The Night After Bellingham Bliss

I am sitting here in Starbucks in Abbotsford. I assumed a friend would meet me here and they did not, so I am thinking about what to do. I'll either go back to Seattle tonight, or sleep in my car and see the city in the morning. Maybe go over to Vancouver to check that out in the AM. I have never been up here before. I'd rather be sitting in a local cafe but finding them can be a challenge. I have found this through the years of traveling for my job and looking for the local coffee spot. It's never easy, so chains are something I partake in.

We had a little bit of discussion about sprawl and suburbs this afternoon with my guest on Sustainable 1000.

Afterall, I did make it through the border crossing after being asked to go inside. I guess my passport of contradictions raised a red flag. I looked at it later. I see my mom's old address in North Carolina where I grew up, and an old address in Brooklyn, not to mention, my driver's license is from California, and so are my car plates. In any case, the border guards were cute so I did not mind.

Earlier in the day, I found a treasure north of Seattle. Bellingham is a liberal town in a liberal state.

As pretext, I tend to do well with intellectuals. It's a fault because I have to put myself out of my comfort zone to do small talk. Oftentimes, I'm seen as a bit unapproachable at parties. Good friends know me better and realize that I will talk about anything if it's done cleverly.

I was lucky to get a last minute interview with one of the smartest people in Bellingham, Alan Seid. Seriously, this person ended up taking me on a long hike describing vegetation, group dynamics, human compost processes, ecosystem interactions, and child behavior. He took my advice about doing or showing things to make our interview interesting to watch.

I realized looking at my project that there are obvious unsustainable aspects - driving a car, flying to cities for other work during the trip, and the small things like our web host. I realized this time, like any other business, I am going to make smart choices to accomplish the goal - 1000 interviews from 48 states in 250 days. I want this organization to be a long term media company that engages the audience of people who know sustainability, then crosses the boundary of those who do not know.