Community Archives - Page 7 of 8

WE’RE HOSTING A TWITTER PARTY!

We are so excited for Earth Day next week and I am sure you are as well! In order to celebrate the 45th anniversary of the event, we decided to organize a party. Even better, a twitter party. This way people from different parts of the world can participate. A Twitter party is a brief and engaging virtual conversation that uses a hashtag (ours is #OurEarthDay) to bring people together to discuss a specific topic. Our party will last one hour and will be a great way for like-minded people to connect and create community.

As mentioned above, the theme for this party is Earth Day’s 45th anniversary.This could be the most exciting year in environmental history. The year in which economic growth and sustainability join hands.The year in which world leaders finally pass a binding climate change treaty.This is our time to come together and take action in regards to climate change. Our intentions for this twitter party is to engage with our friends and followers in a conversation around environmental issues and how businesses can come together to ‘do good FOR the world.’ And of course to have fun!

The party will begin at 11 am PST with a brief introduction. Then Falcon will pose 10 questions (one every six minutes) designated with Q1, Q2… to prompt responses from participants (you and your followers) using A1, A2…

If you are on twitter follow us @shuttheflushup and come join the party! Send us an email at mhodges@falconwaterfree.com to get the details. Don’t forget to use the #OurEarthDay to be apart of the fun.

Tweet you there!

35% CUT FOR CALIFORNIA

Can’t say we didn’t see this coming. With the current state of the drought it was a matter of when and not if. Therefore, when Governor Brown announced the mandatory statewide water restrictions last week, we weren’t surprised to see it hit the media in full force.

In an aggressive push to reduce water usage statewide, California regulators are proposing that the biggest urban water users cut consumption by as much as 35% over the next year. California’s cities consume 178 gallons per person per day, on average. That’s 40 percent more than the per capita water consumption in New York City. Pretty crazy!

Brown’s mandatory statewide water restrictions is the first in California’s history. And the timing makes perfect sense. The state of California endures a fourth year of drought and with Groundwater levels in some areas have plunged, causing the ground to sink it shows the magnitude of the situation. Farmers have been cut off on irrigation deliveries, which has forced thousands of acres of inactive cropland. Some small communities have ran out of water, and while reservoir levels are higher than last year, the mountain snowpack, which provides about a third of the state’s water supply in normal years, is at a record low.

With the mandatory cuts, water districts are offering rebates for home and business owners to retrofit appliances. This comes as an incentive since after Brown’s announcement, California Energy Commission approved standards for water efficient appliances. The standards require water appliances to consume less water thereby using less energy while performing the same function and it ranges from low flow toilets, waterfree urinals to kitchen and lavatory faucets.

The drought has never been so evident as it is today. It is all around and affects every aspect of our daily lives. But the challenges faced bring to surface discussions and changes that are long overdue. We can blame it on climate change, misuse of water supplies, or all the above. But one thing is clear, it is not going away and we have to alter our relationship with water.

HAVE A GREAT HOLIDAY WEEKEND

Holidays are made for enjoying alongside family and friends. For sharing memories and relaxing times. It’s always good to leave the office for a couple of days and come back recharged and ready to go.

Hope you have a great holiday weekend! We’ll be back on Monday with our regular blog post.

Cheers!

FALCON MEDIA COVERAGE: SPORTS TECHIE

Three months ago, we announced Jason Gore as our new Falcon ambassador. Just like us, Jason is a California native and has grown up experiencing first hand conservation and the California way of life. In the article below, Sports Techie blog does a great job at illustrating our local water conservation campaign (CA Shut the Flush Up) and why Jason is a perfect fit.

ARTICLE PUBLISHED BY SPORTS TECHIE BLOG:

Falcon Water Technologies sponsored PGA Tour golf professional Jason Gore to evangelize water savings rebate programs implemented by local utilities throughout California in order to help overcome the possibility that the state has one year of stored H20 left after four years of drought. The Sports Techie community blog spoke to Gore about his social media efforts to spread awareness about this global epidemic that has led to unprecedented glacier melting in Greenland, the Article Circle and Antarctica, the largest land mass of ice on the planet resulting is ocean levels rising with the potential to displace millions of human and animals that live on the many coast lines around the world. The time is now for all golf courses to meet this dilemma head on with conservation efforts much like Scott Heyn, General Manager at Oakmont Country Club in Southern California has persuaded his private equity course members to initially fund. Steve Nuskiewicz, Falcon Senior VP North American Sales, also shared with us why the rebate program is in place and how their tech eliminates the need for flush or low flush urinals.

Falcon Waterfree Technologies, LLC promotes conservation of fresh water and supports sustainable resource management by providing the #waterfree urinal system. Golf course restrooms are the focus of their “CA Shut The Flush Up” campaign because by installing water-efficient or waterfree urinals, up to 40,000 gallons of water per year/per urinal is saved a year. In order to save 88,000,000 gallons of water a year, each one of the 1,100 golf courses in California would need to install two waterfree urinals in their bathrooms. Gore said, “Making the switch to waterfree urinals is a very small undertaking with unlimited savings potential.”

The Los Angeles and San Francisco water utilities are doing their part to conserve water by incentivizing golf courses with rebate programs designed to pay for the total purchase and installation price of the waterless urinal. Los Angeles Department of Water & Power has a $20 million rebate program that allows L.A. area golf courses to subsidize out of pocket costs on the $500 fixture purchase and installation in most cases. An added bonus is there are no limits on redeemable rebates per location. Installation takes a mere one hour in many cases.

“Golf courses get a bad reputation, sometimes deservedly so, when it comes to water usage and while they’ve come a long way in the last 10 years, there are still important steps for them to take to finish the job,” emphasized Gore.

Riviera Country Club, Los Angeles Country Club, Hillcrest Country Club and Bel-Air Country Club are already saving money on water bills and cutting back on usage due to Falcon Waterfree urinals installed in their clubhouses, locker rooms, restaurants and pool areas.

Gore is a CA native that lives in Valencia. He has known Tiger Woods since he was 11. Jason graduated from Pepperdine where he helped lead the Waves to the NCAA Championship in 1997. Before transferring there, he won the Pac-10 individual championship as a freshman and sophomore at the University of Arizona. Besides holding the record for most wins in Web.com Tour history, Gore once shot an impressive 59 on the PGA Tour.

“As a global company with California roots, we jumped at the chance to work with Jason to help raise awareness for our efforts,” said Falcon Waterfree CEO Simon Davis. “We are always looking at new, fun ways to reach important market segments and Jason will help to ensure we get our message out there. We look forward to a long relationship and we are convinced he will win on the course and we will win off the course.”

Jason wears the Falcon logo on his polo shirt sleeve during tournaments and after play. The business relationship began at Valencia CC because Davis and Gore are fellow members. PGA golfers have asked him about the logo and placement. Gore mentioned that Rory McIIroy and Phil Mickelson both liked it. Gore’s caddy loves the sponsorship and thinks it is great. His social media content was met by PGA Tour characters with jokes such as, “that’s why we use trees,” but some have retweeted his noble efforts.

Shut The Flush Up
Steve Nuskiewicz spoke to me about the severe California drought and the need for more awareness which is why the Shut The Flush Up campaign was created. He is eager to watch the ROI Gore provides on social media via targeted marketing.

Waterfree technology developed by Falcon is the marketplace leader and more advanced than any other urinal. They constantly bring new concepts to market and are innovators in the janitorial and maintenance space saving hundreds and thousands of gallons of water for customers and the environment. The cartridges take three minutes to change, either you do it or sign up for the Falcon maintenance program. Day to day operation is simple, spray and wipe down the urinal, no engineering staff is needed for installation.

The rebate program in Southern California has been around since 2002/2003. The first facility to install Waterfree was the Rose Bowl in Pasadena. The initial 300 urinals will be added to the extras recent stadium renovations called for. Staples Center installed Waterfree back in 2007 and saves millions of gallons of water spread across their 330 events a year.

Phillips Arena here in Atlanta is not a present client. Throughout Georgia, some school districts and office spaces are using Waterfree but not The Masters at Augusta National. Even though water rates are not as high here or in other states compared to CA, sewage rates and waste water elimination is.

They offer a “Greener Restroom” for facilities that comes with waterless urinals, high efficiency toilets and solar powered faucets. The Sloan Valve Company produces the solar facets that actually are a Falcon private label relationship for Sloan water free, solar facets, sinks and flush valves.

I learned a new term from him, Zeroscape. It basically means a desert like ecosystem that requires no water, something golf courses and resorts around the globe are beginning to embrace.

Read the article here and more about our California campaign here.

WORLD WATER DAY CELEBRATION

After attending a B Corp event with the Do Good Bus last month, we decided to have them take the whole Falcon gang out to celebrate World Water Day yesterday.

Being a B Corp means more than just striving for environmental savings. Water savings is the core of our products, however we also want to work towards a better world where people commit their time to help others. That is when the Do Good Bus comes in. They are a non-profit organization that promises altruistic adventurism by bringing people together to help local causes in a fun and social environment. They round up a group of people and drive them to an unknown location where the goal is to get to know and help a cause. It made perfect sense to hire them for the day!

Thursday started as a mystery. All we knew was that our volunteering opportunity was related to water. Since our HQ is in Los Angeles, the first thing that came to mind was: B E A C H. It was a hot 80 degrees day in Southern California, so we put on hats, sunglasses and a ton of sunscreen, and went out to have some fun! As soon as we pulled into the notorious Venice Beach neighborhood, it was clear what our goal for the day was. Tyler, from the Do Good Bus handed out black trash bags and gloves to all the team and we set out on a beach cleaning spree.

Check out the Do Good Bus‘ website and maybe you too will be interested in going for a ride!

TWITTER PARTY: WORLD WATER DAY

Have you ever heard of a Twitter Party? It’s a way to create online conversation, bringing people together for a cause. We will be co-hosting a Twitter Party with DigDeep today from 11 am to 12 pm PST in honor of World Water Day.

World Water Day (WWD) is an annual celebration of our most important resource, and a time to reflect on the water-related challenges we still face in our communities all over the world. The problems may change according to the region, however it all boils down to our relationship with water. This year, WWD falls on a Sunday, so we decided to host this event on Friday. This year’s theme is “Water and Sustainable Development.” Water is central to health, nature, urbanization, industry, energy, food, and equality. Since we need all these things, the discussion falls on how we can maintain a sustainable practice.

Let’s get down to the rules, shall we?

The party will begin with a brief introduction and then the host (@DigDeepH2O) will be posing ten questions to followers (one every six minutes.) Each of the questions will touch on water’s link to health, nature, urbanization, industry, energy, food, and equality – as mentioned above. We will then be answering the questions as they come under the #WWDHang.

We hope this Twitter Party will create a unique way to interact with our friends and followers in a conversation that is close to our heart. This party is for World Water Day, but we can’t do it without you. Follow us on Twitter (@shuttheflushup) and tag your friends (#WWDHang). Spread the word and join the fun! Together we can do this.

SPOTLIGHT: DIG DEEP

Welcome back! It is time for our Spotlight series. Today we will be featuring an Los Angeles based non profit, DIGDEEP. Let’s get right to it, shall we?

Not many people stop to think about where their water is coming from when turning on the tap and grabbing a bottle of water. It’s hard to create an emotional desire for clean water when we haven’t faced the lack of it and when clean water is abundant and at our reach whenever we want it.

Every human being has a right to clean water and George McGraw is doing something about it. He is the Executive Director of DIGDEEP, a Right to Water Project in Los Angeles. DIGDEEP promotes human rights access to water. Transforming their lives with clean water and safeguarding their human dignity. Each of their water projects is designed using a human rights-based approach, a practical model that integrates rights and dignity into the plans and processes of development. .

The non profit is changing the way people think about water, protecting water access as a human right through education and awareness. An example of there ongoing campaign is the 4 liters challenge. The way it works is that for 24 hours, you can only use four liters of water for everything you do. It has created huge awareness to water poverty and by inserting it into people’s daily lives, an emotional connection to clean water was originated.

DIGDEEP is doing an amazing job defending those who can’t. Fighting for what is a right to them and bringing out the truth for us on the over side. And “the truth is that when it comes to needing water, each and every one of us is equal.” (George McGraw TedX talk)

IS WATER CONSERVATION A MINDSET?

Today we are kicking off day 2 at the annual trade show ISH, in Frankfurt.

One of the many talked about subjects regarding Germany is the outstanding way in which they conserve water. People here are known to flush toilets with old bath water and to take turns bathing in the same tub without refilling it. In addition to utilizing water efficient fixtures throughout houses and businesses. One would think that the reason why Germans are so conscious is for the lack of water in the country. However it is in fact the opposite. Germany is one of the world’s most water-rich countries and it could theoretically consume five times more water than it does now. But they don’t! They are taught since an early age to use water wisely no matter how abundant it is. We can’t help but think on how this affects other resources, like electricity, gas, to name a few. Wouldn’t the sustainable way of mind rub off on everything?

In fact, it is a way of thinking and acting. Kind of like a mindset if you will. If we start protecting our resources before the problem arrives, maybe it never will. There are several major droughts occurring in the world right now, such as the Western USA and the Sao Paulo metropolitan area in Brazil. However, what if the population and government support would haven taken extreme conservation habits before hand? Maybe with an ingrained conscious mindset we wouldn’t have to wait until the situation is dire before we scramble to try to change things.

Sometimes what matters most is the mindset. Conserving water, even when it is plentiful, energy even when it’s profuse, and gas even when it’s the cheapest.

CALIFORNIANS MEET WATER CONSERVATION GOALS

Last Tuesday, the California state water board announced that in December Californians met governor Jerry Brown’s water conservation goal of cutting water use by 20 percent for the first time. As we mentioned before, California is where we started and it continues to be the place we call home, therefore we can’t help but feel a sense of accomplishment. Not only is this our home, but it has always been our vision to promote conservation of the Earth’s precious supply of fresh water while supporting sustainable resource management. For over ten years we have believed in creating a water conscious restroom and it’s extremely exciting to see so many people come together with the same goal in mind.

Read more our involvement with the 20 by 2020 water goal and our local initiative here and here.

THE GRAMMY GOES GREEN AT THE STAPLE CENTER

February has proven to be a busy month. Last weekend we were able to enjoy THE big game with a teeth clenching win, and this Sunday we will have the opportunity to see the biggest names in music come together to celebrate talent and cultural enrichment. We are talking about the 57th Grammy Awards hosted by The Recording Academy in Los Angeles, CA. More specifically at the Staples Center.

Established in 1957, The Recording Academy is an organization of musicians, producers, engineers and recording professionals that is dedicated to improving the cultural condition and quality of life for music and its makers. They are responsible for groundbreaking professional development, advocacy, education and human services program; and five years ago, they partnered with the NRDC to integrate ecologically intelligent practices to planning and production of the awards show.

The infographic above shows how the Academy has incorporated green initiatives to their Headquarters, however the planning and production of the awards will also see some changes. From utilizing 100 percent of renewable energy, to using online tickets and sponsoring carpools through Ride Amigos, they are doing a great job in reducing the ecological footprint that this big of an event may produce.

To read more about how the GRAMMY awards are going green click here. If you are interested in reading on how the Staples Center also integrates sustainability to their everyday click here.