You know, it's not all gloom and doom

So here's the deal: Lord knows there are plenty of reasons available in today's environment to bitch, moan, complain, kvetch, and hell, just toss it all in.

For the glass-half-empty crowd this has got to be the closest thing to Nirvana we've experienced since...well, since the last time the economy went in the tank only a few years ago, and a few years before that, and a few years before that. There are however hopeful signs on the horizon and right at hand.

I recently started working with one of Canada's leading wineries. At the same time I've begun to volunteer with the Community Foundation of Oakville (CFO). And, of course, I'm still a work-at-home Dad raising my now 16-month-old son Gabriel.

What do these all have in common and why the photo of the newest book by Don Tapscott?

In both the case of the winery and the CFO we're challenged to broaden our market to include a younger demographic. In this circumstance what many call the Millennial generation. Learning about these young folks has been illuminating as all get out. They are in fact very little like you might expect. If your image is of a group of self-absorbed, narcissistic gamers who care little about anything save themselves and their ability to enjoy life with little commitment to anyone or anything - you couldn't be more wrong. This is a generation of people who actually think their parents are pretty cool and that their grandparents are especially cool. Their role models are not Britney, Jessica and Madonna but Bill & Melinda Gates, Warren Buffett, Oprah, Barack Obama and George Clooney. They are civic minded. They value friends and family and they want to participate positively in improving life conditions for their families and people around the world. They may well be the first truly global generation. I encourage you to visit www. takingitglobal.org to get a real glimpse into how they are transforming what our generation and others almost wrecked.

On that last point, the following is a short excerpt from Tapscott's greatly insightful book.

"Comedian Jon Stewart put it well in his frank commencement address to the 2004 graduating class of the College of William and Mary: "Let's talk about the real world for a moment. I guess this is as good a moment as any. I don't really know how to put this, so I'll be blunt. We broke it. Please don't be mad. I know we were supposed to bequeath to the next generation a world better than the one we were handed. So, sorry. I don't know if you've been following the news lately, but it just kind of got away from us. Somewhere between the gold rush of easy Internet profits and an arrogant sense of endless empire, we heard kind of a pinging noise, and uh, then the damn thing just died on us. So I apologize. But here's the good news. You fix this thing; you're the next greatest generation, people."

So there you go. Amidst all of the pissing and moaning there is some good news and a highly motivated generation who are ready, willing and able to help us bail out this sunken ship and refloat a new world of hope and glory.

I refuse to succumb to the gloomer and doomers. Get a grip people and let's work together to move this thing forward in a positive fashion.

Oh, by the way...get involved in your local community foundation or volunteer somehow to make a difference. And...buy Tapscott's book. You'll learn - ALOT.

Recommended reading

The Kite Runner, Khaled Hosseini

It seems that for centuries the country of Afghanistan has been at war. Very few people, even some with special insight and historical knowledge of the region, expect that the country will ever know anything but conflict based upon centuries-old tribal rivalries, biases, faiths and beliefs.

Recent events and social, political and economic pronouncements - particularly from the United States and our own Canadian government - produced a demonization of all things Afghani. Taliban or otherwise we've become anesthetized to the plight of the people of Afghanistan. While we can perhaps all agree that the Taliban quest to take the country back to a former fundamentalist religious base, how did it happen that we came to lose sight that there are people just like us living in Kabul. I know how incredibly naive this all sounds...that someone in my position should just realize that he's fallen prey to the manipulations of the Bush/Harper governments and their minions BUT...better that we become aware than never aware at all.

All this is written solely to encourage you to read this book. It will help you regain perspective and get back to the emotions and qualities of all of our lives that really do matter.

This book is lyrical and violent. The author has an uncanny ability to find the poetry in devastation and the hope that springs from grounds which by all accounts should be forever barren. If you read no other book in the next short while...make it this one.

The following brief passage will I hope entice you to seek it out.

"Alas the Afghanistan of our youth is long dead. Kindness is gone from the land and you cannot escape the killings. Always the killings. In Kabul, fear is everywhere, in the streets, in the stadium, in the markets, it is a part of our lives here, Amir agha. The savages who rule our watan don't care about human decency. The other day, I accompanied Farzana jan to the bazaar to buy some potatoes and naan. She asked the vendor how much the potatoes cost, but he did not hear her, I think he had a deaf ear. So she asked louder and suddenly a young Talib ran over and hit her on the thighs with his wooden stick. He was screaming at her and cursing and saying the Ministy of Vice and Virtue does not allow women to speak loudly. She had a large purple bruise on her leg for dayds but what could I do except stand and watch my wife get beaten? If I fought, that dog would surely put a bullet in me, and gladly! Then what would happen to my Sohrab? The streets are full enough already of hungry orphans and every day I thank Allah that I am alive, not because I fear death, but because my wife has a husband and my son is not an orphan.

"I wish you could see Sohrab. He is a good boy. Rahim Khan sahib and I have taught him to read and write so he does not grow up stupid like his father. And can he shoot with that sling-shot!....I am a very proud and very lucky father."

Yes We Did: Strategic Insights from the campaign that redefined modern politics

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The Designers Accord

The Designers Accord is made up of more than
100,000 members of the creative community,
representing 100 countries, and each design
discipline. Half of the members of the Designers
Accord are outside the United States.
Almost every major design firm has adopted the
Designers Accord. The list includes: IDEO, frog
design, Continuum, Smart Design, ZIBA, BMW
Designworks, and Pentagram.
Corporate adopters include Autodesk, Adobe,
Johnson & Johnson (Consumer Product Design),
Steelcase, GOOD magazine, Sappi, Mohawk Paper,
and New Leaf Paper.
Among the educational institutions that have adopted
the Designers Accord: California College of the Arts,
Savannah College of Art and Design, USC design
department, Pratt, School of Design at Tecnologico
de Monterrey, University of Art and Design Helsinki,
and Swinburne University.
The two largest American design organizations–
AIGA and IDSA–and the global organization of design
colleges and universities, CUMULUS, endorse the
Designers Accord.
The Designers Accord is a California not-for-profit,
and was formed in July 2007.
To find out more, visit: www.designersaccord.org or
contact Valerie Casey at valerie@designersaccord.org

Creating Positive Impact through Collaboration
The Designers Accord is a global coalition of designers, educators,
and business leaders, working together to create positive environmental
and social impact.
Adopters of the Designers Accord commit to five guidelines that provide
collective and individual ways to take action. Becoming a member of the
Designers Accord provides access to a community of peers that shares
methodologies, resources, and experiences around environmental and
social issues in design.
The vision of the Designers Accord is to integrate the principles of
sustainability into all aspects of design practice and manufacturing. Our
mission is to catalyze innovation throughout the creative community by
collectively building our intelligence around issues of climate change and
humanity, and tackling those challenges with optimism and creativity.
We advocate inverting the traditional model of competition, and encourage
sharing best practices so we can innovate more efficiently and quickly.
We will:
Ask all adopters to engage in conversation about social and
environmental impact with every client and customer, and integrate
sustainable alternatives in their work.
Create a real-world and online network to enable conversation about
opportunities and challenges in creating sustainable products,
services, and businesses.
Fast Company magazine believes the Designers Accord “is on a path to
change the culture of the creative community from bottom to top, and
with it, the way everything is made, from toothbrushes to airplanes.”
BusinessWeek writes that the Designers Accord is setting “a new standard
for sustainability in design.”
GOOD magazine, Fortune, the New York Times, Dwell, Environmental
Leader, AdAge, and Creativity magazine, among others, agree that the
Designers Accord is revolutionizing the industry.

A packaging rant and kvetch

Christmas time is such a good time to get back in touch with what's going on in the world of packaging. Now that I have a child I'm exposed to many more types of packaging as well so my horizons have become very broad.

So here's the rant: I have purchased high-ticket items from Tiffany that weren't packaged with the security measures taken by many toy manufacturers. Case in point is the packaging shown here.

This is a toy car product from the Parents brand. Of course made in China. Imported by a firm in Quebec. To be fair - the cars are great. Gabriel loves them.

HOWEVER - it took me a interminable amount of time to get into this incredibly wasteful and frankly stupid package. It features multi-thickness and layers of corrugate; a tranparent acrylic lid; a cord handle; and, the piece de resistance - a whole whack of twist ties and little reinforcements to keep everything in place.

For God's sake - we're supposed to be greening the world. Get your act together packaging people. Recommend you check out the Designers Accord on the web. Designers can influence this process by not recommending ridiculous display and security redundancy for a simple little product such as this.

Now that was fun

What a great Christmas this has been. Lots of friends, family, great food and good travelling conditions. Hope you've all enjoyed a similarly good time and are looking forward to continuing celebrations as 2009 dawns. I'm not a big fan of New Years Eve parties simply because I try to find cause for celebration on almost any day and December 31 has always seemed forced to me.

However, with that Bah Humbug out of the way, enjoy and be safe.

Gabriel is already hoisting a toast to a fresh start for next year!

Ooooooof - Time to slow down

After all the hurly burly and scurrying about before Christmas it is time to relax, put our feet up and leave the rest of the job to Santa.
Merry Christmas, Happy Hannukah and all the best for this festive season.
Eat. Drink. Be merry.
Be safe.
Hope Santa recovers from this little mishap!