During the last month Alexandra and our intern Saskia had the opportunity to lead Zero Waste workshops at the children’s museum FRida & freD in Graz, Austria.

All three creative, inspiring and fun afternoons in the museum resulted in awesome pieces of artwork created from different kinds of left over resources – all in the spirit of Zero Waste.

The kids upcycled clothes, hid holes and stains with old pieces of fabric and paint. Moreover, they made key hangers from pieces of leftover fabric. The kids could smiling bring home some fabulous items, with a whole lot of their own identity worked into the items.

We had so much fun and are sure the children did too!

Yesterday Sandra and Evelina recorded a short podcast where Sandra talks about her job as a workshop facilitator with ungdomar.se’s sustainability tour we_change. Learn more about Sandra’s insights, how to empower youth to work with sustainable development. Listen to the podcast below.

Read more about ungdomar.se’s initiative we_change in Swedish here. we_change met 4500 youth in six Swedish cities during one month. Impressive! We’re happy to be part of the change! :)

PS. Sandra is the lady with the pink flower. Of course.

Eva Ståhl of Ikea and Sandra.

Photo credit: Alva Fredheim, ungdomar.se

End of May Evelina and Gayathri held The Good Tribe’s first ever TEDxTalk, ”Waste is what’s left when imagination fails”. Now it’s online!

We’re figuring out what to contribute to change – what can you contribute?
How does your thoughts and passions fit into our formula?
Let us know! :D

Yesterday was a super busy Zero Waste Jam day.

We kickstarted the week with one of our first Zero Waste Jam deliveries (ever!!) for Global 2000′s Tomorrow Festival – FestivalRadln Picknick. Thanks Bernd Hosticky for your order! Hope you like our jam.

During the afternoon we (as in Michael, Arne, Evelina and The Good Tribe’s intern Saskia) met up with Andrea Lunzer and Sandra Kozeschnik, Packaging experts and fellow HUB Vienna members of Unfold, and Zero Waste Jam’s art director and packaging designer Zora Göschl. The focus of the afternoon was to crack the nut of Zero Waste Jam’s packaging needs. Zero waste and packaging does not always go together, as you can imagine… It was very interesting to get together with experts and discuss possibilities and challenges. We hope to share some of our findings with you in the near future. Stay tuned.

Oh! And thanks to Vladlena and Matthias of Key2Office for lending us the workshops space.

Have a great week everyone!

dear tribsters,
I have to tell you something:
I was walking in the forest, it rained. Suddenly the sun broke through the clouds, the fresh green spring shone and glittered! I had a special experience – an image appeared in my head, that I gradually moved away from earth, until I saw this wonderful ball in front of me, and I heard the sentence – Disposal does not exist! Instantly everything was clearer than ever before, everyone and everything are connected directly and continuously, and we cannot dispose anything on earth! Everything we “produce” must be able to integrate into the natural cycle, otherwise we will choke to death.

In this spirit, we all work from our hearts, everyone within their area – zero waste, contemporary world worth living, living earth, wonderful children of humanity!
love to you all,
margit

dear tribsters,
ich muss euch was erzählen:
ich war im wald spazieren, es regnete. auf einmal brach die sonne durch, das frische frühlingsgrün glänzte und glitzerte! da hatte ich ein besonderes erlebnis – ein bild entstand in meinem kopf, dass ich schrittweise von der erde weggehe, bis ich sie als diesen wunderschönen ball vor mir sah und ich hörte den satz – entsorgen gibt es nicht! augenblicklich war mir so klar wie noch nie, das wir alle und alles unmittelbar und ununterbrochen verbunden sind, und dass wir von der erde nichts ent-sorgen können! alles was wir “produzieren” muss sich in den natürlichen kreislauf eingliedern können, sonst werden wir daran ersticken.

in diesem sinne von ganzem herzen arbeiten wir, jede/r in seinem bereich – zero waste, lebenswerte mitwelt, lebendige erde, wunderbare menschenkinder!
alles liebe euch
margit

Thank you so much Margit! 
Have a happy zero waste weekend everyone!

Meet our intern Saskia Tegnell! In this Podcast from The Good Tribe she’s sharing the insights she’s gained when revisiting and rewriting our white paper on zero waste.

Enjoy!

If you can’t listen to the file above, click this link http://snd.sc/11TY94i.

Here are the links to the reading tips Saskia gives in the podcast:

Connett: Zero Waste, a Key Move towards a sustainable Society
Annie Leonard: The story of stuff
Zero Waste International Alliance (ZWIA)

Other good reads not mentioned in the interview:
Steffen Lehmann: Optimizing Urban Material Flows and Waste Streams in Urban Development through Principles of Zero Waste and Sustainable Consumption
Robbin Murray: Zero Waste

Tribster Alexandra and our lovely internet Saskia facilitated two upcycling & zero waste workshops with kids in Vienna two weeks ago. The location of the workshops was A1′s Campus Internet for all.

Read more about the workshop here (in German), and check out the photos below. The participating kids created upcycled version of their power creatures.

Great work everyone! :) And thanks to A1 for having us!

Ever since we got the call from Johan L. Eliasson at the Swedish Chamber of Commerce in Austria a few weeks ago, that we would be awarded Swedish startup of the year in Austria, we’ve been bursting with pride.

After reading the jury’s motivation and accepting the award yesterday evening, at the Swedish ambassador’s residence in Vienna, even more so. We’re proud and thankful that the jury, comprising of representatives from the Swedish Chamber of Commerce in Austria, Business Sweden and the Swedish Embassy, trust in our business model, market approach and in us as people.

Thank you, thank you, thank you to everyone who has been involved in the selection process and for actually creating an own award category for us (!!!).

During the past four years only two awards has been given each year: Business of the year and Manager of the year. This year a third award was instated because the jury felt they wanted to recognise our work. This year’s Business of the year is IKEA in Austria, manager of the year is Lars Hagström, STS Alpresor.

Here is the jury’s motivation for the Most promising Startup Concept of the year 2012:

Usually the Swedish Business Awards ( Wirtschaftsspreis der Schwedische Handelskammer in Österreich) are awarded to companies with a measurable track record, in terms od profitability, expansion, market share and so on, but in the case  of The Good Tribe, the jury did not find these criteria applicable, since the company is so new.

The jury felt that the entire business concept of The Good Tribe captures the spirit of combining Swedish and Austrian business potential in a commendable concept from a new generation of environmentally aware entrepreneurs from Austria and Sweden. Its convincing display of thought-through business vision, and the bi-nationally well organized and credible market approach, helped the jury decide on awarding The Good Tribe the award of Most Promising Startup Concept of the Year.

Present yesterday evening were Gayathri Rathinavelu, Evelina Lundqvist, Alexandra Poetz and Michael Bauer-Leeb. Our dearest colleague Sandra Kinnaman Nordström was lecturing in Sweden and couldn’t attend. Also on the photo above: Carsten Grönblad of Business Sweden, Swedish ambassador Nils Daag and Johan L. Eliasson of the Swedish Chamber of Commerce in Austria – and Pinky Ele of course!

Thank you all for a wonderful evening yesterday. We bet you recognise our pride on our beaming smiles.

Photo credit: Michele Pauty, APA. More photos here.
Press release from The Swedish Chamber of Commerce in Austria.

Today is a very special day. We’re accepting the award for Swedish startup of the year in Austria. We’re incredibly thankful for this opportunity! And equally excited of course.

Here are some more thoughts from the president of the Swedish Chamber of Commerce in Austria, Johan L. Eliasson:

Usually the Swedish Business Awards (Wirtschaftspreis der Schwedische Handelskammer in Österreich) are awarded to companies with a measurable track record, in terms of profitability, expansion, market share and so on, but in the case of The Good Tribe, the Jury did not find these criteria applicable, since this new company has yet to gather such longer term track records. Nevertheless, the Jury considered The Good Tribe worthy of an award through its convincing display of thought-through business vision, well organized initial bi-national organization, as well as an ability to grasp the heterogeneous market playing fields of Sweden and Austria.

The well articulated nomination and support documentation from The Good Tribe was impressive and helped the Jury decide on awarding the Good Tribe the award of Most Promising Startup Concept of the Year. We felt the entire business concept of The Good Tribe captures the spirit of combining Swedish and Austrian business potential that, in time, might turn into a much larger organization in many places of the world. It is a commendable concept from a new generation of environmentally aware young and enthusiastic entrepreneurs from Austria and Sweden. We would like to see more business activities of this kind in the future.

Press release from the Swedish Chamber of Commerce on APA in German.

For more information from the Swedish Chamber of Commerce (Schwedische Handelskammer in Österreich):
Linn Larsson Wikström, linn.lawi [a] swecham [dot] at, +43 366 42608001.

Or The Good Tribe founders:
Gayathri Rathinavelu, gayathri [a] thegoodtribe.com, +46 767 91 29 98
Evelina Lundqvist, evelina [a] thegoodtribe.com, +43 650 51 00 419

A statement from Gayathri and Evelina:

We’re truly honoured and excited to be receiving this award. By now we’ve got a few fellowships and rankings, but never before an award like this. This truly makes the award special for us. We’re also excited because we know that we as social entrepreneurs are perceived as creative, innovative and positioned very much outside of the box. That an organisation like the Swedish chamber of Commerce recognises this, as well as sees the potential in us growing our business and establishing ourselves in other countries, makes us very proud. We hope that this recognition is an opportunity for us to increase our Austrian network with even more interesting people and perhaps even more future business contacts. Danke sehr!

More information on the website of the Swedish Chamber of Commerce in Austria in English.

PS. Photos are coming :)

Alexandra is hosting a zero waste workshop themed the concrete utopia at Die Mühle, in August. More in German below.

DIE KONKRETE UTOPIE wird Alexandra Poetz von The Good Tribe im Sommer mit den ZeroWaste-Workshop TeilnehmerInnen erschaffen, in Frage stellen und transformieren.

“Die Konkrete Utopie” bildet das Jahresthema der jungen Kulturinitiative DIE MÜHLE Schwarzau in der Südoststeiermark. 25 KünstlerInnen nähern sich in insgesamt 7 Projekten künstlerisch an Lösungsansätze für eine bessere Welt.In “Grundrisse einer besseren Welt” überführt der Philosoph Ernst Bloch den Begriff der Sozialutopie in eine praktisch-aktive, handlungsorientierte Form. Die Sozialutopie arbeite als ein Teil der Kraft, sich zu verwundern und das Gegebene so wenig selbstverständlich zu finden, dass nur seine Veränderung einzuleuchten vermag.

Der Prozess der Verwirklichung gipfelt schliesslich in der Konkreten Utopie, in dem die näheren Bestimmungen des Zukünftigen tastend und experimentierend hervorgebracht werden.

ZeroWaste Workshop – eine KONKRETE UTOPIE
Kreativität ist die schöpferische Kraft, etwas Neues entstehen zu lassen, aber auch etwas zu finden, was bereits in jeder/jedem von uns angelegt ist. Wir werden wie Bildhauer aus dem Stoffstück Kunstwerk herausarbeiten und alte Kleidungsstück wiederbeleben und transformieren und die Schnitte konstruieren die wir brauchen. In diesem Sinne werden wir (Mode)schöpfen bis jede/jeder die/den DesignerIn in sich entdeckt hat.

Lass Dich inspirieren und Ideen Wirklichkeit werden. Mit der richtigen Technik und dem nötigen Wissen über Materialien und den Umgang mit Maschinen werden aus deinen Ideen maßgeschneiderte Lieblingsstücke. Grundkenntnisse im Nähen bzw. wie eine Nähmaschine zu bedienen ist reichen für deine Teilnahme völlig aus. Wir erarbeiten und nähen gemeinsam Deine persönlichen Schnitte.

Unser Credo: Reduce. Reuse. Recycle.

Im ZeroWaste Workshop erfährst Du Methoden wie du Ressourcen-schonend Neues und Schönes aus Altem erschaffen kannst. Ganz nach dem Motto “Adaptieren statt Konsumieren – Re/Upcycling statt Überfluss”. Die ZeroWaste&Do-It-Yourself Workshops laden dazu ein, eigene Design-Ideen umzusetzen, sie regen zum Nachdenken über den Umgang mit Ressourcen an und sie zeigen, dass nachhaltiges Verhalten Spaß macht. Von der Idee über den Entwurf bis zum Kunstwerk am Kleidungsstück werden die TeilnehmerInnen durch alle künstlerischen und handwerklichen Prozesse und zu ihrer kreativen Kraft geführt.

Was man mit nach Hause nehmen kann: Die selbst genähten Meisterstücke, die dazu passenden Schnitte und hoffentlich viel Freude am “sich NEU entdecken”.

Datum & Uhrzeit:
Donnerstag 8. August, 18.00-22.00
Freitag 9. August 15.00-19.00
Samstag 10. August 9.00-18.00

Anmelden:
Andrea Schlemmer +43 699 12605795, andrea [a] mur.at

Lies mehr hier, http://diemuehle.mur.at.