In June, I bought a totally righteous Volkwsagen Jetta TDI. It’s fast, gets great gas mileage, handles extremely well on windy mountain roads, has ample storage capacity and cost me just over 25K, making it pretty reasonable for a family car. I love this car. To me, it represents the best kind of lazy environmentalist choice – one that requires absolutely no sacrifice and actually improves my life while minimizing my environmental impact.

Yet, as much as I love this car, I am ridiculously lazy about caring for it. And though it’s the summer months when car washes are in vogue, I went all summer without giving my beloved TDI a cleaning.

That is, until today. I’ve just finished washing my car without using any water thanks to an awesome product from Lucky Earth. The company’s non-toxic Waterless Car Wash product is fabulous. You just spray the liquid on, wipe it off using a bit of elbow grease and you’re done. No endless amounts of water running from the hose. No toxic soapy stuff seeping into the ground water. This product is easy to use, works well, and is good for the planet.

I’d kick myself for not trying it earlier except that even experiencing how good the product is, I still probably won’t wash my car again until next spring, so any self-administered kicks won’t do me much good.

I’m not making this up. In the early 90s, the New York Times ranked every team in D-1 college football by computer. Midway through the season, Florida State I think was ranked #1 and Penn I’m sure was ranked #216. Dead last. The only thing our head coach ever asked of me was to cut down signs before games that were hung by the fans of opposing teams. Yes, it was humiliating – I mean character-building – to jog in uniform with scissors in hand up to the bleachers only minutes before kick-off to cut down a “Go Bears” sign hung by college kids from Brown.

I was the third string wide receiver on a ridiculously terrible team that was 0-6 at the time of the Brown sign incident. Worst player on worst team equals worst player in D-1. A small claim to fame.

However, as an athlete, I enjoy pushing myself to accomplish new feats. Doing so in the name of protecting the planet is even more rewarding. Doing that with 150 other amazing people and a group of truly inspiring organizers is a life-changing experience and precisely what makes the Brita Climate Ride so unique and rewarding.

As spokesperson for Brita’s FilterForGood campaign, I participated in the first two years of the 5-Day, 300 mile Brita Climate Ride which went from New York City to Washington DC. Last year, I got to bunk one night with No Impact Man, Colin Beavan, who also participated in the ride. Neither one of us came close to being fastest cyclist in the group. I’m pretty sure that honor went to Denmark’s Ambassador to the U.S., Friis Arne Petersen.

Now the Brita Climate Ride is headed to the West Coast. On September 21st, 150 riders will depart San Francisco on a five-day adventure to raise both awareness and funds for protecting the planet. You could be one of them. Visit ClimateRide.org to learn how.

My experience tells me that people will go green when the choices are easy, convenient, priced appropriately, and actually work. It’s so important to get this right because when a consumer has a good experience with a green product, he or she is much more likely to want to repeat it.

That kind of momentum accelerates the green economy. As the biggest retailer on the planet, Walmart has a huge opportunity to put this momentum to work toward its own bottom line and toward the planet’s benefit too.

When the day finally arrived this past March it was truly transformative. We named our boy Shepherd Greyhawk because naturally we want to set him up for greatness or at least uniqueness. Just watching him is awesome.

Not only am I a dad, but thanks to Polarn O. Pyret, the iconic Swedish eco-kids clothing brand, I am “Dad of the Year.” It’s an amazing honor to be associated with a brand that’s been doing so many things right for so long. Since 1976, the company has been outfitting kids in its very popular stripes. Shep and I got to wear them when the company visited us in Asheville for our photo shoot. Obviously I’m biased, but Shep looks absolutely dashing in the company’s organic cotton duds. He now has a closet full.

I’d like to extend a major Thank You to Jennifer Athanason of Polarn O. Pyret and her team here in the U.S. She’s made this first year with our first child even more special.

Here are some pics below. More are available along with my interview at Polarnopyret.com.

Successful businesspeople know that making sure the customer is satisfied is the most important rule for staying in business. I’m most successful on the show when I can demonstrate how going green not only doesn’t detract from customer satisfaction but actually increases it.

Two clips below demonstrate the point.

In this episode, I’m working with Stealth Auto, a successful auto customization and repair shop. Here, I’m checking with the owners to see whether the green solutions I suggested would enable them to more efficiently run their business operations and boost their customers’ perception of the quality of service Stealth Auto provides.

In this episode, I’m working with the Sunshine Boys, a successful moving company. Here I’m checking in with its clients who have just been subjected to a green move to see how they feel about it. As you can see, they were in pretty good spirits though a little white wine would have been nice.