Sustainability Natives
As future generations take the lead in determining our sustainable future and responsible business, how will their innate conceptions and expectations for a responsible economy inform our challenges and solutions?
Jeffrey Hollender’s Recipe for a Better (European Style) Future
Jeffrey Hollender’s talk on Tuesday at NYU wasn’t probably listed on Time Out NY, but nevertheless it was one of the best shows the city provided that night. Hollender, an almost impossible combination of a CEO and a rebel, is never boring no matter how many times you get to hear him. Combining gloomy economic and social observations with funny anecdotes, he managed to charm the dozens of students that packed the room, sending them home afterwards with his innovative ideas (some would say ‘European’) on how to get the U.S. economy back on the track towards a sustainable future.
The Untold Story: The Continuing Demise of the Construction Industry
For over 115 years architecture and engineering students at Georgia Tech have watched the Atlanta skyline grow upward and outward. Now a seeminingly chronic recession has stopped growth. Credit: Courtesy of Georgia Institute of Technology By Richard Thornton Like generations of aspiring architects and civil engineers before them, students at the Georgia Institute of Technology [...]
From the Incremental to the Monumental: Rock Climbing Tips for Business Leaders
When rock climbing on a challenging route, one often encounters situations where there is no way to reach the next good hold without moving beyond the security of one’s current position. These are committing moments, requiring vision, confidence, and dynamic movement. They are beyond the realm of the incremental. They are also a powerful analogy for our efforts to create a sustainable business community.
Greenpeace Ranks Best Companies in ICT
Following on the heels of the Green Electronics Ranking, today Greenpeace released the fifth version of its Cool IT Leaderboard. This ranks and evaluates global IT companies on their leadership in the fight to reduce global carbon emissions
Environmental Leader on the Hidden Costs of Reusable Bags
We love Environmental Leader and regularly encourage our readers to vist them as an additional source of excellent sustainable business news. But we’re not sure what they were thinking today with this item on how Plastic Bag Bans ‘Present Hidden Environmental, Economic Costs’ The article from the point of view of “conservative think tank” National [...]
Unilever Launches Foundation to Help One Billion People
At the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Unilever announced the launch of the Unilever Foundation, a global charity that will be key to helping the company reach its goal of improving the health and quality of life of more than one billion people around the world. This is an ambitions goal, but it’s one that fits very well with Unilever’s brand and strengths.
Consumer Demand for Grass-fed Will Rise in 2012
It’s a new year and a good time to check the pulse of consumer interest in animal welfare certified foods.
New Life for a 100-Year-Old Flour Mill
The following post is part of the course work for “Live Exchange” the foundational course on communication for The MBA Design Strategy Program at California College of the Arts. The rest of the posts are presented here. By: JM Hutch The Hayden Flour Mill currently stands derelict and deserted like a sentinel at the century-old [...]
How Dow Corning Uses Innovation to Further CSR and Business Goals
Consumers in emerging markets increasingly demand – as they should – products designed to meet their specific needs rather than ones patched together or retro-fitted from existing ones.
Business Support for Communities Could be Waning
Consumer boycotts and pocketbook pressure has been effective in the past in changing corporate behavior. How do we keep the pressure on to keep companies incentivized to do the right thing?
Suppliers Lag Behind in Reducing Carbon Emissions
The Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP), which has been collecting GHG emissions data from companies for nearly a decade, recently released a report which revealed that there is a gap that exists between the carbon reduction performance of companies and that of their suppliers. The study, conducted in partnership with Accenture, was conducted with 50 CDP member organizations including L’Oréal, Philips and Walmart, and more than 1,800 of their suppliers. It found that while 43 percent of companies surveyed have achieved year-over-year reductions in their carbon emissions, only 28 percent of their suppliers have done so.
Kraft Uses Stakeholder Engagement to Achieve Zero Waste in 36 Plants
Achieving zero waste seems to be the biggest goal with many food companies. Coca-Cola has done it. Kit Kat has done it, and now Kraft is following their footsteps. The company recently announced that it sends no waste to landfills in 36 of its manufacturing plants in 13 countries. Kraft has been steadily working towards building [...]
Video Tour: Abu Dhabi’s Zero Carbon, Zero Waste Masdar City
Among the highlights of last month’s trip to the World Future Energy Summit was a tour of Masdar City, Abu Dhabi’s living laboratory in sustainable development and what is held out to be among the most sustainable cities ever built (at least in the modern sense). Masdar City has progressed significantly since my last [...]
Occupy Wall Street Goes Virtual, Targeting Apple through Petitions
Apple, a company that has fans like no other company, is facing now a public uproar with two petitions against the company that have managed to collect more than 200,000 signatures in just couple of days. The first, on Change.org calls Apple to “protect workers making iPhones in Chinese factories,” and the second, on SumOfUs, asks the company to “make the iPhone 5 ethically.” This new wave of online activism brings up the question: Is the OWS movement after Apple?
Monsanto’s Foray Into GMOs Goes Into the Weeds
As many critics have long maintained, the proliferation of genetically modified crops would eventually lead to the proliferation of herbicide-resistant superweeds. Hence, we now have a dangerous escalation of chemical warfare in the fields from which our food is being harvested. The “new” herbicide 2,4-D that Monsanto’s latest corn will be resistant to, is actually one of the two active ingredients in Agent Orange of Vietnam War infamy.
Community Planning Projects and the Importance of Stakeholder Engagement
By David Jaber When working for more resilient communities or responsible businesses, one pattern that emerges is that they are more process oriented than results-oriented. This comes across perhaps most clearly in larger-scale planning projects, where a vital piece of the work revolves around stakeholder engagement. As an illustration, a proposed residential/entertainment/hotel complex in [...]
Susan G. Komen Puts Politics Before Purpose, then Backsteps
Update: Susan G. Komen responds to outcry from supporters and reinstates funding to Planned Parenthood. On January 31, the Susan G. Komen for the Cure Foundation (SGK) pulled its grant funding from Planned Parenthood ending a partnership spanning several years and sparking a firestorm of controversy and backlash. With one murky policy decision as its defense, SGK did [...]
Moving Beyond Green: The Rainbow Within CSR
Are people who care about CSR all only focused on environmental issues? It is important to investigate further what are the values that people care most about in corporate performance.
Is Novo Nordisk Really the Most Sustainable Company in the World?
Last week Novo Nordisk, the Danish pharmaceutical firm was ranked number one on the Global 100, a leading sustainability ranking. How do you actually determines which company is the most sustainable one in the world? Is Novo Nordisk really entitled to be awarded with this title, at least for 2012?
The Best of Opportunity Green – Sustainability Goes Mainstream
In case you missed one of the top sustainability events of the last year, The Best of Opportunity Green created by the team at Yoxi.tv provides a number of actionable quotes from the thought leaders that attended the conference. Piloted by co-founders Karen Solomon and Mike Flynn, Opportunity Green works to “inspire a collaborative culture of new thinking and unconventional ideas that push [...]
Fundraising for Social Marketing Campaigns?
Post ads to let Massachusetts citizens express their dismay about recent votes to gut the Clean Air Act. The importance of fundraising as an element of any social marketing campaign is a consideration that should not be overlooked. Many social marketing campaigns are developed by nonprofits and governmental organizations that recognize the value of the [...]
Progress Report: Dow Chemical Partners with The Nature Conservancy
Dow Chemical and The Nature Conservancy (TNC) announced a collaboration last year to help Dow incorporate ecosystem services into its decisions and strategies. How’s it going?
Humane Society Documents Pig Abuse at Major Pork Producer
The HSUS went undercover again to record what’s happening at factory farms, and yesterday we released our latest findings.
Green Procurement and Business: What It’s All About
Flyerzone is an online printing company that offers design agency quality services without charging design agency prices. Drawing on the talent of our international network of artists, we add new designs and templates to the site every day, offering our customers a huge range of choices all in one place, at a price they can afford.
We do this by integrating our environmental philosophy with our commercial model: by reducing waste, recycling and using vegetable-based inks, Flyerzone uses as few resources as possible without compromising on the quality of its work. By sourcing 99 per cent of our paper from Forest Stewardship Council-certified forests, we ensure our business is sustainable in both the commercial and the environmental sense.
Introducing Twitter’s New Censorship Policy
Twitter announced on January 27 that it is implementing a new policy to reserve the right to withhold tweets at the request of a government.
Does Sustainability Increase Profits or Not?
A UN-backed survey conducted by Globescan and SustainAbility, of 642 senior executives, campaigners and academics found that the vast majority feel that pressure to deliver short-term financial results is impeding their sustainability efforts. Of course the sluggish economy has been a challenge, but do companies today really have to choose between profitability and sustainability or is this a false choice?
Chip Conley on Becoming Your Own CEO: Chief Emotions Officer
“We are living through an era where we are all being asked to be CEO’s, Chief Emotions Officer,” says Conley. It was through understanding his emotions via emotional equations that helped him get through a period of struggle in his life.
ePrognosis Brings Risk Assessment into Medical Care Planning
ePrognosis is a new tool that allows health care practitioners to easily incorporate life expectancy into medical care planning for the elderly. More informed medical decision making promises wiser use of health care resources as well as improved quality of life for the elderly.
Current Engagements
Where We’re Going
Have your event listed here.
Webinar: Feb 17Greening Stonyfield Farm: As a consultant with Stonyfield Farm for the past 12 years, Switzer Fellow Tim Greiner will discuss efforts to broaden and deepen sustainability within the company. He will discuss the company's efforts to track its environmental impacts, barriers the company had to overcome.
Webinar: Feb 29Product Scorecards for Sustainability: Product scorecards that detail and evaluate environmental and sustainability aspects of products are increasingly adopted by leading companies. This webinar covers the best practices in this area and a case study by Seventh Generation.
NY: Mar 19-20Wall Street Green: The longest running and most comprehensive environmental market event in the industry. The Wall Street Green Summit covers cutting edge content, industry developments and features the practitioners and the leaders of tomorrow.
Bay Area: Mar 22-23GRI Certified Training: Demand for sustainability experts is growing rapidly as companies look for proven professionals. For companies, GRI trained employees mean faster implementations and better use of the GRI Sustainability Reporting Framework. Join our partner ISOS group for this two day session. Early bird discounts apply!
SF: Mar 26-28Cleantech Forum San Francisco: The 2012 Cleantech Forum San Francisco will mark the 10th anniversary of Cleantech Forums, the annual gathering of the global clean technology innovation community. Our theme this year is “The Power of Global Partnerships,” an exploration of how strategic relationships are playing an ever more important role in the future of clean technology. For a $300 Discount use code "VIPofTriplePundit " More Info.
SF: April 10-12 Navigating the American Carbon World: The must-attend event for professionals in the carbon landscape. Over the past decade, NACW has consistently provided informative content, thoughtful discussions and outstanding opportunities for collaboration.
Have your event listed here.
Webinar: Feb 17Greening Stonyfield Farm: As a consultant with Stonyfield Farm for the past 12 years, Switzer Fellow Tim Greiner will discuss efforts to broaden and deepen sustainability within the company. He will discuss the company's efforts to track its environmental impacts, barriers the company had to overcome.Webinar: Feb 29Product Scorecards for Sustainability: Product scorecards that detail and evaluate environmental and sustainability aspects of products are increasingly adopted by leading companies. This webinar covers the best practices in this area and a case study by Seventh Generation.NY: Mar 19-20Wall Street Green: The longest running and most comprehensive environmental market event in the industry. The Wall Street Green Summit covers cutting edge content, industry developments and features the practitioners and the leaders of tomorrow.Bay Area: Mar 22-23GRI Certified Training: Demand for sustainability experts is growing rapidly as companies look for proven professionals. For companies, GRI trained employees mean faster implementations and better use of the GRI Sustainability Reporting Framework. Join our partner ISOS group for this two day session. Early bird discounts apply!SF: Mar 26-28Cleantech Forum San Francisco: The 2012 Cleantech Forum San Francisco will mark the 10th anniversary of Cleantech Forums, the annual gathering of the global clean technology innovation community. Our theme this year is “The Power of Global Partnerships,” an exploration of how strategic relationships are playing an ever more important role in the future of clean technology. For a $300 Discount use code "VIPofTriplePundit " More Info.SF: April 10-12 Navigating the American Carbon World: The must-attend event for professionals in the carbon landscape. Over the past decade, NACW has consistently provided informative content, thoughtful discussions and outstanding opportunities for collaboration.Have your event listed here.
Partners
Recent Comments