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IBM's Dave Bartlett dishes on his efforts with the company's Smarter Planet campaign and why he is so optimistic about his work.

Maggie Layden, Facility Support Technician, American Family Insurance

It doesn’t take 20 years of experience to have an impact on a company’s sustainability efforts. Maggie Layden is proof of that. Six months after graduating, Maggie is changing the world one vegetable peel at a time. She’s the project leader for the American Family Insurance initiative, “Our Dream of a Zero Waste Future.” By diverting the corporate cafeteria’s pre-consumer food waste from landfills, she’s helping the Fortune 500 insurance company move closer to its goal of a zero waste future. Maggie earned her University of Wisconsin online Sustainable Management degree in 2012. 

With a strong focus on the intersection between people, planet, and profit, the online UW Sustainable Management degree provides foundational knowledge for making changes in the workplace. Students learn to take a systems approach to solutions, analyzing whole systems in order to create lasting change.  

Like many universities, the UW Sustainable Management bachelor’s and master’s curriculum require Capstone projects to give students a hands-on opportunity to apply what they’ve learned to a real company. Past UW Capstone projects have included looking at energy efficiency and renewable energy on dairy farms to developing a sustainability scorecard for a health and beauty product manufacturer. Maggie’s zero waste initiative formed the basis for her American Family Capstone project which ultimately evolved into a full-time career.

Already a leader in sustainability, American Family has made significant strides to drastically reduce its water usage by 20 percent. The company is on track to reduce its energy use by 15 percent by 2016.

The company’s zero waste project grew out of a desire to recycle organic waste. According to Maggie’s supervisor Dan Rosetta, facility operations director, “it wasn’t long before we realized that in addition to adding organics recycling, we needed to revisit the existing recycling program at American Family.”[pagebreak]

With the goal to divert at least 90 percent of its waste from landfills, American Family hired Maggie to lead a ten-person team that includes colleagues, the company’s housekeeping services, and food vendor. The team established a process for sorting pre-consumer food waste from food prep in the kitchen so it can be composted under controlled conditions. If the waste is uncontaminated, it can be recycled and not sent to landfills.

The high-visibility project is a public-private partnership with the city of Madison. The first step was to collect organics to be audited by the city of Madison. The city looked for non-organic contamination in the sample. While there was some contamination found in the initial sample, it was well within the city’s acceptable limit. American Family was given the approval to officially begin diverting pre-consumer waste to the city’s pilot program.

Next, Maggie and the team introduced the zero waste pilot to American Family’s senior leadership forum, where the feedback was overwhelmingly positive. In fact, when everyone including the CEO and directors completed a survey, many suggested even more ways to reduce waste across the company. 

Business leaders tell me that when it comes to sustainability, there’s always this sense that they could be doing more, but their challenge is a lack of resources. That’s where a student could help.

Students often bring a wide range of skills to the Capstone partner, including knowledge of logistics, transportation of raw materials, supply chain structures, energy generation, sustainable marketing, and communications. There’s no cost to participate in a Capstone project.

In the pursuit of her education goals, Maggie reached her career goals. “I am passionate about my job – I get to calculate the company’s carbon footprint, water usage and waste reduction,” she says. “I truly believe I’m making a difference.”

Would you consider having a student introduce sustainability initiatives to your company?

Crystal Fey is University of Wisconsin's Sustainable Management Program Director. Photos courtesy of University of Wisconsin and flickr user BC Gov Photos.

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ConnorMeaks.com ~ The Aspiring Renaissance Man - Curious musings on work, play, and getting what you want in life

Since I started experimenting with a mindfulness meditation practice six months ago, my perspective changed. So today I’ll share how you can reap the benefits of meditation by being more mindful. I’ll preface this by saying if you haven’t read my thoughts on meditation, here are the cliffs: I started with sitting in a dark room – observing my breath, clearing my thoughts, and noticing any sensations in my body. Now six months in, the differences in my personal well being are a plenty. But how? Your perspective shifts after you teach yourself to become more attuned to your thoughts and sensations. Basically, you take your learnings from meditating and extend it to all aspects of your life. Some people call this informal meditation. Dedicating yourself to being in the present moment takes a ton of practice. A certain diligence with catching yourself thinking is pretty tricky to get the hang of, but if you make the conscious effort, you’ll notice the benefits – it is an empowering feeling. But, like everything else, it takes practice… no shortcuts here, friend. What isn’t worth your thoughts? I’m now realizing how absurd it is to dwell on the past. Something you have no control over is not worth your thoughts. That mistake you made at work, or botched encounter with some girl or guy is history: move on. Thinking about the future is a bit different, but the same premise applies. The future is exciting for some but anxiety provoking for others. My advice is to come to terms with what it is. Instead of looking forward to things, focus your energy on what you can directly control, the present. How can you be more mindful? I started by learning to notice the present throughout every part of my day. Previously meaningless sensations I now  notice and embrace. The light pressure in my shoulders from sitting at a desk, or the wind on my face when I’m biking to work. Noticing tiny things help me stay in tune with my mind (and my sanity) through the day. This is something I’ve never previously experienced, but it allows me to continually connect with my body. You can even control pain Noticing sensations extends to certain emotions as well. Start to pay attention when you are happy and when you are not so happy. For example, when I’m angry, I’ll ask why I’m angry, then label the anger and figure out whether it is worth being angry about. I’m confident you’ll find that it is never worth your emotional energy to stay distraught or angry. Life is too short. I’ll give you another example: pain. At about kilometer 37 of my marathon, things got extremely painful. My solution? First I asked myself what the cause of the pain was. This one was pretty obvious. Next I reminded myself how pain is merely a sensation like any other. Pain is not negative nor positive  – it was simply… there. I also knew from previous long runs, so when it happened on the marathon I familiarized myself with it, controlled my thoughts associated with the pain, and kept going. Are you ready? Meditation and mindfulness is about enjoying life’s moments, moment after moment. It is a state and a commitment to living the ‘good life.’ Tiny things like picking up on someone’s personality while talking or their motives for pitching an idea to you are fun to realize. Not only that, mindfulness shows you how to shift your perspective to who you’re talking to. Think about what emotions they’ll feel when you say certain things. Your words are powerful. Don’t over think anything Overthinking anything tends to lead to negative emotions. I used to over think and worry about everything: mistakes I made, regrets, what others think of me, etc… the list is endless. And it is comical to think about now. The point is to drop the things you can’t control. Any easy way to jumpstart this is by dropping the past. I used to get a ton of anxiety thinking about the past. Self confidence plummets which is no good for anyone! By noticing sensations I’m constantly reminded that all of these feelings are nothing but thoughts… and luckily, you can control your thoughts! You have the power to change your thoughts at any time. Start now. Your turn: Do you try to catch yourself thinking? What do you notice?

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Google+ has come a very long way since its inception. Overall, they simply added features and functionality to Google Plus during the earlier months of its existence. However, today they converted me over to their new interface. I must say, I like the changes! The entire User Experience has taken a major leap forward. It is easier to use and… read more →

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With its focus on small, often tiny enterprises, microfinance operates outside the realm of multinational corporations and globalized markets. So one of the big questions in Ottawa’s recent decision to merge the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) with the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade surrounds the future of CIDA’s microfinance programs. Will the mandate of Canadian commercial interests spell the end of Canada’s publicly-funded microfinance initiatives?

Microfinance has been a part of CIDA’s mandate ever since it was established in 1968. Working in partnership with Canadian church and co-operative organizations, as well as international NGOs and multilateral institutions, CIDA has developed expertise in microfinance and microenterprise development. The CIDA program has shown particular strengths in retail microfinance services, large microfinance networks in West Africa and the global development of cooperatives and credit unions.

In keeping with the clear link between international development and womens’ empowerment, CIDA has funded many microfinance programs aimed specifically at women, often supporting womens’ credit unions to encourage local saving and asset accumulation.

In the March 2013 budget, the government announced that CIDA would be folded into the Department of Foreign Affairs to advance “Canadian interests and values on the international stage.” This is where the problem with CIDA’s microfinance programs could arise. If Ottawa seeks to create a commercial benefit for Canadian companies through its CIDA programs, nonprofit microfinance initiatives – with their emphasis on local development – could be cut.

There’s nothing wrong with the promotion of Canadian economic interests abroad. But this shouldn’t be confused with international development, which should be an explicit goal of Canada’s microfinance activities.

Support for microfinance comes from two sources: investors who look to make a return on their investment, and NGOs and governments who want to support small-scale or non-profit microfinance.  Microfinance investment funds such as Triodos or Oikocredit invest hundreds of millions of dollars in small enterprises and microfinance institutions around the world. But there is still a huge role for government aid to support microfinance in unbanked communities in developing countries. In addition, foreign governments can help to fund promising new sectors, such as savings and agricultural co-operatives and renewable energy.

With funding by governments and NGOs, enterprises in these sectors can get the start they need, and then investment funds like Oikocredit can take over, financing them in their growth stage.

Projects such as the Cooperation Canada – Mozambique initiative to create women-owned credit unions, or programs by Desjardins International Development are examples of worthy CIDA-funded microfinance initiatives.

Canadians believe strongly that foreign aid should be used explicitly for international development. It’s the right thing to do, and it’s in Canada’s long-term national interest.

The government’s first steps on this are encouraging. Legislation introduced on April 28 mandates that Canada’s international development role should focus on sustainable international development, poverty reduction and humanitarian assistance.

Let’s make sure that microfinance has a place in this new agenda. Canadians want our ethical and long-term national interests to win out over short-term commercial motivations. Preserving a strong place for microfinance in our international development agenda is one of the first steps in making this happen.

Disclosure: Eugene Ellmen is National Director for Oikocredit Canada

Photo credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/camafghanistancam/4711587439/

Growing business commitment to the triple bottom line and resulting business sustainability risk has provided business leaders with an evolved context from which they are now reassessing their core business functions. Addressing this, there is a refocus on sustainable supply chain as a top line growth opportunity that can be accessed through sustainable supply chain management. 

By expanding the role of the traditional procurement organization to an integrated and vital function within the overall pursuit of sustainability, the drivers move from simply cost savings to top line drivers:

Sales Growth: benefiting from supplier innovation that enhances new product development and accelerates time to market. Having a better understanding of customers’ procurement game plans also helps sales growth.

Improved cost and margins: establishing and managing a highly competitive external cost base for the company, and sustaining the alignment of costs with the company’s sales prices.

Secure supplies and relationships: benefiting from dependable relationships with key supply-side third parties. Supply chains are risk-managed, able to respond to up-cycles in time and volume, and also help to develop a presence in new markets and geographical sectors.

Optimized cash and working capital: the cash available in any period equals or exceeds the company’s cash requirements.

Better productivity and processes: means the company’s internal processes and productivity benefit from the application of enlightened management controls and procurement policies, superior equipment, effective capex programs and best-practice supplier support.

Leading organizations are finding unique value opportunity in sustainable supply chain management: Pepsi-Cola Saved $44 million by switching from corrugated to reusable plastic shipping containers for one liter and 20-ounce bottles, conserving 196 million pounds of corrugated material. There are numerous reasons to green the supply chain – all of which add value to an organization.

1. Increase Profitability – Proactively incorporating sustainability concepts into your supply chain will decrease cost and add the value to operations.
2. Asset Utilization – Incorporating greater eco-awareness into transportation and inventory practices will increase utilization of key assets.
3. Risk Mitigation – Promoting greater understanding of sustainability within the company’s supply chain will mitigate environmental, social, and market risks.
4. Innovation – Incorporating sustainability concepts into the supply chain will be a catalyst for supplier innovation.
5. Alignment – Negotiating business sustainability policies with suppliers and customers will promote alignment across the supply chain.
6. Continuous Improvement – A common understanding of sustainability concepts, goals and objectives provides a platform for continuous improvements.
7. Customer Service – Implementing sustainable best practices within the supply chain will standardize operations and allow for improved customer service.
8. Regulatory Compliance – Green supply chain management will help ensure regulatory compliance.
9. Product Differentiation – Creating uniquely different green supply chain practices will differentiate the company and its products in the marketplace.
10. Enhance Reputation – Demonstrating green business practices will promote business sustainability and enhance company reputation.

Improved business sustainability equates to improved company performance. By integrating sustainability concepts across the entire value chain, businesses create a balanced approach that aligns the sustainability values of the company with its key stakeholders.

Julie Urlaub is the founder and managing partner of Taiga Company, a sustainability social media consulting firm, where she aids clients to powerfully engage in sustainability-related issues and stakeholder communications in the social space. She can be contacted at www.taigacompany.com | @taigacompany | Facebook/TaigaCompany

Photos courtesy of flickr users Kristian Vinkenes and just a hero.

About the Author: Nell Edgington is President of Social Velocity (www.socialvelocity.net), a management consulting firm leading nonprofits to greater social impact and financial sustainability. Social Velocity helps nonprofits grow their programs, bring more money in the door, and use resources more effectively. For more information, check out Social Velocity consulting services and clients.

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When investment decisions are made, how much say does the community have? What do Canadians think about sustainability? What do people working in major financial institutions think about income inequality?

These questions, and the ways in which different groups answer them, have important implications for everyone. As the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere hits the unprecedented mark of 400 parts per million, and income inequality continues to rise, socially responsible investing has never been more important. As a corollary, it is critically important to have open and frank conversations about the role that stakeholders play in building sustainable financial markets.

From June 17 to 19 at the Vancouver Marriott Pinnacle Downtown Hotel, the Canadian Responsible Investment Conference 2013 will bring together the industry of finance professionals who seek to promote sustainability in our world and build socially responsible investing in Canada.

Register by May 24 to receive an early-bird discount.

Several notable individuals committed to the growth of responsible investment in Canada will be speaking at the event, including but not limited to:

• Tamara Vrooman, Chief Executive Officer of Vancity
• John Montalbano, Chief Executive Officer of RBC Global Asset Management
• Armine Yalnizyan, Senior Economist, Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives
• Launi Skinner, Chief Executive Officer of First West Credit Union and former President of Starbucks
• Raj Thamotheram, Network for Sustainable Financial Markets
• Robert Walker, Vice President, ESG Services, NEI Investments and Ethical Funds

To learn more about the conference presenters, visit their bios on the SIO website.

The conference will deal with a range of issues, from conflict between Aboriginal communities and the extractive industry, as witnessed in the opposition to the Enbridge Northern Gateway pipeline and tanker project, to socially responsible sourcing, which has been subject to increased focus after a devastating collapse in a Bangladeshi factory used by many international manufacturers killed over 1,100 people.

These conversations will be punctuated with a number of concurrent intensive sessions aimed at enhancing SRI expertise, including a session on impact investing as well. In between all of these segments, a trade show will feature organizations that are operating in the world of socially responsible investing. There will also be a Gala Dinner where the fourth annual SRI Distinguished Service Award will be given out.

See the full conference agenda here.

After the conference, interested individuals and researchers can also choose to stay in Vancouver to attend the post-conference academic symposium [PDF] sponsored by Canada’s Responsible Investing Initiative – Community University Research Alliance from Thursday, June 20 to Friday, June 21.

Register now and book rooms by May 17 to avail the special conference rate of $189 as space is limited!

SocialFinance.ca will be at the conference and liveblogging, just like last year - use the hashtag #sioconf2013 to participate!