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Other Media I've Done

News Articles about This Story

News Videos About This Story

  • ABC News
    This is a great live interview and they too capture a lot of the true spirit of the project.
  • CNN.com
    Reggie is a great host and I enjoyed this interview a great deal.
  • KTVU Bay Area News
    David Stevenson did a great job. He was sincerley interested in the project and a pleasure to talk to about the nuances of the experience.
  • MSNBC
    I love how the host makes it personal in the end and shows us the trash she generated that morning.

Relevant Websites

  • Back to Earth inc.
    I am the CEO of this company. You can learn more about what I do every day! Let me know what you think.
  • How to Green Events
    If you produce events this site will give you the resources you need to do it and make less trash
  • Inspiring Music Video about Making a Difference
    This video by Nickleback is inspiring!
  • Stopwaste
  • The Great Plastic Menace
    Learn about a pile of plastic TWICE THE SIZE OF TEXAS floating in the ocean. It's true.
  • The Story of Stuff
    A friend of mine in Oakland made this piece. Absolutely phenomenal!
  • Trash Statistics
    I haven't verified all of the information on this site but it seems credible.
  • Women's Earth Alliance - Bottled Water vs. Free Clean Water
    This impressive organization is putting on the African Women and Water Conference in Kenya in March. They are empowering women to learn technologies to provide their own clean water to their communities. Support their efforts!
  • Zero Waste America
    This site offers the real deal perspective and a tremendous amount of statistics and information about the waste situation in our world. While it has not been updated in a while it is still a great resource. Thanks Lynn for all of your tireless research.

Relevant Books

  • Janine Benyus: Biomimicry
    (*****)
  • William McDonough: Cradle to Cradle
    (*****)
  • Christopher D. Cook: Diet for a Dead Planet
    (*****)
  • Paul Hawken, Amory Lovins, Hunter Lovins: Natural Capitalism
    (*****)
  • Julia Butterfly Hill: One Makes a Difference
    Practical information, statistics and resources for finding real solutions to today's challenges. A must read!!! (*****)

Back to Earth Mailing List

Resources

  • Seven Star inc. Green Event Planners
    Seven Star is the world’s premier green event planner, producer, and consultant. They produce the highly successful Green Festivals in SF, D.C., and Chicago.
  • To-Go Ware (re-usable containers)
    Tired of making trash from to-go containers? Get one of these awesome reusable to-go products and reduce your footprint!
  • What is Compost?
    This site will give you a good introduction to composting so you can minimize your trash, take away the smell, and make rich fertilizer to return to the earth.

Contact

  • Email Address:
  • Website: http://www.backtoearth.com

One-Line Bio

I am a person who cares deeply about our planet and all of the people who share it.

Biography

More than anything, I am a teacher. That's what I am here to do. I'm thankful that I have been given a voice and the gift of making complicated things seem simple to people. I am thankful that I have discovered why I am here and I take the responsibility of being a teacher seriously, with a lot of breath, laughter and lightness at the same time.

At the moment, I teach people about self, community, and our beautiful planet, through Back to Earth. I am grateful that my business partner, Eric, and I chose to share our energy, and to create a company that does something good, and has a positive impact on the world. It is difficult today for many to be hopeful and to find joy in the big picture.

Too often we describe the world we live in as marked by war and US imperialism, corporate greed, capitalism turned fascism, globalization at the expense of indigenous peoples, environmental degradation, racism, sexism, classism, ageism, homophobia, and a mass media enterprise that champions the ego, competition, and consumerism over the collective, cooperation, and sustainability. All too often it seems that people lift up their hands in an expression of helplessness and say that it's too big, too powerful to change...it's just the way things are.

If you see someone do this. Give them a great big hug.

Then tell them this is not the only way things are.

Too seldom we describe the world we live in as marked by resistance to US imperialism all over the globe, non-profits for every cause and the birth of the conscious and sustainable corporation, capitalism dismantling, globalization giving voice to all oppressed people around the world, green technologies built in concert with ecosystems, positivism, and an independent media enterprise reaching more and more people everyday, championing revolution, and a return of the world to all of us, from the few who want to be kings at our expense.

I see more people questioning the system than ever before. I see yoga studios popping up all over the country. I see the organic and natural foods industry growing faster than the conventional food economy. I see indigenous people fighting fascist corporations trying to steal their water. I see more hybrid cars and bio-diesels. I see Julia Butterfly and Michael Franti and Amy Goodman. I see gay people on mainstream tv. I see the European Union standing up to the US. I see more people turning on and fewer people turning off. I see my thirteen year old nephew sending me an email, asking me what he can do to change the system. I hear the famed words of Bob Marley's "Redemption Song" reminding us over and over again, "emancipate yourself from mental slavery, none but ourselves can free our minds."

This world exists as much, if not more than the other one. Part of the challenge is that the people who run the other world own most of the media and they know, by no accident, that if they constantly remind us how terrible everything is, people will be scared. And scared people don't rock the boat. Fear is paralyzing.

Love and hope, on the other hand, are energizing, inspiring, and motivating. I choose love and hope, because the glorious thing that distinguishes humans from the other species is our ability to choose. Don't ever forget that. You can choose. And to create the world you want to see instead of succumbing to a world that is unsatisfying, you must choose. Choice is not a right. It is a responsibility. Gandhi wasn't kidding when he said, "be the change you want to see in the world."

I have chosen to bring about change by being an organic chef, a mountain guide, and a conscious, inspired business person, committed to creating a company that positively impacts people's lives, and the world...every time.

I am a white man and I acknowledge that every day. Defaulting into this life as a white male has given me, by the mere fact of the color of my skin and testosterone in my body, access to many things in this world...freedom, education, and open doors to name a few. I have been blessed to study at many of the world's finest Universities and to meet some of the most incredible people along the way. I have worked in many industries and I spent an incredible amount of energy looking for my specific path.

I found it. That brings tears to my eyes almost every day.

This is who I am and what I bring to Back to Earth. With this intention and perspective, I wake up and go about my work. I give it everything I have, every day, and it doesn't exhaust me, it invigorates me. So if you choose to do something with Back to Earth, whether it's inviting us to feed your family at your wedding or to introduce you to the magic of yoga amidst the magnificent mountains of Yosemite, you can be sure that I am bringing this energy to the experience. I treat my work as art, it is more than just an extension and representation of me. It is me.

I look forward to hearing who you are.

Interests

I am a chef, mountain guide, entrepreneur, business person, writer, reader, musician and an avid practitioner of yoga.