Tag Archives: CSR

Being Green – Corporate Responsibility

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Hi Folks:

When I first started writing the ‘Being Green‘ section of our blog it grew out of my own interest in green building and it focused primarily in that direction.  However, as I’ve gone along I’ve expanded this series to include more general ideas concerning living ‘green’, sustainability and CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility).  Now, I’m far from a CSR ‘expert’, but I wanted to highlight a really interesting report put out this year by a group called the ‘International Society of Sustainability Professionals‘ (ISSP).  The report, entitled, “What are the Core Competencies Sustainability Professionals Need to Have?” is available as a .pdf download, here.  It’s 65 pages long, and I must admit I haven’t finished reading it yet, but I have found what I’ve read to be quite valuable.  The report is targeted primarily toward two groups of people: a) those who are working in the CSR field as either independent consultants or corporate employees; b) those who work in HR and who are most likely to interact with those in group ‘a’.  I don’t work in either of those fields, but I think the underlying ideas of communication, financial and environmental sustainability, problem solving, etc. (some of the key findings) really affect everyone, no matter their industry or their position in a given company or corporation.  One thing we continue to discover more and more is that we are all connected, whether we’re discussing a corporation (with its suppliers and clients), an ecosystem or a planet.  In short, I think it’s a valuable report for everyone to read. Continue Reading →

Being Green: Radical Transformations

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Hi Folks:

Friday once again, so that means it’s ‘Being Green‘ day here on our blog.  It seems to me there are basically two ways to progress, and both can have their place.  One is to take an existing technology and improve on it.  For example, virtually every fixed-wing aircraft in the world today is a variation of the ‘Wright Flyer‘ first flown by the Wright Brothers in 1903.  However, when Igor Sikorsky first flew the Vought-Sikorsky VS-300 in 1939, he ‘launched’ (pun intended) an entirely different mode of flight. (NB: The VS-300 is popularly known as the first successful helicopter.  The De Bothezat helicopter did fly some 20 years earlier, but was highly unstable and the project was scrapped.) Continue Reading →

Being Green: Appreciating the Moment

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Hi Folks:

September is upon us and kids have finished their first week back at school… A short post this week, but in last Friday’s ‘Being Green‘ post I added a link provided by my nephew (in-law) about one person’s daily commute by bicycle, and how he stops every day for a moment or two, sometimes longer, on the bridge connecting north and south Edmonton in order to appreciate the world around him.  After posting that I received an e-mail from my nephew reminding me about our experiences at the provincial legislature grounds in Edmonton; we were there in 2003 when my niece and nephew-in-law were married.  It wasn’t something I will forget.

I’ve been to the Parliament Buildings in Ottawa on more than one occasion, and tossed a few coins into the fountain housing the eternal flame.  I’ve been to the legislative grounds in several other provinces as well, including the one here in Victoria, but none of them compare (in my opinion) to the one in Edmonton.  Why, you ask?  Well, simply because instead of the requisite fountain on the grounds (the fountain here in Victoria was surrounded by a 15-foot fence on Canada Day), the grounds in Edmonton have been made into a water park, including a huge fountain and a wading pool.  For the people, by the people, and of the people.  On the warm day in August that we were there, the entire grounds were filled with people playing in the water, having picnics in the shade, walking, reading, cycling, and just generally having fun.  There was a wonderful sense that the locals felt they had a right to be there, that this was created for them.  And so it was. Continue Reading →

Being Green – Car Alarms…

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Hi Folks:

Friday has wound its way around once again, so it must be time for this week’s ‘Being Green‘ post.  Now, if you’ve been around for more than the past few decades you probably remember a time before car alarms were invented.  While these alarms have gotten a lot more sophisticated since they were first invented, what most people associate with them is the screeching siren that accompanies them.  When these alarms first came out people were generally appreciative of them, but that transitioned to annoyance, and now, for the most part, people ignore them.  One poll in England found that car alarms are the ‘most irritating piece of technology ever invented‘.  When a car alarm goes off today, most passersby won’t even bother to lift their gaze from their smart phones. Continue Reading →

Being Green – Consciousness and the Environment

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Hi Folks:

Friday once again, and time for this week’s ‘Being Green‘ post.  I’m going to take a slightly different tack this week (and some people might think I’ve gone off track completely) but if you have a wander through the 14 different post categories on our site you’ll find that we cover scientific topics in some and more esoteric topics such as poetry and spirituality in others.  In truth, however, our lives are a blend of both and we make no effort to separate or distinguish our spiritual lives from our day-to-day existence.

Having said that, in this post I’m not going to be covering the topic of religion per se, but rather what some might refer to as esoteric sciences.  And no, that’s not a contradiction in terms.  Skeptics aside, there have been and continue to be a number of people who are working to combine the fields of science (quantum physics, for example) with fields such as parasychology and different spiritual traditions.  If I was going to pick two names off the top of my head I’d probably go with Dr. Fred Alan Wolf and Dr. Dean Radin, but there are many more, people like Lynne McTaggart or Dr. Marilyn Schlitz, current director of the Institute of Noetic Sciences. Continue Reading →

Being Green – Celebrate!

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Hi Folks:

Happy Friday!  End of the week and time for the ‘Being Green‘ post.  It’s going to be a short post this week, mostly because it’s too beautiful outside to invest too much time in front of a computer.  So, in honour of today’s beautiful weather and in honour of summer in general, I thought I’d just offer a couple of links to things that are worth celebrating (from a ‘green’ perspective):

First is a development I recently heard about in Germany called ‘Solarsiedlung (Solar Village)‘, which has the main building (Sonnenschiff (Solar Ship)) at its heart.  This community  incorporates many ‘green’ standards, including rooftop gardens, rainwater collection, passive solar orientation, a woodchip boiler for winter heating and Passivhaus standards for construction, but the reason for the ‘Solar Village’ moniker is the huge number of solar panels in use in the project.  Not only does their use make the project ‘net-zero’, it actually produces more energy than it uses.  Four times more energy… which definitely makes it energy positive.  The designer of the Solar Village project is Rolf Disch.  You can find out more about this and other projects on his website; he also has a site on what he terms ‘PlusEnergy‘.  In a time when people are wondering what they can do to help reduce their energy costs, this development proves that it’s possible to go far beyond that, in a practical way.

Second, Cree Lighting and Habitat for Humanity have begun construction on the first Habitat house that will incorporate all LED lighting.  According to the Cree website, lighting is the single biggest energy user in the average home, at 22% of energy use.  I did a blog post on lighting a while back, and while LEDs do have some disadvantages, at the moment they’re the most efficient and most environmentally friendly lighting technology.  Continued development can only make them better.

Next, a little fun with a story about three swimming pools on Park Avenue in New York city.  The project was done by the development company Macro Sea, in cooperation with the city of New York.  Each pool is made from a converted dumpster, and completely portable.  Drop it off the back of a truck, fill it with water, plug in the filter and have fun!  The pools opened at 7:00 a.m. daily, and from the images I’ve seen there was no shortage of participants!  Given the heat islands presented by most cities, this is a great idea.

And finally, for now, also from New York, the office tower at One Bryant Park has become the first office tower to achieve LEED Platinum certification.  That’s something that’s definitely worth celebrating!!

Okay, the links for this week include:

Okay, that’s it for now. Have a great week!
Mike.

P.S. Looking for something to do with your summer? How about making some giant soap bubbles? (YouTube video) We’ve had a lot of fun with ours over the years – we even had them at our wedding reception!! You can get them here: BubbleThing The ingredients are non-toxic, and they really are a lot of fun for kids of all ages.

Being Green… Why?

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Hi Folks:

Friday once again, so that means it’s time for this week’s ‘Being Green‘ post.  I usually come up with a subject for each week’s post sometime during the week based on an inspiration that I have or something I come across, but this week I was coming up empty…

Then today I came across a blog post with the title, “Why Ask Why? It’s a Good Sustainability Starting Point“.  The post does make some good points for any company at the beginning stages of determining their sustainability strategy, and is well worth reading. Continue Reading →

Being Green – Virtually

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Hi Folks:

Yes, it’s Saturday and I usually do my ‘Being Green‘ posts on Fridays, but we had family visiting and between you and me I’d rather run around with a 2-year old at the park than sit in front of a computer screen.  There, my secret is out, and I can expect my offical ‘geek’ status to be revoked.  Oh well…

So, last Thursday (August 5) was the ‘Global Green Expo‘, a virtual tradeshow that lasted roughly eight hours and featured virtual booths, webinars, speakers and more on the topics of being green, sustainability and corporate responsibility.  Before someone raises their virtual hand and exclaims that computers aren’t ‘green’ in and of themselves, yes, I’ll concede that point.  Computers, from their manufacturer to their use to their disposal as ‘e-waste’ pose their share of toxic challenges.  However, it’s also true that computers aren’t going away anytime soon, and more and more people are transiting from stationary desktop units to web-enabled cell phones and tablet computers; if nothing else, less material is used in their construction.  Anyway, I’m not here to debate that point.  Even people like Dr. David Suzuki have lamented that his job of raising awareness on environmental issues requires him to travel in airplanes and make use of the  television/radio/ internet airwaves, but it’s a cost he accepts. Continue Reading →

Being Green – A Hand Up

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Hi Folks:

Well, since my absence from this area of our blog last Friday, in a way one could say this is last week’s ‘Being Green‘ post.

The phrase ‘A Hand Up, not a Handout‘ is a common one among those involved with programs around the world that help people improve their life situations, and in its own way it is a common thread running through all of them. There are many, MANY good programs around the world that are working in myriad ways, and while it’s impossible to profile all of them, I thought I’d mention a couple with the intent that these provide impetus for you to start your own search to find one that resonates with you. Many of these groups deal with food in one way or another, and while food may the most basic ‘green’ subject of all, the procurement of food is such a basic necessity that it can overlay other, larger concerns, like environmental destruction, deforestation, wildlife loss, etc. My own knowledge of this first came through a couple of friends who volunteered their time with a group called Plenty Canada. My friends and I have parted ways over the years, but at that time Plenty Canada was involved in a number of different projects around the world – from teaching farmers in Dominica to grow soybeans for consumption and sale rather than sugar for export – to installing wells and catchment basins for clean drinking water and planting fruit trees in Africa. I’m sure their work continues apace. Continue Reading →

Being Green – Ecolabels

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Hi Folks:

Friday once again, so TGIF to ya! For this week’s ‘Being Green‘ post I wanted to reference a couple of articles I came across this week. Before I get to that, however, something more important… our son just finished school – again! His time at Royal Roads University is all over for him as of yesterday, as he’ll be graduating with a BA in Professional Communication. We’re very proud, as you may imagine, and since it was his idea to get this blog started, we owe him a debt of gratitude as well.

Okay, on with the show. I’ve written before about the (to me) often bewildering array of different (sometimes convergent and often divergent) ‘green’ classification systems, covering everything from green building to green travel – but it wasn’t until I came across the following article from the World Resources Institute that I had a clearer idea of exactly how muddy the waters are. The article, titled, “New Website and Survey Look Behind-the-Scenes at Ecolabels’ Environmental Claims” mentions 340 different ‘ecolabels’ around the world, spread over 42 industry sectors. The results for 328 of these ecolabels from 207 countries and 40 industry sectors may be found at ‘Ecolabel Index’. You may also read the full document here (.pdf): Global Ecolabel Monitor 2010. Continue Reading →