business | Beyond Suburbia | Making Sustainable Real!

“There goes another million dollar idea”

By Brian Skeele, on May 26th, 2011

In times of great change, the opportunities are endless. Maybe Confucius said it hundreds of years ago.  Definitely, I said it 20 seconds ago.

My friend Margo was telling me about her experience hanging out with a friend of hers.  Through the course of the conversation, seemingly ever half an hour, her friend would remark. “there goes another million dollar idea!” 

“The guy just sees opportunity everywhere!” Margo shared with me. “and ya know what’s weird, when I did a survey of business incubators around the state, several directors mentioned this phenomenon. About half of the people who came in, wanted to do something, be a part of something, but didn’t know what!”

As Margo is telling me this story the proverbial light bulb went off…. “Those people need each other!!”  Well, duh!!

This is the kind of connections a Think and Do Tank can create. As we jump into creating sustainable lifestyles, everybody can be an essential participant!

Today you’re clueless…”just give me something to do”, but to the person who is spewing out ideas, you are gold.  … READ MORE >>

A Think and Do Tank

By Brian Skeele, on May 24th, 2011

From where I stand, Innovation is the name of the game.

How can we create an atmosphere conducive to innovation to better support the emerging sustainable economy in …emerging??

I’m envisioning an affordable, interdisciplinary Think and Do Tank, an innovation lab. As I contemplate this “Center for Innovation’, I can see there are several ways it could be configured to serve each region’s needs. This Think and Do Tank could well have an online presence that facilitates innovation.  Today, I’m going to focus on “real world” applications.

Some businesses, such as Google, pay their employees every week to spend 20% of their time on endeavors outside their “normal” jobs. These pursuits end up generating something like 80% of the innovative products Google develops.

The Think and Do Tank could be this kind of an asset for our community;… READ MORE >>

Renovating Your Neighborhood Sustainable!

By Brian Skeele, on April 25th, 2011

Cooperation, Collaboration, a community based on common values…..Sounds so technical!  What if your neighborhood made choices like incorporating a swimming pool or a movie theater into the community??  The ownership structure could be by membership, a coop, or a private business.  The list of possible shared amenities and services is endless.

Transforming the American Dream

Maybe you’d like to down size in your neighborhood into a compound of casitas, small homes for seniors. Maybe your daughter would like more independence and yet would like to live nearby in one of the casitas. Maybe she has autism or maybe she’s changing careers.

The American Dream is morphing into community. We’re learning to work together to create a more abundant lifestyle, where we share more, own less, and have a higher quality of life, while living lighter on the planet.

What services and amenities would you like in your neighborhood? What would you like to give?

Share your ideas!!  together we can make sustainable real! As for the neighborhood theater?? I make the best popcorn in the world.

Image courtesy of Architectural Record

READ MORE >>

Transform the Burbs, one service at a time!

By Brian Skeele, on April 22nd, 2011

Imagine your neighborhood filled with home occupation services and businesses!

On Saturday, April 23, busloads of visitors are expected to descend upon Levittown for the unveiling of nine style renovations of local homes.

Turning Banks and Business on Their Heads

By Brian Skeele, on April 20th, 2011

Social Business. Whereas a charity dollar has one life, a social business dollar returns again and again, spreading the benefit of the social good. The poorest of the poor are lifting themselves up through entrepreneurism backed by a knowing of the unrealized human capacity that lies in each of us, all 6+ billion!

Nobel Peace Prize recipient Muhammad Yunus has created dynamic, successful businesses serving large populations that banks have thought were lost causes.

Watch this video. It shattered some of my preconceived ideas of the poor, and gives great heart to my dreams of sustainable neighborhoods spreading across the planet.

As we learn to work together, community collaborations with win-win-win solutions will transform our lives. Our institutions will transform, our neighborhoods will transform. We will make choices that are “good for people, good for the planet, and good for the polar bears!”

Together, we can make sustainable real!.. READ MORE >>

Creative, Affordable Healthcare

By Brian Skeele, on April 19th, 2011

What’s a sustainable lifestyle without affordable healthcare??? Just as we’re called upon to re-innovate our neighborhoods sustainable, so are we challenged to bring creativity to healthcare.

1st we create a healthy lifestyle! With a mixed use, mixed income community, we get a pedestrian centered way of life, where we walk to many of our daily tasks. The shorter commute and more affordable lifestyle makes for less stress. More exercise, less stress, means less need for healthcare over one’s lifespan. Just the act of living is preventative medicine!!!

Muhammad Yunus of Bangladesh, was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his innovation in creating micro-credit programs for poor women and now he’s bringing innovation in healthcare to impoverished women as well.

His program, Grameen Healthcare is designed for low-cost, affordable health services for all of Bangladesh, especially the lowest income women and children, and sustain these services thru social business. Whereas the program is 90% self supportive,  Yunus believes it will become completely self supportive!

“We are excited to support the Grameen Nurse Institute, a breakthrough social business model that could transform the health care industry by positioning girls as not just the beneficiaries of services, but the agents of future change,” said Lisa MacCallum, Managing Director of the Nike Foundation. “In our work so far at the Nike Foundation, we have learned that if you start with a girl, everyone else benefits: boys, women, men also. That’s the power of the girl effect.”

… READ MORE >>

Entrepreneurship-Innovation from here on out

By Brian Skeele, on March 20th, 2011

Collaboration!

Our times call for rapid prototyping social, economical, and ecological strategies so the emerging sustainable economy can….emerge! Many of the jobs being created from evolving technologies, don’t even exist yet. We are inventing the future as we travel forward.

Half of the hottest futurist jobs don’t even exist yet, according to Daniel Burrus, author of Technotrends and CEO of Burrus Research Associates. “We’re in the early stages of shifting gears into the e-society,” he says. “Virtually every part of an enterprise will be e-enabled, which includes connectivity, content, commerce, communication, collaboration, and community.”… READ MORE >>

Why own?… when you can Carshare!!

By Brian Skeele, on March 20th, 2011

Oh my God!  We can share stuff, even cars!

Sustainable living with a carshare!

Can you imagine, you can rent out your car by the hour??!! yep, human ingenuity strikes again. You probably have heard of Zipcars, and other private car share programs.  Well, another variation on the concept,  peer to peer car sharing,  is coming on line.  RelayRides in Boston claims their participating car owners can earn up to $8000 a year by renting out their cars.  With different Smartphone interfaces, integrated web cam configurations,  and insurance packages tailored to the club program,  a variety of business models have sprung up around the planet. … READ MORE >>