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WEBINAR:
The Circular Economy - Heading in the Right DirectionJulian Crawford,EcoSTEPSREAD MORE HERE Biomimicry: Pathway to Innovation - Learning from NatureMary Hansel,Biomimicry 3.8 &Biomimicry OregonREAD MORE HERECHAPTER MEETINGS:
March 17
Colorado Local Chapter: Boulder Sustainability Certification WorkshopREAD MORE HEREMarch 18
Colorado Local Chapter:Denver Sustainability Certification WorkshopREAD MORE HEREApril 3
Portland Local Chapter:Sustainability Certification WorkshopREAD MORE HEREApril 7
AR-MS-TN Local ChapterInaugural MeetingREAD MORE HERE
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VOLUME 9 NUMBER 3 March 2015
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FROM THE PRESIDENT'S DESK
Keeping Up - What's New In Sustainability?
By ISSP President and EcoSTEPS Sustainability
Partner Julian Crawford of Sydney, Australia
Dear Fellow ISSP Members,
As you know, ISSP is the world's leading association for sustainability professionals. Formed in 2007, the first few years were focussed on getting established and building membership, services and credibility.
| Julian Crawford |
Now, with three very successful
conferences and almost a thousand members from every region in the world, ISSP is changing gears and stepping up with the development of the global Sustainability Professional Certification program.
ISSP members are actively engaging with the most important global issues facing our societies. They're upskilling and learning, sharing resources and best practices. We are also developing ourselves professionally via coaching, job postings and learning events hosted both on-line and live by ISSP.
Did you know that ISSP offers an exciting range of online, web-based, educational opportunities for members and non-members? ISSP's instructors are experts and practitioners in their sustainability fields. Upcoming events include a webinar that I'm hosting soon on the emerging Circular Economy. We're also travelling to Jakarta, Indonesia in April to conduct a full week of training under the ISSP Educational Certificate Program.
In summary, there is a great deal going on and all members are encouraged to participate! The COP21 meeting in Paris in November is important for all of us. Maintaining our energy and focus in the months ahead is crucial. Exciting times....
Julian Crawford
PS: Have you engaged yet with the Sustainability Professional Certification program? Please support the development of our profession by adding your name and that of your organization to the growing list of supporters.
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ISSP Colorado Chapter Report, Feb. 2015
The local ISSP Chapter staged its own Colorado Sustainability Wisdom Panel in the University of Colorado's Tivoli Student Center on February 10, 2015. 60 people showed up to hear the views of a distinguished panel of local sustainability professionals:
- Bart Alexander, Principal, Alexander & Associates LLC & former VP, Corporate Responsibility, Molson Coors
- Catherine Greener, VP Sustainability, Xanterra Parks & Resorts
- Jack Rizzo, Managing Director, Global Construction and Development Services, Prologis
In response to an opening question by moderator Graham Russell, ISSP Treasurer & Board Member, the panel expressed themselves as modestly optimistic about the current state and future prospects for sustainability, although all acknowledged that the business community in many European countries remains many years ahead of that in the US.
There was also strong agreement that, unless a major effort is made to engage its entire employee base, any organization will ultimately fail in its sustainability efforts. There was much less agreement among the panelists about whether the investment community is finally beginning to understand that sustainability is critical to a successful business strategy. Rizzo said that Prologis is getting many more questions about its sustainability efforts, notably from European investors and analysts. Alexander, however, noted that, in a recent meeting between Molson Coors' new CEO and the analyst community, not a single question came up on the subject of sustainable business.
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Face-to-Face Sustainability Training in Jakarta
ISSP, through the ISSP Indonesia Chapter, is conducing face-to-face workshop training in Jakarta, Indonesia on April 27 - May 1, 2015. There will be five one-day workshops that can be taken either separately or as a package. The courses being offered include 5 of the 6 core courses required for completion of the
ISSP Sustainability Educational Certificate Program. These classes are: Strategy Tools for Sustainability Transformation, Leadership Skills for Change Agents, Sustainability Planning and Reporting, Sustaining Sustainability, and System Integration with S-CORE. There will also be an optional sustainability site visit on May 2, 2015. Participants from Asia Pacific countries are encouraged to join the program. Participants from Indonesia will receive a free basic sustainability course one week prior to the program.
US-based Marsha Willard and Dorothy Fisher Atwood, co-founders of ISSP, as well as Australia-based Julian Crawford, the current ISSP Board President, will be the instructors for the five core courses.
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Book Review: Overfished Ocean Strategy
Written by Nadya Zhexembayeva Reviewed for ISSP by Faye Sinnott
The Overfished Ocean Strategy makes a great combination with the work of Bob Willard and The Natural Step. Nadya articulates the "burning platform" that makes both approaches effectively mesh, and then goes on to describe a practical vision of what has to change.
In the words of Kyle Wiens, CEO of iFixit, "The economy is broken... it's systemic and it's global. The economy is broken because the principles that make the marketplace thrive will eventually destroy it." Nadya goes on to explain how old management paradigms no longer apply, and how smart companies are organizing to compete in a world of declining resources.
She lists five principles, explains what is meant by each, and gives some examples of companies beginning to use them. The five are:
- From Line to Circle: Another way of saying Cradle to Cradle (this also addresses waste and toxicity);
- From Vertical to Horizontal: Going beyond the usual boundaries of one's company to the risks - and opportunities - hiding within the entire system;
- From Growth to Growth: Not selling more widgets, but selling more value - designing total solutions, unique experiences, and so on;
- From Plan to Model: Recognizing the limits of planning in the face of extreme uncertainty, and that modelling and scenario planning have greater utility for adaptation;
- From Department to Mindset: A new way for the entire company to look at the world. Rather than creating fiefdoms and looking for scapegoats, discover value where it was previously invisible and impossible.
Nadya shares a number of resources along the way, which are valuable. She has also spent considerable time thinking about why it's so hard to use terms like "green" and "sustainable" to motivate business change. She asks a provocative question: if someone were to ask how your marriage is, and you reply "sustainable," how inspiring is that? She suggests that we need an entirely new language, and we already have its beginnings. Her final chapter gives her thoughts on adaptive and emergent approaches to strategy. She suggests companies cannot analyze their way into new business models; they can only learn and innovate their way in.
This book does not give quick fixes. There are none. Nadya speaks about principles, and suggests that each organization is much better off developing their own unique business models for a fast changing world of limited resources. "The collapse of the linear throwaway economy is not a question of "if" but of "when."
Overfished Ocean Strategy: Powering Up Innovation for a Resource-Deprived World, by Nadya Zhexembayeva. 208 pp. Berrett-Koehler Publishers, Inc. San Francisco. �2013 ISBN-10: 1609949641
ISBN-13: 978-1609949648
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Updates From The American Sustainable Business Council
ISSP is proud to continue our partnership with the American Sustainable Business Council (ASBC). ASBC's mission is to educate and inform the public and policymakers about the benefits of a more sustainable economy, as well as policies and practices that can help the economy become more sustainable. Follow the link for ASBC's updates and policy action calls on federal-level legislation and regulations: Support Clean Water Rules: Clean water is essential to the survival and success of the American economy. Manufacturing, food production and public health all depend on clean water. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is proposing new rules - "Waters of the US" - to clarify its jurisdiction under the Clean Water Act. Sign the business letter to show your support for EPA's proposed rules, and help ensure our wetlands, streams and rivers are protected.
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Follow Our New Twitter Handle @ISSP_Org
ISSP has a new Twitter handle!
Follow us @ISSP_Org for the latest from ISSP and include us in your sustainability-related tweets.
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ISSP Profiles in Excellence Video Series Offers New Perspectives Each Week
Since early last month, the ISSP Profiles in Excellence video series has been presenting interviews with sustainability leaders filmed at ISSP Conference 2014 by ISSP's premier media partner ReNewable Now http://www.renewablenow.biz. ReNewable Now is a Providence, Rhode Island-based media network whose mission is to educate, promote, and report on the positive growth that results when moving towards a more sustainable future, both economically and socially.
Each week, a new person is profiled as part of the video series. In each interview, sustainability leaders share their experience and talk about who inspired them, where they think the sustainability field needs to go, and what they believe aspiring sustainability professionals should be doing to make sustainability standard practice.
Check back each week at the ISSP Videos page to see the latest interview. Here's the line-up of people who will be profiled over the next several weeks:
- Jeffrey Hollender, Founder and CEO of Hollender Sustainable Brands, co-founder of Seventh Generation, and member of the ISSP Sustainability Hall of Fame.
- Susan Burns, CEO of Global Footprint Network and member of the ISSP Sustainability Hall of Fame.
- Steve Levitsky, Director, Corporate Sustainability American Sugar Refining, Inc. and ISSP Board Member.
- Marsha Willard, Faculty Member @ Pinchot, co-founder and former Executive Director of ISSP.
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Jobs Board: A Great Resource for ISSP Members Worldwide
ISSP maintains a jobs board of open sustainability-related positions of interest to our members. A few of our most recent posts include:
- Director of Sustainability
- Sustainable Buildings and Operations Project Manager
- Social Compliance Auditor
- Management and Sustainability Fellow
- Program Manager, Sustainable Communities Collaborative
- Certification Analyst
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Sustainability Events
Happening Around the World
- SoL North America's Foundations for Leadership Program, March 25-27, 2015, Bedford, MA and September 29-October 1, 2015, The Warren Center, Ashland, MA
- Ceres Conference 2015, May 13 - 14, 2015, The Fairmont Hotel, San Francisco, CA
- SoL North America's Leading Sustainable Transformation Workshop with Peter Senge & Darcy Winslow, June 2-4, 2015, Ashland, MA
- SoL North America's Executive Champions' Workshop, August 18-21, 2015, Stowe, VT
- All In For Impact: SRI's 26th Annual Conference, November 3-5, 2015, Colorado Springs, CO
For details about these conferences, visit our
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