Sustainable Living and Sustainable Business

This time of year is traditionally a peak season in the harvesting of grains, fruit and vegetables that grow relatively easily in our British climate. Over the bank holiday weekend, I picked crab apples from our garden and boiled them up to make crab apple jelly. I love the colours and textures of the ripe [...]

Michael sounded perplexed when I asked him what first steps he wanted to take to get his sustainable small business started. "Well, ideally, I'd like to do a,b, and c" he said "…and that's all very well, but there's a problem with this plan." "What's that?" I asked. "Well, I never do what I say I'm going to. [...]

"To attain knowledge, add things every day. To attain wisdom, remove things every day." Lao Tzu You know you'd like to reduce your spending, review your cost of living and make do with less, but however much you think about it, nothing seems to spur you into action. What's stopping you? Being "frugal" - sparing, economical, careful [...]

“If any field needs integration, it is medicine. If any field needs an integrative paradigm that can make sense out of all the different models of healing, it is medicine. The weaknesses of the conventional medical model have been clear for some time. Its procedures are too invasive and have too many harmful side effects. [...]

A  guest article today from Joe Rolle of Rapanui, an inspirational, young, sustainable clothing business. “It's a question that's not asked enough - where does clothing come from, and how is it made? The clothing industry is notorious for the proliferation of child labour, disregard for the environment and the more practical challenges - such as [...]

It can be a chaotic and challenging undertaking to be self employed or running a small business in these unprecedented times of climate change, peak oil and global economic crisis. What does it mean to "surf" the recession? How do we perform this complex balancing act? Surfing any waves of change and transformation involves: o    Choosing our [...]

Having worked from home for the last 21 years, I've experimented with several modes and environments for working in. Here's a guest article from Dawn Kubicek, who is an advocate of the benefits of working from an office or studio in your garden: Working from home is something we are hearing more about at the moment. [...]

On the "Coaching" and "About me" pages of this website, I state that I coach from a psychospiritual perspective. Every so often a prospective coaching client or fellow coach asks me to explain further. Some coaches, particularly business coaches, it would seem, are not familiar with this approach and many clients are unaware of the differences [...]

"By taking care of the present, we can even transform the past." Thich Nhat Hahn What is the past? What is history? I would suggest that the past is only what we choose to remember, whether that's what someone's recorded in a history text or whether it's our personal recollection of an event. The memory [...]

Perhaps some of you are familiar with Sir Ken Robinson's video from 2006 where he talked, very memorably, about how schools kill creativity. In this, his latest TED talk, he urges us, in his characteristically funny and touching style, to shift from our current standardised learning system to one that is more personalised, creating learning [...]

An alien from outer space visiting our planet for the first time might despair at our lack of understanding of the very basics of living within our planetary means. We have a rapidly growing global population and a finite supply of delicately balanced essential resources. Yet, our economic system in the West (the richest and [...]

Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, step right up… it’s Carnival time! Welcome to the greatest show in the green business blogosphere… the Green Business Blog Carnival! Hopefully, you made the trip to Green Building Elements last week for edition #12 of the Carnival (and, of course, you still can)… and now’s the time to mark [...]

How does your business grow? By profit alone? What about employees and their enthusiasm for business programs?  By raising company-wide eco awareness, encouraging employee participation, and taking specific actions to promote business sustainability, your organization can leverage existing internal knowledge and foster organic sustainable change.  Our sustainability consulting encourages clients to focus business sustainability as a mindset and culture change.  How do are proactive businesses doing that?  For starters,   •    Review current performance as an opportunity for sustainable improvements. •    Focus on wha...

A business plan is a map that leads an organization on one of an endless number of possible journeys.  It provides a common understanding to internal stakeholders and is a communication tool to the external world of company’s values, goals, and business sustainability strategies.  So what is your plan saying and where will it ultimately take you? In today’s complex economic climate, companies are redefining traditional business goals to include a broader definition of business sustainability .  Economic objectives are merging equally with environmental and social measures to deliver a more sustainable business future.  Now is the perfect time to revisit...

Not all businesses and individuals are at the same level of sustainability understanding or implementation.  Whether your company is just becoming familiar with the concept of business sustainability or is sustainability leader in your industry, there are sustainable performance improvements that can help move your organization up the scale. Companies often compromise by focusing on the short-term immediate gains at the expense to long-term value creation.  As a sustainability consultant we encourage clients to realize that the pursuit of business sustainability is a continuous long-term commitment - it's a journey, not a destination.  Determining the criteria that will ...

This group of friends does exactly that. They gather every Sunday to assemble sack lunches and distribute them to people in need via bike. Food Not Bombs with a Twist: Burritos and Bike Delivery The Burrito Project was started in Los Angeles, but chapters have formed in many cities since its inception. The Fullerton, CA [...]

Since the introduction of the concept of the triple bottom line , supporters and critics have debated the ability to link the environmental and social responsibility to business profitability.  Without a definitive financial incentive, companies have historically not been receptive to the idea of integrating sustainability concepts into core business practices.  However, recent trends tend to indicate that the business world may be changing their view.   Business sustainability is not exclusively environmentally focused. Business sustainability programs offer measures to save money and grow profitable businesses.  Integrating sustainability concepts into core business...

How much of your life is controlled by others and how much by you? One of the problems we face in the rat race is that we can find ourselves spending a large part of our waking hours jumping through other people’s hoops. In this type of situation we can end up feeling very much [...]

What do ski risers, ceiling bike storage, goggle fans and solar-powered light bulbs have in common? Stephen Katsaros. He’s an entrepreneur and inventor from Denver, Colorado with a knack for getting things done, as evidenced by the quick conception in January (and birth in July) of the Nokero Solar Light Bulb, with which Katsaros plans [...]

In the last 10 years, the consumer product market has experienced a dramatic increase in eco awareness.  This significant shift is most easily observable in everyday consumer choices.  These consumer preferences for sustainable products have resulted in a corresponding response from the business world to meet expectations.  However, questions still remain on whether ‘green’ product offerings equate to a sustainable business. Shifting market trends have given rise to a myriad of alternative products and services.  Evidence of this shift can be seen in the number of ‘green’ products available on the shelves at even the local grocery store.  ...

Author's Note: A free review copy of this book was provided to me by the publisher, Wiley-Blackwell. Wiley-Blackwell's series of philosophy books for general readers, Philosophy for Everyone, aims to serve general, non-expert readers without actually treating them as "dummies" or creating watered-down, one-size-fits-all philosophy. The risk such an endeavor always faces is to end up [...]

Is your company waiting to see how the market responds before taking action?  Is management afraid to over commit resources and capital to a yet to be defined direction?  Are you stuck in a business sustainability ‘holding’ pattern?  Well, chances are the company may be actually increasing business stakeholder risk and directly affecting the competitive position of the organization.   As Jackson Brown said , "Opportunity dances with those who are already on the dance floor." Is your business on the dance floor or sitting in the bleachers?  Our sustainability consulting finds the key to long-term business sustainability is often a willingness...

Driven today largely by cost savings opportunities or risk mitigation, the business world is gradually moving forward on the sustainability continuum .  The feel good efforts of the past have been replaced with real bottom line business sustainability impacts.  Looking into the future, the next step-change will come when stand-alone project implementations become cohesive business sustainability programs across companies, industries, and business as a whole.  Our sustainability consulting finds many companies are already exploring the larger and more impactful value aspects of business sustainability.  While this is a huge step forward from the very recent past, a m...

By Lester R. Brown The heat in the upper six miles of the earth’s crust contains 50,000 times as much energy as found in all the world’s oil and gas reserves combined. Despite this abundance, only 10,700 megawatts of geothermal electricity generating capacity have been harnessed worldwide. Partly because of the dominance of the oil, gas, and [...]

When we think of ‘green’ jobs, we often picture a new opportunity, which may require a new set of skills, or a new place of employment with a job title and description that "sounds" green.   This may lead us to believe that ‘green’ jobs are elsewhere - and definitely not our current job.  Frequently, in our sustainability consulting, we are asked, " How do I find a green job ?"   Keep in mind, every job is a green job: it's all in how you do it.  Granted, there are designated "green" jobs out there.  However, if it is making an impact and making a difference that you are truly after, then transforming your ...

Another week, another Green Business Blog Carnival. Our friends at Green Building Elements did a very nice job of wrapping up the news you can use from the green business blogosphere… Quite a variety of stories this week… from the business of sustainable wine making (and whether it actually results in better wine), to US energy [...]

People often characterize the proliferation of self storage in the United States as a sign of consumerism or a materialist culture. To me, consumerism means consuming products. Buying a bunch of stuff and then throwing it away when you get bored with it — or buying items that are designed for just once use before [...]

As any small business owner will tell you, the challenges they face can be very different than larger companies.   Small businesses are often resource constrained and in some cases financially limited.  However when it comes to realizing immediate benefits from business sustainability implementation, small business may actually have an advantage over these large corporations.  Many small businesses are now subscribing to the idea that they can save money, increase sales, and improve brand and company value by implementing social and environmental business sustainability practices.  As a sustainability consultant working directly with small business leaders, I ha...