Raising the Bar

It was difficult to decide what my first blog entry was going to be about.  There are so many different stories to comment on, videos to share, and insight to be found.  However, my topic was unexpectedly decided for me when my roommate came home with a small box of energy bars.  I asked her if I could take a closer look at the box of Clif Bars produced by Clif Bar and Company and, to my pleasant surprise, found a company that could possibly be added to our list of sustainable businesses.

A short story describing how the business began was printed on the back of the box along with the company’s mission to “improve our people, our community and our environment”.  Too good to be true?  Further investigation was needed!

After only a short period of looking around their website, I will say that I was pretty impressed.  Clif Bar and Company gauge their success not on 1, or even 3 bottoms lines but rather 5, calling them their “5 Aspirations”: Sustaining our Business, our Brands, our People, our Community and the Planet.  Scrolling through their sustainability report which they’ve titled “Raising the Bar: Our All Aspirations Report” gives an overview of the types of activities its involved with.  This includes promoting fitness within its company and community, purchasing organic ingredients, raising money to donate to various causes, and challenging their employees to give back in the form of volunteering their time.  They also offer some great rewards and rebates to their employees for walking/biking/carpooling (42% of their employees involved), making eco-home improvements, or purchasing a fuel efficient vehicle.

It’s always nice to find a company that seems truly dedicated towards sustainability and tries to integrate it into many aspects of their business.  As someone who doesn’t normally eat energy bars, reading about their products really makes me want to go out and try one (especially their White Chocolate Macadamia Nut flavour).

Take a look at their website, and let me know what you think about their business.  Am I too quick to judge them as a “green” company or does it look like there’s some genuine effort on their part?

http://www.clifbar.com