|
(If you are receiving this email for the
first time, welcome to our mailing list. If
you've already received this newsletter,
we're updating
our database and you will only receive a single
copy of the next issue.)
Last month marked Natural Logic's ninth
birthday -- and what a time it's been! Our
growth continues at a rapid clip, with some
great new additions to our staff (see
below). But even more notable is the
evolution of the work.
We began in 1999, building on nine years of
work as predecessor company Gil Friend and
Associates. GFA focused initially on
delivering integrated ecoaudits, to help
companies find ways to profitably reduce
resource use and waste -- and thus reduce
costs and increase profits. Over time the work
broadened, to include both business strategy
for companies and economic development
strategies for cities. We expanded our scope
to developing sustainability performance metrics
that mapped the metabolism of companies,
cities and regions.
Natural Logic began with a particular focus
on performance dashboards -- and with a
challenging
sense of timing. We were too late to harvest
the dotcom bounty, and too early for the
sustainability wave. So we focused on the
knitting: helping companies and communities
build profit and competitive advantage by
building sustainability into the heart of
everything they do.
In the last 18 months the landscape has
shifted. Companies no longer call asking us
to brief their executive teams on the
business case for sustainability. (As Bill
Gates notably once said: "If you can show me
the business case, you're too late!") Now all
the calls are along the lines of, "Could you
please come and tell us what to do?"
More importantly, we find that our clients
are better informed, more committed to making
a significant impact and bring higher
aspirations to the table. We're honored to be
able to help them translate those aspirations
into tangible, measurable, profitable,
sustainable results.
Read on to find out what we've been up to.
What's hot?
|
|
The Ecological Footprint of Biofuels
The growing interest in the potential of
biofuels to feed the world's energy
appetite, reduce carbon emissions and
replace the use of fossil fuels, is
generating divergent debate. The issues
raised include the energy balance of a
biofuel, whether growing fuel is competing with
growing food, or, more often, that climate
change is the most pressing issue at hand.
All of these discussions are relevant, but
they don't make it easy for decision-makers
or consumers to make their choice.
Ultimately, the debate needs to be focused on
whether what we are doing is sustainable --
befitting a growing population on a
resource-constrained planet.
J�rgen Vos, Natural Logic's Director of
Sustainability Analytics, has completed a
soon-to-be-published Ecological Footprint
analysis of a number of biofuels, bringing
the three
discussions of
energy-balance, food vs. fuel, and climate
change together into a single expression with
much-needed clarity. We offer summary
of his
findings in the graph below. In
this graph, "CO2 land" means land
needed to sequester emissions, "Cropland"
represents land needed to grow the fuel crop, and
"world per capita biocapacity" represents the
average amount of land available to each
human being for growing everything we depend
upon to live and to sequester our wastes.
|
Books
|
|
We've contributed to some remarkable books that
have just been released, or are coming out shortly,
that we think you should check out.
Kyoto Planet has published the The
Sustainable Enterprise Report, offering
the perspectives of sustainability thought
leaders
and corporate change agents who prove the
connection between sustainability and
profitability. Natural Logic's Gil Friend and
Benjamin Privitt contributed a chapter on
"IT & Sustainability: The Good News."
Gil also co-authored a chapter on Sustainable
Enterprise Metrics and Measurement Systems in
The
Sustainable Enterprise Fieldbook: When It All
Comes Together that will be published by
Greenleaf Publishing in July and will be
available in North America from AMACOM in
September 2008. Here's what leadership
consultant Warren Bennis had to say: "This
brilliant collection of essays lays the
foundation for building a sustainable
society. All boards of directors and their
leadership should make this book required
reading."
Watch for Gil's own book, coming soon. (And in the
meantime, visit Gil's
blog to follow his latest thinking
on strategic sustainability.)
|
Project Highlights
|
|
News from the sustainability revolution
We've had the pleasure of working with a
diverse group of clients this spring. Here are a few:
We're working with cereal company Kashi,
teaming with our friends at Natural
Capitalism Solutions, to develop its first
formal corporate sustainability program.
Natural Logic has been hired by the California
Department of General Services to develop a
prototype tracking and forecasting system the
will help DGS keep track of their progress
toward meeting the State of California's
building energy use goals. The State of
California wants to reduce the energy use of its
building portfolio 20% by 2015, compared to the
energy use in 2003. The state building portfolio covers
15,000 buildings in use by nearly 50 departments and
agencies.
We are continuing our work with WhiteWave
Foods to advance its greenhouse gas
reduction and other sustainability
initiatives.
What's the carbon footprint of 2 billion
gallons of milk? And how much can it be
reduced? That's the question Natural
Logic is addressing with Dean Foods,
the world's
largest dairy producer (employing more
than 26,000 people at more than 100 plants in the
United States.) Dean asked Natural Logic and
our ally Clear Carbon Consulting to measure
the carbon footprint of its far-flung
processing, refrigeration, packaging and
shipping activities, as well as guide the
design of its footprint reduction strategies.
We'd like to congratulate Berkeley-based
dental innovator
Transcendentist,
a recent Natural Logic client, which recently
received the Susanne Wilson Award for
Pollution Prevention/Resource Conversation
from Acterra, a
Bay Area-based environmental non-profit. We
worked with Transcendentist to explore the
economic benefits of their environmental initaitives.
Transcendentist
used our analyses to help launch the
nation-wide Eco-Dentistry Association, and
we're thrilled to see them get recognized for
their success!
|
Events
|
|
Please join us! (And invite us to keynote your next conference.)
Gil Friend recently spoke at the
Ecocity
World Summit 2008. You can watch his talk
on regional sustainability dashboards and the
National Carbon League
here. He's also presented a workshop on
"Measuring What Matters" at the Sustainable
Enterprise Conference and keynotes at the
GreenWest Product Expo and UCLA Extension's
The Business of Green in Long Beach. He will
also be presenting at Sustainable
Brands in Monterey, CA the first week in
June.
David Jaber spoke at Natural Product Expo
West, and Clif Bar
selected him to be a judge for its Golden
Eagle awards, an eco-ski resort competition
that Clif manages in conjuction with the National
Ski Areas Association.
Operations Manager Benjamin Privitt delivered
the keynote address at the Kuleana Business
Conference and Trade Show in Kona, Hawai'i.
We'll be announcing other events soon. Check
out our speaking schedule at the link below;
and contact
us
to book us for
your upcoming events.
|
Team News
|
|
Gil Friend to teach at Presidio
School of Management
Gil joins Hunter Lovins, Jay Ogilvy and
Sissel Waage as faculty for the Executive
Program in
Sustainable Management faculty working with
senior-level professionals on the
practical applications of sustainable
business frameworks, tools and metrics.
March Office Warming Party
Thanks to everyone who attended our open
house in March and to the green businesses
who collaborated with us: Green
Motors of Berkeley, Parducci
Wine Cellars, CleanFish,
Clif
Bar, Back
to Earth, and NextNow
Collaboratory. It was
a wonderful event that
brought old friends and new community
together in our bright office space. We are
very grateful to have received such a warm
welcome.
New team members: J�rgen Vos and Ken
Hejmanowski
J�rgen Vos is the new Director of
Sustainability Analytics at Natural Logic. He
combines an in-depth understanding of
traditional businesses and their markets with
a deep awareness of sustainability. J�rgen
has an extensive background in global
marketing and product management, including
10 years at Cisco Systems where he carried
the global responsibility for a high-tech
product line with $100M annual revenue. His
areas of specialization include sustainable
systems design and modeling, Ecological
Footprinting, renewable energy, and
environmental input-output analysis. He is
the creator of a leading organizational
footprinting tool called Footprint
Scanner.
Ken Hejmanowski is our new Senior
Sustainability Analyst. He is a
sustainability professional with extensive
software engineering and business experience
in a variety of markets, including large
established businesses and an early-stage
startup developing high tech
solutions for water conservation and
pollution prevention. Ken is weeks away from
completing his MBA in Sustainable Management
at Presidio School of Management. He has led
diverse sustainability projects including the
creation of an operations plan and financial
model for Wal-Mart's proposed community
recycling program and the development of a
highly flexible financial model for the City
of Berkeley's radical new Sustainable Energy
Financing District (SEFD) that lowers
financial hurdles for business/residential
energy efficiency projects and renewable
energy equipment installation.
We're delighted to have them both aboard.
Keep an eye on our website for future
career openings.
J�rgen Vos appointed to Presidio School of
Management Board of Directors
J�rgen Vos has been elected to serve as the
graduate board member of Presidio School of
Management. As one of the first US business
schools to focus on sustainability, Presidio
is a leader in mainstreaming the movement
embraced
by some of the world's top companies.
Sustainable management is integral to every
course in their groundbreaking MBA and
Executive programs. J�rgen is a member of
Presidio's second graduating class (2006).
|
Correction: Designers Accord
|
|
In our previous newsletter, the Designers
Accord was incorrectly identified as being a
program of design firm IDEO. The Designers
Accord is a not-for-profit, 501(C)(3)
tax-exempt organization, which is directed by
a seven member Advisory Board. It is not
associated with any one firm or agency.
Additionally, Natural
Logic has adopted the Designers Accord,
joining the global community that shares its
passion and ideas around creating positive
environmental and social impact.
|
|
|