Well, get ready because global warming is affecting our food, some say. The delicious high end foods like black truffles that some of us enjoy with reckless abandon are going to disintegrate into our memories if nothing is done to save this earth that nurtures us.
I always feel anxious when I start thinking about global warming and what it could do to us. What if we drown? I think of the image of the polar bear searching for a nice platform of ice to rest upon and how Al Gore says in the Inconvenient Truth that more polar bears are drowning than has ever been recorded in history.
I have a surf board and it makes a fairly good boat, but imagine being on a boat with no food on earth to survive. Eerie. Very contrary, too, to Cormac McCarthy's version of an apocalypse in The Road where the world is ablaze in flames but I dare say it's the same concept.
The famous Donner Family up in Lake Tahoe ate each other while stuck in the snow and in hunger, so who is to say that we won't do the same?
Tuesday, February 26, 2008
Global Warming Affects Deluxe Foods
Thursday, February 21, 2008
The Start Up 101 Series - Zonbu
*I was going to post about revenue models today but I met with one of the co-founders of Zonbu today and could not resist posting this instead.*
Business is often an elusive practice. For some odd reason, some businesses succeed and others fail simply by trial and error. So is the term entrepreneurship, and so I should point out here that for all the academic theory and research surrounding this idea, it is those who have been able to embody the spirit of entrepreneurship who have been truly successful.
As for Grégoire Gentil, when I met him in his office on El Camino Real, it became evident that whatever the traits are for an entrepreneur, he is inexplicably an individual that embodies those traits not only in spirit but in action.
Gentil launched three businesses since 1996. In 2006, Gentil and his colleague Alain Rossman created Zonbu.
So what is Zonbu? The technology has the look and feel of the traditional desktop (for $99) or laptop (for $279) but isn't quite the desktop or laptop that we know. Aimed at casual laptop users, Zonbu provides an open source software where the computer is more of a portal to the data stored on a server somewhere rather than a computer.
In addition to that, most of the company's revenue comes from a subscription based service rather than the device itself--a type of HP printer model where the printer itself is a cheap base price, but you pay more for the print cartridges later.
Gentil, as a technology geek and avid trendwatcher, has been able to create what he calls a "disruptive technology"--the very thing that will keep away corporate giants like Dell and Microsoft from his market niche.
As a disruptive technology, it tends to just elusive enough for the corporate giants not to move into this space, and Gentil attributes this to defining a very clear and specific niche where larger players may not be able to support.
So how has Gentil been so successful at creating 4 start-ups to date? Gentil had no direct answer, except to say, "You have to be stubborn enough to believe in yourself and what you are doing, because others may not believe in what you are doing."
He has also been very good at simply identifying solid trends and opportunities. Zonbu is the intersection between cloud computing, sound hardware design and open source. It's an ambitious idea for sure, as he has also been able to integrate poignant environmental issues into the benefits of the technology.
For those of us who want to start a business, Gentil advises, "You have to start early." The older you are the less opportunity there is to succeed. My perception of this is that perhaps the more responsibilities and pressures there are to succeed. This is centrally against the principle that entrepreneurs must be able to pursue risk without boundaries because entrepreneurs risk failure just as much as success.
However it seems that Gentil's skill at identifying opportunities, "stubborn" nature and technology knowledge have contributed most to Gentil's success thus far.
In addition to that, it also helps if you "hire people who are smarter than you."
Tuesday, June 26, 2007
Why Green is More Important
Green vs. Green. Which is better? Being rich or being environmentally-sound? This is the new dilemma of our century.
This morning I was listening to NPR and an interesting issue came up: if we keep going at the rate that we are going, heating up the ozone and causing global warming, some frozen areas on the Earth (I forgot what they are called) will melt, thus causing over 50 feet of water to be added to the Earth's surface. This is akin to over-flowing your bath tub with water, but with more serious results. A lot of cities are located near coastlines and our cities could be under water.
I have a fear of drowning. So to be a little bit naive, I would say I prefer to be alive than to be dead and rich.
Monday, June 18, 2007
What's Your Net Impact?
My 5 every-day environmental guilt trips:
1. Buying groceries: Plastic bags can add about 13 cents to your bill, and depending on how often you buy groceries, this can add up. Plus, it creates waste & carbon emissions every time you recycle.
2. Individual-sized anything: Plastic water bottles (the ones that come in a huge carton with about 16 or 20 bottles per pack) or paper coffee cups. Bottom line: bring lunch and your own thermos to your fave cafe.
3. Transportation: The cost of gas prices + lack of advertising to inform commuters how to take the train!
4. Garbage: Landfills are basically holes sealed off with something to prevent toxic waste from seeping into our ground water. Every time I take the trash out, I get paranoid that I could be poisoning people by adding to the wreckage.
5. Unnecessary air conditioning/heating: Carbon emissions & waste of energy. Blankets are cosier for cold days and windows do wonders for creating more air circulation.
***
Green News:
The Economist, June 14th 2007
A who's who of technology firms launched an industry initiative to reduce computer energy consumption. The campaign, which is being led by Google and Intel, commits makers of PCs and servers to higher efficiency standards.
Europe pumped out fewer greenhouse gases in 2005, according to new data from the European Environment Agency. Emissions from the European Union's 27 member states dropped by 0.7% compared with a year earlier. Finland, Germany and the Netherlands contributed most to the drop.
Sunday, January 14, 2007
On Excess, Efficiency & the Environment
It is true what Starbucks says about itself: it is not about the coffee, it is about the people. While this makes a very good business model, and it creates loyal customers and loyal employees (not to mention that Starbucks doesn't show any signs of stopping expansion), it is also a business that creates a great deal of excess and waste.
Many companies create products that people buy because they feel it is worth it to them, but the seller usually creates wasteful by-products. Starbucks is a famous example, because of the number of paper cups it hands out every day. According to NPR in 2005, over 150 billion cups are discarded every year.
The question that I have about Starbucks is why all the paper cups? It takes a lot of energy, limited resources, and money to create a paper cup. When I went to Montreal, Canada, I noticed that coffees are automatically served in glasses and mugs first before they are served in a paper cup.
On a similar note, in regards to plastic, Ireland recently posed a tax of 15 cents per plastic bag in grocery stores. The implication behind this initiative is that people must pay a tangible cost to compensate for highly limited natural resources.
The bottom line is: Companies, governments and organizations have to change the way they do business. We see that it is possible in other countries, so why not in the US? While many companies claim that they are "socially responsible," it seems that they should not just change the way they produce their products, but they must change the model of the company.
Of course, organizational behavior theory teaches us that this is not so easy to do, because often times, the secret success of a business is embedded in the company culture that has developed. (Think Toyota and competitors' difficulty in imitating Toyota standards).
Even so, many Americans live under the illusion of being rich. We are a nation of debt but contrary to economic law, we continue to spend money. We cannot continue to think that our resources are unlimited. A serious cultural change must be made. Companies need to change their approach towards business to consider the limitations of other resources besides money.
