We received this insightful report from The Outdoor Industry Compass editor Marks Huber and wanted to share it with SustainAbler readers and members of the Outdoor Industry in North America.

Inventing the Chinese Market
By Markus Huber
Chinese success at the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing was not be driven by a government which used the games as […]

Alongside the Vote the Environment campaign, we wanted to call your attention to this inspiring video created by One Percent for the Planet, the organization created by Yvon Chouinard, founder of Patagonia, and Craig Mathews, owner of Blue Ribbon Flies, that facilitates companies donating one percent of their annual sales to environmental groups. In 2007, […]

Our friends at Patagonia’s excellent blog The Cleanest Line asked us to embed this video and we liked it so much we have made it the featured vid on SustainAblerTV on our home page. “The Environment” encompasses far more than global warming and endangered species. It’s an important concept to realize that we can vote to create a culture […]

I had the great fortune to hear Robert Hass, this year’s Pulitzer Prize winer in poetry and a former US poet laureate, read and lecture at the 2008 Rosenberry Writer’s Conference at the University of Northern Colorado. With a sensitivity that relies on the senses themselves, Hass’ work can take on political subjects that even […]

Sustainability is a tough, complex concept to define. But, at the core, it refers to trying to live a life, whether as an individual or a business, that does more good than harm. Along those lines we wanted to share this video from the TED conference. Brain researcher Jill Bolte Taylor talks about having the […]

I found this image by artist Daniel Britton (LINK) and all I could think was how the leaf blower may be the loudest, most-obnoxious, most useless piece of machinery in the face of the crises of rising energy prices and global climate change. I mean honestly, can you think of any resource-depleting device we need […]

After five months with the InPower PowerView system, a software / hardware application that monitors our energy consumption and the production of our solar array on a minute by minute basis, I finally understand a comment Yvon Chouinard made at the Rocky Mountain Institute 25th Anniversary panel discussion. He was asked what was one thing […]

We made a tongue-in-cheek reference to Casa Diablo, that infamous vegan strip club in Portland, Oregon, a few weeks back. Well, it turns out that owner Johnny Diablo is putting the joint up for sale. You connect the dots…
P.S. The New York Times story mentions the excellent vegan site Post Punk Kitchen, and we suggest […]

Most people seem to agree that something needs to be done to halt global climate change and the depletion of natural resources. But do we need to go so far as drinking our own urine in order to conserve resources? Well, not exactly (though we’re oddly no longer surprised by even more outrageous green manifestos). […]

SustainAbler interviews Planetwalker Dr. John Francis
In 1973, Dr. John Francis witnessed an oil spill in San Fracisco Bay and wanted to do something about it. His reaction was simple and personal—he stopped riding in cars. For 22, years he walked everywhere, including the length of the U.S. and South America. Along his journey, he decided […]

The greenneck boys over at WickedOutdoorsy unearthed this—a “green” ATV. Which begs us to ask you SustainAblers, can an ATV be green? Let us know what you think.

We hate buying cars. A car is an investment that immediately loses value and costs money for the rest of its life. Worse, of course from a “green” standpoint, is the damage burning fuel causes. But Silicon Valley entrepreneur Shai Agassi’s plan to create an electric car system that operates much like a cell phone […]

We wanted to ask the SustainAbler community to sign this online petition asking Google to add a “Bike There” option alongside the “Drive There” and “Take Public Transportation” features on Google Maps. It’s a simple request, but we think it’s an easy way to get people to think about transportation options that don’t require […]

This just in from Bicycle Retaler and Industry News (BRAIN).
Organic Athlete has formed a new partnership with Calfee Design that will see the first vegan cycling team racing on Calfee bamboo bikes. In a unique partnership, Organic Athlete is teaming up with Calfee to not only ride the bikes, but to co-promote and develop the […]

Yesterday was my birthday. I’m 39. I honestly don’t want much anymore, except for my family to be happy, bills to be paid, and a little quiet time. But my brother gave me a meaningful present—a gift certificate for Kiva.org, a web site that allows you to make donations to micro-business lending groups across the […]

Austin, Texas seems to continually evolve as an example of a living local economy. I came across a post on environmentalleader.com today, about the City of Austin’s goal of going to zero waste by 2040.”Zero waste plans utilize both recycling and ways of preventing garbage from getting to landfills in the first place, such as […]

Walking around to the side of the house and watching your electricity meter spin backwards is sweet. But checking your energy production and consumption from the comfort of your couch is even sweeter.  We just installed a 6.8kW PV system on our house and on a day to day basis, rarely even look at the solar […]

Welcome to 2008. Now make one resolution. Make one simple decision, about one thing in your life that you can change to reduce your impact on the planet. Make it something achievable. Make it something that’s important to you. Me? I’m going to schedule an energy audit on my home and begin to take on easy […]

I stayed home from school the day John Lennon was shot in December 1980. I was 11 years old and probably more idealistic— and at times, I think, smarter—than I am now. This Christmas I heard “Happy Christmas (War Is Over)” while I was playing with my three-year old daughter and those words hit me […]

I’m truly inspired by Dr. John Francis, the Planetwalker, the man who witnessed an oil spill then gave up motorized transportation for 22 years—and then, when he felt he was arguing about his mission too much, took a vow of silence that lasted 17 years so that his actions spoke louder than his words. He […]