What difference does it make where you buy your cup of coffee?

This video from the "Mile High Business Alliance" reveals the power of local economy!

Bootstrapping a business for growth.

As a financial advisor, I frequently get calls from entrepreneurs seeking capital for their emerging or expanding companies. Although venture capital is of great interest to me, it is outside the scope of the work I do for my clients.

Even so, I find the whole process of creating companies, and financing their growth to be a very interesting and important process to understand.

I came across a whitepaperfrom a firm called Kennet Partners titled "Bootstrapping Your Business for Success - Knowing When and How to Approach VC Firms."

The brief whitepaper addresses the questions I often get asked. And is a good read for most entrepreneurs seeking capital, and common sense on growing their companies.

Food, Inc. the latest from Participant Productions

Just last night I attended a private screening of "Food, Inc." from Participant productions. The movie did a very good job of presenting the challenges, and opportunities for change in the way we create food - through the industrial food system. Some of the film told the story of meat production as shown in the entertaining classic short film "The Meatrix" by Free Range Studios.

It surprises me how ignorant many environmentalists and "conscious people" are of the health and environmental impacts of the food choices we make.

From the movie trailer: "...you have a small group of multinational corporations who control the entire food system from seed to the supermarket. This isn't just about what we're eating, this is about what we're allowed to say,it's not just our health that is at risk... They don't want farmer's talking - they don't want this story told..."



What to do?

Buy organic.
Know where your food has come from, and how it was prepared.
Shop at a farmer's market or local food co-op.
If you must eat meats - eat less, eat organic.
Educate yourself on the industrial food system, talk about it.
Change the way you eat.
Eat consciously.
If you must eat fish - eat Marine Stewardship Council approved seafoods.
Vegetables and fruits? Avoid the foods with the most amount of chemicals - find out on www.foodnews.org
"Don't eat anything you see advertised." - Michael Pollan said in the interview below.

You'll be healthier, and the planet will too!

Michael Pollan, author of "Omnivore's Dilemma" and featured in Food, Inc., was interviewed on Democracy Now.

Van Jones talks to Progessive Christians...

A couple of months ago I attended the benefit dinner for "Progessive Christians Uniting" where Van Jones, Obama's special advisor on green jobs, enterprise and innovation gave the keynote.

I especially liked the parts of the conversation where he asked all Christians to consider the role of their faith in creating the "problem." His comments encouraged deep reflection of our interpretation of the tenets of the Christian faith, in light of the current environmental crisis, and how such reflection can change the way we relate to Nature.



Part 2



Green genius blogger Karl Burkhart of Greendig shot these videos and posted them on MNN.

Banking regulators stress Test Overview

Federal regulators conducted a study to determine the health and viability of banks based on scenarios over the next two years. From that they determined how much capital banks would need in the event of a significant worsening of financial and economic conditions with an intentionally stringent view. Read overview here.

Food Not Lawns... How to Turn Your Yard Into a Garden and Your Neighborhood Into a Community

Gardens of gratitude is a community event to plant vegetable gardens all over the Los Angeles Region to inspire people to take out their lawns, plant organic food gardens. Reducing their footprint, water usage, etc. Just like the "victory gardens" of the WWI & WWII the current effort is to inspire people to grow their own food. Yet today there is not a "war effort" to support, nor is the effort being initiated by the national government... personal gardens are no less important.

I just planted my own garden with one of my neighbors in a plot of dirt next to my apartment building last weekend - tomatoes, squash, kale, rasberries, herbs. A true pleasure - brought neighbors together to have a pleasant afternoon - and even inspired some other residents of my building to start a garden of their own on a different part of the property where there are just weeds.

What fun!

From their website: "Everyone can have a garden. Grow herbs in your kitchen, a potted garden on your balcony, a fruit tree in the front yard, or replace your whole lawn with an edible food forest. Growing food can also help you cut your water usage dramatically, very important in our Mediterranean climate. Our resource page is full of guides to help you plan edible estates big and small. We can even help supply volunteer labor and the know how. It is the responsibility of the homeowner to come up with the design and materials for the garden (subsidized gardens are available for low income projects). Help us meet our challenge by signing up your site today!"

If you're in the LA Region (or not) start your own garden next weekend and plant for our collective victory!

If you like to read - I suggest you check out "Food Not Lawns International" a blog connected to the book of the same title as this blog post published by Chelsea Green Publishing.

I like the quote on the Chelsea Green Website for the book :'"Food Not Lawns is radical (rooted), subversive (underground), and seeded throughout with treasures that will sprout into savory, beautiful flowers. Don't just buy this book: Read it. Don't just read this book: Do it. Grow a garden. And let the weeds grow; they're good medicine."—Susun Weed, Wise Woman Herbal Series

S0 - bottom line. Don't bother with the book, just rip out grass and plant a vegetable garden!

Image from Wikipedia commons

Want to start a business in Gardening?

See this video: