On another quick, carbon-y note, check out this story on sun.com about how a department of the UK government’s Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) - essentially the EPA of the UK - saved a pile of money and reduce their carbon footprint by 260 tons per year by implementing Sun Ray technology.
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I've been spending a lot of time doing greenhouse gas emissions work over the past couple of months. The latest organization-level Carbon Disclosure Project survey (CDP7) was due at the end of May; the Supply Chain Leadership portion of the survey is due at the end of July. Our response to CDP7 will be available on-line shortly.
Finalized inventory estimates for 2008 for the EPA Climate Leaders program were due at the end of June. This was a big year for Sun, because we made the switch from doing estimates of building energy use-related GHGs using spreadsheets to using the GHG tool in OpenEco.org. I've been doing double-entry in both spreadsheet and in OpenEco.org since the latter was launched in September 2007, but this year I was ready to make transition official. In the process, we learned a lot about what it's like to use the site for a relatively large building portfolio over multiple years, and made a number of adjustments to its functionality to improve performance and usability.
If you're a registered member of OpenEco.org, you can browse through Sun's GHG inventory. Note that only the emissions from electricity and natural gas use are calculated by the GHG Tool; CO2e totals for other sources, such as our shuttle fleet, are still calculated using a spreadsheet.
By the way, our 2008 Climate Leaders reported inventory was 4% below the 2007 baseline. Woo hoo! Looks like we're on our way to our reduction goal of 20% by 2015.
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It's really beyond disturbing to consider that someone thought this was a good idea.
see more pwn and owned pictures
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Unless you're Dramarama, today is Earth Day. At least, it's US Earth Day; "International Earth Day" is observed every March equinox as well.
Anyway, "Happy Earth Day," I guess. I always have mixed feelings about calling out a specific date as the day we're all supposed to think about the Earth, presumably blowing it off the other 364.25 days of the year. This point of view is not unique, and Grist compiled a good set of essays exploring a range of points of view on the subject. They kind of missed the mark with their unfortunately named Screw Earth Day campaign, however. I get that they were joking, but I'm pretty sure they didn't want its funniest attribute to be found in deliberately misreading the message "Screw Earth Day" and replying: "Isn't that the problem? We screw the Earth every day." I'm gonna say they sort of misfired on the tone, particularly with that YouTube video they posted today. Pretty unfunny.
My favorite on-line Earth Day observance is Nasa's Top 10 Greatest Hits for the Earth. The geocacher in me loves that online voting ranked GPS at #1. Nasa has provided other eye candy in the form of images of our Big Blue Marble from the International Space Station. Enjoy. Then go outside and enjoy the real thing.
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Some excellent before and during photos from Earth Hour around the world are now up on the Boston.com Big Picture site. Click on a photo to see the lights go out.
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Had a good time cooking dinner by candlelight during Earth Hour last Saturday. My city participated, but I didn't perceive a significant dimming of the downtown glow from my front porch. There are some great photos and videos scattered around the web, and the photo of the Toronto Hydro control room in this article is cool.
Alas, if you view the photo collection on the Earth Hour site, you'll see shots of an ill-considered promotional campaign in Australia. Yes, those are cardboard people and other wrappers put around trees to tout an event about Earth consciousness. This is definitely one to share with the FAIL Blog. Sigh.
While I'm on the subject of resource depletion, I helped Roger Meike, Assistant Director of Sun Labs and SunSPOTS overlord, unpack an Asus Eee PC the other day. It's a pretty nifty device, but the un-boxing experience was a festival of plastic and other packaging. It's hard to do justice in photos to the absurd use of adhesive clear wrap - around the mouse that was then sealed in a plastic bag; on every surface of the monitor except the screen, ad nauseum. Were the Eee PC sentient, I fear it would be diagnosed with mysophobia.
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Congress today approved a massive public lands bill that protects 200 million acres of wilderness in nine states and a thousand miles of rivers, a 50 percent increase in the wild and scenic river system. It establishes new national trails, national parks and a new national monument and provides legal status for the National Landscape Conservation System, which will protect some of the country's most spectacular landscapes.
Passage of the zippily-named Omnibus Public Lands Management Act of 2009 (H.R.146) is tremendous news, not only because of it's scope and impact, but also because it enjoyed wide support across the political and geographic spectrum. To me that completely affirms that caring for the natural heritage of our country is as American as apple pie. How encouraging!
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While I doubt the father realized he was naming his son by showing cantaloupe color preference, his choice christened San Francisco zoo's newest baby gorilla Hasani, which means "handsome" in Swahili. No major news here, just an adorable slide show. While most of us take for granted our close genetic relationship to other primates, seeing a baby great ape or chimpanzee brings it into sharp relief for me. Look at that face!
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The CRO “100 Best Corporate Citizens 2008 came out on Friday, and I'm happy to report that Sun once again made the list.
What makes me less happy is the contrast between the list's appearance and the reality. For instance, the CRO's website says:
While this is undoubtedly true, and while all three of the above companies are well known for their work to make their businesses more sustainable, the statement implies that the lists are comparable from year to year. Those of us who do analytical work such as calculating and tracking corporate GHG emissions know that it's essential that your methodology and assumptions be consistent if you plan on comparing year-over-year performance. As Sun's Director of CSR, Marcy Lynn, does a great job of detailing in her blog, the CRO has made numerous changes to the way they compile the 100 Best list over the years, sometimes (like in 2009) making changes more than once in a single year. That makes comparisons between years essentially meaningless.
It's a given that tracking and reporting on sustainability, and evaluating those companies that do report, is an evolving process. It's therefore understandable that the rating system applied by the CRO is also likely to evolve. That said, I have to call out the CRO for perpetrating the idea that somehow you can judge the companies included or excluded from their list on any given year based on their rankings and presence on the CRO list from any other year. That's counterproductive in the extreme.
Some of the comments on the CRO website suggest that people not just criticize, but rather offer ways to improve the process. In that spirit, I'd like to suggest that the CRO take a cue from the companies they're judging and create a robust stakeholder engagement process. It's my experience that a good stakeholder group will ask tough questions that ultimately drive improvements in behavior and reporting. It seems clear that this could be a huge benefit to the CRO.
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It's always exciting to see tangible proof that progress is being made. This week, we published our first mid-year update to Sun's most recent CSR report. This feels like progress for a couple of reasons. First, it shows that after 2.5 years and 3 CSR reports, we're starting to see reporting as an on-going part doing business. Granted, our indefatigable Director of CSR, Marcy Lynn, continues to have to earn that adjective a little more often than anyone would like, but she's definitely getting results!
The mid-year update is also another step along the path towards greater and greater transparency. We've had nothing but positive results from sharing both the victories in and challenges to our sustainability efforts, and I expect that will continue. In the best of all worlds, other organizations will find our experiences helpful in their own CSR programs.
Please check out the update and give us your feedback (yes, the comments are open). Also check out Marcy's blog for a great perspective on this important milestone.
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Last week I was lucky enough to travel to Ontario, Canada.
Lucky? To be in Canada? In Winter? Definitely!
I was invited to Waterloo, Ontario to speak at Sustainable Waterloo's first educational breakfast meeting. Sustainable Waterloo is a not-for-profit organization that guides corporations in the region towards a more environmentally sustainable future by facilitating collaboration between industry, local government, educational institutions, and non-governmental organizations. The Executive Director and co-founder, Mike Morrice, took some inspiration from the Bay Area's Sustainable Silicon Valley.
Some of my California friends thought I was a little nuts to head off to Toronto in winter, but I had a feeling it would be a great trip - I wasn't disappointed. Mike, his terrifyingly energetic volunteer team of event organizers and the SW Board were terrific hosts, but the event itself was the real fun. How could it not be a good time when more than 170 people show up at 7:30 AM on a snowy and frigid morning? Though I have to say, that level of commitment on the part of the audience gave me a dose of performance anxiety! The attendees were unbelievably enthusiastic and engaged, and I was out in the hallway talking with many of them long after the event was over.
Overall, a great time, and I'm grateful to the folks at Sustainable Waterloo for having me there. I'm looking forward to watching their organization grow, and I'm hopeful that there will be future collaborations between SW and SSV, the Business Council on Climate Change, and many other like-minded groups. I'm convinced that by working together, we stand a lot better chance of successfully tackling huge challenges like climate change.
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Putting aside my slight discomfort at seeing a president-elect shirtless, I can't help but focus on the fact that, once again, Barack Obama has been photographed with a disposable plastic water bottle in his hand. Knowing that Obama is devoted to his fitness regimen and, thus, works hard to stay hydrated, I shudder to think how many of these bottles he either tosses (probably) or recycles (hopefully) a day/week.
Please Sigg, or some US-based aluminum water bottle maker, send the poor guy and his Whitehouse Staff a case of reusable bottles. Think of how great it would look to have a Cabinet meeting photo with one of your products in front of every attendee!
As far as the shirtless thing goes, I take comfort that the same "coverage" was not done with the previous president or vice president-elect.
UPDATE: Huffington Post clearly wants us to suffer. Here's a retrospective of past shirtless presidents. Oh, joy.
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I recently received a big box of irony in the mail:
The package from EnvironPAK encouraged me to "think inside the box" about sustainable packaging. Since I wasn't expecting anything, I felt a little anticipation as I opened the box:
That's right. This company had essentially sent me an empty box, complete with "recyclable, compostable, biodegradable, sustainable" filler material, to trumpet the sustainability of their packaging products. Sorry, guys, the DVD and paper booklet don't count as "content" in a world where you could have uploaded the video to a website and emailed people an invitation to view it. You could even broaden your reach by posting the video to YouTube.
Needless to say, this outreach campaign, and the follow-up glossy brochure the company sent to me this week, made me laugh but also really chaps my hide. Really, did the "VP of Sales & Marketing" who included his card with both mailings not pause for a second when endorsing this approach? Well, I had to write an email to him and express my point of view:
Bill -
I wish I could thank you for your marketing materials, but I can't. While your stated objective is to create environmentally friendly packaging materials, I have to wonder how your company's sustainability values escaped those who planned and executed your marketing campaign. It is painfully ironic, and somewhat outrageous, to create, print, assemble and ship an essentially empty box to me and countless others, with the purpose of encouraging sustainable business practices. Even the DVD, though I'm sure is well produced, is unnecessary in this age of networked media available via the internet. Following up with yet another piece of mail just accentuated the wastefulness of your approach.
I hope that in the future Enviropak will endeavor to "walk the walk" and not undermine your product's credibility with a lack of self awareness in getting your message out.
Regards,
Lori
*sigh*
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This is a cautionary tale about how a bad business practice can torpedo years of work building an image (and, hopefully, the accompanying reality) as a sustainable company.
How could they not see something this obvious? How could their corporate image makers not see this hypocrisy staring them in the face every time they visited one of the stores? Some theories:
- Like many (or most) companies, Starbuck's prioritizes environmental initiatives based both on size of impact and on pay back period/cost reductions - a completely reasonable approach as a for-profit company. Because water is not correctly valued (meaning it's way too cheap given how scarce and necessary it is), even a policy that wastes huge amounts of it doesn't register as a priority.
- No one bothered to quantify the impact of the policy as the company continued to grow. I don't know how long this has been the rule, but the impacts were somewhat limited when the chain had only a few dozen outlets. With more than 15,000 today, any global policy affecting resource use is huge.
- While the corporation recognized that they were using a lot of water and have been looking at how to reduce consumption, they hadn't put 2 and 2 together regarding root causes and corrective action needed.
What's sad is that even the "health reasons" justification for the policy falls flat, given that one of the primary culprits in causing poor health around the world is the lack of fresh water.
Just goes to show that even when you get used to thinking about and presenting your company as one on the path to sustainability, it's wise to always ask "what else can we do?" It's a journey, not a destination.
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I'm back from the annual EPA Climate Leaders partners meeting in Chicago, where I had the privilege of accepting the Holy Hockey Puck on behalf of Sun for achieving our first greenhouse gas reduction goal. My boss, Dave, was more timely in blogging about the milestone, and you can also read our official press release here. I'm most flattered by being gifted with a cartoon self, courtesy of our GDS director. Now I feel a certain obligation to come up with a creative Halloween costume - better get out the sewing machine!
The CL Partners meeting is always worth going to, primarily for the opportunity to hear from the other companies trying to lower their GHG emissions and meet the individuals working to make that happen. It's a diverse group, and its growing by leaps and bounds. 74 new partners have signed up since our last meeting, bringing the total to 227. Quite an achievement for a voluntary program. EPA estimates that the partner companies represent (or did until recently) 11% of US GDP. Of course the economy was a major topic of conversation. Though there's definitely some anxiety, there's also a pervasive belief that energy efficiency and other measures targeting carbon reduction are part of the solution to our current economic pain. That's not a new way of thinking, but it's encouraging to hear it persist in the face of the incredibly doom-filled news coverage of the past couple of weeks. Not surprisingly, there was also some talk of what's going to happen on the legislative front post-election. Everyone I talked to, whether large emitter or small, is hopeful that regardless of the outcome, the new Administration will move swiftly to enact carbon reduction legislation.
As usual, the meeting reinvigorated me and I'm looking forward to getting to work on our new goal of a 20% reduction over 2007 levels by 2015. This one's likely to be tougher than the last one to meet early, but we have more support than ever from the management and employees at Sun to make it happen. It's a cool position to be in.
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