August, 2012 | Women of Green

The Responsible Entrepreneur: What archetype are you?

By wogwpa1358 on August 28, 2012 / Heart, Leadership / Leave a comment

Tags: Carolyn Parrs, environment, green entrepreneurs, intrapreneurs, social entrepreneurs, women as change agents, women as entrepreneurs, women changing the world, women in green, women in green business, women of green, women's leadership

Four archetypes of entrepreneurship and how they contribute to a better world.
For four decades I have worked with small business entrepreneurs, helping them grow their businesses by keeping stakeholder success and consciousness of how they do business in the forefront of their minds. I have seen how, by developing the characteristics of what I call The Responsible Entrepreneur, anyone helping to bring new business into the world can fulfill the promise of entrepreneurship and contribute to the creation of a better world.

Every Responsible Entrepreneur represents one of four archetypes, each with a unique role to play in the entrepreneurial system. Cultural anthropologists have identified all four in every healthy culture, and all four are needed to ensure the health of our own evolving social system. Each takes on change differently in search of different outcomes. All four approaches can also be found inside established organizations, among intrapreneurs who lead change.

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Olive You! 11 Foods for Midlife Women

By wogwpa1358 on August 22, 2012 / Health / Leave a comment

Tags: beans, blueberries, Carolyn Parrs, cauliflower, environment, flax seed, green tea, kale, midlife foods, olives, spinach, tomatoes, turmeric, wild alaskan salmon, women in green, women in green business, women of green, women's leadership

Famed actress and octogenarian Bette Davis said getting older isn’t for sissies. Those of us over 50 know that, while the second half of our lives can be a time of emotional stability, mental acuity, wisdom and power, the physical fact of aging is undeniable. And the risk of age-related disease increases with each passing year.

There’s not much you can do to stop the inexorable march of time; but you can protect your health, and age more gracefully, with the following foods…

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Awakening

By wogwpa1358 on August 17, 2012 / Heart / 2 Comments

Tags: Buddhist koan, Carolyn Parrs, Christine Kent, environment, H.E.R.S. Foundation, Mary Daly, Nora Coffey, prolapse, Riane Eisler, The Chalice and the Blade, The Real Wealth of Nations, Whole Woman, women in green, women in green business, women of green, women's leadership

One of the most powerful feminist works of the late 20th century was Gyn/Ecology by Mary Daly. There is nothing fluffy about her perspective. It is a scathing condemnation of the world that men have built. The title itself is provocative and suggests many layers of meaning. Of all those layers, what means the most to me personally is the wonder of nature and the incomprehensibility of what we have done and continue to do to her.

Riane Eisler, author of The Chalice and the Blade and more recently, The Real Wealth of Nations made a crucial contribution to the feminist literature by showing us that the opposite of patriarchy is not matriarchy. In fact, matriarchy is a patriarchal concept. The true opposite is partnership, a harmonious balance between the masculine and feminine, men and women.m Both patriarchy and matriarchy are models in which one group dominates another. This is the antithesis of gyn/ecology.

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Could your garbage be a goldmine?

By wogwpa1358 on August 14, 2012 / Innovation, Leadership / Leave a comment

Tags: Carolyn Parrs, e-waste, environment, fast company, landfills, waste-to-product, women in green, women in green business, women of green, women's leadership

There are greater concentrations of precious metals in our e-waste than there are in the ground. And it’s a lot cheaper and cleaner to get things out of e-waste than starting a giant mining operation. Where would you rather get the materials for your next gadget?

The mountain of electronic waste rising around the world is a gold mine–literally. Urban deposits of e-waste (discarded computers, phones and other electronics) contain 40 to 50 times the concentration of precious metals compared to ore mined from the ground at great cost to the environment, human health, and buyers of latest gadgets. We should mine it our e-waste, then, rather than the stuff in the ground.

That’s the message from the “e-Waste Academy” co-organized by the United Nations University and the Global e-Sustainability Initiative (GeSI). Despite the 21 billion dollars of gold and silver embedded in modern electronics each year, not to mention copper, tin, cobalt, and palladium and other metals, only a fraction of which is ever recovered. For example, 80 to 85% of gold in e-waste is lost due to crude (and dangerous) dismantling processes in developing countries and ineffective collection systems in developed countries (which are the source of most e-waste).

“Rather than looking at e-waste as a burden, we need to see it as an opportunity,” said Alexis Vandendaelen of Umicore Precious Metals Refining at the meeting.

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