It is easy being Green

My neighborhood Trader Joe's provides every customer who brings in a reusable bag with an entry ticket to a weekly drawing for $25 gift certificates. A few weeks back they counted up the number of entry tickets and it totaled 14,634 in one week!!! That is amazing.

I've been reusing and refusing bags for over 30 years now and I estimate my own savings would be enough to fill a small swimming pool with bags. Just think how much unnecessary packaging could be saved if we all just brought our own bags?

Without knowing the cost of bags I would still estimate Trader Joe's saves at least $1,000 per week when you add in the full cost of ordering, storing and handling new bags compared to when customers bring their own.

My coop makes a contribution to community groups and lets customers vote by placing a bean in a bucket. Both approaches appeal to me a lot better than the old standby of giving the consumer $.05/bag off their total.

It aint easy being Green

I'm trying to locate 9" x 12" and/or 10" x 13" envelopes. I would like to find the highest post-consumer recycled content as possible. I searched and searched and after an hour of searching the best thing I could find were 40% PCW in a natural brown. Where is the market for recycled office supplies and why aren't there more?

My effort to find security envelopes with any recycled content came up empty. Please let me know if you have a source for such items.

It shouldn't be this hard being green. Where are the entrepreneurs to supply this market? Where are the responsible manufacturers? I realize this market is driven by economies of scale which makes it difficult for recycled products to compete with virgin when so many people purchase strictly on price.

Magic Knight Rayearth OVA

This anime OVA told the same story as Magic Knight Rayearth series but with a few different character design. The Story is a synopsis of the series from beginning until the final battle between the magic knights, Princess Emerald and Zagato. Zagato is the person who kidnapped and captured Princess Emerald. The ending is a battle of the giant mecha (robot). If you want to know the story after the battle you could watch the Magic Knights Rayearth series. Personally I don’t like the OVA but I like the series and the Manga (Japanese Comic).

Form 1099-Misc due February 2

This is a reminder that 1099s, with a few exceptions, need to be mailed by Monday, February 2nd. Fines for late filing start at $15 per return (if filed within 30 days of the due date) and go up to $50 per return if filed after August 1 or not at all.

Businesses (and non-profits) need to send them to any individual or partnership if you paid them more than $600 during 2008. Professional fees to attorneys, doctors and other professionals are included. Payments to corporations are included only if they are for medical, legal or fishing activities.

You also need to send one if you paid someone more than $10 in royalties.

You can read the more detailed general instructions here or the more abbreviated 1099-Misc instruction here.

Finally, you should have a policy to require your non-corporate vendors to complete a Form W-9 prior to disbursing any payments to them. This will insure you have the required information you need at year end to properly prepare your 1099s. Don't wait until January to start gathering this data.

Magic Knight Rayearth

This anime told a story about three junior high school girls which are brought together by fate when they hear a voice asking them to save the world. The land that calls them is named Cephiro and the voice belongs to Princess Emerald. She stands as the pillar whose will maintains the peace of this magical world where belief is power. But the peace in Cephiro is now threatened as Princess Emerald is imprisoned and monster begin to invade the peaceful land of cephiro. With her last bit of strength, the princess summons forth the three girls who must fulfill their destiny to become the Magic Knights in the hopes of saving her world. This Japanese animation has good adventure story and character design. The best thing in this anime is the Mecha (giant robot) design.

Dr. King and servant leadership

I attended the 24th annual "Keep Alive The Dream" tribute to Dr. King today hosted by the World Arts Foundation. This is the first time I've attended after listening to the simulcast on KBOO for years. What an inspiring event.

I attended because my friend Sharif Abdullah was getting a Lifetime Achievement Award for his work on peace and dialog. Sharif is an inspiration to me because of his commitment to creating a world that works for all. I too am committed to that goal.

This is a historic day. Barrack Obama and Dr. King both highlighted the importance of service to others if we are going to be great.

Dr. King said "Every man must decide whether he will walk in the light of creative altruism or the darkness of destructive selfishness. This is the judgment. Life's most persistent and urgent question is, What are you doing for others?"

So what are you doing for others?

Transparency and tough decisions

The Bainbridge Graduate Institute recently found it had to cut $1 million from its budget due to declining foundation support in these tough economic times. Rather than approach this problem from a top-down secretive approach, the leadership chose another path. You can hear the short news report here.

What isn't mentioned in the story is how they shared the problem with our entire community (students, faculty, staff, donors, vendors and more). This open process brought forth a ton of great ideas and allowed us to change the budget almost overnight.

Because it was transparent, the buy in and acceptance was unbelievable. We all were saddened by the decisions to cut staff but the open process made it palatable. A closed and secretive process would have created nothing but dissent, distrust and disharmony. Instead we are moving forward leaner and using our creativity to adjust to a new reality.

Perhaps the biggest problem was that the process generated so many good ideas that one could almost become paralyzed with too many options. This was not the case however as we sorted the ideas into a variety of pools opting for the low hanging fruit first before working our way up the tree.