Just got back from the 50th anniversary of the Newport Folk Festival in RI. Wow, what a weekend! I had a choice booth for Run, We Must right near the main stage where I was able enjoy sets by some personal favs, namely: the Fleet Foxes, Neko Case, Joan Baez, Arlo Guthrie, and Pete and Tao Seeger. Unfortunately, I couldn’t get away to catch Deer Tick and Iron and Wine on the other stage, but at the end of both nights, everyone got up and jammed with Pete Seger – it was quite moving, actually!

And so, having prepared some newness for the fest, I hath returned with the newness for the online masses – here’s what’s new!

New Tee: called “Happy Sun Power,” this new design is printed on a “Pomegranate” organic cotton American Apparel tee and portrays rays of sun entering a solar panel which becomes green power for a happy home. This was a big hit in Newport so I decided to put it up on the online store, as well. Currently, this design is only available in Toddler and Classic Girl, but there’s a Dijon colored Standard version possibly in the works, too. I must say, it’s pretty adorable on little ones.

Right, sospeaking of sizes, this leads me to topic B, in which I’m pleased to announce that a few of the designs are now available in Toddler sizes. This request has been made for quite a while, so after polling customers, I’m trying out a couple designs in kids sizes, those being: “I *Heart* Windmills,” “Late Summer,” and “Happy Sun Power” available in sizes 2, 4, and 6. For ages 6 and up, the Classic Girls tees actually run so small that they fit most kids pretty well. (I actually wear a girls large. I have the torso of a 12 year-old).

Lastly, the new poster design is something I’ve been sketching and working up since the inauguration. It’s called, “Strength in Diversity,” and portrays an abstraction of the American flag. In the stars, the design features 50 cartoon faces of folks from all different ages and background (you might recognize the guy in number 44). In the stripes I’ve drawn landscapes from 13 different regions of the country ranging from the Alaskan northern lights, to the Utah desert, to the Adirondack mountains in NY. For the paper medium, I discovered a company called Mr. French and ordered a batch of “Speckletone” paper – a thick, archival quality recycled blend of different papers with little chunks in it. It is the sweetness.  Here’s a video about the new poster:

One last note: for the aforementioned Newport Folk Fest, I also printed up a short second edition of the popular We Are Giants Now poster/music triptych that I made in 2007/2008. I used some different colors to make the design pop a bit more, and this time around the music for the posters is fully mastered.

Thanks to all the wonderful people I met in Newport for stopping by to say hey, as well as new and old friends from Solar Fest in July – you guys were really great to talk to you and thank you for your purchases!

Rock,
-Ben KN

I just watched a video from the news out of Cleveland showing my pal Cynthia Bailey at her “vine cutting ceremony” to kick off her eco-entreprenureal company, “The Energy Junction.” She’s the champ! I met her last year at a community wind energy conference in Albany, NY, and we’ve been in touch here and there ever since. I just sent her a box of RWM tees for her office/store and they made the news reel. Major Bonus.

After working for two decades in sales and marketing, Cynthia decided to follow her passion for the environment. The Energy Junction will promote wind and solar power for homeowners and businesses, push energy efficiency and environmentalism, serve as a renewable energy broker, conduct energy audits, develop energy education programs and counsel workers who want to land jobs in renewable energy fields.

Here’s that video – congrats Cynthia!

Tulip Fest was a smash! For those out of town, this is a festival near where I live in Albany, NY. It’s a really nice event featuring tulips (as one would imagine), plus rock music, jazz, and lots of artists and vendors. A couple pals of mine performed, too – Maggie Mayday and Railbird – both wonderful.

So, I may have mentioned to some folks that I purchase 100 kWh of wind power for every item sold through a new partnership with BeGreen (www.begreennow.com). This not only creates more demand for renewable energy, but that 100kWh also helps balance out the carbon footprint of shipping each order. This has the same environmental benefit as not driving 148 miles or recycling 327 aluminum cans! From Tulip Fest alone, we offset about 13,320 miles of fossil fuel transportation – nice!!!

The only downside of the fest was when I had to carry a huge table for about a mile, which made me aware of some declining musculature on my end due to a winter of perpetual computer-activity.

All in all, the first outdoor fest of 2009 was amazing. Thanks to everyone who visited and/or made a purchase! I definitely made some new pals.

Take care!
-Ben

Welcome Windpower 2009 attendees! Run, We Must is proud to have our clothing designs on display at this year’s conference.

Run, We Must is a line of art and apparel whose images celebrate nature and promote sources of renewable energy. Each tee is designed by upstate NY artist and musician, Ben Karis-Nix, and printed by himself, assistants, and his friends at Equal Vision Records. We periodically make financial contributions from sales to non-profits such as Windustry, and also bundle 100 kWh of wind energy into each sale via our new partners at BeGreenNow.com

If you would like to keep in touch with us, please subscribe and/or sign up for our email newsletter on the right-hand column.

This is our new website that we’re developing, so please forgive with any cross-platform quirks that may arise as we iron things out. The shopping features are securely processed via PayPal, however, so no worries there.

If you’re interested in ordering a tee, use coupon code wp09 for 10% off!

Thank you for your interest and enjoy the conference!

Happy Earth Day! Run, We Must is currently booking new festival dates… some really good ones out there that sound like a great time. An update to that regard will be coming sometime this month. Take care! -Ben

Just built this new Wordpress Powered layout for Run, We Must. I’m so impressed with this new platform – so many things you can do… I love it.

I’m currently importing past posts into the new blog… if you need some info from a previous post that’s not up yet, feel free to contact me personally at benkarisnix@gmail.com

Enjoy the new layout and take care, -Ben

I’ll be straight with you guys, I’ve been beguiled by an ethical dilemma I’ll share with you… I’ve often wondered, does the promotional benefit of disseminating pro-alt-energy imagery outweigh the negative effect of transporting and shipping RWM merchandise via fossil fuels? Even factoring in the periodic donations I’ve been able to make from sales, I’ve still had some concerns about how much of a carbon footprint Run, We Must has had.

Well, something really great has come along to help remedy this carbon quandary: Run, We Must has just partnered with a company called BeGreen to provide 100kWh of renewable energy for every product sold. This not only creates more demand for renewable energy, but that 100kWh also helps balance out the carbon footprint of shipping each order. This has the same environmental benefit as not driving 148 miles or recycling 327 aluminum cans! So, it’s exciting for me to know that at a festival where, say, 60 or so shirts are sold, that means we’ve offset 8,880 miles of transport… nice!

BeGreen is the carbon offset division of Green Mountain Energy, the nation’s longest serving cleaner energy and carbon offset provider. To learn more about our friends at BeGreen, visit their website at www.begreennow.com.

‘Till next time,

-Ben

Exciting news! Run, We Must Apparel will be featured as official American Wind Energy Association merchandise at this year’s Windpower 2009 Conference in Chicago, May 4 – 7. This is literally the biggest wind energy event in the world so many thanks to the people at AWEA for taking an interest in the line and showcasing the designs.

In other news, some new printed poster art is in the works, inspired in part by the election and the new green initiatives of our new president. More on that soon. Keep a look out, also, for new festival dates that will be confirmed over the following weeks. Some good ones out there!

Happy New Year!!!

Well, despite economic circumstances, Run, We Must’s 3rd year has been its best so far! Together, we raised hundreds of dollars for Wind Energy non-profits and the general momentum brought RWM to many New England arts and music festivals, including this year’s Community Wind Energy Conference in Albany, NY. Throughout all this activity I’ve been able make many new friends in the arts and alt-energy scenes and it’s been a lot of fun. Thanks to everyone out there for interest and support… I suspect 2009 will bring many new opportunities!

So suddenly it’s 2009, and now that the dust has settled post-Christmas, I’m realizing I have some extra supply, particularly the “Green Worker” and “Wind and Sun” tees. Consequently, I figured it might be a good time for a sale, so for a little while I have those designs available for 15% off! Just enter the coupon code “snow09″ next to the shopping cart button and it will reduce the price for you.

Take care and keep a look-out for some new artwork in the coming weeks!
-Ben

Thanks to everyone for all their recent online orders, and also to people who stopped by Winter WonderLARK in Albany, NY over the weekend. I feel very lucky to be able to make things that people are enjoying.

Also, I didn’t even know there was an “alt-energy art scene” beyond what I think of as my own nerdy impulse to promote wind energy with images – but there are others out there, and their work can be found at my friend Andy’s website at www.reimaginations.com. I’m particularly fond of Daniel Trobvic’s digital renderings of marshy, sci-fi vistas populated with double-turbine windmills.