Saving ourselves - Technology or Behavior

I am in the middle of an interesting project trying to determine the best type of packaging for shipping products.
The interesting dilemma at hand is how does one make the right decision when you are not comparing apples to apples?

So that you can quickly understand the challenge, I am going to simplify the issue.  Packaging #1 is a recycled paper envelop, while Packaging #2 is a recycled plastic envelop. Sounds similar? Not so much.

The interesting issue at hand is that while intuitively we want to stay away from plastic, the plastic option is actually more durable and seen as a better product. But ultimately this packaging, like so much packaging, ends up in the hands of individuals in our homes and we have limited ways of disposing of it well.

Most waste haulers across the USA don't want soft plastics; in fact only 5% of municipalities will accept it.  This is mostly because of how recycling is sorted in the facilities. Usually there are large conveyer belts that are sorting materials with giant magnets and optical scanners. In this system, soft plastics get caught up in machinery.  And the other issue is that because soft plastics are so light, if they get dirty - that dirt easily contaminates the ability for recycling to occur.

BUT, if there was a way to guarantee we could effectively recapture the large quantities of clean soft plastic, the technology exists to recycle it.

So back to our two options for packaging: Packaging #1 is paper and there for can be recycled (and people already know how to recycle it easily), or worst case scenario is in a landfill and will eventually biodegrade. Packaging #2 - could be recycled forever... but we don't currently have the systems to support that.

Separate bag for sorting soft plastics, next to our kitchen laundry bin

We are living in an interesting time  - where technology and human behavior are needed to work together in new ways to achieve the desired results. And that is part of the equation towards sustainability. All the great technology in the world will not allow us to create better systems, unless we change our behaviors to create those better systems.

So to start: recycle everything you can. And think about which of your systems you can develop -by changing your behavior - to support sustainable change.

Do Your Employees Care About Sustainability? Tips to get people on board with your Sustainability Goals

No matter how big or small the organization, companies everywhere are making new and exciting commitments to sustainability - externally and internally. 

But how much weight do your external sustainability commitments hold when inside your office you throw things away instead of recycling, leave the water running while you make copies, and generally don't set a good example. 

Changing behavior is not easy but in a supportive group environment you can prioritize actions that will foster a greater understanding of your sustainable business strategies. 

1. Offer Flexibility | Your employees are already busy. Study work patterns to identify opportunities to insert flexible sustainability training that works for their schedule not yours. Use digital, unique means of communicating this information. Let employees own their education.

2. Be Relevant | Make sure employees understand what sustainability means to them and their responsibilities. Forcing broad generic goals on hard working people will give you at best mixed results. Use focus groups to present sustainability goals and solicit real feedback on why these goals are meaningful to your employees. Recognizes differences between positions, teams, and departments. Cater sustainability information accordingly when you roll out sustainability programs.

3. Keep Current | One of the biggest complaints about all training is when resources and information are out of date. When designing the program, assign accountability for updating content, resources, and especially links (nothing shows you don't care about training by putting dead end links into current training). Get buy-in from everyone involved and make these responsibilities an important part of a job description. Creating a great sustainability training program is one thing; keeping it great is the real goal. 

4. Do It Together | Get everyone on board with your goals. Create team goals and declare and track progress publicly. Don't over promise; set one or two goals at a time to change behavior with a fun challenge. Do challenges for at least two weeks to start forming new habits. Assign team leads to motivate people and create ownership. 

5. Reward Learning | Think of non-monetary incentives. Offer opportunities for professional growth for individuals, teams, and departments. Offering experiential rewards that last long beyond the moment instead of one-time monetary or short-term rewards will save the business money, add more value for employees, and create longer term commitment and engagement in the important process of embedding sustainability in your internal culture. 

Do you have any other ideas or suggestions for employee engagement? Send your thoughts to mackenzie@sustainabilityinreview.com

Thank you!

Hello 2015

Hello 2015!
As another year comes to a close, we may find ourselves looking back - but we also are looking ahead. While we have many exciting projects with current and future clients to look forward to, we also want to make a commitment to be more present. Both in our lives, but also here on our blog. So expect to see lots more of us. Please don't hesitate to write in if you have any ideas you'd like to see a blog about or even share as a guest blogger. In this new year, we can't wait to bring you new content, new perspectives, new stories - as we begin another adventure at Sustainability in Review.

Occupying Sustainability

I love the Occupy movement that is going on right now.  I am proud that people are actually expressing their discontent for the greed and the institutions in the USA and globally that feed into that greed. I didn't think Americans had it in them to rock the boat.  I say this because in the USA we have so much in comparison to developing countries where poverty and the lack human rights are prevalent.  So I figured we would never make too much noise for fear of losing what we do have.  But what I see here in the USA are people who feel frustrated that all of our efforts cannot be boiled down to making profit for companies.

Watching the news and with what is going on with Occupy Wall Street and the additional Occupy movements made me think of the corporations that fit into this protesting.  Specifically those companies where social and environmental responsibility are not a part of the company ethos, where truly they are focused on profit for profits sake.

Often when sustainability experts talk about the reasons why companies should invest in authentic sustainability behaviors and initiatives it is driven by a sense of risk if you don't.  I see the Occupy movement as a risk.  If you are a company that cannot show their commitment to sustainability then they are a target - as another institution that does not serve the people of the USA nor the planet.

Customers have choice now - if I want to buy a laundry detergent I can buy it from a company that invests not only in providing a clean non-toxic product, but one that has a robust benefits program for its employees and that invests back into its community. I don't have to buy it from a multi-national corporation that does not deliver on these issues.

Watching the campaign to move your money from your bank and putting it with a local credit union is propping up the notion that "we the people" have power and the ability to exercise that right through the purchases and investments we make.

There is an energy in the air that is new, that is dynamic and powerful.  What will come out of this is anyone's guess, but if I were a company that did not have a commitment to its employees, customers, the environment and the global community I would be starting to think it might be time. 

Sustainable Now

A lot of the rhetoric about sustainability is about what we need to do to protect the future. While this is important it doesn't seem to be the "selling" point that is bringing in the masses to the sustainability party.  In the practice of Buddhism the focus is on the moment now, not worrying about the past or the future.  I wanted to explore what that might mean as an idea of looking at sustainability through the lens of the now rather than doing all this effort for the future.

To start, the future is not a sure thing. We don't know what it will look like and it is so difficult to predict.  But what we do know is that our behaviors right now have affects that are immediate.  When we look at our behaviors and how they might impact people and the planet right now, we have a reaction to that.  For instance, when I buy something organic, it isn't only about the future of the planet it is about me choosing a product that was produced in a way where farmers were not exposed to chemicals, where water and soils were not polluted and where I will be healthier - all of this right now.  Or if I choose not to drive my car, I am right now not polluting.

You could even look at this in a selfish way - who cares about the future... the more sustainable decisions you make right now are about living the best non-harmful life you can.  Maybe this might resonate with people more.  Making better decisions today, means you gets to see your results much sooner?

Surviving the Meta Trends

I gave a presentation at the Los Angeles International Textiles Show earlier this week and the topic was Sustainable Meta Trends in Textiles.  In all honesty I didn't know what a Meta Trend was until a few weeks prior. I looked it up and basically META is something transformational.
So it is not just what is new, but what is going to change significantly.
Pretty daunting - and to boot, my presentation was pretty daunting as well, as the impact of the textile industry on the planet is significant.

Often however we hear these significant meta statements about poverty, climate change, obesity, water, land and energy shortages and we cannot comprehend how to digest that information into our daily lives. At least I find it quite difficult. So I started thinking about a way to make these huge pieces of information enter my brain with some kind of comprehension. And the way I look at it is to find some kind of transformational experience that I have already gone though and build a connection.

For instance - when I worked as a freelancer and now as a consultant and do not have the same income I was used to - you begin to adapt and start living differently, you prioritize, and alter your behaviors.  I have seen the same with friends and family who have children, your life is now different, you adapt.
Another example - our pipes broke and had to turn off the water in our home for a day, we re-looked at how we lived, what could we do without water and still live.

These maybe small items, but it shows how if we step back and look at the times in our lives that we have been able to change, and change our behaviors we usually can do it. So you can look at these Meta trends as warnings for the areas of the world that are going to change and you can start practicing now. 

Guest blog - Sustainability from your not so Average Joe

There are three (at least) reasons why I should not write about sustainability for this blog: 1) I really don’t know a lot about the topic. 2) I don’t exactly live an exemplary life when it comes to sustainable practices. 3) Even if I did have any insights, they likely wouldn’t apply to the population at large, because I live in a very remote and unique environment – the Canadian Arctic.

Nicole, however, won’t take no for an answer, and so here we are. I think, in her wisdom (?) she might think that I might have something relevant to say for the very reasons I think I don’t. So I’m going to tackle this piece from that perspective, then, and see what happens.

1. What do I know about living sustainability? Putting it simply, I would say it is about doing what you can. Not talking or thinking or wishing or regretting. But DOING. It is easy think of endless excuses why we cannot do X.  So perhaps the key is to start by focusing on doing Y…the things we can do. For example, where I live there is no recycling program and no organic options at our grocery store. I can’t do anything about it.  However, I can (and did) make the decision to be a single-vehicle family.  With two young children to cart around and a climate that involves 6 months of winter and temperatures that regularly drop below -30 and -40 degrees Celsius, it would obviously be more convenient for my husband and I to each have a vehicle, but we make it work with one. There is something we did.

2. Like I said above – I don’t recycle. And OK, so we only have one vehicle, but that one vehicle idles a lot (to keep warm in the aforementioned formidable climate). And sometimes I let the water run when brushing my teeth. We use disposable diapers (gasp!) I could go on. So why would Nicole want a baddie like me telling y’all about my thoughts on sustainability? I guess maybe because I’m an Average Joe. Nicole has a Masters in Environmental Studies and sustainability is her passion. That’s not me. I’m a librarian and right now just getting through life with a toddler and an infant is my passion. So sometimes it feels like maybe the same rules wouldn’t apply to an Average Joe that would apply to a keener like Nicole. But if you take a few minutes to actually think about sustainable living (as I’ve been forced to do by going through this exercise) and go back to my simple definition, then even the Average Joe can do something. Or even better, a bunch of somethings. And the somethings can be easy (how hard is it to shut the water off when brushing your teeth?) And the somethings can have spin-off benefits (e.g. having one vehicle also means spending less money). And probably, the more somethings you do, even more positive choices will follow as you begin to be more conscious about sustainability.  And we don’t need a Masters in Environmental Studies for that. (And FYI, if you ever want to make something a habit, enlist the help of a toddler…those little guys are militant about habits. Are you lazy about turning off lights before you leave a room? Just get my son to help you flip off the light switch one time, and I guarantee you’ll have a little light-turning-off enforcer for life.)

3. I’ve already mentioned just a couple of points about Arctic living that are not likely to be issues for the general readership. Even though I face some challenges up here, I’ve got some pretty amazing models from the Inuit culture, who managed to perfect sustainable living in the most cruel of environments. There are many, many more unique elements to my lifestyle (truly, I wish more people could visit up here and experience the wonders of the north). For example, when I take my kids for a “walk” at this time of year, one of them rides on my back in my amautiq and the other is pulled in a sled.  I think Nicole sees these anecdotes as a bit of a hook, because my experiences up here are so unique and tend to garner interest. But even if your life isn’t as glamorous or interesting as that of a northerner, I guess you can still go back to my simple definition of sustainable living and do what works wherever you happen to be, regardless of the challenges you face there.

Rae-Lynne Patterson Aramburo lives in Iqaluit, Nunavut in Northern Canada with her husband and two boys.  She graciously responded to my request to write a blog about living in the north and thinking about sustainability.  And I was right she has some great insights to share.  Thank you Rae.