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Last Chance Sustaining Sustainability: Organizational
Assessments & Systems Workshop
ISSP's Dorothy Atwood will teach the next workshop on Organizational Assessments and Systems. Dorothy is at the Zero Waste
Alliance and and also serves as the EPA's Local Resource Center representative for environmental
management systems in Portland, Oregon. Webinars will be Wednesdays at noon Pacific Time
Sept 9, 16, 23, 30. This course counts as a core requirement for the ISSP Sustainability Certificate Program.
Course Description:
Once
initial sustainability projects have been completed, organizations are often at
a loss as to how to maintain newly acquired practices and continue to move
their sustainability efforts forward. Management systems are the key to
ongoing progress. A SMS (sustainability management system) allows for
systematic internal review, monitoring and corrective actions for continual
improvement.
Register now. |
New Member Orientation
September 23 4:00pm PT
ISSP offers regular new member orientations to show people how to get
the most out of their membership and the ISSP site. Any member of ISSP may join these free
orientation sessions. The orientations are conducted via conference
call and last about an hour. To register, send a request email to Marsha. |
News You May Have Missed
We have now moved the news headlines of interest to our members to the right sidebar of the ISSP News page. Here are this month's quick links:
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Find ISSP on
Don't forget to link to the ISSP LinkedIn group.This is a great networking site for sustainability professionals. Click on the graphic to go to our group.
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Maintaining Our Email List Reminder
Please note that the move to using Constant Contact for our
emails, members will be updated every month to ensure we have an
accurate list. When a member joins, they will be automatically
subscribed. If a member does not renew, they will be automatically unsubscribed.
All non-members will be responsible for maintaining their
contact info. This is done by clicking on the Update Profile/Email
address link found at the bottom of every email. It is best for
everyone to save our emails as a "safe sender" to ensure your emails
get into your inbox. |
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Greetings!
Our Competency Survey is now ready! Special thanks to our corporate donors who made this possible. Hansa GCR conducted the interviews and drafted the survey, while Zanthus programmed the survey and will be tracking results.
Special thanks also goes to ISSP committee members:
Marsha Willard, Rick Woodward, Warren Flint, Bob Pojasek,
Mark Edwards, Ira Feldman, Cate Gable, Matthew Slavin, and
John Weedon. You're invited to participate in this important survey
designed to assess the skills and competencies needed to excel in the field of
sustainability, both now and in the future.
If you qualify for and complete the survey, you'll be
entered into a drawing for a one-year membership to ISSP (International Society
of Sustainability Professionals) valued at $150, or a $150 credit to use
towards an ISSP online class.
The survey will take about 15-20 minutes to complete, depending on your
answers.
If you know of others working in the field who might be interested in
taking this survey, please forward this newsletter on to them and invite them to join ISSP.
sincerely, The ISSP Management Team
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Social Accountability: Why the Creators of SA8000 Say the World is Moving Away from Social Audits
This month Darcy Hitchcock interviews Craig Moss, Director of Corporate Programs and Training at Social Accountability International (SAI). As Corporate Programs Director, Mr. Moss
develops and manages programs to assist companies with continuous improvement
in their supply chain. As Director of Training, he oversees SAI training for
auditors, suppliers and buyers on social compliance in the supply chain and the
SA8000 standard. Prior to joining SAI, Mr. Moss worked extensively in
international business development, focusing on export development and
investment attraction for emerging market companies and governments. He is a
graduate of Hampshire College.
The interviews covers the following topics: -
What SAI is and does
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Moving beyond audits
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Who SAI serves
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SA8000 social assessment
- From monitoring to
capacity building
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From risk mitigation to
competitive advantage
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Where the future careers
are
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Empowerment and the
community
Download pdf.
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What's New @ ISSP
ISSP @ GoGreen Conference in Portland, OregonOctober 78:30 to 4:30ISSP will be attending the Go Green Conference here in Portland, Oregon on October 7. Please join us if you can for the networking session afterwards, starting at 4:30. If people are interested in having an all-ISSP meet-up, we can organize one informally after the GoGreen event is over. Below is a list of our members who are speaking or moderating at the conference: - Susan Anderson/Director, City of Portland Bureau of Planning and Sustainability
- Carrie Farrar/Sustainability Program Manager, Standard Insurance Company
- Marsha Willard/Executive Director, ISSP and Founder and CEO of AXIS Inc., ISSP founding member
- Sarah Hall/Program Director, Green Practices & Lifestyles Team, Wells Fargo
- Nik Blosser/Co-Founder & President, Celilo Group, ISSP founding member
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Practical Tools and Methods for Change Agents Workshop with Alan AtKisson
Learn
the latest sustainability techniques and changes processes.
Join Alan AtKission as he guides practitioners through the
jungle of sustainability techniques and change processes, and helps them learn
when and how to apply them successfully. The four-week workshop counts as a core
requirement. Webinars will be Mondays at noon Pacific Time (9pm Europe), Oct 5,
12, 19, 26. Early bird costs are $250 for ISSP members, $325 for non-members. Early bird registration ends September 11.
AtKisson, author of The ISIS Agreement and Believing
Cassandra, is the originator of the "ISIS Method," a step-by-step
process for teaching, learning, and doing sustainable development in practice.
He also helped design the "ISIS Accelerator," a comprehensive set of
tools designed to support learning, assessment, collaboration, innovation, and
strategic action on sustainability, adopted around the world.
The course is appropriate for sustainability
professionals, professionals-in-training, "serious amateurs" (e.g.
community volunteers, organizational board members), sustainability educators,
or anyone aspiring to improve their skills as a Sustainability Change Agent.
Basic familiarity with core concepts like "indicator" and
"system" are advised.
Please Note: On completion of the course, participants will have received
a thorough orientation to the art of Sustainability Change Agentry and be
eligible to apply for recognition as a Certified Practitioner of the ISIS Method and ISIS Accelerator tools.
Alan AtKisson has been working at the forefront of sustainability for over
twenty years; and he has helped to initiate, guide, train, or strategically
develop sustainability initiatives in many different countries. As a
consultant, he has worked with clients in many different sectors as well, from
small businesses to global corporations, from large cities to small islands,
from UN and World Bank funded programs in Africa to US military bases. His
articles and essays have been widely published in magazines, academic journals,
and websites.
Register now.
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Leadership
Skills for Change Agents Workshop with Bob Willard
Join instructor Bob Willard, author of The Sustainability
Advantage and other books, on Mondays at 5pm Pacific time (8pm Eastern)
Nov 2, 9, 16, 23 for a workshop on how to
lead an organizational change to a sustainable enterprise at any
level in the organizational hierarchy.
The course connects the dots between timeless leadership practices and
how to transform an organization to a sustainability culture. At the end of
this course, participants will be able to:
1. Lead the movement to integrate sustainability into their organization,
using a seven-step sustainability change process.
2. Build an effective, relevant business case to support
their company's transformation to being a sustainable enterprise.
3. Be able to apply effective change leadership practices
during the sustainability change process, capitalize on change paradoxes, and
avoid potential derailers of their initiatives.
4. Help others be more effective sustainability champions.
Bob WIllard is a leading expert on the business value of
corporate sustainability strategies. He has given hundreds of keynote
presentations to corporate, government, university, and NGO audiences on the
bottom-line benefits of sustainability strategies.
He has authored three books,
The Sustainability Advantage, The Next Sustainability Wave, and The
Sustainability Champion's Guidebook, plus created a DVD of his presentation,
The Business Case for Sustainability. He worked 34 years with IBM Canada, is on
the faculty of the Sustainable Enterprise Academy, and serves on the advisory
board of the Natural Step Canada. He has a PhD in sustainability from the
University of Toronto. See www.sustainabilityadvantage.com for more information
about him and his resources for sustainability champions.
This course counts as a core requirement in the ISSP Sustainability Certificate Program.
Register now.
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ISSP
Competency Study Results Webinar with Marsha Willard
Join ISSP Executive Director Marsha Willard on October 14 @ 9:00am Pacific Time as she unveils the findings of the ISSP Competency Study.
The interest and momentum behind sustainability has created
a whole new professional track. Professionals working in the field come from
varied backgrounds and bring a multitude of skills and abilities. That
makes for a rich and diverse collection of professionals, but it makes it very
hard for people who want to enter the field to find the best and most expedient
path. It also complicates hiring for organizations who aren't sure what
they should be asking for.
Last year ISSP launched its first research study
to answer the question: "What should a sustainability professional know
how to do?" We believe the answer will not only be of keen interest to our
members, but to employers and institutions of higher education as well.
TO REGISTER:
ISSP
members attend for free. Members register by sending an email to our webinar manager. Be sure
to mention the name of the webinar.
Non members register through our web. Price for non-members is $25. Register now.
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Member Involvement
Member Meeting
Our next virtual member meeting will be held via conference call on September 11 at 12:00-1:00pm Pacific Time. Meet fellow members and discuss population and its relationship to sustainability. The discussion will be based
on the premise that current trends in population growth are unsustainable. At
some point (some would argue that we've already past that point) the earth
becomes incapable of meeting human needs for food, water, energy and other
basic life supporting systems. Meetings are free. Please email Marsha to register.
Key discussion questions:
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What contributes to
population growth?
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What impacts do we see as a
result of population growth?
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What contributes (or will
contribute) to population decline?
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Is the problem one of over
population or over consumption?
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What action would we
recommend?
Public Affairs Committee Job Description
We are still searching for members for the Public Affairs Committee headed by Matt Slavin. Please consider donating your time to help us build awareness of ISSP worldwide. While we now have a marketing manager, more help is needed to establish ISSP as a serious presence internationally. Building our membership will help us all increase the knowledge base shared by our members. Matt has kindly written up a description of the tasks involved for committee members.
Responsibilities:
Keep the ISSP membership informed of innovative
community, business, non-profit, and other initiatives and accompanying
technologies that you are or become aware of that you believe will enhance the
ability of ISSP and its members to further ISSP's mission.
Write at least one (1) 500 word column every six months
on a topic related to the above for publication and dissemination in the ISSP
newsletter.
Bring to ISSP's attention emerging issues that will
better prepare members to perform their personal and professional
sustainability activities.
Possibly plan an annual ISSP conference should a decision
be made by ISSP to hold such a conference.
Propose additional activities that you believe are
consistent with ISSP's mission and that you believe would fit well into the
Public Affairs Committee.
Requirements and Application Procedure:
Committee members must be a member of ISSP in good
standing.
To apply for Committee membership, email a copy of your
resume and a 200 word essay of an important sustainability initiative underway
that you are familiar with to Matt Slavin at [email protected]. Appointments to the Committee will be made by the ISSP
Board of Directors.
ISSP Awards Committee Now Forming
An Award Committee is forming to recognize
significant contribution to sustainability with ISSP Awards for books,
articles, videos, software or training materials.
Objectives of the committee include:
1. Recognize and reward sustainability contributors.
2. Create a focused PR event that elevates the status of
ISSP.
3. Create sustainable industry market research from
nominations.
ISSP members would nominate authors for the
various categories. The Awards Committee would review and select winners.
Possible categories will be announced later, but could include: - Business
and leadership
- Education and training
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Construction and real estate
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Communities, cities and lifestyle
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Energy and transportation
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Food, nutrition and health
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Poverty and hunger avoidance
We are asking for a two year (or two award rounds) commitment.
Member Mark Edwards has agreed to chair this committee. If you are interested in participating send your letter of interest to Mark at [email protected] along with. . . - contact information
- a short (100-120 word) statement describing any experience you have as author, reviewer or commentator,
- a brief (120 word) professional biography.
Get involved, meet other members and help build awareness of the industry! Member ForumsGet involved with member discussions. See what members are saying in the forums in the Recent Posts section. cfarrar has posted a question about groups that are beginning to assess the appropriate salary and compensation packages for sustainability professionals. mhippler has posted a UK-based think-piece on "Who Should Head Up Your CR Approach?" This is a nice complement to the Competency Study ISSP will have ready in October. Matt Slavin posted a link in Polices and Procedures entitled Green Thumbs Up: Portland, Walmart, and the Triple Bottom Line.
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Book Reviews
Darcy Hitchcock has new book reviews in the member resource section. Please note that with the recent website update we have lost our book review module that allowed members to rate the books. Until we build another similar system, we won't have that option. The new book reviews are now listed in the Resources -- Other Resources section for now and can be more easily found by going to Recent Postings. Previous books reviews are not currently available. We hope to get them back in the resources area in the future. Klare, Michael 2008) Rising Powers, Shrinking Planet: The new Geopolitics of Energy. New York, NY: Metropolitan Books. Irasabal, Clara (2005) City Making and Urban Governance in the Americas: Curitiba and Portland. Hants, England: Ashgate Publishing
Limited. Aldred, Jonathan (2009) The Skeptical Economist: Revealing the Ethics inside Economics. London: Earthscan.
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Sustainability Conference Listing
Take at look at the upcoming conferences around the world.
GoGreen, October 7, Portland, Oregon
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