Perpetual Innovation

Category: sustainability

  • Fast 10 sustainability leadership tips | GreenBiz

    ‘Fast 10’ sustainability leadership tips | GreenBiz:

    There are great tips.

    I really like the “building a business case” tip.  If you can’t build a pretty good business case for something, then it makes a case for change that is usually hard, nearly impossible.

    Getting ahead means that you can play offense, not defense.

    Langert is from McDonald’s so he has had his work cut out for him. When McD has tried to introduce more healthy foods, the consumer usually hasn’t been buying it… they go to McDonald’s for BIG Mac and fries.

    McD really grew sales after the Great Recession. Until 2014, when sales slumped (same-store sales). Consumers have been going for healthier foods like Chipotle.
    * Check out the healthier Corner McCafe by McDonald’s.
    * Is Chipotle really healthier than McDonald’s?

    It would be interesting to see what Langert recommended for McDonald’s. Healthier fair would likely be slower fair, … and in a few weeks, it won’t be there.

    That doesn’t make Langert’s advise any less valuable. But in some places it is a whole lot easier to go more sustainable than in others.

    Makes you wonder what Hall and Knab (2012) would suggest related to how these 10 tips fit into the profile of a Sustainable Leader?

    Reference

    Hall,
    E., & Knab, E.F. (2012, July). Social irresponsibility provides opportunity
    for the win-win-win of Sustainable Leadership. In C. A. Lentz (Ed.), The
    refractive thinker: Vol. 7. Social responsibility,     (pp. 197-220). Las
    Vegas, NV: The Refractive Thinker®
    Press.
    (Available from     www.RefractiveThinker.com, ISBN:
    978-0-9840054-2-0) 

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  • Don’t Confuse Sustainability with CSR | Ivey Business Journal

    Don’t Confuse Sustainability with CSR | Ivey Business Journal:

    Definition of sustainability — essentially not imposing additional costs on the future — is quite different from Corporate Social Responsibility, which looks at balancing the needs of all current constituents.

    This is a very cool article that addresses the key issues that differentiate sustainability from CSR. Even though sustainability is overused and frequently missuses, it is a better term to use and a better utopia to aim for.

    “It is time for organizational leaders to stop confusing responsibility with sustainability, which hinders businesses from thinking deeply enough about the inequities created by their actions over time. Simply put, some activities are either responsible or they are sustainable, not both.”

    The article talks about resources, but does not frame things in terms of the process of resource depletion, like the consumption of fossil fuels. Sustainability identifies the issue. CSR aims to offer some restitution, kind of. Neither really addresses the issues of non-sustainable natural resource consumption well.

    Unintended consequences happen with CSR, with sustainability, and especially with non-sustainable activities. Lot’s of unintended consequences happen with non-sustainable actions.

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  • Falling Chinese Coal Consumption and Output Undermine Global Market – WSJ

    Falling Chinese Coal Consumption and Output Undermine Global Market – WSJ:

    Finally, Finally, Finally…

    China has finally started to cut back on it’s production and use of dirty coal. China now consumes far more than half of the world’s coal.

    It’s a perfect time for them to do so, with all energy prices so low, the Chinese economy growing slow(er) and the costs/consequences of pollution from coal becoming more and more conspicuous.

    It is also interesting that this article talks about peak coal. It seems that peak oil and peak coal have been pushed back with the overwhelming supply of cheap(er) oil and gas from new technologies (fracking, horizontal drilling, etc.)

    In China’s case it may be peak pollution, where the health costs, environmental costs and quality of life costs are are starting to overpower the perception of coal being a cheap energy source.

    Doing non-sustainable stuff, especially for long periods of time, has its costs and unintended consequences.

    Sustainable Growth…

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  • Why science is so hard to believe… It’s in the Kool-Aid – The Washington Post

    Why science is so hard to believe – The Washington Post:


    Joel Achenbach hit the nail on the head with this article.

    Ever wonder why you can talk with otherwise intelligent people and you suddenly drop into the twilight zone.  They suddenly are totally convinced that the earth is flat, and there’s no arguing with them.Or they are totally convinced the fluoride in water is a horrible government conspiracy to … 

    It is in the water. Or the Kool-Aid. Each group, tribe if you will, is drinking a different flavor. And you drink enough of it, the facts get a little wacky.!!!

    This is a wonderful opinion letter. 


    Here also is a great article as well on the distrust of science by Americans. It includes Pew Research on the topic. 

    Hmmm….


    Achenback argues against the idea of scientist taking a more proactive stance. He argues that when scientist step off of the ivory tower to wrestle in the mud of politics and public policy they get dirty-ugly like the rest of us. (Well, something kind of like that argument anyway.)


    So, it appears, that many people only want to hear what they want to hear. If it doesn’t match with their world view, then they switch to a channel that matches…

    And so we have the world’s most information rich environment, with exponentially more information available each decade, yet ignorance runs rampant. It is almost impossible to believe that such is possible. But it is.

    For several years now I keep returning to the wise axioms of Rotary International. In the 4-way test, of all we say and do… “First, is it the truth?” 


    Ignoring the truth (ignoring the facts) has a nasty way of coming back around and biting you in the butt if/when you get it wrong.


    We like to focus on sustainability. Things that are sustainable rather easy to view mathematically. Eating 4,000 calories per day, and burn only 2000, you are apt to gain weight. Burn 9m barrels of oil per day (42 gals each) pumping the hydro & carbons into the atmosphere and you are changing all kinds of things in the atmosphere (and environment). [These carbons have been sequestered in the earth for some 5 to 50 million years.] The resulting imbalances  will have effects and side-effects. Guaranteed. Predicting them accurately may not be easy. Assuming that doing non-sustainable things won’t cause a problem because they never caused a problem before, has some very serious logic flaws. 


    So, let’s all move away from the flavored waters and start seeking out the crystal clear true of the facts and the issues. We’ll all have a healthier outlook, and healthier teeth as well.


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  • GreenBiz 2015 | GreenBiz Conferences, Feb 17-19, 2015

    GreenBiz 2015 | GreenBiz Conferences, Feb 17-19, 2015:

    This is a very cool Sustainability/GreenBiz forum lineup. In Phoenix, in February.

    Listen to some of the big companies out there including Unilever, J&J, Target, Levi’s, adidas,… I like some of the discussion on metrics and ROI from sustainability… Seems like such a good place to start.

    Should be fun. Also, if you are associated with Gov or Edu or ?Org? you might be eligible for a 40% discount.

    I might have to try to do it online. I didn’t see any details about that. Obviously keynotes are easier to virtualize than breakout/work sessions.

    Hope to see you all there.

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