A New Paradigm: Sustainable and Profitable

A community-focused ‘industrious’ revolution is building around the country led by individuals taking the initiative to produce, manage and market sustainable businesses. The list of men and women who are chipping away at environmental degradation and revaluing this country’s huge inventory of discarded ‘stuff’ is ever growing.   Pacific Palisades resident Susan Neisloss is making her own commitment to the green revolution by introducing these creative individuals and their projects through Web-based videos. In simple three-minute segments, viewers learn and can’t help but be inspired by entrepreneurs whose enterprises are workable and profitable without depleting or degrading natural resources.   Some projects are born out of necessity, such as Home Grown Solutions, which helped Nicholas Cortez and neighbors who live in a poor community southeast of Phoenix learn how to grow their own food. In the midst of the recession, their one and only grocery store failed, so residents learned how to grow vegetables and raise chickens to sustain their families, and at that same time make a small profit by selling their bounty.   Other programs reflect the growing consciousness of people who understand that recycling, reconstituting and conserving our material abundance is not only efficient and resourceful but also profitable.   Hannah Hartnell presides over Hartnell, her dress design studio in Santa Monica, where her mantra is reuse (you can wear it again), recycle (the dress can be dressed down by removing embellishments), reversible (the dress can be turned inside out) and reducible (a long gown can be shorted).   Jean-Pierre and Elke Wolff follow sustainable farming practices on their 125-acre Wolff Vineyard in San Luis Obispo. Not only is their wine organic and free from pesticides and herbicides, but their cultivation and processing techniques follow traditional practices. Instead of using noisy cannons or missile shells, the Wolffs train falcons to chase away starlings, which would otherwise feast on the ripe harvest. They also deploy pheromone traps instead of pesticides to disrupt the mating scent of voracious mealy bugs.   Spencer Brown, of Costa Mesa, created the first earth-friendly moving company (Rent-A-Green-Box) using recycled plastic in the design and construction of lightweight, stackable moving boxes. The boxes are rented to people moving their belongings, delivered to the customer’s old home by trucks powered by vegetable oil, then picked up at the new home after they have served their purpose. This idea is not only sustainable but can cut moving costs in half. It was only a matter of time and circumstance before Neisloss launched Working for Green at the end of 2008. After a successful career as news anchor, producer, and bureau chief in New York City, she moved into public relations and corporate communications. Her company, Big Bite, specializes in media training and crisis communications. Returning to television in 2000, Neisloss created a new program for CBS, ‘What’s Right with Southern California,’ which, while short-lived, directed her back to what she liked to do.   ’I wanted to do stories in the vein of Charles Kuralt’s ‘On the Road’ on positive things in Southern California,’ Neisloss says.   The spark was her get-out-the-vote work for the 2008 election.   ’While I was manning the phones, I spoke with a woman from Virginia, who couldn’t keep a roof over her head,’ Neisloss says.   Her story was just one for the many Americans reeling from the shock of the national financial collapse and facing mortgage foreclosures and job losses. Many were turning to family and developing new ways to make a living and put food on the table.   ’The economy and the environment were colliding, and I was seeing that there was a way to make money and be sustainable, if you have a passion and a dream.’   Combining her reporting skills and video expertise, Neisloss hit the road, talking to people about their sustainable ideas and documenting their businesses. By late December, she had completed the Web site showcasing her interviews and providing regional resources to help individuals around the country improve their financial situation and environment through small sustainable changes. ‘Showing by example,’ she says. ‘This is a social movement that pays it forward.’   So far, Neisloss has archived 60 stories from 13 states. Her goal is to have stories from all 50 states by the summer of 2011. The criteria are simple: A single individual has to have an idea that is compelling and successful. Neisloss set up her business as a for-profit organization, anxious to get moving. ‘I didn’t want to wait for grant money, given the current economic environment. Every individual can make small positive changes without government or corporate assistance.’ While she has attracted som#e corporate advertising, her goal is to find a content distribution company that might be able to place these segments in different venues.   To date, workingforgreen.net is receiving 35,000 hits per month, representing a steady climb. ‘The more we do competitive research, the more I remain confident about the role for original content like this,’ Neisloss says.   Furthering her knowledge about new platforms and media channels, Neisloss is currently a Punch Sulzberger Fellow in the Journalism School at Columbia University. ‘It’s like an MBA program in communication,’ she says. Seven times a years, she attends a week of classroom lectures, panel sessions and breakout discussions where she and the other fellows tackle topics ranging from journalistic values and leadership to business models and the digital revolution.   Back home in her office in Santa Monica, Neisloss works with a small staff, including senior researcher Kristin Finkle and Sheda Morshed, a serious environmentalist who ‘helps us avoid green washing [the practice of companies disingenuously spinning their products and policies as environmentally friendly],’ Neisloss says. Working for Green is completely non-partisan.   Ideas come from community newspaper chains and online research, but Neisloss invites people to submit their ideas and video. ‘Every community in this country has compelling stories. ‘I like to do stories about young people,’ she says, recalling Xander Pertusini, ‘Alex,’ a 20-year old Santa Fe Community College student who is working on producing spirulina, a rich source of protein from blue-green algae. ‘I love to see individuals who are making small changes.’   Neisloss is taking baby steps in her own green journey. Having grown up with a dad who grew fruits and vegetables at their home on Long Island, she loves the bounty from her own garden. She moved to the Palisades in 1989 and now lives in a home on Amalfi, which she shares with a black lab and a cocker spaniel.   For more information or to submit an idea, visit workingforgreen.net.