human's destructive impact on the critters' land. Such as the wetlands and vernal pools in Massachusetts that are disrupted, destroyed or developed with limiting small buffers negatively effecting the Northern Red Bellied Cooter's homesteads and breeding sands. 2. Global warming. The few remaining Jesup's Milk-Vetch along the Connecticut River in New Hampshire is effected by the spreading of Poison Ivy as the planet warms. The aggressive growth of the ivy is swiping soil, water and nutrients from the sensitive perennial. 3. The elimination of their prey or breeding beds. The building of dams in the Sheepscot River in Maine prevents the Atlantic Salmon from moving up river to their breeding grounds. Some of the dams have been removed, but it may be too late. 4. While at other times human impact has helped as with the Canada Lynx return to the clear-cut Northern Maine woods. Leaving some of the land to rejuvenate on its own has lead to an increase population of snowshoe hare, which the Lynx prey on for food. While reading the book my emotions fluctuated between wanting to volunteer to help with protecting efforts and other times I felt depressed at how we keep destroying our precious natural world. Why tell you all about this book? First, it an easy and interesting read that will give you a little knowledge about New England's endangered critters. Mainly, though, because it is important that we all increase our awareness of nature so we can stop destroying it so our future can enjoy it and it can be our legacy. Lastly, the planet is one of my values and it influences my business decision and actions. It is important we run our business with values and ethics. I would enjoy having you share some of the values that help you run your business and if you have read the book or do read it let us know what you think.

America Recycles Day

Wed, 14 Nov 2007 11:28:00 -0400

The town I live in, Nottingham started a recycling center in 1973 and is the oldest consecutively operating center in the nation. Who would have known that a small New Hampshire town would hold such a title. I bring my paper, cardboard, metal, aluminum, glass, plastic and other items there on a regular basis. If you need to "pledge" to get yourself in gear and start recycling then take action today. November 15th is America Recycles Day and the national Recycling Coalition has a "Take-the-Pledge" campaign asking Americans to sign up to commit to recycling. As the June 7, 2007 Economist article "The truth about Recycling" explains in 1980 Americans only recycled 9.6% of municipal rubbish and today it is 32%. Now, with the increase in recycling there has been increases in municipal waste also so don't jump for joy quite yet. Can Americans do better? We sure can, take a look at Jeremy Williams site with information on efforts in the EU. I say lets set a goal of 60% recycling like the Netherlands. Recycling is better for the environment than burning or burying municipal waste. This was the conclusion of a life-cycle analyses conducted by the Technical University of Denmark and the Danish Topic Centre on Waste. The study conducted 200 scenarios on 55 life-cycle analyses comparing the impact of recycling versus burning or burying. So, lets all kick-it up a notch and not only recycle, but lets reduce our overall waste. The best way to do this is to weigh your trash for a week or a month. You'll be amazed at how much waste an individual or business or family can generate. Our household weighed our waste for a month and with some minor changes in purchases we cut our waste by more than 12%. We continue to look at ways to reduce it even further, small steps count so take a step now.

Blog Action Day a Little Late - Do It Anyway

Mon, 29 Oct 2007 18:10:00 -0400

I wish I could say I missed Blog Action Day because I was preoccupied with the Boston Red Sox,but I can't. Heck, I had to turn on the television at noontime today to find out whether the Red Sox won the baseball World Series against the Colorado Rockies last night. So what is Blog Action Day and when was it? Well, I just learned about it myself so I'll explain what I know. My understanding is once a year one issue is chosen for bloggers to spread the word about that particular issue. On October 15th the issue was the environment. Now, for all that read my blog you know I care about the earth and the environment so I was a little disappointed when I found out I missed the day. But, then I thought...yea, I'm a little late in recognizing the day and spreading the word about the environment THAT day, but I'm way ahead in some cases because I do talk about the earth and I can offer you The Sunrise Shift-a guide for a sustainable planet. I wrote this guide to help business owners and others begin to make a shift to reduce their ecological footprint. I have wanted to write this guide for quite some time to share my learning and resources with you. My foremost purpose for writing The Sunrise Shift is because I have a deep spiritual connection to the earth, one I cannot easily explain. It has been there like a seed in rich soil growing through the seasons of my life. One of my life goals is to live and work more sustainably and to share my learning and work on this subject with others in hope of getting more people and businesses involved so that we can all understand our impact on the earth and our society. Please download The Sunrise Shift and begin to utilize the information and lef me know how helpful you found the guide and anything you would like to share on your journey to reducing your ecological footprint. And for you fellow bloggers it is never too late to take the issue of the environment and blog about it on your blog.

Amazing Grace

Wed, 26 Sep 2007 15:23:00 -0400

The greatest strength is gentleness." -IROQUOIS Proverb

Happy Summer Solstice

Thu, 21 Jun 2007 11:14:00 -0400

In Joel Makower's blog he announces the launch of Climate Counts, a new non profit effort to rate consumer brands' commitment and performance to reduce their carbon footprint. I went to the site and checked out some of the corporations whose brands I purchase. Most were in the category of "Striding", but one shocker I found was Amazon's ranking at a flat ZERO. Needless to say, I will be making immediate changes to the way I buy books (which is the only thing I buy on Amazon). Check out how the brands you use rate and let me know if you find any shockers. And if you are wondering what you can do to decrease your carbon footprint, I'll be releasing a free booklet in the next few weeks on ways to reduce your ecological footprint. Image by Janic Waltzer via Flickr, by Creative Commons license.

Blue Man Group Markets Earth

Mon, 11 Jun 2007 16:31:00 -0400

First, I am a big fan of Blue Man Group ever since I saw them many years ago at the Charles Playhouse in Boston. Second, I am even a bigger fan of our Planet Earth Enjoy the Video