Thursday, April 30, 2009

Word of God?

I've been thinking about this a lot lately and would love to hear some opinions on the topic. I really believe that the Bible is the Word of God, divinely inspired. But when it is quoted in other books - is it still considered "The Word of God"? Or does scripture bound in the Holy Bible only count?

Wednesday, April 29, 2009

Office Party with Thought Provoking Outcomes

Last night (before the Blazers win) our office hosted a little party to show photographs from Darcy Winslow's recent trip to Antarctica with BP.  While the photographs were mind blowing, you can't help but feel responsible.  Action must be taken.  As Robert Swan, a world famous polar explore and guide for the trip says, "The greatest threat to our planet is the belief that someone else will save it."  Our Green CPA, Brian Setzler wrote this awesome post about our office party last night.  Check it out!

Who do you think will save the planet?

Going Carbon Neutral With 3Degrees

Since DSW Collective is a sustainable consulting firm, we take the environment very seriously.  Not only that, but we want to walk the talk that we give to our clients.  Know your carbon and water footprint and do something about it.  Recycle, reduce, reuse.  Remember that from kindergarden?  Well times are changing, the new slogan is "calculate, reduce, offset".  Some of you might know what carbon offsets are and some of you might not.  Everything we do creates carbon: utilities, driving our cars, riding MAX, etc.  Carbon is actually the umbrella term for all major greenhouse gases.  Offsetting this, using companies like 3Degrees, helps counter balance all the carbon that we as individuals and companies dump into the atmosphere everyday.

I'll admit, when I started researching this I was a little be of a skeptic.  Run some company's calculator, get a number, send them a check, and "be green".  Kind of seems like a scam to me.  But the more research I've done, through reading, monitoring how much our company drives and flies, and doing various calculators for me as an individual and for our company has really opened my eyes to how much each of us contributes to carbon emissions.

This is why I love 3Degrees.  They are local, their office is actually kitty corner to ours, which makes meetings a breeze.  And they actually inform and allow your company to pick which projects you want to invest in.  This makes it way more tangible to me.  For example, DSW is splitting our offsets between two different projects.  One is a landfill gas capture in Neosho, Missouri and the other is a Wind Farm project in Dickey County, North Dakota and McPherson County, South Dakota.  Another great thing about 3Degrees has high standards for their projects:  Gold Standard, United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), Clean Development Mechanism (CDM), California Climate Action Registry (CCAR), Voluntary Carbon Standard (VCS), and Chicago Climate Exchange (CCX), so their projects are legit.

An interesting fact about 3Degrees, the name comes from the scientific belief that by the year 2100, the earth's temperature may rise as much as 3 degrees celsius.  This raise in temperature will result in 1/6 of the world's population becoming "climate refugees" as a result of flooding or droughts (depending on location).

What are your thoughts on carbon offsets?

Tuesday, April 21, 2009

What I'm Thinking About Right Now


My mom gave this to me last year for my 21st birthday. Today the cleaning people must have found it laying around my room and left it out for me. Just what my soul needs.

What is your perfect bliss?

Sunday, April 12, 2009

Happ Easter!

People keep asking me, "So what's it like being done with school?" The only rational answer is, "It's weird." Granted I don't think I'm done with school. I'm still contemplating going to grad school in the next 3-5 years. And I know I'm never going to be done learning. I'm planning on taking the Motorcycle Safety course at PCC and possibly belly dancing. But being back in the Pacific Northwest after being gone for four years keeps reminding me of things I have missed. The most recent one is celebrating Easter with my immediate family. Granted I was in Boston celebrating with my extended family. But there is something about being at home and going to your home church that just makes it seem more "right".

Then there is the whole, "How does it feel to be a grown up?" question. Which I NEVER know how to answer. Because I don't feel anymore grown up than I did last year and I still get asked if I'm in high school. Or as of last week, was told I look like I'm 13 in the Apple store by an elderly gentleman...bless his heart. Last night at 11:30PM, I decorated Easter eggs with my mom. Because I'm still a child at heart and my mom really wanted too. I pointed out how much easier it is now that I'm 22. No laying out newspaper, tons of stickers, rubber bands, clear crayons, and attempting to tie-dye Easter eggs. But my mom pointed out how much fun the production of dying Easter eggs, exploring color choices and creativity was totally worth the mess. Not to mention having two very hyper kiddies entertained for an hour or two was totally worth it.

Just some random thoughts. Happy Easter everyone!

What are you doing to celebrate?

Monday, April 06, 2009

Saturday Sun Adventures

This weekend I was so blessed to have my friend, Jon Grotz, come to visit from Washington.  I've known Jon since we were sophomores in high school, we both went to Westview and Sunset Presbyterian Church (and thus the Honduras mission trip) together.  Not only did Jon come to visit but he brought along some freaking nice sunny weather.  So Saturday we decided to go for a hike on Wildwood trail in Portland.  We also brought along Katie Kalk (our leader), her dog, Wilson, CJ Walters, and my dog, Dainty.  We made plans to meet up with one of Jon's childhood friends, Courtney, at Laurelwood Brewery for lunch.  I was pretty excited for the sunny weather, the chance to be outside, and the opportunity to check out a brewery I'd never been too.  Needless, to say, we got a little lost.  And our half hour hike turned into a two hour, how the heck do we went out of this neighborhood on a cliff ordeal.  We eventually walked down Burnside and cut over to Kearney in time to meet Jon's friend.  Ordered a couple of pints.  I had the Mother Lode Golden Ale and some season ale (I can't remember the name...)  Both were really good.  We ended up calling my mom to come rescue us.  More Dainty, who is getting a little old and I was worried wouldn't make it on the hike back to Jon's car.  All in all a fun, laughter filled weekend.

Sunday, April 05, 2009

Miniture Model

I'm still struggling to blog on a regular basis, but I survived my crazy week! Details to come. But for now I wanted to share one thing I did two weeks ago. I got professional photos taken for my company's website! The best part about it was my friend Sara Gray took the pictures and did a great job! I've know Sara since I was in middle school. She used to lead worship at the Underground at our church. Since then she has gone to college, gotten married, lived in Argentina and started her own business, Sara Gray Photography. I was a little nervous, since the one and only time I've had my photos taken was for senior portraits 6 years ago. But Sara was super encouraging and we literally spent two hours talking and walking around the Nike campus. It was really fun and laid back. I loved the way Sara encourages everyone to "act like their in an iPod commercial!" Here are some photos from Sara's blog. Thanks again Sara!