March 06

These are all such great ideas, not sure I have much to add, but I believe doing these things and then telling people is very important. Tell your employees, tell your clients, your peers, friends let everyone know you're succesful in business and doing the right thing for humans and the planet!

I'm a geek so...moving your staff to using laptops or at least LCD monitors can have a big impact on energy comsumption. Also, if you employees have laptops it's easier to work from home so people can commute less and be with their families more.

oh ya and check out Balle

so managers will address and integrate social, environmental and economic considerations in projects, programs and products.

Once you start the conversation about what's important, what your company does that adds value to your customers, how your employees want to think about their worklife, now and someday when they retire, there's little turning back: people want to do something good with their lives. Get their ideas flowing and add best practices, support them to change behaviours to support sustainability and talk it up in their neighbourhoods. They will feel that much more committed to their employer, and you will have been effective in spreading the message, and change.

...sustainabile business thinkers. You can find them coming out of a handfull of business schools today. Adding smart people who are both passionate about sustainability and have the know-how to implement change will greatly increase your chance of success. These students will be drawn to mission-driven companies who avoid green-wash and who are committed to doing the right thing to their core; that is their CEO. For a listing of traditional business schools that get it, see the Beyond Grey Pinstripes report from WRI (http://www.beyondgreypinstripes.org/). For the non-tradiational and cutting edge in sustainable business, see Bainbridge Graduate Institute (http://www.bgiedu.org) and Presidio School of Management (http://www.presidiomba.org/).

Every business leader should start by reading The Ecology of Commerce.

From a truly practical standpoint, what I've heard over and over is that it's the teenage daughters of CEOs who change their father's hearts and minds. They bring credible enlightenment home after coming back from college. Go figure.

If the business does anything that involves fleet vehicles, delivery or similar, switching to bio-fuels or other alternative fuel vehicles and hybrids is a super way to make a difference, and be an example.

As someone else here said: Packaging. Any business involved in the manufacture and packaging of goods should be looking at ways to reduce virgin materials used for these purposes and use more recycled and renewable resources (post consumer recycled paper, corn starch materials, etc).

Business that have offices should be looking toward eco friendly office furniture, that which does not use virgin woods or toxic chemicals or glues. Switching from halogen and incandecent lights to compact flourescent, as well as moderating/managing HVAC systems better (no need for meat locker temps in the summer and convection oven temps in the winter, keep the thermostat at 72F in the winter and 78F in the summer would make a huge difference and not require any material investment.

Let workers telecommute if possible and reduce business trips. If workers can telecommute and conduct business with remote colleagues or clients rather than traveling to the office every day or by plane to meetings, they will reduce fossile fuels used for commutation. Carpooling and mass transit also help, to counteract the "inconvenience" of these, employers can offer incentives like "telecommute 1 day for ever 3 days carpooling or 2 days taking mass transit".

If you want to be inspired about doing business in a sustainable manner, be sure to check out BALLE (Business Alliance for Local Living Economies).

The founder of BALLE, Judy Wicks, is an amazing woman and has single-handedly changed the way many people look at the role of business in the world.

Be principled in your business dealings, and model your behaviour to your allies and competitors.

Recycle, buy your employees bus passes, encourage cycling and car pooling, look into going carbon neutral.

Encourage employees to take long coffee breaks and enjoy their brew to stay, while doing some reading. Increase personal sustainability while saving paper cups!

Build mental health days into your office culture. Encourage health and wellness.

Consider things like offering yoga classes in-house once a week.

In my opinion, business leaders need to wake up and realize that times have changed, and that it simply isn't an option anymore to ignore the environmental and social costs of the business they are in. At some point in the not-that-distant future, things will be bad enough (probably because we run out of oil) that it won't be a question of "choosing to do the right thing" anymore. Businesses that can't adapt, and can't take responsibility for their environmental and social impacts, will simply burn out.

This is a time of great opportunity. Look down the road, see the reality, and start to make small changes in the right direction.

Business/government leaders need to be agents of positive change. Take the reigns in whatever way possible, take risks, and fight like you mean it (but don't be too aggressive about it). Most of all, business/government leaders need to truly understand what sustainability means to them and to the industry they represent. They need to figure out how they can implement ideas "on the ground" realizing it's a slow process and, although you can't change the world, you CAN change the company's/government's practices.

And ya gotta believe with all your heart in the importance of this change in the way of living and doing business/governing. Don't forget to convince a few key influential people to believe as much as you and to help you along in this journey. It's gonna be a long one.

A must-read: The Next Sustainability Wave - Building Boardroom Buy-in By Bob Willard, Foreword by Hunter Lovins (http://www.newsociety.com/bookid/3881)