Holly Kauffman, Congressman Inslee, Jessica Switzer and Felix Kramer

If Kennedy could put a man on the moon in 10 years, we can transition our energy dependence off of coal and oil.

Last night at a private home in Menlo Park I had a chance to meet Congressman Inslee, one of the few voices brave enough to champion clean energy and the benefits of a clean energy economy . Inslee’s book, Apollo’s Fire, calls for a Kennedy-scale goal for our energy challenge.  Just as Kennedy challenged the country to put a man on the moon in 10 years, he thinks we can and must address a nationwide transition to a clean energy economy.

Congressman Inslee is a rare breed- a well-intended politician trying to fight the good fight. He thinks he can win the Governor’s seat, and I hope he’s right. I don’t hear anyone else sticking their neck out for energy alternatives on the same scale. Plus we had a Switzer Foundation Fellow, Holmes Hummel, working with his group on energy policy, and she’s one of the best policy analysts i know on energy. OK, she’s the ONLY one i know…but God is she smart. See her in action: http://www.govenergy.com/2010/Workshop/Presentations/HolmesHummel.aspx

You can be a BayLEAF too.

Ran into our friend, Cal Cars founder Felix Kramer, who told me about others of our kind: Nissan Leaf owners (I guess we are called BayLeafs’).  I carpooled down with my pal Holly Kauffman-an extraordinary environmental advocate, world-changer, and fellow-mom. Fellow or wanna-be BayLeafs can check out this little clique at: http://www.sfbayleafs.org/

At the crux of it all on the entertainment side, as the Wall Street Journal recently described, was the messaging problem on behalf of the entertainment industry – something admitted to even by the lobbyists themselves.  Why? Maybe in part because the RIAA and MPAA relied on a message of American jobs; and how this put American innovation at risk – a message that, as it turns out, didn’t pull the public heartstrings or extend so far as to draw sympathy to those with a reputation for squeezing profits from artists and suing single moms millions for filesharing.

The original SOPA ad:

Over the last two years, the RIAA and MPAA have had their sights on something like this, putting millions into traditional beltway PR: lobbyists, press releases, status quo, looking to Internet control as a jobs issue, some wedge to give better copyright control.

The entertainment industry put $279.5 million into beltway lobbying- piddly compared with the Silicon Valley crowd, who put in $29.3m over the same period.  For all that effort they may have courted their D.C. influencers, but that support didn’t help against a surging public outcry.

What took them years to build up, the web-based grassroots movement fought against in a matter of days with an outpouring of information and opinion on the same medium that they defended – through YouTube videos, Net celebrities, and email campaigns.  Instead of “jobs”, the opposition spoke of liberty, freedom of expression, and even a concern for the security of the Internet itself.  These messages are both universal and extremely personal – ones in which nearly everyone has some stake.

As a result, 13 million people participated in the protest on the 18th. 50,000 websites went dark. Congress received 3 million emails concerning SOPA and the loss of Internet freedoms.  A tremendous outpouring of support that ultimately helped break the momentum behind the bill.

Rather than an acknowledgement of their miscalculation, the industry complained that that they lacked a big enough mouthpiece and couldn’t control the communications cycle (a spooky complaint coming from the incumbent owners of broadcast media and distribution, one that sounds an awful lot like a push for censorship).

The next battle is already heating up, and I’ll be watching to see whether ACTA supporters recalculate, or pursue PR as usual.

What an honor to be invited as guests of Arizona State University’s Global Institute of Sustainability to the most advanced, energy efficient space for humans of any government building designed yet. The new NASA base, co-designed by William McDonough+ Partners, will support just over 200+ scientists studying earth-climate models, as well as a group of scientists for the Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA), an airborne observatory housed inside a 747, one of the most advanced astronomy studies underway.

The event was so top secret we can’t name attendees, but if you look closely you might recognize a few  of the most important names in sustainability design and leadership today.

95% of the building’s energy is sourced from renewables- solar, wind and on-site geothermal pumps. The site-specific location is incredible, with tons of natural light that follows the sun’s arc (only 40 days of the year will even require artificial light) and the ability for the ‘earth astronauts’ (I love calling them that!) to adjust the air/heat to their own individual comfort level.  I won’t steal my team’s thunder, so many more details will be announced soon, and a dedication ceremony is in the works.

For more on this spectacular achievement, please take a look at the NASA Ames Sustainability Base: http://www.nasa.gov/externalflash/sustainability-base/

Last weekend 2,500 Very-Serious-About-Sustainability-People (can we call ourselves ‘VSASPs’?) came together in Portland for the 2011 Net Impact Conference. About 100 conference participants came to listen to our panel ‘Marketing for Good: Creating a Career with Impact,’ which was tailored to give budding marketing and communications professionals insight into how to use their skill set to create positive local and global change. Our moderator, Jenifer Morgan, is the super-smart, well-written and well-spoken Digital Editor of the Stanford Social Innovation Review. Hopefully I, along with the rest of the panelists, didn’t scare anyone off because this was our career unrobed – the full Monty of Marketing!

I was there on behalf Blue Practice, representing the studio-sized agency’s perspective on the topic, and was joined by new friends Neha Gupta of the Community Housing Partnership and Rob Kaplan of Brown-Forman Corporation.  Jenifer’s questions were marvelous, full of spice, and went something like:

Jenifer) If you could go back in time and meet your younger self, what would you tell him/her?? What should you have known?

Jessica) First, it is all about who you know. My advice is to cultivate a personal network and get to know people who are important to your business, industry, professional growth, etc. It’s these people who have helped me in my successes, as clients, as co-workers, as advisors, as sources of inspiration, advice and…new business! Second, ASK FOR WHAT YOU WANT. Don’t be shy or embarrassed to be very explicit in asking for support or help especially. And most importantly, work the two together. I wish I had figured this out earlier in my career. Years into a technology PR career, I was wondering out loud with Chris Shipley, who was then running the DEMO conference, what a girl had to do to get an invitation to the invite-only AGENDA technology conference, the ‘big deal’ conference in the tech sector. ‘Send me an email and you’re in!’ Chris said. So that was my ‘aha’ moment when I realized how important it is to ASK for things and not wait to be invited.

Other stories from the trenches included:

Jenifer) Your most surprising moment career-wise

Jessica) Getting fired from Tesla Motors and being escorted to the parking lot, and

Jenifer) What prepared you best for your current career?

Jessica) Hmm…I don’t know, growing up on a farm I guess…

(along with other more serious and meaty career pearls of wisdom)

All in all, Net Impact was a great opportunity to interact with both established do-gooding professionals and with a new generation of emerging social architects.  I was truly impressed with how savvy the attendees were and was left inspired and hopeful of what these many young change-makers will accomplish.

It takes courage, as a company, to stand up and lead towards a different way of doing business. At Blue Practice we are lucky enough to represent the kinds of change-makers that are willing to take that first step, and for that we are incredibly thankful!

For these and many more reasons, it was an inspiring week at Greenbuild 2011 when Blue Practice client Construction Specialties (C/S) unveiled the building industry’s first-ever ingredient label for building materials. C/S teamed up with leading design firm Perkins+Will to develop the label, which details the complete make-up of a product, highlighting critical lifecycle information and potential human health impacts. This intensive effort, launched at Greenbuild 2011 in Toronto, Canada, is a collaborative step toward market transformation through increased disclosure on the part of building product manufacturers.

As the industry stands now, no disclosure on the part of building product manufacturers is necessary regarding the chemicals and ingredients in products. However, with this label, C/S and Perkins+Will hope to transform the market and nudge it towards more transparency around the make-up of the materials that surround us every day. The EPA estimates that Americans now spend about 90 percent or more of their time indoors and so we are increasingly exposed to the chemicals in these products. If more companies disclose what is in their products, everyone who touches the product, from the architect / specifier to the person who is charged with removing the product at the end of its life will be able to make more informed decisions.

While there is a vulnerability that comes with being first, C/S believes there is a business case for offering the world the ingredient and product information they obtained through the Cradle to Cradle certification process. Their Cradle to Cradle Certified(CM) Entrance Flooring product Pedisystems PediTred® G4 has the distinction of being the first product to carry this historic label. The company plans to attach similarly designed labels to other entrance flooring products as well in the belief that C/S customers will value this information. Competitors may have new insight into C/S’ leading products’, but that is the price the company is willing to pay to lead the way forward towards a more transparent and healthy industry.

Leading also has it’s benefits. Blue Practice was able to secure some wonderfully in-depth and rich coverage for the company. No one could deserve it more. Please read on for the clips here:

Fast Company: http://www.fastcompany.com/1784776/a-nutrition-label-for-building-products
Huffington Post: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/andy-mannle/new-ingredient-label-for-_b_995254.html
Forbes: http://www.forbes.com/sites/toddwoody/2011/10/05/new-label-to-promote-green-building-materials/
Contract Magazine: http://www.contractdesign.com/contract/PerkinsWill-Constr-6192.shtml
Inhabitat: http://inhabitat.com/top-green-products-found-at-greenbuild-2011-in-toronto/
Green Source: http://greensource.construction.com/blogs/thegreensource.asp
GreenBiz: http://www.greenbiz.com/blog/2011/10/11/nutritional-label-building-materials-other-tools-transparency

Here at the shop, we recently put to bed a content development and management project on behalf of a client.  Here’s the story.

Impec Group, a green facilities management firm, wanted to completely rebrand themselves in a narrow six-week window before a major industry trade show. As part of a rebranding team, Blue Practice was brought on to create web and marketing collateral to ready the new Impec site for the show. We had about a month to create all the written content for two-dozen web pages, three customer case studies and a brochure with three separate sales inserts.

We rolled up our collective sleeves and got to work by first developing a very aggressive timeline and coordinating with Impec and the other stakeholders on the project. To help speed our execution, we scaled from content generation to project management, quickly grasping that all the involved participants needed a voice in the final content. In addition to managing edit rounds, we ensured the project’s success by coordinating activities with Impec and our very talented marketing partners Crowded Ocean in the rebranding campaign.

The website and brochures were completed ahead of schedule and were well received. Many of Impec’s current and former customers complimented them on the professional and “big player” look and feel of the marketing materials. Impec also generated several new business leads at the show and credited the rebranding effort as a big part of that success.

Looking back, we’re very pleased with the new look and feel for Impec, and are proud to have been a part of this important milestone in their company’s history!

Tim introduces Mayor Lee at Greenstart

Yesterday was a tremendously exciting day for us, as we got to help kick off the Greenstart program – the first accelerator program dedicated to cleantech.  There was a packed house at the company’s new office at 22 Battery St., and we were especially thrilled that San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee came out to help us cut the ribbon.

Greenstart supports fast cleantech companies – startups that can generate revenue in 6 months or less – with mentorship, resources and introductions to capital investors.  In an industry that’s so often filled with long-term and cap-heavy investments, working with a group that’s as impatient as we are to get cleantech off the ground is incredibly fulfilling.

We not only got to kick off the program, but officially introduce the first four companies to join the accelerator: SmarterShade, a proprietary technology for smart glass that allows varying levels of light to enter through a window based on user controls; Sylvatex, maker of SmartFuel, a cost-saving, renewable diesel fuel; Tenrehte Technologies, maker of PICOwatt, a WiFi enabled smart plug designed to address the real‐time energy monitoring and control market; and Wa.tt, a free energy monitoring tool that brings together information from multiple energy accounts, automatically categorizes energy transactions, and helps manage energy use.

Already we’ve had a tremendous outpouring of attention to the event, here’s just a sample of the coverage that hit simultaneous to our event:

A New Cleantech Accelerator, Greenstart, Reveals its Inaugural Class
By Ariel Schwartz
For Fast Company

Ex-Automotive Executives Select Start-Ups for Green Incubator
By Josie Garthwaite
For New York Times

Incubator Provides a New Boost for Clean Tech Startups
By Sarah Laskow
For Good Magazine

Greenstart will make you wish you had a cleantech startup
By Matt Lynley
For VentureBeat

Clean-tech ‘accelerator’ Greenstart opens in S.F.
By Carolyn Said
For the San Francisco Chronicle

The office itself is really beautiful, and our friend Kimberly Rider did a fantastic job with the interior.  It features:

• Newly manufactured sustainable products The lobby entry floors are American Naturals collection of glazed porcelain tiles produced with Dynamic HD Imaging for a rustic look. The tiles are made with 71% recycled content and are GREENGUARD certified to be low-emitting. The main space flooring is made with Enviro-Cork, an environmentally-friendly choice for flooring, as cork renews after it is harvested from the tree. When harvested correctly, the Cork Oak tree is left completely unharmed in the harvesting process. Herman Miller SAYL Task Chairs (slated to arrive in October) are Cradle to Cradle CertifiedCM Silver and 93% recyclable.
• Vintage furnishings salvaged materials The Greenstart office was furnished with a specific focus on vintage furnishing and salvaged materials. The desks and conference tables are custom-made locally by Kevin Slagle Design Build in Oakland. The desks were made from fallen Redwood trees from property in Piedmont and the conference tables were made with White Oak from reclaimed sources. Furniture in the office is almost entirely vintage, breathing a second life into items that may have otherwise been destined for landfill.
• Energy efficiency The office boasts Energy Star appliances as well as energy efficient LED lighting.
• Indoor Air Quality The interior walls were painted with low-VOC paint from Kelly Moore and all desks and conference tables were stained and sealed with zero-VOC stains and finishes. The Herman Miller SAYL Task Chairs (slated to arrive in October) also produce zero air emissions (VOCs).

Mayor Lee cuts the ribbon

Who knew life with the new, Blue Practice Nissan Leaf could be this fun? Nerd that i am, I can set my car to charge with the snazzy little Nissan Leaf app on my phone. AND check the status of the charge from bed at midnight, which I am ashamed to admit I have done several times. And I have been DRIVING lots, since it feels good to drive with no tailpipe spewing anything.

EVOLVELECTRIC, who installed the new 250v nifty, new Clipper Creek charging station came by to take a few celebratory shots. Their charger is working out great. And it’s right next to the smart meter boasting Silver Spring Networks technology just makes me feel like giving the LEAF a hug every morning.

Words can’t begin to describe the feeling of leaving my dealer Claudio behind after several hours of excited instruction on how to charge and plan trips at Serramonte Nissan, and pulling onto the freeway in the brand-spanking new Blue Practice LEAF. No gas, not exhaust, no tailpipe. I could not help getting teary-eyed and thinking “Big Oil you can kiss my ass!”  I LOVE the LEAF!!  I have never felt this good about a car. Here’s how you can be sure it is a great car:

• Soon-to-drive 15 year old thinks it’s cool
• 13-year old daughter did a double-fisted flip the bird now as we drive by Chevron or Shell (mom prevailed and we had to nip that in the bud)
• Seeing the look on someone’s face when they push the pedal down and we take off–quietly…and um…torqued out and quickly…
• I look forward to the fun, japanese-esque jingle it plays when i turn it on
• I can charge it from my Nissan LEAF iphone app
• With my 240v EVOLVEELECTRIC charger,  the PLUGSHARE community can come to my house and charge up!