November 27, 2012  

Dear Clients, Friends and Colleagues,

GreenBuild, the seminal U.S. green building conference, took place this month in San Francisco. We joined thousands of other green building professionals to contribute and connect and learn. Here's what we heard. 

Governors, Twitter and the GSA...

Newark Mayor Cory Booker, California Governor Jerry Brown and former New York Governor George Pataki all agreed that to reduce our carbon footprint, wean ourselves off our addiction to fossil fuels and protect ourselves against extreme weather events, government needs to incentivize the results ---- such as increased emission standards, higher CAFE standards and more efficient buildings ---- and strive for greater transparency.

David Gray, National Sustainability Manager for the General Services Administration (GSA), which is literally the world's largest real estate organization with 500,000 facilities covering 3 billion square feet globally, noted that the GSA expects to enjoy $30-40 million in annual savings as a result of employing green building operating strategies, with no capital outlays.  

Biz Stone, the co-founder of Twitter, observed that now that we have tools to connect the world's 7 billion people, we need to engage in conversations that matter to people. If he were to spend a $5 million marketing budget, he would allocate $4 million to support a meaningful cause and $1 million to getting the message out about that support.

What Angry Birds and Climate Change Have In Common

After all was said and done, Dr. Jane McGonigal, a world-class developer of games, inspired me the most. Dr. McGonigal, whose mission is to see a game developer win the Nobel Peace Prize, pointed out that 1 billion people have downloaded Angry Birds and its 200 million daily players have collectively spent 325,000 years avenging these poor birds. Considering that gamers spend 80% of their gaming time failing, she sees an opportunity to bring the passion, drive, determination, joy, creativity, contentment and awe that gamers experience while playing to solve real world problems, such as climate change.  

Dr. McGonigal also pointed out that 71% of the U.S. workforce is actively disengaged in their work resulting in $300 billion in lost productivity. Our work with clients supports her conclusion that if we can get the U.S. workforce as actively engaged in their work as they are in their games, the results will be extraordinary.  

When we help our clients incorporate climate change solutions into their companies' DNA, the "human capital of green" is unleashed. Internal teams tasked with crafting and implementing sustainable initiatives that are aligned with their company's mission and vision become more productive, passionate and inspired. Based on our work to date, we agree with Dr. McGonigal that the results of a more engaged, passionate and inspired workforce can solve the unsolvable.

Let us help your company harness sustainability to achieve breakthrough business results ---- you can't afford not to!