Business Planning for Climate Change- A 'Climate Change and the Bottom Line' Conference Recap

November 6, 2013

By Katia Blackburn

Climate change is real: It’s happening fast, it’s extremely expensive, and preparing for it requires a collaborative full-court press. Cascadians already getting traction with their preparation, protection and prevention strategies shared their experiences and plans at Climate Change and the Bottom Line conference, held on October 31.

RECAP- Good Business Workshop: Leveraging Your Sustainability Report to Drive Performance and Increase Brand Value

Author: Candice Goldsmith

The reasons behind continued adoption of GRI and CDP are clear- 95% of the Global 250 companies report that sustainability and carbon disclosure (through the CDP) is viewed by over 650 institutional investors as an indicator of business health. Cynthia Figge, Partner and Cofounder of EKOS International and COO and Cofounder of CSRHUB, and Russell S. Barton, Ph.D., Partner and Cofounder of EKOS International, highlighted the importance of these emerging standards during the Tools for Tomorrow event on March 21, 2013 by discussing that today’s business environment is driven by customer’s expectations, stakeholder interest, as well as ratings, requirements, and standards.

The ultimate goal is to use sustainability reporting as a framework to drive continuous improvement; enrich the brand; deepen relationships with suppliers, employees, community, and customers; and increase value for the triple top line including less waste, improving employee relations, and increasing profits.

Benefits

There are two primary categories that explain why companies are starting and continuing to report: external and internal benefits. 

5 Reasons To Try Sustainable Investing (SRI)

Author: Tom Nowak

Photo Courtesy of Flickr User StockMonkeys.com

If you have already looked into the possibility of sustainable or socially responsible investing (SRI) and put it aside, you may want to look again.  If you have not yet been introduced to this area of investing, it is likely that you will be seeing more about it.  

Recently, author, educator and environmentalist Bill McKibben toured the nation during Do the Math to introduce a fossil free divesting campaign.  McKibben popularized aligning our investments with those cautious of our future--SRI can help launch your own divestment campaign.  

If you put your investments on autopilot, you are almost certainly becoming an owner of a large number of companies, including the fossil fuel industry, that are not acting at all in alignment with your worldview.

Interdisciplinary Collaboration and the Economics of Change Project

(The following is a guest post from UW grad student, Kate Bonaparte, regarding The Economics of Change research project which seeks to map and measure the monetary benefits of ecosystem services for real estate investment in high performance green buildings. posted 4/23/12)


Why can’t we all just get along?
After five years of studying architecture at the University of Miami I learned the art of hand and computer drafting, design, methods of rendering and graphic communication, and even how to write with the stereotypical architectural block lettering. But the most surprising revelation I encountered upon my matriculation was that I had also learned to talk like an architect.

Sustainable Seattle Receives $60,000 Grant From Russell Family Foundation

March 30, 2011

SUSTAINABLE SEATTLE RECEIVES $60,000 FROM RUSSELL FAMILY FOUNDATION FOR RAIN GARDENS CONSTRUCTION IN FIVE SEATTLE NEIGHBORHOODS

Sustainable Seattle

Phone: +1.206.622.3522 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting +1.206.622.3522 end_of_the_skype_highlighting
Email: laura@sustainableseattle.org, amy@sustainableseattle.org, nathan@sustainableseattle.org

SEATTLE—Sustainable Seattle, in collaboration with Creatives 4 Community, Home Grown Organics and Stewardship Partners has received a $60,000 grant from the Russell Family Foundation for a project called “Sustainable Rain.” The project includes the construction of rain gardens, storm water training and green infrastructure demonstrations in five Seattle neighborhoods. The project is looking for participation from local businesses, residences and other publicly visible sites in West Seattle, Central District, Beacon Hill, Duwamish and White Center.

The Russell Family Foundation has a long history of funding innovative, local projects and programs and was a natural choice for Sustainable Seattle according to Amy Waterman Project Manager with Sustainable Seattle.

“Russell Family Foundation has been a great supporter of projects in our region that lead to sustainable communities. And they have provided support to Sustainable Seattle in the past. They have also specifically supported rain garden projects in our region, including some with our partner, Stewardship Partners.”

Sustainable Rain's goal is to create demonstration rain gardens and create educational opportunities around sustainable business in each neighborhood that will benefit the business owner, youth in the area, the broader community, and the Puget Sound. One business or organization in each neighborhood will be selected for free installation of a rain garden as well as a free Whole Environment Building (WEB) assessment, a tool for local businesses to assess their sustainability efforts and operate more cost effectively, while managing their “nine domains of happiness.”

“Rain gardens are one of the easiest ways we can make the built landscape function more like the natural systems that preceded it, reducing the risk of floods and the amount of pollution washed into Puget Sound and our lakes,” says Eldan Goldenberg Director of Operations at Sustainable Seattle.

Sustainable Rain will also be having community meetings in each of the five neighborhoods providing training on storm water management, rain gardens, and other sustainable business practices. There will also be funds available on a competitive basis for members of the community to design and install their own rain gardens towards the end of the one-year project.

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Sustainable Seattle

Founded in 1991, Sustainable Seattle is a non-profit organization that promotes sustainability in the Central Puget Sound, nationally and internationally. Sustainable Seattle’s mission is to be a positive catalyst and resource for positive change. We accomplish this mission by working with diverse individuals, communities, businesses and government agencies to build awareness, assess progress, and take action on collective sustainability goals.

Some upcoming powerful films

The holiday season is upon us and that means one thing: movies. This season is no exception, but I wanted to let you all know of some of the movies you will not be seeing multimillion dollar ad campaigns about.

The ECONOMICS of HAPPINESS
SAVE THE DATE: Tuesday January 11th
Town Hall, 1119 8th Ave, Seattle, 98101

A new film by Helena Norberg-Hodge, The Economics of Happiness describes a world moving simultaneously in two opposing directions. On the one hand, an unholy alliance of governments and big business continues to promote globalization and the consolidation of corporate power. At the same time, all around the world, communities are coming together to re-build more human scale, ecological economies based on a new paradigm - an economics of localization. Seattle Good Business Network is proud to be a co-sponsor of the film's Seattle debut at Town Hall.

"Dakota 38--Rough Cut": Center for the Study of Justice in Society presents first public screening

Seattle University’s Center for the Study of Justice in Society (CSJS) is honored to host the first public screening of “Dakota 38 – Rough Cut” at 6:30 p.m. on Dec. 9 in Pigott Auditorium. The film’s trailer can be seen at http://smoothfeather.org/dakota38/.

In the spring of 2005, Lakota Spiritual Leader Jim Miller had a dream where he rode 330 miles on horseback. He eventually came to a river bank in Mankato Minnesota where he saw 38 of his own ancestors hanged. Jim soon discovered that he had dreamt of the largest mass hanging in United States history ordered by Abraham Lincoln in 1862. In December 2008, Miller and many others retraced the route of his dream on horseback as a means of bringing healing and reconciliation to all. “Dakota 38” is a feature-length documentary film by Smooth Feather Productions which tells the story of this 330-mile journey.

The CSJS is partnering with the American Indian Institute (www.twocircles.org) to bring “Dakota 38” to Seattle for this first ever public screening. The director of the American Indian Institute, Eric Noyes, will join us as will Miller, the Lakota Spiritual leader who inspired the film, who will speak about the film after the screening. A simple reception in the Pigott Atrium will follow the event. Tickets are FREE, but most be acquired through Brown Paper Tickets at http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/136940.

For more information about the Center for the Study of Justice in Society (CSJS), please visit www.seattleu.edu/csjs.

CONTACT: Gail Lasprogata.

SPONSORED BY: Center for the Study of Justice in Society (CSJS)

DATE OF EVENT: Dec. 9

EVENT TIME: 6:30 p.m.

EVENT LOCATION: Pigott Auditorium

WEBSITE: http://www.seattleu.edu/CSJS/

Sustainable Seattle and Seattle Good Business Network Team Up

Our partnership with Dibspace and Seattle Good Business Network has enabled us to open the official Sustainable Seattle marketplace on Dibspace.

The Marketplace is called "Sustainability Cubed" and membership is open to businesses, non profits, and individuals who wish to exchange resources, training and ideas but cannot or choose to not use cash. It is a project that at its heart wants to open up the doors between non profits working towards similiar missions.

One of the unfortunate truths about non profits is the scarcity of resources, which leads to competition between organizations that are all doing the good work. With this marketplace I hope to see some of that competition erode and become collaboration.

Stay tuned for updates on the marketplace and this fascinating experiment based around a community currency.

Also, if you haven't checked it out you should look into Dominic's Blog about living a year on only dibits.

Dibbit Life.