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September 2009
Hello Friend:
Our green dream home is a reality! Philip and I moved into our new eco-inspired house this summer – and we love it. But getting from dream to reality meant travelling through unfamiliar territory. Fortunately we were in good hands and had excellent resources to guide our way.
We were honoured to participate in the Light House Sustainable Building Centre’s 2010 Green Building Challenge. As one of the first five residential homes in BC to target LEED Gold, we learned about tankless hot water systems, induction stove tops and photo-voltaic panels. We made myriad decisions. And, inevitably, we accepted the odd compromise.
In addition to seeking LEED Gold certification for our home, we are also pursuing a platinum Built Green™ designation. Built Green is a voluntary industry program that, like LEED, provides guidance to builders on priority practices to reduce a building’s environmental footprint. Learn more about our project.
We hope our cozy, energy-efficient living space will help to inspire more people to build green. That’s why we’re inviting you to our Green House Party! Please join us on Saturday October 17 for a chance to tour our new home, enjoy some mellow chamber jazz and catch up with other interesting folks like you.
Now here's...
News from Strandberg Consulting
The quest for a sustainable world also means travelling through unfamiliar territory. Just as we needed a toolkit of resources to build our green dream home, business organizations will need tools and guidance to help catalyze change in the market place. The good news is that as people worldwide build and share case studies and tools, collectively we will create an operating manual for a new economy.
To this end I am doing my bit to research, write and coach on ways to embed sustainability into the business DNA. The image below is a model of the economic systems I am trying to leverage through business tools, resources and strategies to move our society towards sustainability.
Here are some of the resources I have helped to develop over the past year to further sustainability.
Equipping Human Resources
In many ways, the integration of sustainable principles and practices into an organization is a change management exercise. Employees can be both change agents and powerful ambassadors. Therefore human resources departments are uniquely positioned to support the evolution of sustainability. Here are two tools to help equip HR practitioners:
(If you know any HR managers who could benefit from this orientation to their role in sustainability, I am providing a webinar on this topic with the Ontario Human Resources Professionals Association in November.)
Identifying Sustainability Job Trends
What comes first: the need or the expertise to identity and address the need? In today’s fast world, each fuels the other. This translates into burgeoning employment opportunities in the sustainability field as well as the need for increased expertise and more education and research. I worked with the University of British Columbia to identify labour market trends and ways to embed sustainability into the academic curriculum. You may find these two papers helpful:
- Sustainability Labour Market Trends: A Canadian and International Perspective
- Sustainability Labour Market Trends: An Employer, Industry and Thought Leader Perspective
Equipping Industry Associations
With the right tools, industry associations can help spread sustainability awareness and action throughout the marketplace. Their influence ripples through their member organizations into the larger business community. With Industry Canada funding and assistance from the Canadian Society for Association Executives, I updated the Roadmap for Industry Associations which provides ten steps to help associations increase focus and action on sustainability within their memberships. Here is the Roadmap and companion article.
- Sustainability / CSR Roadmap for Associations
- CSAE Members Lead the Way: Integrating Sustainability into their Organizations
Understanding Sustainability Decision Dynamics
An operating manual for a new economy is only as good as the people who use it and the decisions they make. This means rewiring at the desk level to encourage people to think differently. We need to enable them to make triple bottom line decisions whether they’re considering products, projects, investments, purchasing or hiring. You might be interested in this case study from the University of BC:
If you are interested in a BC Hydro case study I co-authored on their triple bottom line decision-making approach, drop me a line and I'll send it to you once available.
Equipping Small Businesses
Small businesses are the engine of the economy. A roadmap to integrate sustainability into their operations will empower them to make direct positive impacts on their own businesses – and to influence their suppliers and their customers. Industry Canada funded this project which I worked on with Amy Robinson.
Equipping Asset Managers
Traditionally money managers focused solely on protecting and growing the funds under their administration. Very few understood the power of assets to influence social and environmental factors in our world. Nor did they see the need to take sustainability issues into account to maximize performance. For the past two years I have been working with Community Foundations of Canada on a pilot project helping their members integrate environmental, social and governance factors into their investments. The following tool, funded by Ethical Funds and developed a year ago, informs my efforts in this area.
Equipping Boards of Directors
In recent years we have seen CSR/sustainability move into the boardroom. As Boards of Directors realize the associated business risks and opportunities, they look for ways to embed sustainability into their mandate and governance structure. To address this need, I am working with Canadian Business for Social Responsibility (CBSR) to build their CSR governance advisory service. We are developing an assessment tool for boards which will build off the resource below that I drafted last year for the Conference Board of Canada:
I look forward to hearing your ideas, examples and questions. The future rests on our collective effort. So let’s put our heads together!
Sincerely,
Coro
Strandberg Consulting - Solutions for a Sustainable
World
Coro Strandberg - Principal | 6336 Burns Street - Burnaby, BC V5E 1T2 | T 604.433.7339
E cstrandberg@shaw.ca www.corostrandberg.com
