The Cost of Greenwashing

I spent some time this past week looking through retail-store fliers and websites in search of boxing week deals. One in particular caught my eye, which I think illustrates the risks of making products seem greener than they are...

Copenhagen, and what it means for you

The world's politicians will meet in Copenhagen today in an effort to create a binding agreement based on fixed carbon emissions targets. Even the Canadian government, which until recently defended flexible, intensity-based reductions targets(a weak position that would allow the western tar sands to grow by emitting less CO2 per barrel but more overall), now says it will argue in favour of binding emissions targets

So what does this mean for owners of small and medium organizations? ...

Change is coming: Are You Ready?

International Panelists Agree: growth does not equal happiness. Economic experts Tim Jackson, head of an advisory body for the British government, Robert Costanza professor at the University of Vermont and Peter Victor, Professor at York University in Toronto came together today in an international podcast that challenged the western concepts of growth, progress, and quality of life.

Key points included...

Tim Jackson speaks about tomorrow's green economy

Part one of a talk Tim Jackson, author of Prosperity Without Growth, gave a few weeks ago, echoing many of the themes discussed in today's international panel. The video could be better, but I find the content to be crucial.

Getting it right in Copenhagen

Politicians and environmentalists alike were lowering expectations in the lead up to the Copenhagen Climate Change Conference this week, but a few voices cut through the din.

Yvo de Boer, executive secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, expects "...a list of targets from the industrialized countries, a list of commitments from the developing countries, and a list of financial contributions," according to the Reflections on Ethical Business blog.  In essence, such a deal would result in...

Profit or not-for-profit?

What did you wish you knew before starting a social enterprise?

My partner and I had the opportunity to contribute to a panel last Wednesday with the founders of some great organizations:  Pieter Dietz from My Social Actions, Aleece Germano, founder of The S.W.A.P Team as well Lucie Chagnon, an Ashoka fellow and President of Commodus: Concilliation travail famille.

The panel discussion, which led to some heated debates, was part of a sold-out two-day social entrepreneurship conference organized by YES Montreal that provided some much needed (and particularly hard to come by) guidance for young social entrepreneurs.  I'd thought I'd share some of the main ideas/debates, on this page...

British publisher

Thanks to the Brits who have visited the blog over the past week.  Those of you living across the pond can find Tim Jackson's book on sustainable economics for sale on the Earthscan website (http://www.earthscan.co.uk/?tabid=92763), while the New Economics Foundation's publication on the same subject can be downloaded for free at http://www.neweconomics.org/publications/the-great-transition (pdf), or printed and bound for 10 quid.

Cheers

Prosperity Without Growth

With all the hype surrounding two audacious new books: Tim Jackson's new book, Prosperity Without Growth: Economics for a finite planet, and the New Economics Foundation's The New Economics: A Bigger Picture, one might wonder what university economics departments will be teaching next year.  European press are making quite a big deal out of both books, so my feeling is that it's worth waiting a two or three weeks for copies to ship on backorder from Amazon.com, if only to get a sneak peek at how sustainable economics might work in the very near future.

I seem to have misplaced the sneak peak of Prosperity Without Growth that landed in my inbox a few weeks ago, but I CAN promise that The New Economics will answer these burning questions: Why Does Britain Import the Same Number of Chocolate Waffles as it Exports? Why do Fewer People Vote when there is a Wal-Mart Nearby? among others.

Moving beyond best-practice

The last post left off calling this page "a space to share best-practice." Of course it's great to hear about organizations setting the example by finding new and innovative ways to make their corners of the world that much better.

But these examples don't set the bar. They exceed it, and most companies will find it difficult to achieve the same success. So where is the bar? How much is enough?

Can SME's be sustainable?

I'd say 50% of the people I talk to, mostly small business owners, ask this question based on two assumptions:

A) Small and medium-sized businesses don't have significant social or environmental footprints.

B) Most have neither the money nor the time to invest sustainability.

While it's true that the big boys have taken the initiative, SMEs have an incredible capacity to create meaningful change, by shear numbers alone. In Quebec for example, 85% of businesses are SME's, meaning that small actions can make a big difference when they add up.

Small and medium organizations actually have a much easier time going green for three reasons: