Archive for the ‘Rose Thornton posts’ Category

Nonprofit vs. for profit:
a civilized debate

Saturday, November 28th, 2009

Twice in the last week, I’ve asked for advice on where to turn for startup funding for ReGeneration Productions, LLC, the production company bringing you Mission: Sustainable. Twice, I’ve gotten the same answer: “Go nonprofit; it opens up a world of grants!”

Each time I hear this, I pause to reconsider and come to the same conclusion: Why shouldn’t organizations committed to passion over profit have a larger share of capitalist pie? Why should all do-gooders participate in commerce in separate sphere, guided by special rules and prescriptions? And lastly, call it semantics, but I’ve got a beef with using the phrase “nonprofit” to describe all of these wonderful organizations that have great potential for income. Something about the very wording seems to emasculate a corporation.

Environmentalists are spending a LOT of energy explaining to for-profit companies why they need to build concerns for environmental and social responsibility into their existing profit equations. Books like Natural Capitalism and Cradle to Cradle share roadmaps on how companies should turn a profit in a less resource-intensive way. The trend is to push, coddle, protest, boycott, and embarrass existing companies into good behavior, when maybe it’s time to pour some of that energy into supporting new companies that “get it” from the beginning. Arguably, it’s the same logic as mandating sustainability education for children who will be tomorrow’s leaders. It’s about investing in the leaders of tomorrow today.

I’d like to hear what other folks have to say about the nonprofit vs. for-profit debate. I’m open to rethinking my logic, so let me hear from you: What are the pros and cons in your view?

Yours in business,

Rose

[Images courtesy of http://savantcreativegroup.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/06/money_plant.jpg and http://www.ebooknetworking.com/books/086/547/big0865475873.jpg]

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Aunt Thelma’s pistachio pudding
and other green holiday ideas

Saturday, November 7th, 2009

Living without a car means that I end up walking a lot. I’d like to say that I’m a hardcore walker who minds neither rain nor wind, but I’m a sucker who often ends up walking through Northgate Mall on my way home to avoid several blocks worth of wet socks.

Last week, before Halloween, I was strolling through the mall to avoid the weather, dodging salespeople offering everything from cell phone plans to glittery pony-tail extensions. As I looked anywhere but into the salespeople’s eyes, I noticed that I was surrounded.

No, not by artificial hair extensions. By Christmas decorations. christmas decore chooyutshing (away)Yes, the week BEFORE Halloween. If you’re anything like me (that is to say scornful of anything Christmas before December), you may wonder why I’m tackling a topic like holiday shopping now. And you’d be right. But my excursions through Northgate Mall have told me that this blog entry isn’t early at all — it’s right on time.

Last year, I didn’t give physical presents. If you’d asked me why a year ago, I’d have smooth-talked about the importance of not falling into the consumer mentality of “buy, buy, buy” that’s taxing the earth’s natural resources. Actually, I plain old put off shopping till it was literally too late. Ooops! I didn’t even make up cards. On Christmas morning, I started a new tradition out of necessity. I stood up and SPOKE my presents.

“Mom, this spoken coupon is good for dinner and a play with yours truly.”

“Dad, this spoken coupon is good for dinner and a concert with yours truly.”

“Teresa (sister) this spoken coupon, if we can remember it, is good for a fashion consultation with … yours truly.”

Sure, at the time I was just hastily fulfilling the tradition of gifts, but I have to say, the spoken coupons weren’t forgotten, and they turned into the best holiday gifts ever.

Mom and I had dinner at an Indian restaurant on The Ave and attended a University of Washington School of Drama play that she directed when she herself was a masters student at UW many years ago.

Dad and I went to happy hour at Sazerac in downtown Seattle and then to Benaroya, not for a concert, but to hear Ken Burns speak about his new documentary, The National Parks: America’s Best Idea and preview clips. We’d visited most of the parks from the documentary over the course of many happy family camping trips in years past.

And my little sister didn’t let me forget the fashion consultation, which took place before she left for freshman year of college out of state. I’d like to think that the purchases we made together helped her bring a little bit of Seattle and her sister’s love with her to school.

So, my challenge to you is:

1)      Don’t start thinking about December holidays before Thanksgiving.

2)      When you can’t put off the holiday any longer, think about giving a shared experience, rather than a physical gift. I think you’ll find yourself having less impact on the planet and more impact on your loved ones’ hearts.

[Photo courtesy of Flickr user chooyutshing (away): http://www.flickr.com/photos/25802865@N08/3101867576/]

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Rum balls to the rescue!

Saturday, October 17th, 2009
A tasty sampler of Purple House Dirt goodies...

A tasty sampler of Purple House Dirt goodies...

Are you ever tempted to believe that things happen for a reason? I know I am, but the following sequence of events made me throw up my hands—see if you can help figure this one out…

If you’re reading this blog, you’re probably familiar with ReGeneration Productions and Mission: Sustainable. The entire cast and crew is offering up their time and talents in order to push forward sustainability education—a worthy goal, I’d say. So why did the sky fall down right before the first film shoot?

Tuesday afternoon I was crashing fast. I tried to keep my sluggish mind on the tasks at hand—oiling the cogs of bureaucracy at my day job as a government agent (technically speaking, as an assistant for King County’s environmental grants program). I knew the cogs wouldn’t oil themselves, but I went home early, exhausted. 

Wednesday I couldn’t get out of bed—perhaps some of you have experienced this cold that’s going around? It’s a 2-3 week head cold that leaves the sinuses begging for mercy, interlaced with lack of appetite, bouts of dizziness, and hot and cold flashes. Not fun.

Friday, on the eve of our first pilot shoot, I was still feeling sick and tired, but diligently waited for a call from the director and videographer who were picking up our rental equipment. The call came, but instead of “We’re on our way back for the production meeting,” what I heard was “We’ve got a problem.”

A rental problem.

The skinny was that there wouldn’t be any equipment this weekend, not unless we wanted to shoot without a Hi-Def camera. With a dreadful weather forecast for the weekend to dampen our spirits even further, we decided to delay the shoot. The next two hours of Friday night I spent on the phone, my sore throat getting hoarser and hoarser as I explained to the entire cast and crew that the shoot would be postponed until the following weekend. We decided to pull everyone together for a meeting the next day, to take advantage of the extra time to prepare and bond as a group.

My friend Maddie came over early on Saturday to help prepare lunch for the large group coming to meet at noon. Halfway to the grocery store, in the pouring rain, something caught my eye—a flash a motion coming way to fast. Without time to think, we heard the crash of metal and were forced into a neck-jarring spin and landed on the sidewalk. I’m not one easily overcome by a shock, so I turned to Maddie, asked if she was alright and said “Well, the seat belts worked the way they’re supposed to…”

Forty-five minutes later the assisting police officer told us that the other car had been unable to stop at their stop sign due to the amount of water on the road. By then, the adrenaline had worn off and both of our necks were aching. No time to dwell though, we drove the wobbly car to the grocery store, made it back home, and cooked a gourmet meal, thumbing out noses at the fates.

Despite the preceding stress, the cast and crew meeting was going very well. I was still feeling overwhelmed by the weather, the illness, the crash, and the general franticness of last 24 hours, but things were starting to look up. And then it happened.

The heavens parted and an enormous cookie tray, donated by Jenny Richards of http://purplehousedirt.com, came to rest on the table in front of me and the world started turning smoothly again. Fifteen people sat forward and started tasting; a cacophony of muffled moans filled the room. Cherry almond bars, ginger snaps (“These are the best ginger snaps I’ve ever tasted” said chef Becky Selengut), lemon ginger wafers, white chocolate macadamia nut cookies, and the denouement, chocolate covered rum balls, which, honest to God, made me forget where I was and what I was doing for a couple of seconds.

After that, I stopped asking why all the drama of the last week plagued our efforts. S*** happens. But so do rum balls. And I guess they even each other out at the end of the day.

Anyway, our film shoot starts for real tomorrow morning, and I can’t wait to tell you all about it.

Rose Thornton, Producer

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The other side of the camera

Saturday, September 12th, 2009

“I’ve got snacks…. and here, have a beer,” said Jon at this week’s production meeting as Anthony, our brand new filmographer, set up camera, lights, and ran a sound check. I was enjoying working together–the three of us forming a team–for the first time. In fact, as I popped grapes in my mouth, I could almost pretend that the impending humiliation wasn’t coming. Oh well, I thought, glancing at my comrades, I signed myself up for this….

You see, dear reader,  I was about to sit on the other side of the camera.

Over the last few months of being a producer, I’ve calmly sat behind the camera on dozens of occasions while the personalities do all the real work–the work that you’ll actually see. It’s pretty comfortable behind the camera. I said as much to Jon and he said, “I know…. Cheers, drink up, it’ll help.”

A few hasty sips later I was sitting with two lights shining in my eyes, a reflector held right in front of me, a microphone tucked into my sweater,  and a camera in my face. I gotta give the cast credit–being articulate with so much going on is NOT a walk in the park.  And I was struck by how ironic it is that often, when I’m trying to fall asleep, my mind is cruising at full speed, but when I want to speak on camera, it goes so completely, traitorously blank!

Sometime late next week or the following, videos of me and Jon talking about how Mission: Sustainable was born will be available next to our bios on the About page of the website. If you check them out, remember this…. sometimes sustainability is easier to swallow with a local microbrew.

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Continued….

Sunday, August 30th, 2009

25, 75, 150, 500….the numbers kept climbing. Why on earth was I pulling up what seemed like 20 cigarette butts per square inch during the beach cleanup? Someone else in the volunteer group voiced my question.

“Don’t lose count,” said the group leader, “We need to track how many we pull up so we can tell the legislature to do something about it. When Los Angeles was designed, all the city’s stormwater was channeled right into ocean here; the folks who designed this city weren’t thinking ahead and look at the effect it’s had on this beach.”

Thinking ahead about cities….to say that that struck me as important would be an understatement. I was hit by the realization that I was in the wrong place studying the wrong thing. Suddenly I was telling my beloved costume design professors adios and buying a one way ticket back to Seattle.

Two of the most stimulating years (so far) of my life were spent studying how to design cities, societies, and personal  lifestyles more sustainably. Some of my first and fondest memories as a double major in Community, Environment, and Planning and Environmental Studies are from my Sustainable Business class.

The professor, Martin Westerman, asked me to read a book called Cradle to Cradle and I can promise you, when ReGeneration Productions/Mission: Sustainable has a book club, that’ll be first on the reading list. The authors, like Martin (now cast as our Business Consultant), can make you see so clearly that going green is an obvious economic decision when you learn to quantify nature’s services properly.  A favorite quote of Martin’s was “If you woke up tomorrow morning and found that you couldn’t breathe, how much would you pay for air?”

With a college education, a few stellar internships (with Synergy Design Studio and the Duwamish River Cleanup Coalition), and some solid advice from Environmental Educator David Orr (”Find your calling before you choose a career,”) I set out to communicate the ideals and practice of urban sustainability.

Which brings us to this moment as I’m sitting in my room, trying to explain how Mission: Sustainable was born. I asked myself, what is the most efficient way to communicate? Arguable TV and internet. And what’s hottest on TV? Arguably reality television. So here I am, a few years and a few thousand miles from that beach in California, but finally ready to blaze a new trail and do something about it. This show will help all its viewers make a difference. I hope you’ll join me and my team for this journey!

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Northwest Profile #22:
Young enviro idealist

Sunday, July 5th, 2009

I’m a lot like you…a little different. 

Environus Idealius

Environus Idealius

(Believe it or not, that shot’s actually candid–my boss found it online the day after an EPA Climate Change Rally. Thank you, Anonymous Photographer, for showing me what I’ve become.)

Presumably,  someday magazines from all over the world will be asking the same question: “What made you decide to drop most everything and begin making television–something you had almost no background in?” As the cameras flash around me, I’ll gracefully dismount my bicycle and say…”Fellas, it’s a long story.” Okay, so maybe that was my dream last night, but it could happen……. right? 

Regardless…

Raised by a scientist father and religious leader mother, I quickly learned that in this life, you can’t take much for granted. Though at times maddening to listen to the same well-worn daily dinnertime debates about the fundamental nature of the universe and the meaning of life, I learned something that I cherish to this day. The Big Picture matters. If I didn’t care about the big picture, I, personally, would have a heck of a time making my personal lifestyle choices with the world’s ecosystems in mind.

I went to the private, Catholic, all girls (!) Holy Names Academy (”THE choice for Seattle’s young women”.) Most of the girls I ate lunch with were carrying above a 4.0 GPA, were valedictorians, and were headed off the continue their Educations with a capital E, that rhymes with P, that stands for Ph. D. I’d always enjoyed school, but what I really wanted was to design costumes for the theatre. USC gave me the only out-of-state financial package we could afford, so about 4 years ago I found myself in Los Angeles, studying theatrical costume design in what might be the least enviro city in the country. 

But I wouldn’t be where I am today if it weren’t for Los Angeles.

To be continued….

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Casting call!

Monday, June 29th, 2009

Please join us for auditions for the pilot of Mission: Sustainable, Seattle’s first sustainability makeover show!

All materials and concepts for “Mission: Sustainable” (c) 2009 by Rose Thornton

Location: The meeting room of the Greenwood Branch of Seattle Public Library

Date/Time: Monday, July 6, 2009 between 5:45 P.M. and 7:45 P.M.

Roles:
  • Host
  • Green Transportation Consultant
  • Green Chef/Food Consultant
  • Green Interior Home Consultant
  • Green Exterior Home Consultant
  • Home Efficiency Consultant
  • Green Landscaping Consultant
  • Pacific Northwest Outdoors Consultant
  • Green Personal Care Consultant
  • Green Technology Expert

Please contact me soon to claim your 10 minute slot. You may audition for more than one role.

Come prepared with: the role(s) you wish to audition for; a brief description of your background that has prepared you to act as a consultant; and a 2 – 4 minute description of how to “make-over” a lifestyle choice in your area of expertise. If you are auditioning for host, prepare a 2 – 4 minute description of the concept of the carbon footprint.

Rose Thornton

ReGeneration Productions, LLC
Communicating the ideals and practice of urban sustainabilty
www.regenerationproductionsllc.com
206-335-5370
rose.c.thornton@gmail.com

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