David Knight’s Budgens store in Hassocks, West Sussex, is set to become the first store in the world to be operating a new energy saving technology system and, in turn, lead the way as one of the most energy efficient stores in Great Britain, as part of a major store development plan.

The Carbon Trust has approved a loan of almost £100,000 to David Knight for refrigeration and lighting energy savings (£85k & £15K respectively) which represents almost one third of the total investment he is making in his Budgens store. 

Simply Air is a major breakthrough in refrigeration. The principle is that cold outside air is introduced via a central cooling unit, and then ducted into the cabinet, rather than being piped in. The free cooling reduces draw on the compressors as soon as ambient temperature dips below 5 deg C. The system offers 50%+ energy savings, plus payback within two years. There are no parts and therefore no maintenance costs and suppliers/manufacturers have carried out extensive tests and are prepared to underwrite the system and full cost to Knight in the unlikely event of any problems.  By installing the Simply Air system, which won the Environmental Pioneer award in refrigeration at the 2009 Cooling Industry Awards in September, the Budgens store will be saving 105 tonnes of carbon year on year, even with a 50% increase in refrigeration.

Other elements of the refit include a 50% increase in the chilled offering with a new aisle and 150 new lines across the store in fresh/bakery. There’s a small ‘food to go’ area and a new ‘store within store’ look for the off licence with 6m of chilled wines and beers. Knight has also introduced iGuzzini lighting, another Carbon Trust accredited scheme.

Jemima Bird, marketing director for Budgens says: “Engaging our retailers to adopt our values of lowest cost without compromising quality has been at the heart of this best-in-class cutting edge innovation. Our development team is always thinking of innovative solutions to deliver best value and Nick Tryfonos and the team are working closely with the Carbon Trust to obtain significant savings for all of our retailers. Nick and his team have done a superb job, working with David Knight on this particular project, and we’re thrilled to have secured a world first for Budgens”.

Says Knight: “I’ve utilised every facet of the Budgens business to complete this project and the support of the development team and my Budgens regional sales manager have been second to none. I had a clear vision from the start and there was always someone on the end of the phone to help us through the process. Paul Schammell and Steve Shipp from Ultra Refrigeration, who designed and installed this pioneering technology, have been fantastic with their support and I’m very pleased that we have been able to work together and that my new store system is leading the way in energy saving technologies”.

As the first store in the world to be operating the Simply Air system, other retailers including Tesco, Sainsbury, Waitrose, Asda and M&S are all interested to view the system in action at the Budgens store in Hassocks.

Unique set
of eco-friendly water bottles launched by Onya Bag
creators

Sleek, curvaceous and immensely practical, the newest addition to the eco-friendly Onya range is the H2Onya, a stainless steel, reusable bottle which is designed to be a constant companion – saving money and the planet at the same time.  

Available in five different sizes, from a compact 350ml through to a robust 1.2 Litre model, this reusable bottle is durable enough to last a lifetime.

Fashioned from a single piece of stainless steel, the bottle is easy to clean and free from nasty chemicals such as Bispehnol A (BPA) which, over time can leach from plastics and aluminium and contaminate the contents of the bottle.

Ergonomically designed, which means it’s easy to hold (for both big and
small hands), the H2Onya comes with a choice to two different lids; a
sipper cap or a traditional twist cap which includes a handy carabineer
clip.   

With more than 500,000 Onya reusable bags sold to date
in the UK, founder of the eco-aware brand, Dan Brousson decided to
launch the H2Onya in a bid to help tackle the growing issue of waste
from discarded plastic bottles.  

“Bottled water has become
ingrained in our culture despite its enormous cost to the environment. 
Throwaway plastic bottles account for around 10 billion tonnes of
landfill every year.  The idea behind the H2Onya is simple; carry your
own water bottle to reduce your own plastic-footprint.  It’s a simple
action which will make a genuine difference to the environment if
enough people do it.”   

Substituting a refillable bottle with a
bottled water purchase will save more than just the environment too as
Brousson rightly points out.  

“Often buying a small bottle of
water is more expensive than petrol when you consider the cost per
litre.  Carrying your own bottle of water makes financial sense if
nothing else.  A good quality reusable bottle – such as one made from
stainless steel like the H2Onya- will pay for itself over and over
again.”

With a lifespan of around 100 years, the H2Onya is
a bottle-for-life.  But even then, as stainless steel is the most
recycled commodity in the world, it still shouldn’t contribute to
landfill.  

Available from selected stockists, the Onya Bags website (www.onyabags.co.uk) and the UK’s largest independent online bottle shop ReusuableBottle.co.uk (www.reusablebottle.co.uk).

REUSABLE PACKAGING
The H2Onya is not just an eco-minded individual’s best friend….it’s also a WOMBLE’S delight!

Wasteful
packaging is a no-go area for the Onya team, therefore, the H2Onya is
packaged in a clever and practical tube which can either be recycled
or, if you have Womble-like tendencies, used in a variety of ways -
from storage container to art         project, moneybox, vase, musical
instrument, dog toy…the only limit is your creativity.  

The H2Onya Range
350ml in brushed stainless steel (RRP: ￡ 8.49)
500ml in a choice of brushed stainless steel, Lemon Green and Lilac (RRP ￡ 8.99)
750ml in a choice of brushed stainless steel, Cream and Raspberry (RRP ￡9.49)
1000ml in a choice of brushed s/steel or Midnight Blue (RRP: ￡9.99)
1200ml in a choice of brushed s/steel or Iron Grey (RRP: ￡10.99)
(Choose from two different lid options – sipper lid or twist top)

Don’t forget if you are new to Pure Design and haven’t used your
welcome discount yet, you are entitled to 10% OFF your first purchase. Simply
type ‘purewelcome01′ when
prompted on checkout. 

And this month’s Members Offer (valid until 31/07/09) entitles you to
an amazing £50 OFF Julia Smith’s gorgeous organic cotton
summer dresses. Simply use codes ‘pureloulou’
or ‘purerenae’ and receive
almost a third off Julia’s limited edition LouLou or Renae dress! This
offer is available exclusively to Pure Design members.

The
UK
produces more than 400 million tonnes of waste every year, generated
mainly from households; commerce and industry combined. A high
proportion of this waste ends up in landfill, where it emits high
volumes of powerful greenhouse gases (GHGs), polluting our
environment and the air we breathe, and accelerating the impacts of
climate change. Green waste technology explores means of waste
disposal in a highly sustainable and socially responsible way, with
the potential to reduce greenhouse gas (GHGs) emissions, decelerate
the affects of climate change, and lower economic costs.

As
part of Article
13’s
commitment to the United Nations Global Compact (UNGC) we ‘encourage
the development and diffusion of environmentally friendly
technologies’ (Principle 9). This includes green waste technology.
See our UNGC
events pages
(URL:http://www.article13.com/csr/ungc_our_csr_events.asp).

Integrating
green waste technologies into an organisation is not only an
ecologically sound investment, but there is also a solid business
case attached. Moving towards green waste technology:

• Helps
  reduce organisational operating costs and cleanup cost.

• Reduces
  transportation costs and high waste taxes.

• Waste
  can be recycled in an industrial ecosystem, e.g. used again as an
  energy source.

• Can
  generate a competitive force and be used as a tool for competitive
  advantage.

Here
at Article 13, we
have leading edge experience in Incineration and Energy-from-Waste
plant – MSW, clinical and industrial waste as well as flue gas
treatment technologies and processes. Our best-in-class associates
provide amongst other services: technical appraisal of a new biomass
gasification process and technical audits of biomass fired power
plants.

New
innovations in environmental technology have the potential to pave a
sustainable way for the future through making important contributions
to our lives, and the environment we live in. Some particularly
useful Article
13 resources are:

• ScotAsh
  - waste or a whole new business opportunity

http://www.article13.com/A13_ContentList.asp?strAction=GetPublication&PNID=1413

• Sainsbury’s
  plc
  - the first food retailer to use compostable packaging

http://www.article13.com/A13_ContentList.asp?strAction=GetPublication&PNID=1281

• Biffa
  - surveying the wasteland

http://www.article13.com/A13_ContentList.asp?strAction=GetPublication&PNID=1280

For
information on how Article 13 can assist you in auditing your
company’s waste and energy practices, developing waste action
plans, and reducing your business’s waste and related impacts on
the environment, contact Fiona Banyard on 020 8840 4450 or email
fionab@article13.com

This month the G8 Summit agreed the first steps towards a
significant global strategy on climate change by agreeing that global warming
temperatures should not exceed 2C of 1900 levels and that member nations will
work towards an 80% reduction of green house gas emissions by 2050. The USA has
taken a major step-change in its attitude towards the climate and President
Obama who chaired the discussion stressed that the issue of climate change could
no longer be ignored and that we should look towards December and Copenhagen.

This is positive news for the environment and energy
industry. It shows a real commitment at last, by the world’s most powerful
nations to act to arrest global warming and this commitment can only add to the
industry’s growth. But how are we going to supply the world with renewable
energy?

When Dr. Czisch first published his ideas outlining a
European “Supergrid” a few years ago, in which he explored a concept to supply
the continent’s electricity demands by using only the renewable energy
technologies that are now available, the world didn’t take much notice. However
now, European policy-makers, as well as the global business community, are
gradually taking note of the significance of his ideas.

Mark Vidler, Energy Group Manager at Allen & York
Environmental Recruitment took the opportunity to speak to Dr Czisch on a recent
visit to the UK:

Mark Vidler –
What is the Supergrid and why is it important to us?
Gregor Czisch – We are faced with the
fact that Renewables are not steadily producing; there are fluctuations
depending on where you are in the world, what the climate is, whether it is
summer or winter for example. In the longer term we need steady, smooth
production of energy which can be employed to cover the demand at any time. In
order to achieve this to best effect it is important to expand the range of
energy sources, to have a strong mix of climate zones and to expand the km2 of
land for wind and solar energy. In summary the creation of a Supergrid, a place
where ‘the world’ could feed its renewable energy into, would solve the problems
of source intermittency and smooth out the production to a consistently high
level.

MV – Who will
be the main beneficiaries?
GC –
The main beneficiary is the climate, because the Electricity
sector is currently emitting about 50% of the world’s carbon emissions from
fossil fuels. The Supergrid – preferably a High Voltage Direct Current (HVDC)
Transmission System – will only be fed by renewable energy sources and would
therefore ‘clean’ the environment significantly.

Consumers would also benefit, firstly because it would be
cheaper and because they are getting fully renewable electricity.

Lastly the economies of some countries would benefit. If we
think about establishing wind and solar farms in Africa for example, then there
could be investment made in these countries and so they could profit from an
extra growth in their economy and significantly reduce their unemployment by
exporting parts of their energy to European countries.

International corporate business would also benefit as they
have the potential to invest in global energy production and fight climate
change which could ultimately be very costly for them.

MV – What in
your view is preventing this from happening?
GC – There are many players, firstly
the decision makers – The first applications for the concept of the renewable
Supergrid – as it resulted as being the best solution from my research – were
made in late 2001 and it has been very difficult get the facts in front of the
politicians to create awareness and crucially to give them the correct
information on the huge potential of this shared international and
intercontinental grid.

The utility companies, who have their own grids and own
production, often resist strong links to other countries and competitors.
Consequently they will not lead on this at least not as a fast approach, however
I believe that if the politicians lead the corporate organisations would have to
follow and ultimately might also benefit.

Ideologists and de-centralists are also looking at this from
a ‘small is beautiful’ perspective and nothing else. They fight the large scale
renewables, which are sometimes far away from the consumer, believing the home
grown production is better.

MV – How
financially viable is this?
GC –
There is a simple answer. If the international system is properly designed the costs
of renewable electricity are not higher than the today’s costs of electricity.
Therefore it basically is absolutely viable.

A key to this is provision of capital outlay provided by
financial backers such as governments and corporate business. An internationally
agreed feed-in tariff (e.g. the amount of money a renewable energy producer is
paid for the energy they supply to the grid) that guarantees that the costs of production and
transmission are covered would be extremely helpful to attract investment. If
you have good tools for investment based on loans renewable electricity will be
cheaper than supply from oil, gas and coal with their fluctuating prices.

MV – Do we
have the right skills?
GC –
All the necessary technology is there, some parts have to be
adapted to the highest HVDC voltage available today e.g. the circuit breaker
necessary for a meshed HVDC system. Another engineering project will be
developing the cables for this voltage to connect under the sea between
countries. However, no crucial part of the technology is missing and there is no
question that we have the right skills for the job.

Summary 
GC –
Really it is all about co-operation between energy supplies and
political backing groups and countries. Increasing awareness and knowledge are
crucial and I am confident we are moving in the right direction. If I could make
one change now it would be the introduction of an international feed-in tariff,
which I believe would make a huge difference.

BrightKidz Celebrates Five Years Keeping Children Safe

Social enterprise BrightKidz celebrated its fifth anniversary this week
with gifts of soft toys kitted out in mini fluorescent jackets for
children at Park Junior School, Kettering.

Brightkidz founder Alison Holland said, ‘To mark our fifth anniversary
of trading we presented children from Park Junior School with toy high
vis puppies, reflectors and pencils. The ten children who received the
puppies had been chosen by the school because they have made really
special efforts to promote walking and road safety so it was also a
reward for their efforts’.

The school was also presented with a ‘high vis teddy mascot’ which will be cared for by whichever class has the most children walking to school.

BrightKidz was set up by Mrs Holland after she started a ‘Walking Bus’ scheme at her children’s school in Geddington and found it hard to find attractive fluorescent, reflective jackets in children’s sizes. She realised ‘high vis’ jackets would be a great way to help keep all children safe on their way to and from school or when cycling. She set up BrightKidz as a social enterprise and with her team of nine staff now sells a wide range of fluorescent, reflective clothing and accessories for children and adults across the UK and abroad.

She says, ‘As a business we are all really pleased we have reached the five year landmark. Park Junior School was actually our very first customer so we are delighted   they are part of our celebrations.

I think our success is due to the fun way we make it safer and more attractive for parents to let their children walk and cycle, which is good for everyone. Also, most of our products are UK-made and people now recognise the importance of ‘buying local’.  We hope the next five years will bring us even more success.

For more information about walking to school schemes and BrightKidz products visit  www.brightkidz.co.uk.

 ENDS

Notes for Editors
More details, interviews and photo available on request

Contact:  Alison Holland, BrightKidz
Tel: 01536 526461 (office)        
Tel: 01536 741193 (home – please note answerphone not working properly)
Email: alison@brightkidz.co.uk
Web (sales and info): www.brightkidz.co.uk

BrightKidz is an official brand sponsor of the Department for Transport’s Think campaign, see www.dft.gov.uk/think/focusareas/children/childpedestrians?page=Partners&whoareyou_id= >

Environmental technology, also known as green and clean technology,
covers a range of equipment and techniques that can be applied to
environmental protection in a very broad sense. They are developed for
their potential to conserve the natural environment (with a low
environmental impact), enhance and protect biodiversity, improve water
quality, offer resource efficiency, minimise waste, deliver a form of
sustainable development, and to decelerate the negative affects caused
from climate change.

Article 13’s United Nations Global Compact (UNGC) commitment incorporate our efforts to ‘encourage the development and diffusion of environmentally friendly technologies’ (Principle 9). See our UNGC events pages.

Environmental technologies offer a management process for minimising the ecological impacts of economic production while enhancing the competitive edge of organisations. They are becoming more and more commonplace and have become a major industrial sector in their own right, through receiving huge investment, governmental support, and private and public involvement. Organisations are now seeing environmental technologies as a competitive force and a tool for competitive advantage; enabling access to the ever growing areas of sustainable development and clean technology. There are new groundbreaking technological developments within the areas of renewable energy, water management, low carbon technology, and the transport industry (e.g. hybrid vehicles). Below are just some of the current and used environmental technologies:

1. Paper thin displays: Electronic paper, containing microcapsules along with particles that carry electric charges on a steel foil. Offers a thin flexible display that looks very much like real paper and can be reused over and over.  
2. Desalination: Removing the salt and minerals out of seawater. This is one way to provide drinkable water in parts of the world where supplies are limited
3. Green roof: These are structural components that help to mitigate the effects of urbanisation on water quality by filtering, absorbing or detaining rainfall. They also act as a carbon sink, making the air quality better and reducing carbon emissions from entering the atmosphere

New innovations in environmental technology have the potential to pave a sustainable way for the future through making important contributions to our lives, and the environment we live in. Some particularly useful resources are:

Article 13 case study
• Hydrogen fuel transport: hydrogen fuel cell buses with zero carbon emissions, which help develop a potential solution to mitigating carbon change.

General resources
• Green technology pages from the Guardian newspaper.
• Green Technology Tent – shining the light on international environmental technologies.

For more information please contact Fiona Banyard on fionab@article13.com or call 020 8840 4450. Please also see Article 13’s website www.article13.com 

First Recycle Bin Made From Recycled Materials

A new innovation has been launched to help increase recycling of the 30 million tonnes of rubbish generated in UK streets each year1. Of this, it is estimated that at least 50% is recyclable and currently less than 10 % is being recycled.  TV Producer Matthew Bird often reached home with a drink can, plastic bottle or free newspapers before finding somewhere to recycle them, this frustration led him to develop his own solution – The Greenie.

The Greenie is a split rubbish / recycling street bin; one half is for rubbish and the other for recyclable materials – sounds like a good idea but split bins have often lead to confusion and people don’t use them properly. The Greenie however, is clearly labeled bin and hopes to change this. The Greenie is also a European first as it is itself made with recycled materials. The adaptable tops allows local authorities to synchronize their ‘on the streets’ collection with other collections making The Greenie the most multi-functional bin on the market.

The Greenie makes great financial sense with the rapid rise in landfill costs – set to double in the next three years – the bins will not only provide a benefit to our environment but also to Public budgets. A recent consultation paper from Defra found that more than 95% of respondents thought that public recycle bins should be readily available.

Hugh Smith from London Remade said: "We think The Greenie is perfect for recycling on the go. More and more people are recycling at home and they should be given the facilities to recycle when they are out and about. It is fantastic that Matthew has designed the bin using recycled materials – it is the first of its kind in Europe and we look forward to seeing them popping up all over London." Matthew Bird said: "
Much to the delight of all my family and friends I can now talk rubbish for hours! "

The London boroughs of Camden and Lewisham will be piloting The Greenie from August this year.  Anyone who thinks that this simple, clever, innovation should be available on their street can visit www.recycle-rubbish.co.uk and sign the petition. The Greenie even has its own Facebook page for those keen to make friends with this initiative.

About Matthew Bird
Matthew, 49, has produced TV Drama for the last twenty years, working on such diverse programmes as Linda Green, Anna Karenina and The Lakes, and most recently Plus One, a new Channel 4 comedy.  

As a TV producer Matthew has learned a lot of skills that are transferable to the recycling industry.  His interest in alternative systems for public place recycling originally started on filming trips abroad. But it is as a father of three children that his interest in the environment has really grown.

Having won a place on an Enviro-Entrepreneurs Course in 2005 Matthew went on to conceive The Greenie and since then the Bin has been in development, going through several different formats and is now ready for a general release.

About London Remade
London Remade is a not for profit company working to develop and improve waste management, recycling and green procurement in the capital.

London Remade delivers the Mayor of London’s Green Procurement Code, a free support service for London based organisations to reduce their environmental impact through responsible purchasing.

London Remade delivered the Enhance programme for the LDA from October 2004 to March 2008, during this time London Remade supported over 250 businesses to enter the green economy including the administration of the Enhance Capital Grant Scheme under
which Matthew was award £20,000 for the development of The Greenie.

This week two groundbreaking Brits will start their attempt to break a new speed record in the most advanced wind powered vehicle ever produced.

Dale Vince, Ecotricity MD, and engineer, Richard Jenkins, will attempt to break the 116.7mph land speed record for a wind-powered vehicle (WPV), held currently by an American team, on Australia’s Lake Lefroy.

The Greenbird is a highly-evolved vehicle that uses a combination of technology found ordinarily on Aircraft and Formula 1 cars to achieve staggering speeds- with no engine in sight.

The chosen name is a nod to Donald Campbell’s all-conquering Bluebird, The Bluebird achieved incredible speeds in a golden age of fossil fuels – when oil was cheap and no one had thought that one day it would run out. Fast forward to today and we are coming to the end of the age of fossil fuels and the dawn of the age of Renewables. The Greenbird symbolises this historical watershed better than anything else.

“Cars of the future won’t be running on fossil fuels they will be running on Renewable sources of energy like the Wind. And with today’s technology we can achieve incredible speeds, using only wind power” said Dale Vince.  

Vince became involved in the Greenbird project as a result of his dedication to wind-generated technology – his pioneering power company Ecotricity introduced the concept of green electricity to the world, and has been building wind turbines and selling green electricity across the country since 1996. Ecotricity now supplies 35,000 homes across the UK.

The company also directly reinvests money that customers spend into new forms of clean power. Over the last four years Ecotricity has spent an average of £460 per customer, per year, on building and developing new renewable energy sources.

The Greenbird craft is a culmination of 10 years hard work, thousands of man hours and 5 prototype vehicles. For any powered speed record, the basic principles are pretty straightforward: more power means more speed and it is really only a factor of budget, engine size and guts to raise the record.

The Greenbird team saw no challenge in that. “We wanted to develop a purely technical solution that would deliver ultimate performance from a free and available resource – the wind. After 10 years I now have the right vehicle, in the right part of the world with the right team in support. We now just need the weather to cooperate!” said Richard Jenkins.

Dale Vince and Richard Jenkins will be blogging from the outback in the run up to the attempt. Sign up to RRS feeds and follow the team’s progress at the Greenbird website

I’m guessing that there are probably very few of us now who have not been affected by rising fuel costs, either at home or in our businesses.  When the rising cost of a common commodity grabs our attention, this can trigger old anxieties around money. This might be focused on making ends meet at home or watching the bottom line in our businesses. According to sustainable business principles, the key to success is to operate to a Triple Bottom Line – People, Planet and Profit. You might well be tempted to view the People and Planet elements as something of a luxury when times are hard and may well ask "What’s wrong with just focusing on the money when things get difficult?"

The problem with being profit orientated in any situation is that it tends to change our behaviour in the following ways:

We won’t let ourselves be happy in our business unless and until we make x amount of profit.

We won’t let ourselves be happy in our personal lives until we are out of debt/off benefits/able to afford X,Y or Z.

We neglect the relationships in our business and personal lives (with ourselves, our families, employees, mutual support network etc) and consequently make ourselves suffer.

We forget our purposes in life and so we feel unfulfilled.

We overlook our relationship with the natural world and so we feel disconnected and uninspired.

In other words, we let it affect our whole attitude to our business in a way that is not going to be helpful in riding the storm. Our perceptions of the possible threats of a recession begin to outweigh our enthusiasm, inspiration and creativity – the real fuel upon which our business and our personal happiness depend.

When we encounter any form of stress, one of the risks to watch out for is a tendency all humans have to revert back to old, comfortable habits. The old comfortable habit that we’re reverting back to when we begin to focus solely on profit rather than the triple bottom line stems from our being raised in a consumer society. The economic machine that is consumerism depends on making us feel that we are not worthy in some way – not slim enough, not beautiful enough, not sweet smelling enough, don’t have the right mobile phone/car/home/clothes. We are led to believe that we can only be happy when we meet someone else’s approval and the specification for that approval is forever shifting with trends in fashion. So, we’re left chasing an arbitrarily defined set of goal posts over which we have little control. According to consumerism, you can always buy your way out of unhappiness. So yes, profit orientation is an old rat race habit that we haven’t quite managed to shed! What are we to do?

What some people who are money or profit focused say is "Well, that’s ok because I’ll make sure I get my connection with nature and my fulfilling relationships outside of work."

The problems with that is:

Our business isn’t holistic

We don’t feel authentic in what we do at work

We don’t enjoy it nearly as much as we could

We feel compelled to work really hard on a thing called "work/life balance"

So, when we’re feeling stretched financially, that is the time to revisit our business purpose and our reasons for doing what we do – our offering and contribution to the world. It is a time to "keep the faith". How do we do that?

Keeping the faith is like gardening. First you clear the ground – declutter your work and living space, declutter your thoughts by reducing the number of projects you’re working on, have a spring clean. Then sew your seeds – continue to make new contacts, build on and nurture existing relationships, learn a new skill or cultivate a new habit, find a new way to reduce your consumption, do something kind just for yourself, be consistent in your marketing, stay in integrity. Watch as the seeds you’ve sewn start to bear fruit. Just notice synchronicities happening, act on them with gratitude and see where they lead. Remember to remain unattached to particular outcomes. We live in rapidly changing times and the opportunities that arise may not emerge in the form that you expect! Finally, have fun and be at peace during the process.

When we "keep the faith" and focus on maintaining our authenticity and sustainability in our business lives, especially when times are tough, there is no need for "work/life balance", there’s just life.

© Sally Lever 2008 www.sallylever.co.uk

Sally Lever is a Sustainable Living Coach who specializes in inspiring and encouraging those who are downshifting or otherwise moving towards a more sustainable way of life. She offers one-to-one coaching, teleclasses in "How to step off the Treadmill" and a free email newsletter.