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VOLUME 8 NUMBER 2 FEBRUARY 2014
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ISSP CONFERENCE 2014
Xcel Energy Comes Aboard As
First Major Conference Sponsor
ISSP Conference 2014, to be held November 12 - 14, 2014 in Denver, Colorado, gained its first major sponsor this month when Xcel Energy Inc. came aboard as a $5,000 Speaker Level Sponsor. Xcel Energy is a utility holding company based in Minneapolis, Minnesota, serving more than 3.3 million electric customers and 1.8 million natural gas customers.
Xcel Energy is successfully pursuing a clean energy strategy that promotes renewable energy, helps customers save energy and improves existing power plants. The company is on track to reduce carbon dioxide emissions about 30 percent by 2020 from 2005 levels.
ISSP is thrilled to welcome Xcel Energy as a major sponsor of ISSP Conference 2014. Planning for the event is in full swing. There are several ways to get involved in what promises to be the biggest gathering yet of ISSP members and other sustainability professionals from around the world.
SIGN-UP FOR EARLY BIRD RATES, EXPO BOOTHS AND SPONSORSHIPS
As in past years, the conference is being designed to be a rich learning experience to help professionals accelerate the adoption of sustainability in organizations and communities worldwide.
Reserve your place today and be rewarded with extra savings. The lowest rates to be offered between now and the start of the event are available now on our registration page.
Organizations can get information about sponsorships and sign-up to reserve a booth at the conference expo here. Join us in Denver and help shape the future of our profession!
MARCH 2ND IS DEADLINE FOR CALL FOR CONFERENCE PRESENTATIONS
Would you like to present to more than 300 of your peers? ISSP is currently entertaining proposals from potential presenters and panelists for 75-minute concurrent sessions at ISSP Conference 2014. The call for presentations ends March 2nd, so act now.
ISSP conference attendees represent a broad range of sustainability professionals. The audience will once again be international and is certain to include professionals with years of experience in their fields as well as new entrants looking to expand their skills and connections.
To download a copy of our presentation proposal submission form, click here.
HELP US BUILD THE ISSP SUSTAINABILITY HALL OF FAME
A new group of inductees will be welcomed into the ISSP Sustainability Hall of Fame during a ceremony at ISSP Conference 2014. Send in a nomination of someone you feel deserves this honor. See the article below for more information about this program, which ISSP established in 2011.
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ISSP SUSTAINABILITY HALL OF FAME
Submit a Nomination TODAY
Please consider nominating someone you admire for the Sustainability Hall of Fame. This prestigious honor is conferred on sustainability practitioners by their peers to recognize outstanding achievement in the field. Existing members of the Hall of Fame include Amory Lovins, Karl-Henrik Robert, John Elkington, Bob Willard, Alan Atkisson, Hunter Lovins, Gil Friend, Ray Anderson and Hazel Henderson.
The ISSP board selects inductees from among the nominated names based on these criteria:
- Experience: has been working in the field for a number of years and has developed a reputation for expertise.
- Education: promotes sustainability through teaching and/or speaking.
- Innovation: has developed tools, models, products or processes that contribute to the adoption or implementation of sustainability.
- Reach: has impacted a significant number of individuals or organizations.
- Publications: has contributed to the body of knowledge in sustainability through the publication of books, articles and/or research.
- Service: contributes time and expertise to the advancement of profession, the development of people working in the field or the adoption of sustainability in organizations and/or communities. This is about contribution and availability.
If you would like to submit a name, please complete the Hall of Fame Nomination form as soon as possible.
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Bill Wallace Named A Top 25 Newsmaker By Engineering
News-Record
Engineering News-Record (ENR) has named William A. (Bill) Wallace, a chemical engineer and member of ISSP's Board of Directors, a "Top 25 Newsmaker" for his work as the primary designer of the Envision™ Sustainable Infrastructure Rating System.
| Bill Wallace |
Envision is a unique rating tool that the design and construction
industry is embracing to rate sustainability across many types of infrastructure for the first time. Envision takes a more holistic view of infrastructure projects, using a multi-tiered, credit-award approach based on resource use, operational resilience, eco-system restoration, life-cycle costs and return on investment, among other measures.
The editors of ENR select honorees based on news stories the magazine has published in the last year. There are no applications or interviews for the honor. The magazine's editors select the recipients they believe have made the biggest impact on the industry and the public over the previous year.
Congratulations Bill!
Read more about Bill's achievements here.
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MEMBER INVOLVEMENT OPPORTUNITIES
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Add Your Input to Survey About Business Sustainability, CSR and and 3BL Performance
The University of Michigan-Flint School of Management, in cooperation with other academic, sustainability-related and trade organizations, is conducting a survey to explore business sustainability issues and collect information that firms can utilize to bolster their competitive advantage.
Members of the ISSP community are invited to contribute to the survey by following this link: http://bit.ly/1ir9egP
Business sustainability focuses on the long-term growth of a firm, as the driver for improvement in their bottom line, employee morale, productivity, retention, and customer satisfaction. Consumers are now more educated about business and how firms treat stakeholders. Business Sustainability incorporates merging company and shareholder interest, facilitating economic, environmental and social benefits.
Even though adapting to changing times can be difficult, it is integral for longitudinal growth and company survival. The intent of the survey summary report is to help businesses to be pro-active and competitive.
Important points explored by the survey will be as follows:
- Insight will reflect on how to approach sustainability. The linkage between Corporate Social Responsibility and Triple Bottom Line Performance is explored.
- Identify logistics businesses can reflect on as alternatives to pursue growth and sustainability at both the facility and community levels.
- Help business professionals better position themselves and their companies for growth in changing markets based on input from a variety of successful business operations as a working example.
Add your input today and sign-up to access a copy of the final report.
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More New Opportunities Posted On the ISSP Job Board
ISSP posts job openings in the sustainability field on its job board, which is accessible to all ISSP members. Several more new listings have come through this month. Including...
- Sustainability Director
- Professor of Sustainability Science and Policy
- Senior Sustainability Analyst
- Senior Manager Sustainability Communications
- and more
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Can't Get Enough of Enough Is Enough? Watch the Video
Rob Dietz was a keynote speaker at the last ISSP Conference, held in May, 2013 in Chicago. Rob and his co-author Dan O'Neill wrote the provocative book Enough Is Enough: Building a Sustainable Economy in a World of Finite Resources. In it, Dietz and O'Neill make the case that we're overusing the earth's finite resources, and yet excessive consumption is failing to improve our lives. They then lay out a visionary but realistic alternative to the perpetual pursuit of economic growth-an economy where the goal is not more but enough.
If you missed Rob in Chicago, or haven't yet read his book, here's your chance to get immersed in the book's content. British filmmaker Tom Bliss has produced and directed an 18-minute video that summarizes concepts from the book. With a shoestring budget, challenging topics, and lots of ground to cover, Tom did an amazing job. He and Rob's coauthor, Dan O'Neill, showed the video to a packed house last month at the worldwide premier in Leeds, UK.
Check it out now:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xQ-LYElvtEU
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Oil and Honey: The Education of an Unlikely Activist
By Bill McKibben
Harcourt, Boston, Mass. Henry Holt & Co., 2013
Reviewed by Faye Sinnott, President of Solution Navigators, Inc. and ISSP Member
Bees, a beekeeper and corporations. What possible connection could there be between them? If you follow Bill McKibben in this account of his year 2011, one of the warmest years on record for our world, you will learn there are many points of contrast and connection.
McKibben begins his books with how he met his beekeeper and farmer friend, Kirk, and his amazement at his selecting a career calling that permitted a close relationship with his family, self-sufficient living, and a debt free existence with a very modest cash flow. It had quite an effect on McKibben, and he kept in contact with Kirk through the years. In 2011, McKibben and Kirk entered into a partnership - Bill would buy a farm for his young daughter's inheritance, Kirk would live on it, cultivate it, sustain it, build on it for basically taxes and insurance, and Bill would visit often.
The scene then switches to McKibben's other world, a Washington D.C. protest, the acceleration of carbon emissions, Bill's accelerating involvement with social movements, and the growth of 350.org. Bill talks about his reluctance to become an "activist" - how the travel, the speaking, the organizing, and the willingness to go to jail are mostly unnatural for him. McKibben is a real homebody, but the conviction that all must rally to protect the home planet drives him on.
The rest of the book chronicles the year, moving between protests, the farm and beekeeping, speaking to groups and organizations, and Bill's reflections on all of it. McKibben is very thought-provoking.
To read the complete review, click here.
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EDUCATION AND EVENTS
Experience sustainability professional development with live webinars, free resources and online discussion forums
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Discover how full economic value can be ultimately quantified and measured
Register through 2/9
Online Course with Jim Pittman
Ecosystems have economic value far beyond resources that can be extracted, liquidated, owned or sold. Read more ...
ISSP Certificate courses are open to all. For more info and to register click here
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Framework for Strategic Sustainable Development Comprehensive Model for Planning in Complex Systems
with Paul Horton
Learn about the relationship between The Natural Step and the FSSD. The goal of the FSSD is not to replace any other tools, models or frameworks such as The GRI or Biomimicry but to provide that whole systems perspective and so make better use of them and to help to orchestrate that cooperation. Read more ... Tuesday February 25, 2014 @ 11:00am Pacific Time-US Check for your time zone here.
Free: ISSP Members
Or join us for $10 USD$
To register click here.
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The New Global Sustainability Goals
How to connect to the "SDG" process, and how to "build a Pyramid" for sustainability
with Alan AtKisson
The new set of "Sustainable Development Goals" are expected to define the global sustainability agenda for the next 15 years. What will these goals mean? How can the global process be used to create more awareness -- and more change -- at the community and corporate level? Read more ...Wednesday March 12, 2014 @ 11:00am Pacific Time-US Check for your time zone here.
Free: ISSP Members
Or join us for $10 USD$
To register click here.
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Pathway to Innovation... Learning from Nature
Early Bird Ends FEB 20
Online Course with Mary Hansel Biomimicry is an old practice and new discipline that emulates nature's time-tested strategies for surviving and thriving sustainably on Earth. Learn how to apply lessons from nature's treasure trove of tried-and-true solutions to spur innovation toward creating healthier, more resilient societies. Read more ...
ISSP Certificate courses are open to all. For more info and to register click here
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Storytelling for Sustainability
Deepening the Case for Change
Early Bird Ends MAR 27
Online course with Jeff Leinaweaver Communication is fundamental in all our lives and this all begins with a story. In the worlds of strategic sustainability and corporate social responsibility, more and more attention is being focused on the importance of storytelling as a key component in one's toolkit for change. With Jeff, learn how to put into practice skills at communicating stories that matter. Read more ...
All Certificate courses are open to all. For more info and to register click here
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Sustainability Events
Happening Around the World
- GreenBiz Forum 2014, February 18-20, Scottsdale, Arizona
- Public Sector Reform and Transformation Forum 2014, Feb 18 - 20, Putrajaya, Malaysia
- APAC Smart Grid Conference, March 11 - 12, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
- Southface Greenprints Conference, March 12 -13, Atlanta, GA
- Globe 2014, March 26 - 28, Vancouver, BC
- CERES Conference 2014, April 30 - May 1 Boston, MA
- Sustainable Brands 2014, June 2 - 5, San Diego, CA
- 32nd West Coast Energy Management Congress, June 25 - 26 Seattle WA
- 2014 Net Impact Conference, Nov. 6 - 8, Minneapolis, MN
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