Phone line: (617) 242-0841

Fax line: (617) 242-0852

50 Terminal Street

Bldg 2, 4th Floor

Charlestown, MA 02129

New phone and fax numbers to follow shortly.

Monitoring fuel surcharges has become a sisyphean task but what’s the alternative? Maybe it’s time to just increase pricing all together??

Getting misunderstood by the New York Times is a strange experience: it’s a bit frustrating, but you have to still be kind of flattered that it happened at all.

So I certainly have a mixed emotions about the Times’ story today, Buying Into the Green Movement:

HERE’S one popular vision for saving the planet: Roll out from under the sumptuous hemp-fiber sheets on your bed in the morning and pull on a pair of $245 organic cotton Levi’s and an Armani biodegradable knit shirt. Stroll from the bedroom in your eco-McMansion, with its photovoltaic solar panels, into the kitchen remodeled with reclaimed lumber. Enter the three-car garage lighted by energy-sipping fluorescent bulbs and slip behind the wheel of your $104,000 Lexus hybrid. Drive to the airport, where you settle in for an 8,000-mile flight— careful to buy carbon offsets beforehand — and spend a week driving golf balls made from compacted fish food at an eco-resort in the Maldives.That vision of an eco-sensitive life as a series of choices about what to buy appeals to millions of consumers and arguably defines the current environmental movement as equal parts concern for the earth and for making a stylish statement. …

“There is a very common mind-set right now which holds that all that we’re going to need to do to avert the large-scale planetary catastrophes upon us is make slightly different shopping decisions,” said Alex Steffen, the executive editor of Worldchanging.com, a Web site devoted to sustainability issues.

The genuine solution, he and other critics say, is to significantly reduce one’s consumption of goods and resources. It’s not enough to build a vacation home of recycled lumber; the real way to reduce one’s carbon footprint is to only own one home.

Actually, as i told Alex Williams (who, it should be noted, did an otherwise excellent job), I believe something quite different: that the genuine solution is not a matter of consumer choice at all.

There is no combination of purchasing decisions which will make the current affluent American lifestyle sustainable. You can’t shop your way to sustainability, as I’ve put it before. On a planet running up against so severe a set of deadlines — global warming, the extinction crisis, the poverty crisis, etc. — prosperity as currently delivered is frankly immoral, even when purchased with an eco-chic package.

That doesn’t mean that I think prosperity itself is wrong. Quite the opposite. Nor do I think we could talk people out of wanting prosperity if we tried — heck, I hope for a generous amount of prosperity myself, one day. But we need to redesign prosperity, using innovation, new thinking and new technologies to render it sustainable.

And here’s the essential break between lite green and bright green thinking: the reality is that the changes we must make are systemic changes. They involve large-scale transformations in the ways we plan our cities, manufacture goods, grow food, transport ourselves, and generate energy. They involve new international regulatory regimes, corporate strategies, industrial standards, tax systems and trading markets. If we want to change the world, we need to forge ourselves into the kinds of citizens who can effectively demand such things.

Dire practicality demands that we reject the privatization of responsibility. None of us can make this great transformation happen alone, and it removes pressure from our leaders to take needed steps when some suggest that the changes that need to be made in the world start with our personal choices. They don’t.

This is a point Williams does a fair job of representing:

For some, the very debate over how much difference they should try to make in their own lives is a distraction. They despair of individual consumers being responsible for saving the earth from climate change and want to see action from political leaders around the world.

Can strategic consumption be one of the tactics we use? Of course. But the power most of us can actually exert at the cash register is extremely limited. Far, far more important are our public lives: our roles as citizens, as change agents within our businesses, as advocates in our communities, as investors and philanthropists, as opinion leaders in general (and if you’re reading this site now, you are, however uncomfortable it may be, an opinion leader).

At the end of the Times piece, Williams quotes a pollster:

“We didn’t find that people felt that their consumption gave them a pass, so to speak,” Mr. Shellenberger said. “They knew what they were doing wasn’t going to deal with the problems, and these little consumer things won’t add up. But they do it as a practice of mindfulness. They didn’t see it as antithetical to political action. Folks who were engaged in these green practices were actually becoming more committed to more transformative political action on global warming.”

We all certainly hope he’s right, though we’re also very conscious here of both the limitations of polling and the gap between what people say that they want to see happen on the environment and what they end up doing — the 4/40 gap. But we need a lot more than greener postures — we need to change our thinking and the thinking of those around us. “Mindfulness” may not be anywhere near enough.

Over the next decade we need a real reckoning of the ecological limitations we face, a public commitment to redesign our civilization to produce widespread prosperity within those limits, collective visions of what such a sustainably prosperous (bright and green) future might look like and a whole lot of innovation on tools for building that future.

Because ultimately, it is only our progress towards building that future — not our intentions, sympathies or displays of concern — that matter. If we don’t move fast enough, we’ll simply be attending a global ecological collapse well-heeled and stylishly attired, watching the planet burn with a glass of organic champagne in hand.

February 9, 2010

BOSTON— First Call Trucking & Courier was certified as a “Sustainable Business Leader”, having completed the Sustainable Business Leader Program (SBLP)—a program of the Sustainable Business Network (SBN) that provides guidance, support and technical assistance to facilitate the “greening” of small and medium-sized businesses.

 Galen Nelson, Green Tech Business Manager, Boston Re-Development Authority, Greg Cooper, Deputy Division Director Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection, Susan Labandibar, President of SBN, Laury Hammel, Director of the SBLP, and James Hunt, Boston Chief of Environmental and Energy Services all shared comments about the significance of the SBLP and offered congratulations to the “Sustainable Business Leaders”.  Mr. Hunt presented the certificates to representatives of the twenty-three graduating companies that included a diverse mix of business sectors and Boston neighborhoods.

In order to earn the SBLP certification, First Call Trucking & Courier  completed the rigorous six-step SBLP process and reduced their carbon footprint.  Measurable and significant changes were identified and implemented in areas including Energy Efficiency, Water Conservation, Waste Reduction, Transportation Management, Pollution Prevention, and Sustainability Management. 

“The SBLP Boston Graduation today is a major milestone in our partnership with the BRA, the DEP and the City of Boston,” said Laury Hammel, Director of SBLP.  “It feels fantastic to see 23 companies complete this innovative and robust program–it’s a big day for all of us!”

 First Call Trucking & Courier saw both tangible and intangible benefits of the program, as well as financial savings as a result of lowering consumption of energy and water and diverting their waste stream into recycling and compost.  “We have made an investment in sustainability, and it’s already paying off for the environment”, said Bill Goade, CEO, CresaPartners LLC .   Nancy DeFazio, President of First Call Trucking & Courier said, “Our participation in the SBLP has deepened our commitment to sustainability as a company.”  The SBLP really forces you to be accountable for your decisions and how they relate to the environment.  Additionally, they either provide you with the resources necessary to make change, or guide you to the resources that are already out there.

 “The SBLP has expanded the network of small business leaders working to become sustainable“, said James Hunt. “It has also raised the bar for sustainable business practices in Boston.” With over sixty participating companies, the SBLP continues to grow and assist small to medium sized businesses “green” their operations, collectively reducing their carbon footprint in Boston, Cambridge and Somerville.

First Call Trucking & Courier is a family-owned and operated logistical services company available for ALL your delivery needs including: same-day, rapid, rush; scheduled and routed shipments, air-freight pick up and delivery, warehousing and distribution,  all forms of courier services, and paper recycling.  We operate locally in Greater Boston, throughout New England and even across the United States.

Visit: http://www.firstcalltrucking.com  

The Sustainable Business Network of Greater Boston (SBN) launched the Sustainable Business Leader Program (SBLP) in 2008 through a partnership with the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) and the Boston Redevelopment Authority (BRA). The objective of the SBLP is to provide guidance, support, and technical assistance to facilitate the ‘greening’ of small and medium‐sized locally owned businesses in Massachusetts. Through a six-step process the SBLP identifies and helps implement affordable and actionable changes in six areas including Energy Efficiency, Water Conservation, Recycling and Waste Reduction, Transportation, Pollution Prevention, and Sustainability Management.

Visit http://www.sustainablebusinessleader.org/

SBLP Graduation Ceremony

Sustainable Business Leaders Graduating Class 2009

“Dear Nancy and everyone –

I wanted to take this opportunity to tell you how much I appreciate your attentive effort and valuable weekend time to assist us with this weekend’s shipment. There is no words which can show what an excellent service you offer. We wish other truckers/freight forwarders gave the high level of service as you. We’ll definitely spread the good word around…

Once again, thank you and we look forward to working with you more and more.

Warm regards,

Trinh Truong, Changing Seas LLC, Washington D.C.

“Thanks for everything Nancy. We really appreciate the service you provide…  Thank you for all your help. You run a tight ship and I appreciate everything.” -Chris

First Call Trucking & Courier in the Metro Newspaper

Dave Taylor, Marco Germain, and I deliver recycling carts to residences in Roxbury.  We will be delivering 55,000 of these new 64-gallon recycling bins on wheels to Boston residents over the next few weeks.

It’s probably hard to read the caption underneath the picture so I will transcribe it here:

“Roxbury.  The citywide expansion of a new single-stream recycling plan continued yesterday, as Roxbury residents got their large blue bins.

Residents can toss all recyclables togther in one bin for curbside pickup rather than sort them separately.  The bins will be deployed to households or apartment buildings with six or fewer units.”

Boston resident have always been terrific recyclers. Now Boston Public Works, IPL Plastics, & First Call Trucking & Courier will make recycling even easier for city residents while also helping them to recycle more. For many Bostonians, one recycling bin was simply not enough. Gone are the days of small bins and paper bags. Instead, FIRST CALL TRUCKING & COURIER will be delivering one large wheeled-cart to city residents for all their recycling needs. A New Recycling Program in Boston is Coming Soon!

All Recyclables, One Large Cart!
No more carrying bins and saving paper bags. For the first time ever, there’s no need to separate recyclables. That’s right – paper, cardboard, pizza boxes, plastic, glass and metal containers mixed together at last. CO-MINGLED RECYCLING is here to stay!

When the cart is full, the bins can be wheeled out to the curb. Collections continue on the same day as usual.

If you’re a resident of Boston, more information should be coming to you soon. If you have any further questions, feel free to contact me!

*ALL BIN DELIVERIES BROUGHT TO YOU BY FIRST CALL TRUCKING & COURER: Your Delivery Company that Cares About the Environment!

Additionally, at a professional conference last year, I was approached by a gentleman ready to give me a piece of his mind because he thought I was affiliated with 1^st Call Transportation.

I found this review of  1^st Call Transportation on yelp.com (it was the only review): “First Call is apparently a transportation and ambulance company.  If the latter is true, then they are definitely trying to drum up business, because every time I see one of their white vans driving down the road I KNOW there will be a major arsehole behind the wheel.  They are constantly making illegal turns on Soldier’s Field Rd, riding on other car’s tails, and barely missing hitting pedestrians.  I don’t have a chance to know if, when doing these things, they tend to have passengers or are empty, but their name is on the van, so they are already giving themselves awful advertising.” (http://www.yelp.com/biz/first-call-transportation-allston)

 I would like to make this clear — 1^st Call Transportation operates passenger vans, First Call Trucking & Courier transports cargo.  We are not affiliated.  If you or anyone you know has a problem with 1^st Call Transportation (they strictly operate those white and red vans), please contact them here:

First Call Transportation
250 Everett Street
Allston, MA 02134

(617) 787-2600

 As these phone calls have become more frequent and the callers more infuriated, we have decided to try and go ahead and copyright the name.  Both companies’ names are “D.B.A’s” and not legal names, so I don’t know how the name-claim game would play out.  If anyone out there is a lawyer or has legal knowledge, please feel free to offer up some advice.  Because as the Dude says: “This injustice won’t stand, man.  It won’t stand!”

Although working with family can be ripe with its own set of frustrations, ultimately, most of us who do it, wouldn’t want it any other way.  Awwww….