Collaboration, Innovation, Progress

This video shows a simple solution that is changing the lives of the effected people directly and immediately.  And - they are using waste to do it.  Sustainability doesn't get much better than this.

Looptworks Upcycling

I am getting ready for the International Society of Sustainability Professionals in Porltand next week and on my trip I get to go visit the Looptworks HQ.  This company takes excess material from clothing production and turns it into new styles and products.  They don't use anything that wasn't being thrown away.  Here is a great video explaining the process.

B Corp? It's the new black

Red Sky Blue Water is now a B Corp company!! B Corp is a nonprofit organization dedicated to using the power of business to solve social and environmental problems. B Corp standards are mandated in 5 US States and there are incentives for B corporations in many others. Red Sky Blue Water is a part of B Corp because without standards, consumers are left with unclear messaging and mountains of research to ensure their standards are shared by those with whom they choose to do business. We are making it easier for to know we stand by our message – Healthy Business in Healthy Communities.

Our Military is Going Green

Businesses are going green to reduce their bottom line and adhere to consumer demands but it seems the military is going green because “it has to.” War is one of the greatest threats to the environment. This includes everything that goes into conducting a war, as well as the effects of the war itself, the degradation, desertification in a flash. Although fighting for a cause has the aftereffect of barren land, the military is working on the first mentioned component: that which is produced to conduct war.

It is becoming more difficult to transport fuel to troops and American families as fuel trucks are high priced targets in war zones. So, the military has decided to eliminate the need for fuel. Their goal is for “50% of the power for Navy and Marines to come from renewable sources by 2020.” Let’s give it up for our warriors!!!! Now they are protecting us and the planet.

Golden Arches of Wind Power

More wind turbines! If McD’s has a wind turbine right next to the golden arches, does that mean eating there will make me a better person?? Oh yes, bring on the conflicted perceptions.  This is like when we thought there was a 13th sign - no one knows who they are anymore...

Wal-Mart is Going Local

Sustainability is a hard sell in almost any circumstance. Working with a marketing firm, I approach sustainable business opportunities as a means to save money, but also to meet consumer demand. Small businesses are constantly trying to stay ahead of the game and it used to be that you could only get sustainable products from small businesses. Take organic food for example. Before Wal-Mart and Costco offered organic options, consumers had very little access to organic foods. Increased access to organic food has done several good things: 1) reduced pesticides and preservatives in foods; 2) increased producer accountability for food processing and safety; 3) lowered the price of organic foods as larger producers found it to be profitable to make the necessary production adjustments. But, because the market has had its hand in organic produce, market forces have decreased the quality of organic foods and made it more and more difficult for small businesses to compete. Think Local campaigns around the country are having increased success as consumers demand fresh, healthy food from local farmers. Now that Wal-Mart seems to offer the same thing as farmers markets, what will happen to the these small think local ventures that are allowing small businesses and farmers to make living wages? Wal-Mart is leading the world in environmental standards and has vastly increased access to organic food. They have also led the way in reducing packaging and though it is listed as their environmental initiatives, it’s all about the bottom line. The bigger things get, the lower the quality. If things get too big, they are not sustainable. Does Wal-Mart plan to invest in local farmers? Traditional price reduction of Wal-Mart products leads to a few big guys making money and a lot of little guys trying to make ends meet. I am glad that Wal-Mart is supporting local farms and offering healthier produce to people who would otherwise not be exposed to apples that were picked less than 1 year prior to their sale, but at what cost?

Benefit Corporation (B Corp) is ‘using the power of business to solve social and environmental problems.’ It is a set of social and environmental standards which aim to bring up the bar on how businesses certify their social responsibility and environmental protection. Several states have mandated these standards and in California, legislation is moving toward encouraging, and maybe even incentivizing businesses to comply with B Corp Standards (sorry Vermont, California is a bigger deal…). It is difficult to appropriately convey that these standards are not about charitable contribution but rather the interworkings and decision making processes of a business, for example. These standards are meant to work with businesses and allow those willing to declare they are socially and environmentally responsible to stand out from the crowd of wolves. I was working to business practices to IFC standards while in Albania but the companies I worked with were required to comply in order to receive funding. We are a few steps behind Europe with our social protection but I believe B Corp is a step forward. This California Legislator says it best:

Unforeseen Changes

With so many sustainable changes happening in society and with products, interesting unforeseen necessary societal adjustments have started popping up. For example, electric cars may be mandated to have a sound that alerts pedestrians of their approach. Upon, reading the article, I realized how much I depend on sounds to know whether or not a vehicle is in the vicinity. Don’t get me wrong, I like the fact that electric vehicles barely make a peep, but can easily understand the accumulating accidents caused by this negligible peep. I wonder what other charming surprises await us???

Wind and Solar power for the home!

Home Depot is selling residential wind turbines, for $649. Looks like you don’t have to go to your local hay bale home contractor to get low impact energy for the home. You can also throw solar panels into your shopping cart. On top of that, in many states, there are incentives from your local and the federal government. Now if I can just convince my landlord to let me install a few of these guys…

Biodegradable? I just see methane

We started composting at Red Sky Blue Water and our waste was reduced by 60% automatically. The office wasn't sure how composting would contribute to sustainability but once the trashcan remained empty; it was a noticeable change in which people wanted to participate. There have been great advances, in Seattle especially, in the collection and processing of compost and new biodegradable products are popping up everywhere. But, oh but, all of these new products might be worse for the environment. What they don't do is take up space. One of my greatest concerns is how much space we take up so anything that reduces our 'large bum-print' is great. I will keep composting these "biodegradable' plastics but I will also continue to promote non-plastic reusable products. Disposable is still wasteful, no matter how much corn is in your cup. Reduce! Reuse!

Driver Torture!!!

European Cities have taken it upon themselves to make driving: terrible. Here, here. I find myself driving in situations where I know it’s easier to drive, and park. If both of those things were not the case, I would not even have the notion to drive. Ride share and car share programs are ever increasingly popular around the states. I applaud all of the efforts individuals are making to reduce our fuming carburetors and turn parking lots into parks. One of the worst things about vehicles is that they take up precious space! US cities are still being planned around the use of individual vehicles and public transportation is then added into the mix, whether we like to admit it or not.

What can public transportation and ride sharing do for your business? If you offer employees
more options to reduce their commute expenditure, that will increase the value of their employment with your business. There are also many health benefits. Public transportation usual asks for a bit of a walk, gets people outside, and removes the stress of driving. Think about it.

How far behind are we on the 'Green Wave'?

I consider the US to have the most innovative, educated, and motivated people in the world. However, we have a hard time harnessing that motivated, educated creativity as, for example, we seem to invest in old technology and industry rather than increasing support to new technologies. Our tax dollars paid for the development of the internet, aerospace advancement, etc. and though there have been tremendous advancement toward the support of green technology development and practices, we are behind. What this means is when we need green technologies, we are going to have to spend out tax in other countries and on other educated, motivated and innovative people. If we invest in our tech and people now, won’t that prevent spending money abroad later?

Seattle Clean Energy Committee

I attend the Seattle Chamber of Commerce Clean Energy Committee meetings every month in the Rainier Building downtown Seattle. The purpose of this committee is to bring together Seattle leaders to discuss public and private efforts in sustainable development and ensure local and national resources are used effectively. Sustainability progress is transparent throughout the different sectors whether its food safety, transportation development, home energy audits etc. Richard Conlin, Seattle City Council, came to the meetings to inform the group of Seattle’s plans for sustainable development in the coming year. When discussing Seattle’s ‘carbon footprint’, Conlin noted that the Seattle Council research found that the food and beverage sector results in twice the carbon emissions as that of Seattle private vehicles. A lot of Washington produce is shipped to CA for processing and Conlin asked the group about potential efforts to bring that processing to WA to not only reduce our carbon footprint but to create jobs for WA residents. The main focus of the Council in the coming year is job creation and hopefully, many of those jobs will be ‘green’. Any ideas?

Stored Energy Evolved

MIT had come out with a new battery that may refute most of the arguments against the electric car!! With this battery, the energy is stored in a liquid inside the batteries thus if ‘fueling stations’ are developed, electric cars won’t need to charge, but rather replace their used battery liquid and have you on your way. The old liquid will be charged at the station just like any conventional battery once inside a new battery shell. The power is in the gew, and can be reused! Tell everyone!!!

It is summer!! There is nothing better than a Seattle summer and one of my favorite parts of NW summer time is all the wonderful produce! In season produce means better taste and higher nutrients. Also, if you are getting your produce from farmers markets your ecological footprint is reduced (I’ll argue this if you are pro streamlining distribution) and you are supporting local farming families. Farmers markets have been exploding all over the country and I hope we can recover the relationship farmers used to have with their community as members and not subsidized factories. Look here for what’s in season in the NW. Look here to find a farmers market is Seattle.

Return on Investment for Employees

The greatest issue with the sustainability is that it. takes. time. Thus, whenever ROI results come out I will probably do a little dance and add it to my virtual piles of evidence to support the movement. This article about savings from Investing in Employee Wellness takes the cakes with an almost 3 fold ROI in 10 years. Nice work J&J!

Sustainable Business with another Positive Article.

There’s another Sustainability article out today on BALLE confirming the ever growing movement of sustainable business. “Vision: As the American Capitalist Economy Craters, Promising Alternatives Emerge” give great examples of how different types of people and companies are changing to meet the needs of a Socially Responsible society. It talks of how Capitalism isn’t working, but just because companies will be starting to pay for the real cost of doing business doesn’t mean that the theory of capitalism is to blame. We have had too much growth too quickly to understand how to balance or mitigate the impacts brought about by our growth. One of my preferred books on the topic is Companies on a Mission by Michael V. Russo (shout out U of O!). There are direct benefits to the bottom line when companies take a mission driven approach to their business plan. I have consulted with two large companies so far and saw great change result from Social Impact Assessments and we avoided a few big messes (more to come on that when I finish my white paper about Energy Extraction Firms and Social Responsibility in Albania).

Just a spoon full of salt & sugar helps the school lunch go down...

Sorry Jamie, our House isn’t listening to the sage, pun intended, words of your house. Why are our politicians defending junk food? What is so wrong about labeling school lunches with caloric and nutritional facts? What will our children do with that information? The horror. As most of the world makes a well-deserved ‘blurk’ face at US public school lunches, we were lucky to have a health savvy first lady to lead the US in new (well, renewed I should say) health programs with the core value of eating healthy, local grub. But, it would seem, our House is not in line with the White House. Grist puts a sound article together about the national school lunch attack and the growing potato chip lobby but I am happy to say that Seattle has taken an independent stance on public school lunches including doing business directly with local farmers. If you are interested in learning about our Regional Food Policy and give your voice to the cause, I attend the Puget Sound Regional Council Food Policy Meetings. This advisory council brings representative from all over the Puget Sound Region to “promote health, sustain and strengthen the local and regional food system, and engage and partner with agriculture, business, communities and governments in the four-county region.” Hope to see you there!

Good June Everyone!

I put biodiesel in my car (I know the arguments against soy based fuels are numerous but I at least consider it conflict free). I am looking to move so I can ride my bike regularly but in the meantime, I am at least trying to minimize my contribution to Chevron. But, $4.75 a gallon for biodiesel! The Swish Life Magazine put up an article with a few recommendations on how to save on fuel consumption. It was a nice reminder to keep my tires to capacity to increase mileage, among other things.
To advocate for bikes, this event is in September but it will be Global! 350.org is a grassroots climate solutions organization founded by author Bill McKibben, working to get as many people out of their cars as possible on September 24^th, 2011 to tell the governments of the world to Step It Up! Most individuals have access to bicycles whether they are rich or poor and the skate, walk or whatever makes you smile to raise awareness about the climate crisis.

Downtown Buildings Becoming Green Together

Great News for Seattle Business Collaboration! Downtown buildings are developing a baseline for building electricity usage in order to strive together to meet the 2030 Challenge energy reduction goals passed by the Seattle Energy Disclosure Ordinance. This is a great example of how local business can make strategic local change towards sustainability.

Sustainability and Place

As I have gone from Restoration Ecology, to Urban Planning, to Community Development and now to Sustainable Business Consulting, I always seem to come back to the concept of Place. The idea of Place has of course been debated by philosophers from the nomadic to the developers of great cities. As we are changing our place of business every day, unintended consequences of those changes are “lost in translation.” Many CEOs do not have a direct connection to the communities where their business starts or sometimes even ends, and my goals are to simply identify those impacts and foster connections to create stronger community business partnerships and avoid and mitigate business impacts before they occur. Place for a business should be project affected area. I am volunteering at the Place Matters Conference with the Business Alliance for Local Living Economies (BALLE ) this month to talk how we can support businesses to make these connections effectively. Check out the line-up!