Amy Robinson presented an overview of LoCo BC, a new business network working to create a diverse, vibrant local economy by strengthening small and mid-sized businesses, connecting and having fun in the process.

As well as Amy’s presentation, Kierstin De West of Conscientious Innovation (Ci) presented info on her company’s latest research intelligence in the area of local and sustainability, and just why it’s such a hot-button right now.  And I was there to talk about digital media and how best to use it as part of business plan.  Kierstin’s presentation is here,  and I’ll post my presentations in a couple of days.

Since I was there as a guest speaker, I’ve put together a screen-cast of Amy’s  presentation here.

Further down the page you can just grab the audio version, or the PDF (or all three !)

Here’s the screencast of  Amy’s presentation, which will give you a good picture of what LoCo BC is all about, and you should email her after you’ve watched/listened to it  because I’m sure you’ll want to get involved…

Podcast: If you’d rather just listen to the podcast, it’s here:

Runs:  15:45
ISBN: 978-1-926758-04-6

If you’d rather get it on iTunes, here’s the direct link.

PDF: And here’s a copy of Amy’s presentation in PDF format.

Podcast and video licensed under Creative Commons license: Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 2.5 Canada

It’s been great working with the gang at biovia this spring.

Today we (Bigsnit Media) launched their new website…

biovia is a Vancouver-based wholesale distributor specializing in local + organic produce including fruit, vegetables, herbs, micro and leafy field greens and eggs. We deliver to the foodservice industry throughout the Vancouver, sea to sky corridor and Whistler regions. We place the highest priority on purchasing locally.

The idea is for the biovia team to manage the site themselves, so the site is built using WordPress as the CMS, with Slide Show Pro handling the flash banners on the home page.

This is the first phase of an on-going online project with biovia and I’m looking forward to seeing how things unfold. They’re the nicest people.

With any luck they’ll let me ride in the truck one day.

cross posted at blog.bigsnit.com

Reservations highly recommended. Don’t forget you can book online for many participating restaurants:

Link to Tourism Vancouver listings of participating restaurants.

- confirm if your restaurant is part of the green table network.

More than a million twinkling lights transform the forest, train and Children’s Farmyard. Explore the woodland paths leading to enchanting, animated displays and holiday sounds. A Christmas family tradition for over 20 years, the train wends its way through the forest past Santa’s workshop, an international village and the much loved Moose in the middle of the glistening waterway.

3:00 to 10:00 pm Daily until Jan 3rd. (closed Christmas Day)
See the Parks Board website for ticket details

Finding environmentally friendly cleaning products is a big challenge around our house.

Vancouver entrepreneur Munu Hicken-Gaberria is hoping to solve this challenge with his new eco-friendly line of products called Live For Tomorrow.

They include laundry detergent and fabric softer for home and commercial use.

His approach goes even further than finding eco-friendly chemical mixtures – the household use products are sold in re-usable glass containers.

Munu’s also grounding his products on local production model – so while he does have to source some of his base ingredients outside of BC, the final product is created here, to reduce shipping.

LFT products are now carried in a variety of stores in Vancouver and Fort Langley.

I spoke with Munu in June, just as he was taking his idea to local retailers…

Resources:
Live for Tomorrow web site
Munu Hicken-Gaberria’s bio (pdf)

Quick facts about LFT products:

• are manufactured and distributed locally
• incorporate ‘recycleability’ in as many components of the product design
• factor in ‘re-usability’ into the maximum number of product components
• bio-degradable
• follow sustainable best practice in the sourcing and manufacturing of products
• are available in unscented formulations, and are sensitive and safe for use by individuals with sensitive skin conditions
• are free of animal testing

Podcast details:

Runs: 10:09
Munu Hicken-Gaberria, president and CEO of LFT Group Brands Ltd.
Interviewed by Robert Ouimet, June 2008, Pt. Moody BC

ISBN: 978-0-9809054-8-9

Copyright 2008, Bigsnit Media Consulting Inc.
Rebroadcast with permission only. Contact info@bigsnit.com

OK. So you are not willing to give up your sushi. I completely understand. Pod Mob has emerged as solution. A group of your environmentally-focused neighbours have rallied around the task of convincing a West End Vancouver sushi restaurant to go green. Here’s the criteria:

* At least ONE Ocean Wise certified item on the menu
* At least ONE Green Table practice in place in the restaurant (composting, recycling, energy reduction, etc.)
* Ocean Wise labeling in the restaurant
* The highest bid to commit their one day Pod Mob revenue towards greening their business further.

Emily from www.3rdwhale.com, is finding out which restaurant is up for the challenge. Once the winner is announced, it is up to ALL of us Vancouverites to show up and support the restaurant’s incredible efforts to go green. Mark your calendar to eat sushi on November 20th, you’ll see some direct sustainable dividends.

… drum roll… and the winner is SUSHI BENTO EXPRESS! They are located at 1258 Robson Street between Jervis and Bute Street. They’ve committed 31% of revenue from November 20th towards offering sustainable options on their menu and to greening their restaurant!

click here to find out more about Emily.

check out Monterey Bay Aquarium’s new sushi guide.

But even if you’re not in the restaurant business, he guide provides a lot of interesting information about what’s out there and available right now. While most home-owners probably don’t need the kind of quantities a restaurant requires, in some cases, it might even make sense to get together with neighbours to buy.

In any event, the Green Guide is only available for download until the end of February, so you might want to grab a copy. The eco-friendly PDF is on the Green Table web site – here’s the direct link.