Unless you’re willing to toss something in the garbage within about five minutes of getting it, without ever having really used it, you pretty much can’t get anything.
— Colin Beavan, on Day one of the No Impact Man experiment

Early in the 2009 documentary No Impact Man, the subject shows how much trash his family has created in the first week of the yearlong experiment to create zero impact on the earth; barely enough to cover the bottom of a standard wastebasket.

And now I can’t stop paying attention to everything I throw in the trash can. Plastic wrap. Paper towels. Straws. Gum wrappers. Candy wrappers. Diapers. Deli counter ziplock bags. Yogurt tops. Takeout containers. Leftovers. Before we started composting a few months ago, all our table scraps went in the trash as well.

It’s just so depressingly easy to make trash. I hardly even think about it; things pass through my fingers for moments, and then boom – in the garbage can. We probably produce a full bag every 1.5 days, and that’s after recycling as much as we can get into our city-issued bin.

Part of my motivation for starting SmallForGood was selfish; I wanted to educate myself on sustainable living, and the ways we negatively impact our world. It’s certainly been eye-opening.

I promoted the documentary on SmallForGood today. It’s funny, approachable, challenging without being preachy, and it’s immensely inspiring. I also love that it’s controversial (people have called it elitist, unrealistic, and misguided) because that usually means you’re on to something. Watch for yourself and see what you think. I guarantee you won’t look at your consuming habits the same way afterwards.

Instead of getting oxygen to the idea as quickly as possible, I started kicking around ideas for layout, a logo, color choices, imagery, and so on. I’m a designer, I thought. Of course I’m going to do this custom.

It’s the curse of having no client. I had no budget to keep in mind, no timeframe, and no one telling me “no”.

As a result, the project quickly languished. With a busy family life, I told myself I’d get to the site later. And of course ‘later’ started to become ‘never’. Two years went by. I occasionally thought about the site, and how much I liked the idea. I’d promise to start designing soon, and I never did.

A few months ago, the idea popped up in my head once more. I wondered where the site would be today if I’d actually launched it when the idea first came to me. I knew I’d never launch the site if I hung on to my self-imposed requirements.

So I started acting like the client again, prioritizing the site’s needs. Yes, a custom design would be great — I’d love to see Small For Good develop it’s own recognizable brand.

But I also wanted to launch as quickly as possible to see if the idea would catch and – ultimately – grow. What good is a site that took months to produce if no one visits?

After an evening’s work customizing a spare, sturdy WordPress theme by Automattic, I was ready to start focusing on the content of the site. You know — the content? The site’s reason for being?

After another few weeks of populating the site and adding some social-ness and interactive-ness, I launched.

From two years to two weeks.

Now I’m actually managing the site and thinking of new ways to spread the word and — hopefully — live out the site’s goal. And that’s the most critical thing.

Do I wish the site had a custom design? Sure. Is there time for that? Absolutely. And if the site truly takes off at some point, I’ll revisit. In fact, the custom design will help signal that momentum is building. For now, I’ll just see if I can blow on the kindling and get a roaring fire going.

It’s been an invaluable lesson. I’m all for investing time and treasure in your life’s passions, but the timing of that investment deserves careful consideration. Why put up roadblocks to the realization of an idea? Can you start with less? Odds are, you can.

I find the spirit behind the question endlessly inspiring. As such, I’ve created smallforgood.com, a site that seeks out those small, simple ideas so they can be performed by anyone every single day. The goal is to care for our world at an individual — yet global — level.

The idea for this site has been rattling around in my brain for years, and I’m thrilled to finally get oxygen to the concept. It’s also refreshing to approach a project as the client, as opposed to a designer. More on that later.

We wield great power as individuals when we work collectively. Few of us have the chance to change the way our businesses handle waste or how our communities provide energy. But we can take small steps each day to cut emissions, reduce the amount of material we put into landfills, save water and energy, and so forth. Through simple steps, we can live more sustainably within the framework of our lives, in ways that tangibly effect change.

I’d love to see ideas flow in to the site; by no means am I an expert on the sustainability front. Rather, I’m just looking to centralize this kind of information for myself and others who might be interested. I hope you’ll bring ideas and opinions — or simply stop by on occasion to see what’s new.

Last week I found a handy little snippet of PHP for WordPress that could do exactly what I wanted. Now, instead of seeing a list of post titles, you’ll see a thumbnail of the picture/video in that post. The subject and date archives also work the same way.

Small update, but a fun one. I love that I can see all at once just how the lad has changed in three months.

There’s also more where that came from.

Posted this over at GB, but had to share it out because it’s just… that… good:

Dance Movie Blogathon

This may ruin your Friday morning productivity. If that upsets anyone, let them know how to vent their frustration.

Maybe you have friends like these; tirelessly curious, fearless, and fascinated by the aspects of everyday life. Me, I ride the train to work and bury my head in a book. These two look at the faces around them and see stories.

Now they’re telling these stories. Or, more accurately, they’re letting us listen in through a podcast featuring the people they meet along the way.

There’s nothing earth-shattering in Potluck Podcast, just quiet, enjoyable peeks into the lives of the people we pass on the street every day.

If you’ve got five minutes in your day, you could do a lot worse than listening to an episode or two. If you’ve got more time on your hands, you might consider dropping them a note – odds are they might be in your town, and I’m sure they’d like to meet you.

(Two points deducted for lame Al Gore Internet reference. Sorry, it’s early.)

http://www.jottings.com/100-oldest-dot-com-domains.htm

Hypnotic.

http://www.breathingearth.net/

http://producten.hema.nl/