Conventional marketing is out. Green marketing and what is increasingly being called “sustainable branding” is in. According to the new rules of green marketing, effectively addressing the needs of consumers with a heightened environmental and social consciousness cannot be achieved with the same assumptions and formulae that guided consumer marketing since the postwar era. Times have changed. A new paradigm has emerged requiring new strategies with a holistic point of view and eco-innovative product and service offering.
 
Historically, marketers developed products that met consumers’ needs at affordable prices and then communicated the benefits of their brands in a memorable way.

Paid media campaigns characterized by ads with catchy slogans were de rigueur. Green or “sustainable” marketing and branding is more complex. It addresses consumers’ new heightened expectations for businesses to operate and requires two strategies:

1. Develop products that balance consumers’ needs for quality, performance, affordability, and convenience with the lowest impact possible on the environment, and with due concern for social considerations, e.g., labor, and community.

2. Create demand for the resulting brands through credible, values-laden communications that offer practical benefits while empowering and engaging consumers in meaningful ways about important environmental and social issues. These communications represent value to consumers for what they provide functionally and what they represent, and often positively reinforce the manufacturer’s track record for sustainability as well.

The new rules being laid down by today’s eco-conscious consumers cannot be addressed with conventional marketing strategies and tactics.

Brand builders in the 21st century are accountable to tough new standards. Sustainability represents deep psychological and sociological shifts - not to mention seismically important issues - as did one of its predecessors, feminism, which forced marketers to develop more convenient products in step with two-income lifestyles and to portray women with a new respect.

Meeting the challenges of today’s level of green consumerism presents its own mandates for corporate processes, branding practices, product quality, price, and promotion. To realize that the rules of the game have changed in a big way, one need only recall the unsavory backlash that is now occurring over what is perceived by environmentalists, regulators, and the press as inconsistent and often misleading eco-labels and messages. The resulting deluge of skepticism, confusion, and regulatory nightmares that spurious green claims - dubbed “greenwash” - are spawning in the marketplace proves that environmental marketing involves more than tweaking one or two product attributes and dressing up packages with meaningless and often misleading claims. Too many marketers are learning the hard way that leveraging environment-related opportunities and addressing sustainability-related challenges requires a total commitment to greening one’s products and communications.

Green marketing done according to the new rules also affects how a corporation manages its business and brands and interacts with all of its stakeholders who may be affected by its environmental and social practices.
 
The Seven Strategies for Green Marketing Success

Under the new rules, the currency of sustainable branding is innovation, flexibility, and heart. I have formulated seven strategies which I believe can help businesses address these deep-seated and lasting changes in consumer sensibility. Reflecting our learning from working with sustainability leaders over the past 20-plus years, they can be summarized as follows:

1. Understand the deeply held environmental and social beliefs and values of your consumers and other stakeholders and develop a long-term plan to align with them.

2. Create new products and services that balance consumers’ desires for quality, convenience, and affordability with minimal adverse environmental and social impacts over the life of the product.

3. Develop brands that offer practical benefits while empowering and engaging consumers in meaningful ways about the important issues that affect their lives.

4. Establish credibility for your efforts by communicating your corporate commitment and striving for complete transparency.

5. Be proactive. Go beyond what is expected from stakeholders. Proactively commit to doing your share to solve emerging environmental and social problems - and discover competitive advantage in the process.

6. Think holistically. Underscore community with users and with the broad array of corporate environmental and societal stakeholders.

7. Don’t quit. Promote responsible product use and disposal practices. Continuously strive for “zero” impact.

***Jacquelyn Ottman is the founder and principal of J. Ottman Consulting, Inc., an expert advisers on green marketing to consumer product marketers and U.S. government labeling programs. She is the author of four books on green marketing, including the recently released The New Rules of Green Marketing: Strategies, Tools and Inspiration for Sustainable Branding (Berrett-Koehler, 2011).
Download a free chapter and get more information here.

Excerpted from The New Rules of Green Marketing: Strategies, Tools and Inspiration for Sustainable Branding (Berrett-Koehler 2011) by Jacquelyn A. Ottman. 

Once considered a short-term promotional tactic, cause marketing is now a mature, long-term strategic business practice that can enhance brand image and boost sales. Most importantly, cause-related products give businesses an impact that goes far beyond mere tax-deductible checks (philanthropy).

Several successful brands are making social causes central to their business. Consider the enormously successful TOMS One for One campaign, which gives a pair of shoes to a child in need for every pair of their rubber-soled alpargatas shoes they sell.

The monumental success of cause marketing campaigns thus far creates high expectations. Your brand may need to follow suit by getting in touch with relevant social issues. Below, I’ve detailed some of the opportunities and challenges to consider when developing cause-related products.

Cause marketing successes

One of the most visible in the history of cause-related marketing is Project (RED). Launched in 2006 by Bono of rock group U2 and Bobby Shriver of Debt, AIDS, Trade in Africa (DATA), multiple high-profile companies joined on by donating 50% of profits from products labeled as (RED). The funds have provided over 825,000 HIV-positive people with antiretroviral therapy, 3.2 million AIDS orphans with basic care, and prevented more than 3.5 million deaths.

Another successful instance of cause marketing was IKEA’s partnership with UNICEF to benefit children in Angola and Uganda. IKEA agreed to donate $2.00 from every sale of their BRUM teddy bears to UNICEF’s “Children’s Right to Play” program, which uses play-based interaction to educate and empower children in need. The promotion was called “A Bear that Gives,” and between 2003 and 2005 it raised $2.2 million to educate street children in Angola and displaced children in Uganda, as well as putting 38,000 Ugandan children in daycare centers.

Even small businesses can participate in meaningful cause marketing.

Consider 1% for the Planet, founded by the environmentally passionate Yvon Chouinard, founder of Patagonia, and Craig Mathews, owner of Blue Ribbon Flies, to connect businesses and their consumers with philanthropy. Currently, more than 700 environ-mentally conscious companies contribute 1% of their sales to a growing list of more than 1,500 environmental groups around the world.

Cause for concern

Before embarking on your own cause-marketing effort, realize that there are some rules of the road. Consumers are attracted to causes that put them in the driver’s seat, and they will turn on a misguided campaign.

Some Sierra Club members created a stir – and some even pulled out of the organization – in response to breaking news that the Sierra Club was receiving an undisclosed amount of money for what they perceived as an endorsement of Clorox’s Green Works cleaning products. Sierra Club members’ objections to the partnership included the fact that Clorox manufactured chlorine bleach and that 98% of Clorox products were still made from synthetic chemicals. (Green Works only accounted for 2% of Clorox’s total sales). Both organizations now disclose the financial compensation that Sierra Club receives for its support, and as of late 2009, Clorox announced it would no longer make bleach out of chlorine and sodium hydroxide.

Reflecting its ability to gently but effectively clean waterfowl affected by oil spills, Dawn dishwashing liquid ran a cause-related campaign with the Marine Mammal Center and the International Bird Rescue Research Center in which it donated $1 for every specially marked package bought by consumers. However, some visitors to its Facebook page and YouTube commercial protested the promotion, citing that Procter & Gamble tests its products on animals, forcing the company to defend its policies and remind its detractors that it has invested more than $250 million developing alternative testing methods.

Finally, Ethos Water, co-owned by Pepsi and Starbucks, donates 5 cents for every unit sold to help people in underdeveloped regions to get clean water. Environmentalists question this approach, maintaining that clean, drinkable water should be a human right and not a function of corporate profits. They also maintain that promoting bottled water for environmental benefits is inconsistent with the related impacts of plastic recycling, energy expended to transport the product, and potential depletion of natural water supplies.

Creating authentic brand value

To reap the benefits demonstrated over 15 years of cause-related marketing. Follow these guidelines for success outlined by Cone’s 2008 Cause Evolution Study:

• Allow consumers to select their own cause

• Ensure that the cause you pick is both personally relevant to consumers and makes strategic sense to your business

• Choose a trusted, established not-for-profit organization

• Provide practical incentives for involvement, such as saving money or time

• Provide emotional incentives for involvement, such as it making them feel good or alleviating shopping guilt.

***Jacquelyn Ottman is the founder and principal of J. Ottman Consulting, Inc., an expert advisers on green marketing to consumer product marketers and U.S. government labeling programs. She is the author of four books on green marketing, including the recently released The New Rules of Green Marketing: Strategies, Tools and Inspiration for Sustainable Branding (Berrett-Koehler, 2011).
Download a free chapter and get more information here.

Excerpted from The New Rules of Green Marketing: Strategies, Tools and Inspiration for Sustainable Branding (Berrett-Koehler 2011) by Jacquelyn A. Ottman. 

Mental health conditions in Veterans returning from Iraq and Afghanistan have become an important public health problem. Up to 37% of the over two million service members who have deployed to Iraq or Afghanistan are struggling with serious mental health problems including post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), major depression, and traumatic brain injury.[1] These mental health conditions result in debilitating pain and suffering and are associated with additional problems including addiction, difficulties maintaining work, and homelessness.[2]

These mental health issues can lead to tragic consequences, as illustrated by increasing military suicide rates. Active duty suicides reached epidemic levels in 2010 with one active duty service member committing suicide every 36 hours. Our Veterans are killing themselves at twice the rate of other Americans.[3]-[4]

There are approximately 214,000 women serving in the military today, with more entering military service every year.  In addition to the combat experiences that their male counterparts have to cope with, female Veterans suffer from significantly higher rates of Military Sexual Trauma, and have suicide rates that are up to three times higher than the rates of civilian women.³  In addition, the impact of these problems has a cascading effect on each of the 8-10 family members directly related to each service member and Veteran.

Despite barriers to care (e.g., the perceived and/or actual availability of health care services, particularly the availability of women-specific services), soldiers are seeking mental health help more than 100,000 times a month.[5] The number of active duty troops discharged from the Army for mental health problems increased by 64% between 2005 and 2009. In 2009, there were 17,538 hospitalizations for mental health problems, 17,354 for pregnancies, and 11,156 for injuries and battle wounds.[6] Mental health problems now account for one in nine medical discharges. For the first time, in 2009, more U.S. troops were hospitalized for mental health disorders than for any other reason.

Fortunately, there are effective treatments for these mental health problems and a great number of clinicians dedicated to helping our nations heroes.  Unfortunately, even when provided with the best evidence-based treatments, non-response rates can be as high as 50%.[7] In addition, access to these treatments may be obstructed by an array of institutional and diagnosis-related barriers. 

A Solution

Yoga is a path to experience greater connection and wholeness in life, a way to reconnect when life's challenges result in a deep sense of fragmentation.  Yoga has been increasingly accepted as an effective complementary therapy for mental health issues including PTSD.

According to Dr. Bessel A. van der Kolk, clinician, researcher and teacher on posttraumatic stress since the 1970s:

People with PTSD lose their way in the world. Their bodies continue to live in an internal environment of the trauma. We all are biologically and neurologically programmed to deal with emergencies, but time stops in people who suffer from PTSD. That makes it hard to take pleasure in the present because the body keeps replaying the past. If you practice yoga and can develop a body that is strong and feels comfortable, this can contribute substantially to help you to come into the here and now rather than staying stuck in the past.         

Yoga is increasingly being utilized by the military and VA to help address unmet mental health needs. Veterans and active duty military personnel who practice yoga regularly report reduced anxiety and depression, improved sleep and concentration, a greater ability to focus on the positive, support in addiction recovery, pain relief, and increased ability to deal with the mental and emotional strain of combat. A recent Department of Defense study found that Veterans diagnosed with PTSD showed improvement in their symptoms after 10 weeks of yoga classes.[8]

Over the past few months, this meditation has helped me realize how closely connected my physical and mental pain are. I told my wife that I feel like I’m untangling a big knot. I didn’t know which strand was which when it was all knotted together, but as I do the meditation, I feel myself unwinding. As I undo the knot, I see what was mental and what was physical and how letting go of each helps the other.

         – Jon, Vietnam Veteran

When I heard we were going to do yoga, I laughed! I thought that soldiers doing yoga was ridiculous. After two weeks of practice, though, I thought, ‘Who would have ever thought you could get so chill?’ I want to find a class to do with my wife, something we could share. 

–OIF Veteran (3 deployments)

Give Back Yoga Foundation’s Commitment to Veterans

Give Back Yoga Foundation believes in making yoga available to those who might not otherwise have the opportunity to experience the transformational benefits of this powerful practice. We do this by supporting and funding certified yoga teachers in all traditions to offer the teachings of yoga to under-served and under-resourced socio-economic segments of the community and inspire grassroots social change and community cooperation. Give Back Yoga Foundation also supports the creation and distribution of yoga resources and products, such as books, CD’s, DVD’s, to serve these communities in need.

The Give Back Yoga Foundation has spent the past few years researching and working in the field of yoga for Veterans. In 2010, we awarded a small grant to Comfort for America’s Uniformed Services at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, DC, to support a yoga and meditation program for wounded warriors. We quickly found ourselves deluged with requests both from yoga teachers around the country wanting to serve returning Veterans and from the Veterans and their families themselves.

Since that time, Give Back Yoga Foundation has been recognized as a national leader in the provision and distribution of empirically-informed, clinically-tested multi-media resources for veterans. We have supported the creation and distribution of the following unique yoga resources for Veterans, which have been distributed to a range of sites to date:[9]

1. Meditation CDs donated by Karen Soltes’ iRest Yoga Nidra: Easing into Stillness (who teaches at the Washington, DC, VA hospital as part of the War Related Illnesses and Injuries Study Center); Suzanne Manafort’s "Breathe In, Breathe Out: Quick and Easy Breathing Practices to Help Balance the Nervous System,” designed for the Mindful Yoga Therapy for Veterans Coping with Trauma Program, a component of the PTSD Rehabilitation Residential Program (PRRP) in Newington, CT.; and Deep Relaxation: Yoga Nidra with Patty Townsend, a master teacher with a background of over 40 years in yoga and meditation.
2. Beyond Disability: A Yoga Practice DVD based on Matthew Sanford’s unique experience with yoga and paralysis;
3. a book, Finding Peace: A Yoga Guide for Veterans, Active Duty Military Service Members and Their Families, written by Beryl Bender Birch;
4. the Mindful Yoga Therapy Practice Guide by Dr. Daniel Libby and Suzanne Manafort produced specifically for veterans coping with trauma; and
5. a new DVD, VetsYoga, by Washington, DC yoga teacher Daniel Hickman who teaches at Walter Reed Medical Center, produced by Yatra Yoga International and Craig Coffman Productions.

The Give Back Yoga Foundation also recognizes the need for rigorous empirical research on the effects of yoga for combat-related mental health conditions. Although testimonials from Veterans and active duty service members have convinced us of the benefits of yoga for mental health, well-conducted research is required to document these benefits for policymakers, and to understand which yoga practices and which methods of delivery are the most effective.  To this end, Give Back Yoga Foundation is supporting a pilot randomized clinical trial of Mindful Yoga Therapy for Veterans coping with trauma led by Daniel J. Libby, PhD, clinical research associate with the Evaluation Division of the National Center for PTSD.

The Operation Finding Peace Campaign

This is an incredible opportunity to help a demographic that suffers from combat-related stress. When I first began yoga in 2001, the vast majority of military members were very doubtful about the benefits.  Since then, more and more military personnel are accepting the benefits of yoga. The classes here average about 20 each time. It is amazing how word spreads and how much people like it. Military personnel don't realize how much they need yoga until they try it.

                 –U.S. Navy Lt. Taeko McFadden, Base Command Group, Al Asad, Iraq

Those men and women who have put their lives on the line to serve their country need our help. Good work is happening:  Throughout the United States, dedicated yoga teachers are working with Departments of Veterans Affairs and other organizations that currently offer or are interested in offering yoga as an adjunctive therapy practice for Veterans coping with mental health problems.  However, a large gap remains between those desiring yoga information and instruction and actual delivery of these services and resources to those who need them most. To help close this gap, the Give Back Yoga Foundation is launching Operation Finding Peace, a targeted effort to provide the benefits of yoga to the military community.  It is our goal to touch the lives of over 30,000 service members, veterans, and military families over the next three years through the following key activities:  

• Create and distribute high-quality yoga and meditation resources to veterans organizations and other groups that provide evidence-based mind/body approaches for service members deploying and returning to help manage combat stress (see attached list of current partners, which we anticipate will grow). 

• Objective:  Produce 10,000 Yoga for Veterans Toolkits that include the complete suite of yoga resources for veterans, and distribute them to interested military bases, VA’s, and other community groups serving veterans and their families nationwide.  These will also be distributed to the National Guard pre-deploying in order to help them have some tools provided by yoga and meditation prior to going into a combat theatre. See attached description of Toolkit contents.

• Objective: Create a pilot program that distributes 250 iPod Nanos, pre-loaded with yoga and meditation programs such as those listed above, to veterans at greatest risk, and evaluate the results via user surveys.

• Create a free, 24-hour Meditation Hotline for veterans suffering from PTSD to call anytime, and especially in moments of extreme anxiety or flashbacks. The hotline would guide veterans through simple meditation and breathing exercises, and would also provide access to additional mental health assistance. Not all veterans, particularly those living in rural areas, have access to a CD player or computer but they generally have a cell phone handy.

• Objective:  Provide an easy-to-access, cloud-based 24-hour resource for veterans and service members suffering from PTSD and other mental health disorders.

• Provide scholarships for Veterans who wish to become certified yoga instructors so that they, in turn, can share the gift of yoga with other veterans. One of the most common questions that yoga instructors face when teaching veterans is “did you serve?” and veterans who practice yoga are themselves the best teachers of this unique population. This program will provide 50% tuition assistance for an accredited Yoga Teacher 200 or 500-hour certification program, with the remainder of costs to split equally between the studio and the student. The program includes a pledge that the veteran serve others in the military community or other underserved populations in need (e.g., at-risk teens).

• Objective: Support 200 veterans in their quest to become certified yoga instructors, seeding future outreach to the military population.

Join With Us to Serve

Yoga has helped me to reduce my anxiety and has improved my ability to focus... I think of yoga as survival training for the Veteran mind, body and soul.

- Paul, Vietnam Veteran

One area where I see yoga can be very helpful is in helping to prevent the effects of PTSD itself. My humble daily practice while under daily fire in Iraq helped to keep me centered and able to detach from the traumatic events happening all around me. I honestly believe that yoga could have helped to prevent the American NCO from shooting all those villagers in Afghanistan a few weeks ago...and truly want to help see if we can help to prevent such things from happening again in the future.                                                                                   - Chris, Iraq Veteran

I can testify to this program (iRest Yoga Nidra). The exercises were of personal help and now I will again introduce it as a form of relaxation and sleep enhancement to my Veterans diagnosed with TBI and Chronic Pain.  Thanks a million.                                                                                                                        - Dorrett, RN, Fmr. CPT USAR

Together, we can provide the healing benefits of yoga and meditation to thousands of returning Veterans, service members preparing for deployment, and their families, and in so doing, improve mental and physical well-being for those who have done so much to serve our country.  Support in any amount makes a difference. Join with us today.

The Give Back Yoga Foundation, Inc. is a non-profit organization under Section 501 (c) (3) of the Internal Revenue Code. Our Federal Tax ID is 20-8666751.

After reviewing the numerous trend articles out there and considering my own perspectives I have put together some that I think are relevant to LOHAS. Here are a few that I feel are relevant for the coming year:

1. Whiskey is for Drinking, Water Is for Fighting Over
The famous Mark Twain quote will become more prevalent in society as new realities of its scarify will become better known to an ever growing global thirst.  Everyone will talk about it but few will do anything. Sadly, it may only start to take off if humanitarian crises hit.  A focus on water use is an admission that climate change is our new reality and it's time to start managing its effects. The material risks associated with increased droughts and flooding will be among the most poignant effects of climate change. You may already be talking about this with the lack of snowfall around the country during the early part of this year.

2. Capitalism as We Know is Changing and it Should
Since the Industrial Age, businesses have built their wealth off of the extraction of natural resources. Unless businesses start to value and protect these resources, this cycle will have a devastating impact on the lives of our children and grandchildren.  Richard Branson echoes this sentiment and also believes it cannot survive in its current model. This can also cause possible ecoflation that was identified in 2008.  Many people are beginning to realize that business as usual is no longer an option. What is an option is to reinvent capitalism to truly be a force for good in the world. Certification groups such as FairTrade and Benefit Corporation are working to use the power of business to solve social and environmental problems.  The current changing economic scene provides unique opportunity for innovation and success in unconventional settings. The sky is the limit as new ways to do better business are taking root everyday.

3. Blurring the Differences Between “For-Profits” and “Non-Profits”
There has been a surge of entrepreneurs providing innovative business solutions with the purpose of “doing good”.   In these tumultuous times where unemployment is high many are turning their backs on the job fairs and putting their efforts into creating new businesses that fill needs such as TaskRabbit, and Viatask.   Non-profits will incorporate more for-profit business models into their programs. There is a strong growth in social entrepreneurialism globally and this will increase with the emergence of new solutions for world issues. Groups like the Social Venture Network, Sansori and Unreasonable Institute will increase to provide resources for start ups. Social enterprises will encompass the very definition of business and 2012 will be an important year.

4. Gamificating Your life
Expect and increase in the game addiction methods to make a world a better place this next year. Game and point system rewards programs such as My Recycle Bank , My Energy and Greenopolis will see newcomers such as Ecobonus that rewards points to green and organic shoppers. More smart apps will be provided for LOHAS shoppers and energy efficiencies for homes and automobiles. 

5. Evidence Based Sustainability
Proof of sustainability will be emphasized more than ever as businesses will seek cost effective measure to reduce bills and be a good environmental citizen. Purchasing departments will be requiring vendors to document how they address sustainability issues within their own businesses will become more commonplace. As facilities and businesses increasingly operate in a more sustainable manner, they will turn to "dashboard" systems to help measure, manage and report progress.

6. We'll All Want to Plug in to Plug-in Hybrids
Hybrids are not new but the latest improvements in technology will allow them to be more affordable to the average consumer. If electric cars like the Nissan Leaf and Chevy Volt are the trail-blazers, plug-in hybrids could be the game-changer the auto industry has been looking for. The prospect of a car than can travel distances of up to 40 miles using electric power before switching to a gas engine for longer journeys promises to overcome the biggest objection to electric cars: the fear the battery will run out mid-journey.  Design also looks exciting. We only need to look into BMW i8 roadster concept and visualize where this might take the car industry in near future. The high profile Vauxhall Ampera and Toyota Plug-in hybrid will create a lot of buzz this year and assuming the cars offer reasonable performance they could quickly become the default option for green-minded motorists and cost-conscious fleet operators

7. More Fun with Sharing Stuff
Sharing will not only be a part of social media but of reality. Considerations of downscaling due to financial, lifestyle reasons or social pressures will increase in sharing the excesses of the past decade as we become more conscious of what we have that we don’t use that others can borrow. Rent Stuff, Loanables andRent Stuff Easy allow you to do exactly what they say to others online.  A while back Sharable listed eight ways to share your stuff. That's about few of those thousands of ways of giving your stuff (or money) away for charity. Couchsurfing connects travelers with people who offer their homes as an economical place to stay. Rising oil costs will put pressure on transportation and the demand for shared and public transportation. Transportation share programs such as Zipcar, Bixi or Bcycle will increase. In four years the number of registered users have gone up from less than one million to more than four million. By Carpooling shared trips have gone up from less than three million to almost eight million.
 
8. Responsible Profitability Attracts Attention
Responsibility has been strongly associated with greater profitability, equity and asset returns, and shareholder value creation. But that’s no longer good enough. Today, the bar is being raised; success is itself changing. Companies are beginning to be judged against a whole new set of criteria by customers, governments, communities, employees, and investors. They’re already saying, so you made a profit. Yawn. Did you actually have an impact? Did what you do have a positive, lasting consequence that was meaningful in human terms? Several studies have provided evidence suggesting that betterness yields greater equity returns, asset returns, and profitability. This not only makes sense for those who are mission oriented but also for risk management.  One recent study found Firms that score strongly in terms of corporate social responsibility (CSR) find that their cost of equity capital financing is consistently lower than firms with weaker CSR track records. Responsibility fuels outperformance because it is risk management: better insurance against adverse future events.

9. Emphasis on Corporate Culture
Successful startup companies such as Method, Zappos and New Belgium Brewery are all preachers of their unique culture developed around their workplace. They preach not to chase the profits but to chase the dream. Engaging employees as a collective of ideas and not compartmentalization is a new form of corporate structure. It is not just about the fun office parties and surroundings but understanding the larger mission of the company and empowering employees. Creative agencies and culture builders have seen the need to train and educate companies on these emerging traits that are attractive for the young new work force.

10. Natural Disasters Will Continue
Expect your homeowners insurance rate to rise in 2012 as weather related damages cost $70 billion in U.S. economic losses in 2011.  All the indicators on climate risk are pointing the wrong way.  The financial and human cost of extreme weather and climate-related disasters is on an unmistakably upward trend. Meanwhile, our energy infrastructure remains as risky as ever with the Fukushima disaster following the BP oil spill in highlighting how fragile our energy supplies really are. It is a safe bet that 2012 will again be marred by a large-scale environmental tragedy of one form or another. Meanwhile, sensible businesses and policymakers will start taking climate adaptation more seriously.

References for these trends are:
Ecopreneurist.com
Taombo.com
Greenbiz.com
Huffington Post
PR Newswire

Are there any missing? Let me know what others trends you forsee for 2012 and LOHAS.

I recently attended a conference where the keynote speaker was successful entrepreneur Tony Hsieh, CEO of the successful online apparel shop Zappos.com. In 1999, at the age of 24, Tony Hsieh sold LinkExchange, the company he co-founded, to Microsoft for $265 million. He then joined us as an advisor and investor, and eventually became CEO, where he helped us grow from almost no sales to over $1 billion in gross merchandise sales annually, while simultaneously making Fortune magazines annual Best Companies to Work For list. In November 2009, Zappos.com, Inc. was acquired by Amazon.com in a deal valued at $1.2 billion on the day of closing. I was very interested to know what makes Zappos so unique.

Tony shared with the audience that he views things differently than most. He perceives Zappos as not a shoe company but rather a service company that happens to sell shoes. One of the key things I heard Tony say was that they take funds that are typically set aside for advertising and apply it to customer service. In 2008 over $1 billion of sales was done with repeating customers and word of mouth. What was it that makes people come back to buy things at Zappos? Tony stated it was because they consider customer service as the number one priority. This is nothing new to sales and marketing.  I think we have all heard this before but what Zappos does differently is apply it to their corporate culture. Instead of viewing customer service as what the customer receives they view it as to what the customer experiences. Because Zappos is an online store their phone service is vital for success. They have their number in big numbers on every page of their website so people can easily find it and call. They recognize that the customer service must be good. But the people who call don’t often result in a sale and this is not the focus of the call center. Instead Zappos uses the call center as a branding opportunity. Yes sales do happen through the call center but that is not the call center’s primary focus. This is a very different way of looking at a call service center. They also provide overnight shipping anywhere in the U.S. They recognize this is expensive but it adds to the customer experience and out paces competitors. Zappos considers the extra costs as a marketing cost rather than an additional expense.

You would think the mantra in the company is all about customer service. It is a strong component of what Zappos is all about but the larger priority is creating a strong corporate culture and they work on maintaining, nurturing and protecting it. Zappos human resources department has an interview on culture for new employees to see if they are a good fit. Once they are accepted by Zappos the new hires go through a 5 week training course and once the training is complete they are given a choice to either join the company or be given $3,000 on the spot to leave. This process weeds out those who are focusing on the paycheck and not committed to the Zappos culture. Internal annual performance reviews value 50% based on culture and growth within the company. They want employees to contribute to the success of the Zappos culture with recommendations and initiatives.  All new hire training covers history of the Zappos culture and experience in their call center.  Customer service is not just a department but part of the whole company. All have to answer calls and understand the skills it takes which include executives, accountants, IT and other non-customer service related departments. When customers get the perfect fit of all of these it equals happiness. If customers get what they want and have a tremendous experience they feel happy. Therefore Zappos believes they are delivering happiness.

Zappos created 10 core values for their company. Tony stressed that it is important to not make these values meaningless. They must be committable core values. At Zappos they are used for hiring and firing people.

Here are Zappos 10 Core Values:
1. Deliver WOW Through Service
2. Embrace and Drive Change
3. Create Fun and A Little Weirdness
4. Be Adventurous, Creative, and Open-Minded
5. Pursue Growth and Learning
6. Build Open and Honest Relationships With Communication
7. Build a Positive Team and Family Spirit
8. Do More With Less
9. Be Passionate and Determined
10. Be Humble

This results in every employee living the brand alignment of value and in doing this it equates to long term sustainable growth. Zappos is now educating other companies on culture with online tools and seminars. Recently a refrigerator company has gone through the training and have seen their sales increase.

Another ingredient for success is to focus on a higher purpose beyond profit. It is important to think bigger than money and focus on what motivates you? Create that vision and chase the vision not the dollar. Perhaps it is being a good parent or good citizen. Tony stated in his talk, “Don’t chase the paper, chase the dream.”

He also pointed out the difference between motivation and inspiration. Motivation can be used to a point and makes up a large part of how leaders relate to their teams. But there also needs to be elements of inspiration that tap into the deeper and stronger soul energies of a person.

With today’s technology and digital aspects of sales there is a difference with high touch compared to high tech. High tech provides broader and faster access to customers and is a good tool. But it is only a tool. High touch provides an emotional connection with people to ensure their experience with a company is top notch. Zappos focuses on the high touch because it believes it makes customers happier. An example of a company that does this well is Cirque de Soleil. They are not in the circus business they are into the experience and emotions business.

Zappos is currently creating a new community building imitative in Las Vegas where they are based. Rather than go the Nike and Google campus model Zappos will integrate their main headquarters into the existing local community and use existing buildings. They plan to build residential businesses and use existing areas to build other business opportunities around Zappos with the Zappos mission. They offer daily tours of their headquarters to anyone interested. They will pick you up from the airport and share their story with anyone willing to listen.

Tony said according to happiness research we are really bad at predicting what will make us happy. For example most think that winning the lottery will provide happiness. But studies have shown that many winners are not happier than they were before. In fact in some instances it has caused more problems than benefits.

Why is happiness so mysterious to attain? It is because our current society messaging values perceived control and progress which are to demonstrate accomplishment which we are told will make us happy. Instead we should focus on connectedness and meaning which give us a sense of community, well being and contentment.

There are three types of happiness:  1. The Rock Star lifestyle with riches and fame where everyone loves you and what you do. This is very rare.  2.  Flow which is when someone is in synch with their challenges. Athletes talk about this when they are in the zone. This is not as rare but more sporadic and based on the correct circumstances. 3. A clear understanding of meaning and higher purpose. This is something that can be called upon from an individual at all times and anywhere. This is much more long lasting and sustaining.  

But people always aim for rock star.  We should reverse our efforts – meaning, flow, rock star. Once we do this happiness will ultimately follow.

Contributed by Scott James

This month I spoke with Matt Bogoshian in DC. He is the Senior Policy Counsel for the Environmental Protection Agency. One of the ways I reconcile being apolitical and staying as far away from DC as possible is because I know I have kindred spirits like Matt fighting the good fight there. He works quite a bit with businesses, so I asked him about CSR this month.

Scott: Tell me about a company that is doing something in CSR that would be a model for the future.

Matt: Staples and Wegmans are two recent examples who, in a partnership with us, worked collaboratively with the thermal paper manufacturers to explain that a key to their business model is supplying products that people want to buy because they are safe and healthy. The retailers convinced these suppliers that thermal paper with bisphenol A (BPA) does not meet their needs as it is associated with adverse effects in the environment and may be problematic for people. Thanks to these business leaders, the EPA is now examining 19 alternatives to BPA with the active engagement of the full supply chain.

Scott: So Staples and Wegmans have made a real commitment to that project.

Matt: Yes. I’d like to see a corporate model for the future that incorporates sustainability much more broadly and deeply than what some might consider CSR being capable of doing.  Model companies in the future will be ones that make more money than their competitors by producing products and services that directly or additionally address social and environmental needs.

Scott: Tell me about a specific CSR effort in another country you find inspiring, that could serve as a model for the US.

Matt: Our sustainability efforts with American manufacturers routinely afford us an opportunity to see the positive effects of corporate sustainability efforts both domestically and abroad. Take Steelcase Furniture in Grand Rapids, Michigan as an example. Under our Green Suppliers Network program – which is designed to improve manufacturing supply chains’ process efficiencies and environmental performance – we’ve seen their sustainability efforts result in $1MM+ annual savings for seven of their powder coating lines. Steelcase has now taken these lessons learned and is applying them to their operations in Germany, France, Mexico and China.

We also watch with interest the water conservation efforts of Coca Cola and other large corporations as they demonstrate sound corporate social responsibility for water conservation in India and other countries.

Scott: And how about the other way around? Is anyone internationally watching the US for CSR inspiration?

Matt: Yes, sometimes we learn from our friends abroad about efforts underway here in the US which inspire them, and give us extra energy to expand what we have already begun to do. Brazil, Chile and Singapore were excited to find out from us about one of our newer efforts called E3, which stands for Economy, Energy and the Environment. E3 draws together the resources of five U.S. federal agencies, the utility industry and local communities who then work together to help tune-up factories to reduce wasted time/motion/material/energy to help them become more profitable and sustainable at the same time.

Scott: Wow. That’s a lot of coordination! Tell me another example of what we are doing right here in the US.

Matt: Well, the EPA has a mark, a label called Design for the Environment (DfE). We evaluate products that have been designed or reformulated to contain safer chemicals and allows these products to display the label.

More than 500 companies with serious CSR leadership have reformulated more than 2,700 products to meet EPA’s stringent, science-based criteria so that their products can display the DfE label. They do this because they see a substantial return on their investment and the DfE label opens doors to new markets.

Scott: What new markets?

Matt: States and municipalities adopting green purchasing requirements, retailers who demand greener and safer products to enhance their sustainability profiles, and citizens who want products that are safer for their families and the environment. Companies large and small – from Colgate-Palmolive, Clorox, S.C. Johnson to Jelmar (CLR products), Phurity and Earth Friendly Products – are willing to invest heavily to earn the DfE label. DfE also fuels innovation among chemical manufacturers, such as BASF, Dow, and Akzo-Nobel, who have developed chemical ingredients to meet the stringent DfE criteria for use in DfE-labeled products. So in addition to gaining new market share, the DfE label helps companies meet independent sustainability measures like the Dow Jones Sustainability index.

Scott: OK, let’s talk about where we could improve. Could you illustrate one of our failures and what we can learn from it…where we are not succeeding as much as we could?

Matt: We have collectively failed to build genuine American consensus between citizens, businesses, governments, NGOs and others that ensures America will continue to be the leading economy and example for decades to come. The world is evolving from the agricultural, industrial and information ages toward the age of sustainability and we want to continue to lead in this new age. The good news is that useful lessons can be drawn from the many innovative sustainability efforts already underway by people and organizations throughout the nation.

Scott: In that vein, what question are we not asking ourselves that we should? And what would you imagine the results to be if we did ask ourselves that question?

Matt: We should be asking ourselves, “Is there a smarter, more sustainable way, to make and grow the things we need?” Sticking with the manufacturing sector as an example – with the possible exception of the electronics industry – many manufacturing processes have changed little over time. This may be due to unchanging manufacturing specifications, economic uncertainties or just plain human reluctance to change. Whatever the reason, these barriers are man-made and must be overcome.

If we answer that question with American ingenuity and innovation, we will see our manufacturing sector grow and lead our economy toward the kind of long term strength and prosperity we have come to enjoy for so many decades.

by Scott James

This month I spent time with serial entrepreneur Dal LaMagna to ask him about his new book, “Raising Eyebrows, A Failed Entrepreneur Finally Gets It Right.” He’s been called an irrepressible capitalist (among other things) which made for an interesting conversation.

Scott: In your book you suggest that you were more successful with your company than you would have been had you not followed principles of Corporate Social Responsibility.  Talk to me more about that.

Dal:  Building Tweezerman as a company that practices what I call “responsible capitalism” resulted in a team of competent, happy employees, loyal customers, satisfied vendors, and a community that supported the company as much as the company supported the community.

Scott: I see the positive upward cycle of that. How did that contribute to your success?

Dal: My definition of success is the quality of life the company provides for me and for my employees.  As the company grew my empowered employees – a critical element of CSR – took over, and my work became more strategic and less mundane. I didn’t have to sell, collect money, go to trade shows or worry about much except the strategic trajectory of the company. Had it been up to me alone I would never have grown Tweezerman to a 65,000-square-foot facility with 250 employees. When you run a business that takes care of its employees, its vendors, its customers, and its community…well, all these stakeholders then take care of you.

Scott: What were the salient CSR practices that you felt made the difference?

Dal:  Employees sharing in the profits made a significant difference; after a trial period every one of them became shareholders in the company. We promoted from within and hired from the community. When things went wrong we concentrated on solving the problem rather than pinning the blame. We provided health and job security. It took the agreement of at least two of the top three managers to fire someone which we did rarely.

Scott: And how about outside of the company?

Dal: We respected our vendor’s right to make a living and did not exploit them. For example when we were late paying bills we added interest to the payment (equal to what we would have paid our bank).  We gave back 5% of our profits to the communities we served. We had a lifetime guarantee for all our products and didn’t even charge shipping when we repaired or replaced them. Over the years we found that people cared more and more about the kind of company they were doing business with. Loyal customers, vendors, and workers made a big difference during those times over the 25 years especially when things got tough.

Scott: I’ve heard you say several times that you sold your company for much more money because it practiced responsible capitalism. Why?

Dal: The company that acquired Tweezerman paid more because our brand had a great reputation not only for quality but also for practicing CSR. We developed employees who were empowered people from the President down to the worker who cleaned the bathrooms.  We delivered a turnkey operation. The company that acquired us, J.A. Henckels, a division of Zwilling, only needed to send in two people, a CEO to replace me and a CFO to work with our existing CFO to match up reporting to the home office. Initially eight bidders were involved and through mutual eliminations we ended with the one whose policies of CSR most closely matched our own. We sold the company for about 14 times earnings and 1.5 times sales.

Scott: Would what you’ve done – establishing Tweezerman as a CSR company – work for any company?

Dal: Every company is different, but I believe that most companies can benefit from some CSR practices. Part of being a CSR company involves paying a living wage. I would think that a company that sells a commodity would have difficulty in paying this. I had the capability to pay my employees well, provide benefits, share profits, make charitable contributions, and more because I created a brand, which commanded a solid profit margin.

Scott: What about the international aspects of your company?

Dal: How your company treats the supply chain is a crucial aspect of CSR. We paid a living wage in India (of course much lower than what a living wage is in the U.S.) and operated our factory responsibly. We paid our China supplier more money so they could improve working conditions for their employees. If your business model is to exploit foreign labor you are not a CSR company. The marketplace is constantly punishing companies that have a product that can be easily replicated. If you are the kind of person who wants to get more out of your company than money, and strives to build a company that practices responsible capitalism, then avoid situations such as unreasonably tight profit margins that force you to exploit everyone and everything to make your company work.

Written by Scott James and repubilshed from Forbes

This month we have a tale of civil disobedience and the corporate response that touches nearly every household in North America.  It stretches from old growth forests of Canada to corporate boardrooms in Dallas. Oh, and a visit from Dr. Seuss’ Lorax. But first, my guest for this month’s interview, Dr. Michael Conroy.

In addition to being one of the go-to experts on product certification systems (his book on the topic stays in the short book stack on my desk for frequent reference), Dr. Conroy is a retired professor of economics, a board member of the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) and an established “big picture” thinker. One of my companies produces an FSC-certified product, which gave Michael and me an excuse to reconnect recently. I asked him about the CSR movement here in the States, as well as what he sees abroad.

Scott: You travel internationally way more than I do, Michael. Tell me about where we (the US-based CSR community) are succeeding in relation to the rest of the world.

Michael: I’ve got an interesting story for you that starts in 2004. Back then a group of advocacy NGOs – led by Greenpeace – began campaigning to get Kimberly-Clark to reduce its impacts on intact forests and old growth forests around the world by purchasing its fiber from eco-certified forests and/or recycled paper sources. Kimberly-Clark (KC) is arguably the largest purchaser of wood fiber for tissue products in the world; and it has some of the best established brands in the world, including Kleenex, Scott, Cottonelle, and more.

Scott: I know from time spent in Texas that they’re in Dallas and have sales of $15B+ [It was actually almost $20B for 2010 when I looked this up later, but what's a billion or two between friends].

Michael: Greenpeace and company created a campaign called Kleercut to mimic the Kleenex brand.  Over the course of the campaign more than 50 activists were arrested for peaceful civil disobedience linked to KC.  The campaign focused on equating “Kleenex” with “Kleercut” and the forest damage created by the companies selling to KC.  They proceeded to drum up support across grocery stores and college campuses, and succeeded in media hits as big as CNN Money and Fortune Magazine.

Scott: Is this the Dr. Seuss thing?

Michael: Yes. You’ll remember that in The Lorax Dr. Seuss has trees speaking for the plight of the environment.  They rewrote the story to “personalize it” around KC and its suppliers, and then they acted it out, in costume, in front of the offices of KC board members!  It always drew a great local media response.

Scott: So did it work?

Michael: Yes, the campaign succeeded in bringing KC to the table and in August of 2009, KC and Greenpeace jointly announced new sourcing policies for KC fiber that included a goal of ensuring 100% of the fiber used in all its products was from environmentally responsible sources, with a clearly expressed preference for FSC fiber. It pledged by 2011 to increase its use of recycled and FSC-certified fiber in North American products to 40%, and by 2012 it would no longer use any pulp from Canada’s vast boreal forest (a principal source at that time) unless it was FSC certified.  By the end of 2010, well ahead of the target date, it had already reached 57% of its North American sourcing from FSC-certified or recycled fiber.

Scott: What implications and impact did that have on the rest of the industry, beyond the Canadian borders?

Michael: As a direct result of KC’s rewritten fiber sourcing policy, some of the largest forest products companies in the world are now actively seeking FSC certification of their supplies of wood chips and fiber.  This includes companies that had actively opposed FSC standards as too demanding and too costly to implement.

Both of the largest forest products companies in Chile (Arauco and CMPC/Mininco) which account for 80% of Chile’s forest products industry, are in the midst of the FSC assessment process, changing their practices to meet FSC standards, at a cost of millions of dollars in re-tooling and re-structuring their operations.  Both of those companies were co-founders of Chile’s competing forest products certification system, CertFor, and had resisted FSC certification for years.  But they had begun to find that markets placed little or no value on CertFor certification, whose standards were weaker and less demanding.

It has taken both Arauco and CMPC/Mininco more than a year to design and implement the changes needed to meet the standards.  And both companies, in private conversations, have told me that changes in purchasing policies of major companies like KC have made them realize that they needed to be FSC certified if they want to be able to sell to the leading branded manufacturers of wood and fiber products worldwide.

In Brazil, the pulp and paper industry, major suppliers of KC and other tissue manufacturing companies, have become so focused on FSC certification that their industry association, Bracelpa, has become a major contributor to the costs of FSC-Brazil’s office and a supporter of training workshops that inform the Brazilian paper products industry on the “whys and wherefores” of FSC certification.

Scott: Tell me more about the “whys and wherefores” and the benefits to both the forests and the companies doing business in forestry products.

Michael: Well, on the ground this means a number of important things. FSC requires respect for, and protection of, the rights of indigenous peoples, at levels often beyond the requirements of national legislation. Indigenous groups have now found that FSC is a new and powerful tool in their negotiations with forest products companies about access to, and use of, traditional lands.

FSC also has more stringent rules on environmental management, protection of biodiversity, and reduced areas of clear-cutting, greater setbacks from streams, rivers, and lakes than any other certification system, and stronger than almost any national legislation around the world.  It requires engagement with local communities, protecting them from the negative impacts of logging (i.e. roads and bridges damaged, water polluted, etc.) and encouraging active hiring of local service providers, local technicians, and local labor.

The chain-of-custody certification in the FSC system provides strong assurance that products produced in compliance with the standards can be traced from the forest, through any and all processing, and right down to the final product sold to consumers.

The number of acres certified to FSC standards in North America is now more than 135 million, about one-third of the acres certified worldwide. In terms of the effect on other industry players besides KC, demand for FSC-certified wood and fiber products is booming worldwide.  Our closest aggregate measure of demand for the FSC products is the demand for Chain of Custody certificates, required of companies processing certified wood and fiber for products taken to retail markets with the logo. These have grown from 16,000 worldwide to more than 22,500 (50% growth) over just the last 18 months.

Scott: And how did KC come out of all this?

Michael: KC rolled out its first KC Professional FSC toilet paper and other products in late 2010 (KC Professional serves hotels and other business/institutional buyers).  It began selling Kleenex with an FSC logo on the bottom of the box at Costco stores late last year, and it is now going national throughout the US, supplying “FSC Kleenex” to virtually all consumer outlets.  An amazing transformation in just two years!

Scott: Excellent. It will be interesting to watch the response of consumers to the logo. Thanks for your time, Michael!

Here it is mid August and already I have to start working on my conference attending schedule for the fall of 2011. It seems like I have to do this earlier and earlier each year primarily because there are so many LOHAS oriented conferences being added or are catching my attention that I did not know of before. I have done a post on what events I think are important the past 2 years and here is my 3rd installment of top green/health and wellness/social enterprise/sustainability/leadership conferences worth considering as you plan your conference schedule for the fall.

For those new to the conference scene, there are two seasons – fall and spring. There are associations and organization that provide 1 or 2 events a year usually during those months. This is primarily because summer is a time when many set up personal vacation time and winter has more holiday time and weather issues.

Conference strategy
In determining which event is best for you take a look at the speakers and topics that will be presented. It is also important to look at the sponsors and how the event is presented via the event website. This will give you a feel on the type of companies that will be attending the event and what type of audience the event is trying to attract. By viewing the agenda content you can get an idea on how in depth they plan on going on topics. Also look at the networking opportunities that are in the program. Some events consciously embed them in the program via receptions, meals and outings and others do not. It is really up to you to make the best of the time for your own networking purposes.

On site
I find attending events to be incredibly stimulating. However I also find them to be extremely exhausting. Make sure you eat right, drink plenty of fluids, keep to a good sleep schedule and maintain a steady energy balance. For the large trade shows make sure you wear comfortable and supportive shoes for those hours on the exhibit floor. There are plenty of after party events to attend at which you can have some great business talks. It is up to you to make sure you know what formula works best for you. Set up meetings in advance if you can. That way you have some anchors to build the rest of the day's plan around and not get too lost in the shuffle of things - especially if they are large trade shows.


Leadership
Women in Green - August 30-31st Santa Monica CA
Focuses on women in leadership positions that promote green business. Although all the speakers are women you don’t need to be of the double X chromosome to attend. This is the second year of the event and according to people who attended last year it was about 200 people. This year there should be more.

Conscious Capitalism - OCT 12-14 Austin TX
You need an invite to attend this prestigious event that brings many CEO’s together to discuss conscious leadership within organizations. It is a relatively small event with around 200 attending. John Mackey of Whole Foods co-founded this and has people ranging from the CEO of the Container Store to Jean Houston speaking on how business can drive conscious change.

Green
Green Initiatives Conference Sept 29-30th Ft Lauderdale FL
A new event on my radar that has some interesting presenters and sponsors. The event team that is putting this on look like they have a tech background and may be one of the main focuses of the event. There are larger corporations participating such as DOW, HP and Coca Cola. It looks like they will focus on sustainability within larger companies and case studies from experiences.

SXSW Eco Oct 4-6 Austin, TX
SXSW music festival looks to sing a new green tune this year with the addition of a green event. Former LOHAS speakers who will be presenting include Simran Sethi and Philippe Cousteau. This is thier first year and the B2B event looks interesting. A great idea tagging it onto SXSW.

Opportunity Green Nov 9-10 Los Angeles, CA
OG is in its 3rd year and brings together green business and sustainable design in LA. They have about 800 attendees from all walks of life – corporate, entrepreneurs, media and of course Hollywood. They hold a great green design competition and it is a high energy event with interesting sessions and booths ranging from LED lighting for studios to BMW to water filters.

BSR - Nov 1-4 San Francisco, CA
The big one for the larger corporations that has been around a long time focusing on the corporate responsibility of multi-national corporations. Last year they had over 1000 in attendance. If you are looking to connect with the bigger companies on CSR initiatives this is the one to check out.

Funding and Finance
SOCAP Sept 7-9 Fort Mason, San Francisco CA
A vibrant event focusing on investing into social entrepreneurship. This event brings together large funds and banks with social entrepreneurs. Competitions on business plans are submitted ahead of time for a competition for funding and there is great education on raising capital for the startup and social enterprises.

SRI in the Rockies OCT 2-5 New Orleans, LA
A flagship event for social responsible investing(SRI) that brings SRI funds together with financial advisors. They also bring in a mix of speakers who focus on humanitarian, social and environmental impacts such as Jane Goodall, David Bornstein, Hunter Lovins and Bill McDonough. If you want insights on SRI and where it is headed this is THE event to attend.

Slow Money OCT 12-14 San Francisco, CA
Slow Money is a network of food activists, investors and entrepreneurs who nurture a range of conversations in order to actively develop funding and investment channels for local and sustainable food enterprises. Like Slow Food, they have local gatherings and a larger main event promoting a slow and steady investment into businesses who are seeking an alternative to the conventional Wall Street type investor.  Speakers include David Suzuki, David Orr and Vananda Shiva.

Investor's Circle OCT 26-27 Philadelphia, PA
A membership organization that  support a great entrepreneurs that are addressing social and environmental issues. They look at 10-15 high impact deals that are seeking investment.  They also provide a due diligence process that starts once the event is complete. It is about 200 people in attendance who are angel investors, fund managers, family office managers, foundation executives and trustees, wealth, financial and philanthropic advisers and their clients and other accredited investors.

Industry Specific
EcoTourism and Sustainable Tourism Conference Sept 19-21st Hilton Head SC
With over 30 inspiring sessions, 50 leading industry partners, and impactful and engaging keynote presentations, the ESTC 2011 (Hilton Head Island, SC, USA, September 19-21, 2011) sets the platform for ongoing dialogue promoting innovative ideas and practical solutions, driving change in global tourism.

Expo East Sept 22-24 Baltimore MD
Attended by as many as 25,000 industry professionals and featuring thousands of exhibits, Natural Products Expo East is the largest natural, organic, and healthy products trade show on the East Coast. With the newest and best-selling products and branded ingredients available this show features the best in organic at All Things Organic/Organic Products Expo-BioFach America, offers an extensive retailer training program and provides an advocacy platform through a strategic partnership with Natural Products Association East. Natural Products Expo East is ranked as one of the top 200 tradeshows in the US.

Greenbuild Oct 4-7 Toronto Canada
Greenbuild is the green building industry's can't miss event. It's where we go to learn about what's new in green building practices through the extensive educational sessions, see the latest technology and innovation in the exhibit hall, and perhaps more importantly, where we go to do business.  Greenbuild is a one-stop shop for credential maintenance. From pre- or post-show LEED workshops to sector-specific summits, from green building tours to concurrent educational sessions, you will find the education you need at Greenbuild. Most sessions at Greenbuild will be approved for continuing education credits for LEED and other professional credentials, allowing you to maintain your credential with ease.

Beauty/Wellness
Natural Beauty Summit Oct 6-7 NYC
This is a smaller and formal event for the natural and organic beauty industry that brings together the mission driven companies such as Dr. Bronners and Weleda with the larger corporations such as Este Lauder, L’Oreal and Avon. It is more of a lecture format and a lot of presentation intake. If you are a data hound you will get your fill. If you are a networker you will need to work for it but there are good connections to be made. The group is a bit insular if you are an outsider but if you are seeking to enter the luxury skincare market it may be worth considering.

Green Spa Network - Oct 9-12 Sundance, UT
This event is made up of a group of spa resorts and products that want to go the extra mile in promoting green efforts in the spa industry. The event has about 100 passionate people who want to move the spa world in the direction of holistic and sustainable integration. They are a very open and friendly group that welcomes newcomers (and new members). Plus the events are always at pristine green resorts.

ISPA - Nov 7-9 Las Vegas
If you are in the spa industry you have to go where everyone goes which is the International Spa Association Conference. Every other year they have their annual event in Las Vegas which brings investors, products and service providers, spa techs and directors together. This is THE most well groomed event I have ever experienced with exhibitors providing facials, teeth whitening and massages. There is good data provided on the spa world and great sessions specific to spa owners and employees. ISPA provides great data on the spa market as well. 

Social Venture Network Oct 27-30 Philadelphia, PA
SVN is a membership organization of successful social entrepreneurs ranging from Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield, creators of Ben & Jerry’s, to Van Jones, former Green Czar to Obama, to Tom Szaky founder of Terracycle. It mixes sustainability with community building and innovation and a ton of passion. You can’t leave this event without 2-3 bonding hugs. It is a great place to seek mentorship, collect ideas and also potential funding from successful entrepreneurs and community leaders who are interested in helping others. This overlaps with the Investor’s Circle previously mentioned.

Net Impact Oct 27-29 Portland, OR
Net Impact is a large event that brings 2500 students and corporations together. They have chapters associated with Universities all over the country with a large membership and the event focuses on social enterprise, green business strategies, and nonprofit work.

Public Events
Yoga Journal Conference Sept 18-25 Estes Park, CO
For yoga die hards and trainers interested in the business of yoga or just to improve their own yoga practice. Famous yoga instructors such as Rodney Yee, Sean Corn and Shiva Rae have taught classes here. There is a vendor area as well.

Greenfestivals
Greenfests are the creations of Green America and a designed to celebrate green and diversity in various regions. Their flagship event in San Fran pulls in 30,000 attendees and they have some amazing keynote speakers such as Dr. Weil, Deepak Chopra, Amy Goodman, Jim Hightower and many more. Companies large and small mingle together with the public selling their products and services. I think these are great not only to see what is being sold but to see who is buying and the similarities and differences each region has as it relates to green. There is always a colorful audience at Greenfestivals.
New York  10/1-2
Los Angeles  10/29-30
San Francisco 11/12-13

Bioneers San Rafael, CA 10/14-16
Bioneers is where ecology meets activism meets celebration. I could spend hours in the parking lot just reading all the bumper stickers on people’s cars (mostly hybrids). If you are into fighting injustices of the underserved, hearing the wisdom of traditional cultures and the stories of animals and unique journeys of people this is an event for you. There are workshops on business, youth, art, peace and more.  It draws about 3-5,000 who are all there because of the larger mission Bioneers embodies. Networking is great but you will need to be selective on who you connect with since there are so many types of people there.

Written by Scott James

This month I sat down with John Perkins, the author of the New York Times bestseller,  Confessions of an Economic Hit Man, and many other titles, and former chief economist at a major international consulting firm.

Scott: Tell me about your work with business students around the US, particularly as it relates to Corporate Social Responsibility.

John: We talk about what’s really important for any business leader to understand today. We have moved into a new era where people understand we’ve created a failed system.  When less than 5 percent of the world’s population live in the United States and consume more than 25 percent of the world’s resources, while roughly half the world is either starving or on the verge of starvation — the only way you can define that system is as a failure.

It’s not a model that we can sell to Africa or Latin America or India.  It’s not something we want to pass onto our children.  And an awful lot of business people are beginning to understand this.  Young people are getting it, including young MBA students. Those who are going to be running our companies in the future years are waking up to these facts. I’m very familiar with this, because I’m going out and meeting with them, speaking to them in large assemblies and at much smaller gatherings, going to classes with them, and teaching classes for them.

Any responsible executive today of any corporation needs to understand that this is the future.  And let’s face it: people who stay with the status quo have never been the really successful ones in history.  The ones who understand future trends have always been the ones to prosper most.

When city-states became nations, very few people understood the implications, but the Medici did. They knew that their bank wasn’t any longer just about Florence. They needed to go to Venice. They needed to go all over Europe. They got it, and as a result were very successful.

We’re in a stage like that today where things are changing radically.  We’re moving from this time that was defined, when I was a young person in the ’50s and ’60s, as the time to just continually expand materialism, produce things that seemed to make life easier – vacuum cleaners, dishwashers, mass-produced food, etc.  Now we’re moving into a time when people are really getting the fact that we have to be sustainable, that that has to be the driving force.

And sustainability includes social justice. So we can’t be sustainable if people in the world are starving and being exploited. That’s not working. It seeds the roots of turmoil, even terrorism, and it creates tremendous problems for our children. We’re now finally beginning to understand these new facts of life, and our young people are waking up the fastest.

Corporate executives who understand these new trends and steer their companies in directions that recognize(s) that they are not just about making profits regardless of the social and environmental costs will thrive.

When I went to business school in the late ‘60s we were taught that a good CEO is like a good soldier – he protects the long-term interests of his employees and the communities where they live and work, as well as looking out for the interests of his stockholders. That all changed in the ‘70s and 80’s with the adoption of what we now think of as the theories of Milton Friedman and the Chicago School of Economics. They said that the sole responsibility of business is to maximize profits regardless of everything else. They said: to hell with the long term and the idea of being socially and environmentally responsible! But today we are understanding that profits are not the sole responsibility of business.

We recognize – as our grandparents did – that to be responsible and successful, businesses are going to have to pay decent rates of return to their investors while taking into account the creation of a world that we want to pass onto our children; a sustainable world, a just world, a world where everybody can thrive on some level.

All executives – even executives of corporations that today appear extremely successful and profitable – need to understand that their corporations are very vulnerable to these future trends. They need to get on the sustainability bandwagon; the ones who do so are going to be successful in this new era.

But many business leaders who are already CEOs and CFOs, who graduated with my generation – 30 or more years ago, often take the attitude that this is their system, and that as far as they’re concerned, everything’s working just fine. They are wrong and ultimately they – or their companies – will pay a very high price for these outdated attitudes.

Scott: What does a world look like without CSR…where corporations are all simply responsible enough that we don’t need to tack a CSR department onto them?

John: We have a precedent in this country for that.  For the first hundred years that the United States was a nation, no corporation could get a charter unless it proved that it was going to serve a public interest.  Charters lasted on average for ten years.  There were exceptions – such as building a highway or a bridge –  but on average ten years.  Then the corporation had to go back and prove that IT had met the public interest and would continue to do so, in order to renew its charter.

That all changed in the 1880s when the Supreme Court decided that corporations had the rights of individuals but not the responsibilities, and we’ve been moving further and further in that direction ever since.  “Citizens United” is the most recent example.

There’s a backlash today. The general population – despite the recent Supreme Court rulings that seem to favor corporations – are really beginning to get it.  that backlash is going to increase as people decide they only want to support corporations that really are committed to creating a better future, to serving a public interest.

Scott: As this backlash is happening people are not only reacting against the negative but also moving towards the positive. What are the positive aspects within CSR that you’re seeing abroad from which the North American CSR community could benefit?

John: In the last decade, we’ve witnessed a revolution in Latin America against the form of capitalism that I call “predatory capitalism,” the Milton Friedman form of capitalism.  We’ve seen ten countries which represent roughly 80 percent of the population of South America vote during democratic elections for presidents who campaigned with the promise of reigning in the corporations.

These countries are not getting rid of the corporations, not nationalizing them, not driving them out – because they recognize that they need them – but saying to these corporations, “If you’re going to drill for oil here in Ecuador, or if you’re going to drill for gas here in Bolivia, or grow bananas in El Salvador, that’s okay, but you must share a larger percentage of the profits with our people.  You’ve got to pay higher taxes, and you’ve got to pay higher wage rates.  You must make sure that the people working on these projects are adequately compensated and that they’re not working as slaves to you. And you have to offer the same protections for our environment as those required in alaska and other states.”

The old model used to be that when a foreign corporation went into another country, it would set up a contract whereby it got about 80 percent of the profits, and the country got 20 percent. The new leaders are changing this. For example, Rafael Correa who’s president of Ecuador and has a Ph.D. in economics from the University of Illinois understands the system, he’s a capitalist. He’s not trying to get rid of corporations, but he is asking the corporations to stop externalizing the costs associate with destroying the local environment and exploiting local populations. Correa, like other latin leaders, is demanding that corporations internalize those costs and that they return a much larger percentage of the profits to the people. These presidents are not asking for a reversal of the 80-20 formula but they are asking for something that is fairer for their people.

Every one of these countries, for most of my lifetime, was run by brutal dictators often put into power by our own CIA. Now, in peaceful, democratic elections all that has changed. I want to point out that these countries are not opposed to the United States.  They’re not anti-American.  They’re not anti-corporation.  They’re just trying to say, “Listen, you’ve got to be socially and environmentally responsible if you want to work on our lands.”  And the interesting thing is that many of the corporations – the ones that will truly thrive – are getting it.

I recently was a keynote speaker at a conference which was held in Panama which was primarily CEOs and CFOs of extractive industries in Latin America, mostly Canadian companies.

Before I accepted the invitation, I asked them, “Why me?  What do you think I’m going to offer you?”

They said that policies in Latin America have changed. These elections have proven that business is not “as usual.” They told me, “We still want the minerals, and we understand we have to be good neighbors. We hear what they’re saying, and we want to cooperate.” these are very forward-looking senior business leaders saying they get it, and that they want to move forward. They want to be at the top of the curve, to continue to innovate and be the pioneers in this new and changing business environment.

That’s the real message today from all over the world – what I find in China and Latin America, Europe, and the Middle East. People understand that capitalism is a very effective system to channel human and natural resources and to apply creativity in areas that result in very productive activities. Now it simply needs to redefine its objectives. Capitalism must accept a goal not just of making profits but also of serving a public interest. When it does that, we arrive at a win-win, a true partnership. Those who understand this will become leaders in this new era. They will thrive, prosper, profit, and create beneficial environments for themselves, their customers, their suppliers, their employees, and the communities in which they work. And for their progeny.

Scott: Yes, definitely a more equitable and respectful relationship, one that can be sustained indefinitely. Any parting words of wisdom?

John: Simply this – that any truly responsible businessperson has to look to the long term. Bonuses may be measured by the quarterly profit statements but true success has to be long-term. As a society, as a species, it is imperative that we understand the importance of creating a world our grandchildren will want to inherit.

Since these substances may interact in unpredictable ways with each other or water additives like chlorine, the LOHAS community may have some legitimate concerns about the trends for increased US prescription drug use.  This connects personal health choices and commitments to sustainability and environmental health to what happens when a patient enters a doctor’s office, especially among people looking for options to improve health through non-invasive, natural, and lifestyle oriented solutions.  Yet for those who inquire about stress management with the majority of conventional doctors, they may be more likely to receive advice about anti-anxiety prescription options than a suggestion about exercise or styles of yoga to try.  Though pharmaceuticals play a key role for some conditions, many people would prefer making lifestyle changes to improve their health when possible.  

The result of an exclusively traditional benefit plan may leave people opting for a lack of follow-up or no care at all if they prefer holistic alternatives.  For LOHAS companies, ideas are brewing over how to connect cost-effective benefit planning to corporate values by offering benefit plans that provide options to include types of care that employees want and need: care that focuses on preventive medicine and whole person health, like holistic or integrative medicine.  Investing in integrative medicine has the potential to capture the best of both fiscal and value-driven goals. 

elephant journal is proud to be the official new media partner with LOHAS Forum. Click here for our ongoing LOHAS coverage, and be sure to follow our live coverage on Twitter. [Our editor Waylon Lewis is honored to serve on two panels during this event.]

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lDkT3fPRn3U[/youtube]

elephant journal:  Tell me about your experience with LOHAS.

Marc Barasch:  I’ve been around since almost the beginning.  New age business had been bifurcated, and suddenly people were beginning to figure out how to put their spiritual ideas into business.  It started with good ol’ tofu companies, small granola businesses just beginning to advertise and act like real businesses.

elej: How have you seen it change over the years?

MB: It’s been a mixed blessing. You lose some of the authenticity of the core intent as companies sell to larger conglomerates.  It’s wonderful thatit propagates the meme and distributes the products at a scale that a small company never could have done.  There are tremendous benefits to that.  But from my somewhat outside observation, you also lose some of the integrity. For example, if you look at Ben and Jerry’s, when they were acquired by Unilever, I believe they intended to keep a very progressive business model, including a fixed ratio of how much top executives were paid. However, that model was not kept.

So the LOHAS community needs to ask:  how can LOHAS not replicate some of the disparities and discontinuities of the prevailing system that are collectively driving us off a cliff?  I think it’s time for companies to not just look at the sustainability and humanity of their organizational development, not just as a CSR add-on or a laudable afterthought, but something that’s included in the raison d’être of the company itself?  I think that’s the question that we need to be asking. What does the company do?  What is the product?  How can we ensure that it’s not increasing consumerism?

How does this push forward a new emergent model, without pushing forward the parameters of a dysfunctional system?  How does it value and push forward what needs to be done in the world?  And quickly?  We need to step out of the matrix and look at this from some zero point and reverse engineer it.  What does the world need, and how do these entities—businesses and corporations—directly serve that need?

In an era where money is de-realized into nothing but bits and bites, a fictive system based on number magic, the priests of the numerate have always worked abstract magic on the masses, and become the elite through magical hand gestures—in this case, tapping on keyboards.

I’m very personally interested in complementary currencies.  Look at Switzerland, for example.  One reason that they’ve been so stable economically is not just because they are neutral, but because they have some very sophisticated complementary currencies to meet social needs, as well.

elej: What do you think we need now?

MB: I think it’s time for radical experimentation, we need hybrid or fusion companies, with nonprofits using the profit system and businesses founded with a social mission first, such as Patagonia.

How do we take on the really large social mission of true transformation, and not just nibble around the edges of real change?  I think that’s not just grandiosity.  It’s necessity.

How do we model as organizations that meet emergent civilization?

elej:  How are you modeling an organization that meets the emergent civilization?

MB: This might sound pretentious, but I really took a cue from something Thomas Keating once said, something to the effect of, “I get up every morning, and I decide what will do the most good.  This simplifies things tremendously.”

6 years ago, when Field Notes on the Compassionate Life came out, I thought, “If I’m talking about compassion, I need to enact it.”  So I stopped my entire career trajectory from that point forward, and asked how I could do the most good and accept whatever answer I was given.  I asked myself, "what does the universe want?" And I’ve followed that question pretty loyally for these last 5 years.

That lead to a lot of coincidences, that eventually led me to planting trees in Ethiopia, to start.  I started the Green World Campaign, and watched it grow into a mostly volunteer-driven organization that’s now operating in 5 countries (Kenya, Ethiopia, Mexico, Philippines, India).  We’ve planted close to 500,000 trees.  We’re involved in regenerating communities.  We’re restoring the economy and ecology of the world’s poorest places, doing work that serves people and planet.  In the model of agroforestry that humans and nature have been co-creating since the beginning.

The idea that our relationship to the natural world is to avoid keeping our own destructive hands off it, is inadequate, completely. We’re supposed to work in an integral way together. Renew communities as we renew the environment.

How do we take the holistic model that we all ascribe to philosophically and apply it in the real world, particularly at the bottom of the pyramid, with the people and places that our collective fate is inextricably entwined?  Collective enactment of the global village.

As a critique, we’re very good at created “enlightened, green-gated communities”.  But how does this affect the poorest of the poor?  Trickle down economics.  Everything is connected.  Everything should be seen as interactive parts of a whole.

Reforestation is a quantifiable healing strategy.  We are using interactive new media and new technologies.  It’s part of the DNA of GWC.  We have an alliance with Digital Globe, the largest satellite imaging company, to be able to show donors over time degraded areas turning green.

A tree is a deeply embedded meme in the human psyche.  We’re a tree-planting species.  We always have been.

We’re operating in many domains, whether it’s carbon credits for eco-stoves, creating social enterprises by sourcing commodities like herbs and teas, non-timber forest products, how to partner with indigenous communities in a way that empowers them and also introduces appropriate technology and new agronomic strategies that are harmonious with their traditional agricultural practices.

We are not only providing environmental education, but also working on linking that up with schools in the US, so kids can get a sense of the global village.  I’m big on creating positive feedback loops in a way that empowers global citizens. Doing good doesn’t have to be only through large corporations and large environmental groups.  How do we self-aggregate and do something that we can see that benefits all of us?

How do we all learn from each other?  I’m taking pains to pick and search partners that are mission-aligned and have a real global citizen mindset.  Some sort of understanding of the spiritual underpinnings of human existence, if you will. We’re not aiming to be USAID.  We want to work with the LOHAS community.  We’re propagating ideals in the context of the developing world that are really building global community that includes the poorest of the poor.

Our model is infinitely scalable.  With proper funding, we could scale this up almost immediately.

I call this work Green Compassion.  And the movie “I Am” also relates to this.

elej: Tell me about I Am.

MB: I got a call from Tom Shadyac, who wanted to make a film about the book.  A large part of the film is based on the book.  Here’s a guy who had earned about $2.1B dollars gross for the studios thru his Jim Carey and Eddie Murphy movies.  As much as possible, I want Green World Campaign to be congruent with the ideals presented in the movie and the book. Everything I do is informed by my own healing work and experience, and my background in Buddhism.  It all stems out from that.

Interviewer's note:  And that's what it's all about.

Demographics Are Gross   Lumping people together according to their age, household income, or education level was fine in the heyday of mass marketing. But demographics aren’t a fine-enough filter in our multi-channel media-saturated world. It’s not enough to know, in the broadest of terms, who your target audience is. Now you need to know how they are and, most importantly, why they buy. And if you don’t know, you may be watching your competitors eat your market share for lunch.

Technology Converged    Personal computer plus Internet plus social networks plus mobile phones equals a convergence of technologies into one massive, uncontrolled, 24/7, global communications platform. At least two things happened: it empowered consumers to talk (or talk back) to brands. And it created new inter-connected means for brands and consumers to connect.  Five years ago, we didn’t have to consider how our big branding ad was going to play out as a streamed Internet video linking to a geo-targeted 2-fer coupon accessible via smart phone! The accelerating number of possibilities is enough to keep any savvy marketer awake nights.

Mad Men Meet Joe YouTube   You gotta love Don Draper. After a night of drinking, smoking and fooling around, he can show up for a major campaign presentation, pull a single concept out of his fedora, and have the client eating out of his hand. From the 60s to the 90s, big splashy ad campaigns reigned. Did they work? Sure, many did, especially when advertisers threw a ton of money behind them. Especially the funny ones. But then along came YouTube. Now any bloke with a slightly warped sense of humor, a flip camera and a log-in can generate as much buzz as a multi-million dollar Super Bowl ad. That can give marketers heartburn as they re-think how to allocate their budgets.

Consumers Rule   Marketing used to be easier. You created a product, you advertised, it you sold it. Back then, it didn’t matter much who bought it as long as enough bought it. It didn’t matter how it was made as long as it didn’t break before it got home. It didn’t matter if the means to the end were sustainable as long as the bottom line was. But in today’s world, consumers’ peer-to-peer influence on your top line is unprecedented.  What they don’t like, they don’t buy and they don’t hesitate to yelp their reasons why. And, by the way, most of those consumers controlling the cash are women. Well, three-quarters of it anyway, even when spending is down.

What Now?

The future is now and you can’t afford to wait. Visionary companies are searching for new ways to step up their marketing and engage new consumers using new technology. Here are five things you should consider.    

Consumer Centricity   Make your business revolve around the consumer not the other way around. Your product is not the centerpiece of your brand. Your customer using your product is.

Know Your Consumer Inside and Out   To build your marketing around your consumers, you need reliable, actionable intel. Research tools like Roberts Worldview Assessment, for example, provide psychological insights into various consumers’ values and behaviors and direction on how to engage them.

Total Consumer Engagement   Every consumer touch point becomes part of the brand. From the product itself to the ways the consumer can learn about it and interact with it to the retail or etail service experience.  Your internal and external support teams need to understand that entire experience and make sure every part of it delivers your brand effectively.

Brand Response    Before the Internet, tracking results was a bit sketchy. But with online analytics, the guessing is over. That’s why all advertising roads need to lead to the Internet. We call it Brand Response, the blend of brand ads to get attention, direct response to drive the action and online interactivity to make the sale. Great advertising and accountability ARE possible.

Change the House Rules   Look at your corporate culture. Are there any fresh marketing ideas being generated? If not, a more holistic process and a less silo’d organization can help. Sharing best practices to engage consumers should be a full team effort. 

If you know me you are well aware that I have a bit of a hectic travel schedule and go to a variety of conferences oriented around green business, social enterprises, health and wellness and everything in between. Yes I am an admitted conference junkie. But there is a reason for my addiction and I will try to explain them rationally as any junkie in denial will do. For me, my reasons are to keep on the edge of what is happening in the various spaces that comprise LOHAS. I enjoy attending conferences not so much to hear about what someone is saying on stage but rather what is being said in the hallways. I feel that getting into the candid conversations at dinners or over drinks really gives me an up close and personal view point into various market sectors with various market leaders. The presentations on stage are an added bonus and if I am lucky they are indeed worth listening to. But I am a critique on a variety of levels. My preference is someone who not only provides a picture of the problem but also presents a vision and solutions to it. If I want gloom and doom I can just watch the news. No need to tell me more about it. I think we are all aware that we are all in deep s#!@ and in it for a long while. I want inspiration and something that speaks to me at a deeper level. I also don’t want a sales pitch. I know that corporate presentations tend to have specific parameters on what they can and cannot say. But getting those people off the stage and into a conversation in the hall is great. That is when you can get to the heart of burning questions and have them give you more in depth answers that they can’t when in front of an audience. I also need imagery. I’m a visual person and a visual learner. If someone presents something with multiple bullet points and is reading them off – that immediately sends me to checking my email on my smartphone. Yawn! But is someone has a well thought out presentation and integrates examples and lead ins using images it is magic. Presenters don’t always need to have images behind them on a large screen. They can take the audience on a wild ride just with a compelling story that has colorful detail and elements that the audience can relate to. After all we are a society of storytellers. They also must have that connection with the audience that a few have and others do not. Hard one to teach but when it is there you can feel it. I also run into some of the most interesting people I would not expect and allow myself to do so by being open to whomever or whatever manifests in front of me. By attending various conferences and hearing different thoughts and ideas both on stage and off I begin to weave together trends and similarities I hear repeated in various LOHAS sectors. I also try to integrate new ideas and concepts that may be fresh to LOHAS. This process constantly reminds me of the fable of Stone Soup. The fable goes like this:
Some travellers come to a village, carrying nothing more than an empty cooking pot. Upon their arrival, the villagers are unwilling to share any of their food stores with the hungry travellers. The travellers fill the pot with water, drop a large stone in it, and place it over a fire in the village square. One of the villagers becomes curious and asks what they are doing. The travellers answer that they are making "stone soup", which tastes wonderful, although it still needs a little bit of garnish to improve the flavor, which they are missing. The villager does not mind parting with just a little bit of carrot to help them out, so it gets added to the soup. Another villager walks by, inquiring about the pot, and the travellers again mention their stone soup which has not reached its full potential yet. The villager hands them a little bit of seasoning to help them out. More and more villagers walk by, each adding another ingredient. Finally, a delicious and nourishing pot of soup is enjoyed by all.
This is in essence how the core content of the LOHAS Forum is developed. We then add additional speaker applications into it from those who submit presentations and we adjust a bit here and there but that is how it is contrived. It may not be perfect but the mix is a work in progress and I hope that you are able to enjoy some of the nourishment that the LOHAS soup provides by attending the LOHAS Forum, attending LOHAS regional events, subscribing to our e-newsletter or our various social media groups such as Facebook, Twiiter, LinkedIn and YouTube.

by Scott James

This month we took in a conversation with David Batstone, whose current job titles include Professor of Business & Entrepreneurship at University of San Francisco, President and Co-Founder of the Not For Sale Campaign, and Managing Partner of Just Business Fund. Let’s hear what David had to say:

Scott: What country should serve as a model for the U.S. community of CSR professionals and why?

David: Norway. I’ve been impressed with both their government and private sector initiatives. Their largest telecom company – TeleNor – was the 51% investor to bring launch Grameen Phone, the very successful mobile telephone company in Bangladesh. I wish our own country’s administration could begin encouraging business models and investments like this. We’re missing the boat in the U.S. to create local enterprises in other countries which offer both better return and a better chance of success because they are locally embedded. There are real business opportunities for – and with – the bottom billion. Let’s not lament the troubles involved; we must rethink who our market is and expand it to include this group.

Scott: Where are we (the US-based CSR community) succeeding?

David: Our private sector green protocols and investments are working. They represent cost savings, but also bring alternative energy and waste reduction to Corporate America in ways that you are not finding in other regions of the world. For example, last year Intel bought 1.4 billion kilowatts of renewable energy. Think of what that does for both new and existing renewable energy companies in terms of capital flow and attraction of investment dollars.

Intel is just one company; imagine if we were to see 10% of the Global 500 match Intel’s commitment! This is much more encouraging to me than any type of government compliance work around climate change. The private initiatives coming out of a strong CSR commitment are making much more headway than is our government.

Scott: How about our failures, where we are not succeeding as much as we could?

David: There is a real sense of ambivalence about CSR right now. It’s like a trip to the dentist; you know you have to do it but it’s not a pleasant experience. It does not provide inspiration and vision for most companies. But there is hope.

There are a selected few companies that are taking CSR to the very core of their business and corporate identity. It’s beyond starting a soup kitchen here or a HIV clinic there, although those are very important things. It’s about how our employees care and engage with this on a daily basis. They’re not just making widgets but tied to something bigger.

Stonyfield Farms (now owned by Dannon) used to do a lot of diverse philanthropy, but they’ve focused their CSR investments now to help farmers transform their dairy businesses from hormone-based to organic farming. And the small farmers are core to Stonyfield’s supply of high quality healthy products and brand identity.

Scott: Tell me about a company doing something in CSR that is a model for our future.

David: The G-III Apparel Group, which owns the U.S. license for Levi’s jackets and other name brands. As they are converting their supply chain, they’re thinking well beyond just CYA to create a story behind their product. They are reshaping what it means to be a retail brand by enhancing the lives of everyone who comes in contact with their product. G-III is sourcing organic cotton from an area in the Amazon heavily afflicted by human trafficking.

They are working with the Not For Sale Campaign to source from that region specifically to benefit the producers and communities, bringing the material to a Cambodian manufacturer also committed to a fully transparent supply chain. This enables retailers to communicate an authentic supply chain story, creating an emotional link for the end purchaser of the apparel. The new driver is consumer experience, not just price point and distribution.

Scott: What question are we not asking ourselves that we should?

David: Most of CSR today is derivative. We look for the easiest path, the plug-and-play CSR solution for our companies. Instead, we should be asking ourselves, “How do we become the Apple of social innovation?”