Marketing the Environment
From 6th-8th grade, I devoured "State of the Environment" type books. If I could have figured out a way to save the environment and make a buck, that's the way my career would have went. Went I went to college, there wasn't really that option unless I wanted to be a Civil Engineer and design wastewater treatment plants. I actually took the "wastewater treatment" class in school and decided it wasn't quite for me. When I got into the workforce, I kinda got swept up in the internet. I don't think I'll get back to the environment until I figure out how to leverage the web to save the environment. But, in the meanwhile, I'm enjoying hanging out with some people that have figured out how to make money and save the earth at the same time.
Recently, a bunch of stuff has happened that kinda makes me think business is perking up to the fact that we can't keep consuming the earth like its resources are neverending.
Revitalized Whitinsville Mill Home to Alternative Use for Alternatives Unlimited, Inc.
by Bruce Mendelsohn, The Hired Pen
For more than 30 years, Dennis Rice has worked to fulfill a vision of community life for people with disabilities. The organization he leads, Alternatives Unlimited, Inc., creates opportunities for personal relationships to exist between Blackstone Valley communities and disabled people, connecting the two in meaningful and life-changing ways.
Alternatives operates 45 residential and employment programs for people with developmental and psychiatric disabilities throughout Central Massachusetts. Now under construction in Whitinsville, their new headquarters reflects Alternatives’ unique approach to building and bringing together diverse constituents.
Upon completion, Alternatives will transform Whitinsville’s 1826 Brick Mill Building into a cultural hub featuring a museum, performance spaces, galleries and working artisans. The “green” complex will generate 80% of its electrical power and 100% of its heating and cooling needs using solar, hydro and geothermal technologies.
On November 15, Mr. Rice discussed Alternative’s new headquarters with Beechwood Forum participants. “Like our mission,” he reflected, “this project establishes an inclusive community treasure that will attract people from all walks of life—the environmentalists, the historians, the art lovers, the restaurant goers (the facility is currently seeking a restaurant tenant), or even the person who’s going to eat a bag lunch on our riverfront community plaza.”
For more information and to view a humorous two minute movie about the project, visit www.alternativesnet.org. Mr. Rice encourages interested investors and potential donors to contact him at 800-325-6233.
This summary was written by Bruce Mendelsohn, Beechwood Forum member and Principal of The Hired Pen (www.the-hired-pen.com). The Hired Pen provides fast, effective communications solutions for businesses and organizations of all types and sizes.
Thanks to Dennis, Jay, Laura, Bruce and everyone else involved who's renewed my interest and certainly my hope that there are like-minded people out there that care about preserving the earth for our grandchildren.
If you'd like to meet some of these people face to face, see me speak, and learn how to use online networking to generate leads for your business, you can do all three by attending the Beechwood Forum tomorrow 1/23/07 at 3PM.
Register here. We can certainly talk about the environment too.