Despite my resolutions to the contrary, life continues to be as hectic as ever. Here is a quick round-up of what has been going on.
Last weekend was a little oasis of calm in the general craziness. I went away with the Pleiades, “a constellation of women working for a sustainable world”. And they are indeed a bunch of stars. I left the weekend feeling re-energised and replenished. And replete. Rarely has so much cheese been eaten by so few (to paraphrase Winston Churchill) We concluded our weekend with a visit to, of course, a cheese producer. Throughout our tour of their facility, I couldn’t stop that classic line from The Life of Brian running through my head: “Blessed are the cheesemakers”. Bless them indeed – after eight years in business they finally turned a profit last year.
I spent the weekend trying out a new camera. My treat to myself as a reward for spending 170 days on the ocean this year. After extensive comparison of the Olympus E-PL1, Panasonic DMC-GH2, Nikon V1 and Sony NEX-5N (all four thirds cameras), I plumped for the Sony. It has interchangeable lenses, but no viewfinder and a removable flash, so it is tiny compared with DSLR cameras – perfect for a global nomad. I gave it an exhaustive test drive over the weekend, and have been delighted with the results. You can see my photos of a pretty New England town, some cute goats and various Pleiadeans in my slideshow of the weekend.
Yesterday I took the train down to Washington, DC. Sitting across the table in the dining car was a smartly dressed man with a Stars and Stripes lapel button, tapping away on his iPad. He must have overheard me talking on the phone and noted my English accent. Shortly before we pulled into Union Station, he asked me how American politics are perceived by the rest of the world. This is not the place to repeat my reply, but suffice to say that we went on to have a fascinating conversation about the state of the world in general, and democracy in particular. It transpired that I had been talking with the man that succeeded Vice President Joe Biden as Senator for Delaware, Chris Coons.
I was quite impressed by him. It was refreshing to meet a politician with intelligence, integrity and humor. He might even have restored my faith in the political system. Just a little.
This morning I had a meeting at the offices of UNEP (the United Nations Environment Programme) to figure out the job description of a Climate Hero. We are still defining it, but hopefully it will involve a lot of speaking in front of people with the power to make a difference at policy level.
Although, come to think of it, I can do that on the Amtrak Acela Express. Who needs conferences? Maybe I’ll just keep changing the world, one train passenger at a time….
Other Stuff:
Huge thanks to Christine of the Rice Mansion Inn, Cambridge, NY, and to Sue of Spoonful Catering for a wonderful weekend of warm hospitality and delicious local food. And to all my fellow Pleiadeans for the mental refreshment and the supportive embrace of sisterhood. I’m Pleiadean and I’m proud.
Great slide show and music Roz. Looks like it was the right group of women sharing and caring for our planet. You have that camera work down ! Keep sharing 🙂
Yup, Roz! I do it one grocery shopper at a time, one waitress at a time, one barista, one nurse, one fellow commuter, one niece, one grocery checker … you get the idea. The larger audiences are impersonal and less frequent, but the one-on-one is daily and personable. I don’t impose my opinions, but if a conversation begins, it can be steered toward mutual interests if the person shows interest.
Go influentially, Roz!
Hi Roz et al,
Here is my take on cheese.. I agree it is a stretch but I used this
knowledge it in promoting your event last year in Sacramento and use
it currently when helping you spread your message of awareness. It is
good food for thought, just don’t pasteurize it:)
Many years ago I read of Clotaire Rapaille and his work with autistic
children(I am a nurse). He has since then become a master marketing guru.
The just of it…
He equated how to sell cheese in the USA as opposed to Europe: “In the
USA cheese is dead and sold dead. In Europe cheese is alive.”
Excerpt from http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/persuaders/interviews/rapaille.html
Yes, and those can be, of course, translated into how to address the
real needs of the consumer, which means marketing practice and
marketing strategies. For example, if I know that in America the
cheese is dead, which means is pasteurized, which means legally dead
and scientifically dead, and we don’t want any cheese that is alive,
then I have to put that up front. I have to say this cheese is safe,
is pasteurized, is wrapped up in plastic. I know that plastic is a
body bag. You can put it in the fridge. I know the fridge is the
morgue; that’s where you put the dead bodies. And so once you know
that, this is the way you market cheese in America.
I started working with a French company in America, and they were
trying to sell French cheese to the Americans. And they didn’t
understand, because in France the cheese is alive, which means that
you can buy it young, mature or old, and that’s why you have to read
the age of the cheese when you go to buy the cheese. So you smell, you
touch, you poke. If you need cheese for today, you want to buy a
mature cheese. If you want cheese for next week, you buy a young
cheese. And when you buy young cheese for next week, you go home,
[but] you never put the cheese in the refrigerator, because you don’t
put your cat in the refrigerator. It’s the same; it’s alive. We are
very afraid of getting sick with cheese. By the way, more French
people die eating cheese than Americans die. But the priority is
different; the logic of emotion is different. The French like the
taste before safety. Americans want safety before the taste.
Cheers all!
~Jay
one by one you will “railroad” the world into a new approach.
Refused six throwaway plastic bags this week 🙂
David C
Loved the slide show Roz! It was so affirming to read about the Pleiadeans . . . and see them in the slide show . . . thanks!
You’re hilarious, Roz. Keep up the world-changing work!
Great read Roz; keep fighting the good fight….
Here is a video of the above that I originally saw:
http://youtu.be/_2L4ZGnjAQw
He apparently has four videos out. Here is one
http://youtu.be/CgplzOsgnDA
Let’s find a way to decode and sell the sustainability code. Single use plastic permanents and toxic tumbleweeds just don’t make sense!
~Jay
Here is one more marketing genius. When we first met in San Francisco, I mentioned this gentleman and how he sent an email to every republican in office (can’t remember the year) that “Global Warming” should be changed to “Climate Change”. The words would soothe any urgency to act and create an emotion of natural temperature fluctuations that people will just have to endure until it cools off again… as if …
~Jay
http://youtu.be/_2L4ZGnjAQw