News from Natural Logic
Strategic advisors to the sustainable economy
June 2008
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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
 
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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
Cockpit+Hands

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.)
Small ribbed leaf

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
 
DesignersAccordIcon

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.









That's the latest.

Please feel free to forward this newsletter to others who might be interested. Keep us posted about your organization's sustainability initiatives (but please conserve electrons and don't include this entire newsletter in your reply). Read -- and subscribe to -- my blog.

And give us a shout if there is any way we can help you:
chart your course,
read the signs and
make it go.

Wishing you a wonderful summer, on behalf of the Natural Logic team.


Gil Friend
Natural Logic

Phone: 510-248-4940
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