Conscientious Innovation conducted a survey of 5,000 North Americans and found that people are concerned about the environment...but not at the expense of the very human side of sustainable survival!

North Americans' top issues about sustainability include global change and  the environment; which rank over 50%, but the top issue is feeling connected to friends, family and community: at 90%

Followed closely by:

Sense of personal well being 90%
Balanced life 89%
Being paid a living wage 88%

Other high ranking issues include Fair trade; Personal relationships and Buying local to support locally based business.

Tips to stay connected... (Watch the videos)
    Throw a block party with local food, of course.
    Have a group yard sale.
    Make a little extra food and share it with a neighbor who might be harried...like a new parent!
These are all also great for the environment!

Jason McCormick with Conscientious Innovation, wrote the following in response to a recent blog story:

We’ve done the research (including a super recent 5,000 people study of what people think of this thing called ’sustainability’ - April, 2008), we know that people rate Global Warming and Pollution as important sustainability issues. But it didn’t top the list. Personal and social sustainability issues such as connecting with community and leading balanced life leapfrog environmental issues.

As one of the respondent from an early round of focus groups said’ How can i look after the environment, if i can’t look after myself??’.

His company focuses on brand development for a wider range of issues than "green" or "environment."

What we’re seeing right now is a lot of what we call “knee-jerk green marketing” and it’s a big mistake. Companies are jumping on the green bandwagon because they think that’s the only way to get on the sustainability wave. What’s dangerous is that it’s leading to a lack of authenticity because it’s often done indiscriminately and without rigor. When brands make vague, philosophical claims about their pro-environment values, but don’t support them with specific, observable actions, it diminishes the eco story for everyone and begins to spark a backlash.

He's right...what we're seeing is a lot of concerned parents who are also business people getting concerned and seeing both the opportunity for healthier community for themselves and their families...and the greening of their bottom line to keep up with the highly publicized shift toward greener products and processes.

Many people think "green" is simple.  The consumer media makes it look that way.  "Just change your lightbulbs and convert to biodiesel."  And all will be better.  "Don't get overwhelmed.  Keep it simple. Think green."  But business greening is more complicated and like Jason says, it must be a metamorphosis of core competency  -- much like the caterpillar turns into a butterfly.

Greening a business involves training the employees; changing the products from gas-guzzlers and energy-hogs to ever greater efficiency in design and production; optimizing operations; optimizing the fleet of transportation used both by the company and the employees...and more.  Saving water.  Saving the air.  Saving natural resources.  We rely on nature's bounty for the source of everything that keeps us alive and busy at work -- and greening is that integrated into how we do business.

So if you want to do the green thing...think green, educate yourself, and take it a step at a time.  But get started because the future will leave you in a dusty barren wasteland if you don't.  That's the growing future for much of the earth.  (That's not meant to be an exaggeration.  Desertification of arable lands is a growing problem for many nations...)

Managing green investments are entertwined with innovation because change is at the heart of "green" and sustainable change.

Marketing Green provided an interesting evaluation of innovation financing that can also be applied to green innovation and green technology.

In many ways, the imposition of carbon caps will reset the current competitive landscape.  Those businesses able or willing to adapt more quickly to this changing landscape will likely secure a competitive advantage by differentiating their brand or products, or by improving their cost basis.

How aggressive will carbon reduction targets be?  A recent Human Development Report by the United Nations Development Programme concluded that developed nations needed to reduce carbon emissions by greater than 80% from 1990 levels by mid-century in order to advert the worst impact of climate change.  Under any implementation scenario, carbon caps will likely be imposed over many years, if not decades, providing a window of opportunity for companies to adapt to and compete in this new world order.

Marketers must understand and compensate for bias that leads to underinvestment in green.  Formulate a strategic vision for green, properly balance the risks and rewards and invest for the long haul.  Your shareholders will thank you.

Clayton Christensen, Stephen Kaufman and Willy Shih, “Innovation Killers: How Financial Tools Destroy Your Capacity to Do New Things”, Leadership & Strategy for the Twenty-First Century, Harvard Business Review, January 2008 point out the following three financial straegies that can hinder innovation ... and green investments:

Cash flow modeling: Companies often do not fairly compare the projected discounted cash flow from a new investment

Asset lifetime: Financial managers may mistakenly assume that that an asset’s usable lifetime should be based simply by its depreciation period, rather than its “competitive lifetime”.

Quarterly earnings: Companies that focus on quarterly earnings may systematically under invest in innovation as they are not rewarded by the market for doing so. 

Read the full article at MarketingGreen.wordpress.com

Rain Gardens and Bioretention Basins To
Improve Water Quality and Save 30% More Rainwater

Compared to a patch of lawn, a rain garden allows about 30% more water to soak into the ground!

California's water supply is more fragile and seasonal than in most of the country because we are in "the West". Seasonal rains in our desert areas can be severe, and water retention for the rest of the year is dependent on snowpack, water tables and manmade lakes.

When rains come, we need to capture that fresh water for use by the flora and fauna in our communities. Capturing it also prevents runoff from roofs, streets, parking lots and lawns from washing pollutants into streams, rivers, lakes and eventually the ocean. Runoff pollutants can include fertilizers, pesticides, car waste such as oil and fluids, pet waste and its bacteria, eroded soil, road salt, grass clippings and litter. Rain gardens will not remove ALL these pollutants, but they do remove some of them as the water seeps into the ground, which serves as a natural filter.

A beautiful, useful way to capture rainwater runoff is with a "raingarden" that is well designed, well placed and serves as a cache basin that filters and helps the water find its way to the roots of plants...and our watertable.

Read more tips for Rain Garden Landscaping Design

Green purchasing is often referred to as environmentally preferable purchasing. It’s the selection and acquisition of products and services that minimize environmental impact throughout the course of the manufacturing, transportation, use, and recycling or disposal lifecycles.

Supply Management

As the core of the inbound supply chain, supply management plays a vital role in finding green opportunities. However, putting them in context can be difficult.

PLUS Sustainability

A good reference point for any organization is to first understand what elements fall under the sustainability umbrella. Here are some of the greatest opportunities with which supply management can help their companies:

• Switching from toxic to nontoxic substances
• Water reuse in manufacturing of supplied products
• Air emission and hazardous waste reductions
• Supplier energy efficiency

Lean + Pollution Prevention + Environmental Initiatives

The Green Supply Network (GSN)-a joint effort of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the U.S. Department of Commerce, the National Institute of Standards and Technology, and the Manufacturing Extension Partnership Program-took the proven principles of lean and merged them with pollution prevention and the EPA’s environmental initiatives.

GSN’s marriage of clean initiatives to the principles of lean provided the following lessons learned:

• Optimizing material use for less scrap yields reduced solid waste.
• Reducing inventory for less chemical spoilage equates to reduced hazardous waste.
• Reducing overproduction means less run time and an energy savings.
• Less transportation means a reduction in fuel consumption, which reduces air emissions.

Read more about GREEN PROCUREMENT and SUPPLY CHAINS

Monarch butterflies migrate more than 2,000 miles and on the trip north to the same groves of trees, it can take THREE GENERATIONS to make the trip!

Watch a video about Monarchs --  to understand how much we have to learn about nature's natural systems.

Congratulations to Melissa Mansfield, the new host of "Keep It Green"!

I met Melissa when she was working on a Los Angeles green living blog, and am delighted to see that she is moving into her dream of sharing green and sustainable strategies with the community.  Go, girl!

Every Wednesday night, we will inspire you to take action on important environmental and social issues impacting us all. From clean air and fresh water to civil liberties and public health, Equator HD will provide you with the tools to make a change. Tune in every Wednesday at 8PM Est on Equator HD.

Equator HD is the first high-definition television network dedicated to world adventure and green living. Part of the VOOM HD Networks suite of HD channels, Equator HD is available in the US on Echostar's DISH Network (Channel 9471) and Cablevision's iO digital cable platform (Channel 728).

 

FIRST EPISODE: "So, it was exciting that my first interview as Keep It Green's new host was with Lou Cafiero of NOAA's National Marine Sanctuaries. Our oceans are home to a vast array of diverse species, all playing vital roles in our environment. Marine sanctuaries play a large part in protecting that abundance of life.

And there's a lot of work to do. Until I talked with Lou, I had no idea that whales face some very unique dangers - one of which is getting hit by huge shipping vessels. These ships move extremely fast, and if a whale is busy feeding or otherwise distracted, it can get hit and seriously injured or killed."

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