Happy CoworkingToronto Day! Now make it even more Productive

Image collage by PeapodLife: Coworking in a Space of Mutual Harmony and Symbiosis

“Do more than belong: participate.
Do more than care: help.
Do more than believe: practice.
Do more than be fair: be kind.
Do more than forgive: forget.
Do more than dream: work.”
~ William Arthur Ward
Source: http://www.goodreads.com/quotes/314867-do-more-than-belong-participate-do-more-than-care-help

February 24th is Coworking Toronto Day.

We think 2015 is a tremendous opportunity for coworking venues in the City of Toronto to become leaders internationally in bringing the power and beauty of PeapodLife ecosystems to their spaces. Why would they want to do that? To realize the spirit of the above quote, a spirit which is most certainly embodied in the celebration of coworking in Toronto, and elsewhere around the world later this summer.

Image: Coworking Toronto Logo

Source: http://coworkingtoronto.ca

What is coworking?

The following infographic nicely sums up the topic the benefits and spirit of coworking, a concept which has been gaining popularity in the digital age as individuals working outside the framework of traditional organizational structures discover that being a freelancer or a lone wolf isn’t necessarily all it’s cracked up to be.

Infographic: Considering Coworking | Visual.ly
Credit: http://visual.ly/considering-coworking

Let’s face it: human beings are—for the most part—social animals. We like human contact (again, for the most part) and without a sense of connection we turn to unhealthy and unsustainable substitutes—including addiction, as is evidenced in the recent GenesisEcoFund blog on the subject: Could Advanced Human Habitat Prevent/Cure Addiction?

Even telecommuters and those working for larger organizations who are allowed to work from home will often seek out shared workspaces in a big to fill the “coworking void,” as it were. Perhaps it relates to the morphogenetic field that we feel more productive when surrounded by others who are being productive. Whereas being alone often means being surrounded by myriad distractions to occupy our time and attention with (and anyone who has ever worked from home can attest to this).

The benefits of coworking have been well noted. A surveys from 2012 to 2014 conducted by Deskmag revealled:

•    58% of members were working from home before joining a coworking space
•    80% of members acknowledged the business network of a coworking space had a positive impact on independent workers
•    42% of members join coworking spaces for the knowledge sharing
•    47% enjoy moral support from fellow members
•    48% often share contacts of other professionals
•    68% of coworkers report an improved focus
•    71% of coworkers report an increased creativity

Source: http://coworkingtoronto.ca/coworkingtoronto-day-2015-event-calendar/

Or, if you prefer your statistics in visual form…

Image: Coworking Infographic

Source: http://densitycoworking.com/fun-stats-about-coworking/

Can Coworking be made even better?

PeapodLife knows so. How? With harmony and symbiosis. A Rainforest ecosystem in any shared space brings an even degree of community, collaboration, and efficiency.

Anyone who shares the electromagnetic field of an ecosystem simply starts feeling better… simultaneously more relaxed and more invigorated; a consciousness more focused and more expansive; more inspired and more imaginative. 

Don’t believe us? Just ask the tenants of 401 Bay Street, who enjoy a small ecosystem in their shared cafeteria.

Image by PeapodLife: “Angolo” Ecosystem in café at 401 Bay Street Shared office space.

Or, the residents of the affordable retirement residence who enjoy this ecosystem in a shared living space:

And to get a feel for what the real potential contribution an ecosystem has to make on your coworking space/community, you need to read our last blog article: It’s not that easy being “GREEN” - “Efficiency” vs. “Sustainability”.

If you believe in the power and potential of coworking, and realize/accept that those benefits are taking place in toxic non-habitats; imagine what can be achieved in vibrant, transformative, dynamic coworking environments powered by high-order rainforest ecosystems…Advanced Human Habitat. 

Learn more at GenesisEcoFund.org.

Ecosystem Installed in Affordable Seniors Residence Welland, Ontario Seniors will Benefit from the BEST

Image by PeapodLife: Ecosystem mechanicals, base, and panels installed

at Birchwood Place, 235 Fitch Street, Welland Ontario 

(inset photo credit: Niagara Regional Housing).

“We know safe and affordable housing is an absolute necessity for having a healthy life.”

~ Maryellen MacLellan, NRH Housing Operations Manager

Source: wellandtribune.ca: The Tribune: Seniors housing coming to Fitch

Over the past few weeks, PeapodLife and its partners have been working on a rudimentary green wall ecosystem for Birchwood Place, Fitch Street Affordable Residence for Seniors.

PeapodLife has to wait for the final completion of the ecosystem, due to various factors which must be met:

1. The building has undergone final clean-up of dust, and airing out of the complex for construction adhesives and other chemical construction pollution, including contributing materials gassing-off.


2. Once ample time has been given to achieve safe levels, we will begin to add water and get the Ecosystem running.


3. Shortly thereafter we will add the plants, water plants and fish, as the water and system settle. Please note that this too is a gradual, organic process. Ecosystems are self-organizing and at their best when given a chance to find their own expression.

In synthesis, we need to give the ecosystem the best possible start and can’t rush this critical time. Like any natural being in its infancy, the ecosystem is at its most fragile and nowhere near its full potential in the beginning. It actually “grows up” and into its new environment, self-organizing and establishing its own optimum way of being.

Image by PeapodLife: What a PeapodLife Living Wall looks like when the ecosystem has had a chance to begin to establish itself.

Compare this to other so-called “living walls” which look great just after being installed, but then begin a slow—and sometimes quite rapid—decline into a soggy, rotting, mouldy mess. Many designers and architects have actually dropped the idea of working with these pretend living walls, and building owners who invested in large-scale installations now lament doing so, with tens of thousands of dollars being spent annually in plant replacement costs.

PeapodLife is committed to doing living walls the right way, as they were meant to be done: working in support of natural processes, not against them. The result? Vibrant, beautiful ecosystems which may cost a little more money up-front, but in the long term pay dividends to all who experience them.

Image: PeapodLife Ecosystem at Graduate Engineering Lab, University of Toronto.

And really, if an affordable housing complex for seniors in Welland can afford one, that speaks volumes: not only of PeapodLife’s willingness to work within the parameters set out by our clients, but also our commitment to making our BEST—Building EcoSystems & Technology—available to everyone on the economic and demographic spectrum. 

Niagara Regional Housing is accepting applications for the new non-smoking seniors (55+) apartment building at 235 Fitch Street (East Building), Welland, ON.

How to Recruit & Retain Top Talent, the Natural Way Ecosystems give New Life to your Company’s Strategy to Attract & Keep Top Talent

Image: Dream Job Next Exit…PeapodLife  
Image Credit: skedx.com: Are You Successfully Retaining Top Talent?

“A frustrated employee is a greater threat than a merely unhappy one.”
~ Bill Hewlett and David Packard, Founders of HP
Source: logomaker.com: 11 Inspirational Quotes from Bill Hewlett and David Packard

Conventional wisdom among researchers is “that the best way to hire and keep top talent is to create a company culture where the best employees want to work, a culture in which people are treated with respect and consideration at all times.” (Source: entrepreneur.com: Entrepreneur: How to Recruit Top Talent)

As far as PeapodLife is concerned, this is not a goal in and of itself. A company treating people with respect and consideration at all times should be the starting point of any endeavour, and not the “best practice employee recruitment and retention strategy.”

(For the record, we actually wince at the whole “recruitment and retention strategy” terminology, along with the idea of a fabricated “culture,” but we’ll go along with it for now.)

Of course, there are companies who no-doubt would agree with us. Enter Google, with its foosball tables, rock-climbing walls, video game consoles and countless other toys, gimmicks, and other distractions appealing to their young, hip, geeky employee demographics who want their time spent on Google’s “campuses” to be just that: an extension of university life.

We cannot, of course, testify to what it’s actually like working at Google: we don’t know if respect and consideration at all times there, we like to assume it is; but as for the “above and beyond the call of duty,” the bobbles, bells, whistles and do-dads of romper-room for IT professionals strikes us as trying too hard to be hip, and not exactly natural (they are, after all, supposed to be adults).

What we would suggest to any company—large or small—is to start by getting an ecosystem. Simple. So what will it do to your ability to attract and keep the best employees? It will create an environment in which they will want to spend their time and that will help them thrive.

It doesn’t have to be huge:

Image: PeapodLife Muro EcoSystem

It doesn’t need to make a huge statement, although it can do:

Image by PeapodLife: Living Wall Ecosystem at Tel-E-Connect Ontario

Top talent want to perform. We are products of our environment. Yes, of course, a positive, kind, caring, nurturing culture is important, but guess what: unless the environment is supportive of such a culture, it’s fighting an up-hill battle to survive, let alone thrive.

Just think of it: all the respect and consideration in the world can’t do anything to mitigate poor air quality, sick building syndrome, and the stresses that top-performers often subject themselves to. A high-order rainforest ecosystem from PeapodLife can do something about it, and so much more.

Just how much more? Legend has it that upon entering the former head offices of Club Monaco and walking through its indoor ecosystem (which included a lagoon and two 40-foot living walls), Ralph Lauren decided to buy the Company. That’s the kind of deep-felt impact your company can have on an individual, whether they are a prospective partner, client, and yes, manager or employee.

Don’t take our word for it. You know yourself how quickly you feel at home in a space (or not); we have an innate, natural ability to sense belonging.

On top of all that, the positive impact the fresh, clean air and vibrant rainforest colours will have on your entire organization will help revitalize energy, imagination and inspiration while reducing stress, anxiety and conflict. All that will go a long way towards the baseline goal of respect and consideration at all times.

We are products of our environment. So is your culture, and all your talent. Keep that in mind, and contact us to experience the power of PeapodLife for yourself.

Image by PeapodLife: Office-Space transformed into an environment for top-performance by top-talent

Experience our Latest Ecosystem Installation at the Inner Garden: Room 384, 401 Richmond Street West (at Spadina) Toronto

Photo: PeapodLife's Ecosystem at UrbanSpace, 401 Richmond
Genesis Eco Fund sharing office space in the Inner Garden
Room 384, 401 Richmond Street West (at Spadina), Toronto, ON M5V 3A8
2013 @ peapodlife.com

Come and experience an Ecosystem with us!

Today we are happy to announce that we have moved a modified Angolo Ecosystem Unit into the Inner Garden located at 401 Richmond Street West, Room 384. Genesis Eco Fund has taken part-time shared office space in the Inner Garden (Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays).

Genesis Staff & Volunteers will be on-hand Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays during office hours for ecosystem viewings and one-on-one Q&A sessions (by appointment). In addition, Genesis will be hosting information sessions, lunch & learns, and evening events as part of its community outreach and educational mandate.

Why the Inner Garden?

The Inner Garden is a shared space hosting an array of grassroots, arts, cultural & conscious events. Its stated goal is to cultivate collective opportunity for teachers, healers musicians, performers and facilitators to connect, share and gather with a heart-centric community, in love, service, and re-discovery, in the spirit of the following quote:

“Wisdom is knowing I am nothing,
Love is knowing I am everything,
and between the two... my life moves."
~ Nisargadatta Maharaj

Source: theinnergarden.ca: The Inner Garden: Torontos Sacred Gathering Space

The Inner Garden’s philosophy, mission and approach are aligned with the vision and mission of PeapodLife and Genesis Eco Fund, expressed in the following passage from their website:

“The western garden: lush, visible, surrounding the house. Gardens in the West, are often designed for walking (i.e. doing),
The Eastern garden: hidden, thus invisible, in the center of the house, protected. Gardens of the East are intended for rest & relaxation (i.e. Being).”

Read more about the distinction between Western and Eastern Gardens and what they say about our lives.

Photo: PeapodLife's Ecosystem at UrbanSpace, 401 Richmond
Genesis Eco Fund sharing office space in the Inner Garden
Room 384, 401 Richmond Street West (at Spadina), Toronto, ON M5V 3A8
2013 @ peapodlife.com

Why an Ecosystem?

It makes perfect sense for the Inner Garden to have an ecosystem. Their mandate and activities in the shared space define it as a sanctuary: a space to not just be, but be at one’s very best: to realize oneself…one’s true Self. Sanctuary is what PeapodLife’s ecosystem technology is all about.

If we are products of our environments, we deserve the best possible environments.

It makes perfect sense, then, for everyone to have their own ecosystem; their own inner garden sanctuary…a place which balances the workaday world “out there”—with all its stresses and challenges –with a space of tranquility and harmony “in here.”

Everything happens for a reason.

PeapodLife is confident our ecosystem and not-for-profit division, Genesis Eco Fund, will make a valuable contribution to the Inner Garden, help others experience the priceless value of being in an indoor ecosystem sanctuary, and demonstrate how being in an indoor ecosystem sanctuary is the key to revitalized, creative, productive and stress-free doing.

After all, we still have to live. To truly live we must be in the world. Ecosystems not only remind us to be in the world but not of it, ecosystems help us be: more relaxed yet more awake; passive yet infinitely more creative; calm in mind yet infinitely more imaginative; balanced in mind, heart, body and infinitely more effective at whatever it is we do.

In short, ecosystems show us the way of doing being & being done. Come any one of the many events held at the Inner Garden at 401 Richmond (at Spadina), Room 384, (or, Contact Genesis Eco Fund to pay them a visit) and experience the power of the ecosystem for yourself.  

About Genesis Eco Fund:

Genesis Eco Fund is a registered not-for-profit corporation and the non-profit arm of PeapodLife Building EcoSystems & Technology (a Division of Wo-Built, Inc.) Supported in part by proceeds from PeapodLife sales, Genesis also runs fundraising and crowd funding campaigns. For more information about Genesis and their latest campaigns, please visit www.genesisecofund.org.

Photo: PeapodLife's Ecosystem at UrbanSpace, 401 Richmond
Genesis Eco Fund sharing office space in the Inner Garden
Room 384, 401 Richmond Street West (at Spadina), Toronto, ON M5V 3A8
2013 @ peapodlife.com