Two Books!

This week I finished not one, but two books! That must be some kind of record. (Well for me at least). The first book I finished was Dan Brown's The Da Vinci Code, which Josh Groth so kindly lent to me a couple of weeks ago. To be honest I did not like this book as much as I thought I would. Which is weird because I loved Dan Brown's Angels & Demons. I think I didn't like The Da Vinci Code is because I had already seen the movie. But now that I've finished both books, I can't wait to see Angels & Demons the movie. Has anyone seen it? Or want to go see it with me?

The second book I finished was Donald Miller's Blue Like Jazz, which again I wasn't a big fan of. Which sucks because everyone else I know who has read it loved it. I'm just not a big fan of Christian themed writing I think.

Anyways, what was the most brilliant book you've read recently?

The Natural Step USA - Miles the Can

Meet my friend, Miles the Can. I was introduced to this video a couple months ago at The Natural Step Conference's Sustainability for Leadership. For more information on The Natural Step, check out www.NaturalStep.org/usa/learn.

Last Monday, Miles was featured by business author/speaker Tim Sanders, a friend of my friend, Chas Martin, and former head trainer at Yahoo. http://sanderssays.typepad.com/sanders_says/2009/05/walk-a-mile-in-miles-the-cans-shoes.html

Sander's article was picked up by ABC-TV's GreenRightNow site in New York City http://www.greenrightnow.com/wabc/2009/05/04/take-a-trip-with-miles-the-can/

And then a day later by ABC in Raleigh, N.C.: http://www.greenrightnow.com/wtvd/2009/05/04/take-a-trip-with-miles-the-can/

Followed by ABC in Chicago: http://www.greenrightnow.com/wls/2009/05/04/take-a-trip-with-miles-the-can/

See where I'm going with this...? Talk about how Miles can travel! What are your thoughts on Miles the Can?

SoL Conference Post #1

This week I had the opportunity to attend The Society of Organizational Learning's (SoL) Leading and Learning for Sustainability Conference in Portland, Oregon. The conference was lead by Peter Senge, an MIT professor who wrote The Fifth Discipline and The Necessary Revolution. Senge was also named as one of the 24 people who had "the greatest influence on business strategy over the last 100 years" by the Journal of Business Strategy. Needless to say, this week was an awesome opportunity. Not only to learn more about sustainability and systemic thinking but also to have a chance to learn different listening and visioning practices. This conference happened one year after I graduated college and that I believe is really significant. I'm going to be doing several posts on the teachings and personal applications of this week. I hope it inspires dialoguge and personal reflection for everyone who reads it.

The program objectives where:

1. Deepen connection to source of generative leadership through clarity of vision and purpose and personal sustainability.
2. Appreciate relationship between interior development and external action.
3. Balance between intiating and sustaining systemic change in the long term and building momentum now.

We talk about the difference between "leadership" and "boss-ship." Something I learned is that the original meaning of "leadership" is the ability to help others step over the threshold. Whatever that threshold may be. Over the next three days, I learned that the language we use is very important and that I need to work on selecting the right words to use. Before I had just been concerned with getting my message out there, however, now I've come to realize I need to spend more time on picking my vocabulary wisely. We talked about how the word "sustainability" is not equal to the ability to care and is just an umbrella term for a lot of different things and has a different meaning to individuals. Following that discussion, we talked about if good leaders are born or made. Peter Senge pointed out that your point of view on that question sets up your view on your own personal development. George Marshall, one of only three five star generals in the US Army once said, "Great leaders are born, then made."

We then got into small groups and did our first "check in practice." Called What Do I Stand For, in which in small groups of complete strangers shared what we stand for. Here is what I came up with for myself:

I stand for:

• God
• Human rights issues, particularily around adsocent girls and water rights
• Curiosity and always asking questions
• Social media tools and hearing people's stories

What do you stand for?

OneEarth.Org : ECO : The Power Of One

This was a video shared during the first day of the Society for Organizational Learning's (SoL) Leading and Learning for Sustainability.

As the power of one, what are you doing to make a difference in our world?

girl meets GOD

I just finished reading girl meets GOD by Lauren Winner. Which is kind of random since I got the book in October 2005 from my college pastor at Bentley. It's a signed copy actually, I couldn't make it to Lauren's presentation so my awesome pastor bought me the book. But you know how college goes: school, swimming, work, travel, summers get in the way and I finally four years later sat down and read it. The book blew my mind. I'm usually not a fan of Christian reading or girlie book reading for that matter. But her passion for books and her geeky side comments made it totally worth it. I've learned so much about God and Jewish history from this book I feel like I could hold some serious ground talking about my faith with a Jew. I rarely feel this about authors but I would love to be Lauren's friend. For some reason I feel as though we have a lot in common:

1. found faith / relationship with Christ on our own (minimal parental involvement)
2. have tattoos
3. geekily obsessed with books (take me to a Borders/Powells and you'll see what I mean)
4. get side tracked by side comments, yet some how manage to bring it back into context

Anyways, I highly suggest the book. Let me know if you want to borrow it sometime.

What good book did you recently finish?

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?

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?

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?

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?

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.

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!

Where have I been?

Apparently I've been a little MIA the last couple of weeks. I apologize, I need to make more of an effort to update my blog with little life updates. Since my last post my boss has left for Antarctica so I've been really busy at work. And my younger brother, Kirk, has come home to visit for Spring Break. Can we just talk about how painful it is to be out of school for the first time since I was 4 and not have a Spring Break? Oh well, at least I got one day of skiing in instead of my usual 5 days for Spring Break. I have a crazy busy week coming up, which I'm really excited both for work and for play. But this means that I have a lot of work to get done this weekend. Did I mention this is the first weekend I've been home in over a month? Here is what I need to do and why:

• Clean my car - because my mom's best friend, my aunt Kathy is coming to visit from Portland, Maine on Wednesday and is going to use my car for the 11 days she is here.
• Clean my room - because I haven't cleaned it in months, and I did some rearranging when I set up my home office downstairs last night.
• Do laundry - because I'm attending a conference next week with Natural Step on sustainability and I need more clothing options. I have to wait until this afternoon when Kirk leaves to get access to the laundry room.
• Clean Kirk's room - because my best friend from high school, Jon Grotz, is visiting from Washington next weekend and will be crashing in there. Kirk just got a new bed so we need to set that up as well.
• Overall house cleaning - because my mom likes having the house clean for guests.

So an exciting week coming up, two house visitors, a conference, maybe a day of skiing, plus I'm attending an event put on by the University of Oregon called the Sustainable Business Symposium.

I'm spending my weekend organizing and cleaning, what are you doing?

Antarctica 2009

I haven't been posting lately.  Work is a little crazy since my boss leaves for an Antarctic Expedition on Monday!  But I thought I would share this link to the site.  Check it out!  It's very cool and interactive.  You'll almost feel like your traveling with these 50 student global leaders!

If you could go anywhere in the world, where would you go?

Sunset Presyberian Going Green?

On Friday, I sat down with Marie Hamann, Facility Manager at Sunset Presbyterian church. Which as you most of you know, is my home church, and basically my second home. Last week, due to the economy, they announced a $200,000 budget cut, which basically means: less people + less hours = doing more. This is where I come in and I need your help! We are looking for ways that SPC can be more sustainable. I'm willing to do the research but I need help brainstorming.

"The LORD God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it." -Genesis 2:15

Just because we are not living in Eden anymore doesn't mean we don't have a responsibility to take better care of this planet. Before meeting with Marie, I did some research on what other church in the Portland area are doing. Here is what I found:

1. St. Philip Neri has built a bioswale to filter urban run off from it's building, parking lot and the community around the church.
2. Earth Home Ministries aims "to inspire and mobilize the Christian community to play a leadership role in building a just and sustainable future."
3. First Unitarian Church built a LEED certified building called Buchan Building

While SPC is taking steps in the right dirrection. There is room for a lot of improvement. Here is what Marie pointed out as "trouble spots":

• Plastic Water Bottles - people in Oregon still use these?!? My suggestion, stop ordering them, offer people water pitchers at events. People won't know the difference. And if someone has an issue invest in a Brita water filter for one of the sinks in the kitchen.
• Disposable cups - think about how much coffee we drink as a congregation. Think we could take people into actually bringing their own coffee mugs to church? Or investing in recyable cups...
• Recycling old technology (we just need a labor force do this) Freegeek in Southeast Portland refurbishs donated IT equipment then gives it to charities and non-profits.
• Overprinting - how can we talk people into printing less, using recyclable paper, and recycling the excess. My suggestion, SPC should monitor for one week, how much paper gets recycled. I think thin numbers would be eye-opening.
• Left over food - turning it into a compost. Available for the congration or maybe even a church garden somewhere on the property. I'm sure people would be interested in the coffee grounds alone + we have to have some gardeners in the congreation.
• Changing SPC utilities over to renewable engery
• Investing in solar panels on the roof - free real estate to anyone who wants it?

If you go to SPC, have any other suggestions or ideas? If you don't, what is some thing your community is doing to go green?

Oregon Executive MBA

Last Friday (2/27/2009), I have the opportunity to tag along with my boss, Darcy Winslow, to a class taught at the Oregon Executive MBA, a partnership between University of Oregon, Oregon State, and Portland State, where Darcy was a guest speaker. It was a little weird to be there since everyone was older than me and I have aspirations to go to graduate school and everyone there has aspirations to work for a successful (and sustainable) company, which is where I'm at right now. Team Evolution, a group of students, presented a Stanford Case Study about Darcy entitled "Nike's Global Women's Fitness Business: Driving Strategic Integration." I've seen one other presentation of this case, last year at the University of Oregon, and this group rocked it.

The great thing about this case begins in 2004 and I interned for Darcy the summer of 2005, right smack dab in the middle of the case. That was my first internship and at 18, I can say I honestly didn't have a clue what I was doing for Nike, but now I can look back and read a case study and see what was happening both to our department, Global Women's Fitness as well as the organization, Nike, as a whole. Pretty interesting stuff.

The presentation was followed by a Q&A session which focused on making change to an organization "under the radar".

How would you change an organization?

Young Life In Need

I haven't blogged in weeks! I'm starting to feel really bad about this. I have so much to update people on. However, this seems to be the most pressing. Yesterday I got a phone call from a former babysitter employer of mine, asking me if I knew any hip college, post-college, and adults that would be interested in reviving Young Life at Westview High School. To be honest (and I told her this as well). I'm tapped out. Between church on Sundays, my Bible Study on Monday nights, and being the "Games Girl" and a 6th grade girls leader at Wildfire on Wednesday nights. I just can't imagine adding something more to my plate. I think God is okay with that as well. But I am helping out in the search for new leaders. They are looking for three women and two men. So if you want to get involved or know someone who would be a great candidate, PLEASE LET ME KNOW!

How do you serve God?

Weekend Get Away

My weekend started off with me passing out in my clothes (unbrushed teethed and unwashed face) at 9PM Thursday night! I hadn't gotten an uninterrupted night sleep since the Wednesday night before (that is how I roll...) woke up at 9AM Friday morning. I seriously can not tell you when the last time that happened! I got a facial from Ann at Venus Allure Spa! Go see her! Seriously she rocks! And if you mention my name you get a discount! (Contact me for details!) Then my mom and I headed up to Mt. Hood for the weekend. Friday night we checked out Ski Bowl's 80th Anniversary Celebration. I got to rock my 80s outfit for the second week in a row! Won a new pair of gloves. Which totally rocks because I torn mine over New Years and have been borrowing my brothers cause I'm too poor to buy a new pair and their WAY too big for me. Saturday was an awesome day of skiing! It felt like Spring Break skiing, sweatshirts and sunglasses kind of weather. Upper Heather Canyon was open, and there were some awesome cruisers off of Cascade. Sunday was a whole different story. It snowed! Much needed snow, but the visibility sucked, so we called it an early day and headed home to watch the Oscars. All in all a pretty sweet weekend.

How was your weekend?

God Said "No"

I asked God to take away my habit.
God said, No.
It is not for me to take away,
but for you to give it up.

I asked God to make my handicapped child whole.
God said, No.
His spirit is whole, his body is only temporary.

I asked God to grant me patience.
God said, No. Patience is a byproduct of tribulations;
it isn't granted, it is learned.

I asked God to give me happiness.
God said, No.
I give you blessings;
Happiness is up to you.

I asked God to spare me pain.
God said, No.
Suffering draws you apart from worldly cares
and brings you closer to me.

I asked God to make my spirit grow.
God said, No.
You must grow on your own,
but I will prune you to make you fruitful.

I asked God for all things that I might enjoy life.
God said, No.
I will give you life,
so that you may enjoy all things.

When has God said "no" to you?

The Dash

My boss emailed this to me today. Just thought I would share.

The Dash
Linda Ellis (1996)

I read of a man who stood to speak
at the funeral of a friend.
He referred to the dates on her tombstone
from the beginning...to the end.

He noted that first came the date of her birth
and spoke of the following date with tears,
but he said what mattered most of all
was the dash between those years.

For that dash represents all the time
that she spent alive on earth...
and now only those who loved her
know what that little line is worth.

For it matters not, how much we own;
the cars....the house...the cash.
What matters is how we live and love
and how we spend our dash.

So think about this long and hard...
are there things you'd like to change?
For you never know how much time is left
that can still be rearranged.

If we could just slow down enough
to consider what's true and real,
and always try to understand
the way other people feel.

And be less quick to anger,
and show appreciation more
and love the people in our lives
like we've never loved before.

If we treat each other with respect,
and more often wear a smile...
remembering that this special dash
might only last a little while.

So, when your eulogy is being read
with your life's actions to rehash...
would you be proud of the things they
say about how you spend your dash?