[Vancouver BC 06-12-10] It has been a while since there have been any updates here at encounter earth online. I (Paul) have been busy contracting with Opportunity International, a microfinance organization. I have been based in downtown Vancouver making trips back to Canmore for short stays with my family. But that is soon to change!

At the end of June 2010 Paul, Corey, and family will be making our transition to Vancouver Island to continue our journey of living out social justice and sustainability. We will be living just down the road from our business partners, Bernie and Marlene. As we get our bearings this summer and get connected with our community of friends we want to walk into the next chapter for encounter earth.

There have been contacts already made into Colombia and Peru regarding local entrepreneurs who are very interested in collaborating with encounter earth in direct trade. These next months will be about encounter earth ownership team processing the retooling and the hopeful emergence of an online store with accessories, jewelry, art and some simple clothing pieces available. So please bookmark the encounter earth page and keep surfing over here for updates.

[Mill Bay BC 11-22-09] Yesterday I took a plane ride from Calgary to Victoria. Actually it was divided up into two flights, Calgary to Vancouver and Vancouver to Victoria. When I fly a rule of thumb for me is if the person next to me is open to chat and interesting I will engage as it makes the flight way pass more quickly and I definitely enjoy dialog. This was the case on Sat afternoon for both flights.

YYC - YVR (First Leg)
I discover I am sitting next to a brilliant engineer from Toronto. He just sold his company and was disappearing for a while. He was on his way to New Zealand and Australia. We talked about a myriad of subjects and what intrigued me is that he really knew things beyond the technical details to the historical events that led to discoveries or court decisions. He talked about his home as a child in India and some of the projects he worked on over their as an adult. And he talked about his experiences on the ground in Northern Alberta working the oil patch as well as his special with Ontario Hydro in nuclear energy.

So here are a few of the things I caught… the whole corn starch plastic is not the answer, in fact, it is a problem. In Canmore it has become a huge thing at all our events that corn plastic plates and cutlery are used because “it is far more environmentally friendly” (the reason: it will breakdown as opposed to the other plastic that never will.) I discovered it is not friendly because it is still plastic. The corn starch is used as a binding agent to keep the plastic together and ‘if’ this plastic is continually exposed to sunlight it will break down in the sense that it is no longer a recognizable piece of something like a mug, fork or whatever… BUT the plastic still is plastic just in small pieces that can possibly float and be breathed in and cause horrific things like cancer!

The other thing I learned was that synthetic oil that you buy at a typical retail automotive shop is not really synthetic in the full sense of the word. My engineer friend gave me the history of synthetic oils through WWI and WWII re airplanes and how conventional oil wasn’t holding up and the engines were breaking down. So they discovered that sap down in the Brazilian rainforest that was not burning up with the trees and took the properties of this sap to create a synthetic lubricant. Long and short of this is that the current ’synthetic’ oil out there made by a couple of the BIG oil companies actually has mineral oil in it with some synthetic content. He told me the year and location of the court case where one of the big oil companies won the case to use ’synthetic’even though it wasn’t. I actually looked this all up online after the conversation and he nailed it. I am very disappointed as my TDI Jetta has been on a steady diet of ’synthetic’ oil. All that money…

YVR - YYJ (second leg)
On my short haul flight, like 15 min in the air and 15 min taxiing I sat next to a bona fide horticulturist who has retired from his government job. He now chairs different national boards like the farmers’ market board and agricultural tourism board. It was great to hear his journey from Trenton to Victoria when he was a young man in the 70s, a Neil Young-type. He discovered Vancouver Island and could not get it out of his mind’s eye. For eight years after his first visit he looked for the opportunity to find work to justify the move from Ontario. In 1980 he made that move and became a true Islander. He wore a little wool cap/toque, grey hair resting on his neck with a gotee on his face. He told me stories of the first test vineyard on Vancouver Island just a few kilometres from where I am sitting right now. I loved the brief visit hearing his passion for caring for the earth and the need to grow our food from untainted soil… very cool!

It was a very educational journey to say the least. I am looking forward to my time here in Mill Bay and to the flight home. Who will I sit with next time?

[Canmore, AB 09-09-09] As the dream for an encounter earth retail store was still in concept form a key development was the commitment to make jeans a cornerstone product. Jeans are by far the most worn pair of pants in north america. The casual revolution has taken hold in most parts of the continent. I believed that encounter earth had to have fair + sustainable jeans in the store in order to hit the vibe I was looking for. So the hunt for a supplier began… it wasn’t easy!

In my early research I came to realize that the original “fair trade” jean was a very scary looking thing… style and quality control were not in vogue. The basic style was a pair of denim sweat-like pants with a drawstring… yuck! Then I was star struck as I surfed the internet and found a company in the Netherlands that make very cool f+s jeans in Peru. It took me two to three months before I finally received word from this company that they did not distribute to North America. I was crushed. I could not believe that I could look at these jeans but I could not order them. I took a deep breath and had to let go.

A couple of months later I decided to Google one more time “fair trade jeans” even though I had accepted the futility of even trying. To my amazement I came across goodsociety, a jean company out of Seattle, USA. They had fairly made organic jeans from a small factory in India that was owned by a father of one of the team members back in the US. I literally sat back and could not believe my eyes. I made the phone call and sure enough this was for real and encounter earth could place an order! And oh, did we order a lot of jeans… they were shipped directly to Canada from the factory in India.

goodsociety jeans have been a big hit… most people who try them on fall in love with them. The design is incredible, simple and clean. The raw denim is by far the most popular. encounter earth is very thankful for the partnership we have with goodsociety and look forward to carrying these jeans for years to come. If you have not tried a pair on I really recommend coming by and if you are not in the area check out a local eco store. If you do own a pair please comment on this blog entry and let us know your experience with your goodsociety jeans.

[Canmore, AB 05-08-09] There are times that I measure how to share with people what we do in our shop. There are those who are taken aback by the changes from conventional traded clothing to fair + sustainable clothing. I try to stay on the positive when describing that the cooperatives/companies that we buy our products from have treated the workers well and paid them fairly. It’s like either that is an assumed premise or they don’t really give a damn about who or what happened in the origins of what they wear. I understand the journey towards creating awareness and educating people is long and arduous but there are times I want to take a short cut and let out the frustration regarding the injustices and failure to really care.

I so appreciate those who have gone before us at ee like Yvon Chouinard who founded Patagonia and the Patagonia leadership team. They have journeyed faithfully to uphold people and the environment for over three decades. Through this long season of time they understand and accept their role in bringing incremental change in textile manufacturing and the marketplace. There is lots to learn and do for sure.

We finally received our shipment of organic, fair trade jeans this past week… Good Society is the name of the brand. We received over 600 pair! They were shipped directly from the port of Mumbai to the port of Vancouver. I had my first orientation in int’l business logistics… importing product and dealing with a consolidation company as well as a customs brokerage.

I am realizing that no matter how much you try that int’l borders and trade require a certain number of hands at the table in order to move product from one country to the next. Our goal with encounter earth is that we remove as many hands as possible so that the maximum amount of $$ can stay in the community where the product was made.

On a very rainy Friday last week we got the men’s jeans onto the floor for the weekend. Today it is time to get the women’s jeans on the floor. Lots to choose from for both men and women. The jeans are actually an incredible fit and really cool… how do I know? Both my 15 year old son and 14 year old daughter are wearing GS jeans to school. I don’t think there is a better test.