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Greeting Cards are back in stock!
Great news, our Manifesto Greeting Cards are back in stock! Thanks so much for your patience through the delay, we were in the process of minimizing the packaging for the cards which caused for the pause in stock. We are happy to report that the Cards are now back and better than ever! We've replaced the original insert and bio-degradable plastic packaging with brown craft butcher paper and a sticker--all bio-degradable and recycled materials that slim down the impact. Snag some and spread the love :)
- March 6, 2012
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Written by: Mary Shouvlin
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NASA Reports 2011 Ninth-Warmest Year
While I secretly may be rejoicing over the ability to leave my coat at home this past week, I can't help but feel disconcerted about the unusually warm weather that has taken New York. You may have seen that last Friday, NASA released findings that 2011 was the Ninth-Warmest Year on record since 1880.
I stumbled upon this post from 'No Impact Man' Colin Beaven in response to the NASA report and it has become a topic for conversation over at Holstee for the past week. Regardless of the political stance on the issue, I think these questions get to the heart of the matter:
Why were we born? What is really important in life? Are we living in line with that? Or are we distracted from the point of our existence? Is there a way to get people to wake up and ask these crucial questions?
Is there a way to get governments to do so? Because if we are wrecking the place in fulfillment of our human purpose, then so be it. But if we are wrecking the place while sleepwalking our way from birth to death? Living unconsciously and wrecking the place in that process? That seems like such a terrible tragedy. How can we wake up? -Colin Beaven
It basically gets down to something that we want to be the common thread through everything we do at Holstee and the lifestyles we live day-to-day. We want to live consciously, being aware of how each and every decision we make affects the world and those around us and doing something about it. It calls for waking up and realizing our ability to decide to leave the world better or worse than we found it.
Wendell Berry is quoted saying, "We have lived our lives by the assumption that what was good for us would be good for the world. We have been wrong. We must change our lives so that it will be possible to live by the contrary assumption, that what is good for the world will be good for us. And that requires that we make the effort to know the world and learn what is good for it."
Indeed.
See the full article from NASA here. Visit 350.org to find ways to act.
Minimizing Our Impact With A Little Help From Sweden
We've started to receive a respectable number of orders from Europe and beyond. This is awesome, because it means that we are growing outside of our NYC backyard, and onto an even larger scene. Thisissoofreakncooool!!Ok. Now that we're done celebrating, we need to get back to business. We need come to terms with the fact that international shipping doesn't only mean a higher shipping cost, it also represents a considerably larger carbon foot print that we want to learn how to manage better. We do carbon offsets, where we tally up our shipping and work with carbon fund to off set the carbon foot print. But we've always viewed this as a last resort. We're more interested in how any item purchased at Holstee can travel a shorter distance to reach you. It's something that comes up regularly in discussion, but recently it got a jump start from a Sweden. Then our new friend, Frida from Stockholm chimed in with an email that basically said, 'hey i want your poster, but can you find a way to make them closer to me to minimize shipping and enviromental impacts?'I love when customers challenge us to raise the bar even further. Yeah we're lucky to have the smartest, coolest customers- but there is a deeper lesson that I think we all should take away from Frida's initiative to email.When interacting with an organization, the best thing you can do is be open and forthcoming with the things that are important to you. There is a good chance that if it's on your mind, its probably something the company has or is also considering and your nudge could be the one that helps move things in the right direction. At Holstee, we've seen time and again, when a customers harp on an existing idea, it not only allows it to resurface, it helps to validate it in the most meaningful way. This simple recommendation has already led us to speak with folks that will help us to produce and ship some of our most frequently ordered products, the Manifesto Poster and Greeting Card closer to their most common destinations outside the US.100% of Profits to 10% of Revenue
Starting with our next round of shirts we will lend 10% of all revenue, rather than a portion profits, to entrepreneurs and dreamers across the word. Why the change? Two reasons: Transparency and Long term impact Transparency We have chosen to lend money directly from our revenue rather than profit to ensure Holstee's impact is as straightforward as possible. Profit is what is left over after costs are covered. This often fluctuates and can be challenging to predict and define. On the flip side, 10% of revenue is as transparent as it gets: 10% of all sales will be used directly for micro lending. We want you to be fully aware of the level of your impact, so it is important for us to make that as clear as possible. Also keep in mind- the dollar amount from a single percent of revenue can be expected to be far great than that of profit :-) Long term impact While the company could sustain lending 100% of profits for micro-lending, it would mean we simply would not be able to grow organically, without continuously taking out loans. The ability to scale up quickly is super important at this stage and this decision will enable that to happen. Our hope is to steadily increase the percentage of revenue we commit to micro-lending, to ensure we are always at the highest percent we can manage. We hope to never stop learning, and as such we plan to consistently innovate through our products, business model and social impact. If you know us, then you know there are few things we take seriously; however this planet and people in it are close to our hearts. If you have other ideas of how we can better create a lasting positive impact through Holstee please share them with us, it’s your planet too :-) We are eager to hear your thoughts on this decision, please share feedback and ideas in the comments below: or call us directly at: (505) 500 - 4656 Thank you, Dave & Mike
Thomas Hensel
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