Going Green

9 Posts tagged with the business tag

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When brothers Kevin and Daryl Maas founded Farm Power, there wasn't a lot of public awareness or support among Washington State dairy farmers for manure digesters. Although manure has been used for millennia as a fertilizer, proving that there was worthwhile value in cow droppings as an energy and bedding source was a sophisticated concept to develop among farmers, politicians and the Skagit County community. Luckily, this dynamic duo were prepared to fight for their cause and wound up triumphing a business model that helps keep dairy farmers increase their bottom line—and their green line too.

 

GG: What inspired you to start Farm Power?

KM: It was a combination of an interest in renewable interest and agriculture and wrapping that all together in with the community where I grew up. For a number of years, I’ve been hoping for an opportunity that would tie those all together, and Farm Power was it. We’re trying to support the dairy community and at the same time create renewable energy—while doing it in Skagit County, Washington. 

 

GG: So we have to ask, in all seriousness, what's so special about cow poo?

KM: Well, it’s an unrecognized resource. For thousands of years cow manure was used as a fertilizer. It’s only recently that we replaced it with commercial fertilizers, but people have already forgotten that purpose it held. The added advantage that there’s also energy locked in it is pretty cool. It’s an interesting discussion to talk to farmers—who view manure handling as kind of an issue for them—and then go to people with more of an urban perspective who see manure as something they just want to go away. That’s why we have waste water treatment plants that make our waste just disappear—or so we think. Farmers are typically less interested in manure just disappearing, especially when we can make energy out of it and kick some of that back to them. 

 

GG: How far do you think we can take this concept of making energy out of waste products like manure or methane sourced from landfills? Do these resources have potential to be major players in the bio-fuels and bio-mass markets?

KM: It’s not a simple answer, but the reality is that if you took all the manure in the United States, and turned it into energy, you’d only make up a couple percent of our energy needs. So it’s never going to solve all our problems. There is a lot of manure out there, but we also need an enormous amount of energy. So it’s a viable component, but it’s not a silver bullet. I like to call it a silver bee-bee and then you go out and find other bee-bees to collectively power the country.  The thing that needs to work for more energy to be extracted from manure is the spread of models similar to Farm Power's. Right now we’re working with two farms on our first project and the reason that we’re there at all is because neither of those mid-sized farms would be able to put in a digester on their own—it’s just too expensive. But if the organization to bring farmers together like this spreads or if the technology gets cheaper, it can happen on a broader scale.

 

You mentioned landfills. There’s definitely a lot of opportunity with landfills, but I think we have to ask ourselves how far into the future we want to keep using the very 20th century approach to waste—just piling it all up into landfills. Yes, we can get methane out of our landfills, but I’m hoping we find better ways to meet our energy and waste needs. If you look at the Europeans, they handle their municipal waste much more aggressively. They separate things out, digest some of it and compost the rest. It would be really cool if we could get there. 

 

GG: On your website, it says that Farm Power believes in farming that is both economically profitable and sustainable. How does your business model help achieve this goal for them?

KM: One of the things we’re attempting to do is make a medium sized farm more viable by extracting extra value from manure and providing the farmers with value. We separate out the solids from the digested manure and that actually becomes the cow bedding.  So in all, we’re saving the two farms we’re working with almost $10, 000 a month just on bedding costs. That's on top of the energy created and fertilizer that comes out of the process. And that helps—it doesn’t make up for low milk prices or other bigger issues, but it’s a noticeable help.

 

The farms we work with are spending at least a couple of million dollars a year. And we might shave their costs by only one or two percent, but they operate on really think margins. For most of 2009, dairy farmers in Washington lost vast sums of money. So while we can’t give them more value than their milk does, we can help their margins a bit.

 

As far as sustainability goes, there’s quite a bit of talk about the impact of livestock on the climate and we’re trying to operate ahead of that—before regulations get put in place and force farmers to make changes. We would like to do this now, so that when the inevitable climate regulations come, the farmers can say, “Hey we’ve already got a digester. We’re processing our manure and reducing the methane emissions from it, we’ve got our own renewable bedding source and natural fertilizer.” By the way, the liquid is still a fertilizer that can be used by the farmers as well for their pastures. And it’s actually easier to work with and easier for the plants to benefit from this year as opposed to several years down the road.

 

GG: How important is the component of collaborative community action in terms of sustainability and profitability.

KM: It’s pretty vital. We spent the first year and a half that we were in business, going through the smaller community of Northwest Washington, just north of Seattle, making sure that everyone knew what we were doing and that we weren’t going to frighten anybody. We enacted the concept of no sudden moves, because the last thing that we wanted to happen with a project like this is that people would get surprised and start to feel the, “not in my backyard” syndrome. We wanted to reach out to people and explain what we were doing.

 

That worked well when we started and also when we needed to change some legislation. Former legislation recognized that there was manure and there was compost, but there was no category for manure that has gone through a digester. But because we had spent a lot of time talking to people and community leaders and politicians, when the time came for us to make the changes we needed to happen in order to continue our business, we had a lot of support.  If you’ve looked at the Farm Power blog, you’ve seen pictures of the ribbon cutting that we did a few months ago. That was the result of keeping our community relations strong and we had a couple hundred people out for the fun.

 

Kevin Maas is the co-founder of Farm Power, a collaborative organization that provides and runs manure digesters for mid-sized dairy farms in Northwest Washington State. Kevin is also a speaker at the GoGreen Conference 2010 in Seattle, Washington.

 

GoGreen 2010 Seattle is a full-day sustainability conference geared towards businesses seeking actionable steps to greening their operations. The conference takes place April 21, 2010 at the Olive8 at the Hyatt (LEED certified Silver). Early Bird tickets are on-sale now through April 1, 2010. Tickets are $175 each for single Early Bird Full Day Admission and $150 Early Bird Full Day Admission for Groups of 2 or more. More information can be found at: http://www.seattle.gogreenconference.net/registration/

 

For more information about Kevin Maas and Farm Power, please visit: http://www.farmpower.orghttp://www.seattlegreendrinks.org/

 

Join the GoGreen Conference on Twitter:@gogreenconf. We’re also on Facebook!

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Anne Weaver has been a Portland business owner for 30 years. In that time, she's pushed the home-grown Elephants Delicatessen to soaring heights as an exemplary sustainable business. With four locations, Elephants is dishing their hand-made green menu to a grateful crowd of eco-minded citizens and picking up some sustainable bling along the way. In this episode of The Green Line Series, Weaver details the advantages and challenges of being a small business with a deep commitment to sustainability, points out the importance of engaging your employees and community, and reminds us that the little things add up to big results.

 

GG: You’re a small business owner. In what ways does working on a smaller scale help you achieve sustainability faster than a big corporation?

 

AW: One great thing about being a small business like Elephants Delicatessen is that there aren’t too many layers between the people who make our fresh foods every day and those who run the company. In a large corporation it could take quite an effort for one employee to be heard, but here at Elephants everyone from the top down is interacting with all of our employees daily. This is especially important for our managers because they very quickly can let upper management know when someone has a suggestion or a great idea. Sometimes something as simple as a tiny tweak in our kitchen can equal huge returns in terms of sustainability.

 

We also have a Green Team that is made up of employees from all levels and departments. These team members become ambassadors of our company’s message and help spread the word throughout the company. Because we’re small, our staff pretty well knows each other by name. That is really important for us. We’re not a business where everyone sits at a computer and reads company emails. We’re working together, face to face, every day, and that means we don’t have too much of a delay from suggestion to implementation. 

 

GG: On the flip side, what are some road blocks to being sustainable that you’ve run into as a small business? How have you overcome them?

AW: Elephants Delicatessen is in a unique position in that we are not too small, but we’re not the big dogs either. If you’re a paper supplier and Starbucks wants a certain type of compostable cup, the suppliers can’t wait to make it happen. A business of our size can ask, but at the end of the day, the bigger account may get more attention. Instead, what we have chosen to do is work to forge strong relationships with vendors. We outline our own sustainability goals and ask them to partner with us in meeting them. 

 

GG: How does making your food from scratch provide an advantage to Elephants in terms of keeping things green?

AW: The closer you are to your food, the more control you have over its impact on the environment. One example is reduced packaging on the front end because we buy individual ingredients such as flour, sugar and butter. Then, we use those bulk ingredients to make our own breads, cakes, cookies and pastries. Since the finished products are made fresh daily, we use minimal – if any – packaging to transport foods to our retail stores. These simple steps save a lot of unwanted waste. 

 

GG: What are some of the most important, most impactful components of your business that help you be more sustainable (recycling, power conservation, etc.)

AW: In the food business, composting is huge. It sounds like such a small thing, everyone’s doing it in their backyard, right? Well, when you produce the volume of food that we do, every day, it adds up to a lot of waste. We have compost bins throughout our kitchens, and we train staff about what food waste can go into those bins.  Energy conservation is another huge opportunity for us. Through PGE’s Clean and Green program, the electricity used to power our entire operation is generated from wind farms in Oregon and Washington. We also purchase high efficiency food service equipment through Energy Trust of Oregon, and energy efficient fluorescent light bulbs from Pacific Lighting. 

 

GG: How viable is purchasing wind power for small businesses? Is it affordable?

AW: As we mentioned, we participate in PGE’s Clean and Green program. That means 100 percent of our power is generated from a renewable source – wind farms in Oregon and Washington. One challenge small businesses can face is determining how to make the switch to wind power when you are one tenant in a large building. We fought that fight, and we’re proud we did. We think it helps raise awareness for everyone involved.  Wind power was more expensive when we first signed up, but we assumed power rates would rise in general. We were right, and we are proud to have been among the first local businesses to pursue wind power. 

 

GG: Has being an award-winning sustainable business helped your bottom line?

AW: We think so. We think our customers appreciate our efforts. It certainly means that we have to put some energy into rethinking things at times, but ultimately, being sustainable isn’t a cause we’re into – it’s simply our business standard. 

 

GG: Going green is sometimes an overwhelming concept. Do you have to go big to go green?

AW: It certainly can be overwhelming. We have a Green Team committee that meets weekly to discuss our sustainability efforts. We can spend weeks debating the merits of one type of green packaging versus another. Ultimately, starting with a few small things can really get a team moving, though. Start with the closet full of cleaners. Do a little research and find more environmentally-friendly alternatives. Then, train your staff to use them appropriately. Before you know it, everyone in your company starts to think in the green mindset. Then, it wouldn’t be unreasonable to expect your employees to start coming forward with their own suggestions. We have absolutely taken advantage of how easily we are able to make changes because of our smaller size. 

 

GG: Do all the little things—things that businesses can add in stages—add up to dramatic changes?

AW: Absolutely. We did not start out doing all of this at once, and I’m pretty sure we’ll always have more to do. We bought an efficient machine to clean our Central Kitchen floors. It uses significantly less water and cleaning solution than traditional mopping. That may sound like a small thing, but when you think about how we clean that 10,000-square-foot kitchen 365 days a year, that adds up to a lot of savings.

 

GG: How did you get started making these choices?

AW: Since opening 30 years ago, Elephants Delicatessen has aimed to be a green company. Our business took off the same time as the major green movement in our area. It was a perfect match, just making sense that our business follows the regional green motto. We have made it a point to include thinking green into our decisions as business has grown. When we need a new appliance, we choose Energy Star. When we need new packaging, we research recyclable or compostable materials. As delivery business grew, we sought out alternative fuels and ways to reduce vehicle emissions on the road. Our next step is to deliver by bike. It seems there is always a way to improve. 

 

GG: How do you recommend other small business owners get started down a path to sustainability?

AW: Start taking action immediately. Small, simple steps will lead to bigger ones. Open the closet and check out the chemicals used in your business. Put out recycle tubs. Take away the paper cups near the water cooler and coffee pot and ask employees to use their own, reusable cups and mugs.  Companies must invest in bringing their employees on board. Think of it as a group effort. Training and spreading the word through the company has a trickle-down effect. Eventually everyone from your vendors to your clients will see your efforts. 

 

GG: Why is it so important for America’s small business owners to get on the sustainable side of the green line? What is their impact on the greater whole?

AW: Being green is the new business standard. Small businesses have the advantage of being close to their customers, and customers are more and more savvy about what it means to be a green business. We have to make sure our community knows we care about sustainability, and once customers are able to see a business’ efforts, we believe they’ll respond with return business. Small businesses making sustainable efforts puts pressure on larger businesses to take action. It proves that it doesn’t have to take deep pockets, just a genuine effort.

 

Anne Weaver is a speaker the GoGreen ‘09 Conference, October 7th, 2009 in Portland, Oregon. To hear more from Weaver and our other 40+ eco-visionary speakers on embedding your business with a sustainable commitment , register today at www.gogreenpdx.com/registration to get our early bird rate of $150 per person or $125 for groups of two or more (rates good through September 1, 2009.

 

For more information about Anne Weaver and Elephants Delicatessen, please visit: http://www.elephantsdeli.com

 

To get the latest Go Green ‘09 news, green news and innovative ideas join us on Facebook (Go Green Conference) + Twitter (@gogreenpdx)!

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Did you know that a typical disposable diaper takes over 500 years to decompose? And that an average baby goes through around 5000 of them in a lifetime?

 

Yikes! Multiply that by the number of babies in the U.S. alone and the picture starts to look pretty grim–and more than a little stinky.

 

Thank goodness eco-entrepreneur + daddy extraordinaire, Jason Graham-Nye (Co-Founder and CEO of gDiapers) is working hard to send a breath of fresh air through the diaper industry. And Mums + Dads (and babies too!) are thankful for gDiapers’ stylish and sustainable alternative to normal nappies. In the The Green Line Series, Jason offers his advice for creating a successful green start-up, how to develop a truly sustainable brand and how to leverage social media + brand evangelists as aces up your sleeve against the big guns.

 

 

 

Jason is a speaker at Go Green ‘09, an all-day sustainability conference in Portland, Oregon. Join us October 7th, 8:00am-4:30pm, at the Gerding Theater to learn how to take your business to new sustainable heights from our panel of 40+ world-renowned, eco-visionary speakers.

 

Go Green ‘08 sold out, so get your tickets quickly! To register, visit: http://www.gogreenpdx.com/registration.

To get the latest Go Green ‘09 news, green news and innovative ideas join us on Facebook (Go Green Conference) + Twitter (@gogreenpdx)!

 

To learn more about Jason Graham-Nye and gDiapers, please visit http://www.gdiapers.com. They're also on Twitter at @gdiapers.

 

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What does it mean to be sustainable? To be deeply green? Not to mince colors, but there's a lot of gray surrounding the green scene. With that much uncertainty, how do you go about augmenting a genuine corporate pigment? There are a million things that go into it, but one crucial element is putting as much emphasis on "the green line" as you do on the bottom line.  In the Green Line Series, we interview representatives from government, non-profits, corporations and consulting firms to get the dish on how they've put sustainability up front and center.

 

This week's interview is with James Curleigh, CEO of the pioneering footwear company, KEEN Footwear. Curleigh talks about the trailblazing responsibility that comes with being a young company, the importance of balance in your business model and living the Hybrid Life, both as a person and a corporation. If you are looking to start a business that has sustainability in mind from day one, his advice is invaluable. Already an established company? Learn how to take risks that will pay major dividends down the road.

 

GG: You came into KEEN somewhat recently and it’s a company that already has a connection to the environment. What kind of experience has that been? Has it been a “kid in a candy shop” scenario or are there challenges?

JC: We’re a six-year-old brand, and when you’re only six years old you do tend to think a bit differently. There’s a lot out there. The world is a big, bold, exciting, chaotic place when you’re a six-year-old—and you typically have way more questions than you have answers. That’s how we think at KEEN. We believe that the outdoors in any place without a ceiling. To be successful, we have to understand how to make the outdoors successful and that’s across products we make, across environmental causes and also encouraging people to get outdoors as well.

 

GG: We know KEEN is a brand that is publicly on the path to sustainability. We know that you’ve got a plan in place and that it’s award winning. Can you tell us about your plan and how it came to be?

JC: It started off with something that is one of our major philosophies and the position that we take as a company. We encourage everyone to live, what we call, “The Hybrid Life.”  That can mean a lot of different things to a lot of different people, but we summarize it by saying that it’s encouraging everybody to create, to play and to care.  The create side is to create something interesting, something cool—whether you’re an artist, whether you’re a physician, whether you’re an outdoor enthusiast—that’s interesting to you and the people around you. In terms of play—just get out there and play more often. Life is serious enough as it is, so we encourage people to play. The caring side of that equation is probably the most important, and it involves considering the actions you take, and their effects on others and on the planet. Take a stance on something that you care about and believe in, and then engage and take action. That’s our definition of “The Hybrid Life.”

 

Living The Hybrid Life is what we try to do to encourage people and then we also bring that attitude in-house. So when we start designing products for the future, we start by thinking about the Create-Play-Care dynamic. We ask, "what is that product going to be used for?" Then we create something cool and we try to take care with the way that we design it, produce it and bring it to the market. And that means thinking about the materials we use, where the product gets made, what its end use is going to be and how the product gets places—physically. It’s not just one easy, simple solution. It’s a bit of an obstacle course that we’ve set up and run everything through and hopefully get through to the other end. 

 

GG: What are some of the challenges that you’ve come across in designing and implementing your obstacle course? JC: One of the challenges is that as a young brand, we tend to be pioneers on things. When you’re a pioneer, there are a lot of risks. Think about the guys with Lewis + Clark who blazed a trial out West. Do you think there were any risks and obstacles? They’d probably have said that we couldn’t even imagine the level of risk and, of course, reward that come with it.  Another challenge is that there are so many emerging solutions out there in terms of materials and the design side of things. And not everything is going to work. When you pioneer, you take risks, but those risks can become rewards. 

 

GG: As a young company, why do you think it's easier for you to take risks than, say, an established company that’s been around for one hundred years and wants to start down a path of sustainability?

JC: A lot of established companies have probably come at environmental and sustainability undertakings from a fear-based stance. They don’t want to get caught doing something wrong. They don’t want to get called out by the consumer. They’re nervous about what their shareholders are going to say. So they feel like they need to get somebody in there whose green and can make their company greener. And that’s where green-washing can come into play sometimes, but I’m not a believer in being cynical about companies at least putting it on their agenda and trying to do something better than what they otherwise would have done if there wasn’t a movement on sustainability.

 

We're able to do it because, first of all, we’re privately owned. We don’t have to talk about everything we do with shareholders. When you’re a big organization, you have to get so many people internally to believe in what you’re doing, that you end up mitigating and reducing the impact you could make into a very watered down solution. The reasons for that being because it costs money, because people don’t fully understand it and because you probably don’t have the expertise to do it.On our side, we might not fully understand it, but we can make fast decisions and we’re prepared to invest in it. That’s what separates us from the pack. 

 

GG: You mentioned taking care with your actions. What are some of the specific programs going on within KEEN right now that address that idea?

JC: You’ve probably heard about this “people, profit and planet” angle or if you want to put it in order, “people, planet, profit.” We take a slightly different angle. We talk about people being the community, the planet being the environment and profit being growth. With our growth, we’ve been able to set up our Hybrid Care Program. Our Hybrid Care Program supports programs beyond just the obvious in order to grow awareness for other programs to make a positive impact on the environment. That includes groups like The Conservation Alliance, The Waterkeeper Alliance, and smaller organizations like 1 Kg More. It also includes new initiatives that we’re working on, such as a project with One Revolution, who is headed by an individual trying to get to the top of Kilimanjaro for the first time unassisted. 

 

GG: What is your current primary goal in regards to sustainability?

JC: The main goal is to try and remain balanced. There are some companies that are so focused on being on the forefront of sustainability that they forget that the consumer is not there yet. Name one brand that 100 percent leads with sustainability and is highly successful. Who is it? Even brands like Whole Foods—which is a really interesting, progressive concept for a grocery store—they have beautiful merchandising, they have great product, they have an organic dynamic to it, but there is still a value proposition there that is interesting to the consumer without leading 100 percent with sustainability.

 

The important thing—at least for us—is to stay on the front end of that sustainability dynamic, but to remain balanced in the way we run our business and the way we evolve our brand and speak to people. That’s very very important. If you’re out of balance, you’re either behind the sustainability curve and you’re always going to play catch up, or you’re so far on the front side that consumers won’t understand what you’re trying to do. I could list a few brands that have done that and are no longer here or a shadow of what they thought they would be, because they lead with sustainability and the consumer isn’t there yet. We live in Portland, Oregon where the Hybrid Life consumer is all around us, but you go hang out in Cleveland, Ohio, New York City, parts of Florida, even California and you’ll find that not everybody is in that Hybrid Life movement.

 

GG: Tell us about the KEEN Report Card. Why did KEEN decide to go public with this kind of information?

JC: One of our values is to be transparent. Again, six-year-olds still run around naked sometimes and don’t see any problem with it. As a six-year-old brand we say, “Why not tell everyone what we’re up to? We don’t have anything to hide.” We truly want to build a relationship with our fan base beyond, “Here’s some shoes and thanks for your money.” We have to let them know what we’re doing in our world and we thought the best way to do that was to create a report card to set a benchmark for ourselves to understand where we’ve been, where we are, and more importantly, where we think we can go. 

 

GG: What did KEEN learn from that process?

JC: What we learned is that there are, quite literally, hundreds and hundreds of points of consideration when you put a report card together for your organization. Some of them are highly quantitative, some of them are highly qualitative and lot of them fit inside that gray area between science and art. One of the most important things you realize is exactly where you are today, which helps you focus on the areas where you think you can make the most difference in the future.

 

An example of that: We make some shoes with a production process called “Direct Inject,” which eliminates the need for glue. Now we have a benchmark for making 10-12 percent of our products using Direct Inject. And now we can set specific targets for making 20 percent of our products with Direct Inject within three years.  Another example is shifting your production. If 93 percent of your production is in a certain place in China, look at maybe sending some to the Dominican Republic. That could possibly reduce your environmental footprint, transportation and logistics, and at the same time help a community to thrive and survive, plus use a manufacturing process that has less of an impact on the environment. The point is that there’s not just one dimension of approach, they all roll into one another in a solution that lands somewhere between science and art.

 

GG: Can you have sustainability and extreme quality in the same product?

JC: I believe so. The early days of sustainability were a bit of rough start. The pioneers came in and it was probably similar to when cars were introduced. Automakers said, “I know you’ve been using this horse and buggy for a while and you’re comfortable with it. You know your horse and you know your buggy, but here’s this thing called an automobile. It’s got an engine and you can get rid of the horse.” And it didn’t work perfectly. It took people out of their comfort zone. I think what happened with the sustainability movement when it launched 10 years ago or so, was that some of the product features and benefits—apart from being sustainable—weren’t up to snuff. They cost more and delivered sub-standard performance, whether it was in fit, feel or comfort. That’s come so far in the last 10 years. The gap really has been closed and we’re seeing a lot of products out there that perform to very high standards AND have a sustainability dimension built in. 

 

GG: Is that sustainability dimension going to help KEEN grow as a brand?

JC: Absolutely. It’s not going to, it already is. When we’re in product meetings and when we go over to factories, we sometimes become the accidental environmentalist. We see a factory with a bunch of scrap aluminum and we ask what they’re going to do with it. They tell us they’re just going to sweep it up and throw it away. So instead, we ask if we can have it and the next thing you know, the eyelets in many of our shoes and buckles on our bags are made from recycled aluminum. We didn’t design that into the front side of our product. We saw an opportunity with some scrap material and turned it into a finished product. That’s just one way that it already is helping us in measurable ways.

 

Another example is our Harvest Collection bags. Those were literally rice paper bags on their way to the landfill and we turned them into re-purposed messenger bags and wallets, etc. That line has been a huge success for us.

 

GG: There are a lot of businesses out there that want to start on a path to sustainability. Any advice for them? Must dos. Actions to avoid at all costs?

JC: For anyone who wants to make sustainability the center point of their business or their brand, take one hour or one day in your business model and ask, “would this business or brand still thrive and survive if we don’t build a sustainable nature into it?” If the answer is yes, then chances are you can take advantage of sustainability. If you’re putting yourself out there purely on the advantage that you’re more sustainable than the next brand, expect to have some challenges getting that message across to the consumer.

 

James Curleigh is the CEO of KEEN Footwear and a featured speaker at the Go Green Conference '09, October 7, 2009 in Portland Oregon. To register for the Go Green Conference '09, please visit: http://www.gogreenpdx.com/registration. Go Green '08 sold out early, so make sure to sign up soon! Curleigh and our other 40+ eco-visionary speakers are going to rock your green world.  For more on Keen and The Hybrid Life, please visit: http://www.keenfootwear.com

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Close your systems, open your business practices, lower your footprint and above all...collaborate. These are just a few of the key insights we gained in our interview with Sustainability Wonder Woman Darcy Winslow last week.  Winslow, a 21-year executive with Nike, now spends 100 percent of her time advising companies and organizations on how to get green with her own company, DSW Collective, Designs For A Sustainable World.

 

Struggling to start the sustainability process? Fighting to even get the leadership in your organization to listen to your eco-minded arguments? She's been there, done that and facilitated a major shift in focus at one of the most famous corporations on the planet. Lucky for us, she'll be speaking at the GoGreen 09' Conference in October--but if you can't wait to hear her tried and true advice (we can't blame you!), we've got you covered. Below is a teaser of Darcy's incredibly effective steps for getting your company on the path to sustainability.

 

GG: What is your personal philosophy on sustainable business and how were you able to align two seemingly unrelated areas (athletic footwear and sustainability) under that common goal.

DW: That’s a big question.  My personal philosophy on sustainable is, if I can borrow a line from Nike, is that there is no finish line.  I’m not sure that there will ever be something that is completely sustainable, but I think there are different levels of sustainability and how organizations approach it.

 

The first effort should be around mitigating the negative aspects of a business. After that, starting to adapt to some of the shifts we’re starting to see in the world around us from resources—finite natural resources—and the impact we have on climate change. And then ultimately, to start to redesign business models that create much more resilient communities and organizations, and THEN we might start getting close to sustainable businesses.

 

In terms of how I reconciled the business I was running with sustainability, was starting from the grassroots and understanding what the long term impacts of our business were. At the time I got started, I was running our advanced research and development division, which is where we make the long term investments around technology, chemistry and design features, etc., and to understand what impact they have when they play out two to ten years down the road and were we asking the right questions. And when we looked at it through that lens it started to frame up our long term goals around sustainability.

 

GG: Why are sustainable practices and values so important in the business climate and why is there "no time to lose," so-to-speak?

 

DW: If you look at any business, and I’ll use the sporting goods industry as an example, and at their supply chain and the resources that they draw upon, natural resource ecosystems are in decline—such as water. The apparel industry, not just Nike’s apparel business, but the entire apparel industry is incredibly water dependent. It’s very water intensive and the amount of water we have is finite. When that water is diverted from what is required to support a community to products, well how do we reconcile that? How do we begin to make investments in apparel innovation that reduce the dependency on water?  Same in the footwear industry—it’s heavily petroleum dependent. How do we make investments that will ensure that we are not dependent on a finite resource and one that has a heavy footprint? So it’s really about redirecting your investments based on the inputs into your product. I think every company needs to sit down and really understand: Are they drawing on a finite set of resources, or are they creating products such that they can move into a closed loop system and keep it in neutral balance?

 

GG: What was the tipping point for you? What inspired you to mount a dramatic sustainability program at Nike?

DW: For me it was two-fold. One was on a personal level. In 1996, I read a book called Living Downstream. And it talks about chemicals that get into our water system, our air, our land, downstream from chemical plants. And it answered two questions for me. Why did I have six miscarriages? And what was the cause of my husband’s cancer? It was literally because of the use of chemicals, that at the time were deemed safe. Then they found out that they had really horrible, long term impacts on human health. So that, in combination with running Nike’s advanced R+D Division and asking longer term questions—what are the long term impacts?--it forced me to think differently and in longer terms.

 

From a business perspective, it was at that same time that I met Bill McDonough for the first time. He was the green architect who designed and built our European Headquarters. He came into Nike and sat down with ten of us from the footwear division, one of whom is now the CEO of Nike, and said—very politiely—do you know what’s in your product? And we said, “well yes, we do.” He and his partner, Michael Braungart, had run a gas chromatagraph analysis and showed us all the different chemicals that were in the shoes, that were introduced by suppliers, by the manufacturing process, etc. That, for me, sealed the deal. That was the tipping point for me and the reason why I got involved in sustainability and why I’m doing it 100 percent of my time with DSW Collective now.

 

GG: Selling new projects and ideas to corporate leadership can often be challenging. How did you win support  for a shift in focus toward sustainability at Nike? What were the key selling points?

DW: Well it happened slowly. It was also quite a learning process, in terms of the language and the approach you use to engage people and to build the business case. In the very early days, before many people understood what sustainability really meant, including ourselves—this was in the late 1990s—it really wasn’t in their lexicon. To enter into the conversation from more environmentalist or activist perspective, that just did not work in business. Talking about the toxicity of products or their negative impact on the environment was a very difficult way to engage, especially the senior leaders and those who were in charge of the financial aspects.

 

It wasn’t until we began to shift our language to business language and focus on the positive impacts it would have on our business, that we began to really engage them and get their support. It wasn’t their full commitment, that came over time, but when we started assigning dollar values to both the investment and the return, combined with the growing consumer interest at the that time—because again, back then it was different, we had lots of survey data and trend data from both the U.S. and Europe, and environmental aspects never even made the top 15. Today that’s completely different. We had to build a business case around something that we thought would be true at some point in time and then be persistent about the message—but always show the return on investment. And also show the potential negative aspect about brand reputation if you do not adopt more sustainable business practices.

 

GG: Can you tell us about a few of the specific changes that were made and goals that you set, which other companies could learn from?

DW: Every company has to set their own goals, based on what their business model, their product, their service is. There are some that are common, regardless of what it is that you produce. One of those is your carbon footprint. Everyone needs to assess their carbon footprint. For Nike, back in 1999, I set the footwear goals to be zero waste, zero toxics and 100 percent closed-loop systems—which are still in place today. The closed loop business system has actually taken precedent and has become one of the most important aspects of how they make decisions at Nike.

 

The waste aspect, I think any company can look at that as well. And that’s waste in the broadest terms. That’s where you can really find dollars to support some of the other investments that need to be made. The other thing that companies really need to look at, in terms of opportunities and credibility around the actions they’re taking, is transparency. That’s something that is very difficult for some companies to open the doors and share information about their company. [Information about ] the supply chain and supply chain partners, that’s crucial, especially for a company that creates a product. Upstream, downstream, there are impacts all along the way. If you adopt a goal of closed loop systems or zero waste, you have to engage [your supply chain].

 

Finally, going back to your question about the economic climate and the state of natural systems around the world, we have to achieve an unprecedented level of collaboration both within our own industries and across industries, if we are going to achieve rapid integration and acceleration of sustainability into our businesses.

 

For more information on Darcy Winslow and DSW Collective: Designs For A Sustainable World, please visit: http://dswcollective.com/indexSplash.html

 

Darcy Winslow is a featured speaker at the GoGreen ‘09 Conference in Portland, Oregon on Wednesday, October 7th. Join us for a day of sustainability inspiration and education! GoGreen ‘08 sold out, so get your tickets soon to get serious about greening your business. Visit http://www.gogreenpdx.com/registration to register.

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In this episode, we sit down with Mark Brady, Sustainable Development Liaison at the Oregon Business Development Department. Mark shares his thoughts and expertise on getting local, state and federal support for your projects + tells about what Oregon’s State Government is up to on the sustainable business front.

 

Mark Brady is a speaker at the GoGreen ‘09 Conference in Portland, Oregon on Wednesday, October 7th. Join us for a day of sustainability inspiration and education! GoGreen ‘08 sold out, so get your tickets soon to get serious about greening your business. Visit http://www.gogreenpdx.com/registration to register.

 

For more information on the Oregon Business Development Department and The Oregon Way, please visit: http://www.oregon.gov/OBDD/

 

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Oregon Secretary of State Kate Brown has come a long way from the days when her friends used to tee-pee her lawn to get under her already eco-conscious skin. Now Brown is Chair of the Oregon Sustainability Board and oversees a multitude of projects, initiatives and policy-driven goals within that role.

 

For Brown, a lawyer turned legislator, it's surprisingly the first time she has been able to directly put her environmental expertise to work in her public service--but that hasn't stopped her from making waves, tackling big challenges and working tirelessly to spread the word about Oregon's leadership in sustainable enterprise to the world.

 

Before she keynotes at The GoGreen '09 Conference, Secretary Brown sat down with us to give you a sneak peek at what's going on in Oregon's sustainability-focused Capital.

 

GG: When did you develop an interest in environmental conservation and sustainability?

KB: [Laughs] You’re kidding right? Well I got my undergraduate degree in environmental conservation back in 1981. And I went to Lewis and Clark Law School and got my environmental certificate in 1985, so it’s been a life long interest. 

 

GG: Was it something that growing up, as a young woman, you were interested in?

KB: Yes. Totally. My girlfriends used to throw their trash out at my house and toilet paper the house because they knew it would drive me crazy! My parents thought it was really funny, believe me. But I wanted to be an environmental lawyer for many, many years—since I was a little girl. 

 

GG: Well you’re obviously very passionate about the issue. How has that passion manifested itself into your work with the State of Oregon?

KB: Well that’s a really interesting question, because this has actually been my first opportunity to work directly in environmental policy through two areas—one being that I chair the Sustainability Board. For whatever reason, it just didn’t happen during the 17 years I was in the state legislature. I became caucus leader fairly early during my tenure in the State Senate and ended up working, sort of conducting issues. For instance Brad Avakian was chair of the Environmental Committee or Charlie Ringo was chair of the Environmental Committee, so I didn’t really work those issues directly. This has been my first opportunity to work in policy, so I’m chairing the Sustainability Board. And for me, that job is to continue to fill former Secretary Bill Bradbury’s role or rather his very big shoes.

 

The first piece is that the Sustainability Board develops sustainability plans for 24 of the State agencies. So I would see next steps for them as performance evaluation—how are [agencies] complying with the sustainability plans and are these plans making a difference? And the other piece is that DAS (Department of Administrative Services)—which is kind of like the pie crust--has just sent out a draft for a policy on resource conservation and I think what you will see the State Sustainability Board do is assess how well State agencies are complying with this statewide manual on resource conservation.

 

GG: What’s been the greatest challenge for you, since coming into office, in pushing this front of sustainable business and an ecological focus for the Oregon economy? 

KB: I have to tell you—even on the Sustainability Board—we have no funding. So I have an 11-member board and we don’t have the resources—people are just doing this out the goodness of their hearts and their commitment to environmental policy for the State. 

 

GG: Can you describe some of the creative ways the Sustainability Board gets around having little funding? Because a lot of businesses are in the same situation these days… 

KB: Well, for example the Board traveled to Enterprise in June—and I wasn’t able to go—but they went to meet with a number of folks and toured the Zumwalt Prairie in Wallowa County and all the board members paid for that out of their own pocket. We’re basically on a shoe-string here. So we’re having to be very creative and folks are willing to donate their own personal time and resources to participate. It takes a lot of creativity and ingenuity on the part of the board members to implement projects.

 

GG: Are there any projects that you have a great desire to see accomplished in 2009? Any personal goals?

KB: There are a couple of things. One is, we have typically done an awards presentation in combination with the OEC (Oregon Environmental Council) Business Conference in December, and I’d really like to leverage that into and opportunity for businesses to—well let me give a really specific example: In the 2007 and 2008 years, one of our vineyards, Sokol-Blosser, got an award for their sustainability practices and I want to leverage that award process for encouraging sustainability cluster wide. I want to make sure that we are meeting our statewide sustainability goals and I want to make sure that we are implementing one of the bills we worked to pass for eco-system services while I was in the State Senate: Senate Bill 513. Those are my three goals for the year.

 

GG: It sounds like you have a lot on your plate—and on a “shoe-string” budget as you said—which is where a lot of business in Oregon seem to be at. What are some of the important action steps for Oregon businesses to take in order to take them to the next level of sustainability?

KB: I think for Oregon, we are developing both a national and international reputation for our sustainability practices and our green economy, and I think it would be leveraging with other businesses and collaborating with other businesses in your cluster area to make sure you’ve implemented best sustainability practices. So replicated best practices, and I think we’ve got to do better at marketing communications. So if we’ve got a business cluster where everyone has great sustainability practices—that’s great, but the next step is to ensure that there are good marketing practices in place so the general public knows how well we’re doing. Oregon Country Natural Beef is a really great model.

 

Let me also give an example from the public sector. In the late 1990s we passed legislation, Senate Bill 1149, which provided for a conservation fee on utility bills in the Pacific Power and PGE (Pacific Gas and Electric) service areas. Those dollars are going into what I would essentially call a trust fund—an energy trust—and I think there is about $100 million in there. I don’t there’s been a good enough job done of marketing that those resources are available for certain types of projects. So that business model works very well, but we have to do a better job of marketing and communicating—which is a tough challenge in today’s over-messaged world.

 

GG: Are there any recent success stories in terms of projects taking off that you’re really excited about?

KB: You know, I would talk about Senate Bill 513,but we’re meeting with Senator Devlin because it’s become sort of a three-way partnership with the Natural Resources Institute at Oregon State University and the Oregon Sustainability Board and now, the Oregon Watershed Enhancement Board. What I see with Senate Bill 513 is the breaking down of agency silos and moving forward on environmental sustainability projects. What’s exciting, initially, about the proposal is that you have one state agency, one higher education institution and a state board all working together to implement this proposal. It’s a partnership of an odd conglomeration of folks. And I think folks are going to have to remember that politics makes strange bedfellows and they’re going to have to look at unusual partnerships.

 

GG: Do you see that happening in the private sector as well? 

KB: That I don’t know, but I think it needs to happen. 

 

GG: If we can pull this off—that is interweaving sustainable and economic goals into the foundations of our businesses—where do you see us going?

KB: I see Oregon as being a leader nationally and, hopefully, internationally in the green economy.

 

Oregon Secretary of State Kate Brown is a keynote speaker at the GoGreen ‘09 Conference in Portland, Oregon on Wednesday, October 7th. Join us for a day of sustainability inspiration and education! GoGreen ‘08 sold out, so get your tickets soon to get serious about greening your business. Visit http://www.gogreenpdx.com/registration to register.

 

If you would like to learn more about Secretary Brown, visit: http://www.sos.state.or.us/bbook/state/executive/secretary_of_state/secbio.htm

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Carpet tiles aren’t the first thing that come to mind when we hear the words “sustainable products,” but they darn well should be. Forget bio-dynamic wine, hybrid cars, solar panels and organic bamboo for a minute and focus on the awesome reality that a carpet tile manufacturer–Interface Global to be exact–is leading the way with long-term, sustainable planning and actionable steps to becoming a eco-neutral company.

 

It’s pretty incredible.

 

Interface has a great vision when it comes to seeing the big environmental picture. They’ve spent ample time and effort cutting down on waste, finding ways to be more sustainable and investing in their people. Interface Americas Senior Vice President of Marketing–and point person for their sustainability efforts–Joyce LaValle, was kind enough to share some insights on where to start, what’s important and why we should all be re-evaluating our business plans with sustainability + equity in mind.

 

GG: How did your career lead you to the sustainability leadership role with Interface Americas that you hold today?

 

JL: Well that’s a whole long story, but let me give you an abbreviated version of it. I began working for Interface about 22 years ago. At that time carpet tile was a new concept in the American Marketplace, and so it was fascinating because it was a very entrepreneurial company with very unique idea. So I began with them—began selling—and have been here ever since. I’ve had many roles. I ran a manufacturing company, they bought a small, high-end broadloom line and I ran that, I’ve run the HR part of the business, I’ve run the organizational learning part of the business; right now I’m Senior Vice President of Marketing, but that too is a position that I’m in because as time has gone on, I’ve come to know the company very well and it’s easy to slide me into slots. If there’s an issue, it’s easy to send me because I’ve been around a long time and I know the parts and pieces. My background is not Marketing, but with all these things that I’ve done, I know the company, the culture and the sustainability story well.

I was there when the sustainability vision came. I was in sales, I was part and parcel of the group that saw this as a new horizon. My daughter has her masters in solid waste management and she was my inspiration. She actually sent me the book, The Ecology of Commerce, which through some serendipity I got Ray Anderson [Chairman + Founder of Interface Global] to read and that set a new path for Interface. I didn’t set Ray in a new direction, all I did was give him a book that then set the whole corporation in a new direction.

 

GG: What are some of the initiatives that Interface has put into place? Can you talk a bit about “Mission Zero”?

 

JL: “Mission Zero” is an outward branding. We’ve been on the path to sustainability for over 16 years now and when we started, we began with a full-blown plan to create a sustainable enterprise. And we continue—16 years later—to work the same plan. If you go on the Interface, Inc. website and look under sustainability, you’ll see the plan with seven fronts. So until about five years ago, we had been quietly working the plan and then it became clear that our competitors were talking about themselves being green and we chose to brand the journey that we were on as “Mission Zero.” It was an outward promise—along with the obvious internal promise—that by 2020 we would have no adverse effect on the earth by virtue of our business. So we took a very deep plunge to show to the people in every piece that we put out that this is our vision and “Mission Zero” is now a brand. We’re going to lessen our footprint all the way to zero by 2020 and we have plans in place to make that happen.

 

Now we not only sell carpet, but we bring carpet back into carpeting and backing. So lots of things have happened inside the Interface organization based on the fact that we have a strong driving—you know you could say vision, but it’s really a mission. It’s an extraordinary culture that’s here because of the path that’s been laid out, I mean there’s nobody here that isn’t on the path. Obviously it brings great personal value and satisfaction to work for a company where you make a product that is—I mean there’s no such thing today a product that’s completely sustainable—but that you work for a company that has a plan to move in that direction. It’s a very exciting. It’s a very worthwhile place to be. Our chairman speaks all over the world, he’s a recognized leader and nobody would have expected that from a small, carpet company. We do have an effect that we can bring. We educate and inspire our associates and our customers and I think we’ve had a real effect on the world by virtue of our vision.

 

GG: Has your experience in taking the path to sustainability proved that one can save the planet and the bottom line at the same time?

 

JL: Absolutely. Absolutely. Interface has been extremely successful in that. Obviously, we’re affected by the marketplace, but without sustainability as our siren call, we would have been in much worse financial condition in a number of times. Take 2001, which was the last downturn, and this downturn, we’re really weathering the storm in a very good way and we can tell you that it’s all based on that vision. And it’s not altruistic, it’s just good business. When you take the old nutrients from used carpet and make them back into new carpet, that’s a very smart business model, especially when you think about the fact that you’re no longer mining for new materials and you’re cutting yourself off from virgin materials and virgin oil. It’s actually very very smart business.

 

GG: You spoke briefly about the quality of people working at Interface, how big is that human element in these matters?

 

JL: Almost immeasurable—though we do actually take a measurement each year. The engagement factor inside Interface around our vision is more powerful—measurably powerful—than many other highly recognized companies. People are very clear on what the vision is and what the mission is and are very drawn to it. I’d also say that—well no young person would wake up and say they want to go to work for a carpet company and yet we have some of the best and brightest who desperately want a job at Interface. We only wish we had enough place for all those people. Recruiting is not an issue, because young people also want their work to be meaningful. They’ve heard of us, because Ray Anderson and about 30 others speak continuously. We are highly desired on college campuses and all of us go with great glee to campuses because, frankly that audience is pre-prepared for that conversation—they’re anxious for the conversation. It’s been quite extraordinary. It certainly wasn’t an intent, but it turns out that it really does matter to people where they work and what kind of company they work for. All the money in the world can’t buy the kind of reputation Interface has. And that reputation has been earned alongside this vision.

 

GG: So what’s the next step for Interface?

 

JL: There’s a next step that is always around and that’s innovation. We’ve also just launched an initiative called missionzero.org, which is a gift to the community; one that needs to form and would like to form and take the sustainability journey. It has no advertising. It is not a place for any business to take place, not even ours. It is a welcoming place for the sustainability vision to be discovered—not our vision, but other people’s vision. So people can find their place in that. We’d very much like that community to grow. We believe that within this community, for us, and for many others, there will be solutions discussed and we’ll have our finger on that pulse—because we’re listening for where this conversation is taking us all. Where is the next place? Again, now we can make carpet back into carpet. Our investments at Interface will continuously improve that concept. We believe there could be reclamation sites all over the country and the world, so we get close and closer to getting all the collectable carpeting back into new carpeting again. We have that closed-loop system available, now all we need to do is expand it.

 

GG: What are the biggest misconceptions about going green with your business?

 

JL: I think the biggest misconception is around providing better education for people about “green” in order for them to make good choices. Today, everybody is green, supposedly—that is if you believe everything you’ve read. So the challenge is: how do you separate the wheat from the chaff? And for a new designer or buyer, it’s not immediately apparent. Everybody kind of looks green. We know that this isn’t true, but it’s hard to be always in the leadership position because there are always many followers.

 

GG: What advice would you give to a business that wants to take a new direction towards a more sustainable future?

 

JL: I recommend them to START. And of course, I’d recommend having a plan. And if they did nothing else, and not even call it sustainability, just say in their business that they’re going to reduce waste, they can get on the path. They’ll need to expand it of course, that’s not really enough, but the one thing about reduction of waste in any corporation or company, is that if you go after waste, what you will find is money. And that will fund all the rest. But a full-blown plan about how you are going to lighten your footprint on a continual basis is what I would love for all corporations to do—and be serious about it.

 

For more information on Joyce LaValle, Interface Global and the Mission Zero project visit: http://www.interfaceglobal.com and http://www.missionzero.org

 

Joyce LaValle is a featured speaker at the GoGreen ‘09 Conference in Portland, Oregon on Wednesday, October 7th. Join us for a day of sustainability inspiration and education! GoGreen ‘08 sold out, so get your tickets soon to get serious about greening your business. Visit http://www.gogreenpdx.com/registration to register.

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When Nik Blosser started Celilo Group Media in 1999, he could count—on one hand—the number of consulting firms with the same focus on promoting and developing sustainable businesses. Helping companies move up on the ecological spectrum has become a lot more popular since then (as have Celilo Group Media’s beloved Chinook Book and Eco Metro Guides), but the core principles Blosser started out with are still relevant.


Blosser is quick to point out that while greening your business may be a trend, it is certainly not a fad. He cites the fact that major players—such as Honda, Toyota, Nike and Patagonia—are driving this point home by reformulating their business model around sustainability as a core principle rather than merely selling a few “green” products to meet consumer demand.


With that kind of leadership blazing the trail, we can all hope the masses will follow. Read on to hear Blosser’s thoughts on how the market has shifted, where we’re headed and why green should definitely—pardon the cliché—be the new black in your entrepreneurial and political wardrobes.


GG: What, in your mind, defines a business as sustainable? How do they obtain this credential?


NB: There is not one universally accepted definition of what makes a sustainable business. For me, it's a business where superior environmental attributes of their products and/or processes are a core part of their business model. The "core part of the business model" is the key. Lots of businesses recycle or sell a "green" product here or there. But to be a sustainable business, this has to be fundamental to your business. Many businesses today are on a path to sustainability, but very few are what I would call "sustainable".

 

GG: So, why did you choose to focus on marketing/supporting such businesses?


NB: Well, I liked the combination of being entrepreneurial and saving the earth at the same time.


GG: How has the market changed in the past 5-10 years for businesses that are sustainable or moving towards it? Has that given them an edge in their marketing/branding?


NB: The major benefits of being green or sustainable have evolved. A year or two ago, the major benefit was probably its impact on attracting top talent to your company. More and more, specific green products such as organic food, green building products and renewable energy are big business with big business opportunities.


GG: Do you see a sustainable focus as crucial to brand survival in the future?


NB: In a marketing context of the word "brand" I would say almost certainly. However, the problem is that sustainability can be faked. Chevron, for example, is doing a pretty good job of it.


GG: Who are some leaders amongst major corporations on the sustainable front? What are they doing?


NB: I think you have to say Toyota and Honda in terms of their commitment -- before the market clearly demonstrated widespread demand -- to hybrid-electric vehicles. That faith in the "trend" of sustainability, before the market clearly demands it, is what separates the true leaders. Nike and the work they've done throughout their organization on sustainability is another real leader. Timberland, Patagonia are others.


GG: Will there be a point where sustainable is the norm? Or will it always be a niche segment for conscious consumers with the means to spend a little extra upfront to avoid environmental costs?


NB: I hope so. If not, our kids and grandkids will live in an increasingly toxic and unfriendly planet. But it will not get there only on consumer demand. There will have to be significant government regulation in key areas -- toxics and energy production being two of them. Consumer demand will get us part of the way there, but sustainable will not become the norm without stronger laws, simply put.


GG: Can we, as a population, afford to have sustainable businesses remain a niche segment of the economy?


NB: Well, we can "afford" it, at least in the short-term. Maybe even for a couple hundred years. The problem is that long-term, we leave a very different, and I think much diminished, planet to future generations.


GG: What can consumers/business owners do to enhance the role of sustainable businesses in the economy + force others to follow suit?


NB: Honestly, at this point I think the most important thing business owners can do is get involved politically with their business trade organizations, and for business owners and consumers to be more involved with groups like the Oregon League of Conservation Voters who are working politically to get laws passed that make our state and country more sustainable. Second would be for consumers to be much more vocal with businesses that are clearly less sustainable. When's the last time you saw a boycott or protest at a local Exxon gas station? Yet this company is doing as much as any company to slow effective climate protection policies at all levels, including here in Oregon.


For more information on Nik Blosser and Celilo Group Media, visit their website: http://www.celilo.net


Nik Blosser will also be presenting at the GoGreen 09’ Conference, October 7, 2009 in Portland, OR. For more information on the GoGreen 09’ Conference visit: http://www.gogreenpdx.com

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