Monthly Archives: June 2011
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Doubling Down on the Single Bottom Line
By Ryan Cabinte Daniel Altman and Jonathan Berman’s recent paper, The Single Bottom Line, caused a stir in sustainability circles last week, partially fueled by coverage in the New York Times. The paper argues that focusing on profit—the single bottom line—is a more efficient and sustainable way to promote social benefit than emerging frameworks like [...]
How Shareholders are Battling Excessive Executive Compensation
Shareholders for the past year have been able to engage in the conversation of executive pay through a resolution placed on proxy statements of all companies due to the recently implemented Dodd-Frank bill. Allowing owners of publicly traded companies to vote on such an important matter would seem to shift things in a positive direction. Right? Wrong.
Sherwin-Williams Spreads Sustainability Farther With New “Green” Paint
Sherwin-Williams Company recently received an EPA Presidential Green Chemistry Challenge Award for a new paint formulation that uses both soybean oil and recycled plastic bottles. Since introducing the new formula last year, Sherwin-Williams says it has used 320,000 pounds of soybean oil, 250,000 pounds of PET, and eliminated 1,000 barrels of oil. It also eliminated 800,000 pounds of VOCs, or volatile organic compounds.
Using Stakeholder Engagement to Boost Fisheries in Scotland
This post is part of a series on Stakeholder Engagement sponsored by Jurat Software. The fate of the world’s oceans is a serious concern not just for environmentalists but also for the fishing industry. World over, fishing stocks are declining at alarming rates. Many countries that depend on fishing for their economy are suffering. Scotland [...]
Farmstays Become Summer Vacation of Choice for the Eco-Minded
Many folks itching for an alternative vacation this summer are considering staying on a farm. Farm Stay U.S., the best resource for the curious first-time farm vacationer, was founded by Scottie and Greg Jones of Leaping Lamb Farm with the idea that, “We believe the majority of Americans are hugely disconnected from their food and [...]
Old Office Equipment Finds New Uses in London
London businesses hoping to fit their offices with new equipment need look no further than Ourgreendistrict for their needs. Ourgreendistrict was the brainchild of local law firm Olswang LLP, developed in partnership with inmidtown. Their aim was to foster closer ties and create a platform where local business communities could become greener and save money. Ourgreendistrict [...]
Interview: Angel Investor’s Five Best Practices For Attracting Capital
The key to raising money is building investor trust. There is a formula for doing so. The entrepreneurs that succeed in raising capital for their business know the formula for crafting a compelling story that earns the trust and investment of angel investors. James Magowan is an angel investor I met at an Investors Circle [...]
How Gap Became the Poster Boy for Strategic Stakeholder Engagement
Many companies still consider stakeholder engagement a good idea they’ll consider sometime in the future when they’ll have the time and resources. But for Gap Inc. it became clear about a decade ago, after being targeted several times due to labor violation accusations, that not only they have to start interacting with stakeholders, but they also have to do it right.
Ford’s Safety Technology Tells a Sustainability Story
Reporting from Dearborn, MI, I was pleasantly surprised by Ford’s “safety technology” demonstration – a ride in a kitted out Ford Explorer to demonstrate various ways new cars will avoid collisions. After the demonstration, which turned out to be fascinating, it struck me that public safety is an obvious aspect of sustainability – not to [...]
The Guardian Announces 2011 Sustainability Report
The Guardian and the newspaper’s parent GNM will soon release its 2011 sustainability (or CSR) report, the findings of which were released in several articles on its Living Our Values portal.
Timberland Moves on Despite Merger, Appoints New CSR VP
Yesterday Timberland created a new executive position, vice president of corporate social responsibility, and hired Dell veteran Mark Newton to fill those new shoes.
Plastic Bags Take Another Hit with Puma
Puma has dealt the latest blow to chemical industry lobbyists fighting to keep the plastic bag alive. The company recently announced that it has started using bags for shoppers that are fully compostable. For a fun party trick, you can also submerge them in water and watch them disappear in seconds. I live in Hawaii, the [...]
Silk Soymilk Makes a Move Towards GMO Labeling
Two years ago, Dean Foods, owner of Silk Soymilk, was heavily criticized for switching from organic to conventional soy beans without clearly labeling the change with different packaging. For many years, Silk soymilk was certified organic. In 2009, they introduced a “natural” line where the soymilk was made from conventionally grown soybeans (where pesticides are used along with GMOs), but the packaging [...]
Green Mountain College: A Little More to the Story
In May, my TriplePundit colleague Tina Casey wrote a good piece on Green Mountain College’s success in achieving carbon neutrality. I enjoyed Tina’s work a great deal, but wanted to expand a bit on the story. Forgive a soon-to-be alum for bragging and please allow me to indulge in the celebration of my alma mater’s [...]
Behind Bars, Prepping for Life…as an Entrepreneur?
The State of Oregon Department of Corrections, partnering with several other sponsors, has promoted a different paradigm for inmates in its Coffee Creek Correctional Facility. MercyCorps of the Northwest (MCNW) is spearheading an effort there to teach self-employment and microenterprise development skills to women in prison who are up for parole within 18-24 months. LIFE [...]
Global Ranking of Top 10 Resilient Cities
By Boyd Cohen, Ph.D., CO2 IMPACT and Co-Author, Climate Capitalism Resilient cities, those that are working to transition towards a low-carbon economy while also preparing to avert the worst of climate change, are gaining interest and attention from policy makers, city councils and others worldwide. In fact, today, leaders from the public and private sector, [...]
Comparing Sustainability Reports is Easier Thanks to GRI and Deloitte
In order to be a truly useful tool for investors and community stakeholders, reporting needs to be streamlined, standardized, and above all, integrated into electronic platforms.
Chipotle Moves Toward Local Sourcing
The restaurant had a goal of using approximately 5 million pounds of local produce like bell peppers, oregano and romaine lettuce, and eventually plans to source more than 10 million pounds of local produce for its 1,100 locations.
Interstate Bicycle Highway System is on its Way
The US is moving forward on a plan to develop a national interstate bicycle highway system.
How Games Can Effectively Engage Key Stakeholders
For businesses that have embraced websites, chatrooms, Facebook, Twitter, and other digital platforms, video games are the next logical step in customer engagement. They also provide a powerful tool for businesses that are seeking to go beyond their customer base, and engage community stakeholders in economic development and social change.
GE Ad Calls Natural Gas Hot Stuff
A full-page ad in The Washington Post states in big letters, “Natural gas is hot stuff.” A bit of irony if I’ve ever seen one. The smaller print of the ad extols the virtues of natural gas, including its abundance in the U.S. and the energy independence its use will bring. “Natural gas consists mainly [...]
Major Solar Installation Unveiled to Thousands of Fans at NASCAR Race
As NASCAR fans excitedly prepared for Sunday’s Toyota/Save Mart 350, with its almost unending stream of activities and entertainment, there was something decidedly different in store for them: a major solar installation and the first funded with private investment at a raceway (Pocono Raceway’s publicly-funded installation was completed in August of last year). Infineon Raceway, [...]
Is the US Right To Seek Airline Exemption From European Carbon Law?
Business Green reports that US Airlines, American Airlines, Continental and United, along with their trade association, the Air Transport Association (ATA), will file a legal challenge to a European law requiring all airlines flying into and out of the EU to pay a charge per tonne of CO2 emitted. The US government opposes the law. [...]
Silk Tries To Recover From Bad Publicity
It’s not easy for a company to overcome bad publicity. Two years ago, the Organic Consumers Association (OCA) called for a boycott of Silk products because some of the soybeans in its products came from countries known for inhumane labor practices, such as Brazil and China. By August 2009, Silk’s website claimed all soy beans [...]
“Hyatt Thrive” CSR Platform will Improve Local Volunteering
Hyatt Thrive, launched on June 9, will be Hyatt’s “global corporate responsibility platform.” The concept is based around the four pillars of environmental sustainability, economic development and investment, education and personal advancement, and health and wellness. The ultimate aim of Hyatt Thrive is to engage positively and more directly with the communities where the company’s [...]
Creating Hybrid Value Chains with the Ashoka Foundation
The Ashoka Foundation is the largest association of leading social entrepreneurs in the world. They work on three simple levels: By supporting individual social entrepreneurs throughout their life cycle, they bring communities together. These communities then help leverage their impact, scale their ideas and capture and disseminate their best practices. Then they help to build the [...]
Affluent See Sustainability as Positive Trend, Yet Hesitate to Purchase Sustainable Goods
The Dwell Insights Group, part of the architecture and design publisher Dwell, did a study on “The New Face of Affluence.” While data from the study was designed to tell the story of design, it also told a story of sustainability. While the word affluence conjures up a lavish life of luxury, there has recently [...]
Green My Digs: 5 Most Eco-friendly Apartment Buildings in America
By: Tim Eyre, Extra Space Storage The robust global environmentalism movement has impacted virtually all aspects of American life. And while green building practices have been utilized in single family construction for some time now, developers in the multi-family sector have only recently started taking notice, recognizing that the added cost of implementing eco-friendly design [...]
Will Ford’s Electric Butterflies Fly?
Among the talking points we heard repeatedly last week at the Forward with Ford trends event where that the soon-to-be-released Ford Focus electric will get better mileage than a Chevy Volt and will charge faster than a Nissan Leaf. That’s exciting news for a brand new car we haven’t yet seen on the road. It [...]
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