Unadulterated

​For most sustainability managers, there comes a time when your program starts to take shape. There is a future direction; there are goals – even some achievements. You’ve moved beyond baby steps with light bulbs and recycled office paper. You’re tackling the big stuff. You’re proud of the program you and your team have created. It may not be perfect but your aim is true and you are making progress.

There are many questions that go into understanding “green” eggs and ham, as the Dr. Seuss-inspired poem above suggests. Asking questions about environmental, social, and economic impact is a typical starting point for advancing product sustainability. For animal-based food products, sustainability also needs to address the animal’s care. The top animal welfare issues companies are tackling concern cages for egg-laying hens and gestation crates for sows. But does addressing these animal welfare issues make for green eggs and ham?

​As part of a wave of states across the country that are demonstrating leadership in addressing toxins in consumer products, the State of Maine’s Board of Environmental Protection voted last month to expand existing legislation to ban the chemical Bisphenol A (BPA) in baby food packaging. BPA, a component of an epoxy resin in the seal on baby food container lids, leaches into the stored food. It poses a concern because of the hormone mimicking and disruption effects that the chemical has on the human body. Young children are the most susceptible because their bodies are still developing; a recent study suggests a link between BPA levels and childhood obesity.

Why do sustainability achievements come naturally for some companies, while others struggle to achieve even modest targets for impact reduction? I wish I could say the difference is some companies hire our sustainability consulting services and others don’t. But the truth is, despite abundant guidance and support, I’ve seen some clients take only faltering steps, while others take the ball and run. So when a company clearly has winning ways, it makes sense to take a closer look.

“The sky is so blue; it looks fake.” That was what most shocked a Chinese graduate student I befriended during his studies in the United States. He had never seen a brilliant blue sky before. His friends back home thought he used a filter for his photographs because surely the sky could not be that color. He didn’t come from a rainy locale but from one of the many polluted cities in China.

When we think of passing Thanksgiving traditions on to our children, it’s not just the recipe for stuffing and the tradition of togetherness, we also usually envision turkey as the centerpiece of the meal. Yet 99% of turkeys in the U.S. food supply come from one breed — the “Broadbreasted White,” famous for its large white breast meat. While high yielding, this breed isn’t able to reproduce naturally and must rely on artificial insemination — without human assistance the breed wouldn’t survive.

If you haven’t looked at the Federal Trade Commission’s “Green Guides”, now is the time. The FTC published an update to the Guides for the Use of Environmental Marketing Claims on October 1. This was a long awaited change since the last update was in 1998. The Green Guides provide guidance on how to make claims about the green attributes of products and packaging. A significant step forward in the updated Green Guides was made with new details on how to use green seals of approval and certification programs that add strength to their meaning. This is a win for consumers – as well as for companies that have seen a proliferation of competitors’ claims dilute their product’s credible green certification and those looking to add certification claims and seals of approval to their green products.

It was twenty years ago that I first read Eric Hansen’s classic “Stranger in the Forest: On Foot Across Borneo” and was immediately transported to a fantastical world bursting with magnificent riches. Hansen trekked almost 1,500 miles through forest so dense that the local people were pale-skinned from lack of sunlight. This world is now being relegated to the realm of fantasy — victim to the world’s growing demand for palm oil.

I was in Ireland back in 2002 just after that country passed a tax on plastic bags equal to 24 U.S. cents per bag. I wasn’t aware of the tax and had just bought a week’s worth of groceries when I was informed of it. It had obviously become socially unacceptable to use plastic bags at all – everyone I saw had cloth bags or boxes. I pressed my three-year old twins into service and we all carried armloads of groceries out the door.

Additional people on the planet will put increasing pressure on food, water and other resources. As we zoom toward the projected figure of nine billion people by 2045, a new study suggests there is another statistic to worry about – our weight.

Two very different news stories caught my eye at the end of May. The initial article in Triple Pundit, praised ten companies for the excellence of their sustainability reporting. The other, in the Guardian, reported on a Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS) study of 28 publicly traded companies in the S&P 500 that work both sides of the room to influence the debate on climate change. The study found that some businesses claim to care about climate action while quietly supporting groups working to discredit climate science.

Two positive trends in product sustainability and a recent report highlighting species loss prompt us to look at how companies consider the impacts of their own activities on biodiversity.

If we take as our premise that corporate responsibility means more than just running a company in a responsible manner – that the term is imbued with a larger sense of responsibility for humanity as well – than what role should a responsible company play in alleviating hunger?

Some things are really hard for me to get my head around….the number of people in the world, the number of people who vote for American Idol contestants and the amount of trash that Americans generate.

Can you imagine a sustainable economy where we live within our planetary means? An economy that is transparent and accountable in decision-making and equitably shares benefits and resources? An economy where capital markets collaborate in promoting a just society?

I’ve traipsed through my share of college campuses during the past year with a high school senior in tow and have been impressed by the sustainability achievements the colleges have touted. A combination of youthful energy, innovative funding mechanisms, and some healthy rivalry have pushed many colleges to embrace sustainability across their buildings, curriculum, food services and campus culture. My conclusion? The campus sustainability revolution runs deep, is here to stay, and puts some corporate efforts to shame.

Citizen activists have been behind many of the key environmental improvements in the United States. Check out my favorite movie, Erin Brokovich, to see just one of thousands of examples of citizens pushing successfully for change. Not so in China. Doesn’t change start at the top there? Maybe not.

We all know it’s difficult to influence ethical labor conditions in the supply chain. But a recent article in The Economist on March 31st discusses just how hard it is. This follows up on our recent post on Chinese supply chain issues.