A little late in getting this post out to you for the weekend, sleep overtook me after a busy week of school. Regardless, I still have something I would like you to think about!
I have been posting for about 2 months now (give or take) and have skimmed over many topics - never going deep into any. However there has been enough general information that by now I'm sure you have formed your own opinions on the topics.
Think back to when you first started reading, what did you think then? How do you think now? Do you feel it has been a turn for the better or worse?
I know for me, when I started at Aquinas College, I wanted to go right into the sustainable business program. Freshmen year was filled with environmental classes and I loved it. Sophomore year though was the year the sustainable classes started. My mind was blown. So many new thoughts, ideas, suggestions, opinions, debates (you name it) were happening all around. Then I had Industrial Ecology. That, without competition, has been the most depressing class I had ever taken in my life (and probably will ever). In Industrial Ecology Dr. Tueth teaches you all about what's wrong in the world.
It goes deep.
It gets depressing.
But in the end?
You are more confident than ever that you want to continue so you can make a difference. Even a small one. My viewpoints and opinions constantly were changing week to week, class to class. A new word would be debated as to what it really meant. Kinship or Stewardship? Make or Create? (that's a big one... well... they are all big ones. But this one's even bigger) Those are the sets that stand out most in my mind, and how I felt about those terms were changed forever.
But enough about me. How have you changed in regards to sustainability thoughts and opinions? Let me know in the comments!
Saturday, October 13, 2012
Thursday, October 11, 2012
Current Topic Thursday: Fundamentals of Sustainable Business
This Thursday I want to share with you all not a news article, but a website page written in terms and ways as phrased in the book Fundamentals of Sustainable Business. I read this book and memorized the key points of each chapter for a class, but this isn't a book restrained to just the classroom.
Fundamentals of Sustainable Business
The main points, as seen when clicking the link above, are listed and explained. Each point is a chapter in Matthew Tueth's book, and will be the topics I plan on discussing in the near future.
I will note, Dr. Tueth uses the term Triple Top Line. If this is confusing, let me explain how it is not. A business deals with the bottom line - financial income. Triple refers to that financial segment, as well as environmental and social 'top' line. 'Top Line' refers to these being a priority at the beginning of a business's plan rather than an afterthought at the 'bottom' of a business's report.
As always, if you have any questions please let me know in the comments.
Fundamentals of Sustainable Business
The main points, as seen when clicking the link above, are listed and explained. Each point is a chapter in Matthew Tueth's book, and will be the topics I plan on discussing in the near future.
I will note, Dr. Tueth uses the term Triple Top Line. If this is confusing, let me explain how it is not. A business deals with the bottom line - financial income. Triple refers to that financial segment, as well as environmental and social 'top' line. 'Top Line' refers to these being a priority at the beginning of a business's plan rather than an afterthought at the 'bottom' of a business's report.
As always, if you have any questions please let me know in the comments.
Wednesday, October 10, 2012
Improving the Environmental Leg
The environmental leg of the three legged stool is, to some, the easiest and most obvious side thought of when it comes to sustainable business. This is, after all, the side immediately thought of when one thinks of sustainability.
So how does a business go about starting down the environmental leg path? Low hanging fruit. The easy steps come first - changing light bulbs, paper efficiency, turning off non-use lights when no one is around, change to water efficient plumbing (sinks, toilets, faucets) etc. These things are easy to do and very afforable for businesses.
But what to do with that saved money?
Put it in a new account labeled 'sustainable changes' or something like it.
The larger changes take money. They are expensive. A solar panel array, wind turbine, re-planting natural plants and reducing blacktop outside, heating and cooling system re-vamps, material selection, machine and electronics upgraded to lower using energy models. All those take more money than a pack of light bulbs.
Yet every penny saved in the beginning gets re-invested into larger changes, so in the future that once expensive turbine is now purchased with money that would have been spent already on previous expenses.
Eventually all these changes makes the business money because the costs that were once there and seen as fixed costs no longer exist.
See how easy that is?
But it's not an over-night change. Becoming sustainable takes time, effort, and money. Not all businesses can do that. So be wary of businesses that claim they are now sustainable when just last week the paper reported their failing in, say, energy use.
So how does a business go about starting down the environmental leg path? Low hanging fruit. The easy steps come first - changing light bulbs, paper efficiency, turning off non-use lights when no one is around, change to water efficient plumbing (sinks, toilets, faucets) etc. These things are easy to do and very afforable for businesses.
But what to do with that saved money?
Put it in a new account labeled 'sustainable changes' or something like it.
The larger changes take money. They are expensive. A solar panel array, wind turbine, re-planting natural plants and reducing blacktop outside, heating and cooling system re-vamps, material selection, machine and electronics upgraded to lower using energy models. All those take more money than a pack of light bulbs.
Yet every penny saved in the beginning gets re-invested into larger changes, so in the future that once expensive turbine is now purchased with money that would have been spent already on previous expenses.
Eventually all these changes makes the business money because the costs that were once there and seen as fixed costs no longer exist.
See how easy that is?
But it's not an over-night change. Becoming sustainable takes time, effort, and money. Not all businesses can do that. So be wary of businesses that claim they are now sustainable when just last week the paper reported their failing in, say, energy use.
Tuesday, October 9, 2012
Improving the Financial Leg
Finances have always been the core reason behind a business. If there are no funds or income there is no business. Making money is important. But how companies go about making and/or saving money isn't always in the best interest of anyone outside the the top tier.
So what's done? In a general basis, employees have their wages slashed or cut completely and therefore laid off, short-cuts are taken, ethics are ignored, and the company does better for another quarter or so until the process starts again. Globalization also happens, but for what might seem like the wrong reasons. It's cheaper to build or manufacture across seas. Wages are cheaper there too.
But what about the positives of the financial leg? It's okay to make money. As I said, it's the reasons businesses exist. I plan on working for a business some day and get paid well doing a job I've prepared for while in college. I am not bashing companies for making these decisions, money is money. However, the above paragraph is what happens when just the financial benefits are the only concern. Decisions that affect the environment, and societies that the company influences need to be considered in financial decisions. This would better round out the finance side, in my opinion. Businesses need to start shifting away from looking solely at the bottom line, as scary as that would and will be for nearly all business owners.
So what's done? In a general basis, employees have their wages slashed or cut completely and therefore laid off, short-cuts are taken, ethics are ignored, and the company does better for another quarter or so until the process starts again. Globalization also happens, but for what might seem like the wrong reasons. It's cheaper to build or manufacture across seas. Wages are cheaper there too.
But what about the positives of the financial leg? It's okay to make money. As I said, it's the reasons businesses exist. I plan on working for a business some day and get paid well doing a job I've prepared for while in college. I am not bashing companies for making these decisions, money is money. However, the above paragraph is what happens when just the financial benefits are the only concern. Decisions that affect the environment, and societies that the company influences need to be considered in financial decisions. This would better round out the finance side, in my opinion. Businesses need to start shifting away from looking solely at the bottom line, as scary as that would and will be for nearly all business owners.
Monday, October 8, 2012
Improving the Social Leg
Last Friday I asked you readers to think about what kind of social changes you could envision being changed, added, or whatever in your place of employment. What sort of things did you come up with?
On my part I looked over my college, Aquinas, as I am unemployed at the moment. Things AQ could do to improve the social leg of sustainability? Well, from a student's perspective classes could be held outdoors (weather permitting) and/or more guest speakers could come in and talk. I have had classes where both have happened, but the occasions are few and far between. It's been studied and recorded that humans work and feel better when in natural surroundings.
And talking with speakers who are living in the day to day world has happened too, just not in every class. And I don't mean just a Q&A about their job, how they got there, etc. etc. Talks about what they get out of working there - the social behaviors and attributes they've seen in the work place, even going as far as talking about social politics in the work place. Aspects that aren't discussed anywhere it seems, but very important.
Suppose company A has leisurely lunch breaks, outside working areas (or break areas) and an open floor plan. Now suppose company B has a strict schedule, determined working places, and set hours for everything. Neither is better than the other, it's what you perfer. You wouldn't want to work at B when you longed for A (or vice versa) would you?
It's why potential college students tour campuses after all. Which area fits you best? That's the social leg of sustainability at work. What makes you comfortable and secure is what will make you produce you best work. Need to work from home? Great. Work better in an office? Fantastic. Find what works for you and the rest will follow.
On my part I looked over my college, Aquinas, as I am unemployed at the moment. Things AQ could do to improve the social leg of sustainability? Well, from a student's perspective classes could be held outdoors (weather permitting) and/or more guest speakers could come in and talk. I have had classes where both have happened, but the occasions are few and far between. It's been studied and recorded that humans work and feel better when in natural surroundings.
And talking with speakers who are living in the day to day world has happened too, just not in every class. And I don't mean just a Q&A about their job, how they got there, etc. etc. Talks about what they get out of working there - the social behaviors and attributes they've seen in the work place, even going as far as talking about social politics in the work place. Aspects that aren't discussed anywhere it seems, but very important.
Suppose company A has leisurely lunch breaks, outside working areas (or break areas) and an open floor plan. Now suppose company B has a strict schedule, determined working places, and set hours for everything. Neither is better than the other, it's what you perfer. You wouldn't want to work at B when you longed for A (or vice versa) would you?
It's why potential college students tour campuses after all. Which area fits you best? That's the social leg of sustainability at work. What makes you comfortable and secure is what will make you produce you best work. Need to work from home? Great. Work better in an office? Fantastic. Find what works for you and the rest will follow.
Friday, October 5, 2012
Something to Think About: The Three Legs
By now you have a decent understanding of the core meanings behind the three legs of sustainability: financial, social, and environmental. What we haven't talked about yet in detail are the ethics associated with each leg.
So for this weekend think of possible scenarios where ethics can help OR hinder the progress of these three legs, in any way you can imagine.
So for this weekend think of possible scenarios where ethics can help OR hinder the progress of these three legs, in any way you can imagine.
Tuesday, October 2, 2012
Living Downstream
Today I want to share with you a book that discusses in great length what happens when one area is polluted, causing effects miles and miles down from the original pollution location.
This book is Living Downstream written by Sandra Steingraber.
Steingraber explores in her book the cause and effects of pollutants and carcinogens (cancer causing) in our water systems and beyond. Her chapters are divided up as follows:
This book is Living Downstream written by Sandra Steingraber.
 |
| It's a good read. |
Trace Amounts
Silence
Time
Space
Silence
Time
Space
War
Animals
Earth
Air
Water
Fire
Our Bodies, Inscribed
Ecological Roots
Animals
Earth
Air
Water
Fire
Our Bodies, Inscribed
Ecological Roots
If you are at all curious to know about what is in our waters, soil, plants, and animals that we both see and consume give this book a read. I promise you won't regret it.
It has been some time since I've read this piece of writing cover to cover, but I often refer to it when talking about how what someone does in one area affects another area.
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