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Will You Be at the Climate March?

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On September 21, 2014 I’ll be in Manhattan to join what some are calling the People’s Climate March.

The People's Climate March happens September 21, 2014.

The People’s Climate March happens September 21, 2014.

I hope it will be a peaceful, friendly, and very large event.

To be honest, I am not the marching type. But I’m going to this because:

  •  the data show that climate change is real, and now is the time to take action to head it off – not later.
  • for a variety of reasons, such action hasn’t occurred yet. By doing nothing, we increase the chance that bad things like killer storms, floods, droughts, and forest fires occur more frequently and become ever more severe. The bill for that parade of disasters will be paid by us, not just in terms of property damage and business disruption, but in terms of lives lost.
  • I have a family and a conscience. I want to be able to look my daughter, and my nieces and nephews, in the eye, and say “I did everything I could to fix this.”
  • I want to add my voice, however small, to what I believe is a very large movement whose will is being frustrated by a relatively few people with outsized influence.
  • I believe that addressing climate change will be an economic boon to the U.S. and the world.

If you’ll be there too, I’d love to know. Drop me a line at alueders@verizon.net and let’s see if we can at least say “Hello.”

“Building a Culture for Sustainability”- A New Book

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by Alison Lueders

From sustainability to employee engagement to profitability

Research shows that sustainable business initiatives create more engaged (happier) employees, which lead to more profitable companies. Specifically:

  • Gallup research shows that companies with  more engaged employees are more profitable.
  • Research from Harvard Business School shows that “sustainability initiatives are highly appealing to employees.” At Caesar’s Entertainment, for example, “customer loyalty and satisfaction – their overall experience and willingness to return to one of its hotels or casinos– is directly linked to employees’ level of participation in sustainable activities at work.”

But how?

Building a Culture for Sustainability profiles 9 companies.

Building a Culture for Sustainability profiles 9 companies.

Companies often struggle with the “how.” How do you build a culture for sustainability in your particular company? Jeana Wirtenberg’s new book,  “Building a Culture for Sustainability,” helps answer that question.

She spent 2 years profiling 9 companies in depth about their sustainability programs and practices. These are not “the usual suspects” like Whole Foods or Patagonia. These companies are big guys who have been around, in some cases, for over 100 years. They want to become more sustainable, but have a lot of history and baggage to deal with.

Culture is key

The list below captures just 1 program or practice from each company. It doesn’t do justice to the full book, but it may persuade you to take a peek. If your business is in one of the industries covered, read that chapter. Better yet, pick a company in an industry different from yours. It’s an easy way to get a fresh perspective for your own sustainability journey.

  • Alcatel Lucent is a telecom company built on the proud history of Bell Labs. They embrace a “triple bottom line” approach to business. To reach their sustainability goals, they organized “Green Touch” – a consortium of telecom companies whose goal is to make the global network “1000 times more energy-efficient by 2015.” To do that, companies share data that used to be proprietary. Cross-company collaboration is essential to get us where we need to go, and it’s a big culture change for many.

 

  • Alcoa mines and manufactures aluminum – the “infinitely recyclable metal.” Alcoa has a “measurement culture.” Their A3 process – “assess, aspire, act” – is used to measure all kinds programs, not just sustainability ones. As Laurie Roy, HR director said, ” If you’re not measuring it, how do you know you are making progress?” Setting science-based goals, and measuring progress towards them is a key element of a sustainable culture.

 

  • BASF  is a company that believes “chemistry is what enables the transition to a sustainable society.” For example, they developed Green Sense concrete mixtures, which save water, energy and CO2 emissions compared to conventional concrete. This material is used, among other places, in the Freedom Tower in New York City. Sustainability is integral to their business – not bolted on to the side.

 

  • Bureau Veritas is a world leader in testing, inspection and certification in over 140 countries.  Their work with clients inspires them to reduce their own environmental footprint through energy, water and energy conservation programs. In addition, safety is ” not a priority, but an absolute.”  That means 100% of employees receive ongoing training and communication about safety issues. From working safely at heights to safe driving, the focus is on prevention.

 

  • Church & Dwight owns Arm & Hammer (the baking soda people) and a variety of other brands. They’ve been using 100% recycled board in their baking soda boxes for more than 100 years.  They also offer full ingredient disclosure on many of their consumer products – a kind of transparency that truly sustainable companies will embrace.

 

  • Ingersoll Rand has been in business for over 140 years.  It’s a family of brands including Schlage and Trane. They’ve had great success building a sustainable culture using  Green Teams.  The number of teams doubled from 25 in 2010 to 52 in 2011 and doubled again to 110 in 2012. Each team focuses on improving their own facility’s environmental performance and on educating colleagues on “triple bottom line” issues. Locations with Green Teams have higher employee engagement scores than locations without Green Teams. ‘Nuf said.

 

  • Pfizer is a global health care company. Their Global Health Fellows program places employees in 3 to 6 month stints abroad. This donation of people-expertise to countries with little to no health infrastructure builds trust in international communities. The Fellows get first-hand knowledge of areas where Pfizer can tweak its business model to better serve local people. And Pfizer builds employee engagement by offering this very popular program, where numbers of applicants far outstrip the number of slots.

 

  • Sanofi is another health care giant. When you “put the patient first,” it’s a short step to seeing how sustainability supports that goal. Sanofi estimates that “13 million deaths can be prevented each year by safeguarding our environment.” Their CSR Ambassador Program enables employees from any department to volunteer for this role. Ambassadors learn about sustainability from in-house experts, and share that knowledge with colleagues. At Sanofi, this peer-to-peer approach is taking off.

 

  • Wyndham Worldwide –  This global hospitality company has a program called “Caught Green Handed.” It’s a recognition program that started in one business unit and spread to all the rest. Employees receive a certificate with their name and a description of their green contribution. This kind of program energizes employees and helps get the word out to others.

A treasure trove of examples

There are many ways to build a culture of sustainability.  If you want your business to perform well into the future, sustainability is your path to superior results.

Building a sustainable culture is not about annual events and lip service. It’s about tapping into the power of all your people to re-imagine the core of your business in sustainable ways. That’s an exciting mission for people at all levels.

So if your company is struggling with the “how,” grab a copy of Ms. Wirtenberg’s book.  It offers detailed examples of what companies are doing. It is also frank about the challenges they’ve faced. These companies don’t have some secret sauce that makes the transition to green easy. But you can learn from the road they’ve already traveled, and build a sustainable culture that suits your organization.

 

Climate Change and Small Business – New Research

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Last week  the American Sustainable Business Council  released new research on the attitudes of small business owners about climate change.

The results very much track my own concerns as a small, green business owner.

The American Sustainable Business Council polled small business.

The American Sustainable Business Council polled small business.

The Key Findings

The survey of 555 small businesses from June 2014 showed that:

  • They are concerned about climate change.  87% of small businesses named one or more consequences of climate change as potentially harmful to their business, including higher energy costs, power outages, and rising health care costs.
  • They think government regulation is needed. 64 % of the businesses believe government regulation is needed to reduce emissions from power plants. (Hence I applaud the new carbon rules from the EPA last month.)
  • They know extreme weather is a threat. 53% of companies think extreme weather has, or will have, a negative impact on their businesses. One in five has already been hurt.

Small businesses know that climate change is a danger

As a small business in Florida, the concerns highlighted by the research are very real and very now. If the effects of climate change seem abstract to you, let me make it “realer” for you.

The climate risks to my business include:

  • Losing electric power. If I lose power, I lose my laptop, my internet connection and my phone connection. That means my work for clients is interrupted.

Since I promise clients that I’m dependable – i.e. I’ll meet or beat their deadline – this is bad news. I am dependable, but if my power source isn’t, then suddenly I’m not either. I’ve never had a power interruption that affected a client. But I have started considering backup systems like a generator. That’s a big expense ($5,000 or more) for a small business.

  • Flooding.  I am far from the beach in miles. But Tampa Bay is very flat. A “perfect storm” that hits just right could push a LOT of water inland at the same time that torrential rains fall. An unlikely scenario? Perhaps. But that’s probably what the folks in the New York subway system thought just before the water from Hurricane Sandy started pouring into the tunnels under the city.

A prudent business has to prepare for possible risks, and that includes climate risks.

  •  Hurricane damage. High winds can do structural damage. My home office is in a relatively new house, and roofs are  more wind-resistant than they used to be. But the frequency and intensity of storms has been increasing. I can’t assume the roof is strong enough for every storm.

Climate change threatens businesses of every size

So I’m happy to pass along ASBC’s  research to a wider audience. From my perspective, it reflects the reality of climate change as a risk to my small business and millions more like it.

What do you think?

A Different Sort of Post…

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Summer’s here! It’s my favorite season, even in steamy Florida. Sunsets at the beach, sipping cool drinks, reading a good book – that’s what summer means to me.

Sharing the Story of a Friend

In honor of the “school’s out, let’s relax” mentality, this post is a little different. Rather than share a green business story or tip, I’m sharing the story of a good friend, Tim Grahl. Tim runs Out:think, a company that helps authors sell more books in this digital age. Authors from Pam Slim to Daniel Pink have all landed on the New York Times best sellers list with Tim’s help.

Tim Grahl knows helps authors sell more books.

Tim Grahl knows helps authors sell more books.

I met Tim at a conference for entrepreneurs a couple of years ago. He spoke candidly about his business. For example, one of his challenges was dealing with clients who asked him to work for free. Tim – who is one of the nicest guys you will ever meet – startled me out of my seat by saying, “If they [the prospect] don’t want to pay you, “F*** them.” (Pardon.) The wisdom in that remark is with me every day.

The Courage to Share the Ups AND Downs

Earlier this year I was intrigued when Tim publicly committed to selling 10,000 copies of his own first book – Your First 1000 Copies: The Step-by-Step Guide to Marketing your Book – by June 27, 2014. As of this writing, he stands at 8770 sold. A bit short of his goal.

I bought his book and read it. (8771, Tim!)  And I recommend it. Because so much of this short book is just about good marketing in general. His “Connection System” and the notion of building an audience before you write your book are truly marketing philosophies for the future.

So if you’re interested, pop over to Amazon and buy his book now for 99 cents. I get no part of that; I just think you’ll enjoy it or may know someone who will.

One of the Good Guys

Tim Grahl is one of the “good guys.” He has emblazoned the phrase “be relentlessly helpful” on my brain. He made me a better business person. And for that, I’d like to help him reach his goal of 10,000 books by June 27.

There’s no pressure – I just want to help get the word out. It’s a way to start summer in a positive, “pay-it-forward” kind of way.

And if you DO buy, you have my thanks!

4 Content Marketing Lessons from the Authority Intensive

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I was in Denver, CO last week, attending the first-ever live event from the Copyblogger.com folks. Their “Authority Intensive 2014” was sold out. It may be the best conference I’ve attended on copywriting and content marketing.

The Authority Intensive 2014 conference offered the latest on content marketing.

The Authority Intensive 2014 conference offered the latest on content marketing.

The conference had 4 tracks:

  • Design
  • Content
  • Traffic
  • Conversion

My brain was exploding (in a good way) by the end of the first day.  As an online writer (primarily), it’s good to remember that content fits into a larger “content ecosystem.” Here are 4 key takeaways for how any business – especially those building green(er) practices into their operations – can use content effectively to reach business goals.

  •  Know your readers/customers – This goes without saying, but it’s easier said than done. Inspired by the conference,  I’d love to know more about your business – at whatever stage of “green” it is. What is your biggest content problem as either a green business or as a business working to become greener? Tell me at alueders@verizon.net. I’ll keep it confidential, and I’ll send you a $5 Starbucks gift card for your trouble.
  • Tell true stories well – This is particularly relevant to businesses that are “green” or becoming greener in their operations. Stories about how your business is going green moves those actions out of the realm of “scammy” or “scary” or “confusing,” into something understandable and doable. Become a trusted source of updates on what your are doing to become more sustainable, and people will both pay attention and emulate you.
  • Re-purpose your content – I’ve said this before, but it’s nice to hear the experts say it too. If you’re a big guy, your Corporate Sustainability Report is a treasure trove of potential content. If your business is medium or small, your green actions – however modest – can be the basis for an infographic, a blog post, or a separate web page about your company’s sustainability actions.
  • Focus on “useful” –  Green businesses and those going greener have an advantage. Contrary to popular belief, many “green actions” – from installing LED lights to conserving water – save energy, emissions, and money. I don’t know a  business that doesn’t care about saving money.  Share your useful knowledge of greener practices with other businesses or consumers. It enables them to act. And since a business’s journey to green usually takes time, you will always have new green actions to talk about.

I can’t resist sharing 2 other bits of wisdom from the conference:

  • “There are no shortcuts – you have to do the work.” (Seth Godin)
  • “Act more than think – action breeds confidence and courage.”  (Darren Rowse)

More than ever, original content is foundational to your green business success. By telling true stories about your green actions and how your customers benefit, you extend your reach and build trust in your brand. Over time, that trust becomes money.

Ready to let my green business help yours? Contact me at 813-968-1292 or email at alueders@verizon.net.

A Simple Green Success Story

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Last month, I ran into a business that doesn’t bill itself as “green” but really is – through and through.

It’s Simple Green Smoothies. The word “green” here doesn’t mean “eco-friendly.” It means that all the smoothies contain spinach or kale – 2 green veggie powerhouses. And the smoothies taste fantastic.

An "eco-friendly" company, that doesn't preach "green."

An “eco-friendly” company, that doesn’t preach “green.”

When I found their website, I saw something very deft – a green business that doesn’t preach “greenness.” Instead, they focus on health and feeling great and getting your kids to “drink their veggies.” They made me a convert.

This website does a lot of things right. It has:

  • a sense of fun. When you see the pictures of Jen and Jadah holding green “mustaches” to their faces, you can’t help but smile.
  • a focus on health, something most people want, rather than on “being green.”
  • a friendly vibe. When you read that Jen and Jadah are “two friends on a mission to spread the love of green smoothies,” you understand that right away. It’s simple and authentic.
  • lots of lovely images. A picture of a green smoothie looks – to the uninitiated – like “green sludge” (Jadah’s words, not mine). So instead, they photographed the ingredients. Berries, bananas, mangoes – beautifully arranged – look colorful and healthy and enticing.
  • lots of “how to” information. Everything from how to blend a smoothie, to what ingredients you can substitute, to where to find the right kind of blender. They make it easy for people like me –a former non-smoothie person – to try this.

The site promotes “green behaviors” without calling them that

Instead, they describe them as:

  • Ways to save money. For example, in the FAQ, there’s a section on how to do smoothies on a budget. Every tip that follows could be lifted from a page titled “How to Grocery Shop in a More Eco-friendly Way.” But instead they focus on another customer value – saving money – that has both broader appeal and matters to their audience.
  • Friendly suggestions. A second place they sneak in “green”  behaviors is on the “Essentials” page.  They suggest using mason jars, stainless steel straws, and re-usable travel cups. These are all wildly eco-friendly tips. They are simply suggested as the best way to drink your smoothie – as Jen and Jadah do.

A successful, profitable green business

Simple Green Smoothies is a profitable, successful business. More than 500,000 people have taken their green smoothie challenge. They focus on health, feeling great, and losing weight through the power of green smoothies. But they also model and encourage “greener” behaviors in their business and among their fans, without calling them that. And that’s OK.

In more ways than one, their site helps people adopt “greener” behaviors in a “smooth” and enjoyable way (sorry – bad pun.) It’s a model many other businesses can emulate.

“How Whole Foods is Taking Over America”

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Fortune magazine’s cover story this week is titled  “How Whole Foods is Taking Over America.”

While I think that’s a stretch,  I am a fan of this company. (And no, they’re not paying me to say that.)

Whole Foods Market is taking over America, according to Fortune.

Whole Foods Market is taking over America, according to Fortune.

Whole Foods does several things that a green business – food-related or not – can emulate:

  • They aren’t afraid to charge higher prices. But they also carry a mix of price levels. Their in-house “365 Every Day Value” brand is a relative bargain. While “greener” may mean more expensive for some items, Whole Foods is flexible where they can be.
  • They are a niche, but the niche is getting bigger, and that is due to the efforts of Whole Foods itself. If customers consider your green business  a niche, that need not limit you. When I shop Target or Publix, I see more organic foods than ever. They are responding to the pressure of having a Whole Foods in the neighborhood.
  • They re-imagine what a grocery store can be. Whole Foods is focused on food and customers – not just logistics and warehouses. According to co-CEO John Mackey, “Grocery shopping used to be a chore people did – like laundry or taking out the garbage… That’s completely the opposite of what food is.” So Whole Foods is about food and people, and the simple pleasures that can arise from that.

  • They are good neighbors. When they came to my neighborhood, they didn’t just open a store. They put in bike racks to encourage customers to ride over. They put in electric car charging stations with primo parking spots by the door. And they contributed to the local YMCA, which was a few doors down. 

  • They’re patient. The first Whole Foods opened in 1980 in Austin, Texas. That’s 34 years ago. Today’s emphasis on speedy returns would get Whole Foods laughed out of an investors meeting. But we would all be the poorer for it.

Last, and not least

Oh – and Whole Foods is scary profitable. Revenue has doubled and profits have tripled since 2007. Now that’s the kind of sustainable, green business I’m talking about.

Pledge to Buy a Clean Energy Victory Bond this Earth Day

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Happy Earth Day!

My gift to you this Earth Day is a “heads-up” about a something called “Clean Energy Victory Bonds (CEVB).”

Last week I tuned in to a webinar from Green America’s Green Business Network that explained them.

The Green Business Network held a webinar on Clean Energy Victory Bonds.

The Green Business Network held a webinar on Clean Energy Victory Bonds.

2 Representatives from California introduced a bill on April 8 in the House of Representatives to create “Clean Energy Victory Bonds.” The idea is based on the “Victory Bonds” that helped finance World War II.

I think it’s a great idea. Here’s why:

What is a CEVB?

  • If passed, the bonds would be U.S. Treasury bonds of the EE type. They will specifically finance the production of clean energy technologies.
  • The interest will be competitive with other EE bonds.
  • The sectors supported include solar, wind, geothermal, biofuels, electric vehicles and energy efficiency technologies.
  • The face amounts would be as little as $25, so small investors can participate. And redemption periods are very flexible, ranging from 12 months to 30 years.
  • The plan is to sell $50 billion in bonds, with the expectation that that would attract additional public and private investment on the order of $150 billion more.

Why are they needed?

  • The bonds bypass Congress. The US is losing the renewables race to countries like Germany and China. Bonds take the issue of financing clean energy away from our dithering Congress and put it into the hands of both citizens and investors.
  • The bonds would provide a steady and consistent source of financing. For businesses that never know if a particular government tax credit will be there or not, this form of financing guarantees consistency over the longer term.
  • These bonds enable investors of all sizes to participate. There is plenty of interest and support for this bill. Over 15,000 people coast to coast have already pledged to buy the bonds. And the bill was just proposed.

What will CEVBs  do for our economy?

  • Create jobs. It is expected that the funding from CEVBs would create over a million jobs. Not just jobs in the future, but jobs right now in areas like construction and manufacturing. This is more jobs than the fossil-fuel sector creates. And the jobs, on average, pay more.
  • Avoid new taxes. This is not a tax. CEVBs would be an investment option, and people who want to own part of the clean energy future can buy in.
  • Improve energy security. As renewable energy options are deployed, the U.S.’s reliance on unstable countries for oil will diminish. And unpleasant oil price shocks will be a thing of the past.

What will they do for the environment?

CEVBs will support both research into and deployment of technologies to:

  • Reduce greenhouse gas emissions
  • Reduce the air and water pollution that result from fossil fuel drilling, mining and burning
  • Reduce the likelihood of catastrophic natural disasters (floods, fires, storms) that have become more frequent and more severe as the planet warms.

How can you get involved?

  •  Pledge to buy a bond! Great Green Content has already pledged to support this bill and to buy bonds.
  • Tell  your Representative in Washington that you support this bill. The more sponsors, the better its chances for passage.

Required caveat: I am not an investment adviser. So use your common sense when it comes to this, or any other, financial decision.

“Years of Living Dangerously” – Tune In!

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I watched the first episode of “The Years of Living Dangerously,” which aired Sunday night on Showtime.

James Cameron (of Titanic fame) and an all-star cast – think Harrison Ford, Don Cheadle, Matt Damon and others – have created a big-budget, beautifully-filmed series about climate change. Its multiple episodes do justice to the scope and complexity of the topic.

"Years of Living Dangerously" brings climate change to life.

“Years of Living Dangerously” brings climate change to life.

And it’s really good stuff. No dry charts of rainfall. No impenetrable scientific models. This series shows you climate change in action – the fires, the floods, the food insecurity that can spark a civil war.

You see the pictures of smoke – viewable from outer space – rising over the Philippines because they are burning down their forests to plant palm oil plantations.

You hear the story from Lubbock, Texas where a meat-packing plant closed down. The drought in Texas has decimated beef herds. The focus is not on cute cows. The focus is on the good people of Lubbock who are now unemployed because the meat plant – employing 10% of the population –  is gone.

You listen to Syrian farmers who talk about the connection between the civil war in their country and the unprecedented drought that has decimated their farms.

So tune in. There are no sound bites here. Just lots of good information and visually stunning footage of the reality of climate change right now. A tip of the hat to James Cameron and company, and to Showtime for creating and airing this.

I know where I’ll be Sundays at 10 pm eastern for the next 8 weeks!