“A man with integrity will draw more business than a man without it.”
- Mark Gillard
This is our belief, also. See below for details on what we think about “integrity.” We have other values, too. Among them:
Authenticity.
Credibility.
Determination.
Curiosity.
Our Team.
This list is not all-inclusive, of course. We’ll blog on these and other values over time. Consider this a work in progress, and stay tuned.
Last weekend I took my family down to my brother’s to help out with a fall project. His house is on property in the suburbs of Chicago that in the ’40′s and ’50′s was the J.C. Penney Christmas tree farm. Since that time, it’s grown mostly wild, so he has quite a forest. This year, more trees than normal died, and so he had an arborist come in to take them out. The trees were felled, cut into appropriate sized blocks, and left where they lay. We wanted to help him move and split the wood. We had a beautiful weekend outside, and the work was a good reason to be active, also.
Tuesday the 23rd was my youngest daughter’s birthday. She turned four, and we had cake and presents for her. Her little brother didn’t quite get that he wasn’t going to be getting presents, too. In a pinch, we wrapped some new clothes so that he had something to open, also. Then, everybody was happy. In contrast to this joy, by coincidence the 23rd was also the first anniversary of the death of one of my closest friends. I’ve been a bit moody recently, because of this. The joy of my daughter’s birthday party was in welcome opposition to some of the grief that I’ve been feeling, lately.
I like to believe that in life we’re given both good and bad in equal measure. Sometimes, these things are even wrapped in the same package. That an important birthday is on the same day as the anniversary of a significant death is a good example of this. Rarely are we given such opportunities to examine life so fully. While it wasn’t a gift that I expected or packaged the way that I wanted it, my friend’s death last October also gave me the gift of more time with his father Bob, who died last fall as well. Bob was a significant mentor for me; it’s not an exaggeration to say that I wouldn’t be who I am today without his influence.
One of the things that Bob taught me was how to wield an axe. He even gave me a double-bit axe that I still have, and it sits here in my office here at Pemba Base. It’s more appropriate for cleaning or felling trees than it is for splitting wood, so as it turns out I didn’t use it at my brother’s. My brother has a good splitting axe and a splitting maul that I used instead. In the heft and release of these tools, I felt Bob’s presence in my hands, and in the wood as it yielded, also.
Stephen Covey says that there’s a time to sharpen the saw, and there’s a time to cut wood. In life – and yes, in business – we need to prepare for action as much as we need to act. Whether you pick up a tool to use it or to maintain it you’re lifting the tool for a good reason. We don’t always get the gifts we want, nor are they always packaged in the way that we expect them. Joy and grief are good complements to one another, as it turns out. More importantly, we can’t experience one without the other, and this is as it should be.
One of these things is not like the other? No, they actually all belong. There is a lot to learn from examining the interactions between climate change and conflicts, between violence and gender, and between gender and the environment. This post starts to explore these themes, and be sure to check out the plug for www.womenforwomen.org at the conclusion.
We’ll begin here: there are a number of perspectives from which to view Al Gore, co-recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize. Let’s hash out a few of these:
- Al Gore deserves to share the prize for his work on global climate change advocacy.
- Al Gore has done us (humanity) a tremendous service – see above – but he does not deserve the peace prize because he was complicit in US military interventions (Somalia, The Balkans, and missile attacks on Iraq, Afghanistan, and Sudan). Not to mention his failure to act in Rwanda.
- Al Gore deserves recognition for his environmental work, but the Nobel Prize is better used to recognize and promote individuals and organizations similarly dedicated to bettering humanity, but who lack the power and privilege of a very wealthy, white, male, former politician from a prominent developed country. (Al Gore already has an effective media-machine in place.)
- Al Gore does not deserve this honor because his work on climate change advocacy is not “the most or the best work for fraternity between the nations, for the abolition or reduction of standing armies and for the holding and promotion of peace congresses”.
Al Gore may not be the best choice from the second and third perspective, but I want to make an argument that climate change is and will continue to be directly related to violent conflict.
There is a growing body of literature in the fields of geography, natural resource management, conservation biology, sociology, political science, etc. linking resource scarcity with regional and international conflicts. Here are some examples:
Rwanda’s 1994 genocide was far more complex than an ethnic conflict between Hutu and Tutsi. By 1994, Rwanda’s population density was 174 people per square mile of arable land – one of the highest in Africa and in the world (source). In addition to shrinking farm size, firewood scarcity and soil degradation further limited the effectiveness of rural livelihood strategies (source). I am not suggesting that Rwanda’s conflict was only concerning natural resources availability, rather that this mounting discontent and growing insecurity primed the populace for the political machinations which led to the murders.
I think we can all recall several international conflicts over oil – a limited natural resource. Get ready for more similar conflicts, except over water. How long do you think Turkey will allow water to flow freely down the Tigris and Euphrates to their neighbors in Iraq and Sudan? Will Turks go thirsty to maintain minimum flows? The Southeast United States is already clamoring for Great Lakes water – to the extent that Great Lakes states and provinces are compelled to establish very clear and very strict rules for use (source). I am not predicting violent conflict over GL water, but there is already political conflict, and US water resources are not nearly as scarce as elsewhere in the world.
Scholars are now suggesting the conflict in Sudan’s Darfur region may be one of the first violent conflicts we can strongly link to climate change. Freshwater shortages lie at the center of the conflict (remember when everyone got excited about the potential of an enormous underground lake in the region? sadly, now suspected to have dried up centuries ago), and recent climate patterns and projected trends reveal an expansion of the Sahara Desert – creating and exacerbating these shortages… and conflicts.
How does gender inequality tie in with climate change and violent conflict? This warrants it’s own post (Part Two: coming soon), but a couple of points to ponder:
- Women are disproportionately affected by violent conflict.
- Regionally, violent conflicts are projected to increase with climate change.
- Rural women in many societies are uniquely positioned to be environmental stewards.
- Women are often excluded from war-and-peace decision-making processes.
- Women play a vital role in rebuilding societies ravaged by war.
I recently discovered this organization, which does truly remarkable work with women (and men) around the world: www.womenforwomen.org and until October 31, 2007, an anonymous donor is matching gifts. Please check it out.
For the first few years of my rock climbing experience I used to despise the pink Quartzite of Devil’s Lake. The rock is slick, devious, tricky and in all honesty, a pain in the ass. The holds are small and sharp as hell. Footholds are never where you want them. The ratings are as old school as you get and I still fall off of “5.9+” with ease.
After moving away briefly to climb at “bigger and better” venues I made the voyage back to the land of no friction and top ropes. I had voluntarily moved from the land of big boulders and big walls. From the place that I used to dream of in my sleep. More than one person had asked me “why???”. I couldn’t give them a straight answer most of the time because I didn’t really know myself.
The Buttermilks are still my favorite place in the world. I still drool when I look at some of my old pictures from Tuolumne and Yosemite. Thinking of Mammoth makes me smile without fail. I miss the Happy Boulders, El Cap and everything in between.
What I found when I came back though, was that there are certain people who make your life happy. There are people who change you as a person and make pretty much anything fun. A few of those people have been in my life since I’ve been back and I’m lucky for that. I had just as much fun this weekend climbing at the lake than I ever had at Mammoth. We arrived at 2:00PM after sleeping in. We raced to set up a top rope at dusk so one of our party could do all the moves of her first 5.11b. She did most of it in the dark anyways. My roommate cleaned mud and dust off every hold of a crimpy 5.11c just so i could have a flash attempt. We trampled up a loose gully with an easy 5th class exit that had horrible fall potential(ie. hospital bound). My pack may have cushioned the fall though.
The lake has grown on me. The rock is still a pain in the ass and sometimes I have to tape each finger just so I don’t bleed. I still hate the approach trail, for no real reason mind you I just don’t like stairs. The friction sucks and I’m always confused. When it’s all said and done though, I’d rather climb crap rock with good friends than the best rock alone.
I’ll try to put some pictures up once i figure out how. Beware though, there may be a toprope or two in them.
On our way into the office Monday morning, we were greeted by the smell of tar. It was the best smell in the world, because it meant that they were pouring asphalt, at last. The water-main construction out in front of Pemba Base is finally finished. If you’ve talked to us at any time over the past few months, in the background you’ve most likely heard jack-hammers, incessant beeps from heavy-equipment backing up, and earth-movers lumbering down the road. Team Pemba has also experienced ankle-deep mud, smothering dust, parking difficulties, and they even shut off our water a couple of times.
It’s been a hoot. Really.
As much as we like the fresh blacktop, the best part of this project was when they first tore up Main Street. Deep down underneath the layers of asphalt patches they found old cobblestones. These were mostly intact – like big bricks – and they piled them up by the side of the road. I meant to borrow one for the office before they hauled them away. I think I was hit by a car or something and never got around to it. This is just as well – really – as I’m no thief. (See “Integrity,” below…)
Pemba Base is on a block that’s been in Madison since it was founded. The building we’re in is over one hundred years old. Our sample warehouse is in an adjacent building, and the roots of it go back over one hundred and forty years. There’s an old aerial picture here in the lobby – most likely taken from a kite – that shows our warehouse and several other buildings from the neighborhood. Across the street is a former hotel and brothel; out our back door is an old train station. Both of these are still here. (Well, NOT the brothel – much to Pete’s dismay – but the building that housed it, anyway.) Down the way a bit is a former grocery store which is now the headquarters for The Onion. In the picture, you can also see Madison’s second capitol, which burnt down in 1904.
There’s a lot of history in this building, and on this block, and for that matter among our team. We’re proud that Pemba Base is here. We also like our space. It’s a good place to work, and it really reflects who we are. Maybe someday we’ll post pictures. I’m not tech-patient enough to figure it out, at the moment. Until then, if you’re ever around feel free to drop by. You have the address, and unless we’ve gone out to play – Parkour, cyclocross, slack-lining, and fly-casting have all been a part of our workweek in recent months – we’ll be here.
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