“…If you look at the science about what is happening
on earth and aren’t pessimistic, you don’t
understand data.
…But if you meet the people who are working to
restore this earth and create a new business model,
and you aren’t optimistic, you haven’t got a pulse.”
Lisa Swallow, CPA CMA MS
Presented to Women’s Empowerment Project
April 2012
“Meeting the needs of the present without
compromising the ability of future
generations to meet their needs”
--1987 UN Brundlandt Report
Sustainability: The possibility that we all
flourish forever.
-- John Ehrenfeld, International Society for
Industrial Ecology
All major ecosystems in the world are threatened
 Toxic build-up and dispersion
Life Supporting Resources
 Water tables dangerously low
What willour
transportationdecline
systems look
?
Dramatic
inlike
fisheries
& coral reefsdeclining
How will we globally continue to feed a burgeoning
 Forest depletion
population ?
Loss
biodiversity
How will health
careof
be administered?
What sorts ofClimate
materials will
we use to produce
change

consumer goods ?
What role will technology play?
How soon will all our buildings
be net zero energy
?
“Natural
Capital”
What will power our world?
We’re spending the corpus, should
What will the biodiversity loss really look like?
Life
be living off of interest!
Will there be enough desalinated water for the world?
Consumption of
Supporting Resources
rising
Shepard Glacier
Glacier National Park, MT
1913
W. C. Alden photo
USGS Photographic Library
2005
USGS Repeat Photography Project
http://nrmsc.usgs.gov/repeatphoto/
Blase Reardon photo
USGS
Dilemma – when multiple parties, acting
independently and with own self-interest at
heart, will ultimately deplete a shared
limited resource even when it is clear that it is
not in anyone's long-term interest for this to
happen
Garrett Hardin 1968

What happens to a trust if you live off the interest?
What happens if you spend down the corpus?
Natural capitalism recognizes and assigns fair market
value to ecosystem services – valued at $2 trillion per
year and no substitutes
And focuses on product design using biomimicry,
providing services (not product ownership) and
increasing efficiency
PROFIT
PLANET
PEOPLE
Businesses increasingly acknowledging new strategy –
moving from short term thinking to long term vision


Enhance revenue - Brand imaging/marketing
Cutting operating costs





Increasing interest in investment
world in socially responsible firms




Waste
Water
Eco-efficiencies
Energy
Renovate rather than build
SRI - $3 trillion (see Dow Jones Sustainability Index)
Enhanced EE recruiting/retention
Risk mitigation/reduction of exposure
Reduced costs of capital

Innovation opportunities for the impending green economy
are limitless
Smart grids
Distributed energy
Hydrogen infrastructure
Water desalinization and purification
New consumer goods
Renewable energy
Energy efficiency
Green building products
New financial services and markets
Alternative transportation models
New manufacturing processes
“Green Shoppers 2009”
Report conducted by Deloitte & Touche
Consumers are rewarding green businesses
Saturation in many traditional markets
 Fastest growing markets are green

Number One: Rise of the “conscious consumer”
19%
17%
LOHAS
Naturalites
15%
24%
Drifters
Conventionals
Unconcerned
25%
Source: Natural Marketing Institute “NMI’s
23009 Consumer Segmentation Model”
True Blues
Sprouts
Grousers
Basic Browns
Number Two: Availability of information/transparency
Very easy to access info on companies’ behavior and
product attributes based on interest – what are “green
products”?








Made and/or sold locally
Recycled and/or recyclable
Indigenous/artesian crafted
Fair trade
Toxin free
Organic
Sweatshop free
Produced with green energy
Study after study showing increasing
blending of values and purchasing
”The Consumer Society” is transforming
towards the “Simple Society”
Byproducts of materialist society weighs on us



Explosion of debt
Migration of jobs overseas
Staggering amount of waste created by disposable lifestyle
All this leads towards more responsible and value
driven purchasing.
Consumer interested in authenticity & responsible
supply chain practices



GreenBiz Fourth Annual
MIT Sloan Management Review & and Boston
Consulting Group -2011 research report
Greening of Corporate America
2009 Greening Corporate America





Change product development
Look at fastest growing markets
Practice corporate social responsibility
Craft new partners
Establish benchmarks and measure progress
Design that
complies
with TNS
Green
Materials
Sustainable
Design
Framework that require mindful design:
• Biomimicry
• Cradle to Cradle
• Design for the Environment


From Bios (life) + Memesis (to imitate) – Janine Benyus
Product design framework – emulating 3.8 billion
years of evolution - species don’t use up their host
organism

What’s flourishing on the planet today are the best ideas
- those that perform well in context, while economizing
on energy and materials


Organics/local vs. corporate food
Green building

2005 - green building accounted for 2% of
construction

2008 - 15-20% of new construction
 Amount equivalent to $50b market





Naturopathy/alternative medicines
Early adopters (solar) going mainstream
Natural fibers (bamboo, hemp, jute, etc)
Sustainable home furnishings
Recycled-content paper products
Stu Hart – “Capitalism at the Crossroads”
BoP 1.0 - Large corporations will experience growth
solving the world’s problems for the poorest 4 billion
people
 Saturation in existing markets
 “Trickle-up opportunity”

 Smaller packages, different distribution model
 Sell service (pest control/house cleaning)
 Nairobi – buy ‘by the squirt’
“Next Generation BoP Strategies”
 BoP 2.0
Partner with local entrepreneurs to build
capacity
 S G Johnson – service and flow model


Business concerns:





Employee health (down supply chain),
retention/productivity, consumer health, community
prosperity
Purchasing policies (Fair Trade,
Sweatshop-Free)
Many office greening maneuvers (daylighting, toxin
free, etc.) will enhance employees’ worklife)
Address commuting issues
Green HR policies

Many MNCs looking to team
up with ecological experts



Coca-Cola employing ecologists to
help analyze future projects’
biodiversity impacts
Dow Chemical partnered with
TNC to add ecosystem
costs/benefits to business model
City of Sao Paulo collaborating
with WWF to run drinking water
project – analyzing effect of
logging, ranching, ag on water
quality/wildlife
Andrew Liveris, CEO "This
collaboration is designed to
help us innovate new
approaches to critical world
challenges while
demonstrating that
environmental conservation
is not just good for nature - it
is good for business”
“What gets measured, gets managed”
More detail when looking at GRI tomorrow
New metrics emerging – be transparent!








CO2 e per … revenue dollar or employee or per sq. ft. of
facility space
% of recycled materials
Solid waste measurements
Fair trade-certified product %
Embodied energy (LCA)
Embodied water
Social footprint
Sustainability Balanced Scorecard
The sustainability crisis cannot be
solved by the same kind of
education that helped create it.
--David Orr