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February, 2009
Greetings!

Despite the appearance of winter calm, the New Year has been very busy for our growing team at Straus Communications. For businesses and organizations focused on the health of the planet and its inhabitants, these are exciting and challenging times. The media landscape is changing quickly, and we're focused as always on keeping our fingers on the pulse.

In the past few months, we've influenced the news-makers on hot button issues including food's role in climate change, organic dairy pasture regulations, and sustainable seafood for sushi and beyond. We've also become a part of the new certification system called B Corporations, which promises to revolutionize private enterprise by codifying consideration of the Triple Bottom Line.

As socially responsible businesses work to bring change through commerce, a trifecta of environmental, economic and personal concerns are elevating the business of sustainability in public dialog. We're encouraged to see media coverage that gets to the heart of the issues, and we're pleased to include our clients, advocates and friends in that conversation.
 
Sincerely,

Michael Straus, Haven Bourque and the team

Our clients in the news

Low Carbon Calculator Food's carbon footprint:
The Washington Post covers Bon App�tit Management Company's commitment to lowering its carbon footprint, featuring the Low Carbon Diet calculator in this food feature by Jane Black. Read more about Bon App�tit sustainability initiatives at the Circle of Responsibility site.

Solar is hot:Solar - Cowgirl
Especially at Sunlight Electric, the leading solar integrator dedicated to small and medium businesses in California. Sunlight Electric and their customer, BarkerBlue, were recently featured on the front page of the San Mateo County Times and throughout the Bay Area online.

Sushi in the crosshairs:Cage Free Eggs
Seafood Watch just got more watchful and so did Blue Ocean Institute and Environmental Defense. All three organizations released pocket guides this fall that promise to help sushi consumers unravel the complexities of sushi bar menus. Our team was there - chopsticks at the ready - for the launch at Tataki sustainable sushi bar in San Francisco. Shelby Wood, the Oregonian's green blogger, covers it here.

Straus cowsHappy cows?
One of the most controversial issues facing organic dairy farmers today is how much time a cow should spend grazing on green pastures. In late December, we launched an 11th hour campaign to halt proposed USDA regulations that could have destroyed northern California's organic dairy community, resulting in many unhappy cows and unhappy local milk drinkers. Prominent placements included an Op-Ed in the San Francisco Chronicle. And our Media 2.0 outreach generated thousands of letters to the USDA. 
Fingers on the pulse
Edible Pursuit Edible Pursuit
The Straus team faced off with hoards of ferocious Bay Area foodies to win a top prize at the first annual Edible Pursuit, a food-trivia game that allowed us to flaunt our chops on the San Francisco local, national, and Slow Food eats beat, culinary-know-how, food politics, and beyond. Our team not only knows our way around the sustainable ag world, we're no slouches in the kitchen either. We doff our hats to organizer Edible San Francisco, and co-masters of the food universe team from Bi-Rite Market, who also won prizes. Our winning answer in the sudden-death final round was...Percy Schmeiser. Be the first to email us the correct question, and we'll treat you to an organic, solar-powered beer!
 
Eco-Farm Conference
GoatsThe annual conference on food and farming, Eco-Farm, held in Pacific Grove in January was the usual mix of dear old friends and eye-opening dialogue on what really matters in the food system: the state of organic farming, science of biofuels, Slow Money, and food justice among them.  Highlights included Raj Patel, author of Stuffed and Starved, an update on renewable energy programs funded by the Farm Bill, and a session on soil carbon sequestration. Wonk, wonk, wonk. Oh, and we had a barramundi dinner with Chef Dan Barber of Stone Barns and Blue Hill restaurant. 

Obama InaugurationMr. Straus goes to Washington

Michael attended the Obama inauguration, along with several hundred other food and business leaders from the Bay Area. He describes the "amazing feeling of hope" that embraced the city, which more than compensated for the cold and ultimately futile wait in the now-infamous "Purple Tunnel of Doom." He was also inspired by a powerful presentation by Van Jones on green jobs in the new economy.
Expanding our team and services

Mark Magers - VP Strategic Services
Mark, our new VP Strategic Services, brings critical expertise in tying clients' communications goals back to rock-solid business strategy. His approach starts with 6 silver-bullet questions he asks to determine whether start-ups -- or established businesses embarking on a new track -- have the strategy and planning in place to thrive. We've seen companies that didn't ask these questions prior to going to market stumble or fail when they should have done this exercise first. Who has money to burn these days? Call us today to explore these 6 questions.
 
Anna Ghosh & Susan Coss - Senior Media Strategists
Anna GhoshAnna and Susan are powerful new additions to our team. Susan CossAnna's background is in renewable energy and CSR, most recently with A & R Edelman PR agency; Susan specializes in socially responsible business, speaker's bureau development and small business. Both worked on the Slow Food Nation event in San Francisco Labor Day '08. Anna and Susan join Vanessa Barrington - author, chef, and sustainable food and food policy blogger for ecosalon - on our core team. Check out Vanessa's recently published book on heirloom beans.

Rachel Cole - Account CoordinatorRachel Cole
Rachel brings a diverse background in sustainability to our team - writing about Bay Area food personalities and producers in her 'SuperFoods' column for Edible San Francisco, developing educations programs at the the Ferry Plaza Farmers' Market, and working at Alice Water's Caf� Fanny.
B Corp certification
BLab_Logo
Straus Communications is now a certified
B Corporation, meeting comprehensive and transparent social and environmental performance standards. We join industry luminaries such as Numi Tea, Dansko Corporation, King Arthur Flour, Seventh Generation, and Trillium Asset Management.

Read more in this Inc. Magazine feature.