Connecting

Thursday and Friday of last week I had the opportunity to attend a great conference with my sustainability peers.  The International Society of Sustainability Professionals hosted their first annual conference in Portland Oregon last week.  I was inspired by the work that is occurring and felt supported and motivated to keep the work I am doing to continue strong.

I attended a few different lectures and workshops, but a couple of pieces stood out for me.

The first was - did you know the US Federal government is investing in sustainability, for instance renovating old energy inefficient buildings to be cleaner for employees to work in and to be more energy and water efficient.  This helps reduce our costs of operating as a country as well as reduce our dependance on energy.

I was also inspired on how to tell the sustainability story in a way that captures people's attention and gets them to act.  In his book "Don't be such a Scientist" Randy Olson talks about the need to arouse and fulfill in story telling, to tap into the emotional connection we have with each other to relay information.  This definitely got me thinking on how to tell stories in the future.

I also got the chance to see one of my favorite speakers talk again.  It was 7 years ago I heard Bob Willard speak in class while I was doing my master's of environmental studies.  He focuses on the business case for sustainability.  Over the years he has added to his tools for sustainability professionals help for organizational behavior change, because this is really what is at the core of sustainability.  The way we have been operating has created certain negative affects and we want to start to change that around.

Overall I get reminded by how many people are working in different facets of our entire system, and globally and I get excited that change is happening - right now as I type, more and more people are looking at their businesses, schools, churches, governments and saying we can do this smarter, better and take care of our planet and the people in our communities.

Take it seriously, but not TOO seriously

I think sustainability work has made me a bit of a downer.  Or maybe I am a bit of a downer and have been attracted to sustainability work.  It makes sense, there are a lot of problems to be "fixed" when we look at the way we live and work and play when we think about global sustainability.  And my personality gets caught up in it. 
I have been told that I analyze things a lot.  And interestingly enough I am learning this to be true.  So for instance, I was trying to decide what to make for dinner last night and had all these great veggies from a friend's garden I debated over and over again what to make that required the least impact, meaning what could I do without having to go to the store and buy more food.  And what would be the healthiest and what would be the easiest to cook so I didn't have to use a lot of water and fuel.  Well in the end we ended up with leftovers and it worked, we used up food we already had and were fed.
There are a lot of pieces to the sustainability puzzle and our brains can get caught up in trying to balance it all.  Sometimes this is helpful, but a lot of times I get to caught up in those details that I fail to see the big picture.  To stop and see there is a simpler answer and to laugh a little and take myself a little less seriously.  Making good decisions for sustainability isn't going to come easily unless we make the process of making those decisions fun and engaging.  So adding lighten up to the solutions for sustainability.

What I am working on today

I have to admit I get tripped up when people ask, in your job what do you do all day?  The field of sustainability is a strange one.  I feel that everyone in their job, no matter the job can be thinking about, learning about and implementing sustainability.  In fact as I read articles about new break throughs in sustainability it is starting to read like a engineering journal - with details in parts, operations, efficiencies, and all other types of improvements to how we operate.

So as a sustainability director what do I do?  The easy answer is I am a project manager.  I have to know enough about a lot of things, but more importantly I have to know where to find more information and experts. Then I pull pieces together and work with different teams within the organization to start implementing changes.
It differs all the time, so I thought I would let you in on what is on the dock for this week.

For prAna we are reviewing our sustainability strategy - every few years it is important to look at what strategy we set for ourselves, how we are doing and where we will go.  I find this time so exciting and scary all at once. There is SO much opportunity out there, but also there are limited resources.  My time being one of them, effective implementation, and of course bandwidth and money within the organization.  Balancing all of these leads to developing the strategy and if we do it right, some major headway will occur in the next few years.

For the Food Trade Sustainability Leadership Association (FTSLA) I am only one month and one week into my new role as the Director of Education and Communications.  I am still learning the nuances of the organization, the language, the tone and the needs of our members.  This week I will be focusing on understanding and strengthen our reporting and review process.  Reporting is hard, starting with data collection, tracking, reporting and understanding the information for future goals. I am not strong in this area, so am enjoying the opportunity to learn more. And help our members make this process easier.

I think the biggest lesson I am learning in this field is that there is TOO much work to do in one lifetime and to learn to just do the best I can.  Every day I hear of a new cause, problem or need that pulls me away from my day to day work and I have to evaluate if it is worth pursuing.  Luckily there is a growing momentum for sustainability and so many more people are tackling the subject making solutions a lot more easy to find. 

Can't Afford Sustainability?

I get this comment a lot -

"Well I wish I could afford to buy Organic, Fair Trade, sustainable, etc. but it is just too expensive".

I felt I had to address this.  The reason why so many people look at the issue this way is that they are taking the old model of buying things and applying the surcharge for sustainability.  For instance, yes if you were to go to the store and buy a box of pasta for 99 cents and the organic option was $1.59 and you applied this to all of your purchases - then yes it looks more expensive.

This is a great example of how we need to look at HOW we buy and how to make better decisions.  For instance - how much do you buy and waste?  We don't value things that are cheap - I make the whole box of pasta and then throw out half because I made too much and I forget that I don't like day old pasta.  OR I make half the box of the organic, and the other half another day.
So with this example you can totally argue - well I could just be more resourceful and not buy organic and save money.  This is true, but the point of this conversation is to figure out HOW to support your values with what you buy.  So one approach is waste less of what you buy - use it up, be aware of how much you actually need before you go shopping and choose to buy products that are more sustainable when you do.

The other approach is to buy less - and spend your money in quality not quantity.  Yes that means 3 pairs of pants a year instead of 5, but if you could buy organic or recycled fibers, the impact your are making is significant.

And also I tell people - focus on the big things - like big purchases. When you go to buy a Fridge or Washing Machine, if you get the energy efficient option you actually end up saving money in the long run with your energy bills being lower.

Think about the entire cost all the way through how you use the things you buy, what you might waste and do you really need as much?