In Business, Creating Sustainable Enterprises & Communities

Promoting A Symbol That Says: "WE CARE"

In Business, September-October, 2004, Vol. 26, No. 5, p. 19

In eastern Pennsylvania, an entrepreneur makes a career shift from marketing cameras to finding “a reasonable alternative to despair.”

Dan Poresky

IT BEGAN shortly after October 12, 1999 - the day the U.N. population clock hit six billion people. While paying only minor attention to the accompanying media releases, two questions came to mind for which I did hear an answer. Is the prognosis for humankind as bleak and as urgent as is being portrayed and who is in charge of fixing it? Doing some Web surfing on the subject only deepened my concern. It seemed as though the world was facing an intractable problem. We were rapidly depleting and degrading the environment faster than nature could restore it. Thus began my introduction to sustainability.
Wanting reassurance, I contacted environmental leaders and asked how they saw the problems eventually being solved. Four years and hundreds of emails, conversations and many seminars and conferences later, I have yet to hear (other than wishful hope and spiritual faith) a reasonable alternative to despair.
Why, I wondered, was the seriousness of the problem not generating greater urgency? Where was the joint statement from the environmental community saying straight out that humanity has to fundamentally reshape its relationship to the Earth or we perish? Where was the center of environmental thought? Nowhere to be found. It may be that the recognition of the severity of the problem is so new (past couple of decades) that the movement hasn't caught up.
My entrepreneurial background kicked in and I started thinking of ways to sufficiently increase public awareness of the problem so they would demand environmentally responsible policies and products. But, I wondered, who would listen to a camera store owner who thinks he knows how to do things better than those who have worked on this for decades? And so I nearly dismissed getting involved.
Then, one day, a thought popped into my head. Ten years down the road, I visioned, my granddaughter comes to me, fearful after learning in school how the world is falling into turmoil - fearful from wars over water and food. I tell her about my research and ideas. She says, “Grandpa, why didn't you fix it?” Since then, I've devoted my life to finding ways to facilitate the transition to sustainability.

ESSENCE OF AGSHEN, INC.
All environmental issues are interconnected parts of one overriding concern - ensuring a livable world for our children and future generations. The time has come for a symbol that conveys this message and promotes the need for responsible Earth Stewardship. To promote a “One with the Earth” symbol, I founded Agshen, Inc. - Alliance for a Globally Sustainable Healthy Environment.
The symbol makes a simple profound statement. Humanity doesn't have a choice. We either reshape our relationship with the planet, or we perish. The design represents water, land, sun and life. Our plan is to form a consortium of the world's most respected environmental experts and leaders to codify its meaning and encourage its use.
The mission of Agshen is to promote initiatives that foster cooperation among all those working to create a sustainable healthy environment. You and I and millions of others can wear the One With The Earth Symbol to show we care and to encourage others to do likewise. The symbol is available as buttons, bumper and window stickers, envelope stickers, and art work for use on Websites, email, printed material, T-shirts, jewelry and whatever else you can imagine. There is no cost for its use, nor any royalties or restrictions. Once it gains momentum, the symbol will become a stand-alone message apart from Agshen. People and organizations can use it as they wish, and it can serve as a marketing tool for businesses supplying sustainability-related products and services.
To get a sample pin, brochure and more details, contact Agshen, Inc., 424 Center St., Room 302, Bethlehem, PA 18018. (610) 691-5253; E-mail: dporesky@rcn.com. hawesome! - J.G.

FROM CAMERA CITY TO ONE EARTH SYMBOL
DAN'S Camera City started in August 1977 in Allentown, Pennsylvania - an outgrowth of my earlier one-person used camera business launched in 1964. My concept was to be a destination store rather than be located in a shopping center, so we could give customers a higher level of service. I knew ten years ago that I wanted to leave the business about now. I'm 61. Fortunately, my environmental interest grew in step with my diminishing involvement with the store, which is now owned by two former employees. - D.P.