Greater Milwaukee Men

Milwaukee is great, just ask us. But sometimes you want to head out of town to see the rest of the country. For many destinations, if going by car that means heading through Chicago. That means Chicago traffic, tolls, and time. Since 2004 there has been a more relaxing way to head west, especially if going to or through Michigan: the Lake Express ferry. You can skip all that and have a relaxing ride across the lake to Muskegon, MI. Of course there is a cost to that convenience. It's not cheap, you could fly to Michigan many days depending on the current airfare rates, but then we know you are taking your car for some reason. Luckily there is a great way to reduce the cost. For a few years now, the Lake Express has partnered with Milwaukee Bicycle Collective on a bike donation program on or around Earth Day. In return for a donated bike you get one free round-trip passenger fare. This year the donation event is Thursday, April 20.

Great coffee starts with clean water. Luckily in Milwaukee we have some of the best water in the world (there's a reason we have had so many breweries in town). But that water quality from safety to taste is always under attack by environmental issues. Brewers - of beer and coffee and even tea - are part of the ongoing activism in making sure we always have good water. Local coffee roasters Colectivo Coffee are one of those. Colectivo has created a special edition Three Rivers with clean water in mind. For every bag purchased, Colectivo will donate $1 to Milwaukee Riverkeeper®. The combination of Fair Trade, organic selections from Nicaragua and Sumatra offers flavors of dark chocolate, orange, and dried fig with a hint of spice. The mission of Milwaukee Riverkeeper ® is to protect, improve, and advocate for water quality, riparian wildlife habitat, and sound land management in the Milwaukee, Menomonee, and Kinnickinnic River Watersheds. They envision a future in which peop...

Braise is a Milwaukee restaurant of the farm-to-table variety, but it is much more than that: a CSA (community supported agriculture), RSA (restaurant supported agriculture), culinary school, and more. Across all its different functions there is a core mission though: to bring good food to the people of Milwaukee, and by good we mean more than good tasting, we mean food that is good for the environment, for you, for the community. Braise has helped the community including restaurants and farmers, now it needs the community's help.

No, that's not a typo, we did mean to say re-spectacle as in recycle your spectacles or eyeglasses. During the month of May all Colectivo Coffee cafes are accepting donations of used eyeglasses. They will then take the glasses – uncluding reading, distance vision glasses, and even cases and provide them  to homeless individuals along with free eye screenings to match them up with the correct prescription. This project is run by medical students at the Medical College of Wisconsin through the Homeless Outreach and Medical Education (HOME) Project and Urban and Community Health Scholarly Pathway. We love recycling, but especially when the practice adds in an extra charitable aspect like giving the items to those in need. Other similar practices include reusing your slightly used suits for jobless (such as returning veterans ) to use on interviews or even donating a vehicle to various organizations for them to fundraise with. This one is easy and a no-brainer. If you are like...

In efforts to reduce our impact on the environment, by using less to make things and discarding less things, we have all become accustomed to the phrase " reduce, reuse, recycle " which is sometimes referred to as the three Rs (much like the old "reading, 'rtitng, 'rithmetic of education). It just hit me though that there is another R missing - one for Repair. I guess semantically repairing could be considered part of Reusing, but to me Repair is a more personal, immediate, and active process than reusing which typically means that someone else is doing the using now instead of you. Reusing usually implies passing the item on so someone else can and will use it versus you re-using it, or using it for a different purpose - what is often called 'upcycling' these days. It could also have been left out of the program because whoever developed it thought it was a common practice, or inherently understood. But let's take a look at what makes Repair it...

Local non-profit radio station 88.9 RadioMilwaukee goes beyond being a radio station to being an organization by and for the community. Through their Community Stories, they promote other Milwaukee organizations and ways to make the city better. Tonight, they apply their mission to an event made to help people learn about the many forms of transportation available in Milwaukee beyond cars with their fun and informative Transportation Circus from 5:30PM to 7:30PM.  This free and open-to-the-public event is a celebration of Milwaukee, the public and alternative transportation options we have, and the places to enjoy it. 

Beer and Gears (ok chains) make a great combo It's that time of the year again, holiday shopping season. What used to start on the day after Thanksgiving now starts on the day of - I am sure you can guess my thoughts on that - or earlier, especially for those who shop online. We men know that shopping can be hard for us in general, but especially if the gift giver wants to be socially conscious. Each year we try to highlight products for men that not only don't harm but actually help like this story from last year. This year will be no different, an updated guide is in progress and as we see things we will post hem over the next month, starting with these great gift ideas from ReBike - Quality products, handmade in the USA from recycled bicycle parts - great for the bike lover or any man really in your life.

Score Free Bucks Tickets at the State Fair Park Household Hazardous Waste Collection (For Milwaukee County Residents Only). Ten randomly chosen customers will receive a pair of tickets to the Milwaukee Bucks 2013 regular season home opener just by dropping off unused household chemicals this Friday and Saturday at State Fair Park. Five pairs of tickets will be given away Friday and five on Saturday. Any Milwaukee County resident dropping off compact fluorescent light bulbs, used motor oil, rechargeable batteries and many more approved items at State Fair Park is eligible to win.

I know right. Ice cream for a man's product review? I counter with: whiskey. Milwaukee's own Purple Door Ice Cream  is not only an amazing product, but they do everything right in making their ice cream to be truly considered a Great Men's business. Ice cream may not be up there with the typical man food like steak & potatoes and beer, but many brands have flavors that are still appealing to the manliest of men like salted caramel or coffee. Purple Door takes the cake though with their whiskey-flavored ice cream made with another Milwaukee product - Great Lakes Distillery's  Kinnickinnic Whiskey. That's double-Milwaukee which means double the goodness.

One of the greatest things about watching the craft beer movement, besides great beer, is seeing so many embrace responsible business practices that the big brewers would be hard-pressed to try due to their size. From organic and local ingredients like Lakefront Brewery's Wisconsinite to green brewing practices like   Alaskan Brewing Company's grain-powered steam boiler breweries in Wisconsin and around the US embrace Well-Met practices. Even our local (or not) macro-brewer MillerCoors is involved via their  Great Beer, Great Responsibility program which includes community programs, alcohol responsibility, and environmental responsibility. As of last week, at the top of the list must be considered Milwaukee Brewing Company ( MKE Brewing ) by joining the DNR's Green Tier program which recognizes businesses with a commitment to sustainability and have put in place a sustainability management plan.

For most of us (winter bikers excluded), this is the time to dust off our two-wheeled vehicles whether powered by man (bicycle) or machine (motorcycle) and so the month of May is both  National Bike Month  and Motorcycle Safety Awareness Month .  We all know that in the home of Harley motorcycles are a big deal here, but Wisconsin has an ever growing community of bicyclists in Milwaukee and Wisconsin. Among other activity-specific bike organizations, the overall community is represented by the Wisconsin Bike Fed , which was formed ' to cultivate, motivate and unite a strong community of citizens as well as business and political leaders to move bicycling forward in Wisconsin – through education, legislation and involvement.' As part of National Bike Month, those interested in getting in on the movement this month can join in many fun events centering on Bike to Work Week  May 13-18 . More information on the Milwaukee events is here , below is a schedule of events...

A rare man-friendly eco-message design. April 22 is Earth Day , a day that falls in line with the ideals of men's Wellness as part of being a Great Man, as we see ecology as path. It is a circle that a safe and healthy environment are healthier for men, and human practices of health and wellness keep the environment healthier. It just makes simple sense. The problem is that a large percentage of ecological messages and products are geared more towards women. Ever looked for a 'green' magazine that would appeal to a man? Or a reusable bag that doesn't scream 'I borrowed this from a woman?' Good luck. So how do we be green The Man Way? Sure we have things like Tesla Motors  and the McLaren P1 Hybrid Supercar to fulfill our manly desires and still be eco-friendly (and prove that eco can be better than not), there are ways to find green fashion (and I don't mean the color), and conscious eating is getting more and more accessible (tried grass fed beef...

Milwaukee increasingly is included in lists for being at the top of cultural and social achievements from food to arts and beyond, and now we just made another. Milwaukee was named as one of the 10 Best Cities for Urban Forests  by American Forests , the oldest national nonprofit conservation organization in the country.

Following the Well-Met maxim of  'Social.Responsibility ', the  Alaskan Brewing Company  is making green beer, and I don't mean in color like the shite people swill for St. Patrick's Day. In a shrewd move with economic and ecological ramifications, they are now operating with an alternate fuel source: beer. More specifically, they are using the wet grain known as “spent grain,” left over from the brewing process, as the sole fuel source for their new steam boiler. Alaskan is the first craft brewery in the world to use this brewing by-product in this way, reducing the company’s fuel oil consumption in brewhouse operations by 60-70 percent. “We have the unique honor of brewing craft beer in this stunning and remote place,” explains Alaskan Brewing Co-founder Geoff Larson. “But in order to grow as a small business here in Alaska and continue having a positive effect on our community, we have to take special efforts to look beyond the traditional to more innovative wa...

I recently saw a blurb about a local man that mentioned how he crossed North America on a trip to promote awareness of hereditary cancer, cancer that he himself has. Alone the tale is extraordinary, but there is so much more to the story. As I looked into it, I found out about a man who is the epitome of what it means to be truly Well-Met. Todd Spurrier with his trusty Ducati Todd Spurrier of Cascade, WI, inspired by Ewan McGregor's  Long Way Round  and  Long Way Down   chronicled motorbike adventures which also supported charities, decided to do something similar to raise awareness for Cancer which took his father as well as  Familial Adenomatous Polyposis (FAP)  which was the root of his father's colon cancer and his two sisters, niece, nephew and himself have. But it's bigger than that.  He also wanted to bring attention to Desmoid Tumor Research - you see Todd has an inoperable intra-abdominal desmoid tumor which made it perso...

In just over a week, the day after Thanksgiving will kick off the 'official' start to holiday gift shopping. Dubbed 'Black Friday' either because it is usually the day most business budgets move from the red into the black, or the meaning that most men would subscribe to of its negative impact on getting around the city that day. To us men it is a black, as in sad, day if we are forced to participate in the chaos of a large portion of the US off of work and out at every mall and store filling them to the bursting with lines of insane shoppers looking for that special deal or wanting to get that special gift before it sells out. But there are better ways to shop, Well-Met ways that address the needs of men as well as those of others. Small Business Saturday & Local Stores If you wait just one day to shop, you can have a much better experience. The Saturday after Thanksgiving and day after Black Friday, a new tradition has started,  Small Business Saturday  ® – ...

So, yeah I know there are races for solar-powered cars and such, so its not a novel idea, but this morning while flipping through channels I caught mention of a pro racing circuit that awards green initiatives. No, it's not NASCAR, silly. In the American Le mans Series, the MICHELIN® GREEN X® Challenge , a first class, world-class environmental competition, challenges all prototypes and GT entries in the field to race 'green'.

Earth Day , April 22, is meant to be a day to promote awareness about the environment and environmental activism, but seems to be composting itself down into the territory of many holidays as a single day to do activities we don't do the rest of the year. I propose that for Earth Day we look to New Year's Eve as the example holiday and use it as a day to make one or more resolutions to do for the next year instead of one activity for one day. All the holidays seem to be evolving from their roots as recognition for an event or remembrance into days to give cards (more and more e-cards and even just e-mails) and gifts, make time for family that you normally don't, and maybe do an activity for that day you don't do the rest of the year. Two examples: at Christmas we give gifts, along with the staple holidays get together with family, and may go to church the only time for the entire year; for Valentine's Day men give cards and gifts to their romantic partner, carve ...

The simplest and most important answer for anyone, including men, to go organic is: it is better for YOU. Once a term relegated to markets that catered to clientele with vested interest - natural food stores, farmers' markets, progressive cafes - organic is increasingly available in standard supermarkets in their own section or even side-by-side with the 'regular' products. In an ever changing food landscape of nutrition, diet, fads, and so on, I want to go back to the original point. Without really changing anything else in your diet, going organic as much as possible can simply be better for you. That means as a man you can still eat man foods, just try organic if you can.

The field, roof, and even seats are green at  Miller Park , the stadium where the  Milwaukee Brewers  play, and they have gone beyond color to become a truly Green facility, as in environmental. Miller Park has received one of the most prestigious honors for facility sustainability and conservation efforts. The U.S. Green Building Council ( USGBC ) has announced that Miller Park is  LEED  (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certified in the category of Existing Building Operations & Maintenance, making it the first stadium with a retractable roof and just the third Major League Baseball stadium overall to receive the designation. Since the initial plans for Miller Park and throughout its existence, the Brewers have worked to reduce Miller Park's impact on the environment and seek green and environmental programs including hosting a  Green Week , and becoming one of the  top 10 stadiums for vegetarian food options . Working with anothe...