Natalie

I was checking out the Olgivyearth website after we talked about it in class recently. One of their case studies is on Qantas. Naturally I am drawn to reading about Qantas after spending so much time traveling with them in Australia. I was presently surprised to learn that Qantas implemented a ‘begreen’ sustainability program. I guess what I really liked about the program is that it wasn’t about marketing themselves as a green brand to consumers or trying to make flying ‘greener,’ but its about doing all the little things internally. It was about creating meaningful behavioral change throughout the company, from flight crew to engineering, customer service to catering.

An airline creates a grassroots effort to become a leader in sustainability.

What OgilvyEarth did was “educate all employees in key messages and proof points, while at the same time developing an action plan that was localized to gain real traction across a broad range of initiatives focused on fuel, energy, water and waste.”

They may be simple changes but changes nonetheless: Qantas has already seen a number of exciting actions, ranging from the brand team turning off Qantas logos on buildings, to turning off lights in offices when not in use and deeper education on fuel conservation plans. Awareness and growth of the program continue to be strong with over 350 volunteers joining the “begreen” program in the first  six months and increased requests for take home information.

Similar to my post about the Pavement Energy, this is something that has always excited me: Making energy while working out. I always feel ridiculous running on the treadmill or spinning on a stationary bike. It just seems like such a waste that we all go to the gym to run for hours, using electricity just to get fit. Our lifestyles are really that unhealthy that we have to go run like little mice? It just seems so ridiculous when you really think about it. But hey we still do it so why not make something of it? I had a spinning and yoga instructor that always talked about feeding off the energy in the room and she loved to turn the lights off and tell us to absorb the energy. Sounds crazy but you could feel it. Her dream is to run a gym that is self powered. And I was really excited when I found this article about Green Revolution that provides energy for gyms and recreation facilities. This should probably become mandatory. There is a little device that attaches to your spin bike to monitor how much energy you are producing. Now you can measure your calories, pace and energy produced. AWESOME.

We watched this TED talk in my Environment and Resources class. I thought it was really inspirational new concept. I guess it also clicked with me after being in South Africa this past summer and my questioning of sustainable development: Is it possible to help both global warming and poverty?

What is Greening the Ghetto?

“Your goal has to be to get the greenest solutions to the poorest people,” Jones told me. “That’s the only goal that’s morally compelling enough to generate enough energy to pull this transition off. The challenge is making this an everybody movement, so your main icons are Joe Six-Pack—Joe the Plumber—becoming Joe the Solar Guy, or that kid on the street corner putting down his handgun, picking up a caulk gun.”

It can’t get much better than that can it?

Inner city neighbourhoods can be some of the most polluted places on Earth, and they’re usually densely populated so that it’s hard to find any space to green. Carter’s movement started with empty lots, and they have moved up to the roofs of houses, making them reflective to heat or covering them with grass. Also, since in an urban setting such as the South Bronx, the majority of people don’t use cars as transportation, they have proposed to take out a section of barely-used highway and convert it to green space as well.

“I have made it my business to use the green economy as a social and economic solution to poverty. I want to Green the Ghetto.”

Joblessness and environmentally borne health problems have kept people from realizing their potential. At the same time, governments have been burdened with growing social welfare, public health, incarceration and infrastructure costs—all to subsidize pollution-based systems with government dollars and people’s lives.

One of the first Greening the Ghetto projects was the Bronx River. River restoration could start at any scale and grow. They put together a job training and placement system that eventually included riverbank and estuary stabilization, urban forestry, brownfield remediation and green-roof installation.

In terms of costs to government, these are society’s most expensive citizens. But what might not be as well known is that people who have a hard time participating in society—those who have suffered the trauma of prison, poverty or combat—do better when they work with living things and when they know that their work improves our collective society. That kind of work is extremely therapeutic.

Since 2003, the Bronx Environmental Stewardship Training (BEST) program has maintained a job placement rate exceeding 80 percent, and 10 percent of participants have gone on to college. It is one of the first and one of the most successful green jobs programs in the country.

Rosie recently put up a post about the Pepsi Refresh Project and I wanted to comment on how great I thought this program was. Rather than Pepsi taking on more and more projects that may not have a direct impact or may not be completely related to the company’s strategic direction, this project enables Pepsi to support different projects. Whether these be socially or environmentally.

It reminds me that business sustainability is not just about the environment but the communities that we live in. I was really inspired by this video about transforming communities that need grants.

I agree with Rosie’s comments about Pepsi’s long term positioning strategy and I think that this will be beneficial in the long term. After doing our lecture on Monitoring Performance I would love to see the decision making process behind this project and wha

t the particular milestones will be. They state that they are taking $25 million from their marketing budget and putting it into the Refresh Project so it would be very interesting to see how they monitor the results.

What I also like about this video is that the Marketing Directors speak about how they communicated the project and all the different channels that they used to get the project out there. Traditional Media and of course Social Media.

Intro Video

I wanted to comment on Gina’s post about LivingHomes a California architecture firm and builder of prefabricated sustainable homes. Obviously it sounds like a great idea. The thing that really makes me question it all is who has the money to have a house like this? And what are their lifestyles like? Great. A completely sustainable home, but who can afford to live it in? I still think its a great idea and shows how far we have come in alternatives, recycling and construction, but how much of your life becomes sustainable? Do you buy a house like that and then never again worry about your sustainability impact and continue to drive your SUV every where? Not saying everyone does that, but thats what I started to question. I guess every decision we make is like that. I chose to turn off the lights, but I still won’t have a short shower. How many tradeoffs do we make? What is the actual difference that we are making? When will we start monitoring our own performance? And what will be the incentive that motivates us to substantially change our behaviour. Beyond buying a completely sustainable home that makes us the talk of town.

I actually met the owner of Energy Aware (she’s a Sauder Student) last week. Its a really cool product and will probably be the beginning of individuals monitoring their energy consumption/performance. Its a little screen that tells you how much energy you are using in your home at any given time and how much it is costing you. Maybe this is the incentive that will finally get us to make change?

… Its not the usual hemp dresses, but brands we know and love taking a step to be a little greener. 

Victoria’s Secret. Banana Republic. Target. H & M. Nike. 

Check it out!!!

I’m pretty impressed to see Victoria’s Secret moving towards ‘green fashion.’ Lingerie isn’t the first category I would think of when thinking about categories that could have the potential to be a little more green. But here is Victoria’s Secret, potentially a very unsustainable company taking the step. I think that is awesome. Get me a mint bra!!!

I remember hearing about this a while ago and thought it was such a cool idea and was looking it up and came across this blog with the link to the World Architecture News Article about PAVEMENT ENERGY!!!

I think its the greatest idea ever. And so simple. The concept is using our steps to create energy. So every time you step down on the ‘ground,’ the movement creates kinetic energy which is stored. Each slab generates 2.1 watts per hour when located in an area with high footfall.Based on a hit rate of a footstep every 4-10 seconds. It doesn’t create a huge amount, but enough to run lights in a building, computers, street lighting or traffic lights. I guess right now the cost needs to go down before they can use it. Such a great concept. Oh and just to top it off – its made of recycled rubber tires.

I was in South Africa this summer and the lack of sustainability didn’t surprise me. I didn’t expect to go down to a developing town and see people recycling and composting or anything, but I guess it was kind of a slap in the face. They may not know about sustainable choices, but we do. And we still do nothing. We drive our cars out to UBC and sit in heated classrooms without even turning the lights down, we may not bother to recycle because were too lazy to walk to the other bin. I guess its what we talked about in class “consumer choice” or preference to ignore.

One day in South Africa, I was talking to the Director of Economic Development in the Municipality that I was working with. He asked me how to implement a recycling program. I was shocked. I wanted to say “Sorry, but you are concerned with recycling right now? What about the people who don’t have a roof on their home, let alone a home, they have no income, no food, nothing and you want to find a way to get the to recycle and compost?” It shocked me.

But then, in my Resource and Environment class, we started talking about Sustainable Economic Development. Apparently it is possibly. But its all about knowledge. I guess that makes sense, but it just surprised me, and made me happy to know that you can develop a community on sustainable grounds, although it might be harder and take a lot longer.  Maybe we should start being more sustainable in our developed countries and set a stage for development and sustainability.

I know that this is really random, but my uncle re-did the SAS office in Toronto and I thought it was pretty cool. Everything is super sustainable, all businesses should be doing things like these. Sustainable business shouldn’t always have to be what you sell to your customers or how you market yourself, it should be the impact that you are making on the community around you.

SAS Canada wins recognition for environmental leadership

City of Toronto honours SAS as runner up for the Green Toronto Award for Energy Conservation, and Maclean’smagazine names SAS one of Canada’s Greenest Employers

Toronto  (Apr. 24, 2009)  –  SAS Canada, the leader in business analytics, has been honoured for its initiatives in environmental sustainability by both the City of Toronto and Maclean’s magazine.

The City of Toronto named SAS as runner up for the 2009 Green Toronto Award for Energy Conservation at a public ceremony on April 23, held at the Direct Energy Centre in Exhibition Place.  In 2008, the SAS Canada building consumed 62% less energy than the equivalent typical Ontario office building.

“When we broke ground on our headquarters in 2005 we didn’t set out to build Canada’s first LEED-certified newly constructed commercial office building – our goal was to build the best working environment for our staff and tenants, and to integrate into the community,” said Carl Farrell, Executive Vice President, SAS Americas. “But we are an employee-driven culture and green initiatives are an important priority for our staff; so it was common sense for us to take a leadership role in reducing our environmental footprint.”

It is this eco-conscious corporate culture that also compelled Canada’s national news magazine, Maclean’s, to name SAS one of Canada’s Greenest Employers for 2009. The special designation recognizes employers that lead the nation in making environmental values part of their organization’s culture. SAS was selected on the strengths of its LEED-certified Toronto headquarters, as well as sustainability policies such as providing filtered drinking water instead of bottled water; providing plates, cutlery, mugs and glasses to discourage the use of disposable items; and donating used laptops and personal computers to schools and charitable organizations.

SAS Canada headquarters facts

• LEED Silver certification: the SAS building is the first new commercial office building in Canada to be certified LEED Silver. The building meets LEED Canada’s five criteria for environmentally innovative building methods – Sustainable Site, Water Efficiency, Energy & Atmosphere, Materials & Resources and Indoor Environmental Quality.
• Rainwater harvesting system: collects more than one million litres of water each year for toilet and urinal flushing, and landscaping purposes; reduces load on city sewer system and demand for municipal potable water; low-flow hands-free washroom fixtures prevent waste.
• Reduced energy consumption and intensity (electricity and natural gas): SAS Canada building used 62% less energy per square metre in 2008 than a typical Ontario office building – 269 Kilowatt hours per square meter per year versus the average Ontario office building’s 719 Kilowatt hours per square meter per year; the Building Automation System allows constant monitoring to identify and resolve excess energy uses, and implement load-shedding strategies to operate only the devices necessary.
• Reduced heat island effect: heat reflective roof reduces ambient temperature in the immediate neighbourhood, and within the building.
• Lighting: floor-to-ceiling windows on south and west sides allow optimal levels of interior daylight and a three-storey high atrium topped with a skylight admits additional daylight into the interior top three floors. Low E glass coatings reduce amount of heat entering through windows while allowing 95% of light through. Indirect lighting uses 30% less energy and distributes up to 50% more light than typical overhead fixtures. Totally indirect overhead lighting means no computer screen glare or lighting “hotspots”; lighting uses T5HO light tubes (highest efficiency/lowest CO2 emissions) versus T12 or T8 fluorescent tubes.
• Air quality: under-floor air distribution saves cooling energy and adds enhanced comfort through improved air quality; workspaces equipped with manually adjustable floor air diffusers; ultra-efficient air filtering (95%) ensures optimal air quality; all materials used in building construction and interior design are low-VOC (i.e. emit little or no volatile organic compounds, toxins or odours).
• Recyclable materials content: carpet tiles are made from more than 90% recycled content and are 100% recyclable; almost all office chairs are 100% recyclable and were made in a factory powered by wind-generated electricity; building structure is made of concrete with a high percentage of recycled material which can be recycled at its end of life.
• Recycling program: all desks and workspaces are supplied with normal waste and recycling bins. The collected building waste is further sorted into three streams by contracted staff before entering the external waste stream. The SAS Building diverts more than 85% of its generated waste from landfills; all SAS printers are set to default double-side printing to reduce paper use.
• Kitchen areas: SAS supplies reusable cups, plates and utensils to eliminate paper or plastic waste; serveries on each floor are equipped with chilled and filtered water from special faucets rather than bottled water.
• Transportation: 9 transit routes within ¼ mile of building; free employee shuttle bus to Union Station during morning and evening rush hours; secure indoor bicycle storage and shower/changing facilities.

After living in Australia during the drought and summer water restrictions and going up to my cabin where we use rain water, I have learned some good little tricks to personally save water.

In Australia you are limited to four minute showers. Turn off the tap when you’re lathering up. My shower had a timer in it – four minutes is not a long time. We would collect the water in a bucket when we turned it on and the water was warming up. We would then use this water to water our vegetable garden. And only water the vegetable garden in the morning and evening – its too hot during the day and will just make it evaporate!

Australian toilets actually have two flushes. A light flush and a ‘heavier’ flush. At my cabin if it yellow let it mellow if its brown flush it down… you know the saying…

Turn off the tap when you’re brushing your teeth! The shower water at my cabin is heated on the fire, so there is only so much you can have. Its amazing how efficient you can become in the shower when you don’t have a lot of water.

Some other tips:

Adjust sprinklers so only your lawn is watered and not the house, sidewalk, or street. A lot of people do this…

Use the garbage disposal sparingly. Compost vegetable food waste instead and save gallons every time.

For cold drinks keep a pitcher of water in the refrigerator instead of running the tap. This way, every drop goes down you and not the drain.

Wash your fruits and vegetables in a pan of water instead of running water from the tap.

When washing dishes by hand, fill the sink basin or a large container and rinse when all of the dishes have been soaped and scrubbed.

Washing dark clothes in cold water saves both on water and energy while it helps your clothes to keep their colors.

Run your clothes washer and dishwasher only when they are full. You can save up to 1,000 gallons a month.