It’s been a year since my last post – mostly because I’ve been all over the map promoting energy and environmental action. Something’s been nagging at me about this, and it’s only occurred to me lately what it is: People in my “industry” seem to have forgotten why we’re doing this. The sense of urgency that turned a fledgling gaggle of energy and environmental first adopters into a global industry of social entrepreneurs has lost its way. Lately, environmental and energy conservation action is “just business.” This scares the crap out of me. Some days I want to flee to Walden and sharpen pencils by the wood stove. Don’t get…

My mother wasn’t allowed to play cards as a teenager. Snakes and Ladders had evil connotations (the game’s called Chutes and Ladders these days). Heck, even thinking about sex was considered a mortal sin in Church of Christ PEI — something that was hard for a horny Island teenage boy to handle. There were rules. The world was all explained. So I should have known better than to mess with the spirits. This week, my smudge went rogue. An Aboriginal colleague at work recently smudged our office. She is studying with elders the age-old tradition of burning dried buffalo sage to rid a space of negative energy and old trapped…

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Last night I wrote a bit about death. Things were fine then. It was all so abstract and remote. Then this morning at about 7:30 AM Suzy stepped into the shower and stepped out in excruciating pain. She hadn’t pulled a muscle or twisted. Something random had happened. And we spent the whole day in the critical care unit at the Ottawa General Hospital. For a while there this morning we were talking with doctors about colon cancer, heart attack, pulmonary embolism. We’re still not sure what it was. By this time tomorrow we’ll know if it’s shingles or a pinched nerve. Tonight I’m thinking: Maybe I should stop saying…

I think about death a lot. I don’t know why, really. Life is great. I’m still close to the median age, and I like how Canadian life expectancy is climbing at about the same pace that the earth circles the sun. It’s fair to say that I don’t want to die. My biggest fear is leaving my kids prematurely. I picture Jasper and Simon sad, lonely. Suzy would pause and move on. She’s like that. This summer I awoke with a start early one dewey Island morning in the loft at Walden and noticed a tuft of downy feather stuck to the skylight above my head. A bird had struck…

My super team at One Change has been working on a water campaign for about a year. We’ve got energy nailed (or screwed) with bulbs as the catalyst action. Like the light bulb is to the house, the tire gauge is the car, the simplest first action. The sound the tire gauge makes (Psst!) is the call to action of fuel efficiency. That works well. But then there’s water. I thought we had the scoop on water a year ago when, with great fanfare, I flew to Alberta to present an idea to the Alberta government. Minister Renner’s a great guy, and when I showed him the vinyl toilet tank…

I’m having powerful cabin dreams. Usually this doesn’t happen until February/March. I decided years ago that this annual phenomenon indicates that I’ve been away from Walden for too many months — that I need to get back to the woods. But this year, the dream is different. I’m moving stuff around. I’m discovering new rooms or whole new floors that I didn’t know were there. Sometimes the world around is blanketed by melting snow. Like always, Dad makes an appearance. He’s been gone for 9 years but he’s there in the woods. Usually he talks to me in the dreams. This year he’s just watching as I explore.

Why do new TVs have to sing a little song when you turn them on? Seriously. Who thought that up? Imagine yourself in the board room that the idea was first presented: “Customers will love it, like the TV saying ‘Thanks for turning me on!’ It’s the fifth anniversary of Project Porchlight today. Five years ago this morning Suzy walked a hand-written application form over to City Hall to register Porchlight as a not-for-profit organization. We debated whether the $90 fee was a good investment … Five years later I spent the afternoon on a conference call with a team of communications managers in New Jersey discussing the new fridge…

Strange things are happening. Again. Yesterday. I’m driving. It’s cold and rainy and dark. At 11AM. And I’m thinking: “We gave away 13,000 digital tire gauges this summer, and now that it’s cold and wet, nobody’s going to be checking their tire pressure.” So I pull into the parking lot at the Starbucks closest to Jasper’s Saturday hockey game. 10 minutes later I’m getting back into the car, lattes in hand, and I notice that four cars over a guy driving an SUV is kneeling by his front tire. Then he attaches a little device the size of a shoe box to his tire, a wire leading into his car.…

If patience is a virtue, how would you describe someone who continues to come back to a blog where the author has not posted in 4 months? Here’s a reward: This is the first place I’m announcing an exciting news bit: My little NGO has signed Ed Begley Jr. as a US spokesperson! He just seems like the right kind of celeb for One Change, and I only discovered in the last couple of days that in addition to being a pioneer of environmental action, he’s also a board member of the Thoreau Society. (Anyone who was using CFL bulbs in the 70s qualifies as an environmental pioneer). If Ed…

OK. By now, nobody’s reading this. No, I’m not calling you a nobody. Thanks for dropping by! Life’s been so busy lately. Too busy. But I’m happiest when I’m writing, so I’m determined to try to tap out some thoughts and observations here. The big news is that One Change is now a charitable foundation in Canada and the US, endorsed by the UN. And we have some new celebrity help to get the word out. Stay tuned. These are all great things, but I long for the walking path to the top of the old clearcut, to be caught by surprise taking a deep lungful of mossy forest air.…

How many light bulbs does it take to change people? One Change Catalyst Awarads 2009

No, they’re not in jail. It’s the loft at Walden. The boys love it when I shut off all the lights and get the candles of the chandelier going. It’s amazing how bright it seems with 6 candles burning in a small cabin miles from any street lights or city light pollution. Every summer at the cabin I have to spend at least one evening on my back on the dew-soaked lawn, staring out at the stars. Even emerging from a candle-lit cabin, it takes about ten minutes for the eyes to adjust to the dark. I’m not there so much for the finer detail, but the macro feeling. Sure,…

I love this photo. The energy and hope in the flag. The joy on Jasper’s face. Me not quite believing that this is my son, at my place. That was before it was “ours.” It’s June 2001. The leaves are just coming out, but the grass has had a few weeks to get ahead of us. Jasper was making his first day trip to Walden. He was only just over a year old, but really ten months because back then we were still talking about “corrected age” to account for his 3 months prematurity. We were in PEI for a family holiday, but also because it was becoming evident that…

I ran 14k yesterday. It’s the first time I’ve gone that far in one day, and it felt great. I started and ended at the Agriculture Museum of the Experimental Farm in Ottawa, running along the Rideau Canal and over Hartwell locks to Hogs Back and on to Mooney’s Bay. The Agriculture Museum was packed with kids, including my own, who were there with Suzy and one of Suzy’s best friends Michelle and her two girls for egg hunts, bunnies and newborn chicks. It was madness there, but people were smiling despite a sharp spring breeze. The sun was shining. And there seemed to be an air of giddy discovery…