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APRIL 2012                                                                     VOLUME 5 NO. 4       

In This Issue
Survey Finds Consultants Upbeat
How to Be A Social Intraprenuer
Board of Directors Corner
April Webinar: Sustainability and the Financial Sector
April Workshop: Systems Thinking
April Webinar: Eco-Product Marketing
May Workshop: Life Cycle Assessment
June Webinars: Green Jobs and Careers
June Workshop: SPaRK Sustainability Planning
Help Crowdsource An E-Book
ISSP To Exhibit At Energy Conference
Contribute To A Research Project
Sustainability Conferences and Events
 
 

THE RUN UP TO RIO+20 CONTINUES
ISSP to Host Rio+20 Webinar on May 24th 

At press time, ISSP was able to confirm the participation of Amy Fraenkel, UNEP's (United Nations Environmental Programme) Director for North America, as the lead presenter for its Rio+20 webinar. The webinar has been scheduled for 11 a.m. PT (GMT -7) May 24th, a month prior to the UN Conference on Sustainable Development in Rio. Ms. Fraenkel and her team at UNEP-RONA (Region Office of North America) are leading efforts to raise awareness on the Rio+20 themes (see below) and coordinate participation in the run-up process in North America. She will join other panelists (tba) representing various stakeholder perspectives in a dialogue facilitated by Ira Feldman that will provide a preview of the potential outcomes and discuss the significance of the Rio+20 process for sustainability professionals.

For more information and to register click here.

Momentum Builds Ahead of Rio+20

From March 19 - 27, delegates continued to negotiate the outcome document for Rio+20 during meetings at UN Headquarters in New York. First, in so-called "informal informal" consultations and then in the Third Intersessional Meeting, the negotiations were based upon the "zero draft" discussed in last month's ISSP newsletter. The zero draft, titled "The Future We Want," had been introduced in January as a rather trim 17-page document. By the end of the Intersessional, the working draft had ballooned to over 200 pages of text, much of it bracketed with various alternative formulations.

For now, the structure of the outcome document remains the same --  the first two sections are the Preamble/Stage Setting and Renewing Political Commitment, with most attention focused on the remaining three sections-Green Economy in the Context of Sustainable Development and Poverty Eradication, Institutional Framework for Sustainable Development, and Framework for Action and Follow-up. A truly vast array of proposals emerged for inclusion in the outcome document across all five sections and it is premature to draw any conclusions. However, with respect to the primary themes selected for Rio+20 -- the "Green Economy" and "Institutional Framework"  -- several specific proposals can be identified here.

 

Away from the UN and its official meetings, other stakeholder organizations have been active in the run-up to Rio.  For example, ISSP was represented at Yale University in New Haven the weekend before the Intersessional at an event styled as a "US/Canada Citizens' Summit for Sustainable Development." The event was hosted by Yale faculty and students at the School of Forestry and the Environment and convened by five organizations: WeCanada, SustainUS, CitNet, NRDC and Human Impacts Institute. The audience of approximately 200 sustainability leaders from across the US and Canada included both veterans of the original Rio event as well as a new generation of activists and scholars. 

To read the full article, visit the Run Up To Rio+20 News Page on the ISSP Website.

To register for the May 24 ISSP Run Up To Rio Webinar, click on the link below:

REGISTER HERE>>       

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MarketingWkshop
GLOBAL SURVEY FINDS SUSTAINABILITY CONSULTANTS
UPBEAT ABOUT BUSINESS PROSPECTS 


ISSP has been collaborating with New York City-based research, advisory and consulting firm Green Research on its 2012 global sustainability consultant survey. ISSP management team members and Board members Ira Feldman, Marsha Willard and Dorothy Atwood provided review comments and input on the survey questions as well as assisted in coordinating the outreach and distribution world-wide with other Board members.

 

The survey was conducted from February 15 through March 2, 2012. It drew 1548 responses overall. Respondents were screened to ensure that they spent at least 25 percent of their working time providing consulting services related to sustainability or corporate social responsibility. Three hundred five responses were screened out on this basis. The remaining respondents worked on six continents and 69 countries. Overall, 520 respondents, or 34 percent, completed questionnaires.

 

Green Research analyzed the data and produced a summary that you can download for free here. Here's a preview of the key findings:

 

Sustainability consultants are upbeat about their business prospects. Forty-nine percent say business conditions are somewhat or very strong today and 62 percent expect a strong business environment six months from now.

 

This optimism has drawn many newcomers to the field: 40 percent of consultants have been at it for less than three years. The rising number of consultants may be putting downward pressure on fees. In the US, consultants' median annual income in 2011 was $70,000; except at the high end of the range, sustainability consultants' incomes are generally near or below the incomes of management and operations research analysts nationally.

 

To remain relevant in a competitive and evolving market, consultants will need to couple skills in strategy and planning, where 56 percent of consultants did project work last year, with industry and functional expertise. Green Research expects supply chain sustainability and employee engagement to be especially active areas for companies in 2012.

 

There is more data to be gleaned from the survey, and ISSP will be collaborating with Green Research on some additional analysis aimed to be particularly useful to our ISSP members. Stay tuned!!

 

 

MarketingWkshop
SO YOU WANT TO BE A SOCIAL INTRAPRENUER?
Check Out Nate Springer's On-Line Article Series 

 

In case you missed reading Nathan Springer's articles on Social Interpreneurs in our February issue, you are in luck. You can read the first four articles, plus the final three, by clicking here.

Nate Springer
Nate Springer

Take a second look at this word: Intrapreneurs. The American Heritage Dictionary defined intrapreneurship in 1992 to mean: "A person within a large corporation who takes direct responsibility for turning an idea into a profitable finished product through assertive risk-taking and innovation." Intrapreneurship is an important skill for any sustainability professional working within an organization.

This series of articles provide lessons learned from the University of Michigan's Ross School of Business course on how to become a social intrapreneur.  

 

These articles, first published by GreenBiz, cover the following topics:

Article 1: How to Become a Social Intrapreneur

Article 2: How Social Intrapreneurs Can Seize the Moment for Green Projects

Article 3: How Social Intrapreneurs Can Navigate Networks and Power Structures

Article 4. The Importance of Mobilizing Allies for Social Intrapreneurs

 

To these first four, we've now added the final three:

Article 5. Why Social Intrapreneurs Must Engage Coworkers and Break Down Silos

Article 6. Helping Social Intrapreneurs Enhance Their Impact Outside the Enterprise

Article 7. The Social Intrapreneur's Push from Innovation to Company-wide Integrity

 

Click here to view the full series http://bit.ly/Hi9KZS.  

   

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THE  BOARD OF DIRECTORS CORNER  

 

Laurel Sukup Shares Methods to Build Resilient Communities At International Sustainable Cities Symposium

Sustainability works best when communities, state government and local NGOs work together to achieve results. Wisconsin is leading the way with one of the first programs that formalizes a relationship between municipalities, a State agency and NGOs on advancing sustainability. Signed in December of 2010, the Wisconsin Legacy Communities Charter is a simple, yet structured approach that brings people together to develop resilient places to live.

 

ISSP board member Laurel Sukup represents the Wisconsin Department of Natural

Laurel Sukup

Resources (DNR) Office of Business Support and Sustainability on the Legacy Communities Executive Team. She is also the chair of the internal DNR resource team, which is made up of 10 program experts that support the communities' efforts. Later this month, Laurel will present best practices and lessons learned from the Legacy Communities program at the Sustainable Cities International Network Annual Symposium in Vancouver, BC.

 

How does the Legacy Communities program work? Laurel explains that members collectively identify a wide range of practices including transportation, energy, water, waste and natural resources related initiatives. Municipalities evaluate their work on those practices, develop a baseline and commit to continuous improvement. On an annual basis, there after, members identify priorities, share their goals, and report progress made. This open communication facilitates project alignment, identifies support opportunities, and generally strengthens the likelihood of successful outcomes.

 

The relationship with the state agency is enhanced by the agency not only assisting with the program administration but also creating a resource team from its staff that provides technical assistance and assists with streamlining environmental regulations applicable to the Legacy Communities.

 

This easily replicated structure can be utilized to build technical networks and advance sustainability efforts on multiple levels of government. By assisting one another, each member gains knowledge, expertise and relationship building opportunities to direct their future in a deliberate, diverse and progressive manner.


       
Members, Send Us Your News !!! 

Have 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.NewsLogo  Send your news items to [email protected] 
with the phrase Newsletter Item in the subject line. 

See you on-line! 
   

APRIL WEBINAR: Financial Sector's Impact on Society to Be Explored in Next Webinar from Vermillion Institute and ISSP

ISSP and Vermillion Institute are teaming up to advance the Innovators in Sustainability research project, designed to gather key industry insights in advance of the UN's Rio+20 event in June and beyond. The second edition of the Innovators webinar series will be an introduction to the project's finance stream.

 

World events have shown that lending and investment practices in the finance industry Vermillion new IIS logohave a profound impact on society. In response, leading institutions have been adopting better stewardship for sustaining people and community prosperity, while also designing new models for investing in environmental technologies. Please join Sheila Oviedo, lead financial sector analyst at Sustainalytics on Tuesday, April 17 at 11 a.m. Pacific Time (GMT - 7) for a discussion of how pension funds and major banks are using better systems to improve outcomes for communities and investors.

 

This webinar will showcase key opportunities and best practices in the sector, and discuss how Sustainalytics measures responsible finance, the key metrics they use to determine a company's performance, and the risks associated with failure to integrate responsible finance measures into business models. And as part of the multi-phase project, in the coming weeks and months, other webinars will feature an exploration of real progress in additional sectors and go deeper into high-demand topics.

 

In 2010, Sustainalytics was voted Best ESG Research House of the Year by the IPE/TBLI Group. It has developed a comprehensive understanding of trends and best practices in responsible investing and a solid process to assist institutional investors in integrating ESG consderations into their investment policies and strategies.

 

Sheila Oviedo

This interactive webinar, and the survey that follows, will offer ISSP members, and others, a chance to contribute to a unique series of reports that will discuss sector-specific questions and best practices. Our own Ira Feldman was asked to serve as co-Chair of the Innovators in Sustainability organizing committee, where part of his role will be to vet those practitioners who are candidates to be featured by the project. The related ISSP webinars will be open and free to all, but in particular, we hope to attract both corporate leaders and practitioners in various sectors. Come and lend your voice to the project!

 

About Vermillion Institute: Vermillion is a non-partisan policy institute dedicated to advancing three-pillar sustainability through research, multi-stakeholder engagement, and modern communication design.

 

Although the webinar is a free of charge, please register here and be sure to participate in the associated survey.

 

REGISTER HERE>>     

   

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Sust101APRIL VIRTUAL WORKSHOP:   Alan AtKisson's Practical Tools and Methods -> Systems Thinking

Starting THIS THURSDAY - APRIL 5

Instructor:  Alan AtKisson

Alan AtKisson
Alan AtKisson
 
Workshop's Live Webinars meet on-line on Thursdays (April 5, 12, 19, 26) 2012 for 60 to 90 minutes.
12pm PT | 1pm MT | 2pm CT | 3pm ET | 9pm CET | 7pm GMT  TIME ZONE CONVERTER  

 

It's not too late to participate in Alan AtKisson's hands-on workshop with a big dose of his passion. With over twenty years of experience in sustainability leadership, consulting, analysis, and communication, his goal is to help you succeed.  You will be guided through the jungle of sustainability techniques and change processes, and he'll help you learn when and how to apply them successfully.  Participants also meet online at the ISSP's Learning Center 24/7 over 4 weeks.   

For more information and to register, click here

 

Register Now>>       

 

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MarketingWkshop
APRIL WEBINAR:  Eco-Products | A Living Case Study with Sustainability Maven, Claudia Capitini

Wednesday April 25, 2012 @ 11am PT (GMT -8) / 12pm MT / 1pm CT / 2pm ET / 8pm CET (GMT +1)  Please register for this event and if you are unable to attend live, you will receive the recording link to view/listen to later.   

   

Claudia A. Capitini Sustainability Maven Eco-Products, Inc
Claudia Capitini

Eco-Products, Inc., is a small Colorado foodservice company, that produces plates, cups, utensils and more from renewable and recycled-content materials instead of virgin plastics. Despite their size, Eco-Products strives to move the industry away from foam, polystyrene, and non-renewable plastics toward better, more environmentally responsible single-use products.

 

On Wednesday April 25, 2012 Claudia Capitini, officially titled Sustainability Maven at Eco-Products, will share her sustainability journey and discuss the challenges of sustainability in an industry that is not traditionally known for its "green". Ms. Capitini leads all sustainability efforts at Eco-Products internally and externally and has over 10 years of experience in the pursuit of sustainability across a wide variety of sectors. 

 

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

Register Now >>       

   

 

Sust101MAY VIRTUAL WORKSHOP:   Life Cycle Assessment 101
-- A Simulated Approach

Instructor:  Tom Gloria  

Tom Gloria
Tom Gloria
Workshop's Live Webinars meet on-line each Tuesday (May 1, 8, 15, 22) 2012 for 60 to 90 minutes 12PM PT | 1PM MT | 2PM CT | 3PM ET  TIME ZONE CONVERTER  

Participants also meet online at the ISSP's Learning Center 24/7 over 4 weeksFor more information and to register, click  here.     

Learn the steps involved and complete a simple life cycle assessment in a business simulation.  You will gain an understanding of the scope, challenges and possibilities in applying life cycle assessment to decision-making processes.     

This is a great introductory workshop for sustainability professionals: 

> wondering if LCA would be a good field to get into 
> who may need to hire a firm to do a detailed LCA and need to know enough about the process to manage the project 
> who need an introduction to LCA before taking the 'deep dive' into the certification training.

 

Thomas P. Gloria, PhD is Managing Director of Industrial Ecology Consultants. He has more than 19 years of professional experience in sustainability management consulting and information technology engineering design. His work encompasses product innovation; LCA; LCM; methods and policy implications GHG inventories; and energy efficiency feasibility analysis.

Register Now>>     

 

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JUNE WEBINAR:  Make Your Transition to a Greener, More Sustainable Career Successful

 

Join us June 21, 2012 at 11am PT as we host Carol McClelland, PhD and Vicki Lind, MS for an interactive webinar on Make Your Transition to a Greener, More Sustainable Career Successful. During the webinar, you'll discover: 

  • Ways to assess the state of green opportunities in your field. 
  • How to streamline your career transition.   
  • How to identify your next step in your transition journey.
  • Why searching for a job may not be your best transition strategy.  
  • How to avoid potential detours that can cost you valuable time during your transition.  
  • The "Top Ten Mistakes" make in career transition and job search.
Carol and Vicki have hosted several ISSP career webinars. The two of them designed a Career session at the 2011 ISSP Conference that Vicki moderated along with co-panelists Eryn Emerich and Roger Hughes.  
Carol McClelland
Carol McClellan

 

Carol is one of the nation's leading green career experts. Throughout her career, Carol has helped thousands of people find work that matches their values and interests.  Carol is the founder and Executive Director of Green Career Central, an online coaching center dedicated to helping experienced professionals leveraging their existing skills, experience and passions in the ever-evolving green/clean/sustainable economy

Vicki Lind
Vicki Lind

 

Vicki is one of the leading career counselors in Oregon with a specialty in jobs in sustainability and is author of "Finding a Job Worth Having: for Creatives and People Who Want to Make a Difference" and co-author of "Portland Green Guide to Networking and Jobs."   

 

 

 

 

REGISTER HERE>>          

 

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JUNE 2012:  SPaRK - Sustainability Planning - Virtual Workshop

Instructor: Marsha Willard, PhD. 


Workshop's Live Webinars meet on-line on Tuesdays (June 5, 12, 19, 26) 2012 for 60 to 90 minutes. Click here for more information.

 

This popular ISSP 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.   

 

Marsha_Willard
Marsha Willard

Course instructor is 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.   


Here's what a participant from the January 2012 workshop reported: "Everything is going well! I've just talked our Chief Academic Officer into starting a major sustainability project using my sustainability plan from Marsha's class!!!!  We are steering the ship in the right direction."

 

Register Now>>   


HELP CROWDSOURCE A SUSTAINABILITY E-BOOK
Join A Publication Team!

 

Suggest a DōShort ─ or write one!

Dō Sustainability is a new independent publisher for sustainability professionals that has approached ISSP with an interesting offer.

Dō  launched its website in mid-March ─  www.dosustainability.com ─ and will launch their first publications in August 2012: a series of short works (called DōShorts) that zoom in on one sustainability challenge at a time.
DōShorts are 90-minute reads of the highest quality: 30-50 page ebooks that deliver a benefit on a par with an expert seminar or masterclass, aimed at professionals working to advance sustainability within their organisations.
 
ISSP is talking with Dō  about developing 'working groups' around a handful if of DōShorts in their launch series. They anticipate that these working groups will meet two or three times via moderated, online meetings, as well as in online discussion groups.

These online working groups would allow for crowd-input (to make sure the DōShorts deliver the information that readers need and want), and provide a focal point for working through a set of challenges that affect you, or the people you manage, in your work, and give you the chance to convey your information needs. We will extend invitations to join these working groups next month, once we have a shortlist of DōShorts topics that ISSP members have identified as their most pressing information needs.

In the mean time take this opportunity to suggest a DōShort!

What problems can we fix for you? What challenges are you facing? Do you need to codify, upscale or roll out a particular aspect of sustainability in your organisation?

Please Suggest  DōShort topics or Nominate an Author at www.dosustainability.com.

** Please indicate your ISSP affiliation by including 'ISSP Newsletter' in the Suggested Topic box of the Suggest a DōShort form.

For more information, contact
Gudrun Freese
Communications & Partnerships Director
[email protected]


StrategicCoaching

ISSP To Exhibit at 30th Annual  

West Coast Energy Management Conference in Seattle 

 

The Association of Energy Engineers is a non-profit, professional organization with more than 16,000 members in the energy engineering, energy management, renewable energy, power generation, energy services, and sustainability fields.  

 

In addition to its membership, training and certification, AEE presents three trade shows a year, specific to the commercial, industrial, institutional and government market place. One of their shows, the West Coast Energy Management Congress (EMC) will be in Seattle, Washington on May 23-24, 2012. ISSP will be participate in the conference as an exhibitor on the EMC West Coast show floor.

  

The West Coast Energy Management Congress (EMC), now in its 30th year, is where top professionals from throughout the western U.S. will come to get up to speed on the latest energy marketplace developments, explore promising new technologies for their facilities, compare energy supply options, and learn about innovative project implementation strategies.

  

If you plan to attend EMC West, stop by the ISSP booth and and say hello!  

 

 

CONTRIBUTE TO OUR BODY OF KNOWLEDGE

 

ISSP supports research in the field of sustainability and you can too! Below are two studies conducted by graduate students from different parts of the world. Be part of the learning for everyone and participate in one or both of these short surveys.

 

 

Sustainable Innovation and Performance
A fellow member of the sustainability community, Kelly Weidner, is a doctoral student at the University of Illinois at Chicago and needs 400 people to participate in her study.  If your organization is working to be more environmentally and/or socially friendly in terms of the products and services it produces, or how it operates internally, please help by clicking on the link below to participate.

Specifically Kelly is studying what leads to sustainable innovation and how it translates into performance for the firm. Her research focuses on organizational learning and unlearning, particularly how we disregard old, ineffective processes. She is also looking at the triple bottom line and how innovation contributes.

In exchange for our participation, Kelly has offered to share her results to those interested. As a thank you for our time, she will be raffling off two $150 gift cards when the project is complete.


Using the Natural Step in Implementation
Familiar with The Natural Step Framework? So are students Scott Perret (USA/France), Irena Efremovska (Macedonia), Sijme Geurts (The Netherlands). They ask that you share your opinions about it in this 10 minute survey that will support the research into the critical success factors for TNS diffusion. 

Please click here to learn more or participate



SeptEventsSUSTAINABILITY CONFERENCES AND EVENTS

 

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

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