We often look around our world and want to do some things differently…

Overconsumption, waste, climate change, poverty, lack of consciousness… the list can go on and on with the problems in our world that need to be addressed.  We keep hearing about the ills, but not often about the success stories.  Personally, I believe that to address the ills, we also need the stories and models from those who are making efforts to make a difference.  While we are never going to be “perfect” and address everything and I am sure there are many who will judge the efforts, I want to honour the people, organizations, and energies that are coming together to do things differently in order to co-create a world we all want to live in.

That said, I had a lovely experience and awareness today that I wanted to share…

It all happened in Vancouver, BC, Canada when my husband graciously took me birthday shopping to buy a special pen to support the writing of my book, Regeneration: Beyond Sustainability.  We went to a small local shop called, “The Vancouver Pen Shop” and were served by knowledgable, caring, and engaging people who took the time to learn about us and ensure to meet our needs.  I would highly recommend them.  As we were finishing up and I was feeling blessed about the wonderful gift of the experience and the lovely pen that my husband was gifting me, we were asked about our work.  When we mentioned that we cared about the environment and were focused on enabling social change agents, we were told about a very cool thing that Caran d’Ache and Nespresso were doing.

Now, let me back track a little…

How many of us LOVE a good cup of coffee?  How many of us also don’t want to bring waste into the world but STILL love a good cup of coffee?  I have avoided some good cups of coffee and some of the new machines that make individual cups of coffee because of the excess packaging involved.  I didn’t realize that anyone was doing anything about this issue, but apparently there is.

Caran D’Ache, a company over 100 years old and located in Geneva focusing on writing and drawing instruments, has always “attached great importance to the preservation of nature and its resources”.  They created a partnership with another Swiss company, Nespresso, to use the recycled aluminum packaging of its coffee packages to create pens.  Who would have thought that one up?  (I wish I knew as I would mention them here…)  What I love is that they are thinking differently and creatively.

To address our global issues, we have the opportunity to form partnerships with people and organizations that we wouldn’t have before, we have the opportunity to be creative and innovative, we have the opportunity to take advantage of opportunities that we didn’t originally think about.  We have the opportunity.

This is just a small sample of what is possible and I love that we have so many options of possibility now.   We would love to hear your examples of people and organizations and groups and communities who/that are doing things differently and taking steps to ensure enhanced living for us now.  Please share the new ways that are happening to make a positive difference in our world.

 

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