1. 1
SUSTAINABLE NORTH BAY 2015
ENTERPRISE SUSTAINABILITY
SURVEY RESULTS AND REPORT
Sustainable NorthBayisa small organizationlocatedinRohnertPark,California. Annually Sustainable
NorthBay puts onthe sustainabilityenterpriseconference hostedbySonomaState University.The
eventaddressessustainable actsbeingperformedinthe NorthBayandhelpsshedsome lightonthe
growingindustryof sustainability.Thisreportwascreatedtounderstandthe currentconditionof
sustainabilityinthe NorthBayAreaand analyze the industries,theirsustainabilitypracticesandhow
optimistictheirorganizationsare aboutthe future practice of sustainability.
The bestway to understandanorganization’ssustainabilitypracticesistoobtaininformationfrom
Owners,CEO’sandemployeeswhohave firsthadexperience withthe sustainabilityeffortsof their
organization.Inordertoobtainall the necessaryinformation anonlinesurveywascreated,asking
questionsaboutsustainabilityeffortsof thatspecificorganization.Once the surveyhasbeencompleted
the resultswe uploadedandthe analysiswascompleted.
For thisreport117 surveyswere takenfromdifferentindustriesacross the NorthBay including
Manufacturing,TechnologyandAgriculture. The industrywiththe mostfrequentresultswas Non-profit/
Governance with23%. OrganizationsfromMarin,Sonomaand Napacounty were askedtocomplete the
survey.Resultsshowthat61% of the employee’sthattookthe surveywere locatedinSonomaCounty.
The remainderof thisreportwill gointofurtheranalytical andvisual detailsaboutthe resultsof the
report,includingwhichsustainable activitiesare the mostimportanttoan organization,where the
effortsof sustainabilityare headingandfurtheringthe practicesforthe NorthBayarea residents,
businessandlocal communities.
“Sustainability is the ability to be upheld or the quality of being aware and protective of the natural
resources and environment during economic and population growth.”

2. 2
Industry Category (%) Number of
company
Agriculture 13% 15
Education 8% 9
Health Services 6% 7
Hospitality 3% 3
Manufacturing 11% 13
Non-Profit/Govt. 24% 28
Other 16% 18
Prof/Financial
Services
6% 7
Real Estate &
Construction
3% 4
Retail/Wholesale
Trade
4% 5
Technology 6% 7
In Total 100% 116
15
9
7
3
13
28
18
7
4
5
7
Sustainability by Industry
Agriculture
Education
Health Services
Hospitality
Manufacturing
Non-profit/
Government
Industry
There are 117 companies from
this survey, but one of them
didn’t fill up the industry (this pie
chartis based on 116 as a data
base). In order to get unbiased
data, our team sent out survey to
different industries throughout
North Bay area. From the results,
6 organizations outof 117 are
from outside the bay area.
Among those organizations,the
non-profit/Governments ranked
the highest, which shows 24%.
The agriculturetook up 13%
among all of the industries.
Manufacturingranked very
closely to the agriculture,which
was 11%. We can attribute
agricultureas oneof the most
sustainableindustry at13%,with
a majority of those companies
being wineries.We found the
results of the Non-profit/
government industry to be
accurate,after speakingwith
some of the respondents it’s
clear that non-profithas a huge
push to become even more
sustainability friendly in the
future.

3. 3
Will there be change?
The knowledge of whether North Bay
businesses will see change within the
next yearare shown on this bar graph.
The top two answers from companies
were that they will see more activity
within the next year and they will have
the same level ofsustainabilityefforts as
the yearbefore. This shows that most
local companies do have an
understanding of sustainability and are
puttingforth the effort. Local businesses
are planning ondoingmore sustainable
changes within the next year which
shows this is part of their companies’
agenda andnot a “wellget to it when we
get to it” attitude. They can/are focusing
on renewable energy, recycling, and
healthy lifestyle changes, or saving
water. The answer “I don’t know”, can
show the person/company does not
understand the definition of
sustainability. This shows that not
everyone within the North Bay has an
effort in sustainability and we want to
push forevery company, resident, and
community to at least do one thing
towards a sustainable and preserved
future.
Quote-JacksonFamilywinesis a family
run businessthat understands the
frameworks of sustainabilityandthe
ends results when the business makes
these efforts. Byfocusingon water
conservation, reductioninenergyuse,
the socialcomponent of being good
employers, neighbors, and community
members JacksonFamilyWines is the
perfect example of what we at
SustainableNorth Bay are tryingto
educate the community on how it
can make a great impact.
55
50
6 6
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
More activity Same Activity Don’t Know Blank
RESPONSES
ACTIVITY LEVEL
Sustainability efforts in the next 12 months
“Sustainability is extremely important for the long term
health of our communities in the North Bay and the
conservation of the beauty of our local landscapes.”
-Katie Jackson

4. 4
Sustainable Activity (%) Number of Replies
None 3% 3
OtherActivities 25% 29
Environmental Works/Clean-ups 43% 50
Carpools,BikesandPublicTransit 44% 51
Local Foods 48% 56
Local Purchasing 56% 65
CommunityService 56% 66
EnergyEfficiency 71% 83
Water Usage 73% 85
HealthyLifestyle 77% 90
Recycling 83% 97
97
90
85
83
66
65
56
51
50
30
29
3
0 20 40 60 80 100 120
Recycling
Water Usage
Community Service
Local Foods
Environmental Works/ Clean-ups
Other Activities
Responses
Activities Encouraged sustainability activities by
organizations
Getting Active
Our survey asked participants
to check off any of the
sustainable activities that
their organization has
initiatives for. Each
organization has specific
sustainableactivities that are
more related to their
business processes than
others, however looking at
the results table we can see
that both Recycling and
Water usage are two of the
three highest practiced
activities. Both of which have
been heavy pushes from
California in the past few
years. Healthy lifestyle was
also in the top three, many
organizations give financial
incentives to employees
participating in health
initiatives. The three lowest
sustainable activities were
Zero Waste, Other Activities
and None. The three
responses that answered no,
saying there are no
encouraged sustainable
activities from their
organization also marked
never for their organization’s
reporting efforts.

5. 5
Report Wrap-Up
Thissurveywasintendedtobringa betterunderstandingof the NorthBayand itscurrent sustainable
situation.The resultshowthatalmosteveryrespondent(exceptthe 3) have some sortof sustainability
initiativefromtheirorganization.We see thatalmosteveryindustryhassustainableactsinplace to
furtherthe effectivenessof theirefforts.Mostimportantlythissurveywascreatedsothatorganizations
can understandthe needforsustainabilityintheirorganization.It’sgettingthemtofocuson success
todayfor a more sustainablefuture tomorrow andwe know the future of sustainabilityinthe NorthBay
will continue toincrease,ouranalysisshowsthat47% of the organizationswhotookthissurveywill
continue togrow theirsustainableefforts. The message of sustainabilityisclearinthe NorthBay, “We
havemadeit ourmission to provethatsustainability is notcharity.It is theessential building block of our
neweconomy”thiscommentleftbya participantfromthe constructionsector solidifiesthisreport,and
the understandingthatsustainabilitywill continue tobe anessential elementforasuccessful economy.
About the Researchers
Marcus Bronsordholdsa BS inBusinessAdministrationfromDeVryUniversity witha
concentrationinProjectManagement.He iscurrentlyinhissecondyear inthe MBA
program at SonomaState University.Marcushopestobecome a private consultantinthe
future once he has receivedhisMaster’s. Currentlyhe isworkingata smallersnowboard
shopin SantaRosa and wouldlove continuingintothatindustryof small business.He also
managesa successful BBQcateringcompanyinthe East Bay.
Jingmei holdsaB.A.inEnglishTranslationfromGuangdongUniversityof ForeignStudiesin
China.She permanentlymovedtothe U.S.in2013. Currentlyshe isan MBA studentat the
SonomaState UniversityWine BusinessInstitute,graduatinginMay2016. She is interested
inlearningandgainingexperience inall aspectsof the wine business.She isconcomitantly
pursuingherDiplomaof Wine andSpiritEducationTrust(WSET).She isplanningon
obtainingacertificate inviticulture andoenologyprogramfromSanta Rosa JuniorCollege.
Jingmei isamazedbythe wine industryandthrivesincombiningherlanguage skillswithher
wine education.
Katie hasa bachelor’sdegree inHospitalityManagementwithanemphasisinFood&
Beverage ManagementfromSanJose State Universitywhereshe alsowasaDivision1
women’svolleyball student-athlete.Katie iscurrentlypursuinganMBA at SonomaState
Universityandwishestofindacareerin eitherMarketingorHumanResources.She wishes
to obtaina certificate inHumanResource Managementinthe future.She isdeterminedto
finda well-establishedcompanytoworkforwhowill take herundertheirwingandteach
heras muchas possible.Katie’sdreaminlifeistobecome arestaurantownerthat focuses
on local, organic,andsustainable foodwithasweettwist.Rightnow she isworkingona
foodblogto helpperfecthercookingskillsandrecipe’sforherdream.