sustainable business

Living the Olympic dream. With 9 days to go before the world converges in Vancouver for the 2010 Winter Olympic Games we're in full swing to fulfill our commitments for 2010 Olympic partners. In November we were approached by our client Gameday Auction, an innovative sports memorabilia company based on Railway St in the Strathcona Green Zone, to help them design a sustainable packaging solution for a unique 2010 Olympic collectible, official replica jerseys (bibs), the same as the ones worn by the athletes during competition in the Games. A year ago they hired us to develop a sustainable corporate gift packaging solution for the Trevor Linden "Behind the Autograph" program and the rest has been history.

Trailblazing the road to sustainable packaging

If you think producing 100% post consumer recycled packaging is easy, think again! After much work with our various suppliers we were able to create 100% recycled (95% post consumer) gift boxes for the replica bibs. The vast majority of the cardboard packaging you'll see during the Games was produced by printing various gradients of blue directly onto bleached white cardboard. VANOC guidelines for using the Olympic logo and artwork stipulate that the logo must be displayed on a white background. From a sustainability perspective this was a very poor design decision as it meant to produce low cost packaging one had no choice but to use materials bleached with chlorine! We decided to print our artwork onto sheets of 100% FSC certified paper and glue that paper to recycled cardboard. We justified the additional costs to our client by not only the environmental benefits but also the value of creating a unique looking package that stands apart on the shelf. I brought in a great collegue of mine, Andy Maier of Courageous B who takes care of our graphic design, and we worked together to come up with solutions that work not only for our client but also that are feasible to produce with our suppliers. The bibs are being sold in the Olympic store at HBC and in the Athlete's Village (also in the Olympic venues during the Games) we're looking forward to seeing if they're a popular souvenir collectible. If you like collecting autographs the bibs are a really cool item as you can get them signed by athlete's during the Games and get them framed with photos and other things you collect during your stay in Vancouver and Whistler.

Lean manufacturing - implementing what I learned in business school

As we set up the assembly line to put together 3,000 bibs I implemented some of the lessons learned during my MBA in Sustainable Business at the Bainbridge Graduate Institute. Tact time is the amount of time it takes an individual to complete a task. If everyone's task takes the same amount of time then the assembly process flows without interruption. When one person's task is a lot faster than the others down the line, 'work in progress' stacks up and creates a 'bottleneck'. Check out the video of our team on Day 1 assembling the bibs, as I watched and timed each task it helped to figure out who should do what and how many people to put at the various stages. Although I'm a firm believer that there's a lot to learn from Toyota and lean manufacturing, at a small scale it really takes people to think on their feet, see where things are getting backed up and help out as they can to help keep the process flowing.

Carbon Neutrality - the Zero program at Hemlock Printers

The Hemlock Zero program offsets the carbon emitted during the full lifecycle of the paper manufacturing and transportation. Working with Offsetters, a leading industry carbon offset provider, the offsets help to support the development of renewable energy and clean technology projects which moves society towards a more sustainable future. If you're looking for a reputable and easy to use tool to calculate the environmental impact of your paper or cardboard project take a look at the Environmental Defence Fund's Paper Calculator site.

Lessons Learned - it's about more than profit

1. Project management - there's tremendous value in stepping back and looking at a project as a whole and having one person responsible for making sure all the details are in order. That way, one person can bring in all the people they need to get the job done as efficiently as possible.
2. Hold true to your values. Push the boundaries and create the solutions you want to see but understand that sometimes compromises have to be made to get the job done on time and on budget. Change happens in so many ways and it's important to be patient in leading the way. For example, even though we had sourced 100% recycled stickers we had to go with virgin stock product due to the long lead time needed to bring in the sustainable ones.
3. Business is more than about profit. Business is about relationships, this is how things get done. Not only from a production standpoint, thinking about how we were able to pull off tight timelines with our manufacturers and assembly crew, but also in closing the deal. It cost me money to pull off the original packaging solution for the Trevor Linden program, but because of it Gameday brought me in to help them with Olympic projects. Never compromise quality or service, that's what it's all about.

Tradition is one of those things that most people accept and few people question. The Christmas tree is one of those things that's made me wonder. Apparently the origin of the Christmas tree comes from pre Christian German heritage where its meaning was in bringing the beauty of nature into the home during the time of Yule. That's something that really rings true in me, in a world that moves so fast in manufactured urban landscapes, finding time to slow down and take in nature's beauty has value in my life and my home. They Holidays are a great time to relax, spend time with family, friends and loved ones and nature can only make that a more meaningful experience. If that's at the root of this centuries old tradition, why do we cut down and kill trees to have them in our houses for a few weeks when they could live out beautiful lives for decades or even hundreds of years in the wild? It seems real odd to me, maybe because I'm Jewish but I think there's more to it.

The answer is Carbonsync, a Vancouver based live tree delivery service that brings nature into your home and plants it into ecological restoration projects after you've enjoyed it over the Holidays. I recently met Brad Major, Carbonsyncs owner/operator, at the recent Climate Smart training, measuring our companie's carbon footprint, reducing emissions and offsetting the rest.  They're a good team, super friendly and are creating value for families and our environment. Well done!

Top 3 things cool about Carbonsync

1. No need to sacrifice a tree, enjoy nature in your home while respecting it's future

2. Live trees are less flamable than dried ones so it's safer for your family and your home.

3. Carbonsync donates a portion of profits to Burns Bog Conservation Society, a great non-profit that's been working for decades to protect North America's largest urban green space

The Green Zebra guide - local savings for sustainable living, is a great corporate gift to give employees to encourage a culture for sustainability and green business within your organization. Culture is king and how people behave dictates if business strategy is executed or just talked about. The Green Zebra guide is the Entertainment book for green living, filled with coupons and offers for local, health and environmental products and services. Yoga classes, health food stores, restaurants, attractions, hotels and yes, even gift basket businesses have coupons inside, many of value worth more than the $20 purchase price of the book. If you're wondering how to get your employees to bring sustainability into the work place, why don't you try to get them to bring it into their lives. If they like it, they'll bring it to work and feel good about it too.

Sustainable business doesn't work if its another thing for your employees to do. More tasks and more things to be responsible for in their job description. Green business flourishes when it's just how people do their job. It's part of the culture of how decisions are made, how opportunities turn are executed, the questions people ask and the answers they have. It's been well proven that sustainability can save companies money in HR, retaining employees for longer periods of time, increasing productivity and decreasing costs associated with training and lost knowledge and experience when people leave. When your employees bring their values to work they love their jobs, at least aspects of their jobs, and feel good knowing that their energy day in day out is going to improve the world in some way. If you're looking for more info on this subject I recommend reading 'The Sustainability Advantage' by Bob Willard. I've had the pleasure to meet Bob numberous times over the last few years at the Bainbridge Graduate Institute (BGI) and also at the CBSR Summit, an annual day long conference on corporate social responsibility in Canada.

Top 3 Things We Value in Green Zebra

1. Save money - try new products, restraunts and services with less risk. Some will be good, some not so much but you will find things that you enjoy that you might have not tried without a little incentive.
2. TB Vets - a portion of revenue gets donated to TB Vets, helping to improve health for residents in BC
3. Build a corporate culture that embraces sustainability - a significant value driver for bottom line benefits in your business. Giving people a coupon book isn't going to change your culture overnight. People build culture. But managment can help to steer the ship and as people try greening their personal lives in ways they enjoy they'll start to bring their behaviours to work. This is something that your can't train in a workshop or buy.

Today is a day to celebrate.  Obama is now officially the President of the United States.  It is our time, not to talk about change but to live it and create it in our lives, in our businesses and in our communities.  It's our opportunitiy to grab, but not on our own.  We must hold hands and run with it together.

This past weekend I was lucky enough to attend an Obama inauguration party with my friends from the Bainbridge Graduate Institute, a leading MBA in sustainable business near Seattle.  Everyone was in fine form, a highlight of the evening was a swearing in ceremony led by my good friend Aldan Shank, who effortlessly, and well protected by the secret service (see photo above), made light of our responsibility to make the most of this great time.  The opportunity is now and I'm ready to run.  Are you with me?

I just got back from what may have been the best business conference ever, the Social Venture Institute at Hollyhock on Cortes Island. Besides the breath taking land, mountains, ocean and forests, everything about it was all good. The sessions were first class and their format succinct and relevant. Learning from experts in the fields of branding, social enterprise, social media, strategy, business development, raising capital, basically all the things you need to have together to build a successful social mission based business. World class particpants and up and coming super stars, I feel lucky and privilaged to have been a part of it. Business is a lot more than about making money and this conference proved it. You need to have it together to be successful and profit is only a piece of success.

Top 5 things I loved about SVI

1) Networking - there aren't many places in the world where you can learn from multi millionaires, corporate executives, social justice leaders and budding entrepreneurs while kicking back in a hot tub looking out into Desolation Sound. I met so many amazing people, and not just trading cards, but really connecting, talking and learning from people I know I'll stay in touch with.

2) The Food - Top notch, local, organic healthy tasty living. Enough said. Everything put in front of us was amazing. Nourished mind, body and soul. SVI has it sorted. When the chefs get a standing ovation you know you're in good hands.

3) The Cortesians - It had been a few years since I'd been on Cortes Island while working on my MBA at the Bainbridge Graduate Institue (BGI). BGI has a great campus on this beautiful, quaint and remote island in the North Gulf Islands on the British Columbia coast. All the locals we met were super friendly, down to earth and leaders in so many ways. One of the leading Permaculture design schools is on Cortes - Linnaea Farm.

4) The Land - Beautiful big western red cedars, lush ferns on the forest floor, huckleberries, Sitka Spruce and fresh ocean air. Hollyhock is one beautiful place. Beaches for swimming, in the ocean or a nearby fresh water lake, everything was at our fingertips.

5) The buildings - green buildings left right and center. Inspirational learning spaces for the mind and heart. Besides all things business we nourished ourselves with massage, meditiation, yoga, you name it. Natural building at it's best. Cobb houses, solar power, yurts and modern concrete post beam luxary homes. Did I mention the hot tubs! Damb, this place is a slice of bliss.

After looking at the reclaimed parallam beams in our warehouse for the last 7 months I finally got around to following through on the reclaimed wood work bench I envisioned when Saul Good moved into share space with Eclipse Awards. Parallam is a recycled wood building product that Eclipse used to reinforce the ceiling to add strength for the green roof top deck on top of the building. It looks really cool, layers upon layers of in line wood grains, now playing the role of table top in our production space. It was just last week when I dropped into see our friends at Propellor Design, a local Strathcona Green Zone business that designs and builds rad lighting fixtures and furniture using eco materials, when I mentioned this project and they kicked down a super simple design that we bagan to work with. Besides scoring a design we also got a few boxes of reclaimed bamboo and nice hardwoods for our hand turned pens by Tradeworks Custom Products.

Building capacity & walking the talk

I hired Shane, one of the Eclipse production staff, to help turn the plan into action and after a day's work our new table is sorted! We're using it as our new and improved assembly benchy for our sustainable corporate gift and gift basket business. Not only does this new additon keep in line with our other green building and warehousing initiatives but also adds capacity to help meet growing demand for sustainable corporate gifts in Vancouver, BC. The new work bench has a lower shelf which we're using for our recycled gift boxes which frees up a bunch of space in our shelving for more the local organic gourmet food products we use in our gifts. With added production capacity we're gearing up for the Christmas and holiday gift season.

I am super lucky to have a view like this on my way home from work! Riding my bike over the Burrard Bridge in Vancouver, BC hosts fantastic views of English Bay out to the Georgia Straight and the Coast Mountains. I've been riding my bike to and from our Strathcona office and warehouse a few times a week, it's been an easy and fun way to start and end my work day. The new bike lane over the Burrard Bridge has made cycling safer in Vancouver and is a big step by Mayor Gregor Robertson and councellors like Andrea Reimer acting on their commitments for a sustainable city.

In most cities transportation is a major contributor ot green house gas emissions and there are many advantages for businesses to address this issue by engaging their employees to find alternate ways of getting to work without their cars.

Cycling saves time and money

- it's fast! It only takes me 25 minutes to ride my bike whereas it takes 45 minutes to take the bus. During rush hour it takes about the same amount of time to drive a car.

- purchasing a good bike costs way less than operating a car

- great exercise, gets the heart rate up and blood pumping to start the work day off right, increasing productivity

But I need my car during the day!

Some of us need a car during the day to run errands or hit up meetings, how can I get where I need to be if I don't have my car? A great option for this is car sharing services like the Co-operative Auto Network, a non-profit car sharing service in Vancouver, BC that let's it's members use vehicles by the hour at a fractional cost of owning your own vehicle. I've been a member for the last 3 years and for the most part the service has been great. When I first started Saul Good and was running it from my home the co-op helped me to save a lot of money by using their vehicles for big deliveries to clients. Loading a co-op pick up truck with 100 gift baskets and personally driving out to deliver them was a lot cheaper than delivery services or purchasing my own van or truck.

Top 3 things a company can do to promote sustainable commuting options

1) Offer to pay for cycling safety courses, helping to ensure that your employees feel comfortable while riding in traffic and get to work safely.

2) Provide incentives to get employees out of their cars. The Employer Pass Program at Translink gives your employees a 15% discount on public transit passes and you can kick a bit more in for added incentive. If you don't have 25 employees to sign up think about joining the Co-operative Auto Network as their members can join the program under their umbrella.

3) Remove barriers. Build showers for employees to use if they rid their bike into work. Sign up for the Company Car from the Co-operative Auto Network so employees can use vehicles during the day if need be.

The Strathcona Business Improvement Association (SBIA) is hosting it's second annual sustainability summit on April 2nd, 2009, 3-7pm at Chapel Arts, and I'm happy to announce that we've secured Majora Carter as our keynote speaker, a leader in the social justice and social enterprise space.  The event is focused on collaboration, how businesses and organizations can work together for mutual benefit and build sustainable communities.  I'm going to be on a panel with along with Toby Barazzuol of Eclipse Awards, Danielle of Frogfile Office Essentials, Tracy Casavant of Eco-Industrial Solutions among others.  The panel is being facillitated by Anita Burke, a leading systems thinker, so we're bound to have some great questions taking the dialogue a bit deeper.  Besides hearing from some great local leaders Majora is a speaker not to be missed.  Registration is free, sign up today to avoid disappointment: www.strathconabia.com/expo2

When given the opportunity to move my business and share space with Eclipse Awards, a leading crystal and glass awards business in Vancouver, BC, I jumped at the chance.  Eclipse has been active working on the Strathcona Green Zone, a hub of sustainable business in the Downtown Eastside, by building green roofs and doing green renos in one of Canada's poorest postal codes.  It definately was a step up, having been running Saul Good out of my house for the last 2 years, and an exciting opportunity to not only scale up our operation but also create a culture for collaboration between businesses, finding ways to work together for mutual benefit.  As I moved in and started to set up shop I was faced with some purchasing decisions.  Did I go green or go home?

Green shelving

I scored some leftover LEED green shelving from Arpac, Vesta particle board shelves made from 100% recycled and reclaimed wood without any added formaldehyde.  Apparently these were leftover from a recent job doing shelving for MEC, membership in the co-op has it's privilages!

Reclaimed wood table & work bench

The next item on the list is a work bench, used to assemble gifts and store empty gift boxes.  Using materials leftover from the Eclipse green reno I'm working with Tradeworks Custom Products to custom manufacture a work bench made from reclaimed parallam beams, originally used to reinforce the ceiling for the green roof.