On October 25th, I had the pleasure of attending Chasing Sustainability 2013, a conference depicting the culmination of Khanh Nguyen, Connie Chen, and the CUS Sustainability team’s hard work. This conference featured multiple different companies and speakers who’d come on their behalf to speak to their employers’ remarkable commitment to fostering a sustainable mindset within the workplace. Some of these companies were as follows: KPMG, Ernest & Young, Deloitte, PWC, Whole Foods, Staples, and many more. Each and everyone of them enriched my knowledge and truly enlightened me to the very real opportunities present within the workplace to implement sustainable practices.
Regarding what we have been covering in class, though, one of the speakers whose address most intrigued me was Brandi Halls, who was there representing LUSH. She spoke about the company’s history and its enduring commitment to being an ethical retailer and it brought to mind the article we read for the class on Corporate Social Responsibility. In particular, the line that denotes “[shared] value focuses companies on the right kind of profits—profits that create societal benefits rather than diminish them.” Evidently, LUSH has been aware of this along. To this day it continues to generate shared value. Phenomenal.
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