Getting Started - Resources on Sustainability in Business
August 26, 2008 by Genevieve Taylor
I recently asked the question on LinkedIn, what do you recommend to people who are new to sustainability in business? I quickly got some great answers from organizational change agents and professionals working in sustainable business. Following are links, books, videos, and movies.
What resources do you refer to about sustainability?
What Stephen Gale (Stephen Gale & Associates) said about Getting Started:
Stephen Gale says: I like this site: The Global Footprint Network which began in 2003, and made popular the idea of the "Footprint", or what they call "Resource Accounting." The idea is that we all have an impact on the planet based on our own behaviours and choices, as well as on where we live. They help us see that by giving you an individualized "acreage" measurement. While not the endall of measurement tools, it is a great way to find out what your personal footprint is.
Find out YOUR footprint - Take the Footprint Quiz.
Stephen Gale also recommends an article by Business Week on the Sustainable Business Awards. He notes that the Awards slideshow segments nicely the issues that a business has to address in their sustainability process.
What Paul Hepperla(Energy & Emissions Expert) said about Getting Started:
There are a few important papers I provide when thinking about Sustainability, especially emissions:
The Business of Climate Change I & II - Lehman Brothers
Emissions: At What Cost - McKinsey
Both studies are a great reflection of the impact of climate change and emissions on business. What they show is that common sense when applied to a business creates sustainability, cost savings and a positive impact on the environment.
Sustainability and conservation are all about applied common sense. In the business world, many fail to make the connection between common sense and sustainability. Being too theoretical will cause folks to look at sustainability as a political issue rather than a critical business issue.
Movies To Watch:
David Hodgson says: I often suggest videos for people to watch, it can often be a quicker way to understand the roots.
Bill McDonaugh, leading designer, author of Cradle to Cradle, vanguard of the Eco-Industrial Movement, talks at Bioneers (an annual Conference in San Rafael, CA) in 2000 about how to design for sustainability. His presentation is hilarious and a great introduction to what we can all do to think about our business differently. (45 minutes)
The movie Baraka - photographs of the world set to music. Stunning. Gives a great sense of the beauty of the world, and what Bill Mcdonaugh calls the "Strategic Tragedy" that we are now in. (1 hour 36 min)
Manufactured Landscapes, a 2006 film by Edward Burtynsky that depicts the impact of industry on the environment. He says, "It is not a simple right or wrong. It requires a new way of thinking." See the trailer at the website above.
Links that Don Carli Recommended for Getting Started :
World Business Council on Sustainable Development - A great site based out Europe and DC for information on Sustainable Development around the world.
Global Environment Management Initiative - They just produced a webtool to help businesses measure their climate impact.
UN Global Compact - The UN's Foundation for helping businesses make committments to reduce their environmental impact. Has information on many different businesses around the world who are working on sustainability initiatives.
Books to Read:
Must Reads (Most Recommended by LinkedIn Community)
- Natural Capitalism by Paul Hawken and Amory Lovins and L. Hunter Lovins
- The Ecology of Commerce by Paul Hawken
- Cradle to Cradle: Remaking the Way We Make Things by Bill McDonaugh and Michael Braungart
- Green to Gold by Daniel C. Esty and Andrew S. Winston
- The Sustainability Advantage by Bob Willard
Books by Business Leaders:
- Mid-Course Correction by Ray Anderson, CEO, Interface
- Stirring it Up: How to Make Money and Save the World with Coupons by Gary Hishberg, "CE-Yo" of Stonyfield Farm Yogurt
- True to Our Roots: Fermenting a Business Revolution by Paul Dolan, former CEO of Fetzer, Current CEO of Parducci Winery, the first carbon-neutral winery in the United States.
Books about Sustainability, Leadership & Business:
- Leadership and the New Science, by Meg Wheatley (inter-disciplinary scientist)
- Worldchanging by Alex Steffen
Books about Making the Case for Sustainable Business:
- World Inc. : When it Comes to Solutions - Both Local and Global - Businesses are More Powerful than Government by Brice Piasecki
- Deep Economy by Bill McKibben
- Biomimicry - Innovation Inspired by Nature by Janine M. Benyus
- Small is Beautiful by E.F. Schumaker
Books about "How-To" Go Sustainable:
- Business Guide to Sustainability by Darcy Hitchcock & Marsha Willard
- The Sustainability Handbook - The Complete Management Guide to Achieving Social, Economic, and Environmental Sustainability by William R. Blackburn
- Plan B. 3.0 - Mobilizing to Save Civilization by Lester Brown
- Making Sustainability Work: Best Practices in Managing & Measuring Corporate Social & Environmental Impacts by Marc Epstein
- The Triple Bottom Line: How Today's Best-run companies are Achieving Economic, Social, and Environmental Success by Andrew Savitz
- The Sustainable Company by Chris Laszlo
- Capitalism at the Crossroads: Aligning Business, Earth, and Humanity by Start Har
- The Economics of Happiness: Building Genuine Wealth by Mark Anielski
(Thank you to Pablo Päster, VP, GHG Management Innovations at ClimateCHECK , Gil Friend Founder of Natural Logic , Paul Hepperla Energy & Emissions Expert, Joseph McIntyre, Executive Director at Ag Innovations Network, Executive Director at Don Carli Senior Research Fellow at Institute for Sustainable Communication, Terry Taylor, President of Global Genesis, John Stayton, Director of The Green MBA at Dominican University, and David Hodgson VP of Engineering + Sustainability at OmDirect for contributing to this list).
Thanks, LinkedIn community, for your contributions to a robust resource list; they will be posted as part of a continuously updated page of resources on this blog.
For the rest of you -
What are your resources? What resources do you wish you had more of?
Tags: Business, conservation, corporations, Energy, Environment, Genevieve Taylor, Leadership, LinkedIn, Resources, Sustainability, sustainable, www.genevievetaylor.com, www.ggenesis.com
Here is one more book not mentioned yet:
The Sustainability Revolution by Andrews R. Edwards.
It’s also essential to act, connect and understand what’s being done in your locality, engage in local sustainable events and initiatives starting with your own life. See how you can reduce your consumption, spend and invest more consciously, improve the energy efficiency of your home. Looking out your window to your community and its urban neighbors, consider starting a Sustainability Task Force with goals such as sustainable schools to integrate sustainability education into the curriculum and sustianable buildings that assure green building standards. It’s looking at areas of population concentration, the urban community and bringing green building/remodeling and green jobs, building green workforce development programs. Integrate sustainablity into all the systems.
Seek partners such as local community group, sustainable incubators at universities, elected officials and businesses who understand this urgency or help them understand it. Create a plan to move specific initiatives forward; when one slows move forward on another. Also realize it is messy, it is complex, it requires patience and persistence, but it is possible. This is the movement that will transform society because this is what we need; this movement presents great opportunity and the time to act is now. I have met so many wonderful people working on this movement; they continue to keep me inspired and in turn I can inspire others; God Speed!
I have just added a book section to the blog and have included the The Sustainability Revolution in the list of reading resources.
Thanks for your suggestion
I agree that videos are a great way to get the information across. I'm usually talking to small business owners who are at the greening-vs-greenwashing stage of the learning curve. They're starting at zero, and the key is to keep them excited about greening their operations without overwhelming them immediately with an enormous data dump. So, to get up to speed quickly, I suggest they surf around TED.com (Alex Steffen's and William McDonough's talks are inspiring, but far from alone in that regard), and also watch Annie Leonard's "The Story Of Stuff" video online. I recommend Treehugger.com's many guides to going green. I suggest they read the new National Geographic publication "True Green @ Work". Finally, I recommend they take a careful look at the "Six Sins of Greenwashing" list from TerraChoice and make sure they're not violating any of them.
Hi Deborah -
Great ideas! The story of Stuff is a fantastic video - very informative. Also, great thought about TED and Treehugger.com; you are right, those are both quick and easy ways to get inspired and informed.
Your take on greenwashing is also important - with small businesses, that is certainly a concern. I will look at those articles and do some thinking about it; thanks so much for the input!