LewisPerkins

Beyond the initial excitement of attending official GRAMMY Week events, presented by The Recording Academy in Los Angeles this month, was the increasing promise of corporate involvement in sustainable business practices. This continued commitment on the part of business to build smarter, cleaner, more efficient business models was evidenced by thought leaders at the GRAMMY Green Summit on Friday, February 10 at L.A. Live. Many of you may remember reading last year’s article on the greening of the music industry Green Leadership at the GRAMMYs.

This year’s Green Summit, titled “The Sound of Social Change” moved beyond the industry and expanded to conversation to several of The Recording Academy’s corporate partners and leaders in community engagement and communication. Again, Waste Management, an official sponsor of The GRAMMY Awards, stepped in to present this informative summit on the many ways businesses are going green. The panel participants were Bridgette Bell, Global Sustainability Manager for Yum! Brands, William Brent, EVP of Weber Shandwick’s Cleantech, Michael J. O’Brien, VP of Corporate and Product Planning at Hyundai, Jennifer DuBuisson, Assoc. Manager of Global Sustainability at Mattel, Tim Sexton, founding partner at Sexton Group and Greg Baldwin of the Environmental Media Association. Each company was able to dialogue about the ways in which their business and partners are incorporating a more long term business view when development products or services that meet the needs of an evolving consumer – be that a reduction of packaging waste with toys or a more fuel efficient automobile with Hyundai. For a review of that discussion on GRAMMY.com go here: It’s East Being Green.

Wanda Williams, Director of Alliances and Industry Relations at Waste Management introduced the panel and clearly articulated her company’s continued commitment to the greening of partnerships and their partner organizations. The company continues to be in a strong leadership position as the largest recycler in North America. For Waste Management, the ability to expand their vision of sustainability depends greatly on their corporate partners and alliances. It’s not unlike Walmart’s commitment to ensuring their sustained growth of it’s partners in reducing environmental impact, knowing that teir impact is reduced as their supply chain responds. For Waste Management, these alliances mean increasing their mission beyond waste collection and growing the business of single stream organics, waste-to-energy and landfill gas-to-energy with their facilities across the USA, China and Europe. As they state, “being on the back end of waste collection means that Waste Management is the deciding factor in where every piece of it’s customers waste stream goes, what life it will have and what role it will play in an increasingly technology reliant supply chain.”

Each of these company representatives on the GRAMMY Green Summit panel commented on the strong power of partnership in order to advance developments in sustainability. The nature of the work of both Shandwick Weber and The Sexton Group is to elevate the communications around sustainable initiatives for their clients or business sectors as a whole. Which brings us to why each of these companies see the value in bringing their story to an official GRAMMY sponsored event. I suspect most of us are well aware that we live in a culture where entertainment news leads. When we can couple our stories of change with an artist or music related event, then social and environmental change is a sweeter pill to swallow. Tim Sexton spoke of the long term relationship between celebrities and social cause – and their ability to rapidly elevate perceptions and recognition of need in the world. Sexton’s participation as producer of events such as LIVE 8 and Rock the Vote, have given him a front row seat – literally – to directing and witnessing the strong impact of the entertainment industry on social change.

Another leader in environmental change was present at the panel that morning – Allen Hershkowitz - Senior Scientist with the National Resource Defense Council (NRDC). Hershkowitz and I spoke prior to the Green Summit panel discussion. From him I learned about the various ways NRDC collaborated with The Recording Academy to green the show and week of events. The NRDC provided a team of volunteers attending all events to ensure Environmental compliance including:

1. ENERGY: The entire production of live broadcast at the 54th GRAMMY Awards was powered by 100% renewable energy

2. FOOD: The GRAMMY celebration featured reusable china and glassware. The menu included locally grown and produced meet, produce and dairy. All seafood was sustainably sources. Leftovers donated to local food banks.

3. RECYCLING: Waste Management provided recycling bins throughout the LA Convention Center for the pre-telecast and official after-party. All plastic, aluminum, bottles and paper were collected for recycling at both the Convention Center and Staples Center. Organic Waste was composted.

4. PAPER: All incoming ticketing requested handled electronically. Many of the GRAMMY week invitations and RSVP were handled electronically to reduce paper waste. Any paper used was between 50 and 100% recycled content

5. DECOR: Most furniture and set pieces on staged were either rented or reusable.

6. TRANSPORTATION: The Recording Academy partnered with RideAmigos (http://www.rideamigos.com/) to provide sponsored rideshares for award attendees.

You can learn move about the GRAMMY’s commitment to green and their sustainable offices on their website: http://www.GRAMMY.org/green.

My question to other corporate sustainability leaders and clean tech entrepreneurs who may be reading this article is how are you finding your widest audience, and elevating the work of your partnerships and alliances? Finding new outlets to communicate your social and environmental change and successes helps all of us continue the commitment to evolving our own businesses, amplifying our stories to increase awareness. While change will occur in the hands on consumer behavior, the greatest level of redirecting the ship occurs at the level of large scale business. And large scale business tooting it’s own horn, potentially at The GRAMMYs.

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If you have been following my writing for Fast Company, you know that I tend to highlight positive corporate involvement in sustainable measures that benefit planet and humanity. I use this platform to bring forward stories of companies–and the men and women who represent them–committed to positive change. Lately, that interest has expanded into the role of how a company (and the products and services it provides) is able to change not only it’s own behavior, but that of a greater community of stakeholders. The many ways in which we citizens of the planet are called to evolve our behavior to meet the a growing list of environmental and social needs, it can become quite staggering. That is why I believe a company who actively contributes to such shifts in human behavior is one that acts in a more socially and environmentally responsible way.

Filter For Good

This past February, I had the honor of introducing a panel for the Grammy’s (The Recording Academy) and Waste Management on the topic of the “Greening of the Music Industry”. One of my more recent Fast Company posts highlights part of this event and the themes discussed. As I previously introduced Drew McGowan of Brita, I spoke about his role with the company’s sponsorships of concerts and music tours. A simple google of “Filter for Good” and you will see dozens of examples of how the brand has interacted with some of the best music performers of our day–Dave Matthews, Jack Johnson, Willy Nelson Cheryl Crow and Lady Antebellum among them. A few weeks back, I was able to track down Drew and speak with him in further details about the company’s involvement with filtered water trends and education–specifically the company’s interest in moving the next generation away from single-use plastic bottled and toward a continued filtered water practice. What better place to do this than at a music concert or campus event.

If you have paid any attention to environmental or corporate social responsibility news over the past few years, you will know that bottled, tap and filtered water industries have all played a part in the delicate dance of producer responsibility, distribution and marketing in this country. In my conversation with McGowan it was clear that Brita wants to fill a market need for a water consumer who prefers the taste of filtered over tap and perhaps the lower environmental footprint of filtered over bottled. The are no grand and sweeping claims than demonize tap water or try to convince consumers that they are poisoning themselves every time they brush their teeth. The war here (if there is one) is on the vast amounts of consumer packaging in the form of PET (polyethylene terephthalate) that ends up in U.S. landfills or perhaps worse, our rivers and streams, each year. Recently, I met with Dr. Marcus Erikson, marine biologist, and learned more about the 5 ocean gyres of floating plastic around our globe. Talk about an ecological crisis. This topic deserves more attention, but I”ll leave that to he bloggers over at E Magazine or Mother Jones.

So, sticking to the corporate responsibility topic, what’s so great about Brita’s campaign? As referenced above, it partners with college campuses and concert tours which reach the youth market to influence all kinds of sustainable behavior change. The rise of the green music tour allows for more socially and environmentally responsible clothing, food, and concert promotion to influence a rising generation of decision makers. The best example is Brita’s “hydration stations.” These stations allow concert goers to refill their reusable water bottles with filtered water on site. When traveling for concerts and events, these station are portable trailors. Back home, businesses can now install these stations into their facilities to help provide clean filtered water to employees, customers and other guests. Raising awareness of the next generation of American consumers and giving them the tools to make better environmental decisions is the way we will bring about compounded positive change.

There is no doubt that recycling plastic bottles is still very important global initiative and we all want to encourage as everyone along the bottled water life cycle to get those bottles out of the trash and into recycling, so companies like Coca-Cola and Nestle Waters North American can push forward with a stronger closed looped process for PET recycling. I love the vision of a bottle back to bottle world. But remember that it still takes an amazing amount of energy and resources (in the form of coal, petroleum, water and human capital) to produce bottled water in the first place–let alone collect, transport, sort and recycle those PET bottles once we are done drinking from them. And today, only 25% of the PET bottles out there are making it back to recycling. That means the other 75% go to waste. With Brita product solutions, at the end of the concert or any other special event, we reduce the vast volumes of bottles to be collected and sorted as part of the clean up. Let time, less waste.

The future of concert memorabilia will now include a Tour Branded refillable water bottle. And the next trend will be a reusable bottled with a Brita filter included on the lid? This year, Brita launched the all-new Brita Bottle featuring a filter inside allowing consumers to enjoy Brita-filtered water anywhere, anytime. The reusable bottle is BPA-free, dishwasher-safe and recyclable, but I plan on keeping mine for a while.

Yesterday, as I walked into my chiropractor’s office, he announced to me that he is no longer using the bottled watered provided to him by the gym where his office resides. Instead had made an investment in this latest technology from Brita. He is doing his part to reduce his impact, even if it is just in the gym where he works. But he is also influencing others. His small business is working to change behavior of his customers by exposing them to a new way to thinking about hydration while working out. I think I will be the next in line to carry my Brita Bottle in for my next work out.

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REPOSTED FROM FAST COMPANY BY FC EXPERT BLOGGER LEWIS PERKINS
Sun Oct 17, 2010

This blog is written by a member of our expert blogging community and expresses that expert’s views alone.

Over the past few years, I have been watching the role of women increase at the global level. Corporate initiatives such as that of Cisco, Nike, and The Cola Cola Company have embraced the position of women not only within the corporation, but also within the communities they operate. Micro-lending is done predominantly to women with the knowledge that bringing women into the world economy is the predominant ingredient in developing a community, if not a nation. Muhammad Yunus, founder of Grameen Bank, said in 2005–”soon we saw that money going to women brought much more benefit to the family than money going to the men. So we changed our policy and gave a high priority to women. As a result, now 96% of our four million borrowers in Grameen Bank are women.” Corporations such as Whole Foods Market have followed this model with the mission of the Whole Planet Foundation which provides micro-loans to women in global communities where they source products for their stores.

I mention The Coca Cola company above as last month the company announced at the Clinton Global Initiative (CGI) annual meeting that it was “committed to boosting economic opportunities for some 5 million women entrepreneurs in its business system by 2020,” according to the Atlanta Business Chronicle (9/21). “In Africa, Coca-Cola wants to grow its ‘micro distribution centers,’ an independent network of entrepreneurs who distribute Coke’s beverage products to retailers, often by bicycle or pushcart.”

Last Fall, I wrote a Fast Company article (or post) on Bonnie Nixon, Former Director of Environmental Sustainability and Corporate Citizenship. HP–Interview With A Corporate Green Hero. In the process of interviewing Bonnie, I was very aware of a set of skills she brought to the table in mitigating issues with the corporation’s stakeholders in all parts of of the world. That skill-set includes having empathy and understanding for the humans behind the issues. It also includes having a “worldview” perspective that grasps the connectivity of each person to the greater operation of the organization. That greater operation oftentimes includes “the greater good” as companies serve to solve social and environmental issues through the nature of their relationships. Traditionally, women tend to embody the concept of oneness and connectivity as it related to this corporate “greater good.”

Last year, I was inspired to create a blog (or more of a project) which addresses the global nature of women within social and environmental solutions. This project, called Women Are Saving The World Now has led me to interview many corporate women, from Anisa Telwar (president of Anisa International–a company that manufactures cosmetic tools in China) to Hital Muraj (a leader for Cisco in Kenya who manages the company’s relationship in Africa with CGI). In all of these interviews, I see similar traits of empathy and connectivity.

I am writing about this issue today as I believe we are just beginning to see the shift in balance as more women step into a position of leadership within corporations, not out of equality but out of necessity. I don’t mean to say that women have the corner on “heart,” as men certainly posses the ability to lead with heart, but it is women who are more readily able to comprehend the complete balance of the triple bottom line: people, planet and profit–and to put the balance of all three ahead of the profit component alone. To me, this understanding is beyond “doing the right thing” and is more about creating corporations which will survive and even thrive in the current world economic condition. After all, isn’t the true definition of the word “sustain” to hold, carry, nurture, nourish and grow. And, hasn’t this always been the great strength of our women?

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Reprinted from Fastcompany.com

BY FC EXPERT BLOGGER LEWIS PERKINS

This blog is written by a member of our expert blogging community and expresses that expert’s views alone.

****************

In recent months, I find my messages on sustainability to be shifting. That shift is really more of a focus as I have grown in my understanding of a greater issue we face today which makes conservation and environmentalism more relevant to the average American. And this shift is more than a trend or even a mega-trend. It is a movement. A conscious uncovering of a truth which corporations and businesses big and small are beginning to comprehend as a further retooling of all we make and all we do in the world today.

William McDonough and Michael Braungart in their 2002 manifesto Cradle to Cradle: Remaking the Way We Make Things strengthened a now popular dialogue on the need for green chemistry. This is an understanding that while technology and innovation on the planet has been remarkable, if not sheer genius, over the past 60 years since the second World War. However, we have forgotten a very important stakeholder in the name of development and the quest to make the human life easier and more convenient. That stakeholder is humanity. Yes, as sustainability champions we speak about the environment and the planet quite often. And ultimately environmentalist believe that we, humans, are a subset of nature, not a the other way around. However, for the sake of this audience, I will move us aside from the conversation of conscious capitalism as a means to save the earth and move to something much I hope is more relevant to the hearts of the readers. Conscious Capitalism as a means to save mankind.

Now, as a blogger for Fast Company Magazine, perhaps I would want to keep those pie in the sky aspirations of global salvation to myself, however, I believe more and more of the American public, let alone our global family, is silently pondering the future of our species, so why not go there. The “Cultural Creatives”, for those of you who read Paul Ray and Sherrie Ruth Anderson’s 2002 novel of the same name, are the millions of growing Americans (and a fellow International body) who believe there is something pivotal about this particular time in our course. Many fear we could look back on these last 60 years and the period in which we began to poison ourselves with toxic chemicals which caused epidemic increases in cancer, ADHD, allergies, autism and obesity (among many other health concerns). Chemical Body Burden studies conducted by the Environmental Working Group, have revealed that we all carry a low level of chemicals in our body from the moment we are created in our mother’s womb to the present. These chemicals have increased over time so that a child born today is exposed to a myriad of toxins – far greater than our grandmothers.

Now the good news. There is a revolution occurring – the return of consumer insight to the health and wellness of our personal care products which is leading our corporations to reformulate products. This move is away from the creation of products with toxic chemicals and toward a more mindful development of our chemistry.

This “mindful” chemistry is not only green for the earth, it is also conscious of it’s short and long term effects on humans and other animals. It took the proverbial canary for us to realize the toxins in the coal mine. Today as our marine life and amphibians are disappearing, we now know that the chemicals we produce and pump into our cosmetic and personal care product industry are ending up in our water supply and continuing a vicious cycle of toxic exposure. Remember, the ocean denies no river. Dead zones in our oceans miles wide can be directly drawn back to the chemicals leaching into our water systems.

With all of this knowledge in mind, I recently had the benefit of meeting with the CEO of Burt’s Bees, John Replogle and the Vice President of Research and Development, Celeste Lutrario. I am very encouraged to know that companies such at Burt’s Bees not only understand the responsibility they have to produce safe products, but they also embrace their role as a leader in this movement. The great news is it is not just Burt’s Bees, but hundreds of companies which are awakening in the development of better products to meet the health needs of consumers.

In my conversation with Celeste Lutrario, I learned a bit more about some of the chemicals we have all been hearing about in mainstream media today. Celeste spent 20 years in the traditional cosmetic industry where she formulated synthetic skin care and cosmetic products. When she joined Burt’s Bees five years ago, she was anxious to study the benefits of natural products on the skin. She was aware that there were ingredients in use in the US that were banned in other countries due to concern with toxicity. It was a natural move to Burt’s Bees in her role in R&D as she develops products with this mindful chemistry I mentioned before.

Three chemicals Lutrario gave me some insight into are phthalates, parabens and oxybenzone. Phthalates for example, allow products in formulations to become more flexible, squeezable, harden more readily and have a longer shelf life. In and of themselves, these qualities are beneficial to the product use and for the companies’ profitability. However, they are widely overused and the damages which are being caused by such products may be having an effect on our health since some phthalates are suspected carcinogens in humans. They have been banned in other parts of the world.

A second chemical is paraben, a preservative used against mold and bacteria which is inexpensive to use. However, there has been much controversy over their use since studies suggest they can have health effects such as endocrine disruption. Other preservatives such as DMDM Hydantoin, can produce formaldehyde when they break down in a product. High levels of formaldehyde can be dangerous in humans, and studies have shown it to be a suspected carcinogen. The EWG.org Skin Deep database is an excellent source for information about which products producing formaldehyde. Burt’s Bees products are paraben and formaldehyde free. All preservatives they use are approved by the Natural Products Association.

Finally, I learned from Celeste Lutrario about oxybenzone, the active ingredient in products boasting SPF levels. The CDC conducted a study and found that 97% of the participants tested positive for oxybenzone in their urine. We are also finding high levels of this chemical in our water table and it is causing issues with fish reproduction. So, that means the sunscreens we are using are causing a high level of oxybenzone in our earth, water and fish. The problem? In preliminary scientific studies Oxybenzone is showing endocrine disruption characteristics as well as photo-allergenicity. Meaning, if exposed to light, Oxybenzone may be producing free-radicals. So the very ingredient we use to protect us from the harmful rays of the sun, could actually be contributing to free radical damage and possibly skin cancer.

There is so much more I could write on with this topic and I am not here to scare you but rather to help educate. If each of us could go to the Environmental Working Group website and look at the skin deep database, we could learn more about which chemicals we are exposing to our bodies and family on a daily basis. I suggest you take one product out of your bathroom a week, look at the ingredients on the label and educate yourself on the safety of the chemicals being used. It could save your life or that of your children. www.ewg.org and http://www.cosmeticsdatabase.com. And their report on safe sunscreens this season is a MUST for all you beach and pool goers.

And other thing you can be doing it to support your congress men and women regarding the Safe Chemical Act (which reforms the current Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA). Senator Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ) introduced the Safe Chemicals Act 2010, which is intended to enhance the federal regulation of chemicals. Is was previously called the Kids Safe Chemical Act, but we really are addressing all humans, and other species, not just our kids.

And perhaps more than a few of you are reading this entry from work where it might encourage you to carry some of this knowledge into your job and the decisions we make every day in the workplace which can influence and effect the products and services we put out into the world.

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Reprinted from Fast Company Magazine
BY FC EXPERT BLOGGER LEWIS PERKINS

Tue Apr 27, 2010
This blog is written by a member of our expert blogging community and expresses that expert’s views alone.

I wanted to write this week about how important I believe education is in order to transition into a new way of operations in our corporations, communities and homes. Last week, a friend sent me an interview with President Bill Clinton from Digg.com on Earth Day. The first question was “How can we best engage our nation’s youth on the issues surrounding climate change?”

President Clinton replied that empowering our youth to green their schools, create organic schoolyards, develop sustainability curriculum was the most important thing we should all being doing today.

It was no coincidence that during that same week I had spend time to Peg Watson, of the Green Schools Alliance, Rachel Gutter, from the USGBC LEED for Schools and Laura Seydel and her team from the Captain Planet Foundation (developing organic school yards).

I also believe it was no coincidence that I received an email from the Dean of my Business School alma mater, Goizueta Business School, telling us that we had dropped in the US News and World Report Rankings. My question back to him was “where is sustainability in the curriculum?”

As a part of a book project I am working on, I had the benefit to meeting with Hunter Lovins to discuss the future of our country and planet. Hunter, founder of Natural Capitalism Solutions, has consulted with many major organization such as Walmart and the U.S. Department of Energy, but it is during this time that she is spending much of her focus as a founding professor at San Francisco’s Presidio Graduate School. Hunter knows that what Bill Clinton has said is true and also believes that sustainability is the most important discipline we can be teaching our future corporate CEO’s today.

I wanted to use this week’s blog to feature the work of one very diligent social entrepreneur, Tom Feegel and his organization called Green My Parents. I asked Tom to tell me about the program and his overall mission. Tom writes:

GreenMyParents is a revolutionary, nationwide program to help young people teach their peers and parents how to work together to help the economy, earn money at home, and save the planet through simple, everyday actions.

Launched Earth Day 2010, this movement enables youth to bring their insightful perspective on how to reduce their parents’ use of resources and save money at home to make a huge difference in saving the planet and securing their future. Based on the book, Green My Parents, available on
Amazon.com http://amzn.to/GreenMyParents

Our youth environmental leaders will be equipped with the tools and resources to train and educate an additional group of 100 peers each about
eco-friendly actions they can take in their own homes with their families.

By continuing the cycle of recruiting another 100 kids, GMP aims to bring together one million students in an effort to save the planet. Operating with the family pocketbook in mind, kids will find environmental allies in their parents as they work together to bolster family savings, help the economy, and save the planet by conserving home resources through following
and completing “eco assignments.” From reducing water and energy usage to cleaning with non-toxic products, families are estimated to save at least $100, which brings the collective savings of American families to an estimated $100 million over the course of a year.

Environmental Charter High School (ECHS), an award-winning college-prep PUBLIC charter school in Los Angeles, has learned
this week that we are recognized by The White House and the Department of Education for academic excellence and has been named a finalist in President Obama’s Race to the Top High School Commencement Challenge.

To vote for ECHS http://bit.ly/Vote4ECHS

ECHS is one of six public schools selected to compete for a presidential commencement address from Obama, the only school
in CA and the only environmental school. The Commencement Challenge invited the nation’s public high schools to submit applications.

“At ECHS the question is not whether you will go to college. It is which college will you go to?” said student Jordan
Howard, is the editor of GreenMyParents, and a senior at ECHS. Jordan is a fantastic representative for the student body of ECHS, and her web site is

http://jordaninspires.com/.

Thank you Tom!

I believe this work is very relevant to the readers of FastCompany magazine. It is from THIS work and THIS training that we are going to find the next wave of innovative leaders and the very people who will help us retool our corporations to safely and responsibly operate in the world. When I met with Rachel Gutter last year to discuss her work with the USGBC, she told me that the kids today are sustainability literate. They know no other way. They are engaged in solutions and operate with a collaborative world-view approach. From what I have learned from Tom, this is not only true, but the vital skills needed as we transform business.

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Reprinted from Lewis Perkins – “Semantic of Sustainability” – FastCompany.com

So I think we can all admit by now that “green washing” is a thing of the past and most consumers are savvy enough to determine which companies are really walking the talk and which companies continue to attempt to shade their organization green with stories of zero net impact and carbon neutrality. I believe that 2010 marks a new intelligent view on how we promote our green story. In marketing, the term authenticity has been thrown around a lot over the past several years – but as I look around, I believe we have reached a point where the majority of stories being promoted are real. We are tired of the blowing smoke. Recent events in our government, the healthcare plan, the stock market and even the uneventful and very disappointing results of Copenhagen have led to the American public reaching fatigue with the promise of something that is never realized. We want results. We are not only ready to be presented with action for change, we demand it.

A few weeks ago, the Sunday New York Times ran an article about plastic coatings which are under development to rinse clean without the use of soap. The author of the article presented a vision of how great it would be if, after dinner, the greasy stack of dishes could be placed in the sink and let “plain old water rinse away the grime.” A polymer shield that would do the job of dishwashing detergent. I immediately thought of the hundreds of P&G executives shaking in their boots, but then I thought of one very innovative and visionary leader with whom I recently had a great conversation – Adam Lowry, the co-founder and Chief Greenskeeper of Method Products, Inc. Adam said to me, “rather than being in the soap business, I think we should be in the clean business.” Not only would the development of such a polymer NOT frighten Lowry, in my opinion, he would most likely get right in the middle of its development.

I had met Adam on several other occasions and just the month before we were on a panel together on Trends in Green at the Opportunity Green in Los Angeles. So I knew him to be a bright, open, visionary thinker. His company today is poised to deliver another product which will shift the way we and the entire cleaning industry think. about soap. Lowry was quick to state that he did not claim to be the leader behind the concentrate trending in household soap products over the past few years, but a little market research reveals that in fact Method was the leader in bringing the world concentrate laundry detergent.

Lowry and his colleagues at Method are indeed walking the talk as they understand that you cannot make a “zero impact” claim when you are a company who produces any product or provides any service. Merely by being in operation, you have a footprint. So, in his opinion, it is the role of a CEO to find ways in which to lessen that footprint as much as possible. Lowry says “we are not in the soap business, we are in the clean business.” Perhaps the future of clothes laundering involves more partnerships with the machine manufacturers and considered technology, such as the “clean” polymer described above, in development of fabrics.

In order to truly create a model of a sustainable product innovation, you have to be willing to break down barriers that exist between industries. I look forward to learning about the types of partnerships Lowry and his Method team may be forming in order to break down industry walls.
So it will come as no surprise that Method has launched a new product in 2010: an 8x concentrate laundry detergent, which is dispensed in a pump style container to lessen the mistake of over soaping your clothes. In fact, I was shopping in my local Target Store this weekend and the product was well placed on the shelf. When you see the product lined up with its easy pumping visual and messaging, it is clear that this product is a departure from traditional laundry detergent.

What are the implications? Less product, less weight, less expense and carbon footprint to ship, less shelf space required and a smaller overall impact on water systems. Not to mention the overall innovation of the product which will hopefully encourage competitors and similar product categories to respond with more ways to reduce our material use.

What impressed me the most about my visit to Method was Adam’s visionary perspective on how to lead and innovate. Adam understands that whatever his company creates that is a game changer will be copied. The pump detergent is a new product category. Ultimately he expects the other “soap companies” to follow.

As we discussed above, Lowry also knows that truthfully there is no business which is sustainable. So, in response Method has fostered a business model that is literally focused around change itself. Without this, Lowry believes his company would not be able to reach product and overall company sustainability.

According to Lowry, and borrowing from nature, Method is run as more of an organism than an organization – meaning they are set up to adapt and evolve to their environment. This means being willing “to shoot what makes you money and replace it with something bigger, better, perhaps greener and in our case definitely greener.” And that is just what they have done by creating the new pump detergent and potentially cannibalizing their traditional detergents. I give great props to Lowry and his colleagues at Method for pushing the sustainability envelope and moving us all toward a more sustainable experience when getting clean. I am now waiting for Method to announce a partnership with Patagonia on clean fiber technology. After meeting with a visionary like Lowry, such a concept does not seem so ”future-state.”

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Over the past several weeks, I hit the last round of conferences and expos focused on sustainability. My experience was one of joy as I witnessed my colleagues working to improve process, efficiency, costs and environmental impact. Human drive and ingenuity are hard at work, and this was clearly evidenced by the men and women I encountered this month. A year ago, these conferences felt like a collection of people who were interested in play and owning the “green” game. Today, if feels like a smaller and more focused set of business leaders who plan to be around in 5, 10 or 20 years. It’s less about competitive advantage and more about survival. Not only the survival of our individual businesses, but a great understanding of the survival of capitalism and the ability for mankind to integrate growth and abundance into the laws of nature.

My first stop was Opportunity Green on the UCLA campus in early November. I had been asked to lead a panel on “Trends in Green” with some very impressive friends: Adam Lowry, founder of Method Cleaning Products, Fashion Macon, senior manager of partnerships and promotions for T-Mobile USA and Jason Kibbey, founder of Wear PACT. Each of these panel members had much to contribute to the topic of green trends, but the overall takeaway was that we have moved into a more solid position of sustainable operations and away from one-off marketing gimmicks. Trends in green product design are following closely with the LOHAS descriptor of “in me, on me, or around me” which speaks to the overall health and sustainability of a product, as opposed to simply the environmental practices in creating it. Each of these leaders discussed their plans to move toward more intelligent and sustainable design. I look forward to sharing more from these individuals in future blog entries.

My next trip took me to one of the most exciting gatherings of the year, the U.S. Green Building Council’s Greenbuild International Conference and Expo. I was there with Mohawk Industries, a company who is in the middle of its own renaissance for improved operations and long-term sustainability. (You can read more about the direction of the company from the President of the Commercial Division, Al Kabus, in this recent article in IndustryWeek.

With over 27,000 people in attendance, the Green Building movement is shifting from a standard to the way of building. I was most impressed with the time I spent with my friend Jayni Chase who has been dedicated to the greening of our schools for many years. Jayni, a founder of the Center for Environmental Education, has partnered with brilliant leaders in the space such as Kevin Surace, CEO of Serious Materials and Rachel Gutter, senior manager of the education sector for the USGBC. If there was any big takeaway from Greenbuild for me, it was about partnerships and that leadership occurs in it.

Finally, I spent a few days in Chicago at the 3rd Annual Good and Green Conference. Numbers were smaller this year, but dedication was at a high. Those who were present felt like a strong core of task masters ready to understand the next move for green marketing. From groups such as The Shelton Group, Gfk Roper and Earthsense, the audience learned about the current marketing trends in green. The major takeaways were: Make it Practical, Affordable and Doable. The best way to get your customers, vendors and all other partners to embrace change in retooling and designing their current operations, homes, businesses is to provide solutions that make sense. While people want to care about doing the right thing, it must match up with the ability to make sense for their needs.

So, overall, we can expect to see our “green” leaders become more clear, visible and focused. Many companies will stay behind in the dark while these beacons of change lead the rest of us who are willing and able to view business in an entirely new manner.

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In my last blog entry, I wrote about the 2009 Newsweek Green Corporate Rankings. Soon after this issue was published, I had the good fortune of spending some time with HP’s Director of Environmental Sustainability, Bonnie Nixon, on a recent trip to Northern California. After seeing HP on the “Newsweek” list at number one, I was very interested to learn about the woman behind its corporate shift. What was confirmed to me is that behind every major corporate transformation story, is a truly heroic man or woman. While I am sure HP has a team of hundreds who have contributed strongly to this position as number one on the “Newsweek” list, I was certain after spending more time with Nixon that she was an integral part of it. According to “Newsweek,” HP leads the pack because of its “strong programs to reduce GHG emissions. The first major IT company to report GHG emissions associated with its supply chain.” As more companies review the impact of GHG across their entire supply chains and learn how to make significant reductions, we can expect companies such as HP to serve as a road map to how to best transition their processes to lower emissions.

What makes Nixon’s story so interesting is that not only was she responsible for HP’s transformation, but she has had an enormously positive influence on many other industry sectors as an active participant in multiple cross-sector consortiums. When she was given the reigns at HP for supply chain social and environmental sustainability, she deeply analyzed the practices of companies such as Nike, Levi Strauss, Gap, Disney, McDonalds, Tylenol, Nestles and Exxon. She was able to define their sustainability stories and also acquire a deeper understanding of what was required of companies who had to manage stakeholders’ expectations during difficult times. To avoid HP falling down the same path, Nixon leaned on her previous professional experiences to guide her through her current challenges. While HP was not in a crisis mode, Nixon had the foresight to see that HP could face a crisis regarding the GHG impact, toxic materials in products or global manufacturing practices if it did not prepare to address these issues. Bonnie’s experiences in environmental work run deeper than her time with major corporations.

During our meeting Bonnie shared that during her collegiate years in Pennsylvania she experienced the 3 Mile Island event of 1979. This incident marked her significantly and she spent the next 20 years of her career fighting social and environmental injustices – first for the Boston Harbor Clean Up and then by creating her own environmental mediation, planning and communication firm in California. Along with her partner, she was instrumental in tackling major issues in transportation, utilities, hazardous waste and the protection of California’s water systems. She was recently asked to represent the Institute of Business and Human Rights as their lead for Global Water Justice. This experience with large public sector environmental projects allowed her to better understand the impact of all forms of energy – hydro, natural gas, oil, nuclear and transportation – knowledge that would later help her drive HP’s macro understanding of its GHG emissions impact. “Fast Company” has always been my favorite business magazine as it highlights innovations in corporate design, leadership and practice. I can’t imagine a better innovation than bringing a person with Bonnie’s experiences to the table to help mediate and develop policy for vendor relations which address both social and environmental issues globally. Her work style and dedication have led to her trusted relationships with NGOs, vendors, customers and other stakeholders who could have blocked HP’s leadership in environmental and social justice. Early on she understood that an adversarial approach to problem solving just simply did not work. Bonnie’s work has directly led to a standard code of conduct and implementation measures – developed during her time at HP – for the entire electronics industry. Companies, such as Apple, IBM, Dell, Xerox, Sony and Phillips now all use this set of guiding principals and assurance system. She understands that her role is bigger than just HP or even her industry. Her dedication is helping to change the way business is conducted on our planet and will have a long-lasting effect on global impact.

Bonnie also understands that if she ran her division with a shareholder-centric model alone, the company would not have made many of the decisions which ultimately led to its current leadership style. It was only through her understanding of all stakeholders in the vendor and supply chain relationships that HP was able to advance better conditions for both the environment and the individuals making the majority of electronic products we Americans use in our homes and businesses. So what was the HP GHG emission reduction? Over 40 percent. For this reason, it is no surprise to learn that HP leads the Green Corporate List in 2009 and will most likely maintain that position when benchmarked against other Fortune 500 companies. With all that has occurred in our country over the last 12 months, it is easy for many to find fault with big businesses role in economic, social and environmental issues. For that reason, it is always reassuring to find a company like HP who has made conscious capitalism a part of their mission and found a leader like Bonnie Nixon to drive change. Reprinted from Fastcompany.com “Semantics of Sustainability.”

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When we think “green company” what companies come to mind? Patagonia, Stonyfield Farms, and now even WalMart. But there are hundred of corporations (if not thousands) that deserve to be called out for the amazing business practices they have engaged in over recent times. If you are a corporation in operation in the USA today and you do NOT have a sustainability strategy or program in place, you may not be around past the next decade. That’s the hard truth. All eyes are on the companies that are quickly retooling to operate using less, while simultaneously producing longer lasting products, with little to NO environmental impact. What was once a lofty, green dream is now increasingly a reality.

As a consultant to companies on sustainable strategy, I am often asked who is REALLY making the transition to become a social and environmentally responsible and even forward thinking business. The nature of my work offers me privileged access to a variety of men and women who lead green initiatives at companies small and large across the country, and provides opportunities to meet and hear fist hand from those who are driving real change in corporations. I am always encouraged to see the authenticity that lives in the hearts and minds of these individuals who have moved well beyond “green” marketing into real innovative solutions. These are company leaders who understand conscious capitalism and the shift from a shareholder- to a stakeholder-centric business model.

So when these companies are validated by a national publication as noteworthy as “Newsweek,” I am pleased and proud. This month, “Newsweek” printed its annual list of green companies, which can be accessed at http://greenrankings.newsweek.com/.

As I viewed the rankings, there are many companies listed on the roster that we may not identify with being part of the green evolution; it is good to see that those companies heralded are those that have traditionally been associated with producing waste, such as Starbucks, Staples, McDonalds, Avon, Proctor and Gamble, Coca Cola,
Colgate-Palmolive, Clorox and Hewlett Packard (HP), meaning the sustainable change is clearly taking place. And personally exciting for me is the inclusion of Mohawk Industries, a company that I have had the opportunity to work closely with over the last several years.

A major player in the carpet and flooring industry, Mohawk is one of the largest recycler in its industry –no easy feat, particularly when you are a $7 billion corporation with over 30,000 employees. Mohawk boasts relationships with over 40,000 customers, including all of the mass merchandisers and home centers that come to mind when you think of residential and commercial buildings. You can imagine that the company’s environmental footprint could be quite large,but given its strict attention to saving resources (water, energy and waste management), Mohawk is a trailblazer among many manufacturers in the U.S. The next time you are walking across the floor, take an opportunity to notice what’s below:there is a good chance is will contain recycled content, or in the case of Mohawk’s Everstrand fiber, it could be made from 100% recycled soda and water bottles. Mohawk recycles over 3 billion bottles a year in its Summerville, Georgia PET recycling and fiber extrusion facility, making the company the largest recycler of PET1 in North America. In fact, nearly 1 in every 4 bottles recycled goes into Mohawk carpet products. And if you are walking across commercial floors, every one of them is Carpet and Rug Institute Green Label Plus certified for low VOC (volatile organic compounds) emitting, making the carpet and the interior spaces it occupies healthier for all.
Mohawk is also a leading member of a very unique industry association called CARE (Carpet America Recovery Effort). The organization was Formed in 2002 by the Carpet and Rug Institute and the Environmental Protection agency to ensure that hundreds of millions of pounds of carpet are diverted from landfills and recycled back into carpet or other useable products each year. And in 2007,Mohawk launched the GreenWorks carpet recycling facility in Eton, Georgia to tackle this issue internally. Through key dealer and installer partnerships, as well as those with other recyclers across the nation, Mohawk recycles millions of pounds of carpet each year and expects to grow that number, along with the rest of the industry, to meet CARE goals. As of 2008, more than 1.3 billion pounds have been collectively diverted through CARE partnerships. (visit www.mohawkgreenworks.com)

But you don’t have to be a corporate giant in order to have an impact. Thousands of small business and corporation across this country are going green and may not show up on the Newsweek rankings. In my recent travels I have spent time with leaders of green at fortune 500’s, such as Bonnie Nixon of Hewlett Packard, and also smaller business owners who have dedicated their professional lives to changing the ways products are created and sold, including John Stein, CEO of Kirei USA (www.kireiusa.com), a manufacturer of boarding and panels made materials such as bamboo and wheat. and Jeff Mendelsohn, CEO of New Leaf Paper (www.newleafpaper.com), a company that provides environmentally sound paper and promotes it as a viable alternative to the past choices of paper products which have a heaving burden on our forrest.

Interestingly both of these men are avid surfers. It calls to mind another corporate hero of mine who even wrote a book about his dedicated to work life balance for his company employees called Let My People Go Surfing, Yvon Chouinard of Patagonia. Coincidence? Perhaps not.

Reprinted from FastCompany.com

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Reprinted from my Fast Company Expert Blog: Semantics of Sustainability

Yesterday (September 22), President Obama addressed the United Nations Climate Change Summit with a speech focused on how the United States is “determined” to combat Climate Change. While the Waxman-Markey bill has been held up in the Senate, and the president’s attentions have centered around Healthcare reform, many of us have been left wondering where we stand on the issue, eight months into this new administration.

As many of you are aware, the House bill which passed earlier this year would first set mandatory limits on greenhouse gases and then develop emission reductions from 17 percent by 2020 and an ultimate goal of 83 percent by 2050. As our country looks to HOW we are going to achieve these goals, I am inspired by a very small nation the size of Kentucky, a mere 2500 miles from the United States: Iceland.

Recently I visited Reykjavik, Iceland for business and experienced first-hand one of the world’s cleanest cities. This arctic capital boasts the use of many eco-innovations including: city parking spots designated for electric cars (complete with recharging outlets); an antibiotic-free meat and dairy industry; and a city composting plant (still in development) which will process all commercial food waste and generate renewable energy through waste-to-energy techniques.

However, I was most struck by the way Iceland powers and heats its buildings. In the capital alone, 26 percent of the energy comes from the country’s five major geothermal plants. And where, you ask, does the other 74 percent of energy come from – perhaps gas, coal or maybe even solar? Surprisingly, the majority (73 percent) comes from hydro-generated power plants with 1 percent being derived from fossil fuels; and overall, 71 percent of the domestic energy is from renewable sources. In fact, because of the abundance of natural geothermal resources available on this volcanic island, 87 percent of the country’s heating and water requirements are met.

During my visit I had the opportunity to visit one of the five geothermal plants that heats the city called The Pearl or Perlan. Home to the large hot water holding tanks that supply the city’s heat, this green landmark, has also become a major tourist attraction for those visiting as the location boasts an observation deck, Concert Hall, a Viking Heritage Museum and five star restaurant that resides in the pearl-like dome on top of the water tanks.

At this point some of you might be wondering if sourcing this amount of energy from the Earth will eventually have an impact on it; and the answer is no. Since the system was first adapted in 1944, CO2 emissions have been reduced by up to 110,000,000 tons, delivering savings of up to 4 million tons of CO2 every year. Additionally, possessing the world’s largest geothermal heating system of steam heating has allowed for Reykjavik to acquire substantial financial savings – roughly 4 billion U.S. dollars. And according to research, it is estimated that the country’s annual savings benefit of geothermal over oil is approximately 140 million U.S. dollars.

The great news is that Iceland is not alone. Many regions of the world boast a similar capability for geothermal capture. Since Iceland has a high concentration of volcanoes, it is an obvious choice for this country of only 300,000 residents – 250,000 of which live in or around Reykjavik.

What impressed me the most about my visit was learning that Icelandic leadership has long seen the potential for this alternative energy source. The structure was first investigated in the 1930s with development of the system beginning after WWII. In the late 60s, an Energy Fund was created to advance the development of geothermal use, both on a large and small scale. Given the country’s recent economic troubles, the strength of its utilities provides some peace of mind to a country otherwise in a state of transition.

When I returned to my laptop, I reviewed a map of U.S. geothermal locations. While the investment may be significant given the drilling required to reach the heat, geothermal may well prove to be one of the more significant sources of future energy, power and heat in our country. Did you know that the entire United States has the geothermal capacity necessary to power these heat pumps? And on the U.S. Department of Energy Website, you can view which regions maintain the greatest opportunity for geothermal energy.

While I am not a scientist by trade, I do recognize that we have tremendous untapped capacity that we should explore in our quest to diversify our renewable energy options and decrease our dependency on foreign oil. I encourage companies to review how these resources could be utilized in their manufacturing efforts – particularly those processes which require steam. A great example of that would be the textile industry, which involves the use of steam cleaning and steam turbines.

From my research I have learned that companies such as Johnson & Johnson (J&J) have already made investments in geothermal energy in Europe. J&J uses geothermal energy to heat and cool its 7000 square foot manufacturing facility for orthopedic surgical supplies and appliances in DePuy, France. In addition to the systems elimination of carbon emission, air pollution, noise and odor that would have been generated from the previous natural gas system, the DePuy operation has also recorded an annual savings of 9,000 Euros since 1999.

Based on what I learned on the Department of Energy’s Website, the majority of the Western United States maintains geothermal temperatures above 200 degrees Celsius, many regions in the 
Midwest and Texas have temperatures of over 150 degree Celsius and an mentioned above, all of the United States is capable of maintaining geothermal heat pumps. It would seem to me that we have vast untapped resources we need to be considering as an immediate fix to our energy and climate contributions in this country.

I welcome comments from readers regarding other ways geothermal is being used or can be used in the United States.

Note: research sourced from the C40 Cities Website, in partnership with Clinton Climate Initiative: http://www.c40cities.org/

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