Tuesday, 4 Nov 2003

SEATTLE, Wash.

The commute into work this morning was miserable! Seemed like every road in to Seattle was backed up, but that’s Seattle traffic for you. Normally I’d take my Vespa, but since I’m running last-minute errands for our upcoming L.A. trip, I needed my minivan (lovingly named “Maggie”).

Yesterday was the day of many meetings. First, a conference call with the “I Buy Different” youth scavenger hunt team, then a follow-up with just the Seattle team over lunch, then a call with a fellow Sustainable Seattle board member, and finally a meeting at Northgate Mall to do a walk-through of the scavenger hunt stops.

The stores involved with the hunt are really getting excited about the project. I think they’re most pleased with the fact that we’re focusing on the positive efforts they’re trying to make rather than the negative. No company is perfect but many are trying to improve, so hopefully we can continue to encourage them along the way. There are a lot of great stories out there about companies and their products — you just have to ask. A great example of this, particularly given the audience for the I Buy Different campaign, is that many skateboards, snowboards, and surfboards are being made out of things like bamboo or sustainably harvested wood. How cool is that?

Tracy from the Center for a New American Dream will be staying at my place in Seattle’s Wallingford neighborhood while I’m in L.A. (my sprawling estate, which I call “Five Ferns” … well, it’s actually a one-bedroom flat, but I like to think of it as my sprawling estate). I pointed out the natural food store and other cool spots in the area, so I think she’s all set.

As I mentioned, it’s all about last-minute errands today. In addition, I’m getting Collin Dunn, our new website and online magazine intern, all set up in the office. Stay tuned for the launch of sass, SSF’s online magazine. I’m really excited to have someone helping on the website. With Collin and several of the other program interns coming on board in November, we should have some pretty amazing things started up by year end.