Sunday, May 9, 2010

I Lohas My Life

FY10 Innovative Marketing i-Lohas

This video highlights key marketing techniques used in the Coke i-Lohas introduction of their bottle water products in asia. It also compares this techniques to current brand practices in the north american market.

New Lohas Investing Resources

All about Lifestyles of Health and Sustainability (Lohas) investing news, research and resources can be found in Investorideas for the Lohas investors at Lohas Investing Directory of Investorideas.

Click here at Lohas Investing site for more info.

Happy surfing and investing with the Lohas way!

Be Lohas Healthy Cuisine Restaurant in Klang Valley

Be Lohas Healthy Cuisine


They have branches in Puchong Bandar Puteri, Damansara Uptown, Subang USJ10, and Klang Bukit Tinggi.

Opens from Mon-Sat 10:00 am - 8:30 pm.

Be Lohas Healthy Cuisine promotes healthy, high energy food and environmental friendly concept to their customers. Some mouth watering dishes come with low salt, low sugar, low fat, high fibre and no added MSG for health-conscious consumers.

Note: The author is not associated with Be Lohas Healthy Cuisine. This article is meant for info only. You are most welcome to share your feedback on this.

Nanning, the Green City of China



William McDonough on Ecocities in China

Sustainable Eco-Friendly City

VTT Vision for Eco City



Super Sustainable City



Eco-City Caofeidian



Dongtan ZeroCarbon City



The zero emissions city of the future



South Korea, Songdo IBD The New Eco-City

Jingwu Eco Town

Saturday, May 8, 2010

SunCity, SSTEC collaboration for RM5b eco-city in China



China, Singapore to build Tianjin eco-city

Saturday, May 1, 2010

SunCity, SSTEC to develop Tianjin project

PETALING JAYA: Sunway City Bhd (SunCity) has inked a collaboration agreement with Sino-Singapore Tianjin Eco-City Investment and Development Co Ltd (SSTEC) for a RM5bil eco-themed project in Tianjin Binhai New Area in China.

The integrated development on 110 acres within the 30 sq km Tianjin Eco-City will be a 60:40 joint venture between SunCity and SSTEC.

SSTEC, a 50:50 joint venture between a Chinese consortium led by Tianjin TEDA Investment Holding Co Ltd and a Singapore consortium led by the Keppel Group, is the master developer of the eco-city.

Signing on behalf of SunCity yesterday was international property development division managing director Ngian Siew Siong while SSTEC was represented by chief executive officer Goh Chye Boon.

The signing was witnessed by SunCity chairman Tan Sri Jeffrey Cheah and Keppel Corp Ltd chairman Dr Lee Boon Yang.

According to Ngian, the development would comprise 90% residential component or about 5,000 residences and some commercial properties, including a retail centre. It will have an estimated gross development value (GDV) of RM5bil.

The houses will mostly be medium-range condominiums of 900 to 1,200 sq ft priced at about RM500 per sq ft.

The project is expected to take off in the first quarter next year and will take five years. It will start contributing to SunCity’s earnings from 2012.

Ngian said Tianjin Eco-City was currently the largest eco-city being developed in the world and it was expected to have a population of 350,000.

“As the first eco-city in China, the aim is to promote an ecologically and socially sustainable environment, and be a model for sustainable development for other cities in the future,” he added.

Ngian said the company’s development would be based on the lifestyles of health and sustainability philosophy that would elevate the green status of the city.

He said SunCity, which was a pioneer in developing green buildings in Malaysia, was the only local developer to be selected for the project. The other regional developers include Keppel Land of Singapore, Farglory Group of Taiwan, Shimao of Hong Kong, Mitsui Fudosan of Japan and Vanke of China.

With a fast growing middle class population and high urbanisation, China will be one of the biggest foreign markets for SunCity.

Projects from there were expected to make up more than 50% of the company’s foreign earnings in the coming years, Ngian said.

SunCity’s maiden project in China, the 17-acre Sunway Guanghao project in Jiangyin, is targeted for launch by June. The project, comprising medium-end condominiums and specialty shops, has an estimated GDV of RM492mil.

It is a 39:26:35 joint venture between SunCity, SunwayMas Sdn Bhd and Shanghai Guanghao Real Estate Development Group Co Ltd.

Shades of Green: Which are YOU?

When you think about it, everything we do everyday has an impact on the planet. A focus in our sustainability consulting is incrementally accelerating the levels of eco awareness individuals bring to their daily life choices. Briefly stated, helping those that are green to be greener and those not so green, to see the green path.

According to the Natural Marketing Institute’s (NMI) Lifestyles of Health and Sustainability (LOHAS) Consumer Trends Database, more than 80% of today’s total U.S. adult population shows some type of green motivation. NMI’s research divided the entire U.S. population into five segments based on their attitudes related to sustainability and social issues:

Lifestyles of Health and Sustainability (LOHAS): Early adopters and trendsetters driven by a sense of social responsibility (17% of U.S. adults).
Naturalites: Individuals motivated by personal wellness and a desire to live a healthy lifestyle (17% of U.S. adults).
Drifters: Trend followers who want to be seen as participating in the green movement but lack a genuine concern for the environment (24% of U.S. adults).
Conventionals: Individuals who have sustainable habits, like buying compact fluorescent light bulbs or reusing grocery bags, but are more motivated by a desire to save money and/or reduce waste than a sense of social responsibility (26% of U.S. adults).
Unconcerned: Those not involved or engaged with environmental issues (16% of U.S. adults).

A question we face in our sustainability consulting is, "How do individuals shift from one shade of green to another?" Factors to consider include " Why do people go green?" Some drivers include saving money, protecting the planet for future generations, preserving wildlife, or a basic attraction to doing what seems right. Identifying motives for a sustainable lifestyle help us in our professional consulting to then direct a client's personal sustainability plan in the direction that is best for them.

A successful sustainability plan is one in which the client finds the value in "going green" for themselves and takes ownership for their choices. The end result is a client shifting from being perhaps a "drifter" to a "naturalite". Fortunately, as sustainability consultants, we've witnessed that once a person embraces living a sustainable lifestyle, they continually move up the green scale. The next question is, "Which shade of green are you?"

LOHAS Market Growing

HARLEYSVILLE, Pa.—Consumers spent almost $300 billion on products and services in the Lifestyles of Health and Sustainability (LOHAS) market in 2008, according to a new report released by the Natural Marketing Institute (NMI). The figure encompasses:

 
  • Personal Health: $117 billion (includes natural/organic food, personal care, supplements, etc.)
  • Green Building: $100 billion (includes certified homes, Energy Star appliances, etc.)
  • Alternative Transportation: $20 billion (includes hybrids, diesel vehicles, electric vehicles, car sharing, etc.)
  • Eco-tourism: $42 billion (includes travel spent on excursions in nature)
  • Natural Lifestyles: $10 billion (includes home furnishings, apparel, etc.)
  • Alternative Energy $1 billion (renewable power)
NMI released the report in conjunction with Earth Day. “The first Earth Day was 40 years ago and the green marketplace was just taking shape,” commented Gwynne Rogers, NMI LOHAS business director. “Today, a majority of consumers are incorporating environmental considerations into their day-to-day lives—not just attitudinally, but by voting behaviorally with their dollars by spending $290 billion on goods and services that are environmentally-friendly, socially responsible and/or healthy.”

日出康城 LOHAS PARK



Sunday, April 11, 2010

LOHAS Forum 2009



The LOHAS Forum brings businesses together to learn about the $209B lifestyles of health and sustainability marketplace.

Saturday, April 10, 2010

Garden Girl TV: Lifestyles of Health and Sustainablility

The Cultural Creatives: How 50 Million People Are Changing the World

Cultural Creative is a term coined by Ray and Anderson to describe people whose values embrace a curiosity and concern for the world, its ecosystem, and its peoples; an awareness of and activism for peace and social justice; and an openness to self-actualization through spirituality, psychotherapy, and holistic practices.

Does the religious right have a hammerlock on values in America? Is the new American dream really about getting and spending, and being the first zillionaire on the block? At the turn of the millennium, fifty million ordinary Americans emphatically disagree. They are the Cultural Creatives - the leading edge creators of a new culture in America.

In this landmark book, sociologist Paul H. Ray and psychologist Sherry Ruth Anderson draw upon 13 years of survey research studies on over 100,000 Americans, plus over 100 focus groups and dozens of depth interviews. They tell who the Cultural Creatives are, and the fascinating story of their emergence over the last generation, using vivid examples and engaging personal stories to describe the values and lifestyles that make this subculture distinctive.

The Cultural Creatives care deeply about ecology and saving the planet, about relationships, peace, social justice, and about self actualization, spirituality and self-expression. Surprisingly, they are both inner-directed and socially concerned, they're activists, volunteers and contributors to good causes more than other Americans. However, because they've been so invisible in American life, Cultural Creatives themselves are astonished to find out how many share both their values and their way of life. Once they realize their numbers, their impact on American life promises to be enormous, shaping a new agenda for the twenty-first century.

On the basis of Ray and Anderson's research, about 50 million Americans are Cultural Creatives, a group that includes people of all races, ages, and classes. This subculture could have enormous social and political clout, the authors argue, if only it had any consciousness of itself as a cohesive unit, a society of fellow travelers. The husband and wife team wrote the book "to hold up a mirror" to the members of this vast but diffuse group, to show them they are not alone and that they can reshape society to make it more authentic, compassionate, and engaged. It is an idealistic call for a new agenda for a new millennium. --I. Crane


The Cultural Creatives: How 50 Million People Are Changing the World

Earth Day 2010: A Turning Point to the Earth

Forty years after the first Earth Day, the world is in greater peril than ever. While climate change is the greatest challenge of our time, it also presents the greatest opportunity – an unprecedented opportunity to build a healthy, prosperous, clean energy economy now and for the future.

Earth Day 2010 can be a turning point to advance climate policy, energy efficiency, renewable energy and green jobs. Earth Day Network is galvanizing millions who make personal commitments to sustainability.

Earth Day 2010 is a pivotal opportunity for individuals, corporations and governments to join together and create a global green economy. Join the more than one billion people in 190 countries that are taking action for Earth Day.

Earth Day has come a long way since its relatively humble origins forty years ago. US senator Gaylord Nelson was very environmentally-conscious, which was fairly rare for that time.

He decided that an environmental teach-in was in order, and wanted to make a statement to the American government about how concerned people were about the environment. He was astonished by how quickly people and officials, including New York City mayor John V. Lindsay, got on board with the idea.

Nelson consulted his friend, legendary advertising copywriter Julian Koenig, about what to call the event. Drawing from deep within his creativity, Koenig recommended calling it “Earth Day”, and thus began a holiday that many say gave birth to the modern environmentalism movement.

It was set as April 22nd every year (one of the few holidays to hold a fixed date in the United States, in fact; most are moved to the closest Monday for scheduling convenience) in part because that’s Koenig’s birthday (rhymes with “Earth Day” – genius!). Since 1970 Earth Day has grown into a global event with over half a billion participants each year recently, and has come to encompass many different aspects of environmentalism and sustainability.

Earth Day is not without its detractors, however. Even twenty years ago, during Earth Day 1990, some critics claimed that Earth Day was serving as more of an excuse for people to vent their environmental stress, and that it was as a poor substitute for real environmental action. “Worn out by weeks of build-up and an accompanying media blitz,” Time Magazine reasoned, “many people will return to business as usual on Monday, hoping not to hear the E word again for weeks.” While it’s a bit trivializing to hear the environment referred to as “the E-word”, there is some logic to this idea.

The LOHAS Forum brings together +500 business executives to network and learn about the opportunities the LOHAS marketplace has to offer and how best to target the LOHAS consumer.