This is a representative sample of the kind of photographs
It began for me as it often does for others, during a dark period of life several years ago.
I looked at the suffering our planet endures, yet at the same time I saw life all around me trying to burst forward in vibrant celebration.
I thought back to how I lost this connection to the earth, which had been so powerful when I was a child.
sustain ...
Making community buildings green and liveable - I try to balance career-oriented sustainability projects with work in the community. This includes work on an environmental committee at my church that is moving toward "Green Sanctuary Certification", a 3-to-4 year process that involves an environmental assessment, action plans and formal candidacy for approval. A certain number activities touching on worship and celebration, religious education, sustainable living and environmental justice are required.
And after a couple of years, something wonderful happened. The clover came back. As did dozens of other plants and grasses, many of which I'd never seen. Then came the insects. Both the ones we consider pests, but also their natural predators who feasted on this new, emergent source of nutrition. I watched thousands of bees buzzing cheerfully around our Japanese cherry blossom tree. I felt the energy and balance return to this small parcel of land I had almost abandoned. I smiled, and could have sworn the myriad of creatures around me were doing the same.
And now I remain filled with deep purpose to help the earth heal. In my own small way.
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Copyright 2007-2011 Michael R. Balin. All rights reserved.
Then I noticed my lawn had no clover. Why? I remember always looking for four-leaf clovers in my lawn as a child. Then I learned the chemicals I put on my lawn kill everything but the grass. I stopped the chemicals and watched my lawn wilt, turn brown and become desolate. Was I too late?
I grieved. I moved on.
Enhancing Business Value: Return on Investment + Eco-Impact - Here's a video describing the sustainability program I managed for a software company. The firm specialized in producing very high-volume bank statements, utility bills, invoices, etc. The video describes analytic tools we developed to show how these customers achieve major financial and environmental savings by switching production from paper to electronic and using on-bill messaging to change end-customer behavior.
(Photo of my lawn)
Boston Area Sustainability Group (BASG) - a down-to-earth group of practitioners who meet monthly in Boston. This has been a great forum to engage with "kindred souls" who share a passion for bringing sustainable sources of value to their workplace and personal lives. You can learn more by visiting www.basg.org.
