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An archaic German word — allmände — refers to goods used jointly by members of a community. This call was an exploration of such goods with German Commons activist Silke Helfrich.

Five years ago, Helfrich helped organize a conference in Mexico that brought together experts in agriculture, biodiversity, genetics and more. An Argentine participant asked about folding in the concepts of open source software, precipitating a useful discussion about Common Pool Resources and their governance (you may remember CPRs from EDFix #5, with Charlotte Hess).

Three notions bubbled out of those conversations, relative to these shared resources: access, usage rights and control. The culture of open source software gives everyone the right to read, write and use the code. Why was that kind of governance not happening with land, water, seeds and other resources needed for biodiversity? Duke professor James Boyle and others have described what's happened to The Commons as a second enclosure movement.

During the first Enclosure movement, many physical Commons were replaced with private landholdings, but often with some loopholes to soften the blow. For example, the Magna Carta has a little-known companion document, the Charter of the Forest, which gave commoners access to enclosed lands for firewood, grazing their pigs and a little more. Historian Peter Linebaugh has a marvelous, slow-burning talk about this forgotten charter.

This quick historical background is a platform for Helfrich's thesis: that we have become accustomed to delegating responsibility for these Commons to the State or the Market, and we need to regain the capacity to talk about The Commons and re-engage in its governance.

Our earlier call with Charlotte Hess taught us that the people closest to a Commons are most likely to understand how to govern it. Helfrich believes we need to share our knowledge better, so people are better equipped to make wise governance choices. We also need to make some important vocabulary distinctions. One she finds critical is between property, which is permanent (until sold or transferred), and possession, which is temporary.

What Governments and the Market will do depends largely on what society honors and rewards. Is the best company the one with the most patents, or the one that creates the most good with its innovations? (Think GreenXchange, from EDFix Call #6.) How, asks Helfrich, do we change the reward system?

Commoning is not easy. It takes time and patience. There's no panacea. Each solution will be different, but the core notions are the same. Commoning is a social process that can reconnect the relevant stakeholders in ways that are beneficial in the long term.

Many foundations, institutions and research centers are changing how they handle intellectual property, but Commoning doesn't fit comfortably into most of their charters. One useful step forward would be to reexamine their charters and missions to incorporate these ways of seeing and acting.

A year after the bailouts that I, among others, opposed, General Motors has announced its first real profit–$1 billion in positive cash flow, and $865 million in net income.  At this pace, GM may emerge from bankruptcy and go public by the end of the year, which will allow the government to recoup some of its investment.

This is great news for taxpayers, and for GM employees.  The company didn’t just achieve the profit by cutting costs, but also by improving the revenue side.  However, there are still some dark spots on the record:

1. GM achieved its profits at a time when the number one Japanese carmaker was taking a giant hit to its reputation for quality.  Yet The Truth About Cars points out that it still slightly lost market share compared to Q12009–which, you will recall, was not exactly a stellar moment for the firm.
2. The Truth About Cars also points out that percentage of fleet sales actually rose, to 31% of all vehicles, and 40% of cars.  Fleet sales are often less profitable than retail sales, particularly to car rental firms, and they also depress the secondary market for your product–which in turn makes retail sales less profitable.
3. GM is looking to move back into the auto financing business.  It was a truism for years that automakers were actually financial firms with an auto business on the side, and this was one of the reasons that they were hit so hard by the financial crisis.  I’d like to see GM develop its core competency as an auto manufacturer again before it dips its toes back into the banking industry.
4. Europe is still struggling, while trucks are performing slightly better than the rest of the company.  That means that GM is still having trouble in small cars, doing better on big ones . . . at a time when gas prices are probably headed upwards.

But still, it’s good news!  Everyone should want to see GM do well.

The obvious question for folks like me is:  does this vindicate the bailout?  I don’t think so, for a bunch of reasons:

• Bailouts are, on principle, a bad idea–they murder economic dynamism, and breed really unhealthy relations between corporations, labor unions, and the state. (Yes, unhealthier than what we have now, on the relevant dimensions)  Doing this one will make it harder to avoid bailing out other struggling firms.  Even if this one had been individually worthwhile, it would still be dangerous because of the precedent.
• That said, the cost-cutting that made this turnaround possible is an effect of bankruptcy, not of government bailouts.  Arguably, the government interest in maximizing the number of UAW jobs has made things worse (though arguably, the financing terms have made things better).
• The taxpayer is still going to end up losing a giant amount of money on this thing.
• The notion that America could not have survived the collapse of GM is seriously overwrought.  They basically relied on the assumption that if GM was liquidated, all of GM’s manufacturing capacity would have disappeared, along with all of the buyers who bought GM cars.  But of course, profitable lines would have been sold to other manufacturers, and those other manufacturers would have produced more cars to satisfy market demand, for which they would have purchased more stuff from suppliers.  The dislocation would not have been zero, but it would not have rivaled, say, the construction industry.
• The civic cost of this was large.  Rightly or wrongly, this was seen as a payoff to powerful Democratic interest groups in a large state.  Not that this is exactly unheard of, but this was very public, and the price tag was very large.  Though I think that government should do less stuff, I do not actually think it is a good thing when public trust in institutions erodes further; I want a government that is highly trusted to do the relatively few jobs for which it is uniquely suited.

Set to the tune of OK Go‘s This Too Shall Pass, this fantastic song/video parodies OK Go’s famed Rube Goldberg video—it’s called Mousetrap Never Works. And it’ll have you fist-pumping in vindication of your misspent childhood. More »

I don’t know if Google’s motives are pure or not, but this is wrong: They are refusing to advertise CougarLife, a dating site for mature women looking for younger men. However, they accept sites for mature men seeking young women. More »

As more and more musicians and entertainers discover ways to use iPhone apps to reach their fans, we see an increasing amount of gadgets and games. Some of them are good, some of them are ehh.

Earlier this year, the Brooklyn-based rock-rap group Shinobi Ninja launched a fun and amusing game called “Brooklyn to Babylon: Shinobi Ninja Attacks!” The game takes music and video and presents it in an eight-bit videogame world. As you play the game, you can earn rewards of more music, more videos, and more goodies. Plus, you get to take on Jersey Shore douchebags in the game, providing hours of family fun.

The app also features GPS tracking capability at concerts so the band can located and reward fans who rock the game.

There is a lite version of the game available from the iTunes App Store and a more loaded version for $1.99.

Toyota's President and CEO – Akio Toyoda

Toyota’s President and CEO, Akio Toyoda, said that he traces the automaker’s quality and financial woes to 2003, when the company began its ambitious global expansion. He said that winning over new customers in the wake of the company’s recall crisis will be a huge challenge.

Speaking to Automotive News over the weekend, the publicity-shy Toyoda said he wants to scale back on the incentives that have led to record U.S. sales this year and revive what he calls a “neglected” Scion brand (which we’re guessing is due to the fact that Scion hasn’t come in under any negative headlines).

“In 2003, we surpassed the 6 million sales mark, and after that the rate of increase kept growing,” Toyoda said. “We look at that as the turning point. When we hit the 6 million mark, we maybe couldn’t apply the Toyota Way as thoroughly as we should have”

Toyoda also said that its best-selling models like the Camry sedan are also facing pressure from Ford, GM and Hyundai, which now rival his company in performance.

– By: Omar Rana

Source: Automotive News (Subscription Required)

I know that there are rules to the way laws are made by our government here in the U.S., and that sometimes these rules seem weird and arcane. In general, these rules have evolved to make sure that the majority doesn’t stomp on the minority, and the minority still has a voice.

But it’s also clear that those rules can be abused. In the case of U.S. Congressman Ralph Hall (R-TX), “abuse” isn’t nearly a big enough word. “Cynically manipulated” might be a bit better. He killed a bill that would fund science innovation and education by tying it to punishing people who look at porn at work.

Seriously. This is truly disgusting, and has to be seen to be believed. Please read that link above.

Basically, the America COMPETES act, instituted under the Bush Administration in 2007, funds a lot of technology and other endeavors to keep the US competitive in the world market. Of course, in the current economic market, we don’t have a lot of money to go around. But this bill would have re-authorized that earlier act, funding what is essentially seed corn, making sure that in the years to come we have a robust investment in our own economy. I wasn’t that familiar with it, but after reading about it I’ll say it’s one of the few things done by the previous President I think is a good idea. So did a lot of others: this reauthorization bill had over 100 co-sponsors in the House.

I say “had”, because after the shameful and politically transparent move by Rep. Hall, the bill is basically dead.

This bill would have extended funding for several more years in key places, including science education. Hall is the ranking Republican on the House Science and Technology Committee that prepped the bill. There had been objections by Republicans on the committee to the amount of spending of the bill. The Democrat-controlled committee made some concessions in that area (shaving 10% of the spending off), but still passed the bill out of committee. The next step would be a vote on the floor of the House.

However, right before it was to go to the floor, Rep. Hall called a Motion to Recommit. Because of those weird rules I mentioned above, this meant that Congress would either have to agree to the Motion and have the bill sent back to committee — where it would die — or overrule the Motion. Now follow this carefully: part of the Motion Rep. Hall submitted was language added to the bill that said that it would prevent the government from paying salaries to employees who looked at porn on government computers.

By doing this, Hall basically bet all his chips. Hall’s move left Congress, notably Democrats, with two options: kill this much-needed bill that invests in America’s future in science and technology, or overrule a motion punishing people for downloading pornography. If they did the latter, the far right noise machine, always eager for red meat in the political arena, could then say Democrats voted to continue paying employees who looked at porn.

Facing this sort of choice, a large number of Democrats backed off. Hall’s Motion passed, and the bill went back to committee where it’s now essentially dead.

Of course, watching porn on the government’s dime has nothing to do with this bill. The only reason I can think of that this language was added is that it was a gambit where Hall wins either way: the bill dies, or Democrats put their head in the right-wing media guillotine. Representative Bart Gordon (D-TN), who is the Chairman of the committee, agrees:

We’re all opposed to federal employees watching pornography. That is not a question; but that’s not what this was about… The Motion to Recommit was about gutting funding for our science agencies.

And while Representative Hall pulls this deplorable stunt, our nation is suffering mightily in scientific education. In this heart-rending post by my friend, astronomer and educator Pamela Gay, she laments how we’re letting our teachers and our children down by not funding science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. Read her post, then read again what Hall did.

Our future is more important than being a chip in a political game of poker. Unfortunately, in this case, Congress folded.

Filed under: Europe, Hatchback, Rumormill, MISC

Between the Fiat 500 and the Alfa MiTo (to say nothing of the Lancia Ypsilon), Italy’s got plenty of Mini rivals on the road. But it could gain another, if emerging reports prove accurate in the long run.

The rumors center around the revived De Tomaso. The dormant sportscar marque was recently acquired by one Gianmario Rossignolo, a former chief executive of Lancia who was previously linked to a take-over of Bertone. Rossignolo has some ambitious plans in place for his new company, acquiring a former Pininfarina factory in the Piedmont region of Italy, where he reportedly plans on building a line of sportscars, luxury sedans and sport-utes. Now reports suggest a premium hatchback to rival the Mini could be in the cards as well.

Any truth to it? Too soon to tell, but Rossignolo’s De Tomaso is expected to debut something new in Geneva next year, so if we sit tight, we just might find out.

[Source: OmniAuto.it]

Report: De Tomaso planning Mini rival? originally appeared on Autoblog on Mon, 17 May 2010 13:33:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Any ad campaign that conjures a Fat Albert memory is starting out on the right foot. And there’s even more nostalgia in the new full-court press for Kraft’s iconic wiggly dessert, Jell-O. Legendary pitchman Bill Cosby is back, as are his interviews with children, à la Kids Say the Darndest Things. This time they’re on the Web in 10-minute Jell-O-sponsored vignettes called "OBKB," which takes its name from the way Mush Mouth said "OK" on Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids. There’s a lot going on with this effort, including a Facebook page, a new logo and jingle, FSIs and TV, print, outdoor and in-store ads. A highlight has to be a national contest to find the best giggle (to be judged, ultimately, by Cosby and included in a national TV spot). There’s a cross-country tour via a tricked-out mobile recording studio, where folks in 22 cities will be able to compete for the best giggle (entries accepted online, too). Is snorting allowed? Kraft certainly isn’t the first marketer to go the happiness route to sell its products in these recession-racked, frowny times. But even cynics might have to admit this is just plain fun.

—Posted by T.L. Stanley

The most shocking thing about the news that there will be a second season of “WCG Ultimate Gamer” on SyFy is that there was ever a first season. Could have fooled me. But alas, it has been picked up for another year. This calls for a celebration of some sort. Wee!

Yes, the network now best known for carrying WWE SmackDown (well, starting this fall) will air eight episodes of “WCG Ultimate Gamer” beginning this August. It sounds like the typical reality show: there’s a house, there’s people in the house who may or may not get on with each other, and they solve their differences by [filling in the blank]. The blank being filled in here is that they’re all gamers. Presumably they’ll solve conflicts by playing best of 10 in Super Street Fighter IV. I mean, that’s how I’d run the show; I don’t know if that’s actually what happens.

Says the fancy press release:

The challenges in “WCG Ultimate Gamer” include dramatic video game battles using Samsung’s leading edge technology and real-life scenarios inspired by best-selling games. Over eight weeks, the next Ultimate Gamer will need to demonstrate top-notch skills while excelling under the pressure of head-to-head elimination rounds and successfully navigating the drama and twists of this unique reality TV show.

During the first season, contestants faced large-scale real-life challenges that took them beyond the game. For example, in the episode featuring the game Rock Band, the gamers had to form a band, create a look, learn to play a song by The Donnas, and then perform it using real instruments in front of a live audience as the band judged their performance.

We all know that the best reality show in history was “Bug Juice” on the Disney Channel. Every other show feels so empty compared to the drama of the one team against the other team. (I actually did like that show, so if that came off negatively, well, it wasn’t supposed to.)

The winner of the show gets $100,000. That’s probably pre-tax, though, so…

Oh, and starting today you can visit the show’s Web site and vote for who you want to be the twelfth contestant. They have 11 set in stone, and it’s your job to pick number 12. That’s the young lady up there who’s in the lead as of 1:30pm ET.

Is there an age limit to this show? I don’t know if I’m as good at Rock Band as those whiz kids, but Man Alive would I be annoying. I’m cackling at the idea as I type these words. MWAHHHHAAHHH~!

VH1 has pumped the brakes on its hit reality soap Celebrity Rehab with Dr. Drew because the show is lacking the one essential thing it needs to ensure that it continues to be the gut-wrenching trainwreck reality fans love to loathe: drug-addicted celebs!

For the first time in recent memory, Dr. Drew and the crew can’t find a single drug-addled notable doped-up and depressed enough to bare their souls for VH1’s cameras. Of course, trouble-prone rapper DMX seemed like a viable option — until an Arizona judge threw him back in the slammer on a probation violation. Last month. Heather Locklear, Brooke Mueller, and Lindsay Lohan all snubbed massive paydays that would have required them to spend a few months detoxing at Drew’s Pasadena Recovery Center.

Here’s the Word on the Curb: “Sources close to the production tell TMZ they have struck out left and right trying to find A, B, or even C-list celebs for the show….The show was able to get a tentative commitment from a few D and F-listers, but our sources say the network rejected them..We’re told there was a deadline last Friday to lock down the cast, but since they don’t have ANYONE signed on…the deadline was extended to Wednesday.”

Have they tried Gary Coleman?

Jerry Conway, Jessica Sierra, and Mackenzie Phillips are among the stars who have been featured on Celebrity Rehab since the show’s debut in 2007.

Alright, everyone — it’s that time again! It’s time for yet another weekly installment of “Good news, bad news”! Hurraaaay!

The Good News: The Sony Ericsson Xperia X10 has been rooted, granting hackers full access to the file system and the ability to install custom ROMs.

The Bad News: In its current state, this root is by no means user-friendly. Unlike many a root, this one isn’t a matter of plopping a few files on an SD card and pushing in the right key strokes; these guys had to dig some serious trenches to get this root in place, requiring dedicated a hardware flashing tool (called the SETool) and a big ol’ bucket of elbow grease.

On the upside, there’s a chance that this all could lead to a less-ridiculously-intense process, given that the folks responsible for this one are hard at work on taking what they’ve learned and building up an all-software solution.

If this were an 80’s movie, there would be a totally killer montage of sweaty dudes sitting over smoking soldering irons, phones exploding, and frustrated faces all leading up to a shot of an anxious group of geeks huddled around a phone as they wait for it to boot. Also, the music would be something by Survivor.

Zimmer tells us we’ll be able to recognize the human era by the sedimentary evidence of ocean acidification and mass extinction.

In the grand scheme of things, this is just a minor Project Natal detail, but it is still worth noting that it appears that the final look of the Natal camera motion sensor accessory will be white. In all the teasers for the product, it’s been black, and in live demos, Microsoft has always gone out of their way to cover up the camera so that no one would get a peek at what it looked like until they were ready. That said, German site RTL did a video feature on Project Natal, and in that video you are able to get a look at the camera.

Tags:
accessories,
hardware,
microsoft,
project natal,
rumors,
white project natal,
xbox 360,
xbox 360 accessories,

The oil leak growing off the coast of Louisiana could be set to make landfall soon, and may be destined to hit another coast line soon thereafter.

Worries are growing that after failed attempts to stem the flow of oil from the leak, it may grow and flow along the current towards the coast of Florida.

See what could happen in the next 72 hours here, and follow updates at the Florida EPA.

Here’s how to understand the EPA’s maps.

Source: Florida Department of Environmental Protection

After 24 hours…

Source: Florida Department of Environmental Protection

After 48 hours…

Source: Florida Department of Environmental Protection

Moving closer to Florida, after 72 hours…

Source: Florida Department of Environmental Protection

Worried about the oil leak? Check out just how big it is compared to cities around the world.

Here’s what the oil spill would look like on top of your city >

Join the conversation about this story »

From Green Right Now Reports

Photo: Nevada Division of State Parks

Lovers of California’s picturesque Lake Tahoe long have lamented development’s effect on the lake’s legendary deep blue water and high transparency. Now, a study by Miami University’s Global Change Limnology Laboratory suggests that the change may be a threat to native fish species, too.

According to the group, maintaining high ultraviolet (UV) transparency may be the key to reducing invasion of warm-water fish, such as bluegill. The study, led by Andrew Tucker, doctoral student in zoology at Miami, is published in the March issue of the journal Ecology.

The study examined how underwater UV radiation (UVR) can regulate warm-water fish invasion. Changes in the UV transparency of the waters of the sub-alpine lake have allowed warm-water fish species to invade and spread. Transparency has decreased over the past several decades, and a number of nonnative warm-water fish species have established populations in some portions of the lake.

“For example, invasive bluegill can only nest successfully when human disturbance such as shoreline development reduces UV transparency,” said Craig Williamson, Ohio Eminent Scholar in Ecosystem Ecology and head of the Global Change Limnology Lab. “This creates a UV refuge, an ‘invasion window,’ which enables the bluegill to spawn in the surface waters where the temperatures are warm enough for survival of its embryos and larvae.”

The study indicated that dissolved organic carbon (DOC) and chlorophyll were important regulators of variation in the UVR in near shore areas of Lake Tahoe. Regulating chlorophyll and “DOC inputs” or runoff could help stem future declines in UVR transparency and in turn help reduce invasion of nonnative fish.

An understanding of the mechanisms underlying UVR transparency in Lake Tahoe could “enable us to better understand how regional and global environmental changes related to the factors that mediate UVR transparency could, in turn, affect habitat invasibility in the large, highly transparent lake,” Tucker said. “We suspect that this framework and our results could be directly relevant to other transparent lakes.”

[JURIST] The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) [advocacy website] on Monday filed a class action lawsuit [complaint, PDF; press release] in the US District Court for the District of Arizona [official website] seeking an injunction against the implementation of the recently passed Arizona immigration law [SB 1070 materials; JURIST news archive]. The ACLU is joined in the lawsuit by several other rights groups including the NAACP, the Asian Pacific American Legal Center (APALC), and the Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund (MALDEF) [advocacy websites] as well as several individual plaintiffs. The suit is challenging the constitutionality of the law, stating that it violates the Supremacy Clause of the Constitution [text] as well as the First, Fourth, and Fourteenth Amendments. The complaint specifically states:

It is an impermissible encroachment into an area of exclusive federal authority and will interfere and conflict with the comprehensive federal immigration system enacted by Congress and implemented through a complex web of federal regulations and policies. According to law enforcement officials in Arizona and elsewhere, SB 1070 will cause widespread racial profiling and will subject many persons of color including countless U.S. citizens, and non-citizens who have federal permission to remain in the United States to unlawful interrogations, searches, seizures and arrests.

In addition to seeking an injunction against implementation of the bill, the suit is requesting that the entire bill be declared unconstitutional.

Monday’s lawsuit joins two others filed [JURIST report] last month challenging the constitutionality of the Arizona law. The bill, signed into law [JURIST report] in April by Governor Jan Brewer, has caused intense controversy. Earlier this month, a group of UN human rights experts indicated the measure may violate international standards [JURIST report] that are binding on the US. Mexican President Felipe Calderon [official website, in Spanish] has strongly criticized [JURIST report] the new law, claiming that it opens the door to intolerance and hatred. US President Barack Obama also criticized the law [JURIST report], and called for federal immigration reform. Under the law, it is designated a crime to be in the country illegally, and immigrants unable to verify their legal status could be arrested and jailed for six months and fined $2,500.

Mid Europa Partners, a London-based private equity and buyout firm focused on Central and Eastern Europe, has agreed to invest €60 million ($76.19 million) for an undisclosed stake in Energy 21 a Czech developer and operator of PV-solar power plants, it’s first investment in the clean energy space. Mid-Europa has indicated that it plans to grow its green portfolio and is looking for other opportunities.

Launched in 2007, Energy 21 controls 26 megawatts in installed generation capacity and has another 75 megawatts under development, all located in the Czech Republic. The company says it plans to expand beyond its home market, and the Mid Europa cash could help it do that.

“We are very pleased to have now realized our first investment in a very promising platform with significant growth prospects,” said Mid Europa’s Managing Partner Thierry Baudon in a prepared statement. He adds: “We intend to increase our exposure to the renewable space in Central and Eastern Europe, and hope that Energy 21 will serve as base for a series of attractive transactions to come in the near future.”

HTC announced another Android smartphone, the HTC Wildfire, that looks similar to the HTC Desire yet has hardware similar to the HTC Tattoo headed for major European and Asian markets in the third quarter of 2010. It will ship with Android 2.1, latest HTC Sense UI with the bonus of HTC Caller ID which displays your contact’s Facebook profile picture, latest update, and birthday reminders. There will even be a widget that allows you to social share and recommend Android Apps via SMS text message, email, Twitter, Facebook, etc.

Photos of HTC Wildfire:

Below are Specs on the HTC Wildfire:

• Qualcomm MSM7225 528 MHz processor
• 512MB ROM, 384MB RAM
• Android 2.1 (Eclair) and Sense UI
• 3.2-inch QVGA TFT capacitive touch screen
• 5 megapixel camera w/auto focus, LED flash
• 802.11 b/g
• GPS, AGPS
• Bluetooth 2.1 with EDR
• 3.5mm audio jack; microUSB
• Proximity sensor
• G-sensor
• Compass
• Light sensor
• FM radio
• Optical joystick

[Via AndroidGuys]

"I can think of no more stirring symbol of man's humanity to man than a fire engine." ~ Kurt Vonnegut

Earlier this year, I had the opportunity to have lunch and get to know another Milwaukee blogger, Nate St. Pierre.  What Nate has created, though, is much more than a blog.  He has really created a movement, based around his website, It Starts With Us. 

What is so unique about what Nate is doing, is how It Starts With Us (ISWU) has really become a place to bring people together – from all walks of life and every corner of the globe.  Brought together around the simple idea of doing good in our world.  And that's not to say there aren't a whole lot of opportunities to do that right in our own neighborhoods – as I'm sure there are.  This is really about small, easy acts of good (missions) that can be done –  with a common connection to people from all over the world! 

Please join me as I ask Nate some questions about what has brought him to this place he's at today.

1.  Tell us a little bit about who “you” are (family, career, any special life experiences you’d like to share, etc.)
I laughed when I saw the word "career" in the question. I don't think I've ever had a career as most people would define it. I started out as a janitor at age 14, then during high school and college I worked as a civilian hire for the Air Force. I went to college on academic scholarship to study molecular genetics and organic chemistry, then dropped out of school to go work at a fish cannery in Alaska. When I came back from there, I did some freelance technical writing and desktop publishing. During the dot-com bubble I taught myself basic web design and built a topic-specific search engine directory, which I ran for a while and then sold. From there I moved into land title insurance for a little bit, and then I became a web developer for a big company. After doing that for a while, I became the web team leader and ran that show for a couple of years, until I decided to quit and focus on ItStartsWith.Us full-time. Instead of having a solid career to back me up, I feel that I have a variety of different experiences to draw from, each of which has allowed me to develop a different skill set and perspective on life. I can't say that I'll run ItStartsWith.Us forever, but I can tell you that it's the first job I've ever truly loved.

Lance's Commentary:  The experience at the fish cannery in Alaska has to have some pretty interesting memories!  And…I think you have really hit upon an important thing:  Our life is not just about our career, it's really about our life experiences and the people we've met along the way.  Keep on really living life, my friend!

2.  What led to the creation of the It Starts With Us website?
I was attending a week-long leadership training course for my job in November of 2008, and one of the sessions focused on completing self-assessment exercises. "What are your skills, talents and interests, what do you enjoy doing, etc." – that kind of thing. After writing all that down, the idea was that you should try to do something in your life that would speak to those qualities. With that in mind, the instructions were to write for 20 minutes based on the question presented on the next page. When I turned to the page, I saw that it was blank, except for the phrase, "Next year, I will . . . " at the top. I scribbled furiously for 20 minutes, and when I was done, I looked back to see what I had written. Today I don't remember anything about that page except what I wrote for the first line: "Next year, I will change the world."

I thought about what that meant for a few months, and realized that I could never do very much on my own. But I thought that if I could build a system that would enable people to participate quickly and easily, feel like part of a team, have fun, not pay a dime, and actually see the life-changing results of their work, then they would engage with the project. And with so many people engaging, we literally could change the world.

Lance's Commentary:  Nate, what you have created with the It Starts With Us movement is incredibly soul-touching.  You ARE changing the world – in some amazing ways!

3.  Nate, when I think about your site, I think about how I can personally make a difference in the world – and how your site helps facilitate a way to do that.  Am I close to what you see your mission as?
Indeed. The vision of ItStartsWith.Us is to change the world. The mission – the way we do that – is to make a positive impact in the lives of the people around us . . . in just 15 minutes a week. Anyone and everyone can give 15 minutes a week towards helping out their neighbor, loving their family, working on their attitude, or joining us in one of  our shared missions, like writing a letter to a sick child or dropping a Love Bomb on someone in need. When I assign the weekly missions, I try to make them small enough to be attainable, but big enough to make a measurable difference in someone else's life, and also your own.

Lance's Commentary:  What's so great about this is the minimal time commitment that is really necessary to be a part of this.  Anyone can do it!!  And – the whole collective of this is so powerful!

4.  Tell us about the weekly missions, and how they have impacted you personally.
I like to think of the weekly missions as a gentle reminder to keep our eyes open to the good we can do in this world as we walk through life. There's no pressure to do them or not – nobody's keeping score. It's very easy to delete the email or unsubscribe from the list altogether. We've been running missions for right around a year now, and I've done every single one I've assigned. And you know what? It was hard for me. It made me stretch a little bit. I'm a huge introvert, and I'm not the friendliest person (my family and friends can attest to that). But doing these missions each week has opened my eyes to so many things I can do better in this life. I've found so many ways to make a difference for others, even if it's just as simple as a friendly smile, a quick chat on the street, or a small offer of help. And the surprising thing is, as much as the people I serve appreciate the little things I do, I'm the one who gets the biggest benefit. My outlook on life is better. My attitude is more positive. My days are more joyful. It's really been amazing, and it seems the old adage is true – when you serve others, you really do get back more than you give.

Lance's Commentary:  I've been a member since our lunch meeting back in late winter of this year.  While I haven't done every mission, I have done most of them.  And that's the thing.  Some weeks we get busy, can't get to every email that comes in, etc, etc.  And that's what works here.  I do this when I can.  And it's a win-win when I do.  Someone benefits from whatever "kindness" is being put out there this week.  That's not nearly it, though – I come away from all of this a better person, and am touched by each one of these missions that I participate in! 

5. Tell us one unexpected thing that has happened to you in the last year.
I think the most unexpected thing is what I mentioned just above – that I was changed as a result of this project. I began it because I believed in the idea and thought I could bring a lot of people together for the common good, but I was totally amazed by the way it transformed me right from the beginning.

Lance's Commentary:  I love this!!  When we transform ourselves in amazing ways, what a great place to be!

6.  If you had to pick one thing as your greatest achievement, what would it be (and why)?
With this project, or with life? Hmm. I'll pick the "with this project" option, because it's easier. With this project I'm most proud of the fact that we've been able to make such a difference for so many people. We started out with 18 members a year ago, and today we have over 2,000 members in dozens of countries. In just one year we've been able to get to the point where we're now pumping hundreds of hours of community service into the world each week in an organized, directed and effective way. And we've been able to do it with no funding – just a desire to make a difference. I wish I could share all the notes, calls and emails I receive on a weekly basis about what the team has done – we truly do touch hearts and change lives. It's incredible to be a part of that.

Lance's Commentary:  Hundreds of hours….fifteen minutes at a time!!  How cool is that!!

7. Anything new you have coming up?
Dude, I always have something new coming up.  Right now I'm working with a couple of people on two spin-off sites: Love Bomb and Love Drop. The Love Bomb subgroup is already very active, so we're going to turn that into a standalone project to better focus the efforts of those members. Love Drop will be a true 501(c)3 charitable organization centered around the micro-giving concept, where interested people join the group and donate either $1.00 or $5.00 a month, and at the end of each month we ask our members if they know of anyone who could use some financial help, and then we'll direct virtually all of that money to the chosen recipient. I try to keep the main ItStartsWith.Us team away from any monetary giving, so this will give interested parties the opportunity to give back financially.

The biggest thing I'm working on right now, however, is the business offering of the project. Last month I quit my job to focus on ISWU full-time (putting 30 hours a week into the project on top of my full-time job for the last year was getting a bit rough). I'm now working with large organizations and businesses to utilize the ISWU model to mobilize their members to give back in a fun, free and effective way. I've custom-built all the tools necessary for businesses to adopt this model and have the same kind of success that we're having, and I'm doing personal consulting to help them implement the system and make a real impact with it. Even better, when these organizations contract with me to adopt the ISWU platform, they also become part of the leadership network I've formed, and part of our quarterly initiatives . . . which will be huge missions consisting of people from different companies and groups all over the world, where we all work together to do something for one person, one family, or one organization . . . all at the same time. Imagine all of us coming together to grant a wish for a child in the Make-a-Wish Foundation, which is one of the places I'm going be looking to partner with. The world has never seen the kind of things we're going to be able to accomplish this year. It's going to make a huge difference – and be a lot of fun at the same time.

Lance's Commentary:  I've been a part of the Love Bomb group for several weeks.  What a moving experience, to be able to offer some words of encouragement and love to one person who has a lot they are dealing with.  And – how awesome that you are able to focus on ISWU full-time!  The whole idea of taking this into business, too, makes so much sense:  what a great way to unite a common group of people around a common cause!

8.  Deep down, what makes you uniquely “you”?
Had to end with a tough one, didn't you? Hmm. Okay, how about this? I'm a business-minded idealist. Meaning, I have the values, passion, dedication and drive of someone who wants to change the world, but I'm doing it in such a way that it makes sense to those with the money and power to help make it happen. I talk to executives about how adopting the ISWU platform will help with employee engagement, recruitment and retention, and about how the real-world results they get with their group will be worth much more in positive brand-building than what they're currently spending from their advertising and PR budgets. I show them how being a part of this network affects their bottom line and is actually profitable for them, and then when they join, I fly out to their headquarters and show them how to run their own group that touches hearts and changes lives. Yep. Just like what we're doing now. And since I give them all the tools and all the expertise they need for a very reasonable price, ISWU becomes a self-sustainable business . . . in the business of changing the world.

So that's how I feel I'm unique – I'm someone who believes that absolutely everyone is in a position to do amazing things for the common good. Passionate individuals, small companies, global brands, non-profits, educational organizations, celebrities, regular folk . . . as long as we work together in an organized, effective and sustainable way, we'll be able to do things that have never been done before. It is certainly possible. In fact, it's even easier than you think. And I'm excited about getting it done.

Lance's Commentary: Hey, I can't make all of these easy!!  You are creating something that is very special and meaningful for everyone involved.  That, coupled with the new directions you have planned – and you are indeed changing the world…in very life-connecting ways!

Closing Comments:  Nate, as I read that quote by Kurt Vonnegut up above…you ARE the fire engine!  And all these people signing up to be a part of the team become the water.  Wow!!  From this…WE are all changing the world!  Your creation of It Starts With Us is the catalyst for bringing together people to collectively make a big difference in our world, one step at a time!  I am honored to be part of this amazing movement! 

You can keep up with Nate and the It Starts With Us movement by visiting his website, following him on Twitter, and subscribing to his Facebook page.