Green Options

Transit use boomed from 2006-2008, but not in traditionally transit-friendly areas. This shows hope for more transit use in traditionally car-oriented places in the US in the future.

An analysis of the most recent transit use data from the U.S. Census Bureau shows that transit use grew by up to 47% in major metropolitan areas in the U.S. from 2006-2008, with several metro regions in the South and West growing by more than 10%.

The South and West, being more dominated by automobile-oriented development and auto use, have historically struggled to get significant transit ridership. However, the top ten cities with the highest recent increase in ridership include several metro areas in the South and West, including Charlotte, NC (47%), Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario, CA (26.7%), Pheonix-Mesa-Scottsdale, AZ (23.6%), San Antonio, TX (15.1%) and others. This seems to shine a light of hope on increased transit use in the southern and western U.S. in the future.

First, however, why are we seeing a boom in these places?

I considered myself a seasoned coffee junkie.  I jump-start every morning with a cup of Sumatra, with Fair Trade, organic and shade grown stamps of approval.  A fair – and delicious — start, but after meeting the folks running Peace Coffee, my coffee awareness, appreciation and activism was jolted.  Issues I never thought about – cooperative buying, aromas, local roasting – now percolate and affect my next buying decision.

Engaging customers to become activists.  Don’t think that’s in the McDonald’s “Premium Roast” marketing plan.  But Peace Coffee doesn’t play by anybody’s business rulebook. As a successful, Minneapolis-based coffee company with an ecopreneurial zest for leaving this world a better place, Peace Coffee uses their java beans to do more than brew coffee.

Their coffee serves as a change agent, positively changing and greening the lives of everyone involved in the process.  From the farmer in Guatemala now supporting his family thanks to a fair living wage to me direct to me, drinking my morning cup on my Wisconsin farm, this innovative business changes people through their purchases ever since they started as a fledgling brainchild of the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy (IATP) in 1995.

“We’re not out to be the biggest coffee company in the universe,” explains Melanee Meegan, marketing manager at Peace Coffee.  “When people choose our coffees, their purchases go directly toward improving the quality of life for farmers across the globe.”

Here are three innovative approaches Peace Coffee uses to engage and inspire their customers:

1.  Keep Local Priorities
Peace Coffee doesn’t want to sell me coffee.  Trust me, I asked. 

Minneapolis-based MusicMatters is proof positive that “marketing” doesn’t have to be a dirty word, no matter how strongly you believe we should all be consuming less, not more.

The music-industry-focused marketing agency says its mission is “Effect Marketing™ (it’s what comes after Cause Marketing).” That means going beyond selling an idea that’s good for the environment or society, and getting people to actually do things that are good for the environment or society.

Joke all you want about politicians’ hot air contributing to global warming, but at least the folks attending the Democratic and Republican National Conventions this summer will have a chance to limit their greenhouse gas emissions off the convention floors.

That’s because both Denver and Minneapolis/St. Paul plan to use their respective conventions to kick off a new bike-sharing program called “Freewheelin.” Created by the health benefits company Humana Inc. and the not-for-profit Bikes Belong, Freewheelin will bring 1,000 bikes to each city during the convention. Convention-goers will be able to use the bicycles free of charge to get around town without the need for cars.

Minneapolis Mayor R.T. Rybak may be the first mayor in the nation to drive a plug-in hybrid vehicle as his official city car.

Since he was first elected in 2002, Mayor Rybak’s official car has been a Toyota Prius. But the dramatically superior gas mileage of a plug-in hybrid vehicle prompted him to make the switch: he had his hybrid converted to a plug-in hybrid electric vehicle, from which he expects to get

[...]