Category: Inspiration

Week 2

The eyes of the future are looking back at us and they are praying that we might see beyond our own time. ~ Terry Tempest Williams

Today begins a NEW weekly feature on GOforChange.

The great strawbale building pioneer Matts Mhyrman has said, “The road to good intentions is paved with hell,” and that feels about right to me. The journey of someone who cares deeply about the earth and is working like hell to do something about it can be a bumpy one indeed.

We each have our coping techniques. The very talented David Eisenberg, founder of the Development Center for Appropriate Technologies (DCAT) writes poetry and arranges it artfully on his gorgeous photographs of wild places. I know many folks unplug and spend weeks at a time in those wild places.

One of my ways is to collect quotes. It hasn’t been a conscious practice until very recently. I just appreciate the way a good quote or aphorism sums up the entire world so elegantly.

Each week, I will offer one of my favorites as inspiration to support you through the challenges you are bound to encounter along your path as an advocate for the earth. I’ll include a brief meditation on what the quote means to me, and a question to take into your week. Now, let’s get started!

Week 1

You never change things by fighting the existing reality. To change something, build a new reality that makes the existing reality obsolete. ~ R. Buckminster Fuller

This has long been on my touchstone. It’s an elegant way of saying, “don’t curse the darkness; light a candle.” In many ways, the green building movement demonstrates the truth of this. We have all the technology and know-how we need to create zero-energy buildings, so let’s just get going and do that. What can you do this week to build a new reality?

More: Buckminster Fuller Institute

We always love to hear from you! How juicy is this quote for you?

In working with my clients, I’ve observed four common mistakes people make when greening their business. They relate to motivation, mindset, methods, and mentorship. Each mistake is costly in terms of wasted time, money, good will, credibility – it’s a long list.

Be honest – why do you want to go green in the first place? Are you worried about the state of the environment? About those poor polar bears and their shrinking ice floes? About toxic materials accumulating in the soil, water, and your body? About running out of resources?

Well, guess what? That’s the first mistake: to start from a motivation of fear, scarcity, anxiety, even anger. These can be excellent short-term motivators, as in the case of a medical emergency or a mugging. But for the long-term work that is sustainability, they are wholly inadequate, even exhausting. Not the foundation for the creative, joyful project of greening your business.

These gloom-n-doom environmental messages are the WORST way to try to stay motivated for the challenges of greening your business. They actually keep us in a state of separation from the very natural world with which we seek to reconnect, causing us to overlook potentially lucrative ideas and opportunities.

It is far more effective to move towards something we want, than to rail against something we don’t want. Think about it. When you are cold, you don’t get angry and struggle against the cold; you light a fire, you put on a sweater. You do something in the positive. When it’s dark, the way to change that is to turn on a light, not to complain and push against the darkness.

In the face of all the negative, disempowering messages we get about the state of the environment, how can we tap into a positive motivation and a deep sense of connection with the natural world? It’s really a practice, requiring continuous awareness and feedback. It’s also a call to be gentle with ourselves as we walk this green path. As Maya Angelou said, “You did what you knew how to do, and when you knew better, you did better.”

Here are three rich practices that work for my clients. They will help you tap into this inner awareness, sense of connection, and positive motivation. Try them and let me know how they work for you.

Practice 1: Gratitude

Here’s something we did in a recent “Green in 15” class. Treat yourself and go for a nice walk. Enjoy the springy weather, all the glory and abundance of the natural world as it is beginning to awaken from its winter slumbers. When you come back inside, make a list of everything you’re grateful for, right here, right now, today.

This is an excellent practice to draw your attention away from seeing only problems, challenges, things that are broken and need fixing.

Practice 2: Mission

Why do you care about green? What does going green mean to your business, to your personal sense of mission? How is this expressed your business? What does that mean for you – your sense of purpose, your vision of the future, your values, your influence in the world?

When a recent client did this, their Green Charter became infused throughout the company, marshalling creativity and accelerating their results. These include tremendous energy and water savings, dramatic reduction of CO2 emissions, reduced nitrates going into the Chesapeake Bay from their operations, and a popular employee challenge program to take similar actions at home.

Practice 3: Networks

Nature is organized in networks of networks, and we are a part of that system. Think of one aspect of your business and make a list of relationships – the people, systems, and technologies that you are connected to. Now, answer these questions:

1. For systems or technologies, how did this get here?
2. What did it take to get it to me?
3. What is it made of? (Or, In the case of relationships, how did I meet this person?)
4. What has this connection brought into my life?
5. What have I brought into this person’s life?
6. What has this connection led to?
7. What might it lead to in the future?

What was your experience in trying these practices? I would love to hear from you.

A man who works with his hands is a laborer.
A man who works with his hands and his brain is a craftsman.
But a man who works with his hands, his brain, and his heart is an artist.

Last week, Baltimore lost a beloved artist, business colleague, mentor, and friend to many. John was the founder, chief visionary and soul of Gutierrez Studios. I first met John 20 years ago, when he was just starting out, but I got to know him better when I moved my office to the Clipper Mill complex, where his studio is located. John did a lot of the great metalwork and other custom architectural details around Clipper Mill. It was fun just to drop by his studio, see what they were up to, and be treated to one of his famous cups of espresso.

Many who knew him much better than I spoke at the celebration of his too-short life (he died at 45). It was held, fittingly, in the workshop, a 19th-century cathedral of industry, complete with a brightly-painted gantry crane. So many inspiring stories and memories were shared, and I want to capture a few that moved me the most.

John was a generous, loving, outgoing, bigger-than-life man who, better than anyone I know (except my own father), lived by the Toltec Four Agreements. Those are: be impeccable with your word; don’t take anything personally; never make assumptions; and always do your best. I’ve studied, memorized, and recited these daily for many months, but John is the one person I know who so beautifully lived those truths. He effortlessly embodied those Four Agreements, just going through his day, every day.

John always lovingly challenged people to be their best, not at all in a judgmental way. But he had a special vision; he could tell when someone was holding back, being unclear, waffling, or not living up to their potential. He held people in their power, and you could feel that in his presence.

Several of his friends and co-workers quoted their favorite “Guti-isms,” phrases that John always used, and usually with gusto. Spike Gjerde, owner of Woodbery Kitchen, itself a model of sustainability (he started the local food movement here in Baltimore), gave us this phrase. John said to him, “I’m a fabricator. But I’m also a fabric-lover.” That gives just a sense of his wonderful humor, and his tremendous self-knowledge.

Another gem: We’re the best. We’re expensive. But, we’re slow.

John also said, I’ve got the greenest business in the world. Our stuff is so beautiful, no one in their right mind would ever throw it away. And, if they did, someone else would just come and pull it out of the dumpster.

The last person to speak was one of his brothers, Glen. He left us with this lovely thought: There are two ways to shine. You can be light or you can reflect light. John was generous with all of us. He allowed us to reflect his light.

Today’s Thankful Thursday is a tribute to the Creative Force. We are all here to create a better world, first for ourselves, then for everyone else. Growth and change underpin every experience we have.

This force is the main driver of everything in our world. It is undeniable, irresistible, and ever-present. You may know it by one or more of these names: the Creative Force, Nature, Life, Love, Spirit, God, Goddess.

Each of us is a channel for the Creative Force. Our job in this life is to be creative. That’s it. Humans are designed for this: we are fundamentally a miraculously versatile, multi-talented, feeling, intelligent structure through which the Creative Force expresses itself.

It gets better. Since every single person has a unique body, mind, and abilities, the Creative Force expresses itself uniquely through each of us. As a child, were you taught to conform, to be like everyone else, or to meet an unrealistic standard of perfection? Were you made wrong in subtle – and not so subtle – ways for standing out? Even worse, were you told, “You’re just not very creative?”

This is a violation of what the Creative Force wants for us. We are here for one reason: to allow Creation to come through us beautifully and uniquely. This also means that it is pointless and destructive to make comparisons.

Far better to become more and more conscious of what is creating through you each day, what you most deeply desire to do, to be, or to have. Take time to practice allowing and expecting your desires to manifest. When I stop to notice how creative inspirations come to me, it’s really entertaining!

An oft-overlooked aspect of all of this unfolding, growth, and change is this: It’s not happening “out there.” This rich world of power, possibility, and promise is within us. That’s right. Your mind is the creative cause of all that you experience.

Think about it. We never make a move of any kind without first forming an image of it in our mind. Call it daydreaming, imagination, planning, getting an idea – it all originates in your mind. Ideas have the power to direct tremendous energy.

So that means that life proceeds THROUGH us. It doesn’t happen TO us. As an architect, I did this unconsciously all the time. I followed a process of imagining something in my mind, drawing it, and enlisting the help of others to build it. Creation = imagination + materials + effort.

The cool thing is that this works in every instance, all day long, throughout our lives. It’s not just a technique of someone in a creative profession. We are ALL creative – that’s how humans were designed!

This principle is found in all the world’s wisdom traditions. In Proverbs, it says, “As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he.” Since you’ve read this far, I’m going to reward you with a few of my favorite quotes:

From the Sufi mystic Rumi: “In fact, God does not regard your outward form and wealth, but does regard your heart and good deeds.”

“My heart holds within it every form,
it contains a pasture for gazelles,
a monastery for Christian monks.
There is a temple for idol-worshippers,
A holy shrine for pilgrims;
There is the table of the Torah,
and the book of the Koran.
I follow the religion of Love
and go whichever way His camel leads me.
This is the true faith;
This is the true religion.
It is a very long way to go.”
-Ibn al-Arabi

“There is a vitality, a life force, a quickening that is transferred through you into action; and because there is only one of you in all time, this expression is unique.
If you block it, it will never exist through any other medium and it will be lost. The world will not have it. You must keep that channel open. It is not for you to determine how good it is, nor how valuable. Nor how it compares with other expressions. It is for you to keep it yours, clearly and directly.” – Martha Graham

“Your vision will become clear only when you can look into your own heart…. Who looks outside, dreams; who looks inside, awakens.”
Carl Jung, Letters Vol I

“It seems to me a powerful message, worth repeating and repeating, that people want peace, simplicity, beauty, nature, respect, the ability to contribute and create. These things are much cheaper and easier to achieve than war, luxury, ugliness, waste, hate, oppression, manipulation. Some day, when everyone understands that nearly all of us truly want the same kind of world, it will take surprisingly little time or effort to have it.”
Donella Meadows

Napoleon Hill: “If you can conceive and believe it, you will receive it.”

“How we live our days is how we live our lives.” Annie Dillard

I would love to hear from you if any of these thoughts strike a chord.

Last fall, I attended a workshop at Alabama Chanin, an eco-couture house in – not New York – northern Alabama. Why did I go all the way down there? I read about this company and its founder, Natalie Chanin, in an issue of Ode magazine last summer. Something about their mission, their aesthetic, and their story just drew me; I simply could not resist!

Alabama Chanin is a welcoming, creative feast for the eyes. Everything in the place is sorted by color, neatly organized, even the scraps. They don’t really consider them “scraps” in the way someone else might. They think of ways to re-use every piece of fabric, to have a zero-waste operation. Not only does it save precious resources and money, it gives them opportunities to exercise their prodigious creativity. They even have a sofa made out of bales of cotton scraps! All their cotton is organically-grown, and their garments are stitched by hand.

This creativity extends to every aspect of the business. Every roadblock or challenge, big or small, has become an opportunity to revisit the mission and go at it another way. At the workshop, Natalie told us some stories of setbacks that would have brought most other businesses to their knees. These challenges were like a test of her resolve and faith. Each time, she kept at it, trying a slightly different angle, one that actually improved the business and took her closer to her vision of a truly sustainable enterprise. Her unwavering commitment to the dream is so powerful and inspiring.

Alabama Chanin has been profitable from the beginning. They work with independent stitchers from around the region, mostly women who are continuing long traditions of quilting and handwork. Interestingly, Alabama Chanin is headquartered in an old T-shirt factory, in the town that used to consider itself the T-shirt Capitol of the World. That is, until NAFTA took all those good jobs away.

Alabama Chanin is proof that when you are living your life purpose, unexpected things happen to nurture your success. Natalie had some great stories about ah-ha moments and serendipitous events that have helped her carry this vision forward. Buyers, groupies and fans have consistently shown up to support her, once she was out there doing her thing. These are high-quality, beautiful garments made with care that will last generations. What a perfect embodiment of sustainability.