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.

Our economy is slowly but surely heeding the signal that carbon is the new watchword. During the past few years, a steady stream of so-called “biobased” products have been making their way to retail shelves — compostable dinnerware made from corn, plant-based laundry detergents, and bamboo flooring among them. Coke and Pepsi are now competing to be first to market with a soft drink bottle derived entirely from sugarcane or other plant materials.

The emerging biobased economy even has its own label — USDA Certified Biobased, pictured here. It’s part of a federal BioPreferred program designed to help grow “green” jobs, stimulate the rural economy, promote energy independence and prompt a shift to renewable resources from petroleum, helping to manage the carbon cycle.

Launched in February 2011, the label needs a little introduction since the term “biobased”, although familiar sounding, represents more than meets the eye. We advised the USDA on strategic marketing considerations related to the launch of the USDA Certified Biobased label. Here’s a primer — and why you need to be thinking about forming your own biobased strategy during 2012.

What is “Biobased”?
Ask a consumer what “biobased” means and they might respond with somewhat erroneous definitions such as “natural” “biodegradable” or “renewable”.  Consult Webster and you’ll come up short. But the USDA (and federal law) defines it quite specifically as “commercial or industrial products, other than food or feed, that are composed in whole, or in significant part, of biological products or renewable agricultural materials (including plant, animal, and aquatic materials), or forestry materials” — hence the label depicting the soil, sea and the sun.

More important than this definition are the program’s intention — to expand the market for alternatives to petroleum-based products by promoting new uses for agricultural commodities such as bioplastics, biofibers and biobased chemicals. It thus excludes products such as office paper, cotton t-shirts and wooden furniture introduced before 1972. (See BioPreferred.gov for more details.)

Both finished consumer and commercial products as well as intermediate products (e.g., platform chemicals, fibers, etc.) are currently eligible to earn the USDA Certified Biobased label. Standards for “complex” products (consisting of many components, such as automobiles) are being developed. Among the many products that have already earned the label are: Procter & Gamble’s Gillette ProGuide Fusion razor package; Papermate mechanical pencils made from Mirel biodegradable plastic, the Greenware line of cold cups made from NatureWorks’ plant-based Ingeo polymer; and intermediates such as Lenzing’s TENCEL lyocell fiber made from eucalyptus and DuPont’s Sorona polymer. Seventh Generation is so bullish about the label that they have certified over 60 of their household cleaning and personal care products — virtually their entire product line-up.

Why Pursue a Biobased Strategy
The credibility and broadscale awareness of the brand USDA positions labeled products to stand out to consumers. In an age where consumers actively seek environmentally preferable biobased products with comparable price and performance, having the USDA certified biobased label increases shelf appeal. And marketing benefits don’t stop there. The federal government, by law and executive order, now gives purchasing preference to over sixty categories of biobased products. Biobased alternatives can also help businesses to manage volatile petroleum-driven costs and ensure sustainable supplies.

Measurement, Transparency and Product Performance
Not every product made with plants or other renewable resources can qualify for the USDA Certified Biobased label. That’s because the USDA has set strict minimums for biobased content in a wide range of “designated” products. For instance, a lip balm may only need 11% biobased content to qualify, while a disposable food container needs 72%. Any product category for which a target has not yet been established must achieve minimum biobased content levels of 25%. Although this 25% bar may at first glance seem low, keep in mind that minimums are based upon the highest levels of biobased content possible without compromising performance, and to encourage participation in a market now ramping up.

Biobased content is measured using a radiocarbon dating test standard, ASTM D6866. This test measures total carbon content and distinguishes the amount of “new” organic from fossil or petroleum-based carbon. This enables the “new” organic (biobased) carbon to be expressed as a percent of the total carbon. To foster transparency, encourage a level playing field and promote continuous improvement, the USDA Certified Biobased label requires disclosure of the percentage of biobased content for the product and/or package.

Caution Advised When Making Environmental Claims
Marketers may realize advantages if they can substantiate a product’s biobased content in support of environmental marketing claims such as “natural”, “biodegradable”, “renewable” or even “non-toxic”. However, none of these environmental attributes are automatic because of a product’s certified biobased content. Whether a claimed environmental attribute can be supported depends upon the amount of biobased content, as well as how the product was processed and transported, and other life cycle considerations.

Keep in mind too, that much consumer confusion surrounds the biodegradability and recyclability of bioplastics. For instance, some resins may not be biodegradable but can be recycled (like Coke’s bioplastic PET PlantBottle, recyclable with petroleum-based PET).  In addition, some traditional petroleum-based plastics are compostable in industrial (municipal) facilities, but not in backyard composters. And no plastic, biobased or otherwise, is designed to readily biodegrade in landfills.

The revised proposed FTC Green Guides, anticipated in 2012, will likely include specific guidance for biobased marketing and related claims. (We’ll discuss this in more depth in future posts.)

What’s Your Biobased Strategy?
According to Kate Lewis, Deputy Manager of the USDA BioPreferred program, since its introduction in February 2011, over 500 products have been certified to use the USDA Certified Biobased label and over 400 applications are in the pipeline.  She reports that her group is “looking forward to working with proactive brand owners to capitalize upon their certification and really drive this new bio-industrial revolution forward.” Now entering the market, these labelers will enjoy first-mover advantage as well as the opportunity to educate their consumers and other stakeholders about the benefit biobased content brings to their products.

Whether one leads or follows, it’s clear biobased products figure prominently in our future. We predict that all products will ultimately be judged by their carbon content and their potential to effect global climate change. So, credible biobased products are and will continue to be a critical component of a long-range strategy. Short-term motivations for developing a biobased strategy, while company and brand specific, can include minimizing cost, enhancing image, reputation and consumer perception, and avoiding potential regulatory risks. So key questions for every brand owner, product manager and CEO in 2012 are What’s your biobased strategy? Do you have a team in place to bring biobased innovation into your brand and product portfolio?

Jacquelyn Ottman and Mark Eisen wrote this article. They are colleagues at New York-based J. Ottman Consulting, Inc. They advised USDA BioPreferred on the launch of the USDA Certified Biobased label during 2011 and are now advising labelers on how to market their participation in the program. Ms. Ottman is the author of The New Rules of Green Marketing: Strategies, Tools and Inspiration for Sustainable Branding (Berrett-Koehler, 2011). Mr. Eisen is the former environmental marketing director at The Home Depot.

Copyright © 2012 J. Ottman Consulting, Inc.

I have a dream…

I have a dream that every person in every nation remembers and identifies with their life as a global citizen, each person responsible for the well being of every member of their global tribe.

I have a dream that every child grows up with an awareness of the potential bubbling within their own hearts- all the life waiting to explode forth.

I have a dream that each human looks in the mirror to see the absolute beauty shining back at them- and feels cherished beyond measure.

I have a dream that the symbol of true wealth is the amount of love we generously share, and the depth of wisdom we can articulate in every interaction.

I have a dream that healthcare is universally free- freely given, freely received.

I have a dream that commerce, as we know if, becomes obsolete. Every gift is freely offered, in love…and every creature is respected and gently, tenderly provided for.

I have a dream that true service is being aware of how to encourage people to remember their own magnificence.

I have a dream that artwork and beauty are a cultural extravaganza.

I have a dream that sexuality is expressed with kindness, honesty and joy.

I have a dream that communities dance and sing their visions, evoking the visions of the tribe, for the benefit of all life.

I have a dream that homelessness is fully abolished, put into the realms of an ancient, barbaric distant past.

I have a dream that the overriding passion is ignited in the heart of each human being.

I have a dream that we are not alone, not any of us, ever.

I have a dream that miracles are as near as every breath we take, every sweet creative idea unfolding into forms of beauty, wisdom, tenderness and play.

I have a dream that the intense focus on technology softens and eases its tight grip, and the more receptive fields of art, music, touch and sensual reflections take root in our consciousness, as equally valuable, rewarding and integral to our wellness and health.

I have a dream that guilt, shame and worry are obliterated from all family ancestral lines and from the depths of our being.

I have a dream that sitting in old growth forests becomes a global pastime, and the deep woods share their patient wisdom to each willing journeyer.

I have a dream that theft is no longer a concept, action or within the realm of possibility here. People openly share things, and the idea of ownership becomes antiquated. The ideal of stewardship and councils for the care of shared resources becomes prominent.

I have a dream of an empowered culture based on flow, acceptance of both similarities and differences, and the overriding dedication towards creating peace.

Written by Jean Houston

As I travel around the globe speaking and training, I have consistently found that most people ask me the same question, ‘how do I discover my purpose in life?’  In the past, who you became was determined by your family and circumstances. You didn't have much choice. But now there is an open moment in history where you have the chance to tap into the soul of your purpose. 
 Millions of people right now are experiencing a yearning and desire to awaken to their unique gifts and offer them in service to the world—while living a life of joy and fulfillment. It's a surging of the human spirit, a virtual global awakening, at a scale that no one has ever seen before. Simply put, people are longing to finally feel fully alive and to fulfill their unique purpose in life.
So then why is living a life of meaning and purpose so difficult? It is because our current social systems have not been set up to prepare us to live a life of true purpose. That's because today's culture exists not to nurture our highest aspirations, but to ensure our basic survival.

Our educational system is designed to create good workers who will slot into jobs and careers later in life—not to empower fiery, creative people who are forging the path ahead together.

Our social contracts exist to perpetuate the status quo—not to encourage our highest potentials to blossom. Is it any wonder why so many people's best attempts to evolve themselves and our culture fall short of the goal? We simply haven't been trained in how to bring the possible future into the present.

It's not that they don't have the talent or interest to live purposeful, meaningful life. The issue is far simpler. People struggle to activate their "purpose code" because they haven't woken up to--or are only partially awake to--our situation as a human race. Most people hold on to old, limiting beliefs of themselves and our human story. Overwhelmed by all the changes in the world around them, most people live their lives within a "small story," and therefore confine themselves to a "small self." That's why so many people feel that they don't have a purpose, or that they aren't able to actually *live* the life they were born to live.

     There is a saying that “What the caterpillar calls the end of the world, the master calls a butterfly.” I believe that it is butterfly time.  Just as the guidance cells in the mush that is the caterpillar in its cocoon suddenly begin to activate the transformation of mush into butterfly, so too this is the time when we realize that the guidance or imaginal cells of our bodies, our communities, and, yes, even of the cells of our planet are calling us to come together in all our parts to form something gorgeous, interdependent, living lightly on the Earth, cross pollinating cultures, ideas, spiritual forms, glowing with the light that suffuses us, becoming transparent  to transcendence.  And to rise out of the mush we have been caught in these many hundreds of years and to take flight in the air of the new story which is emerging in our time. 

 For the fields we traverse, the many flowers of mind states and soul knowings we now enter are those that belong to the whole, earth, to many cultures, to what I am calling PanGaia. And as the butterfly pollinates and cross pollinates from place to place, flower to flower, so do we also if we have the will and the willingness to discover our purpose and  be part of this extraordinary moment in time.

Three Keys to Empowering New Beliefs

 The first key to activating your life's purpose is to hold new beliefs about yourself and about your role in the Great Story of where humanity is headed.

       Living a great life, requires that you understand the challenges and opportunities of our moment in history. To understand this for myself, I've gathered information from my work in over 100 countries and 40 different cultures and what I've discovered has served as a sure guide on my path. Specifically, I have found five great shifts in our understanding of the story of our time that are affecting everything we do today.  I believe that awakening to the power of these shifts will help you cultivate your sense of compassion and of the infinite possibilities of this moment.

The five shifts are:
• Our understanding of who and what we are and what we need to become in order to be able to deal with the complexity of our time is evolving.

• Human societies are in the process of re-patterning. Social constructs are dissolving and whole new stories are trying to emerge, such as the rise of women to a full partnership with men across the globe, and many others.

• How we conduct business and governance is shifting in the midst of vast ecological and financial changes.  This is perhaps the most important social event of the last five thousand years, because these issues  impact almost everything in our lives.

• The rise and fusion of different cultures--we are swiftly moving towards a planetary civilization that accentuates the uniqueness of each culture while blending them together. Think of the great fusions of food and of music and of beliefs.

• Whole new orders of spirituality are emerging that are not about religion. The new cosmologies are giving us a view of ourselves that we never had before. For the first time ever, we find that we don't just live in the universe, but that the universe lives in us.
      

This journey begins by letting go of old beliefs and patterns to make room for the new beliefs and capacities that will empower you to awaken to and live your higher purpose.

 The Second key allows you to discover and realize the vast field of inner intelligences—using multiple means of knowing and being in order to gain insight into life at a level to which that most people rarely have access.  These skills are to be found on four levels of your human capacity, sensory-physical, psychological-emotional, mythic-symbolic, and unitive-spiritual. As you learn how to utilize the extraordinary capacities to be found at each of these levels you literally move into new ways of being.  For example, you will learn how to play with time in such a way as to take five minutes and experience it internally as hours—these are "hours" you can use to develop a skill or move a project forward.

You will learn to access "inner experts", willing helpers or personas that will help you navigate the complexity of life with elegance and confidence.
 
The third key gives you the means to break free from unconscious, habitual ways of reacting to life that were born thousands of years ago, and embrace higher ways of being for a new era.You will discover ways to move through life with ebullience in your bones and an appetite for celebration—seeing everything as an expression of the Creator. You will move through life, motivated not by guilt or obligation, but by gratitude and an abiding zest for doing the things that are called forth by living out of your higher purpose.

Dr. Jean Houston is presenting a FREE 75 minute downloadable audio seminar entitled 3 Keys to Discovering and Living Your True Purpose Available Now at www.DestinyandYou.com .

Dr. Jean Houston is a Scholar, Philosopher and one of the foremost visionary thinkers and doers of our time. She is considered one of the principal founders of the Human Potential Movement. A powerful and dynamic speaker she has served as consultant to several agencies of United Nations including UNICEF and the UNDP. She has worked in over 100 countries training leadership at every level to enhance skills and purpose so as to bring a new mind to bear upon challenging issues. A prolific writer and author of 26 books including A Passion for the Possible and The Mythic Life, Dr. Houston has recently joined the faculty of Evolving Wisdom, today's fastest growing global e-learning company specializing in transformative education, to provide her wisdom online in a cutting edge format.
www.DestinyandYou.com

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.

• Urban 
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The below article is brought to you as part of elephant journal’s ongoing coverage of LOHAS Forum. For our complete coverage, be sure to follow elephant on Twitter and Facebook.

Legit Labeling.

I want to know what I'm eating and I assume you do too. Here in America we consume— a lot. Choosing what goes on your plate is a personal decision which includes everything from background, to morals and budget. This scope is extremely large but have you ever heard the saying, "you are what you eat?"

GMO stands for genetically modified organisms. Genetically. Modifed. Organisms. These three [distasteful] words to pair with your food. 70% of processed food today contains GMO's. In the U.S., 48% of crops have traces/practices of and using GMO's. Following America is Brazil with 16%.

GMO is a relatively new science that has taken over the largest crop-producer in America, Monsanto. One of many good reasons to steer clear of GMOs is that these laboratory-created mutations are unlabeled and virtually untested on grocery shelves everywhere—even at Whole Foods.

Michael Funk, Chairman of the Board of United Natural Foods, (UNFI) led a LOHAS panel discussion on how there needs to be a standard for food labeling so GMO's stay out of our shopping bags. Funk is a board member for the Non-GMO Project, a group founded to deal with practical solutions to GMO contamination and labeling.

Announced during the panel, Craig Shiesley, VP of Marketing for Silk Soymilk, stated that an hour before the forum began, Silk Soymilk has officially been labeled as a member of the Non-GMO Project.

Michael Besancon, Senior Global VP of Purchasing and Distribution, Communication for Whole Foods Market spoke in black and white stating how Whole Foods is not 100% GMO free. Whole Food's private label, however, is part of the Non-GMO Project.

Nothing is perfect but when reflecting about this LOHAS panel, it truly is the awareness that we as consumers need to grasp. The awareness of what we eat. The awareness of who we are supporting. All factors define a growing dialog—one that will continue to grow with the help of companies who believe in not only consumer awareness, but their children and families as well.

And for the lucky ones you have a tablet.

David Snell, Chief Marketing Officer for QuickMobile, an app consulting firm based in Canada, speaks about how mobile technologies are revolutionizing the way business travelers work and play. An undeniable global focus on a greener environment has encouraged businesses to constantly look for methods to support the call for sustainability.

The Apple iPhone has been by best friend since the beginning in 2006 where my silver 2G is just too memorable to likely end up in scraps. Perhaps to it's deathbed somewhere over in the far East—I will not let him go. Snell comments on how this phone started it all and how the iPhone was the frontrunner in the mobile revolution. The device has changed its outfit between prototypes but the iPhone 4 still stands by the same functional and fun morals, however now it is having a greening effect.

Snell has been to a lot of these conferences and at the end of each, he notices how brochures and waste pile up. LOHAS looked to change this by coming to QuickMobile with an idea of an online brochure. The LOHAS app is free in the Apple App Store, ultimately removing unnecessary waste.

Snell's presentation was in no way an advertisement for Apple or QuickMobile, it was the realization that the mobile world is changing and this is for the best. Our phones are now our computers, our tablets are our organizers; they play movies, book flights even turn on our cars' engines. These mobile devices are decreasing the footprint and changing our world.

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.

The awesome energy and vision of Jean Houston was evident in her passionate presentation today at the LOHAS conference in Boulder, Colorado.  Her capacity to express herself in cosmic metaphors staggers the mind.  As Ted Ning, the LOHAS conference director, commented, "listening to Jean is like attempting to take a sip from a fire hose."

Her challenge to all of us is to step into the fullness of our biological and spiritual design as human beings. 

"These are mythic times of transformation on Planet Earth and we are the mything (sic) link. It is up to humans to embrace our creative capacity to bring balance and harmony back into our communities and our way of being in the world. Jean Houston has researched creative change makers for decades and found that they all embody the ability to "marinate" in their own imaginations, pondering the possible. She went on to say: "They are excellent spelunkers of their own creativity." Her enthusiasm and passion launches her into many rapid fire quotes, practically jumping across the universe from Goethe to Joseph Campbell.  


Of course, she took issue with Joseph Campbell's insistence that there are no Heroine Journeys', only the Heroes Journey, which was very popular with the women in the audience. She went on to share some fascinating research from 107 countries. It is women who are on the forefront of making things work in their communities. In fact, it is a specific subset of women. She called this phenomenon as "Post-Menapausal Zing." These findings are consistent with research from the Micro Finance world, unfortunately for men, they have found that money given to men in the developing world is often squandered on alcohol or consumer goods that have nothing to do with the sustainability of their communities. In Jean's research 70 to 80% of all activity that sustains a community is being done by women. She reassured the men in the audience that the clarity of masculine energy can be engaged to restore the biosphere in partnership with women.  She emphasized it is not about the "rise of women," it is about designing a whole new culture of kindness.

www.youtube.com/watch Here Jean Houston speaks briefly about the Possible Human.

She touched a resonant nerve with Marc Barasch, a LOHAS Forum attendee, who launched his own Green World Campaign, based upon his dreams. The Axis Mundi image of the Tree of Life connecting Heaven and Earth awakening a passion for manifesting and bringing forth into the world our most cherished ideals. 



Her parting words inspired the audience to a standing ovation when she encouraged everyone to allow our personal liberation to embrace our inventiveness. She believes the Earth is desperately needing the "possible human" to emerge into the "possible society" and create an entirely new civilization. Everyone alive today is born for these times.



Let's step up to the challenge, the Earth is eager for all of us to wake up.

Onward with Courage.

Bud Wilson was a student-athlete-activist during the tumultuous era at Harvard University and emerged with an interdisciplinary degree combining, child development, innovative education and urban social policy.  He the Global Director of Bio-Regional Leadership and an awareness instructor and wilderness guide for Sacred Passage and The Way of Nature. Bud has devoted his passion and energy to raising awareness (including his own) and shifting human consciousness to appreciate that we are all living in an interdependent, interconnected world where there is more than enough for all of humanity to live in peace and harmony. A proud dad of 2 wonderful grown children! 

by Fred Haberman

What if five percent of the $500 billion in global ad spending was instead
invested in making this a better world.

Each year, companies worldwide spend $500 billion in advertising. Corporations enlist talented advertising agencies and brilliant marketers to present their products as boldly and creatively as possible – often at a cost of tens of thousands of dollars per second.

It’s an astounding amount of money. $1.7 million per 30-second spot for the Academy Awards. $3 billion spent on political ads. $12 billion spent by U.S. tobacco companies. $3 million for a 30-second Super Bowl ad – many of which are violent, degrading, or sexist.

As a marketer and parent, it’s given me pause to ask, what does all this money really do to add to our society?

What if these brands could redirect some of these ad spends for for good causes? Could a fast food brand unleash its best creative marketing minds to raise awareness that many Americans have no access to fresh produce? Why can’t an athletic apparel brand run an entire ad encouraging us to donate shoes to the citizens of Haiti?

It’s not just charity, it’s smart marketing. Research suggests consumers want this type of commitment. According to Cone Communications, 79% of consumers say they would be likely to switch from one brand to another, when price and quality are about equal – if the other brand is associated with a good cause. This means that campaigns that add value to our world can also add value for a brand, resulting in the same (or better) increase in sales that an advertising  campaign may offer. Two iconic examples are Pepsi’s Refresh Project and Dove’s Campaign for Real Beauty.

It’s time to begin a deeper dialogue about where and how the companies whose products and services we support spend their marketing dollars. My company is seeding this conversation with a grassroots program we call “ADD or DELETE” that asks fellow marketers, “Could the $500 billion projected to be spent on advertising in 2011 be put to better use?” We hope that ADD or DELETE inspires chief marketing officers at Fortune 500 companies, creative directors at global advertising agencies, designers toiling at boutique shops and struggling copywriters entering the workforce to consider their legacies: do we want to be known for lavish ad shoots or for creating campaigns that positively impact our world?

We’ve created a website, www.ADDorDELETE.com, to provide a forum for all consumers to identify advertisements that ADD value to society vs. merely being “ads” that consumers would rather DELETE. Our video shows why. Please follow us on Facebook to join the conversation.

Our vision is that consumers will inspire business to leverage at least five percent of their advertising or marketing assets to solve social issues. If all were to agree, that would equate to $25 billion the greatest minds on Madison Avenue and creative shops worldwide could devote to stemming the rise in diabetes, fighting cancer, curbing unwanted teen pregnancies, eradicating food deserts and so much more.

Don’t get me wrong. I love humor in marketing, in the workplace and in life. I love ads. But when customers demand better from the companies they patronize, it’s an opportunity for all of us to use our influence, power and resources to help those in need. So, let’s start ADDing more to society.