Undriving:Engaging People to Reduce Car Use

(Sustainable Seattle offers this space for non profits and organizations to post important information and announcements. For sharing information please contact info(at)sustainableseattle.org.)

Did you know that driving less is the single behavior change that could have the greatest impact on reducing CO2 emissions?

Research also shows that driving is the most difficult behavior to change.

I want to invite you to join me in supporting UNDRIVING™, a ground-breaking non-profit organization that is effectively reducing car use with an engaging power tool for change: the UNDRIVER LICENSE™.

Undriving, Inc., founded in 2007, works mainly at community events, offering people the opportunity to get their own Undriver License™ on the spot in exchange for a pledge to reduce their car use - or car use on the planet. Undriving sparks curiosity, and people of all ages are engaged to think creatively about what they could do differently – whether they drive 100 miles a day for work or don’t have a car. At events and online, over 5,000 Undriver Licenses have already been issued!

Undriving gets results:

• Follow-up surveys garner an impressive 20-40% response, and 96% report that they fulfilled their month-long pledge.

• The process leads directly to behavior change: 72% establish a lasting new transportation habit as a result of Undriving.

• It’s naturally infectious: 83% of Undrivers show their licenses to others and encourage them to make their own pledges.

The Undriver License™ has been so popular that communities across the U.S. and beyond are asking to replicate the model. Undriving's innovative and empowering program has great potential to help government agencies, organizations, and businesses as they work to reduce traffic and congestion, meet commute trip reduction goals, promote healthier public and workplace environments, and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Won’t you support Undriving in scaling this successful grassroots initiative?

Please contribute $100, $200, $50 or whatever you can!

Your gift will help the Undriving team develop a turnkey “kit” that will include everything needed for other organizations to maintain their own UNDRIVER LICENSING STATION™ and start making change in communities around the world. Our goal for this project is to raise $20,000 and I would be grateful if you would join me by making a tax-deductible donation today.

With thanks and appreciation for your consideration,

Name

You can contribute online via Paypal, or by check - make your check payable to Undriving/Urban Sparks, and mail to:

Urban Sparks - 4229 Baker Avenue NW - Seattle, WA 98107

Your contribution is tax-deductible through Urban Sparks, a 501(c)3 organization that serves as fiscal sponsor for Undriving.

• To find out more about Undriving, visit Undriving.org.

• Order your Undriver License online!

• Join Undriving on Facebook

• Follow Undriving on Twitter

• Want to contribute your time and expertise? Visit Undriving’s Volunteer page

Sustainable Seattle’s Annual Event and Awards: An Evening in 7 Acts!

Get ready for Sustainable Seattle’s Annual Event and Awards: An Evening in 7 Acts! It will be held on Thursday December 16^th at Hidmo from 5-9pm. You can register now. Joining us for the occasion will be Pursuit of a Green Planet and Sustainable Central District.

We have been working to ensure this isn’t going to be your typical “annual event” snoozefest. Attendees should be prepared to be engaged, laugh out loud, and not know exactly what to expect next. Gelatiamo, Macrina, and Grand Central Bakery have all graciously agreed to supply treats to keep our tummies pleased throughout the night.

After an opportunity for members of the audience to win a number of truly unique prizes, John de Graaf, national coordinator of Take Back Your Time, and co-author of the best-selling Affluenza: The All-Consuming Epidemic, will help highlight our current work on the Gross National Happiness Project. Attendees will also have the opportunity to “figure out who”, as we highlight our volunteers in limerick form.

A silent auction will take place throughout the evening with proceeds directly supporting Sustainable Seattle. To see a list of auction items (still being updated), visit the event page. There you will also find out what each of the 7 acts will be for the evening!

Be sure to get your tickets and expect a memorable experience. We are all looking forward to it!

Cafe Press Store

We have opened a store via Cafe Press. Now, I am not a believer in buying everything that you see as that leads to more and more resources being devoured, however, in the event that you need replacement clothes or items, then why not support Sustainable Seattle and meet those needs as well?

http://www.cafepress.com/SustainSeattle

The store is not going to be elaborate, but basic. It will focus on those items that make sense instead of simply putting our logo on every material Cafe Press offers. Hats, t-shirts, water bottles and tote bags with a few stickers and buttons to spread the word is the order of the day.

Thank you for all your support of Sustainable Seattle and I hope that this shop gives you another opportunity to support us as you know the funds raised, if any, will go towards an organization on the forefront of sustainability and social justice.

Okay, advertisement done. Go forth and do good!

Feet First Event

Sustainable Seattle offers up this blog as an events announcement for organizations that are doing the work of sustainability, education or outreach. The following is an announcement from Feet First a non profit organization based in the Seattle area.

Dear Friend of Feet First:

Do you like to explore? Can you travel by foot, bike, wheelchair, skate or scooter? Can you follow a street map? Do like the natural surroundings? Then join this year's Street Scramble in Alki supports Feet First.

Please use this registration form instead of the one provided in the previous email. This healthy, family friendly event, provides you an easy way to have your $10 matched dollar for dollar. http://www.streetscramble.com/charity-partners

Alki Street Scramble
Saturday, March 20, 9:30 a.m.
Alki Beach, 62nd Ave SW & Alki Ave SW, Seattle

Thank you for being a supporter of Feet First. We look forward to getting more people walking every day for their health, transportation, environment, community and pleasure. Are you unable to join us? Consider becoming a member today by visiting: http://feetfirst.info/join

Hope to see you this month at Alki! We'll also have information available at this event about our progress on our wayfinding and kiosk project in West Seattle.

Sincerely yours,

--The Team at Feet First

Rainier Beach Coalition Town Hall

On Thursday the 28th over two hundred people attended the annual Town Hall meeting put on by a partnership between the Rainier Beach Coalition and the South Lake High School. The crowd was diverse with a wide range of ages, ethnic backgrounds and social status. There were numerous High School students in attendance and the overall feeling of the meeting was relaxed, hopeful and positive.






The program started with a meal combining food from a variety of back grounds. The food was put out first in the words of the main organizer, Gregory Davis, "If we feed you first you better be cooperative later," to laughter in the audience. The participants were also given a series of sticker dots in order to vote on the main themes that the coalition and the community would focus on for this year. The themes were built around the main thrust of last year's community actions. The themes were: Economic Development, Education, Public Safety, Environment, and Youth and Young Families.

The Town Hall was split into a presentation portion that included both a performance by the Rainier Beach Seattle Youth Orchestra, and a power point presentation about the Rainier Beach art around the community. The orchestra was made up of seven children and a tap dancer from the High School who ad libbed to the performance of Beethoven's "Ode to Joy."

The second part of the meeting were break out sessions with the community members going to their chosen theme to express their dreams and desires about actions the community could take in order to address challenges in their communities. The members were told to dream big and to make suggestions and share ideas that weren't pragmatic, but idealistic. The break out sessions would then be used by the coalition to make connections and partnerships with viable means of making those desires come to fruition.

Community groups need to take a lesson from the very successful Town Hall meeting. The openness of discussion, the choice of following the interests of the attendees and the combination of entertainment , recognition of community members, and of course a free meal, gave the entire meeting a feeling of a friendly gathering instead of a Town Hall.

The organization was fluid and the agenda was changeable and responded to the needs and whims of the community members. Getting the community to give up an evening of their week to discuss the future of their town and attracting the attention of a deputy mayor and a city council person is an impressive feat and should be emulated. Sometimes giving up control is the best way to retain it.

Sustainable Ballard and Events

Sustainable Ballard is an organization that is doing great work in a suburb of Seattle. They have always been a supportive, forward looking group and they have a few events that may interest you.

Sustainable Ballard Events & Meetings

Sunday, January 24th, 1:00 pm - 4:00 pm

Intro to Sociocracy/Dynamic Governance

a free class sponsored by Sustainable Ballard

Thursday, January 28th, 9:00 am - 5:00 pm

Transportation Advocacy Day

Undriving heads for Olympia - Join us!

Monday, February 1st, 6:30 pm - 8:30 pm

Urban Crop Circle Get Together

February is seed ordering! Let's grow food!

Monday, February 1st, 6:30 pm - 9:00 pm

Sustainable Ballard Monthly Gathering

Join us as we celebrate a new year!

Monday, February 22nd, 6:30 pm - 9:00 pm

Monthly Gathering - February 2010

Cooperatives!

Saturday/Sunday, February 27/28th, 10:00 am - 6:00 pm

Sociocracy: Full Weekend Workshop

with John Buck, author of: We the People: Consenting to a Deeper Democracy

get a discount when you sign up through Sustainable Ballard

Monday, March 1st, 6:30 pm - 8:30 pm

Urban Crop Circle Get Together - March 2010

Let's grow food!

Journalism that Matters part three

On Saturday the conference was in full swing and the sessions that were offered were varied and relevant to journalism and to sustainability. The session I choose was not even a choice, but a directive. The session hosted by Michell Ferrier was on the connections and opportunities between local food and journalism. Anything that has food in the title sure is persuasive.

The group was diverse with journalists, professors, new media entrepreneurs, self described citizens, students and techies. The conversation veered from the local food industry into the heart of journalism and its connection to a well informed and healthy public.

The local food phenomenon has made many people aware of the positive benefits to eating local. The cost of transportation, inefficient packaging and the damage to the health and taste of food transported from all corners of the earth have brought the idea of sustainable living from the theoretical to the dinner plate. Local food not only benefits the minds and bodies of those who eat it, but also helps the local community become more strengthened as money stays in the community instead of flowing out of town, or out of state.

The session focused on the use of food and local producers of food and the concept of engagement in the community. Food as a gathering apparatus is well known, and no major human event takes place without someone snacking on pretzels in the background. The session touched upon the need for communities to have their stories told and the need for media to cover what is happening on the local level.

One suggestion that was given was to use Festivals that celebrated the local community's speciality. Festivals could be used as a gathering of social import as well as a celebration of all things local. One participant gave the idea of using Salmon as the focal point for Pacific Northwest Festivals.

After the session was over I stayed to talk about what Sustainable Seattle is planning for this year and I was even interviewed for the Journalism that Matters live stream about how journalism and healthy communities are inextricably linked. Sustainable Seattle also made some connections to local media sources and possible collaborative efforts may be the fruit of this labor.

Social Entrepreneurship

There is a growing trend for non profits to get into the business of making profits. This idea is called Social Entrepreneurship and it is gaining ground even from the government. Basically the organization is run in a for profit scheme meaning competitive pay, compensation and a chance to get out of the red like most non profits and into the black.

The Social Enterprise is based on a service or product that benefits others like the central theme of most non profits, the major difference is that the service or product is provided for a cost that is above what the initial investment from the organization put forward. In other words a profitable business that makes its money honorably.

Here is an article from Duke University that sums up the possible changing face of non profits.

The Future of Non-profits is Social Enterprise

Computer Recycling Organization

Computer Reuse – it’s the new and improved way to recycle.

By Charles Brennick

You received a new computer for Christmas and now you want to recycle your old one. But there is a better way to get rid of your computer than recycling it, reuse it. Fortunately, InterConnection, the state’s largest non-profit computer refurbisher, specializes in computer reuse.

Computer reuse involves erasing data from the hard drive of a computer and testing and replacing components to make it functional. Recycling, on the other hand, involves shredding the computer into parts to extract raw materials such as copper, plastic and steel.

Computer reuse provides opportunity to someone in need. Computers refurbished at InterConnection’s reuse center in Seattle are donated to unemployed and low-income individuals. Anyone who completes their computer hardware training program receives valuable job skills and a free computer. Every week up to twenty people start the program and this year 910 participated.

Most computers refurbished by InterConnection are sent to schools and non profit organizations in developing countries where access to technology is extremely limited. InterConnection has partnered with development organizations like Peace Corps and World Vision to distribute their computers to organizations in countries that include Cameroon, Uganda, El Salvador and Chile. To date, they have shipped over 20,000 computers to people in need of technology around the world.

Many local businesses like Nintendo and Alaska Airlines have chosen to reuse their surplus computers through InterConnection. Businesses, like individual donors, are extremely concerned about the data on their hard drives. InterConnection wipes all hard drives for free and for a nominal fee they will either provide certified data destruction or use their onsite hard drive destruction device they affectionately call ‘The Crushinator”.

InterConnection accepts all computers and monitors, working or not, for free. If they can’t reuse the computer they will properly recycle it at their facility in Seattle.

Anyone can drop off computer equipment at their center in Seattle and businesses can schedule free pick-up if they have at least three computers. InterConnection even offers a way for people who live outside of Washington to donate. They will pay shipping costs for anyone who wants to donate a laptop.

For more information about reusing or recycling your surplus computers please call InterConnection at (206) 633-1517 or visit their website at www.interconnection.org. The center is located at 2222 N. Pacific St., Seattle, WA, 98103. Hours of operation are 10-6 Monday–Friday and 10-5 on Saturday.