Entries tagged with ‘community’
These days, more and more outdoor enthusiasts are taking part in some form of outdoor event, whether it be a highly organized race or a simple friendly get together. I’ve tried a few hundred of these myself and have recently researched the wide variety of events out there, in the 40 plus sports categories that Laneo supports.
What jumps out at me most is the lack of initiatives put in place to balance out the negative effects of the hundreds or even thousands of people that participate in these, I must admit, fantastically fun events.
Yes of course there are some that promote wonderful eco friendly schemes, (for example the UTMB, X Games, Maverick Surf Contest events) but I’m sure you have heard of more, so help us promote them.
Please use the comment function below this post and send us back the names and url’s of events that have impressed you with their eco-friendliness and maybe describe a little what they’re doing that is special.
Posted by: andrew |
Tags: races, sports, community, events
Today is “Blog Action Day”, an international initiative of bloggers with the aim of uniting thousands of blogging voices, talking about one issue for one day – the environment. To raise awareness major blogs have signed up to participate, including Lifehacker, Dumb Little Man, Lifehack.org, Get Rich Slowly, Web Worker Daily, GigaOm, The Simple Dollar, Zen Habits, Freelance Switch, LifeClever, Unclutterer, Pronet Advertising, Wise Bread and many more.
“For just one day, we’d like to unite as many of the millions of bloggers around the world and speak about one issue – the environment,” said Collis Ta’eed, an Australian blogger from FreelanceSwitch.com, and a cofounder of Blog Action Day. “We want to display the potential and the power of the blogging community, which is a disparate community but one with an amazing size, breadth and diversity. By bringing everyone together for one day, we can see just how much can be achieved, and how much we can be heard.”
We at Laneo think that this initiative is very powerful and perfectly illustrates the positive leverage the internet can have on important global issues. As we have always talked about environmental issues in each post, what I’d like to underline today is simply – the power of uniting people from around the world on urgent issues such as saving the planet. We’re all extremely busy people and “free time” is becoming a very sought after luxury, so even a small gesture, such as this blog post, when added to thousands of others can instantly become, the “tipping point” (which is a great read by the way). If you do read this post, please spread the word asking people to participate in whatever manner they choose and if you have a blog, join the Blog Action Day and do a short post – it might make a big difference.
Posted by: andrew |
Tags: websites, community
I don’t know about you, but I’m tired of hearing all these catastrophic statistics and data on climate change and tragic images of wildlife and landscape. Sure we need to raise awareness, but intimidating people with apocalyptic scenarios isn’t going to get us anywhere. In my opinion, the focus on dramatizing environmental issues is counter productive. There is a moment when all of it becomes “too much”. People lose track, get confused, don’t know what to do, and most of all – give up – because it seems too big to solve with simple answers. In reality however, simple changes and tiny commitments are all that is needed to make a huge difference.
The recent rise in public eco-consciousness is due to the massive media coverage of literally millions of initiatives around the world. Some fueled by capitalistic opportunism, others purely by civic responsibility. Whatever the root cause, what’s at stake is not market share or consumer trends – it’s the environment. Hype is for shopping, not for social issues. But with this huge onslaught of information, just picking through the available news is a job on its own. You practically have to be a PhD expert to understand it all and be able to differentiate fact from myth.
At Laneo, we steer clear of all the hype and clutter. By talking about what’s new, who’s doing what, where the initiatives are going, and how you can participate if you wish – Laneo offers you a positive approach to make your own choices and your own level of impact.
What interests us is the great outdoors. Those picture perfect swells, the mist rising off the lakes, the silence of country trails and the majesty of century old boulders. Getting everyone outside to experience this, whether they’re beginners or experts (and at whatever dose they choose), that is our “hands-on training” of what’s right and what’s wrong for our planet.
Outdoors should be fun and it should enlighten adults as it does children. It should never ever become a terrain for hopelessness, regret or restraint. So go out there and play. Enjoy the spirit of life and nature. Because only when you get out there and experience it for yourself, will you understand what you yourself can do to protect your planet.
Posted by: andrew |
Tags: society, community, environment
I just came back from an hour long trail run and while I was out there, I ran into a friend who during our conversation asked me “Andrew, why did you choose to make joining Laneo a Free membership?”
So I came home and looked up the dictionary definition of “free” and here’s what I found:
a) “not subject to or constrained by engagements and obligations”
b) “using or expending something without restraint”
c) “so as to become available for a particular purpose”
When I decided to make Laneo memberships free, there were two opposite perspectives that I was battling. In today’s capitalist society, anything that is free is considered to be “bad” or “poor quality” or not really worth pursuing. Yet “why” should helping clean up our outdoors cost those who want to do it. There’s a lot of debate today on the subject of free in “business models”, “culture price” and “community expenses”. Some even argue that “price” is the only barrier to wastefulness, but I think it’s a lot simpler than everyone’s making it out to be.
Remember when you were a child and everything seemed so accessible? You went outside and you could basically go anywhere and do anything, for nothing. You could climb a tree, jump in a lake or run through a cornfield. Money was not an issue. It’s only when you grew up and society caught up with you that things started to cost money.
Today as adults, especially in big corporations, we turn everything into money. Products, services, people’s time and expertise, production, overhead, – it all has money attached to it. But things like family, friends, quality of your life, quality of your environment – no one can assign a monetary value to those things. They are beyond any price anyone could assign to them.
I made Laneo memberships free, so that the model could “free up” restrictions and fuel opportunities because I believe our environment is beyond price. If we destroy it, no amount of money we collect and leave to our kids, will ever enable them restore it.
Posted by: andrew |
Tags: society, community
Social networking websites are sprouting up around the globe faster than we can keep up with them. It’s no wonder that small companies have found a new “gold rush” in supplying a wide variety of innovative tools and services for their members. Each promising newer and more amazing features so that their members can create better and more personalized “windows” of themselves. (Makes me think of all those quaint storefronts in Salzburg, Austria at Christmas.)
I belong to quite a few of them and have tested many of the “options & gadgets” that are offered. One of them has just caught my eye – I AM GREEN available on FACEBOOK.
Residing under the “Applications” section of the FACEBOOK site, this option to lets you check off eco-actions (or leaves, as they call it) to indicate the things you typically do in favor of the planet. These engagements then show up on your profile and you can then invite your “Facebook friends” to join you. It has spiraled into over 24,500 users and over 700,000 different “leaves”!
And while creating personal “windows” on social networking sites may be a fad, “greenness” is most likely here to stay. Everyday, more and more people are changing the way they live and once they do, they are not turning back. I for one am very happy to see that Facebook is providing people with an opportunity to express themselves in different ways.
The people behind I AM GREEN state; “When we commit to doing something good, we inspire each other to do that, and more.”
They must have read my mind.
Posted by: andrew |
Tags: technology, society, community, environment
When we first set out to develop Laneo, we sought the input of over 50 outdoor sports manufacturers on a number of issues – especially what their needs were in terms of marketing and promotion programs. The feedback we received signaled an overwhelming support for our approach, and we were confident that manufacturers would be proactive and eager to participate from the get go.
We were wrong. Despite what they said and promised, industry executives in the end proved to be timid and faint-hearted in devoting any resources to our programs. Facing the reality, we knew we had to find a way to prove to the industry that there were people out there that wanted to get involved. We had to start building our global community despite the missing industry support.
Well I’m proud to say, the effort is paying off. I just returned from Annecy (see photo) where I’ve spent 2 days with Salomon & Millet (2 of our partners) working on upcoming events and actions.
Based in one of the most beautiful and pristine areas of France (and with an abundance of outdoor activities on their doorsteps), both of these fantastic companies have deeply-rooted brands and traditions. Both sell their products around the world. Both are leaders in their respective market categories. Both have modern structured organizations and foremost industry experts directing them. So why has it taken this long for them to finally agree to play along?
No lame excuses, no finger pointing and no strategic pretexts – just the basic of all obstacles – time. It takes time to change the course of things. And at large companies it takes time to get new projects started.
Because of the obvious confidentiality that surrounds the programs we’re working on, I cannot share with you the details but suffice to say they will involve Laneo at a global level and you’re going to love being able to participate in them!
So then, what’s all the fuss about with everyone else?
Although some of us are very concerned with the state of our Planet, we have to face it – a lot of people around us just aren’t. If you haven’t experienced natural destruction first hand, it’s hard to understand what all the commotion is about.
To help you understand this; during lunch yesterday on the terrace of a local restaurant facing the breathtaking mountains that dominate Millet’s headquarters, Laurent (Millet’s Rope Product Manager – see his interview in our Blog) said to me; “You know Andrew, when we go out for our lunch break and hike up to that peak over there (pointing to a picturesque granite cliff top), we never see any pollution or degradation. Maybe that’s why people around here just don’t understand what all the fuss is about?”...
Posted by: andrew |
Tags: sports, community
Why do we have parks? I mean, we all love them and like to romp around in them but, why do we really need all the rules and regulations that go with them? I personally don’t like the feeling of paying to enter a park, a place that is supposed to be natural and accessible by anyone.
According to Wikipedia “A national park is a reserve of land, usually declared and owned by a national government, protected from most human development and pollution”. Protected? From what? From us? That’s what bothers me. Why would anyone want to destroy (willingly or involuntarily) something as beautiful as a great reserve of nature at it’s finest. I think it’s a question of attitude. You can call it something else if you prefer but most often attitude stems from some form of education. In the case of pollution or destruction of natural resources, it’s a “lack of” education. Some of us regard people that harm the outdoors as irresponsible but I think it the opposite. Remember how it was the first time your grandparents or parents took you into a forest and showed you the trees, plants and animals? How did you feel? Some children are negatively overwhelmed by this experience and carry it forward to their adult life where it expresses itself as disrespect towards nature. Littering, destruction and overuse of our natural habitat are all forms of this subconscious apprehension. Laneo aims to serve as a community that brings awareness to this issue and promotes a new attitude towards nature and society.
Posted by: andrew |
Tags: community, environment
Many people, especially in the financial industry, ask the same question- who’s behind Laneo. Well, for one – me. I’ve poured my entire savings and roughly 15 hours a day for 2 years into this project. Next there are a quite a few people, around the world, that overtime got addicted to my optimism and drive and have given a pretty big chunk of their free-time to Laneo, all on top of their jobs, family and leisure time. Next come the operational people. The experts that you can’t do anything without – lawyers, accountants, bankers and experts in other technical areas, all of which have “donated” a majority of their time to this project. Then come some specialized people, like the creative firm behind our website and identity, that built my dream and took it beyond what I imagined in the first place and believe me, they’ve really invested in our future. And there are the neighbors, the guys at the local café, the buddies who run sports stores, my training pals, the health food store team and restaurant where I spent hours building this project on a lap top and no sleep. Then there are the “Premier Partners”, the first manufacturers that believed in Laneo before it even existed. They “lent” us the leverage of their brands to help get us on the way. There is the Board of Directors and Advisory Board, all of whom hold tremendous responsibilities at their day jobs, yet found the time to support me. And finally, my family, spread across the globe and sending me extremely kind words of support and encourage even though some admit – they don’t fully understand what I’m doing. And most importantly, my wife and son, who have somehow learned how to fix dripping taps, change car wheels and keep our home running while I travel the world in my quest to restore the planet to it beauty. I’m planning to put a tribute page up on the website sometime soon, so I won’t list their names here, but in total over 200 have helped Laneo get to where it is. And while most people want “headcount figures”, and number of employees, Laneo’s success is measured in the tangible proof that the outdoors are getting cleaner. So, until Laneo starts delivering, we’re not hiring – but we’re still going to be working really hard, with the 200 or so “invisible” people devoted to the cause and our growing member community.
Posted by: andrew |
Tags: community, news
I’ve got a lot of people around me that said we should have started a Blog a long time ago. Though they might have been right, at the time, we figured that everyone is pretty busy and another “diary” on Start-Up woes was not going to add anything really tangible to help save the Planet. We thought that we were better off just trying to get Laneo up and running and securing partnerships that were going to fuel our action.
So here we are; close to 2 years after starting to work on the concept, 1 year after launching the company and 6 months after enrolling our first member – we now think it’s time to start telling a bit of the story. But more importantly, we believe that purpose of this Blog is to create awareness of a growing dilemma around the globe; we’re not going to continue enjoying our outdoor sports and games if we don’t start doing something about preserving the very beauty of it. We hope that as this Blog grows, we will have the opportunity to not only share with you our vision about how we should take control of our future, but also, with the help of our members and readers, start creating a community that will forever change how outdoor enthusiasts around the world, treat their environment. Just as our members have engaged to do; we’re “Donating our Opinions” to help Save the Planet.
Posted by: andrew |
Tags: documentation, community, news
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