Making Progress With Noah Johnson

 

Noah Johnson is part of a growing cadre of eco-conscious entrepreneurs who are trying to change the way consumer goods and global commerce are produced. He is an eco warrior of sorts, collecting anything from used banners to billboards for his Encinitas, Calif.-based company The Progress Project.  Noah launched the company in 2010 with his wife Jolene. Using recycled materials, The Progress Project makes everything from messenger bags to laptop sleeves, iPad wallets, surfboard bags, tote bags, and even custom orders. Below, Noah talks about the passion behind The Progress Project and how the family-run business is moving full-speed ahead.

 

 

Background Check: I grew up in La Mesa, Calif. As a kid, I was very passionate about athletics, including surfing, soccer and baseball. After high school, I served an apprenticeship with a commercial electrician and since have sold women’s shoes, waited tables, partied pretty hard, bartended, managed hotel food and beverage departments, and been an auditor/consultant for bar and  restaurant owners and their managers.

Age: 35 (Turns 36 in June)

Hobbies: Work, painting, ocean, and family.

What Fuels Me: Having a unique vision / idea and committing to do whatever necessary for the result.

 Favorite Quote: “Great spirits have always encountered violent opposition from mediocre minds.” ~Albert Einstein

Jolene & Noah Johnson

Picking a Passion: As I went through the process of deciding what to do, I noticed repeatedly that there was (and still is) a clear difference between many of the products on the market being labeled as “green” and actually being green.  I thought then that if I could get my hands on materials that had been used, but not recycled yet and make legit products with them, that would be the rad.

Fulltime Family Affair: Up until now, my wife and I have run The Progress Project. It’s just been the two of us doing literally everything unless one of our awesome neighbors lends a hand, which does happen (you know who you are and we love you).

 Materials Matter: We get our materials for The Progress Project from all over. We are grateful to have partnerships with Revolt in Style magazine, which has been donating its RSSS banners from the very beginning. Also a great relationship continues to be with Sustainable Surf, which has produced tens of thousands of square feet of signage from companies such as Rip Curl, REEF and Hurley. The list of businesses that donate their old signage is long. We also purchase used billboards. I  buy the rest of the materials from a distributor that carries American made products.

The Big Challenge: Because we are still pretty small, our many challenges have been mainly about fueling growth. It has always been our goal to compete with other brands that bring similar products to market. Finding resources to grow a business/brand that is well outside the mainstream is seemingly nearly impossible.  No rich uncles or trust funds here, so the main thing has just been staying focused, persistent and really stubborn long enough for the right opportunity for growth to come along.

 

Fueling & Inspiring Eco-Conscious Consumers: In some ways, I think it can be hard to educate people on the importance of buying organic, green products. In one bag, you’ve got a percentage of consumers that are already on the same eco page – they’re just a very small percentage of the total consumer population, and that’s where it becomes challenging. In a society riddled with thought processes holding cost and popularity as a higher priorities than quality and where a product was made, it’s a tough sell trying to convince Joe and Sally that spending three times as much money for an item that will last five times as long and was made by your neighbor (I’m still not sure why that’s a tough sell, but it is).

Eco Education: Unfortunately, I know there’s still a lot of green washing going on, so while consumers are becoming more conscious, it is becoming more challenging to decipher which products are actually eco-friendly, and even more, businesses that are actually owned and run by people who are eco-friendly themselves. For example, some companies promote themselves and their products as being eco-friendly, but unfortunately, it’s just marketing.

Making Progress: After three  years, on May 1, 2013, The Progress Project is evolving into Progress Brand Mfg. and moving into a space with our eco warrior pals *enjoy handplanes (congrats to them as well). We’ll have more than a dozen sewing machines along with other rad machines, and consequently it will increase our production capabilities by, well, 12. Also, look for lots of fun stuff like a new website, video series, eco blog and much more with our newest partner Album Agency. The Progress Project will live on; I just can’t say how in this moment. I can promise you that it’s going to be pretty epic.

Noah in The Progress Project workshop



The Progress Project Assistants-Noah and Jolene's twins

The Progress Project keeps it in the family (Noah & Jolene's teenage daughter)

*I originally wrote this article for the San Diego Surf Film Festival blog.

 

The Hippy (Family)Tree

"Youth can not know how age thinks and feels. But old men are guilty if they forget what it was to be young.”
-- J.K. Rowling

The recent passing of my grandmother has brought a renewed longing for strong family ties. I did not have the opportunity (mainly due to distance) to spend a lot of time with my grandma Louise, but I was always inspired by her tenacity and zest for life. I can still hear her soft laughter as she tried to teach me how to square dance during a visit last year (she was 89 then!). (She and my late grandpa John were avid square dancers).
Louise was my last living blood-related grandmother, and during her last days, most of her eight children and some of their children came to her to pay respect to the root of their lineage.
My 11-year-old son never had a chance to meet his great grandma Louise, but I am so thankful that my parents have been a big and important part of his life. My mom and step dad have given my son a rich and nurturing family experience, one that only grandparents can provide.
My son has also had the blessing of spending time with his step, great grandma Margaret, who has also been an inspiration to me. Although she is 90 and has Alzheimer's, Margaret is as spritely and lively as ever.
I want my son to learn to appreciate his strong and loving family. As I hear the clicking of his computer keyboard in his room, I know that it is time to forget about the electronics for awhile and go outside to enjoy nature and each other.  He keeps me young and active, just the way I want to be as long as I can.



My late grandmother Louise and I (2012)



My dad and son on a nature walk (2013)



Four generations (2013)

My son and his grandma splashing around (2012) 

My son and I lounging by the pool during spring break (2013)

Aloha Friday

From the sea to the lagoon trails, North San Diego County is bursting with "natural" activities and opportunities. Although I am a native  San Diegan there are still so many trails, beaches and nature pockets that I have yet to discover and enjoy.
As Albert Einstein said, "We still do not know one thousandth of one percent of what nature has revealed to us."

May your sense of adventure continue....

 

Save the Wild Mustangs

I am sharing this from a good friend and horse advocate Kathy Klossner:
Just found out my favorite herd of Mustangs that I have been photographing for the last 5 years is being rounded up today. I was told there are only two horses left in the wild and the BLM is adamant in getti...ng them all. I called the BLM Field Manager, Leon Thomas, and told him my concern of all the wild horses being rounded up and that these horses were not a threat to anyone. Unfortunately, five lame folks complained and the BLM doesn't want to deal with the horses any more. I think the public needs to speak up and tell the BLM that the horses are suppose to be protected in the wild. Government Holding pens are already filled up to the max with wild horses that are up for adoption. Guess what? A number of these horses that do not get adopted are then sold to slaughter houses.

 

Please call Leon Thomas and tell him you don't approve the removal of Deer Run wild mustangs - direct phone 775-885-6118.

 

We can't save this herd, but we can voice our opinion on watching the horses in the wild dwindle to nothing.

 

Pictured below is the herd back in Oct 2012. The black foal staring at me is the sweetest thing I called Marley:

 

 

 

Today,  many of these wild horses are running in fear -- in fear of the U.S. Department of Interior’s Bureau of Land Management (BLM), which continues to round up and relocate them. The BLM’s reason is that the nation’s wild horse population is expanding so much that theses Mustangs must be relocated in order to prevent the exhaustion of land resources.

 

These senseless round-ups have caused many Mustang deaths, and wild horse advocates continue to fight to stop them. More than half of all Mustangs in North America are found in Nevada. Since the passage of the Wild Free-Roaming Horse and Burro Act in 1971, the focus of wild horse policies has shifted from ensuring their survival from exploitation to determining how many and where they should remain. Currently, there are more wild horses living in government holding facilities than there are left wild on the range. Besides Nevada, these horses can be found in Arizona, California, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, New Mexico, Oregon, Utah and Wyoming. Six states have already lost their entire wild horse populations. 

 

Here is a blog post I wrote last year on this topic and about one of Kathy's incredible wild mustang experiences:

http://hippydirt.blogspot.com/2012/05/hippy-horses.html

Daily Dose of Vitamin "Sea"

Living in a Southern California coastal city affords me the time and luxury of daily trips to the beach -- to surf, walk or to just breath in some salty air. I'm aware of my daily sea fortune and I wouldn't trade it for anything. The ocean is my solace and inspiration.
In her book, "Gift from the Sea" Anne Morrow Lindbergh tells us how the sea can teach us many life lessons:
 “The sea does not reward those who are too anxious, too greedy, or too impatient. To dig for treasures shows not only impatience and greed, but lack of faith. Patience, patience, patience, is what the sea teaches. Patience and faith. One should lie empty, open, choiceless as a beach—waiting for a gift from the sea.” 
Every time I go to the beach, I try to dump any expectations and just go with the flow. But the one thing that is the same is the pure stoke, peace, giddiness and gratefulness I feel once my feet hit the sand.

Here is the beach through my eyes (or in this case, through my Android phone camera/Instagram). Every day is a different experience. Enjoy!

au naturale

I have my parents to thank for my love affair with nature -- the many camping and road trips in our 1970s RV, fishing with my dad, and hundreds of hours spent under the sun and in the sea. At 44, I continue to be enamored by the gifts nature gives me on a daily basis, whether it be a glorious sunset, a harvest moon, a horned owl sighting, a whale breaching or dolfins jumping through a glassy wave. I have been blessed with all of these gifts and more. This has been a tough year for many of us, including myself.  One thing that I have been able to count on is my moments in nature. It is a very "freeing" experience for me -- free from stress, free from the daily noise and free from my own inner struggles.  We can learn a lot from nature, and I'm not just talking about biomimicry. I am still learning these life lessons, whether it be patience or appreciation.
As one of my favorite authors, Ralph Waldo Emerson,  stated, "Adopt the pace of nature: her secret is patience."

Enjoy these "nature" photos I recently shot.

After the storm.....

 

 

My hometown

 

Self portrait: post-rain shower surf

Hike with my son


A friend of mine sent me the below breathtaking photos of the Northern Lights in Yellowknife, Canada. I had to share. I'm not sure who the photographer is.

And, check out this photo of a rare North Pole sunset

May you all find the lessons and beauty in nature every day in 2013!







 

Hippy Grandma

As a devout ocean lover, I am constantly reciting Ralph Waldo Emerson's beautiful quote, "Live in the sunshine, swim the  sea, drink the wild air."
Today as my grandmother, Margaret, celebrates her 91st birthday, I am once again reminded to always live life to the fullest. Below is a recent photo of her taking in the beauty at Torrey Pines State Reserve, one of California's many outstanding parks.
During this holiday season I hope that all of you can celebrate nature's gifts.

Happy birthday to my beautiful and witty grandmother, who is 91 years young!