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.