The Green Houdini - Official Music Video Release

When musician Kelvin Holly (Amazing Rhythm Aces, Pegi Young and The Survivors, and Little Richard Band) and I finished our collection of 8 green songs - THE TRASH TUNES, I almost immediately started to work on music videos for them.  I actually enjoy editing video a lot.  I like the process of merging all the crazy disconnected elements together.  To me, it's really fun... almost as fun as making the music in the first place.  Here's our newest video.  THE GREEN HOUDINI.  Hint Hint... it's about the beauty and magic of the natural world.  Oh yeah.  Thanks to Jeff Whitten for some the the amazing animal photos.  Enjoy!    

The Trash Tunes - Green Songs 4 Cool Kids and Grownups

It's been a very long and very enjoyable trek.  It's been over two years from conception to the CD, and we're now - only a few days away - from the national release of THE TRASH TUNES - Green Songs 4 Cool Kids and Grownups.  All the songs were written by professional musician Kelvin Holly and myself. How did that happen you might ask?  One day, Steve Trash went to visit his friend Kelvin Holly. Kelvin was recording music at the famous Muscle Shoals Sound Studios along the banks of the Tennessee River. As Steve watched the "magic" of live music being recorded, he was struck with an idea. There should be an album of "great green songs" that both kids and grownups can dig. Too many times, kids' music is mind-numbingly silly or just plain-old horrible. After the session was finished, Steve shared this idea with Kelvin, and over the next year or two (they both tour extensively), they put this album together. Going for great music with great green ideas that are fun and inspiring to listen to... THE TRASH TUNES were created.  I'm really proud of this album and hope that everyone loves it as much as I do.  It's fun.  It's inspirational.   It's Green.  It will be available on itunes, Amazon.com, CD Baby, and on my web site www.stevetrash.com/music.html Tuesday October 1, 2013.   Check it out!  And thanks for your support.

Red Cars and Sustainability Opportunities Are The Same

Have you ever noticed that you don't generally think about red cars very much?  But the moment you purchase a "red car" your mind unconsciously begins looking around and "red cars" seem to be absolutely everywhere.  Your mind hadn't really noticed them before.  Sustainability is the same way.  When we ask our minds to look for sustainable opportunities in our business and personal lives... all the sudden... they're EVERYWHERE!  Sustainable Opportunities ARE everywhere, we just need to start seeing them.

When I was a child, I had a passion for "other peoples trash".  I would literally walk around my neighborhood and dig through piles of things they'd put out at the curb for the trash truck.  My first find was a "Velvet Elvis" painting.  It was wonderful!  To a 7 year old mind... it was inconceivable that something so valuable (and I didn't even know who Elvis Presley was) could be thrown away.  That passion for the planets' beauty and natural resources (sometimes known as natural capital) has never left me.  It has, however taken on many professional forms for me.  Recently, I've added a new professional form... Green Biz Speaker.  The new keynote is called SUSTAINABLE IS ATTAINABLE and it's about transforming the relationship that consumers and businesses use the planets resources.  I've really enjoyed creating it.  The presentation is funny, truthful, and packed full of information that businesses can use to profit through sustainability.  I really hope the "talk" takes off.  Humanity could use a little help redirecting the way we use resources and I have discovered some of the answers on my journey with Elvis.  More info?  http://greenbizspeaker.com

Walk It If You're Gonna Talk It

I've always worked to integrate my "sustainability idea sharing" with my personal and professional life.  Sometimes I've been very successful and other times I've been pretty lousy at it (I still drive to gigs a lot and that uses a non-renewable/non-sustainable energy source - oil).  By the way, I don't believe that fossil fuels/oil is evil or even bad.  It's actually amazing at creating energy and power through combustion, but it's NOT renewable, therefore it's not sustainable in the long-term.  Recently, we had a VERY big sustainability success.  I installed a TenkSolar RAIS WAVE Photovoltaic system at my home and digital production studio in beautiful Frog Pond, Alabama.   I'd saved money for this over the years and finally "pulled the trigger".  It took about a month to get the entire system delivered, installed, patched in, signed off, and tested.  The battery backup was a problem at first, but we worked those issues out and it seems to be working just great now.  The cool thing is... on sunny days, my new array collects more energy than we use.  On those beautiful sunny days, I sell my renewable/green energy back to Alabama Power Co.  They do not pay very well (less than 3 cents...even at peak), but I am generating renewable power and using it and even getting to share some of it with others.  Coal (a large source of global energy) is not a renewable power source.  Even natural gas (as abundant as it is) is not renewable and its supply is finite.  Every time a business or homeowner or consumer makes the choice to go sustainable (ie resources used are renewable or recyclable and its use does not create pollution) we're steering our global economy towards a model that WILL sustain all 7 billion folks on the planet.  Today I got to walk the talk just a little bit better.  Happy.

Sustainability Is Good Business - 4 Benefits for Your Organization

Sustainability is Good Business
4 Benefits for Your Organization

By Steve Richerson 

Going green to make green is red hot right now. 

Recently businesses all over the globe have gotten into the “going green” trend and it’s paying off big for many of them. In fact, several recent studies have shown that sustainability-oriented companies have a better stock performance, lower volatility and a higher return on assets than other similar companies. In short, the “sustainable” or “green” companies are making more “green” than the companies that have not jumped on board.

You might be thinking, “That sounds great!  I want some sustainability for my company. How soon can I get it shipped to me?”

Unfortunately, sustainability is not a clever new accounting software, a sparkly new app or a cool new office toy.  In fact, it’s not a “thing” at all.  It’s a philosophy and it’s a very powerful one.   

Sustainability is a commitment (from upper management to the front line) to switch from only focusing on short term profit to something even larger and longer lasting - a focus on maximizing the health of people, the planet and profits.

As you may remember from fifth grade biological science, the planet we live on is one big interconnected biological system. So sustainability means that we use this systems’ resources (air, water, land, energy, raw materials) in a manner that will not hinder (no pollution or overuse) future generations’ ability to use these resources. With 7 billion people currently living on the planet and all of them wanting to be rich, get rich or get richer we must start use the resources we have in much smarter ways.  

Sustainability is that way and business is the perfect mechanism to deliver smart resource use to the planet’s people.

There are four great reasons why you should integrate sustainability into your business. They are:

(1) Sustainability can reduce business risk. For businesses, risk is omnipresent.  A sustainability approach (people, planet, profit) to business can reduce some of those risks, such as: 

• Litigation –Unfortunately each and every business is at risk for lawsuits.  Are you using chemicals in your business that could end up in the local air, groundwater or soil?  Finding ways to eliminate the use of these materials can align your business with the environment and reduce risk. 

• Cleanup – Accidents happen.  By using safer or more environmentally-aligned safety measures for your business, you can eliminate the need for cleanup, and thus eliminate that cost.  Brainstorming ways to eliminate accidents and subsequent cleanup costs before they even happen is smart and sustainable.

• Environmental Regulations - Environmental laws are in place to protect the public (people) and the environment (planet) from hazards.  Instead of asking “how do we comply?” ask a much different question. Ask yourself, “what if there was no need for compliance?” What if we could point our company at the target of low or no waste, low or no emissions, low or no energy use? What if we exceeded the compliance standard so much that it becomes irrelevant?” No legal costs. No compliance costs. No problem. Okay… fewer problems.

(2) Sustainability can cut your costs. This is the low hanging fruit of sustainability and it’s not difficult to take on.  Focusing on what you take, make and waste in your buildings, stores, fleets and manufacturing plants can be a successful sustainable strategy for both the environment and for your company.  What if you could reduce your energy costs by using a sustainable resource or a more efficient process?  What if you could reduce your waste disposal costs by creating less waste through recycling or pre-cycling?  What if you could use less water?  What if you could use the sun to pre-heat the water you need for the process?  What if you could reduce your water, energy and waste?

(3) Sustainability can build your brand. You survive and thrive as a business because your customers choose to do business with you. If you lose the respect, trust or loyalty of your customers, you’re finished. Consumers today hold companies (your brand) to a much higher standard than ever before. They expect and reward companies that hold themselves responsible for the people the company affects and the planet it uses resources from. A sustainability focus allows you to make sure that you earn a profit while keeping your eyes on the positive treatment of people and the planet as well. Short-term profit margin focus only is no longer acceptable to customers and they can let the entire world know with one mouse click. The more your company acts like a decent local and global citizen, the more your customers appreciate it and the more loyal they are to your brand.

(4) Sustainability can grow your revenue. From a business perspective, this is the most fascinating area of “being green.”   New products and services are developed every day, but what if business used its problem-solving skills with sustainability as a guide? Viewing the market through the business lenses of sustainability allows you to see the market in a way you’ve never seen it before and capitalize on what you see.   Because it’s a paradigm shift, you may be able to see solutions that others focused only on short-term profit can’t see.

Let’s say you're in the industrial floor polisher industry and everyone in your industry is worried about the toxic/hazardous chemicals used in the process. You are less likely to see that you can solve the problem with a totally different cleaning process (using water, ionization, for instance) rather than using less toxic strategies, unless you're seeing the world through integrated sustainability lenses (reducing negative impact on planet and people). Through these lenses, our products and services take on new dimensions. We may even be able to take our core competencies and create new problem-solving products for the global market, which will lead us to long term revenue growth!  

Sustainability is good business for the planet, good for the people of the planet and good for business.  What is your company waiting for?

Powered By The Sun

Since I began my professional career as an Ecological Entertainer (way back in 1984),  I've wanted to use the suns energy to provide the electricity I've needed for all my creative endeavors.  Thanks to advances in solar energy technology, and my ability to save some cash, it looks like that dream is about to be "made concrete".   The home of Concrete Dream Incorporated - producer of green content (eco-shows & sustainability keynote talks) for the planet - will now be even greener because our energy will now be renewable (it's coming from the sun)!  Isn't that amazing! Here is a photo of the freshly dug trench that will transfer the electricity captured by a TenKSolar RAIS WAVE PV system to my house.  Cool huh?  We begin installing the system on Friday.