This document discusses how small businesses can build value through sustainability. It outlines sustainability principles and trends, noting that sustainability presents both challenges and opportunities for small businesses. These include rising costs, changing consumer expectations, and stronger regulations posing challenges; but also potential for emerging markets, attracting top talent, and becoming the company of choice. The document provides examples of sustainability actions small businesses can take and stresses that sustainability is not a fad but an emerging megatrend and major business opportunity for small companies.
This document discusses the need for organizations to adopt a systems approach and thinking in order to thrive in a resource-constrained environment. As resources become limited, organizations will need to continually reduce their resource intensity and move towards providing services instead of products. The future depends on shifting paradigms towards systems thinking where organizations manage the flow of value through integrated processes while reducing loss and waste.
Dr Ariane David Moderates a Panel Discussion on Sustainability and ODThe Veritas Group
The document outlines an agenda for an upcoming conference on sustainability and organizational development. It will include presentations on sustainability in business, sustainable transformation efforts, LEED certification and customer service, performance management, and Walmart's sustainability efforts. The document then discusses definitions of sustainability, noting it means different things to different people but generally refers to practices that can continue indefinitely without harming the environment or society. It presents sustainability as consisting of three pillars - environmental stewardship, a new economic model, and social justice. The document argues organizational development can help organizations implement sustainable practices and presents Ray Anderson's sustainability transformation of Interface as an example. It concludes by discussing motivations for sustainability and the skills needed for organizational development practitioners to help with sustainability efforts.
You never felt fully part of this world where you had to make a living. Somewhere along the way, you had your “Blue Marble” moment… seeing that the world is interconnected, sacred, beautiful. And it is under threat. This is the moment where you were called to service...
Business Case for Sustainability Presentation Laura Dunkley
Building the Business Case for Sustainability - Challenges, Identify the Decision Makers, Hierarchy of Business Needs, Reasons Sustainability Initiatives are not Adopted, Success Stories, Resource Links
Enhancing sustainability in the extractive natural resources sectors, Jan 2013Sasin SEC
John Poulsen is a CSR and natural resources management specialist, with extensive experience from South and Southeast Asia. His work transcends numerous extractive sectors, including mining, forestry/plantations, and oil/gas.
THoMer Kristien zooms in on the challenges our world is facing today and the sustainable answers businesses have come up with. How purpose-driven is your company?
Leading Change for Sustainability: Oct 2013 Sasin SEC
The document summarizes a presentation by Robert Steele on leading change for sustainability. It discusses how the world system is changing rapidly and humanity has exceeded several planetary boundaries. It defines sustainability and sustainable development. It presents tools for assessing current realities, developing strategies, and embedding change, including the sustainability compass and amoeba model. It outlines a seven-step process for sustainability transformation and emphasizes credibility, collaboration, meeting stakeholders where they are, and influencing influencers. The overall message is about the urgent need for systemic change towards sustainability and approaches for driving that transformation.
The document provides an annual report from the Sasin Center for Sustainability Management (SCSM) summarizing its activities in 2014. It highlights that SCSM hosted 40 public events attended by over 1,400 people, delivered 8 executive workshops, and expanded its network by 50%. It embedded sustainability in Sasin curriculum through courses and panels, provided training to corporations, and partnered with organizations to promote sustainability.
This document discusses the need for organizations to adopt a systems approach and thinking in order to thrive in a resource-constrained environment. As resources become limited, organizations will need to continually reduce their resource intensity and move towards providing services instead of products. The future depends on shifting paradigms towards systems thinking where organizations manage the flow of value through integrated processes while reducing loss and waste.
Dr Ariane David Moderates a Panel Discussion on Sustainability and ODThe Veritas Group
The document outlines an agenda for an upcoming conference on sustainability and organizational development. It will include presentations on sustainability in business, sustainable transformation efforts, LEED certification and customer service, performance management, and Walmart's sustainability efforts. The document then discusses definitions of sustainability, noting it means different things to different people but generally refers to practices that can continue indefinitely without harming the environment or society. It presents sustainability as consisting of three pillars - environmental stewardship, a new economic model, and social justice. The document argues organizational development can help organizations implement sustainable practices and presents Ray Anderson's sustainability transformation of Interface as an example. It concludes by discussing motivations for sustainability and the skills needed for organizational development practitioners to help with sustainability efforts.
You never felt fully part of this world where you had to make a living. Somewhere along the way, you had your “Blue Marble” moment… seeing that the world is interconnected, sacred, beautiful. And it is under threat. This is the moment where you were called to service...
Business Case for Sustainability Presentation Laura Dunkley
Building the Business Case for Sustainability - Challenges, Identify the Decision Makers, Hierarchy of Business Needs, Reasons Sustainability Initiatives are not Adopted, Success Stories, Resource Links
Enhancing sustainability in the extractive natural resources sectors, Jan 2013Sasin SEC
John Poulsen is a CSR and natural resources management specialist, with extensive experience from South and Southeast Asia. His work transcends numerous extractive sectors, including mining, forestry/plantations, and oil/gas.
THoMer Kristien zooms in on the challenges our world is facing today and the sustainable answers businesses have come up with. How purpose-driven is your company?
Leading Change for Sustainability: Oct 2013 Sasin SEC
The document summarizes a presentation by Robert Steele on leading change for sustainability. It discusses how the world system is changing rapidly and humanity has exceeded several planetary boundaries. It defines sustainability and sustainable development. It presents tools for assessing current realities, developing strategies, and embedding change, including the sustainability compass and amoeba model. It outlines a seven-step process for sustainability transformation and emphasizes credibility, collaboration, meeting stakeholders where they are, and influencing influencers. The overall message is about the urgent need for systemic change towards sustainability and approaches for driving that transformation.
The document provides an annual report from the Sasin Center for Sustainability Management (SCSM) summarizing its activities in 2014. It highlights that SCSM hosted 40 public events attended by over 1,400 people, delivered 8 executive workshops, and expanded its network by 50%. It embedded sustainability in Sasin curriculum through courses and panels, provided training to corporations, and partnered with organizations to promote sustainability.
workshop at International Program Green Sustainable Economy at UCN Aalborg, 2013. Contribution from Hogeschool Utrecht, HU University of Applied Sciences Utrecht
TrustLaw is a global pro bono service that connects NGOs and social enterprises with large law firms and in-house legal teams. It has made over 2200 connections in 60 countries, providing over $70 million in pro bono legal support. This support ranges from daily commercial needs to cross-border research on issues like human rights, health, and the environment. TrustLaw also publishes reports on pro bono trends, including growth in Asia and an increase in formal pro bono programs among Fortune 500 companies. Sustainable pro bono practices include strong management support, dedicated leadership, engagement of staff, and strategic planning.
This document provides a summary of Chris Oestereich's background and expertise. It lists his work experience leading zero waste programs at grocery stores, as well as his writing contributions to various publications. It also outlines his education, including an MBA from Olin Business School and a Masters in Environmental Management from Harvard. The document promotes Chris Oestereich's consulting services for developing circular economy and zero waste programs in supply chains and retail.
Top companies focus on building leadership through a full spectrum of assessments, development programs, and succession planning aligned with business strategy and culture. They develop self-aware leaders who can build resilience in others. Engaging leadership is focused on purpose, authenticity, and connectivity. Sustainable leadership programs are integrated with organizational culture and drive accountability for growth and performance.
Practical tools for mainstreaming and measuring sustainability in organizationsSasin SEC
The document provides an overview of the AtKisson Accelerator and its tools and processes for mainstreaming sustainability. The summary is:
1) The AtKisson Accelerator uses a comprehensive set of tools including indicators, systems analysis, innovation, and strategy to help organizations mainstream sustainability.
2) Its core methodology involves using indicators to develop a systems understanding, then identifying innovations and creating strategies to implement changes.
3) The Pyramid process is one of its training tools that takes groups through its indicators, systems, innovation, and strategy (ISIS) framework to build sustainability understanding.
Mini-workshop: How a sustainability mindset can make your company stand outSasin SEC
This document discusses embedding sustainability as a core part of business strategy and operations. It introduces the AtKisson Sustainability Framework and Accelerator toolkit, which use a systems-thinking approach to help organizations transition from "bolt-on" sustainability efforts to having sustainability fully embedded within their business model, operations, culture and mindset. The framework guides organizations through understanding material issues, developing indicators to measure performance, analyzing the systems influencing trends, and identifying innovations and strategies to accelerate progress towards sustainability goals. An exercise walks participants through an initial application of the framework to identify opportunities for a hotel to become a leader in integrated sustainability.
Travis Green kicked off the PNODN year with a talk on Green OD. After a 30 minute mingle Travis had us engadge in a dialogue about the meaning of "Green" "Sustainable" and "OD" in the phase "We are committed to being a ______ organization". Members reported a perception shift when thinking about what they heard in those three statements. Then, we were off.
The group explored the jargon and came to an understanding that this concept of sustainable change is being defined. Some suggested it is part of the design work we do to define this with our cleints. One strategy that was illuminating was to start with what they already doing that is sustainable.
We talked about the challenges of Sponsorship and education about systems. We had questions about what tools to use and process consulting was a recommendation from Travis.
Members talked about notion of the "triple bottom line", and how the language of accounting and profit predominats the mental models that run organizations. The group talked about our role to bridge that language to sustainable concepts for our clients in ways that are meaningful to them.
What conversations are you having with your clients about sustainability.
At the end of the evening members were lively and continued the converstaion. In the evaluation of the event particpants reported the topic to be highly relevant to their work. The content contained new inforamtion for the majority. Everyone who completed the survey said they had met someone they would like to collaborate with. What would that look like?
Michael The Business of Rural Development Nov 2012Sasin SEC
Dr. D. Michael Shafer trained in Government (PhD Harvard) and spent 25 years teaching political science at Rutgers University and consulting in the areas of international development, community re-creation after conflict, and higher education reform. He is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and a 21st Century Fellow.
In 2008, he and his wife started Warm Heart, a community development organization serving northern Thailand. He is particularly interested in attracting investment to rural communities in order to establish dynamic, sustainable, income generating, social wealth creating centers of community growth. Dr. Shafer is also the founder and president of Second Harvest Power Co. (Thailand), Ltd., a start-up green power company which will soon build its first agricultural waste fired community power plant.
This document discusses the ethical responsibilities of businesses in four areas: employees, environment, society, and shareholders/owners. For employees, businesses have responsibilities to pay fair wages, provide a safe and respectful workplace, and avoid harming employees' livelihoods. Regarding the environment, businesses should minimize pollution, conserve resources, and limit harm to wildlife. For society, businesses should obey laws, balance short-term profits with long-term prosperity, and avoid exploiting communities. Finally, businesses have duties to earn profits for shareholders who invested in the company.
The document discusses how innovation and disruption are changing business models. It provides examples of companies like Uber, Facebook, and Airbnb that have become large and successful without owning traditional business assets. These new business models are disrupting traditional industries. While innovation and disruption both create change, disruption completely transforms existing markets and industries through new, more efficient solutions. To survive disruption, businesses must innovate, build flexibility, and iterate quickly. Innovation is no longer just for growth but is now required for survival in today's rapidly changing environment.
Environmental Sustainability has become an important aspect of business today. But many businesses aren't sure what to make of it. This is an introductory lecture about sustainability and how it can be practically related to business.
Smartup Movement – A New Narrative for SustainabilityDemos Helsinki
1) Smartups are temporary organizations that aim to disrupt markets through radical innovation that serves new needs and makes unsustainable lifestyles obsolete. They focus on areas like transportation, housing, energy, and food.
2) Thanks to their small size and agility, smartups can efficiently operate in changing environments and find ways to increase resource utilization through sharing platforms and optimizing physical inputs with smart technologies.
3) There is a convergence occurring around energy, the internet, housing, transportation, and food driven by technology and natural resource megatrends. Smartups are hitting these big markets by becoming more efficient and sustainable.
The document discusses the transition from white collar to green collar careers. It notes that there are an estimated 9 million green collar jobs in the US focused in areas like renewable energy, energy efficiency, and green building. Key skill sets in demand include those in energy, telecommunications, and public relations. The document provides resources for finding green jobs and outlines the business case for sustainability education and green careers.
Presentatie Inholland Nickvbreda (aanpassingen)-1Nick van Breda
This document provides an overview of Nick van Breda and his career path from gaming addict to social entrepreneur. It outlines his timeline from 2002-2012 when he spent 400 days gaming, to quitting gaming in 2013 and going on to win research papers and present to professors. His goals are outlined as training 1 million people by age 30 to turn ideas into jobs and prepare a society of changemakers. Various tips and strategies are provided around topics like scaling startups, crowdfunding, and leadership. Global issues are listed and the reader is prompted to set goals and identify needed resources. Exponential vs linear growth and types of organizations are contrasted.
What is sustainable enterprise and why do we need it?Jeremy Williams
Jeremy B Williams gave a presentation to Latino Australia Education at Griffith International in Brisbane, Australia on May 13, 2014 about sustainable enterprise. He discussed the need for urgent climate action this decade and introduced concepts of sustainable enterprise including the business case, a model for sustainable enterprise involving eco-efficiency, social responsibility and more. He concluded by emphasizing the need to inspire people with a vision of the world and themselves that motivates climate action rather than making people feel guilty.
Tim Warner of the Jericho Foundation on how they have worked in Birmingham with some of the most excluded groups to increase their skills and help them into work. Tim talks of the opportunity to link work on energy efficiency with providing local employment. This presentation was given to a workshop at the West Midlands Regional Observatory Annual Conference, 20th October 2009.
In this increasingly complex and uncertain world, companies must develop leaders who inspire and engage people to run a thriving business sustainably. This interactive session will provide OD and HR professionals, whether internal practitioners or external OD consultants, with a better understanding of the imperative for leaders to mainstream sustainability into their enterprises.
A empresa de tecnologia anunciou um novo smartphone com câmera avançada, tela grande e bateria de longa duração por um preço acessível. O aparelho tem como objetivo atrair mais consumidores para a marca com especificações poderosas a um custo menor que os principais concorrentes. Analistas esperam que o lançamento ajude a empresa a ganhar participação no competitivo mercado de smartphones.
workshop at International Program Green Sustainable Economy at UCN Aalborg, 2013. Contribution from Hogeschool Utrecht, HU University of Applied Sciences Utrecht
TrustLaw is a global pro bono service that connects NGOs and social enterprises with large law firms and in-house legal teams. It has made over 2200 connections in 60 countries, providing over $70 million in pro bono legal support. This support ranges from daily commercial needs to cross-border research on issues like human rights, health, and the environment. TrustLaw also publishes reports on pro bono trends, including growth in Asia and an increase in formal pro bono programs among Fortune 500 companies. Sustainable pro bono practices include strong management support, dedicated leadership, engagement of staff, and strategic planning.
This document provides a summary of Chris Oestereich's background and expertise. It lists his work experience leading zero waste programs at grocery stores, as well as his writing contributions to various publications. It also outlines his education, including an MBA from Olin Business School and a Masters in Environmental Management from Harvard. The document promotes Chris Oestereich's consulting services for developing circular economy and zero waste programs in supply chains and retail.
Top companies focus on building leadership through a full spectrum of assessments, development programs, and succession planning aligned with business strategy and culture. They develop self-aware leaders who can build resilience in others. Engaging leadership is focused on purpose, authenticity, and connectivity. Sustainable leadership programs are integrated with organizational culture and drive accountability for growth and performance.
Practical tools for mainstreaming and measuring sustainability in organizationsSasin SEC
The document provides an overview of the AtKisson Accelerator and its tools and processes for mainstreaming sustainability. The summary is:
1) The AtKisson Accelerator uses a comprehensive set of tools including indicators, systems analysis, innovation, and strategy to help organizations mainstream sustainability.
2) Its core methodology involves using indicators to develop a systems understanding, then identifying innovations and creating strategies to implement changes.
3) The Pyramid process is one of its training tools that takes groups through its indicators, systems, innovation, and strategy (ISIS) framework to build sustainability understanding.
Mini-workshop: How a sustainability mindset can make your company stand outSasin SEC
This document discusses embedding sustainability as a core part of business strategy and operations. It introduces the AtKisson Sustainability Framework and Accelerator toolkit, which use a systems-thinking approach to help organizations transition from "bolt-on" sustainability efforts to having sustainability fully embedded within their business model, operations, culture and mindset. The framework guides organizations through understanding material issues, developing indicators to measure performance, analyzing the systems influencing trends, and identifying innovations and strategies to accelerate progress towards sustainability goals. An exercise walks participants through an initial application of the framework to identify opportunities for a hotel to become a leader in integrated sustainability.
Travis Green kicked off the PNODN year with a talk on Green OD. After a 30 minute mingle Travis had us engadge in a dialogue about the meaning of "Green" "Sustainable" and "OD" in the phase "We are committed to being a ______ organization". Members reported a perception shift when thinking about what they heard in those three statements. Then, we were off.
The group explored the jargon and came to an understanding that this concept of sustainable change is being defined. Some suggested it is part of the design work we do to define this with our cleints. One strategy that was illuminating was to start with what they already doing that is sustainable.
We talked about the challenges of Sponsorship and education about systems. We had questions about what tools to use and process consulting was a recommendation from Travis.
Members talked about notion of the "triple bottom line", and how the language of accounting and profit predominats the mental models that run organizations. The group talked about our role to bridge that language to sustainable concepts for our clients in ways that are meaningful to them.
What conversations are you having with your clients about sustainability.
At the end of the evening members were lively and continued the converstaion. In the evaluation of the event particpants reported the topic to be highly relevant to their work. The content contained new inforamtion for the majority. Everyone who completed the survey said they had met someone they would like to collaborate with. What would that look like?
Michael The Business of Rural Development Nov 2012Sasin SEC
Dr. D. Michael Shafer trained in Government (PhD Harvard) and spent 25 years teaching political science at Rutgers University and consulting in the areas of international development, community re-creation after conflict, and higher education reform. He is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and a 21st Century Fellow.
In 2008, he and his wife started Warm Heart, a community development organization serving northern Thailand. He is particularly interested in attracting investment to rural communities in order to establish dynamic, sustainable, income generating, social wealth creating centers of community growth. Dr. Shafer is also the founder and president of Second Harvest Power Co. (Thailand), Ltd., a start-up green power company which will soon build its first agricultural waste fired community power plant.
This document discusses the ethical responsibilities of businesses in four areas: employees, environment, society, and shareholders/owners. For employees, businesses have responsibilities to pay fair wages, provide a safe and respectful workplace, and avoid harming employees' livelihoods. Regarding the environment, businesses should minimize pollution, conserve resources, and limit harm to wildlife. For society, businesses should obey laws, balance short-term profits with long-term prosperity, and avoid exploiting communities. Finally, businesses have duties to earn profits for shareholders who invested in the company.
The document discusses how innovation and disruption are changing business models. It provides examples of companies like Uber, Facebook, and Airbnb that have become large and successful without owning traditional business assets. These new business models are disrupting traditional industries. While innovation and disruption both create change, disruption completely transforms existing markets and industries through new, more efficient solutions. To survive disruption, businesses must innovate, build flexibility, and iterate quickly. Innovation is no longer just for growth but is now required for survival in today's rapidly changing environment.
Environmental Sustainability has become an important aspect of business today. But many businesses aren't sure what to make of it. This is an introductory lecture about sustainability and how it can be practically related to business.
Smartup Movement – A New Narrative for SustainabilityDemos Helsinki
1) Smartups are temporary organizations that aim to disrupt markets through radical innovation that serves new needs and makes unsustainable lifestyles obsolete. They focus on areas like transportation, housing, energy, and food.
2) Thanks to their small size and agility, smartups can efficiently operate in changing environments and find ways to increase resource utilization through sharing platforms and optimizing physical inputs with smart technologies.
3) There is a convergence occurring around energy, the internet, housing, transportation, and food driven by technology and natural resource megatrends. Smartups are hitting these big markets by becoming more efficient and sustainable.
The document discusses the transition from white collar to green collar careers. It notes that there are an estimated 9 million green collar jobs in the US focused in areas like renewable energy, energy efficiency, and green building. Key skill sets in demand include those in energy, telecommunications, and public relations. The document provides resources for finding green jobs and outlines the business case for sustainability education and green careers.
Presentatie Inholland Nickvbreda (aanpassingen)-1Nick van Breda
This document provides an overview of Nick van Breda and his career path from gaming addict to social entrepreneur. It outlines his timeline from 2002-2012 when he spent 400 days gaming, to quitting gaming in 2013 and going on to win research papers and present to professors. His goals are outlined as training 1 million people by age 30 to turn ideas into jobs and prepare a society of changemakers. Various tips and strategies are provided around topics like scaling startups, crowdfunding, and leadership. Global issues are listed and the reader is prompted to set goals and identify needed resources. Exponential vs linear growth and types of organizations are contrasted.
What is sustainable enterprise and why do we need it?Jeremy Williams
Jeremy B Williams gave a presentation to Latino Australia Education at Griffith International in Brisbane, Australia on May 13, 2014 about sustainable enterprise. He discussed the need for urgent climate action this decade and introduced concepts of sustainable enterprise including the business case, a model for sustainable enterprise involving eco-efficiency, social responsibility and more. He concluded by emphasizing the need to inspire people with a vision of the world and themselves that motivates climate action rather than making people feel guilty.
Tim Warner of the Jericho Foundation on how they have worked in Birmingham with some of the most excluded groups to increase their skills and help them into work. Tim talks of the opportunity to link work on energy efficiency with providing local employment. This presentation was given to a workshop at the West Midlands Regional Observatory Annual Conference, 20th October 2009.
In this increasingly complex and uncertain world, companies must develop leaders who inspire and engage people to run a thriving business sustainably. This interactive session will provide OD and HR professionals, whether internal practitioners or external OD consultants, with a better understanding of the imperative for leaders to mainstream sustainability into their enterprises.
A empresa de tecnologia anunciou um novo smartphone com câmera avançada, tela grande e bateria de longa duração por um preço acessível. O aparelho tem como objetivo atrair mais consumidores para a marca com especificações poderosas a um custo menor que os principais concorrentes. Analistas esperam que o lançamento ajude a empresa a ganhar participação no competitivo mercado de smartphones.
The document warns about the dangers of mixing caffeine, alcohol, guarana, and taurine in energy drinks, noting that this combination can be deadly. It also mentions meeting a girl who is a student at St. John's University and includes some random numbers and formatting that do not provide essential information. The document questions whether to drink or not drink.
Laminine is a dietary supplement sourced from fertilized avian eggs that contains 22 amino acids, minerals, vitamins, and fibroblast growth factor (FGF). FGF is claimed to help with brain function, healing, stem cell production, and other benefits. Clinical studies on Laminine suggest it can reduce signs of aging, build collagen, boost energy, burn fat, and improve mood, among other effects. The document promotes Laminine by discussing the importance of amino acids and proteins for the body and claims Laminine provides a complete source.
This document contains 9 flashcards that all list the same school, CEIP Francisco de Velasco in Baza, suggesting they are Valentine's Day flashcards for students of that school to send to each other. Each flashcard has a number but no other text or images.
Agrolution supplies a comprehensive range of Technology and Services for companies and farmers operating in the agribusiness.
The best selected equipments and installations for modern and efficient farms and food factories.
www.agrolution.com
1. The document contains a mathematics exam paper for Form 4 students with 22 pages. It has two sections (Section A and B) and includes questions, formulas, and diagrams.
2. Section A contains 11 multiple choice questions worth 52 marks total. Section B contains 4 extended response questions worth 48 marks total. Students must answer all questions in Section A and 4 questions from Section B.
3. The exam paper tests students on topics like algebra, geometry, trigonometry, statistics, and probability. Formulas are provided that may help with answering questions.
This document analyzes standardized test score data from 2007-2010 for different grade levels at a school. It found that scores increased significantly from 3rd to 4th grade one year but not from 4th to 5th grade. It suggests investigating the reading curriculum and how well students transition from primary to middle school. The school has since developed a program to evaluate the reading program and added a resource specialist to help students with learning needs. A study is also examining the primary to middle school transition through parent/student surveys and test score analysis.
This document summarizes key lessons from the movie Chak De India about teamwork. It discusses how the movie follows 16 girls from different backgrounds who come together to form India's women's hockey team despite initial doubts. It highlights how their coach Kabir Khan helps them realize their potential and shows faith in the team. Some important lessons are that having the right attitude of playing for the country first and having a team-first mentality are crucial for success. Working as a cohesive team where everyone contributes towards a shared goal is more effective than individuals competing with each other.
How to use “Green” Business methods to create (More) Profits (for All)Douglas Lezameta Risco
What’s a “Green” or Sustainable Business?
The “Doux Commerce” Principle: no transparency, no business deal - it’s in your best self-interest to act in a transparent way.
Adam Smith explaining the Dutch superior trading skills.
Smith postulated that Reputation is extremely important in Business.
Jane Jacobs, a top American anthropologist (1992) stated on Humans: either we steal, or we trade to make a living (51-53).
The document discusses appreciative inquiry and its use in designing positive institutions that focus on strengths. It describes how appreciative inquiry involves elevating strengths, combining strengths, and extending organizations through an egalitarian design process. The document also provides examples of how appreciative inquiry summits have been used to design sustainable initiatives and innovations in various organizations.
These slides are from a workshop I facilitated for the Sasin Center for Sustainability Management (a Net Impact affiliated organization) at Chulalongkorn University.
1. The document outlines steps that companies can take to integrate sustainability into their business strategies and operations, including building a business case, committing senior resources, setting baselines and goals, addressing organizational resistance through collaboration and innovation, and fully integrating sustainability into the company's culture and processes.
2. It provides examples of sustainability goals and strategies from companies like Unilever and Dow Chemical that create value for both business and society.
3. The document concludes by discussing emerging views that the purpose of business needs to change to bring more value to society through approaches like shared value creation.
Purpose Up - Doubling down in tough times by Barkley + JefferiesBarkley
Now is not the time to shrink back on sustainability and ESG criteria, it is time to double down with focus and clarity. These are the findings from our third annual report Purpose Up | Doubling Down in Tough Times, a joint research study with Jefferies.
This document summarizes a two-day workshop on sustainable value and profit. The workshop will explore how social and environmental issues can create business opportunities through cases studies of companies like GE, Walmart, and Unilever. Participants will discuss innovations in sustainable value using Appreciative Inquiry methods to identify organizational strengths. The goal is to envision what business and sustainability will look like in 2014.
David Cooperrider and Chris Laszlo team up for an executive education leadership program on creating sustainable value through whole system Appreciative Inquiry methods. The course is taught at the Weatherhead School of Management at Case Western Reserve University and in companies around the world.
The document discusses advances in appreciative inquiry theory and positive institutions. It describes how appreciative inquiry involves shifting perspectives to see problems as opportunities and everything as a miracle. Positive institutions are defined as organizations that elevate, connect, and magnify human strengths. Examples are provided of how appreciative inquiry was used in large-scale collaborations with hundreds of organizations to design sustainable value networks and initiatives.
Green Business 101: This one-hour class covered the business case for sustainability, the range of approaches that companies can take to green their operations and image and a few case studies of industry leaders.
A recording is available here: http://bit.ly/ysIZ1A Taiga Company
Sustainability and Social media together offer a refreshing and innovative approach to business. But, can social media be a catalyst for green businesses?
Sustainability And Economic Developmentjohncleveland
The document discusses sustainability and its connections to economic development. It defines sustainability as meeting present needs without compromising future generations' ability to meet their needs. Economic development strategies can support community sustainability initiatives or sustainable business practices. Businesses benefit from improving their environmental performance through eco-efficiency, innovation, and reducing their impacts on natural capital.
Who Will Be the Rock Stars of Corporate Sustainability?Victoria Zelin
This article was written in January, 2010, based on my presentation at the conference, Science, Wisdom, and the Future: Humanity's Quest for a Flourishing Earth in 2009. Published as a book of the same name in 2012 by Collins Foundation Press as a compilation of essays by scientists, philosophers, economists, educators, activists, artists and business people.
http://www.collinsfoundationpress.com/
The Role Of Eco-Entrepreneurship Education In Forming A...Samantha Caldwell
The document discusses sustainable business practices and a conference for organizations pursuing sustainability. The 3-day conference in the Monterey Bay area welcomes local, national, and international food and beverage companies with sustainable business goals. These goals include minimizing materials and emissions, providing local jobs, and donating to communities. The conference allows organizations to share ideas and strategies for green practices like recycling, conservation, and smart technology. Members work toward the shared goal of environmental stewardship.
What are the work attributes and background macrotrends affecting job growth in the \'sustainability\' field? A presentaiton delivered at the ORC West Coast Meeting, Sep 2009, Dana Point, CA
Business strategies for sustainable developmentrynbouc
The document discusses strategies for businesses to adopt sustainable development practices. It defines sustainable development as meeting the needs of a business and its stakeholders today while also protecting resources for future generations. The document outlines steps businesses can take to integrate sustainable development into their management systems, including performing a stakeholder analysis, setting policies and objectives, and enhancing reporting and decision-making processes. The overall message is that sustainable business practices make good business sense and will provide competitive advantages by earning community support and adapting to environmental and social trends.
Presentation on Stuart Hart's Sustainable Value Matrix as a tool and framework for understanding corporate sustainability (for our Principles of Sustainable Management class 2013)
In this presentation, given to 30 Next Gen members of AFBN, I spoke about the need (and opportunity) for Next Generation leaders to retool themselves and their family businesses.
This document provides an overview of corporate social responsibility (CSR). It begins by outlining the agenda, which includes defining CSR, trends driving CSR, challenges, and opportunities. It then discusses differing definitions of CSR and emphasizes a strategic definition. Key trends driving greater CSR adoption are identified as declining trust in business, millennial values, consumer preferences, growth of socially responsible investing, and increasing NGO influence. Challenges include regulatory complexity, consumer indifference, perceived high costs, and critics of CSR. However, the document also outlines opportunities in developing new products and markets, strengthening brand equity, professional services, risk mitigation, and continuous innovation.
Zodiac Signs and Food Preferences_ What Your Sign Says About Your Tastemy Pandit
Know what your zodiac sign says about your taste in food! Explore how the 12 zodiac signs influence your culinary preferences with insights from MyPandit. Dive into astrology and flavors!
Presentation by Herman Kienhuis (Curiosity VC) on Investing in AI for ABS Alu...Herman Kienhuis
Presentation by Herman Kienhuis (Curiosity VC) on developments in AI, the venture capital investment landscape and Curiosity VC's approach to investing, at the alumni event of Amsterdam Business School (University of Amsterdam) on June 13, 2024 in Amsterdam.
Best Competitive Marble Pricing in Dubai - ☎ 9928909666Stone Art Hub
Stone Art Hub offers the best competitive Marble Pricing in Dubai, ensuring affordability without compromising quality. With a wide range of exquisite marble options to choose from, you can enhance your spaces with elegance and sophistication. For inquiries or orders, contact us at ☎ 9928909666. Experience luxury at unbeatable prices.
Garments ERP Software in Bangladesh _ Pridesys IT Ltd.pdfPridesys IT Ltd.
Pridesys Garments ERP is one of the leading ERP solution provider, especially for Garments industries which is integrated with
different modules that cover all the aspects of your Garments Business. This solution supports multi-currency and multi-location
based operations. It aims at keeping track of all the activities including receiving an order from buyer, costing of order, resource
planning, procurement of raw materials, production management, inventory management, import-export process, order
reconciliation process etc. It’s also integrated with other modules of Pridesys ERP including finance, accounts, HR, supply-chain etc.
With this automated solution you can easily track your business activities and entire operations of your garments manufacturing
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6. What it means for small
business
Declining
resources and ecosystem
services
Increasing
demand for resources and
ecosystem services
Rising Commodity/Operational Costs
Changing Consumer/Community
Expectations
Stronger Regulations
7. “Sustainability is the single
biggest
business opportunity of the
21st
century and will be the next
source of competitive
advantage.”
Lee Scott, CEO Wal-Mart
The Sustainability
Solution
9. Emerging Markets
$277 Billion Total Sustainable Market
$815 Billion by 2015
LOHAS Journal
Become Company of Choice
2/3 likely to switch to more Sustainable Brand
Cone Roper: All else equal, 2/3 likely to switch
Top Talent:
97% would take less $ to work at Sustainable company
65% believe Resource Scarcity will significantly impact
business
Stanford/Harvard Studies
Emerging Trends
10. A Look At Your Company
What are the biggest challenges
facing your company?
12. Slow geological cycles
(volcano eruptions and
weathering)
Closed system with
respect to matter
1) Nothing
disappears
2) Everything
disperses
Open system
with respect to
energy
Solar energy
turns plants into energy
for the rest of us
Understanding Cycles
13. Sustainability Principles
What we TAKE from the Earth’s crust
(eg, oil, minerals and other metals)
Reduce & Eventually Eliminate…
Substances that that STAY in nature
(eg, plastic or PCB’s)
Physical DEGRADATION of nature
(eg, paving wetlands, over harvesting)
BARRIERS to people meeting their
needs
15. Small Business,
Big Opportunities
Awareness: TNS Training &
Discussion Groups
Baseline: Biggest Impacts =
Travel & Influence
Compelling Vision: “To have zero
net impact by 2020”
Down to Action….
Example:
FMYI
16. Small Business,
Big Opportunities
•Sustainable transportation
•Sustainability education is
key
• Energy reduction & offsets
• Recycling
• Green Purchasing
• Community Engagement
• Opening up new markets
Down to
Action
18. Small Business &
Sustainability
Anticipate & Respond quicker
Test FRESH ideas
Scale good ones rapidly
Investment, not a cost
Start Small, Think Big!
19. A Look At Your Company
What are the most intriguing business
Opportunities related to Sustainability?
(e.g. generating visibility, new markets,
retaining employees, building relationships)
20.
21. QuickTime™ and a
Graphics decompressor
are needed to see this picture.
QuickTime™ and a
Graphics decompressor
are needed to see this picture.
22. Bridging The Gap
Think of 3-5 things
1.) You can do to bridge the gap between
Challenges & Opportunities
2.) Assets you can build on
(e.g. strong community relationships, recycling
facilities close by, culture of innovation, financial resources)
23. Not a Fad,
An Emerging Megatrend
Next: The Sustainability
Megatrend
Welcome to….
Eco Assist Consulting helps organizations thrive using the principals of sustainability todrive innovation and build long term value.
Today I’m goin to talk to you about how sustainability can build value for small business through differentiation, innovation, cost savings, new business opportunities and more.
My goal is to help you develop a principle-based understanding of sustainability, and the opportunities and threats relevant to small businesses. Today you’ll hear about an internationally recognized sustainability assessment & planning framework, practice applying sustainability principles & develop a rough action plan for next steps your business can take.
Me to tell you a little about myself…always interested in community/environmentl issues…shift with kids=I thought “there has to be a better way”=YGR…lead to requests to help organizations…since become trained in TNS methodology of SSD, EPA’s EMS and more…EAC…I also come from a family of entrepreneurs and so I recognize the challenges facing SME’s.
EAC is a sustainability consulting firm that was founded on the premise that everyone has potential to be sust. Leader. We cater to unique needs biz/individuals to equip them with the tools/info/skills that advance sustainable business strategies & lifestyle practices. We use something called TNS, a science based and internationally recognized sustainability assess/planning framework to advance the well-being of local business, people and natural environments.
TNS is flexible and scalable meaning it can be used with corporations as large as Nike to some as small as single households. Today we’ll talk about how it can be applied to small and start up businesses.
When we talk about TNS we’re really talking about a few key components:
Global Perspective—why should we care?
Systems thinking—tend to see pieces of the whole and not interconnectedness
Sustainability Principals—bedrock.
Backcasting—beginning with the end in mind. Strategic steps to sustainability.
Board: Because we’re going to be talking about some of the challenges and opportunities for small biz, lets throw up some common challenges small business face>>>record—(increasing costs, building relationships, differentiating, visibility, staying competitive). As we walk through some of the examples I think you’ll see how sustainability can help overcome some of the challenges common to small business and how it really is a natural extension of most small business’ long-term goals. We’ll come back to this later but for right now, I’d like to talk about what sustainability means
I imagine that all of you have different defnitions of sustainability –and that’s ok because there is no single definition. Most people describe it as the need to balance people, planet and profit.
This used to be viewed as a fringe movement-whole sustainability movement. But now, if you’ve been reading the paper or watching tv you’ve seen some of these headlines or similar ones. Sustaianbility used to be viewed as a fringe movement BUT These messages about the decline in natural resources and related social issues-used to be coming from groups like the sierra club and Greenpeace but in the last few years that’s changed as we’ve begun to sense that this is more than a moral imperative-it’s a strategic issue that is shaping the future of business.
A good way to visualize the forces driving this shift to mainstream is to imagine a funnel walls represent 2 converging trends. Demand is outstripping supply. Resource scarcity will be a common problem in the near future
The walls represent the pressure we feel ($, lack of resources etc.) & as we move further in, we feel greater pressure & have less options.
In 2005, the MA showed that 15 of the world's 24 ecosystem services are being degraded or used unsustainably. In business terms, this meant that nearly two-thirds of the "company's" 24 divisions examined are in the red; only four are profitable, while the other five showed mixed results regionally.
World Economic Forum: Scarcity of natural resources will leave the consumer industry exposed to higher and more volatile pricing in little more than a decade & Stressed communtiies that expect more from the companies that operate in their areas.
If we continue developing the way we’re developing, the farther into the funnel we move, the less options we have.
Our GOAL is to open this funnel up and eventually become restorative…starting with businesses.
This is our backdrop…this underscores everything else we do.
Operational prices going up
Community Expectations that businesses help restore natural environments..at least not dammage them
Consumers wanting sustainable products, employees wanting more
Commodity products prices going up
Complying with increasingly strong regulations
As this happens, resource scarcity becomes a strategic issue, commodity prices rise and stakeholder expectations change to reflect a growing awarness of these pressures. From a small business perspective, sustainability isn’t about philanthropy or even putting the environment before quality or customer needs-a bankrupt business isn’t sustainable and a really great green product or service isn’t very helpful if no one buys it. We’re talking about intelligent business strategies that drive innovation, create long-term value and preserve the natural and social systems that we all rely on.
Anheiser Bush—fixed problem///
Supplierrs nd customers takin note
At the same time, there is growing expectation that business should create positive value or at the very least, reduce its’ negative impacts on the communities it operates in. These pressures are increasing and encroaching on business’ capacity to create value.
Thik of S as a wide angle
It doesn’t matter what industry you’re in, the environment underpins your success
Anheuser Busch??
Similarly, there are no big business issues that won’t eventually be small business issues too.
Millenium Ecosystem Assessment…UN global Population/increasing affluence.
The use of freashwater has trippled during the last 50 years. And water is a finite resource.
• The use of fossil fuels has increased 5 times the last 50 years.
• More than 50 percent of the worlds wetlands has disappeared to give place for agricultural land, roads and societies.
• The growing car park stands for 30 percent of the total use of energy in the world and 85 percent of oil consumption.
We’ve actually arrived at a point where we will need 5 extra planets to support consumption trends if everyone lived like us.
Over the past 10 years, these issues have encroached up on businesses capacity to create value for its customers and other stakeholders. The opportunity here is to reduce costs through energy efficiency but also through resource efficiency.
There are no quick fixes but there are tremendous opportunities! The biggest on is to create more value with less stuff for more people.
The opportunity here is to create competitive advantage by building more value with less stuff for more people…this is of particular importance because as availability goes down, the risk of input shortages up. Chrysler
Operational prices going up
Community Expectations that businesses help restore natural environments..at least not dammage them
Consumers wanting sustainable products, employees wanting more
Commodity products prices going up
Complying with increasingly strong regulations
From a small business perspective, sustaianability isn’t about philanthropy and it’s not about putting the environment before quality or customer needs. Sustainability is about intelligent business strategies that create resilient businesses and preserve the natural and social systems we all rely on.
Tomorrow’s leading brands won’t just be selling more product, they’ll be providing healthier solutions that create more value with less stuff for more people.
In order to do this, we have to stop viewing our businesses and yes, even our homes, in isolation of our community or environment.
We need to shift our thinking.
Especially important for SME’s is how S. practices translate into reputation, trust and legitimacy in the local community. These perceptions influence our long-term performance and viability.
And therein lies the greatest opportunity of the 21st century.
And so the question isn’t whether sustainability is something we need to be thinking about-it’s how you leverage today’s realities to position yourself well tomorrow’s market before the competition does.
Where small business usually gets hung up is thinking that these global issues don’t impact them and that they don’t have much of an impact. Small businesses don’t have smoke stacks coming out of their home offices or hazardous material leaching from their buildings. But everyone uses resources, travels, makes purchasing decisions and occupies a facility. Each of these represents an opportunity to lower costs, differentiate and innovate.
Short List available to small biz:
Consumers shifting purchasing criteria towards sustinability.
Asking about impacts their purchases have on communities/families, how it was made and whom they’re buying it from.
Not only ones taking note!! Coke, Clorox and Colgate Pamlolive have bought out/invested sustainable businesses to help them enter the Green market (think Burts Bees, Honest Tea and Tom’s of Main). And for a small business that wants to break into a major retailer Walmart, P&G, they’re asking about your sustainability score! P&G won’t work with you unless you know what yours is.
According to the LOHAS Journal, roughly 63 million Americans shifting purchasin criteria based on “sustainability” considerations – this represents a market of $227 billion—815 by 2015…THEY’RE FOCUSING ON HEALTH
2/3 have greater trust in companies that are aligned with a social issue, and 2/3 said that they would be likely to switch to a brand aligned with a good cause, all else equal
IBM released a study ealier this year that found that 65% of under/grad students believe resource scarcity will become an issue for the companies they work for.
More than 97% of survey respondents were willing to forego financial benefits to work for a company with a better reputation for CSR and ethics (Stanford)
Gen Y::Survey after survey reaveals they are already sensitized to sustainability issues-these people represent tomorrow’s informed consumers, top tallent AND competitors. If they’re sensitized to the problem, they’re also sensitized to the solution. Generation Y is the reason Boeing started looking into their sustainability practices because they were no longer attracting top talent
Operational prices going up
Commodity products prices going up
Complying with increasingly strong regulations
So let’s look at how some small businesses have used sustainability to build their value.
When the Natural Step started they had the objective to define what is sustainability by understanding how the natural cycles work.
But we couldn’t – the system is too complex and we don’t know all of the ways we can be sustainable-THOUGHT some things were safe (ddt).
So we asked the question, “what are we doing that we should not do?” With enough understanding of natural systems we can understand the basic ways we’re breaking the system down..
With an understanding of the natural laws of the system, through a scientific, consensus based process, the Natural Step was able to devise system conditions for sustainability
This image represents the Earth’s basic systems, the way nature was designed to work. For billions of years these systems have been running, creating habitable conditions for life. The earth is Open, closed, what is here now wil be here 10- years from now. Signficant b/c earth designed cycles where and “Waste” from one cycle is food for notice how there are no landfills in nature. Slow geological cycles means heavy metals and oil are introduced slowly
So looking at this image, how might we be breaking the system down?
SLOW ecological cycles….
Taking too much from the earth’s crust-faster than it can replace (relatively large flows of materials) (e.g. oil, copper, minerals and other metals)
Make too much that stays in nature (introducing persistent compounds) (e.g. DDT or plastics)
Physically encroaching upon nature physically inhibiting the ability of nature to run cycles (e.g. paving wetlands, over harvesting)
Creating barriers to people meeting their basic needs creating barriers that inhibit the ability of other people to meet their basic needs (e.g. lack of access to education, health, or freedom of expression)
Where a compass helps an individual know where true North is and the uses this point to guide their movements, these principals help organizations or communities know where sustainability is and guide their innovation efforts towards this point.
1.) Taking too much from the earth’s crust-faster than it can replace and deposit it into biosphere where it damages life in biosphere (relatively large flows of materials) (e.g. oil, copper, minerals and other metals INSTEAD Reduce our dependence on fossil fuels.)
2.) Make too much that stays in nature (introducing persistent compounds) (e.g. DDT or plastics Substitute persistent and unnatural compounds with ones that are normally abundant or break down more easily in nature.)
3.) Physically encroaching upon nature physically inhibiting the ability of nature to run cycles (e.g. paving wetlands, over harvesting INSTEAD: Draw resources only from well-managed ecosystems, using resources and land efficiently and fairly.)
4.) Creating barriers to people meeting their basic needs creating barriers that inhibit the ability of other people to meet their basic needs.(e.g. meeting employee needs—creating SAFE working environments, community & global level INSTEAD Fair Trade / Preserve and create opportunities to allow people to meet their needs. )
So the question isn’t whether sustainability is something we need to be thinking about—its bout how to capture these opportunities first so that sustinability becomes an issue for your competitor –not for your own company-because you’ve already made sustainability an integral part of your business”
But HOW?????? We need a framework-a basic planning structure-to turn sustainability from something nice that we want into something concrete we can plan for. Sustainability should be viewed as a means to achieve business goals more sustainably. It is not an additional layer of responsibilities, but a system that can be integrated to strategically guide business goals.
This is the ABCD framework for sustainability planning.
Awareness-what does sustainabilty mean?
Baseline operations to find out what their biggest challenges and opportunities were.
Compelling vision of success that inspired others and tapped into a shared sense of purpose
Down to action-they made sure that every intitiave made sound financial sense for their company and embedded a new way of thinking into their day to day operations.
Key questions:
Does it move us in the right direction? Is it reducing our violation of the sust. Principals?
Is it a flexible platform? Can we expand on this as new information becomes available? Key Quations: WHAT NEXT?
ROI? Financial and non financial. Small businesses—need financial but nonfinancial can be just as, if not more, important as we’ll see here in a minute.
So, let’s look at a bottle of water and run it through the sustainability principles to see where we might be able to make improvements.
This is FMYI…they’re a small software service (10 employees) that provides online collaboration for work teams that the companay calls a ‘sustaianable office’. As a service provider, their internal footprint may seem small compared to consumer products companies but it's integrated sustainability into the way it grows and develops and has achieved more in the past few years than many of their larger competitors: All of FMYI employees participate in sustainability training , It differentiated itself from its competitors by offering it clients a way to improve their sustainability performance on a day to day basis by using FMYI’s services.
workshops and scavenger hunts to reduce waste and energy consumption, employees are encouraged to telecommute and given alt. transport options, it’s reduced energy consumption by changing settings on electronics and purchasing efficient appliances, is striving towards a paperless office, recylces and purchases carbon offsets to reduce impacts from its emissions.
After looking at their violations they found their biggest impacts were transportation. All of FMYI employees participate in sustainability training , It differentiated itself from its competitors by offering it clients a way to improve their sustainability performance on a day to day basis by using FMYI’s services.
workshops and scavenger hunts to reduce waste and energy consumption, employees are encouraged to telecommute and given alt. transport options, it’s reduced energy consumption by changing settings on electronics and purchasing efficient appliances, is striving towards a paperless office, recylces and purchases carbon offsets to reduce impacts from its emissions.
Pick a few examples…
BUT this isn't just in the name of ‘doin good’. FMYI is a bootstrapped business and all of these things lead to cost savings for the company.
For example:: integrating S. into how they do business has created visibility, speaking opportunities and differentiation. In the past year, Yuen has been invited to participate in a conference panels on sustainability along with Intel Corp., Wal-Mart Stores Inc.,Sodexho, NBC Universal, Ernst & Young and Global Hyatt Corp.
They found a sustainability-related need with their customers and released a service that addressed it. They created a new sales channel by expanding their services to include employee sustaianbility engagement platforms.
FMYI isn’t an anomaly, as it happens, sme are uniquely positioned to take on sustainability. Typically, small businesses have stroner relationships with their clients and can anticipate and respond to their needs quicker. Their agility allows them to capture new opportunities first, test new ideas and scale good ones rapidly.
Small business can stay at the cutting edge-It might take 2 years for a project in a big business to research, test and implement
For small business, these are investments in long-term viability. For big business, it’s now a cost.
Larger businesses now are spending millions to re-engineer their products and services or introduce new programs piecemeal to meet customer expectations-this is a HUGE cost whereas smaller businesses who’ve been doing this from the beginning can meet those needs first.
Most importantly, if they adopt sustainability principals now, it just becomes the way they do business and develop instead of having to go back and retool their operations when they’re bigger and the job is more costly.
Hot Lips Pizza, is another small business with 2 stores in Portalnd Oregon. Hot Lips Pizza makes good pizza, but so did the pizzaria down the street. After being in business for over 10 years it struggled to differentiate itself and became a money losing operation. But in 2000, the owner was introduced to something called The Natural Step-a sustainability planning framework- and began looking for ways to align the stores with sustainable practices and to distinguish his business from its competitors.
There was a point when some believed social media to be a fad..passing trend. They underestimated the power and potential of Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook. I think one of the big lessons from the Web is that things that seem to start small can actually be utterly transforming
Sustainability isn’t a fad and it’s not going away not just good for the community it’s good business practice.
Part of the reason it’s not going away is because it’s smart business strategy. The other reason it’s not going away is because of the funnel. We have to stop thinking of sustinabiity as an add-on or an annoying cost; but rather a way of doing business that helps you achieve your larger business goals. As we saw with both FMYI and Hot Lips, sustainability was a way to save money, differentiate and open up new markets.
It only took a couple of years for LEED certification to become de facto among architects and now, non-green buildins are becoming obsolete. I think there is sufficient reason to believe the same will be true of business.
Consider the fact that the fastest growing segment of the utilities industry is renewable energy, in food and agriculture I’ts oranic, travel it’s eco-tourism.
These trends aren’t being driven by the fringe. The presiden’ts cancer panel is now recommendin we eat organic, ditch the plastic, closely examine the products we buy for common toxins and turn out the lights to reduce air pollution in our communities.
There is no finish line with sustainability-the most important thing we can do now is to just begin. Begin looking at your internal operations-smaall businesses usually don’t have smoke stacks jutting out of their offices or toxic waste to deal with but every organization occupies a facility, uses transport, makes purchasing decisions and has influence over others-customers/suppliers/community- and finally examine the challenges and opporutnities your business can leverage.
Let’s go back to the list of challenges. I think that we talked about ways sustainability can help address most of these.
If you would like to learn more about how your business can leverage sustainability we offer complimentary consultations. You can also check out YGR for news, reviews and guides on sustaianble business.