Women Rock at the Women in Green Forum – show 25

The Dalai Lama said last year in Vancouver that western women will save the world. I think most of them were at the Women in Green Forum in Pasadena earlier this month. A two-day conference and networking gala filled with women on the forefront of the green movement. I was fortunate to be there and in good, no great, company.

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Seeping Up The Sludge One Strand at a Time – show 18

My guest today is working hard along with thousands of other volunteers on containing the spew with hair – human hair, dog hair, even alpaca hair. This nationwide effort is lead by the not-for-profit organization, Matter of Trust, that turns the collected hair into oil collection mats and tubes. And so far they’ve collected hair from thousands of individuals and over 40,000 businesses have signed up.

This podcast is on location at a local salon in Santa Fe. Melodi Wyss-Feliciano, the owner of Rock Paper Scissor Salonspa, is leading the way in New Mexico and has collected boxes and boxes of hair not only from her salon, but others in New Mexico. Yesterday, she added my hair. What about yours? Think of it, your strands seeping up the sludge. It’s a beautiful thing.

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The Emotional Journey of Green – show 17

Remember my Earth Day guest, Rebecca Harrell Tickell, the author of Hot Rich and Green? If you remember, the book revealed secrets that woman are using to get rich and save the planet. Well, I found my guest today in Rebecca’s book and she shares some of her secrets to her success including how connection with your community trumps “hard work” — and how being authentic was her competitive advantage over other “how to green up your whatever” businesses. I love Rachael’s honesty and transparency in this interview as she shares openly her own emotional journey in life, in business and in green.

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Me First, Planet Later? with Jacquelyn Ottman – show 16

Consumers buy over $200 billion of natural personal care and cleaning products, organic produce, hybrid cars, fair trade coffee, and the list goes on.

But gone are the days of buying green to save the planet. The green market is maturing and the name of the game is “Me first, planet later.” My guest knows this more than anyone. Jacqueline Ottman is a true pioneer in green marketing and the author of “Green Marketing: Opportunity for Innovation.” She has helped over 60 Fortune 500 companies such as IBM, 3M, and Nike – as well as the EPA’s Energy Star label find competitive advantage in this growing market.

As a green marketer myself, I have admired her from afar for years, I am thrilled to have her on Women Of Green to talk about where we are in green, and what’s to come.

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Blowing the Whistle: A Conversation with Carole Morison of film, FOOD Inc. – show 15

As I was watching Carole Morison in the Oscar nominated film, Food, INC, she instantly became a personal hero of mine. “This is not farming, this is mass production like an assembly line,” she said in the film. Carole, a Perdue chicken grower, was the only farmer brave enough to allow the film crew into the chicken house for all the world to see what’s really happening — how these animals are really being bred and what we’re really eating when we sit down to our family meal with a plump, juicy, stuffed chicken. If you haven’t seen the film, I promise you, what’s happening and what we’re eating isn’t finger licking good.

As a business woman, what blew my mind is a typical grower with two chickens houses has borrowed over $500,000 and earns about $18,000 a year. Not good. I asked her in our interview, “What DIDN’T you say in the film that you really wanted to?” Carole doesn’t hold back. You’ll want to hear this for yourself!

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How Sustainability is Transforming Business – show 14

When someone asks me what Women Of Green is all about I say to turn up the volume of the feminine of behalf of the planet, its beings and future generations. I know one of the most powerful ways to do that is through business. And with the market for sustainable business products alreadyestimated at over $74 billion – we’re just seeing the tip of the iceberg. My guest today, KoAnn Skrzyniarz, has devoted her full attention to this. She believes business is in a unique position to address the global problems that plague us — and in fact, turn them into opportunity for innovation and new business. Her personal mission: To build a bridge to better brands. How does she do this? “It’s all back listening,” she says. So listen up!

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“Hot, Rich & Green: A secret formula for women” with author Rebecca Harrell Tickell – show 13

For our special Earth Day show today, I couldn’t resist having on Rebecca Harrell Tickell. She’s written a book called “Hot, Rich & Green: The Secret Formula women are Using to Get Rich and Save the Planet.” The whole book highlights women in green business. The lessons in it come directly from actual successes and failures of women who have lived the formulas. Rebecca’s energy is contagious. And wait to you hear what she says about women and money. If you have any issues in the arena, watch them fly out the window.

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50 foot Solar Peace Sculpture – show 7

Laura Martorelli captivated me with a very intriguing project called the Solar Peace Sculpture. A 50 foot peace sculpture that artist, Fred George, visions in key cities around the world. Its contents: oil barrels, solar panels and interactive media. When asked why a 50 foot sculpture, Fred said, “To sound a global alarm of our crisis of consumption.” What does it bring up in you?

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The Non-toxic Life with Liberty Phoenix Lord – show 6

My guest today is one of the reasons this show exists. Liberty Phoenix Lord took a deeply painful experience, the loss of her baby, and started a green business so no other mother would have to ever experience what she did. Today, she is the owner of INDIGOGreen, the premier green building store in Gainesville, FL., that provides healthy products for homes and offices nationwide. Listen to her unbelievably moving story on Women Of Green Podcast.

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The Sustainability of Creativity by designer, Erin Adams

Sustainability is a much-used term today in the design community. Most often, we connect it to our hopes and effort to sustain the environment. Products and buildings are deemed sustainable when they don’t deplete or damage the world. We now gauge sustainability and greenness by numerical statistics. LEED ratings, eco-labels, green seals, life-cycle assessments all have their place in making us more aware of the dangers of our material world.

But I wonder if these ratings go far enough. I wonder if they take into account the larger issues of sustainability. If a product can be produced using renewable resources and can later be broken down easily, we give it high marks.Yes, these products are green. Yes, these products sustain our physical environment. But I wonder about the sustainability of our social or cultural environment. I think about sustainability in a broader sense. I think about the sustainability of creativity and manufacturing and craftsmanship. I think about the sustainability of culture.

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