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DECEMBER 2011                                                                           VOLUME 4 NO. 12     

In This Issue
December Webinar: Greening the Military
Sustainability Planning Workshop
January Webinar: Implementing Living Wages
ISSP Collaborates with Vermillion Institute
Sustainability 101 Workshop
ISSP Certificate Program
ISSP In the News
Read A Good Book
Sustainability Conferences and Events
 
 
GoldQUANTIFYING THE HIDDEN BENEFITS OF HIGH-PERFORMANCE BUILDING  

 

Abstract Skyline from 12/11 Green Building Article
Image courtesy of
Renjith Krishnan
Energy savings and other more tangible benefits of green or high performance building have long been apparent in business. Although some of these green building initiatives are costly to implement, tangible benefits alone may not offset the initial costs of the projects, especially when considering shorter time horizons. Fortunately, intangible benefits of green building also exist. Of these intangible benefits, improved productivity is a valuable factor. In this cooperative study from the Texas A&M Mays Business School, the authors make the case that with even a modest improvement in productivity, the corresponding increase in firm value may make more green building initiatives worth the investment.

Read the article and check out its extensive references and project worksheets along with a case study. 

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MarketingWkshop
DECEMBER WEBINAR:  A Day in the Life of A Sustainability Outreach Coordinator at Joint Base Lewis-McChord

Thursday December 15, 2011 @ 1:00pm PT   

Please register for the event and if you are unable to attend live, you will receive the recording link to view/listen to later.    

 JBLM Sustainability

Find out how sea turtles started the sustainability movement at the Department of Defense and how the program has evolved since then.   

 

Join Miriam Villacian, Sustainability Outreach Coordinator for Joint Base Lewis-McChord, to discuss sustainability at the second largest military installation in the US. 

  

Free to ISSP Members and $10 to non-members.

Register Now >>   

   

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ChangeAgentsJANUARY 2012 VIRTUAL WORKSHOP:  Sustainability Planning with Marsha Willard, Ph.D.

This workshop will walk you through the steps of creating a comprehensive sustainability plan: from justification for your sustainability efforts, through impacts assessment and determination of measures.  Over 4 weeks you will develop a "draft" plan and experience applying each of the key steps of the process. You will be provided a trial version of the SPaRK tool which is an Excel based file that includes the worksheets and data entry tables for recording your key planning decisions.  

 

Designed for participant flexibility, all four webinars will be
Marsha_Willard
Marsha Wilard 
prerecord
ed. The live meeting times will be organized as a Lab for participants to ask questions directly to the instructor.  The Labs are scheduled at two different times (9AM PT and 4PM PT) over the 4 weeks to accomodate participants in different time zones.

  

Marsha Willard, author of The Step by Step Guide to Sustainability Planning, is co-founder and CEO of AXIS Performance Advisors, Inc. a Northwest based consulting firm specializing in helping organizations implement sustainable business practices. She has worked with organizations in both the public and private sector providing training, consulting, facilitation and executive coaching services. Marsha is also Executive Director of ISSP.
 

Register Now >>

 

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MarketingWkshop
JANUARY WEBINAR: Implementing Living Wages
in Global Supply Chains
Presented by Social Accountability International
with Case Histories from Thailand and Honduras

 January 25, 2012 - 10:00am - 11:00am

Time: 10am PT-US/ 11am MT-US/ 12pm CT-US/ 1pm ET-US (To convert to your time zone) 

Please register for the event and if you are unable to attend live, you will receive the recording link to view/listen to later.     

 

In supply chains extending around the world, men and women labor in low-wage jobs, making insufficient income to cover the cost oSAI.jpgf living. What can responsible businesses do to ensure that workers throughout the supply chain receive living wages? What are the implications of wage levels on the sustainability of communities around the world?

 

Join Matt Fischer-Daly, Senior Manager at Social Accountability International (SAI) for a discussion on how businesses can implement living wages in their global supply chains, and the role of certification standards such as SAI's SA8000�. This webinar will feature two case studies, from Thailand and Honduras. As Senior Manager at SAI, Matt manages SAI's development of the SA8000� standard and guidance, complaints management, and impact assessment. He also contributes to national and regional capacity-building programs to create enabling environments for labor rights. SAI has promoted workers' right to a living wage since its founding and development of SA8000� in 1997.

Free to ISSP Members and $10 to non-members.

 Register Now >>   

   

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MarketingWkshop
ISSP EXPANDS ITS REACH BY COLLABORATING WITH WITH  VERMILLION INSTITUTE ON WEBINAR SERIES

ISSP continues to forge alliances --- both to broaden its reach and to influence global adoption of sustainability.  In a variety of ways, ISSP will engage in "policy, standards and partnership" activities that have relevance to the future of the profession.
Vermillion Logo
So beginning January, ISSP will collaborate with Vermillion Institute on a series of interactive webinars designed to gather industry input in advance of the UN's Rio+20 Conference in June 2012. As some of you know, Vermillion is an independent policy institute dedicated to advancing three-pillar sustainability through research, multi-stakeholder engagement, and modern communication design.

These webinars will give ISSP members and others a chance to contribute to a unique series of reports that will discuss sector-specific questions and best practices. The webinars will be open to all, but in particular, we hope to attract both corporate leaders and practitioners in the target industries.

Watch for announcements about dates and times --- and lend your voice to the project!

 

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Sust101VIRTUAL WORKSHOP: SUSTAINABILITY 101

Instructor: Darcy Hitchcock, co-founder of ISSP and co-founder of Axis Performance Advisors. on-line learning

   

After taking ISSP's foundation course, you'll know the concepts, frameworks and tools used by sustainability professionals.

 

This is your chance to go beyond an understanding of the problems. Darcy's course will help you begin to see how the solutions can weave together to create a better life for us all. You'll end the course with an exploration about where you fit in the picture, what your role might be in creating a sustainable world.  

 

Dates: Open Enrollment. Register at any time.  Take up to 8 weeks to complete.  

Register Now>>

  

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MemberInvolvementFREE ISSP MEMBERSHIP OFFERED WITH
SUSTAINABILITY CERTIFICATE PROGRAM

  

DiplomaIf you are considering registering for the ISSP Sustainability Professionals Certificate before the end of the year, your timing is right!  Purchase the whole certificate (eight workshops) for $2600 with an added bonus: receive an ISSP membership - 12 months, a $150 value, - for free.  If you are interested in furthering your professional development and taking advantage of this offer, contact us HERE  for more details.
 
The ISSP certificate program is designed for current and aspiring sustainability professionals. The certificate program will provide you with the skills, tools and methods to take on positions such as Sustainability Director, Sustainability Coordinator, Sustainability Consultant, and Climate Officer. You will benefit from access to sustainability experts, the latest tools and methods and the valuable credential once completed.  For more details, click here.

Here's what a recent certificate program participant had to say about her experience ... 

"The [ISSP workshop] instructors are all accomplished leaders and authors in the field of sustainability and delivered exceptional webinar programs which were supplemented with excellent readings. The perspective and experience shared with us by the instructors was most valuable. It was a good group of courses, covering all the major areas at a high level without a lot of extraneous material or busy work.

"Also, the tools that I have available to me for use on sustainability planning and reporting are very valuable and could not be obtained from other sources without considerable expense. The program is, in my opinion, the best value for obtaining education in the field for working professionals - very reasonable cost and time commitment. I can't say enough about what the program has done for my professional development and me. I am now in a position that I very much enjoy due directly to my participation in the certificate program."  

 

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ISSP IN THE NEWS

 
Want a Great New Sustainability Idea?
Ask Your Employees  
OurBusinessSceneOften employees have great ideas of how to reduce waste, energy or do something differently to support green initiatives.  In her latest article in Our Colorado Community Media, KJ McCorry, who is owner of Eco-Efficiency and an ISSP board member, lays out five steps needed to capture great green ideas from employees.

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Members, Send Us Your News !!! 

NewsLogoHave you or your company done something interesting lately? Did you recently publish an article, win an award or make a presentation to a large group?  Let us know what you've been up to so we may share it with your fellow members here in our newsletter.  Send your news items to [email protected] with the phrase Newsletter Item in the subject line.  See you on-line!

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BookRvwsSeptBOOK REVIEWS

Linking Social and Ecological Systems

 

Berkes, Fikret and Carl Folke (eds.) (2000) Linking Social and Ecological Systems: Management practices and social mechanisms for building resilience. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.  

 

Linking SocialAs we move into uncertain ecological times, resilience is a critical concept, one that we should be managing toward. In particular, it will be important to understand how human societies can contribute to or undermine resilience.

 

This book chronicles different social mechanisms for managing the commons. One of the primary findings is that native peoples usually control how a resource is harvested (when, under what conditions, what methods) and not how much is harvested.   

 

Read full review ...  

  

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Alone Together: Why We Expect More from Technology and Less From Each Other   

 

Turkle, Sherry (2011) Alone Together: Why we expect more from technology and less from each other. New York: Basic Books.  

 

Alone TogetherThis is a disturbing look at how technology (in particular, robots, the Internet, and cell phones) is undermining our society. We're inventing robots that look like baby seals to keep our elderly company. Confession websites are making it easier for people not to apologize or make amends. With texting and crackberries, "no one is where they are," as one person said and asking for someone's full attention is considered to be asking too much.   

  

Read full review ... 

 

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SeptEventsSUSTAINABILITY CONFERENCES AND EVENTS

 

See details about these events on the Partner Events page of the ISSP Website.  


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