World is Green

The Environmental Magazine - E, has a list of 10 Green jobs to look at. The specific jobs are not important. What is important to understand is the potential of ‘green’ jobs.

“People think there is some kind of mystery, ‘Where are the ‘green’ jobs?’” says Marie Kerpan, founder of consulting practice Green Careers, “There are a bazillion companies where you can take your skills and put it to work in a ‘green company.’”

So how do you do this?

There’s no secret to getting a job in the new green economy. It’s as basic as applying the job skills you’ve already developed (web design, sales, management) to a nonprofit or sustainable industry, or coordinating sustainable practices from within a corporate entity. Sometimes, as in green building or solar panel installing, these green jobs require a specific set of skills—and classes are organizing to fill the growing need. Other times, as in the organic food industry, ecotourism or sales and marketing of energy-efficient technology, anyone with a good work ethic can get in and create a great green career.

This is exactly my thinking. As there are opportunities in different organizations to reach and embrace this green opportunity, there are avenues for people to do the same. This is the same thinking I am using for myself.

London has celebrated its “switch off” campaign yesterday. Like the Sydney Earth Hour, the idea was to create awareness of the climate change issue.

The Houses of Parliament after the big switch-off (Courtesy: BBC)

Lights across the city were switched off for an hour on Thursday night to encourage London’s three million households to conserve energy.

The Lights Out London campaign aimed to have all non-essential lighting turned off between 2100 and 2200 BST. It followed similar campaigns in cities including Sydney, Paris and Rome.

At the time of Sydney’s Earth Hour I wrote that “It is important that the debate is concentrated on doing more important things than turning lights off. We should work towards cleaner base load energy, creating “cradle to cradle” industrial processes, building waste management systems and changing the culture in Australia. These are tougher and more important things to do.”

What kind of awareness does this lights off symbolism create? Energy is the problem, switching off is the solution, sacrificing is the way to go?

Josie Appleton on Spiked writes about the role of energy in the world and why this act amounts to nothing in the wider scheme of things.

The practical effect of the event will be negligible – perhaps a 10 per cent reduction, for an hour, for one city, for one night.

…Lights Out London is a symbolic gesture from a high-speed culture that is deeply uncomfortable with itself. We have so much at the flick of a switch, yet we are uneasy about the idea of using energy, and a light bulb is becoming a symbol of angst rather than a bright idea. We in some respects seem to find darkness more meaningful than light, inaction more meaningful than action.

What kind of awareness do we need to create? We need to change our industrial system, change our buying pattern, create better technology for energy generation, and increase energy efficiency. And yes, change our habits.

By switching off the city lights for a hour it can actually create the wrong impression.

The ME222: Design for Sustainability program at Stanford has a blog on of its own. The authors blog about the new Stanford 5-day course in “business strategy and sustainability”.

A month ago, Stanford Business School announced that it would begin a new program dealing with sustainability and corporate responsibility. This new initiative, called the “Business Strategies for Environmental Sustainability Executive Program” will consist of 5-day workshop to be offered in the fall at the Stanford Sierra conference center, located on Lake Tahoe (perhaps to inspire some appreciation for natural resources?). The workshop is targeted at senior executives of private, public and non-profit organizations

Faculty director William Barnett had this to say about the motivation behind the program:

Today, environmental sustainability has become an objective both in our public policies and our business strategies. Consequently, best practice in environmental sustainability needs to be understood by business executives, environmental activists, public administrators, and regulators alike. The goal of our program is to bring together executives from each of these worlds, to expose them to state-of-the-art knowledge on environmental sustainability in business, and to facilitate their learning from one another. The program aims to be a watershed event in each participant’s career, accelerating the development of those who will shape tomorrow’s sustainable business and public policies

Marianna Grossman Keller writes in Nooventures on the key thinkers/books to help us understand the sustainability challenge. The emphasis is on the kind of thinking needed to solve the problem and the principles behind some of the important books.

The books she covers are:

• Limits to Growth and Sustainable Future, Donella Meadows, Dennis Meadows, et al
• Believing Cassandra: An Optimist Looks at a Pessimist’s World, by Alan AtKisson
• Natural Capitalism: Creating the Next Industrial Revolution by Paul Hawken, Amory Lovins, L. Hunter Lovins
• Biomimicry: Innovations Inspired by Nature by Janine Benyus, William Morrow
• Eco-Economy: Building an Economy for the Earth by Lester R. Brown
• “The Great Turning: 9/11 and Heart of the World” by Joanna Macy
• Cradle to Cradle: Remaking the Way We Make Things, The Next Industrial Revolution by William McDonough and Michael Braungart
• The Natural Step Story: Seeding a Quiet Revolution by Karl-Henrik Robert

Sushil Kumar, a professor at the Indian Institute of Management - Lucknow (IIM-L), one of the top of MBA schools in the country, writes about the newly introduced “Corporate Environmental Management and Carbon Markets” course.

Professor Kumar points to the increasing interest from large corporates from the Indian industry who are interested in the Clean Development Mechanism and he actually puts a number on the certified emission reduction (CER) units per year available in India right now at USD 2 billion.

In this scenario he believes it is important that B-Schools take up the initiative to train managers for a changing future.

The objectives of the course on Corporate Environmental Mangement and Carbon Markets are as follows:

• To provide an overview of global and national environmental policy/law issues.
• To discuss the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA), Environmental Management Plan (EMP), and Environmental Management Systems (EMS).
• To examine and analyse various strategies of environmental management.
• To describe implementation of the Kyoto Protocol and understand Emission Trading Systems.
• To understand the Clean Development Mechanism from the perspective of business in India.

This is great stuff. In my MBA, I had to struggle to find courses which would help to understand this field from a business  point of view better.

I decided to do an elective in Environmental and Resource Economics from the Economics department in Adelaide University which provided the theory and a self-managed course in Environmental Accounting provided a practical grounding. And, all through the MBA I took the time to read books, follow stories and people to connect the learnings in the MBA to the green new world of the future.  For more information on what I did and the books I read check the post Life Study - Continous Personal Development.

I hope more schools around the world take the tip from IIM-L.

What if the employees of an organization start making sustainability personal? What if the organization can help employees in making this happen? What could be it mean for the employees and the employer? These are some of the questions that I am grappling with daily in my job.

One main issue we were struggling with was to create a compelling sustainability theme which should resonate with all our employees and make them change their behaviours at work. What we hit upon was providing them with a “sustainability lifestyle at work” or “sustainable work practices” program. The best part of this program - it will provide the employee with ideas and solutions to become environmentally friendly at their home and save some money!

Our’s is a state government organization with 7000+ employees spread over 300 offices and other buildings all over the state. Add to this the diversity of the workforce and the reluctance to change and we have a big job at hand.

Sarah Rich at World Changing writes about the “personal sustainability project”. Here, she connects sustainable workplace practices with the example of the personal sustainability project of Walmart. This is exactly what we are planning to do at the Department of Families and Communities in South Australia.

Sarah provides evidence about how “energy -efficient” work practices have increased the productivity of employees at various organizations. According to the Cool Companies report for United States Post Office branch in Reno, Nevada, when the management renovated the lighting system for greater energy-efficiency it has resulted in multiple benefits.

Energy savings projected for the whole building come to about $22,400 a year. The new ceiling also saved $30,000 a year in maintenance costs. Combined energy and maintenance savings came to $50,000 a year, a six-year payback. But the productivity gains were worth $400,000 to $500,000 annually - paying for the renovation in less than 12 months.

The inspiring example to me is however, Wal-Mart.

According to the NyTimes:

In the last year, Wal-Mart has quietly introduced an ambitious program in the United States — in equal parts self-help class, corporate retreat and tent revival — that tries to turn its 1.3 million workers into a model for its 200 million customers on issues ranging from personal health to the environment.

In extensive workshops held nationwide, the company is teaching its employees the benefits of carpooling to work with three colleagues (for a savings of $400 a year on gas), quitting cigarette smoking ($1,500 a year) and turning off a television ($40 a year in electricity, plus more time to spend with family).

The program, called the personal sustainability project, is voluntary, but it is proving popular, with roughly 50 percent of employees in a dozen states signing up so far. The company may eventually extend the program to its workers around the world.

For Wal-Mart, the payoff could be significant: if it succeeds, the initiative could improve employee morale, and therefore productivity; reduce health care spending on a work force with higher rates of heart disease and diabetes than the general public; and improve Wal-Mart’s reputation with the image-conscious consumers it is courting with costlier merchandise.

The main difference in our program is to change the behaviour of people at home and work both. One should follow the other. By doing it right at home and saving money they can bring the same behaviour to work (hopefully!). As the numbers and ideas in the Walmart example show, the experience can create a huge diffrence to the employees. In the end, this should translate into better performance for the organization.

Health programs were not in my agenda but I guess it is an idea which I can incorporate. The sell to the management has been hard but we have won them over. Now, we are building the resources (website, presentations, brochures, ideas, frameworks) needed to make this happen.

We will not have the massive budget of Wal-Mart however, one way of achieving the goal is to partner with voluntary networks inside the organization working on similar stuff.

I am exploring ideas on “social psychology” and “social marketing” to sell this concept to the employees and the office managers at various offices across the state.

Reading this article has provided me with further evidence that we may be on the right track.

Bill Valentino, an MBA from Thunderbird, writes about the importance of
importance of CSR and Communications in the MBA’s toolkit.

Communication is an important aspect of a organization’s toolkit and so is for any MBA graduate or a manager. Bill suggests the basics that “Teaching future managers the tools needed to promote a product, a service, or the organization is aimed at ultimately achieving business success, a good image and creating, maintaining or protecting a valuable brand”

In his rather long article he explains why communication is a reputation-building tool and connects it to the CSR aspects of business. As I have mentioned before, CSR is too mushy to be a real sustainability tool for any organization.

He concludes:

It needs to be emphasized that aligning CSR and Corporate Communications in the MBA’s toolkit is not about public relations and publicity. It is about the perceptions that for a large part are the products of CSR, the actual transformation of what companies say they are in into actions that have a beneficial impact on society as well on the business.

Before we align CSR and Communications in the MBA toolkit the more important aspect is aligning sustainability into the MBA tool kit. Connecting strategy and sustainability, supply chain and sustainability, finance and sustainability and then when real work has happened it needs to be communicated.

One good aspect of this area is that once the tools and knowledge are gained in the MBA it can be easily applied in the sustainability field. What is required is updating knowledge of the field and a chance to work in any of the areas.

Most of the MBAs are still lacking any kind of sustainability aspects. Communication, in my view, is the least of the worries.

For sustainability students in Australia this could be a good chance to get some experience in this field.

The ANUgreen Sustainability Internship program is designed to give students experience working on practical sustainability projects within the ANU Sustainability Office (ANUgreen). The ANUgreen program works to reduce the environmental impact of the ANU through the implementation of the ANU Environmental Management Plan (see www.anu.edu.au/anugreen).

In first semester 2007 there will be 7 Sustainability Internships available for work on a number of projects including:

• Water conservation initiatives in science labs
• Water conservation initiatives in the Halls
• Water management in the ANU landscape
• The drafting of an ANU Greenhouse Gas abatement plan
• Analysis of the ANU Organic Recycling Project
• Green Building design for the ANU
• Education for Sustainability and the ANU curriculum

What does it involve?

Each internship is valued at $1500, and requires you to work in the ANUgreen office for 7 days. At the end of the internship you will required to provide ANUgreen with a report detailing the outcomes of your project. It might also be possible for you to use the report, or some other aspect of the project for assessment in a course you are enrolled in. Please note that it is the student’s responsibility to check with their lecturers if this feasible.

How do I apply?

To apply for an internship please draft a 250 word essay that explains how an ANU Sustainability Internship will help advance your academic and professional career, and send this, along with your CV to David.Carpenter@anu.edu.au by Friday 23rd March 2007.

Chinese Premeir Wen Jiabao pledged for environmental and equitable growth in the future for the Chinese Economy.

As the Australian reports:

Launching the annual session of the National People’s Congress, Mr Wen said future economic growth would hinge on “environmentally friendly industries”.

Projects would be assessed for “energy consumption and environmental impact”. Those that failed to meet such standards would be stopped. Mr Wen said China would close “backward” iron foundries with a production capacity of less than 30 million tonnes and “backward” steel mills that could produce 35million tonnes.

Mr Wen said “key energy-saving projects” would be introduced in industries including steel, other metals, coal, chemicals, building materials and construction.

Mr Wen also signalled the Government would control the scale of urban development and instead direct resources towards water conservation projects, energy production bases and trunk rail lines and highways.

The Guardian tackles the emphasis on Education and the rural poor:

`We must put people first, promote faster progress in social programs, work energetically to solve the most practical problems that are of greatest concern to the people … and ensure that all of the people share in the fruits of reform and development,” Wen said in a speech to China’s legislature, the National People’s Congress.

Tuition and other fees for all rural students will be eliminated, easing financial burdens on 150 million rural households, the premier said. The education program and an expansion of a subsidized rural health insurance system would complete in two years projects originally scheduled to be fazed in over five years.

“Education is the bedrock of China’s development, and fairness in education is an important form of social fairness,” Wen said in a 2 hour and 15 minute speech at the cavernous Great Hall of the People in central Beijing

In the countryside, where most Chinese live, spending on agriculture, schools, medical clinics and other programs will rise 15 percent to $51 billion, Wen announced.

With growing concern over China’s role in climate change and the increasing un-sustainable nature of its growth, the Chinese Premier’s speech comes at the right moment.

It remains to be seen what specific programs and policies will be announced and how it will be implemented.

Nick Aster at TriplePundit connects to a story on Recyclebank by Forbes.

Remembering the environmentalist mantra for waste - “Reduce, Reuse, Repair, Recycle, Refuse” recying is the 4th best alternative. Closed-loop manufacturing is far better in this scenario and changing people’s habits is the best.

RecycleBank works in the area of recylcing. It provides incentives to residents in Philadelphia, US to recycle their plastics, glass and other recyclables. It uses RFID tags to collect information.

RecycleBank tracks each household’s contribution by providing containers embedded with radio frequency identification tags that correspond to each household address. Scanners on sanitation trucks record the weights of each pickup in RecycleBank’s database. Each household gets an account number and can track their recycling points a la airline miles.

By providing a incentive it helps to encourage the idea of recycling. However, there is a problem.

The first one revolves around the idea of education. In the longer run, it makes sense to encourage recycling as a natural habit rather than incentivize it.

Second, Recycling only postpones the inevitable decline of products to waste. Recycling in that sense is not always the best option. In Cradle to Cradle, the authors provide an idea called “downcycling” where products, materials or flow of energy that is not useful in one process is transferred to another process which helps in reducing primary metals extraction, resource efficiency and sometimes energy efficiency.  These refer to the “reuse” and sometimes “repair” in the waste mantra.

Incentives to increase recycling is good to a limit - at sometime we need to create a closed-loop cycle. More recycling means, more waste. Also, there are debates around the efficiency (in terms of energy use etc) of recycling for all products.

The bigger goal should be to change the design of products in such a way that products and its materials are re-used. The infrastructure and systems which are being developed by RecycleBank have the possibility to mature into a system which can help manufactures to reclaim their products in their goal towards close-loop systems.