Ray Anderson, Greening the Carpet Manufacturing Industry

Monday morning at the Greening the Heartland conference in St Louis we were treated to a very inspiring leader in green building circles:  Ray Anderson.  Anderson founded Interface Carpet in the early 70s and built it into one of the world’s largest carpet makers.  In 1994 customers began to ask what they were doing for the environment and Anderson had no answer.  Today he has plenty of answers and other manufacturing companies and Wall Street are taking notice.

The 3+ minute video gives a good intro to Ray Anderson and how he is radically changing his own company, an industry and manufacturing in general:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BerHLW6KhRY[/youtube]

Anderson fits the motto for the conference, Embracing Change.  By taking deliberate actions he has proven you can change, and change for the better.     Doing the responsible thing has turned out to be a wise business move on his part, saving the company money while reducing their impact on the environment.

Greening the Heartland Conference Underway in St. Louis

The St Louis chapter of the U.S. Green Building Council today (6/22/08) officially opened the 2008 Greening the Heartland regional conference.  Attendees will spend Monday & Tuesday learning about the latest in green building.  The 2009 conference will be in Detroit.

Save the Boo-Bees

This morning I joined at least 60,000 others in the 2008 Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure. OK, I didn’t run but I did take the wheelchair for the 5K walk, joining a neighbor (a 6 year survivor) & friends. After finishing the 3.1 mile walk & returning home I still had half the charge on the wheelchair. Of course it helped that the start line was exactly one block South of my loft building.

The best team name was the “Save the Boo-Bees” group. They all had yellow shirts with bees on them, very clever.

It was a constant stream of people as we made our way West on Olive, South on Compton and then back East on Market. While the sun was a bit warm the weather could not have been anymore perfect.  Today marked the 10th anniversary of the race in St Louis.
My goal is to be able to actually walk the walk next year.

My congrats to all the survivors out there.  We all have women in our lives that we love dearly so it is nice to see so many strong women that have survived and beaten breast cancer.

Help Welcome me back this Saturday from 5pm-7pm at The (smoke-free) Royale

As regular readers know, I was in three hospitals over the course of three months (February-April) following my stroke on February 1st. I received so many cards and emails of support it was wonderful. I know some of you came to see me while I was still in ICU at SLU and later while I was at St. Mary’s. Cards are great but nothing beats a face to face conversation. I think many others didn’t really know me other than as a reader and they didn’t feel comfortable showing up at the hospital.
When I knew when I’d be returning home some of my close friends wanted to throw a big party — at my place. I ruled that out quickly — I wanted something more casual and where everyone could just show up.

So this Saturday (5/17/08) I will be at The Royale at 3132 S. Kingshighway from 5pm-7pm. Weather permitting I will be on the back patio. Stop feel free to just stop by my table and say hello or even tell me how much you disagree with me. Get a drink at the bar and pull up a chair. I might even do special tricks like walking or moving my left arm!

The Gadfly is back!

Learn to Grow Your Own

With gas, food and other prices on the rise people’s budgets are being stretched. One way of dealing with this is to put your yard to work for you by growing some of your own food. If you toyed with the idea but didn’t know where to start then I hvae a workshop for you.

This Saturday May 17th the New Roots Urban Farm will present:
Home Grown, a backyard gardening workshop for city folk
10am to 3pm

Their description

a how-to vegetable production workshop that will cover basic soil science, backyard composting, no till
and raised bed construction, intensive planting methods, garden design, and more.
come prepared to create a garden plan and to get your hands dirty!
cost: $10-20 for those who live in Old North St Louis, Hyde Park, or St Louis Place; $45 for
any other city resident. Workshop, farm tour,lunch, and basic gardening supplies provided.

location: 1830 Hogan St Louis, MO 63116.  If you’d like more information or would like to register email molly@newrootsurbanfarm.org or call 314.664.2361  www.newrootsurbanfarm.org

This workshop funded in part by a Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education grant

Like expensive leeks?  They are easy to grow.  Eating produce you raised yourself is one of the most enjoyable things you can do.