Guidance Shows Support for Hopenhagen, Provides Virtual Hosting Services

You’ve seen the billboard ads. You’ve heard the buzz. It’s Hopenhagen.

Hopenhagen is a movement seeking to encourage global citizens to voice out to world leaders attending the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen, Denmark (COP15) the need to establish better sustainability policies. Their Web site, Hopenhagen.org, calls on visitors to become citizens of Hopenhagen by signing the “Climate Change” petition and sharing their messages of hope. The petition – along with every name signed to it – will be presented to world leaders at the COP15 meeting.

In early September, Guidance was approached by Hopenhagen stakeholders looking for application support services as well as eco-friendly solutions to host their site. Guidance presented them with two alternatives: our green hosting solutions using energy-efficient HP servers, and our virtual hosting solutions using VMware software. For both, Guidance offsets all remaining electricity-related CO2 emissions by purchasing renewable energy credits (RECs) through BeGreen Business, the carbon offset brand of Green Mountain Energy. The credits are made from wind and biomass sources located throughout the United States.

Hopenhagen stakeholders chose to host their site virtually with Guidance. The site went live on September 15th, and shortly after its launch, Guidance employees went on to show their support by signing the petition.

Leaders from more than 180 nations will meet in Copenhagen from December 7th to the 18th of this year to ratify a new international global climate treaty, which will take effect when the first commitment period of the Kyoto Protocol expires in 2012. Hopenhagen was created by the International Advertising Association (IAA) in support of the UN’s call for marketing assistance to sign “Climate Change” petition.

To find out how to become a citizen of Hopenhagen, sign their petition before December 7th, 2009 at http:/www.Hopenhagen.org. To learn more about Guidance’s hosting solutions, please visit our Web site at http://www.guidance.com/services/hosting.

Guidance has significantly reduced its overall consumption of electricity and paper as a result of a company-wide commitment to sustainable business practices, known as Guidance Green. Guidance’s purchase of renewable energy credits offset 100 percent of the carbon emissions associated with its business activities.

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Jon Provisor
Guidance

Meet The Dervaes

I have lived in Southern California all my life with the exception of a few years spent in NorCal in the latter half of the 80s and in London in the early 90s. Yet I had never heard of The Dervaes, whom – since the mid-80s – have been doing something quite amazing, right in the heart of L.A. County.

Apparently, I am not the only one who’s never heard of them. So without further ado, meet the Dervaes.

In only a tenth of an acre, the Dervaes family has been able to create what many would consider impossible: an urban homestead. Living in Pasadena, Calif., Jules Dervaes and his three adult children (Justin, Anais and Jordanne) are surrounded by many of the typical things you’d see in an area like L.A. – cars, freeways, houses – and by some that are far less typical – goats, chickens, ducks, rabbits, and over 350 varieties of vegetables, herbs, fruits and berries.

So how do they fit all of that into one-tenth of an acre? It wasn’t easy for the Dervaes but they were really determined to make it happen. And as if that wasn’t complex enough, they wanted to up their ante by doing everything in the most environmentally-friendly way possible. Here are some interesting facts about the day-to-day operations of their urban homestead:

• Up to 6,000 pounds of produce are harvested annually on one-tenth of an acre.


• The Dervaes family grows 99% of the produce they consume; the remaining food that the family consumes is either bought in bulk, organically-grown, locally-grown, and/or are fair-trade certified. The family has kept a vegetarian diet for over 17 years.


• 12 solar panels provide two-thirds of the energy they consume (6 kWh per day), which is already 80-percent less energy than what the average American household consumes (29.2 kWh per day, according to the Department of Energy).


• The family raises small stock like chickens, ducks, rabbits, and goats for eggs, milk and/or manure. In addition, the Dervaes are beekeepers for the extraction of unfiltered/unheated honey.


• Some of the energy and water conservation efforts the family practices include using energy-efficient appliances and lighting (some are even non-electrical or hand-powered, like their stationary bike-blender kit), reusing laundry water, and using a low-flushing toilet along with a toilet lid sink.
  
• Their diesel car runs on homebrewed biodiesel and is driven only 3 out of the 7 days of the week, for approximately 4,000 miles per year. That is 66-percent fewer miles than what the average American drives per year, according to the Federal Highway Administration.


• Self-employed since 1974, the Dervaes sell their homegrown produce to local restaurants and caterers (through DervaesGardens.com), sell plant seeds through their own seed company (FreedomSeeds.org), and sell eco-friendly goods online (at PeddlersWagon.com).

Since 1999, the Dervaes have been documenting their efforts and sharing them online to help engage others interested in following their footsteps. To learn more about the Dervaes and how to turn your home into an urban homestead, visit their website at PathToFreedom.com.

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Jon Provisor
Guidance