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ISSP Insight
September 2009                                                   Vol. 2 No. 9
In This Issue
Sustaining Sustainability Workshop
New Members
News You May Have Missed
LinkedIn
Email Reminder
Social Accountability
What's New at ISSP
Practical Tools for Change Agents Workshop
Leadership Skills Workshop
Competency Study Webinar
Member Involvement
Book Reviews
Conference Listing
Join Our Mailing List
Last Chance
Sustaining Sustainability: Organizational Assessments & Systems Workshop

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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
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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
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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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Art in a changing climate (how art is expressing climate change) Grist

New Zealand pledges carbon cut of 10-20 pct by 2020 (WBCSD/Reuters)


S.Korea unveils CO2 target plan, sees three options (WBCSD/Reuters)

British insurers prepare for 'worst case' climate impacts (raising rates); Americans mostly don't (WBCSD/ClimateWire)

Clouds Appear to Be Big, Bad Player in Global Warming (Science Magazine) (subscription required for full text)

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China cities raise water price in bid to conserve (Wall Street Journal) (See chart on cost of water in different countries)

'Tapped' documentary pulls plug on bottled water craze (Grist)

Aveda, Cradle to Cradle, and a Paradigm Shift in Cosmetics (GreenBiz) (Podcast)   (Also see ISSP Insight article, Detoxifying the Personal Care Products Industry)

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New Tech Could Make Nuclear the Best Weapon Against Climate Change  (the very-high-temperature reactor and the sodium-cooled fast reactor) (Discover Magazine)

Temperature Wars: The Struggle Between Energy Savings and Employee Comfort (Greener Buildings.com) (Download report from this article)  

U.S. Military Leads Green Charge (Renewable Energy World)

Power of Telecommuting (Sustainable Life Media)   Summary of findings on Cisco website.
Find ISSP on

ISSP LinkedIn Group

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.

Maintaining Our Email List Reminder
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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.
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
Social Accountability:
Why the Creators of SA8000 Say the World is Moving Away from Social Audits
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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
  • Moving beyond audits
  • Who SAI serves
  • SA8000 social assessment
  • From monitoring to capacity building
  • From risk mitigation to competitive advantage
  • Where the future careers are
  • Empowerment and the community
Download pdf.
What's New @ ISSP
LinkedIn
ISSP @ GoGreen Conference in Portland, Oregon
October 7
8:30 to 4:30

ISSP 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
Practical Tools and Methods for Change Agents Workshop with Alan AtKisson

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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
Leadership Skills for Change Agents Workshop with Bob Willard
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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.
ISSP Competency Study Results Webinar with Marsha Willard
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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.
Member Involvement 
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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:

�     What contributes to population growth?
�     What impacts do we see as a result of population growth?
�     What contributes (or will contribute) to population decline?
�     Is the problem one of over population or over consumption?
�     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 LogoISSP 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
  • Construction and real estate
  • Communities, cities and lifestyle
  • Energy and transportation
  • Food, nutrition and health
  • 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 Forums
Get 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.
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.
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Klare, Michael 2008) Rising Powers, Shrinking Planet: The new Geopolitics of Energy. New York, NY: Metropolitan Books.


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Irasabal, Clara (2005) City Making and Urban Governance in the Americas: Curitiba and Portland. Hants, England: Ashgate Publishing Limited.


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Aldred, Jonathan (2009) The Skeptical Economist: Revealing the Ethics inside Economics. London: Earthscan.

Sustainability Conference Listing
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Take at look at the upcoming conferences around the world.

Clean Air and Environment Conference, September 9, Perth, Australia

Cleantech Investment and Innovation Conference,  September 24th - 25th, Rendezvous Melbourne

NEXT-GEN FM: EcoCost Efficient Buildings,  September 24th - 25th, Rendezvous Melbourne

GoGreen, October 7, Portland, Oregon

Greenhouse Gas Emission Reduction Strategies, 26-27 October 2009, Johannesburg, South Africa

Sustainability Virtual Summits: Smart ICT , February 9-11, 2010