summary of sustainable brands'14

Inspirations from the Sustainable Brands’14

A little something that I found moving and worth taking note of.

June, 2014

by Anya Liddiard

WAIT, WHAT IS THE SUSTAINABLE BRANDS’14?The Sustainable Brands in San Diego is a conference where companies from all over the country gathered to talk about corporate social responsibility (CSR). At this conference they shared their accomplishments, learned from each other and celebrated their great work.

SO, WHAT WILL YOU FIND HERE?This is a personal collection of brands whose work was inspiring to me, the quotes that made me go “WOW, well said” and learnings that made me think, “Why isn’t every company doing this?”

What if ... brands succeeded by creating more good than harm?What if companies measured their success by how much good they created, not how profitable they are? It’s not like they wouldn‘t have to care about profitability, they would just have to find a way to be less harmful.

FROM: “Redesigning a Prescription for a Better World: CVS Quits Cigarettes for Good”, Eileen Howard Boone, SVP of CSR & Philanthropy, CVS Caremark

“[CVS Caremark] our purpose is to help people on a path towards better health. Does selling tobacco fit our brand purpose? No.”CVS made a decision that cost their business $2 billion in annual revenue. I’m sure they went through rounds and rounds of discussions before committing to this big undertaking. But, at the end, they gained more than they lost.

What if we didn’t use so much water in the process of making jeans?Before Levi’s asked this question, they reevaluated their production process and looked for opportunities to improve. That opened their eyes to problems and pushed to find ways to solve them. For example, food is being wasted everyday in America. What if restaurants rethought their business model to solve the problem of food waste?

Knowing guides the effortsWe can only repair things that we know are broken. Companies need to make the effort to identify their flaws and have the courage to fix them. For Levi’s, this resulted in 770 million gallons of water saved.

FROM: “Redesigning with the Whole Life Cycle in Mind: The Evolution of Product Design & Composition at Levi Strauss & Co.” by Paul Dillinger, Head of Global Product Innovation, Levi Strauss & Co.

“Design without making a mess.” To me, this is a perfect definition of sustainability and what a company’s role should be.

FROM: “Redesigning with the Whole Life Cycle in Mind: The Evolution of Product Design & Composition at Levi Strauss & Co.” by Paul Dillinger, Head of Global Product Innovation, Levi Strauss & Co.

EKOCENTER: Helping communities help themselvesI think this is just an amazing project. It doesn‘t just provides charitable donations to the community, it gives them resources and teaches them how to self-sustained themselves. It’s ubuntu. “Are you going to do so in order to enable the community around you to be able to improve?” - Nelson Mandela.

FROM: “EKOCENTER: Creating Value Through Purpose Driven Partnerships”, by Derk Hendriksen, General Manager, EKOCENTER

Uniliver: Sunlight projectI forgot who talked about this but I had to share this humble and inspiring project. What I like about it: 1. it involves kids; 2. it encourages us as individuals to take actions to make a difference.

Join this project

“What if ... our vision of the global economy was taking care of the home of its 9 billion people?”

FROM: “Spiritual Narratives: The Missing Dynamic in Sustainable Transformation” by Pamela Wilhelms, Executive Coach, Systems Coach, Social Architect, Wilhelms Consulting Group; Jo Confino, Executive Editor, The Guardian

A sad common belief:I found this point fascinating. It’s so sadly true. Earth gives us life, everything we eat, drink, wear. And yet, we don’t even think much about giving back.

FROM: “Redesigning with 3.8 Billion Years of Experience at the Table: The Latest Applications of Biomimicry” by Dayna Baumeister, Co-founder & Keystone, Biomimicry 3.8

“Ask nature for advice. We are surrounded by a genius - nature brings 3.8 billion years of experience.”Nature has been in the business of creating, inventing and developing for centuries. Why don’t we turn to it for inspiration? I found some incredible examples in Dayna Baumeister “Biometric 3.8” presentation of how companies take inspiration from nature.

FROM: “Redesigning with 3.8 Billion Years of Experience at the Table: The Latest Applications of Biomimicry” by Dayna Baumeister, Co-founder & Keystone, Biomimicry 3.8

Ask nature for advice #1: A new way of designing water bottles

FROM: “Redesigning with 3.8 Billion Years of Experience at the Table: The Latest Applications of Biomimicry” by Dayna Baumeister, Co-founder & Keystone, Biomimicry 3.8

Ask nature for advice #2: Why doesn’t fish grow barnacles?

FROM: “Redesigning with 3.8 Billion Years of Experience at the Table: The Latest Applications of Biomimicry” by Dayna Baumeister, Co-founder & Keystone, Biomimicry 3.8

Ask nature for advice #3: Sunflower-inspired solar panels

FROM: “Redesigning with 3.8 Billion Years of Experience at the Table: The Latest Applications of Biomimicry” by Dayna Baumeister, Co-founder & Keystone, Biomimicry 3.8

Ask nature for advice #4: Maybe in your next project you can try taking this approach.

Yourexample

here

“It’s not just the products we [Plum Organics] make, but it’s the actions we take. We wanted to create an positive social and environmental change... there are 16 million little ones in America who are starving for real nutritious food.”Plum Organics developed The Full Effect program that is dedicated to children in need in America. With every Super Smoothie they sell, one gets delivered to a child in need.

FROM: “Regenerating Commitment: The Purpose-driven Corporation in Action” by Neil Grimmer, Co-Founder & President, Plum Organics

Yes, businesses need to be better. But what about people?I want to share some smart things that were said about our own human behavior.

“Let’s be honest with ourselves ... 95% of people try to change the world and 5% of people change themselves.”- Jo Confino, The Guardian

FROM:  “Changing the Game” KoAnn Skrzyniarz, Founder & CEO, Sustainable Brands; Jo Confino, Executive Editor, The Guardian; Andrew Winston, Author, The Big Pivot: Radically Practical Strategies for a Hotter, Scarcer, and More Open World; Rick Ridgeway, VP, Environmental Initiatives, Patagonia

“How can we ask other to change if we are unwilling to first change ourselves? ... I can’t even change my breakfast habits.”- Jo Confino, The Guardian

bad good

delicious nutritious

What would you choose?

FROM:  “Changing the Game” KoAnn Skrzyniarz, Founder & CEO, Sustainable Brands; Jo Confino, Executive Editor, The Guardian; Andrew Winston, Author, The Big Pivot: Radically Practical Strategies for a Hotter, Scarcer, and More Open World; Rick Ridgeway, VP, Environmental Initiatives, Patagonia

“Any kind of personal responsibility is hard to accept. People say: “I’m just not convinced that climate change is real, because I can’t believe what I drive would kill us. It’s a personal thing to realize that everything I do is contributing.”- Andrew Winston, founder of Winston Eco-Strategies and a Guardian Sustainable Business contributor

We avoid our personal responsibility and in many cases don’t even realize how our actions effect things around us.

FROM:  “Changing the Game” KoAnn Skrzyniarz, Founder & CEO, Sustainable Brands; Jo Confino, Executive Editor, The Guardian; Andrew Winston, Author, The Big Pivot: Radically Practical Strategies for a Hotter, Scarcer, and More Open World; Rick Ridgeway, VP, Environmental Initiatives, Patagonia

“There’s an enormous amount of hidden grief about what is happening in the world. What we’re creating, in fact, that we are killing species in the world, killing oceans …. We aren’t encouraging the grief. We like to come up with solutions and strategy, which is critically important, but it’s also all about feeling – feeling on a deep level. What is it really like to have this level of inequality? We need to have more tears.”- Jo Confino, The Guardian

I think this is great insight into how we can communicate big world problems to people ... by showing them the truth and making them feel.

FROM:  “Changing the Game” KoAnn Skrzyniarz, Founder & CEO, Sustainable Brands; Jo Confino, Executive Editor, The Guardian; Andrew Winston, Author, The Big Pivot: Radically Practical Strategies for a Hotter, Scarcer, and More Open World; Rick Ridgeway, VP, Environmental Initiatives, Patagonia

Thanks for reading!