Archive for the ‘Sustainable Living/Communities’ Category
27/12/2009
Nice Job Mr. Manzer.
I found myself at a store called Eastern Mountain Sports the other day here on the east coast, of the U.S., and at the front door, the following letter was predominantly posted on a display board at the stores entrance for all customers to see. It was written by the chain’s president and shows that this corporation has the intention of not only making a profit but also to remind its customers what’s really important in the end.
The Gift of Time Well Spent
The holiday season always involves a tremendous amount of planning, coordination, and giving of one’s time and effort. With so much to do and so little time to do it, it’s easy to get stressed out.
My wish for you and your family is that after all the parties are over and all the presents are unwrapped, you take some time to unplug from the madness and enjoy each other’s company. Get outside, take in the new season, and appreciate the greatest gift of all – a healthy life:
Crash through a pile of dry leaves on your mountain bike.
Breath deeply on the first day below [-5 Celsius].
Feel the burn of a cold-weather trail run.
Watch the first ice form on the banks of a fast-moving stream.
Grab a handful of snow with your gloves off.
Watch the first winter sunrise from the top of a mountain.
Most important[ly], appreciate the outdoors and take good care of it.
From all of us at EMS – Happy Holidays!
Sincerely,
Will Manzer,
President & CEO
Eastern Mountain Sports
Kudos goes to E.M.S. I bought my first 60/40 mountaineering jacket there for our Proctor Academy winter mountaineering course. It must have been in 1975. For a while the store struggled but these days, not only is its president’s writing good letters like the one above, but the store seems to be on track environmentally as well as with its education and customer service focus. Well done E.M.S. – keep it up.
Editor’s note: This letter was given to me by one of the employees at EMS when I explained I’d like to reprint it on our blog. Edits are in brackets.
Tags:Climbing, Eastern Mountain Sports, experiential edcuation, family time, family values, Gift of Time well spent, mountain biking, Mountain Spirit Insitute, mtnspirit.org, nature, Proctor Academy, Will Manzer
Posted in Climb/Ski/Mntneering, Health, Inner Work, Inspirational People, Leadership, Sustainable Living/Communities | 1 Comment »
24/12/2009
A Plastic Soup That Stretches from Hawaii to Japan
From: The Independent
Image: The Independent
By Kathy Marks, Asia-Pacific Correspondent, and Daniel Howden
A “plastic soup” of waste floating in the Pacific Ocean is growing at an alarming rate and now covers an area twice the size of the continental United States, scientists have said.
The vast expanse of debris – in effect the world’s largest rubbish dump – is held in place by swirling underwater currents. This drifting “soup” stretches from about 500 nautical miles off the Californian coast, across the northern Pacific, past Hawaii and almost as far as Japan.
Charles Moore, an American oceanographer who discovered the “Great Pacific Garbage Patch” or “trash vortex”, believes that about 100 million tons of flotsam are circulating in the region. Read the rest of this story
Tags:Dexter R. Richards, Garbage in Ocean, Mountain Spirit, Ocean pollution, Plastic Soup, Rubbage Dump
Posted in Environment, Sustainable Living/Communities | Leave a Comment »
24/12/2009
Shop at Local Brick & Mortar Stores
By R. Richards
I was doing a little shopping at a local store called Artisan’s Workshop in my hometown today. It’s been a long-time fixture of our community and provider of good gifts for many years. Fellow co-founder of Friends of Mount Sunapee, Catherine Bushueff started the store and sold it some years ago. It’s much better than any large chain store could be. While checking paying for my purchase, I saw this flier on the countertop about shopping locally.
The facts about how one can really make a difference by shopping locally caught my eye, and thought I’d pass this along. You can find out more at www.the350project.net
Tags:Artisan's Workshop, buying local, Catherine Bushueff, Friends of Mount Sunapee, Mountain Spirit, New London, Sustainable Communities, the350project.net
Posted in Holistic Living, Sustainable Living/Communities | Leave a Comment »
30/11/2009
The Ripple Effect of One Couple’s Decision
By Randall Richards
Salatin Family Farm
Because William and Lucille Salatin decided to moved their young family to Virginia’s Shenandoah Valley, and purchase a worn-out farm, they had the choice of how they were going to manage the farm.
Because they decided to “use nature as a pattern” in their farming practices, they established a way of farming that worked for them, the land, and the animals they raised.
Because they began using innovative ideas on how to farm sustainably in the early sixties, they knew what worked for them. (more…)
Tags:Food Inc, Fresh, Joel Salatin, Mountain Spirit, Polyface Farm, Sustainability, Sustainable Farming, Sustainable Living/Communities, William and Lucille Salatin
Posted in Animals, Conservation, Environment, Film/DVD, Health, Holistic Living, Leadership, Sustainable Living/Communities | 1 Comment »
22/11/2009
The Movie Fresh attracts 106 people in small town
Good food, an idea whose time has come
By Randall Richards
Joel Salatin, Organic Farmer, Visionary
The small town of New London, New Hampshire, saw one-hundred and six people turn out for the screening of the new movie Fresh, an uplifting documentary about the local organic food movement in the U.S. The event was co-sponsored by the New London chapter of the Weston A Price Foundation, and Mountain Spirit Institute on Saturday November 21st. In addition to the showing, local vendors and food producers were invited to display, who had tables with samples and brochures, where the audience could browse and learn about the good and local food available in their community. A brief “Q&A” discussion followed the film, (more…)
Tags:Battles Farm, Fresh, Fresh The movie, Hazard Acres Farm, Joel Salatin, Linda Howes, Mountain Spirit, Musterfield Farm, New London, NH, Nourishing Wellness, Organic Foods, Springledge Farm, Star Lake Farm, Sunapee, Weston A Price Foundation, Whipple Auditorium, Whole foods, Will Allen
Posted in Animals, Conservation, Film/DVD, Health, Holistic Living, MSI News, Sustainable Living/Communities | 3 Comments »
13/11/2009
COAL COUNTRY tells of the dramatic struggle around the use of coal, which provides over half the electricity in America. For more information about the movie and to watch a preview click here
Watch the Preview
In Appalachia, miners and residents are locked in conflict: is mining
and processing coal essential to providing good jobs, or is it destroying the land, water and air? What does this mean for the rest of America and the world?
ANOTHER CIVIL WAR
Passions are running high in the mountains of Appalachia. Families and communities are deeply split over what is being done to their land. At issue is the latest form of strip mining called ‘mountaintop removal’, or MTR. Coal companies blast the tops off mountains, and run the debris into valleys and streams. Then they mine the exposed seams of coal and transport it to processing plants. Coal is mined more cheaply than ever, and America needs coal. But the air and water are filled with chemicals, and an ancient mountain range is disappearing forever.
For more information about the movie, events, and to watch a preview click here
Tags:Appalachia, Coal Country, Film, Mountain Spirit
Posted in Conservation, Environment, Film/DVD, Health, Sustainable Living/Communities, Uncategorized | Leave a Comment »
07/11/2009
The 350 and 2030 Challenges
*By Harry Seidel, Owner
Alae Design
Going Places: 350.org
Last Saturday, Oct. 24th was the International Day of Climate Action, the single most widespread day of political action about any issue, our planet has ever seen. To attract global attention to the “350 Challenge” over 4,000 events took place simultaneously in more than 175 nations. Rather than describe the multitude of events here I would encourage you to visit www.350.org and see for yourself how very big this event was. Most of the events were digitally recorded and collected electronically into a massive compilation. So, what’s the fuss all about? What is the 350 Challenge? And why should we care?
(more…)
Tags:350.0rg, C02, Cameron Wake, Ed Mazria, GHG, green construction, Greenhouse gases, Harry Seidel, International Day of Climate Action, Intertown Record, League of NH Women Voters, Mountain Spirit, New London NH, Newbury, NH, Sunapee NH, Tracy Library, UNH
Posted in Climate Change, Conservation, Environment, Sustainable Living/Communities | Leave a Comment »
06/11/2009
"eco" now in U.S.
New Zealand’s eco brand, now available in USA,
Just might take U.S. by storm, one good product at a time.
By Randall Richards
My wife has been living in Kiwi-land for a while now, and when we got married in NZ, I couldn’t help but run into eco products throughout the country. Now back in the USA for a while, I was about to have my sister-in-law ship some organic eco coconut soap stateside. Fortunately while on the phone with her I Google’d “eco usa” and found, lo and behold, their new USA website.
Here’s an excerpt on their voyage from Down under:
“Eco NZ was founded more than 15 years ago by Melanie and Malcolm Rands from their home in an eco village in New Zealand.
eco founder, Malcolm Rands
All of the families that lived in the farm based eco village shared a commitment to organic growing and healthy living, making this an ideal environment in which a young, environmentally conscious business could thrive. Each household in the village was responsible for their own waste water, which quickly highlighted the problems caused by using regular supermarket cleaning products that relied heavily on cheap, petroleum-based, synthetic ingredients.
(more…)
Tags:Amanda Richards, eco products, Eco store usa, Malcolm Rands, Mountain Spirit
Posted in Holistic Living, Leadership, New Zealand, Sustainable Living/Communities | 2 Comments »
03/11/2009
"Fresh" Screening, in NH, USA
Mountain Spirit Institute is co-sponsoring the screening of the movie Fresh in New London, NH on Saturday November 21, at 7PM at the Whipple Auditorium on Main Street.
Says MSI director Randall Richards, “We saw the oportunity to get involved and help with the screening of this movie. We’re providing some desktop layout skills, and equipment for the showing.
Marketing and Development director Amanda Richards, had heard about the movie Food.Inc, and having just arrived from New Zealand, had been concerned about what she was seeing in the U.S. food supply. When she heard that Linda Howes, CN, HHP, CBE was preparing to show the movie Fresh, she decided to get involved. Howes is the local chapter representative of the Weston A Price Foundation and owner of Nourishing Wellness, in New London, NH. (more…)
Tags:Amanda Richards, Fresh The movie, Healthy Eating, Helath Foods, Holistic Living, Mountain Spirit, New London, NH, Randall Richards, screening Fresh, Sunapee, Weston A Price, Whipple Auditorium, Whole foods
Posted in Environment, Health, Holistic Living, MSI News, Sustainable Living/Communities | Leave a Comment »
30/10/2009
Which Comes First?
A look at Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs
By: Craig Cimmons
Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs
As an environmentalist, I paid close attention to the candidate’s environmental stances and solutions during the Presidential election of 2009. However, the more I listened, the more apparent something became. American citizens are not going to devote their full attention to the needs of the environment until their own needs are met. With America’s health care system in need of desperate repair, the average citizen is worrying about problems closer to home then the large scale, hard to understand, global environmental problems.
Families that are losing everything they own to fight a disease, (or live in fear of this happening) do not have any resources (time, energy and money) to devote to anything outside of these problems. A family that is watching cancer slowly consume their loved one (and their life savings) should never be expected to fight enormous problems like global warming, peak oil and the steady decrease of drinking water.
Tags:Craig Cimmons, Environment, Health Care, Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs, Mountain Spirit, Mountain Spirit Institute Board of Directors
Posted in Climate Change, Conservation, Environment, Health, Sustainable Living/Communities | 3 Comments »
Mountain Spirit's Blog 