Tim Sanders today has relaunched his book, “Saving the World At Work”.

Click here to visit the relaunch page

TESTIMONIAL:
“With intelligence and passion, Tim Sanders reveals the new competitive logic of business: Being great now depends on being good.  Whether you’re in the boardroom or the mailroom, you owe it to yourself to read Saving The World at Work and to begin putting into practice its powerful lessons.” Dan Pink, author of A Whole New Mind

I plan on ordering my copy….I recommend that you purchase one as well.

This past weekend, Catalyst was back on after a 3 week break. We had a member of the Board of Directors attend Catalyst this weekend. The group presented a draft proposal to the board to get some feedback before formalizing it.

The proposal on taking the first steps in becoming more aware of being good stewards of God’s creation. Taking it “green” from our “God is Green” series. The feedback was very good, and positive. They have to revamp some of the items and have some concrete examples to help their case.

In the next week, I will be delegating some of the tasks to various members.

I also got some feedback from the board member that put it in the ear of the board this week that a proposal was coming from Catalyst. There is a technicality that we have to meet in order for it to be a official recognized proposal that the board will address. This means that an official member of the church has to propose it. That is ok, we have a few “official members” and they will do the submitting to the board.

I will post some more develops and also a copy of the full proposal that Catalyst makes. One thing that was noted to Catalyst, it is one thing to submit the proposal but you have to be willing to back it with actions. Good stuff.

Here is a recent purchase I made from Lee Valley.

This is a picture of me mowing the yard after returning from a night at the BMX track.

I used to have a electric mower and was constantly fighting with the cord. Some people may think there is more work with a manual reel mower, but there really isn’t if you mow your yard regularly. Long and thick grass is no picnic with electric or gas anyway.

This mower is a 20″ mower and can cut the grass to a height of 3 inches. This is better for the lawn to cut it to the max 3″, helps with keeping the moisture in the lawn and harder for weeds to grow.

Some other benefits is that I am not storing gas cans, or using gas for a gas mower, and cutting down on the electric bill for an electric mower.

My wife has been away for a few days, so today after doing a few loads of laundry, I hung the laundry outside on the clothesline.  This is something that we have a chance to do in our new home, our previous house was under the ban on clotheslines that Premier Dalton McGuinty just removed, see link. 

As part of our initiative to "Go Green" we are really trying to reduce the use of the electric dryer.  In the winter as posted before, we came up with a solution to hang our clothes indoor.   The store bought racks and retractable lines that we tried didn’t cut it, they were not strong enough to hold the weight of the clothes.  So we just used a bunch of hangers to hang the clothes along a metal beam in the back part of the basement.

When we use the electric clothes dryer 5 pounds of greenhouse gases are put into the air. The clothes dryer has been something that has been part of our lifestyle, almost second nature to put the clothes from the washer straight over into the dryer. Especially when we had lived in suburbs that had clotheslines banned. I wonder if we can almost eliminate the need for the dryer completely? Also, it is actually pretty relaxing hanging the clothes on the line.

Tags: clothesline, Dalton McGuinty, Going Green, Green, laundry

My wife has been away for a few days, so today after doing a few loads of laundry, I hung the laundry outside on the clothesline.  This is something that we have a chance to do in our new home, our previous house was under the ban on clotheslines that Premier Dalton McGuinty just removed, see link. 

As part of our initiative to "Go Green" we are really trying to reduce the use of the electric dryer.  In the winter as posted before, we came up with a solution to hang our clothes indoor.   The store bought racks and retractable lines that we tried didn’t cut it, they were not strong enough to hold the weight of the clothes.  So we just used a bunch of hangers to hang the clothes along a metal beam in the back part of the basement.

When we use the electric clothes dryer 5 pounds of greenhouse gases are put into the air. The clothes dryer has been something that has been part of our lifestyle, almost second nature to put the clothes from the washer straight over into the dryer. Especially when we had lived in suburbs that had clotheslines banned. I wonder if we can almost eliminate the need for the dryer completely? Also, it is actually pretty relaxing hanging the clothes on the line.

I haven’t posted recently on this topic; on what my family or myself as an individual are doing in "Going Green". I remembered that I was planning on posting on this on a more frequent basis while at Chapters and I browsed through the book by Ed Begley Jr (yes the actor), "Living Like Ed". I didn’t pick up the book, by I may in the next few days, it was pretty interesting. I guess there is a show on HGTV about this as well.

One of the things that I am currently working on, is eliminating indoor air pollutants.  I am focusing on the fabrics that are on our beds and the chemicals we are using to clean.  Whereas, I still have a ways to go in the bedding department, I have replaced my wife’s pillow with an organic cotton pillow. They are expensive, but one at a time we will replace them all.  We are also going to be getting some organic cotton and bamboo sheets for our bed. 

The area that I have made the most progress in is getting rid of the store bought cleaners and making my own organic cleaners.  This is a big $ savings.  Instead of buying a special chemical for the floor, a chemical for the kitchen, and a chemical or two for the bathroom etc.  I bought a big bottle of distilled white vinegar, a spray bottle, and lemon juice.  I will be adding some tea tree oil and borox to my cleaners as needed.  This is been something I have been reading about and changing for the past couple of months. 

Also, here is a tip I have come to really appreciate that has cut down on the scrubbing of the shower that the boys use in the house.  After the morning showers are done (I am the last one in) I towel dry the entire shower, walls, floors, and glass door.  This makes it stay very clean day after day.  Then once in a while I spray my organic cleaner before drying and presto, very clean shower. No grime at all.

I will try to add in some more changes we have made and also an update to any cleaners I come up with.  It you have any tips in this areas, please post a comment, or send an email to reg@radiantjourney.ca

Tags: Ed Begley Jr, Living Like Ed, Green, Organic, organic cleaning, HGTV, Going Green

This past weekend I thought we had a session for Catalyst. I sent the invite out in our Facebook group.  However, I didn’t realize that this Sunday was an appreciation for the Sr Pastor.  So, due to the length of the ceremony, there was not enough time remaining for us to be dismissed for Catalyst. So there is not too much of a recap. It was an interesting morning even though we didn’t meet.  After the service was completed, there were a few comments that came my way about Catalyst, that I figured I would share.

A couple of the members of Catalyst said, that there were really hoping that we were going to have our session this week.  They said, that they thought the series has been very interesting, and the use of the CNN film "Planet in Peril" very effective. This was from both someone that attends each week, and someone that has only been once.

A father of one of the young ladies that attends Catalyst came over and said that his daughter has been talking up Catalyst at home.  He said, that she has been telling him she likes the format, and the way I have been presenting.  Always nice to get some good feedback on how it is going.

About four of the guys from Catalyst were telling me about how they spent Earth Hour.  One of the young guys said that he and his parents were sitting in their apartment in candle light, he said they all enjoyed themselves just sitting around talking. They all said that they participated in the event because of what we have been talking about in Catalyst.

This past weekend we continued the CNN show, "Planet In Peril" as part of the God is Green series. We have about 30 minutes left in Part 2.  The major portion that we viewed this weekend was dealing with deforestation of the Amazon Rain Forest, and the disappearing of Lake Chad in Africa.

The story of Sister Dorothy Stang that was murdered in Brazil because she was opposing ranchers and loggers was a very interesting part, and got everyone’s attention.  Also, because this portion of the show talked of the importance of what the rainforest means to our planet that God created.

At the end of this week’s session, there were lots of questions due to what we watched.  Very good questions and small discussions.

Tags: CNN, Planet_In_Peril, God_Is_Green, Lake_Chad, Africa, Amazon_Rainforest, Dorothy_Stand, Brazil, deforestation

Here is something that I heard about for the first time last night on the radio. One hour with the lights out - March 29th, 2008 - 8pm.

Here is a short list of highlights of my 2007 (no particular order):

a. Bought a new house in Rockland, Ontario.
b. My wife had successful foot surgery and started a new diet plan that has helped her a lot.
c. My father had successful surgery, had a non-cancerous growth removed. It was not looking good for a while before the surgery.
d. Started a new project in Rockland, called Radiant Village.
e. Catalyst sessions on Sunday morning @ Calvary Church.
f. My wife and I started discussions on something that will be huge in 2008 and beyond. Will share more as time goes by.
g. Started to live Greener.
h. Thanksgiving in New York City.
i. BMX year was a blast, all three kids riding this year, had some trips to other cities and tracks.

2008 is looking to be a great year.

I haven’t posted a specific lifestyle change that our family has under gone in living more "green", so here is a change that we have implemented into our lifestyle since we moved to our house. 

Reducing our electric dryer usage.

Firstly, we now have an outdoor clothesline, which we were not able to have in our old community.  My wife has always wanted to have one, and now we do.  We were able to use it right up to the snow falls in November. 

Secondly, this week, we finally went out and got a indoor dryer to reduce our need for the electric dryer. We actually picked up two of them from Canadian Tire for about the price of one.  We are only using one right now in the basement, but might use the two of them. 

If we need to control the relative humidity level in the house from dropping two much, then we will use the second one in the main level.  It is better then installing a humidifier on the furnace. I think I heard Brian Walsh author of Colossians Remixed mention this @ Mars Hill Subverting the Empire sessions

Tags: Green_Living, Brian_Walsh, Colossians_Remixed, Mars_Hill, Subverting_the_Empire, Clothes_Dryer