A green lifestyle according to LOHAS will include the use of organic products in everyday use, like in the house, in your garden, in your clothes, etc. In the recent past, there has been a boom in the setting up of green stores across the nation, from where organic products like organic linens, organic mattresses, organic toys, solar appliances, organic cotton apparel, etc were all readily available for purchase. At Home Naturally is one such green store that believes in the principles of LOHAS and have a collection of products ideally suited for a green lifestyle.

At Home Naturally has various lines of products including a bedroom collection with mattresses, linens, pillows, throws and blankets, an apparel collection for women and children, a furniture collection with bed frames, dressers and drawers, and much more. All their products are organic, natural, chemical free, eco friendly, healthy and fair trade made.

1. Die Zunft AG bringt Menschen und Institutionen netzwerkend zusammen, die wertorientiert denken und handeln.

Jeder ist willkommen, mehr Infos zum Event gibt's hier.

In the coming decades we will witness the next corporate battle

The war for talent

The ability to attract engage and retain talent will be the number one strategic objective

of every successful modern leader and organization

You will witness a new spirit of collaboration and the unrivaled power of a culture of dreams

Life is about dreams

Thanks to the inspiration of special people like Matthew Kelly, Foerster & Kreuz, Daniel Pink ....

The Dream academia is growing day by day

Witness the sustainable growth

Be part of it

Why do I care about Jamba? I am a former director of Robeks, a 150-store premium smoothie franchise system, and I have a stake in the success of Robeks, and thus the success of the whole category, so of course I care about the category leader, Jamba Juice (yes, I'm also long JMBA stock).  From my due diligence before leading my former employer's investment in Robeks, and my experience as a Robeks director, I have learned a lot about the smoothie category, and am in a unique position to evaluate Jamba.  First, let's recap briefly what Jamba Juice is, then let's take a look at the numbers.  Next, we'll look at some of the big picture challenges facing the company.  At the end of this piece, I'll give my views on what Jamba's management should do to ensure that the company has an enduring reason for being.

Category Leader in Made-to-Order Smoothies

Jamba is the category-defining leader in made-to-order smoothies - more than 3x the size of its closest competitors: Smoothie King and Freshens. This is thanks in large part to average unit revenues that are far above industry norms.  Jamba had 736 locations as of July 15, 2008 (518 company-owned), and $317 million in revenue for the year ended 1/1/08.   System-wide revenue is about $450 million.

Healthy Lifestyle Brand

While Jamba stores often do not have the seating capacity and café ambiance of a Starbucks, the chain comes the closest to delivering a Starbucks-like experience - but with a "healthy lifestyle" positioning.  The company delivers a consistent, premium, fun and healthy product and in-store experience for its customers.  An increasing focus on healthy living is here to stay, and Jamba can be a leader.

To be successful, Jamba needs to make the smoothie the centerpiece of its healthy lifestyle strategy, and position the smoothie as a healthy alternative to a meal, rather than a healthy alternative to a milkshake.  As a meal substitute, a $6 smoothie is a good value; as a treat, a $6 smoothie is an overpriced indulgence and the first thing to go when consumers are saving their pennies.  Jamba is ahead of the pack in recognizing this, but has a long way to go in executing it (more on this later).

Jamba by the Numbers

Here is my calculation of JMBA's enterprise value at $1.00 per share (amounts in thousands): *

____________________________________________
* Since the bulk of its employee options are way underwater, I assume that 2.6 million shares (5% of the total) eventually will be issued so as not to lose key employees (just a SWAG).  On 9/11/08, Jamba issued 2MM common shares to affiliates of Victory Park Management ("VPM") in connection with the issuance of $25MM in senior notes to VPM.  Rather than adding this to outstanding shares for valuation purposes, I view this as a $3MM liability, since the shares are subject to a put-call arrangement at $1.50/share.  The $10MM reserve is a big SWAG.

By my math, at $1.00 per share, the company trades at 1.6x store-level EBITDA, 4.0x my estimate of run-rate EBITDA, and 2.9x my estimate of pro-forma run-rate EBITDA reflecting all of management's planned cost cuts.  Imagine how accretive this would be for Starbucks, which trades at 9x EBITDA! (For comparison, BWLD trades at 13x EBITDA, PEET trades at 12.5x EBITDA, KONA and PFCB at 6.8x EBITDA).

Below is my estimate of Jamba's normalized EBITDA (1).

____________________________________________
(1) Figures are from the company's latest 10-K and 10-Q.  The pro forma cost cut figure is from the company's 8/28/08 earnings call, a transcript of which can be found at Seeking Alpha.  On the call, management said that $9MM of a planned $15MM in annualized cost cuts had already been implemented. (2) Includes charges for trademark impairment, store impairment, lease termination, asset disposal, and equity loss on JVs. (3) Figure for FYE 1/08 is "store-level operating income" as reported in the company's 3/13/08 earnings release.

I can see why the stock has been trashed.  How often do you see an operating loss equal to a company's revenue?  But I assume that many can look past the intangibles write-offs and focus on EBITDA.  Unfortunately, LTM pro forma normalized EBITDA is still negative!  But at least the red is coming from 2007; 2008's figure is $8.5MM.  Back-of-the-envelope, I estimate run-rate EBITDA to be $15MM, or just under 2x normalized EBITDA for YTD 7/08.  (This estimate assumes that continuing negative same-store traffic offsets any short-term boost from the company's deal with Nestle for bottled smoothies - which looks promising).  To get pro-forma post-expense-cut EBITDA, I add another $6MM - the difference between management's planned $15MM of expense cuts and the $9MM of cuts made to date - to get $21MM of EBITDA.  Today's enterprise value is 2.9x this figure.  Yes, there is a leap of faith in the $21MM number, but there is no leap of faith in the $37MM of store-level cash flow.

Competition, and Execution Risk

Of course, 3x EBITDA or 1.6x store-level cash flow is only a good deal if one thinks there is a growth story here.  Restarting growth is subject to big competitive and execution risks. The market has definitely become more competitive.  The company and investors are concerned about the wave of new competition from QSRs and coffee chains, including Jack-in-the-Box, Taco Bell, McDonald's, Dunkin' Donuts, Starbucks and more.  Seeing this competition invites a long-standing question for the smoothie category: do smoothies really deserve their own store or are they just a product line for another store concept? The answer may be that a basic smoothie is more of a product line, no more deserving of it's own store than a milkshake.

Smoothie shop chains have all struggled with the fact that while some customers will have a smoothie for breakfast or a light lunch, most people seem to view smoothies as an a between-meal snack, treat or pick-me-up.  In order to get enough traffic to drive sustainable store-level cash flow, and level-out seasonality, many stores have resorted to selling other traditional food items, such as salads, sandwiches, soups, baked goods and coffee.

This is the wrong strategy. As smoothie shops begin to offer the same food items as QSRs and coffee shops, they expose themselves to competition as QSRs and coffee shops offer smoothies.  If a smoothie shop brings in more traditional mealtime food for those day parts, they reinforce the notion that a smoothie is not a meal.  Instead, they need to evolve the smoothie product and experience so that customers recognize that it can be a healthy meal-in-a-cup rather than just a treat.  Any additional food items should really be unique, not things offered at Jack-in-the-Box.

If fresh smoothie chains don't move in this direction, the QSRs and coffee chains will eat their lunch, or perhaps I should say drink their smoothies....  It's a lot easier for a QSR or quick-casual chain with an already successful business model to add smoothies than for a smoothie chain to fix its business model by inventing a whole QSR or quick casual business.  Frequent smoothie drinkers, even in fitness-crazed California, generally say that a smoothie is a smoothie is a smoothie.  And, sweet flavors sell well.  The QSRs are leveraging this and will take a chunk of the market for sweet, treat-like smoothies.

This will put some smoothie chains out of business, but Jamba has a chance to thrive as a destination for healthy, on-the-go meals or mini-meals that are NOT traditional QSR fare.  After experimenting with soups and other more traditional meal items over many years, Jamba finally seems to get this.  Recently, they introduced breakfast smoothies, which, while not executed as well as they could be, represent a move in the right direction (smoothie-as-a-meal).  With their new menus, they also introduced a "Functionals" line of pre-boosted smoothies grouped by functional benefit.  These are positive steps, but the next CEO of Jamba will need to take this much further, or see much more of Jamba's business go to the burger and coffee chains.

Starbucks apparently sees it the same way, and has put a health and nutrition spin on its smoothie offering rather than competing directly with treat-like smoothies from QSRs.  They call their offering a "Vivano" rather than a smoothie, and incorporate whey protein (instead of just offering it as a "boost") to make it more of a meal replacement.  Unfortunately for them, they have not quite gotten the taste thing figured out yet.  Jamba should be able to beat Starbucks in both health and taste.

The Bottom Line

Jamba has a big execution challenge ahead of it - made worse by the fact that they don't have a permanent CEO!  Given the huge amount of uncertainty right now, a price of $1.00 is not unreasonable, but once a permanent CEO is hired, I would value the business closer to 6x pro forma run-rate EBITDA, or 3x store-level EBITDA, which is about $2.00 per share.  This would still be a discount to the public comparables because of the fundamental issue that they have never been able to get to a stable, proven, optimized business model that can simply be "stamped out" in new stores.  Instead, they still need to figure out exactly how to be the "healthy lifestyle" chain they say they want to be. Until they get a new CEO, it will be hard to handicap their ability to pull this off.  But Jamba is the best positioned of all the smoothie chains to succeed with this strategy.  They have built a very strong brand, which already stands for the things the company wants to be.  My guess is that the answers are already somewhere in Jamba's product development pipeline and that the company just needs the leadership to execute them.  Once Jamba can point to a clear vision for how they create a compelling value proposition for the consumer and a sustainable business model, I would value the business at closer to the comps, which would equate to about $3.00 a share.

At any valuation, Jamba really should not be a public company.  It's too small and has too much left to figure out.  Instead of spending close to $7 million on accounting and legal fees (not all, but much of which is a cost of being public), the company should reinvest this in growth.  A smart acquirer like a Starbucks, or a PE firm with the right in-house talent pool, could get to $3.00 a share of value quickly, so they would be well rewarded for purchasing Jamba at even a 100% premium to today's price.

PS - My 2 Cents on What Jamba Should Do

1. Make the breakfast smoothies easier to eat.  The current breakfast options are served with a straw that is too narrow, and a spoon.  Who wants to eat a smoothie with a spoon?!  One needs to be able to finish their smoothie while driving and not get in an accident.  Breakfast smoothies are a great opportunity to demonstrate that one can indeed have a smoothie for a meal, but you need to deliver or you've done more harm than good.

2. Add more high-protein smoothie options, and use more ingredients that promote satiety, such as natural inulin and fruit fibers, so that people feel full and satisfied after a smoothie to the same extent that they would after a more traditional meal.  These should be positioned on the menu as meals.

3. Offer coffee smoothies, and maybe even coffee.  A process exists for retaining more of the natural antioxidants of coffee after the roasting process.  Jamba could serve a proprietary, organic, high-antioxidant coffee and stay true to its brand image.

4. Add more proprietary savory food items.  The proprietary food needs to taste better!  As long as there are some healthy hooks, such as omega-3 fats, heart-healthy amounts of fiber, or high antioxidant levels, it should do well.  Consumers love to rationalize that something that tastes decadent is actually good for them.  And, at least in moderation, it can actually be true!

5. Get some meal-replacement items into the Nestle line-up.  Right now, the bottled product takes the brand in too much of the sweet, treat direction.

Pünktlich zur "Fairen Woche" verwandelt sich Christoph der KarmaKonsumist in FairtradeMan...

FairtradeMan versucht sich 14 Tage lang ausschliesslich von fair gehandelten Lebensmitteln zu ernähren. Täglich festgehalten im VLog. Ich bin ja mal gespannt ob und wie reichhaltig das Angebot an Lebensmitteln in diesem Bereich ist. Schaut doch mal bei ihm vorbei...

and Danni again, is amazing in this Cosmopolitan editorial

張許超 Zhang Xuchao always the perfect beauty model, here in Lohas magazine

That is the question many people ask me everyday

Have a look at people who make a difference

Watch them Get inspired

See them on my Mogulus Channel

Live your dreams for human evolution

See Randy Pausch  John Wood  Robert Swan  Dr. Beat Richner  Greg Mortenson  Bill Strickland  Neil Turok  Dave Eggers  Nicholas Negroponte  Steve Jobs  Stephen Hawking  Masaru Emoto  Geoff Lawton  John Medina

Do it

Everyone can make a difference

Acht Grad ist online. Die Seite befindet sich jedoch noch im Aufbau. Nichtsdestotrotz kann man die Bio-Weinschorle hier wenigstens virtuell bestaunen. Das Logo finde ich persönlich modern, interessant und gut umgesetzt. Es lädt auf einen zweiten Blick ein. Über die Etikettenfarbe lässt sich streiten. Es ist abzuwarten, wie es weiter geht. Bin gespannt auf die Website und natürlich das Produkt selbst.

Weinschorle soll zum Trendgetränk werden. So wünschen sich dies zumindest zwei Absolventen der Hochschule Heilbronn. Jedoch soll es nicht irgendeine Weinschorle, sondern eine Bio-Weinschorle sein. Biowein (Chardonnay, der Wein stammt meiner Vermutung nach von Riegel), Mineralwasser und ein wenig Biozucker. Der Name des Getränks "Acht Grad", wohl in Anlehnung an die optimale Genusstemperatur einer Weinschorle.

Wer aus einer Weingegend kommt, wird die klassische Weinschorle nur zu gut kennen. Schon der Grossvater hat vermutlich beim sonntäglichen Frühschoppen mit einer "sauer" (Mineralwasser) gespritzten Weinschorle angestossen. Im Sommer ist sie eine schöne, leichte und vor allem erfrischende Alternative zum Wein oder Bier und ansonsten eher weniger sexy. Selten habe ich junge, hippe Menschen eine Weinschorle bestellen sehen, geschweige denn trinken.

Die Weinbranche möchte dies aber offensichtlich ändern. So sind in letzter Zeit vermehrt Weinschorlen mit modern klingenden Namen und in eine schicke Longneckflasche verpackt auf den Markt gekommen um die jüngere (Party-) Generation anzusprechen. Wenn man so möchte ein hausgemachter (Trend). Alkopop-Alternative. "Acht Grad" hat sich jedoch nicht nur die Jungen vorgenommen, sondern auch die Bio-Bohéme, LOHAS, möchte zusätzlich vom Bioboom profitieren. Und das kann gut funktionieren, wie man am Paradebeispiel "Bionade" gesehen hat.

Derzeit ist man auf der Suche nach Vertriebspartnern für die ersten 6000 Flaschen. Zunächst sollen Szenebars und Kneipen versorgt werden. Kontakte in die Getränkeindustrie seien zudem vorhanden. Sogar UK ist schon auf der Landkarte markiert. Jetzt gilt es erst mal in der Heimat zu überzeugen. Ich bin gespannt ob ein solches Produkt trendy werden kann.

Quelle: Stimme.de

Hä? Wat dat denn?
Ich hab es mir mal auf der angegebenen Seite angeschaut: http://www.nutzpflanzenvielfalt.de/
Wenn man die Patenschaft für eine Pflanzensorte (in diesem Jahr eben Salat) übernehmen möchte, erhält man Saatgut. Ziel ist es, aus den Pflanzen neues Saatgut zu gewinnen, sowie die Sorten auf Eignung am jeweiligen Standort zu überprüfen, denn: "Die von den Sortenlisten längst gestrichenen alten Sorten, insbesondere die Regional- und Landsorten, stellen ein Stück Kulturgeschichte dar." Es geht hier letztlich um die Erhaltung der Vielfalt. Ich finde das nicht übel, denn ich habe mich schon oft gefragt, ob es so sinnig ist, auch bei den Samen immer nur dieselben Sorten zu erhalten, egal ob Tomaten oder Möhren.

Anderes ausgefallenes Saatgut gibt es auch hier: http://www.dreschflegel-saatgut.de/gbrmbh/

Vielleicht lohnt es sich tatsächlich, über den Anbau regionaler Besonderheiten nachzudenken, um wieder mehr Vielfalt in die Gärten zu bringen.

Die Links habe ich einer Maildiskussion zum Thema LOHAS (Life of Health and Sustainability) bzw. Bio-Boom und Lebensstile entnommen, die letztlich durch diesen Artikel angestoßen wurde.

Ich bin weit davon entfernt ein Ökofreak zu sein, aber das finde ich doch interessant und wollte es euch nicht vorenhalten.

Aber wer weiß, vielleicht kultiviert ihr ja schon längst regionstypisches Obst und Gemüse?

本て、実際読んでみないといいかどうかわからない。買ってしまって失敗するよりも、借りて試してみる。必要なページだけコピーで保存したり、気にいったら後から本屋で買ってもいい。紙とお金の無駄を省くにはもってこい。

ソトコト９月号で個性的な図書館の特集やってます。
（これも図書館で借りれます…図書館による）

Unter karmakonsum.de kann man sich über LOHAS - den Lifestyle of Health and Sustainability informieren. Für einen ökologischen Aufruf bemerkenswert wenig aufdringlich hinterlässt Karmakonsum eher den Eindruck einer entspannten Öko-Bewegung.

Von den beiden Blogbetreibern und Mitarbeitern des Naturtextilien-Anbieters Hess Natur gibt es auf der Website sehr coole T-Shirts aus 100% Bio-Baumwolle wie das hier zu ergattern:

Aufmerksam geworden bin ich auf karmakonsum.de übrigens über einen mindestens genau so coolen Rap-Videoclip, der quasi als Hymne dient.

Der Text mit revolutionärem Charakter dazu ist einfach genial mit Passagen wie "Wir verlangen heute Transparenz und Offenheit", "wir wollen einfach wissen wer mit uns sein Geld macht" oder
"Denn wir werden das ernten was wir jetzt säen".

Rappen tun das übrigens Substight, Betreiber der ebenfalls zum Thema passenden Blogs  konsumguerilla.net.

Ach ja, der gesamte Text kann hier nachgelesen werden. (Man kann sich von Substight auch einen eigenen Rap erstellen lassen.)

Hört hier den Track an:

LOHAS - den Lifestyle of Health and Sustainability

Während meines Besuchs der KarmaKonsum-Konferenz 2008 in Frankfurt durfte ich den Herausgeber des Öko-Lifestyle Magazins Biorama, Milo Tesselar, kennen lernen.

Biorama ist Österreicher und derzeit leider nur dort verfügbar, wobei ab nächstem Jahr auch der deutsche Markt nach Möglichkeit bedient werden soll.  Bezogen werden kann Biorama im Naturkosteinzelhandel, regional mit dem Biolebensmittel-Hausservice und über die Biorama-Website. Der Clue hierbei, den Preis kann der Käufer selbst festlegen, die Qualität selbst beurteilen und würdigen. Radiohead lässt grüssen.

Das Magazin richtet sich nach eigener Aussage an eine urbane Mittelschicht, die sich in ihrem Konsumverhalten stärker an der inneren Produktqualität als am Preis orientiert. Ganz im Gegensatz zur heutigen Schnäppchen-Gesellschaft. Nachhaltigkeit, ökologische und soziale Verträglichkeit stehen hiermit unmittelbar im Zusammenhang. Biorama möchte als Plattform für Ideen und Leitfaden im sich immer schneller entwickelnden "LOHAS"-Markt dienen. Alle Inhalte beruhen ausschliesslich auf redaktioneller Initative, was bei meinem Gespräch mit Milo Tesselar auch immer wieder betont wurde. Keine gekauften Artikel oder Produktempfehlungen, was das Magazin zu einer Ausnahme und umso lesenswerter macht.

Die Artikel sind aus meiner Sicht sehr lesenswert. In der aktuellen Ausgabe vor allem der Selbstversuch des Autors Michael Huber, sich über einen bestimmten Zeitraum ausschliesslich mit regionalen Lebensmitteln zu ernähren. Was ausserdem überzeugt ist die moderne und frische grafische Aufbereitung im Gegensatz zum Grossteil der Magazine in diesem Bereich.

This can be implemented in the use of organic fabric in everything from cotton sheets, blankets, linens, throws and even towels. This is the safer and healthier choice because all the toxins that enter our pores start to get stored and this leads to serious health problems. By using organic fabrics, we avoid letting harmful chemicals come in contact with our skin. At Home Naturally has a fantastic eco bedroom collection with all the above products and much more! They also have a stunning collection of organic cotton apparel for women and children. Their range of products includes organic baby linens, crib skirts, crib mattresses, hypo-allergenic mattresses and linens.

At Home Naturally is a green store in California that offers a variety of products that you can use around the house to provide you with the best quality of life possible from non toxic paints and air purifiers to solar powered appliances and self help DVDs. All their products are environment friendly, organic, chemical free, safe and free trade made.

‘At Home Naturally’ is an online green store that offers a wide range of products specifically designed on the principles of for a LOHAS green lifestyle. From organic cotton apparel for women and children, to organic baby bedding, baby mattresses, crib fittings and organic cotton sheets, blankets, linens and throws At Home Naturally has everything you will need to completely transform your lifestyle to one that is safe and healthy. They also have hypo allergenic mattresses and linens for your family to have the most comfortable sleep possible.

At Home Naturally understands the feeling of wanting to protect the health and well being of your family and has a wide range of other household products from non toxic paints, to maple furniture and Austin air purifiers, as well as solar powered appliances and cotton towels. All their products are healthy, safe, organic, eco friendly, non toxic and free trade made.

This week, meet the folks at Bungalow Ranch Style.

Location: Portland, OR

Square footage: 900 sq ft plus a 400 sq ft unfinished basement

Number of people/pets: 2 adults, 1 cat, 1 dog

What is your favorite and least favorite, or the what you would change, parts of living in a small home?

Our house lives big. It has a great floor plan with large public areas in front of the house, but also has well-lit, adequately sized private areas and lots of closet space in the back of the house. It really is about the efficiency of the floor plan and the balancing open space with closed space. Shared areas need to be big enough to avoid conflict and collisions, but you also need places where you can be alone. The only thing we really lack is an additional 1/2 bath. It would be nice to have an extra toilet and shower every now and then.

What circumstances led to living in a small home? Was it a choice to downsize, a desire to create a smaller carbon footprint on the environment, or some other situation?

We chose a smaller house because it fits our lifestyle. We'd rather be out in the community or in our yard than paging each other from opposite sides of the house. There's also the amount of time you spend cleaning. It takes a lot less time to clean 900 sq ft of floor than 2500 sq ft. While we did consider conservation of resources, we also ended up buying an older home that isn't quite as energy efficient as new construction can be. Even so, we use much less electricity and gas, we're able to have a substantial garden on our city-sized lot. The other added benefit to a smaller house is that you can take money you have budgeted for renovations and apply it to quality, instead of quantity. We're able to use more salvaged and natural materials and also afford low/no-VOC paint and other "green" products.

What changes have you made to your home since you moved in? Has it just been paint and decor, or more elaborate renovations?

We're about to start remodeling the kitchen, but we're going to keep the existing cabinetry since they're made of the original solid Douglas fir from 1952, when our house was built. We're also going to be refinishing the floors. We've replaced the sink in our bathroom and made plaster repairs. We've also painted everything, made new window coverings, and spent a lot of time landscaping our yard. Eventually, we may try to add a 1/2 bath and quest quarters (really a place for us to sleep when it gets really hot in the summer) in the basement and also finish the laundry area.

Where do you get furniture and other small scale items for your home? Any favorite shops or websites?

IKEA is a godsend. We also like salvage stores like Portland's Rebuilding Center and Habitat for Humanity Re-Store. Otherwise, I just consider scale when purchasing furniture. Most stores have smaller versions of their models of furniture. For example, when we bought our sofa the floor model was 85" but we ordered the 60" version of the same sofa.

Would you ever upgrade back up to a larger home?

No. If anything, I'd rather have a bunch of tiny pied-a-terres all around the world.

Thanks, folks!

Come back next week for the new chat with Rachel from California.

For more posts in this series, check out this page.

Bezugnehmend auf aktuelle Zahlen zur Internetnutzung der Deutschen (Initiative D21/ TNS Infratest) lassen sich folgende Zusammenhänge herauskristallisieren:

LOHAS zeichnen sich in der Regel durch ein hohes Bildungsniveau aus. Mit diesem korreliert auch die Internetnutzung der Deutschen: So sind 86,8 Prozent der  Menschen mit Abitur, Hochschulreife, Fachhochschule im Netz und 84,6 von denen mit abgeschlossenem Studium.

Hinzu kommt, dass Nachhaltigkeitsbelange „Luxusbedürfnisse“ sind . Sie treten somit erst auf, wenn Grundbedürfnisse befriedigt worden sind. Die einkommenstärkste Gruppe der Bevölkerung ist überdurchschnittlich im Internet repäsentiert: Onliner verfügen durchschnittlich über 2.337 Euro pro Monat, während Offliner ein durchschnittliches Haushaltsnettoeinkommen von 1.567 erzielen. Ein weiterer Zusammenhang ist, dass auch ältere Menschen ("Silver Surver") auf dem Vormarsch sind, und mit zunehmendem Alter  auch das Interesse an ethischem Konsum steigt.

Über drei Viertel der Konsumenten geben an, dass ihnen Unternehmen, die sich gesellschaftlich engagieren, besonders sympathisch sind. Diese Einstellung geht auch mit der Bereitschaft einher, mehr für Produkte und Dienstleistungen der dahinterstehenden Unternehmen  zu zahlen.  Zusammenfassend zeigen diese Ergebnisse auf, dass Unternehmen im Hinblick auf ihre Konsumenten für die Zukunft gut aufgestellt sind, wenn sie auf das Marketingpotenzial einer nachhaltigen Unternehmensführung und dabei verstärkt auf  CSR-Reporting im Internet setzen.

Online-Plattformen von LOHAS:

www.lohas.de

www.karmakonsum.de

www.utopia.de

Die Bio-Reformatoren sagen DANKE. Weiter so....

Ihr Team von myreform!

Quelle: Nokia

This week, meet Kimberly at Niesz Vintage Home... and fabric.

Location: Ohio

Square Footage: Just under 800 sq. ft.

Number of people/pets: Two adults and one sweet Labrador Retriever

What is your favorite and least favorite, or the what you would change, parts of living in a small home?

There are a lot of advantages to living in a smaller home.

I LOVE the economic perks!

• Smaller homes cost less and allow you to be mortgage-free sooner.
• Upkeep and improvement are cheaper (i.e. smaller houses have smaller windows... replacing 9 windows as opposed to 18 or gutting and remodeling a small galley kitchen as opposed to a large farm house kitchen).
• Heat and cooling costs are much lower.
• They are less expensive to furnish.

I LOVE that I can clean my entire house in about an hour.

I LOVE that it keeps me and my husband close.

There are some challenge to living small. Trying to operate a business out of a 10x10 room is becoming increasingly difficult. I also don't like that we have no spare bedroom for out-of-town guests. Ant it can be very frustrating trying to entertain and cook for a group of friends in my tiny kitchen.

What circumstances led to living in a tiny home? Was it a choice to downsize, a desire to create a smaller carbon footprint on the environment, or some other situation?

My husband and I purchased this house just before we got married. We were a young couple (16 yrs ago) and this is what we could afford. We really didn't mind a small home. Our main desire was to have a large lot in a nice neighborhood, and that's what we got. I am a little surprised that we're still in our first house after all these years, but frankly, we just haven't found anything else we like better yet.

What changes have you made to your home since you moved in? Has it been just paint and decor, or more elaborate renovations?

One of the first major improvements we made was not to the actual house. We installed a large brick patio along with a small pond and landscaping off the back of the house. We enjoy entertaining and knew if we wanted to have large gatherings, people would need to be able to spill outside. And for a good pat of the year, we definitely use the patio as an extension of the house, kind of like a large outdoor family room.

We also recently gutted the tiny kitchen, installing new cabinets and granite counter tops. Although we weren't able to increase the square footage, we did make it more efficient and even managed a little extra counter space.

We have attempted to finish the basement, but never seem to get very far. It is our only area for storage (we have no garage) and it gets piled high with furniture, tools, and family heirlooms. So, it's jokingly called the 10 Year Basement Project.

Where do you get furniture and other small scale items for your home? Any favorite shops or websites?

I'm a flea market and yard sale girl. So, many of the pieces are from the 1940s and 50s, which tend to be scaled just right for my house.

As far as decorating goes, I'm most comfortable when my surroundings are uncluttered. I keep knick knacks to an absolute minimum and love how white woodwork and crown moldings define a room without closing it in.

Would you ever upgrade back up to a larger home?

I don't see us ever purchasing a LARGE home, but it would be nice if we could find one with a little more room, say 1500 sq. ft. or so.

Or we may even look into adding on to this one. We're in no big hurry, though.

Thanks Kimberly!

Come back next week for the new chat with a Tiny Lifer!

For more posts in this series, check out this page.

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"Hallo, ich bin Tom Fruti, meine Freunde nennen mich Tomi, ich bin anfang dreißig, gesund, gut ausgebildet und besitze ein besonderes Bewußtsein. Ein Bewußtsein? Genau, ich bin ein Kunde der sogenannten Öko 2.0-Zielgruppe. Lifestyle of Health and Sustainability, genau das ist dass was ich vertrete und lebe. Ich lebe gesund, nachhaltig, bewusst, ernähre mich ökologisch sinnvoll und achte ebenso darauf, dass mein Konsum niemand schadet...damit meine ich natürlich den Fair-Trade-Gedanken...Kaffee, von Kindern geerntet und so....NEIN, dass akzeptiere ich nicht. Dass manches auf unserem Planeten falsch läuft, dass gesellschaftliche Gleichgewicht nicht immer gegeben ist, ist kein Geheimnis. Ich möchte frei entscheiden können, wofür ich mein Geld ausgebe, so dass ich stets erwarte, dass die Produkte die ich kaufe fair gehandelt als auch umweltfreundlich und zu menschlichen Bedingungen produziert wurden. Doch halt! Ich bin kein reiner Öko, schick soll dass schon alles sein, deswegen auch das Wort "Lifestyle" in der neuen der ich angehörenden Zielgruppe "LOHAS". Genau diese Gruppe vertritt den Gedanken...immer mehr Unternehmen schließen sich diesem Gedanken an. Dass finde ich sehr cooool, jedoch darf das Thema nicht nur des Profits wegen thematisiert werden. Ich erwarte schon, dass der Codex ehrlich vertreten wird..."
Euer Tomy

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去台北前無意間看到有一個BLOG介紹了一本叫My LOHAS的生活誌，於是，當人在台北，便順手帶了一本回家。

LOHAS到底是什麼呢？這個陌生的英文字翻譯成中文好像是樂活，我似懂非懂，覺得那應該就是很快樂地活著的意思吧！這大概是這本雜誌自己發明的字吧？還是說，從ALOHA那裡演變過來的？

奇怪的是，我在書店看書的時候，往往會看到書店裡總劃了一個叫LOHAS的區域，心裡暗想，這本雜誌好像很了不起，可是，怎麼有一點太誇張的感覺？不就是一本賣NT$69的生活誌？

直到有一次在某書店的某書上看到LOHAS的全寫，原來是Lifestyle of Health and Sustainability，才暗自慶幸我並沒有把之前對LOHAS的種種猜想告訴別人（可是我現在的行為應該可以說是「把糗事公諸於世」）。記得當時除了慶幸之外，還有另外一種更強烈心情，就是一種叫「太酷了！」的心情。一邊很愛自己，一邊很愛地球，這實在是太酷了！

Lifestyle of Health and Sustainability，簡稱LOHAS，似乎是台灣現在最火紅的生活態度。My LOHAS生活誌，也確實是蠻了不起的，裡面從旅行到美容，從購物到飼養寵物，都離不開環保和真誠等樂活元素。另外，My LOHAS也是一本採用環保再生紙及環保大豆油墨雜誌，從第一步就告訴大家，環保不是一組沒有意義的詞彙，而是一種行動。

不過呢，暫時來說我在香港並沒有看到這本超有誠意的生活誌，如果各位有看到的話，請留言相告，因為我不知道該怎麼買下一期了......

我說的My LOHAS生活誌就是這個: